Hello students! Today’s phrase of the day is one that you might find a little confusing. The phrase is “it goes without saying.” Let me give you an example of a situation where you might use it. Imagine that your daughter is very dedicated to the sport of swimming; she practices a lot, and she recently won first place in a swimming competition. You might tell your friends, “She worked so hard and won the competition –it goes without saying that I’m really proud of her!”
It goes without saying is used to introduce a fact that is clearly and obviously true. If you love your daughter, OF COURSE you’ll be proud of her when she wins! It goes without saying.
You might wonder why we bother to use this phrase at all. Why not just say the thing that’s true, without introducing it with “it goes without saying”? Well, we tend to use it to give extraemphasis to how obviously true the sentence is, or how it is believed to be true by most people.
Let’s say your friend is going to have surgery, and asks you for a big favor, if you can drive him home from the hospital. You might respond with, “Of course – it goes without saying!” This is away to say “Yes, because we are such good friends, it’s CLEAR that I will help you!”
Got it? I hope that wasn’t too confusing. Thanks for joining me today, and I’ll see you in the next lesson!
