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Sunday
Nov272011

“You've got to try this sauce. It's amazing!”

English Lesson: You've GOT to try this!

You're eating dinner with a friend at a restaurant. You're eating an appetizer that comes with a dipping sauce. It tastes really good, so you want to encourage your friend to taste it. You say:

You've got to try this sauce. It's amazing!

You've GOT to (do something)

One way that people use the expression "You've GOT to ___" is to make enthusiastic recommendations of things.

In the example above, the speaker says that her friend "has got to" try the sauce because it's really good. Here's another example:

You've never been to the Met? Oh my gosh, you've GOT to go there! They have the most amazing exhibits.

This is similar to using "got to" to beg for something:

Please! You've got to help me! 

(something) is amazing

The word "amazing" means "really, really great".

In American English, words like "amazing" and "awesome" have been slowly losing their strength over recent years. It might seem like exaggeration to call a tasty sauce "amazing", but it's a common way of speaking.

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