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Asking for and giving explanations is often difficult, because you have to worry about giving facts and also about organizing them gramatically. Also, it is very easy to make a mistake so that you are not properly understood.

In this section, we will see how to ask someone for an explanation, and also how to organize an explanation so that it is easy to understand.

Asking for explanations.

Can you tell me ..? This is an easy way to ask someone for information. You start with 'Can you tell me' and then you add a question word. (You must remember that the second part is not a question, so you must not use a question form.)
For example:
"Can you tell me who that man is?"
NOT'Can you tell me who is that man?'
Other (correct) examples:
"Can you tell me how to get to the station?"
"Can you tell me why I am not on the list?"

I don't understand ... You start with 'I don't understand' and then you add a question word. It is polite for the person you are speaking with to explain if he can, even though you have not asked him to do this
For example:
"I don't understand how to do this exercise."
"I don't undertand what to do."
"I don't understand why he did that."

Why is it that ..? Here you start with a question word and then you add' ...is it that..' and the rest of your question.
For example:
"How is it that explanations can be so hard?"
"What is it that I should do?"
"Why is it that she can't come?"

Does this mean that ..? You use this when you think you understand something, and you want to make sure that you have understood correctly.
For example:
"Does this mean that you can't come?"
"Does this mean that we must go now?"

Giving explanations.

May I explain ... ? You use this to start a sentence when you think you need to explain something, but no-one has asked you to explain.
For example:
"May I explain what happened this morning?".
"Can I explain? Fred didn't understand you - he wasn't being rude."

Well, you see ... You use this to show that you are starting an explanation.
For example:
"Can you tell me why you are late?"
"Well, you see, we thought we should arrive at ten o'clock."
"Why is it that he is so angry?"
"Well, you see, his wallet was stolen."

It's like this ... You use this to show that you are describing what happened, or how something works.
For example:
"Why do we need all these warm clothes?"
"It's like this. England can be cold and wet in summer too."
"Why won't Carol speak to Jack?"
"It's like this. She used to be his girlfriend until he met Jane."

Because.
This is used to answer questions starting with 'why'.
For example:
"Why did Sam leave the party so early?"
"Because he wasn't feeling well."
"Why are you looking in your bag?"
"Because I want my car keys."

Connecting words.
(Words which you use to put your explanation together. )

Starting
You can say -
"Well"       "Actually"       "First of all"      "You see".
(None of these words really mean anything when you use them like this. They are just a sort of signal to show that you are starting an explanation. You can use these before the phrases given above. You don't have to, but sometimes it makes you more fluent.)
Going on
"And then"       "Next"       "Also"      "After that".
(You use these to add another piece of information to your explanation.)
Finishing
"So"       "That's why"       "In the end"      "Finally"       "As a result".
(These phrases tell your listener that you are finishing your explanation.)

Well, you can see that you have finished the description of explanations. We wanted you to read this before you do the exercises because it will help you to understand what you are doing. Also it is important to understand how the explanations work, even if you do not do the exercises. So that's why we have given you this to read.

Let's go!