Introduction
An expression meaning whatever you say or do won’t change the situation. Learn it here.
Transcript
Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak, where we explain phrases used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them as well. I’m Feifei, and I’m here with Beth. How are you?
Beth
Hi Feifei. I’m OK, although my younger sister’s staying with me at the moment, and she expects me to do everything for her. This morning she wanted me to bring her breakfast in bed! I said ‘you can moan all you like, I’m not making you breakfast in bed’.
Feifei
Oh no! Although ‘all you like’ – that’s an interesting phrase. It means a person can do or say something as much as they want to, but it won’t change the situation.
Beth
Yes. It’s used when complaints or actions won’t have any effect, like my sister complaining. There was no way I was going to make her breakfast in bed.
Feifei
Exactly. The decision was final. This reminds me of when I was at school, when our teacher used to give us lots of homework at school holidays, and we complained. But the teacher always told us, you can complain all you like, but you still have to do it all.
Beth
Yeah, I think we had the same, to be honest.
Feifei
Right. Let’s listen to some more examples of ‘all you like’.
Examples
Stop making that noise. You can cry all you like. I’m not going to give you that ice cream.
The players can complain to the referee all they like about that penalty, but he’s never going to change his mind.
The teacher can shout all she likes, but the students are still going to behave badly.
Beth
So, we’ve said ‘all you like’ is used to say that somebody can continue to do something, like complain, but it won’t change the outcome. It’s usually a phrase used at the end of a clause that has the modal verb ‘can’, and then a second clause is added on.
Feifei
Yes. And that second clause is often linked with ‘but’. For example, ‘you can moan all you like, but I won’t change my mind’.
Beth
Honestly, that’s what I’m going to say to my sister later if she asks me to do any more things for her.
Feifei
Oh, good luck. We’ll be back next time with another useful English phrase. See you soon!
Beth
Bye!