If I were in your shoes(could be in your place?) is also a common way to give an opinion, or should be reserved to more close friends and only when asked to.?
This is a nice expression Sergio. As you suggest, its direct use should probably be kept for people you know well and/or who have asked for your advice; but you can also use it to give your opinion about what other people should do. Here are some examples from the enTenTen corpus:
If I were in your shoes, I would probably donate a large part, if not all, of it to [a charity].
If i were in your shoes, i would apologise to him.
If I were in his shoes — I would not contest this election.
Note that you can also say “If I was…”
If I was in your shoes, I would let the issue go now that he’s already been reprimanded.
“In someone’s shoes” is also used more generally to talk about the situation that someone is in:
This contest puts college students in the shoes of aerospace industry engineers.
Put yourself in her shoes – you’re taking part in a historic process which could get you killed.
Approximately one year ago I was in your shoes.
Boy I’m glad I’m not in your shoes.
“If I were in your place” means the same but is less frequent.
[…] like to share with your some common expressions we have of giving one’s opinion. I have used Liz Potter’s excellent article for Macmillan Dictionary’s blog as the main structure and made some changes to […]
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If I were in your shoes(could be in your place?) is also a common way to give an opinion, or should be reserved to more close friends and only when asked to.?
This is a nice expression Sergio. As you suggest, its direct use should probably be kept for people you know well and/or who have asked for your advice; but you can also use it to give your opinion about what other people should do. Here are some examples from the enTenTen corpus:
If I were in your shoes, I would probably donate a large part, if not all, of it to [a charity].
If i were in your shoes, i would apologise to him.
If I were in his shoes — I would not contest this election.
Note that you can also say “If I was…”
If I was in your shoes, I would let the issue go now that he’s already been reprimanded.
“In someone’s shoes” is also used more generally to talk about the situation that someone is in:
This contest puts college students in the shoes of aerospace industry engineers.
Put yourself in her shoes – you’re taking part in a historic process which could get you killed.
Approximately one year ago I was in your shoes.
Boy I’m glad I’m not in your shoes.
“If I were in your place” means the same but is less frequent.
[…] like to share with your some common expressions we have of giving one’s opinion. I have used Liz Potter’s excellent article for Macmillan Dictionary’s blog as the main structure and made some changes to […]