Useful vocabulary for discussion

Clarification	1. Getting clarification So you mean that… S basically what you are saying is… If I understood you correctly… I’m not sure what you mean by… What does “X” mean in this context? Just so that I’m clear… Could you be more specific? 2. Paraphrasing and clarifying OK, what I’m trying to say is… Let me explain what I mean. By X, I mean…, or more specifically… The idea would be that… Well, let me put it another way. In other words,… Or rather,…	Positive Exactly. Precisely. Yes. Negative No, that’s not really what I meant. No, what I was trying to say was… Vague Sort of./Kind of. Yes, I suppose so. Nor really. It depends. It’s hard to say.
Showing understanding	You said there was no difference between X and Y, right? I see what you mean. But couldn’t we… OK, they want… I suppose. So, this is really an example of… So, in that case you have to… Right, OK.
Checking another person’s understanding	Are you with me? Do you see what I mean? Does that seem to make sense? Does that answer your question? Is that any clearer?
Emphasizing/Summarizing	I’d like to stress that… So, essentially… The point is…
Initiating a topic	What about…? What’s your view on…? I’d like to start by… Can we talk about what happened this morning? Have I told you about…? I hear that…
Changing a topic	By the way, have you seen the latest figures on…? Just to change the subject for a minute, what do you think about…? That reminds me, did you see…? I’ve just thought of something else… Sorry to interrupt, I just need to tell you about…
Returning to a topic	But going back to what you said earlier… As I was saying earlier… I’ve been thinking about what you said and… Can we go over what we talked about earlier? Just to return to…
Interrupting	Can I interrupt a moment? Excuse me, Could I just point out… Can I just say…? Could I just say something? Excuse me, but could I just say…	I was in the middle of… Sorry, can I just finish…? Let me finish. Could you let him finish, please? Could you just hang on a moment, please? Hold on. Can I finish the point? Let Stefan finish, please. I’d like to finish if I may. Just a moment…
Asking for clarification	How do you mean…? What exactly are you saying? What exactly do you mean? Are you saying we need to…? Sorry, I don’t follow you. Can you explain in more detail? By …, do you mean… Could you explain what you mean by…	What I mean is… What I’m saying is… No, I was thinking of… To be more specific… To clarify…
Counteracting	Sorry, but wouldn’t it be better if…? But don’t you think …?
Stalling	Could I just think about that? Just a moment, I need to think about that. I’ll have to consult my colleagues about that. Do you mind if I answer it later?
Deferring	Could I get back to you on that? Why don’t we come back to that later?
Asking for opinions Giving opinions and making suggestions Disagreeing Agreeing	What do you think/feel about that? How do you feel about…? Have you any reaction to that? What are your views/opinion on that? The way I see it is that… Don’t you think it might be better if…? What about…? / How about…? I really think we should… In my opinion… I think we should… Why don’t we…? Maybe/Perhaps we could… I suggest… I propose that… We could…   I’m not sure about that. I think we’re losing sight of the main point. I agree with you when you say…, but… You have an interesting point there, however… I quite understand what you’re saying, but… I’m afraid that’s not how I see it. I don’t agree with that at all. I totally disagree.   That’s true. I agree. Absolutely/Exactly. I think so too. True. Quite. Yes, indeed That’s right. Yes, I agree completely. Yes, definitely. I’d go along with that. Yes, you have a point there.	Sounds a good idea to me. Good, we agree on … I’m not sure about that. That’s more than we usually offer… That would be difficult for us.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14