Asking someone their opinion on a topic

Yes/No Questions

• Do you believe in …?
• Do you believe in …?
• Do you think we should …?
• Do you think everybody should …?
• Do you think that…?
• Would you consider …?
• Would you ever consider …?

OR Questions

• Are you for or against …?
• Would you prefer…?
• Would you rather …?
• What is better: – … or …?
• WH Questions What do you think of …?
• What do you think of …?
• What do you think of package holidays?
• What do you think is the problem between … and …?
• What do you think is the problem with …?
• What do you think are the causes of …?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages…?

Negative Yes/No Questions

• Don’t they…?
• Don’t you think it’s better to …?
• Don’t you understand that …?
• Don’t you see that …?
• Can’t you see that …?
• Wouldn’t it be better to …?
• Wouldn’t it be wiser to …?
• Wouldn’t you agree that …?
• Why shouldn’t they?

Delaying Strategies

• I can’t answer that directly.
• I’ll need time to think about that.
• That’s a very interesting question, because…
• That’s a difficult question to answer, because…
• That’s a tough question to answer, because…
• To be honest, that’s a difficult question, because …
• That’s a very good question.
• The reality is that …
• What do you mean by that?
• What do you mean by …?
• Well, it depends on what you mean…
• Well, if you ask me, it all depends on your circumstances…
• Well….

Asking someone information

• I’d like to know I’m interested in Could you tell me..?
• Could I ask about …?
• Do you know if…?
• Do you know what….is?
• Do you happen to know whether or not…?
• Do you happen to know what…. Is?

Presenting arguments

Presenting the most important point

• The main thing is…
• The most important thing is…
• Primarily
• Most importantly,

Presenting a number of arguments

• First of all, …
• Firstly, …
• Well, firstly …
• To begin with, …
• I’d start by …
• For a start, …
• There’re two points here.
• Firstly, …
• Secondly, …
• There are two problems here….
• Moreover
• You also have to consider

Adding an argument

• Also, ….
• Again, that depends on …
• In addition, …
• What’s more, …
• I might add that…
• Perhaps I should also mention…
• Not to mention the fact that …
• Plus the fact that…
• Not only that, but…

Giving your opinion about a topic

Expressing a strong opinion

• In my opinion, …
• In my view, …
• In my reckoning, …
• I strongly believe in …
• I definitely think that …
• Well, if you ask me, …
• Well, I think …
• I believe
• I strongly believe
• I have a reason to believe
• I’m sure that…
• I’m pretty sure that…

Expressing a strong value

• ( It’s / They’re + value adjective)
• It’s a nonsense to … …
• It’s a scandal, because …
• It’s perfect for …
• It’s wrong…
• Likewise, …
• They’re ideal …

Expressing certainty

• According to government statistics, …
• Actually, …
• In fact, …
• Clearly, …
• Obviously, …
• People have always …
• People just won’t continue to …
• Without doubt, …
• There’s no doubt that ….
• Undoubtedly Surely, …

Agreeing

Expressing complete agreement

• Exactly!
• Precisely!
• Totally!
• Absolutely!
• That’s right!
• Correct!
• You’re right!
• You’re so right!
• That’s so true!
• I couldn’t agree with you more!
• I’m with you on that
• That’s just what I was thinking!
• That’s exactly what I think.
• That’s a good point.
• That’s just how I see it.
• My feelings exactly.
• I’ll say!
• You can say that again!

Agreeing in part

• Yes, perhaps, however …
• Well, yes, but …
• Yes, in a way, however …
• Hmm, possibly, but …
• Yes, I agree up to a point, however …
• Well, you have a point there, but …
• There’s something there, I suppose, however…
• I guess you could be right, but …
• Yes, I suppose so, however …
• That’s worth thinking about, but …

Expressing conditional agreement

• I’d agree with you if …
• I’d certainly agree if you’re thinking of …

Disagreeing

Expressing complete disagreement

• I don’t think so!
• I disagree
• I disagree entirely.
• I’m afraid I can’t agree.
• I’m afraid you’re wrong
• On the contrary!
• Definitely not!
• Rubbish! Nonsense!
• That’s ridiculous!
• Never in a million years!
• Using irony to express disagreement
• Come off it!
• Come on!
• Do you really think so?
• What!
• You can’t actually mean that!
• You can’t be serious!
• Are you pulling my leg?
• Are you kidding?
• You must be kidding!

Dismissing an argument as irrelevant or improbable.

• That isn’t the point.
• That’s highly debatable.
• That’s highly unlikely.

Disagreeing diplomatically (through doubt)

• I wonder whether that’s the case.
• Hmmm, I’m not sure about that..
• I’m not sure (that) it works like that.
• I’m not so sure about that.
• I’m not so certain
• Well, I’m not sure whether you can really …
• Well, I don’t know…
• Well, it depends…
• I’m inclined to disagree with that…

Disagreeing in part ( appeal to logic )

• Not necessarily
• That doesn’t necessarily follow.
• That’s not necessarily true
• That isn’t strictly true.

Countering Countering directly (through antithesis)

• But But who can say that …?
• But why …?
• But if …
• But surely, …

Countering politely (through agreement followed by antithesis)

• Yes, but remember that
• Yes, but it isn’t that …

Countering politely (through partial agreement followed by antithesis)

• That may be so, but …
• That may be true, but …
• That may be so, …
• That might have been the case once, but …
• Well, maybe they do, but …
• You may be right about …, but ..
• Maybe…But the problem is…
• That’s a good idea, but…
• That’s a good point, but…
• I’d love to, but…
• That would be great, except that…
• That may be so, but…
• Possibly, but…
  • …, but what I’m concerned with is…
  • …, but what I’m afraid of is…
  • …, but what bothers me is…
  • …, but what I don’t like is…
  • …, but what I’m concerned with is…

Countering using “after all” “at least” “even so” both for concession and antithesis …

• After all, …
• At least there’s …
• But at least…
• Well, even so, …

Logical Argument

Questions or conclusions based on conditions with “if”

• If …, why don’t they just …?
• What if …?
• And what happens if …?
• What would happen then if …?
• If that is so…, (then) ….
• That would be true if…
• You would be right if…
• That would make sense if…
• It’d be O.K. if …

Questions based on conditions with sentence adverbials ” then” and “so”

• But if you…
• Then how do you go about …?
• Then can you tell me what’s wrong with …?

Expressing Cause and effect

Cause

• The reason why… is …
• The reason why … is that …
• Due to …,
• … Because…
• Because of (+noun)
• Because…,
• Since…,
• …is why…

Result

• For this reason,…
• For this reason alone, …
• Owing to this, …
• This is why …
• That’s why…
• This is the reason why …
• Therefore
• So
• As a result
• Consequently,…
• Thus,…
• Clarification

Asking someone to repeat

• Pardon me?
• Pardon?
• Excuse me?
• Sorry?
• I’m sorry?
• I beg you pardon?
• Could you say that again?
• Would you repeat that please?
• Would you mind repeating that please?
• Sorry, what did you say?
• Sorry, what was that?
• What’s that again?

When you can’t follow the logical progression in someone’s argument

• You lost me there.
• I’m lost.
• I’m not following.
• I don’t follow.
• I didn’t get that.

Asking for clarification through short Yes/No Questions inviting illustration or example.

• And are they right?
• Does that make it ok?
• Can you be a bit more specific?
• Are you saying that …?.
• Are we talking about …?

Clarification through “What” or “How” Questions inviting illustration or example.

• What’s wrong with that?
• What’s wrong with …?.
• What do you mean?
• What do you mean by …?
• What are you trying to say?
• In what way?
• How do you mean?
• Why do you say that?.
• Why is that Why not?
• Can you explain why …?
• Why do you think that?

Giving clarification / Reiteration through reference to subject

• I’m talking about …
• I’m saying that …
• What I’m saying is that …
• The whole point of this is that…
• That’s what this discussion’s about.
• I’m talking about …

Giving clarification after misunderstanding

• What I mean is…
• What I meant is…
• What I’m saying is…
• What I’m trying to say is…
• Don’t get me wrong…
• Don’t misunderstand me…
• Let me put it another way, …
• That’s not what I said…
• That’s not what I meant What I said was…
• What I really said/mean/meant…
• You must have misunderstood me…
• Let’s get it straight…

Illustrating a point

• For example, …
• For instance, …
• Take for example …
• A classic example of this is…
• A classic example of this would be…
• To illustrate my point…
• Let me give you an example…
• Just as an example, let me …

Expressing solutions and alternatives

• The solution is to …
• Then you will …
• The best way to … is …
• To …, you really have to ….
• There are many choices.
• You can …
• You can …….
• Alternatively,
• … Instead, …
• The alternative is…

Interrupting

Polite interruption

• Sorry, but…
• May I say something?
• May I add something?
• May I ask a question?
• I’d like to say something about that

Holding the floor

• Hold on
• Hold on a second
• Yes, I was about to mention that.
• Well, I was about to come to that
• Sorry, I haven’t finished yet …
• I haven’t made my point yet …
• I’m about to make my point …
• I’m almost done …
• If you could just give me a second …
• If you let me finish, I’ll tell you!
• Please let me finish
• Could you wait until I’m done?
• I’m talking here!
• Would you let me finish?
• Would you hold on a second?

When two people start speaking at the same time

• Please
• Go ahead
• You first
• Please, I can wait
• It wasn’t all that relevant
• It wasn’t important
• Never mind.
• In that case
• In that respect If you are talking about…, then…
• As far as that goes…
• On that point…

Exceptions

• There are exceptions, of course…
• One should mention, or course…
• An exception to that is…
• This does include…
• Except of course…
• One exception is…
• Another exception is…

Getting back to the point

• Anyway In any case,…
• To return to…
• Returning back to…
• To get back to the point…
• Let’s get back to the point…
• Where was I?
• What were we talking about?

Generalisation

• Generally,…
• In general, …
• As a rule,…
• Usually,
• Typically,
• By and large,
• On average,
• Generally speaking,
• Speaking in general terms,…

Conclusions

• To make a long story short,…
• So in short,…
• So you see…
• So, finally,…
• So,…
• All in all,…
• In the end,…
• To conclude,…
• To sum up,…
• To summarise,…
• Summing up, …
• To put it simply,…
• To put it in a few words, …
• In a nutshell,…
• In brief, …
• To be brief,…

Soliciting feedback

Making sure that you have the listener’s attention.

• Right?
• You know?
• (you) know what I mean?
• You understand?
• Got me?
• Got it?

Making sure that the listener is following your explanation or logical argument.

• (are) You following?
• Are you following me?
• Are you with me?
• Okay so far?
• Do you understand so far?
• Have you got it?
• (It) Makes sense, right?

Reminding the listener of something you said earlier.

• Remember?
• Remember when I said…?

Providing feedback

Keeping the conversation

• Right Okay
• Yeah I know what you mean.
• I know.
• I see…
• Of course
• That’s normal
• True

Keeping the conversation by asking the speaker to provide more information.

• Yes?
• And?
• Well?
• So?
• Then…
• And then?
• Such as…?
• Mh hmn
• Uh-huh

Keeping the conversation by showing surprise.

• Really?
• Is that right?
• I didn’t know that!
• Wow! Are you sure?
• How do you know?
• How do you know that?
• Who told you that?
• No way!
• No!
• (are) you serious?
• For real?
• How’s that possible?

Explanations

• Let’s see… Ok!
• Let me put it this way
• Let me put it another way.
• Let me see if I can explain it for you
• Here’s the thing.
• Here is what I mean.
• This is what I want to say.
• I’ll try to explain.
• Let me try again.
• Here’s what you need to know/remember