IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING
I THINK
It seems to me (that)…
I have the impression that…
Personally,
To my mind,
I don’t know about you, but I …
I feel (strongly) that…
I (strongly) believe that…
Speaking from personal experience,
For me personally,
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How do you feel about...?
What's your take on...?
Where do you stand on….?
What are your thoughts on this?
What do you reckon (informal)?
AGREEING:
• Absolutely
• Exactly
• Definitely
• I see what you mean
• I see your point
• I couldn’t agree more
• You have a point there.
• You’ve hit the nail on the head
• You took the words right out of my
mouth.
DISAGREEING:
• I see your point, but…
• Your point is well taken, but …
• I beg to differ
• (I'm afraid) That’s not always the
case
LOOKING FOR AGREEMENT:
• Don’t you think?
• Question tags (Isn’t it, has it…)
• You know what I mean,
FILLERS
• So,
• You see, …
• …, you see, …
• You know,
• I mean,
• …, like,… (too informal)
SHOW INTEREST IN THE TOPIC
• Really?
• That’s interesting!
• Right!
• I see
• I can’t believe it!
• Reply questions: I went to Paris –
Did you?
• Uh huh
• As you said before, ... (referring to
what the other speaker said before
shows you’ve been paying attention)
GIVING THE FLOOR (turn to speak):
• Don’t you think?
• Question tags (Isn’t it, has it…)
SAYING “NO”
• Not really, no (rather than a plain
“no”)
ex. -Do you like football? - Not really, no
(instead of "noooo!")
• I don't think so.
ex. Are you coming? - I don't think so.
DIRECT THE CONVERSATION
TOWARDS THE TOPIC:
• By the way,
• Speaking of…
• That reminds me of…
KEEPING YOUR LISTENER ENGAGED:
• Rhetorical questions (questions you
don’t really expect an answer for,
you sort of answer them yourself):
What do I mean by that? / Is
smoking dangerous? Of course it is
• As you very well know, ...
SUMMARISING:
• In a nutshell,
• To make a long story short,
• The bottom line is …
REPHRASING:
• In other words,
• ..., that is to say, ...
natalialzam.wordpress.com