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EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

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Asking someone for their opinion

about 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

EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

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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 …

EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

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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, …

EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

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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…

§ 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?

EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

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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 th.t

§ 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.

Specific cases

§ In that case

§ In that respect

§ If you are talking about…, then…

§ As far as that goes…

§ On that point…

EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

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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?

Generalizations

§ 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 summarize,…

§ Summing up, …

§ To put it simply,…

§ To put it in a few words, …

§ In a nutshell,…

§ In brief, …

§ To be brief,…

EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

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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?