EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Asking someone for their opinion § That’s a difficult question to answer,

because…
about a topic § That’s a tough question to answer,
because…
Yes/No Questions § To be honest, that’s a difficult question,
because …
§ Do you believe in …?
§ That’s a very good question. The reality is
§ Do you believe in …?
that …
§ Do you think we should …?
§ What do you mean by that?
§ Do you think everybody should …?
§ What do you mean by …?
§ Do you think that…?
§ Well, it depends on what you mean…
§ Would you consider …?
§ Well, if you ask me, it all depends on your
§ Would you ever consider …?
circumstances…
§ Well....
OR Questions
Asking someone information
§ Are you for or against …?
§ Would you prefer…?
§ Would you rather …? § I’d like to know
§ What is better: - … or …? § I’m interested in
§ Could you tell me..?
WH Questions § Could I ask about …?
§ Do you know if…?
§ What do you think of …? § Do you know what….is?
§ What do you think of …? § Do you happen to know whether or not…?
§ What do you think of package holidays? § Do you happen to know what…. Is?
§ What do you think is the problem between
… and …? Presenting arguments
§ What do you think is the problem with …?
§ What do you think are the causes of …? Presenting the most important point
§ What are the advantages and
disadvantages…? § The main thing is…
§ The most important thing is…
Negative Yes/No Questions § Primarily
§ Most importantly,
§ Don’t they…?
§ Don’t you think it’s better to …? Presenting a number of arguments
§ Don’t you understand that …?
§ Don’t you see that …? § First of all, …
§ Can’t you see that …? § Firstly, …
§ Wouldn’t it be better to …? § Well, firstly …
§ Wouldn’t it be wiser to …? § To begin with, …
§ Wouldn’t you agree that …? § I’d start by …
§ Why shouldn’t they? § For a start, …
§ There’re two points here. Firstly, …
Delaying Strategies Secondly, …
§ There are two problems here…. Moreover
§ I can’t answer that directly. § You also have to consider
§ I’ll need time to think about that.
§ That’s a very interesting question,
because…

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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE
Adding an argument Agreeing
§ Also, ....
Expressing complete agreement
§ Again, that depends on …
§ In addition, …
§ Exactly!
§ What’s more, …
§ Precisely!
§ I might add that…
§ Totally!
§ Perhaps I should also mention…
§ Absolutely!
§ Not to mention the fact that …
§ That’s right!
§ Plus the fact that…
§ Correct!
§ Not only that, but…
§ You’re right!
§ You’re so right!
Giving your opinion about a topic § That’s so true!
§ I couldn’t agree with you more!
Expressing a strong opinion § I’m with you on that
§ That’s just what I was thinking!
§ In my opinion, … § That’s exactly what I think.
§ In my view, … § That’s a good point.
§ In my reckoning, … § That’s just how I see it.
§ I strongly believe in … § My feelings exactly.
§ I definitely think that … § I’ll say!
§ Well, if you ask me, … § You can say that again!
§ Well, I think …
§ I believe Agreeing in part
§ I strongly believe
§ I have a reason to believe § Yes, perhaps, however ...
§ I’m sure that… § Well, yes, but ...
§ I’m pretty sure that… § Yes, in a way, however ...
§ Hmm, possibly, but ...
Expressing a strong value ( It’s / They’re + value § Yes, I agree up to a point, however ...
adjective) § Well, you have a point there, but ...
§ There's something there, I suppose,
§ It’s a nonsense to … however...
§ ... It’s a scandal, because … § I guess you could be right, but ...
§ It’s perfect for … § Yes, I suppose so, however ...
§ It’s wrong… Likewise, … § That's worth thinking about, but ...
§ They’re ideal …
Expressing conditional agreement
Expressing certainty
§ I’d agree with you if …
§ According to government statistics, … § I’d certainly agree if you’re thinking of …
§ Actually, …
§ In fact, …
§ Clearly, …
§ Obviously, …
§ People have always …
§ People just won’t continue to …
§ Without doubt, …
§ There’s no doubt that ….
§ Undoubtedly
§ Surely, …
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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE
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!
§ Countering politely (through agreement followed
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, …
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, …
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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Logical Argument Clarification

Questions or conclusions based on conditions Asking someone to repeat

with "if" § Pardon me?
§ Pardon?
§ If …, why don’t they just …? § Excuse me?
§ What if …? § Sorry?
§ And what happens if …? § I’m sorry?
§ What would happen then if …? § I beg you pardon?
§ If that is so…, (then) …. § Could you say that again?
§ That would be true if… § Would you repeat that please?
§ You would be right if… § Would you mind repeating that please?
§ That would make sense if… § Sorry, what did you say?
§ It’d be O.K. if … § Sorry, what was that?
§ What’s that again?
Questions based on conditions with sentence
adverbials " then" and "so" When you can’t follow the logical progression in
someone’s argument
§ But if you… Then how do you go about …?
§ Then can you tell me what’s wrong with …? § You lost me there.
§ I’m lost.
§ I’m not following.
Expressing Cause and effect § I don’t follow.
§ I didn’t get that.
Cause
§ The reason why… is … Asking for clarification through short Yes/No
§ The reason why … is that … Questions inviting illustration or example.
§ Due to …,…
§ Because… § And are they right?
§ Because of… § Does that make it ok?
§ Because…, § Can you be a bit more specific?
§ Since…, § Are you saying that …?.
§ …is why… § Are we talking about …?
Result Clarification through "What" or "How"
§ For this reason,… Questions inviting illustration or
§ For this reason alone, … example.
§ Owing to this, …
§ This is why … § What’s wrong with that?
§ That’s why… § What’s wrong with …?.
§ This is the reason why … § What do you mean?
§ Therefore § What do you mean by …?
§ So § What are you trying to say?
§ As a result § In what way?
§ Consequently,… § How do you mean?
§ Thus,… § Why do you say that?.
§ Why is that
§ Why not?
§ Can you explain why …?
§ Why do you think that?
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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Giving clarification / Reiteration through

Interrupting
reference to subject
Polite interruption
§ I’m talking about …
§ Sorry, but…
§ I’m saying that …
§ May I say something?
§ What I’m saying is that …
§ May I add something?
§ The whole point of this is that…
§ May I ask a question?
§ That’s what this discussion’s about.
§ I’d like to say something about that
§ I’m talking about …
Holding the floor
Giving clarification after misunderstanding
§ Hold on
§ What I mean is…
§ Hold on a second
§ What I meant is…
§ Yes, I was about to mention that.
§ What I’m saying is…
§ Well, I was about to come to th.t
§ What I’m trying to say is…
§ Sorry, I haven’t finished yet
§ Don’t get me wrong…
§ … I haven’t made my point yet
§ Don’t misunderstand me…
§ … I’m about to make my point
§ Let me put it another way, …
§ … I’m almost done
§ That’s not what I said…
§ … If you could just give me a second
§ That’s not what I meant
§ ... If you let me finish, I’ll tell you!
§ What I said was…
§ Please let me finish
§ What I really said/mean/meant…
§ Could you wait until I’m done?
§ You must have misunderstood me…
§ I’m talking here!
§ Let’s get it straight…
§ Would you let me finish?
§ Would you hold on a second?
Illustrating a point
When two people start speaking at the same time
§ For example, …
§ For instance, … § Please
§ Take for example … § Go ahead
§ A classic example of this is… § You first
§ A classic example of this would be… § Please, I can wait
§ To illustrate my point… § It wasn’t all that relevant
§ Let me give you an example… § It wasn’t important
§ Just as an example, let me … § Never mind.

Expressing solutions and alternatives Specific cases

§ The solution is to … Then you will ... § In that case
§ The best way to … is … § In that respect
§ To …, you really have to …. § If you are talking about…, then…
§ There are many choices. You can … You § As far as that goes…
can ….... § On that point…
§ Alternatively, …
§ Instead, …
§ The alternative is…

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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Exceptions Conclusions

§ There are exceptions, of course… § To make a long story short,…

§ One should mention, or course… § So in short,…
§ An exception to that is… § So you see…
§ This does include… § So, finally,…
§ Except of course… § So,…
§ One exception is… § All in all,…
§ Another exception is… § In the end,…
§ To conclude,…
Getting back to the point § To sum up,…
§ To summarize,…
§ Summing up, …
§ Anyway
§ To put it simply,…
§ In any case,…
§ To put it in a few words, …
§ To return to…
§ In a nutshell,…
§ Returning back to…
§ In brief, …
§ To get back to the point… § To be brief,…
§ 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,…

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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE
§ Then...
Soliciting feedback § And then?
§ Such as...?
§ Mh hmn
Making sure that you have the listener’s § Uh-huh
attention.
Keeping the conversation by showing surprise.
§ Right?
§ You know?
§ Really?
§ (you) know what I mean?
§ Is that right?
§ You understand?
§ I didn’t know that!
§ Got me?
§ Wow!
§ Got it?
§ Are you sure?
§ How do you know?
Making sure that the listener is following your
§ How do you know that?
explanation or logical argument. § Who told you that?
§ No way!
§ (are) You following?
§ No!
§ Are you following me?
§ (are) you serious?
§ Are you with me?
§ For real?
§ Okay so far?
§ How’s that possible?
§ Do you understand so far?
§ Have you got it?
§ (It) Makes sense, right? Explanations
Reminding the listener of something you said § Let’s see...
earlier. § Ok!
§ Let me put it this way
§ Remember? § Let me put it another way.
§ Remember when I said...? § Let me see if I can explain it for you
§ Here’s the thing.
Providing feedback § Here is what I mean.
§ This is what I want to say.
Keeping the conversation § I’ll try to explain.
§ Let me try again.
§ Right § Here’s what you need to know/remember
§ 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?
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