Exercise.

Some of the words are missing letters, one

dash-one letter. Write the missing letters.
DEVELOPING A PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE IN
DISCUSSIONS
1- POSSITIVE COMMENT BEFORE NEGATIVE COMMENT
(DISAGREEING)

- I can see your po_ _t, but ………….

- That may be t_ _ _, but ……………
- I see what you _ _ _n, but ………..

2- APOLOGY BEFORE REQUEST (SEEKING CLARIFICATION)

- I’m sorry, I didn’t f_ _ _ _w that. Could you go over again?
- I’m a_ra_d I didn’t get what you said. Could you _ _ _ _ _t?
- I could be w_ _ _ _, but I think you’re saying………..

3- SOFTENER BEFORE DISAGREEMENT

- I’m afraid I can’t _ _ _ _ _ because ……..
- I’m not s_ _ _ I can agree with you because ………………………

4- POSITIVE COMMENT BEFORE NEGATIVE COMMENT

( Bringing the discussion back to topic)

- That’s an interesting idea, but it raises a different point. C_ _ _ _ we get back

to….
- I think you’ve _ _ _ a good point. Maybe we can get back to that later. Right
now, let’s continue with ….

5- BUILDING A BRIDGE BETWEEN DISCUSSION POINTS

- Now that we’ve discussed…. Let’s c_n_id_r…
- Moving on from ….., let’s t_ _ _ to …..

6- BUILDING A BRIDGE TO A TOPIC CHANGE

- This question is off the present topic, but ….
- Mary’s comment r_m_n_s me of a question I’d like to ask….

7- PREFACING A FOLLOW-UP QUESTION

- Tell me more about …..
- So, what happened next….
- What do you think …..

8- DELAYING AND RETURNING TO A PREVIOUS POINT

- Before we go on to …. I’d like to consider ….
- Before we move on, I have another idea….
- Getting back to… I think that …..
- Going back to what was just said….

9- MAKING SPACE FOR A COMMENT

- Can I ask a question?

- Can I _ _ _ _ a comment ?