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Phrase bank   Unit 1: Making contacts Phrase bank   Unit 2: Making calls
Networking Telephoning
What do you do, by the way? This is (John White) from (Novartis).
What do you think of the venue? It’s about an invoice.
Who do you work for? I’m calling about an invoice.
Who do you know here? Can I speak to (Jane Green), please?
Where are you based? Can I ask who’s calling, please?
Where are you staying? Can I take a message?
How are you enjoying the conference? Can I get back to you on that?
How are you getting back to your hotel? Can I leave it with you?
Isn’t this an amazing place? Can I call you back (in a few minutes/an hour)?
Isn’t this weather awful? Could you speak up, please?
Who’s the guy with the beard? Could you say that again?
Who’s the guy in the dark suit? Could you spell that (for me), please?
I think he’s in logistics. Could you hold on a moment, please?
I think he’s giving a talk on PR. Could you read that back to me?
Can I get you a drink? Could you tell me when she/he’ll be back?
Can I get you anything from the buffet? Could you ask her to call me back?
Let me introduce you to someone.
Let me give you my card.
If you’ll excuse me a moment, I’ll be right back.
If you’ll excuse me, I have to make a phone call.
It’s been nice talking to you.
It’s been a pleasure meeting you.

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Phrase bank   Unit 3: Keeping track Phrase bank   Unit 5: Business travel
Checking understanding Business travel
Sorry I missed that. You must be waiting for me.
Sorry I didn’t catch that. You must be Ms Suzuki.
Could you just say it again? You must be tired after your long flight.
Could you just go over that again? How are things?
Sorry I’m not (quite) with you. How is business?
Sorry I don’t (quite) follow you. How was your flight?
Sorry, I don’t (quite) see what you mean. Let me take those for you.
Could you just explain what you mean? Let me help you with your bags.
Could you just be (a bit) more specific? Let me see if I can get us a taxi.
Could you just say (a bit) more about that? We’ve booked you into the Hyatt.
Isn’t it (12%)? We’ve booked a table for 8.30.
Don’t you mean (12%)? We’ve booked you onto a later return flight.
Shouldn’t that be (12%)? Okay, I’ll drop you off at your hotel first.
I thought you said (12%)? Okay, I’ll pick you up at eight, shall I?
Okay, I’ll just pay the driver.
Can you change a 50?
Can you drop me on the corner of New Street?
Can you give me a receipt, please?
Could I change some money, please?
Could I have an alarm call at seven?
Could I have breakfast sent to my room?
What time do you start serving breakfast?
What time do you stop serving dinner?
What time do I need to be out of my room?
Could you tell me how I get Wi-Fi in my room?
Could you tell me how I can get a line out?
Could you tell me if there’s a bank near here?

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Phrase bank   Unit 6: Handling calls Phrase bank   Unit 7: Making decisions
Polite requests Decision-making
If you can, could you get on to … The most important thing is…
If you can, could you take a quick look at … As you can see, …
If you can, could you let me have a copy of … So, that’s it: …
If you’re not too busy, could you organize … One option would be to …
If you’re not too busy, could you set up a meeting with … We’re here to …
If you’re not too busy, could you fax through … The main advantage of …
If you’ve got a minute, could you check the arrangements for … Have a look at …
If you’ve got a minute, could you get back to … What we’ve agreed, then, is to …
If you’ve got a minute, could you send them … Our aim is to …
Okay, don’t worry. I’ll see what I can do. Another alternative is to …
Okay, don’t worry. I’ll get on to it straight away. On the other hand, …
Okay, don’t worry. I’ll see if I can reach her on her mobile. Above all, …
Okay, no problem, I’ll sort something out.
Okay, no problem, I’ll get back to you later.
Okay, no problem, I’ll call you back with the figures.
Okay, leave it with me. I’ll speak to the people in marketing about it.
Okay, leave it with me. I’ll do what I can, all right?
Okay, leave it with me. I’ll get on to accounts.
Okay, leave it with me. I’ll get someone to deal with it.

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Phrase bank   Unit 9: Small talk Phrase bank   Unit 10: Email
Engaging in small talk Email
Are you enjoying the conference? Hi.
Are you staying near here? Got your message, thanks.
Are you staying on after the conference? Sorry, but I can’t make it.
Are you giving a presentation? Could you do me a favour?
Are you going to the keynote tomorrow? Are we still okay for Fri?
Have you been to Brasilia before? About the conference, …
Have you been to any interesting talks? Good/Bad news.
Have you made any useful contacts? See attachment.
Have you heard the (latest) news? asap
Have you seen much of the city? Following our phone call, …
Have you found any nice restaurants? I’ll chase it up.
Have you tried the local cuisine/wine? BTW
Have you met Dr Wendel? Fri’s fine by me.
Haven’t we met (somewhere) before? Let me know how it goes.
Haven’t we had wonderful weather (so far)? I’ll be in touch.
Did you have a good day? Cheers.
Did you meet any interesting people?
Did you come/go to the conference last year?
Didn’t I see your name on the programme?
Didn’t I read an article by you in Businessweek?

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Phrase bank   Unit 11: Presenting Phrase bank   Unit 13: Being heard
The language of presentations Interrupting and preventing interruption
Can everybody hear me okay? Can I just come in here?
Right, let’s get started. Can I just say something?
Let me introduce myself … Could I just finish what I was saying?
I’ve divided my presentation into three main parts … Erm, …
Just to give you a brief overview … Hang on a minute.
I’ll be saying more about this in a minute … Hold on a second.
I’m sure the implications of this are clear to us … If I could just finish …
There’s an important point to be made here … Just a moment.
Okay, let’s move on … Let me finish.
I’d like you to look at this graph … No, hear me out.
As you can see, the figures speak for themselves … Sorry to interrupt (again).
To go back to what I was saying earlier … Wait a minute.
Are there any questions you’d like to ask at this point? Yes, what is it?
I’d like to look at this in more detail … You were saying …
Let’s just put this into some kind of perspective … Can I come back to those later?
Perhaps I should expand on that a little … Can you give us the figures for that?
To digress for a moment … Where was I?
So, to sum up … Can I stop you there?
That brings me to the end of my talk … Okay, sorry. Go on.
Thank you. I’m sure you have many questions …

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Phrase bank   Unit 14: Snail mail
Letter-writing expressions
Dear Nick, …
How are things?
I got your letter, thanks.
Sorry I haven’t got back to you sooner.
About our phone call the other day, …
Great to meet you last week!
I’m writing about our contract renewal.
I’m afraid I can’t give you a bigger discount.
But how about a higher credit limit?
Let’s meet and have a chat about this.
I’ll give you a call sometime next week.
I’m putting in a copy of our new catalogue.
If you need any help, just let me know.
See you at the conference!
Let’s talk soon.
Best wishes, Tony
I hope you are well.
Thank you for your letter of January 12.
My apologies for not replying sooner.
Further to our conversation last Friday …
It was a pleasure meeting you last week.
I am writing with regard to our contract renewal.
Unfortunately, I am unable to increase the discount.
What we can do is to offer you a higher credit limit.
Perhaps we could meet to discuss this.
I’ll be in touch sometime next week.
I am enclosing a copy of our latest catalogue.
If you require any further assistance, please do contact me.
I look forward to meeting you again at the conference.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely, …
In Company 3.0 Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014
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Phrase bank   Unit 15: Solving problems
Problem-solving
Okay, let’s see what we’ve got so far.
On balance, I think we should go with …
I think there are three main aspects to the problem.
I think we’ll have to reject this idea for now.
I’d like to hear what you all have to say.
Now, how do we implement this?
Okay, basically the problem is this.
Let’s keep the ideas coming.
What if we sell it online/sold it online …?
Another option would be to sell it online/selling it online …
Supposing we sell it online/sold it online …
Alternatively, we could sell it online …
How about selling it online …?
The answer could be to sell it online …
Why don’t we sell it online …?
Couldn’t we just sell it online …?
What about selling it online …?
Maybe it’s time to sell it online …
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Phrase bank   Unit 17: Eating out Phrase bank   Unit 18: Telecommunications
Eating out Teleconferencing
Nice place. Do you come here often? Welcome to the meeting.
It was a good choice of restaurant. Did everyone get a copy of the agenda?
It all looks delicious. Let’s get started.
It’s basically a fish pie. As you can see, we have several objectives today.
It comes with a salad. Let’s skip item two.
It’s cooked in wine. Let’s move on to item three.
If you like seafood, you’ll love it. Could I just come in here?
The lamb’s very good here. I just want to say one thing.
You could try the goulash. Sorry to interrupt, but …
It’s a bit unusual – you may not like it. Can you check your Internet connection?
Is there anything you don’t eat? I think your mic is on mute.
Maybe you should try something else. Sorry, we can’t hear you very well.
I’ll just see if our table’s ready. So, just to recap on what we’ve said.
Shall we have another bottle? So, are we all agreed that …?
Is everything all right? Any comments on that?
I’m going to have the steak. Rare, please. I’d like to be finished by 10.30.
I’d like the vegetarian lasagne. Right, we’re running short of time.
Could we have a bottle of sparkling water? We’ll have to speed up, I’m afraid.
About this business idea of mine. I think we’ve covered everything for now.
As I was saying, we should have a meeting. We’ll have to stop it there, I’m afraid.
Going back to what we were talking about. We’ll have to finish there.
Let me get this. My treat. Thanks everybody.
This one’s on me. You paid last time.
I insist … Okay, let’s split it, then.

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Phrase bank   Unit 19: Negotiating

Negotiating
So what you’re saying is this …
Thank you all for coming.
We’d like to see some movement on price.
Great, I think that’s everything.
I’m afraid we could only accept this on one condition.
Perhaps we could begin by outlining our initial position.
Okay, let’s just tie up a few loose ends.
What we’re looking for here is this …
Would you like to set out your requirements first?
Ideally, we’d like to see …
We’re looking forward to a productive meeting.
Let me just check I understand you correctly.

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