SPEAKING IELTS 3/13/2022

DISCOURSE
MARKERS
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Common discourse markers In my opinion

•Well •Basically •As fa r as I’m concerned
•You know •So, •Pers onally, I think/ believe/assume/ guess
•Actually •Right •I would say that
•Like •Okay •To my mi nd, …
•If you ask me, …
•You see •And, but, or, because
•My take on this is …
•I mean
•From my va ntage point, …
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Agree
• My thoughts exactly
• I can’t agree more
• Of course/ totally/ without a doubt
• I do see eye to eye with you/ them on this
• Anyone with any sense would agree that …
• That’s totally what I think too.
• That’s also my take on this.
• I couldn’t put it better myself.
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Disagree
• I’m afraid I don’t see it that way
• That could be true to a certain extent, but I gotta say that I don’t see it that
way// see it quite/slightly differently
• Well, that’s one way to look at it, but I think I hold a different view point
• I’m not quite sure about that idea.
• That’s not always the case.
• Well, I see where this is coming from, but that’s not the whole picture. Let me
just say this …
• Possibly/ maybe that’s true, but there are other perspectives that should be
taken into account.
• On the contrary, I hold a diametrically/ completely different viewpoint/ view
• Those who think that ….have it all wrong.
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Instructor: Dung T. Pham 1

SPEAKING IELTS 3/13/2022

Obviously Giving example

In fact For example
As a matter of fact
For instance
Clearly
Of course One example is …
As you probably know A good example is …
It may be stating the obvious but I still need to say this : … Probably the best example that I can think of is …
It’s a no-brainer that …
A case in point is …
It goes without saying that
Needless to say
Without a / a shred/ shadow of a doubt

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Repeating a point Contrast

As I was saying Alternatively
As I say In contrast
Having said that
As I said
However
As I said earlier
On the other hand, though, …
As I told you earlier// before But then again
As I said before Even so (even if that’s true, it is also true that …)
Probably I told you this before, I mean … Be that as it may …
Eg: it may take take a bit of effort to work out how to use Anki, even so, it’s
by far the best ….
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Sequencing, or giving a list Sequencing, or giving a list

1. For one thing// for another // 5. And as for cars
another reason why … 6. When it comes to cars 1. Another factor to take into 4. Firstly/ secondly/ finally (don’t
2. First of all (more antural than consideration over use these)
7. Let’s not forget
firstly) 2. Another reason why motorbikes 5. As well
8. Anothing thing (more natural are popular 6. As well as
3. As far as cars are concerned, … than secondly)
3. What’s more (use instead of 7. Above all
4. With regard to cars
furthermore/ moreover/ in 8. On top of that
addition/  formal)

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Instructor: Dung T. Pham 2

SPEAKING IELTS 3/13/2022

Paraphrasing Concluding
• I mean • So you see • all things considered,
• In other words
• I suppose what I’m saying is …
• So • All in all,
• What I mean is • So, to sum up • At the end of the day,
• What I’m trying to say is • So, anyway
• What I meant to say was
• Or simply put… • Anyway, as I said
• Or to put it simply … • Anyway, that’s why
• Or well, let me put it this way • Above all
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Others
• It really depends
• You might find strange if I
say that …
• As embarrassing as this
may sound, I need to
admit that …
• According to (an article I
read online)
• Anyway
• If I’m not mistaken
• Correct me if I’m wrong
Others
•Thi s is my educated •To be (quite/
guess : … completely/ brutally)
•Generally speaking honest
•For the most part, •To tell you the truth
•In contrast

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More Difficult
And so on •It’s a bit hard to say
And so forth
So on and so forth
•It’s a bit difficult to say
Etcetera
Tot name but a few
You name it
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Instructor: Dung T. Pham 3

SPEAKING IELTS 3/13/2022

Asking for clarifications

•Sorry?
•Pa rdon?
•Ca n you repeat that?
•I’m not sure I understand correctly, can you
repeat that?
•I’m s orry, what do you mean by “…”
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Instructor: Dung T. Pham 4