CAN I MAKE A

POINT HERE?
Business English for Meetings – week 3
What do you do?
1. You want to make a point in a meeting.
a) Wait until someone else invites you to speak?
b) Make your point immediately?
2. Someone is speaking in a meeting and you have
something to say. Do you:
a) Wait until they have finished speaking
b) Interrupt them with your own point?
3. Someone wants to make a point while you are
speaking, do you:
a) Prefer that they wait until you have finished
speaking?
b) Prefer that they interrupt you to make their point?
4. Someone is talking nonsense, do you:
a) Stop them?
b) Let them go on?
5. There is a long silence in a meeting, do you:
a. Say something (anything) to end the silence?
b. Relax and wait for someone else to speak up?
5. Someone is not being clear, do you:
a. Interrupt and ask him to explain?
b. Let them finish and hope that you will understand
them in the end?
5. Nobody wants to listen to you, do you:
a. Stay calm and continue talking?
b. Get angry and stop talking?
 Matching

1. I think this was due A. result of some bad planning

2. The market is still a on our part
bit depressed B. of debt and lower share
because prices
3. Sales were up here C. being that we made some
for the reason mistakes in our market
4. I think this was as a research.
5. The IT sector D. that the telecoms team
performed poorly, the performed extremely well
reason E. to excellent work by our
production team.
 Fill in the blank
1. result
As a ______ of some aggressive cost-cutting, our
pre-tax profits are better than expected.
2.
because of the
The board postponed the IPO ______
current lack of stock market confidence.
being
3. Mr. Allman has left his job, the reason ______ that
we were unhappy with his performance.
reason
4. We’re looking for a new PR agency for the _____
that our current agency has run out of interesting
ideas. due
5. The project failed _____ to a lack of interest
among the senior management.
 first
at
telecoms

look
let’s
 situation
a quick
here’s
overview
the
of
40 Seconds
 now
pharmaceuticals
to
let’s
turn

40 Seconds
 on to
I’ll
now
finance
move
the
sector
40 Seconds
 IT
about
now

what
grammar
 We use the past simple to talk about
developments in finished time frames:
 Our customer base increased in size… -last year –
two years ago –in June. –between 2004 and 2008
 We use the present perfect to talk about
developments in unfinished time frames:
 Our sales have increased… -during the current
quarter. –for the last two years. –recently. –since
last year
Past simple or present perfect
1. Apple’s market share (decrease) in size
in the last quarter of 2004.
2. The number of profit warnings issued
by major companies (go up) in the
current quarter.
3. The time we spend on customer
acquisition (go down) this year.
4. The size of HP’s workforce (increase)
two years ago.
5. Microsoft’s capital investment spending
(level off) since last year.
Past simple or present perfect
6. Complaints (decline) dramatically since
2004.
7. The rate of unemployment (reach a
high) in 2007.
8. The number of franchisers in Europe
(rise) steadily between 2004 and 2008.
9. Since 1994, our staff size (remain
stable)
10. In 2004 and 2005, the cost of parts (fall)
significantly.
What verbs describe the change in the price of
petrol?

 Go up
 Increase
 rise
What verbs describe the price change of solar power
panels?

 Decrease
 Go down
 Decline
 fall
What verbs the price of polymers?
 Level off
 Remain stable
 Reach a high
 Matching

1. Are you saying a. a point here?

that we C. b. interrupt you there?
2. Can we come c. should cancel our stand at the
back E. trade fair?
3. Could I just B. d. to make a point here?
4. Could I make A. e. to your point in a minute?
5. Do you think that F. f. we should increase our
6. Would you like D. marketing budget
1. Hold on a moment, A. a. please. We’ll come
2. If I understand back to you soon.
correctly B. b. you’re saying that we
3. Just a moment, should end the
please, I D. contract.
4. What do you think c. about that point?
C. d. promise we’ll come
right back to you.
Interrupting politely
 In business environments, interrupting is
acceptable. However, it is important to be
polite. Do not talk loudly over someone to
make a point. You can interrupt by saying:
 Sorry to interrupt you
 I apologize for interrupting, but…
 Could I come in here?
 Could I make a point here?
 Could I just comment on that?
Asking for clarification
If you don’t understand:
 I’m afraid I don’t understand your point here.
 I’m sorry, could you clarify that point?
 Could you explain that a little more for me?
Ask someone to clarify their
opinion:
 Are your saying that we should have
invested more time in the project?
 Do you mean that it was a mistake to lower
prices?
 Is your point that we need to start earlier
than planned?
 Seek clarification by using a statement
 If I understand you correctly, you need more time to
finish the report.
 You can clarify what you are saying:
 What I meant to say is…
 I was trying to say that…
that
we
saying
more
are
staff
should
you
hire
another meeting
think that
we should
do you
have

40 Seconds
the training budget
should increase
your point
that
is
we
 upgrade
saying that
are you
our IT system
we should
?
his customers
point that
is your
spend more
time with
he should
you feel
conference next year
we should increase
do
the length
of the
Useful phrases
 Giving your opinion:
 I think…
 We should…
 I’m convinced that we should…
 I tend to think that it’s…
 It seems to me that…
Useful phrases
Interrupting:
 Sorry, but…
 Sorry to interrupt, but I feel that…
 Could I come in here…
 I’d like to make a point here if I could.
 Can I just say something about that?
Asking for clarification:

 I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying.

 Do you mean that… ?
 Are you saying that… ?
 If I understand you correctly, you think that…?
Dealing with interruptions:

 Hold on, please.

 We’ll come back to you in a moment.
 Just a second, please. I promise we’ll come
right back to you
there
could
just
you
I
interrupt
that
what
point
about
you
think
do
a moment
come back
promise
you
I
in
to
we will
something
add
would
you
like
to
here
you
saying
the budget
should
that
increase
are
we
I’m
don’t
I
really
afraid
follow
argument
your
Quick meeting
Your company has decided to appoint an
English language teacher. Call a meeting
and discuss the requirements for this post.
When you have decided on the job
description, design an advert to attract
good candidates.