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Building Vocabulary for Reading and Speaking

Contributors: Vijay Ramjattan and Mary McCaffery

Common phrases to use in discussions

When participating in a discussion during a seminar or group project, you can use standard phrases to help communicate to others your purposes or intentions.

Asking for an opinion

  • I'd like to know your thoughts about....
  • What do you think about...?
  • I was wondering about your perspective on....
  • What's your position on...?

Giving an opinion

  • In my opinion....
  • For me....
  • I believe that....

Clarifying one's point

  • The point that I’m trying to make is that....
  • What I mean to say is....
  • In other words, I’m saying....

Referring to external sources

  • According to (name of person or text)....
  • As we heard/read from (name of lecture or text, respectively)....
  • As (name of speaker/writer) mentioned in (name of lecture or text, respectively)....
  • (Name of speaker/writer) stated that....

Soliciting a response

  • (Name of person in discussion), what do you think about...?
  • (Name of person in discussion), we haven't heard from you yet. Do you have any thoughts?
  • (Name of person in discussion), you look like you want to say something. Go ahead.
  • (Name of person in discussion), do you agree with what I/they said about...?

Phrases to show active listening

Discussions also involve active listening, which is mainly about understanding the perspective of a speaker. Here are sets of additional phrases that you can use to show that you are listening actively:

Agreeing

  • I agree (with + name of person) (that)....
  • I think so too.
  • That is an important point.
  • Yes, definitely.

Disagreeing

  • I (respectfully) disagree because....
  • I can understand your point, but....
  • Wouldn’t you say that...?
  • Sure, but have you considered that...?

Asking for clarification

  • Could you explain that again?
  • I’m not sure what you mean here.
  • What do you mean by...?
  • I wasn’t able to follow your argument about....

Introducing a counter-argument

  • Nevertheless, I think that....
  • Even so, it’s important to consider....
  • But then again....
  • Even if that’s the case....

Adding information to a current or earlier topic

  • I would like to add something here.
  • I just want to add to what (name of person in discussion) said.
  • I just want to go back to what (name of person in discussion) said about....​​

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