Useful Business English Phrases -1

Business English: Participating in a Meeting The following phrases are used to participate in a meeting. These phrases are useful for expressing your ideas and giving input to a meeting. Getting the Chairperson's Attention (Mister/Madam) chairman. May I have a word If I may! I thin"... #xcuse me for interrupting. May I come in here Giving Opinions I$m positive that... I (really) feel that... In my opinion... The way I see things... If you as" me!... I tend to thin" that... Asking for Opinions %re you positive that... &o you (really) thin" that... (name of participant) can we get your input 'ow do you feel a(out... Commenting That$s interesting . I never thought a(out it that way (efore. )ood point* I get your point. I see what you mean. Agreeing I totally agree with you. #xactly* That$s (exactly) the way I feel. I have to agree with (name of participant). Disagreeing +nfortunately! I see it differently. +p to a point I agree with you! (ut... (I$m afraid) I can$t agree A vising an ,et$s... -e should... !uggesting

-hy don$t you.... 'ow/-hat a(out... I suggest/recommend that... Clarif"ing ,et me spell out... 'ave I made that clear &o you see what I$m getting at ,et me put this another way... I$d .ust li"e to repeat that... #e$uesting %nformation /lease! could you... I$d li"e you to... -ould you mind... I wonder if you could... Asking for #epetition I$m afraid I didn$t understand that. 0ould you repeat what you .ust said I didn$t catch that. 0ould you repeat that! please I missed that. 0ould you say it again! please 0ould you run that (y me one more time Asking for Clarification I don$t 1uite follow you. -hat exactly do you mean I$m afraid I don$t 1uite understand what your are getting at. 0ould you explain to me how that is going to wor" I don$t see what you mean. 0ould we have some more details! please Asking for &erification 2ou did say next wee"! didn$t you ($did$ is stressed) &o you mean that... Is it true that... Asking for !pelling 0ould you spell that! please -ould you mind spelling that for me! please Asking for Contri'utions -e haven$t heard from you yet! (name of participant). -hat do you thin" a(out this proposal -ould you li"e to add anything! (name of participant) 'as anyone else got anything to contri(ute %re there any more comments Correcting %nformation

3orry! I thin" you misunderstood what I said. 3orry! that$s not 1uite right. I$m afraid you don$t understand what I$m saying. That$s not 1uite what I had in mind. That$s not what I meant. (eeping the Meeting On )arget *time+ relevance+ ecisions,

-e$re running short of time. -ell! that seems to (e all the time we have today. /lease (e (rief. I$m afraid we$ve run out of time. I$m afraid that$s outside the scope of this meeting. ,et$s get (ac" on trac"! why don$t we That$s not really why we$re here today. -hy don$t we return to the main focus of today$s meeting. -e$ll have to leave that to another time. -e$re (eginning to lose sight of the main point. 4eep to the point! please. I thin" we$d (etter leave that for another meeting. %re we ready to ma"e a decision