U s e f u l P h r a s e s f o r D i s c u s s i o n
1) Expressing non-comprehension
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Could you repeat that, please?
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Sorry, can you say that again, please?
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Could you explain that, please?
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What do you really mean?
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I don’t follow you.
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Sorry, I don’t quite see what you mean.
2) Asking for opinions
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What’s your opinion of …?
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What do you think of …?
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Do you think that …?
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How do you feel about …?
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Do you agree with me that …?
3) Being certain of your opinion
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I'm certain that...
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I'm sure that…
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It's my opinion that...
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I'm convinced that...
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I honestly believe that...
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I strongly believe that...
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Without a doubt...
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I'm positive...
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I'm absolutely certain/convinced that...
4) Emphasizing that what you are going to say is your own opinion:
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In my opinion,...
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I personally believe...
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I personally think...
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I personally feel...
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Not everyone will agree with me, but...
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Well, I think that …
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As I see it …
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Frankly, I think …
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It seems to me that ...
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I have the feeling that ...
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I feel that ...
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I'm absolutely convinced that ...
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My idea is
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The point is
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Don’t you agree that
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I’d say that
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I’d like to point out that
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In my opinion, ...
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Well, if you ask me ...
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The way I see it, ...
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Personally, I believe/suppose/ feel (that) ...
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I'm convinced that ...
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From my point of view,...
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Well, as far as I can see…
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As far as I'm concerned…
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Well, I think / I'd say…
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If you ask me,… If you want my opinion,…
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I have the feeling that…
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Personally speaking, I think...
5) Introducing a point
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First of all I'd like to point out ...
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The main problem is ...
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The question of ...
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Speaking of ...
6) Enumeration of points
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first of all, I’d like to say ...
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in addition to that ...
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moreover, ...
furthermore, ...
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another example of this is ...
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first, second, third ...
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Finally, ...
7) Agreeing
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You’re right.
I’ve got no objections.
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I agree.
I should think so.
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I quite/completely agree.
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I entirely agree with you.
Definitely.
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I couldn’t agree more.
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That’s true/right
You’re perfectly right.
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Yes, that’s exactly how I see it.
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That’s certainly how I see it.
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That’s certainly true.
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Yes, I certainly think so.
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I don’t think so, either.
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That’s exactly what I meant to say.
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Of course, that’s exactly my opinion.
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That’s just what I was thinking.
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You’ve hit the nail on the head.
8) Disagreeing
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Oh, do you really think so?
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I’m afraid I can’t agree.
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I disagree with you, I’m afraid.
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Well, the thing is
You’re are mistaken
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I don’t agree at all.
Quite the opposite.
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I don’t want to argue with you…
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I can’t agree with you there.
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Well, as a matter of fact, I think
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Oh, surely not
Far from it.
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There’s no evidence for that
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I don't agree with you about ...
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I can't accept your view that ...
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I don't share your opinion.
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I'm of a different opinion.
Most certainly not.
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You don’t really mean that, do you?
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I wouldn’t say so. That’s not how I see it.
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Oh, come on, you can’t be serious.
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That’s not correct.
Under no circumstances.
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I don’t believe that at all.
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Oh, that’s ridiculous.
That’s all wrong.
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You’re completely wrong about it.
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What nonsense. Rubbish.
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Come off it, don’t be silly.
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You must be joking.
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You don’t know what you are talking about.
9) In between
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Yes, hmm
Possibly but…
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Well, you’ve got a point there but
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I agree with you up to a point
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Yes, I dare say you’re right but
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Perhaps yes, but don’t you think that
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Yes, I agree but let me make the point that
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I agree with you in principle, but…
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Yes, in a way but
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Well, it depends
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I’m really not so sure as you are
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That’s quite true but
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That’s a quite interesting idea but
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I see what you mean but
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Oh, I don’t think so really.
10) Stating something as a fact
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As everyone knows ...
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It is generally accepted that ...
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There can be no doubt that ...
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It is a fact that ...
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Nobody will deny that ...
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Everyone knows that ...
11) Expressing pros and cons
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There are two sides to the question.
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On the one hand ..., on the other hand ...
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An argument for/in favour of/against is ...
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While admitting that ... one should not forget that ...
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Some people think that ..., others say that ...
12) Expressing doubt
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I doubt whether…
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It is unlikely that…
I don’t see how ...
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I'm not sure if ...
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I'm not convinced that ...
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I wonder if you realize that ...
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I doubt that.
13) Keeping to the point
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It would be more to the point if ...
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Come to the point. Keep to the point.
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That's not the problem.
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What we are discussing is ...
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... has nothing to do with my argument.
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That's not relevant.
14) Drawing conclusions and summing up
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The obvious conclusion is ...
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Last but not least ...
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The only alternative (left) is ...
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The only possible solution/conclusion is ...
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Summing up, I'd like to say that ...
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In conclusion we can say that ...
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To cut a long story short, ...
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Just to give you the main points again, ...
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"What I meant to say was…"
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"Let me rephrase that…"
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"Let me put this another way…"
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What I really mean is, …
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What I’m trying to say is, …