EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Asking someone for their opinion Thats a difficult question to answer,

because
about a topic Thats a tough question to answer,
because
Yes/No Questions To be honest, thats a difficult question,
because
Do you believe in ?
Thats a very good question. The reality is
Do you believe in ?
that
Do you think we should ?
What do you mean by that?
Do you think everybody should ?
What do you mean by ?
Do you think that?
Well, it depends on what you mean
Would you consider ?
Well, if you ask me, it all depends on your
Would you ever consider ?
circumstances
Well....
OR Questions
Asking someone information
Are you for or against ?
Would you prefer?
Would you rather ? Id like to know
What is better: - or ? Im interested in
Could you tell me..?
WH Questions Could I ask about ?
Do you know if?
What do you think of ? Do you know what.is?
What do you think of ? Do you happen to know whether or not?
What do you think of package holidays? Do you happen to know what. Is?
What do you think is the problem between
and ? Presenting arguments
What do you think is the problem with ?
What do you think are the causes of ? Presenting the most important point
What are the advantages and
disadvantages? The main thing is
The most important thing is
Negative Yes/No Questions Primarily
Most importantly,
Dont they?
Dont you think its better to ? Presenting a number of arguments
Dont you understand that ?
Dont you see that ? First of all,
Cant you see that ? Firstly,
Wouldnt it be better to ? Well, firstly
Wouldnt it be wiser to ? To begin with,
Wouldnt you agree that ? Id start by
Why shouldnt they? For a start,
Therere two points here. Firstly,
Delaying Strategies Secondly,
There are two problems here. Moreover
I cant answer that directly. You also have to consider
Ill need time to think about that.
Thats a very interesting question,
because

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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE
Adding an argument Agreeing
Also, ....
Expressing complete agreement
Again, that depends on
In addition,
Exactly!
Whats more,
Precisely!
I might add that
Totally!
Perhaps I should also mention
Absolutely!
Not to mention the fact that
Thats right!
Plus the fact that
Correct!
Not only that, but
Youre right!
Youre so right!
Giving your opinion about a topic Thats so true!
I couldnt agree with you more!
Expressing a strong opinion Im with you on that
Thats just what I was thinking!
In my opinion, Thats exactly what I think.
In my view, Thats a good point.
In my reckoning, Thats just how I see it.
I strongly believe in My feelings exactly.
I definitely think that Ill say!
Well, if you ask me, You can say that again!
Well, I think
I believe Agreeing in part
I strongly believe
I have a reason to believe Yes, perhaps, however ...
Im sure that Well, yes, but ...
Im pretty sure that Yes, in a way, however ...
Hmm, possibly, but ...
Expressing a strong value ( Its / Theyre + value Yes, I agree up to a point, however ...
adjective) Well, you have a point there, but ...
There's something there, I suppose,
Its a nonsense to however...
... Its a scandal, because I guess you could be right, but ...
Its perfect for Yes, I suppose so, however ...
Its wrong Likewise, That's worth thinking about, but ...
Theyre ideal
Expressing conditional agreement
Expressing certainty
Id agree with you if
According to government statistics, Id certainly agree if youre thinking of
Actually,
In fact,
Clearly,
Obviously,
People have always
People just wont continue to
Without doubt,
Theres no doubt that .
Undoubtedly
Surely,
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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Disagreeing in part ( appeal to logic )

Disagreeing Not necessarily
That doesnt necessarily follow.
Expressing complete disagreement Thats not necessarily true
That isnt strictly true.
I dont think so!
I disagree
I disagree entirely. Countering
Im afraid I cant agree.
Im afraid youre wrong Countering directly (through antithesis)
On the contrary! But
Definitely not! But who can say that ?
Rubbish! But why ?
Nonsense! But if
Thats ridiculous! But surely,
Never in a million years!
Countering politely (through agreement followed
Using irony to express disagreement by antithesis)

Come off it! Yes, but remember that

Come on!
Do you really think so?
What!
You cant actually mean that!
You cant be serious!
Are you pulling my leg?
Are you kidding?
You must be kidding!
Dismissing an argument as irrelevant or
improbable.
That isnt the point.
Thats highly debatable.
Thats highly unlikely.
Disagreeing diplomatically (through doubt)
I wonder whether thats the case.
Hmmm, Im not sure about that..
Im not sure (that) it works like that.
Im not so sure about that.
Im not so certain
Well, Im not sure whether you can really
Well, I dont know
Well, it depends
Im inclined to disagree with that
Yes, but it isnt that
Countering politely (through partial agreement
followed by antithesis)
That may be so, but
That may be true, but
That may be so,
That might have been the case once, but
Well, maybe they do, but
You may be right about , but ..
MaybeBut the problem is
Thats a good idea, but
Thats a good point, but
Id love to, but
That would be great, except that
That may be so, but
Possibly, but
, but what Im concerned with is
, but what Im afraid of is
, but what bothers me is
, but what I dont like is
, but what Im concerned with is
Countering using "after all" "at least" "even so"
both for concession and antithesis
After all,
At least theres
But at least
Well, even so,

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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Logical Argument Clarification

Questions or conclusions based on conditions Asking someone to repeat

with "if" Pardon me?
Pardon?
If , why dont they just ? Excuse me?
What if ? Sorry?
And what happens if ? Im sorry?
What would happen then if ? I beg you pardon?
If that is so, (then) . Could you say that again?
That would be true if Would you repeat that please?
You would be right if Would you mind repeating that please?
That would make sense if Sorry, what did you say?
Itd be O.K. if Sorry, what was that?
Whats that again?
Questions based on conditions with sentence
adverbials " then" and "so" When you cant follow the logical progression in
someones argument
But if you Then how do you go about ?
Then can you tell me whats wrong with ? You lost me there.
Im lost.
Im not following.
Expressing Cause and effect I dont follow.
I didnt get that.
Cause
The reason why is Asking for clarification through short Yes/No
The reason why is that Questions inviting illustration or example.
Due to ,
Because And are they right?
Because of Does that make it ok?
Because, Can you be a bit more specific?
Since, Are you saying that ?.
is why Are we talking about ?
Result Clarification through "What" or "How"
For this reason, Questions inviting illustration or
For this reason alone, example.
Owing to this,
This is why Whats wrong with that?
Thats why Whats wrong with ?.
This is the reason why What do you mean?
Therefore What do you mean by ?
So What are you trying to say?
As a result In what way?
Consequently, How do you mean?
Thus, Why do you say that?.
Why is that
Why not?
Can you explain why ?
Why do you think that?
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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Giving clarification / Reiteration through

Interrupting
reference to subject
Polite interruption
Im talking about
Sorry, but
Im saying that
May I say something?
What Im saying is that
May I add something?
The whole point of this is that
May I ask a question?
Thats what this discussions about.
Id like to say something about that
Im talking about
Holding the floor
Giving clarification after misunderstanding
Hold on
What I mean is
Hold on a second
What I meant is
Yes, I was about to mention that.
What Im saying is
Well, I was about to come to th.t
What Im trying to say is
Sorry, I havent finished yet
Dont get me wrong
I havent made my point yet
Dont misunderstand me
Im about to make my point
Let me put it another way,
Im almost done
Thats not what I said
If you could just give me a second
Thats not what I meant
... If you let me finish, Ill tell you!
What I said was
Please let me finish
What I really said/mean/meant
Could you wait until Im done?
You must have misunderstood me
Im talking here!
Lets get it straight
Would you let me finish?
Would you hold on a second?
Illustrating a point
When two people start speaking at the same time
For example,
For instance, Please
Take for example Go ahead
A classic example of this is You first
A classic example of this would be Please, I can wait
To illustrate my point It wasnt all that relevant
Let me give you an example It wasnt important
Just as an example, let me Never mind.

Expressing solutions and alternatives Specific cases

The solution is to Then you will ... In that case
The best way to is In that respect
To , you really have to . If you are talking about, then
There are many choices. You can You As far as that goes
can .... On that point
Alternatively,
Instead,
The alternative is

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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE

Exceptions Conclusions

There are exceptions, of course To make a long story short,

One should mention, or course So in short,
An exception to that is So you see
This does include So, finally,
Except of course So,
One exception is All in all,
Another exception is In the end,
To conclude,
Getting back to the point To sum up,
To summarize,
Summing up,
Anyway
To put it simply,
In any case,
To put it in a few words,
To return to
In a nutshell,
Returning back to
In brief,
To get back to the point To be brief,
Lets get back to the point
Where was I?
What were we talking about?

Generalizations

Generally,
In general,
As a rule,
Usually,
Typically,
By and large,
On average,
Generally speaking,
Speaking in general terms,

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 EXPRESSIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND DEBATE
Then...
Soliciting feedback And then?
Such as...?
Mh hmn
Making sure that you have the listeners Uh-huh
attention.
Keeping the conversation by showing surprise.
Right?
You know?
Really?
(you) know what I mean?
Is that right?
You understand?
I didnt know that!
Got me?
Wow!
Got it?
Are you sure?
How do you know?
Making sure that the listener is following your
How do you know that?
explanation or logical argument. Who told you that?
No way!
(are) You following?
No!
Are you following me?
(are) you serious?
Are you with me?
For real?
Okay so far?
Hows that possible?
Do you understand so far?
Have you got it?
(It) Makes sense, right? Explanations
Reminding the listener of something you said Lets see...
earlier. Ok!
Let me put it this way
Remember? Let me put it another way.
Remember when I said...? Let me see if I can explain it for you
Heres the thing.
Providing feedback Here is what I mean.
This is what I want to say.
Keeping the conversation Ill try to explain.
Let me try again.
Right Heres what you need to know/remember
Okay
Yeah
I know what you mean.
I know.
I see...
Of course
Thats normal
True

Keeping the conversation by asking the speaker

to provide more information.

Yes?
And?
Well?
So?
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