It t

Useful phrases and Yoeabulary

Sayingsorry and reschedulinga meeting
I'm callingaboutour meetingnextweek.
Asking for a meeting
I'mterriblysorry.
Couldwe schedulea time to meetnextweek?
I'm afraidI haveto askyou if we canrescheduleour
I'dliketo schedule a meetingas soonas possible.
meetingnextweek.
CouldI suggestthat we meet?
I'mafraidsomething hascomeup.
Canwe meetandgo overthis together?
Sorryto inconvenience you.
Perhaps we couldmeetandgo overthe details
Couldwe postpone the meetinguntilWednesday at
together?
the sametime?
Doyou havetime to meetnextweek?
Wouldyou be ableto meeton Tuesdayinstead?
lwas wondering if you mighthavetimeto meeton
Wouldit be possibleto meeta bit later/earlier?
Thursday.

Suggestinga meetingtime
HowaboutMondayat nine?
HowwouldWednesday at four o'clockbe for you? Introducingyourself
Howaboutsometime after[unch? Helto.My name's...
Couldwe meetnextweek? Hi everyone. My name's...
Wouldit be possiblefor us to meeton Friday H el l o,I ' m. ..
afternoonnextweek? Pleased to meetyou.
CanI suggest7.3oon Thursdayevening? Niceto meetyou.
Couldwe schedulea time to meetnextweek? Howdo youdo?I'm...
Wouldhalf pastfivesuit you?
Makingintroductions
Sayingthat you aren't able to attend Ms Lai,do you knowMr Weimann?
Sorry,I can'tmakeit then. Chris,haveyou met Fionayet?
I'mafraidI haveanotherappointment at thattime. Mr Saramago, I'd likeyou to meetMs Copeland.
I'mafraidI haveanotherappointment then. Delphine,this is Eric.Eric,Delphine.
I'ma bit tied up then.Howaboutanothertime?
Asking someoneto useyour first name
Sayingthat you can aftend Please, ca[[meChris.
Soundsgood. By the way,it's Frances.
Yes,that worksfor me. Andyoucancallme...
Yes,that would be fine. AndI ' m. ..
Yes,I canmanagethat.
Askinghow someoneis
Confirmingthe day and time Howareyou?
Seeyou on Mondayat seven. Howareyou doing?
So, | look forwardto seeingyou on Tuesdayat four. Howarethingsgoing?
5o that'sTuesdayat 3 p.m.in youroffice. How'sbusiness?

Agreelngthe lengthof a meeting Makingsmatltalk

Shouldwe planfor the wholeafternoon?
Let'sleavethe timingof the meetingopenfor now.
Howlongshouldwe planon meetingfor?
Themeetingshouldtakeaboutan houranda half.
Sayingthat you'relooking forwardto seeing
someone
It'll be niceto seeyouthen.
I'm lookingforwardto it.
I look forwardto meetingyou then.
Whichhotelareyoustayingat?
Howlonghaveyou workedfor yourcompany?
Didyoucomehereby ptane?
Whichairportdid youfly into?
ls this the first time you'vecomeherefor a meeting?
Areyou a colleagueof ...?
Doyou knowmycolleague, ...?
ls this yourfirst visit to (country/town)?
 phrases
?8 | Usefut andvocabulary

Showinginterestin what someoneis saying

Right.
Reportingprogress
Oh,rea[[y?
Ourcustomerbaseincreased in sizelastyear.
Interesting.
Oursaleshaveincreased duringthe currentquarter.
Thatt absolutety
fascinating!
Overallour salesperformedwell in the last quarter.
I see.
Thetelecomsproductionteam performedextremely
wel[.
Thetelecomsector'ssaleswerereallygood.
Salesperformedvery poorlyhere.
Welcomingparticipantsto a meeting Theguyson the financeteamperformed
Itb niceto seeeveryone. satisfactorily,
as ever.
It's greatto seeeverybody.
I'm gladyou couldall makeit today. Structuringa progressreport
Thanksfor beingheretoday. Here'sa quickoverviewof the situation.
Helloeverybody. Let'slook first at ...
It's goodto seeyou all. Let'sturn nowto ...
I'l[ moveon nowto..,
Sayingwho can'tattendthe meeting W hatabout ..?.
I haveapologiesfromTinaand Bob.
Derekhassenthisapologies. Explainingconsequences
Petercan'tmakeit either. Thiswasdueto...
Unfortunately,
Timwasn'tableto makeit today. I thinkthiswasas a resultof ...
Lauracan'tbe with us today. Heperformed poorly,the reasonbeing...
Laurahassentherapologies. Oursalesperformedsatisfactorilybecauseof ...

Statingwhat the meeting'sabout

We'remeetingtodayto talk about...
Ourobiectivetodayis ...
Askingfor comments
We'llbe discussing...
Whatdo youthinkaboutthat?
Jimwill be examining...
W h atdo w e al l thi nk?
Jeremywill presentan analysisof ...
Doyou wantto start us off?
Chrisis goingto giveus an overviewof ...
Doyouwantto comein here?
Johnwill be givingus an overviewof ... Wouldyou liketo makea pointhere?
Doesanyonewantto sayanythingon that?
Introducingparticipantsat a meeting
Wouldyou liketo commenton that?
Beforewe begin,canI introduceChrisHallto you
atl?
Interrupting
DoeseveryoneknowMaryNorman?
Sorry,but...
Thisis Christina,
oneof our consultants.
Sorryto interrupt,but I feelthat ...
Letme introduce...
CoutdI comein here?
I'dliketo makea pointhere,if I could.
Asking participantsto introducethemselves
CanI just saysomething aboutthat?
Whydon't you introduceyourselfto everyone?
Tellus a bit aboutyourself.
Dealingwith interruptions
Couldyoutell us all whoyou areandsaysomething
Holdon, please.
aboutyourself?
We'ilcomebackto you in a moment.
Givingdetailsaboutyoursell Justa second,please.I promisewe'[lcomeright
backto you.
I'mthe business development manager.
I'vebeenwith BurotechPLCsincezooz.
Asking for ctarification
l'veworkedfor the companyfor four years.
I'mnot sureI understand whatyou'resaying.
I'm basedin the Madridoffice.
D oyoume anthat .. . ?
I workat our Cambridgebranch.
Areyou sayingthat ...?
lf I understandyou correctly,
youthinkthat...
 Usefulphrasesandvocabulary| 79

Askingfor opinions
Whatdo youthink?
Offersand conditions
Doyou agree?
lf you buymorePCs,l'11 offeryoua gooddiscount.
Doyoufeelthat...?
lf we gavehim moretime,he woutdfinishthe
Whatdo youthinkabout...?
projectsuccessfully.
Hewittbe ableto startworkon Mondayif we offer
Givinga neutralopinion
himthe job today.
I thinkthat ...
lf we confirmedthe iob offertoday,he'dbe ableto
Whydon'twe ...?
startworkat the beginningof the month.
It s e em st o met hat...
lf theygaveus moretime,we couldlookat it in
In myopinion...
moredetail.
Weshould...
lf you placeyourordertoday,I'l[giveyoua
r3% discount.
Givinga tentativeopinion
It mightbe the casethat ...
Askingfor time to consider
Perhaps we should...
I'dlikea coupleof daysto thinkthisover.
I ten dt o thi nkt h at.. .
CanI get backto you on that?
ls it possiblethat ...?
I needsometimeto thinkaboutthis.
I needto runthis by my boss.
Givinga strongopinion
I'mconvinced that...
Acceptingan offer
It's (absolutely)
clearthat ...
I thinkwe'llgo for that.
AndfranklyI thinkthat...
Thatsoundsgoodto me.
There'sno doubtin my mindthat...
Thatwouldbe great.
I'dliketo takeyouup on that.
Strongagreement
You'recompletetyright.
Rejectingan offer
Absotutely. I thinkit'sa fantasticidea.
Sorry.I'mnotableto go aheadwiththis.
I totatty/ completely agree.
Sorry,but I'm not ableto go alongwith that.
Unfortunately, I won'tbe ableto takeyou up on
Agreeingin a neutral way
that.
I thinkyou'reright.
I don'tseehowI canagreeto that.
That'sright.
I don'tthinkthat wouldbe possible.
I agree.
I'mafraidI can'tagree.
Tentativeor partial agreement
Toa certainextentI agree.
I partiatty
agree,but ...
Yes,but... Makinga formalproposal
I canagreewith that up to a point. I proposeto the boardthat we ...
I thinkI canagreeup to a point. I wouldliketo proposethat...
I supportthe ideaup to a point.
Supportfor a formalproposal
Neutraldisagreement Wouldanyoneliketo secondthat?
I disagree. ls anyonewillingto secondMr Brown'sproposat?
I can'tgo alongwith that. I'll secondit.
I thinkyou mightbe wrongthere. I secondthat.
I'mafraidI can'tagreewith youthere.
Puftingan issueto a vote
Strongdisagreement Let'sput thisto a vote.
No,I thinkyou'rewrongthere. Canwe havea voteon this?
I completely
disagree. Canwe havea quickshowof hands?
All in favour?
Thoseagainst?
Makingpositivesuggestions
Howaboutif we ...? Sayingthat you don't want to take part in a vote
' t e j us t...?
Co ul dn w I abstain.
Whataboutif you...?
7e
8O I Usefulphrasesandvocabulary

Thankingsomeonefor a meeting
Thanksfor comingin today.
Confirmingwhat the meetinghasdecided
Thankyouverymuchfor yourtime.
Justto confirm,we'regoingto ...
Thankyoufor yourhardwork.I thinkwe'vecomeup
We[l,it seemsthat we area[[agreedthat we should...
with a lot of goodideas.
We'vedecidedthat...
Thankyouverymuchfor meetingwith us today.
Sayingthat it's time to closea meeting
Sayingyourgoodbyes
Let'swindthingsup here.
| lookforwardto seeingyou (alDagainsoon.
Sincetime'swearingon,let'swindup this
I hopeyou havea safejourney.
discussion now.
Havea safetrip home.
It's quite lateandwe'rea bit pressedfor time.
| lookforwardto meetingyouagainsoon.
I don'twantto let this discussionrunovertime.
I hopethatyou havea safejourneyhome.
Let'stry to finishon time.
Havea safetrio backto London.

Translation
to abstain Sixpeople votedin favour,twoagainst, andoneabstained,
to attend I attended a meeting withthe HRmanagers on Friday.
to beaboutsth Asyouatlknow,thismeeting is aboutthechanges in our
department.
to bein favourofsth Raj,areyouin favouroftheproposal?
to calla meeting Shallwecatta teammeeting to discuss thenewregulations?
to clarify I'mafraidI don'tquiteunderstand. Coutd youplease clarifythat?
to conclude So,thatconcludes ourmeeting fortoday.
to deatwithsth Coutd wepossibty deatwiththatpointat theendof themeeting?
to discusssth l'd liketo calla meetingto discussournewmarketing strategy.
to distribute sthto sb Couldyoudistribute a copyof theminutes to everyone in theteam?
to encourage sb l'dtiketo encourage everybody to participatein thediscussion.
to fix a time Let'sfix a timefor ournextmeeting.
to followup on sth Shaltwefollowup on someof the pointsfromourlastmeeting?
to getthe baltrotling 5o,whowoutdliketo getthebaltrotling?
to holda meeting Shallwe hotdthemeeting in Mike'soffice?
to interrupt sth/sb Sorryto interrupt you,butI havean important question.
to makea point I thinkAndrea justmadea verygoodpoint.Wereallydo needto
improveefficiency.
to makeit Sorry,Gary.I can'tmakeit thisweek.Canwe meetsome
othertime?
to outlinesth I'dliketo outlinethemainpointsof myargument.
to postpone sth I suggestwe postpone ourdecisionuntilwegetthefull report
fromsales.
to prepare for sth We'rebusypreparing forthemeeting withourpartners nextmonth.
to reacha decision Havewereached a decision then,or doesanybody disagree?
to reviewsth I thinkweshouldreview oursalespolicyduringthenextmeeting.
to schedule sth Couldweschedute another meeting fornextweek?ls thatOK
witheveryone?
to speakup lfyouhaveanyquestions, please speakup now.Thisis ourlast
chance fordiscussion.
to stickto sth Goodpoint,butcanwestickto theagenda anddiscuss that
underAOB?
to suitsb Whattimewouldsuiteveryone?
to taketheoppor- I'dtiketo takethisopportunity to thankJan forall hishardwork.
tunityto do sth
to turnto sth Nowlet'sturnto oursalesfigures.
to wrap(sth)up Doesanyonehaveanyotherpoints?No?OK,thenlet'swrap
thingsup for today.