Useful Expressions for Group Discussion

Ed.Zhu Yaoyun @Shandong University zhuyaoyun@sdu.edu.cn

Self-introduction Open the talk
• I’m (Wang Xiaopeng) from (the MBA Education • How shall we begin?
Center of Fudan University). • I suggest we start from the left side of the
• I’m (Barbara Slavin) of (USA Today). group. Is that ok?
Raise the issues Presenting personal pinion/suggestions
• Let’s consider … • It seems to me that…
• Let me first run over … • I tend to think…
• Basically, we’ve got three issues to decide. • As far as I’m concerned… /
• Shall we begin with…
Emphasizing/ Give your opinion tactfully Adding your point
• “If I may just say one thing …” • I think I have another point to make
• Let me emphasize … about …
• Can I draw your attention to … • I think I can add another point to what …
• I’d like to point out … has said.
• I bet… / I’m pretty sure… • Sorry to interrupt, but I’d just like to say
• I strongly believe…/ I’m convinced… that …
• Clearly/Obviously…
Handling interruptions Move to the next point
• Yes, go ahead. • Right, I think that covers the first item./ Shall
• Sorry, please let me finish… we leave it (that item)…
• If I may finish this point… • Shall we move on? /Can we move to the next
• Can I come to that later?/ item for discussion?
• I’ll come to that very shortly. • If nobody has anything else to add, …
• Can we leave that to another discussion? • We’ll come to the second point.
Sorry, I’d prefer to leave questions until the end. • I’m afraid we’re running out of time. Let’s
move to the next step.
• So the next step is…
What we need to do now is…
Soliciting Suggestions /Opinions Encourage Engagement in Discussion
• What’s your position on… • We haven’t heard from Peter.
• How do you feel about … • Can we hear what … has to say?
• What are your comments on… • …, I suspect you have a different reaction.
• I’d really like to hear your comments. • May we hear your thoughts? /
• Anything to add? / What do you say to …? • …, any comments?
• Anything more? Just let … finish.
Is there anything else we should cover?
Making suggestions or supplement Comments
• Could I make a suggestion that… • That’s interesting/informative.
• My proposal is… • That’s a good point.
• Have you thought about…? • That’s a good idea.
• How about…? • Thanks for that.
• Let’s …. • Sounds good/a real possibility.
• Maybe/Perhaps we could… • Great idea.

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• One idea might be to…
What if….?
Ed.Zhu Yaoyun @Shandong University zhuyaoyun@sdu.edu.cn • I think that meets our requirements.
Show your agreement
• Thank you. I concur with you.
• I’d go along with you on that.
• I agree with you on this point.
• I take your point.
• Precisely. /I’ll say! / That’s right/ true..
• I couldn’t agree more.
• That’s exactly the way I feel.
• You can say that again!
• I totally agree with you.
I think I am quite in agreement with you and there
is nothing to add in this connection.
Offering counter-proposals
• Instead of …, how about…?
• Rather than…., we might be able to …
• Could…instead?
Perhaps a better idea would be to…
Rejecting proposals
• Unfortunately, I see it differently/
• Sorry, I don’t think that will work/ I can’t see that
one working.
• I’m afraid I can’t agree (with you in saying that).
• Sorry, that’s not what I’m saying. /That’s not quite
what we…
• I’m afraid I’m not convinced by…
• I’m not sure it’s very realistic.
• I’m sorry, but that’s not really a possibility
• I’m afraid I have some reservations about that.
I don’t think it would be sensible for us to….
Clarifying Questions (Speaker)
• I beg your pardon? I didn’t catch what you said./ I • Perhaps I didn’t really make my question
didn’t quite follow you.
• I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you are • What I mean is…/ What I want to say is…
getting at.
• I am not quite sure what your question is? / what • Have I made that clear?
you mean.
• I think that’s a very good question. But, could you
please be more specific?/
• Could you just explain/clarify (your first point,
please)…? / Could we have some more details,
please?
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• I really like that idea.
Accepting proposals
• That sounds acceptable / reasonable.
I can accept that.
Partly Agreeing
• Yes, but…
• Maybe, but don’t you think …
• I understand what you mean, but …
• Up to a point I agree with you, but in
practice, things just do not work that way.
• I’m inclined to disagree with you on that.
• Can you expand on that?
• Well, perhaps you’ve got a point there, but…
• Er, excuse me, matt, just a moment. That’s a
big claim…. Can we start with a few basics?
• Before agreeing to that we would need…
Off the track (跑题)
• We’re missing the point.
• We’re getting off the point.
• Let’s get back to the main point.
Dealing with conflict
• I think we should look at the points we agree
on…
• We should focus on the positive aspects…
• We should look at the benefits for both
sides…
• It is our joint interests to resolve the issues…
• I think we should look at the whole package,
not so much at individual areas of difficulty.
I think we need to consider some fresh
ideas….
Clarifying Questions (Questioner)
clear. In fact what I asked was…/
• Do you see what I’m getting at?
• I understand that, but what I really want to
know…
• To explain it in more detail…
• Are you asking me a question about ( the people
Ed.Zhu Yaoyun @Shandong University
actually using the ship)? zhuyaoyun@sdu.edu.cn
• Can I just confirm that what you are saying is…?
• What do you mean by…?
Welcoming Questions Inquiring the Answers Given
• That’s a very good question. • This is my answer. Is it enough for your
• I’m glad this question has been brought up. question?
• I’ll try to answer this question very briefly. • Are you satisfied with my answer?
• I think that is a key question. • Did your question get answered?
• This is a big /challenging question. • I think that might be the answer to your
• I am not familiar with the subject, but I suppose question.
you may be right in saying so. • Is that clearer now?
• For the time being, I would like to answer your
questions after the panel, if you don’t mind.
• This is an extremely difficult question to answer.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to discuss it with you at
length on another occasion.
Breaking off negotiations Delaying decisions
• It’s a pity we could not reach agreement until this • I think we need more time to consider this.
time. • I think we should postpone a decision…..
• Unfortunately we appear unable to settle our • Can we leave this until another date?
differences. • It would be wrong to make a final decision.
Confirming Confirming action
• Perhaps if I can check the main points… • We need to look at…
• I’d like to check what we’ve said/ confirm. We’ve got to…
• I think this is a good time / point to repeat what
we’ve agreed to so far.
Summarize Discussion Conclude Discussion
• So, to sum up, …/In summary, … • Let’s stop there.
• So, to conclude… we’ve agreed… • I’m afraid we’ll have to finish here.
• So, in conclusion, I’d like to run through the main • Let’s call it a day.
points that we’ve talked about. • That’s all we have time for.
• We’re short of time. Let’s sum up what we have • Well, that’ll do for today. Thank you.
discussed so far. / Shall I go over the main points?
• Before we close, let me just summarize the main Reminder:
points. Diplomatic language
• I think we should end there. Just to summarize… uses not + positive word
• I think that just covers everything / We’ve covered Rather than
everything, so I’d like to go over the decisions the negative word of the same meaning,
we’ve taken… and it uses
• Can we summarize our proposals in a few words? I’m afraid or I’m sorry to start a sentence.
• So, can we summarize the progress we’ve made? Major Source: Simon Sweeney. Communicating in Business A Short

• Can we go through the points we’ve agreed on? Course for Business English Students, 2nd Edition Cambridge

Professional English

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 Tasks for Group Discussion
Ed.Zhu Yaoyun @Shandong University zhuyaoyun@sdu.edu.cn
Major Source: Simon Sweeney. Communicating in Business A Short Course for Business English Students, 2nd Edition Cambridge Professional English

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