BUSINESS ENGLISH COURSE

UNIT 8 – Interrupting Politely

Words or Lexical Phrases to Use for Interrupting:

‘Can’ or ‘could’
‘Can I just ask you…?’
‘If you could check the following...’

Both expressions above are more polite than simply saying ‘I want to know…’ or ‘Go through
them in order…’

Use ‘would like’

‘…I’d like to ask...’
‘I would like to be able to show her drawings…’

This sounds much more polite than ‘I want…’

Say ‘sorry’
‘I’m sorry, but I really strongly disagree…’
‘Sorry to hold the meeting up’

This is a very common way to ‘soften’ what you say. It is not really to apologise but it is used to
tell the listener: ‘I’m going to say or do something you might not like, so please don’t get upset’.

‘Just’
‘I just wanted to see…’
‘Can I just ask you…?’

It is good to teach students that ’just’, gives the listener a message that they are not being
asked to deal with something difficult or time-consuming; what they are asking should not be a
problem.

Use ‘I think’ or ‘I feel’

‘I do feel quite strongly that we’re bringing this out too soon…’
‘I don’t think we’ve got any choice…’

These phrases also have the effect of softening what they are saying, by presenting their ideas
as opinions, not orders or instructions. Often students can sound abrupt and demanding so
they need to be taught how to adjust what they want to say to cultural norms and expectations
rather than relying upon translation.

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 BUSINESS ENGLISH COURSE

UNIT 8 – Interrupting Politely

Acknowledge People
‘Okay everybody, ….’
‘…as you can see…’
‘Yeah Sean, ….’

It’s important to acknowledge the other people in the meeting, by using their names, or words
like ‘you’, ‘we’, ‘everybody’, ‘my colleagues’ etc. If students don’t use these words and
expressions, they may give people the impression that they are rather detached and/or
authoritarian.

Other examples of polite interruptions:

• Excuse me
• Pardon me
• Sorry to interrupt
• May I interrupt (for a minute)?
• Can I add something here?
• I don’t mean to intrude, but . . .
• Could I inject something here?
• Do you mind if I jump in here?

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