oral english

1. Useful phrases.
 Useful phrases.: Silence fillers, Introducing yourself, Speculating, Giving your
opinion, Describing similarities and differences, Politely asking someone to repeat
something, likes and dislikes, agrees, Putting forward another point of view.
Enlaces externos relacionados con Useful phrases
USEFUL PHRASES
Silence fillers
 To start with
 To begin with
 Well, now, let me see
 Let me have a look
 Let me think
 ... their might/ must/ could/ can’t have been
 Well, err... I’d say that...
 Mm... I’m not quite sure what this picture/ photo might be illustrating
 Possibly, ...
 At first sight, it seems... , but it could also ...
 I would say that...
 It’s difficult to say exactly but ...
Introducing yourself
 Have you met before?
 Do you know each other? Where did you met the first time?
How long have you know each other?

2.  Did you know each other?
Formal
 I’m Mr. X and I would like to introduce you my colleague Y
 How do you do?
 How do you do?
Not so formal
 ‘Hello, I’m Jane Watson and this is my colleague XX?
 ‘Hello’. ‘Pleased to met you’. ‘Nice to meet you’
Very informal
 ‘I’m Mary and this is John’
 ‘Hi !’- ‘Good to see you’
Speculating
£ I suppose this might/ could well (be)
£ He look like ....
£ She look like as if...
£ This must (be)
Giving your opinion

3. ¦ From my point of view
¦ As far as I know
¦ As far as I’m concerned
¦ In my opinion/ view
¦ Generally speaking, I think
¦ Personally, I would say that
¦ To my mind
¦ I’d just like to say that
¦ As far as I’m concerned
¦ I’m quite convinced that
¦ To be quite honest/ frank
¦ If you ask me
Describing similarities and differences
ø Compared to
ø In contrast to
ø Similar/ almost identical to
ø Slightly/ completely different from
ø (not) as (spacious) as
ø less (modern, luxurious) than
ø In a similar/ different position to
ø ... has disappeared altogether

4. Politely asking someone to repeat something
/ I’m sorry I didn’t catch your point
/ I’m sorry I didn’t quite catch that...
/ Sorry, what was that again?
/ Sorry, could you say that again, please?
/ I’m so sorry but I’m not sure I understood correctly
/ What was that again?
/ Do you mean ...?
Commenting on something you know nothing about
 Actually, I don’t have any first - hand experience on ... (but ....)
 Personally, I’ve never had anything to do .../ had very little to do with...
 It’s rather difficult to say but I would imagine that...
 Well, I’ve never been on/ interested in ... but
Expressing likes and dislikes
 I prefer/ like
 I’d rather
 What I like the best is ...
 My favourite ...
 I personally ...
 I hate/ loathe/ detest/ can’t stand ...

5.  What I hate most is ...
Asking for the opinion of others
Ø What / how about you?
Ø Would you agree that?
Ø What are your views on ...?
Ø What’s your opinion?
Ø What do you think?
Asking if somebody agrees
 Do/ Would you agree with ...?
 You agree, don’t you?
 I wonder if you would agree ...
 Do you really think that ...?
 Do you go along with that?
 Wouldn’t you say that ...?
 Surely you don’t think that ...?
Putting forward another point of view
 Yes, but on the other hand, don’t you think that ...
 But to look at it from another point of view ...
 Surely you can’t really believe that ...?
 But wouldn’t you agree that ...?

6.  What I hate most is ...
Asking for the opinion of others
Ø What / how about you?
Ø Would you agree that?
Ø What are your views on ...?
Ø What’s your opinion?
Ø What do you think?
Asking if somebody agrees
 Do/ Would you agree with ...?
 You agree, don’t you?
 I wonder if you would agree ...
 Do you really think that ...?
 Do you go along with that?
 Wouldn’t you say that ...?
 Surely you don’t think that ...?
Putting forward another point of view
 Yes, but on the other hand, don’t you think that ...
 But to look at it from another point of view ...
 Surely you can’t really believe that ...?
 But wouldn’t you agree that ...?