C1 IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING

IMPROVE YOUR SPEAKING

I THINK

It seems to me (that)…

I have the impression that…

Personally,

I don’t know about you, but I …

I feel (strongly) that…

I (strongly) believe that…

Speaking from personal experience,

For me personally,

 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

  

How do you feel about...?

What's your take on...?

Where do you stand on….?

What are your thoughts on this?

What do you make of this?

What do you reckon (informal)?

 

AGREEING:

• Absolutely

• Exactly

• Definitely

• I see what you mean

• I see your point

• You have a point there.

 

DISAGREEING:

• I see your point, but…

• Your point is well taken, but …

• I beg to differ

• (I'm afraid) That’s not always the

case

 

LOOKING FOR AGREEMENT:

• Don’t you think?

• Question tags (Isn’t it, has it…)

• You know what I mean,

 

FILLERS:

• So,

• You see, …

• …, you see, …

• You know,

• I mean,

• …, like,… (too informal)

 

SHOW INTEREST IN THE TOPIC:

• Really?

• That’s interesting!

• Right!

• I see

• I can’t believe it!

• Reply questions: I went to Paris –

Did you?

• Uh huh

• As you said before, ... (referring to

what the other speaker said before

shows you’ve been paying attention)

 

GIVING THE FLOOR (turn to speak):

• Don’t you think?

• Question tags (Isn’t it, has it…)

 

SAYING “NO” :

• Not really, no (rather than a plain

“no”)

ex. -Do you like football? - Not really, no

(instead of "noooo!")

• I don't think so.

ex. Are you coming? - I don't think so.

 

DIRECT THE CONVERSATION TOWARDS THE TOPIC:

• By the way,

• Speaking of…

• That reminds me of…

 

KEEPING YOUR LISTENER

ENGAGED:

• Rhetorical questions (questions you

don’t really expect an answer for,

you sort of answer them yourself):

What do I mean by that? / Is

smoking dangerous? Of course it is

• As you very well know, ...

 

SUMMARISING:

• In a nutshell,

• To make a long story short,

 

REPHRASING:

• In other words,

• ..., that is to say, ...