ENGLISH PILL 58/365: CONVERSATION GAMBITS II.

1. SAYING ‘No’ TACTFULLY: I’m not keen on … / I don’t particularly like … / It’s not my idea of … / I’d really rather not… / I’d really much rather … / Honestly, I’d prefer…

2. CORRECTING YOURSELF: What I mean is … / What I meant was … / Let me put it another way. / What I’m saying is … / What I’m trying to say is … / Don’t misunderstand me, / If I said that, I didn’t mean to … / Let me rephrase what I just said.

3. PUTTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: That’s not what I said at all. / I’ve no idea who told you that. / Goodness, where did you get that idea from? / I’m afraid that just isn’t true. / The fact of the matter is … / Look, let’s get this straight, …

4. ADDING THINGS: To start with, / And another thing, / What’s more, / Just a small point, / Perhaps I should mention… / Oh, I almost forgot…

5. DEMANDING EXPLANATIONS: Can you explain why … / Do you mean to say that … / I don’t quite understand why … / Why is it that … / How come … / Does this mean …

6. EXPRESSING YOUR RESERVATIONS: I’m afraid … / I don’t see how … / But the problem is … / Yes, but … / I doubt … / Possibly, but … / Yes, but the problem really is … / What I’m worried about is … / What bothers me is …

7. ILLUSTRATING YOUR POINT: For example, / For instance, / Take the way … / Take, for example … / For one thing, … / To give you an idea … / Look at the way … / By way of illustration…

8. FINISHING YOUR STORY: To cut a long story short, / So in the end, / So, in short, / So, / To sum up, / All in all, / To put the whole thing in a nutshell, 

9. GENERALISING: As a rule, / Generally, / Usually, / Most of the time / Again and again / Time and again / Every so often / From time to time / Every now and then

10. TAKING THINGS INTO CONSIDERATION: Bearing in mind … / Considering … / If you remember … / Allowing for the fact that … / When you consider that …