Phrases for academic speaking situations
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Phrases for presentation
- Introducing the topic
- The aim of this presentation is…
- My presentation today is about…
- Today I’d like to talk about…
- Listing the points
- My talk will be in two (three, four) parts: First, … after that, … then, … finally, …
- Firstly, … Secondly, … Thirdly, … Finally, …
- I’ll begin by looking at … Then, I’ll move on to …Towards the end I'll ...
- Changing the topic
- Now I’d like to turn to …
- Now let’s look at …
- Moving onto ...
- Focusing your audience’s attention
- What is interesting / important is …
- Notice / Observe that
- Referring backwards/forwards
- I mentioned earlier …
- We’ll come back to this point later …
- Referring to visuals
- Looking at the chart you can see …
- As you can see from the graph, …
- The graph / chart shows …
- Checking understanding
- Is that clear?
- Any questions?
- Speaker’s attitude
- I believe/think that …
- It seems to me that …
- The point I’m trying to make here is ...
- It’s important/interesting to notice …
- Referring to common knowledge
- As you know ...
- As I’m sure you are aware …
- Dealing with questions
- That’s a good point…
- Can we get back to it later?
- I’m afraid I’m not the right person to answer this question.
- Ending the presentation
- So, to sum up …
- In conclusion (we can say that) …
- If you have any questions, I’ll be pleased to answer them.
Phrases for seminar
- Giving Opinions
- In my opinion…
- From my perspective/point of view…
- It’s my understanding that…
- In my mind…
- It seems to me/It appears to me…
- I am convinced that…
- I strongly/firmly believe
- There is no question/doubt that…
Example: It’s my understanding that adopting the Euro will benefit Europe’s economies in numerous ways.
- Stating facts
- It’s well known that….
- It’s a fact that….
- I’m positive that….
- I’m absolutely sure that……
Example: It’s a fact that the Euro will make prices across Europe more transparent.
- Interrupting
- Yes, but…
- I see what you mean but…
Example: Yes, but it has already lost value against the U.S. dollar.
- Pinpointing a problem
- It seems to me that…
- The real problem is…
- It’s quite clear that…
Example: The real problem is that not all countries in Europe are necessarily in favour of the EURO which means that only some economies will benefit.
- Adding Information
- Yes, but…
- Let me add another point…
- Let me just add to what was just said…
- I agree with what X said, but I’d like to add something…
- Furthermore…
Example: Furthermore, the EURO may not level the economic playing field between countries and different standards of living will continue to exist.
- Checking that you have understood
- Please correct me if I’m wrong, but…
- Could I ask a few questions to check my understanding of your position?
- Could we go through that again?
Example: Please correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the EURO supposed to raise the standards in the less affluent European countries to meet those in the richer countries?
- Proposing a solution
- What if _X_ were to…
- Supposing _X_ tried…
- Wouldn’t a fair solution…
Example: Supposing all EU members adopted the Euro for a trial period with the option of abandoning the currency if economic matters failed to improve.
- Demonstrating Understanding
- If I understood you correctly, you…
- I appreciate your/that point of view…
- I can understand your/that perspective…
Example: I appreciate your point of view and I agree completely.
- Focusing on difficulties
- The argument falls apart/is weakened…
- The main issue/problem as I see it…
- Where I have difficulty with your notion(s) is/are…
Example: The main problem as I see it, is that not all European countries are starting from the same economic departure point.
- Disagreeing
- I disagree/ completely disagree
- I’m afraid that I can’t quite agree
- I can see your point, but…
- I have some reservations about that point of view…
Example: I disagree with your last point because the EURO will equalize commerce, trade and labour costs.
- Seeing both sides
- On the one hand…
- One way of looking at it is…
- Yes, but the flip side of the issue is…
- You can’t ignore…
Example: On the one hand adopting the EURO will bolster competition among European nations while on the other hand it will combat U.S., global market domination.
Phrases for debate
- Opening the debate
- [a nice opening is using a quote]
- Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to this debate.
- Welcome from this side of the house…
- The motion for debate today is: … defining the motion:
- Now we as today’s proposition/opposition strongly believe that this is true/not true.
- let us first define some important terms in this debate.
- We believe that what is meant by … is… / that … are …
- When we say … should … we mean that …
- Presenting the team-line
- We as today’s proposition/opposition have structured our case as follows:
- I, as the first speaker, will be talking about …
- Our second speaker, …, will elaborate on the fact that …
- And our third speaker, …, will do the rebuttal.
- Rebutting arguments, rebuilding your case
- But before I come to my own arguments, let us first have a look at what … has said.
- I will continue our case in a minute, but before that…
- There are some things about the… speech that need to be addressed.
- The first prop/opposition speaker has told us …; on the contrary …
- He/She also said that …; but in fact..
- He/She was claiming that …; but as my first speaker already told you, …
- Introducing arguments
- Let me come to my first/second/…/next argument: [concise label of argument]
- My first/… argument is:
- The first/… reason why we’re prop/opposing this motion is: explaining arguments:
- [rather abstract explanation on how the argument should work] giving examples:
- There are many examples for this/for …, for instance.
- In fact, you can find many examples for this in real life. Just think of…
- And there are similar cases, such as…, …
- So in this simple example we can clearly see the effect of …
- So as we have seen [argument label], and therefore [motion].
- Now because of this …, we have to support this motion.
- Summarising & ending your speech
- So Ladies and Gentlemen, what have I told you today? Firstly …, Secondly..
- [some nice closing words]
- And for all of these reasons, the motion must stand/fall.
- Making / rejecting / accepting / answering points of information
- Point of information, Sir/Madam.
- On that point.
- Wouldn’t you have to agree …?
- Doesn’t what you’re saying contradict with …?
- What about the …?
- How would you explain, that … ?
- Declined.
- Yes, please. / Go ahead.
- I’m going to come to this very point in my second argument in a minute.
- Giving summarising speeches
- Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome for the last time from today’s prop/opposition.
- It is now my pleasure to summarize this debate,
- Take a look at what both sides have said and see what the outcome of this debate actually is.
- A first/second/… major clash was: …
- Today’s prop/opposition told us …; we had to find …
- And for all these reasons, I beg you to propose / oppose