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DIALOGUE. TIPS, STEPS AND IDEAS VOCABULARY BANK

Less preparation, but know how to start

STEP 1: START THE CONVERSATION
Hello, how are you? It’s nice to see you.
How’s your day?
How are you doing?
Respond
Hi, I’m fine, and you?
A bit under the weather…
Not bad, how are things in your life?
STEP 2: MOVE TO THE POINT
I’ve got something to tell you…
You are just the right person I wanted to talk to…
Have you got a minute?
Have you heard that…?
Is that true that…?
There’s so much we need to discuss…
Move to the topic
● Have you heard about the event that is coming up soon?
● I guess we must discuss a few issues related to the school
event.
● Have you got a spare minute? There are a few things we
should quickly discuss.
Introduce situation
● You probably know that we are responsible for organizing…
● An important event called ‘International Day of Books’ iks held
at our school and we need to…
● I was informed that we had been involved in the team
organizing ‘The International Day of Books’.
Set the goal
● Let’s decide who will participate, what the activities will be and
how we are going to report the results.
● Let’s generate the ideas regarding the participants, activities
and reporting results.
● We must consider and make a plan on the participants,
activities and ways of reporting results about the event.

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STEP 3: EXCHANGE YOUR IDEAS

Suggest
● I was wondering maybe we could involve the whole local
community.
● Regarding the activities, I suppose, we must give our school students a
chance to speak out during the presentations.
● Talking about reporting the results, one option we can possibly go for
is writing an article and publishing it in the local newspaper and
posting it on our school website.
Justify
● We must raise awareness of reading and literacy in the whole
district.
● It could encourage the young generation to share their knowledge on
the topic and learn from each other.
● I can write an article in both English and Lithuanian. I also have a friend
who works as a journalist. I am sure she’ll give me a hand with the
printed version.
Explain why
● If we involved the writers, public libraries, universities, it
would result in major influence on the people from all walks of
life.
● At the same time, students would develop public speaking skills and
improve their English.
● It would be convenient, time saving, informative and the whole city and
even the entire world could find out about our celebration.

STEP 4: AGREE. PARTLY AGREE. DISAGREE.

Agreeing. Partly agreeing.

That’s true! Exactly! I see what you mean, but…
You’re right. I see your point, but…
That’s a good idea. I’m not sure about that.
It’s worth a try. I agree to some extent, but

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I suppose that might work. I agree up to a point…

That sounds right! I think that’s debatable.
I feel the same way. That’s a good point, but…
I couldn’t agree more. You’ve got a point here, but…
I totally agree. It may be true, but…
That’s a good point. That’s partly true, but on the
That makes sense. other hand..

Disagreeing.
I’m totally against.
Definitely not.
I simply see no point.
That’s ridiculous!
I don’t think that will work.
That can be right.
I doubt that…
Surely not…
Actually. I would prefer not to.
No, we need to think of something else.
I don’t feel like… how about… instead?

If your partner doesn’t stop speaking…

Interrupting
Sorry to interrupt, but…
Can I just come in here?
Can I just say something here?
Can I stop you there for a moment?
Can I just butt in for a second?
Can I just mention something?
Before you move on, can I say something?
Just a moment, I’d like to…

If your partner isn’t very talkative…

Inviting the open person
What do you think?
What’s your view on…?
How do you feel about that?

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What are your feelings about…?

What’s your opinion?
Would you agree that…?
Can you give me your thoughts on…?
Any thoughts on…?
What’s your opinion on…?

If you didn't understand what your partner said…

Asking for clarification
Could you say that again?
I didn’t quite catch that…
I don’t see what you mean.
I’m not quite sure I got your point.
What do you mean exactly?
I’m not quite sure I understand what you’re saying.
I don’t feel clear about…
When you said… Did you mean…?
Could you be more specific about…?
Would you elaborate on that?
Could you put it differently?
Let me just make sure, your point is that…
I want to make sure I understood correctly…
If I have understood you correctly, your point is that…

If your partner didn’t understand what you said…

Giving clarification
Let me explain…
Let me put it in another way…
In other words
To say this differently…
To put it differently…
The point I’m trying to make is…
All I am saying is…
What I have in mind is…

Making suggestions
How about…?

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What about…?
We could always…
Why don’t we…?
Perhaps we could…
It might be a good idea to…
Let’s…
Shall we…?
How do you feel about it?
Do you want to add anything?

Interest. Enthusiasm. Intonation

Showing interest
Uh-huh.
Oh.
Oh really?
Really?
Is that right?
I see.
Right.
No way!
That’s incredible!
Unbelievable!
Get out of here!

Ask for opinion

Have you got any comments on that?
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Do you have any particular views on…?
What are your views? How do you see this?

Change the subject

Can we turn to another point?
Let’s discuss the next point.
Speaking about…
Moving on to the next point of our discussion…

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STEP 5: SUMMARIZE YOUR DECISION AND CLOSE THE

CONVERSATION
Wrap it up!
● So let’s summarize what we’ve just spoken about…
● Alright, on the whole, we have decided that…
● Let’s wrap it up and quickly review all the points we agreed
on…
● I guess it’s time to make the briefing of our plans for the
event…
List one by one
● Firstly, as for participants, we are going to invite…
● Secondly, the activities will involve…
● We will also organize and provide…
● Finally, we will share all the photos, description on the web to
spread the information afterwards.
Evaluate
● It was such a productive discussion. Thank you so much!
● Seems like a wonderful plan! We did a great job.
● So far so good. I guess we can really make it happen.
● I hope our school teacher will be proud of us for all these
ideas!
Say goodbye
● It’s time for me to go. I’ll see you next week. Take care.
● I’d better be going now, I have some assignments to prepare
for. See you soon!
● Have a nice day! I’ll catch you later.
● I’ll talk to you later. Bye for now.