Useful Expressions to Initiate a Discussion

Function Expression
To start a discussion  I would like to start the discussion by saying that…
 Can we start the discussion now?
 I would like to express my view regarding this matter…
 Today we are going to discuss…
 We are here to discuss…
 Let’s begin our discussion by…
To ask for an opinion  What do you think about…?
 What is your opinion?
 Any comments?
 What is your view on…?
 What do you feel about…?
 May I know your opinion regarding…?
 Do you agree…?
 Would you like to share your opinion/view with us?
To give an opinion/state  I think…
point of view  I feel…
 I must say…
 As far as I am concerned…
 I strongly believe…
 Personally, I feel…
 In my opinion…
 My opinion is that…
 I am of the opinion that…
 I am sure that…
 I am convinced that…
 My point of view is…
 From my point of view…
 It seems to me that…
 I would say that…
 It’s quite clear that…
To express strong  I strongly agree.
agreement  I agree completely.
 I agree absolutely.
 I am in complete agreement.
 I couldn’t agree with you more.
 That’s certainly true.
 Exactly! You have hit the nail on the head.
 Yes. I’m sure you are right.
 Absolutely!
To express agreement  I agree.
 That’s right.
 You’re right.
 That’s true.
 I think you are right.
 I am glad you mentioned that.
 I agree with you.
 I share the same view.
 I am of the same opinion.
  I suppose that’s true.
 You could be right.
To express partial  You could be right but…
agreement  That’s true but…
 I see your point but…
 I do not entirely agree with you…
 You have a point but…
 I agree up to a point but…
 Your suggestion is good but it may not be practical…
 That may be so but…
To express strong  I disagree completely.
disagreement  That can’t be true at all.
 That’s absolutely not true.
 That’s totally out of the question.
 No. I don’t like this suggestion.
To express disagreement  I disagree.
 I don’t think so.
 I don’t see it that way.
 On the contrary…
 I wouldn’t say that.
 I think you are mistaken.
 I beg to differ.
 I understand what you are saying but I think it is not practical.
 That’s quite good but I think otherwise.
 Are you sure?
 I could be wrong but…
 I think it would be better if…
 I am not convinced that your suggestion will work.
 This will give rise to other problems.
Useful Expressions to Maintain a Discussion
Function
To make a strong suggestion
To make a suggestion
To make a tentative suggestion
To ask for a suggestion
To present solutions
To justify choices
To contrast choices
Expression
 The only solution to this problem is…
 There is no other way except…
 There is not alternative but to…
 We must…
 I recommend that…
 I would suggest that…
 My recommendation is…
 My suggestion is…
 I would like to propose that…
 I think we should…
 I propose that…
 It might be a good idea…
 How about…
 Don’t you think we should…
 What about…
 It might be a good idea if…
 It would be a good way to…
 One solution would be…
 We could always…
 What we could do is…
 Perhaps we should…
 What is your suggestion?
 What would you suggest?
 What would your suggestion be?
 Would you like to give your suggestion?
 What is your opinion?
 Do you have any suggestions?
 Do you have any other ways?
 What are your views regarding this?
 Is there anything you would like to say about this issue?
 Would you like to comment on this?
 One solution is to…
 Another solution would be to…
 There are two ways to solve this problem. Firstly…
 One possibility is…
 Alternatively we could…
 One way is to…
 We could either…or…
 One advantage is…
 Another advantage is…
 X has the advantage of… but Z…
 X would be able to… because…
 While X has some advantages, Y is still a better choice
because…
 X is a better solution due to…
 If we choose X, we would have to encounter the problem
 of…
 X sounds good but Y can prove to be more effective…
To accept  Excellent!
ideas/opinions/suggestions  That sounds great!
 That’s a good idea.
 That’s fine with me.
 That’s a fantastic suggestion.
 I support your suggestion.
 I have no objection to that.
 I am completely in favour of your recommendation.
 That certainly sounds like a good idea.
 Your suggestion is acceptable to me.
 I am in favour of your suggestion.
 I can’t agree more.
To reject  I appreciate your opinion but…
ideas/opinions/suggestions  I understand your concern but…
 I appreciate your point of view but…
 I do see your point but…
 That is certainly very interesting but…
 You have a good point there but…
 I am sorry but that is not practical…
 I am sorry I can’t agree with you…
 I am afraid we do not share the same opinion.
 I am sorry I can’t accept what you have just said.
 I am sorry but I doubt what you have just said…
 That is totally unacceptable.
 That is not practical at all.
 It doesn’t make any sense to me.
 That sounds rather impossible.
 That’s out of the question.
 I am against your opinion.
 I accept your argument but I feel that…
To ask for clarification  What did you mean when you said…?
 What do you mean by…?
 I am sorry I missed your point. Could you please explain…?
 Could you elaborate on what you mean by…?
 Do you mean to say that…?
 Are you implying that…?
 I am afraid I don’t quite understand you.
 Could you please clarify…?
 I’m afraid I’m not quite sure what you meant by that.
 Sorry, I don’t follow you. Would you mind giving an
example?
 Sorry, but I didn’t quite get you.
 Could you please explain that to me again?
 Can you please explain further on…?
 May I know why…?
 Do you mind telling me more about…?
To give clarification  What I meant was…
 Sure, I was trying to point out that…
 I was trying to emphasize that…
  I was merely saying that…
 I was actually highlighting the…
 Certainly. One good example would be…
 Let me explain how…
To persuade  I wonder if you have thought of…
 Don’t you think…
 Maybe you should consider…
 Have you considered…
 I can assure you that…
 Wouldn’t it be a good idea to…
To interrupt  Excuse me, can you please repeat what you have just said?
 Excuse me, can you please clarify that?
 Excuse me, can I say something?
 Allow me to interrupt…
 May I add something here?
 Sorry to interrupt but I have to say this…
 Excuse me, could I just ask you a quick question?
 Excuse me, but isn’t it true that…?
 I am sorry but I think we need to get back to the topic.
 I am sorry I have to stop you from continuing. Can we
return to our topic?
 I am sorry to interrupt. Your observation is not connected to
our discussion. Shall we get back to…?
 I am sorry I don’t see the relevance of your point. Let’s get
back to our topic on…
 To return to our point on…
 Getting back to the original point mentioned earlier…
Useful Expression to Close a Discussion
Function Expression
To summarize main  In short…
points  Briefly…
 To sum up…
 Allow me to go over the key points…
 Let’s sum up what has been mentioned so far…
 I will briefly summarize the main…
To conclude  If there is no objection, I suggest that…
 So if all of us agree, we can decide to…
 In conclusion…
 To conclude…
 Our unanimous decision is…
 We all agree that…
 If all of you are agreeable I suggest that…
To end the discussion  Does anyone have anything to say? Otherwise, let’s bring this
discussion to a close.
 Since all of you are agreeable, let’s end here.
 If you have nothing more to add, we shall stop here.
 If nobody has anything else to say, we shall end this discussion.
 I guess it is time to end our discussion.
 It has been an interesting discussion.
To close a discussion  Thank you for your contribution to this discussion.
 I hope you have enjoyed this discussion. Thank you.
 Thank you very much for your attention and participation.
 Thank you for a fruitful and interesting discussion.