VOCABULARY Introductions GREETING Good morning/afternoon/evening. Welcome to ..... . Good morning, Ladies and gentlemen. It’s an honour to have the opportunity to address such a distinguished audience. On behalf of ..., may I welcome you to ... Good morning/ everyone and welcome to our seminar/my presentation/..... . Morning everyone. Thanks for coming. Hi/Hello, everyone. NAME, POSITION My name’s ….. . I’m the new Bursar. Let me start by saying just a few words about my own background. I started out in …. I know I’ve met some of you, but just for the benefit of those I haven’t, my name’s … I’m a … (student/teacher/lecturer/professor/ … ) at/in … (...University/Faculty/Institute/) For those of you who don’t know me already, ... I’m responsible for... I’m... As you know, ... I’m in charge of ... I work for ..., TITLE/SUBJECT/TOPIC The subject/focus/topic/title of my talk/presentation/paper/speech is … In my/our talk today, I will tell you /present/ inform you about... I’d like to talk (to you) today about … I'm/We're going to talk to you about … This morning I’m going to talk about … In this talk, I/we would like to concentrate on … Today I’d like to describe … What I want to do this morning is ... PURPOSE / OBJECTIVE We are here today to decide/to agree/to learn about … The aim of my presentation/paper/report this morning is to … The purpose of this talk is to update you on/put you in the picture about/give you the background to …/ present the recent … explain my/our/the Department’s position on…/ brief you on…./ inform you about…/ describe …/report on.../show The subject of this talk is … This talk is designed to … This paper argues that .... In this talk, we give results of ... In this paper, we argue that .... What I/we'd like to do is to discuss … What I/we intend to do is to explain … My colleagues and I are going to give a short presentation on … This talk is designed to act as a springboard for discussion. This morning I’m going to be talking to you about ... telling you about something ... showing you how to deal with ... taking a look at the recent development in .. reporting on the results of the ..study we carried out in ... Perhaps I should start off by stressing that this is just ... LENGTH I shall only take … minutes of your time. I plan to be brief. This should (only) last … minutes. OUTLINE / MAIN PARTS I’ve divided my presentation into three parts (sections). They are … I'm/ going to divide my presentation into three sections. I/We thought it would be useful to divide my/our talk into three sections. The subject can be looked at under the following headings:… We can break this area down into the following fields: My talk will be in … (three parts.) Firstly / First of all….. First, I’d like to … (give you an overview of …) Secondly / then / next…….. Second, I’ll focus on … Thirdly / and then we come to … Then, I’ll move on to … Finally / lastly / last of all …….. After that, I’ll deal with … Finally, we’ll consider … There are three main points... This talk will cover two current theories on the topic of ... We have organised this talk in the following way .... This presentation is structured as follows: .... This paper is divided into five sections .... I'm/ going to deal with three aspects of the subject … This subject can be looked at under the following headings: … So I’ll begin by filling you in on the background to ... bringing you up-to-date on ...giving you an overview of the history of ... making a few observations about... outlining .. And then I’ll go on to highlight what I see as the main ... put the situation into some kind of perspective.... discuss in more depth the implications of ... talk you through ... make detailed recommendations regarding ... One thing I’ll be dealing with is the issue of ... QUESTIONS I’d be glad to answer any questions at the end of my talk. If you have any questions, please, feel free to interrupt. Please interrupt me, if there’s something which needs clarifying. Otherwise, there’ll be time for discussion at the end. Feel free to interrupt me if there’s anything you don’t understand / you need clarifying. If you don’t mind, we’ll leave questions till the end. If you have any questions you’d like to ask, I’ll be happy to answer them. Perhaps we can leave any questions you may have until the end of the presentation. Feel free to ask any questions you like as we go along. And don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time left over for questions at the end. Audio-Visual Aids 1. Expressions preparing the audience for what they are going to see. Now, let’s look at / let’s have a look at / I’d like you to look at … Now, I’ll show you / let me show you ... Let’s move on and look at the figures for … If we now turn to … For … the situation is very different. 2. Expressions explaining what visuals show in general. The next slide٭ shows … Referring to the diagram, let me … As you/we can see from/in the chart … If you look at the screen, you’ll see ... As the graph shows/indicates… As the figures show/indicate… From the Table 1 we can/may ...see / conclude / show / estimate / calculate / infer that… The chart compares … You can see here the development over the past five years… X increased/shot up/grew/rose by ... X declined/reduced/decreased/dropped/fell by… Slightly→ slowly → gradually → steadily → markedly → dramatically → steeply → sharply→ rapidly → suddenly X reached a peak. ..levelled off 3. Expressions explaining what visuals show in particular. us to look at this part of the graph in more detail. us to focus our attention on one particularly important feature. I´d like you to think about the significance of this figure here. to point out one or two interesting details here. to draw your attention to the upper half of the chart. The upper part of the slide gives information about … On the right/left you can see ... I’ll let you read this one.(pause) As you can see, there are several surprising/unexpected developments. If you look at it more closely, you’ll notice… (e.g. a couple of apparent anomalies.) Whichever way you look at it, … (e.g. these are some of our best results ever.) I’d like us to have a look at .... in more detail. As you can see, .... I’d also like to draw your attention to ... I only draw attention to some of …. If you look at the first point, you’ll see ...... More ..... are mentioned under the second heading ..... Further down, in section ...., there are ..... Later, in sections seven and eight, there are ...... You can see various other extended definitions in your handouts. It would be useful here if you look at the second page of your handouts where you can see … You’ll need to look at the handout more carefully later on, but I hope that gives you an idea of what ..... 4. Expressions suggesting implications of what visuals show. I’m sure the conclusions to be drawn from this are ... The lesson to be learned from this is ... the Significance of this is ... clear to all of us. the Implications of this are ... the Message here is .... 5. Expressions used in context Example 1: Have a look at this graph. As you can see, it shows a fairly typical growth curve for a young company in the early stages of its development. The vertical axis shows the turnover in millions of dollars and the horizontal axis represents the years 1990 to 1996. Example 2: The graph we’re looking at very clearly demonstrates the comparative development of demography in the EU member states, and gives us some idea of how far deserted rural areas levels in the south, shown here, exceed the rest. ٭ slide, diagram, chart, table, graph, figure, statistics, handout, sheet, picture, … Ending 1) signal to end So … That completes our presentation. That completes my presentation. That brings me to the end of my presentation. That covers all I wanted to say today. 2) summary Let me just run over the key points again. In short, In a word, In brief, To sum up, To summarise It is generally / widely accepted/argued/held/believed that … We've seen that … First we looked at … and we saw that … Then we considered … and we argued … Briefly… I’ll briefly summarize the main issues. 3) Conclusion To conclude, In conclusion, On the whole, Altogether, In all, Therefore,/ Thus, / On this basis, / Given this, it can/may be concluded/deduced/ inferred that … From the table / figures /data/results/information it can/may be seen/concluded/ shown/ estimated /calculated/ inferred that … In conclusion,/Finally we/may say // it can/may be said that … In conclusion, we'd like to emphasise that … So, I would suggest that we… As you can see, there are some very good reasons… I’d like to propose… (more formal) I’d like to leave you with the following thought/idea. In my opinion, the only way forward is … 4) Close Thank you for your attention. Before I stop/finish, let me just say… Thank you for listening. I hope you will have gained an insight into… 5) Invitation for questions So, let’s throw it open to questions. If you have any questions, I’d be pleased to answer them. Any questions? I’d be glad to try to answer any questions. I’d be happy to answer any questions. I would welcome any comments/suggestions. Questions A) PRESENTER: 1. Welcoming the question That’s a good question. That’s interesting. I’d like to know / Could you tell me Could I ask / Would you mind if I ask you … Go ahead / Please do / Certainly. Good point. That´s actually a question I frequently get asked / I´m often asked. I’m glad you brought that up / asked that … 2. Clarifying the question If I understand you/your question correctly, you are saying / asking… I didn’t quite catch that. Could you say that again? I’m not sure what you’re getting at. I’m afraid I don’t see the connection. So, what you are asking is .. Well, the question is ... Is that right? Let me just check that I have understood your question. You’re asking ... I am not quite with you. Could you repeat that? I’m afraid I don’t quite see what you mean. 3. Checking whether the questioner has be answered satisfactorily Does that answer your question? Is that clear? Is that clearer now? Is that OK? Can we go on? Is that the kind of information you were looking for? 4. Closing discussion time I think we have time for one more question ... If there are no other questions, I’ll finish there. Thank you very much. Before I make some concluding remarks, who has a question to ask? So if there are no further questions, I guess…. 5. Strategies of reactions to different kinds of questions: 5a) Postponing an answer in case of interruption I’ll be dealing with that a little later on, so if you don’t mind I’d rather answer that question then. I’ll be coming to that, so if you don’t mind, I won’t answer your question straight away. But I won’t forget. 5b) Repetition Going back to what I was saying .... As I was saying ... 5c) Clarification Sorry, perhaps I am not making myself clear. Let me put it another way. What I was trying to say was ... 5d) Disagreement I have already stated my point of view during the presentation. I don’t think I have anything more to add at this juncture... You have certainly made a valid point, but I prefer to think that ... No, that is not what I am saying at all. I would like to reiterate that what I am actually saying is ... Whereas I appreciate what you are saying, I feel that I must emphasize that ... 5e) Irrelevant question I’m afraid I don’t see the connection. To be honest, I think that raises a different issue. I think the aim of this talk is to focus on … rather than … 5f) Question for what has been said already I think I answered that earlier. Well, as I said, ... Well, as I mentioned earlier, ... 5g) Showing off Thanks for your comment….Next question? Yes, it is interesting. … Next question? 5h) Avoiding giving an answer I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that one. Perhaps someone else here can help us? I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to that, but what I will do is find out and send/give you an answer before the end of the week. Perhaps we could deal with that later. Can we talk about that on another occasion? I’m afraid that’s not my field. I don’t have the figures with me. I’m sure Mr (…) could answer that question. That’s interesting, but I’d prefer not to answer that today. I think I answered that earlier. I think we covered that earlier. I’m afraid that’s not my field, but I’m sure Mr/Mrs/Ms… will be able to answer you. I’m afraid I don’t have that information, but I can ask our ... department to send you the details. That’s quite a difficult question to answer briefly. Perhaps we, and anyone else, who is interested, could discuss that after my presentation. I'd be happy to talk to you afterwards. I'd be happy to find that source for you. That's an interesting question but it would take too much time to answer that now. I don’t know the answer, but I can find out for you. If you leave me your address, I will get back to you. I need to think about that one. Could we come back to it later? Next question, please. I’m not sure I know the answer to that one. Perhaps we could discuss it after the session. There is no right or wrong answer to that. However, my personal belief is ... I don’t know that off the top of my head. Interesting. What do you think? I’m afraid I’m not in a position to comment on that. I’m afraid I don’t have that information with me. I wish I knew. It's too early for us to say whether … We don't have enough evidence to show that … That's not something I've had time to deal with, but … B) PRESENTERS AND QUESTIONERS 1) Giving examples For example, … For instance, … And as proof of that, … Remember … You only have to think of … 2) Explaining in other words In other words, … That is to say, … To put it another way, … The point I'm making is … What I'm suggesting is …, Let me put it another way. 3) Giving opinions I definitely think that.... I'm sure that.... I'm convinced that.... I really do think that.... I'm of the opinion that ... As I see it, .... I think .... I consider .... I feel .... Personally, I believe ... In my opinion/view, .... It seems to me .... I'm inclined to think that ... I tend to think that .... 4) Agreeing I couldn't agree more. On the whole, I think your arguments are fair. I (quite) agree. I think you're absolutely right. That's a very good point. You've got a very good point there. I fully support what you say. I totally agree. Exactly! True ... Yes, I know ...... On the whole, yes. 5) Doubt and reservation Well … maybe … possibly … I'm not so sure about that. You may be right. I don't think I'd say that. I can see your point, but … I think that's debatable. I agree to some extent, but ... It seems to me ... I tend to think ... To some extent ... It depends. Yes and no. 6) Disagreeing Yes/Perhaps, but don't you think that …? I see what you mean, but … But isn't it really a question of … But what about …? But surely …? I take your point, but ,… But all the evidence suggests that … I'm afraid I can't agree with you on this matter. I wouldn't say that. I don't agree at all. I can't accept that. Not quite / not really / Not at all / not entirely / Not as a rule / Not necessarily… By and large, I would accept your views but…. I’m afraid I’m not convinced. I know this isn’t really my area, but … I am not an expert in this, but … I wonder whether there isn’t another possible explanation …? Wouldn’t it also be possible to … ? Wouldn’t you agree that ... ? May I suggest another explanation? C) QUESTIONERS 1) Introductory phrases Sorry, … Could I ask a question? Can you tell us .....? May I just ask a question about ... ? I’d like to ask you about the… You talked about …. talking about .... mentioned the possibility of .... dealing with… said something about… When you were summing up… the issue of you commented on telling us about… spoke about describing… referred to showing us why / how quoted something made the point that 2) Clarification Please let me know if I have misunderstood your arguments, but … Sorry, could you explain what you meant when you said that ....? If I understood you correctly, ..... Is that right? Can you clarify, are there …? … I’m sorry, I didn’t understand (catch) what you said about .......... . So what you are saying is that ….? What you seem to be saying is ... Am I right? Sorry, I don’t (quite) see what you mean. Could you just explain that, please? I didn't understand what you said about … I'm sorry, I didn't catch what you said about … What does … mean? I'm not sure what you mean. Sorry, but I'm not quite clear on … What did you mean when you said …? Could you be more specific about …? Could you give an example of …? Could you explain in more detail…? So what you're saying is that …? So you mean that …? Are you saying that …? Am I correct in assuming that …? What does ......... mean? 3) Repetition Could we come back to …? Could you run us through that again? Could you go back to what you were saying about ... ? Could you show us the transparency of .... again? I’m afraid I didn’t quite get the last point. Could you go over it again, please? Sorry, I don’t quite follow you. Could you just run through that again, please? I'm sorry, could you repeat what you said about … Sorry I missed that. Could you say that again, please? Sorry I didn’t catch that. Could you repeat it, please? Sorry, … (e.g. thinking of what? … you contacted who? … the whole project needs what?) 4) Asking for sources / evidence Excuse me, could you tell us what your sources were? Do you have any other materials/sources to recommend....? Where did you get the information on ... ? What experience do you have of .... ? What real evidence is there that .... ? 5) Asking for additional information Could you elaborate on that? Could you be a bit more specific? Could you say a bit more about that? Could you expand a little on that idea /theory/ example /.... ? 6) Interrupting If I could just come in here? Sorry to interrupt, … ? Could I just interrupt…? I'd just like to say that…? 7) Asking for opinion Could I ask you for your view on … What do you think about ...?. What are you views ...? What do you feel about ...? What's your opinion of ...? What are you feelings about ...? Have you got any comments on ...? Could I have your reaction to ...? Do you have any particular views on ...? Don't you agree, ...? 8) Following up a question Perhaps my question was not clear. What I’d like to know is .... That's not really what I was asking. My question is about … Perhaps I didn't make my question clear. I fact what I asked was … I think you've answered a slightly different question. What I would like to know is … I understand that but what I actually had in mind was … Sorry, I'm still not clear about …