Page 20 - English for Executive Administrative Assistant

Language Focus: Expressions of hesitation, confirmation, redirecting subject,
exchanging the subject and avoiding certain topic

Asking for confirmation
• What exactly do you mean by … (when you say)
• Could you give me a bit more detail on that?
• Could you explain what you mean by …. (when you say)
• Could you be more specific?
• So, you mean…
• In other words, you’re saying …
Expressing Hesitation/uncertainty
• I can’t follow you. I don’t get it
• I (we) doubt …
• To tell you the truth (to be honest) I have some doubts about it.
• I’m not very confident (sure) about …
• I’m very (extremely) concerned about it
Change the subject
• Speaking of …
• To get back to what I was saying, …
• By the way
• That reminds me of
• That brings to mind
Redirect the subject
• I understand what you are saying, but let’s refocus for a minute.
• There is plenty of different perspectives here, but remember what we’re talking about.
• I’m not sure I understand enough about that position. Can we talk about (the original
topic) instead?
Avoid certain topic
• No comment
• I’m not at liberty to say
• Wait and see
• Let me get back to you
• I’m sorry, that’s confidential
• Sorry, that’s personal
• I’d rather not talk about it

12 | P a g e
English for Executive Administrative Assistant