Page 35 - Business English 2_revised 2018

D. USEFUL EXPRESSIONS (1)

Asking for information
- What is your production situation now?
- What sort of quantities are you looking for?
- What did you have in mind regarding specifications?
- Could you tell me what you were thinking about in terms of...?
Suggesting a compromise
- Supposing we...what...could we expect?
- If we...what discount ...could we receive?
- What about if we...?
- What about...?
- Would you consider..?
- Supposing we offered ......, would that satisfy you?
Rejecting a compromise
- I‟m afraid that is out of the question because...
- I‟m afraid we can‟t accept your offer because...
- I‟m afraid that condition is unacceptable because...
- I‟m afraid your offer doesn‟t go far enough.
Accepting a compromise
- I‟d go along with that.
- All right. I‟m happy with that.
- That‟s fine.
- That‟s a fair suggestion.
Tying concessions to conditions
- As long as...we could..
- Provided that you...we have...
- Provided that you, we have no objection to...
- On the condition that we would have ......., we could ....
- If you could offer...then we could agree to...
- I think we can live with that providing you...
Summing up/closing
- It‟s been a pleasure doing business with you.
- I think we‟ve reached a deal on this.
- I believe we have a deal.

E. EXERCISE

Write an appropriate response to each sentence below.

1. A: What sort of quantities are you looking for?

B: _______________________________________________________________(giving information)
2. A: ____________________________________________________________(tying concession to a condition)

Page 32 | Business English 2 - Department of Management UMY