UPPER INTERMEDIATE Phrase bank Unit 1: Business or pleasure? Phrase bank Unit 2: Information exchange Making conversation Use what you already know about people to start up a conversation I hear you speak Cantonese, is that right? I understand you work for 3M Debating issues I agree with you up to a point That’s beside the point That’s not the point That’s just my point The point is … Okay, point taken I’ll get straight to the point Good point That’s out of the question Good question! It’s not a question of that It’s not just a question of … It’s also a question of … The (real) question is … We’re not in a position to … What’s your position on this? Try to bring people into conversation with others you know Let’s see what Max thinks Max, we’ve got a question for you Kenichi, there’s someone I’d like you to meet Show enthusiasm; pay people you know well the occasional compliment You’re looking well Been on holiday? Congratulations on the promotion, by the way! Be careful not to contradict people too directly Well, that’s not entirely true, but I know what you mean Actually, it’s not as bad as you might think Start the subject smoothly by referring to what others have said Funny you should say that, something very similar happened to me On the subject of the merger, have you heard the latest? This puts us in a very difficult position I’m in no position to … The fact is … The fact remains that … As a matter of fact, … In actual fact, … Despite the fact that … In view of the fact that … We’ve no option That’s not an option One option would be … Option two would be … Another option would be … There’s no time What’s the time? Don’t break off the conversation too abruptly at the end Well, it’s been really nice talking to you I’m afraid I’ll have to be going But let me give you my card In Company 3.0 Upper Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 Phrase banks UPPER INTERMEDIATE Phrase bank Unit 4: Voice and visuals Phrase bank Unit 5: Problems on the phone Describing and commenting on visuals Have a look at this … What these figures clearly show is … I’d particularly like to draw your attention to … As you can see, … I think this demonstrates … Just to give you the background to this … I’d like to point out … I’ll just talk you through it … To put this into perspective, … What this means is … The take-home message here is … Okay, let’s take a look at … One thing you’ll notice is … The lesson we can learn from this is … Let’s run the video … I’ll just show you how this works … Small talk on the phone How’s life / business / the family / it going / the new job / your golf doing / your course going? How are you doing / keeping / enjoying Paris / getting on in Manila / settling down in Seville / settling in at Goldman Sachs? Congratulations on the promotion / the new baby / winning the Dubai contract / finally getting your MBA! I heard you’re moving house / getting married / about to visit Russia / about to sign a deal with Samsung, is that right? Have you just been on holiday / come back from Buenos Aires / opened a new office in Cologne? Have you heard the news / the latest / from Ron lately / about the Asian situation? Good job on the Siemens report / luck with presentation tomorrow, by the way! Getting down to business on the phone Anyway, … So, what can I for you? I expect you’re calling about … Was there something you wanted to talk to me about? Requesting assistance on the phone Would you mind letting me know when they arrive? Can you get hold of someone in accounts? Could I ask you to arrange that for me? Is there any chance of extending the deadline? I don’t suppose you could speed things up a bit, could you? Do you happen to have Alicia’s mobile number? Are you absolutely sure you can’t anything today? In Company 3.0 Upper Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 Offering assistance on the phone I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t promise anything I’ll check with IT and see if they can help Don’t worry, I’ll get on to it right away I’ll look into it Give me an hour Would it help if I got someone to give you a hand? Why don’t you leave it with me and I’ll get back to you? Ending a call I mustn’t keep you I’ll let you get on Someone’s just stepped into my office We must get together soon It’s been great talking to you I’ll have to let you go now I’ve got a call just come in on the other line Listen, I’m running a bit late Phrase banks UPPER INTERMEDIATE Phrase bank Unit 6: Leading meetings Phrase bank Unit 8: Promoting your ideas Chairing meetings Bjorn, could you just fill us in on the background to the project? Janet, would you like to come over here or are you okay with that? Going back to what we were saying earlier, I’d just like to point out one thing Hold on a minute, Jack – you’ll get your chance in a moment Let’s break off here for a few minutes, shall we? Does anybody have anything they want to add? Now, the Tokyo situation – Rashid, can you get back to me on that? And then there’s the training report – Suzanna, can I leave that one to you? Okay, I think that about wraps things up for today But we’ll need to set up another meeting Pitching an idea We are one of the major players in our industry We are constantly looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition We did a nationwide survey of our target customers A complete breakdown of costs is included in the report We set up special focus groups What we need now is the green light from you The main benefits of the product are clear The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive We think this product has enormous potential Full details are in the report in front of you Believe me, we’ve really done our homework on this one As you know, we’ve been working on a project of our own for some time now We think this would be an excellent addition to our current range of products Let me quote you some interesting figures The product meets a real need We need to maintain our competitive advantage This is a great opportunity for us to stretch our brand I’m sure you’ll agree this feature is a real selling point This chart highlights our main findings Okay, we’d like to throw this session open now for questions and suggestions In Company 3.0 Upper Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 Phrase banks UPPER INTERMEDIATE Phrase bank Unit 9: Relationship-building Phrase bank Unit 10: Making decisions Networking Meeting people for the first time I don’t think we’ve met I don’t think we’ve been introduced Referring to third parties Give my regards to Theo when you see him Fiona mentioned you might be dropping by Bumping into old friends Fancy meeting you here! I didn’t expect to see you here! Breaking off a conversation It’s been great talking to you I’ve really enjoyed our conversation Decision-making Encourage collaboration Okay; I’d like everybody’s input on this Let’s put our heads together and see what we can come up with Let’s pool our ideas on this Paying compliments You’re looking very well! Married life obviously suits you! Taking your leave Is that the time? I must be going soon I should be making a move Asking about a journey You managed to find us okay? Did you have any trouble finding us? Looking forward to future contact We must get together soon Let’s not leave it so long next time Catching up with old friends Long time no see How’s life treating you? Saying goodbye Bye now! Take care Raising an important subject I wonder if I could have a word with you There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Offering to help someone out I could put in a word for you if you like I could put you in touch with someone I know In Company 3.0 Upper Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 Comment on options I think I’m going to have to go with my gut instinct on this one To be honest, I’m in two minds about this I’m not wholly in favour of this, but what alternative we have? Consider pros and cons That’s a big plus, as far as I’m concerned But let’s look at some of the minuses Okay, that’s the upside But what about the downside? Okay, we’ve weighed up the advantages and disadvantages Advise caution We need to take our time on this This requires careful consideration I don’t want us rushing into things Check agreement So is that unanimous then? I take it we’re all in agreement on this? Does anybody have any objections to that? Commit to a decision I don’t see we have any option but to go ahead So that’s decided then Okay, so we’re going to go with Marc’s idea Phrase banks UPPER INTERMEDIATE Phrase bank Unit 12: Emailing Phrase bank Unit 13: Making an impact Emailing Have a quick look at these figures and get back to me asap Let me know if you need any help with the Koreans And copy me in on any correspondence with them Could you get on to our suppliers and sort something out with them? I’ll leave the details to you, but keep me in the loop BTW, you did a great job on the presentation It went down really well with the Belgians We’ll just have to wait and see what they come back to us with Could you update me on where we are with the Expo arrangements? I’m a bit out of touch Can I leave it up to you to contact the speakers? I’d like to sound you out on this new packaging idea Let’s meet up to discuss it sometime next week BTW, I still can’t seem to get through to Monica I haven’t had time to read through the whole report and I’ll probably need to check some of these figures against the computer, but leave it with me Thanks for your offer of a drink If I can finish this report off by 7, I may just take you up on it! I could certainly with one! Opening and closing a presentation Would you believe it? Did you know that …? Statistics / Studies show that … Delegating tasks I’ll leave the details to you Would you mind taking this off my hands? Asking for advice Can I sound you out on something? Can you just cross-check the figures for me? Buying time Give me a week and I’ll see what I can come up with Leave it with me I’ll sort it out Requesting information Can you update me on where we are with this? Keep me in the loop In Company 3.0 Upper Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 Now, here’s a funny thing One of my favourite stories / jokes about that is … Whenever I’m asked about … I think of the story of … Let me take you on a journey I’d like to start off by … By the end of this morning’s talk, … Wise words I think it was … who said … In closing, I’m reminded of the words of … This is a true story, by the way I was … the other day and happened to / came across … I remember when I was working / living in … Is anybody out there? Could you just raise your hand if you’ve ever … Have you ever been in the situation where …? To cut a long story short So how you sum up …? So my central message today is this … Oh, and one last thing That just about brings me to the end of my presentation, except to say … If you take just one thing from today’s talk, take this … Phrase banks UPPER INTERMEDIATE Phrase bank Unit 14: Out and about Phrase bank Unit 16: Teleconferencing Sharing anecdotes You not going to believe this, but … Anyway, to cut a long story short … Did I ever tell you about the time I was …? So, in the end, what happened was … It’s quite a few years ago now I’ll never forget the time I was … Talking of …, that reminds me of the time I … You should have heard / seen …! And then to top it all, … This was around the time of … And you’ll never guess who / what / where … Seems quite funny now, but it didn’t at the time And the strange / funny / stupid thing was … Teleconferencing Before we start, could we all just introduce ourselves? Okay, let’s go ahead and start Sorry, I had a bit of trouble getting through So, just to recap on what we’ve said so far Let’s try to keep interruptions to a minimum Sorry, I can’t hear you very well So, are we all agreed on that, then? I suggest we postpone item three until Beatrice can join us Can we take a quick vote on that? Looks like we’re just waiting for Stefan Can we keep our input quite short? I think that just about covers everything Did everyone get a copy of the agenda? I’d like to be finished by 11 if that’s okay with everyone Right, we’re running short of time, so let’s move on Could I just come in here? Elise? Hello? We seem to have lost Elise Could everyone in favour just say ‘Yes’? Let’s move straight on to item four Welcome to the meeting, everybody I’m not surprised! I can imagine! How odd! What a nightmare! You’re joking, right? Sounds awful! You can’t be serious! I don’t blame you! Wow, that’s amazing! Oh, I see what you mean! Were you really? So, what happened? Oh, my goodness! Lucky you! In Company 3.0 Upper Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 Phrase banks UPPER INTERMEDIATE Phrase bank Unit 17: Negotiating deals Negotiating Can you give us some idea of delivery times? What kind of figure were you thinking of? We were hoping for something a bit closer to $3,000 So, in principle, you’re happy with the proposal, right? So, I take it we’re in agreement on payment in installments? Would you be willing to meet us halfway? Surely, we can sort something out here I suppose there may be some room for manoeuvre there I don’t think I could stretch as far as that We might be in a position to increase our offer What we’d really like to see is a bit more movement on price We’d need to see a little more flexibility in terms of interest rates Okay, I’ll throw in free service and maintenance as well I can’t say fairer than that, now can I? 3% is not quite what we had in mind I’m afraid that really is our absolute bottom line With respect, your terms are simply not competitive Look, getting back to price for a moment Let’s set the issue of discounts to one side for the moment There seems to have been a slight misunderstanding I think we may be talking at cross-purposes here In Company 3.0 Upper Intermediate © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 Phrase banks