Meeting Phrases & Vocabulary
4 exercises — the essential phrases for clarifying, agreeing, buying time, and closing meetings. The building blocks of every English-language meeting.
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Essential meeting phrases
- Clarify: "Could you clarify what you mean by that?"
- Check understanding: "Just to confirm I understand — are you saying…?"
- Agree (engaged): "That makes a lot of sense — especially [specific point]."
- Buy time: "I'd like a couple of minutes — could we take other items first?"
- Close: "We agreed to [decision]. Next step: [name] owns [action] by [date]."
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You didn't understand a colleague's point in a meeting. Which phrase best asks for clarification without sounding rude?
Option B is the standard professional clarification phrase. Let's break it down:
"Could you clarify…" — This is a soft modal. More polite than "Can you explain" or "What do you mean?" The word "clarify" implies the issue might be your own lack of understanding, not that the speaker was unclear.
"…what you mean by that" — Targets the ambiguous part without repeating it (which can sound sarcastic).
"I want to make sure I follow correctly" — This clause signals good intent. It reframes the request as you working to understand, rather than challenging the speaker.
Other useful clarification phrases:
• "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that — could you repeat?"
• "Could you give an example of what you mean?"
• "When you say [X], do you mean [Y]?"
• "I just want to confirm I understand — are you saying [paraphrase]?"
What to avoid:
• "What?" alone — sounds impatient
• "That makes no sense" — sounds dismissive
• "So basically you're saying [oversimplification]?" — misrepresents the speaker and can start a debate
"Could you clarify…" — This is a soft modal. More polite than "Can you explain" or "What do you mean?" The word "clarify" implies the issue might be your own lack of understanding, not that the speaker was unclear.
"…what you mean by that" — Targets the ambiguous part without repeating it (which can sound sarcastic).
"I want to make sure I follow correctly" — This clause signals good intent. It reframes the request as you working to understand, rather than challenging the speaker.
Other useful clarification phrases:
• "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that — could you repeat?"
• "Could you give an example of what you mean?"
• "When you say [X], do you mean [Y]?"
• "I just want to confirm I understand — are you saying [paraphrase]?"
What to avoid:
• "What?" alone — sounds impatient
• "That makes no sense" — sounds dismissive
• "So basically you're saying [oversimplification]?" — misrepresents the speaker and can start a debate