Conversational patterns – 6
“Could you make me a list of useful social scripts and repair phrases?”
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Greetings and brief encounters
- Hey, how’s it going? — Pretty good. How about you?
- How are you doing? — Good, thanks. You?
- Good to see you. — You too.
- How have you been? — Pretty good. Busy, but good.
- Have a good one. — You too.
- Take care. — You too.
Useful point: With casual How’s it going?, Americans usually expect a short social answer, not a detailed report.
Small talk
- How was your weekend? — Pretty good. I mostly relaxed. How about yours?
- Any plans for the weekend? — Nothing major. Probably just taking it easy.
- How’s your week going? — Not bad. It’s been pretty busy.
- Keeping busy? — Yeah, definitely.
- How are things at work? — Pretty good overall.
At a café or restaurant
- Hi. Can I get a coffee, please?
- For here or to go? — To go, please.
- Anything else? — No, that’s it, thanks.
- Are you ready to order? — I think so.
- Could I get the chicken, please?
- Could we get the check, please?
- No, thanks. I’m good.
In a shop
- Can I help you find anything? — I’m just looking, thanks.
- Did you find everything okay? — Yes, thanks.
- Do you need a bag? — Yes, please. / No, I’m good, thanks.
- Could you tell me where the ___ is?
- Do you have this in a different size?
Asking someone for something
- Could you give me a hand with this?
- Could you take a look when you get a chance?
- Would you mind checking this for me?
- Can you give me a minute?
- Do you have a second?
- Whenever you get a chance is fine.
That last one is particularly useful at work because it softens the request.
Polite disagreement
- I see what you mean, but I’m not sure I agree.
- I’m not sure that’s necessarily the case.
- I see it a little differently.
- That makes sense, although I wonder if…
- I get your point. My concern is…
- I’m not completely convinced.
- I think we may be looking at it differently.
These are usually much more useful professionally than simply saying You’re wrong.
Giving an opinion
- I think…
- I’d say…
- From my perspective…
- The way I see it…
- My impression is that…
- I tend to think that…
Softening criticism
- I’m not sure this quite works.
- I think this could be a little clearer.
- There might be a better way to handle this.
- I’m not a huge fan of this approach.
- One thing I’d probably change is…
- It might be worth reconsidering this part.
Saying no / declining
- I don’t think that’s going to work for me.
- I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it.
- I’d love to, but I already have plans.
- I’ll have to pass this time.
- Not this time, but thanks for asking.
- I don’t think I can commit to that right now.
Buying yourself thinking time
- Let me think about that for a second.
- That’s a good question.
- How do I put this?
- Let me see…
- I’m trying to think of the best way to explain it.
- Give me a second.
These are excellent fluency tools because silence feels much less awkward when you have a natural holding phrase.
Repairing something you said
- Let me rephrase that.
- What I mean is…
- Let me put that another way.
- Actually, that’s not quite what I meant.
- Sorry, let me start again.
- I should have said…
- That came out wrong.
- What I’m trying to say is…
When you forget a word
- I can’t think of the word.
- I don’t know the exact word, but basically…
- What do you call it?
- It’s the thing you use to…
- It’s something like…
- I’m blanking on the word.
- The word is escaping me right now.
For you, I particularly recommend “I can’t think of the word, but basically…” because it encourages you to keep speaking instead of stopping.
Checking whether you were understood
- Does that make sense?
- Do you know what I mean?
- Am I explaining that clearly?
- I’m not sure I explained that very well.
- Is that clear?
Be slightly careful with You know what I mean? It is very natural, but repeated constantly it can become a verbal tic.
When you didn't understand
- Sorry, could you say that again?
- Sorry, I didn’t catch that.
- Could you repeat that?
- Could you say that a little more slowly?
- What do you mean by ___?
- When you say ___, do you mean…?
- So, if I understand you correctly, you mean…
Confirming information
- So, just to make sure I understand…
- Just to clarify…
- So what you’re saying is…
- If I understand correctly…
- Let me make sure I’ve got this right.
These are extremely useful in professional conversations.
Correcting yourself after a mistake
- Sorry—I mean Tuesday, not Thursday.
- Actually, let me correct that.
- Sorry, I meant to say…
- No, wait—that’s not right.
- Let me try that again.
Notice the important fluency principle: correct → continue. Don't restart the entire conversation because of one error.
Changing the subject
- By the way…
- Speaking of that…
- That reminds me…
- On a different note…
- Anyway, getting back to what we were saying…
Ending a conversation naturally
- Well, I should probably get going.
- I’ll let you get back to it.
- It was good talking to you.
- I’d better get back to work.
- Anyway, I won’t keep you.
- Talk to you later.
- See you around.
Some of those are worth making automatic.