Key expressions

Introducing yourself Exchanging greetings

Hello. / Hi. I’m … Nice to meet you.
Hello. / Hi. My name’s … I’m very pleased to meet you.
I don’t think we’ve met. I’m … I’m delighted to meet you.

Introducing other people Saying what you do

This is … I deal with …
I want you to meet … I handle …
I’d like to introduce you to … I oversee …
I’m in charge of (+ noun / -ing) …
I’m responsible for (+ noun / -ing) …
My job involves (+ noun / -ing) …
 Key expressions
Asking for an update Offering to do something
How are things going? Why don’t I …?
What’s happening with …? I’ll …
Where are we with …? I can … if you want.
Leave it to me.
Giving an update
So far so good. Declining to do something
Everything’s on track. I’m sorry, I can’t.
We’re (+ -ing) … I’m afraid I’m busy.
We’ve finished / completed …, etc. I’d prefer not to (if that’s OK).

Allocating a task Summarizing

Can you …? So, to recap …
You can … X is / am / are going to …
I / We need somebody / you to … It’s all going according to plan.
 Key expressions
Talking about leisure and interests Saying telephone numbers
Do you like playing tennis / to relax in the 00 = double zero / zero zero / double oh
evening? (British English)
Is this your office / favourite restaurant? Say telephone numbers in groups of three
What sort of music do you like / things do or four: 096 … 745 … 6745
you like doing?
How is your hotel / often do you play? Saying email addresses
How do you find our country / your job? / (forward) slash
. dot
Talking about likes and dislikes _ underscore
I like / really like / love (+ -ing / to … / - Dash
noun) - @ at
I don’t like / hate (+ -ing) / to … / noun) - Lower case / UPPER CASE
I enjoy / don’t enjoy (+ -ing) …
I’m not interested in / keen on / fond of / Checking spelling
crazy about (+ -ing / noun) S for sugar
E for egg
P for Paris, etc.
 Asking questions about
Key expressions functionality
Will it let me … (+ verb)?
Will it allow me … (+ infinitive)?
Explaining how something works How does it know what to do?
Let me explain how it works What happens when …?
One / the main thing to note is …
What happens is … Comparing
Basically … One the one hand …, but on the other
It’s a bit like … hand …
You can see what happens when you … The good news is …, but the bad news is
As soon as you …, it starts to … …
Whereas before …, we now …
Explaining additional features and It looks very similar to …, but what’s
benefits different is …
One other useful feature is that … It might seem …, but in fact it’s …
As well as (+ noun / -ing) …, it also … One downside is …, but on the plus side
The more …, the better (the) … …
One benefit is that …, though a drawback
might be …
 Key expressions
Starting interest Starting a preference
I’d like to find out about … I’d prefer the Tuesday.
We’re interested in … Tuesday would be better.
The 31st is good for me
Asking for information Thursday suits me.
Can you tell me a little more …?
Is that something you deal with? Changing arrangements
Would it be possible for …? Sorry, I can’t make the Thursday.
I’m afraid I can’t come on / make Thursday.
Suggesting arrangements Can we move it back to Friday?
Can we fix / arrange a date for the Can we bring it forward to Wednesday?
meeting? The afternoon is free / convenient.
What / How about the 30th of January?
 Key expressions Explaining the programme
Let me run through / go over today’s
Welcoming programme.
Welcome to … First of all, I thought you could …
It’s nice to meet you in person. We’ll catch up again later / at …
Likewise. You will have the opportunity to …
Good morning. / Good afternoon. You’ll get a chance to …
On behalf of … We’re going to begin with …
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you
to … Giving extra information
Make sure you …
Asking about journey Please be sure to …
How was your journey? Don’t worry about (+ noun / -ing) …
Did you have any trouble finding us? Can I remind you that …
For your own safety
Being hospitable
Can I get you a coffee? Ending
Let me take your coat. Before I hand over to …
Have a seat. May I wish you all an enjoyable visit.
 Key expressions
Introducing a talk Asking for an explanation
What I want to do today is … What’s the reason for …?
I’ll talk about … I don’t quite understqand how it works.
I’ll run through … Can you tell us (more) about …?
What do you mean by …?
Giving background information
As you , we’ve recently … Giving an explanation
As you are aware … It’s because of the fact that …
Up to now … As a result …
I’d like to update you on … Because of this …
The situation / problem now is that … By (+ -ing) …, we can / hope to …
We expect the situation to …
The situation, as it stands … Checking information
So, if I understand you correctly …
Do you mean that …?
I’m not sure I follow you.
 Key expressions

Describing plans and intentions Asking how much time is needed

We’re also going to … How long will it take to …?
X is going to … What’s the timescale on this?

Expressing future hopes and Asking about immediate action

expectations Where does this leave us?
We expect to … What’s the next step?
We hope to …
I plan to … Time expressions
I intend to … Over the next few weeks …
The chances are … By the end of the / next month …
It is likely to / that … By Tuesday …
In the short / medium / long term …
In the long run …