The following phrases are useful for making arrangements.
· Suggesting times and dates
How about/What about the following week?
Shall we say 14 February?
· Asking for suggesting
When would suit you?
Did you have a time/place in mind?
· Saying we are unavailable
I’m afraid I’m busy then.
I’m sorry but I can’t make it then.
· Using the present continuous for talking about fixed arrangements
They’re working on another project until 12 February.
Complaining about poor performance
I’m calling/phoning/writing to complain about…
There’s some sort of delay/hold-up/problem.
There seems to be a problem with…
Things are in a mess.
Something has gone wrong somewhere.
There seems to be a problem in the system.
I’d like to make a formal complaint.
What’s going on?
Can you tell me what’s happening?
Who’s in charge of this?
Could you look into this?
Responding to complaints
I’ll look into this and get back to you.
My colleague Mr./Ms X deals with this. I’ll get him/her to call you back.
I’m afraid there’s been a problem with…
I’m sorry about this. We’ve changed our procedures so it won’t happen again.
We apologise for the mistake. It won’t happen again.
Our apologies for the mix-up. We’ve sorted things out now.
We’ve looked into your complaint and it seems to be justified. Can we offer you some sort of compensation?
Here are some ways of talking about where something is:
Is the golf course far from Khania?
Is the Athena Hotel a long way from the golf course?
Where exactly is the hotel Located/situated?
Where is the hotel in relation to the golf course?
Which is the most convenient hotel for the course?
The khania Palace Hotel is in Ayios Marina， not far from the center of the town.
The Athena is in the middle of Khania， right on the port.
The Apollo is in a place called Kolimval， about 25 km west of the golf course.
The Helena is (right) opposite the entrance to the golf course.
This hotel is very convenient for the course. In fact， it’s right next door.
Leaving answering machine messages
When we leave messages， it is important to be very clear.
· Prepare the listener for the message
This is Frank Larsen from Scandinavian Conferences.
It’s 9.30 on Wednesday morning.
I’m ringing about the sales report.
· Make requests simple and polite
Could you send me the report， please?
Could you please call me back?
· Give clear contact information
I’m in Helsinki until Friday.
My telephone number is 346 766.
Talking messages
The following phrases are useful for taking messages.
· Offering help
I’m afraid she’s not here today. Can I help you?
I’m afraid he’s visiting a client. Can I take a message?
· Asking for information
Could I ask who’s calling， please?
Could you give me your fax number， please?
· Checking information
Could you spell that， please?
So， that’s 27 November.
· Promising action
I’ll give her the message as soon as she’s back.
I’ll ask her to call you as soon as possible.
Encouraging conversation
We can encourage conversation in the following ways.
· Showing interest/surprise
Really?
I’m surprised to hear that.
Do you? /Did you? /Have you?
· Asking follow-up questions
What did you think of…?
When are you going to…?
How do you feel about…?
· Using the speaker’s words in a follow-up question
So the meeting’s been postponed until next March.
Next March?
Letting of invitation
The following phrases are useful for formal written invitations.
· Inviting/Offering
We should like to invite you…
We should be very pleased if you could…
We would be delighted if you could…
· Thanking
Thank you (very much) for your (kind) invitation to…
It was very kind of you to invite me to…
I was delighted to receive your invitation to…
· Accepting
I would be very pleased to …
I should be delighted to…
· Declining
Unfortunately， due to… I am unable to…
Describing duties and responsibilities
The following phrases are used for talking about responsibilities.
My job is to…
I’m responsible for…
My job involves…
In this job you have to…
Report writing
The following phrases are useful when writing reports.
· Introduction
The aim/purpose of this report is to…
This report sets out to…
This report aim to…
· Conclusion
It was decided/agreed/felt that…
No conclusions were reached regarding…
It was concluded that…
· Recommendations
We would recommend that…
It is suggested that…
It is proposed that…
Getting information
· Asking for information
We can ask for information using a fixed phrase followed by a noun.
I’d like to know about availability.
What about…?
Can you tell me about…?
· Checking information
We can use the following phrases for checking information.
Sorry， I didn’t get that. Could you say that again?
Sorry， did you say…?
Suggesting
The following phrases are useful when we make suggestions.
Let’s…
Why don’t we…?
How/what about…?
I think we should…
Perhaps we could…
Couldn’t we…?
If we…we could/should…
The following phrases are used when making presentations.
· Introducing your talk
Today we’re going to look at…
I’d like to begin with…
Then we’ll go on to…
Finally， we’ll turn to
· Referring to visuals
If you’d like to look at the screen， you’ll see…
As you can see…
· Signaling
Moving on to…
So， now I’d like to turn to…
Expressing hindsight
We can talk about past mistakes in the following ways.
With hindsight， we should have/could have…
What we should have/could have done is…
If we’d…， we wouldn’t have…
Here are some questions that you could ask a new colleague or client if you want to be friendly and start a conversation:
Did you have a good journey?
Is that your first visit to…?
Do you need any help or information?
When did you actually arrive?
Where are you staying?
Whereabouts do you come from in…?
The following phrases are used when you’re on the phone.
Hello， I’d like to speak to Mr…
Hello， this is Miss…calling from…
Is Ms…available， please? My name’s…
Speaking.
I’m afraid he’s in a meeting/not in the office/still at lunch/not available just now. Is there anything I can do for you?
Hold on a moment， please.
I’ll just find out if she’s back yet/in the other office/available.
I’ll put you through to Miss…
I’ll ask her to call you back as soon as she’s free.
What’s your extension number/fax number?
Could you ask her to call me back， please? My number is…
Could you give him a message， please?
What time do you expect her back?
I’ll call again later today.
Thanks very much for your help.
Requesting
I’d like you to…， please.
Could you ask… to …for me?
Do you think you could…?
Would you mind…-ing…?
Sure.
Certainly.
I won’t be able to…， because…
I’m sorry but…
I’m afraid that’s not possible， because…
Offering to help
Can I give you a hand?
Would you like a hand with…?
Shall I…?
Would you like me to…?
If you need any help， just let me know.
Yes， please. Thanks a lot.
No， thanks， I think I can manage.
That’s very kind of you， but…
I think I’d prefer to do that myself because…
Asking permission
May I…?
Do you mind if I…?
Could I…?
Is it all right if I…?
Do you think I could…?
Sure， go ahead.
By all means.
No， I’m afraid you can’t， because…
I’m sorry but…
Agreeing and disagreeing
If you want to agree with someone you can say:
That’s exactly what I think.
That’s a good point.
Quite right， I couldn’t agree more.
That’s just what I was thinking.
I agree entirely.
Yes， I’m all in favour of that.
It’s often considered rude or aggressive to say “You’re wrong” or “I don’t agree with you”. It’s more polite to disagree with someone by saying.
I see what you mean， but…
I don’t think it’s such a good idea…
That’s true， but on the other hand…
I don’t quite agree because…
Maybe， but don’t you think…?
If you require some information you can say:
Could you tell me if/when/how much/why…?
I wonder if you could tell me…?
I’d like to know…
I’d like some information about…
Or you can write:
We require the following information…
Please let us know whether/when/how much…
When someone given you some information you can say comment or reply:
Oh， I see.
That’s interesting.
Thanks for letting me know.
If someone asks you for information you can reply:
As far as I know， …
Well， (in confidence，) I can tell you that…
I’m afraid I don’t know.
I’ve no idea， I’m afraid.
I don’t have that information available just now. Can I call you back?
I’m not sure. I’ll have to find out. Can I let you know tomorrow?
I’m afraid I can’t tell you that. It’s confidential.
If you want to give someone some information you can say:
I’d like you to know that…
I think you should know that…
Did you know that…?
Or you can write:
We should like to inform you that…
Here is the information you requested…
If someone hasn’t given you enough information you can say:
Could you tell me dome more about…?
I’d like some more information about…
I’d also like to know…
When/ How much/ Why exactly…?
There’s something else I’d like to know…
Can you give me some more details about…?
If you want to complain to a person you don’t well， be careful! A direct complaint or criticism can sound very rude or aggressive.
It may be best to mention the problem more indirectly by saying:
I’m sorry to have say that but…
I’m sorry to bother you but…
I think you may have forgotten…
It may have slipped you mind， but…
There may have been a misunderstanding about…
In some situation， but only if you’re talking to someone you know really well， it may be necessary to say more directly:
What are you going to do about…?
I’m not at satisfied with…
But only in extreme cases， if you’ve already tried more polite methods， would you have to threaten someone:
Look， if you don’t send your engineer to repair the machine， we will be forced /obliged to cancel our next order.
Or you can write:
Unless you pay the account within seven days， we will please the matter in the hands of our solicitors/ attorneys…
If someone complains to you， or if you think they’re likely to complain， it may be wise to apologize-even if it wasn’t really your fault. Then you can promise to put things right:
Sorry， my fault.
I’m very sorry. I didn’t realize.
There has been a slip-up/problem in our…dept.
Or you can write:
We are very sorry about the delay/mistake…
We wish to apologize for…
Please accept our apologies for…
You can accept someone’s apology by saying:
That’s all right!
It’s perfectly all right.
It really doesn’t matter.
Here are some expressions that are often used in meetings.
If you‘re in a meeting， you can find out what the other people in the group think by saying:
What are your views on this， John?
Mr Brown， what do you think about this?
Do you agree， Mary?
Ms Smith， what’s your opinion?
If you want to interrupt someone and put forward your own opinion you can say:
If I could just make a point here…
Sorry to interrupt， but I’d just like to say that…
Could I make a suggestion?
It seems to me that…
If you want to find out if the others in the group have understood or if they agree with you， you can say:
Do you see what I mean?
Don’t you agree， Simon?
Don’t you think so， Mrs Robinson?
Are you with me?
Are we unanimous?
Does anyone object?
If you don’t understand what someone has said， you can say:
Sorry， could you say that again， please?
Sorry， I didn’t quite understand.
I’m sorry， I didn’t catch what you said.
Sorry， I’m not quite with you.
商务方面口语和写作 小Tips[全文结束]
