Developing Conversations C1 Functional language
1.Reinforcing and identifying a point That was totally insane! Honestly… Really? absolutely packed…? Yeah? Seriously. You literally couldn’t move!
2. Giving your impression He / she seems …. He /she strikes me as ….. She / he comes across as …. I get the impression / feeling … Questions: So what do you think of…? What do you make of …? What’s your impression of …?
3. Challenging overgeneralisations Come on! Come off it! That’s a bit …rash/of an overstatement / a stereotype, isn’t it? I wouldn’t go that far. It’s not as though …. We’re all like that! That can’t be true! It’s like saying…
4. Giving opinions I’m a huge fan of the idea… I don’t really know where I stand. I’m totally against it! I think the negatives far outweight the positives. I can’t pass judjement. I don’t know enough about it. It’s a good idea just in theory, but not in practice. I have some major doubts about it. I’m completely oposed to it. Etc…
5. Commenting on what is said (present) I bet… You must….(deduction) e.g. you must be getting very good at it… (past) That must’ve been… That can’t ve been….
6. Defending and excusing It’s not as though / if… (excusing) It’s just that… It came out wrong. I’m sorry…
7. Expressing surprise and disbilief How on earth …! What the heck/hell….! No way! Come off it! Are you serious? A: You must be joking! …. B: Yup! Oh my… You don’t say… My goodness!
8. Emphatic tags Yeah. It was stuning. It really was. I just love it there. I really do. It made no difference whatsoever. It really didn’t. That sounds amazing. It really does.
9. Making deductions So ……. Then So, you were eager to come here then. So you travel a lot then. must…. So you must That must’ve hurt you a lot!
10. Vague language They sort / kind of cut it up and… (verb) It’s a kind /sort of …. (noun) …or something like that. Loads of, a ton of, a whole bunch of …+ noun. …and all that sort of thing… stuff like that. …somehow + verb…
11. Irony and humour I’m not exactly…. when it comes to … I managed to break my leg in three parts. A: How was the show/match, etc.? B: Ok, I didn’t exactly go wild about it, thought. Nothing to write home out! Come on! You only made like 20 double faults!
12. Contextualised questions At one poit you said….. Could you eleborate on that a bit? I didn’t quite understand the point you were making about…. Could you go over that again? …Could you tell me what the source for that is? …What evidence do you have for that?
13. Rhetorical questions and common opinions …What did you expect? It’s one rule for us and another for them. They should lock them up and throw away the key! It’s all about ….oil/money, etc… It’s about time they did something… If you live by the sword…
14. Small talk A: ‘Hi! How’s everything going that end of business?’ We can’t complain. We’re whethering the storm… Pretty dire, to be honest. Oh, it’s been relly hectic. Don’t ask! Oh, not too bad…
15. Backtracking and correcting No it’s not what I meant to say…. All I meant was… What I really meant to say was… Sorry, I’m not explaining myself well…
16. Interjections Woah! No way! Ouch! Oops Boo Hmm Phew Oh Oh my Shoo Yuck! Yahoo! Yeah! Alas! I’m lost! Bah! What a waste of…! Gotta go! Cheerio! Oh dear! Ha ha Lo and behold and a long etc.