Useful Phrases for Discussion and Debate in English

Useful Phrases for Discussion and Debate! The following lesson introduces the list of useful phrases for discussing and debating in English with ESL image.

Learn more about how to express your opinion in English.

Contents

Useful Phrases for Discussion and Debate

1. Introducing a point

First of all I’d like to point out…
The main problem is…
The question of…
Speaking of…
What we have to decide is…

2. Enumeration of points

First of all, I’d like to say…
In addition to that…
Moreover,…
Furthermore,…
Another example of this is..
First, second, third…
Finally,…

3. Expressing a personal opinion

It seems to me that…
I have the feeling that…
I feel that…
I’m absolutely convinced that…
You can take it from me that…
I think/don’t think that…
In my opinion,…
Well, if you ask me…
As I see it…
The way I see it, …
Personally, I believe/suppose/feel (that)…
I’m convinced that…
Expressing pros and cons
There are two sides to the question.
On the one hand…,on the other hand…
An argument for/ in favour of/ against if…
While admitting that…one should not fornet that…
Some people think that…,others say that…

4. Expressing pros and cons

There are two sides to the question.
On the one hand…,on the other hand…
An argument for/ in favour of/ against if…
While admitting that…one should not fornet that…
Some people think that…,others say that…

5. Expressing doubt

I’m not sure if…
I’m not convinced that…
I wonder if you realize that…
I doubt that.

Useful Phrases for Discussion and Debate

6. Expressing disagreement

I don’t agree with you about…
I can’t accept your view that…
I’m of a different opinion…

7. Expressing support

You’re quite right.
That’s a very important point.
You’ve got a good point there.
I couldn’t agree with you more.
You look the words right out of my mouth.
Giving reason
The reason for this is (that)…
I base my argument on…
I tell you all this because…

8. Keeping to the point

It would be more to the point if…
Come to the point.
That’s not the problem.
What we are discussing is…
…has nothing to do with my argument.
That’s not relevant.
Drawing conclusion and summing up
The obvious conclusion is…
Last but not least…
The only alternative (left) is…
The only possible solution/conclusion is…
Summing up, I’d like to say that…
In conclusion we can say that…
To cut a long story short,…
Just to give you the main points again,…

9. Filers in conversation (used only in speaking)

At the beginning of a sentence

Um…
Ok/ All right, …
Well/ Well, anyway…
So/ So then,…
By the way,…
At any rate…Anyhow…
You know,…
What I mean is…
So…where was I saying? /where was I?

In the middle of a sentence (usually)

I mean: This is, I mean, going to be challenging.
I guess: Well, I guess the problem is that I’m tired.
Kind of: This kind of makes sense
Adverbs such as “absolutely”, “actually”, “really”, “sure”, “seriously”: I mean, seriously, do you believe that?

At the end of a sentence

Though: This is going to be hard, though.
Right?: This is going to be easy, right?