When you communicate with someone in a business setting, you may not always agree with everything they say. You may think they've got their facts wrong. Or you may simply be confused or feel mislead by what they say.
If you are in such situations, it is very important for you to 'query' or 'clarify'. You need to check that the information given to you is correct or that you understand correctly what has been said.
Here are some useful phrases to help you query the information you receive.
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FOR THE FULL LESSON PLEASE LOG IN AND GO TO: Querying Information: Useful Language |
Querying Information
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13 million? Isn't it 30 million? Don't you mean 2002? Shouldn't it be 5000 units? Sorry, I meant 30 million. No, I mean 2001. |
Clarifying Information
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Let me spell out... Have I made that clear? Do you see what I'm getting at? Let me put this another way... I'd just like to repeat that... Could you explain that, please? Could you clarify that, please?. Could you go through that again? |
Requesting Information
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Please could you…? I'd like you to... Would you mind...? I wonder if you could... |
Asking for Repetition
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I'm afraid I didn't understand that. Could you repeat what you just said? I didn't catch that. Could you repeat that, please? I missed that. Could you say it again, please? Could you run that by me one more time? |
Asking for Clarification
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I don't quite follow you. What exactly do you mean? I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you are getting at. Could you explain to me how that is going to work? I don't see what you mean. Could we have some more details, please? |
Asking for Verification
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You did say next week, didn't you? ('did' is stressed) Do you mean that...? Is it true that...? |
Correcting Information
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Sorry, I think you misunderstood what I said. Sorry, that's not quite right. I'm afraid you don't understand what I'm saying. That's not quite what I had in mind. That's not what I meant. |