Search Content

In-Depth Tips from Dr English

doceng3Dr English is the resident expert in language and communication training at Workplace English Training E-Platform (WETE). The informative and often in-depth articles below will help more advanced learners to understand and improve various aspects of their English, especially the English they need for work. You can read Dr English's tips on your PC, laptop or mobile device. These articles are only available for members of WETE. If you would like to subscribe and receive email notifications of future postings, please subscribe by clicking the Newsletter link above.

Business Presentations: Signposting Language

29 Nov 2022

presentationsA good way to make your presentations effective, interesting and easy to follow is to use signposting language. 'Signposting language' is the words and phrases that people use to tell the listener what has just happened, and what is going to happen next.

In other words, signposting language guides the listener through the presentation. A good presenter will usually use a lot of signposting language, so it is a good idea to learn a few of the common phrases, even if you spend more time listening to presentations than giving them! Signposting language is usually fairly informal, so it is quite easy to understand.

FOR THE FULL LESSON PLEASE LOG IN AND GO TO:

Business Presentations: Signposting
(includes lesson notes, dialogues, audio lesson + interactive practice exercises)



Here are some common phrases:

Introducing the Subject

I'd like to start by...
Let's begin by...
First of all, I'll...
Starting with...
I'll begin by...
Finishing One Subject...
Well, I've told you about...
That's all I have to say about... We've looked at... So much for...


Starting Another Subject

Now we'll move on to...
Let me turn now to...
Next...
Turning to...
I'd like now to discuss...
Let's look now at...


Analysing a Point and Giving Recommendations

Where does that lead us?
Let's consider this in more detail...
What does this mean for ABC?
Translated into real terms...


Giving an Example

For example,...
A good example of this is...
As an illustration,...
To give you an example,...
To illustrate this point...


Dealing with Questions

We'll be examining this point in more detail later...
I'd like to deal with this question later, if I may...
I'll come back to this question later in my talk...
Perhaps you'd like to raise this point at the end...
I won't comment on this now...


Summarising and Concluding

In conclusion,...
Right, let's sum up, shall we?
I'd like now to recap...
Let's summarise briefly what we've looked at...
Finally, let me remind you of the issues we've covered...
If I can just sum up the main points...
Ordering / Sequencing Firstly...secondly...thirdly...lastly...
First of all...then...next...after that...finally...
To start with...later...to finish up...
 
Menu