CONVERSATION GAMBITS

CONVERSATION GAMBITS

Berikut ini daftar ungkapan-ungkapan (gambits) yang lazim digunakan dalam bahasa Inggris yang bersumber dari Keller (1988). Ungkapan-ungkapan tersebut dapat dikembangkan menjadi wacana sebagai bahan Speaking Skill.

1. Asking for information

I’d like to know …

I’m interested in …

Could you tell me …?

Do you know …?

Could you find out …?

Could I ask …?

Do you happen to know …?

2. Breaking in

Excuse me

Sorry

Excuse me for interrupting, but …

May I interrupt for a moment?

…, please

Certainly

3. Interupting Game

Sorry, but …

Excuse me for interrupting, but …

Can I add here that …?

I’d like to comment on that.

Can I add something?

Can I say something here?

I’d like to say something if I may

Can I ask a question?

May I ask something?

To return to the topic

Anyway …

In any case …

To get back to what I was saying …

Where was I?

4. Getting information on the phone

I’m calling to find out …

I’d like to ask …

Could you tell me …?

I’m calling about …

I was wondering if you could tell me …

I wonder if you could help me …

If you go through a switchboard, say first:

I’d like to talk to somebody about …

5. Actions in order

First of all,

Then,

Next,

After that,

Finally,

Make sure you …

Be careful not to …

Remember to …

Don’t forget to …

6. Telling a Story

First …

First of all …

To begin with …

Then …

After that …

So …

So then …

At the end …

Finally …

7. Listening Excuses

First of all …

The main reason is …

Secondly …

With two:

The other reason is …

With several:

Another reason is …

Besides that …

And on top of that …

And finally …

8. The Main Thing

First of all …

The main thing is …

The most important thing is …

9. The Main Problem

The trouble is …

The problem is …

The real problem is …

The point is …

The awful thing is …

Don’t forget that …

10. A Surprising Fact

Start:

Do you realize that …

Believe it or not …

You may not believe it, but …

It may sound strange, but …

The surprising thing is …

Surprisingly …

Oddly enough …

Funnily enough …

End with:

Generally …

By and large …

As a rule …

Normally …

Usually …

On the whole …

11. Surprising News

Guess what!

Surprise!

I’ve got news for you!

Do you know what!

Are you sitting down?

You’d better sit down!

You won’t believe this, but …

12. An Unpleasant Thought

Actually …

The only thing is …

To tell you the truth …

To be honest …

Frankly …

13. The Hidden Truth

Frankly, I doubt if …

Let’s face it!

The catch is …

The truth of the matter is …

The real question is …

Come on now!

Let’s be realistic

14. Changing The Subject

Talking of …

That reminds me …

By the way,

On before I forget …

15. Current Affairs

I think …

I suppose …

I suspect that …

I’m pretty sure that …

I’m fairly certain that …

It’s my opinion that …

I’m convinced that …

I wonder if …

16. Guessing

I’d say …

Could it be …

Perhaps it’s …

I think it’s …

It looks like …

It’s difficult to say, but I’d guess …

17. A Conviction

I honestly feel that …

I strongly believe that …

I’m convinced that …

Without a doubt …

I’m positive …

I’m absolutely certain that …

18. Personal Opinion

In my opinion …

I personally believe…

I personally think …

I personally feel …

Not everyone will agree me, but …

To my mind …

19. How something Affects You

In my opinion …

From my point of view, …

Well, personally …

If I had my way …

What I’m more concerned with is …

In my case …

20. Sharing a Confidence

I’ve heard …

They say …

Just between you and me,

I heard on the grapevine

This shouldn’t be passes around, but …

Have you heard …

Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but …

21. How to Get the Money

Why not …

Why don’t you …

You could always …

One way would be to …

Perhaps you could …

If I were you, I’d …

What about … ing

Try … ing

22. Offering a Suggestion

Why don’t you …

Why not …

Perhaps you could …

Have you thought about …

I have an idea …

Let’s …

23. The Great Escape

Our plan is to …

We’re thinking of …

What we have in mind is …

What we plan to do is …

I’ll tell you what we do,

What about this for an idea …

24. Plan and Counterplan

Why don’t you …

You could always …

If I were you, I’d …

Why not …

How about …

Try … ing.

25. Thinking about a Problem

In a case like this …

In a situation like this …

In this sort of situation …

26. Emphasizing a Point

That’s just the point.

But the question is …

But the real question is …

This raises the problem of …

But can’t you see …?

27. Adding Things

To start with …

And another thing …

What’s more …

Just a small point …

Perhaps I should mention …

Oh, I almost forgot …

28. Give a Reason

And besides …

Also …

In addition …

What’s more …

And another thing …

Not to mention the fact that …

Plus the fact that …

Not only that, but …

29. Have You Got a Good Reason?

Starting

The reason why …

Because …

Continuing

Because of that …

That’s why …

That’s the reason why …

For this reason …

30. Thinking Ahead

If …

If ever …

When …

Whenever …

As soon as …

By the time …

Unless …

31. Correcting Yourself

What I mean is …

What I meant was …

Let me put another way,

What I’m saying is …

What I’m trying to say is …

Don’t misunderstand me.

If I said that, I didn’t mean to …

Let me rephrase what I just said.

32. Putting the Record Straight

That’s not what I said at all.

I’ve no idea who told you that.

Goodness, where did you get that idea from?

I’m afraid that just isn’t true …

The fact of the matter is …

Look, let’s get this straight …

33. Popular Misconceptions

Introducing

Many people think …

Some people say …

You’ve probably heard that …

It may seem …

Linking

But in fact,

But actually

The truth of the matter is …

34. We Take it for Granted

At first glance, it looks as if …

Many people think that …

We take it for granted that …

It seems as if …

It looks like …

But in fact,

In reality,

The fact of the matter is …

But actually,

35. Saying, ‘no’ Tactfully

Saying no

I’m not keen on …

I don’t particularly like …

I can’t stand …

It’s not my idea of …

I’d really rather not …

A preference

I’d prefer …

I’d really much rather …

I’d rather …

36. Door to door salespeople

I’m not really interested in …

But I’m not worried about …

I’ve got no use for …

I’m perfectly happy with …

37. Demanding Explanation

Can you explain why …

Do you mean to say …

I don’t understand why …

Why is it that …

How come …

Does this mean …

38. Expressing Your Reservation

I’m afraid …

I don’t see how …

But the problem is …

Yes, but …

I doubt …

Possibly, but …

Yes, but the problem really is …

What I wanted about is …

What bothers me is …

39. Taking Thing into Consideration

Bearing in mind …

Considering …

If you remember …

Allowing for the fact that …

When you consider that …

Responding to a compliment

Oh, thank you very much

That’s very kind of you

Do you really think so?

40. Argument and Counter Argument

Reservation

Yes, but …

Yes, but don’t forget …

That would be great, except …

That’s good idea, but …

Counter argument

Even so …

Even if that is so …

That may be so, but …

That’s probably true, but …

Possibly, but …

41. Seeing the Good Side

On the other hand

But then again …

Look at it this way …

Anyway …

Even no …

Ok, but …

But in long run …

Very true, but …

To make up for it …

42. Generalizing

Generalizing

AS a rule …

Generally …

Usually …

Frequent

Most of the time …

Again and again …

Time and again …

Less frequent

Every so often …

From time to time …

Every now and then …

43. Exception

Generalizing

In general …

Generally speaking …

As a rule …

By and large …

In my experience …

In most cases …

n my experience ......

Exceptions

There are exceptions, of course,

One exception is,

But what about,

But don’t forget,

44. Generalization Game

Generalizing

In general …

Generally speaking …

As a rule …

By and large …

In my experience …

In most cases …

Exceptions

There are exceptions, of course,

One exception is,

But what about,

But don’t forget,

45. Illustration your Point

For example,…

For instance,…

Take for example …

Take the way …

For one thing …

To give you an idea …

Look at the way …

By way of illustration …

46. What you really mean

Hesitating Phrase

Well, um …

Well let’s see,

Mmm, I’ll have to think about that,

Re-stating

So, what you’re saying is …

So, what you’re really saying is…

In other words,

If I understand you correctly,

So, you mean that,…

47. Finishing Your Story

To cut a long story short …

So, in the end…

So, in short …

So …

To sum up …

All in all …

To put the whole thing in nutshell …

48. Right or Wrong

Correct

That’s right

Right

OK

Yes

Exactly

Wrong

No, I’m afraid not

Not quite

You’re close

I don’t know

I’m not sure

49. Crowd Reaction

Agreeing

Hear! Hear!

You’re absolutely right

You said it

I agree

So do it!

Neither can I!

Disagreeing

That’s just not true

Oh, come on

Rubbish

Don’t give us that!

50. Getting to Know Someone

Agreeing

That’s (very) true

I agree with you there

Yes, I know exactly what you mean

Disagreeing

Yes, but don’t you think but

Yes, but on other hand

I don’t see it quite like that

51. Helping other

Can I help you?

I’m afraid I don’t know

I’m afraid I can’t decide

I’m afraid I can’t make up my mind

I’ll have to think about it

I’m really not sure

I think I’ll leave it, Thank you

52. The Love Test

Strong agreement

Of course I would

I certainly would

Mild agreement

I think I would

I might

I might consider it

I think so

Indecision

I don’t know

I can’t decide

I can’t make up my mind

I’m not sure

Mild disagreement

Probably not

I don’t think so

I doubt it

Strong dis agreement

Never in a million years!

Non on your life!

Not (even) if you paid me!

Not for all the tea in China!

53. I haven’t a clue

I’m afraid I don’t know

I’m sorry I don’t know

I haven’t a clue

I couldn’t tell you

I’m not sure

Oh, It’s slipped my mind

I’ve forgotten

It’s no good. I can’t remember

54. It serves you right

It serves you right

It’s your own fault

What did you expect?

Perhaps that’ll teach you

55. Analyse your Handwriting

Agreeing

I’m not surprised

That doesn’t surprise me

Yes, that sounds like me

I knew it

I thought so

Just what I’ve always thought

Absolutely

Disagreeing

You’re joking

You must be joking

I don’t believe it

No, definitely not

Come on!

I don’t think so

I don’t think that’s very fair

Are you pulling any leg?

That’s news to me

56. Inkblots

When you are surprise

Really

Are you joking?

Oh?

Where? Show me

I can’t see that

Goodness

What?

When you agree

So do I

Me too

That’s what I thought you

But that’s what I was going to say

57. Being Sympathetic

Less serious news

Oh no!

What a pity!

What a shame,

What a nuisance

Poor you

Very sad news

How awful!

How terrible!

I’m really sorry to hear that

That must’ve been awful!

58. The Interview

Well, let me see

Well, let me think

I’ll have to think about that

That’s a good question

How shall I put it

Let’s put it this way

The best way I can answer that is

Mm, that’s a difficult question. Let me see.

59. Showing Interest

Right

OK

Yes

And

Really

And then

Auxiliaries

Did you?

Have you?

Are you?

Were you?

Was it?

60. Are You Following me?

Repetition Gambit

Would you mind repeating that?

Sorry, I didn’t catch the last part

Sorry, you’ve loss me

Sorry, I don’t follow you

What was that again?

Checking gambits

Are you with me?

Are you still with me?

Is that clear?

OK so far?

Have you got it?

Do you understand so far?

61. Communication Problems

Sorry, what did you say?

Sorry?

I didn’t get the bit about…

I’m sorry I can’t hear you. It’s very bad line

Would you mind saying that again?

Could you repeat your address, please?

Could you spell it, please?

62. Accepting a Compliment

Oh, thank you

That’s very kind of you

It’s very kind of you to say that

Do you really think so!

Thanks, I needed that

You’ve made my day!