DISCOURSE MARKERS:

COMMON: well, you know, actually, like, you see, I mean, basically, so, right, okay, and, but, or,
because,..

IN MY OPINION: (hiếm dung)

- As far as I’m concerned: như tôi dc biết

- Personally, I think/ believe/ assume/ guess/ reckon
- I would say that
- To my mind,..
- If you ask me..
- My take on this is…..(idiom)
- From my vantage point,..
- In my view
- From my perspective

AGREE:

- My thoughts exactly
- I can’t agree more
- Of course/ Totally/ Without a doubt
- I do see eye to eye with you/them on this
- Anyone with any sense would agree that..
- That’s totally what I think too
- That’s also my take on this..
- I couldn’t put it better myself
- Yah, tell me about it
- That’s also how I feel about that….

DISAGREE:

- I’m afraid I don’t see it that way

- That could be true to a certain extent, but I gotta say that I don’t see it that way / I see it quite
differently/ slightly differently
- That’s one way to look at it, but I think I hold a different viewpoint
- Im not quite sure about that idea
- That’s not always the case
- Well, I see where this is coming from, but that’s not the whole picture. Let me just say this
- Possibly/ maybe that’s true, but there are other perspectives that should be taken into account
- On the contrary, I hold a diametrically/ completely different viewpoint/ view
- Those who think that …have it all wrong
OBVIOUSLY (HIỂN NHIÊN)

- In fact
- As a matter of fact
- Clearly
- Of course
- As you probably know
- It may be stating the obvious but I still need to say this
- It’s a no-brainer that…
- It goes without saying that..
- Needless to say
- Without a/a shred/ shadow of a doubt,..

GIVING EXAMPLES

- for example
- for instance
- one example is
- a good example is
- probably the best example that I can think of is
- a case in point is
- take ….by way of example
- a typical example of this is that
- to illustrate
- this can be exemplified by the fact that………

REPEATING A POINT

- as I was saying
- as I say
- as I said
- as I said earlier
- as I told you before
- as I said earlier
- Probably I told you this before, I mean

CONTRAST

- Alternatively
 - In contrast
- Having said that: nói vậy nhưng mà
- However
- On the other hand, though,..
- But then again
- Even so (even if that’s true, it is also true that) thậm chi vậy nhưng mà
- Be it as it may
- That said
-
LISTING
- For one thing/ for another/ another reason why
- First of all (more natural than firstly)
- As far as cars are concerned,
- With regard to cars
- And as for cars
- When it comes to cars
- Let’s not forget
- Another thing (more natural than secondly)
- Another factor to take into consideration
- Another reason why motorbikes are popular is
- What’s more (instead of moreover/ furthermore/ in addition/
- First/second/finally (don’t overuse them)
- As well
- As well as
- Above all
- On top of that

PARAPHRASING

- I mean
- In other words: nói cách khác là
- I suppose what I’m saying is
- What I mean is: ý tôi là
- What Im trying to say is
- What I meant to say was
- What meant was
- Or simply put
- Or to put it simply: nói đơn giản là
- Or well, let me put it this way
- Sorry, what I intended to say was………..
- Did I say…..? I meant to say……
- Let me put that another way………: để tôi nói cách khác
- Or rather……

CLARIFY:
Let me explain

What I mean by this is

Let me elaborate on that: đẻ tôi làm rõ ra

Let me clarify that

To put that another way

CONCLUDING

- So you see
- So
- So, to sum up
- So, anyway
- Anyway, as I said
- Anyway, that’s why
- Above all
- All things considered
- All in all
- At the end of the day
- ultimately

OTHERS

- It really depends: nó tùy

- You might find strange if I say that
- As embarrassing as this may find, I need to admit that: hơi ngượng để kể nhưng mà
- According to (an article I read online)
- Anyway
- If Im not mistaken = If my memory serves me right = if my memory serves me correctly
- Correct me if Im wrong
- Generally speaking
- For the most part
- In contrast
- To be (quite/ completely/brutally) honest
- To tell you the truth

- And so on/ and so forth/ etcetera/ to name but a few/ you name it: vv

- It’s a bit hard to say/ difficult to say

- Sorry/ pardon/ can you repeat that?/ Im not sure I understand correctly, can you repeat that?
 - Im sorry what do you mean by…?

I DON’T KNOW

- To be honest, I haven’t got a clue: xin lỗi tôi ko có ý để nói

- To tell you the truth, I haven’t got the slightest idea about
- I’m no expert but I suppose: tôi ko phải là chuyên gia nhưng tôi cho rằng
- If Im to level with you, I gotta admit that I can make heads or tails of it
- Well, I gotta admit that I cant get my head around it
- Off the top of my head, I cant really work out why that is/ the difference between these things
- I cant really tell the difference between these people
- This is way beyond the purview of my knowledge

SOME REDUNDANT LANGUAGES

- That sort of thing (kiểu thế)

- Things like that/ something like that/ stuff like that (những thứ như vậy)
- This and that and the other (này kia kia nọ)
Ex: she always tells me to do this and that and that other
- For lack of a better word (khi quên từ)
Protecting wild animals is …for lack of a better word….very important
- For that matter (a and b for that matter)
- If you will
Ex: nhấn mạnh ý đằng sau
 In order to get success, you have to work really hard, or you have to work like a dog if you
will
- It seems to me that
- Or so (ko nhớ lắm) I met her 2 or 3 years or so ago
- Give or take (I met her 2 or 3 years give or take)
- Don’t get me wrong (đừng nghĩ nhầm nhé)
- Don’t take it the wrong way

SÁCH COLLOCATIONS – IDIOMS theo thứ tự

+ English collocations in use (inter)

+ idioms and phrasal verbs (inter)

+ easy American idioms

+ speak English like an American

+ English collocations in use (advanced)

+ idioms and phrasal verbs (advanced)

POINT  EXPLAIN  EXAMPLE  COMPARE  OPNION

YES/NO QUESTIONS:

- YES
+ make it stronger: of course/ definitely/ absolutely/ 100 percent yes/ without a doubt/ for
sure/ in a word-yes
+ make it milder: not really/ maybe/ probably/ that’s probably a good thing/ Im not really sure/ I
cant say for sure/ but…I would say so

- NO
+ make it stronger: definitely – absolutely NO/ No way/ in a word-NO/ That’s a big no-no for me
Never in my life have I………
+ make it milder: not really/ Im not entirely sure / I wouldn’t say

ENDING YOUR SPEAKING CONFIDENTLY

lower your voice/ using falling intonation
- And …well, yah
- Well, that’s it/ that’s all
- Well, so basically

PART 2:

- Gom chủ đề liên quan nhau: về vật, người, công trình,.. biến hóa linh hoạt

+ introduce the topic

+ when: if I remember rightly/ correctly = if my memory serves me right = If my memory serves, it was
when… = I still remember very vividly the day …

+ feelings: what you felt + comparison + your knowledge

+ in the future, if….

FEELING 1: surprise

+ to my surprise, S+ V

+ I was taken by great surprise..

+ It was a pleasant surprise when

FEELING 2 - happy

+ I was excited to … (exubrate/ radiate/ ooz/ halo)

+ I was enthralled..

+ I was elated…

+ I was on top of the world

+ I was thrilled to bits

+ I felt jubilant

+ I was/ felt euphoric -ecstatic/ I was in a state of euphoria/ ecstacy..

- FEELING 3: angry
+ I flew off the handle
+ I was teeming with anger
+ I was consumed with anger
+ I was furious/ livid
+ I completely lost it
+ It really ticked me off
+ It bugged me
+ It drove me crazy
+ It got to me..
+ It was a pain…

STORY PHRASES: (quá khứ tiếp diễn)

- When, while (past continuous)
- Before….
- After
- …….., after which…..
- If It wasn’t for…………., I would’ve (nếu ko nhờ…)
- I never thought I would ever ……….
 - Used to
- At that point..
- Around that time
- Not long afterwards = soon after
- At first…..but
- I hated it when ../ I loved it when…
- One night/ The other day/ later that day…
- It got to the point where… (đến mức…)
- As soon as
- Unfortunately/ luckily/ interestingly enough,
- I thought to myself that
- It was crazy how
- (an amount of time -e.g a month) into my relationship
- Anyway,… anyhow
- By the way
- I guess I might’ve forgotten to talk about…., so… (còn h để nói, có một point mình có thể chém
tiếp)
- I am not sure what would’ve happened if…
- Im not sure I would’ve done it again if I was given the chance

TACKLE DIFFERENT ASPECTS

Yes/NO: are….do……. (ko cá nhân)

- it depends on where you look at this matter really. If you are talking about…..

- It’s really conditional upon where you’re looking at this matter. If you are talking about….If you are
talking about…. It might be a completely different story - phụ thuộc

- Whether ….is still a moot point really. Some people say that………, but it also makes a lot of sense to
think that…..personal speaking  vấn đề chưa rõ ràng có nhiều ý kiến trái chiều nhưng vẫn hợp tình
hợp nghĩa

WHY/ in your opinion:

- Im not sure what my take on this is…of course I know that …..but it might not be the case if you factor
in the fact that…… (cá nhân)  đề cập mặt tốt của 1 vấn đề nhưng còn có vấn đề negative ….

- I think Im on the fence about this………

- Im in two minds about whether ……….I mean of course you can say that but you also need to factor in
the fact that…..

YES/NO: do you think………..?

- It varies from person to person/ country to country/ religion to religion… (chia tách)
- It varies much more significantly on an individual level rather than on a gender level

- If Im to level with you, Im not sure what my take on this is. On the one hand, I understand where those
who think that……….are coming from. I mean they may think that………but anyone with any sense would
also agree that……. (thành thật mà nói)

WHY: nói về benefits/ drawbacks….

In terms of the economy,………….. as for the environment,………… on a societal level

- Theoretically speaking, ………. In practical terms..

- Physically,…………..mentally…..
- Looking at this from a purely financial perspective/ on a financial level/ from an economic
perspective/………………but on a societal level……
- Particularly amongst younger people,……….but old people, on the other hand…….
- From a migrant’s perspective,… but if you are looking at this matter from a native’s vantage
point
- As far as teachers are concerned,……….. of course children may think otherwise, saying that…..
- From a parent’s point of view,…… children, on the other hand though,…….
- Personally speaking,……..
- Speaking for myself,………

Do you think fishing is popular in VN? (chung chung rộng)

 Even though I cant speak for everyone, I suppose that it is pastime for most older people or
the ones enjoying spending time in a quiet and serene places….

Do you think online advertisements are effective? (chung chung)

 Thể hiện sự chắc chắn

 From what I’ve experienced, it’s safe to say that they tend to be more of a nuisance than
anything………

Dạng liệt kê, ko muốn nói nhiều:

Can you tell me about some special festivals in your country?

  I don’t want to bore you to death by listing them all, so I’ll mention the two most common
festivals which are the Tet holiday and VL festival. These types of festivals are celebrated as
an integral part of our traditions. On those occasions, we all have a great time enjoying
mouth-watering cuisine, music, and magical firework…

It depends….