Checking and clarifying key words brainstorming
Try to remember or think of at least one phrase for checking and clarifying including each of the words below (for the person speaking and/ or the person listening). You don’t need to change the words at all (although you can if you like). You may be able to use the same sentence in more than one place below, but please try to think of at least one different sentence for each key word.
again
spell(ed/ing)
mean(ing)
little
example
still
(an)other
explain/ explanation
one
simple/ simpler/ simply
too
clear(ly)
hope(fully)
Compare your phrases as a class or with the suggested answers. Many other answers are possible, so please check any different phrases with the teacher.
Test each other in pairs:
- read out phrases with one of the words missing until your partner guesses the key word.
- elicit all the phrases for one of the key words above from your partner, helping them if they get stuck
Suggested answers
In approximate order of how common they are. The sentences in brackets and italics and marked with NOT and an X are wrong or too informal/ impolite, so are not acceptable answers.
- again – Can/ Could you say that again (a little more slowly/ a little more loudly)? – (NOT Can you repeat that again? X)
- spell(ed/ing) – How do you spell…?/ Can you spell… for me?/ How is… spelled?/ That’s quite difficult to spell, so…/ Not many people know how to spell that, so…/ I’m not sure if you will know how to spell that or not, so… – (NOT What is the spell? X)
- mean(ing) – What does… mean?/ Does that mean…?/ Do you mean…?/ …, which means… / Can you explain what… means?/ Did you mean (to say)…?/ I’m not (entirely) sure what… means.
- little – Can you speak a little louder?/ Can you speak a little more slowly?/ Can you say that again a little more slowly?/ Can you explain a little more about…?
- example – Can you give (me) an example (of what you are talking about)?/ To give an example (of what I mean),…/ I can illustrate that with an example.
- still – I’m afraid I still don’t (fully) understand./ I’m still not sure (exactly) what you mean (by…)./ I still need a bit more explanation (of…)
- (an)other – In other words,…/ To put that another way,…/ Can you explain that (in) another way?/ Can you put that in other words?/ Is there another way of saying that?
- explain/ explanation – Can you explain a little more about…?/ Can you explain that another way?/ Can you explain that in other words?/ Have I explained myself (well)?/ You don’t seem (entirely) happy with my explanation, so…/ That’s probably not a good enough explanation, so…/ I can tell from your face that it still needs some explanation so…/ Hopefully you can understand from my explanation that… – (NOT I don’t understand your explanation. X/ NOT Please explain. X)
- one – Can you say that (just) one more time? – (NOT One more. X/ NOT One more please. X)
- simple/ simpler/ simply – A simpler explanation is…/ Can you explain that in simpler words?/ In simpler terms,…/ To explain the same thing more simply,…/ – (NOT If you need a simpler explanation,… X)
- too – Am I going through it too quickly?/ Am I speaking too quickly? – (NOT Is that too difficult for you to understand? X)
- clear(ly) –I’m not (really) clear about the meaning of…/ Hopefully it’s clear (that) I mean…
- hope(fully) – Hopefully you can understand from my explanation that…/ I hope it’s clear that I mean…/ Hopefully I’ve made it obvious that…
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