Talk about one or both of the points below with your partner or partners

· Which of the statements in Text 9 are true of you?

· Who do you have more sympathy with?

The following useful language may come handy.

Bringing up a Difficult Subject

ü I realize you might not want to discuss this, but…

ü I hate to have to mention this, but…

ü I wouldn’t bother you with this if it was up to me, but…

ü I know this is hard for you, but could we discuss …

Avoiding Responding

ü I’m sorry, I can’t give you a definite answer right now.

ü Can we talk about this later?

ü I’m a bit pressed for time right now, can you get back to me?

ü I really don’t think this is the time (or place) to discuss this.

ü Yes, we must talk about it sometime.

ü I’ll give you a ring at a more convenient time, OK?

Backing down

ü I’m sorry, you’re right. We’ll talk about it some other time.

ü I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.

ü OK, but you can’t put it off / hide your head in the sand for ever. We’ll have to discuss it sooner or later.

Insisting

ü I hate to have to insist, but …

ü Forgive my persistence, but …

ü I’m sorry to keep bringing this up, but …

ü You’ve got a point, but I still think that …

ü Can we go back to what we were saying about…?

ü I don’t mean to sound pushy, but…

ü Yes, but you still haven’t answered my question.

ü I realize you might not want to discuss this.

¨ TEXT 10