English cheatsheet

This post is basically: “How to sound smarter when you’re a non-native English speaker.”

• Report
• Essay
• Informal mail/letter
• Formal mail/letter
• Presentation

Report

Introduce

• The aim/intention/purpose of this report is to outline/present/discuss…
  
• The following report relates to ..
  
• This report outlines …
  
• This report is based on
  

Explaining

• That is to say
  
  • Whales are mammals. That is to say, they must breathe air.
    
• In order to
  
  • In order to understand X, we need first to understand Y.
    
• In other words
  
  • Frogs are amphibians. In other words, they live on the land and in the water.
    
• To put it another way
  
  • Plants rely on photosynthesis. To put it another way, they will die without the sun.
    
• To that end
  
  • Zoologists have long sought to understand how animals communicate with each other. To that end, a new study has been launched that looks at elephant sounds and their possible meanings.
    
• Methodology
  
  • The methodology I used was …
    
• Perhaps the most effective way of
  
• A … would be an effective way to
  

Compare

• One of the main differences between X and Y is that
  
• X is completely/entirely/totally different from Y in that …
  
• Unlike X, Y is…
  
• While/whereas/although X is …, Y is ….
  
• X is not nearly as convenient as Y because
  
• X is exactly the same as Y when it comes to
  
• However
  
• On the other hand
  
• Then again
  
  • Writer A asserts that this was the reason. Then again, it’s possible that he was being paid to say this.
    
• That said
  
  • The evidence ostensibly appears to point to this conclusion. That said, much of the evidence is unreliable at best.
    
• Yet
  
  • Much of scholarship has focused on this evidence. Yet not everyone agrees that this is the most important aspect of the situation.
    

Additional information

• Moreover
  • Moreover, the results of a recent piece of research provide compelling evidence in support of…
• Furthermore
  • Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that…
• Likewise
  • Scholar A believes X. Likewise, scholar B argues compellingly in favour of this point of view.
• Similarly
  • Audiences at the time reacted with shock to Beethoven’s new work, because it was very different to what they were used to. Similarly, we have a tendency to react with surprise to the unfamiliar.
• Another key point to remember
  • As a Romantic, Blake was a proponent of a closer relationship between humans and nature. Another key point to remember is that Blake was writing during the Industrial Revolution, which had a major impact on the world around him.
• Firstly, secondly, thirdly …
• As well as
• Not to mention/to say nothing of
  • The war caused unprecedented suffering to millions of people, not to mention its impact on the country’s economy.
• Not only … but also
  • Not only did Edmund Hillary have the honour of being the first to reach the summit of Everest, but he was also appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
• Coupled with
  • Coupled with the literary evidence, the statistics paint a compelling view of…

Show importance

• Notably
  • The candidate is very qualified in a lot of ways, notably that he worked for a competitor for three years.
• Significantly
  • These figures show many things, but, significantly, they demonstrate a link between family background and educational achievement.
• Indeed
  • The results were surprising. Indeed, nobody expected such a high score.

Proviso

• Nonetheless
  • The study had its limitations, but it was nonetheless groundbreaking for its day.
• Nevertheless
  • He didn’t like the website. Nevertheless, he kept visiting it.
• Notwithstanding
  • Notwithstanding the limitations of the methodology used, it was an important study in the development of how we view the workings of the human mind.
• In view of
  • In view of the evidence from the 2017 study, we have a better understanding of…
• Provided that
  • I will come to visit you tomorrow, provided it doesn’t rain.
• Despite
  • The sample size was small, but the results were important despite this.

Give examples

• Such as
  • Smartphones, such as iPhones, are good connected devices.
• For instance
  • Some birds migrate to avoid harsher winter climates. Swallows, for instance, leave the UK in early winter and fly south.
• To give an illustration
  • To give an illustration of what I mean, let’s look at the case of …
• A closer look at the following …
• This can be shown/illustrated/demonstrated/clarified by ….

Conclude

• In conclusion
  • In conclusion, the evidence points almost exclusively to Argument A.
• All things considered, I believe that…
• Taking all these points into consideration, I would …
• Above all
  • Above all, it seems pertinent to remember that…

Essay

Opening

• People claim that … but I feel that …
• It is often said/argued that … However, It seems to me that…
• It is a fact that …
• Over the past few months/years, it seems that…
• Recently, we have all become concerned that …
• Nowadays, we are all realising that…
• In the past, people used to …, but now …
• These days/weeks, it seems that

Own opinion

• I believe/do not believe that … because …
• Personally I feel that … Let me explain why
• In my opinion, … Just consider …
• As I see it, … The reason is ….
• As far as I am concerned …
• It seems to me that …. This is because …
• I would argue that for the following reasons.
• I feel very strongly that …
• I am convinced that …
• I am in favour of/against …
• I am opposed to ….
• The reasons why I believe that … are as follows

Other people’s opinions

• A few/Many/The majority/The minority of people said/reported/complained
• According to ….
• It is said that ….
• It is often suggested that …
• Share the view that
  • A great number of people share the view that tourism will have a negative impact on the island.
• There is a widespread agreement that
  • Today there is widespread agreement that pollution from cars and planes is threatening the future of our planet…
• It is now widely accepted that
  • It’s now widely accepted that the earth isn’t flat.
• Opinions differ about
  • Opinions differ about the proper relationship between the mass media and society.
• There is considerable disagreement
  • There is considerable disagreement among experts about the usefulness of these tests.

Advantages & Disadvantages

• Benefits
  • Regular exercise has many benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease.
• Advantages clearly outweigh
  • Despite a few problems with the design, the car’s advantages clearly outweigh its disadvantages
• Drawback
  • The major drawback of this method is that it can be very time-consuming
• Downside
  • The downside of running your own business is that you are responsible if anything goes wrong.

Informal mail/letter

Greetings

• Dear (first name)
• Hi (first name)

Beginnings

• Thank you/Many thanks for your (recent/last) mail/letter.
• It was good/nice to hear from you recently.
• I’m sorry I haven’t written/been in touch for such a long time.
• It’s ages since I’ve heard from you. I hope you’re/you and your family are well.

Some Content

• Hi! / How are things? / How are you? / How’s it going?
• Great news about … Glad to hear that … Sorry to hear about …
• Listen, did I tell you about …? You’ll never believe what …
• Oh, and another thing … This is just to let you know that …
• I thought you might be interested to hear about/know that …
• By the way, have you heard about/did you know that …

Apologies

• I’m writing to apologise for missing your party but I’m afraid I had the flu.
• I’m really sorry that I forgot to send you a birthday card but I was busy with my new job.
• If you let me know where you bought it/how much it cost I’ll gladly pay for it/replace it.

Requests

• Please let me know how…
• I wonder if/I was wondering if you could help me/do me a favour.
• I hope you don’t mind me asking but could you (possibly) …?
• I’d be very/really/terribly grateful if you could …

Invitations

• I’m/We’re having a party on Friday 19th and I/we hope you’ll be able to come.
• Would you like to come/go to see ‘Room With a View’ with me at the weekend?
• I was wondering if you’d like to go to the theatre/come on holiday with us?
• Could you let me/us know if you can come/you’d like to join us?
• Thank you very much for your invitation. I’d love to come.
• Thank you for asking/inviting me to … but I’m afraid I won’t be able to ….

Thanks/Congratulations

• I’m writing to thank you for your hospitality/the wonderful present.
• It was so kind of you to invite me to stay with you.
• I really appreciated all your help/advice.
• Congratulations on passing your exams/your excellent exam results!
• Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do well/pass.

Suggestions

• Why don’t you …? Maybe you could …? How about …?
• You can’t leave Paris without doing …
• I’m sure you will enjoy doing sth. / If you like, we can …
• Do visit (somewhere). Don’t forget to (do sth) (Imperative -> Strong Recommendation)
• I’m told that … People say that … (If you heard something is good)

Endings

• Give my love/regards to …
• Say hello to …
• Hope to hear from you soon.
• All the best,
• Best wishes,
• Take care
• Warm regards
• Cheers

Formal mail/letter

Greetings

• Dear Mr/Ms (surname)
• Dear Sir/Madam (or Dear Sir or Madam)

Introduce

• I am writing to …
• I am writing with regard to …
• I am writing on behalf of …

Referring

• As you stated in your mail, …
• Regarding …
• Concerning …
• With regard to …

Asking

• I would be grateful if
• I wonder if you could
• Could you tell me something about …
• I would particularly like to know …
• I would be interested in having more details about …

Complaining

• I am writing to complain about
• You said … but in fact what happened…
• We were supposed to … whereas we actually …

Closing

• If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
• I look forward to hearing from you.
• Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Signing off

• Yours faithfully (when you don’t know the name: Dear Sir/Madam)
• Yours sincerely (when you know the name: Dear Mr/Ms …)
• Kind regards

Presentation

Welcome

• Good morning/afternoon/evening, ladies and gentlemen
• Good morning/afternoon/evening, everyone
• On behalf of …, allow me to extend a warm welcome to you
• Hi everyone. Welcome to …

Introduce yourself

• Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Arya and I am delighted to be here today to talk to you about …
• First, let me introduce myself. My name is Arya and I am the … of …
• I’m Arya from … and today I’d like to talk to you about …

Introduce the subject

• Today I am here to talk to you about
• What I am going to talk about today is
• I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about
• I am delighted to be here today to tell you about
• I want to make you a short presentation about
• I’d like to give you a brief breakdown of
• The purpose of this presentation is …
• My objective today is …

Structure

• Let us start with
• To begin with
• I’ll start with
• In the first place
• First, I will talk about …
• I’ll begin with …
• … then I will look at ….
• … next …
• … and finally

Starting point

• Let me start with some general information on …
• Let me begin by explaining why/how
• I’d like to give you some background information about
• Before I start, does anyone know …
• As you are all aware …
• I think everybody has heard about …., but hardly anyone knows a lot about it

End of a section

• That’s all I have to say about …
• We’ve looked at ..
• To sum up …
• Let’s summarize briefly what we have looked at
• I’d like to recap the main points.
• Well, that’s about it for this part. We’ve covered …

Transition

• I’d now like to move on to the next part
• This leads me to my next point, which is …
• Turning our attention now to …
• Let’s now turn to …

References to the presentation

• As I said at the beginning…
• This relates to what I was saying earlier…
• Let me go back to what I said earlier about…
• I hope that you are now a little clearer on how we can …
• To return to the original question, we can …
• Just to round the talk off, I want to go back to the beginning when I …

Referring to data and visuals

• Based on our findings…
• According to our study
• Our data shows/indicates
• Let me use a graphic to explain this
• I’d like to illustrate this point by showing you …
• Let the pictures speak for themselves
• I think the graph perfectly shows how/that
• If you look at this graph/picture/etc, you can see that

Giving importance

• I would like to draw your attention to this point
• Another significant point is that
• The significance of this is
• This is important because
• We have to remember that

Re-explain

• In other words, …
• To put it more simply
• What I mean to say is
• So, what I’m saying is
• To put it in another way
• I’d like to expand on this aspect/problem/point
• Let me elaborate further on…

Conclusion

• I’d like to conclude by
• In conclusion, let me sum up my main points
• It can be seen from the data/information that
• On the whole I found that
• All things considered, I believe that
• Weighing the pros and cons, I come to the conclusion that
• That brings me to the end of my presentation. Thank you for listening/for your attention.
• Well, that’s it from me. Thanks very much.
• Now I will hand you over to my colleague …
• (Name), the floor is yours

Questions

• Does anyone have any questions or comments?
• I am happy to answer your questions now.
• Please feel free to interrupt me if you have questions
• If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
• Please stop me if you have any questions
• Do you have any questions before I move on?
• If there are no further questions at this point, I’d like to…
• There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation
• I’ll gladly answer any of your questions at the end.
• I’d be grateful if you could ask your questions after the presentation

Answer

• That’s an interesting question. I don’t actually know off the top of my head, but I’ll try to get back to you later with an answer.
• I’m afraid I’m unable to answer that at the moment. Perhaps, I can get back to you later.
• Good question, I really don’t know. What do you think?
• That’s a good question. However, I don’t have any figures on that, so I can’t give you an accurate answer.
• Unfortunately, I’m not the best person to answer that.
• Does this answer your question?
• Did I make myself clear?
• I hope this explains the situation for you.