Phrases for Conversation

[saimoh76]

I wonder what ever happened to / became of Guido.

Have you heard anything from Tomoko?

Have you seen Maria-Teresa lately?

Do you know anything about our teacher?

Did you know that Andre got married / promoted?

[saimoh76]

Talking About Friends and Acquaintances

The last I heard, Guido had changed jobs.

It’s hard to keep up with Anastasia. She’s always on the go.

I haven’t heard from her for ages.

We used to e-mail, but lately we seem to have lost touch.

That’s great news. I’m really glad / happy for him.

[saimoh76]

Shared Experiences

Remember when we held a mock election in our afternoon class?

Didn’t we have fun / a good time on that camping trip?

Wasn’t the food in the cafeteria delicious / awful?

Don’t you miss the beach / scenery / going out to the disco?

Those were the good old days / good old times!

[saimoh76]

Reconnecting with old friends or acquaintances is an opportunity to exchange stories about your experiences. Time has passed since you last saw each other, and you are interested in finding out what has happened in the meantime.

[saimoh76]

Asking About Past Experiences

What have you been doing with yourself all this time?

Have you been up to anything exciting / interesting?

What happened after you went back to Japan?

I’m dying / anxious to hear about your new job / what you’ve been doing.

So, what have you been up to?
So, fill me in.

[saimoh76]

Introducing an Experience

You’ll never guess what happened to me in Phoenix.

The most interesting thing happened to me the other day.

Let me tell you about what happened while I was in Toronto.

Know / guess what happened?

Guess what?

[saimoh76]

Everyone has a story to tell. Whether it’s a joke or short anecdote; a lengthy account of an adventure, game, or event; a report of an accident or mishap; or the summary of an intriguing conversation, these accounts make up a large part of your daily conversations. To tell a good story you don’t have to be a professional entertainer; you just need to connect your thoughts and to add a little drama at the right moment.

[saimoh76]

Asking About Experiences

What happened on your vacation / trip / when you went to France?

How did you make out while you were in London?

So how did your visit to New York go / turn out / work out?

Whatever became of your plans to take part in the Tour de France?

What did you experience on your cruise to Alaska?

Did anything interesting / unusual / exciting happen to you on your holiday?

I’ve always wondered / wanted to ask you about your year in California.

We’d love to hear the latest news.

[saimoh76]

Beginnings

One morning / afternoon / day on our holiday in France we decided to go for a short walk in the countryside.

To start / to begin with / first off / it all started when we had breakfast and got ready for our walk.

[saimoh76]

Sequence
Next / the next thing, we followed a set of red and white trail markers from our hotel to the Lot river.

Along the way we saw a sign pointing to a historical village on a hill overlooking the river.

Then / so then we climbed up and spent some time checking out the village.

In the meantime it had started to rain, so we went into some shops.

While we were looking around, the rain stopped and we continued on our walk.

On the way we passed through another small village.

We kept on walking but after a while we noticed that there were no more red and white trail markers.

A few miles / kilometers later we asked for directions at a farmhouse, but the woman said she didn’t know of any trail leading back to our hotel.

After that / afterward we decided to turn around and go back to the village.

[saimoh76]

Adding Drama and Information

All of a sudden / suddenly it started to rain again, only this time it started raining cats and dogs.

By the time we got to the village we were wet, hungry, and tired.

To top it off / to make matters worse, when we got to the village café, they had finished serving lunch, and all we could have was a cup of coffee.

Unfortunately that day was a national holiday, and there was no bus service.

In fact / as a matter of fact there was no taxi in the area, either.

Luckily / fortunately / as luck would have it, the rain soon stopped and we continued on.

Lucky for us we came to a sign pointing to the village where our hotel was located.

However, it was seven kilometers away and before we knew it, it was already late afternoon.

Frankly / actually / truthfully / to tell you the truth we thought we were never going to find our way back before dark.

As it turned out we came to the river where at last we saw the red and white trail markers.

[saimoh76]

Concluding
Finally we made our way along the muddy riverbank.

In the end we got back to our hotel just before dark and in time for dinner.

To make a long story short / long story short we cleaned up, had dinner, and went to bed!

The moral / lesson of the story is when you go on a walk in a foreign country, never leave your hotel without a map.

It just goes to show you that you should never leave your hotel without a map.

[saimoh76]

Because people think on their feet when they hold a conversation, they use “little words” called discourse markers to fill in the gaps when they are searching for words. Discourse markers do not change the meaning of the sentence. In fact they have no literal meaning and can become a bad habit, as in the case of “like” or “you know,” when the speaker uses them too often. Common discourse markers in English include the following.

[saimoh76]

Starters

As you know / you see / see

Now / then / okay / all right

I mean / well / so / oh

Say / why

Examples:

Well, I’d love to hear about your trip.

Now, what have you been up to?

So, after we got to the airport, we had to wait five hours.

[saimoh76]

Fillers

Uh / er / em

Like / you know

Examples:

We stayed at this great hotel, you know, right on the beach.

It was, like, the best place we ever stayed.