Useful Language — Holding Your Own on the Call

The phrases that get you into the conversation and keep you there.

Tap the beside any phrase to hear it, then say it out loud. Then listen to the full conversation below.

🎙️ Step 1 — Getting into the conversation

Can I come in on that?
Sorry, could I add something quickly?
Before we move on, can I check one thing?
I’d like to come back to what David said earlier.

🔁 Step 2 — When you did not catch it

Sorry, could you say that again a little more slowly?
I didn’t catch the last part.
Just so I’m clear, you’re saying that the deadline moves to June?
Can you spell that for me?

⏱️ Step 3 — Chairing and keeping time

Let’s take the agenda in order.
We have twenty minutes, so I’ll keep us moving.
Let’s park that and come back to it at the end.
Elena, we haven’t heard from you yet, what do you think?

✅ Step 4 — Closing with actions

So, to summarise what we’ve agreed.
Marco owns that one, by the fifteenth.
I’ll send round the notes this afternoon.
If I’ve got any of that wrong, tell me before Friday.

Listen: a call with head office

Nadia: David, before we move on, can I come in on the hiring freeze?

David: Go ahead, but quickly, I’ve got another call in ten. We’re up against it this quarter, so I want to push the freeze to June.

Nadia: Sorry, could you say that again a little more slowly? I didn’t catch the last part.

David: Of course. I said we’re up against it this quarter, so I want to push the freeze from March to June.

Nadia: Just so I’m clear, you’re saying no hiring at all until June?

David: That’s the proposal, yes.

Nadia: Then I need to put one thing on the table. We have two open roles in support. If they stay open until June, we miss the renewal season, and that’s a real number, not a feeling.

David: Hmm. All right. What if I release one of them in April and we hold the other?

Nadia: That works. So, to summarise what we’ve agreed: the freeze extends to June, one support role is released in April, and the second stays on hold.

David: Correct. Send that round and I’ll confirm in writing.

Notice that Nadia asks David to slow down without apologising, and that she is the one who summarises the decision at the end. Notice too David’s I said we are up against it…: in the minutes, Nadia will put the whole call into reported speech (David said that the freeze would be extended to June).