How to Finish Speaking without Feeling Awkward
Does this happen to you? You are almost finished speaking in English and you don’t know how to show that you’re finished. So you say, “Umm, that’s it.” Or “I don’t know what else to say.” Or, “I’m done.” Do you struggle with how to naturally finish speaking in English?
You’re not alone. In fact, this has become a common question among my Fluency School students. If they have that question, I’m sure you do as well.
The good news is, there are much better ways to show that you’re finished talking about your ideas or sharing comments. And when you do it correctly, it helps your listeners know they can start to talk.
This is an essential skill in English communication. This helps to create effective turn-taking. In other words, it helps everyone to participate in a conversation more easily, without any awkward silences.
In today’s video, I share with you 4 easy-to-use strategies to finish speaking in English with confidence.
Avoid the “Umm, I’m finished” and instead, end your English comments with confidence.
Lesson by Annemarie
Summary of Strategies for How to Finish Speaking in English
In the video, you learned 4 simple ways to use your voice or use language to facilitate turn-taking and show that you’re finished.
- Use falling intonation in your voice
- Slow down and pause often in your final sentence
- Use tag questions or ask questions to bring someone else into the conversation
- Use language to summarize and indicate that you’re finishing your comments
At the end of the video, I had a challenge question for you; I’d love to hear from you!
I gave two examples where I said the same sentence twice but I used my voice differently. Can you tell me in which example I wanted to show that I had more to say or I was still thinking and in which example was I indicating that I was finished?
The two sentences were:
- I couldn’t believe it.
- What a crazy day.
Share with me in the comments section below. That’s the best place to join the conversation, learn from others in the community, and get feedback from me.
Have a fantastic Confident English Wednesday!
~ Annemarie
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How do i say Wait i am not finished talking in a polite manner
Very good your teaching style and I am enjoying with your text and video, I want to say mam, u make video from all different situations where I speak English in fleunce way because I am indian and I want learn English by English to English. Thank you very much mam .
I’m so glad you enjoyed the video and found it helpful to you!
thanks alot for the great lesson
the first examble
first sentence
the second examble
the second sentence
Great job, Luma!!
Hi, Annemarie, thanks for the class.
In the expression: I couldn´t believe it
1.Ending your thoughts
2. Just starting your story
In the expression: What a crazy day
1. You want to ask something
2.closing your conversation.
Hi Adriana, You’re very welcome! Thanks for sharing your answers. And bravo! You’re right. 🙂
For the sentence,
“I couldn’t believe it”:
How you say it in the first would be the ending of the conversation while the second time around was indicating the starting point of the conversation.
“What a crazy day”:
In this one, the first was starting the conversation while the second was the ending of the conversation.
Hi Annemarie.
1. I couldn’t believe it:
– closing your conversation
– starting your conversation and you still have something else to say
2. What a crazy day:
– just starting your conversation and you still have something to add
– closing the conversation, you are done
Perfect, Jenny. That’s exactly right! 🙂
You’re doing great. Very helpful. Wish to learn more and more from you.
Thank you. I’m glad you found it helpful.
The first sentence denoted the end of the conversation while the second sentence denoted the beginning of a conversation.
In the first example, that’s correct Maira. 🙂
I couldn’t believe
1) Ending your conversation
2) Starting your conversation
What a crazy day
1) Starting a conversation
2) ending the conversation
Excellent, Aide!! 🙂
Thanks alot
1)first sentence
2) seconds sentence
The falling intonation towards the end of the first sentence indicates that you are finished with your talking while the second one ends with the rising intonation which means you are not finished with talking yet.
I couldn’t believe it
i) Ending the conversations
II) starting the conversation
What a crazy day
I) starting conversation
II) Ending conversation
The first one is for starting a conversation while the second one is ending a conversation
Bravo, Meriline!! 🙂