Use these phrases to interrupt people (without feeling bad about it)

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On Tuesday, I went live on our FB page to share more tips about getting your voice heard if you’re soft-spoken.

If you missed that session, you can watch the replay here.

In the FB live, I shared some phrases that you can use to interrupt someone.

We share many more of these phrases with our students (shout-out to our online students–you’re amazing), but I want to share a few here that I mentioned on Tuesday.

  • Before you continue, …
  • Can I interrupt you for a second?
  • Can I just say something?
  • Can I stop you there?
  • I know it’s rude to interrupt, but …
  • Sorry for interrupting, but …

Using these phrases will help you feel more confident when you need to interrupt in conversations and discussions. 

But I always have a disclaimer: don’t just memorise them, practise saying them out loud.

This will help you to hear how you sound. You can then change the words you use, avoid words that are difficult to pronounce and adjust your volume, tone or pitch to suit the situation. 

After all, you do not want to sound unnatural and unlike your usual self.

So use the phrases that work well with your current level of English and personality.   

Just remember, communicating well in a second language is a skill that you can master through learning, practising and implementing. 

Do you want to speak English with confidence?

Sign up to join our free video training, Speaking with Confidence. We’ll send you seven tips to your email address!

Here’s Tip 1 for a sneak peek of what’s in store for you.

Hi there!

We’re Azimah, Amnah and Aisya from Malaysia. We created My English Matters as a digital platform to help Malaysians and second language learners with their English proficiency.

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