Checking Information – Verificar información en Inglés: Conversation Strategies 5

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Conversation Strategies #5: Correcting Information in a Conversation

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Thank you for your visit. Today we have a new lesson brought to us by Ayleen Woodhouse who is our teacher collaborator from WeSpeakidiomas.com. This is her fifth lesson on her section CONVERSATION STRATEGIES. In this lesson she will be teaching us some ways of checking information.

Hoy es la quinta entrega en la sección Conversation Strategies de nuestra profesora invitada Ayleen. Hoy nos enseña como podemos comprobar y verificar información cuando estamos hablando. Recuerden que las clases de Ayleen son COMPLETAMENTE en Inglés y puedes seguir esta lección en audio con la lección escrita que este en la parte inferior.

Si quieres clases privadas con Ayleen pueden contactarla por email. Toda la información de contacto la puedes encontrar al final de esta lección. Pueden también agregarme a Whatsapp a +51997746013 y pedirme más información.

Conversation strategy: Checking Information

In a conversation, you may need to check something that you didn’t hear or understand. Now, think about ways you check for information you didn’t hear in your mother tongue, what do you say? Are there any phrases you say to ask someone to repeat something? Well, in English there are different ways we can do that.

Now, let me tell you a little about the examples I’ll be using in this podcast.

All these examples are true for me. They are contextualized with my recent trips. The reason why I use real examples is because I want to show how these conversation strategies could be used in real conversations. I am currently in Spain. I arrived in Barcelona last Tuesday, then went to Granada and arrived in Seville today morning, so all these examples are about my current trip.

Today I’ll show you 4 strategies to check information.

You can:

1) use the expression Did you say . . . ? or What did you say? to check information

A:  There’s usually about a 13-minute wait for the bus.
B: Did you say thirteen or thirty?
A: I said 13, so you can cross the road and get that ice cream you want before the bus comes.

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2) repeat words as a question to check information. Just say the same you heard, or what you think you heard.

A:  Well, there’s a Moroccan estaurant within walking distance.
B:  Within walking distance?
A: Yes, it’s around the corner.

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3) use the expression I’m sorry? or Excuse me? to ask the speaker to repeat what he or she said

A:  Are there any markets to shop around here?
B:  Excuse me? Did you say markets to shop?
A: Yeah, I mean, local markets.

A: Which bus should I take to the Alhambra?
B: I’m sorry? Did you say to the Alhambra?
A: Yeah
B: Oh, you should take the C32.

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4) Ask an “echo” question, which is to repeat something you heard and add a question word to check the information you didn’t hear:

A: There’s a Turkish tea shop on the Main Avenue.
B: I’m sorry. There’s a tea shop where?
A: On the Main Avenue, it’s right in front of the bank.

In this case the question word is “where”, other question words are what, who, when and how. Before you ask a question word you need to know what the question is about, for example if someone says “There’s a Turkish tea shop on the Main Avenue.” And the focus is the place, my question word is going to be “where”. There’s a tea shop where?

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Another example:

A: Is there an ice cream place around here?
B:  I’m sorry, a what?
A: An ice cream place. I heard about a famous Italian ice parlor on Gran Via Avenue.

In this case if the information I didn’t hear was ice cream parlor, the question word should be “what”, I’m sorry, a what?

Let’s summarize

1. Use the questions Did you say . . . ? or What did you say?
2. Repeat words as a question to check information. Just say the same you heard, or what you think you heard.
3. Use the expression I’m sorry? or Excuse me?
4. Use echo questions plus a question word.

Acerca de Ayleen:

Ayleen Woodhouse,tiene 14 años de experiencia en la enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera, en la actualidad es profesora de inglés online y fundadora de Wespeak (wespeakidiomas.com). En sus clases incorpora interacción en vivo en una clase (trabajo sincrónico) y trabajo trabajo autodidacta (asincrónico) realizado por cada alumno desde el lugar de su conveniencia y en el horario de su preferencia.