Using one of these phrases or expressions signals to your listener that you need a little more time to express your idea. It is a polite way to show the other person that you need to keep talking, and a subtle way to ask them to be patient while you find the right words to express yourself.
How to Clarify Your Idea
As soon as you have realised that you made a mistake when speaking or would like to try explaining yourself again, you should identify or admit that you need to clarify your idea. These phrases tell your listener that you recognise your mistake and would like them to give you a chance to try again.
- Sorry, I lost my train of thought.
- Let me start that again.
- Let me start over.
- Let’s try that one more time.
- Let me rephrase that.
- That came out wrong.
- That’s not what I meant to say.
- Give me a second. Let me restate that.
- Let me gather my thoughts.
- Let me try that again.
- Let me explain that again.
Clarifying What You Mean
Once you have told your listener that you would like to try another way of expressing yourself, you can now clarify what you mean by restating your original thoughts in different words. Also, when you would like to repeat your same idea with slightly different words in order to emphasise your point, or to make sure that your audience clearly understood your idea.
- What I mean is ...
- What I meant was ...
- Let me put that another way ...
- What I’m trying to say is ...
- Let me explain myself again ...
- In other words ...
- This means that ...
- In this sense that ...
- This does not mean that ...
- As matter of fact ...
- In fact ...
- In view of the fact that ...
- Considering the fact that ...
- Considering, ...
- Given that ...
- Given, ...
- It is obvious that ...
- It is self evident that ...
- It is safe to say that ...
- It can be said for certain that ...
- It is well established fact that ...
- Obviously / Actually /Indisputably / Undeniably / Admittedly /Doubtlessly / Definitely
- Accurately / The more accurate is that ...
- Generally / In a general manner / On the whole
Clarifying a Misunderstanding for Your Listener
These expressions are especially useful where it is important to be professional and polite when repeating yourself. They indicate that you understand that you may not have been perfectly clear and are willing to try explaining yourself again.
- That’s not exactly what I meant.
- Actually, what I meant was ..., not ...
- I actually suggested that we ..., not ...
- I meant to say that...
- My idea was actually that we should...
- What I meant by ... was ...
- I was actually trying to suggest that ...
- Let’s see if I can explain myself better.
- Let me try to explain that another way.
