Language Functions

2025年09月26日

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Language Functions

Promising

In our daily life or on the job,we tell people time and again that we will or will not do something,i.e.to make a promise.Here are some useful ways of phrasing promises:

I promise(you).

I promise that we’ll deliver the goods as soon as possible.

…I promise you that!

…Take my word!

I promise I’ll…

I’ll…Trust me!

I’ll make sure/see to it that…

I can assure you I will do it.

I mean what I say!

I can give you my word that…

I said…,and I don’t eat my words.

I said…and I never go back on my words.

When we want to tell people we will not do something,we can say like this:

I can’t promise you anything.

I never promise to marry you.

I never meant to sell the house to you.

Likewise,we can also ask people to give their word by saying:

Can you promise that you won’t tell anybody?

Promise me that…

You must promise me to do(not to do)…

Give me your promise that…

I won’t go without having your word that…

I won’t let you go unless you make a promise.

Exemplifying

When we are asked to explain a point,we can made ourselves better understood by giving examples.The following are some useful expressions:

for example

for instance

for one thing

consider…for example

take…as an example

take…for example

let me cite as proof that…

to illustrate…

to substantiate…

a case in point is…

an example of…is…

as an example

as an illustration

in one instance

in this instance

such as

according to statistics

based on statistical evidence

Remembering

Questions can help people to remember things that happened.It is sometimes interesting to listen to other people’s stories or experiences.If we want to get specific information,we need to ask questions like these:

Did you ever buy the shares of that company?

Didn’t you once…?

I hear you once…?

You have…,haven’t you?

Had you already sold the shares before the crisis hit?

Were you going to…?

What were you doing while…?

Did you think of…?

Why didn’t you…?

How did you feel when…?

Can you tell me about the time you…?

Then what did you do?

What happened next?

The following are some of the expressions often used to answer specific questions:

Oh,that reminds me.

That reminds me that I was taking a vacation.

That reminds me of the time when I…

Oh,that takes me back.

As far as I can remember…

Well,as I remember it…

To my best memory,…

I never forget the time when I…

I remember quite clearly that…

I’m not sure I can remember all the details,but…

After that…

Before that…

While that was happening…

The next thing I did was to…

The next thing that happened was that…

I’m not sure I can remember all the details,but…

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