Phrases To Use When Your Mind Goes Blank- Lesson From My English Matters.

Note from my "Second Brain" notebook. Image by Cik Mas.

Being a non-native speaker, I often find myself going blank when communicating or presenting in English. When that happens, I tend to fill the silence with a lot of "urm" and "er." That’s not wrong at all. However, it’s also not wrong to learn and improve our communication skills so that we'll speak more clear.

In this post, I’ll be sharing some helpful phrases you can use when your mind goes blank, especially when speaking in English. These phrases were gathered from My English Matters' podcast on Spotify.

Let’s learn and become better communicators together!

1. Phrases to use when you forget a word:

• Let me think for a moment

• Hold on. It's at the tip of my tongue.

• How can I explain this?

• What is the word I am looking for?

• What do you call it again?

2. Phrases to use when somebody asks you a question:

• Gosh, that's a hard one!

• Got it. I need a moment to pull together my thoughts for you.

• Let me take a moment to collect my thoughts.

• Sorry, I need a minute.

• Would you like a short or long answer?

• So, what you are asking is... (paraphrase question).

3. Phrases to use when somebody asks you to share an opinion:

• I am still thinking about what I want to say.

• Let me take a few seconds to pull together/ collect my thoughts.

• This is what I think.

• I might be wrong, but...

• I am no expert, but...

4. Phrases to use when somebody does not understand you.

• Let me say that again.

• What I really want to say is...

• How shall I put this?

• Let me say that differently.

• Let me rephrase.

5. Phrases to use when somebody challenges or provoke you.

• Do you have anything to add to that?

• I suppose I should also mention that...

• Let me tell you why I said this.

• You are partly right, but...

• I acknowledge your point of view, however, I also need to point out that...

• Don't you think that maybe there is another way to think about it?

Pro tip: You can mention on the person's name in any of these phrases. This helps if the person who does not agree with you seems hostile.

Example: Peter a.k.a your boss: What are you good at, huh? You: I am so glad you asked me that, Peter.

I hope these phrases help you when your mind goes blank everytime you speak English. Which phrase you would like to use in future? Let me know in the comment!