FUNCTIONAL PHRASES (Phrases pour s'exprimer, en anglais)

Quelques phrases utiles et courante pour utiliser dans une conversation en anglais bien sur. Trés utile pour le "First Certificate of Cambridge" (que j'ai passée il n'y a pas longtemps).

Asking for clarification :

Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.
I don’t (really) understand.
Can I ask you a question?
Do you want me to…?
Can you say that again, please? I’m not (quite) sure what I have to do.

Correcting yourself:

I don’t think I explained that very well!
What I mean is…
What I meant to say was…
What I’m trying to say is…


If you don’t know the word for something:

I don’t know what you call it, but… (followed by description of the object).
It’s like a…
You use it to open…
You use it for opening…
It’s used to open…
It’s what you do when you… (if you don’t know the verb).


Compare and contrast (expressing similarity and difference):

They both show, have, etc…
They’re quite similar because they both show, have, etc…
There are…in both of them.
There are some differences. One…and the other…
The top one looks more…than the bottom one.
The one on the left is/shows/has…but the one on the right is…
This one is not as…as the other one.
It’s quite difficult to compare them.

Expressing your likes, dislikes, preferences:

I (really) like/love/enjoy tennis/walking by the sea.
I don’t (really) like football.
I’m not keen on baseball.
I’d prefer something to eat/to go swimming.
I’d (much) rather stay at home.
My favourite pastime is walking.
The thing/one I like best is cooking.