Agreeing and Disagreeing Techniques

Study Notes

### Agreeing

Strong agreements: "I completely agree", "You're absolutely right", "I couldn't agree more", "Exactly".
Moderate agreements: "I agree", "You're right", "I guess so", "You could be right."
Weak agreements: "You may have a point there".

Strong disagreements: "I completely disagree.", "I totally disagree."
Moderate disagreements: "I disagree", "That’s not always true", "That's not always the case", "I’m not so sure about that".
Weak disagreements: "I don’t know if I agree with that".

"I agree with you, but…" - Acknowledges the other's point and introduces your own.
"That may be true, but…" - Introduces your opinion while acknowledging the other's point.
"I see your point, but…" - Demonstrates an understanding of the other's opinion before introducing your own.
"I guess so, but…" - Expresses partial agreement before presenting your differing view.
"That’s not necessarily true because…" - Refutes the other's point directly.
"Not necessarily because…" - Offers a reason why the other's point might be incorrect.

### Interrupting

"Sorry to interrupt, but…" - Politely expresses a desire to participate.
"Can I add something?" - A more straightforward way to interrupt.
"Sorry, you were saying… " - Used after interrupting someone to show respect.
"Please let me finish." - Used after being interrupted to assert your right to express your opinion.

"Let’s get back to…" - Used to redirect the conversation to a specific point.
"Getting back to…" - Used to redirect the conversation.
"You were saying that…" - Used to remind the other person of their point and keep the conversation on track.

Use expressions like "I completely agree," "You're absolutely right," and "I couldn't agree more" to strongly convey agreement.
"Exactly" or "I agree" are more neutral ways to indicate agreement.
"I guess so," "You could be right," and "You may have a point there" show weaker forms of agreement.

Strong disagreement can be expressed with "I completely disagree" or "I totally disagree."
"I disagree," "That's not always true," and "That's not always the case" are more neutral ways to indicate disagreement.
"I'm not so sure about that" or "I don't know if I agree with you" express weaker disagreement.

Use phrases like "I agree with you, but..." or "That may be true, but..." to acknowledge the other person's argument while introducing your own perspective.
"I see your point, but..." is another option for acknowledging the other person's argument and introducing a counter-point.

Use "But..." to directly counter another person's argument.
"But why...?," "But if...," "But what about..." can also introduce a counter-argument.

Phrases like "Sorry to interrupt, but..." or "Can I add something?" are polite ways to interrupt someone.
To indicate you're interrupting to finish a thought, use "Sorry, you were saying..."
If you were interrupted, you can say "Please let me finish."

Use "Let's get back to..." or "Getting back to..." to redirect a conversation to a previous topic.
"You were saying that..." can also be used to redirect the conversation back to a previous speaker's point.