[25] Smart Sentences | Smart Sentences in English

Must Important 25 Smart Sentences For Improve Your English Conversation Skills

Important 25 Smart Sentences for Daily Conversational Use. When we have conversations, we often use the same sentences again and again and again. So I've got some alternatives for you, some new smart sentences that you may not have heard before, but they're definitely ones that we use a lot, especially in the UK and around the world as well.

Smart Sentences

Section (1) Meeting Someone You do/Don't know

1. It's nice to bump into you.

2.  It's great to finally meet you in person.

3.  Speak of The Devil.

4. I've heard so much about you. 

5. I don't think we've crossed paths before.

Section. (2). Catching up With Someone

6. How is everything going?

7. What have you been up to?

8.  what have I missed? Fill me in.

9.  we've got so much to catch up on,

10. There's so much to say, but I can't go into it now.

Section. (3) Getting To Know Someone

11.  How did you get into 'X?

12. What do you do outside of work?

13. What makes you tick?

14. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

15. Whatever Floats Your Boat.

Section. (4) Creating Further Contact

16. I'd love to carry this on at another time.

17. I feel like we've got so much more to talk about.

18. We should discuss this over lunch!.

19. We should do this again.

20. Here's my email or Number. Drop me a line and we'll sort something out.

Section. (5) Leaving The Conversation

21. I'm a bit pressed for time.

22.  Right!, need to make a move.

23. I'm going to have to get going.

24. I don't want to hog you

25. I've already taken so much of your time.

Right, let's get started with the lesson. Smart Sentences with Example

Section (1) Meeting Someone You do/Don't know

Firstly, let's discuss the phrases we can use when we meet someone that we either do or do not know. These are different situations. The first phase is, it's nice to bump into you. 

Number 1. It's nice to bump into you.

Now if you don't know someone you can say it's nice to bump into you, and if you do know someone, you've met them before, you can say it's nice to bump into you again, another time. Now, the literal meaning of to bump into someone is to collide. I bumped into someone at the supermarket and dropped my water for example. 

However, in this instance, to bump into someone means to meet someone unexpectedly. For example, I might say, I bumped into your mum at the swimming pool. I unexpectedly met your mum.

Number 2.  It's great to finally meet you in person.

is a phrase that we would use if we don't know someone, where hasn't met them before, but we have maybe heard of them before or we have communicated with them digitally. Maybe we've been talking over email, something like that. It is,  It's great to finally meet you in person. I say this all the time when I meet other YouTubers, people that I've seen online, and then I go to a YouTube event Ah, it's so nice to finally meet you in person.

Number 3.  Speak of The Devil.

Speak of the devil. And this has a very specific usage. This is said when a person appears just after being mentioned. For example, if I'm talking to a colleague about someone's excellent presentation, and then that person appears, I could say, "speak of the devil, we were just talking about your excellent presentation." This can be a great way to make someone new feel included, especially if you have been complimenting them behind their back.

Number 4. I've heard so much about you. 

another one to use if you haven't met someone before, but you want to pay them a nice compliment. You can say, I've heard so much about you. And a really good response to this is All good things, I hope, or all positive, I hope. 

Number 5. I don't think we've crossed paths before.

this is a nice way of saying I don't know who you are so please introduce yourself to me. It is, I don't think we crossed paths before, To cross paths is to meet someone by chance. And if we haven't crossed paths before, well we've never met. But I think it's a little bit nicer than saying, "Who are you? I don't know who you are." I don't think we've crossed paths.

Section. (2). Catching up With Someone

Let's say for now that you have met someone that you do know, you're going to want to catch up with them. And to catch up with someone is to talk about everything that's happened since you last saw each other. So we have number six, which is how is everything going?

Number 6. How is everything going?

If you can't specifically remember what they've been doing, how is everything going, is a great way to let them lead the conversation. It gives them room to open up. This might refer to their family, their work, their personal life, and romantic life, who knows. But you can let them lead the conversation because they decide what everything is. 

Number 7. What have you been up to?

We also have number seven, which is, what have you been up to?  This is a really friendly phrase. I've used this before. I've taught it before in my Stop Saying How Are You Lessen. If you are up to something, it means that you are doing something mischievous. You're doing something troublesome. This phrase is very warm and friendly. 

It's saying you know what trouble have you been causing? What have you been doing? It's something that we use a lot with children or with animals. I often say to my dog, "what have you been up to Diego?" 'Cause I know he's been doing something mischievous. But now we use it with friends as well. It's very casual, but it's not inappropriate for professional situations if you know the person quite well. What have you been up to? Oh, not much, I've not been up too much.

Number 8.  what have I missed? Fill me in.

So if you haven't caught up with someone for a while, this is a good way to ask them, what has happened since you last spoke. To fill someone in, is to give someone missing information, to inform someone more fully of a situation. So if I'm saying, fill me in, I'm saying, tell me all this missing information.

Number 9.  we've got so much to catch up on,

we've got so much to talk about. So much has happened since we last saw each other.

Number 10. There's so much to say, but I can't go into it now.

is one that you can use if you've seen or met someone that you know you need to spend a long time talking to, but it's not the right time. It is, there's so much to say, but I can't go into it now. 

I can't go into it now. To go into something is to discuss or explain something in a careful and detailed way. This implies that there are lots and lots of details, too many for now. Maybe it would be impolite to talk a lot, maybe there are some people around that shouldn't hear what you're talking about. It's a good one to use to have up your sleeve. That means to have something ready for later use.

Section. (3) Getting To Know Someone

Right, so we've discussed talking to people that we have met before, now what should we do with people that we haven't met before? We should get to know them, we should ask some good open-ended questions to get them talking. Often we want to ask people, how did you get your job? How did you end up working here? That's not so polite. So a really good alternative is 

Number 11.  How did you get into 'X?

How did you get into marketing? To get into something in this context is to become involved with. How did you get involved in marketing?

Number 12. What do you do outside of work?

Another nice way of getting to know someone is to ask them what they do for fun. And in American English especially, what do you do for fun is a very common question. I would say it's not so common in the UK, but we do see it in movies and TV shows a lot. We would say something more along the lines of what do you do outside of work? 

Or what do you do when you're not working? I think this is nicer than asking someone what do you do for fun? 'Cause I know when someone asks me what I do for fun, I think "Oh God, I'm not that fun a person. I like running. Will they think that's fun enough?" So yeah, just what do you do when you're not working? What do you do outside of work?

Number 13. What makes you tick?

Another good thing to talk about is motivation, and we want to know what motivates people. But instead of just simply saying, "What motivates you?" You could say, "What makes you tick?" What really makes you tick? And this is sort of asking what are you passionate about? What keeps you going? For example, helping my students gain confidence really makes me tick.

Number 14. What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Another similar one is, "What gets you out of bed in the morning?" What do you get up for?

Number 15. Whatever Floats Your Boat.

Or quite a fun and cheeky one is, what floats your boat? What brings you joy? This comes from the phrase, whatever floats your boat. And this is something that we say when somebody says they like something and we it's a bit strange. So for example, if someone says they like running marathons every weekend, I might say, "Whatever floats your boat, not my thing, but good for you." The question, what floats your boat, is a variation of that.

Section. (4) Creating Further Contact

Now when we meet people, and we have a really really good conversation, the next step is to ensure further contact, to create further contact. But we don't just want to say, "What's your number? I would like to talk again." Although, I quite like the direct approach. There are some other ways of doing this, like 

Number 16. I'd love to carry this on at another time.

I'd love to carry this on at a later date. Or I'd love to carry this on at another time. And this is just basically saying, I would love to continue this conversation. So you're sort of stopping them they're, saying pause, but let's continue this later on. Whether it's tomorrow or this evening.

Number 17. I feel like we've got so much more to talk about.

Another good one to use if you can see that a conversation is coming to an end, maybe it's like a break in a conference, you know that the next lecture is starting but you still want to make sure you remain in contact with this person, you could say something like, "I feel like we've got so much more to talk about." And this is a really nice one because it's sort of passing the baton. It's passing the responsibility over to the other person. 

It gives them the opportunity to say, "Well, let's stay in touch. Let's exchange contact details." It's nice if you don't know if they want to stay in touch, you're kind of testing the water. If they say yeah, let's stay in touch, brilliant. If they don't, well there we are.

Number 18. We should discuss this over lunch!.

is to discuss something over a consumable, food, or beverage. We should discuss this over lunch. We should chat over coffee. We should talk over dinner. If you think about it using the word over is quite appropriate because normally, two people having a meeting at dinner, we are speaking over the top of the food.

Number 19. We should do this again.

Another very simple one very casual is, we should do this again. It's implying we should see each other again.

Number 20. Here's my email or Number. Drop me a line and we'll sort something out.

if you want to be very direct and give your contact details, you can say, "Here's my email or here's my number. Drop me a line and we'll sort something out." So to drop someone a line is to write a brief message. So it could be a text, WhatsApp, an email. And to sort something out is to organise something. So we will arrange another meeting.

Section. (5) Leaving The Conversation

And the last set of phrases. For me, the hardest part of any conversation, leaving the conversation. It's just so awkward, isn't it?

Number 21. I'm a bit pressed for time.

If you don't have much time, you can use 21 which is, Oh,  I'm a bit pressed for time. This is a nice way of saying I don't have any time, I need to go.

Number 22.  Right!, need to make a move.

Now in the UK, we always say right, and sort of clap our hands or clasp them together when we're about to begin to leave. When we're about to announce our departure. To make a move is to begin to leave or just to leave. I'm going to make a move, I'm going to leave. It's just a nicer way of saying it because we're beating around the bush, we're avoiding the topic. I don't wanna say I'm leaving, I'm going to say I'm making a move.

Number 23. I'm going to have to get going.

Another very similar one is, I'm going to have to get going or I need to get going. To get going again, it's like to make a move. It is to begin to leave. But by saying I have to, it's implying I don't want to, I just have to. It's not my choice, but I need to.

Number 24. I don't want to hog you

a really interesting, maybe slightly manipulative one but I learned it from someone that I really respect. It's an older woman in my village and I always really enjoy talking to her at parties in our village. Now, I probably enjoy speaking to her more than she enjoys speaking with me. And she says this wonderful thing once when she wanted to leave our conversation, but she did it in such a nice way. She said, "I don't want to hog you so I'm going to go over here." To hog something is to take or use something good all for yourself so that other people can't have it.

And she was saying, I don't want to keep you all to myself so I'm going to make sure other people can talk to you too. It's implying that whoever you're talking to is so great that they need to talk to lots of people, so lots of people can benefit from talking to them. It wouldn't be right to deny others the chance of talking to this person. I'm just gonna throw that in there. I thought it was really interesting, kind of like reverse psychology. Instead of making me feel abandoned, it made me feel flattered. Oh, I'm so weak.

Number 25. I've already taken so much of your time.

I've already taken so much at that time, I don't want to take any more. That's a great way of saying, you know I don't want to leave, but I've already wasted so much of your time that I'm going to go just because it's fair on you.

Those are your 25 Smart Sentences for daily conversation. Really good if you're going to a new place, you're going to meet lots of new people or you're going to see lots of people that you haven't seen in a while.

Source by  English With Lucy