Business English: 10 Phrases for Your Next Meeting

Taking part in a business meeting in English can be challenging, even if your general level of English is good. The difficulty is often not understanding the topic itself, but finding the right expression quickly when you want to contribute, give an opinion, ask for clarification or bring a discussion to a close.

Learning a few common phrases can help you communicate more confidently and naturally.

Here are ten useful expressions to try in your next meeting.

1. “Shall we get started?”

This is a natural and professional way to begin a meeting.

Example:

“Everyone’s here, so shall we get started?”

It is slightly more polished than simply saying “Let’s start”, while still sounding natural.

2. “The main purpose of today’s meeting is…”

This phrase is useful for establishing the objective of the meeting clearly at the beginning.

Example:

“The main purpose of today’s meeting is to review our sales results and discuss next steps.”

Clear objectives help everyone understand what the meeting is expected to achieve.

3. “Could you walk us through that?”

Use this when you want someone to explain a process, proposal or set of results in more detail.

Example:

“Could you walk us through the figures from last quarter?”

“Walk someone through something” is a very common expression in professional English and means to explain something step by step.

4. “Could you clarify what you mean by…?”

This is a polite way to ask for further explanation when something is not completely clear.

Example:

“Could you clarify what you mean by ‘long-term strategy’?”

In a professional context, asking for clarification is usually much better than pretending to understand something that may affect an important decision.

5. “From my point of view…”

Use this phrase to introduce your opinion in a clear and professional way.

Example:

“From my point of view, we need to focus more on customer retention.”

Other useful alternatives include “In my view…” and the simpler “I think…”.

6. “I agree up to a point, but…”

This allows you to disagree without sounding unnecessarily confrontational.

Example:

“I agree up to a point, but I think we also need to consider the additional cost.”

Diplomatic disagreement is an important part of effective professional communication, particularly when discussing proposals or making decisions.

7. “Can I just add something here?”

This is useful when you want to contribute to a discussion without interrupting too abruptly.

Example:

“Can I just add something here? We received similar feedback from another client last week.”

It signals that you want to enter the conversation while still acknowledging the other speakers.

8. “Let’s come back to that later.”

Meetings can easily move away from the main topic. This phrase allows you to postpone a discussion and keep the meeting focused.

Example:

“That’s an important issue, but let’s come back to that later.”

You may also hear “Let’s park that for now”, particularly in some business environments.

9. “What are the next steps?”

A productive meeting should usually end with a clear idea of what will happen next.

Example:

“So, what are the next steps, and who will be responsible for each task?”

This phrase is particularly useful for moving from discussion to action.

10. “Just to summarise…”

This is an effective way to close a meeting or confirm the main decisions before finishing.

Example:

“Just to summarise, we’ll update the proposal by Friday and meet again next Tuesday.”

Summarising decisions, deadlines and responsibilities can help prevent misunderstandings after the meeting.

Business English is more than vocabulary

Business English is not simply about learning technical terminology.

Communicating effectively at work also means knowing how to enter a discussion, disagree diplomatically, ask for information, negotiate and confirm decisions.

Learning complete phrases rather than isolated words can help you respond more quickly and naturally in real professional situations.

A useful strategy is to choose two or three expressions from this list and make a deliberate effort to use them in your next meeting.

At IH Recoleta, our Business English courses focus on practical, immediately applicable situations from the professional world, helping students develop the language they need to communicate more confidently at work.