Making positive and negative comments
Imagine that you are a manager in a company and a member of your team
asks you to look at something she’s prepared. You’ll probably see some
things that you like and some things that you don’t like – but what’s
the best way to discuss these points? How can you show your team-member
that you like some things but not others? Don't forget to practise what you've learned with the activity further down this page.
Listen
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Script
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| Moving from positive to negative, or from negative to positive | ||
| But actually, | it is a little small. I do quite like the colours. | |
| On the other hand, | ||
| Then again, | ||
| Positive signals | Negative signals |
| On the positive side... One of the strengths of this is... What I like about this is... ... is one of the strengths. ... is really great. ... is a big plus. | On the negative side... Perhaps a weakness of this is that... This is one of the things I'm not sure of, because... ...is one of the weaknesses. ...is something you might want to look at again. |
| Using stress to add balance |
| Make uncontracted statements: Then again, it is quite small. Use do: But actually, I do like the colours. |
| Giving qualified praise | |
| For | a first project, I think you've done a great job here. |
| In terms of | |
