In-negative / Confusion url
Taking a test without having studied
- It doesn’t ring a bell, it doesn’t sound familiar.
- What am I going to do now?
- I feel I don’t have much of choice.
- I’ve got to go through with it, and I’m hoping for the best.
- I hope I recognize some of the things I’m presented with.
- What should I do?
- What I am doing this for?
Taking a test without having studied
In-positive / Confidence url
Lawyer with new client
- I do everything by the book.
- The odds are in our favor.
- You let me be the judge of that.
- It’s coming along nicely.
- I have everything and under control, and you don’t have to worry about a thing.
- Your secret is safe with me.
- You can rest assured that I’ve got a handle on the situation, and that everything is under control, and that there’s nothing to worry about.
- It’s an open and shut case.
- I will do what needs to be done.
- Leave everything to me.
Lawyer with new client
Out-positive / Encouragement url
To a High School student who won the science fair
- You’re a real expert.
- That needed out of the box thinking, and you rose to the occasion.
- You should be proud of the fact that you did it all by yourself, with almost no help from anyone else.
- You just scratched the surface of what you can accomplish.
- I guess you’re curious about what makes things tick.
- It’s right up your alley.
To a High School student who won the science fair
Out-positive / Encouragement url
For a friend who was just promoted to be head of sales
- I always knew you had it in you.
- You’ll go right to the top.
- If you play your cards right, nothing will stand in your way, and you will be very successful.
- This is a big moment for you.
- That’s a lucky break for you.
- Here’s your big chance.
- They must think a lot of you.
- You’re going to do a bang-up job.
- More power to you.
- Hit the ground running.
- Give it your all.
For a friend who was just promoted to be head of sales
Out-neutral / Advice url
Perspective-2
- You got to remember that.
- Truth is stranger than fiction.
- Things are not always what they seem.
- The whole is sometimes bigger than the sum of its parts.
- Take stock of your future.
- Try to put yourself in his shoes.
- Don’t take things for granted.
- Saying and doing are entirely different things.
- Live each day as if it were the last.
- Today is all you have.
- You can’t generalize, every situation is different.
Perspective-2
In-positive / Surprise url
Learning that a friend is ill
- His illness came out of the blue.
- He’s never been sick a day in his life.
- I don’t know what to say.
- I didn’t expect that.
- It’s beyond comprehension.
- What brought this on?
- I still can’t believe it’s true.
- I’m in a state of denial.
- It came as a great shock.
- I found the news earth shattering.
Learning that a friend is ill
In-negative / Explaining url
Feeling depressed
- Things have gotten completely out of control.
- I’m not feeling well now, but hopefully I’ll feel a lot better in the near future.
- I’ve been better.
- I have to figure it out for myself.
- You’re catching me at a bad time.
- I’m having a tough time.
- Recently I’ve been bouncing around like a yo-yo.
- I’ve had my ups and downs.
- I'm not myself.
- I have a lot on my mind.
- I never said it was going to be any different from the way it turned out.
- I never saw myself that way before.
- I feel like a bundle of nerves.
- I feel like a bump on a log.
- If you only knew what I’ve been through.
- I’ve been feeling under the weather.
- What I've been through has really knocked the stuffing out of me.
- Whenever I’m nervous, I tend to clam up.
- After a while, I just ran out of steam.
Feeling depressed
Out-neutral / Advice url
Don’t worry
- Don’t be a worry-wart.
- Don’t worry about it.
- Put it out of your mind.
- Don’t sit around moping, and get on with your life.
- I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.
- You should look at the bright side of things, and not always be filled with doom and gloom.
- His bark is worse than his bite.
Don’t worry
In-negative / Doubt url
To friend who claims he knows how to win the lottery
- The chances of that happening are pretty close to zero.
- How do you figure that?
- You don’t say?
- Don’t count on it.
- You can’t mean that.
- It doesn’t work that way.
- That’s what they all say.
- How can you be so cock-sure of yourself?
- It’s all in your head.
- It’s not very likely to happen that way.
- It’s about time you started being realistic.
- Wake up and smell the coffee.
To friend who claims he knows how to win the lottery
In-positive / Surprise url
Seeing a magic trick
- That’s amazing.
- I can’t believe my eyes.
- Now you see it, now you don’t.
- It’s unbelievable.
- It’s absolutely extraordinary.
- I’ve never been so surprised in all my life.
- I’ve never seen anything like it.
- That’s the strangest think I’ve ever seen.
- I’m dumbfounded.
- If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I never would have believed it.
- Did you see what I saw?
- Look at that!
- Now you see them, now you don’t.
Seeing a magic trick
In-negative / Desperation url
Losing a bundle in an investment scam
- I always seem to fall into the same trap.
- I’m in deep trouble.
- When am I going to stop making the same mistake over and over again?
- It scared the living daylights out of me.
- I could have kicked myself.
- I could just kill myself.
- I'm shaken to the core.
- The thing that pains me so much is that the disaster was so unnecessary and so avoidable.
- Sometimes the things that I feared the most, turn out to be the least of my worries.
- I'm pulling my hair out.
Losing a bundle in an investment scam
Out-neutral / Negotiating url
I don’t understand your point
- That doesn’t make any sense to me.
- That has nothing to do with it.
- I don’t know what you’re talking about.
- Where are you coming from?
- You’d have to be a fool to think that.
- Anyone with half a brain knows that.
- That’s a little hard to swallow.
- That's neither here nor there.
- You’re being simple minded.
- I’m not convinced.
- What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
- That’s out of the question.
- We don't see eye to eye.
- Do expect me to take that seriously.
I don’t understand your point