Total Phrases- 4535
1 of 402

In-negative / Confusion url

To someone explaining calculus

  1. I haven’t the foggiest/slightest/vaguest idea of what you’re talking about.
  2. I can’t make heads or tails of it.
  3. I don’t understand.
  4. Whatever do you mean?
  5. You’ve got me stumped.
  6. I don’t know what to make of it.
  7. It doesn’t make any sense.
  8. How could that possibly be?
  9. It’s Greek to me.

To someone explaining calculus

In-negative / Confusion
2 of 402

Out-positive / Encouragement url

To a student who just solved a difficult math problem

  1. That’s a brilliant deduction.
  2. You’re as smart as a whip.
  3. You’re really catching on.
  4. That’s a step in the right direction.
  5. You’ve got that down pat.
  6. Nobody can do it better.
  7. You should be proud of yourself.
  8. You’re a pretty smart cookie.
  9. I’ll be happy/glad to write a letter of recommendation for you.

To a student who just solved a difficult math problem

Out-positive / Encouragement
3 of 402

Out-positive / Agreement url

There’s nothing like a good, brisk walk.

  1. That very well may be true.
  2. I won’t argue with you.
  3. You hit it on the head.
  4. It really hits the spot.
  5. You’ve got a good point.
  6. I’ll grant you that.
  7. I can verify what you’re saying from personal experience.
  8. It make’s good sense.
  9. That’s understandable.

There’s nothing like a good, brisk walk.

Out-positive / Agreement
4 of 402

Out-positive / Concern url

After a friend has just been robbed

  1. Are you alright?
  2. Get a hold of yourself.
  3. It’s not the end of the world.
  4. You can’t blame yourself.
  5. You’re shaking like a leaf.
  6. You’re as white as a ghost.
  7. It’s not your day.
  8. You’re as stiff as a board.
  9. It’s not something you could have been prepared for.
  10. It totally came out of the blue and took you completely by surprised.
  11. Day by day, this is something that you will gradually recover from.
  12. Take it from me, in a little while this will recede into the background of everything else in your life.
  13. I find your story absolutely heartbreaking.

After a friend has just been robbed

Out-positive / Concern
5 of 402

In-negative / Desperation url

An addict

  1. Why is this so hard?
  2. I’m at the end of my rope.
  3. Things seem to be falling apart.
  4. I need it bad.
  5. What’s the use?
  6. I have nothing to live for.
  7. I’m grasping at straws.
  8. I have nowhere to turn to.
  9. There’s nothing to live for.
  10. I feel like I’m like beating my head against a brick wall.
  11. I’ve got a dark cloud hanging over me.
  12. For the longest time it’s just been one thing after another.
  13. I just can’t bring myself to change for the better.
  14. I don’t think I’m going to make it.
  15. I just can’t go on like this.
  16. Some days it doesn’t pay to get up in the morning.
  17. Sometimes I feel that I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don’t.
  18. I’m getting nowhere fast.
  19. It’s no use.
  20. I feel sick like a dog.
  21. I appreciate your advice, but that's all easier said that done.

An addict

In-negative / Desperation
6 of 402

In-positive / Surprise url

Finding something after searching for it

  1. I looked all over the place for it, but all the time it was right under my nose.
  2. It seemed to disappear into thin air.
  3. I looked for it in the same place a hundred times, and it was right in front of eyes the whole time.
  4. It appeared out of thin air.
  5. It seemed to vanish off the face of the earth.
  6. I can’t believe I finally found it!
  7. Don’t that beat all?

Finding something after searching for it

In-positive / Surprise
7 of 402

Out-neutral / Advice url

Perspective-2

  1. You got to remember that.
  2. Truth is stranger than fiction.
  3. Things are not always what they seem.
  4. The whole is sometimes bigger than the sum of its parts.
  5. Take stock of your future.
  6. Try to put yourself in his shoes.
  7. Don’t take things for granted.
  8. Saying and doing are entirely different things.
  9. Live each day as if it were the last.
  10. Today is all you have.
  11. You can’t generalize, every situation is different.

Perspective-2

Out-neutral / Advice
8 of 402

Out-neutral / Negotiating url

Let’s work things out-1

  1. Meet me half way.
  2. Be a good sport.
  3. I don’t want to cause friction between us.
  4. No hard feelings, OK?
  5. Don’t take it personally.
  6. Let’s get that out of the way.
  7. That shouldn’t be a problem.
  8. If that’s what you want.
  9. If you say so.
  10. I think that might be in order.
  11. Let’s call it a truce.
  12. Let’s agree to disagree.

Let’s work things out-1

Out-neutral / Negotiating
9 of 402

In-negative / Explaining url

After shoving a neighbor in a fight

  1. It was just a misunderstanding.
  2. I can’t explain it.
  3. I admit it, I cracked under pressure.
  4. I would like to try to set things straight.
  5. It’s all my fault.
  6. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  7. There’s a first time for everything.
  8. I acted on impulse.
  9. What can I say?
  10. I was taken off guard.
  11. Don’t get the wrong impression.
  12. Things just got out of hand.
  13. My pride got in the way.
  14. I hope I didn’t come on too strong.
  15. My emotions got the better of me.
  16. I really didn’t intend for things to turn out the way they did.

After shoving a neighbor in a fight

In-negative / Explaining
10 of 402

In-negative / Doubt url

A skeptical Investor questioning an entrepreneur about startup

  1. When you get right down to it, it seems that there’s more going on than meets the eye.
  2. How can you be so sure of that?
  3. That raises yet another question.
  4. That’s the 64,000 dollar question.
  5. If you re-examine the whole situation, you’ll find that’s not the case at all.
  6. There’s more to it than meets the eye.
  7. You don’t have a shred of evidence.
  8. You don’t know what you’re saying.
  9. You never know how it’s going to turn out.
  10. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
  11. It leaves a lot to be desired.
  12. What you are describing sounds like a pipe-dream.
  13. What are you trying to accomplish?
  14. After what you’ve told me, I’m more skeptical than ever.
  15. That’s just the other side of the same coin.
  16. The bottom line is that, as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to knowing if it's a good decision or not, the jury is still out.
  17. You can take it any way you like.

A skeptical Investor questioning an entrepreneur about startup

In-negative / Doubt
11 of 402

Out-neutral / Advice url

Honesty

  1. The ends don’t justify the means.
  2. Tell it like it is.
  3. Keep it clean.
  4. You should set a good example.
  5. Honesty is the best policy.
  6. You can’t go wrong by being straight.
  7. Be a straight-shooter.

Honesty

Out-neutral / Advice
12 of 402

In-neutral / Caution url

Thinking of taking a high interest loan

  1. What am I getting myself into this time?
  2. I hope that this is not something that I will live to regret.
  3. I have to ask myself, is it worth it?
  4. If I’m mistaken, things could all come tumbling down.
  5. I should know better than that.
  6. There’s got to be an easier way.
  7. Don’t do anything precipitously that you can’t easily undo.
  8. I could end up in trouble up to my ears.
  9. I shouldn’t get myself involved with something that I can’t get out of.
  10. Let’s cool our heels, and be patient and wait to see what happens.
  11. I should have realized from the very beginning that it’s important not to spend a lot more than you earn if you don’t want to end up being saddled with a lot of debt - and now it doesn't look as if I have any good options to choose from.

Thinking of taking a high interest loan

In-neutral / Caution