Group Setting - Discreet Query
You're in a small group conversation and someone you recognize is participating, but you can't recall their name. You want to refer to them or engage them directly without exposing your memory lapse to the whole group.
Dialogue
Listen and follow along with the conversation
Vocabulary
Essential words and phrases from the dialogue
input
Input means opinions or ideas that someone contributes to a discussion or project. It's useful in professional settings to politely ask for someone's thoughts without using their name.
valuable
Valuable describes something that is very useful or important. Use it to show appreciation for someone's contribution, like 'Your input would be valuable.'
heavily involved
Heavily involved means participating a lot or deeply in something. It's a polite way to refer to someone's past experience without needing their name right away.
elaborate
Elaborate means to explain something in more detail. You can use it in questions like 'Would you elaborate?' to encourage someone to share more.
challenges
Challenges are difficulties or problems faced in a task. It's common in work talks to discuss past challenges to learn from them.
head start
Head start means an early advantage or beginning. Use it to express thanks for information that helps start a project well.
Key Sentences
Important phrases to remember and practice
I think your input would be really valuable here.
This sentence is a polite way to engage someone without using their name, implying you value their opinion. It's useful in group settings to avoid embarrassment. Note the conditional 'would be' for hypothetical situations.
Since you were heavily involved in the last similar initiative, I thought you'd have some great ideas.
This refers to someone's past role indirectly, helping to recall or engage without naming them. 'Since' introduces a reason, and 'you'd have' is a contraction of 'you would have' for polite speculation.
Would you like me to elaborate on the challenges we faced last time?
This offers to provide more details politely. It's great for continuing conversations. 'Would you like' is a courteous way to offer help, and 'elaborate on' means to add details.
That would be perfect, Emily.
This expresses strong agreement and thanks. Use it after someone offers input. 'Would be' softens the statement, making it polite; now the name is used naturally after it's been prompted.