Phrases and practice

Learn a useful phrase in context, listen to its pronunciation and practise saying it.

• The word 'usually' allows exceptions, so citing one departure does not challenge it in the same way as an exceptionless claim.C2 · #1901
• As an expression of uncertainty, 'they may not come' conveys the possibility of absence, not certainty that the person will be unable to come.C2 · #1902
• The question 'why did you do it again' can smuggle in an assumption that the action was repeated, which the other person does not accept at all.C2 · #1903
• The word 'yet' can create an expectation of future change, although it does not itself promise that the change will occur.C2 · #1904
• The adjective 'bold' can praise a willingness to take risks or discreetly question the wisdom of a choice, depending on tone and situation.C2 · #1905
• The assurance 'I have no objection' can express a lack of opposition without active support, so enthusiasm should not automatically be attributed to the speaker.C2 · #1906
• Shifting the burden of proof to a critic does not itself strengthen a claim if its author has not yet provided a justification.C2 · #1907
• Before treating a difference between two accounts as a contradiction about the facts themselves, let's check whether it results from different levels of detail.C2 · #1908
• Showing that another explanation is possible weakens a claim that an explanation is unique without proving that the alternative is more likely.C2 · #1909
• A story's internal consistency does not guarantee agreement with events if every detail was selected on the basis of a single unverified assumption.C2 · #1910
• Changing the unit of presentation can make the same quantity sound different without changing its actual value.C2 · #1911
• Comparing percentages requires checking the denominator because the same number of cases can represent different proportions of two groups.C2 · #1912
• No decline in the average result does not rule out deterioration for some participants if improvements for others offset it.C2 · #1913
• Assessing a prediction's accuracy should distinguish a detail stated beforehand from one added after the outcome was known.C2 · #1914
• Calling a solution a compromise is not enough to establish whether the parties actually bore comparable costs of concession.C2 · #1915
• Jointly signing a document does not necessarily mean interpreting every sentence identically if only its general purpose was agreed beforehand.C2 · #1916
• An answer given on one's own terms can be substantive yet fail to address the scope of the question the other person asked.C2 · #1917
• A request for clarification need not express disagreement; it can be a condition for fairly addressing the other person's position.C2 · #1918
• A character's silence can serve a narrative purpose without clearly indicating whether it comes from ignorance, resistance or deliberate discretion.C2 · #1919
• Introducing humour into a difficult scene can change how it is received without automatically diminishing the significance of the suffering portrayed.C2 · #1920
• Repeating someone else's label without identifying its source can gradually shift responsibility for the judgment from the label's author to the person reporting it.C2 · #1921
• Calling a decision 'pragmatic' can shift attention towards feasibility while leaving the values used to assess its consequences outside the discussion.C2 · #1922
• Two arguments leading to the same conclusion do not necessarily corroborate each other if they rely on the same mistaken premise.C2 · #1923
• Asking about the cost of being wrong can be justified even when the parties agree on the most likely course of events.C2 · #1924
• Agreement on the facts can narrow a dispute but does not automatically remove it if the difference concerns an acceptable course of action.C2 · #1925
• The wording 'since everyone knows this' can present a disputed premise as agreed before the participants have had a chance to assess it.C2 · #2026
• The expression 'at last' describes not only when an event occurs but also the speaker's assessment of the wait.C2 · #2027
• Adding the word 'allegedly' signals distance from the information but is not itself evidence that it is false.C2 · #2028
• The sentence 'even Anna agreed' can suggest that her agreement was less expected than other people's agreement.C2 · #2029
• Calling an answer 'obvious' can make it harder to voice doubts, although it does not replace explaining why the answer is sound.C2 · #2030
• The phrase 'I am only asking for a small favour' can minimise a request from the sender's perspective without specifying the recipient's actual effort.C2 · #2031
• A polite refusal can soften how it is received without changing the scope of the proposal being rejected.C2 · #2032
• Replacing a categorical statement with a more cautious one can make it more reliable rather than indicate less knowledge of the subject.C2 · #2033
• Narrowing a rule after a counterexample is presented can salvage the revised version but does not establish that the original was correct.C2 · #2034
• A prediction compatible with almost every possible outcome is hard to call precise merely because a matching event was later found.C2 · #2035
• Changing the definition of success after seeing the result requires making clear that we are assessing it by a different criterion than before.C2 · #2036
• Different terms used by the participants can create the appearance of disagreement if both refer to the same phenomenon.C2 · #2037
• Failing to observe a change with a tool of limited resolution is not equivalent to showing that no change occurred.C2 · #2038
• An event not being mentioned in a selected set of accounts does not prove it was absent if the selection rules excluded similar events.C2 · #2039
• A final result higher than the initial one does not mean there was continuous growth if declines occurred between those measurements.C2 · #2040
• Repeatedly testing similar examples increases experience with that variant but does not replace assessing substantially different cases.C2 · #2041
• A side effect being foreseeable does not by itself establish whether it was intended, although it may matter when assessing the decision.C2 · #2042
• The probability that all conditions hold simultaneously cannot exceed the probability that any one of those conditions holds.C2 · #2043
• A quotation can preserve every quoted word yet change the meaning if the sentence explaining whom a pronoun refers to is omitted.C2 · #2044
• The narrator's confident tone need not reflect a character's knowledge, especially when the story deliberately separates their perspectives.C2 · #2045
• The metaphor 'building bridges' suggests bringing positions closer without yet specifying how particular differences will be resolved.C2 · #2046
• Consent to further action need not amount to approval of the earlier conduct if we consider those issues separately.C2 · #2047
• An offer dependent on a condition does not become an unconditional promise merely because the recipient remembers only the proposed outcome.C2 · #2048
• No visible problem after a preventive measure does not prove the measure was unnecessary if its purpose was to reduce the possibility of that problem occurring.C2 · #2049
• Calling behaviour 'normal' requires clarifying whether we are describing its frequency or judging it to be desirable.C2 · #2050
• Saying that not everyone agreed rules out unanimity, but does not by itself specify how many people supported the proposal.C2 · #2151
• The fact that each participant chose one book does not imply that they all chose the same one.C2 · #2152
• An exception refutes a claim that admits no exceptions, but need not refute a statement that included the word usually from the outset.C2 · #2153
• The phrase exactly three sets both a lower and an upper bound, unlike at least three.C2 · #2154
• The word yet in he has not finished yet suggests an expectation of change, but does not guarantee that the work will be completed.C2 · #2155
• The order of excerpts in an edited recording is not enough to reconstruct the chronology of the original conversation.C2 · #2156
• If the clock was set back during recording, an earlier timestamp does not necessarily indicate an earlier event.C2 · #2157
• Three accounts repeating a single original report are not three independent confirmations of its content.C2 · #2158
• Replacing said with admitted gives the account an interpretation even when the quoted statement remains identical.C2 · #2159
• Saying that an influence is not insignificant does not by itself specify whether it is dominant or merely noticeable.C2 · #2160
• A group's average result may rise after its composition changes even if none of the original participants improves their result.C2 · #2161
• The same percentage increase does not mean the same numerical increase when the starting values differ.C2 · #2162
• The simple average of percentages from groups of different sizes may differ from the percentage calculated for all people together.C2 · #2163
• Unanimous support demonstrates agreement, but does not remove the constraints that make a proposal unworkable.C2 · #2164
• The comparison better than remains incomplete without a criterion, since different criteria may reverse the ranking of the options being assessed.C2 · #2165
• Expressing regret about someone's disappointment is not automatically an acknowledgement of responsibility for its cause.C2 · #2166
• The fact that the other person rejected one argument does not justify attributing a general unwillingness to cooperate to them.C2 · #2167
• Agreeing to consider all the proposals commits us to analysing them, not to accepting every one of them.C2 · #2168
• A question beginning with do you still can be answered by rejecting the assumption that the described behaviour occurred before.C2 · #2169
• The sentence only Anna invited Mark restricts the set of people who invited him, but does not rule out Anna having invited others as well.C2 · #2170
• Being able to reverse one decision does not make the whole plan reversible if its other effects cannot be undone.C2 · #2171
• Leaving the rules unchanged does not guarantee unchanged effects when the circumstances in which they are applied change.C2 · #2172
• Uncertainty about the cause does not imply uncertainty about the event itself if its occurrence has been independently confirmed.C2 · #2173
• If two accounts are mutually exclusive, they cannot both be true, but they can still both be false.C2 · #2174
• A rule saying that a lit green indicator means the device is ready does not yet say that the device can only be ready when the indicator is lit.C2 · #2175
• The pronoun we may include or exclude the person being addressed, so it should not replace explicitly identifying who is covered by the agreement.C2 · #2276
• In a remote conversation, the word here does not identify a shared location until we establish whose perspective it refers to.C2 · #2277
• The question when will you come treats the visit as expected, whereas will you come leaves it undecided.C2 · #2278
• The phrase let us return to this topic may present it as already discussed even if some of those present did not take part in the earlier conversation.C2 · #2279
• The answer we will see postpones a decision; without further context it is neither a firm promise nor an unambiguous refusal.C2 · #2280
• If the narrator reveals his own bias, his assessments of the characters should be distinguished from the events he describes.C2 · #2281
• The absence of a literal equivalent for a joke does not rule out preserving its function in translation, although the example itself may need to change.C2 · #2282
• Calling two characters brave does not mean that they share the same motives or act in the same circumstances.C2 · #2283
• First-person narration does not establish whether the narrator is the author, even when he draws on similar experiences.C2 · #2284
• Quoting a disputed statement may serve to analyse it, so the person quoting it should not automatically be treated as its supporter.C2 · #2285
• Agreement on the goal does not imply agreement with every method of achieving it, especially when their side effects differ.C2 · #2286
• Rejecting an imposed deadline concerns the conditions for carrying out the work and need not mean refusing the task itself.C2 · #2287
• By saying not on these terms, I reject the current proposal but leave open the possibility of discussing different terms.C2 · #2288
• If the parties understand the word compromise differently, apparent agreement on it may conceal different expectations about concessions.C2 · #2289
• A request to clarify the offer should not be interpreted as acceptance before the other person explicitly confirms a decision.C2 · #2290
• The number of records may increase through duplicated entries while the range of distinct information remains unchanged.C2 · #2291
• A similar line angle on charts with different scales does not by itself allow us to compare the actual rate of change.C2 · #2292
• Equality after rounding does not prove exact equality of the data from which those values were calculated.C2 · #2293
• Two adjacent ranking positions establish an order but do not reveal the size of the difference between the results.C2 · #2294
• If a measurement does not detect values below a given threshold, the absence of a reading is not proof that the phenomenon is entirely absent.C2 · #2295
• Testing the response to invalid input does not automatically assess the correctness of content generated from valid input.C2 · #2296
• An instruction for exceptional situations may remain unclear if it does not say how to recognise that an exception is occurring.C2 · #2297
• Allowing an alternative expands the range of possible actions, but does not make choosing it instead of the existing option compulsory.C2 · #2298
• Documenting what changed answers a different question from explaining why the change occurred.C2 · #2299
• A coherent story makes its course easier to follow, but does not by itself confirm that every event described corresponds to reality.C2 · #2300