In what situations is it important to avoid giving out too much information?

• Financial condition, bottom price,

Have you ever tried to avoid answering questions?What did you say?

Which of your classmates do you think was most effective at avoiding questions?

• You can't table

Did you use any of these phrases to avoid answering questions?

• I really can't say anything about that.
• I'm afraid that's beyond my knowledge.
• I can't really go into that at the moment.
• I'm sorry, I can't tell you now, but I will email you later.

Can you think of more ways to express this?

Look at the phrases below. How can you say the same thing, but more politely?

• I can't tell you. → I really can't say anything about that.
• That's a secret. → I'm afraid that's confidential information
• I don't know. → I'm afraid that's beyond my knowledge.
• I really can't give out that information at the moment, because this is our company institutions.

Which of these phrases do you think is the most effective?

Final task: You are announcing a future smart phone model at a trade fair. Answer questions without giving away too much information.

• When is the new model going to be available?
• I really can't give out that information at the moment, because this is our company institutions.
• What's the phone's bottom price?
• Could you tell me the phone's bottom price?
• technical information
• Could you tell me the technical information detail about the phone. It's that how do your company produce the phone?
• I think this phone is very very good?
• Could you tell me how can I use this phone?

Summary

Today we ...

• discussed some things that we can and cannot talk about with our clients.
• used polite phrases to avoid a client's questions.

Before you go ...

• Have you ever tried to get information from someone who didn't want to give it? How did they avoid your questions?
• In what other situations might you need to avoid uncomfortable questions?

Target language

Function: withholding information

• I really can’t say anything about that;
• That’s something I can’t really talk about;
• I can’t really go into that at the moment;
• I’m afraid that’s all I can say;
• I’m not in a position to give out that information;
• I’m not at liberty to say