Name: Business English - 925 English Lesson 24: Asking for Clarification | Clarifying in English
Uploaded: 2026-01-13T17:08:18.000Z
Duration: 8 min 37 s
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Present continuous

You're learning with nine to five English Business English for the Workplace.

Hi, Tim, here with another 9 to 5 English lesson.

Gerund

In today's lesson, we're going to learn some ways of clarifying what someone means.

Sure, you can just smile and nod when you don't understand.

they also feel foolish later, especially when the speaker realizes what has happened.

Or when you have to ask a question that clearly shows you didn't understand the first time.

Sometimes it's just one word you don't know the meaning of.

In this case, don't be afraid to stop someone and ask for clarification.

You can always begin by saying you're sorry.

Or you can say you you're not quite clear what you mean by a certain word.

How about a bit of practice on clarifying an unknown word?

Listen to each example, then repeat it yourself.

Sorry, but what exactly is click through rate?

I'm not quite clear what you mean by segment.

I'm sorry, but I don't know what OS means?

As you can see, clarifying a word can be done politely and directly.

And if it is just one word, it's really best to ask about that word specifically rather than saying you don't understand more generally.

But it's not always one word that gets in the way of understanding.

Sometimes it's an entire idea that's unclear, especially if it's said indirectly.

You might think you've understood, but you're not sure to confirm you've understood.

In this case, just begin with something like are you saying or am I correct in understanding that?

Let's try these expressions for confirming understanding.

Remember to repeat the examples after you hear them.

Just to be clear, you don't want to do the presentation.

Am I correct in understanding that you like the new designs?

Are you saying we should not open a new office?

So you're telling us we need to cut costs, right?

Notice that to confirm you've understood, you can also state the idea using question intonation that basically says please confirm this idea.

Or you can state the idea and add a little question tag like right on the end.

The problem is sometimes it's not a single word you need to clarify.

Sometimes you just don't understand what a person is talking about.

And in this case, you can ask for more explanation.

That means questions like could you give me a bit more detail?

Or would you mind explaining that in more detail.

Let's practice asking for more explanation.

Once again, repeat the examples you hear.

Could you give me a bit more detail on that?

I just need a bit of clarification on that.

Would you mind explaining that in a bit more detail?

As you heard, if you need clarification, you can just tell someone directly or you can ask politely for more detail or explanation.

Alright, we've practiced some useful expressions on their own.

Now let's hear what they sound like in a conversation.

Let's listen to a short dialogue between Anne and James.

They're talking about building a new website and James doesn't understand exactly what Ann is trying to say.

It's crazy to think about a new website design.

Are you saying we should not build a new site?

It's a ridiculous way to improve our position.

James is trying to confirm his understanding and to get more explanation.

We'll repeat the dialog, but this time we're going to beep out the second speaker's words.

You will have to say those parts yourself.

Remember to confirm that Ann is saying you should not build a new site and then ask exactly what she means.

Yes, it's a ridiculous way to improve our position.

For this lesson, we've learned some great ways of clarifying understanding.

We'll be back soon with another 9 to 5 English lesson.