Reference Centre

"She has a turn of phrase that sticks with you for days."

/ˈtɜːn əv freɪz/ — stress on TURN.

"He comes across as guarded, but he isn't."

/kʌm əˈkrɒs/ — link 'come' + 'across'.

"His humour is understated — you only get it on second listen."

/ˌʌndərˈsteɪtɪd/ — main stress on -STATE-.

"Dial the formality up for the intro, then dial it down for the Q&A."

/ˈdaɪəl/ — two syllables: DI-əl.

"That joke is starting to wear thin."

/weər θɪn/ — /θ/ at start of 'thin'.

"The opening line didn't quite land with that crowd."

/lænd/ — short vowel.

"'Regime' is a loaded word — you can't use it neutrally."

/ˈləʊdɪd/ — two syllables: LOAD-ɪd.

"His joke at the funeral hit the wrong note."

/hɪt ðə rɒŋ nəʊt/ — stress on WRONG.

"'Frugal' and 'stingy' are different shades of the same idea."

/ʃeɪd/ — long /eɪ/.

"Don't undersell the result — it's actually a big deal."

/ˌʌndəˈsel/, /ˌəʊvəˈsel/ — stress on SELL.

"Her apology didn't quite ring true."

/rɪŋ truː/, /rɪŋ fɔːls/ — keep /ŋ/ nasal.

"There's a fine line between confident and arrogant."

/faɪn laɪn/ — both long /aɪ/.

"With respect, I think the data tells a different story."

/wɪð rɪˈspekt/ — stress on -SPECT.

"I'd push back gently on the second recommendation."

/pʊʃ bæk/ — short /ʊ/ in PUSH.

"I take your point, but the cost picture has changed."

/teɪk jɔː pɔɪnt/ — POINT stressed.

"He didn't read the room — the joke died."

/riːd ðə ruːm/ — long /iː/ and /uː/.

"She walked back the comment by lunchtime."

/wɔːk … bæk/ — silent L in WALK.

"Let me put it this way: we can't afford another slip."

/let mi pʊt ɪt ðɪs weɪ/ — natural reduction of 'me'.

"The opening of her speech struck exactly the right tone."

/straɪk ðə raɪt təʊn/ — RIGHT stressed.

"I didn't want to come off as preachy."

/kʌm ɒf/ — short /ʌ/ and /ɒ/.

"It's a Friday update — keep it light."

/kiːp ɪt laɪt/ — long /iː/.

"Stop dressing it up — it's a meeting, not a memorial."

/dres … ʌp/ — UP stressed in phrasal.

"Her tone was matter-of-fact, which made the news easier to hear."

/ˌmætər əv ˈfækt/ — stress on FACT.

"He explained it carefully, without talking down to her."

/tɔːk daʊn tuː/ — DOWN stressed.

"I hold that opinion loosely — push back and I'll probably move."

/luːsli/, /ˈtaɪtli/ — final /li/.

"I'm not dying on this hill — pick your fonts."

/daɪ ɒn ðɪs hɪl/ — HILL stressed.

"I'm of two minds about it, honestly."

/tuː maɪndz/ — long /uː/ and /aɪ/.

"He's brilliant, but he takes himself too seriously."

/ˈsɪərɪəsli/ — stress on SI-.

"For what it's worth, I'd wait a quarter."

/wɒt ɪts wɜːθ/ — WORTH ends in /θ/.

"I'm not yet sold on the idea, but I'm listening."

/səʊld ɒn/ — long /əʊ/ in SOLD.

"Whoever sets the terms of the debate has half-won it."

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"Let's reframe this as a question of trust, not cost."

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"'Crackdown' is loaded language; 'enforcement' is closer to neutral."

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"I won't grant the premise that growth and well-being are opposed."

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"'Freedom or safety' is a false dichotomy; we have both, in degrees."

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"Let me call the question: do we fund it or not?"

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"Before I refute it, let me steelman the other side."

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"I concede the point on transparency; the rest still stands."

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"I'll grant you the figures — though the trend they suggest is the opposite."

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"Let's get to the heart of the matter: who pays?"

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"We've been talking past each other for ten minutes."

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"I'm willing to give ground on the timeline, not the scope."

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"She landed the closing line — the room actually paused."

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"The phrase has rhetorical heft because the rhythm is right."

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"Without a costed plan, the slogan rings hollow."

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"He hit four applause lines and said almost nothing."

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"Three tricolons in two paragraphs is overplaying it."

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"Don't bury the punch line of the argument under qualifications."

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"Every paragraph should earn its place against the spine of the argument."

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"Around paragraph four, the argument loses the thread."

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"Paragraph three is load-bearing; if it fails, the rest sags."

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"Cut anything that doesn't earn its place against the spine."

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"Telegraph the concession in your opening so the reader trusts you."

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"She nails the close — the final sentence does three jobs at once."

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"I overstated the case in Friday's memo; let me correct it."

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"The working hypothesis is that the drop is seasonal; we'll know in a quarter."

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"He walked the claim back to 'a moderate effect under specific conditions'."

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"I say this with low confidence — but the trend looks real."

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"She climbed down from the strongest version of the claim, but held the rest."

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"I'm prepared to commit on the principle, not yet on the number."

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"We have made our position clear through diplomatic channels."

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"We reserve the right to respond as we see fit."

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"The meeting included a frank exchange of views."

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"We note with concern the latest reports from the region."

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"Without prejudice to our broader objections, we accept this clause."

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"We are keeping channels open at official and unofficial levels."

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"Know your BATNA before you walk into the room."

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"Find the ZOPA early; the deal is in the overlap."

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"Whoever anchors first usually shapes the range."

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"I'll give on the timeline if you give on scope."

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"We log-rolled scope against price and both sides came out ahead."

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"We left value on the table because we never asked."

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"Before we problem-solve, let's hold space for the disappointment."

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"Let's take the temperature down for two minutes."

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"There's an unsaid resentment here; let's surface it explicitly."

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"Let's depersonalise this — it's about the policy, not about either of you."

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"Give me the good-faith reading of what she just said."

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"Can we broker a 24-hour pause before either side responds publicly?"

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"We own the failure. The fault was ours and the response is ours."

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"It happened on my watch and I will not pass it down the chain."

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"In a crisis, underpromise and overdeliver — never the reverse."

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"We won't speculate on root cause until the review is in."

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"Our duty of candour means we publish what we find, including what we got wrong."

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"We won't try to draw a line under this until those affected feel it has been addressed."

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"I'd rather deliver this straight than leave you guessing."

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"Let me spare you the pretence — the decision was clear."

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"I'm giving you the news on the record before you hear it elsewhere."

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"We err on the side of telling people directly."

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"Ride out the silence — they need it more than you do."

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"I'm leaving the door open for the next round — and I mean it."

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"The narrative distance opens and closes across the chapter."

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"By page 30 we know this is an unreliable narrator."

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"The opening chapter is almost entirely in free indirect style."

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"She inhabits the voice of a 12-year-old without ever condescending."

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"The author ironises the narrator gently throughout."

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"Authorial sympathy is plainly with the secondary character."

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"The cadence of the final clause is what makes the sentence stick."

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"The writer suspends the verb for the whole sentence."

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"The chapter swings from parataxis to hypotaxis and back."

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"She breaks the rhythm with a three-word sentence; the effect is a slap."

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"The passage is beautiful in places and over-written in others."

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"Read it aloud — the prose music is doing half the work."

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"Her deadpan delivery is what makes the line cut."

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"The whole paragraph is tongue-in-cheek, but the underlying argument is real."

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"The piece lampoons the entire genre while quietly admiring one of its writers."

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"The sketch sends up corporate jargon without ever mentioning a company."

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"There is a knowing pause before the final clause."

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"Plenty of writers attempt satire; far fewer land it."

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"The reading rests on three lines of textual evidence."

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"I weigh that reading against three things in the text and find it lighter."

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"She reads the chapter against the grain — and the text rewards it."

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"I think we're over-reading the silence in paragraph two."

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"The strongest reading is also the most generous to the character."

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"Interpretive humility is not the same as having no view."

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"It is a brave failure; the next one may be the one."

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"The review damns the book with faint praise — 'pleasant', 'serviceable'."

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"The novel loses its nerve in the third act."

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"The ending earns its sentimentality; most endings don't."

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"I rank it above the previous album and below the debut."

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"Her ear for dialogue is by now reliable; her eye for setting still wanders."

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"This paper takes issue with the dominant account of X."

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"The difference is robust at conventional levels."

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"The analytically interesting feature is persistence, not size."

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"This paper departs from the received view in three respects."

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"The literature on this question is divided."

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"I bracket the cross-national comparison for the present paper."

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"I draw on Carter (2019) for the conceptual distinction between opacity and corruption."

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"I follow Carter in arguing for opacity, against Lin and Park."

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"The argument leans heavily on a single dataset."

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"I qualify Smith's finding by restricting it to the under-25 cohort."

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"The paper is in conversation with three distinct strands of the literature."

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"The reviewer misattributes a deterministic claim to me that I never made."

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"Three strands of work meet on this question."

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"The paper sits within the institutional strand and against the cultural one."

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"The gap is not what the literature has answered badly — it is what it has not yet asked."

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"I synthesise three sources into a single claim rather than reviewing them one by one."

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"The paper proposes an identification strategy not yet attempted."

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"I extend Patel's finding to a non-Western sample, with appropriate caveats."

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"An epistemic hedge restricts the claim; an interactional hedge softens the tone."

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"The headline overclaims; the paper itself is more careful."

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"The paper specifies three scope conditions for the claim."

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"The replication may have been under-powered, not unsuccessful."

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"The preregistered analysis confirmed the main effect; the exploratory analyses did not."

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"We identify two boundary conditions for the effect."

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"We take this concern seriously and have rewritten the relevant section."

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"On this point we respectfully disagree; our reasons follow."

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"Let me start from the shared ground that identification matters."

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"Let me engage with the strongest version of the objection."

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"On the cross-national measure, we defer to the reviewer's expertise."

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"We treat this as a friendly amendment and have adopted it."

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