Making Small talk

Good topics for small talk:

·  Sports - current matches or games, favorite teams, etc.

·  News items

·  Hobbies

·  Experiences

·  Weather

·  Family - general questions, not questions about private matters

·  Media - films, books, magazines, newspaper articles

·  Holidays - where, when

·  Home town - where do you come from, how is it different/similar to this town

·  Job - general questions

·  Latest fashion and trends

·  Celebrity gossip

Opening a conversation
Hello again
Excuse me, .....
We haven’t met, I’m....
I couldn’t help noticing....
I understand you ...
You’re....., aren’t you?
You must be....., I’m ...... / Directing a conversation
That reminds me.....
While we’re on the subject of....
By the way, ....
Talking of.....
Funny you should say that because....
Showing interest
Really?
I see.
Uh huh.
Right.
That’s interesting. / Ending a conversation
Is that the time?
It was nice talking to you.
Will you excuse me?
I must just.....
I’m afraid I’ll have to be going.
I’m sorry, I must dash.

Talking about experiences

To describe experiences – places, holidays, meals, hotels, people, jobs, games, jokes, cities, parties etc, we usually begin the sentence in the present perfect (have + past participle) and then use the past simple with the following verbs, adjectives, adverbs and superlatives:

Verbs – Be, have, do, go, see, hear, meet, stay, buy, visit, eat, taste, experience

Adjectives – fabulous, stupid, marvellous, ridiculous, exciting, wonderful, silly, great, boring, violent, amazing, hard, disgusting, strange, nice, lousy, attractive, delicious, brilliant, fascinating, frightening, dull, luxurious, wild, beautiful, pathetic, funny, interesting, terrible, nasty, relaxing, stressful, entertaining

Adverbs – absolutely, exactly, completely, so, very, really, extremely

Superlatives – best, worst, greatest, funniest, hardest, tastiest, most .....

For example:

I’ve stayed in some terrible hotels, but the one I went to in Madrid must be the worst I’ve ever seen.

The best place I’ve ever visited must be Egypt. I was there in 2005. It was incredible.

I’ve had some strange jobs, but when I worked for KillaRat I saw some disgusting things.

The worst football game I’ve ever seen was when France played Ireland in the world cup. Did you see it?