How to Give Opinions and Make Suggestions in English at Work
ESL English learning: Master phrases for sharing opinions, making suggestions, and persuading colleagues in tech meetings and discussions.
Why Opinion Phrases Matter in Tech
In tech workplaces, your ideas only have impact if people hear and accept them. Whether you're reviewing an architecture proposal, pushing back on a timeline estimate, or pitching a refactoring initiative, the language you use determines how your message lands.
This article covers the key phrases for asking and giving opinions at different strength levels, making diplomatic suggestions, challenging proposals respectfully, and structuring convincing arguments—all mapped to real tech scenarios like sprint reviews, RFC discussions, and stakeholder pitches.
Asking for and Giving Opinions
Tech leads and PMs frequently need to draw out opinions from quieter team members. Using varied question forms helps create space for different perspectives.
| Phrase Type | Example Phrase | Tech Context |
|---|---|---|
| Casual ask | Any views on this? | Quick check in a standup or Slack thread |
| Direct ask | What do you think about this approach, Maya? | Calling on a specific engineer in a design review |
| Feeling-based | How do you feel about extending the deadline? | 1:1 discussion about sprint planning |
| Position check | Where do you stand on migrating to Kubernetes? | RFC discussion with strong opinions expected |
When giving your own opinion, choose your phrase based on how certain you are. This helps colleagues understand whether you're floating an idea or making a firm recommendation.
| Certainty Level | Phrase | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Tentative | It seems to me that... | It seems to me that we're overcomplicating the auth flow. |
| Moderate | I think / I feel | I think we should prioritize the API refactor this sprint. |
| Confident | I believe / In my opinion | I believe this architecture will scale to 10x our current load. |
| Strong | I'm convinced / I'm certain | I'm convinced that serverless is the wrong choice for this workload. |
| Absolute | There's no doubt in my mind that... | There's no doubt in my mind that we need to address this tech debt now. |
Culture Note: Hedging in Tech
In many tech cultures, especially at companies influenced by US West Coast norms, even senior engineers hedge strong opinions with 'I think' or 'In my view' to signal openness to discussion. Stating absolute certainty ('There's no doubt') is reserved for critical issues or when you have data to back it up.
Scenario: Sharing Your Opinion in a Sprint Review
Your PM asks the team for feedback on the velocity drop this sprint. Here's how to respond at different strength levels:
- Tentative: 'It seems to me that we underestimated the complexity of the payment integration.'
- Moderate: 'I think the flaky tests cost us more time than we expected.'
- Confident: 'I believe we need to allocate specific time for test stabilization next sprint.'
- Strong: 'I'm convinced that without dedicated QA support, we'll keep hitting these delays.'
Notice how each phrase signals a different level of commitment to your position. Starting tentative gives you room to adjust; going strong shows you've thought this through.
Multiple choice
Choose the best answer.
Your tech lead asks 'Any views on why this feature took longer than estimated?' Which response sounds appropriately confident but not aggressive?
Making and Reacting to Suggestions
When proposing changes—especially architectural ones—how you phrase your suggestion affects whether colleagues feel invited to collaborate or pressured to comply.
| Strength | Structure | Tech Example |
|---|---|---|
| Soft suggestion | Maybe we could... | Maybe we could add caching at the API gateway level. |
| Gentle proposal | I wonder if we could... | I wonder if we could use feature flags instead of a big-bang release. |
| Standard suggestion | Why don't we... | Why don't we split this into two smaller PRs? |
| Moderate recommendation | I suggest we... | I suggest we add integration tests before merging. |
| Strong recommendation | I strongly recommend that we... | I strongly recommend that we conduct a security review first. |
| Urgent requirement | We must... | We must fix this memory leak before the release. |
When reacting to others' suggestions, show you've listened before agreeing or pushing back:
| Agreeing Phrases | Disagreeing Phrases |
|---|---|
| That's a good point. | I see what you mean, but I think there are some gaps here. |
| I'm in favor of that approach. | I'm afraid I can't share your view on that. |
| You have my full support on this. | Doesn't this proposal go a little too far? |
| I could support that with a few minor changes. | Without some changes, I couldn't accept this approach. |
Multiple choice
Choose the best answer.
A colleague suggests rewriting the entire authentication module. You think it's too risky. Which phrase diplomatically expresses concern?
Scenario: Proposing an Architectural Change Diplomatically
You want to propose migrating from a monolithic architecture to microservices. Here's how to structure your suggestion diplomatically in an RFC discussion:
- Open with context: 'I've been looking at our scaling challenges, and I wonder if we could explore a different approach.'
- Make the suggestion: 'I suggest we consider breaking out the user service as a pilot microservice.'
- Acknowledge trade-offs: 'On the one hand, this adds operational complexity. On the other hand, it would let us scale that service independently.'
- Invite discussion: 'I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether this trade-off makes sense for us.'
Grammar Point: Subjunctive After 'Suggest' and 'Recommend'
In formal English, use the base verb (no 's') after 'suggest that' and 'recommend that': 'I suggest we consider...' (not 'I suggest we considers'). 'I recommend that the team review...' (not 'reviews'). This pattern sounds more professional in technical documents and formal meetings.
Challenging Proposals Without Confrontation
Challenging a colleague's idea is essential for good technical decisions, but the wrong phrasing can damage relationships or make you seem difficult. Use these question-based challenges to raise concerns while keeping discussion open:
| Challenge Phrase | What It Signals | Tech Example |
|---|---|---|
| Has it occurred to you that...? | Raising a consideration they may have missed | Has it occurred to you that this would require downtime during peak hours? |
| Wouldn't it be better if...? | Suggesting an alternative approach | Wouldn't it be better if we used a queue instead of direct API calls? |
| You do realize that...? | Highlighting a constraint (use carefully—can sound condescending) | You do realize that this would break backward compatibility? |
| Could you go into more detail about...? | Probing for specifics you doubt exist | Could you go into more detail about how this handles the edge cases? |
| Too Direct (Sounds Confrontational) | Better (Diplomatic Challenge) |
|---|---|
| That won't work. | I think that might not work because of the latency requirements. |
| You're wrong about the performance. | I see your point, but I think there are some gaps in the performance analysis. |
| This is a waste of time. | I'm not sure this addresses our core problem. Could you help me understand the connection? |
| That's completely unrealistic. | Doesn't this proposal assume we have more bandwidth than we actually do? |
Complete the sentence
Type the missing word or phrase.
Complete this diplomatic challenge: '______ it ______ to you that this migration would require retraining the entire ops team?'
Structuring Arguments and Pitching Ideas
When pitching to stakeholders or presenting in architecture reviews, structure your argument clearly so listeners can follow your logic. Use sequencing phrases to guide them through your points.
| Function | Phrases | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Opening / framing | There are three points I want to make here. / Let me begin by... | There are three points I want to make about why we need this infrastructure investment. |
| Sequencing | First of all... / Secondly... / The next item is... | First of all, our current database can't handle the projected load. |
| Adding information | In addition... / Furthermore... / On top of that... | Furthermore, this solution reduces our AWS costs by 30%. |
| Giving examples | For example... / Let me give you an example. | Let me give you an example of how this saved another team two sprints of work. |
| Generalizing | In general... / As a rule... / On the whole... | As a rule, migrations like this take about six weeks with proper planning. |
| Concluding | In conclusion... / Let me end by saying... | In conclusion, I believe this investment will pay for itself within two quarters. |
Convincing questions are particularly powerful in tech contexts because they invite stakeholders to reach your conclusion themselves:
- 'Wouldn't it be easier to build this in-house than to integrate three separate vendor solutions?'
- 'Shouldn't we be talking about root cause analysis instead of just patching the symptoms?'
- 'Isn't it worth the upfront investment if it reduces our incident rate by half?'
Register: Slack vs. Formal Documents
The same opinion or suggestion needs different phrasing depending on whether you're typing in Slack or writing an RFC. Here's how to adjust your register:
| Informal (Slack / Quick Chat) | Formal (RFC / Email / Design Doc) |
|---|---|
| I think we should just go with Redis here | I recommend that we adopt Redis for this caching layer. |
| tbh this feels overcomplicated | In my assessment, this approach introduces unnecessary complexity. |
| wouldn't it be simpler to just use a queue? | I suggest we consider a queue-based architecture as a simpler alternative. |
| I'm not sold on this approach | I have reservations about this approach that I'd like to discuss. |
| hard disagree on the timeline | I'm afraid I can't share the optimism about this timeline. |
When to Use Which Register
Use informal register in Slack threads, casual standups, and 1:1s with close colleagues. Switch to formal register for RFCs, written proposals, cross-team communications, and any discussion that might be referenced later. When in doubt, go slightly more formal—you can always relax in follow-up messages.
Pronunciation and Practice
Several phrases in this article contain sounds that challenge ESL speakers. Practice these terms to sound more confident in meetings:
thoroughly /ˈθʌr.ə.li/
THUR-uh-lee
Saying 'thorough-ly' with hard 'th' or 'f' sound
occurred /əˈkɜːrd/
uh-KURD
Stressing first syllable: 'OCK-urred'
recommendation /ˌrek.ə.menˈdeɪ.ʃən/
rek-uh-men-DAY-shun
Stressing 'men' instead of 'day'
alternative /ɔːlˈtɜː.nə.tɪv/
all-TUR-nuh-tiv
Saying 'alter-NAY-tive'
implementation /ˌɪm.plɪ.menˈteɪ.ʃən/
im-plih-men-TAY-shun
Swallowing the middle syllables
Multiple choice
Choose the best answer.
You're concluding a pitch to stakeholders. Which phrase best summarizes your argument professionally?
Multiple choice
Choose the best answer.
Which phrase adds supporting information after your main point in a formal presentation?