How to Finish Speaking in English Without an Awkward Silence

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1. 0:00Have you ever finished telling a story or sharing an idea in English?
2. 0:05And then it's just silence.
3. 0:09No one starts to speak. You wait, they wait.
4. 0:13There's this long pause and everyone just keeps looking at you.
5. 0:19So after a few uncomfortable seconds, you quietly add,
6. 0:25and that's it. Now, everyone knows you've finished speaking, but that awkward moment has already happened.
7. 0:33If you've experienced that in this lesson, you're going to learn exactly how to make it clear that you have finished speaking in English before those awkward silences begin,
8. 0:44no matter whether you're telling a story, sharing an opinion, or giving an update.
9. 0:49We're going to look at how to complete your final thought, how to use your voice to signal the ending, and when needed, invite someone else to speak.
10. 1:01So to avoid those awkward, uncomfortable silences, the first thing your listener needs is an ending that sounds
11. 1:11complete. Sometimes you may know exactly how you want to finish. For example, you might say, "And after the market, we went home.
12. 1:19That was the end of our day." Or, "So I think we should wait till Friday." The endings are clear, they're complete. But we don't always get that luxury.
13. 1:30Sometimes you lose your train of thought while you're speaking.
14. 1:34Maybe you forget a detail you want to share, or you just can't find the right word and everything gets lost.
15. 1:40In those moments, that's when someone might say, "And then we went to the market and..." Yeah, that's not really a complete thought. So in that moment,
16. 1:51your listener may not know whether the story's finished or whether you're still trying to continue trying to find the right words.
17. 1:59And when that kind of statement happens, those awkward silences begin.
18. 2:03But if you ever lose your train of thought or get lost trying to find the right word, you don't need to force yourself to remember every detail.
19. 2:13Instead, you can briefly acknowledge the problem and then finish with the main point.
20. 2:18For example, let's say that I'm telling a story and I kind of lose my focus.
21. 2:23So I might say, "And then we went to the market and, well, shoot, I just lost my train of though. I can't remember what I was going to say, but the important thing is we made it home." The truth is,
22. 2:35conversations don't always go exactly as we planned.
23. 2:38The goal is to simply give your listener a clear final thought instead of letting your words kind of disappear. Now,
24. 2:47along with that complete thought to show that you're finished speaking, your voice can also help to make the ending clearer.
25. 2:55And this is where our intonation is important.
26. 2:59We can use our voice to show a finished thought by using falling intonation.
27. 3:06This means that your voice moves lower as you reach the end of your sentence. Listen to that again.
28. 3:14This means that your voice moves lower as you reach the end of your sentence. For example, if we go back to the story I was telling before, I might say,
29. 3:26"And after the market, we went home." That fall helps the sentence sound complete.
30. 3:33It helps your listener hear that you have reached the end and that they can respond. On top of that, you can also slightly slow down on those final words.
31. 3:46For example, but what's important is we made it home.
32. 3:52Here, that combination of a complete thought, the falling intonation and the slower pace, all of these work together to make it clear that you are
33. 4:04ending, you're finished speaking, and it helps to avoid those uncomfortable or awkward silences. As a result, when you stop speaking,
34. 4:13you give your listener the signal that it's their time to respond.
35. 4:18Now, when I say that your voice falls and maybe your pace gets slower, I want to be very clear here.
36. 4:26We're not talking about simply allowing your voice to become quieter.
37. 4:31We don't want it to disappear. For example, we don't want to finish a sentence with, "And then we made it home and..." Yeah. You notice how quiet it sounded.
38. 4:42In fact, maybe you couldn't even hear it in this video.
39. 4:45And the first response when something goes really quiet is either that awkward silence or a quick,
40. 4:54"What was that?" And I don't know about you, but hearing those questions like, "What was that," or, "Say that again," can get really discouraging.
41. 5:03One of the reasons we hear them so often is our voice is too soft and quiet, so we still want to allow for proper volume and enunciation.
42. 5:15We just want to make sure that that intonation falls at the end of the sentence. Now, if you want more detail on this,
43. 5:23I have another lesson where I share more detail on how rising and falling intonation can help you hold your turn while
44. 5:32speaking, avoid interruptions, and show when you're finished.
45. 5:37So if that's something you'd like to take a look at, I'll leave a link to that lesson in the notes below. But for now, I want you to remember this, let your voice fall clearly on the final words,
46. 5:49and then allow another person to respond. Now, sometimes, especially if you've been speaking for a longer period.
47. 5:58It can help to add a few clear words at the end. For example, if you're finishing a story, you might say, "In any way,
48. 6:07that's what happened in the end." Or if a story doesn't have an ending yet, you might say, "So we'll see what happens next." And if you're sharing an opinion,
49. 6:19you might end your opinion with, "Well, that's how I see it," or, "I'm interested in what others think." And of course,
50. 6:28you can also make it exceptionally clear who should speak next by adding a question. You could directly ask, "And what do you think?
51. 6:37Does anyone want to add anything?" Or Priya, over to you.
52. 6:42Each of these phrases does more than simply show that you're finished.
53. 6:47They also help your listener know exactly what should happen next, whether to respond, ask a question, or take the next turn. Of course,
54. 6:57you don't need to use all of these every time you speak, but when you have been speaking for several minutes, and when several people are involved or you're on a video call,
55. 7:10a clear closing phrase can prevent those awkward silences.
56. 7:15So now that we have these strategies in place, let's take a look at how these signals often work together. For this, I want you to imagine that you're giving an update in a meeting,
57. 7:26and you might finish by saying, "The design is finished, and now we're waiting to hear from the vendor." Priya, over to you.
58. 7:35Your final thought is complete. Your voice falls, so everyone can hear that you finished, and that final statement, Priya,
59. 7:44over to you, makes it clear who should speak next.
60. 7:48And if you're not handing the conversation to one person, you can say, "The design is finished, and now we're waiting to hear from the vendor.
61. 7:57Does anyone have any questions?" When you bring these pieces together, you don't need to wait through an awkward silence and add something like,
62. 8:07"That's it," or, "I'm done." Instead, your listener already knows that you finished and they know exactly what should happen next. So now I want you to practice.
63. 8:19Take a moment to think about a situation where you need to speak for a period of time in English, like when you're telling a story, sharing an opinion, or giving an update.
64. 8:29Practice those in advance and choose a sentence that you want your listener to hear at the end. Practice it out loud, make sure that the thought is complete, and then say it again,
65. 8:42this time slowing down with the final few words and letting your voice fall at the end. For example,
66. 8:51"So I think we should wait until Friday." And.
67. 8:55If the situation requires it, you could add a clear question as a handoff.
68. 9:00For example, "What do you think?" Or, "Over to you." Try that multiple times.
69. 9:06Practice saying it out loud so you really get comfortable with these strategies and you can hear yourself using them. When your final thought is complete,
70. 9:17when your voice clearly reaches the end with falling intonation, and if, when appropriate, you add a question or provide a direct handoff,
71. 9:26your listener knows that you've finished and you can avoid those awkward silences. Now, as always, if you found this lesson helpful to you,
72. 9:36don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you're watching or listening from today. Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to next time.