How to Finish Speaking in English Without an Awkward Silence

0:00Have you ever finished telling a story or sharing an idea in English?

0:04And then it's just silence.

0:09No one starts to speak. You wait, they wait.

0:13There's this long pause and everyone just keeps looking at you.

0:18So after a few uncomfortable seconds, you quietly add,

0:24and that's it. Now, everyone knows you've finished speaking,

0:29but that awkward moment has already happened.

0:32If you've experienced that in this lesson,

0:35you're going to learn exactly how to make it clear that you have finished

0:39speaking in English before those awkward silences begin,

0:43no matter whether you're telling a story, sharing an opinion,

0:47or giving an update.

0:49We're going to look at how to complete your final thought,

0:53how to use your voice to signal the ending,

0:57and when needed, invite someone else to speak.

1:01So to avoid those awkward, uncomfortable silences,

1:05the first thing your listener needs is an ending that sounds

1:10complete. Sometimes you may know exactly how you want to finish. For example,

1:15you might say, "And after the market, we went home.

1:18That was the end of our day." Or,

1:21"So I think we should wait till Friday." The endings are clear,

1:25they're complete. But we don't always get that luxury.

1:29Sometimes you lose your train of thought while you're speaking.

1:33Maybe you forget a detail you want to share,

1:36or you just can't find the right word and everything gets lost.

1:40In those moments, that's when someone might say,

1:43"And then we went to the market and..." Yeah,

1:48that's not really a complete thought. So in that moment,

1:50your listener may not know whether the story's finished or whether you're still

1:55trying to continue trying to find the right words.

1:58And when that kind of statement happens, those awkward silences begin.

2:03But if you ever lose your train of thought or get lost trying to find the right

2:07word, you don't need to force yourself to remember every detail.

2:12Instead,

2:13you can briefly acknowledge the problem and then finish with the main point.

2:17For example, let's say that I'm telling a story and I kind of lose my focus.

2:22So I might say, "And then we went to the market and, well, shoot,

2:26I just lost my train of though. I can't remember what I was going to say,

2:29but the important thing is we made it home." The truth is,

2:34conversations don't always go exactly as we planned.

2:38The goal is to simply give your listener a clear final thought

2:43instead of letting your words kind of disappear. Now,

2:46along with that complete thought to show that you're finished speaking,

2:51your voice can also help to make the ending clearer.

2:55And this is where our intonation is important.

2:59We can use our voice to show a finished thought by using

3:04falling intonation.

3:06This means that your voice moves lower as you reach the end of

3:11your sentence. Listen to that again.

3:14This means that your voice moves lower as you reach the end

3:19of your sentence. For example,

3:21if we go back to the story I was telling before, I might say,

3:26"And after the market,

3:27we went home." That fall helps the sentence sound complete.

3:33It helps your listener hear that you have reached the end and that they can

3:38respond. On top of that,

3:40you can also slightly slow down on those final words.

3:45For example, but what's important is we made it home.

3:51Here, that combination of a complete thought,

3:55the falling intonation and the slower pace,

3:58all of these work together to make it clear that you are

4:03ending, you're finished speaking,

4:06and it helps to avoid those uncomfortable or awkward silences. As a result,

4:11when you stop speaking,

4:12you give your listener the signal that it's their time to respond.

4:17Now, when I say that your voice falls and maybe your pace gets

4:23slower, I want to be very clear here.

4:25We're not talking about simply allowing your voice to become quieter.

4:30We don't want it to disappear. For example,

4:34we don't want to finish a sentence with,

4:37"And then we made it home and..." Yeah. You notice how quiet it sounded.

4:41In fact, maybe you couldn't even hear it in this video.

4:45And the first response when something goes really quiet

4:50is either that awkward silence or a quick,

4:53"What was that?" And I don't know about you, but hearing those questions like,

4:58"What was that," or, "Say that again," can get really discouraging.

5:03One of the reasons we hear them so often is our voice is too

5:08soft and quiet,

5:09so we still want to allow for proper volume and enunciation.

5:14We just want to make sure that that intonation falls at the end

5:19of the sentence. Now, if you want more detail on this,

5:23I have another lesson where I share more detail on how

5:27rising and falling intonation can help you hold your turn while

5:32speaking, avoid interruptions, and show when you're finished.

5:36So if that's something you'd like to take a look at,

5:39I'll leave a link to that lesson in the notes below. But for now,

5:42I want you to remember this,

5:44let your voice fall clearly on the final words,

5:48and then allow another person to respond. Now, sometimes,

5:53especially if you've been speaking for a longer period.

5:57It can help to add a few clear words at the end. For example,

6:02if you're finishing a story, you might say, "In any way,

6:07that's what happened in the end." Or if a story doesn't have an ending

6:12yet, you might say,

6:13"So we'll see what happens next." And if you're sharing an opinion,

6:18you might end your opinion with, "Well, that's how I see it," or,

6:24"I'm interested in what others think." And of course,

6:27you can also make it exceptionally clear who should speak next by

6:32adding a question. You could directly ask, "And what do you think?

6:37Does anyone want to add anything?" Or Priya, over to you.

6:42Each of these phrases does more than simply show that you're finished.

6:47They also help your listener know exactly what should happen next,

6:52whether to respond, ask a question, or take the next turn. Of course,

6:57you don't need to use all of these every time you speak,

7:01but when you have been speaking for several minutes,

7:05and when several people are involved or you're on a video call,

7:09a clear closing phrase can prevent those awkward silences.

7:15So now that we have these strategies in place,

7:17let's take a look at how these signals often work together. For this,

7:22I want you to imagine that you're giving an update in a meeting,

7:26and you might finish by saying, "The design is finished,

7:29and now we're waiting to hear from the vendor." Priya, over to you.

7:35Your final thought is complete. Your voice falls,

7:38so everyone can hear that you finished, and that final statement, Priya,

7:43over to you, makes it clear who should speak next.

7:47And if you're not handing the conversation to one person, you can say,

7:52"The design is finished, and now we're waiting to hear from the vendor.

7:57Does anyone have any questions?" When you bring these pieces together,

8:02you don't need to wait through an awkward silence and add something like,

8:07"That's it," or, "I'm done." Instead,

8:10your listener already knows that you finished and they know exactly what

8:15should happen next. So now I want you to practice.

8:18Take a moment to think about a situation where you need to speak for a period of

8:23time in English, like when you're telling a story, sharing an opinion,

8:27or giving an update.

8:29Practice those in advance and choose a sentence that you want your listener to

8:34hear at the end. Practice it out loud,

8:37make sure that the thought is complete, and then say it again,

8:41this time slowing down with the final few words and letting your

8:46voice fall at the end. For example,

8:50"So I think we should wait until Friday." And.

8:54If the situation requires it, you could add a clear question as a handoff.

8:59For example, "What do you think?" Or,

9:03"Over to you." Try that multiple times.

9:06Practice saying it out loud so you really get comfortable with these strategies

9:11and you can hear yourself using them. When your final thought is complete,

9:16when your voice clearly reaches the end with falling intonation,

9:21and if, when appropriate, you add a question or provide a direct handoff,

9:26your listener knows that you've finished and you can avoid

9:31those awkward silences. Now, as always, if you found this lesson helpful to you,

9:36don't forget to subscribe or follow wherever you're watching or listening from

9:41today. Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to next time.