Word for avoiding a topic

What are some other words/phrases to express avoiding a topic in conversation?

You might call this an evasion:

the action of evading something.

«their adroit evasion of almost all questions»

synonyms: avoidance, elusion, circumvention, dodging, sidestepping

«the evasion of immigration control»

an indirect answer; a prevaricating excuse.

plural noun: evasions

«the protestations and evasions of a witness»

synonyms: prevarication, evasiveness, beating around the bush, hedging, pussyfooting, hemming and hawing, equivocation, vagueness,
temporization; rare tergiversation

«she grew tired of all the evasion»

Similarly, you could say the person is being evasive:

tending to avoid commitment or self-revelation, especially by
responding only indirectly.

«she was evasive about her phone number»

synonyms: equivocal, prevaricating, elusive, ambiguous, noncommittal, vague, inexplicit, unclear; roundabout, indirect;
informal cagey, shifty, slippery

«the judge was infuriated by the defendant’s evasive answers»

directed toward avoidance or escape.

«they decided to take evasive action»

synonyms: equivocal, prevaricating, elusive, ambiguous, noncommittal, vague, inexplicit, unclear; roundabout, indirect;
informal cagey, shifty, slippery

«the judge was infuriated by the defendant’s evasive answers»

Essays, assignments, admissions…

These words implicate the pain of students from all over the world, don’t you agree? They yet sound like a creepy snake whispering, “You shall not passsss!”

Most students hate writing essays. It’s difficult, time- and energy consuming, and challenging to complete them. A thesis, arguments, references, and conclusion are fundamental to every essay. But what makes yours stellar is words you use to convince readers. Words are your powerful weapon to prove critical thinking and knowledge of the topic. Words help you stand out in a crowd of other students writing about the same topics.

But here’s the problem:

Not all words are useful. Some are clunky and redundant, while others make your writing mumbling. Some you use for word count rather than meaning, and they make essays sound complicated yet empty.

For concise and meaningful writing, do your best to avoid these words and phrases in your admission essays.

1) Contractions

In essays, avoid abbreviations such as “don’t,” “can’t,” and “won’t.” Academic works suppose using full words, so write them rather than contractions.

2) Idioms

Set phrases enrich a language, but leave them for personal stories, blog posts, or fiction books. An admission essay is a task to check your skills of formal writing, not your ability to entertain or wow professors with flourished vocabulary. Stay clear and concise.

3-5) “So on,” “etc,” “and so forth“

These run-on expressions demonstrate nothing but your inability to work with arguments, details, and examples. They scream, “I do not know what else to say!” Avoid them in your essays.

6) Clichés

Phrases a la “it’s an open secret,” “we all know,” or “sleep like a baby” are clichés used so often that have lost relevance far long ago. They are a poor attempt to strike as clever, but such words sound false in sober fact.

7-11) “Thing,” “stuff,” “good,” “bad,” “big“

The problem with these words is colloquiality and vagueness, inappropriate for academic language. It’s okay to use them in everyday talk; but when in essays, they sound too elementary and make admission officers think of your poor vocabulary. Do your best to master paraphrasing and synonymization for writing more sophisticated words in academic papers.

12) Slang, jargon, teen speak

Remember the audience. Even though admission officers might read Buzzfeed articles in spare time, they will hardly appreciate such writing style in your formal essay. Leave slang where it’s appropriate.

13) Rhetorical questions

Asking them, you assume that readers know the answer. But why then do they need this information? What’s its value? Rhetorical questions don’t expect explanations, which is inappropriate for academic writing. What seems evident to you might not be so for a reader, that is why you should provide clear statements in essays.

14-17) “In terms of,” “needless to say,” “in conclusion,” “it goes without saying“

Parenthetic words bring no surplus value to your writings. They may serve as transitional phrases in informal works but become redundant when used in academic essays. Professors will consider it a trick to complete a word count rather than add value to your work.

18) Quotes

Quoting and referencing are a must-have for academic essays, but this rule is about starting your work with a quote from a famous person. First, this trick is so overused that drives professors nuts; and second, they want to hear from you, not Hemingway, Musk, or Obama. It’s your essay, so its tone of voice and personality should be yours.

19-26) “Very,” “quite,” “really,” “totally,” “already,” “fairly,” “actually,” “just“

All they are weak modifiers or redundant –ly adverbs with no meaning. When you need to write a 2,000-word essay, you might fight against the temptation to insert them; but the result will be poor because such words are irrelevant and bring no surplus value to the statements you use in essays. “Very unique,” “really interesting,” and “quite enough” have nothing to do with efficient academic writings.

27) Passive voice

Most educators ask students to avoid passive voice because this grammar construction 1) weakens wiring and 2) “lacks explicit reference to who the actor is.” Use active voice to make all statements clear to readers.

When writing essays, let words be your allies. Use those powerful words to communicate your message to admission officers and overtake other students. Be concise, enhance your vocabulary, consider active verbs and clear sentence structure, and do not plagiarize ideas and texts from peers or online sources. Convey your skills and highlight strengths in your academic writings.

Lesley Vos is a private educator of the French language. Lives in Chicago, crafts web content, shares writing experience with peers. In love with print books, coffee, and words. Feel free to visit @LesleyVos on Twitter to find more works of hers.

Speeches, our worst nightmare! Speaking in front of a crowd who is watching your every move is scary enough, it is terrifying to not know what to say.
But that is going to change for you now. We are going to cover various phrases and words that are a big no no in Public Speaking to help you plan, structure and deliver your speech better and more confidently.

There are certain phrases and words which, when used puts off the audience, is unnecessary or is simply not framed correctly. These make your speech sound, weak, exaggerated, boring or inefficient, a good way to build on your speaking skills is to watch out for such words or phrases and practice actively avoiding them.

Phrases you should avoid and how:

1. Doubts.

I suppose

I think so

I guess

I don’t know

I am not sure

When delivering a speech, you need to remember that no one knows your content and delivery better than you. You are there on that stage to present something you’ve put time and effort into preparing for.

When you appear doubtful or unclear about your explanation, you tend to undermine yourself and the content you have worked hard to curate.

Doubting Phrases are direct announcements of your uncertainty.

We have noticed that most speakers tend to do this when they aren’t confident about their content. If that is the case for you as well, fish out your speech and figure out the right answer to all your doubts and work and build on your content once you have all the facts straight.

A quick way to avoid this is to personalise it, after all, no one can question your personal experience!

For Example: “In my experience, 2+2 has made a fish symbol, of course there are always other studies that may say other wise, like 2+2 is four.”

2. Undermining Yourself / Your Experiences.

I have just started working on it in the past year.

I only had a small role in the movie.

I barely match up to their level.

We have spoken about how various other factors like doubtfulness undermines your speech or yourself, and yet there are others ways which you can do that. Enough that it is a separate sub-heading in this article!

What we mean here is, when people are building something or are fairly new to something, they tend to under-sell themselves or their work by making it look small or insignificant.

These phrases will begin to affect your confidence in the long run and we don’t want that, do we? Take pride in what you do and know that learning is a long process, you’ll get there, soon, but where you are also took effort, don’t forget that.

3. Apologies.

I apologize for my network

I am sorry, this mic isn’t working, sorry my voice isn’t loud enough

I am sorry I got logged out

Sometimes, when things don’t go as planned, speakers assume the best thing to do is apologise to the audience. Even though it may come across as humble to some, it forces you to stray from your content and this brings back the audience to the present from the engaging journey of your speech.

Apologising in such situations often throws the issue in the spotlight at well, and as humans love to find faults, that mistake will be remembered by everyone there and their brains will prioritise that little hiccup over the amazing content you spent days collecting and preparing for this speech.

As the world moves to the digital space, technical difficulties are bound to happen and usually don’t take that long to resolve themselves. It could also be possible that the audience does not even realise that you are facing a technical difficulty.

The best thing to do is patient and wait for a few minutes before taking any action, if it is crucial for your speech, like a presentation or a microphone.

If it is something which you can do without, like your virtual background on a virtual call, you don’t need to point it out.

Remember, if the issue persists for longer than 5 minutes, form your own judgement.
Would it be possible to continue without your presentation?
Were the next slides not as content heavy that it would be important to show them?
Is my voice loud enough to be clear to an audience of this size, without straining my voice?

Another great way to keep the audience engaged would be to open the floor for questions and engage in hearty chatter until the tech team works on the issue.

If you are looking for a way to improve your Online Presentation Skills, check out our YouTube Video: Online Presentation: 7 Effective Ways to Engage a Virtual Audience.

4. Presentation Issues

This slide is a little busy

The text is too small, I’ll read it out for you.

A strong presentation would not give the presenter the need to mention the above or any other related points.

In the first phrase, the slide is busy, and the presenter acknowledges the fact that it is, this raises the question that why was this issue not solved in the preparation and development stage? It makes you look unprepared and gives off the impression that you haven’t bothered to revise your work.

The second phrase is a BIG red flag.
Why?

Well, a presentation is never there for you to read out from.

A presentation is merely a key or reference for the presenter to explain and build on his point and for the audience it is a guide to make it easier for them to follow.

If you are looking for a way to up your presentation skills, we have written an extensive article on the same: A Guide to The Techniques of Presentation.

5. Overused phrases and audience engagement tactics

Close your eyes and imagine

Raise your hand if you agree

Phrases like these, albeit good engagement tools have been used one to many times and there is no surprise element and something the audience is expecting. It adds no value to your speech.

However, these aren’t complete no nos, but simply I’d suggest to be stringent with such phrases, use your style and uniqueness. You know your topic and that is information enough for you to know which tool may suit best based on your content.

6. Quotes

Even impossible says I am possible

Time is money

I came, I saw, I conquered

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

What doesn’t kill us, only makes us stronger

You’ve heard them all, everyone has, in books, movies, speeches, posters, coffee mugs you name it!

I’ve made my point. They have been used too much to make a lasting impact, majority of the people know these and so many other quotes so using them would not pique their interest.

Instead, wherever in your speech you feel a quote would add weight to your topic or delivery, search for a quote using your topic as a keyword, you will end up with much more relevant and impactful quotes.

7. Announcements

Now by announcements I don’t mean

“Car number 0123, your alarm has gone off, please report to the valet booth immediately”

Or

“A child name XYZ has been looking for their parent, they are wearing a green t-shirt with brown sneakers, please approach the manager’s desk if they are your ward.

Don’t get me wrong, as much as these kill the mood and interrupt the flow of a speech, I’d like to focus on the announcements you are possibly making during your speech.

What do you mean “announcements”?

Announcements here, mean any verbal cue or signal that you give your audience with the aim to inform them what you are going to do next.

For Example:

I’d like to begin with…

My topic is…

I am going to talk about…

This is what I mean when I say…

This is what we are going to do today…

I would like to conclude by saying…

These phrases often break away from the speech and sound as if you are hand holding the crowd through your speech. It may sound cliché, but no matter what the topic of your speech it, the aim is to take the audience on a journey. To not tell them what you are going to do but show them.

Let them decide what to do with the information you give them, let them comprehend where you are in your speech and make them expect and think “what’s next?”

This gives you are chance to build to a strong and satisfying conclusion.

8. Clarifications

Clarifications sound good in a classroom, when delivering a speech, you need to make sure you don’t turn from a speaker to a teacher.

Try to avoid phrases like:

With me so far?

Can you understand?

Is everyone listening?

And other similar phrases and words. These bring out engagement and responses from the audience but they aren’t natural, nor do they add any value to your content.

Now that we have covered the possible phrases, here are some other tips and tricks about negative words that your speeches could do better without.

Negative words you need to look out for:

1. Filler Words:

What are filler words?

Well, umm, you know, basically, words that uh, take up time and uh space in your speech, kind of like, this sentence, like umm, every italicised word is considered a filler, so like, you get it, right?

A better and more direct explanation would be: Words that are included in your speech unnecessarily and take up your time without adding anything of value to your content or delivery.

Much better, right? Crisp, direct and a clear explanation is what will take your speech to the next level.

One important thing to keep in mind is that it is imperative that you learn to identify where a word is a filler and where it isn’t. This does NOT mean that you try to avoid these words altogether as in some cases they are extremely helpful in creating a buzz about your topic or they might even be used as a thought provoking cue or to engage the audience.

How do you gauge when a word is unnecessary or not?

This is an easy-peasy-lemon squeezy task. (Feel free to use this expression.)

What we need you to do first is:

1. Find out the weak points in your speech.

Weak points may be areas where you are unsure about your content, areas where there is too much data back-to-back and have the potential to make you fumble or forget. They may also be areas where you take intentional long pauses or may use other techniques of delivery to engage or amuse your audience.

2. Attack and improve.

Now that you have a fair idea of where you may forget, fumble or mess up, it is time to re-read and rephrase those sentences/segments.

The best option is to get rid of the jargon and complicated sentences and use simple speak-able language as it is both easy to remember and sits well with any type of audience.

2. Poor Expressions

These are similar to filler words but are harder to find as they often blend so well with conversational language that it is difficult to tell them apart from actual quality content.

We have come up with a fun exercise for you to try and figure out where such expressions are present in your speech.

Before we do that however, it is important to remember that even though your speech could benefit from sounding conversational, it should not contain the lingo or slang which is usually found in day-to-day conversation.

Why? It tends to undermine the speaker’s authority and content if we make it too sound too causal and after all, at the end of the day is a speech that you are delivering, not a conversation over coffee with your pal. You need to find the perfect balance between being approachable and remaining formal.

Now. Lets work on the exercise:

Once you are confident with your speech, begin delivering it without any reference material or cue cards. Do not forget to record yourself! Our goal is to find out where you are letting down your guard.

Pro Tip: You will usually find this in areas where you are explaining something.

While aiming to make it simple you may tend to deliver it as a conversation.

Once you find those areas, look for a way to make it sound more formal. For Example:

Original: Basically, we turned the knob to increase the pressure on the object and it kind of backfired with a loud booom.

Instead: We wanted to increase the pressure on the object. We turned the knob. BOOM, that was enough evidence for us to know that our plan had backfired.

In the above example, the explanation is simple, but in the alternative sentence, notice how the explanation stays engaging, funny yet, there is a thin line keeping it from turning into a casual anecdote.

3. Jargon

The clarity and levelness with which one transitions from one topic to another is a quality that builds with experience and constant implementation of learnings and observations.

If you have rolled your eyes enough at my constant sarcastic examples, you now know what Jargons do to your speech.

Jargons are not necessarily technical, they are just complex words that may look good on paper but when speaking, may sound to confusing or technical and make it hard for your audience to follow. Secret or open Boos are not what we are aiming for here!

Tried and tested formula for any killer speech is to use simple language and work on your delivery to make it engaging.

If the message isn’t clear yet: AVOID JARGONS, BIG NO NO AS AUDIENCE WILL GET UP AND GO GO. And we need them to go GAGA!

If you are struggling with Jargon or Data, check out this article we’ve written just for you!
10 Tips and Tricks to Present Data Confidently

4. There is no I in Team, try to avoid the me in it!

Phrases that address only the speaker, or only a section of the audience is a serious deal breaker. You have a bunch of people sitting and eager to listen to you, and if you begin to focus on only your personal experiences, it tends to build a disconnect between you and the audience. Brace yourself for a bunch of sleepy and distracted faces.

Engage the whole crowd, because as soon as it becomes about them, they would want to listen.

5. Obviousness

We are at the 10th point of this article.

Now was that necessary? Absolutely not. Did it help you find out something you didn’t know before? No.
Even if you didn’t notice it, it wasn’t vital information, or helpful to you in anyway.

Use these three questions:

1. Is it necessary?
2. Is it new information?
3. Is it important?

If the answer is no to these three, rephrase your point or omit it.

Quality over quantity. Always.

Final thoughts:

Too much of anything is never good. Pace yourself.

Try practising your speech with your friends or by yourself to find out areas of improvement. Remember, feedback is important, another pair of supportive ears will always help you grow and learn new things about yourself.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать грубую лексику.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать разговорную лексику.

избегаете этой темы

избегая темы

Or is he avoiding the topic?

Are you avoiding the topic?

I’ve spent most of my life avoiding the topic if at all possible.

Я провел большую часть своей жизни, избегая конфликтов насколько это было возможно.

If this means avoiding the topic for a little while, do it.

Если это означает избегать темы на некоторое время, сделайте это.

Maybe… we’ve always just been avoiding the topic.

The most efficient way to prevent avoiding the topic or buildup of verbal spats is ignoring the incorrect messages.

Самый эффективный способ воспрепятствовать уходу от темы или разгоранию словесных перебранок — игнорировать некорректные сообщения.

Why are they avoiding the topic?

Pretending there are no problems doesn’t make things better, and avoiding the topic may lead your friend to think you’re ashamed too.

Притворяясь, нет никаких проблем, это не улучшает ситуацию, и, избегая темы, вы можете заставить своего друга думать, что вам тоже стыдно.

I probably should stop avoiding the topic with him, considering how much he did for me.

Однако вряд ли мы перестанем о нём беспокоиться, учитывая, как много он для нас значит.

Still in mourning, Denis seemed incapable of avoiding the topic, turning to it in many of our conversations, with little or no segue.

Еще в трауре Денис казался неспособным избегать тема, обращаясь к ней во многих наших беседах, с небольшим или полным отсутствием.

Communism while avoiding the topic of NATO; finally, he stressed a corruption-free, frugal administration at home.

Он обещал поддержать сильное стремление против Коммунизма, избегая темы НАТО; наконец, он подчеркнул скромную администрацию без коррупции дома.

This is a classic response to many relationship problems as one partner will avoid having a sensitive conversation, thus avoiding the topic.

Это классический ответ на многие проблемы с взаимоотношениями, поскольку один из партнеров избегает общения, которое может перерасти в конфронтацию.

The proposed form allows to strictly control the adequacy of the arguments being presented and prevent «avoiding the topic«.

Предлагаемая форма позволит строго контролировать адекватность приводимых аргументов и примеров по отношению к доказываемому суждению и предотвратит «уход от темы».

In particular, Komsomolskaya Pravda attributes the extreme brevity of the political part of the address to the fact that Vladimir Putin «can now take the liberty of avoiding the topic of politics.»

В частности, сверхлаконичность политической части послания газета Комсомольская правда объясняет тем, что Владимир Путин «теперь может позволить себе не говорить о политике».

There you go avoiding the topic again.

Or is he avoiding the topic?

Avoiding the topic does not make HIV go away.

Avoiding the topic may lead them to believe that the situation is worse than it is.

Недостаточная прямота может заставить их думать о том, что ситуация хуже, чем она есть на самом деле.

Reporting the Topic by Avoiding the Topic

Ничего не найдено для этого значения.

Результатов: 19. Точных совпадений: 19. Затраченное время: 33 мс

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