Business English for Presentations: 5 Mistakes to Fix Now

Most people who give presentations in English know their topic cold. They’ve done the research, built the slides, and rehearsed the numbers. Then they open their mouths and say something that makes a native-speaking colleague wince quietly into their coffee.

The problem isn’t vocabulary or grammar in isolation. It’s the specific language of presentations: signposting, transitions, hedging, and handling questions. These are learned skills, and nobody teaches them in standard English classes. So the mistakes pile up, presentation after presentation, until they become habits.

Here are five of the most common ones, and exactly how to fix them.

The Mistakes (and Corrections)

Mistake 1: “Now I will talk about…”

Wrong: “Now I will talk about the financial results.”

Right: “Let’s turn to the financial results.” or “I’d like to move on to the financial results now.”

Why: “I will talk about” is technically fine, but it sounds flat and robotic. Professional presenters use transition phrases that guide the audience rather than announce themselves.

Mistake 2: “According to my opinion…”

Wrong: “According to my opinion, this strategy is risky.”

Right: “In my opinion, this strategy is risky.” or “I’d argue that this strategy carries significant risk.”

Why: “According to” is for citing sources, not your own thoughts. “According to my opinion” is a direct translation error that native speakers notice immediately.

Mistake 3: “As you can see in this slide…” (and then reading the slide)

Wrong: “As you can see in this slide, our revenue increased by 12% in Q3.” [presenter then reads every bullet point aloud]

Right: “This slide shows our Q3 revenue growth of 12%. What’s interesting here is that most of that growth came from new markets, not existing clients.”

Why: The phrase itself isn’t wrong. The mistake is using it as a cue to read your slide verbatim. Your audience can read. Your job is to add context, analysis, or emphasis that the slide alone doesn’t give them.

Mistake 4: “I think maybe possibly we could consider…”

Wrong: “I think maybe possibly we could consider looking at a different approach.”

Right: “We might want to consider a different approach.” or, if you’re confident: “I’d recommend a different approach here.”

Why: Hedging is useful and normal in professional English. Over-hedging destroys your credibility. Stack one or two hedges, not four. If you want to sound authoritative, learn which hedges to use and when to drop them.

Speaking of sounding authoritative, that’s exactly the kind of language fine-tuning we work on in the daily coaching programme at richardg.xyz. If that sounds useful, here’s how it works.

Mistake 5: “Do you have questions?”

Wrong: “Do you have questions?” [silence, end of presentation]

Right: “I’m happy to take any questions.” or “If anything wasn’t clear or you’d like more detail on a particular point, please go ahead.”

Why: “Do you have questions?” puts the audience on the spot and often gets silence, even if people are curious. A warmer, more open invitation signals that questions are genuinely welcome, which changes the room.

The Underlying Pattern

Look at these five mistakes together and a clear pattern emerges. Most of them come from translating the logic of another language directly into English, or from using generic English phrases instead of presentation-specific ones.

Business English for presentations has its own register. That means it has specific phrases for signposting (“Let’s move on to…”), for hedging (“This suggests that…”), for emphasis (“The key point here is…”), and for handling questions (“That’s a great point, let me come back to that.”). These aren’t decorative. They do real work. They guide your audience, protect you when you’re uncertain, and signal that you’re in control of the room.

The fix isn’t to memorise a long list of phrases. It’s to understand why each type of language exists, so you can adapt it naturally to whatever you’re presenting.

Quick-Reference Summary

• Replace “Now I will talk about” with a proper signposting phrase like “Let’s turn to” or “I’d like to move on to”
• Use “In my opinion” or “I’d argue that”, not “According to my opinion”
• Use slides as a jumping-off point, not a script. Add what the slide doesn’t say.
• Hedge once or twice, not four times in the same sentence
• Close with an open invitation for questions, not a closed yes/no prompt

Vocabulary to Know

• signposting /ˈsaɪnpəʊstɪŋ/ – Level: B2 – the use of words or phrases to guide an audience through a presentation or piece of writing – Example: Good signposting helps your audience follow your argument without getting lost.
• transition phrase /trænˈzɪʃən freɪz/ – Level: B1 – a set of words used to move smoothly from one idea or section to the next – Example: “Moving on to our next point” is a classic transition phrase in presentations.
• to hedge /hɛdʒ/ – Level: B2 – to use cautious or non-committal language to soften a claim or avoid overstating certainty – Example: She hedged her forecast by saying results “may” improve, not that they “will”.
• register /ˈrɛdʒɪstə/ – Level: C1 – the level of formality or style of language appropriate to a particular context – Example: Presentations require a more formal register than a casual team chat.
• verbatim /vɜːˈbeɪtɪm/ – Level: C1 – in exactly the same words; word for word – Example: Reading your slides verbatim is one of the fastest ways to lose an audience.
• to flag /flæɡ/ – Level: B2 – to draw attention to something important, often used in presentations and meetings – Example: I want to flag one issue before we move on to the recommendations.
• credibility /ˌkrɛdɪˈbɪlɪti/ – Level: B2 – the quality of being trusted and believed in, particularly by an audience or professional peers – Example: Over-hedging can undermine your credibility, even when your data is strong.
• to elaborate /ɪˈlæbəreɪt/ – Level: B2 – to explain something in more detail – Example: Would you like me to elaborate on the methodology behind these figures?
• tentative language /ˈtɛntətɪv ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/ – Level: C1 – words and phrases that express uncertainty or caution, such as “might”, “could”, or “it appears that” – Example: He used tentative language when presenting the projections because the data was still incomplete.
• to wrap up /ræp ʌp/ – Level: B1 – to bring something to a close or conclusion, used frequently in meetings and presentations – Example: Let’s wrap up this section and move on to our key recommendations.

FAQ

Is it wrong to use “I will” in a presentation?

Not grammatically, no. But “I will” sounds stiff in a live presentation. Native-speaking presenters almost always use contractions and softer future forms: “I’ll”, “I’d like to”, “Let’s”. These feel more natural when spoken aloud and keep the audience with you rather than in front of a textbook.

How formal should Business English for presentations be?

Formal enough to be taken seriously, not so formal that you sound like a legal document. The target is professional but accessible. Short sentences, clear structure, and precise vocabulary will carry you further than long, complex constructions. The register will also depend on your audience: a board presentation calls for more formality than an internal team update.

How do I handle a question I don’t know the answer to?

Honestly. A phrase like “That’s outside what I’ve looked at closely, but I can find out and get back to you” is perfectly professional. What damages you is guessing unconvincingly or rambling to fill the silence. Presenters who admit the limits of their knowledge clearly tend to be trusted more, not less.

Keep Practising

These five fixes will make a real difference the next time you present, but the deeper skill is building a reliable set of phrases you can call on under pressure, when the slides aren’t cooperating, or when a question catches you off guard.

That’s the kind of practical, context-specific coaching we focus on every day in the subscription programme. No filler, no textbook exercises, just the English that actually matters in professional situations. Find out more here.