Interruption

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th

Edition
Interruption /ɪntərʌpʃən/

1. the act of interrupting sb/sth and of

stopping them from speaking.
1. He ignored her interruptions.
2.she spoke for 20 minutes without
interruption.
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced
Learners 2nd Edition
Interruption /ɪntərʌpʃən/

1. something that someone says or does that stops someone else

when they are speaking or concentrating on something.
(He carried on, ignoring interruptions from the defence lawyer.)

1. the act of stopping something for a period of time.

(The state is experiencing increasing interruptions to its power
supplies.)

1. a time during which something interrupts a process or activity.

(The programme started again after a two-year interruption.)

CD-ROM © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2007. Text © A&C Black

INTERRUPTION synonym of disturb
 Something that temporarily stops an activity and
situation OR a time when an activity is stop.

 = disturb a person who is doing something or talking

to somebody. We do this to ask an important question,
or to give an important message.
When do we use interruptions
 Join a conversation
 Give an opinion
 Give an important message
 Ask an important question
 Take a leave
 Say something to a busy person
 Disagree
 Actually …



By the way ……
Excuse me …
Interrupting
 Excuse me, but …….
 Excuse me but that reminds me ….
 I’m sorry, but …
 Sorry to interrupt, but ….
 I just want to say …
 That’s all very interesting but ….
 May I interrupt here?
 Do you mind if I say something?
 Can I just say something here ?
 Can I come in here?
 Could I just comment on that?
 Excuse me, may I interrupt ?
 I’m sorry but I have to interrupt you here.
 I’m afraid I’ve got to interrupt you here.
 I’m sorry but I have something important to tell you.
 I’m afraid I’ve got something important to tell you.
To interrupt
 Excuse me, can you please repeat what you have just said?
 Excuse me, can you please clarify that?
 Excuse me, can I say something?
 Allow me to interrupt..
 May I add something here?
 Sorry to interrupt but I have to say this…
 Excuse me, could I just ask you a quick question?
 Excuse me, but isn’t true that…?
 I am sorry but I think we need to get back to the topic.
 I am sorry I have to stop you from continuing, can we return to our topic?
 I am sorry to interrupt, your observation is not connected to our discussion.
Shall we get back to …?
 I am sorry I don’t see the relevance of your point. Let’s get back to our topic
on …
 Getting back to the original point mentioned earlier …
Interrupting
If you would like to add on, agree or disagree to a point, use
these phrases to interrupt politely.

 Excuse me, can I also add that smoking can also cause
addiction problem?
 Pardon me, could you elaborate on how we can …?
 Sorry to interrupt, but I don’t see how you blame …
 May I interrupt (for a minute)?
 Can, I add something here?
 I don’t mean to intrude, but why do we keep pushing the
problem to the school heads …?
 Could I inject something here?
 Do you mind if I jump in here to suggest that we can
overcome that problem by …?
Dealing with interruption
 Sorry, can you let me finish ?
 Just a minute, I need to say that ……
Interrupting somebody who is busy

We can say EXCUSE ME;

 EXCUSE ME. Can you tell me the time
 EXCUSE ME. Puan Norsiah. I think your car has a
flat tyre.

We can say I’M SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, BUT…

 I’m sorry to bother you, but I need your help.
 I’m sorry to bother you, but can you lend me
twenty cent?
Interrupting somebody who is talking
We use the word interrupt:
 I’m sorry to interrupt you but we have to go now.
 May I interrupt you for a moment?
Joining the conversation
 If you want to join to interrupt you, but we can
interrupt like this:
 Excuse me. I couldn’t help overhearing what you were
saying…….
 This means “ I heard your words by accident”
 Excuse me. I couldn’t help overhearing what you were
saying about your problem with the telephone bill. I
think I can help you.