Sometimes Business English students ask me about useful verbs, vocabulary and phrases for writing minutes or summaries of meetings. As a result, I’ve ended up compiling a document for this purpose. I’d like to share it on my blog in case it can help anyone else. Please let me know if you have anything to add, or any comments – I’d love to hear from you!
Useful verbs
A note regarding ‘to tell’ and ‘to say’
The most used verbs when writing minutes or summaries are often ‘to tell’ (told) and ‘to say’ (said). However, it is important to note that there are important grammatical differences between the two, as follows:
Told:
Told does not use “to”. So you can’t say: ‘He told *to* the Committee that…’
Told always needs an object. For example: ‘She told [name/name of group] that…’. You can’t say *He told that…*.
Said:
‘She/he/they said to [name/name of group] that…’ OR
‘She/he/they said (that)…’
Verbs that you can use instead of told and said:
She/he/they [insert verb/verb phrase here] that…
informed [name/name of group] (NOT *informed that*…)
reminded [name/name of group] (NOT *reminded that*…)
brought to the attention of [name/name of group]
indicated
explained
proposed
highlighted/underlined
thought
stated
noted
agreed
mentioned
commented
suggested
acknowledged
believed
surmised
remarked
maintained
made (it) clear
stressed
insisted
argued
She/he/they…
said that in his/her/their opinion…
presented… (For example: ‘Jan presented the financial report...’)
referred to…
asked about…
thanked [name] for his/her/their input on…
thanked [name] for verb+ing… (For example: ‘She thanked Simon for researching the current legal status of…’)
Useful vocabulary
General:
The meeting opened at [time].
[Name] opened the meeting by verb+ing… (e.g.: ‘Susie opened the meeting by welcoming the newest member of the committee…’)
There were [number] participants at the meeting (and [number] apologies).
Approval of the minutes of the last meeting
Agenda items
Action points
Follow-up
Regarding/In relation to/Concerning…
In addition/Furthermore/Additionally/Further to…
Following up on…
To discuss the way forward
Outline, objectives, tasks, focus, summary, emphasis, conclusion…
Any Other Business
Finally…
[Name] closed the meeting by verb+ing.
The meeting closed at [time].
Where voting on agenda items is required:
Common phrases used for reporting on voting are as follows:
[Name] moved to approve/accept/vote on [agenda item] and [another name] seconded.
There were [number] votes for, [number] votes against, and [number] abstentions.
The [subject of the vote] was approved unanimously OR
[The group/The participants/The committee members…] unanimously agreed that…
To talk about events that had already happened before the meeting:
Use the past perfect, e.g.: [Name] had said/had agreed etc.
You can also use the passive if the name of the person/people is irrelevant for the purposes of the minutes (or should not be mentioned for the sake of confidentiality). For example: It was decided, acknowledged, mentioned, stressed, highlighted…etc.
Please note this is not an exhaustive list. Please feel free to add your own and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions!
Michelle Mildiner, April 2022
Add comment
Comments