Umms, Ahhs, Errs, Hmmms, Y’know, Y’get me
One fun thing you can do is tape someone during their presentation, then ask them afterwards how many times they said ‘ummm’ or ‘ahhh’. Usually they will think they might have only said them once or twice, but when you play back the speech and count them, they may reach easily into double figures. It can be amazingly hard to get rid of these from your speaking too, especially if you get nervous easily. I’d recommend starting with trying to get whole sentences ‘ummm’ free, then moving on to whole paragraphs, and finally, the entire oral. You might need to get someone to listen to you so that they can stop you every time you say ‘ummm’.
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