Meeting people · People and relationships
make eye contact
look directly
To look directly into another person's eyes while speaking or listening.
This vs that
I made eye contact with her.
I stared at her.
Hear it in real life
Was the conversation awkward?
A bit. He hardly made eye contact with me.
Try to make eye contact with the interviewer, but don't stare.
Which sounds natural?
Psst — which one would you actually say?
'Make eye contact' is the normal everyday phrase; the stiff version sounds clinical.
The mistake everyone makes
Not: I felt shy, so I didn't make an eye contact with her.
Say: I felt shy, so I didn't make eye contact with her.
'Eye contact' is uncountable in this expression.
Say it together
Whole chunks natives use with it.
make eye contact with ___
Try to make eye contact with the interviewer while you answer.
He smiled but didn't make eye contact with me.
Phrases to borrow
More for talking about meeting people.
start a conversation with ___
I started a conversation with the woman sitting next to me.
get talking to ___
I got talking to someone interesting on the train.
Meeting people words
People and relationships · Meeting people: the words around “make eye contact”.
More connectionsMore meeting people words8
Your turn: say it out loud
I tried to make eye contact.
Say it out loud two or three times, until it feels like yours.
make eye contact
look directly
“Try to make eye contact with the interviewer, but don't stare.”
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