In the heat of the moment, our conversation partners may not be ready to walk away from their quarrel. When a dispute is on the verge of becoming an all-out brawl, we can use the promise of future resolution to redirect. Each of the phrases below acknowledges our interlocutors’ tender spot and gently steers the conversation toward new ground, with a suggestion to return to the subject as needed: I understand you feel strongly about this subject. Since not everyone here can relate, maybe we can return to this with a smaller crowd later. Would that be OK? I can see you have a lot to say on the
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