Your boss looks very angry and says "Well, if you have a better idea, let's hear it!"
Oh dear. Something went wrong there. That's not what you meant. You were trying to say that you didn't fully understand.
Let's imagine a problem-free situation...
Your boss holds a meeting to explain her plans for next year. There's something you don't understand, so you say: "I'm not sure I follow you."
Your boss looks apologetic and says "Sorry, I know there are a lot of changes. Which part didn't you understand?"
That's better. That's what we wanted.
The problem is the word "doubt" and English politeness.
In English, if you say "I have some doubts", you think that the proposal is not very good. You have doubts about the plan, not about your own understanding. In fact, you probably hate the plan, but you're just being polite.
(When there's a big problem, English people will tell you that there's a small problem. We don't want to hurt your feelings.)
If you doubt your understanding, there are lots of phrases you can use. For example:
- I'm not sure I follow you. √
- I have a question. √
- Could you just explain the last part? √
- Could you go over the first part again? √
- I didn't really get the bit about... √
The only people who use the phrase "
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