Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Repeating a point or closing a topic

For repeating points already made, and for signalling the desire to close a topic, as

I say

and as you say are the most frequent forms:

[A has been telling B about a village that was destroyed by an earthquake]

A: It was 1909 I think.

B: Mm.

A: And it was actually destroyed.

B: Mm, oh really?

A: And they rebuilt it again, this small village.

B: Mm.

A: But as I say it was very very interesting.

Well 

as you say, it’s difficult to know what you might do next.

Resuming a topic

For resuming or returning to an earlier or interrupted topic, as I was saying and as

you were saying

are frequently used:

[speaker at a company sales conference]

Those forms I mentioned in the last session, the market-specific forms. Oops!

Oops! We’ve lost the microphone. At least part of it. Anyway. Er, yeah. 

As I was

saying , those two forms are on the table in front of you, so you can take those.