"And one other thing. Um, how do I put this delicately?” he said. He had everyone’s attention.
Is that almost the same as saying "He drew everyone’s attention"? or that it simply means people were paying attention to what he was saying?
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Sign up to join this communityWhat he said drew everyone's attention. When he had said the quoted sentence he had (retained, kept) their attention, because they wanted to know what he was going to say next.