From my days at school in the UK, the rules of the usage of the comma have been drummed into me. Mistakes were often accompanied with the slap of a ruler designed to make sure the rules stuck. Read more
We looked last week at some basic telephone language. One of the most common uses of the telephone is to make an appointment. Even with the wonders of emails, video conferencing and the old fashioned phone, many professionals still prefer the face-to-face meeting to solve issues and maintain good relationships with clients. Read more
Human beings have spent large amounts of money trying to beat the laws of probability for centuries. More than 30 countries currently have legalised gambling in the form of national lotteries or private casinos. In the last ten years this addictive pastime has been generating millions more via the internet. So how do you become a successful gambler? Read more
At some time in your business career you are likely to have to give a presentation, this may be a formal presentation at a conference, a more informal talk to staff or a short presentation as part of a meeting. Read more
Most of my columns are about 500 words in length and this one is no exception. Of course, I would recommend that you read at leisure and reflect over every word! However, realistically in a bulky newspaper like The Star, you will only have time to glance quickly at a few articles. Read more
The modern garden has a history going back many thousands of years. Early humans were hunters and gatherers, and didn’t usually stay in one place for a long time. Instead, they travelled from place to place following the food (plants and animals) according to the seasons. Read more
Most presentations will require some form of visuals to explain or highlight key points that you are making. These could be PowerPoint slides, flip charts or OHP slides. Visual aids can help clarify abstract points, and help your audience remember the content of your presentation. However, they should enhance your presentation and not be a substitute for it. Read more
In this world of startlingly rapid change, it is increasingly difficult to keep up to date with all the changes that are occurring to the English language as new words and phrases enter the language. For the contemporary businessman the need to stay current is crucial and much of this is due to the pace of technological change. Read more
Imagine the scene. You’re sitting in the hot sunshine beside the swimming pool of your international luxury hotel, drinking your imported gin and tonic. In front of you is the beach, reserved for hotel guests with motor boats for hire. Behind you is an 18-hole golf course, which was cleared from the native forest and is kept green by hundreds of water sprinklers. Around the hotel are familiar international restaurant chains and the same shops that you have at home. You’ve seen some local people – some of them sell local handicrafts outside the hotel. You bought a small wooden statue and after arguing for half an hour you paid only a quarter of what the man was asking. Really cheap! Read more
Consider these three sentences:
1. The Prime Minister opened the Seremban substation on 14 May, 1988.
2. The Seremban substation was opened by the Prime Minister on 14 May, 1988.
3. The Seremban substation was opened on 14 May, 1988.
You will notice that the first sentence has an active structure with the verb opened (past simple), while examples 2 and 3 contain passive structures. In this case, both are simple past passive which is formed with was + past participle. Read more
The English language requires us to believe in parallel universes or alternate possible worlds. Take the sentence:
If I was rich, I’d buy a penthouse.
This sentence expresses the idea that there is a possible world where I am rich and therefore invest in a penthouse.
This structure is known as the second conditional and has the form:
If + subject + past simple, subject + would (’d)+ verb
If I was rich, would buy a penthouse
To make sense of this sentence, we need to understand the idea of counterfactuals. These are sentences that express states of affairs that differ from actual reality. Read more
This paragraph is not ordinary. Look at it. At first, it won’t look too odd. Just a normal paragraph – you may think. But look at it again and you might find it a bit unusual. Just a tiny bit. What’s wrong with it, you may ask? Nothing wrong at all, in fact, as I said, it’s just slightly unusual. It’s difficult to put it in words. Look again. Is anything not right? Can you spot it? Is anything . . . missing?
What you’ve just read is a lipogram – a text written without using a particular letter of the alphabet. It's the hardest kind of lipogram, as it doesn’t contain the letter E – the most common letter in the English language. Try writing one yourself, even a few sentences, and you’ll see it's pretty difficult. Now imagine the task faced by the French writer Georges Perec, when a friend challenged him to write a whole novel without using E – a letter that is even more common in French than in English. Read more
When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was a revolution in communication. For the first time, people could talk to each other over great distances almost as clearly as if they were in the same room. Nowadays, though, we increasingly use Bell’s invention for taking photographs, accessing the internet, or watching video clips, rather than talking. Over the last two decades a new means of spoken communication has emerged: the mobile phone. Read more
One of the surprise bestsellers of Christmas 2003 in Britain was Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss. The book’s title was taken from a joke about a panda walking into a café. The panda eats a sandwich, fires a gun in the air and walks towards the door. When the waiter asks in confusion what he thinks he’s doing, the panda throws him a badly punctuated book on wildlife: “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves”. Read more
At some time in your business career, you are likely to have to give a presentation. This may be a formal presentation at a conference, a more informal talk to staff or a short presentation as part of a meeting. Often, this is a chance to improve your career prospects, or conversely to damage your chances of future promotion. In the next few columns, I will look at the language of presentations. Like much of business English, presentations have a fairly set structure and it helps to learn a few phrases. Read more
Sometime in the first 500 years, there was a shift in the grammatical patterns of English. Believe it or not, grammar could have been much worse than it is today! Read more
Many people seem to think that English has a single future tense (will), but in fact there are a variety of ways to talk about the future. The choice of structure is not really about time, but instead reflects the attitude of the speaker. Read more
The initial greeting is sometimes the trickiest and will depend on whether you know the person, his nationality, his age, his gender and his position within the company. Read more
Influencing is getting the support and commitment of others in achieving what you want. The way you do this is by the impressions you make, your manner and the way you speak, and partly the relationships you have to others. Read more
One of the key definitions of an advanced speaker of English is the ability to use idiomatic or less common expressions. For example, the public version of the Speaking band descriptors for IELTS refers to the use of less common and idiomatic vocabulary as a feature of bands 7 to 9. Band 9 is native speaker level, and 7 and 8 would generally allow you to study at an Undergraduate/Graduate level. Read more
Think of a time when you were a happy customer. Think of the reasons why? Often it will relate to how the staff you dealt with made you feel. Read more
First impressions are formed in the first 2-4 minutes of a communication exchange (face-to-face, on the phone, even in writing) so it is important to make the most of the opportunity. Read more
Leaving out articles will rarely cause misunderstandings, but it can leave a negative impression on the reader. These guidelines should help you in editing your written work. Read more
One of the key concepts in expanding your vocabulary efficiently is collocation. Collocation is most easily defined as the way words combine together. Read more
Most of my columns are about 500 words in length and this one is no exception. Of course, I would recommend that you read at leisure and reflect over every word! However, realistically in a bulky newspaper like The Star, you will only have time to glance quickly at a few articles. Read more
After much consideration it has been decided that, due to the unforeseen circumstances that occurred last month, the need for additional security placements at the various entrances including the west and east will be implemented in accordance with company guidelines and that all staff are instructed to ensure compliance and instruct all visitors of the new policy and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
The sentence above is 63 words. The individual words are understandable, but the sheer length and sidetracks that the writer goes down makes it difficult to follow. There are a number of main and sub-points in the sentence and it requires too much concentration on the part of the reader. In a world where we are bombarded with information in the form of memos, emails and letters, it is more than likely that the message will be ignored. Read more
Assertiveness is linked to self-esteem and considered an important communication skill. A person communicates assertively by not being afraid to speak his or her mind or trying to influence others, but doing so in a way that respects the personal boundaries of others. Read more
Common problems in English arise out of the similarity of many of the words. For example, if halfway through a film you say "I'm boring", your date may reply "Yes, you are" and it is unlikely the rest of the evening will be a success. Read more
George Bernard Shaw once famously remarked that America and Britain were "two countries divided by a common language." In fact, differences are fairly small and have certainly grown smaller with the rise of a globalised, networked economy. However, there do remain several important differences and, although, you would rarely cause confusion or misunderstanding it is important to be consistent. Read more
The term “negotiation” often seems to frighten people, since it is mistakenly regarded as a high-level skill only practised by CEOs and Heads of State. In fact, most of us practise negotiating on a day-to-day basis at work regularly. It could be to sell a service or product, look for an increase in salary or get a better deal from a supplier. One key area to consider in negotiation is the use of tentative language, particularly if the participants do not know each other well or the meeting is formal. Read more
The use of the modal “will” is a major problem for users of English. Here are a few examples:
a) It will rain today.
b) The CEO will visit us tomorrow.
c) I will send you the proposal tomorrow.
d) The meeting will be starting in a few minutes.
e) They left three hours ago, so they will have arrived by now.
Before you have a look at the answers explained below, have a think about the usage of “will” in these cases. Some reflect the time, but often modals reflect the attitude of the speaker. Read more
The reliance on email for business communication has meant that the business telephone conversation is playing a less important role in contemporary office life.
However, when a customer wants an answer or a client wants clarification, then often they will rely on the direct call. Like most aspects of business English, it pays to learn a few key phrases that you can use for every call. Read more
When we want to say what something or someone seems like, we can use the phrase as if. We can also use as though in exactly the same way.
Here are some examples. The bracketed words give you an explanation of the meaning or implication or situation.
He looks as if/though he hasn’t slept all night. (His appearance suggests this, i.e. he looks very tired.)
It feels as if/though summer’s on the way. (The warm air and sunny sky suggest this.)
It sounds as if/though they’ve arrived. (The sound of a car stopping, doors opening, people talking outside suggest this.) Read more
Slang is misunderstood. Let’s get one thing out of the way from the outset – ‘‘slang’’ refers to a particular type of informal spoken or written phrases. Street language, if you like. It has absolutely nothing to do with pronunciation or accent. Read more
|
