Present perfect vs. present pefect continuous

Here can find some exercises on present perfect and present perfect continuous.  The key to the exercises is also hereby made available.

Prepositions

Basic prepositions:
Here you can find some exercises on basic prepositions.  The key to the exercises is hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Noun, adjective and verb + preposition:
Here you can find some exercises on nouns, adjectives and verbs which are used with certain prepositions.  The key for the exercises are also hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Phrasal verbs:
Here you can find some exercises on phrasal verbs.  The key to the exercises is hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

You can hereby find a link for more online exercises on the topics above.

Patrice's presentation

Here you can find the slides of Patrice's presentation.

Lieve's presentation

Here you can find the slides of Lieve's PowerPoint presentation.

More tips on PowerPoint presentations

Here you can find list of do's and dont's for PowerPoint presentations.

Octavian's presentation

Here you can find the slides of Octavian's PowerPoint presentation.

The dont's for PowerPoint

Here you can find Don McMillan's standup on the dont's of a PowerPoint presentation.

Michela's presentation

Here you can find the slides for Michela's presentation.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Here you can find Guy Kawasaki's recommendations on the length (10 slides), duration (20 minutes) and font size (30 points) in a PowerPoint presentation.

Here you can find a stream of his pitch. ('Bozo' means 'fool'.)

Wioletta's presentation

Here you can find the slides of Wioletta's presentation.

Preparation for 27th of May

You can read Unit 7 from our book for our next session.

Preparation for 20th of May

Please read Unit 6 before our next session on 20th of May 2011.

Position of adverbs

Here are the main rules and exceptions on the position of adverbs in sentences:

First rule: if there is only one verb in the sentence, the adverb comes before the verb as in the following example: He usually comes to work on time.
Exception to the first rule: if the only verb in the sentence is 'to be', the adverb comes after the verb as in the following example:  He is usually on time.

Second rule: If there is more than one verb in the sentence, the adverb comes after the first verb as in the following example: He has already arrived at work.
First exception to the second rule: if the first verb in the sentence is an auxiliary verb with 'to', i.e., have to, need to, ought to and used to, the adverb comes before the first verb as in the following example: He usually has to start working by 9:30 AM.
Second exception to the second rule: if the first verb in the sentence is a contracted negation, the adverbs 'probably', 'possibly' and 'certainly' come before the first verb as in the following example: He probably won't come to work on time.

These being the main rules and exceptions, there is more to this topic.  You can find more information on this webpage, which also provides you with some exercises.

Figures, abbreviations, symbols and currencies

Here you can find some information on writing figures, abbreviations and symbols from the "Interinstitutional Style Guide". You can also find more information on the same topic on pages 24-25 of the English Style Guide used at the Commission.
Here you can find information on writing monetary units from the Guide.

It could be useful as you prepare your slides for your PowerPoint presentations.

Preparation for 13th of May

For our next session on 13th of May 2011, please read Unit 5 from the book.

Luisa's presentation

Here you can find Luisa's presentation slides.

Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner

Here,  you can find the stream of the C-SPAN broadcast of Obama's White House Correspondents' Dinner speech.  He jokes about his birth certificate among other things.  I thought it was quite funny.  Please let me know if you are fed up with Obama speeches, but regardless of whether or not you buy everything he says, he has a very good delivery.

Preparation for 6th of May

Please read Unit 4 of the book, and table any comments and/or questions you might have during our next meeting.

Hans Rosling on global population growth

Here is the link for the presentation Patrice told us about.  I thought it was a very good delivery in spite of his strong accent, meaning that one can really pull it off, even though s/he is not a native speaker. He also presents quantitative data in a very accessible way for a layman.  He definitely made an impression on me, and I can share the information he provided me with at a cocktail party :-) What do think?

Media and data

The two nouns 'media' and 'data' are a bit problematic when it comes to deciding whether they are singular or plural.

Having done some research on the different uses of 'media', I would like to hereby inform you that it can be used in both the singular and plural as in the following examples:

• The mass media is/are interested in a comprehensive coverage of the events in Libya. (Here both singular and plural usage are acceptable, although I would not use it in the plural myself).
• The Japanese media has a better insight into the disaster than the American media.
• The Japanese and the American media have different perspectives on what happened.

One thing is for sure: do not use the noun 'medium' when you want to use the word in the singular in this sense.

Although the word 'data' is the plural form of 'datum', it is used as an uncountable noun, almost as a synonym of 'information' as can be seen in the following example:
The data we sent you is essential for the report.

Speech text

Here you can find the transcript of a short speech.

Two model speeches

Here you can find Martin Luther King's famous speech, "I have a dream".

Here you can find a talk by Naomi Klein entitled "Addicted to risk".

Hubert's presentation

Here you can find Hubert's presentation.

Lists of three and the rule of 3s: two speeches

Here you can find the first part of Steve Jobs's iPhone product launch speech.

Here you can find Barack Obama's inauguration speech.

In both of them, please pay attention to the usage of the lists of three and the rule of 3s Luisa mentioned today.

Here is a stream where the rule of 3s is explained among other useful tips on making presentations.

Subject-Verb agreement

You can find a document on subject-verb agreement with exercises here.  The key for the exercises is available here.

A longer document entitled "Grammar and Punctuation for Business Communication"  is hereby available.  Please refer to pages 11 - 14 for subject-verb agreement.  

Here you can find a list of the main differences between American and British English.   Item 79C on page 301 provides the difference concerning subject-verb agreement.

TED

I would like to hereby share a very useful source, namely TED, where you can find a multitude of presentations and/or speeches on very diverse topics.  You can find the link for TED here.

Preparation for 15th of April

For our next session, you can finish reading Unit 3 from our book, especially since we have the CDs for the book now.  At your convenience, you may also go back to Units 1 and 2 to do the tasks which require the CDs.  Once you cover the first three units in the book, please table any questions and/or comments you might have.

We will be starting the next session with Hubert's presentation.

Audivox

The contact information for Audivox, where you can find all kinds of self-study material for English as a second language, is here.  Remember that they are closed during lunch breaks, and they do not take plastic.  It could be a good place to start, if you wanted to invest in some self-study materials on, for example, pronunciation.

Speaking in public with confidence

 As Luisa told us, you can have access to the training course entitled "Speaking in public with confidence" through the online training site of the Commission. You cannot access this site outside the Commission due to security reasons. There, you will find other courses on writing which you can also register for.

 

 For those of you who could not join us today, we watched part of the course which led a discussion on how to eliminate stress during a presentation or speech. Here are some of the recommendations tabled during the session:

• imagining that you are part of the audience
• looking at the audience during the delivery
• having a positive image or idea in mind
• starting with a cathartic expression and/or gesture
• spending five minutes by yourself in a quiet setting just before the presentation or speech
• switching to the language in which you will be making the presentation or speech thirty minutes before starting the delivery by reading something, listening to something and/or talking to someone in that language

Please do share any comments in the form of further suggestions, which might help people eliminate stress during the delivery.

Third email

Dear All,

The list concerning gerund vs. infinite is hereby accessible.  You have a few problems with them.  You can find some exercises on the same topic here.

Please finish reading Unit 2 from the book. We will be starting unit three during our next session.

Just a reminder: Do let me know if you would like to make a presentation and/or speech next week. You may also share some jokes with the group if you have any.

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

All the best,

John

Second email

Dear All,

Those of you who could not join us last time, please read the first unit from the course book, and let me know if you want to give a presentation or speech at our next meeting.

Finally, please be my guest if you want to share a joke(s) with us during our upcoming sessions.

Looking forward to seeing you next week,

All the best,

John

PS:  Octavian, once again, thank you very much for taking care of the CDs!  There should be eleven people in the group.  I am sure they will be reciprocating your kindness by buying you coffees and/or beers throughout the course and maybe afterwards.

First email

Dear All,

I am writing you to touch base, and to check if I have the right email addresses.

Those of you who could not join us for the last session, I would hereby like to tell you that you should buy the following book for the course:

Presenting in English by Mark Powell.

You should be able to find it at the European Bookshop.

Yves, are we starting with your presentation on the history of the European Institutions this Friday?

Looking forward to seeing you then,

All the best,

John
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