Business English: Small Talk With Business Visitors

In September we discussed "the art of conversation" in social situations. Today, we will look at small talk in international business. 

Using a second language at work can be stressful, but, remember the first rule: 

relax

Business people who travel abroad know that their hosts will be using a second language. So, focus more on making your guest and/or comfortable, and having a short but  lively conversation before "getting down to business".

Even if you are not the person the business visitor is meeting that day, you can create a good impression of your company if you  help the guest get to the meeting place and make them feel relaxed. 

Quickly, Slowly: Adverbs of Action

In November we talked about  adjectives, words we use to describe people, places, things, and ideas. Today, we're going to look at,

Adverbs of Action

Adverbs are used to describe actions, so we use verbs (actions) with adverbs. Let's look at an example showing the difference adverbs and adjectives. 

Look at the photo above:

Sprinters are very strong runners. (adjective) 

Sprinters run very strongly. (adverb) 

"Strong" is used to talk about the sprinters. However, "strongly" is used to talk about how the sprinters run (verbs). 

We make adverbs by adding "ly" to the end of the adjective (strong -> strongly). Words ending with "y", use "ily" (happy -> happily). 

We also have irregular adverbs that don't end with "ly": 

good ---> well

fast ---> fast

hard ---> hard

late ---> late

early ---> early

straight ---> straight

wrong ---> wrong or wrongly

(Note: there's the adverb "hardly" but that is an adverb of frequency, it's not used with verbs). 

A & An: Review

"A" or "An"?

I thought this would be a good time to review "a" and "an" (indefinite articles which were covered here in October).  

First, we use a/an in the following situations:

In writing when we introduce something for the first time. (I was looking for a post office near my hotel in Paris. The clerk said, "Try the post office around the corner on Rue Belleville). 

When we're writing/talking about something in general, unspecified. (I'm looking for a coffee shopm Chen needs a new blazer for the party, There's a large river near here,  etc). 

We don't use a/an for countries, cities, famous/well-known places, people's names, plurals, etc.

(x) I went to a Spain last year. 

(correct) I went to Spain. 

A: Which Starbucks did you go to?

B: Oh, you know, a Starbucks on the corner of 6th Street and Columbia Avenue. (x)

      Oh, you know, the Starbucks on the corner of 6th Street and Columbia Avenue.(correct)

"a" and "an" have the same meaning but:

We use "an" for words that start with vowels (a,e,i,o,u) or have vowel sounds .

Example:  an eraser, an hour (vowel sound)

We "a" for words that start with consonants (b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k, etc)

Also, watch out for compound nouns: a bus stop, an Irish coffee, etc. The first letter of the first word tells whether to use "a" or "an". 

Home Study: Your Hobbies & Interests

In previous posts we looked at home study using the Internet. We covered ESL websites and English teachers on YouTube. These are great resources, and ESL learners can get a lot from them.....

Good, Better, The Best: Superlatives

(copyright: National Geographic)

In the previous post, we looked at comparatives, comparing two or more things to each other. Today, we'll look at superlatives, where we compare one thing to many others.

Big, Bigger: Comparatives

Look at the photo above. There are two dogs: a chihuahua and a great dane. Of course, the great dane is a big dog, and the chihuahua is a small dog.

Chihuahuas and great danes are both dogs, but, great danes are bigger than chihuahuas. Chihuahuas are smaller than great danes.


Words like bigger and smaller are called comparatives: words we use to compare two (and sometimes more) things.


Short adjectives like big and small usually have "er" endings in the comparative form. Words like prettythe "y" becomes "i": prettier.

 Longer adjectives like expensive and beautiful, we add "more" or "less".  For example:  an iPhone is more expensive than an Android phone.


Be careful: there are exceptions to the rule about long and short adjectives. Look at the example below:

Math is boring, but history is  boringer.

Math is boring, but history is more boring.

If you want to show a big difference, you can add the word "much" to the comparative. an iPhone is much more expensive than an Android phone.

Because & So: What's The Difference?

a) The baseball game was cancelled because it started  to rain.

b) It started to rain, so the baseball game was cancelled.

The two sentences above don't look very different, but, "because" and "so" have two different functions.

Look at the examples below.

A: Why was the baseball game cancelled? 

B: It was cancelled because it started to rain.

____________________________________________

A: What happened?

B: It started to rain, so the baseball game was cancelled.

For and To: Explaining Yourself

A: Why are you going to Hawaii?

B: I'm going there because I want to see the Aloha Festival.

The word because is very common. We use it to answer "why" questions, to express the reason or purpose of our actions, decisions, and opinions. 

In today's post, we will look at other ways of explaining actions, decisions, and opinions using:

to and for

Phrasal Verbs: Review #1

JLB Language Services' second post was all about phrasal verbs. That was more than two months ago, so let's do a brief review.