OXFORD BUSINESS ENGLISH SKILLS
JEREMY COMFORT "
with
YORK ASSOCIATES
~
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford Umversity Press
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ISBN 0 19 45 7065 7
C Oxford Univers ity Press
First published 1997
EIghth Impression 2004
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Language focus Time expressions and tenses
Past time
The past sim ple
sometime ago
lastyear
in tl,('past
Th e pa st simple is u sed to indicat e fini shed t ime:
back ill 1978
Sizejoined the company in 1994.
Regular verbs for m the past sim ple by add ing -ed to the verb stem.
T he -ed end ing can be pronounced in th ree different ways:
It / announced
/Id/ started
Id ! ordered
Irregu lar vcr bs form the past simp le in a number of ways. It sometimes
helps to gro up t hem by so und:
buy - bOllght
oucb - caught
te,/Ch - taught
Recent time
Th e present perfect
overtile lastfew years
recently
since 1992
T he present p erfect is used when the t ime is unfi nished or not sta ted .
lt is formed with 'law/has + t he past pa rt iciple:
He }lIl S resigned.
They haveretired.
Th e au xiliary have/hasw usually co n tr acted in spoken En glish:
'He's just started:
'They'veulready left .'
Present tim e
The present simple
currently
at tile momi"'1t
now
at present
The present simp le is used to report on current status:
It currently stands at 180.
He is retired 'IOW.
Don't forget to pronou nce the -s in the thi rd person:
It stands.
He lives.
2
Com plete th ese sent ences. Use th e time exp ression to hel p yo u choose the
cor rect tense of th e ver b: past simp le, presen t perfect, or p resen t sim p le.
Chec k yo ur answe rs in the key on page 58.
a Some t ime ago, we
b Recently, we
(sell) the company.
(invest) a lot in new equipment.
c T he cur rent head co un t
d Since last yea r, we
e In 1985, he
(stand) at 2S0.
(increase) o ur P R bu dget.
( retire) fro m th e com pany.
W HAT IS TH E P O IN T?
\}
Language knowledge
GEOff MAXWElL
•Hello awl welcome to Standard
J
Electronics. I'm GeojJMaxweil, the
Factory Afa nl lger if! chargeoft},e
piant you'llbe seeing foliay.'
t
Language focus Introducing yourself and your tal k
Greet ing, name, posi tion
Good morning. My IIlI mc's (•.. ). I'm the Flew Finance
Manager.
Ladies and gentlemen, It's a ll honour to have rile
opportu nity to mlclresssuch d distinguishe d audience.
Good morning. Let me start by sayiflgjllsr a few words
about ",YOl\l/l background. l started Ollt in ...
\fe/come toStandardElectronics. I know l've mersome
of yOIl, bill justfor thebm cfit of thosc 1haven't, my
1IlTme's ( .. . ).
Title/Suhject
I'll like to ttllk (to YOIl ) today about .. .
I'm goil/g to present the recent ...
Length
I shall only take (.. . J minutes afyour time.
Tplan tobebrief
This sho/lld 01l1y I,l st (... J minutes.
Outline/Main parts
J've di, ·idt,d my presentation into[our ptlrfs/seetio1lS.
They are . ..
TIre subject can be looked at WIder tile fol/owing
hmdings: . .
We ca" bmll.; this drea dOM' it/to the fol/owitlgfie/ds:
Firstly/first of111/ ...
Secotltlly/t1Jell/",'xt _..
Thinlly/alld then we come to ...
explain ollr position 011 ...
briefyou 0 11 ..•
Finally/lastly/last ofall."
inform )'/lllll/mllt . ..
Questions
describe ...
Fd be g/tld to allSwer any questions at tile end ofmy talk.
If)'01/ '1IH'£' tllly questions. pft'tlse feel fn'e to interrupt.
Pleaseinterrupt tilt' if then's sometlli"g w1lich needs
clarifying. O ther wise. there'Il be ti me filr discussion at
subject ofmy t,lik
presentation
focus
paper (academic )
topk
theend.
specch ( lIsllully tcl pllblic a ll/ t iel/Cl.')
Purpose/Objective
Reference to the a ud ience
We are here today to decide .,.
I
Ilgret'...
learn about ...
The purpose of this talk is to updatey OIl 011
Pllt YOII ill the picture
about . ..
gi\'e yOIl the baccground
to ...
Istarf fht' /lIlll rolling.
This talk isdesigned fo act as 11 sprillgl"'llrdfor discussion.
14
US IT T W O
call SCt' "WIly of }'OII arc . ..
I know YOII"'e all travelled a IOllg "'ay.
rOil at/look as "lOlIgll you'l't·/reani this before.
a
Yo u are going to hear twelve extracts from the int roduction s to two
presentations-one internal, one external. As yo u listen , decide which
presentation each extract comes fro m and complete the table. The first on e
has bee n d one for you. Check your answers in the key on page 59.
Pre sentation
Extract
Internal: to collea gues ,11 a
budget meetin g
"
Externa l: to delegates at a
professiona l conference
2
Co mplete thi s present atio n in trod uction with word s fro m the list. Check
you r ans wers in th e key on page 59.
talk abo ut
q uestio ns
hear
loo k at
b rief
act as
po ints of view
finally
go alo ng
Good afternoon and th an k yo u for ma king th e effor t to be here with us
today. My na me's Ruche! Rawlins and I'm responsible for p ublic affairs.
Wh at I'd like to do today is a
our recent co rporate
talk will hopefully ,,
cam paign. Thi s b
a sp ringboard for d iscussio n. I' m going to d
corporate campa ign from three e
secondly, the finan cial insti tutio ns; and f
sha reholders. If yo u have any g
h
to I
_
the
: firstly, th e custo me rs;
, the
. jusr in terr upt me as I
, Your poi nt of view may well be d ifferent, and we'd like
fro m you .
MA KI!'G A ST A RT
IS
Language knowledge
GFOFF MAXW E LL
'Ami that brings me to thefinal part
r
ofthis short introduction,
T he items on the left are extracts fro m Geoff"s pr esen tation. Mat ch each
o ne with a sentence o n the right whi ch mean s the same. The first o ne has
been done for you. Check you r ans wers in the key on page 59.
a OK, let's start with th e• • In passing. let me tell r ou abo ut a
b Anyway. I'U leave the histor y
there.
c So, let's turn now to a brief
overview of our main markets.
cl By the way, you may have seen
the story in the news.
e Anyway, let me get back to wha t I
was saying about ne w markets.
f And that brings me to the fina l
part of th is short introd uction.
g So, before I go on, are there any
question s?
m
2
cutt ingCo st s ~
healthy margins
not the only ones
point -of-sale competition
launch new packet size
initiatives have failed
• LoS1
(U1 fl!l ~
MWIN"
3.,0 r.M.
U S I T TtlRf f
3 To start wit h the h istory th en .
4 That covers the histor y.
5 To come back to the poi nt I was
making.
6 Let's stop here and see if there are
any questions.
7 So, we can go on to a survey of
ou r principal markets.
You are going to hear six extracts from another presentation about cutting
costs. The speaker uses a variety of words and phr ases to link the po ints he
is making. As )'ou listen, identify the linked ideas. The first one has been
don e for you. Check your answers in the key on page S9.
a
b
c
d
e
f
20
press repor t.
2 So, we come to the last part of my
introduction .
I
2
3
..
5
6
raise salesin major outlets
no change in sales
losing money
competitor has dosed plant
over-hasty reaction s
aggressived iscounting
Language focus Linking ideas
Sequenci ng/Ordering
Comparing
Digressi ng
firstly secondly.. . thirdly ...
then next finallyllastly.
iet's start with .
similarly
in thesame way
by the way
in passing
Contradicti ng
Giving exam ples
infact
actually
forcxample
for instance
let's move/go on to...
now wecome to .
that brings us to .
let's leave that...
Summarizing
that covers...
let's get back to...
such as
tosum up
Generalizing
Giving reasons/ca uses
in brief
in short
usually
therefore
so
asa result
Concluding
that's why
in conclusion
toconclude
Cont rasting
High lighting
but
however
in particular
generally
as a rule
especially
3
Link t he ideas in these sentences by add ing an app ropriate wor d or phrase.
Com pa re your answers with the key on page 60.
a That was a good meeting. (By the way ... )
Did I tell you about the ma tch last night?
b Our competitors are becoming stronger.
One o f them, Falcon, has a joint venture wi th a Japan ese firm .
c I've divided th is into two parts.
Th e issue of profit-sharing.
The ques tion of share option schemes.
d This rear we have lost ma rket share.
We expec t to rem ain No. 1 in the market.
e There are some vital factors to conside r.
The risk of a take-over bid .
f Falcon has reduced its costs by relocati ng.
\Ve must consider cu tti ng the cost of our prem ises.
g We've had a difficu lt year.
We've still made a healthy profit.
h We expected to lose money in th e Far East.
Th is was our most profitable market.
The yen dropped against th e dollar.
\Ve made considerable profits on the exchange ra te.
There have been some failures on occasions.
\Ve have been very successful.
LINKING THE PARTS
21
