Online tasks to check your Business English

Business Spotlight have put together a collection of the most popular exercises of 2011.

Online tasks to check your Business English

Civets

Do you know what CIVETS are?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15888069

Vulture funds

Do you know what a vulture fund is?
Read the article and then follow the links on its right to read about DRC and Jersey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/15/vulture-funds-how-they-work?intcmp=239

Giving feedback

There's a nice article / blog on the Harvard Business Review called
There's No Such Thing as Constructive Criticism

http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2011/11/theres-no-such-thing-as-constr.html

PPT help

Have a look at this slide show

You suck at PowerPoint

useful writing tips

How to Style Compounds After the Noun

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-style-compounds-after-the-noun/

Most but not all phrasal adjectives (two words that combine to modify a noun — hence the alternate name, compound modifiers) are hyphenated, which is confusing enough — though easily resolved: If a permanent compound is listed in the dictionary as open, no hyphen is necessary; otherwise, hyphenate. But that applies only before the noun.

What happens after the noun is a whole other matter: Usually, phrasal adjectives and similar (or similar-looking) constructions are left open in that position. Here’s a rundown on hyphenation rules for various types of compounds:
Categories

Age compound: “The eighteen-year-old (boy),” but “He is eighteen years old.”

Color compound: “The sky-blue paint,” but “The paint is sky blue.”

Fraction compound: “A half-mile walk,” but “a walk of a half mile.”

Number, spelled out: “Fifty-one,” “five hundred,” five hundred one,” “two thousand twenty-two.” (Hyphenate tens-ones figures in isolation and in larger figures, but leave open all other combinations of places.)

Number plus noun: “A five-year plan,” but a plan that will take five years”; “a four-and-a-half-inch gap,” but “a gap of four and a half inches”; “the fourth-floor office,” but “an office on the fourth floor.”

Number plus superlative: “The third-tallest player,” but “a player who is third tallest.”

Time: “They’re going to the eight o’clock screening” and “The meeting starts at six (o’clock)”; “I have a five-thirty plane to catch,” but “I’ll meet you at five thirty” (always open when time is on the hour, and hyphenated before the noun but open after when time is between hours).
Parts of Speech

Adjectival phrase: “His matter-of-fact manner,” but “His manner was matter of fact.”

Adjective plus noun: “A low-class joint,” but “The joint is low class.”

Adjective identifying origin or location plus noun: “An Indo-European language” and “the French-Spanish border,” but “She is a Japanese American” and “the latest Middle East crisis” (open unless the first term is a prefix or there is a sense of a distinction between the elements).

Adjective plus participle or adjective: “His long-suffering wife,” but “his wife is long suffering.”

Adverb ending in -ly plus participle or adjective: “Her rapidly beating heart” (always open).

Adverb not ending in -ly plus participle: “The little-read novel,” but “The novel is little read.” (See “More About Adverbs,” below.)

Noun phrase: “A feather in your cap,” but “He’s a jack-of-all-trades” (open unless hyphenated in the dictionary).

Noun plus adjective: “The family-friendly restaurant,” but “The restaurant is family friendly.”

Noun plus gerund: “A note-taking lesson,” but “a lesson in note taking.” (But beware of closed noun-plus-gerund compounds like matchmaking.)

Noun plus noun, the first one modifying the second: “A tenure-track position,” but “She’s on the tenure track.” (But leave permanent compounds like “income tax” open even before a noun, and check for closed noun-plus-noun compounds like bartender.)

Noun plus noun, equivalent: City-state, nurse-practitioner (always hyphenated).

Noun plus letter or number: “A size 34 waist,” “the type A personality” (never hyphenated).

Noun plus participle: “A problem-solving exercise,” but “time for some problem solving.”

Participle plus noun: “Working-class families,” but “members of the working class.”

Participle plus prepositional adverb plus noun: “Turned-up nose,” but “Her nose was turned up.”
More About Adverbs

When less or more modifies an adjective, such as in “a less frequent occurrence”/“an occurrence that is less frequent” or “a more qualified candidate”/“a candidate who is more qualified,” the phrase is not hyphenated either before or after a noun. The same is true of least and most unless ambiguity is possible.

For example, “a lesser-known rival” is a rival who is not as well known, but “a lesser known rival,” by contrast, might be a known rival of lesser consequence. Likewise, “the most-quoted orators” and “the most quoted orators” refer, respectively, to orators most frequently quoted and a majority of quoted orators. Again, however, the hyphenated version would be left open when it follows a noun, and would likely be worded differently than its counterpart that is not hyphenated before the noun, either.

Also, when an adverb that is part of a modifying phrase is modified by another adverb, as in “a very much praised debut,” the phrase is not hyphenated at all, even though a hyphen would appear in “a much-praised debut.”

and here's the second one

more graph and trends practice....

describing graphs

Here's the link to the website that shows and explains expressions used to describe graphs and trends.

Describing graphs

Plurals

The Many Forms of Plurals

Link

Plurals take many (sometimes curious or counterintuitive) forms. Here is an outline of how to form various types of plurals according to the word form or ending:

For words ending in

nonsibilant, or voiceless, consonants: add -s (dogs).
voiced, or sibilant, consonant blends: add -es (riches).
vowels: add -s (knees).
-f: delete -f and add -ves (loaves) or -s (chiefs).
-x: add -es (foxes).
-y: delete -y and add -ies (bodies).

For words of Latin or Greek origin ending in:

-a: add -s or -e, depending on context (formulas/formulae).
-ex: add -es or delete -x and add -ces, depending on context (indexes/indices).
-ies: leave as is (species).
-is: change to -es (axis).
-ma: add -s or -ata, depending on context (stigmas/stigmata).
-um: add -s (aquariums), delete -um and add -a (curricula), or either depending on context (mediums/media).
-us: delete -us and add -i (alumni), -ii (radii), -era (genera), or -ora (corpora), or leave -us and add -es (octopuses) or use another form, depending on context (cactuses/cacti).

Types of irregular forms include:

ablaut, or mutated, plurals, with changes in the midst of a word (tooth/teeth; louse/lice).
identical singular and plural forms (deer, spacecraft).
-en and -ren endings (oxen, children).

Some words have more than one plural form, one of which may be archaic (cows/kine) or reserved for a distinct meaning (dice/dies).

One problematic category is in referring to fish in general and specific varieties of fish in particular: “Look at all the fish!” but “Gars are long, slender, predatory fishes.” Also, some types are given a distinct plural form (sharks, barracudas), though for others, the plural form is identical to the singular one (salmon, sturgeon).

Plurals of letters, numbers, or abbreviations are generally formed simply by adding -s, although occasionally, the otherwise incorrect use of an interceding apostrophe is warranted (“Mind your p’s and q’s”). Usually, however, pluralizing names of letters requires no special treatment, especially when the letter is italicized, as here: “There are five es in beekeeper.” Initialisms and acronyms also require only an -s: “Many NGOs are headquartered here,” “It’s like having two NASAs.”

The singular forms of some words are, because they end in -s, sometimes mistaken as plurals, and the letter is then incorrectly deleted to create a false singular form. Examples include gyros, kudos, and biceps (as well as triceps and quadriceps). The plural forms are the same, although the latter examples are also pluralized by adding -es. For other words, the original singular has been supplanted by a plural form used in both cases (alga by algae; graffito by graffiti).

interesting terminology for those of you intending to go to the USA

7 Subjects of Academic Terminology

Go to the head of the class by observing these rules, recommendations, and conventions about scholastic terminology:

1. Courses
Specific course names are capitalized but not enclosed in quotation marks: “Every section of Introduction to Psychology is closed.” A numbered course, even a conjectural one, is also capitalized: “The senator obviously failed Economics 101 [or “Econ 101”].” Generic references, however, should be lowercased: “She was late to her engineering class.”

2. Degrees
A reference to an academic degree is best spelled out, and should be lowercased:

“She earned a bachelor’s degree in English.”

“A master’s degree usually requires completion of a master’s thesis.”

“All earned their doctoral degrees [or “doctorates”] at prestigious universities.”

This form simplifies matters, because use of initials is complicated by a couple of factors: First, not all universities style degrees with the abbreviations BA, MA, or PhD; some reverse the letter order in the first two cases. (PhD, for “doctor of philosophy,” is already reversed, so it’s inconsistent, but let’s just let that long-standing convention go.)

Furthermore, distinct abbreviations exist for a bachelor’s degree in divinity (BD), fine arts (BFA), music (BM), and science (BS). The same holds true for some master’s degrees. For simplicity, use the generic phrase “bachelor’s degree” or “master’s degree.

Also, people are divided on whether to include periods after each initial; if you must use abbreviations, omitting periods is the simplest solution (especially if you use plural forms).

Note that unless the name of the major is a proper noun, such as the name of a language, it should be lowercased: “Every applicant has a master’s degree in business administration.” (Anyone who has attained this degree may also be referred to as a master of business administration, but that unusual usage seems pretentious.)

3. Divisions
The lowercase form of an academic discipline is distinct from that employed for a specific reference to an academic department, such as “She has taught in the Department of Business Administration [or “the Business Administration Department”] for seventeen years.” But initial caps are not called for if the reference is casual, as in “She has taught business administration for seventeen years.”

Names of schools or colleges within a university are capitalized: “the School of Business,” “the College of Fine Arts.”

4. Grades
Letter grades should not be emphasized with quotation marks or with italics (unless distinguishing them as terms, as here). The forms for various usages follow: A, B+, Cs, D-plus, F-minuses. (Some publications use an en dash for a minus sign.) Although the plural form of the optimum letter grade could conceivably be misconstrued as the word as, be consistent in omitting apostrophes as well.

5. Honors
When a person is generically referred to as having received an academic fellowship, lowercase fellow; when the fellowship is specifically named, capitalize the word: “For you to qualify to be a Stegner Fellow, we do not require any degrees or tests for admission.” Other specific references should be capitalized, as in “He is a former National Merit Scholarship Merit Scholar.”

“Cum laude,” “magna cum laude,” and “summa cum laude” are lowercased and need not be italicized, because they are Latin terms widely adopted into English. Honors and superlative forms are not capitalized, either.

6. Levels
Class levels are always lowercased: freshman, sophomore, and so on, as well as in phrases like “postgraduate studies,” “postdoctorate research,” and “premedical [or “premed”] studies.”

Numbered class-level grades can be spelled out or rendered in numeral form according to a publication’s style, but it’s best to be consistent. For example, if your publication adheres to The Associated Press Stylebook, instead of spelling out grades up to nine and then using numbers for ten and above, use numerals for “1st grade” through “12th grade.”

Hyphenate “fourth grade” and the like only when the term modifies a noun: “fourth-grade student.” No hyphen is necessary for “fourth graders” and similar constructions, either.

Indicate grade ranges, as any number range, by linking the low and high numbers with an en dash, not a hyphen (unless en dash style for a Web site is a hyphen, as here). Variations from “students in grades 6-8” are “students in sixth through eighth grades” and, less gracefully, “sixth- to eighth-grade students.” Some publications spell out isolated grades but use numbers in ranges.

For schools with prekindergartners and/or kindergartners, the number-range style is “P-5” or “PK-5” (and, occasionally and clumsily, “preK-5”), or “K-5. When spelling early grades out, do not capitalize kindergarten or prekindergarten; also, it’s kindergartner, not kindergartener.

7. Titles
A first reference to an academician should capitalize the title before the person’s name: “Associate Professor Jane Doe is teaching the course next semester.” But subsequent references to the person need not repeat her job title: “Doe taught it last year, but it was not offered in the fall.”

As with any other job title, an academic title is usually lowercased in isolation (“The professor looked askance at the late arrival.”) or in apposition (“Jane Doe, associate professor of business administration, is teaching the course next semester.”) The exceptions are for what are called named, or endowed, professorships or chairs: “She was named the John Doe Professor of Life Sciences”; “He is Mary Smith Chair of Social Sciences at Jones University.”

It is widely considered bad form to use the abbreviation Dr. to identify someone who has earned a doctorate; this title is best reserved for medical doctors.
Note that the general preference for minimization of capitalization can be relaxed in special circumstances such as lists or other display text, such as a roster of honorees or a caption below a photograph.

www.dailywritingtips.com/7-subjects-of-academic-terminology/

Short-selling explained

Follow the link and click on the video.

Short-selling

Ethnic terms

How do you say ......???

10 Ethnic Terms
by Mark Nichol

The vocabulary of ethnicity identity is fraught with peril. It is unfortunate that humans must at times distinguish between various subgroups, but it’s best to keep up-to-date on which descriptions are considered valid or acceptable among those belonging to those populations. Here’s a guide:

1. African
A person of African descent. Some people so described use this term even if they are US residents because, due to their recent arrival in the United States, they do not identify with black, or African American, culture.

2. African American
An American of African descent. Most people answering this description have no problem with the term black, but some groups and publications prefer this term, and it’s useful, at least, as elegant variation. Unlike as with the case of people from Asia, African Americans are less likely to be identified by their specific country of origin, such as in “Kenyan American.”

3. Asian
A person of Asian descent.


4. Asian American
An American of Asian descent. More specific terms such as “Japanese American” are used when necessary; note, however, that immigrants from nations from which relatively few people come to America can also be identified by such a construction, even if the phrase is not common (such as “Pakistani American”).

5. Black
An American of African descent; this term is generally lowercased but is capitalized by some groups and publications.

6. Chicano
An American of Mexican descent. This is one of those terms best reserved for use by those it refers to. People of similar ethnic heritage from countries other than Mexico may share communities and philosophies with Chicanos, but they may prefer not to share the name. (The feminine form Chicana is used when referring specifically to women.)

7. Hispanic
A person of mixed Spanish or Portuguese and Indian heritage. Some people of this description oppose the term because it emphasizes the European element at the expense of other identities.

8. Indian
This term has two distinct meanings: a person descended from people who long ago immigrated to the Americas from Asia, or people of Indian descent (that is, from India). Many people in the first category so identified prefer this term to “Native American,” and some use “American Indian” only to distinguish themselves from people originating in India. (American Indians were originally misidentified as such by Christopher Columbus, who believed, in error, that he had reached India rather than the Western Hemisphere.)

9. Latino
A person of mixed Indian and Spanish or Portuguese descent. This term, although no more etymologically valid than “Hispanic,” is preferable among many such people. (The feminine form Latina is used when referring specifically to women.)

10. Native American
A person descended from people who long ago immigrated to the Americas from Asia. Many people adhering to this description prefer to be called simply Indians or to be identified by their tribal name. (Note that the terms indigenous and aboriginal are not strictly correct, because Indians did not evolve in the Western Hemisphere. Canadian Indians who call themselves the First Nations are more accurate.)

Of course, many other descriptors for ethnic groups exist, including many broadly considered derogatory and even offensive. However, some people belonging to ethnic groups so labeled use such terms among themselves to reclaim them and diminhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifish their painful associations.

A final note: I use the term American (which need not be hyphenated to another proper name) to refer to US citizens, although Americans — meaning people who live in the Western Hemisphere — who do not reside in the United States outnumber those who do. This apparently arrogant appropriation of the term is objectionable to some people, but it is unrealistic to expect that it will be abandoned.

Source: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/10-ethnic-terms/

101 business quotes

click here for the quotes slide show

Brazil and logging

Coincidently, this article is in my newspaper this week.

Brazil forms crisis cabinet to halt logging.

Learn your specialist vocabulary

An article for the bakers

Read this article to find words that relate specifically to your trade.

BAGUETTE BATTLE

The Law of mother Earth

A link to the article we briefly looked at.
It's well worth watching the video that accompanies the report.

Bolivia and the Law of Mother Earth

Free online Business English dictionary

Have you tried this dictionary yet?
Use it regularly to expand your Business English vocabulary.

BUSINESS DICTIONARY.COM

Microsoft buys Skype

Microsoft confirms takeover of Skype
Skype website Skype had previously planned a share flotation

Microsoft has confirmed that it has agreed to buy internet phone service Skype.

The deal will see Microsoft pay $8.5bn (£5.2bn) for Skype, making it Microsoft's largest acquisition.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Luxembourg-based Skype has 663 million global users. In August last year it announced plans for a share flotation, but this was subsequently put on hold.

Internet auction house eBay bought Skype for $2.6bn in 2006, before selling 70% of it in 2009 for $2bn.

CLICK FOR THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Good news for new dads

Britain is finnaly catching up with the rest of Europe.

Paternity leave

online language programme

You can use this programme to practice your English

www.dhbw-stuttgart.de
language click „hier“
login registration
(need a headset)
Dhbw email address + password

login also possible www.cltnet.de

If you have problems, write an email to:
singer@hb.dhbw-stuttgart.de

invisibility cloak a reality?

Birmingham scientists create Harry Potter style 'cloak of invisibility'

Europass CV

And here's a link to the Europass CV.
Even if you don't need it right now, creating one of these will make you think about your experience, qualifications, work history and how to explain all of these in English.

visual CV

Here's a link to the visual CV website

What's your English?

Warum der Aufstand gegen das Englische zwecklos ist

Warum der Aufstand gegen das Englische zwecklos ist

A bit of a muddled article, but possibly interesting.....