MyEnglishTutor

Speak it!

Authorities say the population of Shanghai and Beijing have reached a high of 25 million and must now be capped

Explain it!
When we describe trends we can use other words than ‘go up’ and ‘go down’.

The population of Shanghai has reached a high of 25 m.

~ the birthrate has started to decline.
~ the number of old people has risen
~ the cost, impact or financial burden on workers will shoot up
~ despite the one child policy being lifted, the birthrate will still slide

Write it!
What has the population of Shanghai reached?
Answer: a high of 25 million
What has Shanghai reached a high of 25 million of?
Answer: population
Where has the population reached a high of 25 million?
Answer: Shanghai

Speak it!

John had been opening attachments from unreliable sources for months before someone told him it was dangerous

Explain it!
We use the past perfect continuous to express an action which started in the past and was still cntinuing before some other action was taken

Write it!
Hackers had been accessing company data before the company installed a firewall

What had hackers been doing before the company installed a firewall?
Answer: accessing company data
What had hackers been accessing before the company installed a firewall?
Answer: company data
Before they installed what, had hackers been accessing company data?
Answer: a firewall

Train it!
Imagine you are a shop keeper: what can you do to protect yourself from criminals …?

~ install an alarm system
~ use CCTV cameras in the shop
~ keep a baseball bat behind the counter
~ keep a gun behind the counter

…and cyber criminals?
~ install a firewall
~ don’t answer emails from fraudsters
~ install anti-spam in my email accoutn
~ don’t open links in an email you don’t know who sent it

Speak it!
What do you wear to work?

I wear a suit because I want to look smart for the customer

Explain it!
a policeman wears a uniform so he can be identified as a member of the organisation
a doctor might wear a white coat which represents hygiene and cleanliness. It says I’m in charge.

Write it!

smartly dressed employees reflect better on the company

What do smartly dressed employees do?
Answer: reflect better on the company
Who might reflect better on the company?
Answer: smartly dressed employees

Speak it!

I want to reassure you that your personal data is not being used to influence the elections in Italy this month (~ Mark Zuckerberg)

Explain it!

Write it!
The best way to answer this question is to read our privacy policy statements

What is the best way to answer this question?
Answer: to read our privacy policy statements
What is to read our privacy policy statements the best way to?
Answer: answer this question

Train it!
You are a customer service representative dealing with a telephone complaint. Finish your call with
"If you’re not completely reassured by this I will ask our public relations department to call you".

What is Pollyspeech?

~ Pollyspeech is MyEnglishTutor's pronunciation playback tool. ~ Polly refers to “Pretty Polly”, a phrase often said by, or to, parrots.
~ Some species of parrot have the ability to mimic human speech.
~ Pollyspeech allows you to mimic English pronunciation.
~ What do you think of it?

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Explained:

H. gives her view on immigration.

Live and let live that's my credo.

1. Question it!
   ~ Say it:Live and let live. That's my credo.
   ~ Question the text
   ~ What does he believe people should do? Answer: Live and let live.
   ~ What should people let him do? Answer: Live.
   ~ Whose credo is ‘Live and let live’? Answer: his.

2. Work on it!
   ~ Make a new sentence changing the subject and object of ‘went up’
   ~ Find another subject of ‘live’
   ~ Your answer:
   ~ Find another object of ‘live’
   ~ Your answer:
   ~ Find another word for ‘credo’
   ~ Your answer:

3. Get ready for it!
   ~ Place, time, characters and situation
   ~ Place:
   ~ The job centre
   ~ Time:
   ~ Interview time
   ~ Characters:
   ~ Interviewer, you and an immigrant
   ~ Situation:
   ~ The immigrant gets the job you interviewed for.
   ~ Example:
   Interviewer: I am liberal and open ~ minded. I don’t have hardline views on immigration. If you’re an immigrant, you are welcome to come and live here if you are prepared to work hard and pay taxes; if you want to sponge off the state, you are not welcome here.
   You: If he is more qualified than me, does he get the job?

4. What’s next?
   ~ Schedule a class
   ~ Make a ~ Comment below

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~ Have Questions?

Explained:

How well you make first contact depends on how you use language to build bridges to existing or future relationships. Words can soon dry up and a silence can settle unless you engage from the start in a round of formalities and informalities. You must ‘touch base’.

Oscar is going to New York for five days with his finance team. They are working in the mornings, and visiting in the afternoons.

Trained:

First Contact 1 (expected):
~ You must be Donald. I’m Oscar. We’ve just arrived in NY. Kurt thought it would be a good idea to meet and introduce ourselves. He said we should touch base.

First Contact 2 (unexpected):
~ How’re you doing? Let me introduce myself. I’m Oscar from Rome. We’re staying in NY for a week, working in the mornings and sight-seeing in the afternoons. It’s nice to meet you.

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Explained:

You lost your temper with a colleague who didn’t inform you of last minute changes to overseas prices.

I lost my temper with a colleague who didn’t update me on new exchange rate prices for my overseas resorts.

1. Question it!
   ~ Say it:I lost my temper with a colleague who didn't update me on new exchange rate prices for my overseas resorts.
   ~ Question the text
   ~ What did he lose? Answer: his temper.
   ~ Who didn’t update him? Answer: a colleague.
   ~ What didn’t he update him on? Answer: new prices.
   ~ What new prices didn’t he update you on? Answer: overseas ones.

2. Work on it!
   ~ Make a new sentence changing the subject and object of ‘went up’
   ~ Find another modifier of ‘temper’
   ~ Your answer:
   ~ Find a modifier of ‘prices’
   ~ Your answer:
   ~ Find another sentence ~ object of ‘who didn’t update me’
   ~ Your answer:

3. Get ready for it!
   ~ Place, time, characters and situation
   ~ Place:
   ~ The office
   ~ Time:
   ~ One hour before the deadline
   ~ Characters:
   ~ You and your colleague
   ~ Situation:
   ~ Explain why you lost your temper. Apologize if you are the colleague.
   ~ Example:
   Colleague: When is the deadline?
   You: It is today!
   Colleague: I’m sorry but there were some last minute changes which were completely unavoidable.
   You: Why doesn’t anyone anticipate what extra work this means for me? Why on earth didn’t you tell me earlier?
   Colleague: I know, I know. I could have been quicker with the updates. I apologize.

4. What’s next?
   ~ Schedule a class
   ~ Make a ~ Comment below

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~ Have Questions?

Explained:

The past in an indicator of future behaviour. Your interviewer is looking for real life evidence of competency.

Trained:

Interviewer: What do you excel at? Tell us what you do best.
Candidate: Well, my real strength is data analysis. Interviewer: Why is that? Candidate: For example when I'm working on data, I don't just want to analyze data, I want to find explanations, causes and, of course, solutions.

Interviewer: What do your colleagues appreciate about you?
Candidate: What they appreciate about me is my positive working attitude: I am energetic; I am reliable - I do what I say I will do. I meet deadlines before they are due. excel at [sth] vi + prep (skill: be very good at) 擅长，善于
I excel at ‘excel’ - spreadsheet

due adj (needs to be paid, submitted, etc.) 到期的，该付的

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Explained:

Don’t fall into the trap of criticising your employer!

Trained:

Interviewer: Tell us why you are looking for a new job.
Candidate: I'm looking to develop my skills and broaden my experience. Interviewer: Can't they teach you anything new in your current job? Candidate: I've worked at this company for five years now and I know all there is to know about the job and they've taught me all they know. Interviewer: Have you considered a management position? Candidate: There's no scope for further professional development in the company; there's a glass ceiling in my company and I can only go so far. This job was a good match for my skills at the beginning but now I have outgrown the position.

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~ Comment below and join the MyEnglishTutor community or sign up for classes.
~ Have Questions?