Summary - Engels niveau I

Grammar
Questi on tags

Use

- In question tags, use a rising intonation if you are really asking a question.
o Ex. Someone told him about the meeting, didn’t they?
- Use a falling intonation if you are just checking, making sure or asking for agreement.
o Ex. Someone told him about the meeting, didn’t they?

Some rules

- Let’s  shall we
- Isn’t  is (negative  positive)
- Is  isn’t (positive  negative)
- Everybody  they
- Hardly = negative
- No one = negative
- Rarely = negative

Leading and open questi ons

- Leading questions
o What problems have you had with the new printer?
o Leading questions are deliberately designed to influence the listener into choosing a
particular response. These questions are ‘directional’ and either guide the person to
the answer wanted by the person who is asking or may try to stop them thinking of
alternatives.
- Open questions
o What do you think about the new printer?
o An open question does not suggest the answer.

Functi onal language: reporti ng verb patt erns

- The majority of the respondents were in agreement that …
- 10 percent of respondents raised concerns that …
- The survey confirmed that …
- ! The findings indicate that …

 when we tell someone what another person said, we use reporting verbs like said, told, asked,
informed, announced, suggested, replied, agreed and thanked

3 patterns:

- Reporting verb + that clause
o She told us that we should increase our offering.
- Reporting verb + to infinitive
o They agreed to complete the survey
- Reporting verb + -ing or noun phrase
o We discussed changing the logo

,Academic reading and listening: skimming and scanning

- Skimming
o To look through a text quickly to get the gist (general idea)
o Example: newspaper
o Use
 See what’s in the news in a paper or on a website
 Browse through a book to see if you want to read it
 Look through the television guide to see what’s on one evening
 Flick through the options given on a Google Search to see what sites it
suggest
o Don’t read text word for word; pictures, title, key words
- Scanning
o Example: dictionary
o Use:
 Look up a word in a dictionary or index
 Find an address or a phone number in a directory
 Check what time your programme is on television
 Look up details or prices in a catalogue
 Pick out the website you want from options on a Google search
o When you don’t have time to read every word

Synonyms

- Contrast
o In contrast
o Although
o However
- Addition
o Moreover
o Added to this

Perfect aspect

 Perfect tenses share one common feature: they all link two points in time
o Past perfect simple
 Links a point in the past with a point further in the past
 Use
 To talk about a finished or completed past action/event that
happened before another action/event in the past
o Before I worked in this office, I hadn’t worked at a smart
desk
 To talk about life experience before a point of time in the past
o Often use pps with the adverbs ever, never, already, yet and
just
o I have never seen this kind of smart building before
 With time expressions
o As by, by 2010, by the end of the week, by the time, …
o By the time I had installed the new software, it was already
outdated

, o Present perfect simple
 Links a point in the past with a point in the present
 Use
 To talk about indefinite time in the past, we don’t know when
something happened or we don’t consider when it happened
important
o Recently, in recent years, this weak/month/year, …
o The number of online devices has grown exponentially in
recent years
 To talk about past actions or states which are relevant now
o Already, before, ever, never, recently, always, still, just and
yet
o We’ve just installed security updates in the system.
 To talk about past actions or states which are still continuing or are
still true now
o For, since
o Malware and ransomware have existed since the 1990s.
 Since = the point when the period of time began
o I have worked in IT for nearly twenty years.
 For = the length of time
o Future perfect simple
 Links two points in the future
 Use
 To talk about events in the future which will happen before a certain
time
o Within a few years most companies will have installed smart
technology in the office
o By the end of the year, we will have implemented a policy
for security updates.

Academic writt en communicati on

- Guideline
o Write a clear subject line
o Attachments with a clear title
o A correct formal greeting
 Dear
o Correct opening of your message
 Introduce yourself and indicate the reason you are writing
o Give all the necessary information
o Use an appropriate style
o Use clear questions
o Polite and formal salutation
 Best wishes / kind regards / yours sincerely
o Signature and necessary details
o Read your mail again and check your spelling

, Academic reading and listening: linking words and cohesion

 Controversy = a linear economy is damaging the planet and should be replaces with a
circular economy
 Cohesion
o Refers to the ways texts use grammar and vocabulary to ‘stick’ or ‘glue’ ideas
together, to make meaningful connections between ideas in a text
o Use
 Sequence, words and phrases to make lists
 First(ly), second(ly), third(ly)
 Next, last, finally
 The latter and the former
 Addition
 In addition / additionally
 Furthermore
 Moreover
 Contrast
 However
 Nevertheless
 Nonetheless
 Although / even though / though
 Despite / in spite of
 In contrast (to)
 Whereas
 Comparison
 Similarly / similar to
 In comparison with
 Compared to / with
 Example
 For instance
 For example
 To illustrate
 To exemplify
 That is (i.e.)
 Such as
 Result
 As a result
 As a consequence (of) / consequently
 Therefore
 Thus
 Hence
o There are other cohesive devices who may be less obvious
 Pronouns
 Personal pronouns (he, it, they,… )
 Demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those, …)
 Relative pronouns (which, who, that, …)
 Quantitative pronouns (same, all, any, most, …)
 Specialized nouns, verbs or adjectives (resolves, problem, …)