samenvatting business English 3

English 3



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Error hunting exercises:
- I like my boss to much to betray her.
I like my boss too much to betray her.
- I detest having to hurry myself in the morning
I detest having to hurry in the morning. (‘to hurry’ not reflexive)
- Gerald introduces the new products very good to the prospects.
very well (good modifies the verb so an adverb is needed)
- The US have given an new warning to OPEC
 The us has given (US is singular)
- We’ve been looking forward to see you since last year.
 forward to seeing you since.. (to look foward to + gerund)
- Our new female CEO looks. Very nice on this picture
in this picture
- OK. I write my report tomorrow
 ok I’ll write (instance decision+ reference tot he future)
- How much operating systems do you know?
 how many (many is used for countable nouns)
- How much costs the repair of my company car?
 how much does the repair of my company car cost? (an auxiliary verb
is used for ‘object’ questions
- Few managers work less hours than employees do.
 few managers work fewer (‘hours’ countable (few is required, here in
comparative form))
- There weren’t a lot of salesman at the fair
 there weren’t many
- Don’t be disaapointed about your company car: you sit as comofrtable in
a VW as in a BMW
: you sit as comfortably in a VW.. (‘comfortable modifies the verb, soa n
adverb is needed
- We’re going to do this test again, but orally this time
Correct
- Peter works as interpreter fort he Common Market
works as an interpreter (article is needed before an occupation)
- He looked puzzled during his speech, because he was forgotten his main
point
because he had forgotten his main point (past perfect: had + past
participle
- Have you coffee for breakfast every morning?
 do you have coffee for breakfast (‘have’ common verb here, so
auxiliary verb needed for ‘object questions’)

,- The assessor? I think h’ll have arrived by now
 correct
- It are strategies by which new product scan be marketed
 it is strategies by which new products can be communicated (the verb
agrees with ‘it’)
- How much data’s can your computer hard drive store?
 how much data can (‘data’ (+ plural after vowel in E: never ‘s)
- Did you have a good time at Paul’s party?
 Correct
- Jealous on me, my colleague tried to put the blame on me
 jealous of me
- Such horrible coffee: it tastes as bas as it smells
 Correct
- Our competitor’s campaign looks more aggresively than ours
More agressive than ours (‘sense verbs’ require adjectives instead of
adverbs
- My new tablet, that is extremely compact, is not an Ipad. It’s an Asus
running on Android
my new tablet, which is (the relative pronoun ‘which’ is required in non-
defining relative clauses)
- He worked as accountant for PrinceWaterhouseCoopers
 he worked as an accountant ( an indefinite article is needed before
nouns denoting a profession or trade)
- If you cancelled today’s staff meeting, we will have ample time to modify
our new business plan.
 if you cancelled today’s staff meeting, we would have ample time
(second conditional, ‘would’ required in the main clause)
- I have seen a splendid promotion film yesterday
 i saw (‘yestrday’ triggers a simple past (not a present perfect)
- I’m afraid they can’t drive theirselves
drive themselves (’theirselves’ is not a word)
- One of those files contain classified information
 contains (‘one’ refers to a single file, so 3red person singulr is
required)
- The Labour party often appeals to their electors.
 to its electors (‘party’ is inanimate, therefore possessive its)
- Ms Ashley from accounting just found your drawing of her and she is
extremely hurt.
 has just found (‘just’ triggers a present perfect)
- The presentation started rather slow
 rather slowly (‘slow’modifies the verb so an adverb is required)
- Why schould we train our personnel to work more effeciently?
 why should (schould is incorrect)
- You succeeded in getting this shy desk clerks to talk
 getting these (‘clerks’plural, so plural determnier ‘these’ needed)
- Aren’t their any messages for me today?
aren’t there (their is incorrect here)
- That’s often been said, isn’t it?
 hasn’t it (‘s’ stands for ‘has’ > ‘has’ in question tag)
- This is an advice you should try never to forget.

,  this is a piece of/some advice (‘advice’ is uncountable)

- Your boss had to be very angry when he saw you shooting at the
customer.
your boss must have been (‘modal+have+past participle’ better
construction to convey deduction
- Being a salesman in France is hard: the French are not used to talk
English
are not used to talking English (‘to be used to + gerund (to express
that something is familiar or easy) Do not confuse ‘I used to do
something’ and ‘i’m used to doing something’)
- This survet isn’t representative for the Belgian market
representative of the Belgian
- During a rol-play the salesman can use their imagination almost
unlimited
almost unlimitedly (‘unlimitedly’ modifies the verb soa n adverb is
needed)
- After a few minutes walk during the guided tour of the plant, they looked
quite exhausted
 after a few minutes’ walk (genitive needed in time expression)
- John told me he must be at work by 9 am
 correct
- I’ll send you an email as soon as my internet connection is restored
 has been restored (present perfect better)
- How often haven’t I told yet that you must check your account on a
regular basis
 told tou that you must check (indirect object needed with to tell, no
need to use yet)
- Even on a simple question he wasn’t able to answer
even a simple (‘on’ redundant)
- He works from morning untill night
 until/ till night
- There weren’t so much people at the annual general meeting as last year
 so many (‘people’ countable so ‘many’ needed
- The CFO complained that he had hardly some time to do all his tasks
 hardly some time to do (‘any’ (instead of some) is required after
adverb ‘hardly’
- First we discussed the new learnt strategies and then we did some role
play exercises
 the newly (‘newly’ modifies learnt so adverb compulsory)
- John choose not to give a discount on last year’s models
 john chose not (simple past of ‘to choose’ is ‘chose’
- “explain me how the accident really happened”, the police constable said
 explain to me how (proposition ‘to’ needed
- We oughtn’ have come tot his outlet; there’s really nothing interesting to
see.
 we ought not have (short form ‘not’ used in negative recommendation,
no ‘to’ needed in negative forms)
- If there wasn’t an accident on the road to the airport, I wouldn’t have
missed my plane

, if there hadn’t been an (conditional sentence, type 3 (impossibility)
- Imagine that, my personal assistant was asleep on the floor besides her
desk
beside her desk (preposition ‘beside’ )
- Do you dislike to go to the office
 do you dislike going to (to dislike + gerund)
- “I should rather have that you went home now”, the personnel manager
shouted
 I would rather (that) you (improper use of modal, cannot be used
independently in English
- You’d prefer me to go home now, hadn’t you?
wouldn’t you
- What makes some prospects dislike some salesman
correct
- Ask the man behind the counter some more detailed information
 correct
- We may have got to leave early. The flight schedule has been changed.
 we may have to leave early. (‘got’ redundant)
- John said he wouldn’t like being seen with me. After all, I work for a rival
company
wouldn’t like to be seen with me. (would like+ to infinitive)
- Jenny from sales is one of them girls you just can’t resist.
one of those (them is personal pronoun (object form) replace it by
demonstrative pronoun
- This marketing guru suggests us to use next messages much more often
suggests (that) we use (‘suggest+ (that) clause’ or ‘suggest’ + gerund)
- After Thomas had been convicted for fraud, I went to prison to visit him
I went to the prison to visit him (‘places of assembly’:
 Visited for ther ‘primary purpose: no article
 Visited for other reasons: article
- The CEO summoned Fred to his office! I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes
 correct
- Don’t forget phoning me tomorrow
 forget to phone me (infinitive necessary as gerund makes no sense in
this context (both tomorrow (future) and imperative (order))
- Looking aside, the unidentified car ran into the van
 when I looked aside (car is inanimate and cannot see)
- Can’t you have them be patient a little longer
them to be patient (construction is ‘verb+somebody+to+infinitive’)
- The new secretary is very good in speaking foreign languages
 is very good at (wrong preposition)
- I deeply regret having to refuse his offer
 regret to have to (‘regret + to infinitive’ is not the same as ‘regret+
gerund’ difference in meaning. Note: have to is not the same as have got
to)
- Although their efforts, they couldn’t convince the client
 despite their efforts (‘although’ (=conjuction) used to introduce a
clause) (‘despite’(= in spite of) is a preposition and can precede a noun)
- He couldn’t remind the etd of his plane at JFK airport