Search results for 'tag:Conversations tag:Numbers' matching tags 'Conversations' and 'Numbers'

Re: ubelt courses

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:05:04 GMT

Official UBELT Practice Tests

UBELT have developed a number of profession specific Official UBELT Practice Tests. These practice tests have been written for candidates preparing for UBELT Tests.

Aims of the practice tests

To prepare candidates for the UBELT Tests by familiarising them with the types of texts and tasks found in a UBELT Test.
To provide a template upon which teachers can supply their own teaching and preparation material.

Practice Tests Content

Official UBELT Practice Test packs contain one complete UBELT Practice Test, each one of which comprises a writing, reading, listening (with CD) and speaking test. Accompanying the tests are the answer keys for the reading and listening tests, and the scripts for the listening test conversations.

The Official UBELT Practice Tests are similar to the UBELT Tests in length, style, and format.

Re: Best regards, Kind regards, or Yours sincerely, - which is correct

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:51:44 GMT

Yours sincerely and Yours faithfully

In the UK, traditional valedictions have been mainly replaced by "Yours sincerely" or "Yours faithfully".

(Do not paste and copy lengthy material without citing references-- MM)

I personally feel that Kind Regards or Best Regards sounds cold and distant. Yours Truely.....or anything starting out with YOURS is to personal. A simple Thank You is warm, professional, and friendly.

Petyon/ HR Manager

come vs go

New2grammar — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:30:02 GMT

We met him at the Waukegan Regional Airport not far from his home. CNN producer Dana Garrett and I had flown there in my small, single-engine airplane, a Cirrus SR22. Within moments, Wayne and I were talking about the kind of mileage it gets.

Fortunately, as air travel goes, it is a pretty efficient mode of conveyance. Once I have leveled off at say 8,000 feet and after, I have "leaned" the fuel/air mixture to the most efficient setting. I usually get about 13 miles per gallon.

Wayne seemed to approve of this and was glad I did not arrive alone. He reminded me miles per gallon per person, or MPGPP, is really the crucial number. That led us to a conversation about the relative benefits of driving versus flying commercially.

I know the meaning may not be the same. Can I change "arive' to "come"? Or should it be "go"? "come" and "go" is kind of confusing to me. If a person approaches me, I would use 'come'. If I approach someone, I tend to say 'go' but I've heard 'come' and that really confuses me.

Thanks in advance.

Re: What does it mean?

Mr Wordy — Sat, 31 May 2008 11:05:57 GMT

Further, as attested by the occurrence of a number of theory-non-conforming instances of ironic speech, most purely pragmatic views of conversational irony have a limited sphere of explanatory sway.

I understand this to mean, more-or-less: "Most purely pragmatic explanations of how irony is used in conversation have limited use. This is evident from the fact that a number of instances of ironic speech do not conform to theory."

What's not clear to me is how the "pragmatic views" relate to the "theory". For the logic to work, the two have to be referring to the same thing (otherwise the fact that instances of ironic speech don't conform to theory says nothing very much about pragmatic explanations). The problem is that "pragmatic" specifically refers to something that is not theoretical. So, for me it doesn't quite make sense.

Most theories have a limited sphere of explanatory sway because each has to face ironic sentences that ~~they~~ it cannot explain.

To me, this sentence is easier to understand, and if it gets the job done for you then I'd tend to prefer it. It also avoids the pragmatic/theory confusion that I suffered with the first version.

Re: saying finding a job ? how ?

Mr Wordy — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:41:25 GMT

From what you say, I gather that you're visiting places without an appointment, just in the hope that they might have a vacancy.

To give a good first impression, make sure that your appearance is smart and tidy, adopt a good posture, be confident, look them in the eye when you speak to them, and generally try to look hard-working, honest and reliable (however you do that!).

First, make sure that you're speaking to the right person. "Hi, could I speak to the manager please" would be a good way to start. If the actual manager is not there then ask to speak to "the person in charge".

Once you're speaking to the manager you could say something like "Hi, I'm looking for work and I wondered if you had anything available?". If you're looking for a particular type of work then say "Hi, I'm looking for work as a waiter/dishwasher/whatever...."

As I'm sure you know, some places put notices in the window saying "waiters needed", or whetever it might be. In that case, you could say "Hi, I'm interested in the waiter's job/dishwashing job/whatever that you advertised outside."

If they say "yes" then great. If they initially say "no" then there's probably little hope and little point in carrying on the conversation for very long, but you could try something like "I work really hard, and I'm very reliable...", or, as a last resort, "I've got no money and I desperately need a job". Remember to be polite if they turn you away: "OK, well thanks anyway" would be appropriate.

If they want to contact you later with a decision and they ask for your phone number but you don't have one, you could say "Sorry, I don't have a phone at the moment. Can I come back later to get your decision?". Or, if you are able to phone them from a public phone, you could say "Can I call you later to get your decision".

Re: There is no/not

Jadarite — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:56:22 GMT

Interesting question. I DON'T HAVE ANY absolute answers, but I HAVE SOME comments. I also HAVE NO absolute answer.

First, we can say "There isn't any/a", but we cannot say "There is no any/a". "Any/a" can be used with countable nouns, but we can't with "no" (ex. "There is no restaurants here."). Compare this with "There aren't any restaurants here." This is where these two forms meet. We have to change "is" to "are" ("There are no restaurants here" and "There aren't any restaurants here.")

To me, using "There is no" has a more concrete aspect to it ("There is no school today"). "There isn't any school today" sounds like there could be several schools, but we don't have to go to any of them today. In reality, we probably only go to one school, so even though "school" is countable it holds a quasi-noncountable quality to it.

Let's look at it the other way around. "There is no milk in the fridge". In this case, and in English books, I have only seen chapters where they try to get students to say "There isn't/aren't any".

However, in certain cases, I think "There is no" would be perfectly fine. If both people are aware of what is being talked about, like with definite articles, then "There is no" would have more relevance.

A: Can you get that milk we bought yesterday out of the fridge?
B: Ok. I am looking, but there is no milk.

If one of the speakers doesn't know, "There isn't any" would have more relevance.

A: I am thirsty, can I have something to drink?
B: Ok. There is some orange juice and apple juice in the fridge, but there isn't any milk."

In conversation though, we treat them the same with a few exceptions.

"There is no turning back" / "There isn't any turning back(???)"
"There is no place like home" / "There isn't any place like home (???)"
"There are no cats" (???) / "There aren't any cats" - If the number is zero, then you only need to state there isn't 1, and logically "There are no cats" could just convey "There aren't 2 cats or more". It doesn't preclude there being 1, even though we usually assume it's zero.
"There are no tires in the trunk" / "There aren't any tires in the trunk" - This is the same as the school example. We would only have one tire, so as the cat example isn't clear enough, "There aren't any" goes too far conveying "There isn't the spare tire we would normally find, and there isn't another one either which we would never account for".

Re: Native-speaker/native language

shaved — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:47:10 GMT

Linguistic anthropologists categorize bilingualism into a number of categories, and 'true bilinguals' are extremely rare.

I remember being in college studying linguistic anthropology and having a roommate who was unable to speak, read, or write beyond an elementary school level in FOUR languages, but could talk fluently in any of them.

Korean

Japanese

English

Italian

The guy's father was in the US Navy, so the guy was born in Korea and then moved all over the world throughout his childhood. Obviously his parents didn't seem to think it was so bad for him, but they were wrong.

By the time he started college, he was basically hopeless in terms of reading comprehension, writing, and even conversation skills. I think he flunked out.

Re: Native-speaker/native language

MrPedantic — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:19:16 GMT

Forbes

I have personally witnessed on a number of occasions conversations between an immigrant parent and child were the parent speaks one language and the child another.

Yes; and sometimes the child and parent will both switch between languages; often not simultaneously. I would like to know what triggers the switch.

Forbes

There is the oddity that you may feel you are a (slightly) different person when you change languages. I am by no means fluent in Spanish, but when I speak it I feel the duende coming on!

It would be interesting to examine whether the slight difference in character is less pronounced in those who learned the second language at an early age. (If there are indeed fewer differences in the way the languages are stored, in such cases, you would think so.)

MrP

Re: Native-speaker/native language

Forbes — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:45:22 GMT

The idea of bilingualism seems mostly to fascinate those who are not bilingual. I have seen estimates that about half the world's population is bilingual, so for many it is pretty normal and I do not expect they think about it. In monolingual communities there are many who say they do not have a gift for languages; if they lived in bilingual communities they would have the gift!

The way people become bilingual includes:

A. Being brought up by parents who speak language A in a monolingual community that speaks language B.

B. Being brought up by parents who speak language A in a bilingual community that speaks languages A and B.

C. Being brought up by one parent who speaks language A and one who speaks language B in a monolingual community that speaks language A or B.

D. Being brought up by one parent who speaks language A and one who speaks language B in a bilingual community that speaks languages A and B.

E. Being brought up by parents who speak language A in a community that uses language B for education and official purposes.

F. Moving (especially at a young age) from monolingual community A to monolingual community B.

I suspect it is only those who come in group D where languages A and B have equal status whose language experience will be the same or nearly the same in both languages.

Children who come in group A may start to identify with language B and even speak it to their parents. I have personally witnessed on a number of occasions conversations between an immigrant parent and child were the parent speaks one language and the child another.

Those who come in group B, where although the community is bilingual there may be a preference for language B, may feel a resentment towards language B and avoid speaking it whenever they can.

Asking bilinguals to describe what it is like to be bilingual is a bit tricky. When they start to think about it they are not sure. There is the oddity that you may feel you are a (slightly) different person when you change languages. I am by no means fluent in Spanish, but when I speak it I feel the duende coming on!

Re: Proper use of O'clock

Orpheus — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:20:35 GMT

Half past three o'clock is wrong. It is either half past three or three thirty.O'clock is used with the numbers 1 to 12 when telling the time, to mean an exact hour. It is quite common not only in formal context but also in daily conversation.