Sở hữu cách

Ø The noun's + noun: Chỉ được dùng cho những danh từ chỉ người hoặc động vật, không dùng cho các đồ vật.

Ex: The student's book The cat's legs.

Ø Đối với danh từ số nhiều đã có sẵn "s" ở đuôi chỉ cần dùng dấu phẩy

Ex: The students' book.

Ø Nhưng đối với những danh từ đổi số nhiều đặc biệt không "s" ở đuôi vẫn phải dùng đầy đủ dấu sở hữu cách.

Ex: The children's toys. The people's willing

Ø Nếu có hai danh từ cùng đứng ở sở hữu cách thì danh từ nào đứng gần danh từ bị sở hữu nhất sẽ mang dấu sở hữu.

Ex: Paul and Peter's room.

Ø Đối với những tên riêng hoặc danh từ đã có sẵn "s" ở đuôi có thể chỉ cần dùng dấu phẩy và nhấn mạnh đuôi khi đọc hoặc dùng sở hữu cách và phải thay đổi cách đọc. Tên riêng không dùng "the" đằng trước.

The boss' car = The boss's car [bosiz]

Agnes' house = Agnes's [siz] house.

Ø Nó được dùng cho thời gian (năm, tháng, thập niên, thế kỉ)

Ex: The 1990s' events: những sự kiện của thập niên 90

Ex: The 21^st century's prospects.

Ø Có thể dùng cho các mùa trong năm trừ mùa xuân và mùa thu. Nếu dùng sở hữu cách cho hai mùa này thì người viết đã nhân cách hoá chúng. Ngày nay người ta dùng các mùa trong năm như một tính từ cho các danh từ đằng sau, ít dùng sở hữu cách.

Ex: The Autumn's leaf: chiếc lá của nàng thu.

Ø Dùng cho tên các công ty lớn, các quốc gia

Ex: The Rockerfeller's oil products. China's food.

Ø Đối với các cửa hiệu có nghề nghiệp đặc trưng chỉ cần dùng danh từ với dấu sở hữu.

Ex: In a florist's At a hairdresser's

Đặc biệt là các tiệm ăn: The Antonio's

Ø Dùng trước một số danh từ bất động vật chỉ trong một số thành ngữ

Ex: a stone's throw from ...(Cách nơi đâu một tầm đá ném).

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Cách sử dụng another và other

Hai từ này tuy giống nhau về mặt nghĩa nhưng khác nhau về mặt ngữ pháp.

Dùng với danh từ đếm được	Dùng với danh từ không đếm được
Ø another + danh từ đếm được số ít = một cái nữa, một cái khác, một người nữa, một người khác. Ø the other + danh từ đếm được số ít = cái còn lại (của một bộ), người còn lại (của một nhóm). Ø Other + danh từ đếm được số nhiều = mấy cái nữa, mấy cái khác, mấy người nữa, mấy người khác. Ø The other + danh từ đếm được số nhiều = những cái còn lại (của một bộ), những người còn lại (của một nhóm).	Ø Other + danh từ không đếm được = một chút nữa. Ø The other + danh từ không đếm được = chỗ còn sót lại.

Ex: I don't want this book. Please give me another.

(another = any other book - not specific)

Ex: I don't want this book. Please give me the other.

(the other = the other book, specific)

Ø Another và other là không xác định trong khi The other là xác định, nếu chủ ngữ hoặc danh từ đã được nhắc đến ở trên thì ở dưới chỉ cần dùng Another hoặc other như một đại từ là đủ.

Ø Nếu danh từ được thay thế bằng số nhiều: Other à Others. Không bao giờ được dùng Others + danh từ số nhiều. Chỉ được dùng một trong hai.

Ø Trong một số trường hợp người ta dùng đại từ thay thế one hoặc ones đằng sau another hoặc other.

Lưu ý: This hoặc that có thể dùng với one nhưng these và those không được dùng với ones.

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International Correspondence

Be aware of the culture and the relationship.
If you are corresponding with someone in another country, your company has probably established a relationship with their company. If possible, meet with an individual in your company who can tell you about the relationship between the two companies and perhaps something about the business culture, as well. Having this background information will help you establish an appropriate relationship with the individual(s) with whom you’ll correspond.

Find out how to address the recipient.
Because business relationships in other countries are often more formal than in the United States, address your recipient by his or her last name until invited to do otherwise. Even if you are on a first- name basis when you speak, it’s best to use last names in written correspondence. Also include in their address any honorary titles or advanced degrees they might hold (Ph.D., etc.). One way to avoid offending colleagues from another country is to follow their lead: Mimic the way they address you.

Choose an appropriate tone.
Finding out about the conventions of the other culture will help you choose the appropriate tone. If you’re in doubt, err on the side of formality, as informality is sometimes considered rude in other countries. Avoid words that could be considered demanding (such as must). Do not attempt to be funny; humor usually does not translate well between cultures and is often considered inappropriate. Be unfailingly courteous and respectful.

Avoid slang, jargon, idioms, figures of speech, and emoticons.
When composing a business document that will be read by natives of another country, avoid slang, jargon, idioms, figures of speech, and any other words or phrases that could be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Emoticons are inappropriate in any business correspondence.

Be particularly conscious of spelling.
Correct spelling is extremely important in international correspondence: If a word is spelled incorrectly but is still a word, recipients may find an unintended meaning when they look it up in the dictionary.

Consider approaching your topic indirectly.
In some cultures, it is considered rude to bring up business right away. Soften your approach with personal greetings or the written equivalent of small talk before addressing the subject at hand. Even when discussing the meat of your document, consider using a more indirect approach than you might normally use. In some cultures, subtlety and reading between the lines are the norm.

Don’t assume all cultures are alike.
Do your research on the customs of individual countries, even if they are in similar regions or located close to one another.

Keep in mind that date formats differ.
Many countries other than the United States express dates as follows: 4 September 1973. Keep this in mind when writing and reading numerical forms for dates (9/4/73) so that months and days are not confused. Unless you are filling out forms where the date field is limited to six or eight digits, write out the complete date to avoid any chance of misunderstanding.

Offer alternatives to written correspondence.
To establish a comfort level and reduce the opportunity for misunderstanding, suggest a phone call or videoconference to discuss your topic – but only if you and your correspondent can converse in the same language fluently. Follow up any phone calls with written confirmation of their content, especially any decisions that were made.

Be mindful of time zone differences.
Your contact in another country could be many hours behind or ahead of you, depending on which of the world’s 24 time zones he or she lives in. Find out early in your project the time difference between your two locations, and keep this difference in mind when you correspond. (Ask about “time changes,” too; other countries have their own versions of Daylight Saving Time, and their changes may take effect on different dates.) If you are using email, don’t expect instant responses. Check your contact’s time before placing a phone call.

Confirm format before sending attachments.
If you email attachments, ask your contact what format to use. If your contact cannot access or read the documents you send (and vice versa), discontinue sending attachments and use a mail service (U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, UPS, etc.).

Remember you are representing your company – not yourself.
The impression your contact has of your company may depend almost entirely on his or her impression of you. As sparkling and fun-loving as your personality may be, presenting yourself as a competent, professional businessperson is what matters in this relationship. Represent your company in the way you know your company wants to be represented.

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Memorandums & Report Writting

Memorandums
A memorandum is an informal report that is usually five pages or fewer in length. Confirm this detail in your company, however; some companies want memos to be only one page long.

Common ways to present information in a memo include:

• Inverted pyramid format (most to least important ideas)
• Prioritization format (priorities listed in order of importance)
• Problem-solution format
• Compare-and-contrast format
• Chronological order

Two other memo tips:

• Use Subject or Re lines that are as informative as possible.
• Alphabetize lists of comparable words, products, or people – especially people – to avoid distracting your readers with “ranking” games.

Reports
A report is longer, more detailed, and often more formal than a memo. Reports should include, at a minimum, the following components:

• Table of contents
• Executive summary
• Body
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Bibliography

The format or structure of a report is often prescribed precisely by company rules or convention. Before you begin, confirm your company’s format.

If appropriate, include a recommended course of action in the concluding section.

In a report that includes recommendations, it can be quite effective to present the recommendations at the beginning of the document, and then build support for them in the following text. Readers always want to know “Why?” This format leads them to their answers.

Because reports are so dense, they can be difficult to follow. Therefore, it’s particularly important to use lots of headings and subheadings in reports, as well as to leave ample margins and space between topics and to number every page.

In writing formal documents, keep your language as clear and straightforward as in more casual documents, with two adjustments:

• Avoid contractions.
• Avoid addressing the reader directly, with conversational references to you.

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Writting Emails

Keep messages short
Emails are best suited for quick, day-today correspondence. If your message is very important or very long (more than 250 words, or half a printed page) consider sending it as a Word file or making it a memo.

Because people receive so many emails daily, a printed document may add weight to what you are saying.

Use informative subject lines
The recipient of your email should be able to get the gist of your message by scanning the subject line. “Today’s meeting” is more informative than “Meeting,” and “Today’s meeting cancelled” is even better.

Give context
Include the original email or some other type of context when replying to a message, even if you respond immediately. Most people get dozens of emails daily, and a simple “Yes” or “No” without context can be confusing.

Be conscious of screen length
Keep your messages short and be conscious of screen length. Have the most important information appear right away, so the reader doesn’t have to scroll down to find it.

Break up paragraphs
It’s hard enough on the eyes to read from a computer screen without having to slog through a long, dense paragraph. When in doubt, chop things up.

Be professional
Because emails are often conversational in tone, it is tempting to think of them as a different species from other business documents. But while emails may be less formal than other documents, they shouldn’t be less professional. Follow the same conventions you would in any other business correspondence:

• Write in complete sentences.
• Capitalize the beginning of sentences.
• Use proper punctuation.
• Proofread before sending. If it’s a particularly important email, print it and proofread it in hard copy.

Two other tips:

• Avoid using all caps. Not only are they equivalent to screaming, but they can also be difficult to read.
• Do not use emoticons (smiley faces, etc.). They’re fine for personal emails, but not appropriate in most business contexts.

Assume your email will be forwarded.
People other than the intended recipient may see your email. Emails are often forwarded, and in some cases, companies can even retrieve deleted messages. A good thought to hold as you write an email is to omit anything you wouldn’t want exposed on 60 Minutes.

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Writing Documents Guidelines

Know why you’re writing.
Before you write anything longer than two or three paragraphs, write down the answer to this question: Why am I writing? (For example, To secure funds for the system enhancement, To propose a new approach to employee communications)

Keep this answer in front of you as you write; it’s your objective. Include nothing in your document that doesn’t relate to or support your objective.

Organize your document.
The most basic, and usually the most effective, way to organize any business document is to present the information in descending order of importance.

An exception to this rule occurs when your reader might be reluctant to accept your point of view. In that case, consider presenting information in the opposite order, from least to most important, gradually bolstering your case and ending with your strongest point. The danger with this approach, of course, is that the reader might lose interest and stop reading.

• Chronological order
• Compare-and-contrast format
• Problem-solution format
• Cause-to-effect format (This approach is good only when you want to explain why something happened or what you think will happen in the future.)

When deciding which format to follow, put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Determine how your readers will logically think about the topic, and pick an organizational method that will match their logic. Whatever organizing principle you use, it’s still a good idea to follow the most-to-least-important guideline within sections and paragraphs of your document.

Omit details that will be of interest to only some readers in the main text. Instead, include them in appendix section at the end of the document.

Make it easy on the eyes.
Aside from using correct spelling and grammar, there are several ways to make your document easy to read:

• Use wide margins and ample white space.
• Left-justify your text; that is, align your left margin, and keep your right margin “ragged” for ease of reading and a more inviting look.
• Indent at least five spaces at the beginning of paragraphs. Another option is to separate paragraphs with line breaks (block style).
• Indent lists.
• Use plenty of headings and subheadings.
• Highlight important points with bullets.
• Include a table of contents for documents of ten pages or more.

Headings and subheadings guide your readers through your document and show which topics are more important than others. They help readers find information they need so they can scan the rest. Use primary headings for the main sections of the document and subheadings for sections within those sections. Make the headings at different levels graphically distinct.

Make it easy to understand.
Visual techniques are not the only way to make your document accessible to the reader; word choice can help or hinder readers’ understanding, as well. Here are some tips for making your document easy to comprehend:

• Stay in the same person (first, second, or third) throughout the document.
• Don’t be afraid to use I. First person is common in business documents now. It can keep writing from sounding stilted, making it clearer and more personal. (I distributed the survey is clearer and sounds more energetic than the passive, The survey was distributed.)
• Be consistent with verb tenses within sentences and paragraphs: If you start in the present tense, end in the present tense. If you start in the past tense, end in the past tense – unless there is a logical reason to change tenses.
• Minimize brackets, slashes, dashes, and parentheses. Use contractions unless the document is extremely formal.
• Don’t use words unless you’re certain of their meaning. If you are even remotely in doubt, look a word up in the dictionary – or don’t use it.

Grab and hold the reader’s attention
Use strong openings and closings in any document you write. In particular, the first paragraph should grab the reader’s attention – not by being unusual or outrageous, but by presenting most important information clearly and engagingly.

Adopt a conversational tone. Big words and stilted language turn readers off. The simpler and more conversational you can make your writing, the more likely your audience will want to keep reading. Test your writing by reading it aloud to see how it sounds. If it sounds wooden and artificial to you, it will sound that way to your reader.

Use more you words than me words in all but the most formal documents to show respect and consideration for your reader and to support that conversational tone. When your you words (you, your, yours) outnumber your me words (I, me, my, mine), your readers will more readily accept what you tell them without even knowing why.

By all means, sound adult, but not parental. When you give instructions or make recommendations or suggestions, resist sounding superior or protective. Avoid such words and phrases as should, never, always, remember to, and be (or make) sure. Treat your readers as your intellectual equals.

There are several effective ways to end a document. They include reiterating key points, drawing a conclusion or making a judgment, making recommendations, and suggesting a course of action.

Summarize your ideas.
An executive summary at the beginning of a paper is helpful, particularly for longer documents. Like an abstract in a technical paper, an executive summary presents the key ideas of a document in a few sentences or paragraphs (a page at the most). An executive summary allows people who can’t read the full text to grasp your main points quickly.

For extremely long documents, consider including brief summaries at the beginning or end of each section.

Proofread, proofread, proofread.
Use your spell-check tool, but don’t stop there; it won’t catch words that are spelled correctly but misused (to for two, at for an). If you have time, print the document and proof it in hard copy, as errors are easier to catch on paper. Consider asking a strong writer to review it and give you feedback.

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Tips for Writing Office Documents

1. Decide early how you will organize your document. The most common, and often most effective, technique is to present information in descending order of importance.

2. Make your document easy on the eyes by using plenty of white space, ample margins, headings and subheadings, and bulleted lists of key information.

3. Present your key ideas in an executive summary. This will allow people who can’t read the full text to grasp your main points quickly, especially if the document is long.

4. Use strong openings and closings. Engage your reader’s interest immediately. Methods of concluding a document include reiterating key points, drawing a conclusion or making a judgment, making recommendations, and suggesting a course of action.

5. Use informative subject lines in memos and emails. “Today’s meeting” is more informative than “Meeting,” and “Today’s meeting cancelled” is even better.

6. Keep email messages short. If your message is very important or very long (more than 250 words, or half a printed page) consider sending it as a Word file or making it a memo. Have the most important information appear in the first screen of the email, so your reader doesn’t have to scroll down to find it.

7. Follow the usual conventions when writing emails: Use correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Do not use emoticons (smiley faces, etc.). Proofread before sending.

8. Make documents of five pages or fewer memorandums. Documents longer than five pages are usually reports. Confirm with someone who knows your company’s conventions, however.

9. Include at least the following parts in a formal report: table of contents, executive summary, body, conclusion, appendix, and bibliography.

10. In international correspondence, avoid jargon, idioms, figures of speech, and any other terms that could be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Consider being more formal and indirect in your writing than you might otherwise be. Research the customs of the individual country. Be unfailingly respectful and professional.

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Frequently Misused Terms

1. affect vs. effect
Affect (verb) means to influence or change. Effect means to bring about (verb) or result (noun).

• That movie affected me quite a bit.
• The effect of that movie was powerful.

2. among vs. between
Between introduces two items; among introduces more than two.

• I am deciding between a red couch and a blue couch for the lobby.
• I think the tan couch is my favorite among the choices.

3. amount vs. number
Amount refers to the quantity of something that cannot be counted in individual units (sugar, money). Number refers to something that can be counted in individual units (packages of sugar, dollars).

• The amount of help we received was unprecedented.
• The number of people who helped was unprecedented.

4. bad vs. badly
Bad is an adjective. Badly is an adverb. I feel bad is correct if you mean you feel sad, guilty, or in ill health. I feel badly is incorrect unless you mean your sense of touch is impaired.

• That little boy is bad.
• That little boy behaved badly.

5. can vs. may
Can refers to ability. May refers to possibility or permission.

• I can attend the meeting if necessary.
• She may attend the meeting as long as she keeps quiet.

6. farther vs. further
Farther means a longer physical distance. Further means to a greater extent.
The airport was farther away than I expected. Her explanation of the problem only confused me further.

7. fewer vs. less
Fewer is used for items that can be counted. Less is used for mass quantities or amounts that cannot be counted. See amount vs. number.

• I cannot complete the project with fewer than six team members.
• Our car uses less gas than the competing model.

8. it’s vs. its
It’s is a contraction for it is. Its is a pronoun indicating possession (meaning belonging to it), just like his, her, your, and our. Even the best writers inadvertently swap the two, so every time you use it’s or its, double check your meaning.

• It’s going to take a long time to photocopy this whole packet.
• The copy machine has a mind of its own.

9. than vs. then
Than means in comparison to. Then means at that time or soon afterward.

• He is a faster typist than I am.
• Learn to type correctly, and then concentrate on speed.

10. whose vs. who’s Whose means belonging to whom. Who’s is a contraction meaning who is.

• Whose desk is that?
• Who’s going to sit at that desk?

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Frequently Misspelled Words

a lot (not alot)	apparatus
accessible	apparent
accommodate	applicable
accumulate	apropos
accuracy	ascertain
acknowledgment	auxiliary
acquaintance	ax (not axe), axed,
acquire	axing
ad nauseam	bankruptcy
adjournment	beneficial
advantageous	bona fide
adviser (not advisor)	bookkeeping
advisory	brochure
affidavit	bureau
affiliated	business
afterward (not afterwards)	calendar
aggravate	cancellation
aggressive	cannot (one word)
align	Caribbean
all right (not alright)	changeable
alumnus, alumni (masculine); alumna,	changeover
alumnae (feminine)	chargeable
amateur	Cincinnati
amid (not amidst)	clientele
among (not amongst)	column
analyze	committee
analysis	comparative
anonymous	comptroller
Connecticut	harass
conscience	homemade
conscientious	humorous
conscious	inasmuch as
correlate	index, indexes,
counterfeit	indices
consensus	indispensable
contemptible	installation
defendant	interrupt
dependent	jeopardy
desperate	judgment
dilemma	justifiable
diligence	leisure
disbursement	liaison
disillusioned	license
dissatisfied	lieutenant
egregious	likable (not likeable)
embarrass	maintenance
encyclopedia	manageable
endeavor	maneuver
erroneous	meager
exaggerate	Mediterranean
existence	memento (not momento)
explanation
extraordinary	mileage
eye, eyed, eyeing	millennium
facilitate	millionaire
facsimile	minuscule (not miniscul)
fascinate	miscellaneous
feasible	mortgage
flack vs. flak	necessary
financier	noticeable
fluorescent	nowadays (not
forward (not forwards)	nowdays)
gauge	obsession
grievance	occasion
guarantee	occurred
occurrence	succeed
omission	successor
opportunity	supersede
pageant	supervisor
permanent	susceptible
permissible	suspicious
persistent	technique
possession	tendency
posthumous	Tennessee
potato, potatoes	total, totaled, totaling
precede	toward (not towards)
prejudice	transferring
prescription	twelfth
prevalent	unanimous
prima-facie	unnecessary
privilege	upward (not upwards)
proviso, provisos	usable
questionnaire	vendor
recommend	veto, vetoes, vetoed,
referral	vetoing
referred	wholly
relevant	zero, zeroes
remembrance
restaurateur
rhyme
rhythm
salable (preferred, although
saleable not incorrect)
sandwich
satisfactorily
seize
separate
serviceable
simultaneous
sizable
subpoena
subtle

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Top 10 Style Tips

1. Use abbreviations and acronyms sparingly. When you do use them, tell the reader what they stand for the first time you mention them.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for issues of identity theft. We won’t know how to proceed until an FTC representative contacts us.

2. Punctuate dates as follows:
The author was born on September 4, 1973, in Washington, DC.
Write out the month (do not abbreviate), and place a comma after the year.

3. Write out numbers one through ten; use numerals for numbers over ten. However, use numerals when expressing ages, dollar amounts, measurements (height, width, weight), and percents.

4. Instead of using his or her in an effort to be gender neutral, try making the pronoun plural, eliminating the pronoun altogether, or using you.
Avoid: A salesperson must know his or her client.
Better: Salespeople must know their clients.

5. Do not capitalize north, south, east, and west when indicating direction. Capitalize only when referring to a specific region (the Midwest). Do not capitalize the names of seasons unless they are part of an official name.

6. Consult a dictionary when punctuating prefixes. Some general guidelines: Include a hyphen when the word that follows the prefix is capitalized (pro-Canadian). Also hyphenate when the prefix ends in a vowel and the word that follows begins with the same vowel (multi-industry). Do not use a hyphen when the word that follows the prefix begins with a consonant (multimillionaire).

7. Write out the names of states except in postal addresses. When a place is identified by city and state, place commas between the city and state and after the state:
He was born in Wichita, Kansas, and stayed there most of his life.

8. Format times as follows: 6 a.m., 4:30 p.m. Avoid redundancies such as 6:30 a.m. this morning (a.m. indicates morning already). Use numerals in combination with a.m. and p.m.; spell out numbers when they are followed by followed by o’clock.

9. Capitalize and italicize names of books, newspapers, magazines, periodicals, movies, and TV shows. Use quotation marks for titles of chapters, articles, reports, poems, songs, and musical works.

10. Capitalize titles only when they appear directly before a person’s name: President George W. Bush; George W. Bush, president of the United States.

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Provide guideposts for your reader

Help your reader by providing signals and guideposts. Transitional words and phrases (such as and, furthermore, even so, and therefore) work to connect your thoughts and indicate what’s to come.

Another way to create transitions is to repeat a word or a phrase from the preceding paragraph.

When a paragraph or section contains several different points, numbering them (first, second, etc.) makes them clearer. Headers, lists, and bullets also help organize your thoughts for the reader.

Finally, make your reader’s job easier by following the principle of parallel construction. Parallel construction means beginning each item in a list with the same part of speech (the art of advertising, the science of accounting, and the mystery of marketing – each item begins with a noun).

This helps alert readers to the similarities or connections between things. If you introduce words or phrases with a preposition, include the preposition either only with the first item or with each of the items.

+ Parallel: This book is for investors, managers, salespeople, and executives.
+ Parallel: This book is for investors, for managers, for salespeople, and for executives.
+ Not parallel: This book is for investors, managers, salespeople, and for executives.

It also helps to put related words together:

+ Confusing: Investors in the 1930s hurt by the crash acted cautiously. Better:
+ Investors hurt by the crash in the 1930s acted cautiously.

This kind of positioning makes sentences easier to understand.

Use strong endings.
Use firm endings; don’t go on and on and weaken your point. Use direct, strong statements. End by restating your major points or the benefits of following your recommendations.

Let it sit for a while.
If possible, let your writing sit overnight. At least, an hour or two away from the document will allow you to approach it with a fresh eye and to edit more effectively.
Separate editing from writing. With writing, it’s best to get your thoughts out rather than agonize over every detail.

Don’t rely on a grammar- or spell-checker.
Edit and review your documents yourself, and don’t rely on a grammar- or spell-checker. In particular, a spell-checker won’t recognize a legitimate word used incorrectly (to vs. too, for example).

Proofread, proofread, proofread.
You can’t proofread something too many times.

When in doubt, just start writing.

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Avoid jargon & Don't hedge

Avoid jargon

Jargon is vocabulary that is specific to an industry or group of people. Because specialized language and technical terms can be confusing, it’s best to avoid them, even for the savviest of audiences.

Try this as a guideline: Use jargon only if you are completely confident that nearly every one of your readers – say, nine out of ten – will understand it.

In addition, certain words and phrases come in and out of fashion. Because not everyone will understand them, and they might mean different things to different people, try to avoid them. Faddish words and phrases include:

• actionable items - bottom line (as noun or verb)
• cutting edge - deliverables
• dialogue (as a verb) - hands on
• interface (as a verb) - proactive
• repurpose - skill set

Don’t hedge

Don’t use wishy-washy language because you don’t know exactly what you want to say or because you fear people will disagree with you.

• The following words and phrases are red flags that you are hedging:
• practically - Pretty
• probably - Rather
• seemingly - Somewhat
• very - Virtually
• as I recall - as I understand it
• for all intents and purposes - I imagine
• I would guess that - in some cases
• is considered to be - it is my observation that
• it is my opinion that - for the most part

may or may not be my best guess is that to the best of my recollection under the circumstances

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Bí quyết học ngoại ngữ

Cách tốt nhất để hiểu được người nước ngoài nói gì là cố gắng nói y hệt như họ. Đó là bí quyết do một chuyên gia ngôn ngữ tại Anh đưa ra.
Bà là Lucie Harrison, thành viên của Trung tâm huấn luyện ngôn ngữ quốc tế tại Trường học ngôn ngữ và kịch nói tại London, Anh.

Theo Harrison, điều đầu tiên cần làm khi học một ngôn ngữ mới là tìm đúng người bản ngữ. Vì vậy nói bạn muốn nói tiếng Pháp thì hãy tìm một người Pháp.

Bước tiếp theo là kiếm một bộ sách trong đó chứa mọi sự thay đổi nguyên âm và phụ âm trong một ngôn ngữ. Có ba cuốn sách được các chuyên gia ngôn ngữ sử dụng là Arthur the Rat, The Rainbow Passage và Comma Gets A Cure. Khi đó bạn nhờ người bản ngữ của bạn đọc to lên trong khi bạn ghi âm lại giọng nói của họ.

Khi bạn nghe lại, hãy ghi lại mọi khác biệt trong phát âm của mỗi từ, mỗi phụ âm và nguyên âm, với cách bạn thường nói.

Có một vấn đề nhỏ trong phương pháp này là khi mọi người đọc to một bài viết lạ, giọng nói của họ sẽ hơi bị cứng, đặc biệt nếu họ đọc trước một người lạ.

Để giải quyết điều này, hãy hỏi họ hai hoặc ba câu hỏi về những đều họ quan tâm để họ trở nên hứng thú và nói chuyện trôi chảy hơn. Bạn có thể hỏi về nơi ở, kỳ nghỉ hay thức ăn họ yêu thích.

Nghe lại các câu trả lời cũng giúp bạn nắm rõ cách phát âm của họ, nhưng điều quan trọng nhất là giúp bạn nghe ra sự khác biệt trong nhịp điệu và sự âm vang của giọng nói.

Khi họ nói, theo dõi cả chuyển động cơ mặt. Môi, má, cằm, lưỡi và răng di chuyển như thế nào khi họ phát âm từng từ?

Bạn sẽ nhận thấy rằng người Scotland và người Nga thì nghe âm phát ra từ họng, bởi lưỡi của họ xuất phát từ sau vòm miệng và đẩy âm vang trở lại mỗi khi họ nói.

Người Anh thì giọng nói như phát thẳng ra từ môi bởi sự chuyển động của các khớp đẩy mọi thứ lên phía trước.

Nhưng giọng người Australia đầy âm mũi bởi miệng không mở to.

Sau khi quan sát người bản ngữ nói, hãy nhìn mình trong gương khi phát âm và nhìn ra sự khác biệt trong chuyển động cơ mặt.

Suy nghĩ về nguồn gốc của ngôn ngữ. Đôi khi vị trí địa lý của mỗi vùng miền cũng ảnh hưởng tới giọng nói. Texas rất bằng phẳng, nên giọng người Texas cũng bẹt. Wales thì nhấp nhô núi đồi nên giọng người Wales cũng trầm bổng lên xuống.

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