Sunday, October 23, 2011

Minutes

Here is a document on writing minutes.
Here you can find an example for minutes.  Source: Market Leader Upper Intermediate Business English Course Book by David Cotton, et al. 

Jargon used at the EI

Here you can find a list of the jargon commonly used at the European Institutions.

Here you can find the list of the same jargon along with their alternatives if you want to avoid the jargon while corresponding with an external party.

Gerund vs. infinitive

Numerous exercises on gerund vs. infinitive along with their key are hereby made available for you to have access at your convenience.  You can also find the list of verbs used with gerund and/or infinitive here.

Here you can find more information and exercises on the same topic.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

How to Write Clearly

Here you can find the Commission guide entitled "How to Write Clearly".

Some sites recommeded by Katja

Here are some links Katja was kind enough to send me:

Grammar exercises: 
http://www.englishgrammarsecrets.com


Listening comprehension:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/sixminute

I think this might be a bit too easy for your level.

A list of words with prepositions:
http://www.stage-door.org/stampact/preps.html

Thank you Katja!

Prepositions

Basic prepositions:
Here you can find some exercises on basic prepositions.  The key to the exercises is hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy) 

Noun, adjective and verb + preposition:
Here you can find some exercises on nouns, adjectives and verbs which are used with certain prepositions.  The key for the exercises are also hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Phrasal verbs:
Here you can find some exercises on phrasal verbs.  The key to the exercises is hereby made available. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy) 

Tenses and key words

Here you can find many exercises on tenses.  I am also hereby making a list of all the tenses and key words available.

False friends for French

Here you can find a list of false between French and English.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Semicolon, colon and lists

In Sections  2.5 - 2.10 of the English Style Guide published by the Directorate-General for Translation, you can find the rules on the use of colon and semicolon with the appropriate hyperlinks for other relevant issues, such as lists.

You can hereby find more information on the use of colon and semicolon as well as providing lists as it is presented in the Interinstitutional Style Guide.

Here you can find a document on the use of semicolon and colon, including the use of the latter to introduce lists.  The first rule on the use of colon in this document is at odds with what is said in the Commission's "English Style Guide" and  the "Interinstitutional Style Guide".

Here you can find a quiz on the use of colon and semicolon with the key and explanations.  In the explanation for the answer to question 21, you can find the capitalization rule in sentences after colon.

Relative, -ed and -ing clauses

Here you can find some exercises on relative, -ed and -ing clauses along with the key.

Subject-Verb agreement

You can find a document on subject-verb agreement with exercises here.  The key for the exercises is available here.

A longer document entitled "Grammar and Punctuation for Business Communication"  is hereby available.  Please refer to pages 11 - 14 for subject-verb agreement. 

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Future tenses

Here you can find many exercises on tenses.  I am also hereby making a list of all the tenses and key words available. You can do exercises 18 - 28, which deal with future tenses.

Interinstitutional and Commission style guides

Here you can find the Interinstitutional style guide. 

"English Style Guide" released by the Commission can be accessed  here.

Latin terms, phrases, abbreviations and acronyms

You can find a list of Latin terms, phrases abbreviations and acronyms that can be used in English here.

PS: The abbreviation for the Latin phrase et alii is 'et al.' with a dot at the end.  Here is a general rule for the use of the dot in abbreviations:  If the last letter of the word being abbreviated is not the same as the last letter of the abbreviation, you need the dot.  What are the abbreviations for 'professor', 'doctor', 'mister' and 'abbreviation'?