09 July 2008 - Written by Rob

Sometimes, verbs are used as nouns, and when this is the case they become known as ‘gerunds’. If we say ‘He is fishing’, the main verb in this sentence is fishing (it is in present continuous form; subject + auxiliary verb ‘to be’ + main verb with ‘ing’). However, if we say ‘He likes fishing’, ‘fishing’ in this case is not a verb; it functions as a noun - fishing as a concept, a sport, a ‘thing’. The verb in the sentence is ‘likes’. The gerund is formed by adding ‘ing’ to the infinitive (or root) of the verb.

Some of the most common circumstances when gerunds can be used include the following:

- After verbs that mean liking or disliking: like, love, enjoy, hate, dislike etc.

Eg. We really love yodelling

- After verbs that indicate the end or beginning of an action: begin, start, finish, end etc.

Eg. She started combing her nephew’s hair

In some cases it is not permissible to use a gerund, and the to-infinitive must be used (to eat, to go, to follow). In other cases the bare infinitive is used (eat, go, follow).

Fill in the blanks in these sentences with the gerund form :

1. Have you ever seen anybody _______ (throw) a boomerang. (Gerund used after verb of sensation - see)
2. I remember _______ (put) the papers somewhere on the table.
3. I’m really looking forward to _______ (taste) one of those cakes of yours.
4.She remembers _______ (go) out of school and _______ (have) tea with her friends.

15 May 2008 - Written by Jeanne

HR and Recruitment Discussions and Roleplay

Decide if you would employ the people below for a job in your company, and if so for which job(s). Would you need to ask them to change anything or explain anything about the job and/ or the company before you offered them the job and they started work?

1. In the job interview, this person told you lots of inside gossip about their present company, which is one of your chief competitors

2. This person has a tattoo in a place where it is very difficult or impossible to hide

3. This person has a pierced nose. Although you could ask them to take it out at work, you would still be able to see the hole if you look closely.

4. This person is a high flier with an exceptional educational background, but they spent the whole job interview boasting about their achievements

5. This person came to the interview wearing a nice suit but with a food stain on one sleeve and their shirt not properly tucked in

6. This person never stops telling jokes

7. This person mentioned several things that they think are wrong with your company that they would like to help change in the job interview

8. This person was wearing a very expensive suit and watch but was only applying for a starter level position

9. This person wrote down everything you said during the job interview and then asked you the 15 questions they had written, ticking off each one as you answered it

Roleplay the second interviews with the people above

March 20th, 2008

How to talk about pregnancy and babies.

My friend got pregnant / conceived in April and her baby was born in January.

She waited until the second trimester (after three months) to tell people, as by then there is less risk of losing the baby / having a miscarriage. During the pregnancy she had terrible morning sickness and she also had cravings (a strong desire to eat something) for cheese and pickle sandwiches.

The birth itself was uncomplicated. She went into labour at midnight, and the baby was born at 7 a.m. She didn’t feel too much pain and didn’t need an epidural. Instead, she was on drips to make the contractions come a little quicker. Her midwife (special nurse who follows a woman throughout pregnancy) was with her during the birth, just to make sure that everything went well. Luckily, it was a normal delivery and she didn’t need a Caesarean section (operation). The doctor cut the cord and put the baby on her stomach. He said “Congratulations! It’s a healthy baby girl!”

She and her husband prepared their house before she went into hospital. They decorated the nursery. They also had to buy some baby equipment, such as a baby bath, a changing mat (on which they will change the baby’s nappies), a carry cot (so they can carry the baby around), a cot (for the baby to sleep in), a mobile (to hang over the cot so that the baby can see moving shapes) and more teddy bears than any baby can need. Friends have bought them baby clothes already, so they are as ready as they can be for their new baby.

February 21st ,2008

High Speed One opens

A new high speed rail link between London and Paris has brought the two capitals closer together, shaving 20 minutes off the journey time. The link that starts at London’s St Pancras station also cuts 25 minutes off the journey time to Brussels.

The French opened their stretch of the high speed line back in 1993, a year before the tunnel under the English Channel itself opened. The high speed line to Brussels was finished in 1997; and now, ten years after that, Britain has finally caught up with its 12 billion dollar line High Speed One.

At 11:01 the First Eurostar, named “Tread Lightly” to emphasise the environmental advantage of rail travel, edged smoothly out of the station heading for Paris. Just minutes later, the first fast train arrived from Brussels and passengers spilled out onto the platform to give their first impressions of the journey:

PASSENGERS: Great, yeah, very fast and… it’s fantastic. Great, you said right - it was a wonderful journey.

But much of the excitement here has focused not on the fast links to Europe but on the lovingly refurbished Victorian train-shed - a jewel from the age of steam - now sporting what claims to be the longest champagne bar in Europe, and it sits under what was when built the largest single span roof in the world.

But most of Britain’s mainline trains trundle along at nothing like the 186 miles per hour of the Eurostar. Rail enthusiasts are already asking, if this is High Speed One, when will there be a High Speed Two? The answer is still, no time soon.

caught up with
here, got, received (’to catch up’ means to do something you couldn’t do earlier)

Tread Lightly
behave carefully to avoid upsetting or causing offence to anyone or anything (here, to be environmentally friendly)

to emphasise the environmental advantage of rail travel
to make sure people understand that taking a train causes less harm to the environment than some other means of transportation, e.g. an airplane

edged smoothly out of
left/departed from with no interruption or difficulty

heading for
going to

spilled out
came out (here, of the train) in large numbers

lovingly refurbished
rebuilt and redecorated by builders with fondness

a jewel from the age of steam
a unique and remarkable building that was built when trains were still powered by steam engines

sporting
featuring, having

trundle along at nothing like
move at speeds far less than

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The car has become a big part of our daily lives. The biggest developments in car making were made by Henry Ford for the Ford Motor Company. It was on this day October 1st 1908, that Henry Ford introduced his model T which changed the way we travel, work and live.

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile changed transportation and American industry. He was a prolific inventor and was awarded 161 U.S. patents. As owner of the Ford Company he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He created “Fordism”, that is, the mass production of large numbers of inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line which could finish a car in 98 minutes, and also high wages for his workers—especially the $5.00 per day pay he introduced in 1914.

• Founder - one who starts a company.
• Assembly line - an arrangement of workers, machines, and equipment in which the product being assembled passes consecutively from operation to operation until completed.
• Mass production - the production of large amounts of standardized products on assembly lines.
• Prolific - producing a lot of works or results.
• Award - something given for victory or superiority in a contest or competition.
• Patent - a document granting an inventor rights to an invention.

Ford was born on July 30, 1863, on a farm next to a small town west of Detroit, Michigan. His father, William Ford, was born in County Cork, Ireland. His mother, Mary Litogot Ford, was born in Michigan; she was the youngest child of Belgian immigrants.
Henry took this passion about mechanics into his home. His father had given him a pocket watch in his early teens. At fifteen, he had a reputation as a watch repairman, having dismantled and reassembled timepieces of friends and neighbours many times.
In 1891, Ford became an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company, and after his promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893, he had enough time and money to devote attention to his personal tests on gasoline engines. These tests ended in 1896 with the completion of his own self-propelled vehicle named the Quadricycle, which he test-drove on June 4. After many test-drives, Henry Ford thought of ways to improve the Quadricycle.

• Passion - strong feeling or emotion.
• Mechanics - design, construction, and use of machinery or mechanical structures.
• Teens - the time of life between the ages of 12 and 20.
• Reputation - the general opinion that the public has for a person.
• Dismantle - take off or remove.
• Reassemble - to fit or join the parts of (something) together again.
• Promotion - progress, growth.
• Devote - to give or apply (one’s time, attention, or self) entirely to a particular activity, cause, or person.
• Self-propelled – having the ability to move alone.

At age 40, Ford, with 11 other investors and $28,000, started the Ford Motor Company in 1903. In a newly-designed car, Ford gave an exhibition on the ice of Lake St. Clair, driving one mile (1.6 km) in 39.4 seconds, setting a new land speed record at 91.3 miles per hour (147.0 km/h). Convinced by this success, the race driver Barney Oldfield, took the car around the country, making the Ford brand known around the United States.
Ford surprised the world in 1914 by offering a $5 per day wage which more than doubled the rate of most of his workers.
The Model T was introduced on October 1, 1908. It had many important innovations—such as the steering wheel on the left, which every other company soon copied. The entire engine and gearbox were enclosed.

• Invest - to commit money hoping to gain a financial return.
• Exhibition - a public showing.
• Record - the known history of performance, activities, or achievement.
• Convinced - very sure.
• Double - to make twice the size.
• Innovation - something introduced for the first time.
• Steering wheel - a wheel that controls the course of a boat or automotive vehicle.
• Copy - an imitation or reproduction of an original.
• Gearbox - an automotive assembly of gears and associated parts by which power is transmitted from the engine to a driving axle.

The car was very simple to drive, and—more importantly—easy and cheap to fix. It was so cheap at $825 in 1908 (the price fell every year) that by the 1920s a majority of American drivers learned to drive on the Model T.
Always looking for more good production and lower costs, in 1913 Ford introduced the moving assembly belts into his plants, which enabled an enormous increase in production.
By 1918, half of all cars in America were Model T’s. As Ford wrote in his autobiography, “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black”. Until the development of the assembly line which used black because of its quicker drying time, Model T’s were available in other colours including red. The design was passionately promoted and defended by Henry Ford, and production continued as late as 1927; the final total production was 15,007,034. This was a record which stood for the next 45 years.
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson personally asked Ford to run for the United States Senate. Although the nation was at war, Ford ran as a peace candidate and was a strong supporter of the suggested League of Nations. In December 1918, Henry Ford turned the presidency of Ford Motor Company over to his son Edsel Ford. Henry, however, kept final decision authority. Henry and Edsel bought all other parts from other investors, giving the family ownership of the company.

• Autobiography - the biography of a person written by that person.
• Candidate - a person who seeks or is nominated for an office, prize, or honour.
• Ownership - the state or fact of being an owner.

By the mid-1920s, sales of the Model T began to go down because of rising competition. Other auto makers offered payment plans through which customers could buy their cars, which usually included more modern mechanical features and style not available with the Model T. Despite pressure from Edsel, Henry refused to add new features into the Model T or to form a customer payment plan.
By 1926, slowing sales of the Model T finally convinced Henry to make a new model car. Henry entered the project with a great deal of technical experience in design of the engine, chassis, and other mechanical parts, while leaving the body design to his son.

• Feature - a prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, or characteristic.
• Payment plan - a credit system by which payment is made in small amounts over a fixed period of time.
• Chassis – the part that holds the body and motor together

Henry Ford was a pioneer of “welfare capitalism” designed to employ and keep the best workers . On January 5, 1914 Ford announced his five-dollar per day program. The revolutionary program called for a lowering in the length of the workday from 9 to 8 hours, a 5 day work week, and a raise in minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5.
Ford had been criticized by businesses for starting the 40 hour work week and a minimum wage. He showed, however, that paying people more would enable Ford workers to afford the cars they were producing and so be good for the economy. Ford called the higher compensationprofit-sharing rather than wages.

• Pioneer - one who opens up new areas of thought, research, or development.
• Welfare capitalism - the practice of businesses providing services to employees.
• Announce - to make known publicly.
• Program - a system of services, opportunities, or projects, usually designed to meet a social need.
• Revolutionary – making a big change.
• Criticize – To find a problem with.
• Minimum wage - the lowest hourly, daily or monthly wage that employers may legally pay to employees or workers.
• Enable – make possible.
• Compensation - Something, such as money, given or received as payment or reparation, as for a service or loss.
• Profit-sharing - various plans introduced by businesses that give direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company’s profits in addition to employees’ regular salary and bonuses.