Training day: Are we clear?

Here is a training-day invitation email, in case you have not received it.  Thank you Bruno!

Dear Colleagues,

Do you sometimes find Commission documents hard to understand? Have you ever felt you weren’t getting your message across clearly? Have you ever fallen asleep at a conference? If so, you are not alone!

Be sure to come to our ground-breaking one-day event on clear communication - 'Are we clear?' - covering clear writing, speaking and thinking.

 






Who should attend?  All staff of the Commission

Why?  We often struggle to explain what we want and what we do (both to external and internal stakeholders)

What is there for you?  You can attend conferences and workshops, watch videos of great speeches, and discover many learning tools (some online) that we can use daily to improve our communication – some examples:

• Writing - Colleagues from DGT  will give individual tuition on editing texts (you can bring your own!)
• Thinking - Workshops on mind-mapping    
• Speaking  - Tips on how to make a good presentation
  

Do I need to attend the entire day? No , you can come and go during the day for the part of the program that interests you (having registered in Syslog beforehand)

So look out for the posters and notices. Don’t forget to apply via Syslog Web Training <http://www.cc.cec/di/syslog_formation/catalogue/catalogue.cfm> for the talks or workshops that tickle your fancy!  Search for 'Are we clear' or go to 7.1 Conferences.  First come, first served! (Closing date 13 November)

If you want to know more about our day, go to the 'Are we clear?' <http://myintracomm.ec.europa.eu/HR_ADMIN/EN/TRAINING/CLEAR-COMMUNICATION-DAY/Pages/index.aspx> webpage.

And if you are not able to come to GUIM, you will be able to follow the conferences taking place in room 0/1 via  webstreaming. The link will be published on the 'Are we clear?' webpage on 14 November.

The 'Are we clear?' team:
Diane de Blaye
Loredana Vullo
Ana Yturriaga

Relative, -ed and -ing clauses

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

Subjunctive

A webpage on the use of subjunctive is hereby made available.

Summary Exercise

Here you can find the text to be read for a double-spaced summary of maximum 1.5 pages. As you will see, there is a short piece entitled "The poor, the rich and Bulgaria", which is inserted into the longer acticle; try to incorporate it into the summary of the long one. Just in case you have problems downloading and/or printing out the document, I will be sending it to you as an email attachment. Please email me your summary as an attached Word document before our next session on 26th of October.

Linking words

The first and second parts of the documents on linking words are hereby available.  You can also find the key for the exercises here.  As you do the exercises, please remember the following three types of linking words we have identified:

• Linking words that connect two parts of the same sentence as in the following example: We only have one week off for Easter, so we will be staying in Brussels.
• Linking words that connect two separate sentences as in the following four examples, which are different ways of saying the same thing:

1. We only have one week off for Easter.  Therefore, we will be staying in Brussels.
2. We only have one week off for Easter; therefore, we will be staying in Brussels.
3. We only have one week off for Easter.  We will, therefore, be staying in Brussels.
4. We only have one week off for Easter; we will, therefore, be staying in Brussels.

• Linking words that are covered under both the first and second types as in the four following examples:

1. Besides giving his friend a lift after work, he helped her with her grocery shopping.
2. He helped his friend with her grocery shopping, besides giving her a lift after work.
3. I am afraid I am not allowed to help you with that question.  Besides, I do not know the answer myself.
4. I am afraid I am not allowed to help you with that question; besides, I do not know the answer myself.

Note that the meaning of the word 'besides'  in the first two examples is different from its meaning in the last two examples.

In all these examples, please pay special attention to the punctuation.

Conditionals

Here you can find some information and exercises on conditionals.

Here you can find information and exercises on the same topic along with the key for the exercises. (Source: English Grammar in Use. Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Here you can find more mixed exercises on conditionals as well as other linking words that can be used in conditionals. There are also some exercises on expressing wishes.

Position of adverbs

Here are the main rules and exceptions on the position of adverbs in sentences:

First rule: if there is only one verb in the sentence, the adverb comes before the verb as in the following example: He usually comes to work on time.
Exception to the first rule: if the only verb in the sentence is 'to be', the adverb comes after the verb as in the following example:  He is usually on time.

Second rule: If there is more than one verb in the sentence, the adverb comes after the first verb as in the following example: He has already arrived at work.
First exception to the second rule: if the first verb in the sentence is an auxiliary verb with 'to', i.e., have to, need to, ought to and used to, the adverb comes before the first verb as in the following example: He usually has to start working by 9:30 AM.
Second exception to the second rule: if the first verb in the sentence is a contracted negation, the adverbs 'probably', 'possibly' and 'certainly' come before the first verb as in the following example: He probably won't come to work on time.

These being the main rules and exceptions, there is more to this topic.  You can find more information on this webpage, which also provides you with some exercises.