Graduate DiplomaReading & Writing Session 20

Reading & Writing Skills Review

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

IS IT AN ENGLISH SENTENCE?

Here are my suggestions for completing the sentences we didn’t have time to look at in yesterday’s class:

•If you are serious about impressing Bandar, learn about stem cell technology and then try to engage him

in a scientific conversation.

•Seiko thinks that the 1000-word essay, a report on an article, is the most difficult piece of writing she has

ever done YES

•In Konstantinos’ opinion, one of the most violent movies in the world of cinema, Texas Chainsaw

Massacre is unsuitable for any viewers under the age of 25.

•Although English grammar is not recognized as an Olympic event, which is a pity, it is more useful than

rowing or archery, or indeed any of the events that British competitors do well in.

•These days you rarely meet men as interesting and intelligent as Chimuco.

•One way of starting a conversation with Chao, if you can get his attention, is by talking about money, his

favourite subject.

A QUICK WORD ON REPORTING VERBS

Look at the handout Mark gives you...can you divide these verbs into three categories?

Verb + (that) + what was said / written

Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written)

Verb + object + (that) what was said / written

Verb + that + what was said / written

Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written)

Verb + object + what was said / written

say

state

suggest

argue

explain

Verb + that + what was said / written

Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written)

Verb + object + what was said / written

say

state

suggest

argue

explain

explain

describe

discuss

Verb + that + what was said / written

Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written)

Verb + object + what was said / written

say

state

suggest

argue

explain

explain

describe

discuss

tell

ask

inform

PARAGRAPHING

EVEN technology pundits can sometimes be right. Jason

Calacanis, an entrepreneur and noted agent provocateur, recently

argued that there is a simple solution to the woes of both Microsoft

and big media companies. Now a system has been developed to

make it easier for blind people to navigate the internet, use word-

processing software and even trace the shapes of graphs and

charts. The world’s largest software firm should pay Time Warner,

News Corporation and others firms to block Google, the search

giant, from indexing their content–and make it searchable

exclusively through Bing, Microsoft’s new search service.

COMPUTERS have become such an integral part of life, in the rich

world at least, that even social networking is done online. The

blind, however, are often excluded from such interactions. Its

inventors hope it will enable more blind people to work in offices.

He set the auction record for any jewel.

“If you have money to invest, there is no safer haven than

something rare,” says Laurence Graff, the London-born “King of

Diamonds”. If this is sales talk, he is his own best customer. Media

companies would thus get badly needed cash and Bing a chance

to gain market share from Google. In December 2008, during some

of the bleakest days of the credit crisis, Mr Graff paid $24.3m for

the 35.56-carat, 17th-century Wittelsbach blue diamond at

Christie’s in London. But in his opinion, “it was the bargain of the

century.In my life, it is the rarest of them all; it is the supreme

coloured diamond.”

FEELING IN THE DARK

COLOUR ME DAZZLED

WEB-WIDE WAR

EVEN technology pundits can sometimes be right. Jason

Calacanis, an entrepreneur and noted agent provocateur, recently

argued that there is a simple solution to the woes of both Microsoft

and big media companies. The world’s largest software firm should

pay Time Warner, News Corporation and others firms to block

Google, the search giant, from indexing their content–and make it

searchable exclusively through Bing, Microsoft’s new search

service.

Media companies would thus get badly needed cash and Bing a

chance to gain market share from Google.

COMPUTERS have become such an integral part of

life, in the rich world at least, that even social

networking is done online. The blind, however, are often

excluded from such interactions. Its inventors hope it

will enable more blind people to work in offices.

Now a system has been developed to make it easier for

blind people to navigate the internet, use word-

processing software and even trace the shapes of

graphs and charts.

“If you have money to invest, there is no safer haven

than something rare,” says Laurence Graff, the London-

born “King of Diamonds”. If this is sales talk, he is his

own best customer. In December 2008, during some of

the bleakest days of the credit crisis, Mr Graff paid

$24.3m for the 35.56-carat, 17th-century Wittelsbach

blue diamond at Christie’s in London. But in his opinion,

“it was the bargain of the century.In my life, it is the

rarest of them all; it is the supreme coloured diamond.”

He set the auction record for any jewel.