What happened to you the last time you did a presentation? Did you get tongue-tight? Did you prepare well but did not know what to say? Did you have some big ideas to talk about but ……
Well, if you have a better knowledge of English, if you know more about grammar, or if you understand sentence structures better, will it make a (big) difference?
Well, actually there are 3 patterns, practical and useful, for you:
Pattern 1: that + ‘sentence’
e.g. The CEO suggested that we cut the cost on marketing.
Pattern 2: followed by Verb+ing
e.g. We will consider meeting the deadline (suggested by your company).
Pattern 3: person + to+verb
e.g. The bank manager advised his frontline staff to be polite.
In this post you will learn more about Pattern 1.
Pattern 1 (that + ‘sentence’): When to use it?
So you may think pattern 1 seems easy. But the point is: when to use it? When you have something that is loooooong, when you have an idea, you take this pattern. (Well, of course, make sure your idea is a good one!)
So examples of ideas that are loooong and good may be:
that we are going to change the world
that our company is going to dominate the market
that the product will be a hot item for the next ten years
that we are going to change the way (customers think about smart phones)
Verbs that Go with Pattern 1
Well, you’ve got the gun, I mean the sentence pattern. But you still need one more thing. What is it? Obviously, you need bullets, or verbs that you can use to go with this pattern. There are quite a lot, but for the purpose of business, there are (usually) 6 bullets:
admit accept
suggest promise
explain claim
