Sentence Structure – Mind Learning Association

How to Make Complex Sentences (1)

George — Sat, 02 Mar 2019 14:08:00 +0000

If you want to speak and write good English, there is one thing you must know how to make. What is it? How to make complex sentences.
There are lots of ways to make complex sentences. One of them is to start with simple sentences. Yes, from SIMPLE to COMPLEX. You don’t believe it. Read the following simple sentence.

Situation	At a presentation
	This will make money (for our company).

The sentence is like a piece of cake, right? Simple and easy. Yet, you can make it complex by changing the first word of the sentence, the word ‘this’. In other words, you can change it to, for example:

What I have just said

Yes, it is so easy that you just change ‘this’ into something like a sentence:

What I have just said will make money (for our company).

So it’s like magic, right? You think the magic was too fast. Don’t worry. Read the following table:

Simple	This	will make money (for our company).
Complex	What I have just said	will make money (for our company).

So the Feel Good tip is: Starting a sentence with ‘Wh’ words.

The tip applies to other ‘Wh’ words too, for example:

When you say something	is important.
How you present your ideas	is the key (to success).

Sentence Patterns for Presentations

George — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 14:59:00 +0000

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:

(pic source)

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

Sentences & Verbs (2)

George — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 10:29:00 +0000

This summer I went some kind of diving in Bali with my family. When we were done, I talked to a diving coach, in English. We chatted and chatted. Yet, all of a sudden, something popped into my mind. What is that something? In our conversation, I found something, something that is unique to most Asian languages. What is it? There is a missing baby.

A. What is a Missing Baby (Verb)?

Read our conversation and you will know what I am talking about.

Me	You live here, right? So what do you think about Bali?
Coach	Bali good. People nice.
Me	Yes, coaches here are good and nice too.

So you may ask: What is the problem with saying Bali good instead of ‘Bali is good‘. There will not be any problem if you don’t want to speed up your learning of English.

B. Three Types of Verbs

If you want to enhance your proficiency in English, both written and spoken, (there is) one thing you can’t afford to miss:

Types of Verbs

If you think I am going to give you some grammatical terms that are boring and dry, well think again. There are funny names for the three types of verbs in English, namely:

Type 1

Baby Verbs

e.g. is/am/are/was/were/been

Type 2

Non-Baby Verbs

e.g. run a business, develop a program, discuss an issue

Type 3

Helping Verbs

Can you name the three types of verbs?

For this post the focus is on the first type of verbs: Baby Verbs. Why do I call them Baby Verbs? Well, they do ‘almost nothing‘. What do I mean by ‘almost nothing’? They (Baby Verbs) are just something sticky, so sticky that they link the left with the right, as shown below.

Left

Right

These entrepreneurs < ——- are ——-> (digitally) smart.

Well (being) sticky is nothing special, why do you have to care about them?

C. The Mermaid Structure

It is because there is another thing about sentence structures of English. What is it? It has something to do with diving too. Before you get the answer, check out the following mermaid.

What do you see? Now look at it again from another angle (perspective):

Do you see that? What? The mermaid is ‘divided’ into three parts. So what is my point? You can break a sentence in English into three parts? Which three: Head, Body, and Tail. So do you think you can give the following sentence a go? Break it into three.

Creating a new business model is not so easy.

When you break it into three parts, you will find that ‘creating’ is not a verb. Instead, ‘is’ the sticky thing, the Baby Verb, is the verb of the sentence.

HEAD	BODY	TAIL
Creating a new business model	is	not so easy.

The problem of Missing Babies becomes more serious if you try to make a long sentence (at a meeting):

Head	Body	\|Tail
What I am going to present today	Missing Baby Verb (is)	a plan to change the world

So for the sake of easy memory, we will give the structure a name: Hot Mermaid (Head, Body, & Tail).

Sentence & Verb (2)

George — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Do you want to enhance your written English? Do you want to speak better English? If you do, you have to have a ‘feel of sentences‘. How do you ‘feel’ it? Look at the picture and you’ll get the answer:

You have to visualize a sentence to locate the Big Verbs and Small Verbs. (Want the grammar terms? Well, Big Verbs are finite verbs and Small Verbs are non-finite.)

The Technique of Visualization

What technique is it? Read the following sentence:

Protesters urge Hong Kong to protect Snowden.

The Big Verb comes first and the Small Verb comes next. Now visualize the sentence and it becomes: Protesters urge Hong Kong to protect Snowden. The Big Verb is urge and the Small Verb is to protect.

And there is one more thing to help you consolidate your ‘feel’ of sentence structures. What is it?

Small Verbs come in two shapes. Which two shapes? Read on.

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Shape 1: with a head

We have decided to renew our contract with Goooogle.

It is important to submit your report before the deadline.

As you can see from the above examples, ‘renew’ and ‘submit’ are Small Verbs because they come after the two Big Verbs (have decided and is). Moreover, they have to come with a head ‘to’, so that they are in a funny shape: to + verb. So, when you visualize the two sentences, they become:

We have decided torenew our contract with Goooogle.

It is important tosubmit your report before the deadline.

Want examples to be used at your office or school? When you present your brilliant idea, you may start with:

I am here totalk about how to change the world.

I aim totalk about how to change the world.

.

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Shape 2: with a tail

Other Small Verbs are lucky. They come with something beautiful, a mermaid. Oh sorry, I mean, a tail. What tail is it? Read the following sentences:

The CEO suggested cutting the budget on advertising.

There is no reason for giving up the plan now.

So the tail is: verb + ing.

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In a word, the two special shapes for Small Verbs are: Shape 1: with a head ( to+verb), e.g. You are here tolearn sentence structures; Shape 2: with a tail (Verb+ing), e.g. We suggest visualizing a sentence.

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However, you may ask a question, probably a bigger one: How do you know which shape to choose? Or some even bigger questions may pop up in your mind:

Why are certain verbs followed by to+verb?

(i.e. agree to finish it)

Why are certain verbs followed by verb+ing?

(i.e. suggest finishing it)

You can find the answers here.

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Pic Sources
http://www.flickr.com/photos/notsogoodphotography/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829510801/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/owally/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/photowu/

Sentence & Verb (1)

George — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 15:49:00 +0000

3 questions for you.

Is English your mother tongue? Do your parents talk to you in English all the time? Do you think English sentences are something easy to master? If your answers to the questions are negative, then this post is important to you.

How?

It will probably change the ways you think about English sentences.

Yet, don’t just sit where you are. This post asks you to finish two tasks that are dangerous. You have to be a superhero or super heroine so you must get changed. So are you ready now?

But wait a minute, before you transform yourself, there a sentence for you:

Our company planned to develop a new product.

I guess it’s easy to understand the meaning of the sentence, but the questions are:

● What is ‘to expand’? Is it the same as ‘expand’?

to develop VS develop

● Is there anything wrong with:

Our company planned developed a new product.

It is absolutely wrong to put ‘planned developed‘ together in a sentence.

What’s Wrong with Two Verbs Coming Together?

But why is it wrong? Why can’t we put two verbs together (in a sentence)? Before you know why, there are 2 problems for you to solve:

1. A Crash of Two Cars (Verbs)

2. A House with Two Wives (Verbs)

Problem 1: A Crash of Two Cars (Verbs)

Now you are a superhero or super heroine walking on a street. Do you know the name of the street?

The Street of Sentence

You may imagine that a sentence is like a one-way street and verbs are like cars. What happens if two cars from opposite directions running into each other at full speed?

So to prevent any car accidents (crash) from happening, you, the hero or heroine, have to do something about it. What is it? You are going to get the answers after you have read the details of the second ‘accident’, a tougher one:

Problem 2: A House with Two Wives (Verbs)

This time, there are two ladies sitting in one house. They chat and chat and chat and chat. They find out that they have lots of things in common, like the same models of mobile phones and taste for clothes. Yet, what they don’t want to know but finally find out is: they share the same husband.

So what is the point? My point is: An English sentence is like a house. It can’t have two wives (two verbs) in it. So, what can you do to stop the fight? You will do something about it, right? You have to think different, not about women, but about English. You have to group verbs into two types:

Big Verbs

Small Verbs

What are Big Verbs & Small Verbs?

Although men think that sizes matter, in the world of English it is different. Big Verbs and Small Verbs have nothing to do with their sizes.

Big Verbs are only verbs that come first in a sentence, pretty much like a first-born child in a family. In other words, a sentence is like a family, in which a first born child is privileged (given special rights).

That is, a verb can be big or small, depending on its position in a sentence.

Any verb that comes first in a sentence is a big one; any verb that comes next is a small one.

(If you want some grammar terms, Big Verbs are finite verbs and Small Verbs are non-finite.) So in the sentence, ‘Our company planned to develop a new product’

‘planned’ is a Big Verb, and

‘to expand’ is a Small Verb.

	Big Verb	Small Verb
Our company	planned	to develop	a new product.

So to get the point of Big Verbs and Small Verbs, you may visualize sentences.

Whenever you read a sentence, try to look for the first verb (Big Verb) and then the second verb (Small Verb).

For example, the following sentence will be something different.

We plan to reduce our budget on travel allowances.

↓

We plan to reduce our budget on travel allowances.

↓

plan to reduce

Well, are we done? Not so soon. More about Big and Small Verbs are to come.

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Pic Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenkerns/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diloz/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/89619746@N02/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gareth1953/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnon/

Good vs Well + Complex Sentences

George — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:04:00 +0000

When your coworkers or friends say, ‘How are you?’, how will you reply? Which one (of the following) do you prefer? ‘I am Good‘ or ‘I am Well‘.

Are they the same? Absolutely not. ‘I am well‘ has something to do with your health, which is why you hear people say: I am not feeling well. So when people say, ‘How are you?’, the usual reply is: ‘I am good.’

——————————–
Got it, right? But there is something more about ‘Good VS Well’. They (Good & Well) live in two totally different worlds. How totally different are they? ‘Good’ lives in the Fantasy Land of Baby Verbs but ‘Well’ lives somewhere else.

A. The Fantasy Land of Baby Verbs

Where on earth is the Fantasy Land of Baby Verbs? Do you still remember Snow White? When she was in the forest with the seven dwarfs, what did she do? Almost nothing, except singing and doing some housework. (I guess she was the one who inspired Japanese to invent karaoke!)

Oh, sorry, I almost forgot to introduce to you the family of Baby Verbs. Who are they? They are: be, is, am, are, was, were, being, and been.

So what does this family have to do with ‘good’? Baby Verbs and ‘Good’ live in another fantasy land, similar to where Snow White lives. (Have they ever met? Who knows?) But just like Snow White, Baby Verbs do almost nothing. What do ‘Baby Verbs’ do? Or, what does ‘almost nothing’ mean?

B. Baby Verbs & ‘Good’

What exactly do Baby Verbs do in their fantasy land? Look at the pic and you’ll get it:

Yes, they suck their fingers and are just STICKY. That is, as Baby Verbs are so sticky that what they do is: ‘connecting’ two things’. Which two things? Their fingers and mouths? No, but things on the left and things on the right. Am I kidding? Of course not.

Read the ‘table’ below:

Left	+	Right
I	< —–am—–>	good

‘Am‘ is a Baby Verb that links the things on its left to the right. A piece of cake, right? Yet, not ‘everybody’ is allowed to get into the Fantasy Land of Baby Verbs.

C. The Citizens of the Fantasy Land of Baby Verbs: NAP

As babies take a nap (a small rest) all the time, they only welcome NAP to enter the land. What does NAP stand for?

Baby Verb

Noun

Adjective

Preposition

——————————–
So how does NAP enhance your English?

C1. Citizen N: Nouns

To make sure you write and speak good English, add no other verbs but just NOUNS after a Baby Verb.

	Baby Verb	Noun (a loooong one)
The business process	is	the link between the business strategy, business models and day-to-day operation.

(Does anyone say you can’t add a loooooong noun after a Baby Verb?)

C2. Citizen A: Adjectives

When making an offer to a company, you may give them time to think about it. This is exactly the time when Citizen ‘A’ comes to the stage: The offer is firm (for 5 working days).

C3. Citizen P: Citizen P(s) are special.

How special are they? They are team players. What does that mean? They are team players that they can make your presentation more powerful. You don’t believe it? Or you want to know how to to it?

Before you know how, meet the following team:

for +++++++ of

How to use them in your presentation?

a. This is for the benefit of our team.

b. For the sake of clarity, I will make a long story short.

‘For + of’ is not the only team. Another team includes:

in ++++++ with

in accordance with
in common with
in compliance with
in connection with
in line with

This team is special too. You may use it to agree with somebody (in a meeting), for example:

We are in line with your team (on the issue of having a pay rise).

You think that’s it. Not yet! Level II is waiting for you. Are you up to the challenge?

D. Baby Verbs & Complex Sentences

Though Baby Verbs are just sticky and take a NAP all the time, they can help you build complex sentence structures in your presentations or meetings. Read the following simple sentence and you will know how.

Situation	At a presentation
Sample Sentence	I am going to talk about how to change the world.

Looks easy, right? But you can make it complex by changing the first part of the sentence, ‘I am going to talk about‘. How? There is a two-step method for you.

———————————————————
Step 1. Use ‘Wh‘ word to start the sentence:

What I am going to talk about

Step 2. Add the Baby Verb ‘is‘, so the sentence becomes:

What I am going to talk about

is how to change the world.

You think it’s still a bit complicated. The whole thing is summarized in the following table for you:

Simple	I am going to talk about	how to change the world.
Complex	What I am going to talk about is	how to change the world.

In other words, you just have to add ‘What’ and the Baby Verb ‘is‘.

(Click the link if you want to know more about Baby Verbs?)

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References

Biber, D., et al. (1999). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Pearson Education Limited.

Parrot, M. (2010). Grammar for English Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press.

Yule, G. (1998). Explaining English Grammar, Oxford University Press.

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Additional Sources

Nelson, S. “10 Useful Hints for Everyday Grammar.” The Stranger, September 26, 2002. www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=12084

Boyanova, M. “English Grammar and Writing Tips: Using ‘Good’ and ‘Well’ Correctly.”
www.studyenglishtoday.net/english-grammar-using-good-and-well.html

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Pic sources

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aheram/5345121635/sizes/z/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829451467/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Verbs and Kids

George — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:42:00 +0000

Summary: The post is about how to make sentences with regard to verbs in English. You will understand that words are like children that they change all the time, that is, the same word can be a noun or a verb. In other words, the post attempts to change the way you think about English, with funny and interesting examples of words: butter, can, and text. Enjoy your reading!

Do you want to speed up your learning of English? If you do, then you have to treat words like a kid. Yes, treat English words like a kid. What does that mean? It means words change like a kid. It means verbs change like a kid that they are not the same all the time.

Want an example? Take the simple word ‘butter’. We usually think of it as a thing (noun), right? But it can be a verb too. How? Read the following dialogue:

Is the bread tasty?

Yes, it’s good.

Do you want to butter the bread?

The ‘butter’ in the sentence is not the butter you eat. But it is an action: spreading butter on bread. So when you meet the girl in the picture, you may say:

‘Hi, Baby, do you want me to butter the pancake for you?’

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Want a more challenging example for you. Well, are you ready for the challenge? Read the weird (unusual) dialogue:

I need some help?

What is it?

Can you can this can?

No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. There are 3 ‘cans’ in the sentence. And they are like three ‘kids’ (the same kid) running on a beach.

So sounds a bit confusing? Well, the ‘Can No. 2’ is the key to understand the sentence. ‘Can No 1’ shows that you’re polite. ‘Can No. 2’ is an action. ‘Can No. 3’ may mean a can of, say, drink. So when you put them together: ‘Can you can this can?‘ means ‘Can you open the can?’.

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What does this have to with your daily life? Well, westerners have been using it all the time. Want an example? Text. The word ‘text’ is originally a noun, but westerners use it as a verb, an action, for example: I will text you the date (of the meeting). What does ‘text’ mean here? You will get it when you look at the picture below:

So I guess you have worked it out.

Text = Send your friends a message on the mobile

Pic Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudumomo/3404536780/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mllerustad/1000538869/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mujitra/7101648119/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brownpau/3207924452/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/architopher/457885721/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wstryder/3501116138/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41993437@N00/3404876915/sizes/m/in/photostream/

If you don’t mind & Presentation

George — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:55:00 +0000

Do you want to make your presentation more powerful? Using Powerpoint? Well, maybe, but what if the Powerpoint has no power? There are lots of ways to do it. One of them is to start a sentence with ‘Wh’ words.

————————

Say, in your presentation, you want to talk about a BIG (city) plan to impress your bosses or teachers, you may say things like: I am going to talk about a big plan. This plan is important to our company.

Well, the messages are clear, and I’m sure your bosses or teachers know what you mean. Yet, there is something missing. What is it? Power. But what about the following sentence? What I am going to talk about is important to our company. Why is it more powerful? Two points.

Point no. 1: Complex sentence

You are using a complex sentence, which probably means your thought is more complex. What’s wrong with using simple sentences? Nothing. But it may give the feeling that what you talk about is simple.

Well, we’re living in a postmodern world where feeling conquers, aren’t we? (You don’t think so. Well, when was the last time you bought things 100% because of their functions?) So, what is my point? Two simple sentences make people feel you are simple-minded, which is exactly what you don’t want. Right?

————————

Point no. 2: Big things come last.

If you go back to the complex sentence, you may notice that there are three parts:

Which three?

Part 1	Part 2	Part 3
What I am going to talk about	is	important to our company.

And about the three parts, there are three questions for you:

1. Which part is it that contains your main message?

2. Which part is it that tells us the reason why you do a presentation?

3. Which part do you want your bosses or teachers to pay attention to?

If you think Part 3 is the one, you are almost there. Why? In English, there is a rule that messages that are big, important, and significant come LAST. More examples? Think about a situation in which you want to make a polite request at a restaurant. Which one will you say?

a. If you don’t mind, could I have your drink?

b. Could I have your drink if you don’t mind?

(It isn’t hygienic, is it?)

The only difference is the position of ‘ If you don’t mind’, right? But why is there such a difference? If you are the one who asks the question in sentence ‘b’, it means you want to be really polite. Why? The bigger part of your message, ‘ If you don’t mind’, is at the end (of the sentence). So to wrap up, the Feel Good tip is: Safety comes first, but Big things come last.

Pic Sources

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/4200110899/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829501333/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/miamism/4018427330/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Grammar and Ice Cream: Apologising

George — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 03:54:00 +0000

Summary: This post is about how to apologize using long sentences. As it is not easy for you to grasp the structure of English sentences, I attempt to link it with eating ice-cream. You will learn how to write long sentences in an easy and funny way, if you remember the idea of two scoops (of ice-cream). Enjoy your reading!

What will you do when you have done something wrong? Well, there are lots of ways. One of which is crying? But does it help? Sometimes, but sometimes not. Well, another way of doing it is to apologize using long sentences.

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Before you learn grammar for office English (long sentences for making apologies), you have to answer the following questions. But when you answer them, be honest.

Do you like ice-cream?

Do you eat it at your office or school?

Do you know you can learn grammar with ice-cream?

In other words, ice-cream can help you learn English, not just any kind of English, but sentence structure, to be used at office, to be used for apologizing.

How? Read the following sentences about a woman apologizing:

I have made a big mistake.
I am responsible for it.

Though the two sentences may be words from her heart, there is something wrong. What is it? The sentences are simple. So simple that they make the message not so powerful. So how to make it more powerful? There is a tip that is funny and easy.

Just look at the picture below:

Do you want to eat them? Well, wait a minute. Can you do some counting? How many scoops are there?

TWO.

Well, don’t think the two scoops are just for eating. Why? They are also for learning something complicated. By complicated, I mean long sentences.

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How? Just go back to the two sentences of apology. I have made a big mistake. I am responsible for it. Can you see there are two scoops? Am I kidding? Of course not.

Now read them again:

I have made a big mistake. I am responsible for it.

So you can make your apology more powerful by sticking the two sentences together. But there is one more thing you need. What is it? You need a spoon, and the spoon is the word:

that

So putting all two scoops (mistake and it) and the spoon(that) together, the whole picture becomes:

I have made a big mistake, a mistake thatI am responsible for.

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So now you can enjoy your ice-cream, but at the same time write long sentences.

Pic Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dno1967b/5406681167/sizes/z/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xlordashx/8126457651/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Looking forward to hearING from you

George — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:52:00 +0000

Do you know which word is one of the most troublesome in English? A hint: it is just a word with two, not four, letters. ‘To’ is just a two-letter word, right? Yet it is a word that causes lots of trouble in English, especially when you want to end your email or letter by asking someone to reply.

You don’t think so. Alright, which one of the following is correct?

I am looking forward to hear from you.

I am looking forward to hearingfrom you.

A. To Hear or To Hearing

When you write emails or letters, do you get confused with ‘to’? In other word, the big question is: to hear or to hearing. Before you get the answer, you have to go back to the past. Look at the picture. Who is the one in the picture? Your teacher?

B. Your Teacher Was Wrong?Did this happen to you? At a grammar lesson, your teacher told you a golden rule. What golden rule? After ‘to’, don’t add ‘ing’ to the verb (followed). So if this is correct, the answer will be ‘I am looking forward to hear from you.’
Yet, the correct answer is: I am looking forward to hearing from you.

So your teacher was wrong. No, not exactly!

The thing is: he or she just told you half of the story. And you are going to learn the other half now.

C. What do you see?

The second half of the story is an experiment. An experiment? Don’t panic. Well, it is a bit exaggerating. But what you need to do is just to look forward. Yes, just look forward. What do you see?

Correct me if I am wrong. You seea computer, a tablet or a smart phone, right? And what do a computer and a smart phone have in common? They are all English? Well, no time for kidding. They are all things, or if you like, nouns.

So what is my point? Or do I have one?
The point is: When you look forward, you see something, right? And that something is a noun. When you link the two together, you need the a word, right?

Look forward ______

A smart phone

What word do you need? A word with two letters:

to

So it becomes: Look forward TO a smart phone. That is, it is ‘impossible’ to write ‘Look forward a smart phone’

D. Smart Phone and To Hearing From You

But how does ‘a smart phone’ relate to ‘hearing from you’? Both (a smart phone and hearing) are nouns. What? ‘Hearing’ is a noun?

Yes, ‘hearing’ can work as a noun. How? Read the following two sentences:

I jog every day.

I do some jogging every day.

The word ‘jog’ is a verb but ‘jogging’ is a noun. In the sentence, jogging is something, some kind of activity, so it is a noun. Yes, you are right. Sometimes when you add ‘ing’ to a verb, it becomes a noun.

Looking forward to	+	a thing (a noun)
Hear + ing	=	a thing (a noun)

E. So the Feel Good tips are:

You may end your email with ‘I am looking forward to hearing from you‘.