Verb for Business – Mind Learning Association

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 (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/

Can VS Could (Negotiation)

George — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 08:06:00 +0000

Summary: This post is about how to negotiate well with regard to the differences between ‘can‘ and ‘could‘. You will learn how to negotiate with others by giving them more ‘space’, which means you are more polite.

Do you have to negotiate a lot? When firm A offers you a price, do you have to counter the offer? Or when a taxi driver negotiates fares with you, what will you say?

Well, if you want to negotiate well, you have to use ‘if’. If you want to upgrade your English, you have to use ‘if’ too. You can, in fact, use it in two ways. Which two ways? Read the two sentences:

1. If you can offer us a better price, we could consider a joint venture.

2. If you could offer us a better price, we could consider a joint venture.

What are the differences between the two? I think you’ve got it. The only difference is:

can VS could

So what? It seems like ‘could’ is the past form of ‘can’, right? Well, it is, sometimes. But not for the above two sentences. Both ‘can’ and ‘could’ here refer to something in the future, something that may happen, or something that might happen. In a word, the difference between the two is not about past and present tenses.

It is a question of politeness. (What is politeness? Look at the woman in the photo. Do you think she is polite?)

Most grammar books tell you that ‘could’ is more polite than ‘can’, right? But why? Why is ‘could’ more polite? Why is the past form of ‘can’ more polite than ‘can’? You can find the answer in the following diagram:

If can is 10m away from a person, then could is 20m away. In English, the longer the distance, the more polite it is. In other words, when you use ‘could’, you give the other more room (space), which means you are more polite.

So, when you want to be polite with your coworkers, you may say: Could you do me a favor? Could you send me a copy of the document (we discussed last night)?

The Past (1)

George — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Summary: This post is about how to talk about things in the past. To your surprise, you will learn that there are (at least) two types of past in English. Yes, you are right, two. In a way, this post helps you understand the differences between the present perfect simple (PPS) and the simple past, but not in terms of boring grammar, but with a love story.

How do your boss talk to you? Finish it’ or ‘Finish it by 6:00pm’. Which one do you prefer? None of them. But which one is clear? And which one is unclear? The second one (with a time) is clearer, right? So what is my point? My point is the same applies when you talk about ‘past’ in English.

There are two types of past: past that is clear and past that is unclear.

An Unclear Past: How unclear is it?

Sorry that you have to meet your boss again. At a meeting, your boss may say something like this: ‘JMB, our main competitor, has changed its selling strategy.’ (The short form of ‘has changed’ is ‘The company’s changed it selling strategy.)

Based on your boss’s words, do you know when ABC changed its strategy? Or in which year? Which month? Which date? Not sure, right? But one thing you are pretty sure of is that: It is in the past.

This is what an unclear past is about. That is, somehow you know something has happened but you know nothing about the exact year, month, week, or date. Other examples from your boss may include:

Our profits have dropped (by 20%). (short form: ’ve dropped)

The government has raised the rates of business tax. (short form: ’s raised)

The tense used (have dropped, has raised) has a long name, the present perfect simple (PPS). The tense is made up of by two elements:

1. has / have ( ’s / ‘ve) +

2. changed / dropped / raised

Well, one question may pop up? Why does your boss use present perfect simple (PPS)? To know why your boss uses PPS, you will be told a story, a romantic one.

An Unclear Past, the Present: A Love Story

It was 9:59 in the morning, and Mr UP (Unclear Past) was sweating. He was late for a meeting, a very important meeting, a meeting that was going to change his life. He rushed into a building, hoping that the lift doors were open for him. Yes, he was right. When he arrived at the ground floor, the lift was there, and when the doors opened, he saw a woman. What is her name? Ms. Now.

It was love at first sight. And ‘then’ they had a son. So soon? By the way, what is his name? Present Perfect Simple.

So what is my point? Present Perfect Simple (the son) is a tense that links up an unclear past (Mr. UP) and the present (Ms. Now). If you want a better picture of what I meant, read the Feel Good Tip:

Unclear Past (Man) + Present (Woman) = Present Perfect Simple (Son)

What does this have to do with English?

You may go back to what your boss has told you (the first sample sentence): ABC, our main competitor, has changed its selling strategy.

There is an unclear past in the sentence. What do I mean? I mean the change has happened, right? But when? What you know is it was something in the past, but an unclear one.

What about the present? You can’t see it, can you? No you can’t. The present is invisible (you can’t see it with your eyes). It is because when your boss says something like this, it means you have to do something about it, about the change of strategy. Whenshould you do it? Most probably: now (the present).

In other words, your boss told you about something in the past by using the Present Perfect Simple. And it is you who has to do something about it. That is, an action in the unclear past makes you do something now (or in the near future).

Put yourself in your boss’s shoes, your boss wants you to do something by using PPS. Well, I guess you will start to hate PPS.

Future (3)

George — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:04:00 +0000

Summary: This post is about how to talk about schedules (e.g. travel arrangements, entertainments, and public events). It argues that native speakers of English do not use ‘will’ all the time to talk about future. Instead, the simple present (e.g. There is an English class at 10 tomorrow.) is usually used.

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Do you know that? What? If you use ‘will’ all the time for talking about future, you won’t have a bright future. Why? When native speakers of English talk about schedules (or timetables), they don’t use ‘will’ all the time.

So what do they use? Or what tense to use when they talk about schedules? The answer may surprise you. Native speakers use something simple, the present simple tense, to talk about schedules (or timetables).

Want an example? Read the conversation between two spies. (But be careful. Why? This is top secret.)

Spy 1: Where’re you going this time?

Spy 2: Hong Kong.

Spy 1: Have you got the details of the flight?

Spy 2: What do you mean?

Spy 1: I mean, like, what time does the plane arrive at Hong Kong?

Spy 2: It arrives at 11:00.

Spy 1: So, who’s gonna pick you up?

Spy 2: Mr Snowden.

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Well, but why? Why do they use the present simple to talk about schedules? Well, you may think of schedules as some kind of facts. Facts? What are facts? Read the example below: ‘Being a spy is dangerous‘.

That is, we use the present simple to talk about facts. And for native speakers of English, they ‘treat’ schedules as a kind of facts. So they use the same tense for both facts and schedules. In other words, unless there are, for example, some kind of disasters, the schedules are true.

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Well, what do I mean by schedules (or timetables)? In daily English, there are usually 3 types of ‘schedules’.

a. Travel arrangements (or itineraries), for example, The next flight to Hong Kong leaves at 14:30.

b. Entertainments, for example, Does the movie start at 7:30?

c. Public events, for example, There is an exhibition of spies on Wednesday.

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Post on Future (1)

Post on Future (2)

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Pic Sources:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nazareth_college/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emilylaurel/8504897628/sizes/h/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonofgroucho/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quimbo/2486054640/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s2ublack/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/

Future (2)

George — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 16:12:00 +0000

This post is about how to make predictions in English. You will learn that there are two types of predictions in English: with evidence or without evidence. That is, after reading this post, you will work out the differences between ‘It is going to rain’ and ‘It will rain’, without much difficulties.
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When I was small, I thought English was easy. Whenever I talked about the future, made a prediction, I used ‘will’.

But then, I grew up. I found that it all depends on what kind of predictions I make. What do I mean, well, there are different kinds of predictions. In other words, there are lots of ways to make predictions in English. Two of the ways are (as follows):

a. predictions with evidence

b. predictions with no evidence

Predictions with Evidence

Before you learn it, you have to do something you are not allowed to do at office or school. What is it? Look at the picture and you’ll get it.

Gossiping

But let me tell you. Gossiping actually is something dangerous. Why? Read on.

A Dangerous Case

While gossiping with your coworkers or schoolmates, you see the ‘girl’ you gossip about walking towards you. But the ‘girl’ does not just walk towards you, but with a pair of angry eyes. So what will you say to your coworkers or schoolmates?

Seems like you have two choices:

1. She is going to teach us a lesson!

2. She will teach us a lesson.

To make a choice, you have to think about:

Do you have any evidence?

Are you sure she is going to teach you a lesson?

So are you or are you not sure? Check out her eyes. The ‘angry eyes’ are the key. The eyes may serve as evidence that you are sure that something bad is going to happen. So the answer is: She is going to teach us a lesson!

So, in other words, you use ‘is/a/am/are + going to’ to make predictions when you have evidence. And by ‘having evidence’ we usually mean: You see something that makes you pretty sure about what is going to happen.

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What about if you have no evidence?

Predictions with No Evidence

When you make a guess about the future, which is general, of which you don’t have any evidence, you may use WILL (’ll). There are two examples for you:

I have a feeling that we will be good friends.

I think the weather will be fine tomorrow.

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Pic Sources:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/babiesforobama/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrearosephotography/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kvh/

Future (1)

George — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:30:00 +0000

Summary: This post is about how to talk about future in English. To your surprise, ‘will’ is not always a good choice as it is only one of the ways native speakers (if you like, Westerners) use to refer to future. The post starts with words of pop songs (lyrics) and moves on to talk about ‘three other‘ futures, focusing on planned future in special.

In lot of American pop songs, you will find things like:

I’m gonna + miss you
I’m gonna + run to you
I’m gonna + dance

But is there any difference between:

I’ m gonna + miss you (‘m gonna = am going to)
I will + miss you

Of course, they are not the same! Before you get the answer, there is one question for you.
What is it?

Do you know that ‘will’ is not the only choice for talking about future? Am I kidding? No, absolutely not. In English, there are more than one ways to talk about future. Thus, you don’t have to use ‘will’ all the time for future.

There are, in fact, mainly four different ways. Which four? Read the four sentences first.

1. I willfinish the job at 6pm.

2. Our CEO is going to resign when profits are down.

3. Our company is renting a new office.

4. The meeting ends at 3:00pm.

A. Four Ways to Talk about Future

Future (1)	will finish (’ll finish)	will + verb	So-called ‘Future’ Tense
Future (2)	is going to (’s going to)	is/am/are + going to +verb	Present Continuous Tense
Future (3)	is renting (’s renting)	is/am/are + verb + ing	Present Continuous Tense
Future (4)	ends	verb	Present simple Tense

The table shows you that ‘will’ is not the onlychoice. In other words, when you want to talk about future, think about the choices of boyfriends and girlfriends you have. Usually you have more than one choice, right?

So, what are the differences between the four ways of talking about future? Before you get the answers, you have to make something. You have to make a plan. For what? (It is) for learning future tenses in English.

A PLAN

Future (1): Planned Future

In English, if you have a plan, you can talk about it with the two present continuous tenses followed:

She is going to meet a new client.

She is meeting a new client.

But is there any difference between ‘is meeting’and ‘is going to meet’? Actually, they are very similar that they all refer to a future that is planned in advance.

But if you want to show that you have a strong incentive to do something (i.e. you really want to finish something), you may use ‘are + going to’. There is, I am afraid, a frightening example for you:

I am going to kill you.

When you use ‘going to’, it mean you have a strong desire that you have probably had a step-by-step plan, and that you are not going to stop until you are there. In other words, if you use ‘will’, the so called future tense, you are less determined and your words are less powerful:

Less powerful	I will change the world.
More powerful	I am going to change the world.

(Future 2 and Future 3)

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/

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‘.