Note taking and summary task

Here is the BBC piece on the European Institutions.  Please listen to it while taking notes in order to write a double-spaced one-page summary report.  If you send me your summaries by 2nd of May, I can return them back to you before our midterm on 4th of May.

Relative, -ed and -ing clauses

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

Sample summary

The U-bend of Life

Despite common expectations, it seems that older people are happier than the younger ones, while the unhappiest group includes people in their 40s and early 50s. The results of different studies converged on this finding in the context of a new branch of economics searching for alternatives to money in measuring human well-being. 

In general, data does not vary much across different countries, cultures and external circumstances that may affect people’s lives, such as relationships, education, income and health.  In addition to age and external circumstances, the other factors that have limited influence on people’s happiness are personality and gender. 

Increased happiness in advanced age might be the result of not only internal changes, but also different behaviours and attitudes towards external circumstances. 

As far as wealth is concerned, unlike the findings of the past researches, recent studies have uncovered the intricacies of the relevant correlations between income and well-being. On this basis, Stevenson and Wolfers have identified the “saddest” place in the world to be Bulgaria. 

Looking at the ageing but happy population from this modern economic point of view may have important consequences in the perception of the elderly: given that happier people are healthier and more productive, the elderly should be considered to be an asset instead of a burden in modern societies.

Semicolon, colon and lists

In Sections  2.5 - 2.10 of the English Style Guide published by the Directorate-General for Translation, you can find the rules on the use of colon and semicolon with the appropriate hyperlinks for other relevant issues, such as lists.

You can hereby find more information on the use of colon and semicolon as well as providing lists as it is presented in the Interinstitutional Style Guide.

Here you can find a document on the use of semicolon and colon, including the use of the latter to introduce lists.  The first rule on the use of colon in this document is at odds with what is said in the Commission's "English Style Guide" and  the "Interinstitutional Style Guide".

Here you can find a quiz on the use of colon and semicolon with the key and explanations.  In the explanation for the answer to question 21, you can find the capitalization rule in sentences after colon.

American vs. British English

Here you can find a list of the main differences between American and British English. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Subject-verb agreement

You can find a document on subject-verb agreement with exercises here.  The key for the exercises is available here.

A longer document entitled "Grammar and Punctuation for Business Communication"  is hereby available.  Please refer to pages 11 - 14 for subject-verb agreement.  We will be using this document when we deal with other major issues related to writing.