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* Responsible for something/Responsible for doing something December
20, 2011
* Ain't no sunshine when she's gone! December 10, 2011
* The Spread! November 22, 2011
* Good afternoon Madam! November 15, 2011
* Grammar with a song! November 4, 2011

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postheadericon Responsible for something/Responsible for doing something

December 20th, 2011 | Author: Fiona

I would say that one of the things that I correct the most in my
lessons is the use of the word responsible.

When I ask people what work they do or ask them to describe their role
in the company, they nearly always make the same mistake.

i.e.

"I am the responsible of IT."

"He is the responsible of my office."

"I am the responsible for client service."

Here are a couple of facts about this word:

1. responsible is an adjective, NOT a noun;
2. the preposition that always collocates with responsible is `for'
and NOT `of'.

If you want to describe someone's job or say who is responsible for a
department, a sector or a particular job you need to give them a title
- a noun:

i.e.

the person in charge; the manager; the director; the managing director;
the supervisor; the organiser; the head of ...(a department); the
financial officer; the HR manager; the regional manager; the branch
manager; the editor-in-chief etc.

You are responsible for something (noun) or for doing something

i.e.

"I'm responsible for training."
"I'm responsible for analysing and monitoring government funded
projects."

"....those responsible for evaluating the programmes."

"...who is responsible for recruiting new staff."

"Ms. Berti is responsible for our office in Milan."

You can also use the collocation to be in charge (of)...

"Mr. Collins is in charge of recruitment." (noun) or "Mr. Collins is
in charge of recruiting new staff." (doing something)

"Ms. Carter is in charge of two of the city's libraries."

"Mr. Witherspoon is in charge of security."

"Who is in charge here?"

So PLEASE remember that responsible is an adjective and NOT a noun - no more
"I am the responsible of..."!!!

Enjoy learning

Fiona ;-)

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: adjective, in charge of, noun of,
responsible for, responsible for doing | No Comments »

postheadericon Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

December 10th, 2011 | Author: Fiona

`Ain't no sunshine when she's gone' by Bill Withers - a great song that
became particularly famous as part of the sountrack of the film Notting
Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Listening to it today got me
thinking.

I am often asked the question "What does `ain't' mean?" but also
`gonna', `gotta', `wanna' and `dunno'.

These are known as `informal abbreviations' of very common expressions
that are used when native speakers talk very casually and fast - for
example with friends and family.

A lot of native speakers actually never use these contractions, even in
informal speech, as they are not considered `correct' English.

Although they are extremely common in songs, they are never, or should
never, be used formally in speech or in writing. If you happen to see
these abbreviations in writing, for example in a comic strip (un
fumetto) or cartoon it is because they represent spoken words - there
is someone `speaking'.

Here are a few examples:

wanna = want to (do something) - want (something)

gonna = going to

gotta = have got (possession) - have got to (must)

ain't = I'm not - you aren't - he/she/it isn't - we aren't - they aren't -
there isn't/aren't

dunno = I don't know (only British)

gimme = give me

lemme = let me

kinda = kind of

ya = you

They are derived from a very fast pronunciation of words - the words
literally become `fused' together into a single word. Often, when these
contractions are used, other contractions are also used in the same
sentence or some words are dropped completely.

i.e.

Do you want a beer?

Do you wanna beer?

Do ya wanna beer?

D'ya wanna beer?

Wanna beer?

Here are some You Tube links to some well-known songs containing some
of these abbreviations in their titles, however, I think I can safely
say that the majority of songs have them somewhere!

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (a man after midnight) - ABBA

If you wanna be my lover - The Spice Girls

I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night - Black Eyed Peas

Enjoy learning!

Fiona ;-)

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: ain't, common expressions, correct,
dunno, fast speech, gimme, gonna, informal contractions, kinda, lemme,
songs, wanna, ya | No Comments »

postheadericon The Spread!

November 22nd, 2011 | Author: Fiona

`Segnali di miglioramento per la febbre degli spread.'
ilsole24ore

`Difendersi dallo spread per salvare il sistema' ilsole24ore

`La Borsa chiude in rialzo, spread in calo' repubblica.it

Yes, it's the word of the moment. All the newspapers are using it - the
news readers are using it - the current affair programmes are using it
- and, as a consequence, we are all using it too! Over the last few
weeks I've heard so many people talking to friends, colleagues and
family about the political and economic situation here in Italy all
using the same word `spread'. "Sai dicono che è lo spread. E' molto
preoccupante." ("They say it's the spread. It's really worrying"). "E'
colpa dello spread sai." (The spread's to blame, you know." Everyone
naturally nods in agreement, everyone repeats the word but no-one
really wants the others to know that the majority of us don't know what
the hell `the spread' is!

It's typical of the Italian media (but probably in other countries too)
to use a new foreign word continuously but neglect to explain its
meaning to the poor general public. I'm absolutely no expert in
finance, so for an in depth explanation you'll have to look elsewhere,
I just thought I would take the opportunity to explain the word in a
very simple way to make it all a little clearer for us non economists.

Well, here's what it means but let's keep it to ourselves!

In a financial context the word spread means the difference between two
figures (numbers) or totals.

It is currently used to define the difference between the yield
(another word used often that means `il rendimento') on Italian
government securities and the yield on German government securities or
more precisely between the Italian BTPs (Buoni del Tesoro Poliennali)
and the German Bunds.

Here are some examples to help you understand (N.B. the numbers have
been invented just to simplify).
1. If the yield on a ten year Treasury bond is 6%, and the yield on a
Treasury bill is 4%, the difference between these two figures is
2%. The spread is, therefore, 2%.
2. If a high-yield bond pays 8% and a Treasury bill pays 6%, the
spread is 3%.
3. If the yield on BTPs is 2.4% and the yield on the Bunds is 4.8%
then the spread is 2.4%.

So now when you hear `them' talking about the spread, you at least have
an idea of what they are talking about! Let's hope that in the near
future we can all confidently say "Have you heard that the spread has
narrowed over the last few days?"

Enjoy learning!

Fiona ;-)

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: difference, figures, spread, yield | No
Comments »

postheadericon Good afternoon Madam!

November 15th, 2011 | Author: Fiona

When I arrive early for a lesson, I sometimes go for a quick cup of tea
at a bar in the centre of Rome near the offices of one my students. The
owner of the bar recognizes me by now and always greets me kindly with
"Hello, lady! You ok?".

Now, to be greeted is always nice, even if it is `wrong' and I think
there is a time and place for correction. When I'm looking forward to
relaxing five minutes with a much needed cup of tea is not the right
time! So, I usually reply "Good! Thanks. And you?". However, yesterday
I had more time and decided it was the right moment to correct him.

In Italy, when you go into a public place - a bar, a shop, offices
etc., you are greeted with the formal phrase "Buon giorno/buona sera
Signora/Signore." Signora in this situation should be translated as
`Madam' and not lady. "Good evening Madam."

Lady = woman (donna) more often and can be used in this way:

As a noble title e.g. Lady Diana Lady Elizabeth;

In a religious context "Our Lady" (Nostra Signora);

"She behaves like a lady." (Si comporta da vera signora);

"She's a lady." (E' una donna di classe);

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." (Buona sera signore e signori);

Also in public toilets you'll more commonly find the signs: Ladies
Gentlemen.

If the situation is still formal and you know the name of the person
you would say "Good evening, Ms. Campbell." You should never say "Ms.
Fiona." as the titles Mr., Ms., Mrs. or Miss are never used with first
names, only surnames.

So I told the bar owner what he should say and he replied "Oh grazie
signora, non lo sapevo. Mi ricorderò! Grazie di nuovo". He looked very
satisfied and so I was happy. But....he didn't remember for long,
unfortunately. As I left the bar I said "Buona sera" to him and eagerly
waited for him to now reply correctly...but no...he promptly replied
"Bye lady"! Oh well, I tried at least. We'll see next time!

Enjoy learning!

Fiona ;-)

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: greetings, lady, madam, miss, mr, mrs,
ms | 3 Comments »

postheadericon Grammar with a song!

November 4th, 2011 | Author: Fiona

We don't have to just study grammar from a book or do endless exercises
to practice it.

Songs are a great source of grammar too. And, of course, are much more
fun!

Songs are easily available and besides offering you authentic listening
practice, they provide vocabulary, grammar and cultural aspects of the
language you are learning. The language used is always real - full of
contemporary vocabulary, phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions.

Why not find the text of your favourite English song and, not only look
at the vocabulary, but look at the song from a grammar point of view
too. Does it refer to the present or the past? Or maybe it talks about
something that `they' hope will happen in the future. Does it have a
conditional sentence or use a lot of modals? Does it have a lot of
abbreviations? Do you know the other forms of the verbs they use?

I've prepared a worksheet for you on a song that is great for studying
and practicing the structure of the second conditional.The song is "If
I were a boy..." by Beyonce.

Just click on DOWNLOADS above to get the worksheet and the link to the
video on Youtube is in the song title.

Do you remember when to use the second conditional?

We use it to talk about actions or events that are possible but not
very probable; to hypothesise.

i.e. "If I won the lottery, I would buy a big house."

As we all know, it is, of course, possible to win the lottery but how
probable is it?

Enjoy learning (and of course the song)!

Fiona ;-)

PS. You can review the grammar structure of the second conditional in
detail in English Keys - Grammar 31. If you don't have this English
Key, let me know and I'll send it to you.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: contemporary, cultural aspects, fun,
grammar, listening practice, second conditional, songs | No Comments »

postheadericon False Friends

October 28th, 2011 | Author: Fiona

False friends or `amici falsi' - is a term used in linguistics to
indicate words or expressions in one language that are similar to words
or expressions in another language. These words, however, don't have
the same meaning and this often causes us to use them wrongly or
inappropriately.

Here are six common examples of English/Italian false friends:
1. parents vs parenti

parents = genitori parenti =
relatives
1. factory vs fattoria

factory = fabbrica fattoria =
farm
1. library vs libreria

library = biblioteca libreria =
book shop
1. actually vs attualmente

actually = veramente attualmente =
currently
1. eventually vs eventualmente

eventually = in the end/finally eventualmente = maybe / perhaps /
if necessary
1. canteen vs cantina

canteen = mensa cantina =
cellar

As you can see the meanings are very different. A word of warning -
there are many many more!

Never assume because a word or expression in English is very similar to
a word or expression in Italian that it means the same. Always check! A
useful link for a quick translation is wordreference. I would
always advise you, however, to then check the meanings in more detail
in a monolingual dictionary - not so much for the nouns but certainly
for verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

Enjoy learning ;-)

Fiona

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: dictionary, different meaning,
English-Italian false friends, linguistics, similar | No Comments »
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