Graduate Diploma Reading & Writing Session 20 Reading & Writing Skills Review

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

IS IT AN ENGLISH SENTENCE? Here are my suggestions for completing the sentences we didn’t have time to look at in yesterday’s class: If you are serious about impressing Bandar, learn about stem cell technology and then try to engage him in a scientific conversation. Seiko thinks that the 1000-word essay, a report on an article, is the most difficult piece of writing she has ever done YES In Konstantinos’ opinion, one of the most violent movies in the world of cinema, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is unsuitable for any viewers under the age of 25. Although English grammar is not recognized as an Olympic event, which is a pity, it is more useful than rowing or archery, or indeed any of the events that British competitors do well in. These days you rarely meet men as interesting and intelligent as Chimuco. One way of starting a conversation with Chao, if you can get his attention, is by talking about money, his favourite subject.

A QUICK WORD ON REPORTING VERBS

Look at the handout Mark gives you...can you divide these verbs into three categories?

Verb + (that) + what was said / written Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written) Verb + object + (that) what was said / written

Verb + that + what was said / written Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written) Verb + object + what was said / written say state suggest argue explain

Verb + that + what was said / written Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written) Verb + object + what was said / written say state suggest argue explain describe discuss

Verb + that + what was said / written Verb + noun phrase (the topic of what was said / written) Verb + object + what was said / written say state suggest argue explain describe discuss tell ask inform

PARAGRAPHING

EVEN technology pundits can sometimes be right. Jason Calacanis, an entrepreneur and noted agent provocateur, recently argued that there is a simple solution to the woes of both Microsoft and big media companies. Now a system has been developed to make it easier for blind people to navigate the internet, use word- processing software and even trace the shapes of graphs and charts. The world’s largest software firm should pay Time Warner, News Corporation and others firms to block Google, the search giant, from indexing their content–and make it searchable exclusively through Bing, Microsoft’s new search service.

COMPUTERS have become such an integral part of life, in the rich world at least, that even social networking is done online. The blind, however, are often excluded from such interactions. Its inventors hope it will enable more blind people to work in offices. He set the auction record for any jewel.

“If you have money to invest, there is no safer haven than something rare,” says Laurence Graff, the London-born “King of Diamonds”. If this is sales talk, he is his own best customer. Media companies would thus get badly needed cash and Bing a chance to gain market share from Google. In December 2008, during some of the bleakest days of the credit crisis, Mr Graff paid $24.3m for the carat, 17th-century Wittelsbach blue diamond at Christie’s in London. But in his opinion, “it was the bargain of the century.In my life, it is the rarest of them all; it is the supreme coloured diamond.”

FEELING IN THE DARK COLOUR ME DAZZLED WEB-WIDE WAR

EVEN technology pundits can sometimes be right. Jason Calacanis, an entrepreneur and noted agent provocateur, recently argued that there is a simple solution to the woes of both Microsoft and big media companies. The world’s largest software firm should pay Time Warner, News Corporation and others firms to block Google, the search giant, from indexing their content–and make it searchable exclusively through Bing, Microsoft’s new search service. Media companies would thus get badly needed cash and Bing a chance to gain market share from Google.

COMPUTERS have become such an integral part of life, in the rich world at least, that even social networking is done online. The blind, however, are often excluded from such interactions. Its inventors hope it will enable more blind people to work in offices. Now a system has been developed to make it easier for blind people to navigate the internet, use word- processing software and even trace the shapes of graphs and charts.

“If you have money to invest, there is no safer haven than something rare,” says Laurence Graff, the London- born “King of Diamonds”. If this is sales talk, he is his own best customer. In December 2008, during some of the bleakest days of the credit crisis, Mr Graff paid $24.3m for the carat, 17th-century Wittelsbach blue diamond at Christie’s in London. But in his opinion, “it was the bargain of the century.In my life, it is the rarest of them all; it is the supreme coloured diamond.” He set the auction record for any jewel.