Profile Update Class (Nick)

Your profile has been updated!

Next update July 2019

Previous Levels

Listening: 2.75
Speaking: 2.5
Pronunciation: 2.25
Writing: 3

Class Notes from today:

Vocabulary

Vowel – a e i o u (sometimes y)
Consonant – all the other letters

To detail – related to the noun, this means to explain something with a lot of specific information
e.g. When asked about their financial performance from the previous year, they detailed three of their biggest accomplishments.

Improve – to get better
e.g. Joyce’s English is always improving!

Analysis – the noun form of “analyze”
e.g. The analysis I did on the annual reports is only for other employees at the same company.

August – 八月

Semi – this is something you put on the front of a word to show that it is half, or only part of something
e.g. Semi-annual review (a review which you do every half of a year, twice a year)
e.g. Semi-truck

Out-going – to have a lot of energy and be ready to talk to people, sociable
e.g. This article says that Americans are usually out-going.

Underlying – to be the condition, basis, the reason for something; something is perhaps not obvious but makes something else possible
e.g. The underlying cause of racial tension in the United States is a long, difficult history.

Advisable – something that you should do
e.g. It advisable that you go to the gym regularly to stay in good shape.

Grammar

When you want to express that something is one of a group, or a small selection from a group, you should use “of”
e.g. He is one of my favorite actors (he is not the only one that I like, but he one of the best)

And vs. then
— “And” is used to make a list, to show more than one thing is related
e.g. I went to the store to buy carrots, onions, and corn.
e.g. Today I went to the movies and had dinner with a friend.
— “Then” is used to show that something comes later in time
e.g. I had dinner then went to a movie (now we know that the movie happened after the dinner)

Don’t use “the” for proper nouns like names:
e.g. April, Nick, Joyce, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
— These are already clear, they only apply to one thing already

I worked all the day. I was very busy. I am always busy in April, because there are lot of reports need to be finished in April. Because my job is to analyze the companies and they need to provide their annual accomplishment in April, so I need to read reports and provide my own opinions to these companies. I will think if the company is being better or worse and can their stock price be rising or not. And I will decide if I will buy the stocks or not. I will tell my boss if my boss’s boss should buy some stocks or not. I only give them to my boss. I will not provide the reports to other companies. The April is the busiest month and next time is 八月 August and October. The companies will give their half-annual reports in August and the third-Autumn/quarter reports in October.

I worked all the day. I was very busy. I am always busy in April, because there are a lot of reports that need to be finished read in April. This is because my job is to analyze the companies’ performance and they need to provide their annual reports in April, detailing their accomplishments in April. So I need to read these reports / many of this type of report and provide my own opinions to of/on these companies. I will think if the company is being better improving or worse not, and can whether/if their stock price be will rise or not. And Then I will decide if I we will buy the stocks or not. I will tell my bosses if my boss’s boss they should buy some a company’s stocks or not. I only give these reports to my bosses. I will not provide the reports to other companies. The April is the busiest month and the next busiest times are August and October. The companies will give their semi-annual reports (second-quarter reports) in August and the third-Autumn/quarter reports in October.

Pronunciation

April – this is a long “a,” like in “came,” not like in “apple”
— When a vowel is followed by one consonant, it is often long, like in “came”
— When a vowel is followed by a double consonant, it usually short, like in “apple”
e.g. “Ball” and “bale” (short and long)

Analysis – an – al – i – sis

Successfully – suk – sess – full – ee the two “c’s” hear are pronounced differently; the first “c” sounds like a “k,” the second sounds like an “s”

Casual – caz – u – al

Communicative – comm – u – ni – ka – tiv

Fascinating – fass – in – a – ting