VIP Class Notes (Nicholas)[S][W]

Vocabulary

relentlessly — this mean it never stops.

e.g. The children teased us relentlessly.

plea — this is another word for begging like saying “please please do not let this happen, please don’t do this to me”.

e.g. The poorer students at the British school plead with their parents to buy them expensive coats.

plunge — a sudden drop; a sudden “going down”; it drops quickly.

e.g. The stock market was going up for many days until, all of the sudden, it took a quick plunge.

bull market — this means the stock market is going up, higher, and it’s a very good environment for companies and for their investors. Usually in a bull market, the economy is doing very well.

e.g. All Presidents hope for a bull market during their time in office.

bear market — this is the opposite of a bull market; this is one the stock market is going down, sometimes very quickly, and the investment environment is very bad. Investors are selling their stocks, and companies are losing their money. The economy is very fragile.

e.g. No one likes a bear market especially people who have lots of money in the stock market.

Semi-monthly – this means two times in one month, or you can spell it semi monthly.

e.g. You get a massage monthly. But perhaps you go to the doctor annually.

Semi-annually – this means two times in one year

e.g. Many investment professionals will meet with their clients semi-annually. (This means twice a year).

Bi-annually = Every two years this thing happens.

e.g. In America, there are government elections bi-annually (meaning every two years). OR it can be spelled biannually.

Quarterly = Every 3 months; there are 4 quarters in the year (4 quarters X 3 months = 12 months/1 year).

e.g. Publicly traded companies release their financial results on a quarterly basis (every 3 months).

Grammar

When you are writing and you are speaking, try to be specific with your articles (the, this, that) — so that your reader/listener are not confused with who/what/where you are talking about.

If you want to give examples of something, use the words “like” or “such as”:

e.g. Joyce likes to do many activities such as exercising, reading, watching movies etc.

e.g. Joyce likes to do many activities like exercising, reading, watching movies etc.

I didn’t know what will happen vs. I didn’t know what was going to happen/I didn’t know what would happen…

If we are not sure what WILL happen (because the word “will” means that we know 100% that something will happen).

e.g. I know that in the evening the sun will go down, and in the morning it will come up.

e.g. This morning I brought my umbrella to work because I didn’t know if it was going to rain [OR I didn’t know if it would rain].

e.g. My mother always buys new clothing. Tonight we went to dinner, but I didn’t know what she will wear/what she was going to wear.

e.g. Every Monday morning at 9:30 AM in America, I turn on the televsion because I know the stock market would open/will open.

Describe the main character:

He’s a journalist. He once worked in New York, but he was fired many times so he came went to another city. His girlfriend is also in the this city, and she is a lawyer. One day he opened her computer and saw what she’s doing without his girlfriend’s permission. He saw someone was doing illegal medical tests on human beings, and many people are died for because of this, so he wanted to let others know about this thing.

What happened to him?

He lost his work because the person interviewed was very rich and this person gave/give pressure to the journalist’s company. And his girlfriend said: “I don’t want to be together with you for your cheating because you looked at my things without my permission]“. Because he lost his work, his girlfriend, so he became very poor, and he knew met a new friend on the street. And one day he found his new friend is lost. missing.

What problems did Venom experience?

He had some abilities [such as] He can fly, jump very high and someone wanted to catch him but he ran away with his abilities. I didn’t like the first half because I was scared. I didn’t know what will was going to happen when that bad thing is on his body. But I think the second half is really good.

Do you think it was a good idea for this British school to ban children from wearing expensive coats?

Original

Yes, I think it’s a good idea for schools to ban children from consuming expensive things. When children are young, they can’t distinguish which things are good or what is not good, so they only copy others. If most students wear expensive coats, others will copy but you know someone can’t afford to buy so expensive clothes. The poor students may be isolated by others for there different wearings.

Correction

Yes, I think it’s a good idea for schools to ban children from consuming expensive things. When children are young, they can’t distinguish which things are good or which things are bad, so they simply copy others. If most students wear expensive coats, others will copy this — but we know many children cannot afford to buy such expensive clothes. The poor students may feel isolated by other for their different style.