VIP Class Notes (Raph)[S][R]

Today we focused on:

We worked on grammar and pronunciation.

Vocabulary

Gender-neutral (adj): 1- relating to people and not especially to men or to women:
E.g.: They used gender-neutral words such as “person”
E.g.: They decided to paint the baby’s room a gender-neutral color, instead of the traditional blue or pink.

Fluid (n/adj): 1- a substance that flows and is not solid. 2- If situations, ideas, or plans are fluid, they are not fixed and are likely to change, often repeatedly and unexpectedly.
E.g.: If you have a fever you should drink lots of fluids.
E.g.: The situation is still very fluid.

Switch (v): 1- to change suddenly or completely
E.g.: She started studying English, but switched to History in her second year.
E.g.: Many European countries have now switched over to the Euro.
E.g.: He’s decided to switch the meeting from Monday to Thursday.

Conform (v): 1- to behave according to the usual standards of behavior that are expected by a group or society.
E.g.: At our school, you were required to conform, and there was no place for originality.
E.g.: Conforming is not a good thing if you want to lead a special kind of life.

Effective (adj): 1- successful or achieving the results that you want:
E.g.: This medicine is a very effective cure for a headache.
E.g.: She’s a very effective teacher.

Efficient (adj): 1- working or operating quickly and in an organized way.
E.g.: The city’s transport system is one of the most efficient in Europe.
E.g.: We need someone really efficient who can organize the office and make it run smoothly.
E.g.: He’s quite effective, but not very efficient (= he gets the work done, but not in the best/quickest possible way)

Dementia (n): 1- 痴呆

Cleopatra (n): 1- 埃åŠè‰³åŽ

Non-binary people (n): 1- éžäºŒè¿›åˆ¶äºº

Speaking exercise

Original:

I joined in a new project which is e-commerce project of our company. The project is named Youyan Store. For this project I am a project manager. My response is about arranged weekly meeting, push every department finish their job on time, prepared the contract with the third agency, and arranged the advertisements launch on time. I joined in this team about one month. During this time I felt very tired and mixed, because the team member is new, all of us came from different departments and few of us have experience of e-commerce area, so everyone just focused on their core work. They couldn’t look at the whole picture. I think our team need a key person to lead the whole project to make it smoothly. Even everyday I worked hard and busy, but I still think the work time is not effective. When we finished this project, we found a lot of problems during this time. I suggest my boss next month maybe we should have a meeting to review the project. All of us should settle down and talk about every problem for this project and we can learn something from this and make a better next time.

Edited:

I have recently joined a new e-commerce project at our company. The project is named Youyan Store and I am its project manager. My responsibilities include arranging weekly meetings, pushing every department to finish their job on time, preparing  contract with third-party agencies, and arranging the advertisements so they are launched on time. I joined this team about one month ago. During this time I felt very tired and confused, because this is a new team where all members come from different departments and few of us have experience in the e-commerce area. So everyone just focuses on their core work and no one can look at the whole picture. I think our team needs a key person to lead the whole project and make it run smoothly. Even though I work hard and am bury everyday, I still think I am not very efficient. When we launched this project, we found a lot of problems, so I made a suggestion to my boss that next month we should have a meeting to review the project. All of us should sit down and talk about every problem in the project, so we can learn something from them and make things better next time.

Reading

The Word ‘They’ is Now Also A Singular Pronoun
(Source: www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1909/190920-the-pronoun-they-5.html)

The company Merriam-Webster has added a new definition of the pronoun “they” to its Webster’s Dictionary. It lists the word “they” as referring to a “single person whose gender identity is non-binary”. This is good news for non-binary people – those who identify neither as male nor female. Many institutions already use a gender-neutral option on their official forms. More local governments, schools and airlines are introducing the choice of “X” for people who do not consider themselves as male or female, and for gender fluid people who switch between genders.

Merriam-Webster stated that the use of “they” for “he” or “she” recognizes people who did not “conform to an expected gender expression, or who seemed to be neither male nor female”. It said it “struggled” to describe these people with the right pronouns. It says the word “they” was used as a singular pronoun in the late 1300s. Shakespeare used it in this way in the 17th century. In 1898, a playwright wrote in his play Antony and Cleopatra that: “No man goes to battle to be killed….But they do get killed.” Many people use the singular “they” in casual conversation today.

Grammar

Noun = a name of a person, a thing, an animal, a place, etc.
E.g.: cup, computer, table, Shanghai, Emma, flower, umbrella, etc.

Pronoun = a word we use instead of a noun.
E.g.: I, you, he, she, it, we, they, my, mine, their, his, her, hers, yours, our, etc.

Verb = an action = anything you do.
E.g.: to do, to be, to play, to run, to go, to make, to help, to study, to speak, etc.

Adjective = a word that describes a noun or a pronoun.
E.g.: small, smart, big, beautiful, ugly, stupid, great, good, nice, terrible, hot, cold, sunny, etc.

Adverb = a word that describes a verb, adjective or another adverb and answers one of the following questions:

  • How: easily, happily, loudly, quickly, well, slowly, sadly, etc..
  • How often: never, always, every day,  frequently, seldom, often, sometimes..
  • When: now, after, before, early, yesterday, today, soon, since, etc..
  • Where: here, there, home, inside, near, outside, away, everywhere, etc..

Irregular Adverbs

Adjective Adverb
good well
fast fast
hard hard
late late
early early
daily daily
straight straight
wrong wrong, wrongly

Pronunciation

Against: /əˈɡenst/   /a.gains.t/