Exercise: Quotation Marks

Put in quotation marks where they are needed.

1. Mary is trying hard in school this semester, her father said. 2. No, the taxi driver said curtly, I cannot get you to the airport in fifteen minutes. 3. I believe, Jack remarked, that the best time of year to visit Europe is in the spring. 4. My French professor exclaimed, Your accent is wonderful! 5. She asked, Is Time a magazine you read regularly? 6. The title of her story probably came from the words of the old popular song, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. 7. Roosevelt said once, We have nothing to fear but fear itself. 8. I think the words hip and cool are going out of style. 9. Yesterday, John said, This afternoon I'll bring back your book, Conflict in the Middle East. 10. Can you believe, Dot asked me, that it has been almost five years since weve seen each other? 11. A Perfect Day for Bananafish is, I believe, J. D. Salingers best short story. 12. Certainly, Mr. Martin said, I shall explain the whole situation to him.

Answer: Quotation Marks

1. Mary is trying hard in school this semester, her father said. 2. No, the taxi driver said curtly, I cannot get you to the airport in fifteen minutes. 3. I believe, Jack remarked, that the best time of year to visit Europe is in the spring. 4. My French professor exclaimed, Your accent is wonderful! 5. She asked, Is Time a magazine you read regularly? 6. The title of her story probably came from the words of the old popular song, A Good Man Is Hard to Find. 7. Roosevelt said once, We have nothing to fear but fear itself. 8. I think the words hip and cool are going out of style. 9. Yesterday, John said, This afternoon I'll bring back your book, Conflict in the Middle East. 10. Can you believe, Dot asked me, that it has been almost five years since weve seen each other? 11. A Perfect Day for Bananafish is, I believe, J. D. Salingers best short story. 12. Certainly, Mr. Martin said, I shall explain the whole situation to him.

TOPIC PREVIEW: Career Loyalty

Do you still think you have job security after the 1997-98 Asian Financial Crisis? Do you think you will you continue to work for the same Korean company until you retire? During the 1980s Wall Street investors pressure for higher profits changed the employer-employee relationship. For Western companies to indirectly increase profits they decreased costs by reducing the number of employees. The result was less loyalty between employers and employees. Since workers DOW feel they could lose their job at any time, many employees move to another company if the conditions are just slightly better.

DIALOGUE:
Shannon: Every night my team leader tells me that I must work overtime. Matt: I know. She tells me the same thing and it makes me angry. Shannon: Several years ago it did not bother me if I worked extra hours. Matt: Really? Then why do you care now? Shannon: At that time we knew we had a job for life. However, now the boss could fire me tomorrow. Matt: I understand your point. I work overtime and spend less time with my baby, but the company could get rid of me soon.

When employers open their businesses and employees start their careers, both usually have one similar goal to succeed. During the beginning of the 21st Century, the work office is full of tough competition. An interesting part related to this is the different view of loyalty between employers and employees. Companies must be competitive with their market rivals. The management executives expect employees to show their loyalty to the company by taking on additional tasks or working overtime (OT) hours more often. For example, instead of a dozen people working in the Human Resources (HR) Department for a full workday, through restructuring many companies have downsized and gotten rid of some positions. Then only nine people do the same work as twelve. This usually requires employees to work more OT to complete the extra assignments. As a result, the employers are pleased. This saves the company some overhead cost, which indirectly increases their profits. This money can be used to make them more competitive with their market rivals. The employers believe the honor of working for a leading competitive company will make the employees more loyal. What might be occurring is actually vice versa. For the employees, the benefits are not quite clear. Showing their loyalty by working more means that they could have less leisure time and yet they could still be sacked at any time. These work conditions could reduce competitiveness as the employees' morale decreases and they are burnt out from working too many hours. This could actually trigger the employees to look for another job with better conditions (better salary, fringe benefits, working hours, location and so on). If this happened, some money the company saved by downsizing to make it more competitive with market rivals would then have to be spent on training new employees.

VOCABULARY:
21st Century *Years from 2001 to 2099! -Better technology will be used in business during the 21St Century. *Competitors, companies competing in the same market -What company is our main market rival? *Reorganizing a company to be more efficient -!Restructuring benefits employers more than employees. *Removing employees to be more competitive by lowering costs -Asian companies downsized after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. *Cost to run a business not related to producing and selling goods or services (eg. salary, electricity and rental fees) -High overhead costs in Paris forced the company to move to Jakarta. *The reverse, the other way round! -The employee really likes his boss and vice versa. *Enthusiasm and loyalty for the job! -The morale at the office was bad because of low sales. *Employees' non-cash benefits in addition to salary that is paid by employers (eg. medical and pension plans, a company car) -I chose to work for this company due to its generous fringe benefits.

market rivals restructuring downsized

overhead cost

vice versa morale fringe benefits

EXPRESSIONS:
taking on gotten rid of be sacked burnt out *Accepting new responsibilities! -I will be taking on new projects next month. *Removed or done away with! -Have you gotten rid of the old data yet? *Have their job terminated; be fired! -He will be sacked for arriving late at work too often. *Tired and needing some time off from work! -She is burnt out because her boss always tells her to work overtime. *Cause! -Rude comments can trigger arguments between people.

trigger

Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance work Barry Schwartz: Our loss of wisdom Food Inc.

Weighing an Argument
Weighing an argument means to examine the pros and cons. Pros
! (The pros are the good points)

Cons
(The cons are the bad points)

Building an Argument
Thesis statement: the main point of your argument. Example: Smoking should be banned from public places. Smoking should be banned from public places. First of all, smoking is a filthy
habit. Smokers leave their cigarette butts on the ground and drop their ashes anywhere. Furthermore, smoking bothers other people. It smells horrible and causes other people to cough. More importantly, smoking is dangerous. Careless smokers who throw away cigarettes sometimes cause building and forest fires. Also, another reason to ban smoking in public places is the influence smoking has on teenagers. When teenagers see young adults smoking, the teenagers may think it is cool and start a habit that is very difficult to quit. And above all else, smoking is bad for health. It causes lung and throat cancer in people who inhale secondhand smoke. In conclusion, the ban on smoking is necessary to protect people.