Engleza 1 - Suport de Curs

UNIT 1
BUSINESS CONTACTS
Sections:
• The first meeting: introductions; initiating a conversation
• After hours: making, accepting and declining invitations; entertaining a
client
• Formal/Informal style
• Writing a formal email
Objectives:
• Acquiring specific vocabulary related to socialising in business contexts
• Developing speaking skills
• Theoretical and practical approach to formal and informal style.
• Developing writing skills
Allotted time: 4 hours
Recommended Bibliography:
Măgureanu, English for Business and Administration. Bucharest: Cavallioti

Tania & co. Publishing House & The British Council, 1998.
Benn, Colin Business First. A First Course in Business English. Oxford:

and Paul Heinemann, 1992.
Dummett
Barker, Chris Tempo. Student’s Book. Oxford: Macmillan, 2008.
and Libby
Mitchel
1. THE FIRST MEETING
1.1. Introductions
The success of your business depends to a great extent on your ability to

communicate effectively. Since any kind of business contact involves a special
relationship, which is established between you and your partner, it is essential for
you to be able to socialise in various contexts, such as: travelling on business,
making and accepting invitations, or entertaining a client.
I. Read the following situations and introduce yourself accordingly.
1. You are attending a one-week course on Personal Management. It is the first day.
You are going to initiate a conversation with a new colleague during the lunch
break. Greet the person, introduce yourself and say a few words about yourself.
How do you do? I’m Angela Smith and I work for Liternet.
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2. As a Public Relations Officer you are going to welcome a World Bank expert.
Introduce yourself and state your position in the company.
Are there any differences between the ways you introduce yourselves in the above
situations? Which are the factors that we should take into consideration when
addressing somebody? Read the following table which lists the main differences
between a formal and an informal style:
Formal Style Informal Style

Used in a professional setting Usually used with colleagues, friends
and family
No slang Contains slang words
Pronounce words correctly Contains shortened versions of words
II. Look at the dialogues below and identify their style: formal or informal.
a. Hello, I’m May Garner. What’s your name?
Hello, May. I’m Charles Fox. (informal)
b. Good morning. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Angela West.

Good morning. It is a privilege to meet you. I am Linda Johnson.
c. Hello. Let me introduce myself. I am Max Raynolds.

Pleased to meet you. My name is Jacob Hills.
d. Hi, I’m Jill Watson.

I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Greg.
e. Hello. What’s your name?

Hello, Madam. My name is Mike.
What do you notice about this last dialogue? What could be the relationship
between Mike and the lady?
III. Practise the use of formal and informal style by initiating a dialogue in the
following situations:
a. You are at the airport, waiting for a trade delegation from the Middle East.
Identify yourself and your company.
Good afternoon. My name is Roland Mitchell and I am the Public Relations
Officer of Graham Ltd.
b. As Personnel Manager, you are going to receive a new employee. Greet him and
welcome him to the company.
c. Sue starts a two-week training course in your department today. Introduce

yourself and your colleagues.
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d. You take part in a conference where you meet your counterpart in another
subsidiary of the bank you work for. You have met several times in the past.
e. You arrive in the USA to visit your agent, Mike Singh.
1. 2. Initiating a Conversation
After the first introductions, you should start a conversation with your business
partner on a general topic. This is called ‘the first five minutes’ of any business
meeting. In other words, in about five minutes you are supposed to establish a
personal contact with the other person. Remember to approach a ‘safe’ topic to
which anyone can answer easily. Do not ask: a person’s age, birth date, salary,
weight, marital status, etc.
I. Here is a list of safe topics. Write two questions for each of the topics.
1. the weather: It is a lovely day, isn’t it?

2. the journey
3. the hotel
4. the city
5. the country
II. Working in pairs, act out a conversation on each of these topics.
III. Re-arrange the sentences below so as to make the conversation between

Ben, Carol, and Jim.
B: Nice to meet you Carol
C: Hartford, the capital. How about you, Ben?
J: Have you two met each other?
C: I’m from Connecticut.
C: How do you know Jim?
B: No, we haven’t.
B: Nebraska, a place called Bellevue. It’s near Omaha.
B: Where are you from, Carol?
J: Ben, this is Carol. Carol, this is Ben
B: Connecticut? Which part?
C: Nice to meet you too, Ben.
B: He is my friend from college.
IV. Work in groups of four. Practice introducing your colleagues to each other.
Remember to smile and use handshakes where appropriate.
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2. AFTER HOURS
2.1. Making, Accepting and Declining Invitations
I. Study the following sample phrases. Decide which of them are formal and
which are informal.
Making invitations:
- I was wondering whether you would like to join me for a concert next Saturday.
(formal)
- I would like to invite you to a concert next Saturday.
- Would you like/care to come to a concert next Saturday?
- What/How about going to a concert next Saturday?
- Let’s go to a concert next Saturday.
Accepting invitations:
- Thanks for your invitation. I would be most delighted to.
- Thank you. I would really like to.
- Yes, thanks. It’s a very good idea.
- Of course, sounds great.
- All right. Let’s go.
Declining invitations:
- Thank you for inviting me. Unfortunately, I have other plans for next Saturday.
I’m terribly sorry.
- I would really like to, thanks, but I’m going to a wedding next Saturday.
- Thanks for asking, but I’m afraid I’m busy.
- I can’t. I have a lot of work to do by Monday.
- Sorry, I’m already tied up.
Hesitating:
- Thank you. I’ll check my calendar and inform you by Friday. Will that be all right
with you?
- Thanks, but I’m not sure what my plans are. Could I get back to you tomorrow?
- I think I’m busy on Saturday. I’ll let you know soon.
Question: How do you phrase your invitations for inviting a business

associate to go somewhere, when you know/do not know the person well?
When accepting invitations, you should combine a phrase of thanks with a
phrase expressing your acceptance of the invitation. Similarly, when you decline an
invitation, especially a formal one, remember to thank the person for inviting you,
then decline and give a reason.
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II. Which of the following answers is not appropriate?
Would you like to look round the production department on Monday morning?
a) Sure. What time?
b) Thanks, that would be helpful.
c) Why?
If you are free on Friday afternoon, why not come round for a drink?
a) Thanks. I’d love to, but I have an appointment.
b) No, I can’t
c) Unfortunately, I’m busy on Friday. What about Saturday?
My wife and I were wondering if you could come over for lunch on Sunday.
a) Thank you very much. I’d be delighted to.
b) I’d really like to, but I’m going on a trip this weekend.
c) I don’t go out on Sundays.
If you don’t have any plans this afternoon, perhaps you would like me to show you
the old part of Bucharest.
a) Yes, I would.
b) It’s very nice of you. I’d love to. Thank you.
c) Thanks, but I’m afraid I have already got other plans for this afternoon.
Shall I bring something for dinner tonight?

a) Thanks, but we’ve got everything ready.
b) Why? You don’t like my cooking?
c) You can bring some wine, if you want.
III. Working in pairs, role-play the following situations:
1. Student A: You have recently completed a two-month training course and got to
know the other participants quite well. Invite one of them for a drink tomorrow
afternoon.
Student B: One of your new colleagues is going to ask you to go out. Since the
course you have both attended is over, you would like to socialise more. Accept the
invitation. Suggest a convenient time for you.
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2. Student A: You have an interesting business idea that you want to discuss with
Mrs. Kathryn Slee, British Advisor to a business agency. Invite her to lunch next
week.
Student B: You are Mrs. Kathryn Slee, British Advisor for small businesses. A
client wants to invite you for lunch next week. Your agenda is busy, so you do not
know if you can make it.
3. Student A: You have successfully concluded negotiations with an important

business partner. Invite him to an opera performance on Friday evening.
Student B: At the end of some business negotiations, your partner invites you to
see an opera performance, but you are not keen on opera. Find a suitable reason and
decline the invitation.
2. 2. Entertaining a Client
I. Jane Hill is on business in India. Her company’s agent in New Delhi, Mr.
Sen, invites her for lunch at a local restaurant. Decide who says the following.
Waiter: Can I get you anything else?
No, but we can order fresh vegetables as a side dish.

Can we have a table for two?
Can you tell me what’s in murgh biryani?
Hello, Mrs Hill! How are you doing this afternoon?
There is one free in the corner.
Two sweet lassis, since the lady has never tried them.
Can I get you anything else?
Of course, Mr. Sen.
Thanks. It is a famous restaurant in Delhi.
Certainly, here you are.
No, thanks. I’d like the bill, please.
I recommend murgh byriani.
Here you are. Enjoy your meal.
Very well, thank you. I must congratulate you on choosing an exquisite place.
Do any vegetables come with it?
I’m afraid we don’t.
Can I take your order now?
We do use a lot of spices when cooking, indeed.
Do you have a reservation?
I’ll go for murgh byriani, then.
Is that table all right with you?
Yes. A murgh byriani and fresh vegetables, for the lady, and a masala dosa for me,
please.
Can we see a menu, please?
It’s a traditional dish of rice and chicken.
What would you like to drink?
What would you recommend?
The food is excellent. A little too spicy for me, though.
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II. Put the phrases above into order so as to recreate the dialogue.
III. Work in groups of five. One of you is a waiter at Saravana Restaurant. The
others want to have dinner there. Practise a dialogue with the following script:
Customer 1: Ask for a table.

Waiter: Ask if they have booked.
Customer 1: Respond.
Waiter: Ask if you can take the order.
Customers: Tell the waiter what you would like (starters, main courses and side
dishes).
Waiter: Write down the menu. Ask the customers if they want something to drink.
Customers: Order your drinks.
Waiter: Ask the customers if they are enjoying their meal.
Customers: Comment on the meal.
Waiter: Ask if the customers would like desserts.
Customers: Refuse the deserts.
Customers: Ask if you could have the bill.
IV. Write down your dialogue.
3. LANGUAGE FOCUS
Formal/Informal Synonyms
Compare these pairs of verbs, paying attention to the difference in the degree of
formality between multi-word verbs and single verbs.
Informal Verbs More Formal Verbs

The director checked up on his The director investigated his
accountant. accountant.
The cost of living went up. The cost of living increased.
We have to put up with our new We have to tolerate our new colleague.
colleague. He requested a salary raise.
He has asked for a salary raise. The government postponed the
The government put off the decision. decision.
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EXERCISES
I. Replace the informal verbs in italics with the following, more formal verbs:
establish, write, propose, reject, employ, face, complete, dismiss, deceive, discover.
Remember to respect the tense of the verb.
1. The firm’s request for further funding was turned down.
The firm’s request for further funding was rejected.
2. We have to come up with a solution to this problem.

3. The director will meet with a lot of opposition when he announces his proposal.
4. They have found out that the bank has surprising rules when it comes to new
customers.
5. The business has recently been set up.
6. They are laying off 100 workers.
7. We rarely take on extra stuff.
8. You must fill in this application form.
9. You should put down the names of two referees.
10. The inspector was taken in by the apparent calm of the employees.
II. Study the sentences below. They are grammatically accurate, but their style
is inappropriate. Re-write them in a more formal style by making all the
necessary changes. The changes do not refer only to verbs.
1. It’s obvious that the working environment is going to get a lot worse.
It is obvious that the working environment will worsen considerably.
2. I’m currently free for interview and can’t wait to discuss the post in more detail.
3. The director reviewed the report and said that it was great.
4. The Indian economy would like to look after itself, but it’s also affected by things
that happen outside the country.
5. The historical approach to economics is just not the right way to go about it.
6. The research team said that their techniques were ok, but needed to be further
refined.
4. WRITING
Here is the informal text of an email that Rachel sends to Mike. Imagine you send
an email to a travel agency. Request similar information and make the necessary
changes in order to write a formal message.
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To: mike.peters@gmail.com
Subject: Hotel reservation
Hi Mike!
I want to make a hotel reservation, you know, for me and my

friends. We’re going on holiday to Provence on 3rd June, and I
know you went there last year with Ann. I need 3 rooms: 2
doubles and one single with ensuite bathrooms. Do you have
any idea how much that would cost us per night? Did you have
breakfast included in the price?
Do send me some information soon, please!
Cheers,
Rachel
Abstract: This unit focuses on developing the students’ skills for socialising in
business contexts. They get acquainted with the ways of introducing oneself and
one’s company, greeting people, initiating and concluding a conversation,
entertaining guests. The grammar section introduces key aspects related to formal
and informal style, and the writing part deals with formal/informal emails.
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UNIT 2
AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
Sections:
• Getting through
• Phone Appointments
• Expressing Requests
• Writing miscelleanous correspondence
Objectives:
• Acquiring specific vocabulary related to phone conversations
• Developing speaking skills
• Theoretical and practical approach to means of expressing requests
Ashley, A. Oxford Handbook of Commercial Correspondence. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2008.
Naunton, Jon Head for Business. Intermediate Teacher’s Book. Oxford:
Thomson, A. J. Practical English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
and A. V. 1986.
Martinet. A
1. Getting through
I. Read the dialogues below and underline the phrases that often feature in
telephone conversations.
A. Operator: Good morning. Newton and Burns.

Caller: Can I have the marketing department, please?
Operator: I’m sorry. Which department did you say?
Caller: The marketing department.
Operator: Just a moment. I’ll put you through.
Receiver: Marketing department. Good morning.
Caller: Hello. I’d like to talk to Bill Johnson, please.
Receiver: Hold the line. I’ll get him for you.
Johnson: Bill Johnson here.
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B. Ruth: Hello, you’ve reached the personnel department. Ruth Turner speaking.
How can I help you?
Tom: Good morning. Could I speak to Jane Roberts, please?
Ruth: Certainly. Who shall I say is calling?
Tom: It’s Tom Davies here.
Ruth: Just a second. I’ll see if she is in. Hello, Jane, I’ve got Tom Davies for you
on the phone… Ok. I’ll put him through right away… Hang on a moment, I’m just
putting you through.
C. Caller: Hello. May I speak to Robert Powell, please?

Secretary: Who’s calling, please?
Caller: This is Fred Cameron. I’m a friend of Robert’s.
Secretary: Hold the line please. I’ll put your call through. (after a moment) –
I’m afraid he’s in a meeting right now. Can I take a message?
Caller: Yes. Can you ask him to phone me back, please? My number is: 492
61449.
Secretary: Could you repeat that please?
Caller: Certainly. That’s 492 61449.
Secretary: All right. I’ll make sure Mr. Powell gets your message.
II. Are there any differences between a face to face conversation and a phone
conversation? What could make a phone conversation sound friendly and
helpful? Make a list of polite phrases, that you can use when asking to speak
with a business partner on the phone.
III. Match the sentences with the replies to form pairs of exchanges from
telephone calls, as in the example.
1. Mr. Franks? Just a moment… I’m sorry, the line’s busy. Will you hold?
(d) No, that’s OK. I’ll call back later.
2. International flights. Can I help you?

3. I’m afraid I can’t hear you. It’s a really bad line.
4. I’m sure he’s there.
5. I’d like to speak to Jeff Gomez, please.
6. I’m inquiring about the times of trains to Birmingham this afternoon.
7. Jeff Daniels speaking.
8. May I speak to Judie Ray, please?
a. So am I, but sometimes he won’t pick up the phone.

b. At last! I’ve been trying to get through to you all day.
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c. Who’s calling?
d. No, that’s OK. I’ll call back later.
e. OK, I’ll hang up and try again.
f. Please hold on, and I’ll see if she is in.
g. One moment, please. When do you want to travel?
h. Yes. I want to book a flight to Tokyo.
IV. What would you say in the following circumstances?

a. You do not know how to spell the name of the caller.
Could you please spell your name?
b. You answer a phone, but you do not know who the caller wants to speak to.
c. You want to know your customer’s telephone number.
d. You want to phone your partner in Birmingham and would like the latter to pay.
What do you tell the operator?
e. You want to speak with Mr. Higgins, the marketing department, extension 592.
f. You would like a morning newspaper with your breakfast. Ask for room service.
g. Your flight home is on Tuesday, but you would like to stay in L.A. until Friday.
Ask the travel agent.
h. You have no Canadian dollars, only U.S. dollars, and the banks are closed. Ask
the hotel receptionist.
i. You are the secretary of Mrs Johnson. Someone phones to talk to her, but she is in
a conference. What do you offer to do?
2. Phone appointments
I. Working in pairs, make a list of things that annoy people when they phone
companies.
Answer: while-you-wait advertisements, irritating music…
II. Read the dialogue below and identify the things that happen which annoy
the caller. Do these things match the ones listed by you?
Recording: Thank you for calling Zap Software. Your call is being held in a queue,
it will be answered as soon as possible. (pause) Thank you for call… (the
answering machine, being held in a queue)
Switchboard: Good morning, Zap Software.
Siobhan: Good morning, I’d like to speak to Corinne Peters, please, in Design.
Switchboard: I’m putting you through caller.
Man: Yeah?
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Siobhan: Is that Design?
Man: Yep.
Siobhan: Er, could I speak to Corinne Peters please?
Man: I think she is in a meeting.
Siobhan: I see. Do you know when she’ll be free?
Man: Not really, no.
Siobhan: Can I leave a message for her?
Man: I suppose so. Hold on a moment. No, no! That envelope there! The red one.
Er, OK, go on then…
Siobhan: Yes, could you tell her that Siobhan O’Connor rang, please?
Man: Yeah…and it’s got to go straight away by courier.
Siobhan: That’s S-I-O-B-H-A-N. And I’m staying at Bell’s Hotel, room nineteen.
Man: Yeah.
Siobhan: And the number’s 7948862.
Man: OK then, I’ll make sure that she gets it.
(Tapescript, Head for Business, p.137)
III. Here is the message that the man took. Correct the errors.
Corinne,
Siobhan O’Connor rang.
She is staying at the Bell Hotel, room 90.
Tel. 7948682.
IV. Work in pairs.

Student A: You are the secretary of Doris Drabble. Doris is in a meeting and
cannot be interrupted. Someone phones to talk to her. Take a message by filling in
the form.
For:
From:
Tel:
Re:
Message:
Date/time of message:
Taken by:
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Student B: You are Laurent Dupont from Paris. You would like to speak to Doris
Drabble in the UK. She is not available, so you leave a message:
– You are arriving at Birmingham International, Terminal 1, on 14 April at 9h25.
Your flight number is DE 629.
– You would like someone form the British company to wait for you at the airport.
– You want to make sure that a room is booked for you at the Hyatt Hotel.
– You would like to get the confirmation by email. Your address is:
ldupont@gnet.com
V. Here is a dialogue about fixing an appointment over the phone. Fill in the
missing words and phrases, choosing from the list below. Two of the
expressions are not used.
Susan: Hello. Mr Brown’s office Susan Hill speaking.

Jeff: Hello, can I speak to Andrew Brown, please?
Susan: ………. he is in a meeting until lunch time. ………. a message?
Jeff: I’m Jeff Carter. I would like to fix ………. to see him.
Susan: Could you ………. a moment, Mr Carter. I’ll get………. . So, when is
convenient for you?
Jeff: Some time next week, ………. .
Susan: Unfortunately he goes on holiday ………. .
Jeff: Well, I need to see him before he goes away. Can we arrange a meeting for this
Thursday?
Susan: ………. . He is out of the office all morning on Thursday. But he is ……….
in the afternoon, after about two.
Jeff: Two o’clock is difficult, but ………. after three.
Susan: So, ………. 3.15 this Thursday in Mr Brown’s office?
Jeff: Yes, that sounds perfect. Thanks very much.
Susan: ………., then. Bye.
a) the diary f) I’m afraid k) office
b) can I take g) let me see l) hold on
c) shall we say? h) I can make it m) very well
d) if possible i) very busy n) next week
e) can I leave? j) free o) an appointment
VI. In pairs, sit back-to-back and role-play the following phone conversation.
Student A: You are John Wyatt from Steel & Co. Leeds. You are travelling to
Bucharest on business and want to meet Dan Petrescu, the manager of an
engineering company. Call to arrange a meeting for next week. Here is your diary
for the trip. Find a suitable time to meet.
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Monday 16: 11.30 – arrival in Bucharest
afternoon – meeting with the Dean of the Faculty
of Economics
Tuesday 17: morning – visit Bucharest Trade Fair
2 p.m. – lunch with a potential customer
Wednesday 18: morning – 10 a.m.: give talk at the Faculty of
Economics
afternoon – free
Thursday 19: 9.30 a.m. – departure for Leeds
Student B: You are Dan Petrescu, manager of an engineering company in

Bucharest. John Wyatt, from a steel company in England, is coming to Romania
and would like to arrange an appointment with you for next week. Here is your
diary. Find a suitable time to meet.
Monday 16: morning – meeting with trade union members.
afternoon – view the application forms for Public
Relations Officer vacancy
Tuesday 17: morning – visit Bucharest Trade Fair
afternoon – free
Wednesday 18: morning – interview the applicants
3 p.m. – board meeting
3. LANGUAGE FOCUS
Expressing requests
A. Requests with can/could/may/might I/we

Can is the most informal, and could is the most generally used form.
e.g. Can I borrow your car, dad?
Could I speak to Ms James, please?
May and might are more formal than could, but they are used in both spoken and
written English.
e.g. May/Might I have a copy of this document?
Could/Might I/we requests can be preceded by do you think/I wonder(ed)/was

wondering if.
e.g. I was wondering if I could have a copy of that document?
Do you think I could speak to the manager?
B. Requests with could/will/would you
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Could you has the same meaning as would you. They are both very useful request
forms.
e.g. Could/Would you please count your money?
Will is more authoritative and therefore less polite.

e.g. Will you please show me the way?
Will/Would can also be used for third person requests.

e.g. Would Mr Brown, passenger to Athens, please come to the Boarding Gate?
C. Other useful request forms

a. would you mind + gerund
e.g. Would you mind phoning his secretary?
b. perhaps you would
e.g. Perhaps you would inform me when your new range of products is launched.
c. would you like to…?

e.g. Would you like to wait here?
d. Would be good/kind enough…

e.g. Would you be good/kind enough to let me know when you have any vacancies?
EXERCISES
I. Here are the answers to some requests. Complete the requests, using one of
the forms presented above.
1. I was wondering if you could send the written confirmation of the booking.
No problem, I’ll send it by fax.
2. ………. as soon as possible.

Sure, I’ll let you know by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.
3. ………. . It’s rather urgent.
Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he gets the message.
4. As soon as you have the information,……… .
Of course. I’ll get back to you later today.
5. ………. to Mrs Green?
Hold the line, please. I’ll see if she is in her office.
6. ………. About flight times?
Right. I’ll put you through to the travel department.
7. ……… the information soon?
Not before tomorrow, I’m afraid.
II. Translate into English.

1. Foarte bine, doamnelor şi domnilor. E timpul să începem. Să trecem la afaceri.
All right, ladies and gentleman. It’s time to start. Let’s get down to business.
2. Mi-e teamă că nu înţeleg. La ce anume vă referiţi?
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3. Ei bine, va trebui să ne vedem din nou săptămâna viitoare să discutăm contractul
în detaliu.
4. Să luăm o pauză de cinci minute?
5. Bună ziua. Am o întâlnire cu directorul financiar la ora 11.
6. Ai putea, te rog, să verifici încă o dată aceste cifre?
7. Sunteţi amabil să-mi spuneţi care sunt noile reglementări vamale în Suedia?
8. Il puteţi ruga pe asociatul dumneavoastră să mă sune neapărat mâine?
9. „Imi puteţi da interior 244, vă rog?”; „Aşteptaţi un moment, vă fac legătura.”
10. A lăsat cineva un mesaj pe robotul telefonic?
4. WRITING
Miscellaneous Correspondence
4.1. Confirming an appointment
I. Appointments can be confirmed by either phone or email. Read the following

email and analyse the style of the message.
Dear Mr Gomez
Mr Luman has asked me to confirm the appointment you made to see him at our
Head Office, 25 City Road, London W1 at 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday 2 August.
He looks forward to meeting you.
Best wishes,
Pat Nash
PA to Production Director
(Adapted from Commercial Correspondence, p. 244)
II. You are Marta Ventura, assistant to Ramiro Gomez. Write an email to Ms
Nash, apologising that Mr Gomez will not be able to keep his appointment.
4.2. Congratulations on an appointment
I. Congratulations are best given directly, not by someone on your behalf.

Read the following email and underline the phrases that you find useful for
expressing wishes.
Dear Mr Corney
I would like to offer my congratulations on your election as Chairman of our Trade
Association.
No one has done more to deserve the honour, or has worked harder to promote our
interests. You can count on my full support, and that of my colleagues, during your
term of office.
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I wish you every success for the future.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Benson
Chief Executive Officer
(Commercial Correspondence, p. 247)
II. Write an email to congratulate a close colleague for his promotion. Adapt
your style accordingly.
Abstract: This unit concentrates on presenting vocabulary items related to

telephone conversations. In order to build communication skills, the students are
introduced to various contexts in which they have to handle phone conversations.
The language focus is on expressing requests, followed by exercises meant to assess
the grammatical knowledge acquired. The unit concludes with Miscellaneous
Correspondence, which represents an essential part of a businessman’s working
environment.
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UNIT 3
DIGITAL MEDIA
Sections:
• Ways of communicating
• Present Tense Simple and Continuous
• Writing a fax
Objectives:
• Acquiring specific vocabulary related to digital media
• Developing reading skills
• Theoretical and practical approach to the Present Tense.

Murphy, Grammar in Use. Reference and Practice for Intermediate
Raymond and Students of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
Roann Altman. 1993.
and A. V. 1986.
Martinet. A
1. 1. VOCABULARY
I. Make a list of objects and ways of communicating. Which ones do you use
regularly?
1. phone
2. email…
II. Match the words with their definitions.

1. desktop
2. payroll
3. handset
4. retrieval
5. random access
6. broadband
7. backing store
8. output
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9. laptop
10. data
a. finding and extracting data from the storage of a computer.

b. going straight to the item required that is stored in a computer.
c. list of people employed by a company and of the amount of money paid to them.
d. a telephone earpiece and mouthpiece as a single unit.
e. items of information.
f. a device used for taking data out of the computer.
g. a computer that fits easily onto a work surface.
h. a computer that can be carried easily.
i. a computer memory that supplements the computer’s internal memory.
j. an analogue communications method using high bandwidth, operating at high
speeds and over long distances.
Desktop = a computer that fits easily onto a work surface.
1.2. READING
A generation that is really at home in the virtual world

Nicholas Negroponte, the digital guru, once said: “If you want to know what
the future holds, hire a 10-year old”. Maybe, but children aged 11, 12 and 13 can be
just as helpful, and you do not have to put them on payroll first. As part of this
week’s FT series on digital media, starting today, our correspondents talk to
youngsters in Mumbai, Beijing and New York about their media consumption and
leisure habits.
Of course, many children do not live in large cities and are not familiar with
a conventional telephone, never mind a mobile one or a broadband game console.
But, however unfair it might be, it is the children in metropolitan centres who shape
the significant media trends of the future, and the business built on them.
India
Any self-respecting “pre-teen” in Mumbai knows the place to be open on a
Saturday is the Bowling Centre, a rupee-guzzling leisure dome for well-to-do kids
with attitude, writes Khozem Merchant in Mumbai. Its fans include Rahul Shroff,
11. He demolishes demons on video games and downs a foreign drink. On the way
home he plays with his mobile phone. Tulsi Bhatia, 11, manages her afternoons and
weekends by scheduling parties and tuitions on her mobile. “I send a lot of
messages – I can’t do without it,” she says. “Now, I’m arranging a party for the
weekend.”
The PhoneShop in Mumbai, which sells Nokia handsets, resounds to the
patter of small feet. Forty per cent of mobile phone sales are to first-time buyers,
mostly of them children acquiring entry-level handsets. They upgrade quickly, says
Atul Zaveri, PhoneShop’s chief executive. “My youngest customer is the 3½-year-
old daughter of a banker.”
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Amit Jhaveri, 11, downloads music from the internet on his Nokia 3300 and
says the only interruption to his use of the mobile is “when I am at school”.
Personal computers are commonplace, but downloading is mostly unassisted by
parents. Akshay Jatia, 11, says he will activate GPRS, a technology standard, on his
Nokia mobile to access the internet. His friends help, “but my parents have no
involvement”.
United States
Luke Crihfield cannot wait until his father gets a new laptop computer,
writes Holly Yeager in New York. The 12-year-old from Old Greenwich,
Connecticut, uses a desktop in the family computer room to write papers for school.
But his mother and older brother each have a laptop, handed down from his father.
And when his dad gets a new one, Luke will join the laptop set. “Then I won’t have
to troop upstairs every time I have to type up a little thing,” he says.
His parents limit “electronics time” – the computer, video games and
television – until after homework and exercise. Like most children in the US he
does not have a mobile phone – only 13 per cent of those between the ages of eight
and seventeen do, according to Knowledge Networks, the US research group. His
parents encourage him to read newspapers and he reads ESPN’s sports magazine
and National Geographic Kids.
He does not have a digital music player, but has experimented with
downloading music, although he no longer does. “It’s kind of stealing,” he says.
“But I’m pretty sure that the artists that it happens to are already multi-
millionaires.”
(Adapted from Financial Times, April 13, 2004)
COMPREHENSION CHECK
I. Is the virtual world commonplace in your country? Do you know how many
children have access to it?
II. Decide if the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
a. Companies must hire 10, 11 or 12-year-old children if they want to know what
the future holds. (F)
b. Telephones are mostly accessible to children in metropolitan centres.
c. The Bowling Centre is a leisure place for all children in Mumbai.
d. Mobile phones are very popular among young children in India and the United
States.
e. Parents in both countries try to limit the time their children spend in front of the
computer or television.
f. The business of PhoneShop in Mumbai relies on handsets sold to young clients.
g. When not at school Amit Javeri spends his time using the mobile phone.
h. Luke Crihfield is waiting for a new laptop.
27
III. Find an equivalent in the text for the following words and phrases: teacher,
traditional, unjust, wealthy, to drink, ordinary, group, to go in a crowd.
Teacher = guru
2. LANGUAGE FOCUS
Present Tense Simple & Continuous
Present Tense Simple

Affirmative form: Subject + Verb (–s/-es for the 3rd person singular)
e.g. to work
I/You/We/You/They work.
He/She/It works.
–ES is used after verbs ending in:
a. – o: he does, he goes
b. – ss, sh, tch, x: he kisses, he brushes, he watches, he boxes
c. – y preceded by a consonant. The y changes to i, whereas a verb ending in y
preceded by a vowel follows the usual rule: I play, he plays vs. I try, he tries.
Negative form: Subject + DO/DOES (for the 3rd person singular) + NOT + Verb
(short infinitive)
e.g. I /You/We/They do not (don’t) work.
He/She/It does not (doesn’t) work.
Interrogative form: DO/DOES (for the 3rd person singular) + Subject + Verb
(short infinitive)
e. g. Do I/you/we/they work?
Does he/she/it work?
Uses and Values

The Present Tense Simple is used to express:
1. – a habitual, repeated action, i.e. an action which takes place frequently. It is
often used with adverbs of frequency, such as: never, ever, often, seldom, rarely,
every day, etc.
e.g. The directors often travel on business.
Note: Time markers are used to indicate how often something happens. There are
two categories of frequency:
a. – definite frequency markers:
100%- always
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90%- usually/normally
75%- often/ frequently
50%- sometimes/ occasionally
25%- rarely/ seldom
10%- hardly ever
0%- never
The position of definite frequency markers:

- at the beginning of the sentence: Every year our company launches a new
product.
- at the end of the sentence: Our company launches a new product every
year.
b. – indefinite frequency markers:
every minute
every hour or hourly
every day or daily
every week or weekly
every month or monthly
every year or yearly/annually
once/ twice/ three times a day/ week/ month/ year.
The position of indefinite frequency markers:
- before the verb: These products usually sell for about three years.
- at the beginning of the sentence: Usually these products sell for about
three years.
- After the verb to be: These products are usually in the shop six weeks
before Christmas.
2. – a general truth or scientific fact.

e.g. Water boils at 100° C.
3. –a future planned action which is part of a fixed programme: timetable, schedule

etc.
e.g. The new semester starts next week.
4. – in exclamations introduced by “here” or “there”.

e.g. There goes our last bus!
Present Tense Continuous

Affirmative form: Subject + TO BE (Present Simple) + Present Participle (verb-
ing)
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e.g. to work
I am working.
You/We/They are working.
He/She/It is working.
Negative form: Subject + TO BE (Present Tense Simple) +NOT + Present
Participle
e.g. I am not working.
You/We/They are not (aren’t) working now.
He/She/It is not (isn’t) working now.
Interrogative form: TO BE (Present Tense Simple) + Subject + Present Participle
e.g. Am I working?
Are you/we/they working?
Is he/she/it working?
Uses and Values

The Present Tense Continuous is used to express:
1. – an action which is in progress at the moment of speaking. The adverbs which
may be expressed or implied are: now, right now, at this moment.
e.g. He is waiting for you in the director’s office.
2. – a temporary action.
e.g. I am dealing with her letters while she is away.
3. – a future planned action which is part of a personal programme.

e.g. We are meeting the Vice Chancellor tomorrow afternoon.
4. – a frequently repeated action which annoys the speaker.

e.g. He is always complaining about his office colleagues.
NOTE: There is a group of verbs which do not take –ing forms, i.e. they are not
normally used in the continuous tenses. They refer to states of things that are
generally true.
a. – verbs of being or possession: be, belong, have, need, owe, own, possess.
b. – verbs of mental activities: agree, appreciate, assume, believe, expect, forget,
know, mean, perceive, realise, recognise, remember, suppose, think, trust,
understand.
c. – verbs of senses: feel, hear, look, notice, observe, see, smell, taste.
d. – verbs expressing emotions: admire, adore, appreciate, care for, desire,
detest, dislike, fear, hate, like, love, loath, mind, respect, value, wish, want.
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e. – other verbs: appear, concern, consist, contain, hold, keep, matter, seem,
signify.
However, some of these verbs can be used in the continuous forms, when
they describe temporary activities, or they have a different meaning.
e.g. The boss is difficult. (He is difficult in general.)
The boss is being difficult. (He is usually easy to work with.)
Or: I see someone new in my office. (I can see someone.)
I am seeing the applicants tomorrow morning. (I am meeting the applicants.)
EVALUATION TEST
I. Underline the verbs into the Present Tense.
a. Now, I am arranging a party for the weekend.

b. Many children do not live in large cities and are not familiar with a conventional
telephone.
c. He is taking driving lessons this year.
d. I am working until late tomorrow.
e. He is always spending too much time on the phone.
f. Much of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East.
g. The delegation arrives by plane at 10.30 tomorrow morning.
II. Which of these sentences means:

– a general truth?
Much of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East.
– a temporary action?
– a habitual action?
– an action currently in progress?
– an action which annoys the speaker?
– a future planned action which is part of a schedule, timetable, etc.?
– a future planned action which is part of a personal programme?
EXERCISES
I. Turn the following sentences into the 3rd person singular affirmative and
interrogative:
1. I teach English to students in Economics.
He teaches English to Students in Economics.
Does he teach English to Students in Economics?
2. They live in Spain.

3. My students speak English very well.
4. We drink coffee every morning.
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5. I always go to bed before midnight.
II. Ask questions about the underlined words of the following sentences:
1. She plays bridge every Saturday.
What does she play every Saturday?
2. I am waiting for Carla.

3. This office belongs to John.
4. Margaret is having breakfast at Marriot.
5. He wants to go to Italy.
III. Complete the following sentences with: doesn’t, do, does, don’t:
1. I .......... remember much about him.

2. My husband .......... most of the housework.
3. You remember me .......... you?
4. We .......... think you are suitable for the job. I'm very sorry.
5. I .......... think that this is a good idea.
6. We don't want to do that, .......... we?
7. It .......... bear thinking about.
8. They .......... seem very happy.
9. We .......... need to see you again. Our minds are made up.
10. They don't want to sign the contract, .......... they?
11. I don't like him.
12. Neither .......... I.
13. I need a drink
14. So .......... I.
15. I don't like him.
Why .......... you?
16. She doesn't eat meat.
.......... she? What does she eat?
17. He lives in Tokyo, .......... he?
Yes and so .......... Simon.
18. I .......... feel like doing this exercise.
19. What .......... you think I should do?
20. We .......... really have an answer, I'm afraid.
IV. Complete these sentences with the ones that follow it:
You look really good. And I do like your new hair-style.

He's been talking for more than two hours.
I wash most of my clothes in my machine.
I like her.
I know we quarrel a lot.
She wasn't very friendly to me.
He didn't play tennis as well as usual.
I don't like football matches very much.
You spoke extremely well.
Sorry about being late.
Are you sure you are OK?
32
She may not be the most interesting speaker.
Please be quiet, Brian.
I know he is very competent.
This exercise is quite complicated.
But I do find her a bit irritating sometimes.

You do look ill.
And I do like your new hair-style.
I do hope that you get it all right.
I do wish he would stop talking.
But I do still love you.
But he did have a problem with his elbow.
But I do send my shirts to a laundry.
But she did give me her telephone number.
You do talk a lot of rubbish sometimes.
I do apologize for holding the meeting up.
But I do watch them sometimes when my partner wants to.
But I do wander if he is up to that job.
And I do agree with what you say.
But what she says does make a lot of sense.
V. Complete the following sentences with: is, does, doesn’t, do, don’t, am, isn’t:
1. Do you speak Italian?

2. I ………. waiting for a taxi
3. No thank you. I ………. smoke.
4. Where ………. you come from?
5. John ………. coming in a few minutes.
6. How much ………. this cost?
7. ………. Sarah eat meat?
8. ………. Jack coming to the meeting?
9. I ………. agree.
10. I ………. like to drive in town.
11. How long ………. I have to do this job?
12. He lives in London but he ………. like it very much.
13. I ………. not going. I'm too tired.
14. What ………. you do for a living?
15. How ……….. you do?
16. What on earth ……….. he doing?
17. Hurry up. The train ……….. coming.
18. I ……….. understand. Could you say that again?
19. This exercise ……….. driving me crazy.
20. The teacher ……….. looking very happy.
VI. Present simple or Present Continuous? Complete the sentences below using
one of the verbs in the box in the correct form. You may use each verb once
only.
enjoy play work know wait finish
33
prefer produce seem interview talk
1. I always …………. tennis on Fridays.

2. He …………. his report. He will bring it into the office when it is complete.
3. "My parents phoned me this morning. They …………. themselves in the
Seychelles. Champagne every night! In fact, they don't want to leave."
4. We …………. to entertain our guests in a local restaurant rather than the canteen.
Although it is expensive, we can talk freely there.
5. I …………. the answer to your problem. Get a new computer.
6. "Where is John?" "In his office …………. for an important telephone call."
7. I can't make the meeting tomorrow. I …………. the applicants for the sales
manager's job.
8. My brother …………. for Shink Inc. which makes bathroom fittings.
9. Who …………. to Bill? Is it the new secretary?
10. The new contract …………. fine to me. However, could you just check it
through once more?
VII. Complete the following sentences by putting the verbs in brackets into the
Present Tense Simple or Continuous.
1. She is preparing (to prepare) the figures for next week’s meeting.
2. The post ……. (not/to come) before 9 a.m.
3. Can I speak to Ms Hill, please? I’m sorry, sir. She ……. (not/to work) this week.
She’s on holiday.
4. The chief executive is worried because the mobile phone sales ……. (to
decrease).
5. I ……. (to have) a meeting with my manager next Wednesday.
6. How much ……. (she/to earn) per month?
7. I cannot come to the party tonight. I ……. (to wait) for my parents at the airport.
8. I ……. (not/to think) that he ……. (to belong) in this company.
9. Can you turn the TV off? I ……. (to try) to work on this report.
10. Nokia ……. (to manufacture) mobile phones?
VIII. Decide whether the verbs in the following sentences are right or wrong.
Correct the ones that are wrong. Pay attention to the verbs which are not
normally used in the continuous form.
1. Look! Somebody is searching through my papers. Right

2. What do you think about? Wrong. What are you thinking about?
3. I think of looking for a job in London.
4. He does not belong to our company.
5. Are you believing what he says?
6. We are seeing about a work permit for you.
34
7. The new president assumes power at once.
8. I feel you are wrong.
9. The director hears the staff’s complaints this afternoon.
10. She has a child soon, therefore she goes on maternity leave next week.
IX. Underline the correct word or phrase in each sentence:
1. Every year I go/am going to the seaside together with my family.

2. My sister is always listening/ always listens to music loud.
3. I am hearing/hear you!
4. There goes/is going the man!
5. It gets/is getting colder and colder every day.
X. Translate into English.

1. Mă gândesc să-mi caut un loc de muncă în Bucureşti.
I am thinking of finding a job in Bucharest.
2. Guvernul este îngrijorat deoarece rata şomajului creşte.

3. Firma noastră deţine 130 de calculatoare.
4. Directorii vor alege un nou preşedinte luna viitoare.
5. Directorii adesea numesc un angajat sau altul în poziţii cheie din companie.
6. Doar o mică parte din populaţia Chinei are acces la internet şi ultimele inovaţii
ale tehnologiei, în timp ce cea mai mare parte se zbate în sărăcie.
7. Cred că toţi detailiştii dispun de un sistem computerizat de gestiune a stocurilor.
8. Sir Howard Stringer, directorul companiei Sony în America de Nord, spune că
oamenii cred că, Sony şi Microsoft concurează pentru a obţine controlul asupra
locuinţelor. Dacă se consideră calculatorul ca fiind centrul casei, atunci Microsoft ar
putea să câştige. Dar dacă o casă se bazează pe produse electro-casnice, atunci Sony
este în avantaj.
În timp ce companii precum Sony şi Microsoft duc o luptă calmă pentru
controlul caselor populaţiei, reţelele de telefonie mobilă concurează agresiv pentru a
găsi un model de succes pentru oamenii de afaceri aflaţi în permanentă mişcare.
Companii precum Vodafone, T-Mobile sau Orange vor să obţină profit din
serviciile de internet, de la clienţii pentru care telefonul reprezintă ceva mai mult
decât un “dispozitiv de voce”. Ei speră că cererea pentru telefoanele de generaţia a
treia va mări substanţial vânzările.
3. WRITING
Faxes
I. Discussion:
1. What are the advantages of a fax?
2. Is a fax difficult to use? Can you explain how to use one?
3. Give three reasons why a fax machine can save a company money.
35
II. Read the fax about a damaged consignment. What information is essential
in the heading of any fax? Why?
To D. Causio, Satex S.p.A.

From L. Crane
Fax no. (06) 481 5473
Subject Replacement of damaged order no. 14478
Date 19 October 20—
Page/s 1
This is an urgent request for a consignment to replace the above order, which was
damaged during delivery. We informed you about this in our letter of 15 September.
Please airfreight the following items:
Cat. No. Quantity

R30 50
R20 70
N26 100
The damaged consignment will be returned when we receive the replacement.

Peter Crane
Peter Crane
Chief Buyer
III. You have been accepted for a three-week summer course in England.
Write a fax to Ms Powel. Say you are delighted you have been accepted for the
course. Ask if someone can help you organise accommodation for your stay.
Abstract: The unit is focused on objects and ways of communicating that people
use nowadays. The aim of the vocabulary drills, the text and the writing tasks is to
familiarise the students with the basic language of computers, mobile phones and
electronic means of communication, such as faxes. The grammar section is
dedicated to the Present Tense Simple and Continuous, their uses and values, and
the main differences between them. The evaluation of the student’s knowledge is
done by means of a large variety of exercises.
36
UNIT 4
THE ECONOMY SECTORS
Sections:
• The three sectors of the economy
• Past Tense Simple and Continuous
• Letters of enquiry
Objectives:
• Acquiring specific vocabulary related to the economy sectors
• Theoretical and practical approach to the Past Tense.

Lodge, David Nice Work. London: Secker & Warburg, 1989.
Roann Altman. 1993.
and A. V. 1986.
Martinet. A.
1.1. VOCABULARY
I. Economic activity is divided into three broad sectors: agriculture/the primary

sector, industry/the secondary sector and services/the tertiary sector.
1. Give two examples of activities for each sector.

Agriculture: pick up tea leaves, grow sheep
2. Which sector do you intend to work in? Which sectors do your family and
the people in your area work in? If you think of Europe, how have these
sectors changed from generation to generation?
1.2. READING
In the following text from David Lodge’s Nice Work, Robyn Penrose, a university
English lecturer, is accompanying Vic Wilcox, the managing director of a
manufacturing company, on a business trip to Germany. Initially uninterested in
economy and the world of production outside the university, Robyn begins to notice
37
things to which she would not have paid attention before, such as the essentially
English act of making a cup of tea.
Read the text and clarify the key point that this text is making about
economics.
Sunlight flooded the cabin as the plane changed course. It was a bright, clear
morning. Robyn looked out of the window as England slid slowly by beneath
them… Hard to imagine at this height all the noise and commotion going on down
there. Factories, shops, offices, schools, beginning the working day. People were
crammed into rush hour buses and trains, or sitting at the wheels of their cars in
traffic jams, or washing up breakfast things in the kitchens of pebble-dashed semis.
All inhabiting their own little worlds, oblivious of how they fitted into the total
picture. The housewife, switching on her electric kettle to make another cup of tea,
gave no thought to the immense complex of operations that made that simple action
possible: the building and maintenance of the power station that produced the
electricity, the mining of coal or pumping of oil to fuel the generators, the laying of
miles of cable to carry the current to her house, the digging and smelting and
milling of ore or bauxite into sheets of steel or aluminium, the cutting and pressing
and welding of the metal into the kettle’s shell, spout and handle, the assembling of
these parts with scores of other components…; then the packaging of the kettle, the
advertising of the kettle, the marketing of the kettle to wholesale and retail outlets,
the transportation of the kettle to warehouses and shops, the calculation of its price,
and the distribution of its added value between all the myriad people and agencies
concerned in its production. The housewife gave no thought to all this as she
switched on her kettle.
(David Lodge, Nice Work)
COMPREHENSION CHECK
I. Robyn gives examples of several economic activities. Identify them in the

text, and then divide them into the three main sectors of economy.
Industry: the building and maintenance of the power station that produced the
electricity
Services: the advertising of the kettle
II. Match the following words from the text with their definitions:
maintenance, wholesale, retail, outlet, warehouse, packaging, advertising,
marketing.
maintenance – keeping in good condition
a. design and manufacture of materials for packing goods

b. market for goods
c. act of buying or selling
d. keeping in good condition
e. selling of goods in large quantities
f. building for storing goods
g. selling directly to the consumer in small quantities
h. the promotion of goods or services by public notices
38
2. LANGUAGE FOCUS
Past Tense Simple & Continuous
Past Tense Simple

Affirmative form: Subject + Regular Verb-ed/Irregular Verb, 2nd form
e.g. to work
I/You/He/She/It/We/You/They worked.
Negative Form: Subject +DID +NOT + Verb (short infinitive)
e.g. I/You/He/She/It/We/You/They did not (didn’t) work.
Interrogative Form: DID + Subject + Verb (short infinitive)
e.g. Did I/you/he/she/it/we/you/they work?
IRREGULAR VERBS
VERBS WITH NO CHANGE
Cost Cost Cost

Cut Cut cut
Hit Hit Hit
Hurt Hurt Hurt
Let Let Let
Put Put Put
Shut Shut Shut
VERBS WITH ONE CHANGE
Bring Brought Brought

Build Built Built
Buy Bought Bought
Catch Caught Caught
Dream Dreamed Dream
Feed Fed Fed
Feel Felt Felt
Fight Fought Fought
Find Found Found
Get Got Got
Hang Hung Hung
Have Had Had
Hear Heard Heard
Hold Held Held
Keep Kept Kept
Learn Learnt Learnt
Leave Left Left
Lend Lent Lent
Lose Lost Lost
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Make Made Made
Mean Meant Meant
Meet Met Met
Pay Paid Paid
Read Read Read
Say Said Said
Sell Sold Sold
Send Sent Sent
Shine Shone Shone
Sit Sat Sat
Sleep Slept Slept
Spell Spelt Spelt
Spelled Spelled
Spend Spent Spent
Stand Stood Stood
Tell Told Told
Think Thought Thought
Understand Understood Understood
Win Won Won
VERBS WITH TWO CHANGES
Be Was Been
Begin Began Begun
Break Broke Broken
Choose Chose Chosen
Come Came Come
Do Did Done
Draw Drew Drawn
Drink Drank Drunk
Drive Drove Driven
Eat Ate Eaten
Fall Fell Fallen
Fly Flew Flown
Forget Forgot Forgotten
Give Gave Given
Go Went Gone
Grow Grew Grown
Know Knew Known
Lie Lay Lain
Ride Rode Ridden
Ring Rang Rung
Run Ran Run
See Saw Seen
Show Showed Shown
Sing Sang Sung
Sink Sank Sunk
Speak Spoke Spoken
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Steal Stole Stolen
Swim Swam Swum
Take Took Taken
Tear Tore Torn
Throw Threw Thrown
Wear Wore Worn
Write Wrote Written
Uses and Values

The Past Tense Simple is used:
1. – to express an action which took place at a definite time in the past (+ adverbs
like: yesterday, last week/summer, two years ago, in 2006, etc.).
e.g. We voted for the change of the Production Manager last Monday.
2. – when the time is asked about.

e.g. When/What time did the bank close?
3. – to express a past habitual action.

e.g. He always travelled by train.
He used to travel by train.
Past Tense Continuous

Affirmative form: Subject + To Be (Past Tense) + Present Participle (verb-ing)
e.g. to work
I/He/She/It was working.
You/We/You/They were working.
Negative form: Subject + To Be (Past Tense) +NOT + Present Participle
e.g. I/He/She/It was not working.
You/We/You/They were not working.
Interrogative form: To Be (Past Tense) + Subject +Present Participle
e.g. Was I/he/she/it working?
Were you/we/you/they working?
Uses and Values

The Past Tense Continuous is used to express:
1. – an action in progress in the past.
e.g. I was studying at eight yesterday.
What were you doing when I phoned you?
41
2. – two parallel actions in progress in the past.
e.g. He was working on the report while I was writing letters.
3. – a frequently repeated action in the past which annoyed the speaker.

e.g. He was always complaining about his boss.
EXERCISES
I. Choose the best answer:

1. go
a) goed gone
b) gone gone
c) went gone
d) went goed
2. do
a) done done
b) doed doed
c) did did
d) did done
3. come
a) came come
b) comed comed
c) came came
d) come come
4. stay
a) stayed stayed
b) steyed steyed
c) state state
d) staid staid
5. see
a) seed seed
b) seeed seeed
c) saw sawed
d) saw seen
6. put
a) put put
b) putted putted
c) put putted
d) putted put
7. meet
a) meeted meeted
b) met met
c) meeted met
d) meet meet
8. take
a) took taken
b) took took
c) taked taken
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d) taked taked
9. get
a) got gotted
b) get got
c) gotted getted
d) got got
10. withdraw
a) withdrawded withdrawed
b) withdrew withdrawn
c) withdrew withdrew
d) withdraw withdraw
II. Put the verbs in brackets into the past tense simple:
1. The meeting .....was..... (to be) boring but I had to attend it till the end.
2. Last year, Tom .......... (to buy) a house in the center of the town.
3. The secretary ........... (to phone) the supplier but he didn’t answer.
4. He ........... (to pay) all the bills and headed for the airport to catch the last
flight.
5. Last week, he .......... (to apply) for the position of marketing manager but he
(not to be) accepted.
6. Mark .......... (to decide) to deliver the goods as soon as possible.
7. I .......... (to find out) the information I needed just in time to stop the
transaction.
8. Yesterday, the accountant of the company .......... (to send) the financial report
to an auditor.
9. The business meeting .......... (not/to go) to well. I hope next time will be
better.
10. They .......... (to cancel) the meeting without giving any explanations.
III. Put the verbs in brackets into the past tense continuous:
1. When I received his message, the secretary .....was drawing..... (to draw) the
report.
2. We .......... (to try) to find the best solution to avoid bankruptcy when the
manager arrived.
3. Mark .......... (to write) the report while we .......... (to have) a party at a
famous restaurant.
4. He .......... (to travel) abroad when a colleague phoned and announced that he
was fired.
5. She .......... (to work) on the project when the desk clerk knocked at the door.
6. The shareholders .......... (to discuss) about the management of their firm
when the secretary served them some coffee.
7. He .......... (to swim) in the lake when his wife announced him the arrival of
his business partner.
8. Tom .......... (to drive) the company’s car when the accident took place.
9. He .......... (to buy) a new car when I phoned him.
10. They .......... (to tell) him the bad news when the phone rang.
43
IV. Make sentences about things you did at these times: last night, two weeks
ago, yesterday, last semester, in 2007, when I was in London.
Last night I stayed at the office until late.
V. Yesterday you arrived late at the office. Use the words in parentheses to
make sentences saying what each of your colleagues was doing at that time.
1. (Ann/to write/a letter)
Ann was writing a letter.
2. (Michael/to prepare/the agenda for the next meeting)
3. (Julie/to make/a phone call)
4. (Dan and George/to argue/about a new project)
5. (Tom/to photocopy/some documents)
VI. Put the verbs in parentheses into the correct form: Past Tense Simple or
Continuous.
1. While Tom …was reading….. (to read), the phone …rang… (to ring).
2. Two workers ………. (to fall) off the ladder, while they ………. (to repair) the
ceiling.
3. We ………. (to postpone) our departure because it ……….. (to snow) heavily.
4. Yesterday the director ………. (to announce) a salary raise, but I ………… (to
believe) him.
5. Our firm ……….. (to have) a subsidiary in London, but it ………. (to close)
down last year.
6. It ………… (to get) dark when we …………. (to return).
7. Many coal mines ……….. (to close) in England between 1984 and 1986.
8. I …………. (to see) Helen in your office yesterday. What ……….. (she/to want)
to tell you?
9. ………… (you/to watch) TV when I ……….. (to call) you?
10. I ……….. (to meet) several business men when I ………. (to visit) the trade fair
in Bucharest.
VII. Write questions to the following statements:
1. Last week, Tom tried to get a loan in order to buy a car.

Why …did Tom try to get a loan last week...?
2. He was studying the market trends when Jane returned home.
When …………………….?
3. Yesterday, Mary analysed the financial report.
Who ……………………..?
4. Our manager bought new equipment last week.
What …………………….?
44
5. The businessmen were eating dinner at a famous restaurant when the manager
came.
Where ……………………?
6. She sent the report to an auditor she knew well.
Who …………………...to?
7. He withdrew $500 from the bank without telling his family.
How much ……………….?
8. The secretary left the office at 6 o’clock.
What time ……………….?
9. I went to the shop with two of my customers.
Who ………………………?
10. He was driving 80 km/h when he made the accident.
How fast ………………….?
VIII. Choose the best alternative:

1. They (purchased/were purchasing) this building five years ago.
They purchased this building five years ago.
2. He (sold/was selling) the car when I met him.

3. He (was taking part/took part) in negotiations so I couldn’t talk to him.
4. Tom (was choosing/chose) the best solution when he rented the room.
5. He (was waiting/waited) in the secretary’s office when the manager asked
him to come in.
6. When the owner of the company (left/was leaving) all his fortune to his
employees.
7. The manufacturer (complained/was complaining) about the lack of raw
material when I got there.
8. He (was negotiating/negotiated) when I phoned him.
9. When I (was seeing/saw) him, he was waiting on the platform.
10. He (lost/was losing) his job one week ago and decided to leave abroad.
IX. Find the best option:
The day .......... terribly. My alarm .......... and I .......... the house with only 1 hour to
spare before the plane .......... due to take off. Luckily there .......... very little traffic
and I .......... at the airport with 30 minutes to spare. I .......... in at the gate and ..........
for a coffee. Just as I .......... down , the announcer .......... my flight. I .......... my
coffee quickly, too quickly in fact as I .......... some on my shirt. I .......... the sign to
the departure gate and .......... through passport control. I .......... down in the
departure lounge. It .......... full of teenagers, obviously a school trip. They .......... a
terrible noise. And then I .......... that terrible announcement, the one you don't want
to hear. There .......... a problem with the engine. I .......... around for a place to get
another coffee. I .......... a drinks machine so I .......... over to get some. I .......... in
my money and .......... the button for black coffee. When I .......... up the cup, it
.......... only water. At that moment, the hostess .......... that the plane was delayed
because of bad weather.
1. The day ....began...... terribly.

a) took care of
b) announced
c) finished
45
d) began
2. My alarm ..........
a) didn't get up
b) didn't begin
c) didn't wake up
d) didn't go off
3. and I .......... the house with only 1 hour to spare
a) left
b) entered
c) quitted
d) goodbyed
4. before the plane .......... due to take off.
a) didn't go
b) wished
c) became
d) was
5. Luckily there .......... very little traffic
a) was
b) existed
c) had
d) turned over
6. and I .......... at the airport with 30 minutes to spare.
a) went
b) terminated
c) reached
d) arrived
7. I .......... in at the gate
a) checked
b) stood
c) waited
d) stamped
8. and .......... for a coffee.
a) started
b) shouted
c) went
d) whistled
9. Just as I .......... down ,
a) went
b) sat
c) jumped
d) drank
10. the announcer .......... my flight.
a) sang
b) whistled
c) shouted
d) called
11. I .......... my coffee quickly
a) spat
b) drank
c) sang
d) looked for
46
12. too quickly in fact as I .......... some on my shirt.
a) spilled
b) dropped
c) spread
d) smiled
13. I .......... the sign to the departure gate
a) looked after
b) followed
c) discussed
d) ran after
14. and .......... through passport control.
a) went
b) discussed
c) smiled
d) went under
15. I .......... down in the departure lounge.
a) hurried
b) came
c) went
d) sat
16. It .......... full of teenagers, obviously a school trip.
a) was
b) happened
c) suggested
d) disappeared
17. They .......... a terrible noise.
a) were happening
b) were smoking
c) were doing
d) were making
18. And then I .......... that terrible announcement, the one you don't
want to hear.
a) heard
b) listened
c) felt
d) spoke
19. There .......... a problem with the engine.
a) arrived
b) happened
c) were
d) was
20. I .......... around for a place to get another coffee.
a) saw
b) looked
c) had
d) was
21. I .......... a drinks machine so I .......... over to get some.
a) looked over / went
b) saw / fell
c) saw / went
d) looked over / fell
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22. I .......... in my money and .......... the button for black coffee.
a) put / pressed
b) put / pulled
c) threw / pressed
d) threw / pulled
23. When I .......... up the cup,
a) took
b) pushed
c) pulled
d) picked
24. it .......... only water.
a) went in
b) got up
c) filled
d) contained
25. At that moment, the hostess .......... that the plane was delayed
because of bad weather.
a) announced
b) called
c) spoke
d) mimed
X. Translate into English:

1. Depozitul obişnuia să fie plin cu materiale de construcţii.
The warehouse used to be full of building materials.
2. Incepea o nouă zi de lucru, când Robyn se gândea la multiplele procese implicate

în prepararea unei ceşti de ceai.
3. Era o zi însorită când Robyn şi Vic au plecat în călătoria lor de afaceri.
4. Anul trecut întreţinerea echipamentului ne-a costat destul de mult.
5. Bunicii mei au lucrat toată viaţa în sectorul industriei.
6. Când în Sheffiled industria oţelului a dispărut, 10.000 de muncitori şi-au pierdut
locurile de muncă.
7. Cu două sute de ani în urmă, majoritatea populaţiei din practic toate ţările trăia în
mediul rural şi lucra în agricultură. Sectorul agricol a fost apoi înlocuit de industrie,
care a creat numeroase locuri de muncă în mari centre urbane. Azi, în ţările
industrializate, doar 2-3% din populaţie îşi câştigă existenţa din agricultură, iar
industria grea aproape că a dispărut. Se vorbeşte tot mai des de ţări „post-
industrializate”, datorită creşterii sectorului serviciilor şi declinului producţiei, care
se mută treptat în ţările în curs de dezvoltare.
48
3. WRITING
I. Read the following letter of enquiry.
Superbuys Ltd.
Superbuy House, Wolverton Road, London SW16 7DN
Telephone: 081 327 1651 Reg. No.: 94116London
Fax: 081 327 1935 VAT No. 516841030
The Manager Date: 10 June 20—

Wembley Shopfitters Ltd.
Wycombe Road
Wembley
Middlesex HA9 6DA
Dear Sir,
We are opening a new branch of ‘Superbuys’ in Wembley High Street in March and
would like to know if you could send someone along to give us an estimate for
refitting.
From our designer’s plan enclosed, you can see that the premises were once used as
a warehouse and need extensive alterations which include putting in counters,
shelves, windows, rewiring, and reflooring.
The work has to be completed before the end of February and you are required to
sign a contract to that effect. If the job interests you, please contact Mr Keith Bellon
our Managing Director on 081 327 1651 ext. 119 to arrange an appointment.
Yours faithfully,
Jean Landman
Jean Landman
(Adapted from Commercial Correspondence, p. 33)
II. What do you notice about the layout of a business letter in English as
compared to a similar letter in Romanian?
Note: when you begin a letter with Dear Sir/Madam, you end it with Yours
faithfully. When you begin with Dear Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms + name, you end it with
Yours sincerely.
III. Answer the following questions.

1. Which are the main parts of a letter of enquiry?
2. What is the request for?
49
3. Why is an estimate needed? Why is it not possible to give a firm quotation?
4. How were the premises originally used?
5. Can Wembley Shopfitters take as much time as they want to complete the job?
6. What do Superbuys expect in reply?
IV. Write a short letter to the secretary at the Westland School asking for a
prospectus of their evening courses in web design. Enquire whether they offer
three-week or six-week courses, and ask how much each course is.
Abstract: The unit discusses issues related to the three sectors of economy:
agriculture/the primary sector, industry/the secondary sector and services/the
tertiary sector. A literary text from David Lodge’s Nice Work is used to familiarise
the students with these sectors, by presenting the economic processes involved in
the essentially British act of making a cup of tea. The grammar section presents a
theoretical and practical approach to Past Tense, the focus being on practising this
tense. The writing section proposes the study of a letter of enquiry, the students
being requested to produce a similar letter by following specific instructions.
50
UNIT 5
WORK TO LIVE
Sections:
• Personal qualities and abilities for starting a business
• Present Perfect Simple and Continuous
• Writing a newspaper article
Objectives:
• Acquiring specific vocabulary related to a new business venture
• Theoretical and practical approach to the Present Perfect.
Bowen, Tim Build Your Business Grammar. Boston: Thomson, 2000.

Roann Altman. 1993.
Soars, Liz & Headway. Intermediate Student’s Book. Oxford: Oxford
John University Press, 1994.
and A. V. 1986.
Martinet. A.
1. VOCABULARY
I. Answer the following questions:
1. Do you prefer having a traditional job or working for yourself?

2. What qualities and skills do you think you need in order to start a business?
3. What factors can influence the success or failure of a recently set up business?
II. Here is a self-analysis questionnaire that may help you to assess your
personal qualities and abilities. For each question choose one of the following
answers: YES/ NO/ DON’T KNOW
1. Can you lead and motivate people?

2. Do you like to make your own decisions?
3. Do people ask you for help in making decisions?
4. Do you enjoy competition?
5. Do you have willpower and self-discipline?
51
6. Can you plan ahead?
7. Do you like socialising?
8. Do you get on well with others?
9. Do you enjoy taking risks?
10. Do you strongly believe that your future and success depend on you and your
abilities?
11. Are you willing to work up to sixteen hours a day, six or seven days a week?
12. Do you have the physical stamina to handle the workload and schedule?
13. Do you have the emotional strength to withstand the strain?
14. Are you prepared to temporarily lower your standard of living until your
business is firmly established?
15. Would your family agree to go along with the strains they, too, must bear?
16. Are you ready to lose all your savings?
(Adapted from English for Business & Administration, p. 97-98)
III. Consider the questions to which you gave a YES answer, and discuss them
with the whole group.
2. READING
I. Here are three articles about people who have started their own business,
but their stories are not in order. Read the paragraphs and decide which
paragraphs go with which story. Then put them in the right order.
a. James McClarty, 16, runs a part-time bakery delivery service. Every Friday
evening he goes round his local village selling his wares—bread, rolls and teacakes,
which he buys wholesale from a bakery.
b. Jeremy Taylor has had his market garden for 18 months now, growing fruit and
vegetables for local consumption. He is most proud of his early potatoes and juicy
raspberries. He thought starting a business would be complicated, but in fact he
found it was quite straightforward.
c. He had the excellent idea of giving out free hot cross buns before Easter, and as a
result he got bumper orders for the Easter weekend. ‘I’ve already expanded to
include the next village, but I’ve employed a friend to do the delivering. We’ve
been working together for quite some time now.’
d. But there weren’t any. ‘I still had ₤100 and my bike. I’m lousy at mathematics,
but my girlfriend Lynn was good at accounts, so we set up with another friend,
Paul, as a third partner.’
e. James likes the extra money, but he does have one complaint. ‘I’m getting fat. I
can’t help eating the teacakes!’
f. At first they found it very difficult to get known. ‘Nothing seemed to work—
leaflets and adverts in the paper brought nobody.’ Then slowly the customers
trickled in.
52
g. Since then they have grown and grown. ‘We use up to 20 riders and we buy
ourselves a new bike every year. We’ve learnt a lot about management, and we’re
now pretty confident about the future.’
h. But his organization is far from old-fashioned. He has bought a computer, which
he uses to work out orders, costs and profit. He has had the business for nine
months.
i. He was given good advice by his bank manager. ‘Start small, consolidate and
expand gradually. There’s been an increased demand for really fresh vegetables,
and my produce is picked, packed and sold within 24 hours.’
j. A clever observation by John Glover gave him and two of his friends the idea for
their small business. ‘We’d all had jobs but we were made redundant. There were a
lot of motorcycle couriers in London, so I thought I would try and get a job with
one locally.’
k. ‘I’ve always loved gardening, and the thought of making a living out of a hobby
is wonderful.’
l. ‘There hasn’t been a baker in the village since the big supermarkets opened in
town 10 years ago. People like the service and especially the old-fashioned bread.’
(Adapted from Headway Intermediate, p. 39)
II. Think of a title for each article, and then of an overall title. Discuss your
choices with your colleagues and select the most appropriate titles.
COMPREHENSION CHECK
I. Find information in the text in order to complete the following chart:
James Jeremy John Glover

McClarty Taylor
What sector services agriculture services
does he work
in?
What type of
business does
he run?
What does he
deal with?
Why did he
start the
business?
Which
methods has
he used to
attract
customers?
53
II. Here are the answers to some questions. Work out the questions.
– For local consumption.
What does Jeremy Taylor grow his fruit and vegetables for?
– From a bakery.
– Leaflets and adverts in the paper.
– A computer.
– 18 months.
– His bank manager.
– Within 24 hours.
– 10 years ago.
– Three.
3. LANGUAGE FOCUS
Present Perfect Simple & Continuous
Present Perfect Simple

Affirmative form: Subject + To Have (Present Tense) + Past Participle (regular
verb-ed/irregular verb, 3rd form)
e.g. to work
I/You/We/You/They have worked.
He/She/It has worked.
Negative form: Subject + To Have (Present Tense) + NOT + Past Participle
e.g. I/You/We/You/They have not (haven’t) worked.
He/She/It has not (hasn’t) worked.
Interrogative form: To Have (Present Tense) + Subject + Past Participle
e.g. Have I/you/we/you/they worked?
Has he/she/it worked?
Uses and Values

The Present Perfect Simple is used:
1. – to express actions which took place at an indefinite time in the past.
e.g. Have you paid the phone bill?
2. – to express a recently finished action (+ adverbs: just, already)

e.g. He has just resigned.
3. – for actions occurring in an incomplete period of time. An incomplete period

may be expressed by adverbs such as:
a. today, this morning/week, etc, these days, the current year (2009)
e.g. I have met the manager this morning. (It’s 10 a.m.)
I met the manager this morning. (It’s 5 p.m.)
b. lately, recently, so far
e.g. There have been many changes lately/recently.
c. ever, never, always, often, seldom, occasionally, etc.
e.g. Have you ever been to Paris?
They have always answered our letters.
d. for, since
e.g. I have known him for three years.
54
I have changed my mind since then/since I spoke with him.
Note: for is used with a period of time (e.g. for two days, for a long time); since is
used with a point in time (e.g. since five o’clock, since my childhood).
Present Perfect Continuous

Affirmative form: Subject + To Be (Present Perfect) + Present Participle (verb-
ing)
e.g. to work
I/You/We/You/They have been working.
He/She/It has been working.
Negative form: Subject + Have/Has + NOT + Been + Present Participle
e.g. I/You/We/You/They have not (haven’t) been working.
He/She/It has not (hasn’t) been working.
Interrogative form: Have/Has + Subject + Been + Present Participle
e.g. Have I/you/we/you/they been working?
Has he/she/it been working?
Uses and Values
The Present Perfect Continuous expresses:
1. – an action which began in the past and is still continuing (+ for/since).
e.g. He has been typing for three hours.
2. – a recently finished action whose results are seen in the present moment.
e.g. My hands are dirty because I have been repairing the car.
EVALUATION TEST
Study the sentences a–d below. Which one describes:

1. an action which took place at a specific moment in the past?
d. He had the excellent idea of giving out free hot cross buns before Easter.
2. an action which happened at an indefinite moment?
3. an action which was in progress at a certain moment in the past?
4. an action which began in the past and is still going on?
a. He has bought a computer, which he uses to work out orders, costs and profit.
b. They were discussing the budget when the CEO arrived.
c. I have been waiting for them since this morning.
d. He had the excellent idea of giving out free hot cross buns before Easter.
EXERCISES
I. Ask questions about the underlined parts of the following sentences:

1. She has just sewed your sweater.
What has she just sewed?
2. Mary has been living in France since she was a little girl.
3. The children have already eaten their sandwiches.
4. Mr. Brown has been reading that article for ten minutes.
5. I have been phoning this number for two hours.
6. I’ve never had an accident.
55
7. She has been studying the reports carefully.
8. Mother has paid $5 for this shirt.
9. I haven’t seen her since May.
10. They have been going out together for two years.
II. Use the words given to make complete sentences:

1. the problem/ still/ hasn’t solved/ he.
He still hasn’t solved the problem.
2. have driven/ it’s/ I/ the first/ a car/ time.

3. this/ before/ haven’t/ story/ read/we?
4. three/ it’s been/ days/ for/ snowing.
5. a year/ in Romania/ for/ I’ve been/ living.
6. she/ English/ has been/ for/ studying/ a month.
7. stopped/ the rain/ indoors/ until/ stay/ has.
8. medicine/ he/ has been/for five years/ studying.
9. up to now/ has written/ four/ chapters/ he.
10. ten years/ this company/ she/ in/ for/ this company.
III. Choose the correct expression:
1. Which is correct?
a) for a long period
b) since a long period
a) for 6 years
b) since 6 years
a) for 1992
b) since 1992
a) for 6 weeks
b) since 6 weeks
a) for 8 months
b) since 8 months
a) for 10 minutes
b) since 10 minutes
a) for a long time
b) since a long time
a) for ages
b) since ages
a) for March 18
b) since March 18
a) for the end of last year
b) since the end of last year
56
a) for I joined the firm
b) since I joined the firm
a) for 10 hours
b) since 10 hours
a) for 10 o' clock
b) since 10 o'clock
a) for the beginning of the year
b) since the beginning of the year
a) for a six month period
b) since a six month period
IV. Rephrase the following sentences:

1. I haven’t ridden a horse since 1995.
The last time I rode a horse was in 1995.
2. I saw her a minute ago.

I’ve just ………………………………………………………….
3. They haven’t paid the rent for two moths.
It’s two …………………………………………………………..
4. I have never read such a bad composition.
Never before …………………………………………………….
5. Stay here. They will call you.
………………………until …………………………………….
V. Underline the correct from of the Present Perfect in italics.
1. I’ve sent/ have been sending the letter three times, but they still haven’t
answered.
2. This business is quite successful. They have opened/ have been opening several
branches so far.
3. I’ve phoned/ have been phoning him all morning but the number is engaged.
4. How long have you worked/ have you been working here?
5. How much have they spent/ have they been spending this year?
6. How many firms have you visited/ have you been visiting so far?
VI. Underline the correct word or phrase in each sentence:
1. It’s a long time when/since we met.

2. I haven’t read the paper already/yet.
3. He has sold/has been selling ten newspapers since morning.
4. I have driven/ have been driving the car since last January.
5. She has waited/has been waiting in front of the theatre for ten minutes.
6. Who has used/ has been using my computer?
7. I moved/ have moved to Craiova ten days ago.
8. She has been learning English since/for two years.
9. I have met them lately/from time to time.
57
10. Over the past years, the prices have been rising/ have risen
VII. What do you notice about the difference between Present Perfect Simple
and Continuous in the sentences above?
Answer: There is a difference between sentences beginning with “how much”,
“how many” and sentences beginning with “how long”.
What happens when the number of times an action is performed is mentioned?

What tenses do you use in each case?
VIII. Complete the sentences 1-6 with the correct endings a-f below.
1. Last month, orders increased substantially.

2. Several years ago, the value of the U.S. dollar…
3. So far this trimester, the price of oil…
4. In 1994, the Romanian GDP…
5. This year, sales of washing machines…
6. Last year the company….
a. was higher than that of the euro.

b. grew slightly as compared to 1993.
c. laid off a considerable number of employees.
d. have increased substantially.
e. increased substantially.
f. has decreased.
IX. Put the verbs between brackets in the Past Tense or Present Perfect.
We …have had… (to have) another successful year. I would like to thank
everyone for their hard work which …………. (to help) in bringing about this
success. We … (to start) in 1975 as a small company producing spare parts for the
car industry. At the time, we ……….. (to employ) just 25 people, that number
………. (to grow) to the present 1,200 employees. Our turnover ………. (to be) just
₤50,000, whereas today it ……… (to grow) to ₤35 million.
In those early years conditions were not particularly comfortable. I ………
(to work) in a tiny office with no heating, and in those days we ……… (to have) no
computers, which makes life so much easier today. Things ……… (to change)
considerably since we ……… (to move) to our current site. The early years ………
(to be) difficult. We ……….. (to face) strong competition from more powerful
competitors and on several occasions we were close to going out of business. The
turning point ………. (to come) in 1984 when we ………. (to win) a small
government contract to produce spare parts for aircraft. We ……… (to take on)
more staff and ……… (to invest) a considerable amount of money in Research and
Development and ………. (to go) from strength to strength ever since.
In recent years we ………. (to expand) our product range and … (to
strengthen) our position in the export market. These changes ……… (to result) in
the consolidation of our position. The recent deregulation of the markets within the
European Union ………. (to enable) us to increase our exports to Europe and we
are now in a position to expand our European operations still further.
(Adapted from Build Your Business Grammar, p. 72)
58
X. Choose the best option:
Kate : Have you ever .......... to New York?

Sophie: New York? No I've never .......... there. Have you?
Kate: Yes. In fact I've just .......... back from there. I'm doing some consultancy
work there and I've .......... at least six weeks there in the last year.
Sophie: That sounds fabulous. Have you .......... to the top of the Empire State
Building?
Kate No, I .......... yet. I haven't .......... the ferry to Ellis Island either. I've just ..........
work so hard. Though I have .......... dinner at Sardi's and .......... a Broadway show.
1. Have you ever ...been... to New York?

a) flew
b) went
c) goed
d) been
2. No I've never .......... there.
a) been
b) went
c) was
d) existed
3. In fact I've just .......... back from there.
a) been
b) gone
c) came
d) come
4. And I've .......... at least six weeks there in the last year.
a) past
b) passed
c) spent
d) spend
5. Have you .......... to the top of the Empire State Building?
a) flown
b) sat up
c) grown up
d) gone up
6. No, I .......... yet.
a) haven't
b) don't
c) not
d) won't
7. I haven't .......... the ferry to Ellis Island either.
a) taken
b) swam
c) jumped over
d) driven
8. I've just .......... work so hard.
a) looked
b) seen
c) must
d) had to
59
9. though I have .......... dinner at Sardi's
a) had
b) taken
c) seen
d) served
10. and .......... a Broadway show.
a) taken
b) watched
c) seen
d) starred in
XI. Choose the best option:
1. When ...did you join... the company?

a) have you joined
b) did you joined
c) did you join
d) have you ever joined
2. ........... in Pakistan?
a) Did you ever worked
b) Have you ever worked
c) Worked you
d) Didn't you have worked
3. That's the best presentation ...........
a) I never heard
b) I didn't hear
c) I used to hear
d) I've ever heard
4. He's the most difficult customer ..........
a) I never dealt with.
b) I never had to deal with.
c) I've ever had to deal with.
d) I've never had to deal with.
5. .......... to him last week.
a) I spoke
b) I've already spoken
c) I didn't spoke
d) I speaked
6. .......... a binding contract last year and it is still valid.
a) We have signed
b) We signed
c) We haven't signed
d) We have sign
7. The reason I look so brown is that ........... from a business trip to
Barbados
a) I come back
b) I came back
c) I never came back
d) I've just come back
8. Sales .......... in 1995 but then .......... in 1996.
a) rised falled
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b) rose fell
c) have risen have fallen
d) rose have fallen
9. You .......... to a word .......... .
a) listened I haven't said
b) didn't listen I say
c) listened saying
d) haven't listened I've said
10. It's obvious that .......... this report.
a) you haven't read
b) you didn't read
c) you don't read
d) you read not
XII. Translate into English.

1. A lucrat pentru această companie timp de 20 de ani înainte de a-şi începe propria
afacere.
He worked for this company for twenty years before starting his own business.
2. Directorul de personal a plecat într-o călătorie de afaceri în străinătate.
3. Lucrez în această întreprindere de doi ani.
4. Am lucrat în vânzări din 1995 până în 1998.
5. Nu a părăsit încă firma.
6. Nu l-am văzut pe director în dimineaţa aceasta.
7. Societatea a realizat un profit net de peste două milioane de dolari în cursul
ultimelor luni.
8. Publicitatea este un sector care se dezvoltă rapid de mai mulţi ani.
9. De cât timp lucraţi la acest proiect?
10. Am trimis o cerere pentru acest post acum 10 zile, dar încă nu am primit niciun
răspuns.
11. Comerţul cu amănuntul, construcţiile, textilele se numără printre sectoarele care
au eşuat cel mai uşor în ultima vreme. Începerea unei afaceri reprezintă o decizie
care ia în calcul mai multe coordonate. Una dintre ele ar trebui să ţină cont de faptul
că anumite domenii de activitate, precum şi afacerile atrăgătoare, sunt de obicei
foarte riscante. Studiile de faliment, realizate de agenţia de rating Coface Romania,
au arătat că vânzările cu amănuntul constituie cel mai expus sector economic de
activitate. Prin urmare, este de evitat deschiderea unei afaceri în acest domeniu, în
condiţiile în care, în 2005, numărul companiilor intrate în faliment a fost de 811,
ceea ce a reprezentat 23% din totalul insloventelor din ţara noastră. Principalul
motiv pentru care companiile bazate pe comerţul cu amănuntul s-au dovedit foarte
riscante rezidă în intensificarea comerţului de tip modern.
(Source: http://www.9am.ro/stiri-revista-presei)
4. WRITING
I. Refer back to the articles about James McClarty, Jeremy Taylor and John
Glover. Discuss the answers to the following questions with a partner:
1. Why is a good headline important for a newspaper article?
61
2. What makes a good headline?
3. Why does the first article start with ‘James McClarty, 16 runs a…’?
4. Why are direct quotations included in the stories?
5. How do you find the style of the stories?
6. What do you notice about paragraph length?
7. What do you notice about the overall length of each article?
II. Work in pairs and write a similar article based on your imagination and
knowledge of the business world around you. When you have finished, read the
story back to your colleagues.
Abstract: Work to Live begins with a questionnaire meant to assess the students’
personal qualities and abilities for starting their own business. By rearranging the
paragraphs of three articles about people who run their business and answering text-
related questions, the students acquire specific vocabulary for the topic and also the
main ideas about how to write a newspaper article. The language focus is on the
uses and values of Present Perfect, a tense which the students have to practise in
relation with Past Tense.
62
UNIT 6
THE MANAGER
Sections:
• Managerial styles and attitudes
• Past Perfect Simple and Continuous
• An organisation chart
• Replying to enquires
Objectives:
• Acquiring specific vocabulary related to management and company
organisation
• Theoretical and practical approach to the Past Perfect.

Brookes, Business English. Trans. Alina Hăhăianu. Bucureşti: Teora,
Michael and 1999.
David Horner.
Flower, John Build Your Business Vocabulary. Boston: Thomson, 2000.
Roann Altman. 1993.
Pawlowska, Essential English – Teste de Limba Engleza.Teora, 1996
Barbara; and
Zbigniew
Kempinski,
Pilbeam, International Management. London: Longman, 2000.
Adrian
and A. V. 1986.
Martinet. A.
1. VOCABULARY

1. Can you define a manager’s role?
A manager’s role is to organise, to lead…
2. Which are the most important skills for a manager?
II. Look at the adjectives in the box below.
63
ambitious impersonal
trustworthy flexible
obsessive slow
confident idealistic
supportive patient
arrogant enthusiastic
rigid dogmatic
autocratic over-controlling
ingenious authoritarian
sociable dynamic
conscientious dilettante
Select the adjectives which describe a good or bad manager.

A good manger is
– ambitious
– trustworthy…
A bad manger is
– obsessive
– arrogant…
III. Use some of the adjectives above to describe the manager of a company
that you know.
IV. Here are some words based around to manage and to organise.
manage organise
manager organisation
management organisational
managerial
managing
Complete the following sentences using one of these words.
a. The chairman has appointed a new ...manager… in each department.

b. They have managed to transform their small company into a world-wide ............ .
c. Psychologists have distinguished four ............. styles: directive, analytical,
conceptual and behavioural.
d. Among other things, to ............. is to forecast and plan.
e. I’m going to ask the secretary to ............. those files in alphabetical order.
f. The British counterpart of an American Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is called
the ............. director.
g. I have to study the …………. chart in order to understand the structure of this
company.
h. The firm went bankrupt because of bad ………… .
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2. READING
Read the following text about different management attitudes in Britain and
Germany.
Styles of Execution
A study comparing British and German approaches to management has

revealed the deep gulf which separates managerial behaviour in many German and
British companies. The gap is so fundamental, especially among middle managers,
that it can pose severe problems for companies from the two countries which either
merge or collaborate. The findings are from a study called ‘Managing in Britain and
Germany’ carried out by a team of German and British academics from Mannheim
University and Templeton College, Oxford.
The differences are shown most clearly in the contrasting attitudes of many
Germans and Britons to managerial expertise and authority, according to the
academics. This schism results, in turn, from the very different levels of
qualifications, and sorts of career paths, which are typical in the two countries.
German managers – both top and middle – consider technical skill to be the
most important aspect of their jobs, according to the study. It adds that German
managers consider they earn their authority with colleagues and subordinates from
this ‘expert’ knowledge rather than from their position in the organisational
hierarchy.
In sharp contrast, British middle managers see themselves as executives first
and technicians second. As a result, German middle managers may find that the
only people within their British partner companies who are capable of helping them
solve routine problems are technical specialists who do not have management rank.
Other practical results of these differences include a greater tendency of
British middle managers to regard the design of their departments as their own
responsibility, and to reorganise them frequently. Considering that British managers
also change their job often, UK organisations undergo ‘more or less constant
change’.
Of the thirty British middle managers in the study, thirteen had held their
current job for less than two years, compared with only three in Germany. Many of
the Britons had also moved between unrelated departments or functional areas, for
example from marketing to human resources. In contrast, all but one of the
Germans had stayed in the same functional area. Twenty of them had occupied their
current positions for five years or more, compared with only five of the Britons.
The researchers almost certainly exaggerate the strengths of the German
pattern; its very stability helps to create the rigid attitudes which stop many German
companies from adjusting to external change. But the authors of the report are
correct about the drawbacks of the more unstable and less technically oriented
British pattern. And they are right in concluding that the two countries do not
merely have different career systems but also, in effect, different ways of doing
business.
(Adapted from International Management, p. 37)
65
COMPREHENSION CHECK
I. Find information in the text in order to answer the following questions.

1. Who carried out the study?
Answer: The study was carried out by a team of German and British academics
from Mannheim University and Templeton College, Oxford.
2. Which managers did the study concentrate on?

3. Which are the differences between German and British managerial attitudes?
4. What factors determine these differences?
5. Why do UK organisations undergo constant change?
6. What are the drawbacks of the German management style? 7. What are the
drawbacks of the British pattern?
II. Topics for discussion:
1. Underline the positive or negative comments about British and German

approaches.
2. Does the text imply that one approach to management is better than the other?
3. How would you describe the Romanian approach to management? Is it closer to
the German or to the British pattern?
4. Many of the British managers had moved between ‘unrelated departments or
functional areas’. Identify the two examples which are given in the text. Mention at
least four other departments in a typical company.
III. Match these verbs and nouns as they occur together in the text.
a) pose attitudes
b) carry out problems
c) solve a position
d) undergo a study
e) change jobs
f) occupy change
g) create problems
e.g. pose problems
IV. Find a word in the text that corresponds to each definition:
a) a wide divergence in views – gap

b) to unite or combine into a whole
c) to work jointly
d) expert skill, knowledge or judgement
e) the power or right to enforce obedience
f) an accomplishment fitting a person for a position or purpose
g) working under the authority of others
h) a system in which grades of status or authority rank one above another
i) a person who is in charge of implementing laws, agreements, regulation, etc.
j) an expert in the techniques of a particular skill or job
k) a disadvantage
66
V. Here is a chart showing the way in which a company could be organised. In
some cases, a word is missing from the description of the chart. Find the
correct word from the following list. Use each word only once.
Accountant, Administration, Advertising, Board, Control, Head, Innovation,
Mail, Manager, Managing, Market, Personnel, Processing, Recruitment,
Salaries, Stock
2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 17 18 20 21 23 24 26 27 28
16 19 22 25
1. Shareholders
2. …Board... of Directors
3. …… Director
4. Chief ……
5. Purchasing Manager
6. …… Officer
7. Sales Manager
8. Production ……
9. …… Manager
10. …… of R & D
11. Accounts
12. Wages/……
13. Ordering
14. …… Control
15. Office Services
16. …… Room
17. Data ……
18. Sales
19. …… Research
20. ……
21. Production
22. Maintenance
23. Quality …….
24. …….
25. Welfare
26. Training
27. Improvement
28. …….
(Adapted from Build Your Business Vocabulary, p. 37)
67
2. LANGUAGE FOCUS
Past Perfect Simple & Continuous
Past Perfect Simple

Affirmative form: Subject + Had + Past Participle (regular verb-ed/ irregular
verb, 3rd form)
e.g. to work
I/You/He/She/It/We/You/They had worked.
Negative form: Subject + Had +NOT + Past Participle
e.g. I/You/ He/She/It We/You/They had not (hadn’t) worked.
Interrogative form: Had + Subject + Past Participle
e.g. Had I/you/he/she/it/we/you/they worked?
Uses and Values

The Past Perfect Simple expresses an action which was completed before another
past action or before a certain moment in the past.
e.g. We knew who had the job after they had interviewed everyone.
She had already left by 7 o’clock yesterday.
Past Perfect Continuous

Affirmative form: Subject + To Be (Past Perfect) + Present Participle (verb-ing)
e.g. to work
I/You/ He/She/It/We/You/They had been working.
Negative form: Subject + Had + NOT + Been + Present Participle
e.g. I/You/He/She/It/We/You/They had not (hadn’t) been working.
Interrogative form: Had + Subject + Been + Present Participle
e.g. Had I/you/he/she/it/we/you/they been working?
Uses and Values

The Past Perfect Continuous bears the same relation to the Past Perfect as the
Present Perfect Continuous bears to the Present Perfect. Thus it expresses:
1. – an action which began before a certain past moment, continued up to that
moment, and probably after (+ for/since).
e.g. They had been arguing for half an hour when we decided to leave the office.
2. – a repeated action whose results are seen at a certain moment in the past.
e.g. It was 6 p.m. and he was tired because he had been working since dawn.
EVALUATION TEST
The past tense we use is determined by the meaning we wish to express. Study
the sentences below, paying attention to the tenses which are underlined.
Match these sentences with the appropriate explanation a–d below.
1. When we arrived they were discussing the contract.

They were in the middle of discussing the contract.
2. When we arrived they discussed the contract.
3. When we arrived they had discussed the contract.
68
4. When we arrived they had been discussing the contract since morning.
a. They started to discuss the contract when we arrived.

b. They began discussing the contract before we arrived, and the discussion was still
going on at the moment of our arrival.
c. The discussion about the contract was over.
d. They were in the middle of discussing the contract.
EXERCISES
I. Make sentences using the words in parentheses.

e.g. They arrived at the airport on time. (the plane/ just/ land)
The plane had just landed.
1. Tom wasn’t in the office when I arrived. (he/ just/ go out)

2. After the meeting I invited a client to dinner, but he couldn’t come. (he/ already/
make plans/ to do something else)
3. The managing director was very pleased to see me after such a long time. (he/
not/ see/ me/ for five years)
4. The man was a complete stranger to me. (I/ never/ see/ him/ before)
5. The company building was very quiet when I left last night. (everybody/ have/
go/ home)
II. Read the situation and then write a sentence.

e.g. We began working on the production plan. After half an hour the secretary
entered.
We had been working on the production plan for half an hour when the secretary
entered.
1. I had arranged to meet a potential business partner in a café. I arrived and waited.
After 20 minutes I realised that I had come to the wrong café.
I ……….. when I ………
2. Mr. and Mrs. Thomson went to live in the south of France. Six months later, Mr.
Thomson was offered an interesting job in Germany.
They ……. when …….
3. We began walking along the road. After about 20 minutes a car stopped and the
driver offered us a lift.
We ……… when ………
III. Put the verbs in parentheses into the Past Simple or the Past Perfect
Continuous:
1. The baby ....had been crying... (to cry) for half an hour before his mother
...woke... (to wake) up.
2. She .......... (to fail) the exam though she .......... (to study) German for two years.
3. Obviously the boys .......... (to smoke) before .......... I (to enter) because the room
was full of cigarette smoke.
4. The band .......... (to play) for more than an hour before the people .......... (to
start) to throw rotten tomatoes at them.
5. Although he .......... (to try) hard to memorize the poem he .......... (cannot) even
remember the first stanza.
69
6. Professor Evans ........... (to lecture) on socialist economy for 15 years before he
.......... (to decide) to change the subject.
7. He .......... (to be) absolutely worn out that morning because he .......... (to drink)
heavily all night.
8. Samantha .......... (to work) as a model for two years before her picture .......... (to
appear) in the most famous magazines.
9. We have evidence that Mrs. Reynolds .......... (to clean) the windows shortly
before she .......... (to fall) down.
10. The prisoner .......... (saw) the bars for three nights before he finally .......... (to
make) his escape.
11. Although the girl only .......... (to miss) for eight hours the parents .......... (to
decide) to call the police.
12. The dog .......... (to whine) for the whole day before our neighbour finally ..........
(to throw) him a bone.
13. The diver .......... (to discover) a pirate ship that .......... (to lie) on the sea bed for
two centuries.
14. Roy .......... (to work) over a math problem for two hours before his sister ..........
(to come) and (to help).
15. The rabbit ........... (to be) very tired. He ........... (to run) from the dog for hours.
16. I .......... (realise) someone ............ (to use) my camera because there were finger
marks on the lens.
17. No wonder the engine ........... (to break) down yesterday; it ........... (to run) for
24 hours.
18. At last the experimenters .......... (to find) the vaccine they .......... (to try) to
develop for three years.
19. The fresco which the artist .......... (to paint) since the previous summer ..........
(to be) ready in August of 1661.
20. It .......... (to be) only last year that Joan .......... (to finish) the book she ...........
(to write) since 1981.
IV. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense: Past Tense or Past Perfect.
I …took… (to take) a sandwich degree and …spent… (to spend) my third
year in industry. I …………. (to do) my year’s placement when I …………. (to
realise) that I …………. (to want) to do a graduate programme giving a global
perspective of how different parts of a company interact. Once I …………. (to do)
my research, I ………. (to see) that Unipart ………. (to be) the right company for
me. I ………. (only/ to be) with Unipart for three months when the
recommendations I ………. (to make) on a project were introduced. The Graduate
and Senior Management mentors …………. (to give) valuable guidance and
support while I ……….. (to work) on my first year projects. In my second year I
…………. (to become) responsible for sales of Unipart products in over 200
garages and car dealerships. I feel that I ………. (to be) extremely fortunate to have
this opportunity despite having to learn so quickly. The skills and knowledge I
……….. (to gain) while I …………. (to perform) this role are helping me in my
current managerial position.
(Adapted from Head for Business, p. 27)
V. Rephrase the following sentences using the words suggested so that the
original sense is preserved:
70
1. She suddenly moved to a small village, having spent most of her life in
Chicago.
After she had spent most of her life in Chicago, she suddenly moved to a small
village.
2. First he fastened the seat belts. Only then did he start the engine.
He started ………………….only after ……………………………
3. Having reached no compromise the two sides agreed to put off the meeting.
Since ……………………………………………………………….
4. Tom, why haven’t you washed the car yet?
Father asked ……………………………………………………….
5. The curtains were drawn, so it was quite dark in the room.
It …………………….because someone ………………………….
6. Having seen it twice in the cinema Jack didn’t want to watch “Tootsie” on
TV.
Since ……………………………………………………………….
7. They opened the safe but the diamonds were not there.
They …………..only to …………………………..disappeared.
8. The experiment produced some totally unexpected results.
The experiment ……………..that absolutely no one ……………..
9. He drew the money from the bank on Friday. He spent most of it on
Saturday.
On Saturday ………………………………………….on Friday.
10. The IRA refused to release the hostages. They said the money must be paid
first. So we paid it.
The IRA ……………………..until after ………………………….
( Pawlowska, Barbara; Kempinski, Zbigniew; Essential English – Teste de
Limba Engleză)
VI. Underline the correct tense in each of the following sentences:
1. My company decided/had decided to continue with the development project

after the meeting.
2. She was/had been happy to tell her colleague that by 3 o’clock she
finished/had finished the report.
3. They had lived/had been living in Bucharest for two years when we met/
had met them.
4. Yesterday she went/had gone to the library and returned/had returned the
books she had read/had been reading.
5. He had mended/had been mending the car for one hour when his wife
called/had called him inside.
VII. Translate into English.

1. Directorul era enervat pentru că-i aştepta pe clienţi de mai bine de o oră.
The director was annoyed because he had been waiting for the clients for more
than one hour.
2. Cănd am ajuns, am fost prezentat directorului general şi, după ce am discutat
câteva minute cu el, am stabilit o întâlnire cu directorul de vânzări şi câţiva membrii
ai departamentului său.
71
3. Eram nemulţumiţi de serviciile oferite de acei furnizori, deoarece avusesem deja
o serie de probleme cu livrările şi calitatea produselor livrate.
4. Cum timpurile erau grele, a trebuit să găsească modalităţi de motivare a
personalului.
5. A fost cea mai grea decizie pe care a luat-o vreodată.
6. In noua mea funcţie, am avut posibilitatea să aplic ce învăţasem la facultate.
7. La începutul anului 2008, compania de stat din Norvegia, Statkraft, care are
activităţi în producţia de energie electrică, în special din surse hidro, şi-a deschis un
birou în România imediat după ce a obţinut licenţa de furnizare de electricitate.
Planurile majore ale Statkraft pentru ţara noastră sunt investiţii în capacităţi de
generare a electricităţii... „Suntem interesaţi de unităţi de producţie mai mari de 40-
50 MW. Microhidrocentralele pe care Hidroelectrica le-a scos la vânzare nu
reprezintă un interes pentru noi, pentru că vrem active mari”, a declarat pentru
„Finaciarul” Terje Martin Sletten, directorul general al Statkraft România.
(Adapted from Finaciarul, February 2009)
3. WRITING
Replying to Enquires
I. Read the following letter, which is the answer to the letter of enquiry in Unit
4.
Wycombe Road Wembley Shopfitters Ltd.

Wembley Telephone: +44(0)2089032323
Middlesex Fax: +44(0)2089032323
HA9 6DA Email: plane@wemshop.com
Mr K. Bellon 22 June 20—

Superbuys Ltd
Superbuy House
Wolverton Road
London SW16 7DN
Dear Mr Bellon,
Estimate for refitting Superbuys’ Halton Road Branch
Our Surveyor, John Pelham, visited the above premises on Wednesday 16 June, and
our costing department has now worked out the following estimate for fixtures and
fittings. This includes materials and labour.
Fitting 200m of ‘Contact’ shelving in main shop

and store room @ ₤35.00 per meter ₤7,000.00
Erecting 15 steel stands plus shelves 23m × 6m

@ ₤110.00 each ₤1,650.00
Laying 3,320 sq.m. ‘Durafloor’ flooring @ ₤18.00

Per sq.m. ₤59,760.00
72
Rewiring; fixing power points, boxes, etc. 36 ‘Everglow’
light fittings @ ₤28.00 each ₤1,008.00
Subtotal ₤69,418.00
plus VAT @ 17.5% ₤12,148.15
TOTAL ₤81,566.15
We feel sure you will agree that this is a very competitive estimate, bearing in mind
that we use top-quality materials backed by a one-year guarantee. We can also
confirm that the job will be completed before the end of February provided that no
unforeseen circumstances arise.
If you have any further questions, please contact our Senior Supervisor, Mr Terry
Mills, on the above number, ext. 21.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
P. Lane
P. Lane (Mr)
Director
II. Answer the following questions.
1. What is the subject of this letter?

2. Is the figure ₤69,418 a net or a gross total?
3. Why does Mr Lane consider this a competitive offer?
4. What might prevent the job from being completed in February?
5. What is Mr Mills’s job title?
6. Which words in the letter have a similar meaning to the following?
a) buildings
b) work
c) supported
d) unpredictable
e) other, additional
III. Write an appropriate reply to the following letter, using the instructions
given at the end of the text.
73
Vitaplan Ltd.
38 Bank Street
London SW1 4KD
20th November 19…
Mr J. Maréchal
Directeur Commercial
Somarex
6 rue de Paris
78000 Versailles
Dear Mr Maréchal,
Your name has been given to us by business colleagues in France, as an efficient

market research agency, specialising in providing advice to UK companies hoping
to export to France.
As you will see from the enclosed brochures and reports, ours is a medium-sized
family business with a range of products for the health food market. Our immediate
objective is to obtain first-hand information on the French market for these products
in general and for the breakfast cereal segment in particular. We would like a
detailed report on market size, competition and so on. We expect the report in six
months.
Please contact us as soon as possible if you want to handle such a survey, so that we
can meet to discuss the details.
Yours sincerely,
P. Simpson
P. Simpson
Marketing Manager
(Adapted from Business English, p. 97-98)
Instructions
Mr Dupont, Commercial Director, asks you to write an answer in English to the
above letter. Your reply should:
– thank Mr. Simpson for the letter and his interest in your company.
– confirm that you accept the job.
– highlight the experience of the firm: 12 years in the food sector, 3 market
researches for British firms.
– suggest a meeting (in England?) to discuss the research objectives (first week of
December).
– include positive conclusion.
Abstract: The unit discusses the manger’s role and the main skills that a good
manger should have in order to lead people and run a business successfully. The
introductory tasks introduce the students to key vocabulary related to management,
and the text presents them the similarities and differences between managerial
attitudes in Britain and Germany. By working on a company organisation chart,
they get acquainted with the main departments of a company as well as with
74
different types of managers. The grammar section consists of a theoretical and
practical approach to Past Perfect, and the writing section presents the reply to the
letter of enquiry studied in Unit 4.
75
UNIT 7
CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT
Sections:
• Managing a global multinational company
• Future Tense Simple and Continuous
Objectives:
• Acquiring specific vocabulary related to cross-cultural factors in managing a
company
• Theoretical and practical approach to the Future Tense

Roann Altman. 1993.
Pilbeam, International Management. London: Longman, 2000.
Adrian
and A. V. 1986.
Martinet. A.
1. READING
Read the following text:
Managing a truly global multinational company would obviously be much simpler

if it required only one set of corporate objectives, goals, policies, practices, products
and services. But local differences often make this impossible. The conflict between
globalization and localization has led to the invention of the word 'glocalization'.
Companies that want to be successful in foreign markets have to be aware of the
local cultural characteristics that affect the way business is done.
A fairly obvious cultural divide that has been much studied is the one between,
on the one hand, the countries of North America and north-west Europe, where
management is largely based on analysis, rationality, logic and systems, and, on the
other, the Latin cultures of southern Europe and South America, where personal
relations, intuition, emotion and sensitivity are of much greater importance.
76
The largely Protestant cultures on both sides of the North Atlantic (Canada, the
USA, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia) are essentially individualist.
In such cultures, status has to be achieved. You don't automatically respect people
just because they've been in a company for 30 years. A young, dynamic, aggressive
manager with an MBA (a Master in Business Administration degree) can quickly
rise in the hierarchy. In most Latin and Asian cultures, on the contrary, status is
automatically accorded to the boss, who is more likely to be in his fifties or sixties
than in his thirties. This is particularly true in Japan, where companies traditionally
have a policy of promotion by seniority. A 50-year-old Japanese manager, or a
Greek or Italian or Chilean one, would quite simply be offended by having to
negotiate with an aggressive, well-educated, but inexperienced American or
German 20 years his junior. A Japanese would also want to take the time to get to
know the person with whom he was negotiating, and would not appreciate an
assertive American who wanted to sign a deal immediately and take the next plane
home.
In northern cultures, the principle of pay-for-performance often successfully
motivates sales people. The more you sell, the more you get paid. But the principle
might well be resisted in more collectivist cultures, and in countries where rewards
and promotion are expected to come with age and experience. Trompenaars gives
the example of a sales rep in an Italian subsidiary of a US multinational company
who was given a huge quarterly bonus under a new policy imposed by head office.
His sales - which had been high for years - declined dramatically during the
following three months. It was later discovered that he was deliberately trying not to
sell more than any of his colleagues, so as not to reveal their inadequacies. He was
also desperate not to earn more than his boss, which he thought would be an
unthinkable humiliation that would force the boss to resign immediately.
Trompenaars also reports that Singaporean and Indonesian managers objected
that pay-for-performance caused salesmen to pressure customers into buying
products they didn't really need, which was not only bad for long term business
relations, but quite simply unfair and ethically wrong.
Another example of an American idea that doesn't work well in Latin countries is
matrix management. The task-oriented logic of matrix management conflicts with
the principle of loyalty to the all-important line superior, the functional boss. You
can't have two bosses any more than you can have two fathers. Andre Laurent, a
French researcher, has said that in his experience, French managers would rather
see an organization die than tolerate a system in which a few subordinates have to
report to two bosses.
In discussing people's relationships with their boss and their colleagues and
friends, Trompenaars distinguishes between universalists and particularists. The
former believe that rules are extremely important; the latter believe that personal
relationships and friendships should take precedence. Consequently, each group
thinks that the other is corrupt. Universalists say that particularists 'cannot be trusted
because they will always help their friends', while the second group says of the first
'you cannot trust them; they would not even help a friend'. According to
Trompenaars' data, there are many more particularists in Latin and Asian countries
than in Australia, the USA, Canada, or northwest Europe.
(English for Business and Administration, p. 120)
77
COMPREHENSION CHECK

1. How would you explain the concept of 'glocalization'?
‘Glocalisation’ is the word which refers to the conflict between globalization and
localization. Companies that want to be successful in foreign markets have to be
aware of the local cultural characteristics that affect the way business is done.
2. Why might a 50-year-old Japanese manager be offended if he had to negotiate

with or report to a well-educated but inexperienced 30-year-old American?
3. Why was the American concept of pay-for-performance unpopular in Italy, and
in Asia, in Trompenaars' example?
4. Why do universalists disapprove of particularists, and vice versa?
III. Find words in the text which mean the following.
1. the use of reasoning rather than emotions or beliefs

analysis, rationality, logic
2. understanding or knowing without consciously using reason
3. respect, prestige or importance given to someone
4. having a higher rank because one is older
5. to have hurt feelings because someone is being disrespectful
6. money or something else given in recognition of good work
7. additional money given for better work or increased productivity
8. a feeling of shame and loss of dignity or self-esteem
9. to give up a job or position
10. according to accepted moral standards
IV. What do you think makes a good manager? Which four of the following
qualities do you think are the most important?
A being decisive: able to make quick decisions

B being efficient: doing things quickly, not leaving tasks unfinished, having a tidy
desk, and so on
C being friendly and sociable
D being able to communicate with people
E being logical, rational and analytical
F being able to motivate and inspire and lead people
G being authoritative: able to give orders
H being competent: knowing one's job perfectly, as well as the work of one's
subordinates
I being persuasive: able to convince people to do things
J having good ideas
Are there any qualities that you think should be added to this list?
V. Which of these qualities can be acquired? Which must you be born with?
VI. Complete the following sentences with these words.
78
achieved board of directors communicate
innovations
manageable performance resources setting
supervise
1. Managers have to decide how best to allocate the human, physical and capital
…resources… available to them.
2. Managers - logically - have to make sure that the jobs and tasks given to their
subordinates are ………………………...
3. There is no point in ………………..objectives if you don't ……………..them to
your staff.
4. Managers have to ………………………….their subordinates, and to measure,
and try to improve their …………………………
5. Managers have to check whether objectives and targets are
being………………………….
6. A top manager whose performance is unsatisfactory can be dismissed by the
company's ………………………………...
7. Top managers are responsible for the ………………………………..that will
allow a company to adapt to a changing world.
VII. Write a short text (about 200 words) giving advice to a foreign business
person coming to your country to negotiate with local companies.
2. LANGUAGE FOCUS
FUTURE SIMPLE AND FUTURE CONTINUOUS
The Simple Future Tense– Forms
Affirmative Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative

I shall not I I
You shall (shan’t) give shall you shall you
He give will he give ? will he / she not give?
She will will not she it
It (won’t) give it
shan’t I / you / he give ?
won’t I / you / he give?
We shall not we
You shall (shan’t) give we shall you not give ?
They give shall you give ? will they
will will not will they
(won’t) give shan’t we/you/they give ?
won’t we/you/they give ?
Uses and values:
1. Expectations, predictions, opinions or assumptions about the future (with

or without time expressions):
Don’t worry! She’ll help you.
I’m sure you’ll find him in the office.
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TYPICAL TIME EXPRESSIONS:
tomorrow; the day after tomorrow; next Monday / week / month /
year; in a week’s time ; soon; shortly.
2. Habitual future actions:

Tourists will always come to visit this castle.
3. With conditionals type I and time clauses:

If they play it again I’ll ask her to dance.
We’ll give you a ring as soon as we know something definite.
4. Intentional actions (particularly taken at the moment of decision):

“What would you like to drink?” “I’ll have some wine, please.”
“I can’t open this bottle.” “OK, I’ll do it.”
5. Some modal uses of will:

Will you join us for lunch? (invitations)
Will you post this letter for me, please? (requests)
Shut up, will you? (question tags with imperatives)
You will do as I tell you. (commands)
An English Policeman will usually be happy to help you. (habits and
characteristics)
“Where’s Joe?” “He left an hour ago. He’ll be at the airport by
now.” (assumptions)
6. Some modal uses of shall:

Shall I pour you a drink? (proposals)
Let’s go out tonight, shall we? (suggestions with let’s)
We shall overcome. (emphasized determination)
The Parliament shall consist of two houses. (formal regulations)
WAYS OF EXPRESSING FUTURITY:

- future tenses
- The Present Continuous Tense
- The Simple Present Tense
- the be going to form
Be Going to
Uses and Values
The be going to form is used to express:
1. – a plan.
e.g. Michael is going to begin his business studies next year.
When are you going to meet the delegation?
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2. – a prediction.
e.g. It is going to take a long time to photocopy all these documents.
John Brown is going to be the next President.
Note: When expressing prediction, will and be going to are rather similar, and
therefore interchangeable.
The Future Continuous Tense-Forms
Affirmative Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative

I shall not shall I shall I not
You shall (shan’t) be will you will you be?
He will will not signing he/she he/she/it signing
She (won’t) it shan’t I/you/he be signing?
It be signing won’t I/you/he be signing?
be signing ?
We shall shall not shall we shall we not
You will (shan’t) be will you will you be
They will not signing they they signing ?
be signing (won’t) shan’t we/you/they be
be signing ? signing?
won’t we/you/they be
signing?
Uses and Values
1. Actions which will be in progress at a definite time in future:

This time tomorrow I’ll be taking my written exam in Spanish.
What will you be doing at eight o’clock tonight?
I’ll be studying.
2. Activities which will occupy a certain period of time in future:

According to our itinerary we’ll be visiting St. Peter’s Basilica from 10 until
lunchtime tomorrow.
I don’t want to invite the Thompsons; I’m sure they’ll be drinking all
night again.
Come between 11 a.m. and noon. I’ll be waiting for you.
3. Future activities that are understood as a normal course of action, a

consequence, or as a mere fact (future without intention):
I don’t have enough money to travel by bus. I suppose I’ll be
hitchhiking.
4. Polite way of asking about other people’s future activities:

Will you be using the word processor today?
NOTE
The future tenses are not used in time clauses, the present tense being used
instead.
81
EXERCISES
I. Write the verbs in brackets either in the Simple Future or the ‘Be Going to’
form:
1. A: Why are you holding a piece of paper?

B: I (to write) ... am going to write... a letter to my friends back home in Texas.
2. A: I'm about to fall asleep. I need to wake up!
B: I (to get) ............ you a cup of coffee. That will wake you up.
3. A: I can't hear the television!
B: I (to turn) ........... it up so you can hear it.
4. We are so excited about our trip next month to France. We (to visit) .......... Paris,
Nice and Grenoble.
5. Sarah (to come) .......... to the party. Oliver (to be) ........... there as well.
6. A: It is so hot in here!
B: I (to turn) ........... the air conditioning on.
7. I think he (to be) .......... the next President of the United States.
8. After I graduate, I (to attend) ............. medical school and become a doctor. I
have wanted to be a doctor all my life.
9. A: Excuse me, I need to talk to someone about our hotel room. I am afraid it is
simply too small for four people.
B: That man at the service counter (to help) ........... you.
10. As soon as the weather clears up, we (to walk) ............ down to the beach and
go swimming.
11. I … (to go) freelance.
12. A: What would you like to have?
B: I … (to have) coffee, please.
13. A: We need staples for the office.
B: Oh, we do? I … (to go) and buy some.
14. A: Has he decided what to do when he finishes his business studies?
B: Oh, yes. Everything is settled. He … (to take) a vacation, and then he … (to
start) a computer programming course.
15. A: We’ve decided to renovate the building.
B: What colour … (you/to paint) it?
16. A: Did you send that letter for me?
B: Oh, I’m sorry. I completely forgot. I … (to do) it right now.
17. I … (to send) you the information when I get it.
18. I … (not/to go) to the meeting, because they notified me too late.
19. The next year … (to be) a very interesting financial year.
20. Don’t worry, I … (to be) careful.
II. Write the verbs in brackets either in the Simple Future or the Present
Simple:
82
1. Today after I (to get) ...get... out of class, I (to go) ...am going... to a movie with
some friends.
2. When you (to arrive) ........... in Stockholm, call my friend Gustav. He (to show)
........... you around the city and help you get situated.
3. A: Do you know what you want to do after you (to graduate) ........... ?
B: After I (to receive) ........... my Master's from Georgetown University, I (to go)
............ to graduate school at UCSD in San Diego. I (to plan) ........... to complete a
Ph.D. in cognitive science.
4. If it (to snow) ............ this weekend, we (to go) ........... skiing near Lake Tahoe.
5. Your father (to plan) ............ to pick you up after school today at 3:00 o'clock. He
(to meet) ............ you across the street near the ice cream shop. If something
happens and he cannot be there, I (to pick) ............. you up instead.
6. If the people of the world (to stop, not) ............. cutting down huge stretches of
rain forest, we (to experience) ................ huge changes in the environment during
the twenty-first century.
7. If Vera (to keep) .......... drinking, she (to lose, eventually) ............. her job.
8. I promise you that I (to tell, not) ............. your secret to anybody. Even if
somebody (to ask) ............ me about what happened that day, I (to reveal, not)
............ the truth to a single person.
9. She (to make) ........... some major changes in her life. She (to quit) ........... her job
and go back to school. After she (to finish) ........... studying, she (to get) ........... a
better paying job and buy a house. She is going to improve her life!
10. Tom (to call) ........... when he (to arrive) ............ in Madrid. He (to stay) ............
with you for two or three days until his new apartment (to be) ........... available.
III. Write the verbs in brackets either in the Simple Future or the Future
Continuous:
Sandra: Where is Tim going to meet us?

Marcus: He (to wait) ....will be waiting... for us when our train arrives. I am sure he
(to stand) ............ on the platform when we pull into the station.
Sandra: And then what?
Marcus: We (to pick) ............ Michele up at work and go out to dinner.
Ted: When we get to the party, Jerry (to watch) ............ TV, Sam (to make)
............. drinks, Beth (to dance) ............. by herself, and Thad (to complain) ............
about his day at work.
Robin: Maybe, this time they won't be doing the same things.
Ted: I am absolutely positive they (to do) ........... the same things; they always do
the same things.
Florence: Oh, look at that mountain of dirty dishes! Who (to wash) ........... all of
those?
Jack: I promise I (to do) .......... them when I get home from work.
Florence: Thanks.
Jack: When you get home this evening, that mountain will be gone and nice stacks
of sparkling clean dishes (to sit) .......... in the cabinets.
Doug: If you need to contact me next week, I (to stay) .......... at the Hoffman Hotel.
Nancy: I (to call) .......... you if there are any problems.
Doug: This is the first time I have ever been away from the kids.
Nancy: Don't worry, they (to be) .......... fine.
Samantha: Just think, next week at this time, I (to lie) ........... on a tropical beach in
Maui drinking Mai Tai's and eating pineapple.
83
Darren: While you are luxuriating on the beach, I (to stress) .......... out over this
marketing project. How are you going to enjoy yourself knowing that I am working
so hard.
Samantha: I 'll manage somehow.
Darren: You're terrible. Can't you take me with you?
Samantha: No. But I (to send) .......... you a postcard of a beautiful, white-sand
beach.
Darren: Great, that (to make) ............ me feel much better.
IV. Put the verbs into the correct form (will, going to, simple present or
present progressive).
1. I love London. I (probably / to go) …will probably go…….. there next year.
2. Our train (to leave) ……….. at 4:47.
3. What (to wear / you) ………… at the party tonight?
4. I haven't made up my mind yet. But I think I (to find) ………. something nice in
my mum's wardrobe.
5. This is my last day here. I (to go) ………….. back to England tomorrow.
6. Hurry up! The conference (to begin) ………… in 20 minutes.
7. My horoscope says that I (to meet) ……….. an old friend this week.
8. Look at these big black clouds! It (to rain) ………… .
9. Here is the weather forecast. Tomorrow (to be) ………… dry and sunny.
10. What does a blonde say when she sees a banana skin lying just a few metres in
front of her? - Oh dear! I (to slip) ………….!
V. Put the verbs in parentheses into the most suitable future form (will +
Infinitive, Present Continuous, or the be going to form):
1. Why are you putting on your overalls?

Because I (fix) the car.
Because I’m going to fix the car.
2. I have no idea how to use the new dishwasher.

Don’t worry. I (to come) round in the evening and show you if you want.
3. Where are you taking the children, Sandy?
We (to play) baseball.
4. The phone’s ringing.
I (to get) it.
5. Can I offer you something to drink?
Yes, I (to have) a martini, please.
6. If you want me to talk to the boss, say so and I (to talk) to him.
No, you go back to work and I (to handle) it myself.
7. I’m tired of hamburgers and chips. I (to cook) something special today.
8. I’ve got my visa and my return ticket. I (to leave) tomorrow.
9. This suitcase is too heavy for me to carry. You (to give) me a hand?
10. We (not/ to go) away for the weekend. We’re expecting visitors from Canada.
11. These plastic dolls you’re making are rather nice. The question is, people (to
want) to buy them?
I’m sure they (to buy) them. One dollar isn’t much, is it ?
84
12. Where’s uncle Sam ?
I think you (to find) him in the garden.
13. You (to go) to the cinema tonight ?
No, Sean (to take) me to the opera this time. We (see) “La Traviata”.
14. These pineapples are fresh from Kenya, Mr. Bombo.
In that case I (to take) two, please.
15. I must leave you for a moment. I (to be) right back.
16. We (to sell) our house and buy a smaller one. Maintenance costs are simply too
high.
17. Anyone who has seen this child recently please (to report) it to the nearest
police station?
18. It’s very hot in here. I (to open) the window?
19. If you invite Susan I’m sure she (to be) happy to come.
20. This woman is unconscious. She needs a doctor.
Yes. I (to stay) with her and you go back to the village and get some help.
VI. Put the verbs in parentheses into the Future Simple, Present Simple,
Present Continuous or Future Continuous:
1. Right now I am watching T.V. Tomorrow at this time, I ...will be watching... (to
watch) T.V. as well.
2. Tomorrow after school, I (to go) to the beach.
3. I am going on a dream vacation to Tahiti. While you (to do) paperwork and (to
talk) to annoying customers on the phone, I (to lie) on a sunny, tropical beach. Are
you jealous?
4. We (to hide) when Tony (to arrive) at his surprise party. As soon as he opens the
door, we (to jump) out and (to scream), "Surprise!"
5. We work out at the fitness centre everyday after work. If you (to come) over
while we (to work) out, we will not be able to let you into the house. Just to be safe,
we (to leave) a key under the welcome mat so you will not have to wait outside.
6. While you (to study) at home, Magda (to be) in class.
7. When I (to get) to the party, Sally and Doug (to dance), John (to make) drinks,
Sue and Frank (to discuss) something controversial, and Mary (to complain) about
something unimportant. They are always doing the same things. They are so
predictable.
8. When you (to get) off the plane, I (to wait) for you.
9. I am sick of rain and bad weather! Hopefully, when we (to wake) up tomorrow
morning, the sun (to shine).
10. If you (to need) to contact me sometime next week, I (to stay) at the Sheraton in
San Francisco.
VII. Translate the words given in parentheses into English and put them into
the most suitable future form (will + Infinitive, Present Continuous, or the be
going to form).
1. Why are you taking off the curtains? You (vei spăla) the windows?
2. We (vom pleca) at 6 o’clock tomorrow. But we have no idea when we (ne vom
întoarce).
3. Your father (va fi) angry if we take his car ? I hope he (nu va fi).
85
4. Why are you taking your fur coat with you ? I’m sure you (nu vei avea nevoie
de) it on summer vacation.
5. You’ve made 16 typing errors in this letter, Miss Simpson! I’m sorry. I (voi
dactilografia) it again.
6. Why did you buy so much coloured paper ? I (voi decora) the room for our
party.
7. You (îţi vei pune) these high-heeled shoes for our mountain climb today ?
No, of course not. I (nu voi merge) with you and break my legs. I (o să iau) the
cable car.
8. You (veţi merge) in Spain this summer ?
9. We (vom merge) out for a walk as soon as I’ve read my newspaper.
10. You (vei avea) time to help me paint the garage tomorrow ?
11. I’m sure Jessica (va împrumuta) you her hat if you ask her.
12. I haven’t seen aunt Doris for 20 years. I’m not sure if I (voi recunoaşte) her.
13. If you follow this road (vei vedea) a wooden cottage on the river bank, but you
(va trebui să iei) a boat to cross the river.
14. I look horrible in a crew cut.
Don’t worry. Your hair (va creşte) again very soon.
15. In July we (vom pleca) on a cruise around the Mediterranean.
I hope you (îţi va place) it.
16. I wonder if he (va putea) to cover the distance in 15 minutes.
17. The dog (va muşca) you if you tease him like that.
18. What do you need this hammer for ?
I (voi atârna) a new picture in the living room.
19. I’ve forgotten my wallet.
Don’t worry. I (voi plăti) for this with my credit card.
OK, you pay and I (rămân dator) you fifty dollars.
20. I hear you’ve hired a van.
Yes, I (voi duce) my kids and their school friends out for a picnic tomorrow.
VIII. Translate into English.

1. A: Am de gând să comand un cartuş pentru imprimantă. Ai nevoie de ceva?
B: Da, îmi trebuie plicuri.
A: Bine, voi comanda şi un set de plicuri.
A: I’m going to order a cartridge for the printer. Do you need anything?
B: Yes, I need some envelopes
A: All right, I’ll order a set of envelopes as well.
2. Ai de gând să angajezi pe cineva care nu vorbeşte româneşte?

3. Promit că îi voi cere directorului o mărire de salariu de îndată ce voi ajunge
mâine la birou.
4. Nu vreau să muncesc singur la acest proiect.
5. Cred că preşedintele va pierde viitoarele alegeri.
6. Laura a terminat facultatea cu o medie foarte bună. Cred că va găsi un serviciu
imediat.
86
7. Muncitorii din industriile auto, textilă, prelucrarea lemnului şi cei din construcţii
vor fi cei mai afectaţi de criza economică actuală, estimează compania germană de
consultanţă Kienbaum. Pe de altă parte, cererea pentru persoane calificate,
specialişti şi manageri, cu studii şi experienţă internaţională, se va menţine la un
nivel ridicat. „Salariile vor creşte cu 12-13%, deoarece există o ofertă scăzută de
personal de acest tip”, a explicat Maria Smid, autoare a studiului privind salarizarea
în România în 2008-2009.
(Adapted from www.Wall-street.ro )
Abstarct: This unit deals with cross-cultural aspects implied in managing a global
multinational company, with the aim of familiarising the students with key
vocabulary related to the topic. They are asked to use their previous knowledge in
order to analyse the different cultural contexts in which one may do business. The
language focus is on Future Tense Simple and Continuous and other means of
expressing future time, which are theoretically exposed and applied in a variety of
grammatical exercises.
87
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Editura Universitaria, 2006.
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University Press, 2008.
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2009.
Bălănescu, Olivia, Daniel Ivănuş and Florin Păsătoiu. Craiova: Reprografia

Universităţii din Craiova, 1999.
Bowen, Tim. Build Your Business Grammar. Boston: Thomson, 2000.
Brieger, Nick, Jeremy Comfort, Nina O’Driscoll, and Fiona Scott-Barret. BEC
Vantage Masterclass Upper Intermediate. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Brookes, Michael and David Horner. Business English. Trans. Alina Hăhăianu.
Bucureşti: Teora, 1999.
Collin, P.H. and Adrian Jollife. Dicţionar de contabilitate englez-român. Ed.

Universal Dalsi, 2000.
Flower, John. Build Your Business Vocabulary. Boston: Thomson, 2000.
Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, Georgiana and Ecaterina Comişel. Gramatica Limbii Engleze.

Bucureşti: Ed. Omegapres, 1992.
Hawkins, Joyce M. (ed). The Oxford Reference Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

Lazarescu, Adriana. English for Business Students. Craiova: Ed. Universitaria,

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MacKer, Ian. English for Business Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2001.
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Măgureanu, Tania & co. English for Business and Administration. Bucharest:
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Murar, Ioana. The English Verb. Craiova: Ed. Universitaria, 2004.
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Murphy, Raymond and Roann Altman. Grammar in Use. Reference and Practice
for Intermediate Students of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
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Bucureşti, 1997
Pilbeam, Adrian. International Management. London: Longman, 2000.
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Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann, 2003.
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Finaciarul, An II, Nr. 270, Vineri, 6 februarie, 2009.
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http://www.waylink-english.co.uk
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http://www.better-english.com
89
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UNIT 1

Allotted time: 4 hours

Măgureanu, English for Business and Administration. Bucharest: Cavallioti

Benn, Colin Business First. A First Course in Business English. Oxford:

1. THE FIRST MEETING

The success of your business depends to a great extent on your ability to

I. Read the following situations and introduce yourself accordingly.

Formal Style Informal Style

b. Good morning. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Angela West.

c. Hello. Let me introduce myself. I am Max Raynolds.

d. Hi, I’m Jill Watson.

e. Hello. What’s your name?

c. Sue starts a two-week training course in your department today. Introduce

e. You arrive in the USA to visit your agent, Mike Singh.

1. the weather: It is a lovely day, isn’t it?

II. Working in pairs, act out a conversation on each of these topics.

III. Re-arrange the sentences below so as to make the conversation between

Question: How do you phrase your invitations for inviting a business

Shall I bring something for dinner tonight?

III. Working in pairs, role-play the following situations:

3. Student A: You have successfully concluded negotiations with an important

No, but we can order fresh vegetables as a side dish.

Customer 1: Ask for a table.

IV. Write down your dialogue.

Informal Verbs More Formal Verbs

2. We have to come up with a solution to this problem.

I want to make a hotel reservation, you know, for me and my

Do send me some information soon, please!

Allotted time: 4 hours

Ashley, A. Oxford Handbook of Commercial Correspondence. Oxford:

A. Operator: Good morning. Newton and Burns.

C. Caller: Hello. May I speak to Robert Powell, please?

2. International flights. Can I help you?

a. So am I, but sometimes he won’t pick up the phone.

IV. What would you say in the following circumstances?

IV. Work in pairs.

Susan: Hello. Mr Brown’s office Susan Hill speaking.

Student B: You are Dan Petrescu, manager of an engineering company in

A. Requests with can/could/may/might I/we

Could/Might I/we requests can be preceded by do you think/I wonder(ed)/was

B. Requests with could/will/would you

Will is more authoritative and therefore less polite.

Will/Would can also be used for third person requests.

C. Other useful request forms

c. would you like to…?

d. Would be good/kind enough…

2. ………. as soon as possible.

II. Translate into English.

2. Mi-e teamă că nu înţeleg. La ce anume vă referiţi?

4.1. Confirming an appointment

I. Appointments can be confirmed by either phone or email. Read the following

He looks forward to meeting you.

(Adapted from Commercial Correspondence, p. 244)

4.2. Congratulations on an appointment

I. Congratulations are best given directly, not by someone on your behalf.

(Commercial Correspondence, p. 247)

Abstract: This unit concentrates on presenting vocabulary items related to

Allotted time: 4 hours

Ashley, A. Oxford Handbook of Commercial Correspondence. Oxford:

II. Match the words with their definitions.

a. finding and extracting data from the storage of a computer.

A generation that is really at home in the virtual world

Present Tense Simple