Meetings : points of view

Opening the meeting. We can open a meeting with the words. OK, let's get started. ( It's about time we got started?/ Let's make a start/Let's begin, shall we? /Let's get down to business?/ Shall we make a start?). Then we say 'As you know, I've called this meeting to discuss the situation in our department. The managers have a lot of freedom to work as they wish, but it seems that things are getting out of control ...'

We could also say: 

- I've arranged this meeting to ...

- As you are aware ...     

- The purpose of this meeting is to ...

- The main objective is to ...

Inviting people to speak. People then use some of these expressions. Inviting someone to start:

- Would you like to open the discussion, Greta?        

- Greta, would you like to kick off?

- Perhaps you'd like to get the ball rolling, Greta.

Asking for one person's opinion:

- What about you, Keith?               

- What do you think about this, Keith?

- What are your feelings on this, Keith?        

- What are your views on this, Keith?

Asking for everyone's opinion:

• What's the general feeling on this?

Making your point. The other participants use some of these expressions, choosing ways of making your point include:

 -The way I see it...

-Personally, I think ...

-It's clear to me that..

-It looks to me as if ...

Задание 2 . Перевести предложение. Задать к нему все вопросы.

They will make their advertisement soon.

Задание 3. Переведите и определите залог и время сказуемого:

1. They were speaking to him. 2. When I saw him, he was going home3. . Is he working now? 4.   The machine is being tested now. 

Задание 4. Раскройте скобки, поставьте гла­голы в нужные формы страдательного залога:

1. Why your home task (not do)? 2. The children (take) to the circus tomorrow.

Задание 5. Определите, какими частями речи являются слова и переведите их:

 to advise — advice — advising — advised

Задание 6. Поставьте глаголы в нужную временную форму, соблюдая правило согласования времен. Переведите предложения :

I told them that I (to leave) for Minsk next day. . The students wanted to know when they (to pass) their examinations. 

Задание 7.  Вспомните первые 5 пунктов типового договора о купле-продаже

Задание 8. Определите вид придаточного предложения: ( обстоятельственное, определительное и именное). Проанализируйте члены в обоих предложениях

You should bring the floppy discs which we need for the analysis of our data.

Задание 9. Вставьте подходящие по смыслу местоимения и союзы: who , that , which , when , where , whose , whom , who

 I'm talking about the advertisement ___ appeared in Kiev Post of March 26.

Задание 10. Найдите ошибку в предложении и исправьте ее.

We wish that you will change your mind about leaving tomorrow.

Задание 11. Переведите из прямой речи в косвенную предложение .

 He said, "I'm very busy"

Задание 12. Вставьте вместо пропусков инфинитив либо герундий.

He refused __ a new car this year, (buy). She kept on __ her mind, (change).

Задание 13.Преобразуйте приведенное ниже предложение таким образом, чтобы герундий стал подлежащим.

 It isn't essential to g somewhere.

Задание 14. Раскройте скобки :

I'm afraid the train (start) before we (come) to the station.

Задание 15 Переведите на русский язык:

1. I wish you wouldn't be slow.2.  I wish I had known this before.

 

Вариант IV

Задание 1 . Текст прочитать, списать и сделать перевод на русский язык.   

Discussion

Discussion without argument? It is very important to keep calm in meetings:

'In a meeting, you discuss things. In the discussion, some people may agree with you. Others may disagree. They may have differences of opinion with you, but the important thing is to keep calm and remain courteous. It's OK to disagree, but it's not OK to be impolite or rude or to lose your temper.

An argument is when people disagree about something, perhaps becoming angry. Your argument is also the set of ideas that you use to prove your point: to show that what you are saying is true.'

Agreeing

Strong agreement:

-You're perfectly right. The costs involved must be incredible.

- I couldn't agree more. We got our latest recruits after we won the industry award for best advertisement.

-Precisely. Creativity comes to some of our people in the middle of the night.

-Exactly. We have to look at the company as one unit.

-Absolutely. It's the output, not the input, that counts.

Mild agreement:

- You may be right there. We're already ten per cent over budget.

- That's true, I suppose. There must be some limits on when they work.

-I suppose so. They seem to arrive and then go straight out again to eat.

Disagreeing

Mild disagreement:

- That's not really how I see it. Everyone should be allowed to work in the way that's best for them.

- I don't really agree. The prizes are important, but people would come to work for us anyway.

- I can't really go along with you there. I think we need to see people at their desks actually working.

- I think you're mistaken. If they get to work late, they don't go out for lunch.

-I'm afraid I can't agree with you there. All you financial people do is worry about costs.

Strong disagreement:

- I'm sorry, but that's out of the question. You can't expect people to come back at nine in the morning.

- I think you're wrong. The design department's costs are justified because of our high quality work.

- Of course not. The latest figures I've seen show that the project is within budget.

- That's absurd. There must be some sort of control on when people work.

- That is rediculous. Each department has very specific needs.

Задание 2 . Перевести предложение. Задать к нему все вопросы.

We are printing our catalogues by Friday this week.

Задание 3. Переведите и определите залог и время сказуемого:

1. She studied many subjects. 2. They will have passed their exams by 3 o'clock. 3. The conference will be held in May.4.  His work has been already fin­ished. 

Задание 4. Раскройте скобки, поставьте гла­голы в нужные формы страдательного залога:

1. The patient (take) to the hospital today, and (operate) tomorrow morning. 2. This book (leave) in the classroom yesterday.

Задание 5. Определите, какими частями речи являются слова и переведите их:

to require — requirement — requiring — required

Задание 6. Поставьте глаголы в нужную временную форму, соблюдая правило согласования времен. Переведите предложения :

1. He said we (may) keep the books as long as we (to like). 2. We understood at once that this control work (to be) a difficult one.

Задание 7.  Вспомните первые 5 пунктов типового договора о купле-продаже

Задание 8. Определите вид придаточного предложения: ( обстоятельственное, определительное и именное). Проанализируйте члены в обоих предложениях

All the information that you need is in this report

Задание 9. Вставьте подходящие по смыслу местоимения и союзы: who , that , which , when , where , whose , whom , who . We are searching for a place __ we can have a new office.

Задание 10. Найдите ошибку в предложении и исправьте ее. We will wait if you wanted to leave.

Задание 11. Переведите из прямой речи в косвенную предложение . She said, "Ring me later."

Задание 12. Вставьте вместо пропусков инфинитив либо герундий.

1. She kept on __ her mind, (change).2.  I like __ advice to everyone, (give)

Задание 13.Преобразуйте приведенное ниже предложение таким образом, чтобы герундий стал подлежащим.

It impossible for me to go up north this summer.

Задание 14. Раскройте скобки : We (go) to the country tomorrow if the weather (to be) fine.

Задание 15 Переведите на русский язык:

I wish I could go to my work by car. I would have sent a letter to you if I had known your address.

Вариант V

Задание 1 . Текст прочитать, списать и сделать перевод на русский язык.   

Hedging

Hedging is when you avoid disagreeing directly. To hedge, you could say:

- I take your point about punctuality, but clocking in and out would not be very popular./ I understand what you're saying about the needs of each department, but each department must be treated in an appropriate way./ I see/know what you mean, but we must look at the human factors as well as the numbers./ I hear where you're coming from on this, but we must remember this is an advertising agency, not a car factory.