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spanishskulduggery · 5 years

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i've been trying to find a list that has all the spanish grammar but organized by CEFR levels. like at A1 people learn about present tense and B2/C1 learn about subjunctive. do you or any of your follows know where to find a list like this? it doesn't have to be in depth but a bit of a guide line i guess

I don’t really know off the top of my head but I can give a brief overview of how I think it generally works. This is mostly based on my own education, so take this with a big grain of salt.

In the US system, Spanish 1 is close to A1 and maybe A2, while A2 to B1 is probably Spanish 2 and 3, and then Spanish 4 is probably B2 to C1.

But most of C1 and C2 would be closer to the literature classes, or really focusing on more particular academic Spanish. Spanish 4 (in my university) went up to explaining imperfect subjunctive, but didn’t fully explain every single grammatical concept.

The more complex issues in Spanish sometimes aren’t addressed at all in language classes, they’re more something you learn on your own which can be frustrating.

alphabet specifically any different letters or sounds like ñ, ll, and rr and silent H

present tense

irregular verbs in present tense- ser, estar, ir, ver, dar and many of the -go verbs like tener, decir, hacer, venir, salir etc

ser vs. estar

the general pronouns like yo, tú, etc

very basic vocab like colors, days of the week, basic emotions, basic place names

description words, particularly with describing people’s personalities or emotions with ser or estar, like hair color, eye color, fat/skinny, blonde/brunette, strong/weak, smart/stupid... as well as sick/well, tired, happy, sad, angry, surprised, and some very basic words

using months and days together, and the rules for things like el lunes and los lunes

just the briefest of introductions to plurals and words that require different spellings based on plural like feliz and felices etc

professions

“my name is” using ser or the briefest of introductions to llamarse and reflexives, not too intense

cardinal numbers 1-10, maybe 1-20(?)

how to form basic questions

question works (especially the difference between cuál and qué)

basic greetings, titles like señor or señora

general overview of how gender agreement works, how singular/plural works, and the basics of la concordancia

the basics of definite and indefinite articles: el, la, los, las and un, una, unos, unas

general adjective placement and agreement

how to use negatives like no

contractions with al and del

telling time with ser [usually done when practicing numbers]

brief introduction to “I like” using gustar and how that works, and describing your preferences or things you like to do and how gustar works with infinitives

the basics of adverbs or at least being able to recognize the ones ending in -mente or the commonplace ones like muy or understanding the difference between bueno/a and bien or malo/a and mal

some idioms

weather expressions, seasons

tener expressions like tener hambre, tener sed, tener suerte

numbers 0-100, possibly up to 1000

family tree

clothing and using either llevar or usar for “to wear”

comparisons with más que/de, menos que/de, mayor que, menor que

comparisons of equality with tan / tanto/a ___ como ___

stem-changing verbs: e=>i, e=>ie, o=>ue

use of modals and infinitives like poder + infinitivo, or deber + infinitivo

the use of ir a + infinitivo

use of the gerund/progressive forms of verbs

common names of countries and nationalities

ordinal numbers 1-10, specifically understanding how primer(o), and tercer(o) work

location words with estar

the basics of directions with estar and ir like a la derecha, a la izquierda, enfrente de, detrás de, junto a etc

conmigo, contigo

the basics of possessives

use of hacer with time to mean [ago[

use of hay for “there is/are”

verbs like gustar: molestar, interesar, importar, encantar, costar, etc and how indirect objects generally work

more idioms

places and especially things like “by train” or “on foot”

general prepositions specifically a, de, con, en, entre, sobre, por, para

parts of the body, usually done with doler or something like that

intro to commands

the personal a for personhood or for animate objects

intro to preterite/imperfect

-car, -gar, -zar, and -guar verbs in preterite

superlatives

adjectives that go in front vs behind aka “spotting determiners” like buen(o), mal(o), gran / grande, and other question words

“silent subject”

preterite and imperfect for real, irregular verbs in each

when verbs change meaning between preterite/imperfect like poder, querer, no querer, conocer etc

more on commands specifically the irregular verbs

negative commands specifically the irregular verbs

direct objects

the Greek words that end in -a but are masculine like el problema, el planeta, el programa

alguno/a and ninguno/a

use of double negatives

words that take a masculine article but are actually feminine

indirect and indirect objects together

demonstratives

use of había and hubo for “there was/were”

use of ir a + infinitivo with imperfect for “was going to”

present perfect with haber

past participles, especially the irregular ones

reflexive verbs, usually done with daily routines or with clothing like ponerse/quitarse

por vs para

pluperfect / past perfect with haber and past participles

basic passive voice with ser + participles

future tense

intro to subjunctive mood, specifically present subjunctive

more present subjunctive, especially irregular verbs

understanding the differences between indicative, subjunctive, and imperative mood

object pronouns

relative clauses

more por and para

really understanding preterite/imperfect

conditional tense

using the perfect tenses with subjunctive

use of imperfect subjunctive with conditional

subjunctive clauses

subjunctive subjunctive subjunctive

weird irregular verbs that aren’t always stressed like -zco, -zo, and other rarer verb conjugations

conjugations that are irregular for the sake of sound/pronunciation like verbs ending in -ñir, -llir, etc

more comprehensive understanding of subjunctive mood

hypothetical situations, probability, doubt, imposition of will

indirect commands

passive voice constructions vs. active voice

using direct/indirect objects and reflexive pronouns with commands and subjunctive, specifically word order

understanding linguistic intention behind certain tenses and how they “translate” differently

changeable syntax and how it’s understood

emphasis vs. subtlety

how to imply politeness, abruptness, impatience, or deference

passive se and imperfect se

regional variations and differences, particularly leísmo and loísmo

coming to understand most of the accent rules and esdrújula

the use of dativo ético and how to sound like a native speaker

when to use subjunctive vs indicative

what preposition to use

verbs that take prepositions

superfluous reflexive

literary and academic Spanish

historical Spanish-historical vos-future subjunctive-the two different forms of imperfect subjunctive and what they meant in historical Spanish vs. what they mean and where they’re used today

colloquial Spanish vs. formal/professional Spanish

striking a balance between the two

regional variations and differences, just in general since it takes a long time to learn them and they show up where you least expect them so it{s an ongoing process

...So really it’s levels A and B that are most often “taught”, while C levels are more things you nail down and get used to seeing and understanding over time

C1 is probably the hardest one to explain because it’s more “make sense of all the things you learned”, and that also is related to B2. You start to feel like you know a lot of things, but you don’t understand them or why they’re that way, so it just feels... confusing. C1 is a lot of revelations and gaining mastery of things, and making sense of all the things you’ve seen but didn’t understand

And C2 is an ongoing process. If you’re at C2, there’s no higher level so it’s you continuing to learn and practice and understand, but you know the basic grammar building blocks.

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helshades · 5 years

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French prompt! How does one look at être and arrive at fut? (I know "verbs of being" are notoriously unruly, but this was a mystery for me, even though my own language cobbles the tenses from two separate verbs, neither of which have all tenses.) Broader prompt: what used to be the point of passé simple and how did it become "the storybook tense"?

One of my mother’s favourite puns is the following: On ne peut pas naître et avoir été (’One cannot be born and have been’), a play on an old saying, On ne peut pas être et avoir été (’One cannot be and have been’) meaning that one simply cannot live at once in the past and in the present. Grammatically speaking, this isn’t entirely true, though: the French passé composé, like its equivalent the English present perfect, is trying very hard. When you think of it, ‘I have been doing this for the last five minutes’ is telling exactly that: one is performing a continuous action that began some time in the past and is still going at the moment. Every single French pupil learning English was subjected to the example of the vase that one has broken, and is consequently still broken at present. French has one time like this, known as the ‘compound past’, which technically works in the exact same way, except it has come to be used everywhere, replacing even the French equivalent to the preterite, or past simple, to the point that no one uses the French preterite anymore aside from the only people who may get away with reading as highly literary, which isn’t a lot of people nowadays. Children’s books rarely do contain verbs conjugated in the past simple anymore; in (junior) high school, students are only taught the third person of the singular and of the plural for ‘important’ verbs, and a number of people have been pushing for the complete eradication of a tense which they deemed ‘elitist’ for being more complicated than the compound past, which only requires one to know the present-simple forms of auxiliary verb avoir, ‘to have’, plus the past participle of the verb concerned by the action.

Of course, French students used to have no particular difficulty in learning conjugations, no matter how detailed; only, for a few decades now people deeming themselves progressists have imposed new teaching methods based on a supposedly ‘intuitive’ approach to knowledge as well as a downright utilitarian idea of the language itself—what isn’t useful in everyday life will never be of use, and can therefore be dropped altogether. French isn’t taught systemically in French school anymore, grammar rules are generally glossed over and since learning by heart is strongly frowned upon conjugations are more than imperfectly mastered, not to say anything about the basic principles of syntax. Today, it is estimated (by international tests also) that about one third of students enter junior high school (at age 11) without knowing how to read, or write, their own language. Parents usually riot if teachers seek to correct children’s spelling or enunciation, and after each national exam now students take to Twitter to complain about the difficulty of the exceedingly simple tests. In this context, it is very hard to know whether or not the passé simple is meant to fall out of usage definitely—but I suspect it won’t before long, as a matter of fact, as it already serves, along with other grammatical notions, to separate those who do master their own idiom from those who don’t.

In any case, concerning the structure of the simple past and its meaning, I’m reminded of a remark that famous French linguist Émile Benveniste made about the simple past: like narration, in which it is almost exclusively employed, the simple past is non-deictic, whereas discourse as well as the tenses used in it are deictic, meaning they are anchored in the ‘situation of enunciation’, the frame of the dialogue. Being outside the deixis, the simple past operates somewhat remotely from the event which it describes, inducing an impression of temporal and/or spatial distance with it. Quite frankly, it’s hard not to make a parallel here with the postmodern obsession with immediacy and its deep-rooted hatred of the long term...

Speaking of long-term things!

How does one look at être and arrive at fut? Well, that is a splendid question, reaching far into the history of the French language, and in truth all Indo-European languages since they all have the quirky habit of mashing up the conjugations for several verbs expressing slightly different aspects of an action and deciding that they are to be only one verb now—usually, an auxiliary, and the results are just wild. But let’s get a closer look at the conjugation we’re dealing with, here:

You’ll note that I didn’t include (amongst other things) the four tenses of the subjunctive mode, to avoid being too long as I only aim to draw a few explanatory comparisons with Latin, but just in case, I’ll remind you that the present goes que je sois (sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient) while subjunctive imperfect goes que je fusse (fusses, fût, fussions, fussiez, fussent). And now, hoping you didn’t run away screaming and flailing, I propose a little comparison with the equivalent Latin tenses:

Please fawn over my pedagogical abilities. Once that is over, please note how the conjugation of être was mostly constituted in Old French (from the 9th century onwards), bar a few interesting exceptions, such as the concurrent forms in the future: the older stem, er- or ier-, directly evolved from Latin. Linguists theorised that the stem that ended up in modern French, in ser-, is actually a syntagmatic construction taken from the Latin infinitive (es)sere to which were added special endings borrowed from the conjugation of auxiliary avoir, to have. Romance languages all form their future synthetically. For instance, ‘we will love’, nous aimerons, is literally nous aimer-(av)ons. (Compare to Spanish cantaré, ‘I will sing’, which is cantar + hé.) Where être is concerned, the ser- stem replaced the original infinitive after too many speakers dropped the beginning of infinitive essere, especially in the first person, and a full tense ended up being constituted from that model (hence the ‘syntagmatic construction’ I was mentioning earlier: it didn’t evolve so much as it was reshaped to accommodate usage).

If you know a bit of Latin, you might have frowned upon the infinitive essere, since the classical verb is esse. Esse was a pretty archaic form to begin with, although it was actually conjugated regularly; the -s had mutated to an -r between two vowels in most other verbs pretty early in the evolution of the language, and that is where the French infinitives (-er, -ir, -re) come from. But esse remained unchanged, probably because of its particular role as an auxiliary. On the other hand, in Vulgar Latin, which was Latin as it was spoken by regular people, the strange infinitive got hypercorrected, ‘regularised’, into essere, after getting mistaken for a stem. And since Romance languages are mostly stemming from popular, late-era Latin, rather than the literary language... In Italian, the infinitive is still essere. In Spanish, it evolved into ser. In Occitan, into èser. The t of estre is, as you can see, a French particularity; it’s purely epenthetic, meaning it was only added to ease the pronunciation of the word, in this case after one of the vowels dropped: esre > estre.

The participles of être, however, both in the present (étant) and the past (été, ayant été) don’t come from any version of esse, any more than the imperfect tense, since its Latin equivalent was eram. They come, instead, from an entirely different verb: stare, which evolved into Vulgar Latin estare, which in turn became Old French ester, and which meant ‘to stand, to stay’. Well, it’s actually the origin of verb ‘stay’ in English, which was borrowed from the Old French. In modern French, you’ll find its descendant as rester, ‘to stay, to remain’.

And this is where we come to our strange Latin stem in fui-, and its French equivalence in the simple past. Now where does that come from?! Well, my dear Tatty, it is the last remnant on an archaic verb issued from an Indo-European root °bheu- meaning ‘to grow’, ‘to become’. It’s why the auxiliary in English is ‘to be’, actually! (Proto-Germanic °beuną > Old English bēon > Middle English been). In most languages this Indo-European root gave words beginning in b-. The exceptions are Sanskrit (bh-, with a strong aspiration), Hellenic languages (Ancient Greek φύω, phúô) and Italic languages, where it ended up being pronounced as an f, hence fui. In passing, the original meaning of the Indo-European root, ‘to grow’, has been preserved only in Greek φύσις, phúsis, ‘nature’—hence ‘physics’. Morphologically, though, the root is present everywhere in Indo-European languages, starting with the word ‘future’ itself.

A major difference between Latin (and Greek) and Germanic languages, however, is that fu- in Latin possessed in its meaning the idea of veering towards the completion of an action, but that was expressed differently in the future (participle) and in past-tense narration; eventually, the future aspect was dropped from the language altogether, and all that remained was the stem’s perfective value (the idea of accomplishment, of a done and over thing), which serves to explain how the fu- root came to be specialised in Romance languages as a form destined for the simple past/preterite/perfect tense. (In Germanic languages, the past is defined by the idea of staying in one place, whereas the enunciation is characterised by a general idea of ‘aiming towards’.)

In guise of a conclusion, I heartily recommend the Wikipedia article on the Indo-European copula, which is long and bountiful and makes a few salient points on the topic of this fixture in all Indo-European languages that is a weird, weird little verb corresponding to the English to be, and it tells a lot on the way languages get shaped.

#i had to revise #i thought it'd be short and fun and then i got lost in the meanders of philology #and it was beautiful #and then i proceeded to write #since it's now 2 in the morning i'm not entirely sure all of it makes sense #believe it or not i wasn't that giving on the details #so it could have been way brainier #i'll have you know #la linguistique c'est chic #french language #etymology #grammar is fun #answers #thatiswhy

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musesofconstantchange · 5 years

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I need the salt questions answered 3, 7, 9, and 11

*cracks knuckles* Alright then!

3. What rp trends are you so over and can’t wait for it to die?

Hi yes, can we stop caring about themes, like they matter at all? I for one, never really go onto people’s blogs after like, the first time I read their rules, because we have the nifty sidebar thing. But one thing I hate is when people design themes that are overly complicated for no reason. I don’t like having to play a game of I spy to find your rules and about pages and muse lists and stuff. And it gets worse when the themes are so complicated that you need to be able to understand code to make them work right. There are so many multi muses where they use this shifting html webpage thing, but because they themselves don’t know code, it’s almost always broken. And I wouldn’t complain but I’ve encountered it on like two dozen blogs and it’s always a pain.

My theory is that a person’s theme is irrelevant to their ability to write, and I believe in function over form. As long as your theme is simple and doesn’t burn my eyes like an old geocities page, you’re good. But nothing bothers me more than these themes that people agonize over that are functionally unusable.

Here’s another thing aside from the multi muse blog problem with them: themes which are designed for a very specific size monitor/web browser. My issue is that I use a 1920x1080 monitor, and it’s very clear when someone coded a theme that is specifically for smaller monitors, because everything gets crammed into a tiny space. And it’s not usually bad, unless you’re asking people to browse your blog for things.

Oh! And can we get rid of fading text/pages? Nothing’s worse than trying to read an entire page and you’ve got a dithering drop shadow fade across half the text.

Also, rules pages that read like a ToS. I’ve always believed in clarity of information, and rules pages that read like essays where the information is scattered and hidden and unorganized is infuriating to me. Like, just tell me your age, triggers, and any pertinent information. I do not require reasons for your rules, I just need to know the rules you want people to follow. A bulleted list will suffice.

7. Has someone made you unfollow/block them without a second thought because of a petty reason?

Uh... I don’t know. I’m usually not someone who unfollows or blocks people. Usually, if I have to block someone, it’s mutual. I think the only thing I unfollow people for is inactivity and when their blog turns into endless political posts. Not that politics aren’t important, but to me it’s like going to a movie theatre to discuss tax policy. Not the time or place for it. There’s a time and a place for certain topics, and usually rp blogs aren’t them.

9. What’s your opinion on duplicates?

Duplicates are wonderful and a gift for everyone! Seriously, I love seeing lots of blogs for characters. But then again, I also tend to write muses that seemingly no one else does. That’s more because I personally don’t feel much attachment to popular characters.

This has led to a debate that I’ve had with myself about what makes people write certain characters more than others. Example, there are a ton of Harley Quinn and Supergirl blogs. That’s good, but it makes me wonder if these characters appeal to a lot of people because they’re well written, or if they appeal to lots of people because the aspects that people get from them are ones that have been diluted to the point where they’re almost universal. You see this a lot when people start fighting over characterization, because you end up with characters that have a broad appeal that people then want to develop. So are they popular in terms of being written because the characters themselves are popular, or are they popular in being written because the characters are mostly universal and thus easier to develop by the writer? I don’t think there is a right answer.

But again, I love duplicates.

11. Are you for or not for purple prosing?

Purple prose is awful. Like, it’s legitimately the worst. But it’s also really hard to do, and so there’s less of it than people think. A lot of people complain about it, and for good reason, but purple prose in the sense that people are writing like it’s old english is very rare.

In my opinion, the bigger issue are those ‘things to use instead of said’ lists. It’s the ‘break out the thesaurus’ method of writing. And it’s also wrong. More than purple prose as impossible to understand, purple prose as inaccurate writing is a larger issue. Because while two words may be similar, they are not the same. Words are not interchangeable. English is a language where our grammar is very fluid and imprecise, but what people mean when they talk is not.

Furthermore, most of my problems with people’s writing usually comes down to a lack of understanding of grammatical structure, in that most people are taught to write incorrectly, and so you end up with people not knowing a semicolon is or what a clause is or what verb/tense agreement is. That’s a lot worse to me than purple prose, just because so few people take the time to try and write actual purple prose.

I also think that the issue with purple prose is often misunderstood. It’s not that the issue is that the writing is flowery, it’s that it’s imprecise and hard to read. You can get flowery, poetic language that flows and is clear in meaning, but it’s the thesaurus problem again. The issue becomes that meaning gets diluted, and words mean things. There’s also the problem where people focus too much on the wrong objects a lot. There’s the old joke about calling eyes orbs or irises or whatever, but the focus usually isn’t on the eyes themselves, but on one’s expression or one’s gaze. You’re taking away meaning by hyper focusing.

Indeed, this is also a problem with not describing enough; meaning is lost. Example:

“Hazel irises cast about the lapadarian shoals, emotions lost among the cadenced jets.”

Or: “they looked at the water, lost in thought.”

Both are probably bad for the same reason. They don’t really convey much. They say things, but lack meaning. A better way to put the same thing might be:

“Their gaze was unfocused, emotions shifting within them like the tides upon the shore.”

A good sentence in my opinion should be clear of meaning, but should also flow. We, as the reader, should be drawn along with it; and that’s the issue with purple prose. Purple prose makes the reader stop every other word to try and figure out what the hell you’re trying to say. It’s confusing and doesn’t flow. It’s bad poetry shoved into prose form. There’s a reason poetry follows meter; because poetry requires structure alongside the words being used. Prose doesn’t.

so basically, purple prose is garbage, but so is the opposite, and it’s the opposite that you see more of. But they’re both bad for the same reason; they take the reader out of the writing, and they aren’t clear in terms of meaning.

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monleaanglaisespagnol · 4 years

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25 Powerful English Phrases for Handling Everyday Business Telephone Conversations

Have you ever felt nervous about making a business phone call in English?

Well, you’re not alone! It’s quite natural to feel this way when making a business call in a language that’s not your native language.

There are many things you can do to overcome your nervousness and become more confident in handling business calls in English.

Today, you’ll learn 25 useful phrases and expressions you can use in your very next business call.

How to Improve Your Business English Telephone Skills

1. Have a plan

Before you make your call, prepare a plan of what you’re going to say.

Write down the main points and the sequence (order) for addressing them. Think about the expressions and phrases you’ll use. Think about some possible responses you might get from the person you’re calling and how you’ll respond to them.

2. Focus on the call

A busy office where there’s a lot of activity going on may not be the best place for you to focus on your phone call. Look for a quieter place with fewer distractions where you’ll be able to focus on listening, process what you’re hearing and structure your responses.

3. Speak clearly

It’s okay if your sentences aren’t all grammatically correct, or if you can’t think of the best word to describe something. The important thing is to speak clearly so that the other person can take what you’re saying and make sense of it.

4. Learn from your mistakes

After the phone call, think about the things you could have done better. Maybe you could have used a better word here or the correct tense there? It’s okay to make mistakes. As long as you realize your mistakes, you’ll be able to fix them and continue improving!

With these tips in mind, let’s move on to 25 phrases and expressions you can use to handle slightly more complex business situations. If you’re looking for more basic telephone phrases, start here—then come back!

25 Powerful English Phrases for Handling Everyday Business Telephone Conversations

Answering the call

Answering the phone seems like a very easy task. However, it’s different from answering calls from your friends. You’ll want to say something that’s polite and that gives your caller some information.

1. Hello, you’ve reached [company name]. This is [your name] speaking. How may I help you?

This is the best standard introduction to a phone call, and it works in almost all situations.

Redirecting calls

If you receive a phone call from someone with a question or request that you’re unable to answer or help with, simply redirect (transfer) the call to the right person by saying the following.

2. Let me transfer you to [name]’s extension.

If you know the extension number of the person in your office who can help the caller, you may offer to transfer the call to that person’s telephone extension. Each person or department in the office usually has an internal phone line that’s referred to as an extension.

3. Would you like me to put you through to [name]?

You may use the phrasal verb put through instead of the word transfer. Put through is a separable phrasal verb that you can use with a pronoun, as in put you through.

Phrasing this expression as a question and using the modal verb would will give it a softer tone.

Following up with information

In situations where you may not have the information the caller is asking for, you may offer to check on the information and follow up with them (call them back) later.

4. I don’t have that information right now. Can I call you right back?

Calling someone right back means within a short period of time, usually within an hour. If you’re likely going to take a longer time to call them back, you could say:

Can I call you back + [expected time]?

For example: Can I call you back this afternoon/tomorrow?

5. I’ll need to find out if we can do that. Let me call you back.

The expression let me has a positive tone and shows you’ll take charge of looking up the information and calling back fairly quickly.

6. I’m not sure if we can do that, but let me check. Could you please hold?

The word hold means to hold the line and not hang up. You could also say:

Could you please hold on?

Using a question form with the modal verb could gives this a softer tone.

Thanking the caller

When you get back to the call after you’ve kept the caller on hold you could say:

7. Thank you for holding.

Just a simple “thank you” for keeping the caller waiting goes a long way in showing your politeness.

8. I’m sorry to keep you waiting.

If you’ve kept the caller on hold for a while, a simple apology adds a courteous touch.

Getting back to the caller

When following up with your caller about something you discussed earlier, you may say:

9. I’m calling to follow up on [topic].

If some time has passed, you could also add some background information to refresh the memory of the caller about their earlier call. You could say something like:

I’m calling to follow up on your question about shipping. I believe you wanted to know if you can place your order here and have the items shipped to Mongolia. I’ve checked, and the good news is yes, we can ship your order directly to Mongolia.

10. Hello, this is [your name] from [company name]. I’m returning your call about [topic].

In this situation, you missed the call while you were away, and you’re now returning that call. You may also include a simple apology and a brief background of the information the caller might have left for you earlier.

I’m returning your call about international shipping. I’m sorry I missed your call earlier. How can I help you?

Sending and receiving information about deliveries

In business, you often have to deal with deliveries of products, documents, etc. When there are delays in deliveries, people and companies are concerned and would usually call to find out what happened.

11. The [item] should be on its way to you now.

The modal verb should indicates that you’re not very sure, but you expect that the item has been shipped and is now on the way to the caller.

12. We shipped out the [item] last week. Let me check.

Here you’re saying that you’re sure the item has been shipped but you’ll track the shipment to see where it is now.

13. The [item] should have arrived already, unless there has been a delay.

The modal verb should indicates you expect the item should have arrived. The word unless is used in circumstances (cases) where something might have happened to cause the delay. You could say something like this:

The shipment should have arrived unless there has been a delay due to the flood.

Dealing with bad connections

Bad connections aren’t uncommon, especially on international phone calls. You can either ask the caller to repeat themselves or offer to call them back later. You could say:

14. I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. Could you repeat that please?

You can use this line if the caller is speaking quietly, if your office is too noisy, or if it’s just difficult to understand them. The reason isn’t always a bad connection, but it’s noted that you can’t hear them well.

15. The line is quite bad. Could you please say that again?

This phrase mentions the “line,” which is the phone line or connection.

16. Can I call you right back?

We mentioned this phrase before, but now you’ll know it’s useful in many different situations. This means you would like to end the call and try again. You’re going to hang up and call the person back in a few minutes.

Giving negative information

If you receive a call asking for a coworker who’s away for a period of time, you could say:

17. I’m afraid [name] is away from the office and won’t be back until next week.

You may include some additional information about when they’re expected back in the office.

18. I’m sorry, [name] is in a meeting/out of town right now.

You may offer some information about where your coworker might be.

19. I’m sorry, there’s nobody here by that name.

This is what you can say to a caller who asks for someone who doesn’t work in your office.

20. I’m sorry, you’ve got the wrong number.

This one is simple. You say this when the caller has called your office’s phone number by mistake.

Clarifying information

21. Could you please clarify what you mean?

In situations where you’re not sure what the caller means, simply ask them to explain themselves. You may also expand on this by saying:

Could you please clarify what you mean when you say your headphones cannot be plugged in to your phone?

22. I’m not sure I understand. Did you mean…?

A good way to ask for clarification is to summarize (shorten) what you think the caller said. The caller can then either agree or clarify further, if necessary.

I’m not sure I understand. Did you mean that you’d like us to exchange the item you purchased with our latest design at no cost?

Ending the call

23. I will follow up with the requested information soon.

If the caller requested information from you, but you couldn’t get the information during the call, you can say this phrase at the end of the conversation. This lets the caller know that you’ll look for the information and call them back soon.

24. I will keep you updated on our progress.

If you’ll need to do something to assist the caller, you can say this to let them know you’re going to work on the issue. You’ll need to contact them again by phone or email to let them know about your progress.

25. Thank you, have a nice day!

If the phone call is ending and you have resolved everything with the caller, then you can use this simple ending.

And there you have it, 25 telephone expressions you can start using right away for different business situations.

Remember to practice using them every chance you get.

With these skills, you’ll soon gain confidence in any kind of telephone situation.

The phone’s ringing—go answer it!

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fitzonomy · 6 years

Text

On grammar: if rules are arbitrary, why follow them?

Welcome to this week’s addition of Advice Nobody Asked For (ANAF). Every Monday I’ll post something regarding writing work I’m doing and some advice I have regarding my current experiences. It’s been a hot minute since the last ANAF because my life changed drastically so my time comes at a high premium (more so than before). This morning, I was editing a new chapter to send off to my editor and realized a new, small something about grammar and what makes writing “correct.” Long post under the cut:

I am not a licensed “expert” on communication and language, but I’d like to think I’m better than an expert because being rabidly fanatic about “facts” comes part and parcel with being an expert. I am, of course, speaking from my time in academia. But I suspect most people would consider experts as having a great deal of formal education from an institution. I’m not a zealot when it comes to disciplines. I’m discerning and critical. Unrelated to this ANAF, I probably made a lot of people hate me in academia for the same reason I’m not religious: I don’t have what it takes to blindly follow and be part of an assembly line. That is neither here nor there. All you need to know is, I’ve got a crap ton of formal education and applicable experience when it comes to writing. Anyway, you probably had at least one language arts teacher during your education who was hard on grading when it came to grammar. Maybe they knew a lot. Maybe they knew like one or two rules that they were really intent on making sure you fixed. Some of these rules might have looked like:

Don’t split infinitives.

“Ain’t“ is not a word because it breaks down into “are is not”

Never start a sentence with “but.”

These are popular adages that I grew up with anyway. I’m really pleased to see tumblr engaging with the ideas of descriptive vs prescriptive language. Just take a moment to at least read the brief descriptions of those wiki pages because it’ll become important for the rest of this ANAF. I am a hardcore descriptionist. Anytime something involves telling me how things should happen, I’m immediately skeptical and want to know, “Okay, why should X happen?” A great deal of “shoulds” in life end up being social norms that are trying to wash out the richness of variation in human behavior. Communication is a human behavior. Language is a type of communication; therefore, it is a type of human behavior. Did you notice that pretentious semicolon I threw into that previous sentence? It would have be equally intelligible as “Language is communication so it’s a behavior too.” That, my friends, is what I like to call Ash’s Law of If You Can Understand What the Hell was Just Communicated to You, It’s All Good. Language is a living, dynamic tool. That is what it is. I’ve spent over a decade studying language from sociolinguistics to ethology to cognitive neuroscience. To me, if it works then congrats, it counts. But how does all of this pertain to writing? My editor @nuwanders is probably the most talented and patient person I know. Why? Because the amount of TED Talks I give when commenting on her edits would drive any other person mad by this point. Over the years, I’ve become more aware that without great characters and characterization, complicated plots are just Sudoku puzzles and, man, do I hate Sudoku. That’s not to say Sudoku is awful--it’s just not how I want to spend my time. I’m the same way about crossword puzzles. I like the idea of how small details can be put into such complicated but richly ordered puzzles. I just sorta, kinda hate being patient with them. So, characters is where I land for how to start a story. I often write in first-person POV. Sometimes I’ll opt for third-person, limited POV. It’s easier for me to engage with my own work. My editor and I will often go back and forth on these issues:

Character dialogue isn’t grammatically correct.

Story that is not dialogue isn’t grammatically correct.

Somewhere I completely fucked things up and the back and forth is me going, “oh shit, so sorry, yes you are completely right ugh why did I make such a simple mistake???”

Okay, okay, #3 happens but it still embarrasses me to slip into wrong verb tenses (I often flip between present and past tense because my brain is usually in five different places on a good day and who knows why I do things). I know all sorts of verb tenses. I know the difference between present perfect and future perfect conditional. INSERT PLUG ABOUT HOW LEARNING OTHER LANGUAGES HELPS YOU BE A BETTER WRITER HERE. That all-caps plug was intentional btw. #1 is usually a short conversation where I explain that character A isn’t as formally educated as character B or that character C just “doesn’t talk like that.” It’s easier to make a descriptive case for a descriptive instance. #2 is more complicated. Let’s say there exists a character named Lita. She is clever although lacks a formal education beyond primary schooling. She reads a lot, works at a grocery store, and enjoys participating in community theater. If I had to tell a story about Lita, regardless of plot and her objectives, those small, background details need more fleshing out. Why? Because the details of those smaller, inconsequential items informs me how I need to report Lita’s story to an audience. Lita only exists in my head. I am trying to communicate to people a whole new world that exists only in my thoughts. That doesn’t mean that some of the thoughts won’t be easier to communicate. We all know what reading is. I don’t have to explain that process. But it does matter what type of reader Lita is. Fleshing out this detail will tell ME as the writer how I need to report Lita’s thoughts to you. If I write in first-person: “I picked up the book, read a few chapters, and then went to bed.” This tells me that Lita is a casual reader who probably isn’t too invested in critical theory of literature. I’d have a hard time convincing someone with that sentence alone that Lita was reading a hard science fiction novel. I’d have an easier time convincing you that it was a romance novel. If I wrote: “I picked up the book, got a few chapters read and then finally made the decision to go to bed.” There’s kinda a problem here. It communicates the same information as the first example, but the grammar and structure of the sentence--the way I’ve decided to report to you how Lita reports her information to me--that kinda makes that sentence a little harder to swallow. (Not really the point but I can explain if anyone asks why I’d say that). Having a name for a rule is a language “hot key” for being able to point out when something seems off. To be quite honest, it took me longer to write sentence #2 than it did sentence #1 because breaking the rule is hard for me now. Parallel structure in a sentence with a list of items simply makes the information parse easier for me. It’s a case of X, Y, Z that I’m then able to use to create a voice for my character. I just need to be able to keep X, Y, Z in mind. And that’s really why knowing the rules helps you break them: it helps create a louder voice for your character, really allows them to shine through so the story isn’t just the writer’s report of what the character is doing in their particular environment. Let’s see if I can’t make Lita a little more real:

“I picked up the book, gently sliding the bookmark from between two page to place it on my nightstand. Deciding to read a few chapters, I sat up straight and felt myself smiling at title of the next section. Lost Love. These sorts of chapters were my favorite. That moment when two lovers reconnected, their emotions so complicated that the only thing they can say to one another is, ‘You’re looking well. How’ve things been?’ But after three hours of getting sucked in, I realized how late it was and finally made the decision to go to bed.”

There’s a little mix and matching going on here, but knowing the rule of parallel structure helps me as a writer focus on something more important (i.e. the basics) so I can break it apart to make it more interesting. It’s easier on me to organize and plan if I use rules so I can help make the report of a fictional character’s thoughts easier to communicate. Sometimes fictional characters don’t report to us in grammatical ways because we, as writers, are privy to their stream of consciousness (which is decidedly not grammatical). Our thoughts come to us in stranger ways than language. Lita might only report to me that dealing with an angry customer in ways that are 0% words--frustration, heat (body temp), and the need to get away from a situation. That’s not a great way to report things. An example: “Hot. I’m hot. Idiot. I know the rules. Yelling, heart races, pound pound. Leave leave leave idiot need to be doing other things idiot stop yelling.” That is a very hard report of an internal world to follow. BUT depending on the character, it might be effective to break rules of punctuation and clarity of action. You might have a character whose self-report breaks down so much that you, as the writer, are simply forced to transcribe and little else. It’d be effective for creating a character who might dissociate in stressful situations or whose suffered an injury so severe the pain sort of takes over all organization. I can’t tell you when or what when it comes to using such a strategy but I can use rules (again, language hot keys to quickly point out something that is different from expectations) in order to try and figure out why or how using or breaking a rule is effective. In that stream example above, I can say that lack of punctuation makes me feel uneasy. Punctuation is a rule we use in writing to help organize and transition thoughts. I know how to use punctuation to sound pretentious (see: that semicolon above). I know how to limit how many words might occur between punctuation in order to create quick actions (short, choppy, active voice sentences are good here). But, more importantly, when I know the rules and have really internalized them as second-nature, I don’t spend as much time worrying about how to apply the rules. Instead, I can work on figuring out when and why I should or should not use a rule. Rules are arbitrary in the way that social rules are arbitrary--they’re pretty meaningless devoid of context. We follow rules because we don’t live in vacuums. Deviations from rules come with consequences, effects. Following rules also has consequences, effects. Knowing the rules allows you to become good at examining the effects of following the rules. When you deviate from rules, it gives you an opportunity to then compare and contrast the effects. So, what if you don’t know a rule? Imagine a social situation where the rules are much different than what you’re comfortable with. You might try different things based on what you do know, but without having the internalize, first-hand experience, it’s going to be rocky. You’ll probably have difficulties pointing to exactly why things seem so hard, why you can’t improve (improvement being individualized, of course). Then, imagine some at this particular social situation says, “You tend to show your teeth a lot while smiling. It’s unnerving.” Et voila! (Yes, I’m too lazy to get the accent mark, excuse the rule-breaking). Now you know to smile without showing so much teeth! Things are a bit smoother now! And guess what? Now that you know that people find the whole “smiling with teeth” thing unnerving, guess what you have? If you wanna tell a story about a strange encounter you had with someone, you can smile with teeth to report that you were unnerved while dealing with the stranger! Example: “So, the entire time, this guy is just staring at me so I’m just like, please please go away.” And then you smile with some teeth to show nervousness, unease. BAM! New Hot Key Unlocked! Grammar and writing work much in the same way. Grammar is a fancy way of saying “language hot keys.” Poetry is a really good example of how knowing rules allows you to break it into interesting ways because poetry is concerned with how things sound as well. There are rules for the sounds our mouths make, what’s pleasing to hear (consonance) and what’s not (dissonance). But poetry also has interesting grammatical rules as well. Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is a great example of how breaking well-known rules can produce something distinct and unique. So, I’ve rambled quite a bit. I’ll leave it at that for now but I’m always happy to field questions.

#anaf #thank you for coming to my ted talk #writing #writing advice

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thecoroutfitters · 5 years

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The present-tense verb you utilize because the simple predicate in a phrase must concur in quantity aided by the subject that is simple. (This guideline additionally relates to last tense “be” verbs.)

More often than not, the exact same past tense verb works for both single and plural topics. (a vehicle honked, cars honked)

Make use of verb that is singular the straightforward topic is single.

Example: A bat flies from underneath the connection. ?(a single verb for a subject that is singular

Work with a plural verb when the straightforward topic is plural.

Example: Bats fly from beneath the bridge. ?(a plural verb for the plural topic)

Be mindful you recognize the predicate and subject associated with the phrase. Usually do not consider words that are interceding expressions. The niche and predicate of this sentence–the two main terms within the agree that is sentence–must quantity.

Instance: A can packed with old razor blades ended up being when you look at the tiny upper body.

In many sentences that start with right right here or here, the true wide range of the verb is dependent upon how many the niche after it. Often right right here or here are adverbs and determine a place, but usually they just do not. If they try not to, these are typically referred to as expletives. An expletive is just a word this is certainly only a placeholder without any meaning that is special. It is yet another term frequently utilized as an expletive.

Examples: There is a man that is strange. ?(There can be an expletive; right right here is definitely an adverb in this phrase.) right right Here are some delinquents that are juvenile. ?( Here is an expletive.) Its raining today. ?(It can be an expletive.)

A noun that is collective a single verb if the team is generally accepted as an unit, plus it takes a plural verb as soon as the people into the team are stressed.

Examples: The basketball team is popular. The group have actually received their prizes.

Verb Tense Changes (tense)

Tense means “time,” so verb tense informs the right time of the action or becoming. The action can happen in our, in past times, or perhaps in the long run. Every time has its own verb that is own type.

We walk now. We strolled yesterday. We will walk a few weeks.

Constant verb tense means you utilize the exact same verb tense to share with about actions into the exact same time period.

Work with a current tense verb to inform what exactly is taking place now. The action is continuing. (assistance)

Make use of past tense verb to share with just exactly what occurred in past times. The action is finished. (assisted)

Make use of future tense verb to inform just what will happen in the foreseeable future. The action hasn’t yet started. (may help)

Avoid switching verb tenses without cause. Keep in mind, a verb tense is used to share with about activities when you look at the time frame that is same. By using various tenses for the time that is same, your audience is likely to be lost over time. That isn’t good. Therefore check always your verbs. Be certain your verb tense is employed consistently.

here is a good example of mixed verb tenses with great outcomes. However the verb tenses demonstrably tell what exactly is taking place now and exactly exactly what took place within the past. Different verb tenses are correctly utilized to inform about various time structures.

Illustration of correct verb usage that is tense my dad’s favorite game has been dominoes. He likes dominoes since the game keeps their head active. As he had been young, he played dominoes when he served being a soldier. He states that dominoes had been the thing that made the war bearable.

listed here is a good example of blended verb tenses with poor outcomes. Various verb tenses are used to inform about actions when you look at the time frame that is same. Such verb that is careless modifications confuse the audience and hobble your writing.

Exemplory case of incorrect verb usage that is tense Talley penned about their youth, and then he writes of just exactly just how as he was a young child, he offers shells to a guy whom offered them to a different guy.

in many analyses, you need to choose tense that is present. Inform how a writer has written the piece in current tense. Inform about actions into the tale in current tense, too. Establish a time period, and shift verb tense then only once the full time framework changes. Listed here is a good example of verb tense within an analysis. This excerpt is through the sample Assignment 9 analysis.

Illustration of correct verb tight usage: Twain’s descriptive language additionally assists to illustrate their changing perceptions. Twain’s utilization of real description enables him to makes numerous appeals into the sensory faculties while he chronicles the differing methods he comes to see the river. Being a more youthful guy, he watches because the sunset’s “red hue brightened into silver.” The next day as an older man, he understands that such a sun only warns of wind.

Realize that although the passage is in current tense, the quote that is direct a past tense verb. That change in tense is certainly not a issue. Protect the verb tense within the source. You should be certain that when you exit the estimate, you move the verb tense back once again to provide tense.

Paragraph Breaks

A paragraph is an unit that is logical of. A beneficial paragraph provides the three essential areas of paragraph framework: basic sentence, information sentences, concluding phrase. Whenever one rational product of data is complete, the journalist should begin a paragraph that is new. In your writing because of this program, indent the sentence that is first of paragraph five areas.

Some authors try not to break when it comes to paragraph that is new. Because of this, an unending paragraph is done. Such monster paragraphs in many cases are difficult to read and harder to know. To try to break the amount of data into rational devices, an teacher might require a paragraph break into the text where a unique paragraph should start.

Paragraphs are a way of organizing information that is similar. These “sandwiches” of data should deliver units of data essay-writer.com which are complete in by by by themselves but which may additionally offer the thesis of an essay.

Once you compose a paragraph, first compose a basic phrase, frequently called a topic sentence–indented five areas. Include three sentences of information regarding this issue. Conclude the paragraph by recapping the sentence that is topic details. Then proceed to the next paragraph. Indent the very first phrase associated with the paragraph that is new areas.

DIFFERENT GRAMMATICAL ERRORS

A variety is marked by me of sentence structure issues in student essays. These add the major grammatical mistakes within the area above to misspellings to smaller grammatical mistakes. Some of these lesser errors that are grammatical explained in this part.

Learn about the Grading Marks i personally use only at that website website link.

Parallelism written down is really a thing that is good. Writing that does not have parallelism can be confusing. Parallelism means that equal terms in a phrase are identical grammatical type. The other equal term should be a noun, too for example, if one term is a noun. If both terms are nouns, as an example, your writing has parallelism. Then you have nonparallelism in your writing if you have a noun and an adjective presented as equal terms. That nonparallelism is really a weakness.

Examples: Running is much more enjoyable than to jog. ?(incorrect: The words that are boldfaced maybe maybe not parallel. The term that is first a gerund, plus the 2nd term can be an infinitive.) Operating is more enjoyable than running. ?(correct: The boldfaced terms are parallel. Both terms are gerunds.) To operate is more enjoyable than to jog. ?(also proper: The words that are boldfaced parallel. Both terms are infinitives.)

This woman is witty, charming, and has now cleverness. ?(incorrect: The boldfaced terms are maybe maybe not parallel. Initial two terms are adjectives, as well as the term that is third a noun.) She’s witty, charming, and smart. ?(correct: The words that are boldfaced parallel. All three terms are adjectives.) She’s wit, charm, and intelligence. ?(also proper: The boldfaced terms are parallel. All three terms are nouns.)

He’s smart, handsome, and he’s got great deal of cash. ?(awkward: This framework is certainly not quite nonparallel, but we view it a whole lot. I might mark this construction as awkward. Begin to see the modifications following.) He could be smart and handsome, and he’s got great deal of cash. ?(correct: include and between your two predicate adjectives. The 2nd component is a whole phrase.) He could be smart, handsome, and rich. ?(proper: Turn the phrase into a number of synchronous terms.)

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