1595

40

According to many/some people...

Adverbs to say something is obvious

Sometimes you need to express an obvious point as part of an argument and you need to point out to readers that you are not saying anything unusual: obviously clearly undoubtedly of course needless to say

it goes without saying that without a doubt

Continuing an argument

Furthermore,…

In addition to this,…

A further (negative/positive) aspect of this is…

Giving an example

For example,…

For instance,…

Such as…

Introducing a counter-argument

On the other hand…

In contrast,…

However,…

In fact,…

Actually,..

On the other hand…

Summarizing, concluding

To sum up,…

To summarise,…

In conclusion,…

41

Useful language for discussion

Ordering arguments

To start with…

First of all…/Firstly…

Secondly…

Another thing is that…

On the one hand…but on the other hand…

On the other hand…

The main reason is ...

Another reason is ...

Well, the thing is that…

And on top of that...

And finally...

Giving examples

For example ... / For instance...

To give you an idea...

One example of this is...

Look at the case of...

Summarizing

So what it comes down to is...

The point I'm trying to make is...

Let me just recap what's been said so far.

In short...

In other words...

To sum up...

Asking for someone's opinion

What do you think (of / about ...)?

Have you considered... ?

What's your view / opinion?

Don't you agree that... ?

42

Expressing opinions

I think (that)...

In my view / opinion...

I'm convinced / positive that...

To my mind...

Personally, I think...

As I see it...

From my point of view...

As far as I'm concerned...

I don't think...

I don't really know (if)...

I'm not sure (about / if)...

I don't have a strong / definite opinion about that.

Agreeing / accepting the other person's viewpoint

Yes, I agree (with you).

I completely agree.

I couldn't agree with you more.

That's exactly what I think.

My point exactly.

I know.

I can go along with that. (I think) you're right. Right. / That's right. True. / That's true. Absolutely.

Exactly!

I suppose so.

Disagreeing

Yes / True, but...

I'm afraid I disagree / can't agree with you.

43

I take / see your point, but...

I see what you mean, but...

I'm not sure about that.

I'm not sure that's true / correct / right.

I'm not sure I can accept that.

I agree to some extent, but...

There might be some truth in that, but...

I can't agree / go along with that.

I disagree.

I don't see why / how.

You must be joking!

Surely you don't think that...

Actually,...

Other useful functions

Responding to what someone has said

Do you? / Are you? / Is it? (the appropriate question tag from the statement) That's interesting.

Really?

I see.

Oh, OK.

Playing for time

Let me see,...

Well, let me think,...

Hm, let me think about that for a moment...

I'll have to think about it.

How shall / can I put it?

What's the word for it?

Asking for clarification / Saying you don't understand

Pardon?

Sorry?

44

Sorry, I didn't quite catch that.

Sorry, I missed that.

Do you mean...?

Does this mean...?

Can you say it / that again, please? Would you mind repeating that, please?

Could you repeat that more slowly, please? Could you spell that, please?

45

Presentation

Structuring a presentation

When you give a presentation, it is important that your presentation has a clear structure which your audience can follow easily. It is also important to repeat the important points several times.

1.Greet audience and thank them for coming.

2.Introduce yourself (and your colleague (s)).

3.Introduce your talk.

4.Outline what you are going to say in your talk and suggest people leave their questions to the end.

5.Give the main part of your talk.

6.Summarize the main points.

7.Conclude and invite questions

Good presenters make it easy for their audience to know where they are in the presentation. Handouts and slides can help you to do this, but it is also important to use phrases which signal where you are in the presentation.

3.The purpose of my presentation is to…

4.In my presentation, I am hoping to do three things. First, I’ll…Then I’ll tell you…and finally I’ll…

6.Now, if I can summarize the main points again, they are these: first,…

7.So, finally, I’d like to finish off by saying that’ s been a pleasure talking to you all and thank you for your patience and interest in listening to me. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them now.

46

Reports

Parry & Gibson

Site accident report

Executive summary

Damage has been caused to the emergency generator on the Witherby power plant site. It was caused by a fire started by the electrical contractors Mullet & Sons. Although the packing material that caught fire was left by another subcontractor, the personnel from Mullet started work before cleaning the waste matter away, in contravention of contract regulation 2.3.8. Mullet & Sons should therefore pay for the replacement of the damaged equipment.

Introduction

This report will look at:

•The sequence of events

•The subcontractors involved

•The responsibilities of the subcontractors

•The financial compensation from the subcontractors

•Recommendations to avoid future incidents of this nature

Findings

1.Fire broke at 17.30 on Friday 13 October in the working area around the emergency generator. All personnel were cleaned from the site and the fire service informed by 17.45. The fire service arrived at 18.00 and the blaze was extinguished by 18.30.

2.The electrical contractors Mullet & Sons started the fire accidentally when carrying out the connection work of the generator to the main power line. Packing material left on the ground by another subcontractor Harvest Macdougall plc caught fire and this quickly spread.

3.Although Harvest Macdougall are obliged to remove any packaging material they bring with them it seems that the electricians from Mullet told them to just leave it we assume they wanted to get their own work done as quickly as possible so that they could finish for the weekend.

47

Starting welding work without first making sure there is no inflammable material around is in direct contravention of contract regulation 2.3.8.

Conclusion

Mullet & Sons must pay for the replacement of the generator as they are solely responsible for the damage.

Recommendations

1.Mullet & Sons should not be offered any more work on site if they do not accept these terms.

2.Harvest Macdougall should receive a formal warning.

3.All subcontractors must be reminded of their obligation to follow all fire

and safety regulation.

Normal Poole

Site Manager

19 October

Some tips how to write a report:

1.A report should be well organized with information presented in a logical order. There is no set layout for a report. The layout will depend on the type of report or the company style.

2.The format used for this example is common for many formal reports:

∙Title

∙Executive summary

∙Introduction

∙Findings

∙Conclusion

∙Recommendations

3.The executive summary is a summary of the main points and conclusions

48

of the report. It gives the reader a very quick overview of the entire

situation.

4.The introduction defines the sequence of points that will be looked at.

5.The findings are the facts you discovered.

6.The conclusion is what you think about the facts and how you interpret them.

7.Recommendations are practical suggestions to deal with the situation and ideas for making sure future activities run more smoothly.

49

Bibliography

1.Хрестоматия по юриспруденции Оксюкевич Е.Д. Изд-во "Спарк"

Москва 1997

2.Career Paths Law. Virginia Evans, Jenny Dooley, David J. Smith; Express Publishing, 2011

3.Just English. Английский для юристов. Уч. пособие под ред.

Т.Н.Шишкиной Ю.Л.Гуманова, В.А.Королева, М.Л.Свешникова,

Е.В.Тихомирова Ассоциация "Гуманитарное знание", "Теис", Москва

1997

4.Market Leader, Course Book, Upper-Intermediate Business English, David Cotton, David Falvey, Simon Kent, Longman, 2003

5.Market Leader, Business Law, A Robin Widdowson, Pearson Longman 2010

6.Professional English in Use, Law. Gillian D. Brown, Sally Rice. Cambridge University Press 2007