Describing your company

1.   DESCRIBING YOUR DEPARTMENT

 My department deals with/is responsible for marketing/administration, etc.

 We organize tests/studies/research.

 We work with customers/suppliers/subsidiaries/ other companies in the group

1. DESCRIBING STUFFING OF A DEPARTMENT

There are ……. people in the department.

Pierre Ducros is in charge of the department.

I am one of the managers / technicians/secretaries/engineers 

2.   DESCRIBING THE EQUIPMENT/PREMISES OF A DEPARTMENT

We have a large office/three laboratories/ a small building.

We use computers /fax/ e-mail a lot.

We have a well- equipped laboratory/a lot of technician equipment. 

EXercise

Match them

1.      I organize training course for members off-staff-languages, computers, etc	a.      Managing director
2.      I set up the equipment and experiments and test.	b.      Personal assistant
3.      I am the senior executive.	c.      Sales representative
4.      I check that products are made to the right standards.	d.      Training office
5.      I visit customers and try and increase business.	e.      Purchasing officer
6.      I work with the Managing Director. I am responsible for this diary, organize his travel and take calls for him	f.        Laboratory technician
7.      I buy everything the company needs, from raw materials to stationery.	g.      Quality control manager

Practice saying the following numbers.

Numbers

13/14/15/16/17/18/19/30/40/

13 years old

19 people

16 cars

105/238/950/1.200/2.780

Money

$6.70/ 90p/ 15p/ 10FF/ 50DM/ $20p

Fractions

    

     Decimals

     4.32

     7.886

     28.9%

     33.406

     11.02

How to write and say the numbers

Dates

1. The way dates are written and spoken are different.

Written

17/9/1951

17 September 1951

17 Sept. 1951

2. Spoken

The seventeenth of September, nineteen fifty one

September the seventeenth, nineteen fifty one

       Numbers

1.      O is pronounced in different ways. The number is called naught in British English and zero in American English.

When numbers are said one by one, we say oh like the letter

Example

Telephone number

3098

Sports are different

Football 3-0

Tennis 15-0 

Past simple tense

The positive of regular verbs ends in –ed. There are many common irregular verbs.

      I                        

      He/ she/ it     finished

      We                  arrived            yesterday.

      You                 went

      They

The negative of the Past Simple is formed with didn’t.  

The question in the Past Simple is formed with did

The Past Simple Tense is used:

1.   To express a finished action in the past.

I worked in London from 1984 to 1989.

We played tennis last Sunday.

John left two minutes ago.

2.   To express actions which follow each other in a story.

James came into the room.

He took off his coat and sat down on the bed.

Suddenly, he noticed somebody behind the curtain.

He stood up and walked slowly across the room.