Exercise: Commas Add commas as needed in the sentences below. 1. Oil which is lighter than water rises to the surface. 2. Madame de Stael was an attractive gracious lady. 3. Nice is a word with many meanings and some are contradictory. 4. The closet contained worn clothes old shoes and dirty hats. 5. After surviving the ordeal the officer felt relieved. 6. Mark Twain's early novels I believe stand the test of time. 7. December 7 1941 will never be forgotten. 8. The field was safe enough wasn't it? 9. Write the editor of the Atlantic 8 Arlington Street Boston Massachusetts 02116. 10. He replied "I have no idea what you mean." 11. After a washing and grooming the pup looked like a new dog. 12. Because they don t like to force animals to live in captivity some people refuse to go to the zoo. 13. Vests which were once popular went out of style. 14. As a celestial goddess she regulated the course of the heavenly bodies.
Answer: Commas 1. Oil, which is lighter than water, rises to the surface. 2. Madame de Stael was an attractive, gracious lady. 3. Nice is a word with many meanings, and some are contradictory. 4. The closet contained worn clothes, old shoes, and dirty hats. 5. After surviving the ordeal, the officer felt relieved. 6. Mark Twain's early novels, I believe, stand the test of time. 7. December 7, 1941, will never be forgotten. 8. The field was safe enough, wasn't it? 9. Write the editor of the Atlantic, 8 Arlington Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116. 10. He replied, "I have no idea what you mean." 11. After a washing and grooming, the pup looked like a new dog. 12. Because they don t like to force animals to live in captivity, some people refuse to go to the zoo. 13. Vests, which were once popular, went out of style. 14. As a celestial goddess, she regulated the course of the heavenly bodies.
TOPIC PREVIEW: Leadership Would you prefer to work in an office with a Korean or Western boss? Do managers in Korea listen to your opinion and ideas? Do you feel that you would be a good leader of a company? DIALOGUE: Scott: You will not believe it, but my whole life at work has changed recently. Sarah: Do you mean that in a good or bad way? Scott: Definitely in a positive way. Sarah: That's great! How has it changed to be so much better? Scott: Well, my previous manager was an older gentleman, but now I have a younger manager from Los Angeles. Sarah: OK, but what is the difference? Scott: The other boss was a leader by just telling us what to do. Now my new boss wants to hear our opinion and ideas about issues. Sarah: Oh, that is wonderful! It must make you feel more important.
When some people are asked about their job, many times they say their work is not their cup of tea for a variety of different reasons. For example, the job is not challenging enough, the industry is too boring, or the office location is far away. Other individuals also complain that their boss does not have good leadership skills and is the main cause of all their problems. When these employees make these accusations honestly, they then provide a large amount of examples from employment experiences to back up their point. For instance, a common grievance is that managers take all of the credit for work when the results are good. Yet then they decide to pass the buck and blame others when there are some problems that occur. In addition, other individuals might feel that their leaders are too controlling or dictatorial. This is usually because on most occasions the people in-charge of them do not listen to other people's opinions. Rather, they insist on doing things their own way. However, employees feel more important when their bosses are more open-minded. Then they can contribute to the decisionmaking process by providing their manager with good ideas. Then there are also other workers who separate leadership quality based on gender. Men are often considered to be quite flexible as long as the results are fine. Some people think that men do not treat employees equally. Women are praised for being good listeners as they consider many people s input. However, others often criticize women for being too strict. Whatever the situation, everybody has a different leadership style that they use on the job. A mixture of many different types could be the best because not one specific way is perfect to achieve the desired results.
VOCABULARY: accusations grievance dictatorial insist on *Possible reasons why someone is to blame -Her accusations about our boss are not true. *Complaint -We understood his grievance about his low salary. *Acting in an unreasonable way that is too strong or powerful -Employees smiled when the dictatorial boss quit his job. *Demand -I insist on negotiating with that difficult client. open-minded *Willing to listen to new or different ideas -Her boss is open-minded and listens to her ideas. gender input criticize *A person's sex; male or female -What is the gender of your CEO? *Opinions, ideas and information about something -Your input helped us improve our customer service. *Disapprove, find fault with -They criticized my research for costing too much money.
EXPRESSIONS: not their cup of tea*not their preference, not something they like -Working at a stressful job is not their cup of tea. back up *Support in order to help prove -Her presentation was backed up with statistics and examples. take all of the credit*take all of the praise and recognition -An employee took all of the credit for someone else's work. pass the buck *Shift the blame or responsibility -Colleagues passed the buck and blamed him for the mistake. in-charge *In control, a person who tells other people what to do -She is in-charge of the marketing staff. Michael Norton: How to buy happiness You will be doing your persuasive presentations next week. Today I want to give you a test run.