ORAL PRESENTATIONS

VOCABULARY and PRONUNCIATION

by
Janet Ormrod

Scientific English Camp for doctoral students

June 2015
taught by Aimee Johansen
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 Contents

PRESENTING A PAPER ............................................................................................. 4

Stance/breathing ......................................................................................................... 4
Voice ........................................................................................................................... 4
Address your audience ............................................................................................... 4
Speed.......................................................................................................................... 4
Timing ......................................................................................................................... 4
Intonation and stress ................................................................................................... 4
Pronunciation .............................................................................................................. 4
Rehearsing.................................................................................................................. 4
Illustrations .................................................................................................................. 4
(slides/transparencies/overheads/visuals...) ............................................................... 4
Sequence .................................................................................................................... 4
GIVING THE PAPER ................................................................................................... 5
Introducing oneself / someone else: ........................................................................... 5
Beginning: ................................................................................................................... 5
Changing the subject: ................................................................................................. 5
Linking parts of the plan: ............................................................................................. 5
Stressing: .................................................................................................................... 6
Giving examples: ........................................................................................................ 6
Rephrasing for clarity and for emphasis: ..................................................................... 6
Finishing:..................................................................................................................... 6
QUESTION TIME ........................................................................................................ 7
Asking questions to check that the audience has understood your presentation: ....... 7
Answering questions: .................................................................................................. 7
Keep to the point ......................................................................................................... 7
When you don't know the answer ................................................................................ 7
When you haven't understood the question ................................................................ 7
Checking to see if you have understood the question ................................................. 7
Playing for time ............................................................................................................ 7
Adding information ...................................................................................................... 7
How to avoid giving an answer .................................................................................... 7
AS A MEMBER OF THE AUDIENCE .......................................................................... 8
Polite questioning: ....................................................................................................... 8
Expressing disagreement:........................................................................................... 8
DURING OR AFTER QUESTIONS ............................................................................. 8
Continuing the subject if interrupted: ........................................................................... 8
Finishing the session: ................................................................................................. 8
Polite expressions: ...................................................................................................... 8
REFERRING TO VISUALS ......................................................................................... 9
Prepositions ................................................................................................................ 9
Commenting visual aids .............................................................................................. 9
Commercial terms ..................................................................................................... 10
TERMINOLOGY and KEYWORDS ........................................................................... 11
Acronyms .................................................................................................................. 12
GREEK ALPHABET .................................................................................................. 15
NUMBERS and DATES ............................................................................................. 16
FRENCH-LOOKING WORDS ................................................................................... 17
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i and y ........................................................................................................................ 17
-ed ............................................................................................................................. 19
s - VERBS and PLURALS ......................................................................................... 20
s or z .......................................................................................................................... 20
PRONOUNCING -aw ................................................................................................ 21
'SILENT' LETTERS ................................................................................................... 21
MISCELLANEOUS .................................................................................................... 21

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 PRESENTING A PAPER
Stance/breathing
Do not stand with hunched shoulders, or with both hands in your pockets - Use arms
naturally to punctuate ones discourse - Take two breaths in, then three out, to
counter nervousness - Release tension by dropping your chin then raising it.

Voice
Articulate well - Be careful to pronounce the consonants well. Lower the tone of your
voice for the most important points/steps/phases of your speech, leaving a slight
pause before and after this point.

Address your audience

Look at your audience, front, back, left and right - Look around for signs of
comprehension /incomprehension! - Do not stare at any particular person.

Speed
Avoid reading from a paper. Speak too slowly rather than too fast.

Timing
Practise using only the time allocated for your presentation - Have your watch on the
desk/table in front of you, and look at it discreetly. It is very easy to go beyond your
time.

Intonation and stress

In English, the voice does not rise at the end of sentences as often as in French. The voice
usually rises in English for questions beginning with an auxiliary, not when beginning with a
question word.(exercise). Do not use rising intonation in statements. Be careful with words
badly stressed (l'accent tonique) which can lead to incomprehension. Be especially careful
with words that look like French words.

Pronunciation
Check the pronunciation of any difficult words/proper names /numbers/dates/spoken
calculations.

Rehearsing
Rehearse your talk very well in advance. Make sure that your plan is clear.

Illustrations
(slides/transparencies/overheads/visuals...)
Make sure the writing is big enough to be read easily from the back of the room.
(How big is the room?) Do not include too much information on each transparency
prefer diagrams. Number your slides. Check the spelling. 1 slide = 1 minute(?). Note
that the slides may detract attention from the speaker.
Sequence
1- Introduce yourself
2 - Presentation outline
3- Introduction
4- Make 3 or 4 main points
5 -Presentation conclusion
6- End the presentation and invite questions
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 GIVING THE PAPER

Introducing oneself / someone else:

"Good morning" - "Good afternoon" - "Hello"
"I should like to thank you for your kind invitation to speak today
on the subject of..."

"I have great pleasure in introducing the next speaker..."

"It is my pleasure to introduce..."

Beginning:
"To start with,..."
"To begin with,..."
"By way of introduction,..."
"First of all,..."
"Today I'm going to talk about ..."
"For the next 20 minutes I'm going to speak about ..."
"The subject I've chosen to present is..."
Changing the subject:
"Well, I shall say no more about that, (for the moment)"
"So much for the (adjective) aspect."
"I'd now like to move on to..."
"I'd now like us to turn our attention to..."
"This brings me to my next point."

Linking parts of the plan:

"I've divided my talk/presentation into 3/4/5 parts"
"There are 3/4/5 parts to my talk/presentation"

"Firstly I'll deal with ... "

"My first point concerns ..."
"First of all, let's look at ... "
"First, I'll give some ideas/information about ..."

"Secondly, I'll mention something about ... "

"The second part shows ..."

"Thirdly, I'll talk about ... "

"In the third part, we shall see..."

"Finally, I'll look at ... "

"The final part/point is the question of ..."

"That was ...., so now let's turn to (the question of) ..."
"... was my third point"
"That was the question of ...."
"The next thing to have a look at is ..."
"Now we come to the next point, and I'll tell you something about ..."

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 "So we come to the final point which is ..."
"I now come to my last point."
"This brings me to my last point."

Stressing:
"I'd like to point out that...
"I'd like to underline the fact that...
"I'd like to stress the importance of...
"I'd like to draw your attention to...

Giving examples:
"That's to say.../i.e. ...
"For example.../e.g. .../for instance
"I could cite...
"A case in point is.../Take the case of....

Rephrasing for clarity and for emphasis:

"In other words,...
"To put it another way,...
"If I may rephrase that,...
"What I mean by that is...
"This means that...
..., so to speak."
..., if you like."

Finishing:

Conclude on a strong point. Prepare the conclusion very well.

"I should like to finish by ...(noun/gerund)

"By way of conclusion Ill say... / I can say that
"I should like to recap on the main points."

"So we have looked at the four main areas concerning ...

"So we have looked at the four main points to do with ...
"...and that concludes my paper."
"That's all I have to say for the moment, but if you have any questions
"That concludes my talk/presentation, but if you'd like to ask any
questions ...
"... but I'll be glad to try and answer any questions."
So, if anybody has any questions?

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 QUESTION TIME
Asking questions to check that the audience has understood your presentation:
"Are there any questions about that?"
"Has anyone got any questions?"
"I would welcome any questions or remarks ...

Answering questions:

Keep to the point

When a question is asked, make sure that you answer it. Check this by saying, at the
end: "Does that answer your question?". In this way, the questioner can come back
to you.

When you don't know the answer

"I'm afraid that Im unable to answer that question ...
"I'm afraid that's outside my field."
"I don't know, but I would imagine that...
Thats an interesting question. Ill have to look into that. Thank you.

When you haven't understood the question

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that - Could you please repeat
the question?"
"I didn't quite hear the last word/phrase/part."
"Would you mind repeating your question?"

Checking to see if you have understood the question

"By that, do you mean......?"
"Could you please repeat/rephrase/reword your question?"
"Could you please put/say that in a different way?"
If Ive understood you correctly, youre asking if

Playing for time

"I was just coming to that point."
"I'm glad you asked me that question...

Adding information
"Perhaps I should have said that...
"Perhaps I didn't make it clear that...
"What I meant by x was...
"That isnt exactly what I meant."
"What I should have said is that...

How to avoid giving an answer

"I'm afraid that I can't answer that at the moment."

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 AS A MEMBER OF THE AUDIENCE

Get to the point clearly and quickly.

Polite questioning:
"Could you please explain...(why/how/what...)
"Please could you tell me...
"Would you mind explaining again/in more detail...
"I'm afraid I didn't understand what you meant when you said...
"I wonder if I could ask for clarification on that point?"
"Could you be a little more specific about .?"
"I wonder if you could give us an / another example of x ?"

Expressing disagreement:
"I'm afraid I don't agree with you when you say ..."
"Yes, but on the other hand, ...

DURING OR AFTER QUESTIONS

Continuing the subject if interrupted:

"I wonder if I could continue with that at the end?"
"I'll clarify any points/explain that at the end."

Finishing the session:

"Well, if there are no more questions...
"Well, that's all, so I'll hand over to the Chairman/ the next speaker...
"Thank you very much for your attention."

Polite expressions:
If you dont mind, Ill
Im afraid that I

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 REFERRING TO VISUALS

Prepositions

The dotted line ________ the graph here represents annual mobile phone sales.

The operation of these algorithms is depicted/shown/illustrated/seen/presented here

_________ this figure.

The resulting measurements are tabulated here _________ this table.

The same factor has been used for the results ____________ Table I.

The data for f is shown __________ curve c).

Another implementation is based ______________ this figure.

P = 3,4,6 have been used for the three columns ____________ Table II.

The BEP (bit error probability) is easily calculated ___________ this equation.

You can see ___________ this map/the data that ......

Commenting visual aids

a bar chart (histogram)

a curve
a diagram
a figure
a flow chart
a graph
a map
a matrix
a model
a pie chart
a plot
a table

the vertical/horizontal axis

the broken/solid line
the dotted/dashed line
the curve
the shaded/unshaded area/segment

a peak a trough
a rise, an increase (in)
a fall, a decrease, a drop (in)
an improvement, a recovery (in)

the figures, the results, the calculations

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 the survey, the study
the evidence, the findings
the sample

an option, an alternative

the targets, the objectives, the aims, the goals, the purpose, the object
the (main) priority

Commercial terms

the turnover, the sales

the profits, the break even point, the losses
the value, the prices
the market, the demand,
supply and demand
the overheads

to forecast, expect, predict, anticipate

a forecast, the estimates

a share of, a slice of

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 TERMINOLOGY and KEYWORDS

In this list, choose the terms relevant to your field of study, underline the main
syllable accentuated, then say them:

aerospace knowledge representation

algorithm languages
amplification law
amplifier local area network (LAN)
analogue (analog USA) logic
antenna management
architecture market
artificial intelligence market research
biology mathematics
biomedical engineering measurement
biotechnology mechanical
broadband metropolitan area network
(MAN)
calculation microcomputer
calculator microprocessor
chemical microwaves
chemistry military
circuit modelling (modeling USA)
cognitive science module
communications network
compilation neural network
component nuclear power
computer aided design numerical mathematics
computing object-oriented language
control engineering oil
data optical
database optics
data processing packet switching
decision theory parallelism
design tools pattern recognition
development pharmaceutical
digital physics
distributed system probability
economic programme (program USA)
economical protocol
economics radar
economy remote sensing
electro-magnetism research
electronic revolution
electronics robotics
engineer rocket
engineering satellite
equipment science
ergonomics signal
European Space Agency signal processing
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 expert system software
exploit software package
export (n) software engineering
export (v) space station
fibre (fiber USA) speech processing
fibre optics sport
fuel statistics
graphics subscriber
hierarchy subsidy
hierarchical switching
hi-fi system
high technology technical
image synthesis technique(s)
import (n) technological
import (v) technology
industry telecommunications
information telematics
information system telephone exchange
integrated services transmission
digital network (ISDN) value-added network (VAN)
integration variables
very large scale integration
(VLSI)
videophone
videotex
wide area network (WAN)
wi-fi

ADD your terms here, then SAY them:

Acronyms

Say the alphabet in English, then pronounce the acronyms used in your field:

ADSL Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line

AI Artificial Intelligence
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
dB decibel
DSP Digital Signal Pocessor
DVB Digital Video Broadcast
DWDM Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing
ESA European Space Agency
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
FTP File Transfer Protocol
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FTTC Fiber To The Curb
GPS Global Positioning System
GSM Global System for Mobiles
HTML HyperText Markup Language
IEEE Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers
IT Information Technology
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
MP3 MPEG Audio Layer 3
PABX Private Automatic Branch Exchange
PKI Public Key Infrastructure
POS Point Of Sale
PSTN Public Switched telephone Network
QoS Quality of Service
RISC Reduced Instruction Set Computer
SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
SDL Specification and Description Language
SLM Spatial Light Modulator
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
UML Unified Modelling Language
UMTS Universal Mobile Transmission System
VDU Visual Display Unit
VLSI Very Large Scale Integration
xDSL Digital Subscriber Line
WDM Wavelength Division Multiplexing
WDMA Wavelength Division Multiple Access
WWW = W3World Wide Web
XML eXtensible Markup Language

Note the following, said as words:

CORBA Common Object Request Broker Architecture

DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory
GaAs Gallium Arsenide
GEO Geosynchronous ( Geostationary ) Earth Orbit
JPEG Joint Photographic Expert Group
a LAN Local Area Network
a LED Light Emitting Diode
LEO Low Earth Orbit
a MAN Metropolitan Area Network
a MOSFET Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor
MPEG Motion Pictures Expert Group
MEO Medium Earth Orbit
NASA North American Space Agency
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service
SONET Synchronous Optical NETwork
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
WAN Wide Area Network
WAP Wireless Application Protocol
WIFI Wireless Fidelity

13
ADD your acronyms here and SAY them:

14
 GREEK ALPHABET
In the US:

- Greek letters whose names end in i may be pronounced either with a long-i sound, or
(except for pi and chi) with a long-e sound. Thus, phi (f) can sound like the beginning of
"final" or like "fee"; but pi (p) sounds like "pie" and never like "pea."

- The ch in chi sounds like the ch in "chemistry".

N.B. These words are not pronounced like in ancient or modern Greek.

alpha
beta
gamma
delta
epsilon
zeta
eta
theta
iota
kappa
lambda
mu
nu
omicron
pi (p = 3.14159...)
rho
sigma
tau
upsilon
phi
chi
psi
omega
Exercise: In front of each word, write the mathematical symbol(s) that you use in your
equations (capitals and small letters).

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 NUMBERS and DATES
Numbers

Note that the word and goes before the tens;

If there are no tens, and goes before the units:

125 = one hundred AND twenty-five / a hundred AND twenty-five

625 lines = six hundred AND twenty-five lines
807 = eight hundred AND seven
3,456 = three thousand, four hundred AND fifty-six
789,123 = seven hundred AND eighty-nine thousand, one hundred
AND twenty-three
10 000 chips = ten thousand chips
300,000,000 TV sets = three hundred million television sets

Note:
1,000,000,000 (un milliard) = a thousand million (GB) or
a billion (USA)
1,000,000,000,000 = a billion (GB) or a trillion (USA)

Decimals

1.55 = one point five five

9802.257 = nine eight oh two point two five seven

Dates

1066 = ten sixty-six / one thousand and sixty-six

1988 = nineteen eighty-eight / nineteen hundred and eighty-eight
2001 = two thousand and one / twenty oh one

Note how to say the date expressed in the following ways:

14th May 1987 = the fourteenth of May nineteen eighty-seven

May 14 1987 = May the fourteenth nineteen eighty-seven

This date is expressed 14/5/87 in G.B. but 5/14/87 in the USA.

Exercise: Say today's date

nought (GB) = mathematical calculations

nil (GB) = football, rugby, etc.; computer science
Note that nought and nil are replaced by "nothing", or zero, in the USA.

oh = telephone numbers; numbers said individually

zero = measurements (e.g. temperatures); mathematics (USA); countdowns
love = tennis (e.g. 15-0)

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 FRENCH-LOOKING WORDS

Read these two lists of words - having the same sound - taking care with the sounds
in bold type.

/ei/ /I/ or //
Ada circuit
-ation image
change incident
equation index
interface language
laser message
page minute
patent multiple
phase passage
radiation surface
radio voltage
ratio

Also say these words:

algorithm
architecture magnetism
argue meter
check node
interference obsolete
equivalent parallelism
equip second
ignore standard

i and y
Here is a list of problematic words to pronounce. Say them aloud. The sound to be
careful with is in bold type.

The letter i, pronounced to rhyme with it

analysis living
bit minicomputer
brilliant mirror
chip office
decision orbit
determine practice (noun)
digital practise (verb)
discipline principle
engine promise
engineer services
examine signal
fifth video
ignite visible
17
index written
infinite
limited
live (verb)

The letter i, pronounced to rhyme with white

alive (adj) life

amplifier live (adj)
a priori maritime
assignment micro-
bi- micron
bias minus
bilingual missile
binary mobile
biological multiplier
bipolar organization
child oxide
Chinese parasite
climate pilot
combine pioneer
compile pirate
compiler precise (adj)
cosine prime
di- primary
diagnosis prior
diameter privacy
dielectric private
diode privatisation
decisive reconcile
entitled reliable
environment retire
excite rivalry
fibre satellite
final science
fine scientific
finite scientist
guide sign
hi-fi sine
hi-tech spiral
horizon stabilize
idea stripe
ionosphere subscriber
-isation tiny
island Titan
isolate title
isotrope triangle
liability via
liable vibration
library vice
licence (license USA) vital

18
The letter i, pronounced to rhyme with meet

critique prestige
expertise technique
machine

N.B. The pronunciation of i as /i:/ is rare.

The letter y, pronounced to rhyme with it

agency study
copy subsidy
cylinder syllable
energy synapse
monopoly syntax
oxygen synthetic
pyramid system
typical rhythm
vinyl

The letter y, pronounced to rhyme with white

analyse (analyze USA) hyper-

byte hypothesis
cycle July
cyclic(al) Nyquist
dynamic polystyrene
gyroscope prototype
hybrid type
hydrogen vinyl

Exercise: Read these pairs of words, and notice the difference in sound of the
syllable in bold type:

chip - cheap
signal - sign
bit - byte
engine - machine

-ed
The verb-ending -ed is pronounced /id/ only after a verb that ends in d or t or a y.

Read these words aloud:

accelerated /id/ adapted /id/

advanced /t/ asked /t/
based /t/ carried /id/
broadcasted /id/ complicated /id/
completed /id/ compressed /t/
coupled /d/ determined /d/
19
decided /id/ destined /d/
delivered /d/ dispersed /t/
developed /t/ doped /t/
distributed /id/ examined /d/
established /t/ integrated /id/
fixed /t/ launched /t/
interlaced /t/ measured /d/
limited /id/ ordered /d/
occurred /d/ programmed /d/
prepared /d/ promised /t/
propagated /id/ sampled /d/
recorded /id/ scheduled /d/
scattered /d/ switched /t/
stated /id/ transmitted /id/

s - VERBS and PLURALS

DO NOT FORGET to pronounce them.

s or z
Note the way of pronouncing the s in the following words when you SAY them:

base /s/
basic /s/
case /s/
close (adj) /s/
close (v) /z/
decreases /siz/
disappears /s/
disappears /z/
disease /z...z/
gas /s/
images / iz/
increase (n) /s/
increase (v) /s/
lenses /ziz/
messages /iz/
prices /siz/
prizes /ziz/
refuse (n) /s/
refuse (v) /z/
research /s/
switches / iz/
use (n) /s/ (What's the use of.....?)
use (v) /z/ (I used a printed circuit board)
used to /st/ (I used to like chemistry/I'm not used to speaking English)
uses (n) /siz/
uses (v) /ziz/
using /z/ (He's using a laser printer)

20
 PRONOUNCING -aw

Note that the following words all have the same vowel sound. Read these words:

astronaut, broad, caught, draw, law, nought, ought, saw, withdraw

'SILENT' LETTERS
Read the following, being careful with the silent letter(s).

answer
bomb
half
knowledge
listen
pneumatic
psychology
sign
whole
Take care with these words, too:

America China
Asia the EC
Britain the USA
Brittany Japan

MISCELLANEOUS
Read this list, taking care with the sounds in bold type:

area
alternate (adj) alternate (v)
business career
chemistry clothes
decade develop
development example
feature figure
flood foreigner
future geo-
guard guardian
height idea
ideal iron
knowledge language
matrix measure
method Monday
money native
other planar
power purpose
receipt recipe
register sceptical

21
scheme student
study suggest
target vapour
vehicle weight
width

22