English Sentence Patterns for Speaking

These lessons will show you important and commonly used English sentence and question
patterns.

If you learn these sentence and question patterns well, then you will be able to make so many
perfect and natural English sentences and questions.

Studying and practicing with these lessons will improve your English speaking skills, and help
you speak English more naturally and fluently.

English Sentence Patterns for Speaking is divided into 3 levels. Level 1 includes sentence and
question patterns that you must know if you want to speak basic English. Level 2 include
intermediate level sentence and question patterns that you need to know if you want to speak
English well. Level 3 includes advanced patterns that you need to know if you want to speak
fluent and natural English.

flu·en·cy
/ˈflo͞oənsē/

Learn to pronounce

noun
noun: fluency
1. the quality or condition of being fluent.
Similar:

English Sentence Patterns - Level 1

These lessons cover sentence and question patterns that you need to know if you want to speak basic
English.

Knowing these sentence patterns will help you communicate in English, and you will still use these
sentence and question patterns even when you are an advanced English speaker. So, take your time and
study these lessons well.
Speaking Patterns 1 Lessons

1. Sentence Pattern: "And"

2. Sentence Pattern: "But"
3. Sentence Pattern: "Or"
4. Sentence Pattern: "I am... / She is... / They are..."
5. Sentence Pattern: "Is...? / Are...?"
6. Sentence Pattern: "Was...? / Were...?"
7. Sentence Pattern: "Do...? / Does...?"
8. Sentence Pattern: "Did...?"
9. Sentence Pattern: "Will...?"
10. Sentence Pattern: "At / In / On and Other Prepositions"
11. Sentence Pattern: "What is...?"
12. Sentence Pattern: "Where was...?"
13. Sentence Pattern: "What do you...?"
14. Sentence Pattern: "Why did he...?"
15. Sentence Pattern: "When will...?"
16. Sentence Pattern: "Who...?"
17. Sentence Pattern: "There is... /are..."
18. Sentence Pattern: "Is there...? / Are there...?"
19. Sentence Pattern: "Because"
20. Sentence Pattern: "Since"
21. Sentence Pattern: "So"
22. Sentence Pattern: "I am good at..."
23. Sentence Pattern: "She is bad at..."
24. Sentence Pattern: "They are interested in..."
25. Sentence Pattern: "We are happy..."
26. Sentence Pattern: "I am ready..."
27. Sentence Pattern: "He is scared..."
28. Sentence Pattern: "I am sorry..."
29. Sentence Pattern: "She was surprised..."
30. Sentence Pattern: "We are worried..."
31. Sentence Pattern: "I need..."
32. Sentence Pattern: "It is good..."
33. Sentence Pattern: "It is bad..."
34. Sentence Pattern: "I think..."
35. Sentence Pattern: "I thought..."
36. Sentence Pattern: "Are you going to...?"
37. Sentence Pattern: "I am going to..."
38. Sentence Pattern: "What are you going to...?"
39. Sentence Pattern: "I am about to..."
40. Sentence Pattern: "There is no way..."
English Sentence Patterns - Level 2
These lessons cover intermediate level sentence and question patterns that are often used when
speaking English.

If you want to communicate more fluently and naturally in English, then you must know these sentence
patterns. Knowing all of these sentence and question patterns will make speaking English and having
conversations in English a lot more comfortable, natural, and easy for you.

Speaking Patterns 2 Lessons

1. Sentence Pattern: "I can..."

2. Sentence Pattern: "She cannot..."
3. Sentence Pattern: "Can you...?"
4. Sentence Pattern: "What can you...?"
5. Sentence Pattern: "Could I...?"
6. Sentence Pattern: "Could you...?"
7. Sentence Pattern: "May I...?"
8. Sentence Pattern: "I am looking forward to..."
9. Sentence Pattern: "I feel like..."
10. Sentence Pattern: "I hate it when..."
11. Sentence Pattern: "I love it when..."
12. Sentence Pattern: "Don't you think you should...?"
13. Sentence Pattern: "Don't let..."
14. Sentence Pattern: "Let me..."
15. Sentence Pattern: "Let me know..."
16. Sentence Pattern: "I can't stand..."
17. Sentence Pattern: "She is crazy about..."
18. Sentence Pattern: "I appreciate..."
19. Sentence Pattern: "Is he sure...?"
20. Sentence Pattern: "Excuse me..."
21. Sentence Pattern: "Have you tried...?"
22. Sentence Pattern: "I have been..."
23. Sentence Pattern: "He has never..."
24. Sentence Pattern: "She has not been..."
25. Sentence Pattern: "What countries have you visited?"
26. Sentence Pattern: "I have worked here for/since..."
27. Sentence Pattern: "I have been waiting for/since..."
28. Sentence Pattern: "How long have you...?"
29. Sentence Pattern: "I promise that..."
30. Sentence Pattern: "I promise to..."
31. Sentence Pattern: "I'm becoming..."
32. Sentence Pattern: "It's getting..."
33. Sentence Pattern: "How exciting!"
34. Sentence Pattern: "I was about to..."
35. Sentence Pattern: "I'm into..."
36. Sentence Pattern: "In my opinion,..."
37. Sentence Pattern: "Is it okay if...?"
38. Sentence Pattern: "It is clear that..."
39. Sentence Pattern: "It is time to..."
40. Sentence Pattern: "What is she like?"

English Sentence Patterns - Level 2

These lessons cover intermediate level sentence and question patterns that are often used when
speaking English.

If you want to communicate more fluently and naturally in English, then you must know these sentence
patterns. Knowing all of these sentence and question patterns will make speaking English and having
conversations in English a lot more comfortable, natural, and easy for you.

Speaking Patterns 2 Lessons

1. Sentence Pattern: "I can..."

2. Sentence Pattern: "She cannot..."
3. Sentence Pattern: "Can you...?"
4. Sentence Pattern: "What can you...?"
5. Sentence Pattern: "Could I...?"
6. Sentence Pattern: "Could you...?"
7. Sentence Pattern: "May I...?"
8. Sentence Pattern: "I am looking forward to..."
9. Sentence Pattern: "I feel like..."
10. Sentence Pattern: "I hate it when..."
11. Sentence Pattern: "I love it when..."
12. Sentence Pattern: "Don't you think you should...?"
13. Sentence Pattern: "Don't let..."
14. Sentence Pattern: "Let me..."
15. Sentence Pattern: "Let me know..."
16. Sentence Pattern: "I can't stand..."
17. Sentence Pattern: "She is crazy about..."
18. Sentence Pattern: "I appreciate..."
19. Sentence Pattern: "Is he sure...?"
20. Sentence Pattern: "Excuse me..."
21. Sentence Pattern: "Have you tried...?"
22. Sentence Pattern: "I have been..."
23. Sentence Pattern: "He has never..."
24. Sentence Pattern: "She has not been..."
25. Sentence Pattern: "What countries have you visited?"
26. Sentence Pattern: "I have worked here for/since..."
27. Sentence Pattern: "I have been waiting for/since..."
28. Sentence Pattern: "How long have you...?"
29. Sentence Pattern: "I promise that..."
30. Sentence Pattern: "I promise to..."
31. Sentence Pattern: "I'm becoming..."
32. Sentence Pattern: "It's getting..."
33. Sentence Pattern: "How exciting!"
34. Sentence Pattern: "I was about to..."
35. Sentence Pattern: "I'm into..."
36. Sentence Pattern: "In my opinion,..."
37. Sentence Pattern: "Is it okay if...?"
38. Sentence Pattern: "It is clear that..."
39. Sentence Pattern: "It is time to..."
40. Sentence Pattern: "What is she like?"

Written English is the way in which the English language is transmitted through
a conventional system of graphic signs (or letters). Compare to spoken
English.

The earliest forms of written English were primarily the translations of Latin
works into English in the ninth century. Not until the late fourteenth century
(that is, the late Middle English period) did a standard form of written English
begin to emerge. According to Marilyn Corrie in The Oxford History of
English (2006), written English has been characterized by "relative stability"
during the Modern English period.

Early Written English

 "[T]he vast majority of books and manuscripts produced in England
before the invention of printing were written in Latin or (in later times)
French. Administrative documents were not written in English in any
number until the fourteenth century. The story of early written
English is one of a local vernacular language struggling to achieve a
distinct visual identity and written usage."
(David Graddol et al., English: History, Diversity, and Change.
 Routledge, 1996)
"[A] new standard form of written English, this time based on the usage
of London, began to emerge from the fifteenth century onwards. This was
generally adopted by the early printers, who in turn provided a norm for
private usage from the sixteenth century onwards."
(Jeremy J. Smith, Essentials of Early English. Routledge, 1999)

Recording Functions of Written English

 "The history of writing in the English-speaking world reveals a balancing
act between competing recording functions of the written word.
While written English has always had a role in creating durable records
that were never intended to be read aloud, the 'oral' side of writing has
been far more important than we tend to realize. Through most of the
language's history, an essential function of writing has been to aid in
subsequent representation of spoken words. Overwhelmingly, those
spoken words have been formal in character--drama, poetry, sermons,
public speeches. ( . . . [B]eginning in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, writing developed a new set of
quintessentially written functions with the emergence of newspapers and
novels.)
"In the latter part of the twentieth century, a new twist was added, as
writing increasingly came to represent informal speech. This time, there
was no intention of later rendering such texts aloud. Gradually, we learned
to write as we spoke (rather than preparing to speak as we wrote). As a
result we've generally blurred older assumptions that speech and writing
are two distinct forms of communication. Nowhere has this muddying of
boundaries been more apparent than in the case of email."
(Naomi S. Baron, Alphabet to Email: How Written English Evolved and
Where It's Heading. Routledge, 2000)

Writing and Speech

 "When writing developed, it was derived from and represented speech,
albeit imperfectly . . ..
"To affirm the primacy of speech over writing is not, however, to disparage
the latter. If speaking makes us human, writing makes us civilized.
Writing has some advantages over speech. For example, it is more
permanent, thus making possible the records that any civilization must
have. Writing is also capable of easily making some distinctions that
speech can make only with difficulty. We can, for example, indicate certain
types of pauses more clearly by the spaces that we leave between words
when we write than we ordinarily are able to do when we speak. Grade
 A may well be heard as gray day, but there is no mistaking the one phrase
for the other in writing."
(John Algeo and Thomas Pyles, The Origins and Development of the
English Language, 5th ed. Thomson Wadsworth, 2005)

Standard Written English

 "Standard or standardized written English (SWE). It's alive and well
in our culture, but what does it mean? Many varieties of English get into
print in various contexts, but 'standard' doesn't refer to all of them--not
even to everything published in mainstream books and magazines. It
refers only to one slice of mainstream writing--but an incredibly
important and powerful slice: the slice that people happen to call 'correct
edited written English.' When people champion Standard Written English,
they sometimes call it 'proper' or 'correct' or 'literate' writing. . . . [I]t's a
language that is found only on paper--and only in the texts of certain
'established writers,' and its rules are in grammar books. So again:
standardized written English (or prescriptive written English) is no
one's mother tongue."
(Peter Elbow, Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing.
Oxford Univ. Press, 2012)
"Unlike most other kinds of English, standard written English is
strongly codified. That is, there is almost total agreement as to which
forms and usages form part of it and which do not. . . .
"Mastery of standard written English is a requirement for many
professions, and it is highly desirable in many others. But nobody comes
naturally equipped with this mastery. Standard written English has to be
acquired, usually by formal education. Sadly, however, in recent years
schools in most English-speaking countries have pulled back from
teaching this material. As a result, even university graduates with good
degrees often find themselves with a command of standard English that is
at best inadequate and at worst distressing. This is not a trivial problem,
since a poor command of the conventions of standard English will often
make a very bad impression on those who must read your writing."
(Robert Lawrence Trask, Say What You Mean!: A Troubleshooter's Guide
to English Style and Usage. David R. Godine, 2005)

2.

A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that
they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by
 communication and imitation from one generation to the next. Culture is symbolic
communication. What are the components of business?

The seven components that you'll find in sample business plans include:
 Executive summary.
 Company description.
 Market analysis.
 Organizational management.
 Sales strategies.
 Funding requirements.
 Financial projections.

com·mu·ni·ca·tion
/kəˌmyo͞onəˈkāSH(ə)n/

Learn to pronounce

noun
1. 1.
the imparting or exchanging of information or news.
"at the moment I am in communication with London"
Similar:
transmission
imparting
conveying
reporting
presenting
passing on
handing on
relay
conveyance
divulgence
divulgation
disclosure
spreading
dissemination
promulgation
broadcasting
circulation
circulating
o
o
o
2. 2.
means of sending or receiving information, such as telephone lines or computers.
"satellite communications"
Verbal communication is the use of auditory language to exchange information with other
people. ... Non-verbal communication is communication between people through non-
verbal or visual cues. This includes gestures, facial expressions, body movement, timing,
touch, and anything else that communicates without speaking.

Formal communication is one that passes through predefined channels

of communication throughout the organization. On the contrary, Informal
communication refers to the form of communication which flows in every direction, i.e. it
moves freely in the organization.

Effective Business Meeting Skills

How to run meetings effectively so that more decisions are achieved in less time.

These days many people's schedules are packed with back-to-back meetings, leaving no time to
get the actual work done!
This programme shows how to structure and run much more efficient meetings using best
practice techniques.

The programme covers:

o The 3 steps to holding successful meetings:

o Preparation before the meeting
oRunning the meeting
o Followup after the meeting
o Roles and responsibilities of the meeting chairperson/leader
o How to actively chair a meeting for best results
o How to manage different personality styles
o Roles and responsibilities of meeting attendees
o How to present your point-of-view with impact and authority
o Identifying goals for the meeting - what needs to be achieved
o How to construct a quality agenda
o Creating an inclusive, productive culture within the group -agreement on how you operate as a group
o Process for gathering input from participants who can't attend so decisions are not held up
o The value of disseminating good, succinct briefing notes
o Being strategic - the role of lobbying in winning support for your recommendations
o How to be sensitive to language and cultural differences in global meetings
o Tips and strategies for time-keeping so important issues are not rushed
o Creating an effective meeting structure to ensure good minute taking, tracking of activities and
accountability
o Importance of quick turn around minutes/action plan
o Building your brand image as a quality contributor and key influencer within the meeting
o BRIEFING
A briefing is a type of meeting where the attendees receive information on a
particular subject or a procedure. They are simply given data and are expected to
understand and take the new information on board. They may be able to ask
questions at the end, but this would only be to ensure their understanding of the
brief in question. Please note that the word ‘briefing’ derives from ‘brief’ the noun,
which is a set of instructions given to a person about a specific job or task. This is
also linked to the verb ‘to brief’, which means to instruct or inform someone
thoroughly.
o They may be able to ask questions at the end, but this would only be to ensure
their understanding of the brief in question. Please note that the word ‘briefing’
derives from ‘brief’ the noun, which is a set of instructions given to a person
 about a specific job or task. This is also linked to the verb ‘to brief’, which means
to instruct or inform someone thoroughly.
o CONFERENCE
A conference is a participatory meeting, which is generally designed for
discussion, problem solving, fact-finding and consultation. Conferences are
usually limited in duration and tend to have specific objectives, they refer to
seminars or symposiums.
o As the word suggests, this is a type of meeting where people ‘confer’ about a
topic, and the speakers would generally be selected before the meeting takes
place. There are many different types of conferences, they would all have the
same concept but would be arranged to discuss topics in different situations. For
example, an academic conference would be where researchers present results,
hold workshops or do presentations. Other examples include business
conferences, news conferences, settlement conferences, or sports conferences.
Conferences are most commonly held in academic, news and information
exchange situations, and generally, they have a formal programme with various
speakers. These types of meetings would usually be organised by one person or
representative.
o Other examples include business conferences, news conferences, settlement
conferences, or sports conferences. Conferences are most commonly held in
academic, news and information exchange situations, and generally, they have a
formal programme with various speakers. These types of meetings would usually
be organised by one person or representative.

How to Take Minutes at a Board Meeting

 Written by Lena Eisenstein
Taking good meeting minutes at a board meeting is an important and fulfilling role. Board
meeting minutes are more than a general accounting of board discussions; they serve as an official
and legal record of the meeting of the Board of Directors. Minutes are used in a variety of ways
including tracking progress, detailing future plans, and serving as a reference point. Among other
things, your meeting minutes should reflect a record of motions, votes, and abstentions.

Taking Minutes for a Board Meeting – Step by Step

In your role as secretary, you’ll essentially have four steps involved with recording effective minutes
for a meeting. You’ll need to spend a little time planning before the meeting, take notes during the
meeting, and write a formal report after the meeting. You’ll also be responsible for filing and sharing
the minutes of each meeting.
Step 1: Preparation for the Board Meeting

In learning how to take meeting minutes for a board meeting, it’s important to note that every
organization records their minutes a little bit differently. Have a discussion with the board president
about any current or expected formats that you are expected to use. Review past meeting minutes to
use as a template. Ask the board president for a copy of the meeting agenda, including the names of
all attendees, including guests or speakers.

Step 2: Taking a Record of the Board Meeting

Unless your organization requires you to type notes at the meeting, you can either type them out or
write them longhand. Using a strong meeting minutes template can help you maintain more
structured minutes. The two most important things to know when understanding how to take minutes
at a board meeting is what information to record and how to present it.

To take effective minutes for a board meeting, you should include:

 Date of the meeting
 Time the meeting was called to order
 Names of the meeting participants and absentees
 Corrections and amendments to previous meeting minutes
 Additions to the current agenda
 Whether a quorum is present
 Motions taken or rejected
 Voting-that there was a motion and second, and the outcome of the vote
 Actions taken or agreed to be taken
 Next steps
 Items to be held over
 New business
 Open discussion or public participation
 Next meeting date and time
 Time of adjournment
How you detail the discussions during a board meeting is as important as making sure to include all
of the information in the bullets shown above. For each agenda item, write a short statement of each
action taken by the board, along with a brief explanation of the rationale for their decision. If there
are extensive arguments, write a succinct summary of the major arguments.

Record discussions objectively, avoiding inflammatory remarks and personal observations. A good
way to do this is by avoiding adjectives and adverbs whenever possible. Check your language to be
sure that it is clear, unambiguous, and complete.

As noted earlier, minutes are an official and legal record of the board meeting. In a legal arena,
meeting minutes are presumed to be correct and can be used as legal evidence of the facts they
report. Document board discussions to accurately reflect the actions and intentions of the board
directors. Boards have legal liability, so keep information basic and language simple to avoid any
legal complications that place the organization at a disadvantage in any legal proceedings. Use names
only when recording motions and seconds.
After the meeting, you will want to write the formal record when everything is still fresh in your
mind, so prepare the record as soon after the meeting as you possibly can.