Achievement

 

Listen to this speech given at a party being held for the retirement of an employee, James Dawson. The managing director of the company delivers a speech outlining James's achievements.

Preparation

Are these events signs of achievement or failure? Sort them into good news or bad news.

Exercise

Task

Put the events into the order in which they happened.

Exercise

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Task 2

Decide on the meaning of these common business-related words/expressions.

Exercise

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Task 3

How well do you know your prepositions? Insert the missing prepositions.

Exercise

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Downloads
 

Comments

rdogliani's picture

Hi Jack. I don't think it's right to say that "through" is always a preposition. In many cases when it's used in phrasal verbs it's an adverb as you can see in many dictionaries. Thanks anyway for the useful podcasts.
 

Jack Radford's picture
LearnEnglish
team

Hi Rdogliani

Thanks for your comment. I'm not a linguist and so I'm quite happy to be contradicted. What I wrote was what I would tell my students - in other words, what I think would best help them use the word. I have just checked a few online dictionaries and they all list 'through' as a preposition first, an adverb second and an adjective third so you and Gmappa are quite right in what you say.

Thanks again

Jack Radford

The LearnEnglish Team

louisxiawei's picture

I knew this websites via iTunes Podcasts, and i find the professional podcasts reall helpful in both listening and speaking topic developing.
The question i have is where  the previous professional podcasts is. Here i can only find the podcasts in 2010, but in iTunes, i also downloaded the podcasts in 2008 and 2009 in which the topic such as "teamworking","Diversity at work" but i cant find them on their orignal palce: here!  i really want their audioscripts.
Could anybody tell me where i can find them? Thanks a lot!

Jack Radford's picture
LearnEnglish
team

Hello Louis

All of the materials from the old site are still online and we are moving them across. We are quite a small team and so it is taking some time but they will get here eventually. In the short term, you can still find the "team working" professional podcast here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-podcast-professionals-teamwork.htm

If you want to find any of the other older podcasts, you can always find them by searching google for learnenglish podcast and the topic you remember.

I hope this helps.

Jack Radford

The LearnEnglish Team

shinnaa's picture

The third exercise is a little difficult for me. Still, it's funny.

gmappa's picture

I didn't find the third exercise very meaningful. Besides there is a mistake in it. In the expression "to fall through", "through" is an adverb not a preposition. One does not expect to find mistakes like this in material produced by the British Council.

shinnaa's picture

"through" is a preposition as well as an adverb, isn't it?

adnandadas's picture

ı think it is more like a preposition rather than its being an adverb

gmappa's picture

In reply to Adnandas and Shinaa: "through" can be a preposition or an adverb. In the sentence: "Our plans fell through" it's an adverb. In a sentence like: "He fell through a hole in the roof"  it's a preposition.  If you want to know whether a word is an adverb or a preposition, try placing a noun after it. (A preposition always governs a noun.)  For example, in the text of the podcast, the plans didn't fall through something (like a hole or a gap) they just fell through, i.e. they failed. Therefore in this sentence through is an adverb. Anyway,  let's ask the British Council to settle this for us. After all, they wrote the exercise.
Best wishes
 
 

Jack Radford's picture
LearnEnglish
team

Hi guys

I'm afraid I can't represent the combined knowledge of the British Council but I'll happily tell you what I think. I would always call through a preposition. I think that the most important thing to remember here is the phrasal verb 'to fall through'.

I appreciate that through is sometimes used as an adverb - but I think it is still a preposition. When it is being used as a preposition, it is still part of an adverbial phrase so I don't think it's helpful to discriminate.

We are thinking of employing a full time grammarian to answer questions on the site and if we do, I'll ask him or her to comment.

Thanks

Jack Radford

The LearnEnglish Team