Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:Английский язык. Учебное пособие по деловой коммуникации для студентов бакалавриата, обучающихся по направлению 38.03.01«Экономика», профили «Мировая
.pdf
Wars have been fought throughout history.
I think the old house has been demolished.
— when the agent is obvious from the context or from gen-
eral knowledge:
The parcel’s being delivered at midday. (obviously by the
delivery company)
— when we want to be less direct, or more polite in a formal
situation.
Compare: Will you grant our application for planning per-
mission? (direct question)
Will our application for planning be granted? (more polite,
less direct)
— when we want to describe general feelings, options and
beliefs.
Rio de Janeiro has been described as the most beautiful
city in the Americas.
Lima is said to be the fastest-growing area in South Amer-
ica.
Sometimes we know the identity of the agent, but we don’t
want to mention it because we don’t want to blame a specifi c
person, or we want to avoid personal responsibility:
I see the washing-up hasn’t been done. Oh dear, look, the
vase has been broken.
Using passives in writing
Academic English In written English we often use the passive to:
— focus on the issues rather than on the people involved:
The research was carried out over a period of six months.
— describe rules and procedures:
Answers must be written in ink. Candidates will be interviewed in alphabetical order.
— describe commercial, industrial and scientifi c processes:
Minutes are taken and then submitted to the chair for approval.
51
Components are electronically tagged and transported to
the production line.
— describe historical, economic and social processes:
Tribal lands were sold years ago. The currency has been
devaluated twice since 1980.
1. Rewrite these sentences in the passive, using the
words in brackets
1. I don’t like people phoning me late at night.
(being)
2. You should complete the form in black ink.
(be)
3. We have not tested this product on animals.
(has)
4. Having paid for the tickets, we had no choice but to con-
tinue.
(been)
5. Max regrets the fact that his parents didn’t send him to a
better school.
(having)
6) You need to wash those sheets.
(washing)
7. It was the fi rst palace that the Egyptians built on the east
bank of the Nile.
(to)
8. The judge ought to have sent him to prison for life.
(been)
2. A passive verb form would be more suitable for twelve
of the sentences 1-20. Tick √ be changed, choose the correct reason(s) (A-D) from the box, then rewrite the sentence
The passive form is more appropriate because:
A the agent is unknown
B the agent is obvious from the context or general knowl-
edge
52
C we are describing rules, processes or procedures
D we are describing a general feeling or opinion
1. The area sales manager wants Clara to move to the Bar-
celona offi ce.
2. The builders built the bridge in 1450.
3. My parents are staying with us over the weekend.
4. Flight BA 783 departs from Gate 98 at 6.30 p.m.
5. They collect the information from retail outlets and they
enter it on the database.
6. An unidentifi ed person has vandalised the lift in our block.
7. The ancient Egyptians were superb stonemasons.
8. People hardly ever see foxes in daylight.
9. Sarah was having a bath when the phone rang.
10. The jury convicted the man and the judge sentenced him
to fi fteen years in jail.
11. The machines heat the milk to 110°C and then rapidly
cool it to produce the fi nal pasteurised product.
12. They've given the twins a kitten for their birthday.
13. There seem to be two answers to this question.
14. People must sign and submit their application forms by
the end of January.
15. Johnny pretends to like classical music to impress his
friends.
16. They say China is the world's fastest growing economy.
17. We will send you an invoice after we have delivered the
fi nal consignment of goods.
18. They are carrying out an investigation of the circum-
stances surrounding the kidnapping.
19. The local authorities refused to give us any assistance.
20. We divide up the tips and share them equally amongst
the staff.
53
Passive reporting structures
When we want to describe an impersonal or general feeling (not something said by a particular person), we don’t want
to mention the person whose words are being reported, we can
use a passive form of the reporting verb. For example:
— subject+passive verb+to+infi nitive:
He was said to be innocent. He was asked to leave.
It+passive verb+that clause: It was said that he was innocent.
We can use these passive patterns as an alternative to using an impersonal subject like they:
They said he was innocent.
We can use the same pattern with it when reporting specifi c
decisions or opinions:
It was decided/agreed/felt that it would be too costly to
take the case to trial.
Academic English We can use these structures with verbs
such as assume, argue, believe, demonstrate, know, etc.
It is often argued that rapid deforestation is the cause of
most soil erosion.
3. Read the newspaper extract and the dialogue below.
Complete this talk with the words and word expressions
from the box
be taken over, forced to make, got criticised, has been
suggested, have criticised, interested, it is reported that,
made to cut down on, they say, think, thought, to be
A) Bad news for history fans
The popular Ancient History
TV channel is (1) to be in
danger of closing down. The
channel is said (2) losing a
million dollars a week.
54
B) Denise: You like watching the
Ancient History channel, don’t
you?
Andrea: Yes, I really like it.
D: Well, people (7) it might
be closing down. (8) it’s losing
millions of dollars every week.
Despite reasonable
viewing fi gures, it has
been unable to attract
suffi cient advertising, and
investors (3) the company’s
chief executive for failing
to trim expenses. Last
month the channel was
(4) redundancies in its
production team, but the
savings have not been
suffi cient to stave off the
impending fi nancial crisis.
It (5) that a larger channel
might be interested in
taking over, but NBC,
CNN and HBO have all
denied having any interest.
However, (6) the BBC may
wish to buy some of the
channel’s award-winning
documentaries.
A: That’s a pity. I know the boss
(9) for not making enough cuts
last year. And weren’t they (10)
their programming?
D: I don’t know. But it seems they
just don’t get enough advertising.
A: Perhaps it could (11) by
another channel.
D: I don’t think any of them are
(12).
A: What about those
documentaries? Someone like the
BBC might want them.
4. Complete the second sentence so it has a similar
meaning to the fi rst, using the word in brackets. In some
cases more than one answer is possible
1. There is a general feeling that the new government is
unlikely to last long. (said)
It ..... is unlikely to last long.
2. The unruly football fans were arrested because of their
bad behaviour. (got)
As a result of their bad behaviour, the ... .
3. We regret that we weren’t given the chance to buy shares
in our company. (having)
We... to buy shares in our company.
4. Make sure someone cleans up this mess by the time I get
back. (cleaned)
.... be the time I get back.
55
5. Sasha was delighted that they had accepted him on the
degree course. (been)
Sasha was delighted ... on the degree course.
6. The guard wouldn’t let us take photos of the exhibits. (to)
We ... of the exhibits.
7. I’m organising someone that can drive the kids to the air-
port. (getting)
.... the kids to the airport.
8. After they had completed the audit, the company pub-
lished its report. (having)
The audit ... published its annual report.
ROLE PLAY
Work in groups of four
Partner A
You’re the manager of the public relations team at a pet food
manufacturer. Your leading brand of dog food is Friskee. Unfortunately, you’ve just heard that Friskee contains small quantities
of Z44T. This is a chemical, which is not dangerous for animals
to eat. It can, however, cause sickness in humans if they eat a
lot of it. Food safety guidelines do not provide clear rules about
Z44T and there is no legal reason why you should withdraw the
product from shops. This is strictly a potential public relations
problem.
You are going to chair a meeting of the PR team where you
will decide what to do. The meeting could be rather stressful.
Participants will probably have some strong views on the subject and interrupt each other a lot. Try to be fair in the way you
handle interruptions. Your aim is to allow a discussion in which
everyone can take part.
Partner B
You’re a member of the public relations team at a pet food
manufacturer. Your leading brand of dog food is Friskee. Unfortunately, you’ve just heard that Friskee contains small quantities
of Z44T. This is a chemical, which is not dangerous for animals
56
to eat. It can, however, cause sickness in humans if they eat a
lot of it. Food safety guidelines do not provide clear rules about
Z44T and there is no legal reason why you should withdraw the
product from shops. This is strictly a potential public relations
problem.
You are going to have a meeting with other members of the
PR team to decide what to do. Here are your notes for the meeting.
This is not a serious problem! People are probably not
going to eat the product.
We should:
Try to keep this information confi dential
Keep Friskee in the shops
Eliminate Z44T from Friskee in the future
Prepare a PR strategy to show we are eliminating Z44T
from the dog food, to use if the media fi nds out about
the problem.
During the meeting, as well as offering your opinion, you
should interrupt the other participants and ask them to clarify
what they are saying.
Partner C
You’re a member of the public relations team at a pet food
manufacturer. Your leading brand of dog food is Friskee. Unfortunately, you’ve just heard that Friskee contains small quantities
of Z44T. This is a chemical, which is not dangerous for animals
to eat. It can, however, cause sickness in humans if they eat a
lot of it. Food safety guidelines do not provide clear rules about
Z44T and there is no legal reason why you should withdraw the
product from shops. This is strictly a potential public relations
problem.
You are going to have a meeting with other members of the
PR team to decide what to do. Here are your notes for the meeting.
57
The situation will not cause any serious health
problems, but it could be a serious public relations
problem.
We should:
Not tell anyone outside the company about the prob-
lem
Remove Friskee from all shops
Eliminate Z44T from Friskee in the future.
During the meeting, as well as offering your opinions, you
should interrupt the other participants and ask them to clarify
what they are saying.
Partner D
You’re a member of the public relations team at a pet food
manufacturer. Your leading brand of dog food is Friskee. Unfortunately, you’ve just heard that Friskee contains small quantities
of Z44T. This is a chemical, which is not dangerous for animals
to eat. It can, however, cause sickness in humans if they eat a
lot of it. Food safety guidelines do not provide clear rules about
Z44T and there is no legal reason why you should withdraw the
product from shops. This is strictly a potential public relations
problem.
You are going to have a meeting with other members of the
PR team to decide what to do. Here are your notes for the meeting.
The situation could be very bad for our company image.
We should be completely honest about the problem.
Otherwise, there might be a scandal if the media fi nds
out.
We should:
Tell the public immediately! Honesty is the best policy
Remove Friskee from all shops
Eliminate Z44T from Friskee and announce the changes
to the media
58
During the meeting, as well as offering your opinions, you
should interrupt the other participants and ask them to clarify
what they are saying.
WRITING
Writing a Business Meeting Request Letter (with Sample)
Use this sample business meeting request letter as a template for your formal notifi cation.
To arrange a formal business meeting, or to request a
meeting with a businessperson, it is courteous to write a busi-
ness meeting request letter. If the meeting is with people in the
sender’s own offi ce, he or she may be tempted to send an email
or text message to request a meeting. However, formal letters
have the advantage of adding importance to the agenda as well
as giving the platform for explaining some of the reasons for the
meeting. It also shows professionalism and preparation.
Tips the Sender Should Consider!
• Researching the company and person to whom the letter
is addressed
• Clearly stating the purpose of the meeting
• Enclosing some documents that may help should such as
a bio of the sender, a brochure about the sender’s company
• Mentioning specifi c previous successes in the same fi eld
• Including testimonial s form satisfi ed customers on the
same topic as the meeting request agenda
A letter to request a meeting doesn’t need to be long,
but it does need to give the vital information. It should state:
• Place of meeting
• Reason for the meeting in brief
• Potential dates for meeting
• Request for follow-up after the meeting
• Suggested length of the meeting
• Possible times for the meeting
• What the person or company would gain from the meeting
59
Sample Business Meeting Request Letter
15 November 2012
Company, Inc.
123 Alphabet Drive
Los Angeles, California 90002
Ms. Susan Smith
Supervisor of Product Development Pet Supply Provider,
Inc.
472 Canine Road
Los Angeles, California 90002
Dear Ms. Smith:
It was a pleasure meeting you at the conference last week.
As we discussed, I sincerely believe that the widget gizmo produced by Company, Inc. can greatly streamline your production
process. If you are still willing, I would like to bring some of the
key members of my team along with me to meet with you at
Pet Supply Provider, Inc. We would like to give you an overview
of our services and discuss with you the best plan to suit your
needs.
Meeting in person would allow us to fully evaluate your
wants and needs. Our team is available to meet any time this
week or next. Please let me know, at your earliest convenience,
when you would be available.
Cordially,
Sam Brown
Vice President of Company, Inc.
555-555-5555
s.brown@companyinc.com
60
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]