Grammar in Speech

29. Supply the correct form of the verbs given in brackets and perform the role play given below. British Neurologist Faces Ethics Inquiry in Singapore

A British neurologist (1) _______________ (to lead) a research programme in Singapore (2) _______________ (to face) a high-profile inquiry following allegations of medical research ethics violations.

Simon Shovron, 54, director of the National Neuroscience Institute, is (3) _______________ (to investigate) by the NNI’s executive committee after it (4) _______________ (to emerge) researchers on a project he (5) _______________ (to lead) allegedly went behind doctors’ backs to take blood samples from patients and did not tell them why blood (6) _______________ (to take).

The research, (7) _______________ (to fund) by the Singaporean government, (8) _______________ (to hope) to find a cure for epilepsy and Parkinson’s by (9) _______________ (to examine) DNA of patients (10) _____________________ (to suffer) from the two conditions and (11) _______________ (to assess) whether there is a genetic link.

It (12) _______________ (to think) that up to a dozen patients (13) _____ blood ________ (to take) twice a week without (14) _______________ (to tell) why.

(From ‘The Guardian’)

Role play. You are present at a sitting of the medical research ethics committee in Singapore. The committee is now to decide whether to proceed with the inquiry into Dr Shovron’s activities or to give it up.

Role 1. You are Dr Raynolds, head of the medical research ethics committee. Introduce the question to be discussed giving the essence of the problem. Let the people concerned explain their actions and then ask the members of the committee to state their points of view.

Role 2. You are Dr Shovron. Speak about the significance of your research. (With so many people – to suffer from ..., it is vital to ...) Explain why you were forced to violate medical research ethics. (Practically all patients refused to have / their blood / to take).

Role 3. You are Dr Lullaby. You are quite indignant because it was your patients who had their blood taken. Some of them approached you with questions about repeated blood tests and you didn’t know what to say because it was the first time you ... (to hear about it).

Role 4 (5 ...). You are a member of the committee. State your point of view on the problem.

30. Supply the correct form of the verbs given in brackets. Europe to Consider Quotas for Immigrants

European leaders will consider this week a plan to set Europe-wide quotas for legal immigrants from African and Asian countries, if those countries (1) _______________ (to agree) to take back illegal immigrants.

The plan (2) _______________ (to push) by Italy, which believes that (3) _______________ (to offer) legal immigration quotas (4) _______________ (to make) deportation of illegal immigrants easier.

European efforts to combat illegal immigration by (5) _______________ (to deport) illegal immigrants (6) ______________ (to hamper) by many Third World countries (7) _______________ (to refuse) to take back their citizens.

The EU (8) _______________ (to hold) largely unsuccessful talks with those countries on “readmission agreements”. The European Commission (9) _______________ (to develop) a plan under which a country (10) _______________ (to sign) an agreement to take back illegal immigrants from the EU, and in return the EU (11) _______________ (to accept) a quota of legal immigrants each year. That quota of legal immigrants then (12) _______________ (to divide) among member states according to factors such as labour market conditions and skills shortages. The size of the quotas yet (13) _______________ (not to decide).

Italy already (14) ________________ (to operate) a similar scheme for immigration from Albania and Tunisia, and claims that it (15) _______________ (to be) successful in (16) _______________ (to reduce) illegal immigration.

At present, all member countries have a veto on immigration policy, but under the new constitution, which still (17) _______________ (to negotiate), immigration would be decided by qualified majority voting.

The European Commission (18) _______________ (to hold) talks with 11 countries on (19) _______________ (to take) back illegal immigrants, but agreement (20) _______________ (to reach) only with Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, with a deal (21) _______________ (to expect) with Macau this week. It unsuccessfully (22) _______________ (to pursue) agreements with mainland China, Nigeria, Morocco and Algeria. An agreement with Morocco (23) _______________ (to see) as particularly important, because the country is a transit route to Europe for illegal immigrants from further south in Africa.

The Commission (24) _______________ (to start) to develop plans last month, and should complete them by spring. However, they (25) _______________ (to discuss) by heads of state and prime ministers for the first time at the European Council meeting in Brussels at the end of this week.

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)

Role play. You are taking part in a TV panel discussion on the problem of immigration quotas.

Role 1. You are the leader of the panel. Introduce the problem to be discussed and ask the participants to speak. Sum up their points of view at the end of the discussion.

Role 2. You are Johanna Schultzer, a member of the European Commission. Inform TV viewer and the panel participants about the stance EU has taken on immigration quotas. (Presumably, they haven’t read the article given above.)

Role 3. You are Nicholas Pussain, a representative of the Moroccan immigration office. Explain why the problem of illegal immigrants is particularly acute for Morocco.

Role 4. You are Rosette Bigliani, a human rights activist. Describe the situation the way you see it.