Mastering Nouns & Verbs: From Everyday Actions to Powerful Presentations

Posted on Aug 7, 2024 in English

Noun-Verb Transformations

Common Examples

Management – Manage, Production – Produce, Performance – Perform, Improvement – Improve, Removal – Remove, Develop – Development, Solve – Survival, Appraise – Appraisal, Reduce – Reduction, Agree – Agreement, Assist – Assistance, Define – Definition, Disappear – Disappearance, Explore – Exploration, Explain – Explanation, Encourage – Encouragement, Guide – Guidance, Refuse – Refusal, Resist – Resistance, Pay – Payment, Satisfy – Satisfaction, Deny – Denial, Survive – Survival, Invest – Investment, Appear – Appearance

Using Nouns and Verbs in Context

  • He expressed his satisfaction with the results of the survey. He was very pleased.
  • We accept payment by cash or credit card.
  • Our office gives guidance to students concerning jobs and work.
  • Meryl Streep’s performance in that movie was amazing. She won an Oscar for it.
  • Governments need to work together to find a solution to the problem of global warming.
  • There has been significant improvement in his work. It’s much better.
  • I saw him steal the money, so his denial of the charge against him is unconvincing.
  • The survival of this species of flower is threatened.
  • I didn’t know the meaning of the word, so I looked up its definition in the dictionary.
  • The filter will ensure the removal of all bacteria from the water.
  • She demanded an explanation for his recent strange behavior.
  • These measures will achieve a significant reduction in costs. We should save about 20%.
  • We will begin production of the new mobile in June.
  • We were shocked at his appearance.
  • The government provided assistance to the earthquake victims.
  • Customer satisfaction has been 100%.
  • We’ve made an improvement to the design.
  • During your appraisal, your manager will discuss your performance.
  • Our research department is working on the development of a new kind of electric engine.
  • The company has issued a denial of the accusations.

Tips for Effective Presentations

Positive Aspects

  • Make sure your presentation has a clear beginning, middle, and end.
  • The start is the most important part: get your audience interested.
  • Try to interact with the audience.
  • Give an opportunity for questions at the end.
  • Smile and relax. It’s important to appear confident.

Difficult Aspects

  • Make eye contact with your audience.

Phrases for Presentations

Beginning

Today, I’m going to talk to you about…

Middle

So, to sum up…

End

Thank you for listening.

Describing a Problem

It keeps…/ Something’s wrong with…/ There’s a problem with the…/ The… isn’t/aren’t working properly.

Asking About Problems

  • Have you noticed it before?
  • How long has it been like that?
  • What do you think caused it?
  • What happened?

Discussing Solutions

  • Have you tried…?
  • Why don’t you try…?
  • It looks like a problem with…
  • What we need to do is…
  • One solution is to…

Example Dialogues

  • A) I’m worried about my jeep. It keeps making a strange noise. B) Have you noticed it before? C) What you need to do is take it to a mechanic.
  • A) Something’s wrong with the coffee machine. B) How long has it been like that? C) Why don’t we put a notice on it saying it’s out of order?
  • A) I want to buy some plane tickets, but there’s a problem with the website. B) Have you tried using a different browser? C) Maybe the website isn’t working properly.
  • A) I hear a strange noise. What do you think caused it? B) Oh yeah, I see. What happened? C) Hmmm… Looks like a problem with the engine.

Using the Past Perfect

  1. He was doing research in Oxford when he had the idea for his first book.
  2. He moved to Spain after he had learned some Spanish.
  3. When he got to the meeting, it had already started.
  4. She saw an article about an old friend while she was reading the newspaper.
  5. She had spent a long time training before she did her first marathon.

Story with Past Simple and Past Perfect

Chris and Jo were studying at university when they decided to do something different. They had both failed their mid-term exams and were feeling depressed about the future. One day, they were watching a program about the River Ganges in India. They had never seen anything like it before. They found it very interesting and decided to go there. So they left their homes in Oxford and flew to India. After they had been in India for a few weeks, they traveled to the Himalayas. They started on foot, but while they were carrying their equipment down the mountain, they met someone who wanted to buy it. When they got to the river, they decided to sell their equipment. They had sold it, they bought a raft and floated down the river. One day they were floating down the river when they saw a crocodile. It came towards them, but luckily it didn’t attack. By the time they reached the end of their journey, they had had many adventures. They had experienced things that had never been done before. They didn’t go back to university.

Achieving Great Things: Is There an Ideal Age?

Is there an ideal time in your life to achieve great things? We all know about the young computer and social networking entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz. They were studying at college when they established Facebook. The man who invented the cathode ray TV, Philo Farnsworth, was also in his 20s when he came up with the idea that led to the modern television. He had the idea when he was plowing a field. He imagined all the furrows as lines on a screen. He had already invented an early version when he was just 15. So, the age when these individuals became successful varied. What about the world record holders who ran marathons, started businesses, or were thinking about new inventions after they retired? They had run their races, had started their companies, and had been thinking about their ideas for many years before they achieved their goals.