In our last lesson, we looked at words that are used to talk about jobs and working. Let's now have a look at how companies are structured and review words that are regularly used in business English.
Generally, companies and institutions have different "departments." For example, an IT department—short for "information technology"—handles any responsibilities related to computers and networks. The person in charge of a department can be referred to as a "department head," but also a "director" or "manager."
This is Jonathan from human resources at Phonez and More.
Caption 12, The Company: The Job Interview
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We've taken the time to interview quite a few people for the position in the marketing department.
Captions 9-10, The Company: Starting on a New Job
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Well, we zipped over here from Maui with my head of R and D [research and development] Michi Schweiger.
Captions 2-3, Naish SUP: Aloha Big Island!
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Some companies have multiple offices or "branches" in different cities, and may have a central office or headquarters.
Welcome to corporate headquarters.
Caption 49, Cannes Advertising Festival Apple: Escape from the Office
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We currently offer our after-school program at the Williamsburg branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
Captions 45-46, Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.: Learn about this fun shop in Brooklyn, NY!
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Here are some important words related to daily operations:
And I called together an important board meeting of the local charitable organizations dedicated to protecting water.
Captions 20-21, Alison's Adventures: Your Passport to the World (LONDON)
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And NBC News is reporting that during a conference call, McConnell urged members of his Republican caucus not to mount an objection.
Captions 49-51, News: McConnell Accepts Reality, Trump Still Won't Concede
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Next Thursday, I'm gonna write a report about my meetings in Chicago.
Caption 81, Side by Side - Beginners: Future Tense - going to
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Further Learning
There are many videos featuring business topics on Yabla English, all of which contain essential vocabulary.
Whenever you see what appears to be a verb in English ending in -ing, you have to be careful as to how you interpret the sentence, as it may wind up that this apparent verb is actually a noun or an adjective! In English, gerunds and present participles are formed by adding -ing to the infinitive form of the verb ("to surf" becomes "surfing"), or for verbs ending in -e, dropping the -e and adding -ing ("to love" becomes "loving"). A gerund is a verb that acts as a noun in sentence. A present participle is a verb that is used to make a verb phrase or an adjective.
Therefore an English verb ending in -ing can either be noun (gerund), an adjective (formed from a present participle), or a verb (a present participle). This all sounds a bit complicated, but if you look at some examples, it's pretty easy to tell the difference!
I've always loved surfing.
Caption 19, Kiteboarding - Rider Profile - Tom Court
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What does he love? He loves surfing. In the above example, the subject of the sentence is "I," and the object of the sentence is "surfing." Since you can make a noun out of "the surfing" as used here, it is a gerund.
We watch a couple of surfing videos.
Caption 26, Kiteboarding - Sam Light Interview
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What kind of videos is he watching? Surfing videos. Here it is clear that "surfing" is an adjective that is modifying the noun "videos."
The four of us have just been surfing different spots.
Caption 10, Naish SUP - Aloha Big Island!
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What have they been doing? They have been surfing. In this last example, by pairing the verbs together, you get "have been surfing." This is the verb "to surf" in its form as present participle verb.
Further Learning
Write down some of your favorite verbs, add -ing to them, following the rules above, and search Yabla English to see them used in a real-world context as either a gerund, adjective, or present participle verb.