1. 1 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Lesson 3: Language Used in Minutes By Leo Yu (Office: OEE1014; Phone: 3411-5803; email: leoyu@hkbu.edu.hk) 21-24 May 2002

2. 2 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Outline Presentation of Group 3 Critique by Group 4 Reporting Verbs Action Verbs Sentence Pattern Tense Some Expressions

3. 3 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Reporting Verbs Announce Claim Hold Illustrate Mention Point out Report Say Show State

4. 4 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Action Verbs Positive Accept Agree Attempt Confirm Decide Plan Propose Resolve Suggest

5. 5 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Action Verbs Negative Deny Disagree Refuse Reject

6. 6 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Action Verbs Neutral Heard (e.g. oral report) Noted (e.g. written report) Received Tabled

7. 7 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Pattern 1 Mr A refused to adopt the proposed submitted by Mr B. The team had decided to launch the product next summer. VERB + ‘to-infinitive’

8. 8 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Pattern 2 John suggested holding the seminar in Room 123. VERB + Gerund

9. 9 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Pattern 3 The Committee rejected the proposal. VERB + noun-phrase

10. 10 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Pattern 4 Mr Chan agreed that the budget allocated to Project A should not exceed HKD35,000. Jenny mentioned that there would be a new member joining her team on Monday. VERB + ‘that-clause’

11. 11 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Pattern 5 Robert rejected the idea that one more clerk should be employed in the current academic year due to the tight budget. VERB + ‘the idea/fact that’

12. 12 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Tense 1 The chairman gave a brief introduction [A- 1.1] Mary informed members that … [B-2] Mr Chan reported that the PE Department… [C-2.2] Past Tense (for Present Tense)

13. 13 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Tense 2 Mr A had checked with Ian of FO… [B-5] Past Perfect Tense (for Present Perfect Tense)

14. 14 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Tense 3 The seminar had been held on 29 th December in 2001 Past Perfect Tense (for Simple Past Tense)

15. 15 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Tense 4 …a special session would be held [D-4] …no spare notice boards could be made available [E-2.3] …colleagues should prepare for… [D-3a] (Past) Future Tense (for Present Future Tense)

16. 16 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Tense 5 May? Must? Might (=May); Had to (=must)

17. 17 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Some Expressions (1) This? That Now? Then/at that moment Tomorrow? The next day Yesterday? The day before

18. 18 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Some Expressions (2) Today? On that day Here? there ‘We think…’? They thought… ‘Our concern…’? Their concern…

19. 19 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Some Expressions (3) ‘The research conducted by us…’? The research conducted by them/the team… ‘I think that…’? He thought that …

20. 20 Workplace English for Executive Officers (Minutes-taking) Need The rooms were needed to renovate during the summer vacation. The rooms needed to be renovated/ renovation during the summer vacation