To: parkhotelres@parkhotel.com
From: Jsmith@xyzlaw.com

Subject: Hotel reservation

Dear Sirs:
I need the reservation for the large conference room for Sunday, November28. Please let me know if an room is available.

Thank you,

J. Smith
XYZ Law Firm
Dallas, TX

The English articles are among the trickiest words for non-native English speakers to master. They appear in just about every English sentence and play an important role in maintaining successful communication. In business communication, where writing to an international public is often necessary, using articles correctly is especially important. How many times do you find yourself not sure whether you are using the English articles correctly in your business correspondences? If you continually make errors in article usage, such as in the above example, you may create a negative effect on those who are reading your e-mails, letters or memos. Your readers may think that you have an imperfect control of the language and lower their opinions of your professionalism.

• To better understand the meaning of the English articles and when to use them, you need to understand the concepts of definiteness and specificity

1. What does it mean to say that something is definite or indefinite?

Something is definite when it is known, familiar, unique, or identified to the speaker and the hearer. Something is indefinite when it is novel, unfamiliar, or assumed to be identified by the hearer.

If the noun is definite, use the; if not,

use a, an, some, or no article.

In the above e-mail, J. Smith inquires about the availability of a conference room. She erroneously uses the definite article the instead of the indefinite a. The potential ‘reservation’ is still novel and unfamiliar as is the ‘conference room’. Therefore, the indefinite article should have preceded both nouns.

2. What makes a noun or noun phrase specific or nonspecific?

A specific noun phrase is one in which the identity of individual member(s) is clear.

A nonspecific noun phrase is one where the identity of a member of the set is not clear.

a. Use the when you know or assume that your listener is familiar with and thinking about the same specific thing or person you are talking about. When you say you want the book, you’re implying one particular book, even if you haven’t named it. The introduces both singular and plural nouns or noun phrases.

b. A and an are more general in meaning, and they work only with singular nouns. If you want a book, you’re willing to read any book. A comes before words that begin with consonants, and an comes before words beginning with vowels.

• The English articles function as adjectives to indicate ‘which one’. In other words, they point out or introduce a noun. In order to know which articles, if any, to use, you need to understand what type of noun they introduce.

§ There are two classes of nouns, proper nouns and common nouns. Proper nouns are words that name a specific person, place, thing or idea. For example, Tom and New York are proper nouns. A proper noun has two distinctive features: it will name a specific [usually a one-of-a-kind] item, and it will begin with a capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence. Common nouns, on the other hand, do not name a specific person, place, thing or idea. For instance, secretary and company are common nouns.

§ Common nouns are further classified into count and noncount. Words that can be counted are called count while words that cannot be counted and describe things as wholes are called noncount. For example, the noun, report, as in I need to finish my report today is a count noun because you can count reports. On the other hand, the noun, weather, as in the weather is mild today is noncount because you cannot count weather; rather, weather is described as a whole. Another thing to keep in mind concerning count and noncount nouns is that count nouns can take either the singular or plural form while noncount nouns take only the singular form.

• More facts about article usage

• Use the article a or an before a singular noun. Use an before a vowel sound. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u. Do not use the article a or an before a plural noun
• Introduce a singular noun with the indefinite articles a or an. When you refer to this noun again, use the definite article the. Use the before a singular noun if this noun is the only one or if the speaker and listener share an experience and are referring to the same one.
• Introduce a plural noun with some, any or no article. When you refer to this noun again, use the definite article the.
• Do not use the with a plural count noun (e.g., apples) or a noncount noun (e.g., gold) when you are making a generalization.

 Incorrect:  The apples are my favorite fruit.

Correct:     Apples are my favorite fruit.

Incorrect:  The gold is a metal.

Correct:     Gold is a metal.

• The following websites can help you further your study of English articles:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/540/01/

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslart.html

• The modal auxiliaries in English are: can, could, had better, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would.
  

For many speakers of English as a second or foreign language, modals can be quite confusing. For one thing, they express a speaker’s attitudes, or “moods.” As we all know, you need to have a high emotional and social I.Q. to be able to understand someone’s attitudes or moods in your own language let alone in a second or foreign language. For example, modals not only express that a speaker feels something is necessary, advisable, permissible, possible or probable, but they also convey the strength of these attitudes. Moreover, each modal has more than one meaning and use which further complicates the matter for students of English.

• Virtually all modals can express both logical probability and social interaction.

Understanding the context of a social situation allows you to select the appropriate modal. Let’s use the social context of a meeting. You walk into a conference room full of potential clients and announce that “the meeting may begin now”; you are granting the people in the room permission to begin the meeting. You, therefore, need to be a fairly important person in your organization to be able to grant them permission. Furthermore, the meeting is a formal one; otherwise, you would have used can instead of may for granting permission. In contrast, let’s consider another scenario. Your boss asks you when a certain report will be ready. You answer him that you’ll do your best and that “it may be ready tomorrow”; knowledge of the social situation has little or no effect on the modal you use. What you want to communicate to your boss is that the probability of the report being ready the following day is relatively low.

• The following are some key facts relating to auxiliary modals and phrasal modals:

*Modals never change their form and do not show tense; they do not take a final -ed, -ing or -s.

Correct——–He can type.    He must have been sick.      I might be leaving soon.

Incorrect——*He cans type.        *He musted been sick.     *I mighting leave soon.

*Modals carry the negative of a sentence by adding not or n’t :

Correct——You shouldn’t smoke in the office.

Incorrect—-*You don’t should smoke in the office.

*We don’t use the infinitive to after a modal which is required when two ordinary verbs follow each other in sequence. Instead, a modal is followed immediately by the simple form of a verb.

Modal + Verb                                                Verb + Verb

Correct—- I can go.                                    I want to go.

Incorrect— *I can to go.                               * I want go.

*Every modal has at least one phrasal counterpart, and some modals have several; notice that the phrasal modals are made up of two or more words:

Modal                                                               Phrasal Modal

Can, could                                                       be able to

Will, shall                                                    be going to, be about to

Must                                                                have to, have got to

Should, ought to                                        be to, be supposed to

Would (=past habit)                                         used to

May, might                                               be allowed to, be permitted to

*The subject-verb agreement rule does not apply to modal auxiliaries but does apply to phrasal modals (except for used to). Furthermore, all phrasal modals require that a ‘to‘ infinitive precede the main verb.

She

• is able to

• is going to

• is allowed to                      go to Jerusalem tomorrow.

• has to

• has got to

• Below is a chart of modals expressing various degrees of probability, attitude, politeness or indirectness when making predictions or requests, and giving advice.

• Sites that can help you further your study of English modals:

http://esl.about.com/od/beginningenglish/ig/Basic-English/Modal-Forms.htm

http://waylink.co.uk/?page=3132

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/auxiliary.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/modals/modalintro.html

Around the world, there are an estimated 1 Billion people learning English. There are many reasons why learning English has seen exponential growth in recent years, but it all boils down to the fact that English is the “global language” of business, politics, international relations, culture, and entertainment. Although English is not an official language in many countries , it is the language most often taught as a foreign or second language.

Business Leverage

The English language is the global language for business, and a good command of English will definitely give one who is eyeing a globally competitive business or career a clear edge. Communication problems, whether personal or business, translate directly into losses, zero result in negotiations, incompetence for global business, or the inability to conduct business in the international arena.

Career Growth

In terms of career success, Business English communication skills will equip you with a liberating confidence and ability to express yourself in the English language. It will surely be an advantage in interviews, thus giving you more opportunities to widen your career prospects. Or, if you are not looking for a new job, having the confidence and ability to speak Business English is one way of enhancing your potential for earning by making you stand out for career advancement or promotions. Studies show a steady growth in the number of companies worldwide requiring employees who have bilingual skills.

Internet Proficiency Means English Proficiency

Research shows that 80% of content on the web is in English, and business content makes up a large part of that content. Therefore, a good grasp of business information, data, or terminologies in the English language is integral for benefiting from the wealth of business information available on the Internet.

Pele’s Blog Mission

In this blog I plan to highlight the role of English in the business world.

I will examine trends, feature related news, analyze case studies, and provide tips for businesses to improve their language skills. I will also demonstrate how businesses can utilize their advanced language skills to increase productivity, boost sales, reduce customer service issues, and clarify their mission.

Recent Study- A Case for Investing in Business English

Just last week the UK National Center for Languages, CILT, conducted a survey showing that each year thousands of European (and Israeli) companies lose business and miss out on contracts as a result of language skills. The decrease in business deals may stem from not corresponding on time - or at all. Alternatively, negotiating in poor English casts doubt for the client on the competence and professionalism of your company. The lack of language skills may also impact the precision in communicating all of the essential information in a business call or email.

CILT continued to suggest that “there is enormous potential for small and medium sized businesses to increase total exports if they invest more in languages and develop coherent language strategies. Research definitely shows that companies that enhance their language skills can better exploit business opportunities. Language management is related to maximizing economic performance.”

Mr. Ari Syrquin, Head of the International Department at Joseph Shem Tov Law Firm, recently quoted this study in his Jerusalem Post article entitled “European Commission promotes investment in language skills” (November 21^st 2007). He cited the CILT’s study to show that companies with a strategic approach to multilingual communication can boost their export sales by more than 40 percent compared to competitors.

In the fast-paced global economy, foreign language strategies are an essential part of every company’s growth.