1

und woher kommt der Begriff?_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________Answer key on page 8

Warum ein Verhaltenskodex wichtig istNow let us take a closer look why em-

ployees should be concerned about corporate compliance. Let us assume a corporate com-pliance guideline.

Exercise: Corporate Compliance GuidelinePlease translate into German this introduction to a compli-ance guideline:1. XY’s distinct strengths over

many years contribute to a reputation which could be

Down to Business

Test Your Knowledge: “Corporate Compliance”An dieser Stelle geht es oft um Begriffe, denen Sie immer wieder im Berufs-alltag begegnen, die viele wie selbstverständlich benutzen, unter denen man sich auch vage etwas vorstellen kann. Doch eine genaue Definition kann einem nicht jeder geben. Damit Ihnen das nicht passiert, beschäftigen wir uns heute einmal mit dem schönen Begriff „Corporate Compliance“.

Regeln erleichtern das Leben,

liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,zumindest das Zusammenleben. Und das Lernen einer Fremdsprache er-leichtern sie allemal. Auch wenn es im-mer Ausnahmen gibt, die eine erhoff-te Sicherheit zerstören.Das werden Sie in der Sammlung lus-tiger Grammatikregeln feststellen, die sich teilweise selbst ad absurdum füh-ren. Dennoch haben sie Gültigkeit, nur eben nicht immer und in allen Fällen. Bei aller Regeltreue ist die individuelle Einschätzung des Einzelnen von Situ-ationen, Zielgruppen und angemesse-nem Umgang miteinander entschei-dend.Wie immer finden Sie auch in dieser Ausgabe Regeln. Sie finden aber auch eine Ausnahme, die Spaß macht: Wir setzen die im letzten Sonderheft be-gonnene Story fort, weil Ihre Rückmel-dungen so rundweg positiv waren.Viel Spaß bei Lesen!

EDITORIAL

2 PO BoxKommen Sie positiv rüber: Schreiben Sie im Aktiv

4 FortsetzungsstoryEin überraschender Gast

5 Speaker´s CornerFüllwörter im Englischen

6 If in doubt – cut it outSo bilden Sie den Plural von „Compound Nouns“ IN

HALT

1

Maureen Brown ist in London aufgewachsen. Sie hat viele Jahre als Assistentin und Sekretärin im Ma­nagement eines Unternehmens gearbeitet. Heute ist sie für eine Bezirksregierung in England aktiv.

Ulrike Rudolph war nach dem Amerikanistik­studium lange in den USA und ist heute in der Er­wachsenenbildung, Bereich Fremdsprachen, tätig. Sie ist Fachbuchautorin für Kommunikations­themen und schreibt englische Lernkrimis.

Professionelles Know-how & mehr Kompetenz für Assistenz und Sekretariat

English@work71703

11/2014 September

Maureen Brown (GB) Ulrike Rudolph (USA)

Kostenfrei! Nutzen Sie Ihren Login auf www.english-work.com ABenutzername: englishAPasswort September: professionell14 Heftarchiv, Arbeitshilfen und vieles mehr!

Möchten Sie sich an einer Definition versuchen? Nur zu!

Exercise: “Corporate Compliance“Bitte definieren Sie – natürlich in ganzen Sätzen und auf Englisch!1. Was bedeutet „Corporate“?

_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________2. Was bedeutet „Compliance“ allge-

mein?_______________________________

_______________________________

_______________________________3. Was versteht man unter der Kom-

bination „Corporate Compliance“

Wenn Sie mehr über Betriebswirt-schaftslehre und ihre Relevanz für die Assistenz erfahren möchten, damit Sie und Ihr Chef nie mehr aneinan-der vorbeireden, dann könnte das Se-minar „Betriebswirtschaftslehre kom-pakt“ genau das Richtige für Sie sein. Nähere Infos zu Inhalten und Termi-nen finden Sie unter www.officeaka-demie.com.

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damaged in the blink of an eye through the careless or improper actions of just one single employee.

2. To prevent this we have formulated the following guidelines to influence all employees’ activities.

3. We are committed to: • fair competition,• integrity,• the principle of sustainability,• national and foreign trade laws,• equal opportunities, …

4. These guidelines will be modified as necessary by local and international laws and standards.

5. They will be developed by the chang-ing legal and economic environments that affect our business globally.

Answer key on page 8

PO Box

Kommen Sie positiv rüber: Schreiben Sie im Aktiv!Aus Korrespondenzseminaren in Ihrer Muttersprache kennen Sie den Grundsatz, dass Sie mit aktiven Formulierungen Ihre Texte lebhafter und direkter gestalten können. Das Passiv wird häufig benutzt, wenn Texte förm-lich klingen sollen, wobei diese Absicht einer Verschleierung nahekommt und immer unpopulärer wird. Natürlich gilt dies auch für Ihre Fremdsprache Nummer 1. Bitte lösen Sie als Erstes die Übung ganz unten auf der Seite.

Quote“Success or failure depends

more upon attitude than upon capaci-ty. Successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying so-mething. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.” William James

Did you find this exercise difficult? Compare our answers to yours.1. This is passive. The alternative would

be: “Celia Heath wrote this letter.” Celia is the subject who did some-thing. This sentence is direct and positive.

2. Passive voice again. In this case the sentence does not convey any urgen-cy to the reader. The alternative asks

him or her for action: “Please hand in comments on this presentation by next Friday.” Now everybody knows what to do.

3. This sentence is in the active voice.4. Passive meaning again, what a pity:

the speech was great and convincing, the speaker did a great job, but the sentence does not identify this. In the active voice the speaker emerges:

“The speaker made a very convincing speech at the conference.”

5. This one is not so easy. It is active in the beginning and ends in a passive voice. We do not know who has to finish the report. The alternative is: “Mr Jones wants you to finish this re-port by tonight.” This is very firm, no escape, no choice: you know what is expected.

6. This sentence is passive again. In this case “the problems” are the sub-ject and seem to be the most impor-tant part of the sentence. In reality the I.T. department is more impor-tant, because they solved the prob-lems. So why not express this in an active voice? “Our I.T. department has solved some computer problems.”

As you have seen the active voice is better in most of our cases. So try to avoid pas-sive constructions in your business letters. This will make them more direct, interest-ing and lead to the result you intend.

Jokebox IntegrityA lady went into the pharmacy and said to the pharmacist, “I would like to

buy some cyanide”. The pharmacist asked, “Why in the world do you need cyanide?”The lady replied, “To poison my husband.”“Lord have mercy!”, the pharmacist replied, “I can’t give you cyanide to kill your hus-band. That’s against the law!”The lady reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of her husband holding hands with the pharmacist’s wife. The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, “Well, that’s different. You didn’t tell me you had a prescription.”

Can you figure out which is the passive voice and which the active? Please change the passive sentences into active.

passive sentences active sentences

1 The letter was written by Celia Heath.

2 Comments on this presentation can be handed in up until next Friday.

3 Our boss set up a meeting for 5 p.m.

4 The speech at the conference was very convincing.

5 Mr Jones wants this report to be finished by tonight.

6 Some computer problems have been solved by our I.T. de-partment.

This translation was not so easy? You are right. There are some technical terms in it which you have to learn by heart if you want to be able to write such texts yourself. You would like some more ex-amples? Many global players, such as Bayer and Henkel, publish their “Cor-porate Compliance Policy” or “Code of Conduct”, which you can look up on the internet for further details.

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PO Box

Wo das Passiv besser istGerade haben Sie gelesen, dass es wichtig ist, aktiv zu schreiben, um Texte lebendiger und direkter zu gestalten und eine unmittelbare Handlung aus-zulösen. Und jetzt nehmen wir das schon zurück? Nein, der Grundsatz, eher aktiv zu schreiben, ist richtig und wichtig. Allerdings gibt es auch Fälle, in denen das Passiv besser ist, z. B. wenn Sie besonders förmlich klingen oder das Subjekt verschweigen möchten.

You can say you to me

Der britisch-amerikanische Unterschied am TelefonDie Briten sind konservativer als die Amerikaner, das ist allgemein bekannt. Das macht sich nicht nur in den traditionellen Bowler Hats und Regenschir-men im Vereinigten Königreich bemerkbar, die keine Entsprechung in den USA haben, sondern auch im sprachlichen Umgang miteinander. Die folgen-de Anekdote belegt dies.

Vocabulary Box

acquisition – Erwerbbe committed to sth. – von etw. über

zeugt seinbe concerned – betroffen seinblink of an eye – Augenblickconvey – vermitteln

emerge – auftauchenimproper – missbräuchlichmerger – Fusionierungprevent – verhindern

“The mistake was made during the de-velopment of the project.” This sentence does not say who actually made the mis-take. You could argue that it is better to write “I apologise for misunderstanding your question. We would like to offer our help in solving this problem as soon as possible.” In most cases we would agree, but in some instances it might be better to avoid taking any blame.

On the occasions when you really do not know the subject, you would have to use the passive voice, for example: “The document was stolen last night!”. “The document” is the most important word in this sentence, so the passive construc-tion is better than the active one. “Some-body stole the document last night”

would put the stress on “somebody”, but in this case it is unimportant who the thief was.

You can change the impor-tance of the object by trans-forming an active sentence in-

to a passive one:

Active: We are planning the merger for next year.

Passive: The merger is planned for next year.

As we have seen you should consider very carefully whether to use the pas-sive construction instead of the active one. If in doubt, use the active form.

Exercise: Fill in the words and find the key word!1. Dank

2. Einladung

3. Verabredung

4. Beileid

5. Bestätigung

6. Glückwunsch

7. Anfrage

8. Börsengeschäft

9. Gute Gelegenheit

Can you find out the key word for a satisfying day at work? Answer key on page 8

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Derek Smith, the top authority on merg-ers and acquisitions in the London divi-sion of an international accounting firm, receives a phone call from Robert Jones in New York:Jones: Hi Derek, this is Bob Jones from

New York. I’ve been told you’re the ex-pert in Britain when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.Smith: Well, I do know a little bit about it.Pause.

Jones: Hm. Look, could you please con-nect me to someone who knows a lot about it? This is concerning our most important client.

Derek Smith told me this story at a con-ference. He said it took him a lot of per-suading to finally convince Bob Jones that he really was the person Jones needed to talk to.

What had happened? Derek made an un-derstatement (“I do know a little bit about it”) although he was the expert, but Jones took his words literally. The result was a misunderstanding: the US caller thought that the British speaker was not the expert he needed to talk to.

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Fortsetzungsstory

Ein überraschender Gast In der Schwerpunktausgabe „Learning by Reading“ im Juni 8-2014 haben wir das Experiment gewagt, Übungen in eine spannende Office-Story zu verpacken. Ihre Rückmeldungen dazu waren so begeistert, dass wir die Sto-ry um Dedda und Thilo in den folgenden Ausgaben fortsetzen. So bleiben Sie thematisch am Ball und lernen noch spielerischer.

Dabei verlassen Sie das Terrain „Unternehmen & Kommuni-kation“ nicht einmal, sondern Sie begeben sich mit uns le-

diglich in das Reich der Fiktion. Sie er-kennen aber ein paar der Charaktere in der Story? Das ist schön. Und gewollt. Doch hier sind alle Figuren frei erfun-den. Allerdings mögen sich Typen äh-neln. Aber das ist doch immer so, wenn wir Storys lesen.

Die Rückkehr des BossesSix months after their return from Du-rango, Dedda Ritter still works as PA for Thilo Carstensen, Chief Engineer and Head of Development at “Autoroll”, a company specialising in household technology in Hamburg. He had kept his promise to support her on her ca-reer ladder and agreed that she can take an online course in intercultural com-petence. Dedda had chosen this course as she had been surprised about the cul-tural differences of their US American business partners, which was different from what Dedda had experienced with British partners. Thilo had also given Dedda more responsibility for the company’s travel management and care of visiting guests.

Earlier that morning Dedda had looked out of her bedroom window. The trees in the garden behind her apartment had bowed under the heavy gusts and the sky had been as grey (BE)/gray (AE) as pencil lead. So Dedda had decided to take the car instead of cycling. Now in the office she looked up from the report she was working on. The strip (BE)/ne-on (AE) light was switched on and rain poured down the outside of the window panes like a veil. Dedda sighed. Her ten-nis match that evening would have to take place indoors again. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Why couldn’t she be in Durango? She had enjoyed the warm but crisp air, the environment and the casual, friendly way people interacted there.

“Ms Ritter,” Thilo cleared his throat, and Dedda opened her eyes and sat upright like a school girl, “Dr Perry called. He is on his way to Paris and would like to stop over here. Could you book an ho-tel for him and his PA? For two nights? And organise (BE)/organize (AE) a lo-cal dinner? A Hamburg speciality by the harbour or in the ‘Speicherstadt’?”

Thilo combed his fingers through his thick hair. It had dull coloured (BE)/colored (AE) streaks among the shiny Robert Redford blonde haircut. He had changed over the last months, looked older and exhausted and Dedda thought his wife’s health was probably not im-proving, although she was at home again after her cancer treatment. Dedda didn’t dare to ask her boss and he didn’t talk about his wife – apart from the small success the visual aid had brought.

Eine unangenehme Erinnerung“Mr Perry? You mean the CEO from our parent group in Boston?” Dedda swal-

lowed and felt her face turn red.“Exactly, that guy. Do you remember how he made us sweat when he came here after Durango?” Thilo gave a wry smile.

Dedda nodded. “He walked into the of-fice like God. Do you remember how he asked if I could assist him in inter-viewing you?”

“Yes, I thought that was all about our trip to Durango instead of Italy, you remember?”

“You had asked me to tell our office manager we would be travelling to Ita-ly, hadn’t you?” Dedda stared into Thi-lo’s eyes, but her boss only shrugged his shoulders, as if it was normal behaviour (BE)/behavior (AE) for bosses to ask their secretary to lie for them.

Exercise: Verwandeln Sie die indirekte in direkte Rede1. He asked if I could assist him in inter-

viewing you/Mr. Carstensen._______________________________

2. I thought that was all about our trip._______________________________

3. You asked me to tell our office man-ager, we would travel to Italy.

_______________________________

4. Können Sie auch sagen, was typisch amerikanisch in einem der Sätze ist?

_______________________________

Dedda felt ill the next morning as she stood waiting at the airport. Last time Mr Perry visited she had only taken the minutes at his meeting with Thilo re-garding some staff information he had wanted. So their lie about Italy had re-mained undetected. Up until now. Did he intend to come back to this matter right now?

When the CEO walked out of the ter-minal it was not the sight of him which made Dedda gasp. It was his compan-ion, his PA. The heart-shaped face with the remarkable prominent, rectangular chin was something that had been im-printed on Dedda’s memory like a fro-zen screen. To be continued

PO BoxFrühe Planung sichert Ihnen gelungene Weihnachten

FortsetzungsstoryEine böse Überraschung

Speaker´s CornerSo trainieren Sie Ihre Schlagfertig-keit im Englischen

If in doubt – cut it outSetzen Sie im Englischen die richtigen Zeichen: Punkt & Fragezeichen

VORSC

HAU

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English@work

can only be more professional in the eyes of many listeners.

The disadvantage is that they are obvious to those listeners who know about gap fillers

and that they are being used to cover up a deficiency of words – or thoughts.

Bewusster EinsatzIt is quite a different matter if you use such fillers consciously, as in the fol-lowing examples:• Hey, come on, let’s try it again!• Actually, I wanted to attract your at-Actually, I wanted to attract your at-

tention!• Right, let us take a closer look to see

if I’m correct!

The only difference is in your attitude!

This is all about face-to-face communi-cation. An official speech is a different ballgame.

Keine Angst vor Pausen in RedenThe most important thing about fillers is not to be afraid of pauses in your well prepared speech. They can add mean-ing to your subject and give your audi-ence a break. The relevant point is: you as the speaker have to be well prepared on your subject.

If you know what you want to say and know your terminology well you don’t need excessive pauses to search for thoughts or words. Put keywords down on index cards to give you confidence.

You will find a lot of funny “gapfillers” of a different kind on this website: www.gapfill-

ers.com/“Knock knockWho’s there?Gladys

Im Deutschen sind typischen Füll-wörter: absolut, dahingehend, ge-wissermaßen, eigentlich, schlicht-weg, um nur ein paar Beispiele zu

nennen. Aus Ihrer Korrespondenz kön-nen Sie solche Wörter meist ersatzlos streichen.

In der gesprochenen Kommunikation erfüllen sie dagegen oft einen Zweck, wie das Beispiel der Junglehrer belegt: Sie erzeugen Pausen, die man zum Nachdenken nutzen kann. Allerdings sind die Laute (äh, ähm, …) allein we-nig aussagekräftig – und sie nerven die Zuhörenden. Das ist im Englischen nicht anders.

Englische „Sound Filler“Typische reine Lautfüller sind hier – wie im Deutschen auch:• ahm,• er,• uhum,• ahh.

Andere „Filler“ im EnglischenThere are other kinds of fillers that are real words and not just sounds (in al-phabetical order if you search one):• actually,• basically,• by all means,• by the way,• I mean,

• I see,• I’m telling you,• literally,• right,• so,• tell me,• you know what I mean?• you know,• you say so,• you see.

Former President of the Unit-ed States, Ronald Reagan, was famous for answering ques-

tions by starting with “Well, ...”

These fillers are just a small selection. You can find many more. They are real words with little meaning. Never theless they fulfil a purpose: an alternative name for them is “gap fillers”!

„Gap Fillers” oder „ Hesitation Form”As this name suggests the purpose of this kind of filler is to ensure there are no gaps in communication. However, such gaps are only normal as we sometimes have or want to hesitate in the middle of an evolving speech. We use an appar-ently meaningless word or phrase which bridges a pause or hesitation.

Linguists have discovered that these fill-ers can play a strategic role in a develop-ing dialogue, depending on the speak-er’s intention.

Die VerlegenheitslösungThe role of the filler is one we have al-ready mentioned: The speaker needs to pause to find the appropriate word or to think about how best to carry on. If he fills the gap with one of the fillers the pause will become less obvious. He fills the gap and continues speaking, which

Insider tip from your Britisheditor Maureen Brown

These sound fillers are also called interjections and as far as possi ble should not be used in verbal com-munication. They make you look as though you have forgotten what you are talking about, or are searching for the right word. Sound fillers make you appear unprofessional.

Speaker’s Corner

Füllwörter im EnglischenSie wissen es längst: Im Deutschen sind Füllwörter im geschriebenen Text absolut verpönt und auch im Gesprochenen nicht immer erwünscht. Wir alle erinnern uns an Schulunterricht, wo wir die „Alsos“, die „Ähs“ und „Öhs“ von Junglehrern gezählt haben. Aber wie ist es im gesprochenen Englisch? Wir zeigen Ihnen, wo „Filler“ sinnvoll sein können.

Insider tip from your American editor Ulrike Rudolph

Try to focus on your language skills and don’t use an abundance of fil-lers as a kind of spoken punctuation in order to cover pauses. Just pause. Many listeners welcome such pau-ses as it gives them a chance to think about what they have already heard.

Gladys who?Gladys the week-end at last!”

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Vocabulary Box

abundance – Fülle, Überflusscare of visiting guests – Kundenbetreu-

ungevolve – sich entwickelngasp – nach Luft schnappengusts – Böen

parent group – Muttergesell-schaft

pencil lead – Bleistiftminewry – schief

If in doubt – cut it out

So bilden Sie den Plural von „Compound Nouns“In der August-Ausgabe Ihrer English@work haben Sie gelesen, welche Arten von Zusammensetzungen es gibt und welche Regeln bzw. Empfehlungen für die Schreibweise: zusammen, getrennt oder mit Bindestrich. Hier geht es nun um die Bildung des Plurals.

Das kann so schwer nicht sein, meinen Sie? Sind Sie sich denn in allen Fällen ganz si-cher, wie Sie die Mehrzahl bil-

den sollen?

Let’s put you to the test!

Exercise: Bilden Sie den Plural der folgenden Wörter1. handout ______________2. housewife ______________3. passer-by ______________4. bypass ______________5. sister-in-law ______________6. motorway ______________7. lieutenant general ______________8. forget-me-not ______________9. washing-up-liquid ______________10. water bottle ______________

Answer key on page 8

So did you find this little exercise easy?

Regeln zur PluralbildungIt would have been the mixture of dif-ferent compound nouns which caused you any problems if you found the ex-ercise difficult at all. Because the rules are quite simple.1. Most compounds nouns, wheth-

er written in one word, hyphenat-ed or even as two words, are plural-ised (BE)/pluralized (AE) as all other nouns by adding an “s” at the end: suitcases, bluebirds, waterfalls, co-

workers, showrooms, grown-ups2. Compound nouns hypenated with an

additional “by” or “on” are pluralised with an “s” added to the first word:passers-by, hangers-on

3. It gets a bit tricky when we come to three-part compound nouns. The de-fining word is pluralised: fathers-in-law, washing-up-liquids, good-for-nothings.

Humoristische GrammatikregelnTo cheer you up after these rules we have put together some really funny ones. Don’t take them too seriously, but take your time to think about them.1. Never use a preposition to end a sen-

tence with. See the Winston Church-ill quote in the next article for an ex-ample.

2. And don’t start a sentence with a con-junction.

3. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.4. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re

old hat.)5. Also, always avoid annoying allitera-

tion.6. Be more or less specific.7. Parenthetical remarks (however

relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.8. Also too, never, ever use repetitive re-

dundancies endlessly over and over again.

9. No sentence fragments.10. Contractions aren’t always neces-

sary and shouldn’t be used to excess so don’t.

11. Foreign words and phrases are not always apropos.

Insider tip from your Britisheditor Maureen Brown

Measurement units have undergone a change in pluralisation over the years. While old style plural of words with “ful” used to pluralise the first part as in teaspoonsful and bucketsful, today many of them are pluralised on the second part: teaspoonfuls, bucket-fuls.

Erwerben Sie jetzt die Kompetenz,die Anerkennung und das Gehalt

einer Managementassistentin.

Infos anfordern unter:

www.managementassistentin.comoder gleich anrufen

Telefon 08233/23-7850

www.managementassistentin.com

Bekommen Sie schon, was Sie verdienen?

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• staatlich anerkannte Qualität

Quote

“My other brother-in-law died. He was a karate expert, then joined the army. The first time he saluted, he killed himself.”

Henny Youngman

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Advanced Learner’s Corner

How to Use Popular English Prepositions in GreetingsPrepositions in a foreign language are something to worry about. There are always exceptions to rules – even if there are some rules. So it is your task as a Personal Assistant to learn them by heart. Only by doing so you can be sure to avoid mistakes in your every-day communication with business partners from the English speaking part of the world.

Odds and Ends

Test Your Knowledge: Kleine, feine WissensfragenZum Abschluss dieser Ausgabe haben wir noch eine kleine Sammlung von sprachlichen Herausforderungen zusammengestellt, eben „Odds and Ends“, damit Sie sich noch einmal richtig austoben können in Ihrer Lieblingsfremd-sprache.

ImpressumHerausgeber: WEKA MEDIA GmbH & Co. KGPostanschrift: Römerstraße 4,86438 KissingTel.: 0 82 33.23-78 50, Fax: 0 82 33.23-78 60E-Mail: service@weka.deInternet: www.weka.dePersönlich haftende Gesellschafterin: WEKA MEDIA Beteiligungs-GmbH, Sitz in KissingGeschäftsführung: Stephan Behrens, Michael Bruns, Werner PehlandRedaktion: Ulrike Rudolph (Chefredak-teurin, V.i.S.d.P.), Anschrift siehe obenObjektleitung: Michaela TimeusHerausgeberinnen: Maureen Brown (GB), Ulrike Rudolph (USA)Satz & Layout: contentsign, AltenahrDruck: DRUCK-Kultur GmbH, MünchenErscheinungsweise: monatlichAlle Angaben in „English@ work“ wurden mit äußerster Sorgfalt ermittelt und überprüft. Sie basieren jedoch auf der Richtigkeit uns erteilter Auskünfte und unterliegen Verän-derungen. Eine Gewähr kann deshalb nicht übernommen werden, auch nicht für telefo-nisch erteilte Auskünfte. Wiedergabe – auch auszugsweise – nur mit schriftlicher Einwilli-gung des Herausgebers. ISSN 1862-4316

So let us near the end of this issue of English@work with an exercise around prepositions you need almost every day. Please fit them into the sentences.

Exercise: Popular PrepositionsYour selection: on, for, with, in.

1. Congratulations ________ your an-niversary.

2. We wish you all the best __________ your party.

3. Wishing you great happiness _______ your birthday.

4. All the best _____ you and your team.

5. All the luck _______ the world _____ your wedding.

6. I congratulate you ________ passing your exam.

7. I hope you will enjoy working ______ the new position ______ many years.

8. Good luck _________ the future.9. We hope you will enjoy working

________ your new colleague.10. Many congratulations _______ your

promotion.Answer key on page 8

If you learn these combinations you or your boss’s greeting cards or letters will be correct and the recipient can enjoy the message without getting irritated by your incorrect use of grammar.

12. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s high-ly superfluous and can be excessive.

13. All generalizations are bad.14. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.15. Don’t use no double negatives.16. One-word sentences? Eliminate.17. Analogies in writing are like feathers

on a snake (unless they are as good as gold).

18. The passive voice is to be ignored.19. Eliminate commas, that are, not nec-

essary. Parenthetical words, how-ever, should be enclosed in commas.

20. Don’t overuse exclamation points!!!21. Understatement is always the ab-

solute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.

22. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not need-ed. Use it correctly with words’ that show possession.

23. Who needs rhetorical questions? However, what if there were no rhe-

torical questions?24. Exaggeration is a million times

worse than understatement.25. Proofread your texts to see if you

any words out.26. The dash – a sometimes useful punc-

tuation mark – can often be over-used – even though it’s a helpful tool sometimes.

More such funny rules on www.crea-tiveteachingsite.com, where the above cited are from.

Fangen wir gleich mit ein paar Begriffen an, die verzwickt sein können.

Richtig oder falsch?Bitte streichen Sie die falschen unter-strichenen Begriffe durch und tragen in der Linie die deutsche Übersetzung ein:1. I like the smell of those little blue flow-

ers: don’t-forget-mes or forget me nots.

_____________________________2. The new fragrance is our cash cow or

cash cat. _____________________________

3. They said goodbye with a golden wristwatch or a golden handshake. _____________________________

4. She hit the glass ceiling or the glass barrier. _____________________________

8

Ausgabe 11 | 2014

www.english-work.com

English@work

Answer key exercises:

Verwandeln Sie die indirekte in direkte Rede1. He asked, “Could

you assist me in interviewing Mr. Carstensen?”

2. I thought, “That is all about our trip.”

3. You asked me to tell our office manag-er, “We are going to travel to Italy.”

4. Typisch amerika-nisch ist im Satz 1 der Punkt hinter Mr., im Englischen steht kein Punkt hinter den Anredeabkürzungen.

Bilden Sie den Plural der folgen-den Wörter1. handouts, 2. housewives, 3. passers-by, 4. bypasses, 5. brothers-in-law, 6. motorways, 7. lieutenant generals, 8. forget-me-nots, 9. washing-up-liquids, 10. water bottles

Popular Prepositions1. Congratulations on your anniversary.2. We wish you all the best for your party.3. Wishing you great happiness on your

birthday.4. All the best to you and your team.5. All the luck in the world on your wed-

ding.

“Corporate Compliance“1. “Corporate” means “together”, “com-

mon” and “connected with a compa-ny/corporation”, “involving or associ-ated with a corporation”.

2. “Compliance“ means “the practice of obeying rules or requests made by people in authority”, “the act or pro-cess of doing what you have been asked or ordered to do”.

3. “Corporate compliance“ is quite a new expression used to define a company’s agreement on how to deal with legal rules and company ethics. It is part of business economics.

Corporate Compliance Guideline1. Die über viele Jahre erhaltenen her-

ausragenden Stärken von YX tragen bei zu einem Ansehen, das in einem einzigen Augenblick durch sorgloses, unkorrektes Verhalten eines einzel-nen Angestellten beschädigt werden könnte.

2. Um das zu verhindern, haben wir diese Richtlinien formuliert, die alle Aktivitäten der Beschäftigten leiten sollen.

3. Wir verpflichten uns zu:• fairem Wettbwerb• Anstand• Nachhaltigkeit• Einhaltung nationalen und interna-

tionalen Handlesrechts• Chancengleichheit, …

4. Diese Richtlinien werden durch nati-onale und internationale Rechtspre-chung und Standards weiter modifi-ziert werden.

5. Sie werden entsprechend den sich ändernden rechtlichen und wirt-schaftlichen Gegebenheiten, die un-ser weltweites Geschäft berühren, weiterentwickelt werden.

6. I congratulate you on passing your exam.

7. I hope you will enjoy working in your new position for many years.

8. Good luck for the future.9. We hope you enjoy working with your

new colleague.10. Many congratulations on your pro-

motion.Richtig oder falsch?Korrekt sind: 1. forget me nots – Vergiss-meinnicht, 2. cash cow – Goldesel oder Milchkuh, 3. golden handshake – golde-ner Handschlag, Abfindung, 4. glass cei-ling – gläserne Barriere, die den Aufstieg von Frauen verhindertSetzen Sie den richtigen Begriff ein1. campaign, 2. loan, 3. credit, 4. donated

Fill in the words

The key word for a satisfying day at work is “happiness”.

T1 H A N K S

I N V I T2 A T I O N

A 3 P P O I N T M E N T

S Y M 4 P A T H Y

C O N F 5 I R M A T I O N

C O6 N G R A T U L A T I O N

7 E N Q U I R Y

T R A N 8 S A C T I O N

O C C A 9 S I O N

Sagen Sie jetzt nicht, das war zu einfach! Sonst legen wir noch einen drauf.

Exercise: Setzen Sie den richtigen Begriff ein1. Läuft die Aktion in Italien schon?

Has the __________ in Italy already started?

2. Das Unternehmen muss den Kredit bis zum 1. März zurückzahlen. The company has to pay the ______ back by 1st March.

3. Sein Konto war seit drei Monaten nicht mehr im Plus. His bank account hasn’t been in _______ for three months.

4. Das Unternehmen hat große Summen gespendet. The company has _________ large sums.

So, das war es für diese Ausgabe. Wir hoffen, Sie hatten jede Menge Erfolgs- und auch ein paar Aha-Erlebnisse.