Important Phrases for English Phone Conversations

Important Phrases for English Phone Conversations Telephoning in English includes learning a number of special phrases, as well as focusing on listening skills. Some of the most important phrases include how to answer the phone, how to ask for others, how to connect, and how to take messages.   Introducing Yourself Here are a few ways to informally introduce yourself on the telephone: This is Ken.Hello, Ken speaking If youd like to reply more formally, use your full name. This is Jennifer Smith speaking.Hello, Jennifer Smith speaking. If you are answering for a business, just state the business name. In this case, its common to ask how you can help: Good morning, Thomson Company. How may I help you?Plumbers Insurance. How can I be of service today? British / American Difference Hello, this is KenBrighton 0987654 The first example response is in American English and the second is in  British English. As you can see there are differences in both forms. The telephone articles include both  British and American English, as well as phrases that are common to both forms. In  American English, we answer the phone stating This is ... In British English, its common to answer the phone by stating the telephone number. The phrase This is ... is used only on the telephone to substitute the phrase My name is ... which is not used to answer the telephone. Asking Who Is on the Telephone Sometimes, youll need to find out who is calling. Ask them politely for this information: Excuse me, who is this?May (Can) I ask who is calling, please? Asking for Someone At other times, youll need to speak to someone else. This is especially true when you telephone a business. Here are some examples: Can I have extension 321? (extensions are internal numbers at a company)Could I speak to...? (Can I - more informal / May I - more formal)Is Jack in? (informal idiom meaning: Is Jack in the office? Connecting Someone If you answer the phone, you might need to connect the caller to someone at your business. Here are some useful phrases: Ill put you through (put through - phrasal verb meaning connect)Can you hold the line? Can you hold on a moment? When Someone Is Not Available These phrases can be used to express that someone is not available  to speak on the telephone. Im afraid ... is not available at the momentThe line is busy... (when the extension requested is being used)Mr. Jackson isnt in... Mr. Jackson is out at the moment... Taking a Message If someone isnt available, you might want to take a message to help the caller.   Could (Can, May) I take a message?Could (Can, May) I tell him who is calling?Would you like to leave a message? Continue practicing your skills by using the  practical exercises  below which include information on leaving messages on the telephone, how to ask  native speakers  to slow down, role plays on the telephone and more. Practice With a Role Play Begin by learning important telephone English with the dialogue below. Here is a short telephone conversation with some of the key phrases: Operator: Hello, Frank and Brothers, How can I help you?Peter: This is Peter Jackson. Can I have extension 3421?Operator: Certainly, hold on a minute, Ill put you through... Frank: Bob Petersons office, Frank speaking.Peter: This is Peter Jackson calling, is Bob in? Frank: Im afraid hes out at the moment. Can I take a message?Peter: Yes, Could you ask him to call me at ... I need to talk to him about the Nuovo line, its urgent. Frank: Could you repeat the number please?Peter: Yes, thats ..., and this is Peter Jackson. Frank: Thank you Mr. Jackson, Ill make sure Bob gets this asap.Peter: Thanks, bye. Frank: Bye. As you can see, the language is rather informal and there are some important differences from face-to-face conversational English.

Great Captains Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Great Captains - Essay Example A number of individuals from many walks of life find it quite fascinating to study war strategy over the past several thousand years and how the same strategies have been employed, despite the fact that warfare has changed dramatically overtime. Being that warfare has changed over the past one hundred fifty years, the study of captains, such as Napoleon, Ulysses Grant, and Frederick the Great are still valid for a modern military professional, as it is these three individuals who have contributed largely in shaping our civilization and making it what it is today. One reason that the study of captains, such as Napoleon, Ulysses Grant, and Frederick the Great are still valid for a modern military professional is that a military professional can learn a great deal from these individuals. For instance, from the study of these great individuals, a modern military professional can learn to be an effective leader. The modern military can study the art of war from all three of these great captains and possibly employ some of these strategies in today's modern war fair. Some may challenge that learning the strategies of these captains is useless for a modern military professional, since war fair has changed so much since these men were alive. Those supporting this argument state that the weapons during the time of these captains were not as sophisticated as they are today, and wars are fought on a much larger scale than in times past. These captains did not deal with the challenges that we do now. Though these arguments are true and valid, the reason s for engaging in war are the same as they were since the beginning of humankind, and because of this, the study of such captains is relevant, as such study helps the future leader in deciding what he should and should not do to see to it that his outcomes are successful. If these three captains have employed a particular strategy that brought them a plethora of success, then there is no problem at all making use of that same strategy today. In regards to this, Paret and Clausewitz state that the purpose of war has always stayed the same, even though we now use more sophisticated weapons. Not to mention, the tactic to attack the enemy with the utmost force, to concentrate on what allows the enemy to resist and do away with it so the enemy can resist no longer and the desire to annihilate the enemy has been the same. Furthermore, the definition of war has also stayed the same, as war is merely a way for us to force the enemy to do our will and see to it that it is carried out (Chapte r One, Book One). Another reason that the study of these great captains is valid for a modern military professional is that a great deal can be learned from their use of intelligence. On the subject of intelligence as it pertains to war, Paret and Clausewitz state that those who are savages normally fight solely motivated by passion. There is no real intelligence on their part, as they are going to do whatever it takes to destroy their enemy. On the other hand, civilized peoples actually take the time out to sit and strategize how they will attack their enemy, defeat them, and successfully conquer them, if conquering is part of the reason that the war is being fought (Chapter One, Book One). These three great captains, no doubt, took the time to intelligently strategize how they would advance upon their enemies. Surely, they did feel some passion of hatred for their enemy, hence the reason they would attack them in the first place, as one would not attack someone they

Religion and Ecology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Religion and Ecology - Essay Example Finally, I will explore human nature and destiny as part of the natural world and how our actions and religions are important in development. Religion has almost certainly shaped our understanding of and our conduct towards nature and vice versa. For example, Judaism (one of the oldest religions), nature is presented as being something that â€Å"God created†1. Another ancient religion, Hinduism, has special Gods dedicated towards the worship of nature2, which suggest that nature is needing explain by the use of Gods and spirituality. Many of the tribal religions are based around nature-worship and a special symbiosis with environment3. Most religions state that there is a special relationship between man, nature and a spiritual being and that nature is something that need taking care of by man. This much is true. However, looking at state of world and impending environmental crisis, it not clear whether this encouragement to bond with nature by religion has had enough of an effect. Many people also feel that religion encourages people to think that they are better than other species or that humans are not part of the natural world. In Judaism, God has created man in his image4 suggesting that God has created a special place in the world for man. Man is more like God than the other creatures. However, in religious environmentalism we see that newer spiritual and religious movements are encouraging human race to see themselves as part of the environment and to take care of it like they would care for their own home5. Interestingly, the nature is a finite resource and seeing humans as part of that resource could help to encourage us to see ourselves within nature and to help us maintain it like religions so often encourage. Religions also help ask and answer the question â€Å"what is the place of humans in the non-human natural world?† There are two clear schools of thought. One, common in the

A Letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A Letter - Essay Example Having a healthy economy implies that the government concentrate on social issues in a means of tackling unemployment. The youth and women population has the highest potential in the labor market but still lugged behind in matters employment. The investment in education indicates a change in perception and the labor market accommodation the new elements. This attributes to the highest levels of employment over the past seven years (Zumbrun, 2014). The fact that the levels of employment are on the rise, the government main concern is on cyclical unemployment. The trend has little to do with the government but the employers themselves. Many tend to maintain a given number of workers as a means of reducing expenditure and maximizing on revenue. It is evident on how each sector plays a role in ensuring the improved levels of employment. Creation of jobs bases on government policies including taxation and the commitment by both local and foreign investment to satisfy the labor

Essay --

Lauren Hurst Professor Larson BIBL 105 – Introduction to Bible Study 19 December 2013 1 Timothy 2:8-15 â€Å"In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do. Women should learn quietly and submissively. I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly. For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived and sin was the result. But women will be saved through childbearing assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.† Introduction â€Å"Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.† That advertisement appeared in a London newspaper and thousands of men responded! It was signed by the noted Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, and that was what made the difference. If Jesus Christ had advertised for workers, the announcement might have read something like this: â€Å"Men and women wanted for difficult task of helping to build My church. You will often be misunderstood, even by those working with you. You will face constant attacks from an invisible enemy. You may not see the results of your labor, and your full reward will not come till after all your work is completed. It may cost you your ho... ...o explain how a local church should be managed, and to enforce his own authority as a servant of God. In 1 Timothy 2:8-15 Paul encourage Timothy to confront the false teachers who had infiltrated the church at Ephesus. In context, Paul is dealing with false deceived teachers who are teaching false doctrine (1 Tim. 1:3, 7). Prior to 1 Timothy 2: 9-15, Paul gives instructions to Timothy regarding how the men and women who claim godliness should conduct themselves in the church while they are in the midst of the false teachers (1 Tim. 2:1- 10). Paul writes 1 Timothy with instruction to Timothy, a young man who responded to Christ’s call to help build His church. Timothy was one of the apostle Paul’s special assistants. 1 Timothy, one of three pastoral letters, is instructing Timothy how to lead and instruct the church in the city of Ephesus.

Aristotle †Essay 6 Essay

Born in the year of 384 B. C. Aristotle was seen as conventional for his time, for he regarded slavery as a natural course of nature and believed that certain people were born to be slaves due to the fact that their soul lacked the rational part that should rule in a human being; However in certain circumstances it is evident that Aristotle did not believe that all men who were slaves were meant to be slaves. In his book Politics, Aristotle begins with the Theory of The Household, and it is here that the majority of his views upon slavery are found. With the beginning of Chapter IV, Aristotle’s idea of slavery is clearly defined. â€Å"The instruments of the household form its stock of property : they are animate and inanimate : the slave is an animate instrument, intended (like all the instruments of the household) for action, and not for productions. † This distinction between action and production, is based upon the understanding that ‘production’ is a course in which a result is desired beyond the immediate act of doing. Where as, the simple act of completing a task is identified as ‘action’. Aristotle, who believed that life was action and not production theorized that slaves were instruments of life and were therefore needed to form a complete household. In fact Aristotle went as far as to say that a slave was comparable to a tame animal, with their only divergence in the fact that a slave could apprehend reason. For he concluded that a slave and animals only use was to supply their owners with bodily help. At the end of the Theories of the Household, Aristotle explains how slaves are different from andy other types of people, in the sense that they are the only class who are born into their occupation and become property of their masters. In examining this relationship we find that he thought that while masters were the masters of the slaves, they still held a life other than that of being master; However, Aristotle believed that not only was the slave a slave to his master, but the slave had no other life or purpose than belonging. From this consideration we begin to understand Aristotle’s views on the relationship between Master and Slave. At the beginning of Chapter V of the Theory of the Household, the distinct role of master and slave is defined. There is a principle of rule and subordin- action in nature at large : it appears especially in the realm of animate creation. By virtue of that principle, the soul rules the body; and by virtue of it the master, who possesses the rational faculty of the soul, rules the slave, who possesses only bodily powers and the faculty of understanding the directions given by another’s reason. It was Aristotle’s views on the human soul that gave grounds to his arguments for slavery. It was his beliefs that the soul was divided into two parts, being the rational faculty and the capacity for obeying. Aristotle postulated that a freeman was innately born with the rational faculty while â€Å"A slave is entirely without the faculty of deliberation. † And with his views he felt as though it was necessary for there to be a natural ruling order, whereas, the body was ruled by the soul, and those with the natural rational faculty within their soul should rule others without. This relationship, Aristotle found to be an essential element in his idea of master and slave being two parts forming one common entity. It was his belief that a man’s body was the representation of his inner self and that it was nature’s intentions to distinguish between those who were born to be freemen and those born to be slaves. However, we see that Aristotle have somewhat reservations upon his beliefs that all slaves corresponded to his mold. With such quotes as â€Å"But with nature , though she intends, does not always succeed in achieving a clear distinction between men born to be masters and men born to be slaves. † we begin to see that Aristotle was not as conservative as believed. In fact, we start to understand the left-wing attitudes that Aristotle held. At the end of Chapter V of the Theories of the Household, Aristotle concludes â€Å"Thecontrary of nature’s intentions, however, often happens: there are some slaves who have the bodies of freemen-as there are others who have a freeman’s soul. â€Å" Aristotle in his Theories of the Household, allocates a full section (section 9 chapter VI), to the explanation of the relationship between a slave and a freeman who are not naturally meant to be as such. It was Aristotle’s view that although there are slaves who were born to be freemen and freemen who were born to be slaves, there could be a relationship in such cases where the two discerning parties would work in a community of interest and in a relationship of friendship. â€Å"The part and the whole, like the body and the soul, have an identical interest; and the slave is a part of the master, in the sense if being a living but separate part. † Aristotle had many slaves himself within his household, and during the course of his death and through the executing of his will we find insight into the character of Aristotle. He died in the year of 322 B. C. and with his death he requested that four of his slaves be emancipated. Also he asked that none of his house slaves be sold and that they all be given the opportunity of being set free at a due age if they so deserved. This act of generosity and goodwill gives light to the attitudes that Aristotle held. It is evident that he believed that these slaves had the capacity to be freemen with the rational faculty within themselves to make conscious, and reasonable decisions. Many scholars such as Professor Jaeger, author of Aristotleles, theorized that many of the views that Aristotle held upon the subject of slavery were developed through the close relationship that Aristotle had formed with an ex-slave. This man was Hermias. A man who had risen from the ranks of slave to a prince of considerable wealth, as well as father in law to Aristotle. On the general analysis of Aristotle we find that he was a man of great curiosity, wisdom and ideas. Although his views on slavery seemed to hold true to the times, he had many variations on the conservative norms and beliefs. He had believed that slavery was a just system where both master and slave were beneficial from this relationship. And with this he thought that by nature, certain people were born to be slaves, yet with these beliefs we find many exceptions, where Aristotle allocates areas to describe those who by chance became slaves but in his opinion were born to be free. And in such incidence where men born free were not fit to be masters Aristotle explained how it would be easier for the master to obtain a steward who was more adept at giving instructions to run the household and leave the master of the house to more prudent issues. We can only guess as to what made Aristotle believe that by the human soul one could delineate whether or not a man was meant to be a slave or a freeman. And with his arguments we find that it was just as difficult for him to make that distinction as well. â€Å"Though it is not as easy to see the beauty of the soul as it is to see that of the body. â€Å"

Funny Quotations About Paying Taxes

Like it or not, you have to pay your taxes. The trouble is that understanding taxation requires more than a genius mind. Even Albert Einstein admitted, The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. So, if its that time of year when youre drowning in reams of paperwork and trying to make sense of all the mumbo-jumbo, its time to take a break. Read these funny tax quotes over a cup of coffee and share a laugh with someone wholl appreciate the humor. If the caffeine doesnt work, these tax quotes will surely perk you up. Amusing Taxation Quotes Throughout History Mark TwainThe only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. Will RogersIt is a good thing that we do not get as much government as we pay for. James MadisonI cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents... Will RogersAlexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even. Robert A. HeinleinThere is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. Arthur GodfreyI am proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is I could be just as proud for half of the money. H. L. MenckenUnquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. Albert Einstein[on filing for tax returns] This is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher. John S. ColemanThe point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away. Herman WoukIncome tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today. Dr. Laurence J. PeterAmerica is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. Milton FriedmanCongress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay. John Maynard KeynesThe avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward. Winston ChurchillThere is no such thing as a good tax. Will RogersThe income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. Plato When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income. Albert EinsteinThe hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. Benjamin TuckerTo force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury. Will RogersThe difference between death and taxes is death doesnt get worse every time Congress meets. Ronald ReaganThe taxpayer: thats someone who works for the federal government, but doesnt have to take a civil service examination. Robert A. HeinleinBe wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss. Winston ChurchillWe contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. G. Gordon LiddyA liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. Barry GoldwaterThe income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. Calvin CoolidgeCollecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery. Dan BennettTheres nothing wrong with the younger generation that becoming taxpayers wont cure. Martin A. SullivanThere may be liberty and justice for all, but there are tax breaks only for some. Jewish ProverbTaxes grow without rain. Thomas Jefferson The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects forbids it in the dispensation of the public monies. Robert DoleThe principle involved here is time-honored and true: and that is its your money. Robert DoleThe purpose of a tax cut is to leave more money where it belongs: in the hands of the working men and working women who earned it in the first place.   Rob KnauerhaseIsnt it appropriate that the month of the tax begins with April Fools Day and ends with cries of May Day!? Roger JonesI guess I think of lotteries as a tax on the mathematically challenged. Jean-Baptiste ColbertThe art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing. Benjamin Franklin, ​Poor Richards Almanac​It would be a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their income.