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Issue #042 -- Week 22/02/15-28/02/15
March 03, 2015
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Greetings and General Information


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Month 7 ~ Lesson 26


We started studying three subjects back in September 2014: pronunciation and grammar for improving your communication skills, as well as website design and development, for applying your English in practice once you get skilful in English and website building. Once we covered the basics of pronunciation, we started a new course in reading.

In our reading course we started to work on some reading skills for the TOEFL exam, for those of you who are contemplating this in the future. This is particularly useful to my current students, who need to take this exam as part of their Level 5 course in Reading/Writing, this being the main reason for which I started this section.

Until I shall have the time to create my planned e-books from these courses, you can find our past lessons for free, as follows:

Pronunciation:
Issue 016 - The NAMES and SOUNDS of the Letters
Issue 017 - Short/Long Vowel Sounds & CVCs
Issue 019 - CCVCs and CVCCs
Issue 020 - Digraphs and Silent Letters
Issue 021 - Sight Words (or Dolch Words)
Issue 022 - Long Vowel Sounds
Issue 023 - The R-Controlled Vowel Sounds
Issue 024 - Vowel and Consonant Contrasts

Reading:
Issue 025 - An Introduction
Issue 026 - The Basic "Ingredients" of a Reading Programme
Issue 027 - Word Recognition
Issue 028 - Understanding Meaning in Context [1]
Issue 029 - Understanding Meaning in Context [2]
Issue 030 - Understanding Meaning in Context [3]
Issue 031 - Enlarging Your Vocabulary (Beginner)
Issue 032 - Vocabulary Games Online
Issue 033 - Traditional Vocabulary Games
Issue 034 - Understanding Vocabulary from Context [TOEFL Skill 1]
Issue 035 - Recognizing Referents [TOEFL Skill 2]
Issue 036 - Simplifying Meanings in Sentences [TOEFL Skill 3]
Issue 037 - Inserting Sentences into the Passage [TOEFL Skill 4]
Issue 038 - Finding Factual Information [TOEFL Skill 5]
Issue 039 - Understanding Negative Facts [TOEFL Skill 6]
Issue 040 - Making Inferences from Stated Facts [TOEFL Skill 7]
Issue 041 - Inferring Rhetorical Purpose[TOEFL Skill 7]

Communicative Grammar:
Issue 016 - CAUSE and EFFECT
Issue 017 - Comparison of Adjectives
Issue 019 - Comparison of Adverbs
Issue 020 - Special Cases of Comparison
Issue 021 - Comparison Clauses vs. Comparison Phrases
Issue 022 - Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Meaning
Issue 023 - Expressions of Frequency
Issue 024 - Using Grammar for Speaking/Writing
Issue 025 - Linking Signals and their Functions [1]
Issue 026 - Linking Signals and their Functions [2]
Issue 027 - Linking Signals and their Functions [3]
Issue 028 - Linking Sentences [1] (Types of linking)
Issue 029 - Linking Sentences [2] (Time, cause/reason/result)
Issue 030 - Linking Sentences [3] (Conditions)
Issue 031 - Linking Sentences [4] (Additions)
Issue 032 - Relative Clauses
Issue 033 - Grammar with Fun!
Issue 034 - Participle and Verbless Clauses
Issue 035 - Cross-Reference and Omission
Issue 036 - Presenting and Focusing Information
Issue 037 - Pieces of Information
Issue 038 - Dividing Messages into Tone Units
Issue 039 - Expressing Moods, Emotions and Attitude
Issue 040 - Stress on Emotions in Communication
Issue 041 - Emphatic ‘So’ and ‘Such’

Website Design and Building:
Issue 016 - The Basic Concepts
Issue 017 - Content vs. Monetize
Issue 019 - PREselling vs. Selling
Issue 020 - Developing a Site Concept
Issue 021 - Choosing Your Site Concept
Issue 022 - Choosing Your Niche
Issue 023 - Real Supply and Value Demand
Issue 024 - The Filter Tool - Phase 1
Issue 025 - The Filter Tool - Phase 2
Issue 026 - The "Depth" of a Website
Issue 027 - Evaluate 7 factors for each Site Concept
Issue 028 - Profitability vs. Monetization
Issue 029 - The Site Content Blueprint
Issue 030 - Lateral Brainstorm
Issue 031 - Designing your Site Content Blueprint
Issue 032 - Checking Profitability with Pre-Set Tasks
Issue 033 - Finish your Site Content Blueprint
Issue 034 - Investigate and Plan Monetization Options
Issue 035 - Monetizating with AdSense
Issue 036 - What Exactly Is AdSense?
Issue 037 - The Most Wanted Response (MWR)
Issue 038 - Credit Card and Payment Processing
Issue 039 - Monetizing Forum Topics in SBI
Issue 040 - Finalizing Your Monetization Mix
Issue 041 - Before Registering a Domain Name


Reading ~ Selecting Summary Information


Reading Skills for TOEFL [9]

This lesson concerns reading skills to learn and so will our next lesson, which will conclude our series of reading skills for TOEFL.

As part of the reading section in this exam you may have to complete a summary chart in which you need to determine the major supporting ideas of the overall topic, which is given in the reading passage. This kind of question is worth 2 points, but it is also more complex than others, as it has 3 correct answers. Usually the points are allocated as follows: 2 points for 3 correct answers, 1 point for 2 correct answers and 0 points for 1 or 0 correct answers.

You need to have the skill we looked at in our last lesson to complete this kind of questions successfully. You must be able to recognise the rhetorical pattern of information in the passage (i.e. compare and contrast, cause and effect, argument supported by reasons), including the major ideas and the critical supporting information.

Let’s look at an example of a question on selecting summary information.

The Great Compromise

“At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, numerous plans for the structure of the legislative branch of government were proposed and debated extensively. There was a great amount of disagreement over how the legislature should be structured, with the greatest amount of discord arising between the smaller states and the larger states. The smaller and less populous states wanted all states to be represented equally in the legislature, while the larger and more populous states favoured representation according to population. The final decision reached at the convention, which has come to be known as the Great Compromise, was to create a bicameral legislature with a Senate and a House of Representatives: each state was given two senators so that the Senate would reflect the will of each state equally, and seats were to be apportioned to the House of Representatives according to population so that larger states would have a stronger voice in the House.”

The question will be formulated more or less like the following, and you may even find it on a separate page. Even so, you will have access to the reading passage for you to extract the necessary information; however I recommend you supply the answers as soon as you can.

Question:

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage.

This question is worth 2 points (2 points 2 points for 3 correct answers, 1 point for 2 correct, and 0 points for 1 or 0 correct answers).

Here comes the question:

This passage discusses how the legislative branch of the U.S. government came to be organized.



Answer Choices (choose 3 to complete the chart):

A compromise was reached that gave some advantages to both smaller and larger states.
• Many different plans were submitted at the Constitutional Convention.
States with smaller populations preferred that each state be given equal representation.
• The New Jersey Plan was a plan submitted to advance the rights of smaller states.
• The number of representatives in the House of Representatives would be the same for each state.
States with larger populations wanted representation to be based on population.

The above three correct answers summarize the major points of the passage. The passage states that there was a great amount of disagreement, that the disagreement was that The smaller and less populous states wanted all states to be represented equally in the legislature, while the larger and more populous states favoured representation according to population and that the final decision … was … the Great Compromise, in which the Senate would reflect the will of each state equally and larger states would have a stronger voice in the House.

From this, it can be determined that the most important factors in the passage are that states with smaller populations preferred that each state be given equal representation, that states with larger populations wanted representation to be based on population , and that a compromise was reached that gave some advantages to both smaller and larger states.

The remaining answer choices are not part of the solution for a variety of reasons. The statement that many different plans were submitted at the Constitutional Convention is mentioned in the passage but is not a major factor in support of the topic. The statement that the New Jersey Plan was a plan submitted to advance the rights of smaller states is not discussed in the passage. The statement that the number of representatives in the House of Representatives would be the same for each state is not true according to the passage, which states that seats were to be apportioned to the House of Representatives according to population so that larger states would have a stronger voice in the House.

How to succeed with questions about summary information?

1) How to identify the question: a summary information chart is given.

2) Where to find the answer: Because the answer demonstrates an understanding of the major points and critical supporting information, the information needed to answer the question is found throughout the passage.

3) How to answer the question:
i) Read the topic stated in the summary chart carefully;
ii) Read the passage, focusing on the main ideas as they relate to the topic stated in the summary chart;
iii) Read each answer choice, evaluating whether it is true information according to the passage, false information according to the passage, or not discussed in the passage;
iv) Eliminate the answers that are false or not discussed;
v) For each statement that true according to the passage, evaluate whether it is a major factor related to the topic or is a minor detail;
vi) Select the answers that are true and are major factors as your responses;
vii) Partial credit is possible, and your answers may be in any order.

4) How to score the response: a summary question has 3 correct answers and is worth 2 points. i) You get 2 points for 3 correct answers, 1 point for 2 correct answers and 0 points for 1 or 0 correct answers;
ii) You get 1 point for 2 correct answers;
iii) You get 0 points for 1 or 0 correct answers;

The answers may be in any order in the chart to be correct.


Grammar ~ Emphasising Emotions in Speech


OK, we’ve covered emphasis with ‘such’ and ‘so’ last time, but we shouldn’t overlook other ways of emphasising emotions in speech. Another couple of methods are as follows:

Repetition

This also expresses the degree of extremely.
Let’s consider some examples:

“It’s far, far too expensive.”
“I believe every word she said - every single word.”
“It’s very very awkward.”
“You naughty, naughty boy!”

Stress on the operator

“That wìll be nice!”
“What you wànt?”
“We hàve enjoyed ourselves!”

Let me tell you what an ‘operator’ is. When we have to conjugate verbs, we have to use an auxiliary verb (sometimes called a ‘helping’ verb), to formulate verb tenses like present perfect (have done) or present perfect continuous (have been doing), present continuous (they were asking), future tense simple (they will ask). The two verbs together are called a verb phrase. It’s not just a verb – it’s more than that, so – a verb phrase.

Sometimes we need to split the auxiliary verb from the main verb of the verb phrase, like:

Wìll they ask many questions?”
Hàve they asked many questions?”
Wòuld he have been asked many questions?”

Because the first auxiliary controls the tenses in the sentence, we call this first auxiliary of a verb phrase the OPERATOR. Sometimes the verbs ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ act like operators even when they are main verbs, not just helpers, as in:

Ìs she a good student?”
Hàve you any money?”

Sometimes the verb ‘do’ can be used as a dummy auxiliary to express emphasis, as in:

“You look pretty.”
“You dìd give me a fright.”
be quiet!”
come if you can!”

Well, this operator takes the stress in the sentence sometimes and when it does, it is one of the ways of expressing emotion. Just test it for yourselves: read the underlined words with stress and see what the meaning of your sentence becomes.

And last, but not least, sometimes the nuclear stress falls on other words for the same purpose of expressing emotion:

“I wìsh you’d lĭsten!”
“I’m tèrribly sorry!”


Website Design ~ Preparing Domain Registration


Before registering, you need to make a few final checks on the concept and the name of your website. Make sure your domain name is:

• short and sharp, not formulaic -- keep it to as few words as possible
• meaningful -- conveys a clear message
• easy to spell
• easy to remember
• unique, descriptive, and "you"
• creative, but not hockey
• contains your VPP for human visitors
• contains your Site Concept keyword for spider visitors, ideally the first word
• attractive and appealing to humans (for example "anguilla-beaches.com" - "anguilla" is there for the engines and "beaches" is there for humans). Instead of generic marketing terms, identify words with pizazz that position your business in a sharp, original, relevant and unique way.
• and it ends in the classy ".com," ".net" or ".org" (by far, the best regarded by surfers).

Note... Not having your Site Concept keyword in your domain may lose you a point or two in the Search Engines' algorithm. However, like every factor in the algorithm, no single one is an "absolute must." Ideally, this sacrifice should be one of necessity after exhausting all "with-keyword + marketing angle" domain name possibilities.

Make Sure It's Legal

It is a devastating, cataclysmic and stupid shame to build up a thriving site and then receive a "cease and desist" letter to stop using a third party's trademark. So before you "name that domain," dot your i's and cross your t's...

Using the SBI system, you can use the Site Legalities category (shown below) and then pick the Trademark Check Search Type that is right for your country. Eliminate any legal problems before they happen!

When you’re good to go, you can prepare to register your domain name. Now it's time for the moment of truth... We shall look into the mechanics of registering a domain name in our next lesson.


This Is It, Folks!


I hope you find this information useful and not too confusing. Even though you're in the stage of building on it, have patience at this point in your learning and you'll be able to reap the fruit of your work later on, whichever aspect of our lessons you are concentrating on.

Please feel free to comment and suggest your ideas by replying to this email - I look forward to hearing from you. If you wish to chat either with me or with other members worldwide, go to My English Club .

Enjoy your holidays and your time with your families!
My best wishes,

Lucia da Vinci

Founder of My English Club


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