QUESTION

I would like to know when to use “surrounded with” and when to use “surrounded by”.

ANSWER

In essence “surrounded by” and “surrounded with” mean the same thing.

You just have to take note that if you mean to say that someone is surrounding something else, you always use “with”.

CORRECT: You might say “John surrounded his burger with french fries”.
WRONG: You wouldn’t say “…surrounded his burger by french fries.”

But you can use the prepositions interchangeably in this case:

CORRECT: John’s burger is surrounded with french fries.
CORRECT: John’s burger is surrounded by french fries.

Source: Edited from “English As It is Broken” on STOMP. Visit www.stomp.com.sg for more.

1. Start with an attention-getter

Before you deliver your speech, interest the audience with an attention getter: an anecdote, a joke or maybe even a video. First impressions count!

Open your speech with something the audience can relate to and they are likely to be with you for a while. The attention-getter also sets the stage and invites the audience to tune in.

2. Keep sentences short

Use words that are easy to understand and keep sentences concise. This will ensure that the audience can capture the essence of your message.

Avoid complex words and technical jargon. The last thing you want is to baffle the audience with your speech.

3. Use examples

The audience usually listens more when the speaker shares real life scenarios and experiences. Modify your examples accordingly to suit the audience.

An example can also come in the form of an appropriate visual aid. Showing an object, for example, can sometimes break the monotony and appear more convincing.

4. Inject humour

Most of us welcome a good laugh. If you are not a natural when it comes to comedy, try injecting subtle jokes in between the speech.

The jokes may or may not leave the audience in stitches but they may get their responses. The audience will appreciate your effort to engage them.

The next time you are asked to speak to a group of people, incorporate these four tips and you are on your way to winning the audience’s applause of appreciation at the end of the speech.

Source: Edited from the english@work e-newsletter by 938LIVE. Subscribe to the english@work newsletter.

Common English Mistakes In Public Signs

Fix That Sign, an online contest by STOMP and the Speak Good English Movement, has ended and we’ve got a huge collection of photos of public signs found in Singapore that contain broken English!

Check out the hundreds of public signs that come with reader-suggested corrections now!

Podcasts: 6 Perfect Punchy Podcasts For Professionals

We’ve got some great podcasts from the British Council that can help you to improve yourself for work.

Learn how to manage your time, deal with conflict, develop creativity, motivate yourself when working, improve your emotional intelligence and work effectively as a team.

Listen to Perfect Punchy Podcasts now!

Read Speak Good English Newsletter Issue #14.

In this very practical workshop, you will be introduced to a number of stories that are enhanced by the use of objects. These will include: string stories, drawing stories, paper folding or tearing stories and handkerchief stories. This workshop is suitable for anyone who wants to tell stories to young children.

Programme Schedule

• Saturday, 30 Jan 2010: 10am – 1pm
• Facilitator: Sheila Wee of Storywise
• Venue: Kembangan Plaza – just across the road from Kembangan MRT.

Fore more information, please click here.

Comprehension is the process of making meaning from a written text. Typically, children might have difficulty understanding due to limited vocabulary and/or a lack of familiarity with the subject matter. Both these constraints may be remedied by reading more widely and making friends with a good dictionary. Comprehension skills can also be acquired through practice, and here are some interactive reading strategies you can use to guide your child.

Thinking Aloud: Good readers think while they’re reading. They draw on their personal experience and knowledge, language skills and strategies in order to make sense of what they’re reading. By thinking aloud for your child as you read along with her (she should have a copy of the passage in front of her) you will be modelling those same reading strategies she should learn to use on her own. You’ll be coaching her to recognise what she doesn’t understand, identify the difficulty and where it occurs—this is also the mark of a proficient reader.

When she comes across a difficult spot you might suggest that she try to paraphrase the section in her own words; or if a particular word or idiom proves troublesome, encourage her to consult a dictionary. When appropriate, advise her to skip forward in the passage, or refer back, for information that might help her.

Asking & Answering Questions: Asking your child questions about the story or passage will help to focus his attention and intellectually engage with it. Questions could be as basic as who, what, where, when, why and how. What is the passage about? Where are these events happening? Why are they happening? Who are the people involved? And so on. You may also want to ask open-ended questions, which require your child to express his personal opinion and draw on his own experiences.

A final tip, with assessment tests and exams in mind. By reading with your child and following the strategies outlined above, you’ll be able to identify the types of comprehension passages that challenge him. You can then make a special effort to practise with similar texts and topics.

© 2008 Elly Sim

• Even before children acquire reading skills, they can be encouraged to love books and the stories they contain, and to want to read. Environment plays a big role. Children who are raised in a household where books are plentiful and reading is the norm typically learn to appreciate and respect both.
• Libraries are a priceless resource. But also, whenever possible take your kid shopping at a good bookstore and make her a present of storybooks and children’s magazines. Educational studies in the UK and US have reiterated the importance of buying books for children, not just borrowing them. This practice allows them to think of books as permanent resources in the home, and to form lasting relationships with them over the years.
• Limit your kid’s dependence on TV or video games for entertainment. Don’t let them do the babysitter’s job. Reading for fun and pleasure carries the added benefits of exercising your child’s intellect as well as developing his vocabulary and language skills.
• Lastly and perhaps most importantly, read to your child and with your child. What kinds of stories does she like to hear? Look at the words and illustrations together, and make the act of reading (at bedtime or any other time) an enjoyable and interactive experience. Set aside 30 minutes each day, more if possible, to bond with your child through the magic of stories; by demonstrating your interest in reading to her you’ll also be setting an excellent example.

© 2008 Elly Sim

4 years is the perfect age for children to learn reading skills. This is when their attention span lengthens, and they become better suited to group learning. You could enroll your kid in a good Phonics programme or maybe teach her yourself. At this age a child’s cognitive development is also nicely suited to grasping the concepts of Phonics. Remember, starting to talk and make sounds is part of the brain’s natural function; reading is an acquired skill.

Why is Phonics a necessary component in your child’s development? First of all, this is a system that encourages children to read independently as well as comprehend what they read, and Phonics achieves this by teaching them how to decode (read and pronounce) and encode (spell) phonetic sounds. By Primary 1 your child will be well-equipped to handle the curriculum.

Secondly, you will see a vast improvement in your child’s spelling, thanks to Phonics’ emphasis on the individual “building-blocks” of a word.

A third important reason is that Phonics also teaches correct, more precise pronunciation by focusing on the way letters and letter groups sound. Too often foreigners are unable to understand the way English is spoken by Singaporeans because of shoddy pronunciation. “Six” becomes “sick,” “three” turns into “tree,” and “film” is either “fillem” or “flim.” Phonics achieves an all-round improvement in English fluency.

© 2008 Elly Sim

Because while it may be one of the oldest clichés, practice really does make perfect. The more your child familiarizes herself with the different components of Phonics, the faster her reading and spelling skills will improve. And as I mentioned last month, this is a method that encourages both independent reading and comprehension. Phonics is uncommonly well-suited to interactive styles of learning. Since the emphasis is on the way words sound, with a little bit of thought parents can make a fun game of Phonics practice and at the same time reinforce what their kids have just been taught.

The refrigerator game

Buy packets of refrigerator magnets of all the letters of the alphabet. They’re not expensive and the more colourful the better. There’s no need to display the entire alphabet; simply focus on those letters your child is currently learning. Every time he comes into the kitchen scrounging for food, call out a letter sound and have him pick it out on the fridge. Or arrange the magnets into words or sound groups and get your kids to pronounce those.

Car and shopping games

Play impromptu games while driving your children around, or riding with them on the bus or MRT. See who can call out the greatest number of street names or traffic signs. A “STOP” sign, for example, can be used to reinforce the consonant blend /st/ and word family /op/. Be careful not to crash the car. At the supermarket, tell them you need their help reading labels and signs (fish, rice, beef, corn etc.). Deliberately misread or mispronounce words yourself sometimes, to give your children the rare opportunity to correct Mummy and Daddy. You’ll be empowering them and giving them a sense of responsibility while at the same time fostering their alertness to language.

© 2008 Elly Sim

QUESTION

In a sentence, should the term that appears after the word “any” be plural or singular?

1) This card is not to be used with any discounts.
2) This card is not to be used with any discount.

ANSWER

Both sentences are correct. The word after “any” may be either singular or plural depending on the context.

Source: Edited from “English As It is Broken” on STOMP. Visit www.stomp.com.sg for more.

In this workshop you will learn some easy-to-tell participation stories and discover how you can add participation to almost any story. This workshop is suitable for anyone who wants to tell stories to young children.

Programme Schedule

• Saturday, 30 Jan 2010: 2.30 – 5.30 pm
• Facilitator: Sheila Wee of Storywise
• Venue: Kembangan Plaza – just across the road from Kembangan MRT.

Fore more information, please click here.