studying collocation

For self study I got some useful collocations from one article whose link is following.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/31/globaleconomy-japan

verb + noun


to prop up(support, maintain) the ailing stockmarket





to drag the global economy out of the quagmire





to be split straight(right) down the middle





others


a 25 basis-point=0.025=2.5%
capital eroded by the record falls







meaning of special word which are connected to my subject area


central bank=bank of government

Self-study

What I’ve done this week for my self-study
As I said on my first tutorial, I want really to focus on my listening because this area is the most difficult for me. So I need to get used to it.

1. Watched 24 season 5
2. Listened CD from Longman textbook for TOEFL
3. Done about half of the all exercises from textbook for TOEIC
4. Visited Guardian online and read some article which were related to my subject Business


In fact 2 and 3 are helpful for the test but hopefully they are also going to be practical for my overall English.


My plan of self study next week
1. Keep Watching 24 season 6 because luckily I could borrow it from my friend
2. Visit BBC and see I-player about mu subject
3. Keep doing my exercises from textbook for TOEIC

Studying Collocations

the company SONY which is suffering from global financial crisis

Today we focused on collocations which were connected to our own subject. At the same time we need to be sensitive to academic writing which means they have academic vocabulary and collocations.

For Steve homework, I have read the following article from Guardian and used Gapmaker.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/29/economy-japan-sony-toshiba-electrical

Verb + noun collocations
to batter(break) sales of something
to reveal(announce) profits
to slash(cut, plow) profit forecasts
to make similar moves
to be factored in something = They should be factored into the supplementary budget, if there are measures that must be taken quickly to help the economy.

Adjective + noun collocations
the chronic(long-term) slump
mounting concern
global financial crisis
major exporters

Other type of collocations
the victim of the plunge(rapid recession)
in demand for something = many people demand something

mainstay of the recovery

benchmark index

Self-study

This month, in my self-study section, I want to really focus on listening because it is my weakness. So in order to improve my listening ability, I need to watch TV programmes, DVD or films stuff like that.

At the same time I need to study for TOEIC which is a kind of TEST to measure my English ability and similar to ILETS.

So I watched 24 season 5, one of famous American TV series. In the series, they often use some phrases in the followings.

1. Everything is going to be ok.


2. Copy that.


3. I'll be right back.

Sigh

This blog is one of my important space to grumble.

Yesterday one of my host family has come to my house to stay. She is my host mother's sister's granddaughter. She lives in Liverpool but she loves London, so when she has holiday she usually comes to my house.

I can explain her personality with only one word; restless. She is 17 or so. First of all, I need to mention that I like her. But sometimes I can't stand her behaviors.

She always watches TV. I can understand that she wants to watch TV because it is boring when she is at home. But I cannot understand why she watches it with maximum volume in front of me in living room, for I need to be there to use Internet. It is really noisy.

She is always moving around in my house. I do not really know why she moves around so much.

She is always speaking about something.

Last night, when I was using Internet in living room, she told me that she wanted to sleep now because she needed to wake up early this morning. So I said to her 'yes of course, have a good night.' After that I went to my bed for her and tried to sleep, although I was hearing noise from downstairs. It was sound receiving message of her mobile phone... There was no need to say that I could not sleep until she stopped sending text.

Besides, I have heard one thing which makes me so depressed. That is she will stay here for 8 other days.

I must be crazy.......

My secret life

My secret life

From yesterday we looked on one article which is called ‘My secret life.’ My article is about one of famous comedians, Ed Byrne.

I like his answer towards this question; My greatest regret… is that I have no regrets. Wait – that is one regret. Fantastic! But hang on – I think that has cancelled itself out now. So now I have no regrets now.And then now it is my turn.


The home I grew up in… has been detached house, which is in Chofu-city, Tokyo. All names of Japanese towns have meanings. In regard to my town, it means the department of tax. In other words, in the past, 400 years ago, people living around my town needed to come to my town to pay their tax which was imposed on their rice harvest.

When I was a child I wanted to be… a kind of insect because, at that time, I really did not like insects, especially ants. Therefore the clever boy thought that it was the best way I myself became it. Actually I do not remember this story but my mother often tells me it and makes me laugh a lot.

The moment that changed me for ever… was the period when I was the captain of my baseball team. I needed to manage my team so that the team worked well. In order to do so, I had especially cared about the relationship to my team mates. After that I think I began to think more about others.

My greatest inspiration… is the last match of every season in my sport lacrosse. However it brought to my attention to my lack of my ability for getting the championship which is the title of the number 1.
If I could change one thing about myself… I would like to care less about everything. Perhaps this is because I am Japanese, who care about many things more than other nationalities, anyway I am always worried about something, such as relationship with my friends, my future, my favorite woman. I understand well that if I care about them, there will be no changes about them, but I am worried about it.

What I see when I look in the mirror… is my hair style because I have natural curly hair. If I do nothing for my hair after I wake up and before I go out, you must see me as someone strange and never want to walk with me.

My style icon… I do not have it. If I had to say, I would say my style icon is Hideki Matsui who is major league baseball player. He has quite nice personality as well as good playing.

The person who really makes me laugh… is my team mates. We are usually laughing at the stories about women, which must be dirty.

A book that changed me… is ’Leverage Reading’ which is written by one of Japanese CEOs. This book recommends the readers to read as many books as they can because books, especially Business books, include know-how to be successful which is tried by the writers. So this book concludes that reading a lot of books is going to makes it easy to be successful in the future.

My favorite work of art… I am really not interested in art yet.

My favorite item of clothing… is absolutely DENIM and cool t-shirt. When I go to party, they are necessary for me to be confident.

It is not fashionable but I like... the knitted caps. When I put them on, I seem to be younger like kids, but in winter it makes me warm.

You would not know it but I am good at… playing lacrosse and baseball. I have played baseball for about 10 years and lacrosse for 2 and half years.

You may not know it but I am no good at… controlling my mind. I always care about other people such as my friends, family and team mates. So my mind never relaxes.

All my money goes on… food. I love eating because I want to be bigger for my sport.

If I have time to myself… I want to go back to Japan to see my friends, family.

My house is… semidetached and Victorian taste house. I am living with host family and the house has many kinds of antiques.

My most valuable possession is … my dog which is called Willy but he loves my mother the most, not me. He is Dachshund.

My favorite building is… a kind of modern building. In Tokyo there are a lot of skyscrapers. In my opinion they are symbol of high technology of architecture.

Movie heaven… is ‘American gangster.’ This movie is really cool and throws me into life of American gang. I saw this movie the day when it was just released in Japan and then I am huge fan of it.

In 10 years’ time, I hope to… get married but I cannot get married by myself. In order to get married, I need my best partner. So it is necessary to seek her.

My greatest regret… so far I do not have such a big regret.

My life in seven words… I am always succeeding at the end.


I really want any kinds of feedback to this writing because this is about for me so there are many times to speak it.

13/Oct/08 self-study

From ‘guardian’, I have read some articles.
I put the links below.

One is about Obama’s new proposal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/13/uselections2008-barackobama-economy-speech

To lay sth out=to explain sth clearly, usually in writing
To embark on sth=to start sth new or important
To dip into sth=to spend part of a supply of money that you have been keeping
A battery of=a member of

One is about UK’s bail-out for banking sectors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/13/marketturmoil-creditcrunch

to pump sth up=to fill sth with air using a pump
to step down=to leave an important job
contractual entitlement=a right written in a contract

12/Oct/08 Weekend self-study

Yesterday I went to Swansea, which is in Wales, to have a lacrosse match. It was a bloody long journey. It took three hours by train from London Paddington. Anyway I am happy that we won the match by a score of 27 goals to 2.


For weekend self-study I have read a book about Japan, of course which is written in English. The title is ‘Japan FAQ.’ There were two reasons I have read it.

First, my father recommended it to me before I came here. He told me that you have to know about Japan and you would be heard about Japan by your friends and Japan. Actually, in class or when I talked to my friends who are not Japanese, they often asked me about Japan. In my opinion, foreigners, who mean that they are not Japanese, are more interested in foreign countries than Japanese.


Second, I have written description about Oxford, using the form FAQ so it could be useful to review my writing, I think. While I was reading it, I realized one thing, which is that the most important thing is to answer the questions properly. As Steve said to us in our class about topic sentences, the answers are quite economical; they do not have more words than they are necessary. In addition, the sentences which have other information are completely connected to the main answers. They support the answers.

I put the link of AMAZON below, although if you are interested in this book and Japan please let me know. I will lend it to you. Even for me who am Japanese, this book is interesting so I recommend it to you.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3FAQ-%E6%B4%8B%E8%B2%A9%E3%83%A9%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BALEVEL4-%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%83%93%E3%83%83%E3%83%89-%E3%82%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3/dp/4896840348/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223842508&sr=8-2

And this book has some useful collocations.

To slow someone down=to become slower or to make someone become slower

To stick out=to be very easy to notice
She was embarrassed because her flower stuck out in the grave.

To be topped with sth=to be covered with sth
Japanese sushi is topped with a small raw fish.

To specialize in sth=to spend most of your time studying one particular subject or doing one type of business

All-you-can-drink option=it is a kind of buffet for drink. If you pay some money for this, you can drink all kinds of drinks which the restaurant serves repeatedly how many times you want.

Good sentence because I can use in other situation.
-Tofu is low in fat and high in protein.
- (about National Holiday) It falls on February on 3 or 4.


To pass down from one generation to the next

10/Oct/08 for self-study

This news is ranked as 1st in Japan today and I thought I was interested in this article. The reason I was interested in this article was that I could find sexual problem universal.

Have a look if you are men.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7657092.stm

9/Oct/08 self-study

For today’s homework and self-study I visited to TED.COM which has many range of presentation VIDEO and thought about what the good presentations are. I liked this presentation (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/allison_hunt_gets_a_new_hip.html) which is made by Allison Hunt on the site. And I made notes about that.

a) What makes this talk funny?
The impressive thing is that she appeared on crutches. I am not sure it was really necessary for her to walk but it was absolutely successful to catch attentions of audiences.

b) Focus on their body language: what do they do with their eyes, hands, do they move around or stay still, facial expressions.
She used eye-contacts many times and they are turned to everyone, not to particular someone.
c) What kind of rapport do they have with the audience (if it's good, how do they create that rapport).
It was like that they are friends. She spoke alone but she confirmed if the audiences understood what she said.
d) Choose one thing they do that you like and would like to emulate (copy), and one thing that you don't think is that good.
I chose her repetition. She used it to make new information in her talk clear. It is similar to the phrase ‘in other words’.
e) How do they start the presentation; how do they get the audience's attention?

Her smiling face caught the audience. The first impression is quite important.

my final draft

FAQ; of the beginners, by the beginners, for the beginners


1.　How to get there? What you need to do is quite simple. First, you should go to Paddington underground station which is on four tube lines; Hammersmith&City, Bakerloo, Circle, District. Next, after you buy the tickets, you should search the train which is going there. Do not forget to bring your student identification card so that you can make a discount. There are five trains every hour from 5:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.


2. Where to meet my friends at Paddington? The ticket counter in the Paddington overground station is one of the good places to meet. Avoid choosing the Paddington underground station because you cannot get contact with your friends with phones there.


3. How long does it take to get there? It depends on the train which you get on, although it takes about between one hour and a half and two hours. This enables you to have a trip to Oxford, even if you are given a lot of weekend-homework by your teacher. One of my suggestions is that you should bring something interesting such as a book and music.


4. What is the trip of Oxford like?It will be a long journey, which means walking a lot. It is better to put trainers on than to do boots on.


5. Is there any recommendations?
There are two recommendations for your trip. First, it should be evitable to go there on rainy days and in winter. If you do not follow that, your trip should be though. Next, you decide clearly what you want to do there in advance. It is expected that many university students do not decide it but if you want to make your trip more fun, you should do it.

I hope your trip will be brilliant, following my suggestions. (309 words)

self-study; what I have done

From an article of the Observer I could find some collocations.
They put my cash in an A-rated firm. Turns out it was Lehman. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/oct/05/1


To go into=if an amount of time, money, or effort goes into a product or activity, it is used or spent creating that product or doing that activity.

Medium-term=medium-term outlook remains favorable.

To downgrade sth from A to B=to move someone or something from a more important position to a less important position.

From another article on the Observer there are also some useful collocations.
It’s not just the banks: Britain itself is looking sub-prime.
I could not find the link to see the article.

To be combined with sth=to become mixed or joined, or to mix or join things together.

To kick in=to start to be effective or to happen

From another article on Guardian ’Nearly one quarter of world's mammals face extinction, annual 'red list' reports’; the link is below. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/06/conservation.wildlife
I like this phrase; "As human beings, we should be ensuring that we don't cause other species to go extinct."
Vast numbers of sth

6/Oct/08

Today is my birthday but unfortunately I have completely got a cold. I do not know why because I wash my hands and gagle after I come back to my home. In my opinion I pay attention to my health more than others do. Anyway I heard the winter in England is quite cold so you should tale care your health because most of us have never experienced it.



From my homework which was given by Alex there were some useful phrases and sentences.

To make indirect questions you should use some kinds of rules.
May I ask you what causes volcano to erupt?
Can I ask you what the biggest volcano is?
May I ask you whether a lot of people live near Vesuvius?

Some good phrases
Topographical constraints

From the web page about topic sentences there are some collocations.

To get rid of sth=to throw sth away or give sth to someone because you do not want it now

Followings are from the web page, which are biography about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Topic sentences are in Italic and the sentences which were added on purpose for exercise are in bold.


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Probably the best loved of American poets the world over is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Many of his lines are as familiar to us as rhymes from Mother Goose or the words of nursery songs learned in early childhood. Thumbelina was written by Hans Christian Anderson. Like these rhymes and melodies, they remain in the memory and accompany us through life.

There are two reasons for the popularity and significance of Longfellow's poetry. First, he had the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote poetry as a bird sings, with natural grace and melody. Many song birds are found in Massachusetts. Read or heard once or twice, his rhyme and meters cling to the mind long after the sense may be forgotten. Second, Longfellow wrote on obvious themes which appeal to all kinds of people. His poems are easily understood; they sing their way into the consciousness of those who read them.

Americans owe a great debt to Longfellow because he was among the first of American writers to use native themes. Columbus called the Native Americans "Indians" because he thought he had landed in the Indies. He wrote about the American scene and landscape, the American Indian ('Song of Hiawatha'), and American history and tradition ('The Courtship of Miles Standish', 'Paul Revere's Ride', 'Evangeline').

At the beginning of the 19th century, America was a stumbling babe as far as a culture of its own was concerned. The people of America had spent their years and their energies in carving a habitation out of the wilderness and in fighting for independence. Wood carving was a common American pastime. Literature, art, and music came mainly from Europe and especially from England. Nothing was considered worthy of attention unless it came from Europe. But "the flowering of New England," as Van Wyck Brooks terms the period from 1815 to 1865, took place in Longfellow's day, and he made a great contribution to it.

I checked my writing which I have written so far and found two facts out. First, I have a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph, which means to give a general idea about what I want to tell to the readers. In my opinion, the readers can guess what are going to be in the paragraph from my topic sentence. It looks good. Secondly, however, the impression which is given to the readers by reading it is quite weak. So I need to get attentions of the readers but I do not know how to do it. It is my task from now on.

4/Oct/08 record of my self-study

For my self-study I read some articles from news papers.

From Evening Standard, ‘At 34 million pounds, it’s the most valuable Russian import.’ The link is below.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23563231-details/At+%C2%A334m%2C+it%27s+the+most+valuable+Russian+import/article.do

In excess of sth=more than a particular amount level or amount.
He earns in excess of 60000 pounds a year.

Masterpiece=’Mona Lisa’ is widely regarded as Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.

To be on a par with sth=to be the same as or equal to someone or something

Instantly recognizable=immediately able to be known

‘Can I still get a mortgage?’ I put the link of the article below.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23563234-details/Can+I+still+get+a+mortgage/article.do

Amid=while sth else is happening
Amid the global financial turmoil

In the space of a week=during a period of a week

Shun=He was shunned by colleagues.

To be obliged to do sth=to be forced to do sth

I need to show all of what I did this week but today I have a match of my sport 'lacrosse' so I need to go to now. After I will come back home from the match I will write again.

From today England lacrosse season is going to start until next June. It must be exciting and hot!! My team which is named 'Spencer' was the 3rd place the last season. Thus this season we want to get the championship and go to the Madrid tournament which only 1st team are able to join in the next June.

Rewriting;Adi people for self-study section

I would like to talk about the similarities and differences about having a fun between the Adi tribe and my tribe, the Japanese.
First of all I intend to tell you about the Adi tribe. According to Wikipedia, the Adi people have lived in 'the Himalayan hills of Arunachal Pradesh'. The weather is the sub-tropical weather. It basically means where are in latitude from twenty to thirty degrees north and south. It is completely different from Japanese weather.

The most different thing between the Adi and the Japanese is the attitude towards foods and having meals. Much of their life revolves around eating and drinking. They have to go to forest to hunt to survive with members of the tribe. Sometimes the hunting is successful, other times not. In other words they are always next to the risk of starvation. Thus when they eat a dinner, their faces look quite happy. It is really impressive to my eyes. In their life eating is the happiest thing.

Conversely, in Japan it is easy to get foods even if you do not have enough money to buy them. There is no need to hunt animals and collect berries to eat. This is the evidence of the development but that is why I am usually not grateful to every time I have a meal at heart. Of course having a meal makes me happy, but in addition to this, there are a lot of things to do in Japan. For example, going to theater to watch movies, going shopping to buy something and going karaoke to sing songs.

2/October/08

For my homework I read some article from Oxfordshire which is one of local newspapers there and made some notes. I will put it below.

World-famous circus returns
http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/3720345.World_famous_circus_returns/

One of the Russian biggest circuses will be opened in Oxford over this weekend. This circus group will return to Oxford for the first time in seven years. The group is known well in the world. This show has not only traditional and but also unique and novel performances so that it definitely excite everyone coming there to watch.

In my opinion, this show will stimulate the town because a lot of people will come to Oxford to see it. Actually Oxford has been already popular for one of the oldest universities for a long time, although if you are younger generation like university students and go there to just watch the university the trip will be something boring. That is why I think it will be a good opportunity to make travelers more delightful.

The reason I was interested in this article is circuses are completely not connected to my image of Oxford in my mind. This fact taught me that if I would like to write something to attract people, it is necessary to put new or original information in my writing.

summary about oxford cafes

For today's homework I wrote description about where to eat in Oxford.



I intend to explain about where to eat in Oxford in this section. There are plenty of places which we can eat in Oxford but if you want to eat meal with your family or friends without waiting, it is the wise way to make an appointment in advance. The reason for this is not only tourists but also people living in London go to Oxford, using their weekend so it is quite crowded all the year around especially during holidays such as summer and winter.


Anyway I would like to focus on places which serve good lunch because this guide for mainly day-trippers and university students, although I said at the beginning, there are many kinds of restaurants, cafes and pubs to have a meal. Where I would like to introduce you are two cafes. One is named ‘The Big Bang’ and another is named ‘Harvey’s Sandwich Bar’.


First, the former, which is The Big Bang, serves you many ranges of sausages so that you can have a lot of choices of hamburgers and sandwiches for your lunch. Savory smell of the absolutely makes you hungry when you are in front of it. In addition, this cafe is not so expensive. That is why students like me choose this cafe.


Next, the latter also supplies you many kinds of sandwiches. This bar has some kinds of bread such as sandwiches, pitas and baguettes. This bar starts to make a meal for you after you ordered so that you can eat something fresh to eat such as vegetables, meats and cheeses. Similar to the former, this cafe is also cheap. Thus it is popular among younger generation. (275 words)