You're listening to Business English Pod, the business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello, and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin, and I'll be your host for today's lesson on collocations for emphasizing a point.
Speaking English well isn't just about speaking correctly.
It's about choosing words that make an impact and about influencing people's thoughts and feelings.
And if you study the habits of great speakers, you'll hear them use emphasis effectively.
A great speaker won't just say he recommends something.
Instead, he might say he strongly recommends something.
That word strongly triples the impact.
But how would you know that we say strongly recommend and not heavily recommend or deeply recommend?
Well, strongly recommend is the natural combination of words that native speakers use.
These natural combinations of words are called collocations.
A collocation is just two or more words that native speakers commonly use together, and you can learn collocations of emphasis to sound more natural and increase the impact of what you say.
In this lesson, we'll listen to the end of a presentation on the topic of leadership.
Maria is summarizing her main points.
During her presentation, she uses several collocations to emphasize her ideas.
Try to pick out these collocations, and we'll talk about them later in the debrief.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
1.
Maria asks her listeners to think of a person.
What type of person does she ask them to think about?
2.
What does Maria say about a great speech that isn't supported by action?
3.
What does Maria think about people's search for meaning in work?
Okay, we've covered a lot of big concepts here, and we've shared some great ideas.
But before we finish up, I just want to pull back to the three P's we've been talking about.
That's the three P's of leadership.
The first P was practice, as in practice what you preach.
And I strongly recommend that you lead with action, not just words.
I mean, it doesn't matter so much that people wholeheartedly agree with you if they can't see you demonstrating the principles you promote.
Just think of someone who you greatly admire.
Is it their words that inspire you or their actions?
A great speech is utterly useless if it's not backed up by real action, right?
Now, the second P was people, as in invest in people, not just products.
I firmly believe that great companies are not just great because of the things they make, but because of the people who make them and the people who use them.
If the people you lead and serve don't come first, they'll end up bitterly disappointed, and that disappointment will impact everything.
I became painfully aware of this fact when I was trying to get my first startup off the ground.
I didn't put people first, and I failed miserably.
And the third P is purpose.
As I've explained, that purpose isn't just to make money.
I fully appreciate that you can't run a business without thinking about profit, but what really motivates people is feeling that they're working towards something meaningful.
It's perfectly normal to seek meaning in work.
And if you can clearly acknowledge that human need for meaning and constantly demonstrate the purpose of what everyone's working toward, then you'll have their support and commitment.
Now let's go through the dialogue again and look at the language and collocations Maria used during her presentation.
As we join the presentation, Maria is starting her summary.
Okay, we've covered a lot of big concepts here, and we've shared some great ideas.
But before we finish up, I just want to pull back to the three Ps we've been talking about.
That's the three Ps of leadership.
In this part of her presentation, Maria is going to summarize her main ideas, what she calls the three P's of leadership.
That is, each of her main ideas or concepts is something that begins with the letter P.
Let's hear about the first P.
The first P was practice, as in practice, what you preach.
And I strongly recommend that you lead with action, not just words.
Maria's first suggestion about leadership is to practice what you preach.
This is a common English expression that basically means you should do what you say other people should do.
This is an important idea to Maria, so she adds emphasis to her suggestion by saying she strongly recommends that people lead with action.
Strongly recommend is a natural collocation for emphasizing a suggestion.
What are some other ways we can use this expression?
My financial advisor strongly recommends investing in bonds in these difficult times.
The marketing consultant strongly recommended that we update our branding.
Now let's hear Maria explain this idea of practicing what you preach a bit more.
I mean, it doesn't matter so much that people wholeheartedly agree with you if they can't see you demonstrating the principles you promote.
Maria's point about the importance of action focuses on the idea that it doesn't just matter if people agree with you, even if they wholeheartedly agree with you.
Rather, it's demonstrating the ideas you talk about.
If you're in a meeting and you want to say you agree with someone strongly, you can use that word wholeheartedly.
Let's run through some more examples of this collocation to wholeheartedly agree.
I was happy to hear that everyone wholeheartedly agrees with my plan.
Next, Maria wants her listeners to think of personal examples of good leaders.
Let's listen.
Maria could ask listeners to think of someone they simply admire.
But her idea will have even more impact if she asks them to think of someone they greatly admire.
That word greatly is a natural partner to the verb admire.
We don't say highly admire or strongly admire.
The usual collocation is greatly admire.
Let's practice this expression with some more examples.
Our next speaker is a well-known entrepreneur who is greatly admired in the tech community.
I greatly admire my mother for working so hard while raising a large family.
Now let's get back to Maria's explanation of the importance of action over words.
Is it their words that inspire you or their actions?
A great speech is utterly useless if it's not backed up by real action, right?
Maria is using another emphasis technique here, rhetorical questions.
These are questions that we don't expect an answer to or that have an obvious answer that can help us make a point.
When Maria asks whether it's words or actions that inspire people, the obvious answer is actions.
And for greater impact, she says that words that aren't supported by action are utterly useless.
In this case, utterly means completely.
The word useless is pretty strong to begin with, but utterly useless is even stronger.
What are some other ways we can use this collocation?
Let's try a couple more examples.
Our old fax machine has become utterly useless since we've gone digital.
Nick is a really great guy, but I'm afraid he's utterly useless as a salesperson.
Maria has explained the first P of leadership.
Now let's hear her explain the second P.
Now, the second P was people, as in, invest in people, not just products.
I firmly believe that great companies are not just great because of the things they make, but because of the people who make them and the people who use them.
As you can hear, Maria believes in the importance of people, not just products, in great companies.
Actually, she doesn't just believe this idea, as she says she firmly believes this idea.
This is a great example of stating a belief with conviction or confidence, and you can use this collocation whenever you need to show people a strong opinion.
Let's practice some more examples of this expression, to firmly believe.
I firmly believe this is the best option we have.
Maria has a warning about the consequences of not understanding the importance of people.
If the people you lead and serve don't come first, they'll end up bitterly disappointed, and that disappointment will impact everything.
What happens if a leader doesn't realize that people come first or have top priority?
Well, they'll be disappointed.
But just saying disappointed doesn't really convey how upset they'll be.
You can be disappointed about all sorts of small things, but Maria wants to emphasize that people will be extremely upset.
To do that, she uses the word bitterly with disappointed.
When people hear bitterly disappointed, they know you're talking about a deep feeling of disappointment.
Let's try using this expression with some more examples.
Diane seemed like the perfect fit for this role, but I've been bitterly disappointed in her performance so far.
When I found out I didn't get the job, I was bitterly disappointed.
One way to support your ideas is by sharing a personal experience, which is what Maria talks about next.
I became painfully aware of this fact when I was trying to get my first startup off the ground.
I didn't put people first, and I failed miserably.
Maria's experience is about when she was trying to launch her first company or get it off the ground.
At that time, Maria became painfully aware of the importance of people.
Being aware of something means you know it exists or you know it's true.
But life and business are full of very hard lessons, and when you learn through mistakes, you can say that you have become painfully aware of something.
Let's practice some more ways of using this collocation.
Yes, Frank, I'm painfully aware that my presentation was bad, so don't remind me.
Our customer service reps are painfully aware of all the recent problems with our products.
So what happened when Maria made this mistake?
Well, the result was failure.
Of course, you might say that you failed at something.
But if you're trying to show just how bad that failure was, you might say you failed miserably.
This collocation helps Maria emphasize just how important it is to put people first.
Let's try some more examples of the expression to fail miserably.
In fact, most successful entrepreneurs failed miserably in their first business.
Tanya was extremely upset when she found out she failed her exam miserably.
Maria has explained the first two Ps of leadership.
She's got one more to go.
And the third P is purpose.
As I've explained, that purpose isn't just to make money.
Maria is saying that the purpose of a business isn't just to make money.
That might come as a surprise to some people and she wants to make it clear that she's not saying money isn't important at all.
Let's hear how she does that.
I fully appreciate that you can't run a business without thinking about profit, but what really motivates people is feeling that they're working towards something meaningful.
In this case, to appreciate means to understand.
And if you want to emphasize your understanding, you can say you fully appreciate something.
In this case, Maria is introducing her point by saying she fully appreciates an opposing idea.
That's a great little technique for adding credibility to your statements.
What are some other ways we can use the expression to fully appreciate?
Let's try a couple of examples.
I fully appreciate how eager you are, but you just don't have the right experience for this job.
Management didn't fully appreciate how upset the workers were until they threatened to strike.
Remember, Maria's point is about people working towards something meaningful.
Let's hear how she emphasizes this idea.
It's perfectly normal to seek meaning in work.
The idea of seeking meaning in work might seem strange to people who are more focused on money and profit.
So Maria emphasizes that it's perfectly normal to seek meaning.
The word perfectly is a perfect match for the word normal.
You can use this expression when you want to tell someone to accept something or not to worry about it.
Let's run through some more examples of the collocation perfectly normal.
Don't worry, Seth.
It's perfectly normal to feel nervous before your first day of work.
Tech support assured me that it's perfectly normal for these laptops to take a few minutes to start up.
So if a leader accepts that seeking meaning at work is perfectly normal, then what's the next step?
And if you can clearly acknowledge that human need for meaning and constantly demonstrate the purpose of what everyone's working toward, then you'll have their support and commitment.
Maria suggests that leaders recognize people's need for meaning and purpose, but it's not enough to just casually acknowledge it.
As she says, leaders must clearly acknowledge that need for meaning.
Clearly acknowledging something means showing that you understand it with certainty.
How else can we use this collocation to clearly acknowledge?
Let's try a couple more examples.
Before criticizing someone it's a good idea to clearly acknowledge their strengths.
While I clearly acknowledge the risks of expansion, I think we should still go ahead.
So Maria has shown that by clearly acknowledging the purpose of work, a leader can have people support and commitment.
And, as you've heard, throughout her summary of the three P's of leadership, Maria has used some great collocations to emphasize her points.
Now it's your turn to practice some of the collocations we've looked at in this lesson.
In a moment, you'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence, including the missing word.
Remember a collocation is two or more words that we commonly use together, so pay close attention to the words before the beep.
For example, if you hear, I was bitterly when I found out I had been laid off.
You can say, After each response, we'll provide the correct answer.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
I don't think my manager fully… How hard I work.
Answer.
I don't think my manager fully appreciates how hard I work.
Yes, I wholeheartedly that we need a new website.
Answer.
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree that we need a new website.
Before we start, we'd like to clearly... The hard work of our support staff.
Answer.
Before we start, we'd like to clearly acknowledge the hard work of our support staff.
It's pretty clear that everyone greatly... The company founder.
Answer.
It's pretty clear that everyone greatly admires the company founder.
If you want a promotion, I would strongly that you do an MBA.
Answer.
If you want a promotion, I would strongly recommend that you do an MBA.
That's all for this lesson on collocations we use to emphasize our ideas.
We've learned several different expressions that will help you speak with greater impact and power.
And remember, these collocations don't just add power, they make you sound more natural.
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
