Future perfect and future perfect continuous

Here are some exercises with future perfect and future perfect continuous tenses:

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs25.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs26.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs27.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs28.htm

American vs. British English

Here you can find a list of the main differences between American and British English. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Semicolon, colon and lists

In Sections  3.5 - 3.10 of the English Style Guide published by the Directorate-General for Translation, you can find the rules on the use of colon and semicolon with the appropriate hyperlinks for other relevant issues, such as lists.

You can hereby find more information on the use of colon and semicolon as well as providing lists as it is presented in the Interinstitutional Style Guide.

Here you can find a document on the use of semicolon and colon, including the use of the latter to introduce lists.  The first rule on the use of colon in this document is at odds with what is said in the Commission's "English Style Guide" and  the "Interinstitutional Style Guide".

Here you can find a quiz on the use of colon and semicolon with the key and explanations.  In the explanation for the answer to question 21, you can find the capitalization rule in sentences after colon.

PechaKucha

Here you can have access to PechaKucha, which is an online tool for flowing presentations.

Prezi

Here is the link for Prezi, an online tool for presentations.  You will have to create an account if you want to use it.

More tips on PowerPoint presentations

Here you can find list of do's and dont's for PowerPoint presentations.

The dont's for PowerPoint

Here you can find Don McMillan's standup on the dont's of a PowerPoint presentation.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

Here you can find Guy Kawasaki's recommendations on the length (10 slides), duration (20 minutes) and font size (30 points) in a PowerPoint presentation.

Here you can find a stream of his pitch. ('Bozo' means 'fool'.)

Lists of three and the rule of three: two speeches

Here you can find the first part of Steve Jobs's iPhone product launch speech.  
Here you can find Barack Obama's inauguration speech.
In both of them, please pay attention to the usage of the lists of three and the rule of 3s. Here is a stream where the rule of 3s is explained among other useful tips on making presentations.

Telephone for 25th of March 2014

Here you can have access to the BBC webpage on telephone conversations.

Listening summary

Here is the link for a presentation  by Hans Rosling on population growth. Please send me your summaries by Sunday evening.  The summary should be maximum one double-spaced page.

GLOBAL POPULATION GROWTH

Presentation by Hans Rosling in Cannes

Introduction

Hans Rosling presented how world population have been changing since 1960. He also made a prediction on how the progress will continue, if no action is taken to stop the growth in the poorest developing countries. He used colourful boxes to describe the population sizes and statistical data on progress. Each box represented one billion people.

Evolution

In 1960 there were two boxes for the developing world and one box for the industrialised western world. There was a big gap in levels of wealth between the West and the rest. While people’s goal in the western world was to get their own cars, people in developing countries dreamed of new sandals.

Since 1960 the gap between these two categories of countries has been reduced, and world population has more than doubled. If the growth continues at its current trend, the population will reach 9 billion by 2050.

Solution

According to Rosling the only way to stop this growth is by getting the poorest people out of poverty, giving them education and increasing their child survival rate. This will dramatically affect the number of children per woman.

The most developed poor countries have gotten closer to the western world when it comes to birth rate. However, we still have the 2 billion poor people, whose birth rate is almost six children per woman. If four of those children survive to adulthood, the population in the poorest countries will double from 2 to 4 billion in one generation.

Statistically, it is shown that birth rate is lower in the wealthiest and healthiest countries, where child survival rate is near 100%.  As such, Rosling describes child survival as the new green. Only by investing in improving the living conditions of the  poorest countries, the current trend can be stopped, and the rate of global population growth can be kept at a sustainable level.

Position of adverbs

Here are the main rules and exceptions on the position of adverbs in sentences:

First rule: if there is only one verb in the sentence, the adverb comes before the verb as in the following example: He usually comes to work on time.
Exception to the first rule: if the only verb in the sentence is 'to be', the adverb comes after the verb as in the following example:  He is usually on time.

Second rule: If there is more than one verb in the sentence, the adverb comes after the first verb as in the following example: He has already arrived at work.
First exception to the second rule: if the first verb in the sentence is an auxiliary verb with 'to', i.e., have to, need to, ought to and used to, the adverb comes before the first verb as in the following example: He usually has to start working by 9:30 AM.
Second exception to the second rule: if the first verb in the sentence is a contracted negation, the adverbs 'probably', 'possibly' and 'certainly' come before the first verb as in the following example: He probably won't come to work on time.

These being the main rules and exceptions, there is more to this topic.  You can find more information on this webpage, which also provides you with some exercises. 

Here is another document with exercises on the same topic.  You can find the key for the exercises here.

Climate change; support for renewables; nuclear fusion for 18th of March 2014

Here you can find a debate with extra articles from The Economist.  They are on climate change and our dependence on fossil fuels.

Here you can find a short piece on nuclear fusion from The New York Times.

Here you can find a TED talk on fusion energy.

Gerund vs. infinitive

Numerous exercises on gerund vs. infinitive along with their key are hereby made available for you to have access at your convenience.  You can also find the list of verbs used with gerund and/or infinitive here.
Here you can find more information and exercises on the same topic.

How to tackle obesity: Should there be regulation? Diet: organic food for 11th of March 2014

The New York Times on the topic.

The Guardian on the topic.