The Word Your Brain Fears Most
Grammar: Combining hedged and reframed clauses fluently using connectors
A Business English English lesson exploring business.
What's in this lesson
A Business English ESL lesson on business, practising combining hedged and reframed clauses fluently using connectors. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: The Word Your Brain Fears Most
Picture a quiet psychology lab at Case Western Reserve University in the late 1990s: fluorescent light, a hum of computers, a participant seated before a screen. Roy Baumeister and his colleagues were feeding people a stream of information — some of it warm, some of it wounding — and watching, with something close to reverence, how unevenly the mind weighed the two. The praise barely registered. The criticism lodged like a splinter, throbbing long after the session ended. Baumeister would later write a paper whose title became a kind of motto for an entire field: Bad Is Stronger Than Good.
Vocabulary
- dressed up
- fired off
- lodged
- woke up
Grammar
- although + contrast
- Although the news was disappointing, the team stayed focused. — concede, then pivot
- while + softened fact
- While the results fell short, the approach itself was sound. — balance two truths at once
Discussion questions
- Imagine losing all negative words for a day — what would change?
- What would happen if your brain treated praise and criticism equally?
- Imagine your manager could never say the word 'no' — then what?
The Word Your Brain Fears Most
Grammar: Combining hedged and reframed clauses fluently using connectors
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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