Why Experts Explain Badly
Grammar: Participle clauses and reduced relative clauses in professional explanation
A Business English English lesson exploring business.
What's in this lesson
A Business English ESL lesson on business, practising participle clauses and reduced relative clauses in professional explanation. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: Why Experts Explain Badly
In 1990, a Stanford graduate student named Elizabeth Newton ran a simple experiment. She asked one group to tap the rhythm of a famous song, such as "Happy Birthday", on a table. A second group, listening to the taps, had to name the song. The tappers predicted that half of the listeners would succeed. In fact, only 2.5 percent did, three out of 120. For the tapper, the melody played loudly in the mind; for the listener, there was only noise.
Vocabulary
- at
- in
- to
- within
- get the message across
- hit the nail on the head
- on the same page
- read the room
- talk over their heads
Grammar
- Present participle clause
- Employees reading the memo stopped. — active, same time
- Past participle clause
- Leaders confused by jargon lose staff. — passive meaning
Discussion questions
- Who explains difficult things well?
- Have you ever sat through a confusing presentation?
- Is jargon ever useful?
Why Experts Explain Badly
Grammar: Participle clauses and reduced relative clauses in professional explanation
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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