Reported speech

I am hereby providing some documents on reported speech as well as object and subject questions with the key for the exercises from English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy.  More  exercises on reported speech along with the key are also made available.

Here you can also find more information on subject, object, verb, tense, time and location modifications in reported speech and indirect speech. (Business Grammar Builder by Paul Emmerson)

Sample report

Here you can find the BBC piece, followed by the report on it below.

What is the European Union?

In this BBC news piece, Mark Mardell gives us a brief introduction on the history, purpose and main Institutions of the European Union (EU).

Robert Schuman, a former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the promoter of a united Europe. His monument, which symbolises the European Union, is at the entrance of one of the buildings called the Berlaymont.

After the Second World War, the belligerent countries decided to create a Community, in which they had common control over  war materials. This Community grew from its six founding members to the current European Union with its 27 Member States (MS).

Nowadays, the EU legislates on a large number of issues concerning everyday lives of  citizens of MS, from preventing pollution to containing bird flu. In general the Union is based on the idea that the richest countries help the poorest ones.

The Berlaymont is the headquarters of the European Commission, which is one of the main Institutions of the EU led by 27 Commissioners, each one of whom is from a different Member State. At their regular meetings every Wednesday, they take decisions on new legislative proposals. The Commission is the guardian of the soul of Europe, and thus, a unique experiment in the world as a body representing the common interests of MS.

We can compare the Commission to a medieval monarch protecting these common interests and looking for necessary agreements among MS, which in turn, act like the barons of the Middle Ages. These barons are at the Council. This is the Institution representing the individual interests of each country. At the Council, there are various compositions of ministers depending on the policy area, and at least three times per year, heads of government and/or state of all MS meet at summits.

The third big player is the Parliament. The European Parliament (EP) is the most democratic Institution because its members are directly elected by EU citizens. The Members of the European Parliament are grouped according to their political affiliations, rather than national interests. The powers of the EP have been increased in the recent years, with its current right to amend laws and even the possibility to chuck out the whole Commission and budget.

Finally, concerning the legislative procedure, MS always have the last word. However, during these long decision-making processes based on the proposals of the Commission, the Parliament has been increasing its influence.

Minutes

Here is a document on writing minutes. 

 

Here you can find an example for minutes.  Source: Market Leader Upper Intermediate Business English Course Book by David Cotton, et al.

Gender neutrality

"English Style Guide" released by the Commission is hereby available.  On pages 48 - 49 you can find the section on gender neutrality. 

Tenses and key words

Here you can find many exercises on tenses.  I am also hereby making a list of all the tenses and key words available

State vs. action verbs

Here is  a document where you can find information and exercises on state vs. action verbs, along with key for the  exercises. (Source: English Grammar in Use: Intermediate by Raymond Murphy)

Here is a link for a webpage where you can find some  exercises on the same topic.   

Here you can find the list of verbs we have looked at. (Source: LONGMAN Advanced Learners’ Grammar by Mark Foley &  Diane Hall )

EU Enlargement

Here is the official Commission website on enlargement.

Here is an article from The New York Times on the same topic.