called a hook or a grabber.
I don’t want to close my eyes; it makes me feel awkward and exposed to be in a group of people with my eyes closed. Because of that, I keep my eyes open. The problem is when I keep my eyes open, I feel like some sort of horrible nonconformist rebel. I feel awkward with my eyes closed and I feel guilty if they are open. Either way, I just feel bad. Besides, half of the time when speakers tell audience members to close their eyes, they forget to tell us when we can open them. If you are wanting me to imagine a story, just tell me to imagine it, don’t make me close my eyes (rant over).
You should plan your opening to be intentional and with power. “Can everybody hear me” is a weak and uncertain statement and this is not the first impression you want to leave. Do a microphone check before the audience members arrive and have someone stand in different corners of the room to make sure you can be heard. Don’t waste your valuable speech time with questions that you should already know the answer to.
You should know that before you begin. Even if the presentations for the day are running over and you are the last speaker, you should ask the MC before you begin. Always plan your first words with power.
You should make your slides big, really big. Test out your slides in advance of your speech, walk all around the room and make sure you can read them. Have a friend check them out as well. You should know they are big enough because you planned for it and tested it.
People really hate having things taken away, not to mention that your audience may want to take notes on their devices. Chances are you are speaking to adults, let them determine if it is appropriate to have out their technology.
Stop apologizing! Stop making excuses! While these lines may be true, they just come of as excuses and can make the audience either feel like you don’t want to be there, or they just feel sorry for you.
Talking about your nervousness will make you more nervous and will make them look for signs of your nervousness. Just start your speech.
Do not start with hesitation. Plan the first words, memorize the first words, practice the first words. Do not start with “Ok, so um, now I’d like…” Plan strong and start strong.
Do Not Discuss Your Business with People Watching…Really! I Mean It! Many of us are giving and listening to presentations in an online format. I have attended numerous presentations this year through Zoom where I have to sit and watch while the organizers engage in personal small talk or deal with the details of the presentation. This is how the speech I recently attended began. “Donna, you are going to share your screen, right?” “Yes. I have my PowerPoint ready to go. Will you push “record” when I give the signal?” “Sure. Where did you say that button is again? Do you think we should wait five more minutes, I think we had more who were coming? Dave, what was the total we were expecting?” “Yeah, we had 116 sign up, but the reminders went out late so this may be all we have. We can give them a few more minutes to log on.” “Donna, How is your dog? Is she still struggling with her cone since her spay surgery? My dog never would wear the cone –she tore her stitches out and broke her wound open. It was terrible. Well, it looks like it is about time to begin, thank you everyone for coming.” If you are organizing an event online, hosting a speech online, giving a presentation online–please keep it professional. Most platforms will allow you to keep the audience in a waiting room until it is time to start. If you have a business to deal with, keep the audience out until you have everything ready to go. Once the audience is in the meeting, you should engage the audience in group-type small talk or you should just start the presentation. In professional settings, you should start the meeting on time. Why punish those who showed up on time to wait for those who aren’t there yet?
I asked my long-time friend, Bill Rogers, to write an excerpt to add to the book. I met Bill when he was the Chief Development Officer for a hospital in Northwest Arkansas and I met him again when he was reinventing himself as a college student getting a Master’s Degree in the theater. He would love to share a symbolic cup of coffee with you and give you advice about public speaking.
Perfect morning for a walk, isn’t it? Join me for a cup of coffee? Wonderful. Find us a table and I’ll get our coffee.
There you go; just like you like it. There’s nothing like a great cup of coffee on the patio of your neighborhood coffee shop, is there?
Now that you’re settled in your favorite chair, take a sip, and let that glorious caffeine kick in and do its stuff. Okay, let’s talk.
So, you were asking me about public speaking.
Well, let’s see. Where do we begin?
One of the first pieces of advice I ever received was to imagine that every member of your audience is sitting there in their underwear! Yeah, right. That never worked for me. I tried it once with a local civic group of community leaders both male and female. If the intent of that tidbit is to make you relax, it certainly didn’t work for me. It just made me more self-conscious…and more nervous. I not only got distracted, but I also lost my train of thought, I started sweating, and, of course, imagined myself standing there without clothes. Needless to say, that speech was a disaster and I’ve never used it again. I suggest you don’t either.
In the early days, I also relied very heavily on my typed-up speech. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that unless you find yourself reading it word for word as I did. Nothing is more boring nor puts an audience to sleep quicker than a speaker with their nose down reading a speech. There’s no connection and connection with your audience is key.
As you know, I love theatre and I’ve done a bit of acting over the years. Early on, I learned that the quicker I learned my lines, the more I could play, experiment, and shape my character. It relaxed me and gave me enormous freedom. It led me to find a mantra for myself: “With discipline comes freedom.” This freedom will allow you to improvise as your audience or situation dictates while still conveying the core message of your presentation. That discipline and its resulting freedom apply to public speaking of any kind and, I think, will serve you well.
Another old adage we’ve all heard is Aristotle’s advice. You know the one. No? Well, roughly, it’s to tell your audience what you’re going to say, say it, and then tell them what you just said. That’s the basic formula for public speaking. And it works as a good place to start.
However, effective speaking is much more and, to me, it starts with a story or even a simple sentence.
You know the feeling you get when you read the first sentence of a good book and it just reaches out and grabs you? That should be your goal with every presentation. One sentence to capture your audience’s attention. Something that causes them to lean forward. Something that sparks their imagination.
It doesn’t have to be all that profound either. It can be something very simple. A personal story that relates to your topic. A relevant fact or statistic that defines or illustrates the issue or subject matter at hand.
A couple of classics come to mind. The first is Alice Walker’s, “The Color of Purple.”
“You better not tell nobody but God.”
And the second one is from my favorite novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee.
“When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm broken at the elbow.”
Both sentences hook you immediately. A few simple words speak volumes. After reading or hearing those words, you naturally lean in. You want to learn more. You want to find out what happens next. Every effective speech or presentation does the same thing.
Of course, make sure that the first and last thing you say to your audience is both relevant and appropriate. I share this out of an abundance of caution. I once worked for an internationally recognized and well-respected children’s research hospital and I was given the privilege to speak at a national educational convention. The room was filled wall to wall with teachers. I thought I’d be cute and add a little levity. I opened my presentation with this line, “You know, I’ve had nightmares like this…” Instead of the roars of laughter, I was expecting, a wave of silence ensued. Not only was the line not funny, but it was also wholly inappropriate and I immediately lost my audience. Not my best day. Learn from my mistakes.
Finally, let’s touch on the importance of approaching a speech as a conversation. You and I are sitting here enjoying our coffee and having a friendly, relaxed conversation. Strive for that every chance you get. You may not always have that luxury. Some speeches and presentations simply demand formality. But even in those cases, you can usually make it somewhat conversational. I always try to write my speeches in a conversational style. Like I’m talking to a friend…or trying to make a new one.
So, to recap: tell a story, learn your lines, hook your audience with a simple sentence, close with a question or call to action, use repetition, keep it conversational, treat your audience as a friend, and give yourself permission to relax.
Above all, be yourself. Allow yourself to be as relaxed as you are with those closest to you. If you’re relaxed, if you try to think of your audience as a friend, then, in most cases, they too will relax and they will root for you. Even if they disagree with what you are telling them, they will respect you and they will listen.
How about another cup?
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Advanced Public Speaking Copyright © 2021 by Lynn Meade is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
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A part of speech (also called a word class ) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence. Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyze how words function in a sentence and improve your writing.
The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns , pronouns , verbs , adjectives , adverbs , prepositions , conjunctions , and interjections . Some modern grammars add others, such as determiners and articles .
Many words can function as different parts of speech depending on how they are used. For example, “laugh” can be a noun (e.g., “I like your laugh”) or a verb (e.g., “don’t laugh”).
Interesting language articles, frequently asked questions.
A noun is a word that refers to a person, concept, place, or thing. Nouns can act as the subject of a sentence (i.e., the person or thing performing the action) or as the object of a verb (i.e., the person or thing affected by the action).
There are numerous types of nouns, including common nouns (used to refer to nonspecific people, concepts, places, or things), proper nouns (used to refer to specific people, concepts, places, or things), and collective nouns (used to refer to a group of people or things).
Ella lives in France .
Other types of nouns include countable and uncountable nouns , concrete nouns , abstract nouns , and gerunds .
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A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Pronouns typically refer back to an antecedent (a previously mentioned noun) and must demonstrate correct pronoun-antecedent agreement . Like nouns, pronouns can refer to people, places, concepts, and things.
There are numerous types of pronouns, including personal pronouns (used in place of the proper name of a person), demonstrative pronouns (used to refer to specific things and indicate their relative position), and interrogative pronouns (used to introduce questions about things, people, and ownership).
That is a horrible painting!
A verb is a word that describes an action (e.g., “jump”), occurrence (e.g., “become”), or state of being (e.g., “exist”). Verbs indicate what the subject of a sentence is doing. Every complete sentence must contain at least one verb.
Verbs can change form depending on subject (e.g., first person singular), tense (e.g., simple past), mood (e.g., interrogative), and voice (e.g., passive voice ).
Regular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participle are formed by adding“-ed” to the end of the word (or “-d” if the word already ends in “e”). Irregular verbs are verbs whose simple past and past participles are formed in some other way.
“I’ve already checked twice.”
“I heard that you used to sing .”
Other types of verbs include auxiliary verbs , linking verbs , modal verbs , and phrasal verbs .
An adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun. Adjectives can be attributive , appearing before a noun (e.g., “a red hat”), or predicative , appearing after a noun with the use of a linking verb like “to be” (e.g., “the hat is red ”).
Adjectives can also have a comparative function. Comparative adjectives compare two or more things. Superlative adjectives describe something as having the most or least of a specific characteristic.
Other types of adjectives include coordinate adjectives , participial adjectives , and denominal adjectives .
An adverb is a word that can modify a verb, adjective, adverb, or sentence. Adverbs are often formed by adding “-ly” to the end of an adjective (e.g., “slow” becomes “slowly”), although not all adverbs have this ending, and not all words with this ending are adverbs.
There are numerous types of adverbs, including adverbs of manner (used to describe how something occurs), adverbs of degree (used to indicate extent or degree), and adverbs of place (used to describe the location of an action or event).
Talia writes quite quickly.
Other types of adverbs include adverbs of frequency , adverbs of purpose , focusing adverbs , and adverbial phrases .
A preposition is a word (e.g., “at”) or phrase (e.g., “on top of”) used to show the relationship between the different parts of a sentence. Prepositions can be used to indicate aspects such as time , place , and direction .
I left the cup on the kitchen counter.
A conjunction is a word used to connect different parts of a sentence (e.g., words, phrases, or clauses).
The main types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions (used to connect items that are grammatically equal), subordinating conjunctions (used to introduce a dependent clause), and correlative conjunctions (used in pairs to join grammatically equal parts of a sentence).
You can choose what movie we watch because I chose the last time.
An interjection is a word or phrase used to express a feeling, give a command, or greet someone. Interjections are a grammatically independent part of speech, so they can often be excluded from a sentence without affecting the meaning.
Types of interjections include volitive interjections (used to make a demand or request), emotive interjections (used to express a feeling or reaction), cognitive interjections (used to indicate thoughts), and greetings and parting words (used at the beginning and end of a conversation).
Ouch ! I hurt my arm.
I’m, um , not sure.
The traditional classification of English words into eight parts of speech is by no means the only one or the objective truth. Grammarians have often divided them into more or fewer classes. Other commonly mentioned parts of speech include determiners and articles.
A determiner is a word that describes a noun by indicating quantity, possession, or relative position.
Common types of determiners include demonstrative determiners (used to indicate the relative position of a noun), possessive determiners (used to describe ownership), and quantifiers (used to indicate the quantity of a noun).
My brother is selling his old car.
Other types of determiners include distributive determiners , determiners of difference , and numbers .
An article is a word that modifies a noun by indicating whether it is specific or general.
There’s a concert this weekend.
If you want to know more about nouns , pronouns , verbs , and other parts of speech, make sure to check out some of our language articles with explanations and examples.
Nouns & pronouns
A is an indefinite article (along with an ). While articles can be classed as their own part of speech, they’re also considered a type of determiner .
The indefinite articles are used to introduce nonspecific countable nouns (e.g., “a dog,” “an island”).
In is primarily classed as a preposition, but it can be classed as various other parts of speech, depending on how it is used:
As a part of speech, and is classed as a conjunction . Specifically, it’s a coordinating conjunction .
And can be used to connect grammatically equal parts of a sentence, such as two nouns (e.g., “a cup and plate”), or two adjectives (e.g., “strong and smart”). And can also be used to connect phrases and clauses.
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Definitions and examples of basic sentence elements.
The Mastering the Mechanics webinar series also describes required sentence elements and varying sentence types. Please see these archived webinars for more information.
Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics = object, pink, regular font = prepositional phrase
Independent clause : An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence. It contains a subject and a verb and is a complete idea.
Dependent clause : A dependent clause is not a complete sentence. It must be attached to an independent clause to become complete. This is also known as a subordinate clause.
Subject : A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that does an action. Determine the subject in a sentence by asking the question “Who or what?”
Verb : Expresses what the person, animal, place, thing, or concept does. Determine the verb in a sentence by asking the question “What was the action or what happened?”
Object : A person, animal, place, thing, or concept that receives the action. Determine the object in a sentence by asking the question “The subject did what?” or “To whom?/For whom?”
Prepositional Phrase : A phrase that begins with a preposition (i.e., in, at for, behind, until, after, of, during) and modifies a word in the sentence. A prepositional phrase answers one of many questions. Here are a few examples: “Where? When? In what way?”
The following statements are true about sentences in English:
A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it may also have an object and modifiers. However, it contains only one independent clause.
Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics = object, pink, regular font =prepositional phrase
Here are a few examples:
A compound sentence contains at least two independent clauses. These two independent clauses can be combined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction or with a semicolon .
Key: independent clause = yellow, bold ; comma or semicolon = pink, regular font ; coordinating conjunction = green, underlined
Using some compound sentences in writing allows for more sentence variety .
A complex sentence contains at least one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. Dependent clauses can refer to the subject (who, which) the sequence/time (since, while), or the causal elements (because, if) of the independent clause.
If a sentence begins with a dependent clause, note the comma after this clause. If, on the other hand, the sentence begins with an independent clause, there is not a comma separating the two clauses.
Key: independent clause = yellow, bold ; comma = pink, regular font ; dependent clause = blue, italics
Sentence types can also be combined. A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.
Key: independent clause = yellow, bold ; comma or semicolon = pink, regular font ; coordinating conjunction = green, underlined ; dependent clause = blue, italics
Note that these videos were created while APA 6 was the style guide edition in use. There may be some examples of writing that have not been updated to APA 7 guidelines.
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By learning some easy English sentences, you are setting yourself up for understanding all English conversations .
Even the most complicated sentences start with a simple sentence structure . A sentence is created by combining a set of words to make a complete, grammatically correct communication.
Learn these basic English sentence structures, and you will be learning a valuable lesson —no matter your level of English.
How to make your own english sentences, 18 easy formulas to build english sentences, making statements about the present, 1. describing something or someone., 2. stating the location of something or someone., 3. explaining what someone is doing., 4. stating what someone does for a living or a hobby., 5. expressing feelings., 6. making a suggestion., making statements about the past, 7. describing something or someone in the past., 8. stating the location of something or someone in the past., 9. explaining what someone did, or used to do in the past., making statements about the future, 10. stating what someone will do in the future., 11. stating when something will happen., making negative statements, 12. stating what someone is not, or not doing., 13. stating what someone did not do., 14. stating what someone will not do in the future., asking questions, 15. asking where someone is., 16. asking what someone is doing., 17. asking about when something will happen., 18. asking who is doing something., example sentences , mastering english introductions, everyday, conversational english phrases, talking about learning english, everyday english phrases for shopping, simple english sentences for your job, and one more thing....
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To understand easy English sentences, you need to break them down into even smaller parts.
Sentences are made up of words. More specifically, they are made up of parts of speech . A part of speech defines what a word does in a sentence.
The parts of speech are:
These terms will be important later in this post, in your English studies and in whichever English situations you find yourself in, whether with friends, at school or at work!
Now you need to learn how to combine parts of speech to form your sentence. A sentence has a subject (the person, place or thing that the sentence is about) and an action (what the subject is doing). Together, they express a complete thought. Even the shortest complete sentence in the English language follows this rule:
“I am.” (“I” is the subject, “am” is the action!)
Here is another simple sentence:
“I ate.”
Once you have your subject and action, you can start to add more detail. You can add an object (whoever or whatever the action is being done to):
“I ate a hamburger .”
Or you can add a description:
“I ate a delicious hamburger.”
Sometimes you can even add more subjects and actions:
“I ate a delicious hamburger, but my friend only ate some fries.”
When you are trying to understand a sentence, you can use the above knowledge to break it into smaller pieces. You can also use this information to create the most basic sentences.
Take note of this basic form, as well as the sentence formulas below, when you’re reading, watching or listening to English content. Practice with movie clips, podcasts or any other content that you enjoy.
Pause English media and repeat the sentences. Be active in your learning! You can also use a language learning program to help you along, of course.
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Before you begin, there are two things you should know about this guide:
1. Whenever we use [noun], you can replace it with a [pronoun]. For example, you can say “Sam is tired,” or you can say “He is tired.” Both are correct.
2. Whenever we use “is,” you will need to replace it with the correct form of “to be.” Choose the right form based on this list for the present tense:
And this list for the past tense:
That’s all! Now you are ready to begin.
Form: [Noun] is [adjective].
Notes: If the noun you are using is not a pronoun (the name of a place or the name of a person), add the word “the” (or “this,” or “that”) before it.
Form: [Noun] is [preposition] [location].
Notes: To state the location of something or someone, a preposition is usually necessary. Choose the correct preposition to give the right information. You can also say someone was “here” or “over there.” Since these terms are relative (their meaning depends on your own location), you do not need to add the final “location.”
Once again, nouns that are not names of people or places get “the” added before them.
Form: [Noun] is [verb -ing].
Notes: The “-ing” form of a verb means an action is taking place right now. Use this form when talking about an action that has not ended yet.
Form: [Noun] [verb -s].
Notes: Using this structure implies the subject of your sentence does the action regularly (like a hobby, or a job), even if they are not necessarily doing it right now.
Form: [Noun] [feeling verb -s] [noun]. / [Noun] [feeling verb -s] [to verb / verb -ing].
Notes: Feeling verbs include verbs like “love,” “like” or “hate.” You can love or hate an object, or an action. When you describe someone’s feelings about an action, you can use either the “to verb ” or “ verb -ing” forms. In most cases, both are correct!
You can also use this form to describe needs and wants, but remember that in that case, the “verb -ing” form cannot be used. For example, you don’t “need sleeping.” You “need to sleep,” or just “need sleep.”
Form: Let’s [verb]. / Please [verb].
Notes: To suggest an action that you will also take part in, use the first structure. To politely ask someone to do something, use the second one.
Form: [Noun] was [adjective].
Notes: You describe someone in the past tense almost the same exact way as in the present—just change the “is” to “was.” Using this structure suggests that either the description is no longer accurate, or that the description is for a specific moment.
Form: [Noun] was [preposition] [location].
Notes: As with a description, describing a location in the past and the present is very similar. The rules remain the same; only the verb tense changes. Remember, again, that using this form means the location has changed, or that the statement was only true for a specific time period in the past.
Form: [Noun] was [verb -ing]. / [Noun] [verb -ed].
Notes: There is a slight difference between the “verb -ed” form of an action, and the “was verb -ing” form.
Another form you can use is: [Noun] used [to verb]. This form is used for any kind of action that someone used to do in the past, but has since stopped doing.
All these forms can be used with feeling verbs, as well! Just add the “noun” or “verb -ing” after the feeling verb for a complete sentence.
Form: [Noun] is going to [verb]. / [Noun] will [verb].
Notes: The great thing about the future tense is that you don’t need to remember any verb forms! To turn a sentence into the future tense, just add the words “is going to” or “will” before the verb. Using this structure without any additional details means you will be doing the action very soon.
Form: [Noun] will [verb] [preposition] [time]. / [Noun] is going to [verb] [time adverb].
Notes: Use this structure to talk about things that will happen in the future. When you use a specific time, a preposition is needed.
Form: [Noun] is not [adjective / verb-ing].
Notes: Changing a sentence into a negative one is as easy as adding the word “not.”
Form: [Noun] did not [verb]. / [Noun] was not [verb -ing].
Notes: Remember the rules from before. Using the first form above puts the focus on the action (in this case, saying it did not happen at all). “Verb -ing” puts the focus on the time the action took place (saying it was not happening at a specific moment).
Form: [Noun] is not going to [verb]. / [Noun] will not [verb].
Notes: Changing the future tense into a negative sentence is just as easy. Just add “not” before the verb.
Form: Where is [noun]?
Notes: You can also use this form to ask about places, things and any other kind of noun you might be trying to find.
Form: What is [noun] doing?
Notes: The noun in this case should be a living thing. (Generally, non-living objects don’t do much!)
Form: When will [noun] [verb]?
Notes: This is a useful sentence structure to know when you want to find out about events in the future.
Form: Who is [verb -ing]? / Who is [verb -ing] [noun]?
Notes: This structure is a bit different. It can be used to refer to the present, and to the near future tenses.
If the action is being done to something, don’t forget to add that something in for a complete thought!
Here are some phrases for introducing yourself when you meet new people, and questions to learn more about them.
Hi! I am [Name]. (And you?)
Here is an informal greeting you can use when you meet new friends. If the person does not tell you their name, you can say your name first. Then ask, “And you?” or “And what is your name?”
Hi! I am Stephen. And you?
Nice to meet you.
After you learn each other’s names, it is polite to say this phrase.
A: Hi, Stephen, I am Chad.
B: Nice to meet you , Chad.
A: Nice to meet you , too.
Where are you from?
Ask this question to find out which country someone is from. You answer this question with “I am from _______.”
Can you answer this question in English? Say both the question and answer aloud right now.
A: Nice to meet you, Sergio. So, where are you from?
B: I am from Spain.
What do you do?
Most adults ask each other this question when they meet. It means what do you do for a living (what is your job).
I think this question is boring, so I ask other questions. But many people will probably ask you this, so it is important to know what it means.
A: What do you do , Cathleen?
B: I work at the university as a financial specialist.
What do you like to do (in your free time)?
Instead of asking for someone’s job title, I prefer to ask what they enjoy doing. The responses (answers) are usually much more interesting!
A: So, Cathleen, what do you like to do in your free time?
B: I love to read and to garden. I picked two buckets of tomatoes last week!
What is your phone number?
If you want to keep in contact with someone you just met, ask this question to find out their phone number. You can replace “phone number” with “email address” if you want to know their email address.
You might also hear people use the more casual, “ Can I get your phone number? “
It would be great to meet up again sometime. What is your phone number?
Do you have Facebook?
Many people keep in touch (contact) through Facebook . Use this question to find out if someone has a Facebook account. You might also ask, “Are you on Facebook?”
Let’s keep in touch! Do you have Facebook?
These eight phrases can be used in many different situations.
Thanks so much.
This is a simple sentence you can use to thank someone.
To add detail, say:
Thanks so much + for + [noun] / [-ing verb].
For example:
Thanks so much for the birthday money.
Thanks so much for driving me home.
I really appreciate…
You can also use this phrase to thank someone. For example, you might say:
I really appreciate your help.
Or you can combine this phrase with the last one:
Thanks so much for cooking dinner. I really appreciate it.
Thanks so much. I really appreciate your cooking dinner.
When you need to get through but there is someone blocking your way, say “Excuse me.”
You can also say this phrase to politely get someone’s attention. For example:
Excuse me , sir, you dropped your wallet.
Excuse me , do you know what time it is?
I am sorry.
Use this phrase to apologize, whether for something big or small. Use “for” to give more detail. For example:
I am sorry for being so late.
I was not expecting anyone today. I am sorry for the mess.
You can use “really” to show you are very sorry for something:
I am really sorry I did not invite you to the party.
In fact, I am sorry has many different uses in English and they are not always that obvious! Because of this, using native content when learning English expressions is very important to ensure you are learning them properly.
What do you think?
When you want to hear someone’s opinion on a topic, use this question.
I am not sure if we should paint the room yellow or blue. What do you think?
How does that sound?
If you suggest an idea or plan, use this phrase to find out what others think.
We could have dinner at 6, and then go to a movie. How does that sound?
Let’s hire a band to play music, and Brent can photograph the event. How does that sound?
That sounds great.
If you like an idea, you can respond to “How does that sound?” with this phrase. “Great” can be replaced with any synonym (similar word), such as “awesome,” “perfect,” “excellent” or “fantastic.”
A: My mom is baking cookies this afternoon. We could go to my house and eat some. How does that sound?
B: That sounds fantastic!
Oh, never mind.
Let’s say someone does not understand an idea you are trying to explain. If you have explained it over and over and want to stop, just say “oh, never mind.” You can now talk about something else!
You can also use “never mind” to mean “it does not matter” or “just forget it.” In these situations, say it with a smile and positive tone, though. When you say this phrase slowly with a falling, low tone, it can mean you are bothered or upset.
A: Are you going to the grocery store today?
B: No, I am not. But why—do you need something?
A: Oh, never mind! It is okay, I will go tomorrow.
As an English learner, you will likely want to tell others that English is not your first language. You will also need to ask native speakers to repeat phrases and words or to speak slower. The following phrases will be useful for these situations.
I am learning English.
This simple phrase tells people that English is not your native language. If you are a total beginner, you can add “just started” like this: “I just started learning English.”
My name is Sophie and I am learning English .
I do not understand.
Use this phrase when you do not understand what someone means.
Sorry, I do not understand. The U.S. Electoral College seems very confusing!
Could you repeat that please?
If you would like someone to say a word, question or phrase again, use this question. Since “to repeat” means “to say again,” you can also ask, “Could you say that again, please?”
We can say “please” either at the end of the question or right after “you,” like this:
Could you please repeat that?
Could you repeat that, please ?
Could you please talk slower?
Native speakers can talk very fast. Fast English is hard to understand! This is an easy way to ask someone to speak more slowly.
Note: This phrase is not grammatically correct. However, it is used often in every day (casual) speech. The grammatically correct question would be, “ Could you please talk more slowly ? “
That is because “slowly” is an adverb, so it describes verbs (like “talk”). “Slower” is a comparative adjective, which means it should be used to describe nouns (people, places or things), not verbs. (For example: My car is slower than yours.)
A: You can give us a call any weekday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at five five five, two five zero eight, extension three three—
B: I am sorry, could you please talk slower?
Thank you. That helps a lot.
After someone starts speaking more slowly for you, thank them with this phrase.
You can use it in many other situations, too.
A: Ben, could you please make the font bigger? It is hard for me to read the words.
B: Sure! I will change it from size 10 to 16. How is this?
A: Thank you. That helps a lot.
What does _____ mean?
When you hear or see a new word, use this phrase to ask what it means.
A: What does “font” mean?
B: It is the style of letters, numbers and punctuation marks when you type. A common font in the USA is called Times New Roman.
How do you spell that?
English spelling can be tricky , so make sure to learn this question. You could also ask someone, “Could you spell that for me?”
A: My name is Robbertah Handkerchief.
B: How do you spell that?
What do you mean?
When you understand the words one by one, but not what they mean together, use this question. You can ask it whenever you are confused about what someone is telling you.
A: The Smiths do have a really nice house, but the grass is always greener on the other side.
B: What do you mean?
A: I mean that if we had the Smith’s house, we probably would not be happier. We always think that other people have better lives than us, but other people have problems, too.
Everyone needs to go shopping, whether it is for food, clothing or household items like furniture. These phrases will help you find what you want to buy and how much it costs.
Can you help me?
If you need help while you are shopping, this is a simple way to ask.
Can you help me? I canno t find what I want.
Excuse me, can you help me?
I am looking for…
If you cannot find what you want in a store, you can ask a salesperson to help you find it. Just add the name of what you want to buy after the phrase “I am looking for…”
Excuse me, I a m looking for a winter coat.
I a m looking for snow boots.
Do you have this [object] in a different color?
If you see something you like, but you do not like the color, you can ask if you can get it in a different color.
Another way to say this is “Does this come in a different color?”
You can also add the name of the object after “this.”
I do not like this shade of red. Do you have this in a different color?
Does this bowl come in a different color? This will not match my kitchen.
I do not know my size.
Sizes for clothing and other things differ from country to country, so you might have to look up the correct size for the country where you are shopping.
If you cannot figure out your correct size, it is perfectly fine to ask for help from the sales staff.
I do no t know my size. Can you help me?
I want to buy a shirt, but I do no t know my size.
I need this in a size ______.
This is a simple way to ask for a piece of clothing or a household item in the size you need—if you already happen to know the right size.
I need this in a size 10, please.
This is too large. I need this in a size 5.
Where can I find [item]?
Since every supermarket is set up (arranged) a little differently, we all can have trouble finding certain items.
You can ask someone at the store to help you find what you need with this simple phrase: “Where can I find…?” Just add the name of what you want after “find.”
The store clerk might answer you with a phrase like, “It is on aisle eight,” or, “It is in the Produce section, near the lettuce.”
Customer: Where can I find black olives?
Sales clerk: They a re on aisle ten, near the pickles.
Customer: Where can I find a bag of almonds?
Sales clerk : They a re in the baking section, on aisle seven.
How much does this/that cost?
If you are holding something you want to buy, or it is right near you, you can say “How much does this cost?” to find out (learn) the price.
You can also put the name of the object you want to buy after “this.”
How much does this shirt cost?
If you can see what you want to buy, but it is not right near you, you can point to it and say, “How much does that cost?” or “How much is that [item]?”
How much is that lamp over there ?
I do not need a bag.
Let us say you just bought something small. You can easily carry it. You might tell the sales clerk or cashier that you do not need a shopping bag.
You might also say this if you have a shopping bag with you and do not need to get one from the store.
No, thank you. I do no t need a bag. I can just carry it.
I do no t need a bag. I brought my own with me.
Can someone help me carry this out?
If you buy something really large and hard to carry, like a table or a huge order of groceries, you are going to need help.
Most stores that sell large and heavy items offer assistance (help) from a member of staff. The staff member can help you carry your purchase (what you have bought) out of the store. They might even help you place it in your vehicle.
This is too heavy for me. Can someone help me carry this out?
Can someone help me carry this out? I have eighteen bags of groceries here!
Can I have this delivered?
Sometimes, you need to buy something so large—and so heavy—that there is no way you could bring it home from the store yourself.
That is when you will want to ask, “Can I have this delivered?”
This refrigerator is perfect! Can I have this delivered?
Can I have this delivered next Tuesday?
Introducing yourself
“I just started working here. I’m the new [name of your job].” Tell people you’re new by using this sentence.
“I’m working in the [name] department. What do you do here?” Jobs fall under different departments , which are sections of the jobs that concentrate on one part of the job. For example, the IT (Information Technology) Department works with setting up and fixing the company’s computers. When you introduce yourself, tell the person which department you work for, and ask them for theirs.
Making “small talk”
Small talk is light, polite conversation. It can be about the weather, food , or anything that isn’t too serious. If you’re in the same room or in an elevator as someone else, or just standing near each other and you aren’t working, making small talk can open conversation. This saves you from uncomfortable silences but also forms connections and eventually friendships.
“I love your (shoes/necklace etc.). Where did you get it/them?” Complimenting someone (saying something nice about a person) makes them feel good, and asking a question afterwards starts a conversation.
“I can’t believe how hot/cold it is today!” The weather is always a safe topic and can be used for almost any kind of weather. If it’s a beautiful day, say “I can’t believe how nice it is today.”
Submitting reports and ideas
“If you have a moment, I would love your thoughts on this.” This is a polite way of asking your boss or coworker for input on something you wrote or did.
“I have the report/information you asked for.” This is just a simple way of saying you finished the job you had.
“Do you mind if I record this?” A good way to make sure you don’t miss anything important at a meeting is to record it so you can listen to it again later. Make sure to ask for permission first by using this sentence.
“Excuse me, can you please speak up?” This is a polite way to ask someone to speak louder if you can’t hear them.
“Do we still have that meeting after lunch?” Make sure you know when all the meetings are so you don’t miss them.
Asking for help/clarifications
“I’m having trouble with [something]. Do you know who can help me?” Before you ask someone for help, find out if they’re the right person for the type of problem you’re having.
“Do you have a minute?” Before you ask for help, this is a common way to politely make sure the person isn’t busy.
“Are there any rules I should know about?” Every job has its own rules and ways of doing things. Find out what they are so that you can follow them.
The easy sentences you learned above are just the beginning.
You have the first Legos in place.
Now go build a castle!
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Yes, the parts of speech in English are extensive and complex. But we’ve made it easy for you to start learning them by gathering the most basic and essential information in this easy-to-follow and comprehensive guide.
Parts of speech assign words to different categories. There are eight different types in English. Keep in mind that a word can belong to more than one part of speech.
Knowing the parts of speech is vital when learning a new language.
When it comes to learning a new language, there are several components you should understand to truly get a grasp of the language and speak it fluently.
It’s not enough to become an expert in just one area. For instance, you can learn and memorize all the intricate grammar rules, but if you don’t practice speaking or writing colloquially, you will find it challenging to use that language in real time.
Conversely, if you don’t spend time trying to learn the rules and technicalities of a language, you’ll also find yourself struggling to use it correctly.
Think of it this way: Language is a tasty, colorful, and nutritious salad. If you fill your bowl with nothing but lettuce, your fluency will be bland, boring, and tasteless. But if you spend time cultivating other ingredients for your salad—like style, word choice, and vocabulary— then it will become a wholesome meal you can share with others.
In this blog post, we’re going to cover one of the many ingredients you’ll need to build a nourishing salad of the English language—the parts of speech.
Let’s get choppin’!
The parts of speech refer to categories to which a word belongs. In English, there are eight of them : verbs , nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections.
Many English words fall into more than one part of speech category. Take the word light as an example. It can function as a verb, noun, or adjective.
Verb: Can you please light the candles?
Noun: The room was filled with a dim, warm light .
Adjective: She wore a light jacket in the cool weather.
The parts of speech in English are extensive. There’s a lot to cover in each category—much more than we can in this blog post. The information below is simply a brief overview of the basics of the parts of speech. Nevertheless, the concise explanations and accompanying example sentences will help you gain an understanding of how to use them correctly.
Verbs are the most essential parts of speech because they move the meaning of sentences along.
A verb can show actions of the body and mind ( jump and think ), occurrences ( happen or occur ), and states of being ( be and exist ). Put differently, verbs breathe life into sentences by describing actions or indicating existence. These parts of speech can also change form to express time , person , number , voice , and mood .
There are several verb categories. A few of them are:
A few examples of verbs include sing (an irregular action verb), have (which can be a main verb or auxiliary verb), be , which is a state of being verb, and would (another auxiliary verb).
My little sister loves to sing .
I have a dog and her name is Sweet Pea.
I will be there at 5 P.M.
I would like to travel the world someday.
Again, these are just the very basics of English verbs. There’s a lot more that you should learn to be well-versed in this part of speech, but the information above is a good place to start.
Nouns refer to people ( John and child ), places ( store and Italy ), things ( firetruck and pen ), and ideas or concepts ( love and balance ). There are also many categories within nouns. For example, proper nouns name a specific person, place, thing, or idea. These types of nouns are always capitalized.
Olivia is turning five in a few days.
My dream is to visit Tokyo .
The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States.
Some argue that Buddhism is a way of life, not a religion.
On the other hand, common nouns are not specific to any particular entity and are used to refer to any member of a general category.
My teacher is the smartest, most caring person I know!
I love roaming around a city I’ve never been to before.
This is my favorite book , which was recommended to me by my father.
There’s nothing more important to me than love .
Nouns can be either singular or plural. Singular nouns refer to a single entity, while plural nouns refer to multiple entities.
Can you move that chair out of the way, please? (Singular)
Can you move those chairs out of the way, please? (Plural)
While many plural nouns are formed by adding an “–s” or “–es,” others have irregular plural forms, meaning they don’t follow the typical pattern.
There was one woman waiting in line.
There were several women waiting in line.
Nouns can also be countable or uncountable . Those that are countable refer to nouns that can be counted as individual units. For example, there can be one book, two books, three books, or more. Uncountable nouns cannot be counted as individual units. Take the word water as an example. You could say I drank some water, but it would be incorrect to say I drank waters. Instead, you would say something like I drank several bottles of water.
A pronoun is a word that can take the place of other nouns or noun phrases. Pronouns serve the purpose of referring to nouns without having to repeat the word each time. A word (or group of words) that a pronoun refers to is called the antecedent .
Jessica went to the store, and she bought some blueberries.
In the sentence above, Jessica is the antecedent, and she is the referring pronoun. Here’s the same sentence without the proper use of a pronoun:
Jessica went to the store, and Jessica bought some blueberries.
Do you see how the use of a pronoun improves the sentence by avoiding repetitiveness?
Like all the other parts of speech we have covered, pronouns also have various categories.
Personal pronouns replace specific people or things: I, me, you, he, she, him, her, it, we, us, they, them.
When I saw them at the airport, I waved my hands up in the air so they could see me .
Possessive pronouns indicate ownership : mine, ours, yours, his, hers, theirs, whose.
I think that phone is hers .
Reflexive pronouns refer to the subject of a sentence or clause. They are used when the subject and the object of a sentence refer to the same person or thing: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
The iguanas sunned themselves on the roof of my car.
Intensive pronouns have the same form as reflexive pronouns and are used to emphasize or intensify the subject of a sentence.
I will take care of this situation myself .
Indefinite pronouns do not refer to specific individuals or objects but rather to a general or unspecified person, thing, or group. Some examples include someone, everybody, anything, nobody, each, something, and all.
Everybody enjoyed the party. Someone even said it was the best party they had ever attended.
Demonstrative pronouns are used to identify or point to specific pronouns: this, that, these, those.
Can you pick up those pens off the floor?
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions and seek information: who, whom, whose, which, what.
Who can help move these heavy boxes?
Relative pronouns connect a clause or a phrase to a noun or pronoun: who, whom, whose, which, that, what, whoever, whichever, whatever.
Christina, who is the hiring manager, is the person whom you should get in touch with.
Reciprocal pronouns are used to refer to individual parts of a plural antecedent. They indicate a mutual or reciprocal relationship between two or more people or things: each other or one another.
The cousins always giggle and share secrets with one another .
Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns, usually by describing, identifying, or quantifying them. They play a vital role in adding detail, precision, and imagery to English, allowing us to depict and differentiate the qualities of people, objects, places, and ideas.
The blue house sticks out compared to the other neutral-colored ones. (Describes)
That house is pretty, but I don’t like the color. (Identifies)
There were several houses I liked, but the blue one was unique. (Quantifies)
We should note that identifying or quantifying adjectives are also referred to as determiners. Additionally, articles ( a, an, the ) and numerals ( four or third ) are also used to quantify and identify adjectives.
Descriptive adjectives have other forms (known as comparative and superlative adjectives ) that allow for comparisons. For example, the comparative of the word small is smaller, while the superlative is smallest.
Proper adjectives (which are derived from proper nouns) describe specific nouns. They usually retain the same spelling or are slightly modified, but they’re always capitalized. For example, the proper noun France can be turned into the proper adjective French.
Adverbs are words that modify or describe verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or entire clauses. Although many adverbs end in “–ly,” not all of them do. Also, some words that end in “–ly” are adjectives, not adverbs ( lovely ).
She dances beautifully .
In the sentence above, beautifully modifies the verb dances.
We visited an extremely tall building.
Here, the adverb extremely modifies the adjective tall.
He had to run very quickly to not miss the train.
The adverb very modifies the adverb quickly.
Interestingly , the experiment yielded unexpected results that left us baffled.
In this example, the word interestingly modifies the independent clause that comprises the rest of the sentence (which is why they’re called sentence adverbs ).
Like adjectives, adverbs can also have other forms when making comparisons. For example:
strongly, more strongly, most strongly, less strongly, least strongly
Prepositions provide context and establish relationships between nouns, pronouns, and other words in a sentence. They indicate time, location, direction, manner, and other vital information. Prepositions can fall into several subcategories. For instance, on can indicate physical location, but it can also be used to express time.
Place the bouquet of roses on the table.
We will meet on Monday.
There are many prepositions. A few examples include: about, above, across, after, before, behind, beneath, beside, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, onto, past, regarding, since, through, toward, under, until, with, without.
Prepositions can contain more than one word, like according to and with regard to.
Conjunctions are words that join words, phrases, or clauses together within a sentence and provide information about the relationship between those words. There are different types of conjunctions.
Coordinating conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses of equal importance: and, but, for, not, or, so, yet.
I like to sing, and she likes to dance.
Correlative conjunctions come in pairs and join balanced elements of a sentence: both…and, just as…so, not only…but also, either…or, neither…nor, whether…or.
You can either come with us and have fun, or stay at home and be bored.
Subordinating conjunctions connect dependent clauses to independent clauses. A few examples include: after, although, even though, since, unless, until, when , and while.
They had a great time on their stroll, even though it started raining and they got soaked.
Conjunctive adverbs are adverbs that function as conjunctions, connecting independent clauses or sentences. Examples of conjunctive adverbs are also, anyway, besides, however, meanwhile, nevertheless, otherwise, similarly, and therefore .
I really wanted to go to the party. However , I was feeling sick and decided to stay in.
I really wanted to go to the party; however , I was feeling sick and decided to stay in.
Interjections are words that express strong emotions, sudden reactions, or exclamations. This part of speech is usually a standalone word or phrase, but even when it is part of a sentence, it does not relate grammatically to the rest of .
There are several interjections. Examples include: ahh, alas, bravo, eww, hello, please, thanks, and oops.
Ahh ! I couldn’t believe what was happening.
When it comes to improving your writing skills, understanding the parts of speech is as important as adding other ingredients besides lettuce to a salad.
The information provided above is indeed extensive, but it’s critical to learn if you want to write effectively and confidently. LanguageTool—a multilingual writing assistant—makes comprehending the parts of speech easy by detecting errors as you write.
Give it a try—it’s free!
Go well beyond grammar and spell checking. Impress with clear, precise, and stylistically flawless writing instead.
We’ve made a mistake, forgotten about an important detail, or haven’t managed to get the point across? Let’s help each other to perfect our writing.
Complex Sentence Generator is a free content rewriter that can potentially rephrase, reword, paraphrase and/or rewrite sentences, paragraphs, articles, content, words and/or phrases into a more complex, unorthodox or convoluted alternative while delivering the same meaning. The vocabulary of this sentence paraphraser contains an abundance of rarely used words/phrases and can paraphrase sentences in a variety of ways that are chosen randomly. Aside from this web based software being used as a paraphrasing tool or a text spinner, it can also be used as a vocabulary improvement tool. The artificial intelligence of this paraphrase generator is so sophisticated that it is capable of understanding context. Use the dictionary or thesaurus to learn definitions for words or discover more synonyms.
Aside from this web based software being used as a paraphrasing tool or a text spinner, it can also be used as a vocabulary improvement tool. The artificial intelligence of this paraphrase generator is so sophisticated that it is capable of understanding context. Use the dictionary or thesaurus to learn definitions for words or discover more synonyms.
Complex Sentence Generator is very easy to use. After typing or pasting content in the first text box, press the convert button to automatically paraphrase the content. This generator can also work as a random sentence generator. Click on the random sentence button to generate random complex sentences and have them paraphrased. This software works as a paraphrase converter for transforming simple and common english into more complex english. It can be useful as a free article spinner due to its' ability to rephrase a large body of text and potentially generate multiple unique versions with each conversion of the same content. With complex sentence generator you can reword content online and rewrite up to 10000 characters or less at a time/per conversion. This should be more than enough for spinning articles, essays or paraphrasing website content for blogs which usually consists of a large amount of content.
In order to rephrase a sentence, paragraph, essay or article effectively, content with good grammar and spelling is important when using this automatic paraphraser because it can only recognize, understand and rewrite correct grammar. For an article rewriter that is in the form of a bot, it does a good job of respecting english and using replacements that make sense. Content that is written in all caps or with the first letter of every word capitalized can still be rephrased by this software. Otherwise, as long as the grammar of the content is sensible and recognizable, complex sentence generator can make the task of paraphrasing easy. Rather than having to research synonyms for words or phrases and deduce which ones are the most suitable substitutes for any context a word or phrase may be used in, paraphrasing is done on auto pilot.
Aside from simply being used as a tool to spin text or paraphrase content, complex sentence generator can be instrumental towards accomplishing a number of additional tasks. Improving vocabulary, learning new ways to utilize english words and phrases and adding more uniqueness to the process of generating new content. You can also use paraphrase search to learn new words by searching for examples of words/phrases being used in a sentence and paraphrased in a sentence. Due to how rare and uncommon a lot of the words and phrases are in the database of this paraphrase generator, it can create and exhibit a unique style of writing and vocabulary. It also makes it easier to encounter and discover new words.
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Georges Perrier wanted to make a speech .
He could make a speech .
The president and the prime minister both make a speech .
Mr Abe will also make a speech to Congress.
The old man wanted belatedly to make a speech .
Nelson Mandela, it is hoped, will make a speech .
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The Supreme Court rules that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. This delays further the Washington criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump that he plotted to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, extending the delay in the Washington criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump.
The Supreme Court extended the delay in the criminal case against Donald Trump on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election, reducing the chance that Trump could be tried before the November election.
People protest outside of the Supreme Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, after court decisions were announced in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
People protest outside the Supreme Court Monday, July 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The Supreme Court is seen Monday, July 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Highlights: Replay AP’s coverage of the US Supreme Court .
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s ruling Monday in former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case makes it all but certain that the Republican will not face trial in Washington ahead of the November election.
The Supreme Court did not dismiss — as Trump had wanted — the indictment alleging he illegally schemed to cling to power after he lost to President Joe Biden. But the ruling still amounts to a major victory for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, whose legal strategy has focused on delaying the proceedings until after the election.
The timing of the trial matters because if Trump defeats Biden, he could appoint an attorney general who would seek the dismissal of this case and the other federal prosecutions he faces. Or Trump could potentially order a pardon for himself.
Trump posted in all capital letters on his social media network shortly after the decision was released: “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
In remarks Monday evening, Biden said the court had done a “terrible disservice” to the American people, who he says deserved to know the outcome of the case before they head to the polls.
“The American people will have to render a judgment about Donald Trump’s behavior,” Biden said. “The American people must decide whether Trump’s assault on our democracy on Jan. 6 makes him unfit for public office.”
Here’s a look at the ruling and what comes next:
The court’s conservative majority said former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts that fall within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority” and are presumptively entitled to immunity for all official acts. They do not enjoy immunity for unofficial, or private, actions.
The ruling means that special counsel Jack Smith cannot proceed with significant allegations in the indictment — or must at least defend their use in future proceedings before the trial judge.
The justices, for instance, wiped out Smith’s use of allegations that Trump tried to use the investigative power of the Justice Department to undo the election results, holding that his communications with agency officials is plainly protected from prosecution.
The justices sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who must now “carefully analyze” whether other allegations involve official conduct for which the president would be immune from prosecution.
Among the issues for further analysis is Trump’s relentless badgering of then-Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. The justices said it was “ultimately the Government’s burden to rebut the presumption of immunity” in Trump’s interactions with Pence.
The order also directed additional analysis on the various posts on X, then known as Twitter, that Trump made — as well as a speech he delivered to supporters — in the run-up to the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Determining whether that communication represents official versus unofficial acts, the justices said, “may depend on the content and context of each” and thus needs more scrutiny.
The justices required fresh fact-finding on one of the more stunning allegations in the indictment — that Trump had participated in a scheme orchestrated by allies to enlist slates of fraudulent electors in battleground states won by Biden who would falsely attest that Trump had won in those states.
The Trump team had argued that the selection of alternate electors was in keeping with Trump’s presidential interest in the integrity and proper administration of the federal elections and cited as precedent an episode he said took place in the disputed election in 1876.
The Smith team, by contrast, portrayed the scheme as a purely private action that implicated no presidential responsibility.
The conservative justices in their majority opinion didn’t answer the question as to which side was right, instead saying that “determining whose characterization may be correct, and with respect to which conduct, requires a close analysis of the indictment’s extensive and interrelated allegations.”
Unlike Trump’s interactions with the Justice Department, the justices said, “this alleged conduct cannot be neatly categorized as falling within a particular Presidential function. The necessary analysis is instead fact specific, requiring assessment of numerous alleged interactions with a wide variety of state officials and private persons.”
The three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — sharply criticized the majority’s opinion in scathing dissents. Sotomayor gave a dramatic speech as she read her dissent from the bench, at times shaking her head and gritting her teeth as she said the conservative majority wrongly insulated the U.S. president as “a king above the law.”
“Ironic isn’t it? The man in charge of enforcing laws can now just break them,” Sotomayor said.
The dissenting justices said the majority decision makes presidents immune from prosecution for acts such as ordering Navy seals to assassinate a political rival, organizing a military coup to hold onto power or accepting a bribe in exchange for a pardon.
“Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law,” Sotomayor wrote.
In a separate dissenting opinion, Jackson said the majority’s ruling “breaks new and dangerous ground.”
“Stated simply: The Court has now declared for the first time in history that the most powerful official in the United States can (under circumstances yet to be fully determined) become a law unto himself,” Jackson wrote.
The majority opinion accused the liberal justices of “fear mongering” and striking a “tone of chilling doom that is wholly disproportionate to what the court actually does today.”
The case will now go back to Chutkan. The trial was supposed to have begun in March, but the case has been on hold since December to allow Trump to pursue his appeal. Chutkan had indicated at that time she would likely give the two sides at least three months to get ready for trial once the case returns to her court.
That had left the door open to the case potentially going to trial before the election if the Supreme Court — like the lower courts — had ruled that Trump was not immune from prosecution.
But the Supreme Court’s ruling that Chutkan must conduct further analysis is expected tie the case up for months with legal wrangling over whether the actions in the indictment were official or unofficial.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts in his hush money trial in New York and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. The falsifying business records charges are punishable by up to four years behind bars, but there’s no guarantee Trump will get prison time. Other possibilities include fines or probation.
It seems almost certain that Trump’s two other criminal cases will not go to trial before the election.
An appeals court recently halted Trump’s Georgia 2020 election interference case while it reviews the lower court judge’s ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case. No trial date had been set in that case. Trump’s lawyers have asserted presidential immunity in that case, though there’s been no ruling.
Trump was supposed to stand trial starting in May in the other case brought by Smith, over classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House . But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon canceled the trial date as the case got bogged down with legal issues. She has yet to schedule a new one. That case, too, involves a claim by the Trump team of immunity that prosecutors have disputed.
Last week, Cannon set the stage further delays by agreeing to revisit a ruling by another judge that permitted crucial evidence related to allegations of obstruction of justice by Trump to be introduced into the case.
One of the arguments Cannon has entertained — that Smith was illegally appointed and that the case should be dismissed — got little traction with the Supreme Court.
A separate concurrence from Justice Clarence Thomas concluded that Smith’s appointment was improper, but no other justice signed onto that.
Associated Press reporters Michelle L. Price in New York, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Stephen Groves in Washington contributed.
President Joe Biden's first television interview following the presidential debate will air Friday, as some call for him to step down as the Democratic candidate for president.
Biden will sit down with "Good Morning America" and "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos in Wisconsin on Friday for the interview, ABC News confirmed.
Biden has come under recent criticism and is facing pressure from Democrats following his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump . His team previously attributed his raspy voice to a cold, but on Tuesday he blamed jet lag from recent travels overseas for his poor performance on stage.
Here's how to watch Biden's interview with ABC News.
New poll: Michelle Obama would beat Donald Trump in 2024
Biden will sit down with Stephanopoulos for an interview that will air across ABC News platforms on Friday, July 5 at 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT, the news outlet confirmed.
"A transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day, Friday, July 5," a press release from ABC News states.
A first look at the interview is scheduled to air on the Friday edition of "World News Tonight with David Muir," which begins at 6:30 p.m. EDT/5:30 p.m. CDT.
The interview is scheduled to air again Sunday on "This Week," which is hosted by Stephanopoulos, and showtimes vary by local listings.
George Stephanopoulos is the current anchor of the ABC News programs " Good Morning America " and "This Week."
He is a former Democratic Party advisor and served as the White House communications director and later a senior advisor for President Bill Clinton.
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If President Biden seriously considered departing the race, the first lady would be the most important figure other than Mr. Biden himself in reaching that decision.
By Katie Rogers
Katie Rogers covers the Biden administration and the Biden family and reported from Washington. She is the author of a book on first ladies.
President Biden knew immediately after stepping off the stage in Atlanta on Thursday night that the debate had gone wrong. In those first stricken moments after a raspy, rambling and at times incoherent performance, he turned to his wife, Jill Biden.
Whatever was going to happen next in Mr. Biden’s last presidential race, after perhaps the worst moment of his long political life, was always going to come down to her. His wife of 47 years had entered his life all those decades ago, reluctant to get into politics but fully embracing his dreams and his belief that he would one day reach the White House.
Now, her 81-year-old husband looked at her after a disastrous 90 minutes onstage.
The first lady’s message to him was clear: They’d been counted out before, she was all in, and he — they — would stay in the race. Her thinking, according to people close to her, was that it was a bad night. And bad nights end.
“To say they’ve been in foxholes together doesn’t even begin to explain their bond,” said Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady’s communications director, who has been with Mr. Biden since his Senate days.
So Dr. Biden spent the 24 hours after the debate putting her decades as a political spouse to the test, projecting confidence and normalcy while effusively praising her husband. But, like the president, she is an intuitive political messenger who can sense the mood of a crowd. She knows that along with the cheering supporters, there are legions of people suddenly accusing her of forcing an old man to put one weary foot in front of the other.
If Mr. Biden were to seriously consider departing the race, allowing a younger candidate to replace him, the first lady would be the most important figure — other than the president himself — in reaching that decision.
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Vladimir Putin has said Russia takes Donald Trump's declaration that he could end the war "completely seriously", although he doesn't know the details of the proposals. The US presidential candidate previously claimed he could create peace in 24 hours if he makes it to the White House.
Thursday 4 July 2024 22:05, UK
We'll be back soon with more updates on the war in Ukraine.
Russian strikes killed two people and wounded 26 in Ukrainian regions stretching from the south to the east and northeast today, local authorities have said.
A missile strike in southern Odesa region killed a woman, injured seven people and damaged port infrastructure, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
Meanwhile, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, a second woman was killed and a man wounded in a strike by a Russian guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Nine others, including four children, were wounded in a drone attack and shelling in the town of Novohrodivka, in the frontline Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Elsewhere, Dnipro regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported seven wounded in the southern town of Nikopol.
All the affected regions have been subjected to repeated attacks since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Russia denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, but thousands of people have been killed and wounded.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that he wants Turkey-China ties to continue improving.
He has also said steps taken to improve such ties would benefit both countries.
Both the Turkish and Chinese leaders met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in the Kazakh capital Astana today and discussed the Russia-Ukraine war and the fighting in Gaza.
During the meeting, Mr Erdogan called for "effective measures" by the international community to prevent either conflict from spreading.
One civilian has been killed after a ballistic missile struck the southern port city of Odesa.
Governor Oleh Kiper said at least seven others had been injured after the attack on the region and houses and port facilities had been damaged.
"The civilian port infrastructure is under attack," Mr Kiper said on Telegram .
Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian forces in the war, with many attacks aimed at the city's port facilities.
Russia denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
The Hungarian prime minister will meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow tomorrow, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) .
Viktor Orban will be accompanied by Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto, the outlet reports, citing an unnamed Hungarian government source.
The reported visit comes days after Mr Orban urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider a ceasefire to accelerate an end to the war with Russia.
Mr Orban, who is an outspoken critic of Western military aid to Ukraine and has the warmest relations of any EU leader with Mr Putin, held talks with Mr Zelenskyy during his first trip to Kyiv in more than a decade yesterday.
Mr Orban said he asked the Ukrainian leader to think about a ceasefire before the follow-up international summit Kyiv hopes to hold later this year.
Apple has removed 25 VPN mobile apps from its AppStore in Russia, following a request by Russia's state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor, Interfax reports.
Demand for VPN services soared in Russia after Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in 2022 and the authorities restricted access to some Western social media.
Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has already blocked access to some large VPNs, but others remained available.
Images are emerging of the damage inflicted on Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine after months of Russian assault.
The Ukrainian army said today they had retreated from an area on the outskirts of the strategically important city in the Donetsk region after a 10-month battle there.
Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated Chasiv Yar, leaving homes charred.
Ukrainian commanders in the area say their resources remain stretched, largely due to a months-long gap in military assistance from the US which threw Ukraine's military onto the defensive.
Around 190,000 recruits have signed contracts to join the Russian military so far in 2024, the state-run RIA news agency reports, quoting former president Dmitry Medvedev.
Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the current average recruitment rate was about 1,000 people a day.
For context : Russia is encouraging people to sign up for the war in Ukraine by paying them above average wages.
Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no need to enforce a new round of compulsory mobilisation because so many men are signing up on voluntary contracts.
A duo of Russian pranksters who often target and compromise people the Russian state is interested in have been given a top state award in the Kremlin, the RIA state news agency reports.
Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, who use the aliases "Vovan and Lexus", were presented with the award by the Kremlin at a ceremony yesterday.
The award is given to Russian and foreign nationals for strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and understanding between Moscow and other nations, among other criteria.
There was no immediate word from the Russian pranksters, who last month released footage of a video call they had with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron after tricking him into thinking he was speaking to a former Ukrainian president.
During the hoax call, Lord Cameron thought he was speaking with former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.
The duo are well-known inside Russia, having duped a string of politicians over the years, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and, in 2022, Britain's then-defence minister, Ben Wallace.
Vladimir Putin has said his preference for Joe Biden remains unchanged after watching fragments of the debate between the US president and Donald Trump.
Asked by a state television reporter if Mr Biden or Trump was better, if his publicly stated preference for Biden had changed after the debate, and if he had seen it, Mr Putin said: "Nothing has changed."
"Did we not know what could come? We knew," the Russian president added.
Mr Putin has several times said he feels Joe Biden is preferable as the future US president to Trump, even after Mr Biden cast the Kremlin chief as a "crazy SOB".
Mr Putin said he had seen parts of the debate between both Mr Biden and Trump but he had other things to attend to.
"I saw some fragments," Mr Putin said. "But I have enough to do."
Asked about Trump's statements that he could end the Ukraine war swiftly if he won the presidential election, Mr Putin said Russia took him seriously but had no sense of the details of any of Trump's peace proposals.
"The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, we take this completely seriously," he said.
What else did Putin say today?
The Russian leader also reiterated that Moscow would not declare a ceasefire in Ukraine until Kyiv takes steps that are "irreversible" and acceptable to the Kremlin.
He said it was pointless for Russia to attempt to appeal to the Ukrainian parliament when it came to Moscow's ideas to end the conflict between the two countries.
Mr Putin said last month that Russia would end the war in Ukraine only if Kyiv agreed to drop its NATO ambitions and hand over the entirety of four provinces claimed by Moscow, demands Kyiv swiftly rejected as tantamount to surrender.
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Analyze their response and tweak the joke accordingly if necessary. Starting your speech with humour means your setting the tone of your speech. It would make sense to have a few more jokes sprinkled around the rest of the speech as well as the audience might be expecting the same from you. 4. Mohammed Qahtani.
Create an outline: Develop a clear outline that includes the introduction, main points, supporting evidence, and a conclusion. Share this outline with the speaker for their input and approval. Write in the speaker's voice: While crafting the speech, maintain the speaker's voice and style.
A speech generator is an AI-powered tool designed to help users create well-structured and impactful speeches tailored to specific purposes and audiences. This tool synthesises input regarding the speech's topic, purpose, key points, target audience, and desired tone to produce a coherent and persuasive speech.
Step 1: Think of all the questions that can help you to set the theme of your speech. Step 2: Make a point to not include close-ended questions and questions that are simply TOO GENERIC. Step 3: The last element that your question must include is the element of curiosity.
Ethos refers to an appeal to your audience by establishing your authenticity and trustworthiness as a speaker. If you employ pathos, you appeal to your audience's emotions. Using logos includes the support of hard facts, statistics, and logical argumentation. The most effective speeches usually present a combination these rhetorical strategies.
5. Melissa Butler. Speech Ending: When you go home today, see yourself in the mirror, see all of you, look at all your greatness that you embody, accept it, love it and finally, when you leave the house tomorrow, try to extend that same love and acceptance to someone who doesn't look like you. 6.
Typical Patterns for Speech Openings. Get the audience's attention-called a hook or a grabber. Establish rapport and tell the audience why you care about the topic of why you are credible to speak on the topic. Introduce the speech thesis/preview/good idea. Tell the audience why they should care about this topic.
A part of speech (also called a word class) is a category that describes the role a word plays in a sentence.Understanding the different parts of speech can help you analyze how words function in a sentence and improve your writing. The parts of speech are classified differently in different grammars, but most traditional grammars list eight parts of speech in English: nouns, pronouns, verbs ...
A simple sentence contains a subject and a verb, and it may also have an object and modifiers. However, it contains only one independent clause. Key: Yellow, bold = subject; green underline = verb, blue, italics = object, pink, regular font =prepositional phrase. Here are a few examples: She wrote.
Knowing the different parts of speech is essential for good grammar. Become an expert at knowing when and what parts of speech to use with these examples. ... they're all stacked like bricks in a sentence — and you can't move one without bringing the whole sentence (or wall) down around it. These parts of speech examples demonstrate how ...
To understand easy English sentences, you need to break them down into even smaller parts. Sentences are made up of words. More specifically, they are made up of parts of speech. A part of speech defines what a word does in a sentence. The parts of speech are: Noun : A noun is a person, place or thing. Examples: Cat, table, king.
Ahrefs' Paraphrasing Tool uses a language model that learns patterns, grammar, and vocabulary from large amounts of text data - then uses that knowledge to generate human-like text based on a given prompt or input. The generated text combines both the model's learned information and its understanding of the input.
SpeechNinja is designed bottom up for real time conversations. This is what it's built for, and it's the best at it. It's all the small things that together make it the most suitable for the job: as clearing the text once spoken, having a log of recent sentences, single tap to speak a pre-typed sentence, quick edits, and more.
The parts of speech refer to categories to which a word belongs. In English, there are eight of them : verbs , nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Many English words fall into more than one part of speech category. Take the word light as an example. It can function as a verb, noun, or adjective.
Complex Sentence Generator is a free content rewriter that can potentially rephrase, reword, paraphrase and/or rewrite sentences, paragraphs, articles, content, words and/or phrases into a more complex, unorthodox or convoluted alternative while delivering the same meaning. The vocabulary of this sentence paraphraser contains an abundance of rarely used words/phrases and can paraphrase ...
Teaching Sentence Formulation Skills in Speech Therapy. One example of how we can make sentence building clear, direct, and more visual is by providing scaffolded supports that show sentence structure when working on sentence formulation. You might provide a sentence frame or even visual boxes that show the function of each sentence part like ...
The opening. Start with an opening that hooks your audience before making the overall topic of your speech clear. Get their attention and prepare them to focus on the words that will follow. For ...
MAKE A SPEECH definition | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples
Example sentences containing. make a speech. from English sources. An open mic allowed any member of the crowd to make a speech. I am going to make a speech about the benefits of laughter. CBS News reports that the president will make a speech tonight. As a university lecturer, it is often required to make a speech to a large audience.
The Economist. Mr Abe will also make a speech to Congress. 6. The Economist. The old man wanted belatedly to make a speech. 7. The New Yorker. Show more... High quality example sentences with "Make a speech" in context from reliable sources - Ludwig is the linguistic search engine that helps you to write better in English.
Joe Biden and Jill Biden both praised Biden's performance at the CNN Presidential Debate against former President Donald Trump. Some Democrats criticized Biden's performance and are ...
What We Know. The court handed down the ruling in a 6-3 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, joined by the other conservative justices. Justices Ketanji B. Jackson ...
speech, including speech they judge to be false or misleading. In 2020, with the outbreak of COVID-19, the platforms announced that they would enforce these policies against us ers who post false or misleading content about the pandemic. The platforms also applied misinfor-mation policies during the 2020 election season. During that period,
A woman in Germany has been given a harsher sentence than a convicted rapist after she was found guilty of defaming him. Maja R, a 20-year-old from Hamburg, called him a "disgraceful rapist pig ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court's ruling Monday in former President Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case makes it all but certain that the Republican will not face trial in Washington ahead of the November election.. The Supreme Court did not dismiss — as Trump had wanted — the indictment alleging he illegally schemed to cling to power after he lost to President Joe Biden.
Donald J. Trump accused immigrants of stealing "Black jobs" and "Hispanic jobs" during Thursday's debate, prompting criticism from Democrats and other social media users.
Content editing and enhancement. Ahrefs' AI Sentence Rewriter Tool can be highly useful for content creators, writers, and editors who want to improve the quality and clarity of their sentences. By inputting sentences into the tool, users can receive rephrased versions that offer enhanced readability, improved flow, and better overall structure.
"A transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day, Friday, July 5," a press release from ABC News states. A first look at the interview is scheduled to air on the Friday ...
"He wants to win and she wants that for him, and for the country," Ms. Alexander said. "She's his biggest supporter and champion, because she believes in him, and she fears for the future ...
Vladimir Putin has said Russia takes Donald Trump's declaration that he could end the war "completely seriously", although he doesn't know the details of the proposals. The US presidential ...