Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English collocations for emphasizing a point.

Speaking English well isn’t just about speaking correctly. It’s about choosing words that make an impact, and about influencing people’s thoughts and feelings. And if you study the habits of great speakers, you’ll hear them use emphasis effectively. A great speaker won’t just say he “recommends” something. Instead, he might say he “strongly recommends” something. That word “strongly” triples the impact.

But how would you know that we say “strongly recommend” and not “heavily recommend” or “deeply recommend?” Well, “strongly recommend” is the natural combination of words that native speakers use. These natural combinations of words are called collocations. A collocation is just two or more words that native speakers commonly use together. And you can learn collocations of emphasis to sound more natural and increase the impact of what you say.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to the end of a presentation on the topic of leadership. Maria is summarizing her main points. During her presentation she uses several collocations to emphasize her ideas. Try to pick out these collocations, and we’ll talk about them later in the debrief.

Listening Questions

1. Maria asks her listeners to think of a person. What type of person does she ask them to think about?
2. What does Maria say about a great speech that isn’t supported by action?
3. What does Maria think about people’s search for meaning in work?

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Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on business English collocations used to emphasize a point.

If you want to make an impact when you speak, you need to learn the importance of emphasis. I mean, if sales increased, that’s great. But what if they increased a lot? Or you might be concerned about something, but what if you’re very concerned? “A lot” and “very” are used for emphasis. But you don’t want to only use “a lot” and “very.” If you use any word or expression too much, it will lose its impact.

In this lesson, we’ll listen to the end of a presentation about the financial performance of an airline. The speaker is talking about what the company can expect to see in the coming year. And during the presentation, as well as during the question and answer session, the speakers give emphasis to their ideas using “collocations.”

A collocation is just a pair or group of words that go together naturally. For example, instead of saying something “increased a lot,” you can say it “increased sharply.” The words “increase” and “sharply” often go together. And if you want to say you are “very concerned,” you can say “deeply concerned.” That’s a natural way of emphasizing the idea of being “concerned.”

Native speakers use these word combinations naturally. And if you want to sound natural, it’s a good idea to learn these collocations. As you listen to the dialog, try to pick out some of these collocations, and we’ll talk about them later in the debrief.

In the dialog, we’ll hear Leo, the presenter, talking about some of the key financial indicators the airline uses to track its performance. We’ll also hear two managers, Rita and Mike, ask questions at the end of the presentation.

Listening Questions

1. What does Leo say the company has achieved in terms of costs?
2. How does Rita feel about the positive attitude concerning profits?
3. What does Leo say about non-fuel cost growth in their company, compared to other companies?

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Download: Podcast MP3