You are receiving this email from The Beckham Publications Group Inc because you purchased a product/service or subscribed on our website. To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add barry@beckhamhouse.com to your address book today. If you haven't done so already, click to confirm your interest in receiving email campaigns from us.
 
You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Better English 101
Timely Communication Tips
13 May 2008, Issue 19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A New E-Course
-- Have You Turned a Phrase Lately?
-- But I Don't Agree
-- Speaking Better--21-Part E-course

Are you wondering why the subtitle is Timely Communication Tips? Well, people have written kind letters referring to my blog, my grammar letter, my letter, and even my magazine. So I thought I'd try to make my purpose clearer: it's a newsletter about communication tips. And thank you for the compliments.

Have You Turned a Phrase Lately?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 It's enjoyable to read writers who add some spice to their language --especially journalists who are on a tight deadline.

You can't help but admire the pun by AP Baseball writer Ben Walker who described this change in a team that was having trouble hitting: "Jason Giambi and the sluggish New York Yankees suddenly turned sluggerish."

One columnist, urging Senator Clinton to drop her fight to seat the delegations from Florida and Michigan, wrote, "Mrs. Clinton should not pursue this nuclear option."

And last summer, Ian Urbana of the NYT, in describing Virginia's plan to impose huge new traffic fines observed: "The fines were to raise money for road projects, but they have also raised Cain, with more than 100,000 people having signed a petition calling for their repeal."

Often I have to upload files that are too large to send by email. Here's the solution I'll share with you...


But I Don't Agree
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 It's always a challenge, I remembered, to say diplomatically that you don't agree. I was listening to the TV sportscaster explaining why he disagreed with his co-host: "There is no question that there is that argument," he replied. Nice respose, I thought.

What are some other terms we can use to express our differing opinions? Try these:

  • Of course, but you see...
  • Further than that, I might add...
  • To tell the truth, I...
  • I always had an idea that...
  • Nonetheless, I am sure...
  • It is very evident that...
  • In all sincerity, this is...
  • In all probability, but...
  • It happened to occur to me that...


Speaking Better--21-Part E-course
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Welcome to Lesson One of Speaking Better.

This is the beginning of a 21-part e-course on speaking tips. Each lesson will be inserted in the newsletter. Hope you enjoy and learn.

Afraid of getting up in front of a crowd to speak? Do you perspire, hear your chest pounding, breath heavily and fear a heart attack?

In this series you will learn how to overcome your fears, be calm and feel confident when delivering a speech or talking in front of others. Prepare and be confident, and you will be competent.

First, be sure that you have all your information in an organized, planned mannner. Then you won't be nervous because you might say the wrong thing or give the wrong information.

Summarize your main theme, the message you want to convey. Do you want to entertain...inform...advise? Write down everything you want to convey--and work from there.

Now that you have your summary, get every bit of information that you can for each part of your summary. You want to write out your talk with accurate information.

Make sure that your titles and subtitles are catchy. You want to catch and hold the attention of the audience.

Read your speech repeatedly until you can deliver it without looking at your notes. You want to maintain eye contact with your audience, and that isn't likely if you are reading from note cards. It's okay to glance at your cards occasionally.

But the key is to memorize the main points of your speech before you deliver it. You will definitely cut down on the nervous factor and keep the attention of your audience.


Quick Links...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  • Newsletter
  • Beckham Publications


    • Contact Information
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Email Marketing by