Week 06 — Punctuation, collocations, shadowing (light week)¶

This week

Grammar: Punctuation and style: commas, dashes, semicolons · Vocabulary: Verb-noun collocations (make a case, raise a concern, reach a consensus) · Idioms & phrasal verbs: Phrasal verbs in meetings: bring up, follow up, wrap up · Speaking: Shadowing practice 1 · Writing: Tightening paragraphs · Soft skill: Storytelling basics: context, conflict, resolution

Light week: 20 minutes a day, 6 exercise items, 3 new words. Use the spare time to re-read your error log.

Day 1 — Grammar: Punctuation and style: commas, dashes, semicolons¶

⏱ 20 min · Mon

Rule in 60 seconds¶

Comma + conjunction joins two independent clauses: "The build passed, but the deploy failed." Without the conjunction it is a comma splice: use a semicolon or full stop.
Semicolon joins two closely related independent clauses: "The build passed; the deploy failed." Also separates complex list items that contain commas. Do not use it before a list (use a colon) and do not use it with a dependent clause.
Colon introduces an explanation, list or quotation after a complete clause: "We have two options: extend or cut scope."
Commas after introductory phrases ("In 2024, we..."), around non-defining clauses ("The service, which we built in 2019, is..."), and between items in a list. No comma before a defining clause ("The engineer who wrote it has left") and none between subject and verb ("The team that owns it, decided" is wrong).
Dashes: an em dash (—) marks an aside or emphasis, used sparingly; a hyphen joins compound modifiers before a noun ("a low-latency service", "a 30-day window") but not after ("the service is low latency" in most styles). Do not hyphenate adverb + adjective ("a highly available system").
The error fluent speakers make: comma splices (very common); commas between subject and verb; missing commas after introductory phrases; over-using semicolons and dashes. Serial (Oxford) comma is optional but be consistent; US business style usually uses it.

Exercise¶

Correct the punctuation.

The build passed, the deploy failed.
However we decided to proceed.
The team that owns the service, is on call this week.
We have three options extend the deadline, cut scope, or add people.
It is a high performance low latency service.
Our vendor which we chose in 2022 has raised prices.

Answers and explanations

"The build passed; the deploy failed." (or "..., but the deploy failed."; a comma alone is a splice.) 2. "However, we decided to proceed." (comma after the introductory adverb.) 3. Remove the comma: "The team that owns the service is on call this week." 4. "We have three options: extend the deadline, cut scope or add people." (colon after a complete clause.) 5. "It is a high-performance, low-latency service." (compound modifiers hyphenated; comma between coordinate adjectives.) 6. "Our vendor, which we chose in 2022, has raised prices." (non-defining clause: commas.)

Use it¶

Take a paragraph from one of your recent emails and check every comma against the rules above. Fix at least one.

Day 2 — Vocabulary: Verb-noun collocations (make a case, raise a concern)¶

⏱ 20 min · Tue

Word	Part of speech	Meaning	Example
make a case (for/against)	verb + noun collocation	present arguments and evidence to persuade	She made a strong case for consolidating the two data stores.
raise a concern	verb + noun collocation	state a worry formally or openly so it is considered	Several engineers raised concerns about the rollout plan.
reach a consensus	verb + noun collocation	arrive at general agreement (not necessarily unanimity)	After two workshops, the group reached a consensus on the data model.

Collocations and word family¶

make a case / a decision / a recommendation / progress / a commitment / an exception (not do a decision).
raise a concern / an issue / a question / an objection / awareness; voice a concern; address a concern; dismiss a concern.
reach a consensus / an agreement / a decision / a conclusion / a compromise. Avoid "reach to". Consensus of opinion is redundant.

Exercise¶

She ___ a compelling case for paying down technical debt. (made / did)
It is good practice to ___ concerns early. (raise / rise)
The committee finally ___ a consensus. (reached / arrived)
Which is redundant: "general consensus" / "consensus of opinion" / "reach consensus"? (Note the debate.)
Review (Week 1): we cannot ___ the claim without data.
Review (Week 5): the go-live ___ on legal sign-off.

Answers and explanations

made (make a case). 2. raise (rise is intransitive). 3. reached (arrived at a consensus also works; "reached" is the common collocation, so "arrived" is not wrong but less usual). 4. "consensus of opinion" and "general consensus" are commonly criticized as redundant (consensus already means general agreement); usage guides differ, so avoid both in formal writing. 5. substantiate. 6. hinges on.

Use it¶

Say three sentences about your team using make a case, raise a concern and reach a consensus.

Day 3 — Speaking: Shadowing practice 1¶

⏱ 20 min · Wed

Prompt¶

Shadow a 60-90 second clip of a clear speaker: a TED talk (ted.com), a BBC Learning English "6 Minute English" episode (bbc.co.uk/learningenglish), or a conference talk you like. Shadowing = speak along, about half a second behind, copying stress, rhythm, intonation.

Structure¶

Listen once for meaning (2 min). 2. Read the transcript, mark stressed words and pauses (3 min). 3. Shadow sentence by sentence (8 min). 4. Shadow the whole clip, then record yourself and compare (5 min).

Pronunciation micro-drill¶

Copy thought groups and pauses exactly.
Copy linking: consonant-to-vowel ("pick_it_up").
Copy weak forms of function words.
Note three words you mispronounce and check them at a dictionary site (Cambridge or Oxford Learner's Dictionaries) or with YouGlish (youglish.com) to hear real speakers.

Self-check¶

I matched the speaker's pauses.
I copied stress on content words.
I identified three difficult words.
I recorded and compared a sentence.
I did not read the transcript while shadowing the final pass.

Day 4 — Idioms & phrasal verbs: Phrasal verbs in meetings: bring up, follow up, wrap up¶

⏱ 20 min · Thu

Expression	Meaning	Example
bring up	mention or introduce a topic; neutral	Can I bring up the budget before we finish?
follow up (on/with)	take further action after something; verb form; the noun is follow-up	I'll follow up with the vendor on Monday.
wrap up	finish or conclude (a meeting, a task); neutral to informal	Let's wrap up; we're out of time.

Exercise¶

"Someone should ___ up the security concern at the review."
"I'll send a ___-up email tomorrow." (follow)
"It's 4:55; let's ___ up."
Rewrite plainly: "I'd like to bring up a new issue."
Which is a noun: follow up or follow-up?
Rewrite idiomatically: "Let's conclude the meeting."

Answers and explanations

bring. 2. follow (noun with hyphen). 3. wrap. 4. "I'd like to raise a new issue." 5. follow-up (noun; verb is two words). 6. "Let's wrap up."

When NOT to use them

In formal minutes, prefer raise, conclude, act on. Do not stack them ("Let me bring up a follow-up before we wrap up") in one breath.

Day 5 — Writing: Tightening paragraphs¶

⏱ 20 min · Fri

Bad draft (74 words)¶

There are a number of different reasons why we believe that the migration should probably be delayed. First of all, the testing that we have done so far has shown that there are several issues that still need to be resolved. In addition to that, the team members who are working on the migration have been very busy with other tasks, so it is difficult for them to focus. Because of these reasons, I think we should delay it.

Task¶

Cut to 45 words or fewer, lead with the recommendation, and use one semicolon or colon correctly.

Model answer and what changed

We should delay the migration for two reasons: testing has found unresolved issues, and the team is stretched across other work. I recommend moving the date by two weeks and reviewing progress on 20 October.

The recommendation is first.
"A number of different reasons... we believe... probably" became "for two reasons".
The colon introduces the reasons after a complete clause.
"have been very busy with other tasks so it is difficult to focus" became "stretched across other work".
Added a concrete next step.

Day 6 — Speaking record: Shadowing practice 1 (2-minute recording)¶

⏱ 20 min · Sat

Task¶

Record 2 minutes: summarize in your own words the clip you shadowed on Wednesday, then give your opinion in two sentences. Use the same rhythm and signposts you copied.

Structure¶

Topic (15 s) -> Three key points (60 s) -> Your opinion and one example from work (30 s) -> Close (15 s).

Scoring rubric (1-4)¶

Criterion	1	2	3	4
Clarity	hard to follow	main idea recoverable	clear	effortless
Structure	no order	partial	clear start and end	signposted
Fluency	frequent long pauses	noticeable hesitations	occasional	smooth
Grammar accuracy	blocks meaning	frequent errors	occasional	rare
Vocabulary range	basic	some variety	good	precise, varied
Pronunciation	unintelligible in places	needs effort	mostly clear	clear stress and rhythm

Shadowing task¶

Shadow 3 minutes of a different clip and mark the first sentence you cannot match. Repeat that sentence five times.

Log your score: date, total /24, compare with Week 4.

Day 7 — Soft skills + weekly review: Storytelling basics: context, conflict, resolution¶

⏱ 20 min · Sun

Scenario¶

You are asked to open an all-hands with a two-minute story about a real incident from your team to show why investing in resilience matters. The audience includes executives and new hires.

Task¶

Write about 150 words following Context -> Conflict -> Resolution, ending with the point.

Model response and techniques

"Last November, at 2 a.m., a tracking update froze for six hours. A customer in Rotterdam could not see where 400 containers were. (Context)

The problem was a single database that every service shared. When one query stalled, everything stalled. Our on-call engineer, Nia, had no runbook and spent three hours finding the cause. (Conflict)

By morning she had isolated the query and restored service. Since then we have split the database, written the runbook, and reduced similar incidents from five a year to one. (Resolution)

The point: resilience work is not glamorous, but it is what lets an engineer sleep and a customer trust us."

Techniques: a specific opening (time, place, number); tension arrives quickly; a person, not an abstraction; resolution with a measurable result; the point stated at the end.

Weekly recap (20 items)¶

Fix: "The build passed, the deploy failed." 2. Colon or semicolon before a list? 3. Comma after "However"? 4. Fix: "a high performance service". 5. Should a comma separate subject and verb? 6. Non-defining clause: commas? 7. Collocation: ___ a case. 8. ___ a concern. 9. ___ a consensus. 10. Is "general consensus" recommended? 11. Meaning of bring up. 12. Follow up vs follow-up. 13. Wrap up. 14. What is shadowing? 15. Name one thing to copy when shadowing. 16. First step in tightening a paragraph? 17. What do you do with "I believe that"? 18. Story arc: three parts? 19. Where does the point go in a workplace story? 20. Review: define de-risk.

Answers and explanations

Use a semicolon, or a comma plus but. 2. Colon (after a full clause). 3. Yes. 4. "a high-performance service". 5. No. 6. Yes. 7. make. 8. raise. 9. reach. 10. Not for formal writing (redundant). 11. Mention or introduce a topic. 12. Verb (two words) vs noun (hyphenated). 13. Finish. 14. Speaking along with a recording, copying rhythm and stress. 15. Stress, pauses, intonation, linking. 16. Put the conclusion first. 17. Usually delete. 18. Context, conflict, resolution. 19. At the end, tied to the audience. 20. Reduce the risk or uncertainty of a project.

Self-score¶

I corrected at least 5 of 6 punctuation items.
I can use make a case, raise a concern, reach a consensus.
I shadowed for at least 10 minutes this week.
My tightened paragraph led with the point.
I told a short story with a clear arc.

Error log: write your top 3 recurring mistakes. Spend the spare minutes re-reading your log from Weeks 1-5 and checking whether any items have disappeared.