BE 422: Complex Grammar Templates for Impressive Business Comparisons
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 422, Complex Grammar Templates for Impressive Business Comparisons.

Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.

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Hey, Aubrey, how are you doing today? I'm great, Lindsay. How are you? Good, good. Yeah. What are we getting into today? I'm curious. How does today compare to yesterday for you?

Wow, Aubrey, honestly, Wednesdays are super busy for me, right? Few days are as packed in terms of meetings and camera work as Wednesdays because we usually record, oh no, Michelle and I usually record on Wednesdays actually. And then usually I'm filming something on Wednesday afternoon. So it's an on-camera day. Gotta be camera ready. Yes, camera ready.

That's right. Well, I love the way you answered this. This is a really impressive chunk and we're going to share a template for Lindsay's very impressive answer here when she said few days are as packed in terms of meetings and camera work as Wednesdays and then a couple of other great templates that have really interesting grammar. You can use this in emails, presentations if you're trying to use some more complex grammar structures.

Ooh, and I love that. And we do want to work towards speaking in a more complex way, not in a way that's confusing for us or others, but in a way that we can articulate more nuances, right? Exactly, right? And this makes it easy when you have a template and then you can just plug in the information, you know your grammar will be correct, right? Oh, this really can simplify email writing especially.

- All right, so let's get into the first template, the first construction. And what is it Aubrey? It's what I used at the top of the episode. - Exactly, this is few blank are as blank in terms of blank as blank. Sounds really complicated. This actually came up in our Q&A. One of our students had heard this complex phrase

and wanted to figure out how can I use this with other things, right? Plugging in other information. So let's give a couple of examples of what those might look like if we plug other information into that. When it comes to templates, it's all about examples. So here's an example. Few companies are as strict in terms of employee expectations as Sears. Is Sears still in business? I feel like it might be going down. I'm not actually sure. I worked for Sears in college and they were so strict. If you clocked in like one minute late,

then someone would speak there were like, you know, repercussions. It was so strict. It was kind of scary. Wow. Sounds scary if you're a high schooler. I know, right? Talk about learning a work ethic early. Exactly. Okay. All right. So that's a good example. What would be another example? So guys, envision the template and we're filling in the template with the example here.

Exactly. So another example, few activities are as helpful in terms of improved speaking fluency as our conversation club, open conversation club. I love this. So this, I want to kind of point out what we're plugging into these blanks, right? So we have a few and it's going to be a noun, few companies, few activities. It's going to be a plural noun because we're making a comparison here, right?

And then are as, this will be an adjective, are as strict, are as helpful here. Then we have in terms of, and we're sharing what are we comparing, right? For the first example, employee expectations are being compared. For the second example, improved speaking fluency. So whatever is being compared will come after in terms of, and then how does it end, Lindsay? A

few, so few active, sorry, few companies are as strict in terms of employee expectations as the thing, right? So a noun goes here. Exactly. So at the end, yeah, we have the noun that we're saying is better than all the rest, right? So the whole goal of this template is

is to make a comparison and to claim that something is better than its competitors, better than the other options, right? But what an interesting high level and impressive structure to do that. You could just say, "Sears is more strict than all other companies." What a boring sentence, right? - Boring, and it's the same thing. - Boring too if you say it over and over and over.

And what I like about this template is we could even take out the in terms of and even simplify it if we wanted to. A few ice cream shops are as delicious as Licks. That's my neighborhood ice cream shop. Okay. Good point. Yes. Right. Then it's even more flexible, right? You can just plug in a couple of nouns that you're comparing. Still better than saying Licks has the best ice cream, right? Sure. A few ice cream shops are as delicious as Licks.

Exactly. So guys, you're probably going to want to write these templates down today because you're going to be able to take these into your next meeting and start just using them immediately. Absolutely. Exactly. Right. When you're planning a presentation or if you're trying to improve, you know, have more complex grammar structure in any kind of business writing, even an email, then you might want to use this template.

- Yes, I love it. Let's move on to template two and what are we trying to say here for this number two? - All right, so this one is regardless of whether blank or blank. So you're comparing two things, whether one thing is true or the other.

And then we have if blank. So this is going to be if some kind of goal. Yeah. And then you need to blank or one needs to a company needs to write a little bit of flexibility. And so this is another great way to share, like regardless of some things that may or may not be true, sort of a hypothetical, what would need to happen?

I love it. So here's an example to fill in the blanks. Regardless of whether you are a CEO or an entry-level employee, if you want to be successful at work, you need to build connections.

Yes. Really interesting. So if you think about the other way we could say this, right? Just to say like, everyone needs to build connections. Okay, true, but kind of boring. And if you're wanting that more complex grammar, more impressive grammar structures, you can use a template like this and just fill in the blanks. Right. And it's making it more complex. If you're trying to drive home a point where

you're trying to say it's all about connections, which is what we believe here, then this is going to support that point better than just saying everyone should build connection. Absolutely. It's not just about complex grammar. It's about reinforcing the idea. Yeah. It makes your argument stronger.

Maybe a lawyer would use this kind of template, but not just lawyers, right? Anyone trying to say something interesting or persuading needs a template like this. I agree. This is very persuasive. Here's another example. Regardless of whether you see your role as vital or not, if you want to contribute to the project's success, you need to complete your tasks. Oh, this feels like a scolding session here. It is a little bit of a scolding, but it's interesting because the other option could be just like,

You have to complete your tasks, even if you don't, you know, like the other ways you could say it. This almost to use more flowery language, you're still getting the point across, but because you are using this more complex template, this complex grammar, it feels sort of couched in respect.

Do you agree? Pouched in respect. Sure. You're making a more thorough statement, a more thorough argument. And I also think there's a pronunciation piece here. There are a lot of commas in these templates, right? This last one had two full commas. And what do we do, Aubrey, when we see the comma in terms of pronunciation? What are we doing? Good point. We are doing a full pause, right? So here, the comma is after or blank. So regardless of whether you see your role as vital or not. Not.

pause because there's a comment there and then we have if blank so if you want to contribute to the project success and another comment after this another pause pause you need to complete your tasks yeah and what i think this could help our listeners with is being understood so the biggest panic moment we know based on we've talked to our listeners is in a meeting people don't understand you or in a presentation and they ask you to repeat and you repeat again they still don't understand you this is when panic starts right

It's a stressful situation. But if we're speaking in these more, ironically, if we're using more complex templates like this, we might be better understood because we're actually pausing in between our thoughts. Yes, really good point. But that has to be built in, right? You can't, if you were to say this whole thing with no pauses, it would be impossible to know what we're saying. If you're listening to it, you hear us pausing, emphasizing certain words. And I do want to point out as well for this template,

There is flexibility. Notice for the first time we have blank or blank. This can be two totally different things, right? Whether you are a CEO or an entry level employee. But you can also do what we did in the second example here and just say, regardless of whether blank or not, right? Regardless of whether this is important or not.

- Or not. - So the second link could just be or not. So whether one thing is true or not. - Or not, okay. So that gives us even more flexibility, Aubrey. - Absolutely. - Good stuff. Wow, this is a value packed episode, Aubrey. I can't believe there's a third. This is great.

And this one is especially important because we see a lot of mistakes with this one. Especially IELTS students will try to use this structure. And unfortunately, if you change words, if it's a little off, it's incorrect. So let's go over how to do this one right. It's not only blank, but also blank. So this is kind of a more simple template, very common in English writing and speaking, but it's easy to mess it up.

Oh my gosh. So what do we need after not only? What has to go there for it to be? I've also heard this one get kind of slaughtered a little bit before. Yes, exactly. So we're going to talk about that. We want to share, first of all, when you would use this, right? This is used to highlight that something unexpected or more surprising occurred, right? But the structure's in

like we were saying. So after not only, you need an auxiliary verb, a helping verb. So it's going to be like do, did, are, can, should, lots of different helping verbs. That's one mistake that might be made. You can't have just not only,

you know, subject or verb, we need a helping verb. So for example, not only do we need to file for an extension, so it starts with that helping verb, then we have this whole thought, then, but also, and what would come after that, Lindsay? But also we need to do it before April 15th.

Yeah, so this is one option. There is a lot of flexibility, which does make this more difficult to get right every time. It can be subject verb, but also we need to, right? Subject verb. There are, of course, other options, right? You could say, not only is he presenting in front of the board, but he has also been asked to do the keynotes, to be the keynote speaker at the conference. Again, here, subject verb.

But you could just say, you know, not only is he presenting, but he has, you know, it wouldn't have to be a subject verb. And we don't have to say the also too, right? Could we take the also out, Aubrey, do you think? Yeah, that's a good point, right? So if you have subject verb, then you don't have to have the but also. So you could say...

not only do we need to file for an extension, but we need to do it before April 15th. Yeah. Right. But also is really especially where we're wanting to emphasize something was surprising, shocking, unexpected. You're contrasting not only but also, but you can get away with not having the also piece. Okay. Yes. Good. Yeah. These are really good guys. Make sure you've written these down and you come back, maybe listen again. But now after the break, we're going to do a little role play to see this in action again. Okay. Yes.

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The 2025 GMC Sierra lineup featuring the Sierra 1500 heavy duty and EV because true bliss is removing every shadow from every doubt. We are professional grade. Visit GMC.com to learn more. Okay. Aubrey back here, uh, here you and I are coworkers discussing a new policy. Okay. All right. I'll start us out. Yes. I guess we have to clock in now. Did you know that?

Oh, yeah. Regardless of whether you work from home or come into an office, the office, if you're an hourly employee, you need to clock in. Wait, so this not only applies to those at the office, but also to those who are remote. How will that work?

Well, they're using software that allows you to clock in online. Okay, that makes sense. All right, so we used two of them here. I think there was another one. Oh, no, there's more. Go to the next one. Yes, let's hear it. It should work well. Few tasks are as vital in terms of getting paid for your work as recording your hours. Nice. So we have all three here. Nice. I missed that. Okay, perfect.

And I think there is a little bit of a, like, we need to make sure we have the right moment to use this. Because if it's a very social, quick interaction, and we use these deep templates, it could sound a little inappropriate, like out of context. Don't you think, Dobri? Yeah, this does sound very formal, right? So this would definitely, if I did hear two co-workers having this conversation,

it would be clear to me that they don't know each other well, right? They haven't, they're still staying very formal with their speech. They're using these more formal grammar structures, which could happen. But if you know someone well, we've talked about this a lot on the podcast that we start shortening things. We're speaking more quickly, right? We don't have time to use these more complex structures.

Yeah. So I think, you know, reserving these for when you're driving home a point in a meeting, for example, and you have people's ear, you're needing to convey you're in a courtroom. A presentation. Absolutely. It's a bit more on stage, right? For me, this conversation feels kind of out of sync because I'm, is it me or you? I don't know. One of us is being very casual, right? Well, I guess we're both kind of using the templates though, but then we're going back to the quick, well, how will that work? Oh, that makes sense.

It's a little, I can see what you're saying, right? I'm trying to give us a role play where we would say this, but really it would make sense maybe to have one of us be giving a presentation or something where we would be using these grammar structures at work to up-level what we're saying. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. Cause otherwise you might sound, if you're the one using these deeper templates,

It might sound like you're trying to give a speech to the person, but they're like, "Hey, how was your weekend?" And then you go into your template and it feels really out of sync. So we want to always be in sync. Yeah, that's a good point. That's one time when these role plays are a little tricky if we're trying to make it a back and forth conversation. For something like this, where the goal is really to use more complex grammar structures, then that wouldn't happen nearly as often in a back and forth conversation.

Yes, totally. Hopefully our listeners got that nuance. It's a little bit nuanced, but I think we're getting how it feels, right? It's that feeling of something's not quite right here. Yeah. Let's go through it though. Aubrey, what did I say first? So you first used our second template, regardless of whether you work from home or come into the office,

If you're an hourly employee, you need to clock in. So we're just plugging this information into that template. And this could be potentially something that someone would say, right? But there are definitely more informal ways to say this, right? Whether you work at home or in the office, everybody has to clock in.

Yeah, or kind of, you know what it feels like it reminds me of asking ChatGPT a question and then she comes back at you with this kind of speech, which is really out of sync with what you were asking, right? Right, especially if it's a back and forth conversation. Like, okay, that feels a little formal. Yeah. And then I said, wait, so this not only applies to those at the office, but also to those who are remote. So this is our not only but also conversation.

works, but is a little formal, right? If it's just a back and forth conversation, then I might not need to uplevel my grammar like that. Yeah. And I think that one's a little less intense than the template, the first template, right? So you could probably get away with that one there in that scenario, right? Yeah. And then you said few tasks are as vital in terms of getting paid for your work as recording your hours. I really love this template. If you're wanting to

you know, to sound a little more impressive, right? You don't want to just use simple sentences. We're always talking about combine those simple sentences into compound and complex structures, but sometimes that's difficult to know how to do. So this is a great template that you can plug information in to do that. But yes, even this one sounds the most formal here in a back and forth conversation. Yes, definitely better for a presentation, meetings, maybe even like a job interview where you're trying to sound a little more formal.

Yeah, but this is incredibly important. I'm so glad we brought up these templates today because it's about, it's amazing. Think about the power of your words. Sometimes if we can say something in a more complex way, our words carry more sway and maybe it shouldn't be that way. We have to make sure we understand the concept. Sometimes people will use complex words when they don't understand what they're saying, what they're actually saying, the concept itself. That's not what we're talking about here, right?

But as long as we understand the topic and we drive it home with some complexity, that can be powerful in terms of convincing people. Yeah, I do feel like sometimes we listen more closely when someone starts with a more complex grammar structure like this. Like, oh, I feel like they're going to say something important I need to listen in. You got it. I love it. So powerful and such a good connection skill. All right, Aubrey, thanks for bringing us to the show today. Awesome. Thanks, guys. All right. Take care. Bye. Bye.

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