[Writing]The husband should bring most of the money in the family

The husband should bring most of money in the family?

It seems a weird question for NON-ASIAN but it is really a big question for ASIAN people, especially the Vietnamese. I did a small survey on my friends and saw that most of them agreed that the husband should bring most of money for the family.

Let's see what the majority of men talk about this phenomenon. There were many different options however they all agreed that man is the breadwinner of family then they must have responsibility to guard the family. They needed to do the important tasks in family and earn money to ensure that all family members have the good standard of life. However, they also admitted that in the modern life they cannot earn enough money for their family and they need supports from their wife. They also wish that they can earn much money in order to let their wives stay at home and take care of their children as well as do housework.

How about women? What do they think? I did the survey on my relatives who are modern women and realized that all of them don't like to stay at home to do housework and take care of baby, including me. My aunt, an intelligent woman, has the master degree and is working with high salary said that her husband can earn enough money for their family to have an affluent life. And she used to think about staying at home to take care of children but finally she decided to hire a babysitter to help her take care of their children because she didn't want to lose all knowledge that she learned at school. She wanted to use what she learned to devote to society, and moreover, she wanted to be financially independent of her husband.

The second woman I interviewed was my cousin. She has neither graduated from a famous university nor earned a high salary but she wanted to go to work to have the social relationships. She felt stressful when she was in maternity leave. She accepted to pay 60% her salary to send her daughter to the school. She knows that the amount of money she earns cannot support the family but it makes her happier.

Finally, I would say that in Vietnam the majority of men want their wives to stay at home to take care of children while most of the women want to go to work and to be treated as equally as men. In my perspective, I prefer to go to work to gain the financial autonomy and do our dream but in case I must stay at home for some special reason, I am willing to do that.

[Grammar]Comparative correlative

Definition:

In grammar, a minor sentence pattern containing two corresponding phrases or clauses, each one headed by the and expressing a comparative: the X-er . . . the X-er or the X-er . . . the Y-er.

The comparative correlative is also known as thecorrelative construction, the conditional comparative, or the "the . . . the" construction.

Grammatically, the comparative correlative is a type of paired construction. Rhetorically, the comparative correlative is often (but not always) a type ofparison.

Examples and Observations:

• The greater the risk, the greater the return.



• The harder the conflict, the greater the triumph.



• The deeper our sorrows, the louder we'll sing.



• "Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art."
  (Maya Angelou, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now. Random House, 1993)



• "The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have."
  (William Hazlitt, The Spirit of the Age, 1825)



• "The older the men are here, the more likely it is that they are wearing suits and ties."
  (John McPhee, "Giving Good Weight." Giving Good Weight. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979)



• "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
  (Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars, 1977)



• "The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it."
  (Seneca)



• "The greater your achievements, the less satisfactory your personal and domestic life will be."
  (Saul Bellow, More Die of Heartbreak. William Morrow, 1987)



• "The more you pay attention to the richness of the world, the more you allow your interest to be absorbed by things outside of you, the more interesting a person you will become. And the more you pay attention to the world outside you, the more it gives back: by a kind of miracle, it will become a more interesting place."
  (Barbara Baig, How to Be a Writer: Building Your Creative Skills Through Practice and Play. Writer's Digest Books, 2010)



• The More the Merrier
  "This construction--schematically [the X-er the Y-er]--is commonly referred to as the correlative construction (Culicover 1999: 83-5); Culicover and Jackendoff 1999; Fillmore, Kay, and O'Connor 1988). It conveys that any increase (or decrease) in the value of X is associated with, and may even be construed as the cause of, an increase (or decrease) in the value of Y. A notable feature of the construction is the fact that the word the which features in it is not a determiner and is therefore not to be identified with the definite articlethe. Some instantiations of the construction:

  (16a) The more I know the more I worry. 
  (16b) The less they have to say the more they talk. 
  (16c) The bigger they are the harder they fall. 
  (16d) The earlier you start the more you chance you have of being successful. 
  (16e) The bigger the risk the bigger the payout. 
  (16f) The less said the better.

  It is also worth noting that although the correlative construction is highly unusual, given the general principles of English syntax, it is not totally isolated from the rest of the language. There are, in fact, quite a few bipartite expressions in which the first element is presented as the cause, precondition, or explanation for the second. Like the correlative construction, these expressions lack a finite verb. Here are some examples:

  (17a) Garbage in, garbage out. 
  (17b) Out of the frying pan (and) into the fire. 
  (17c) Easy come, easy go. 
  (17d) Cold hands, warm heart. 
  (17e) Once bitten, twice shy. 
  (17f) Out of sight, out of mind. 
  (17g) Once a whinger, always a whinger.* 
  (17h) One for me (and) one for you. 
  (17i) First come, first served. 
  (17j) Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

  "* This expression instantiates the construction [ONCE A N, ALWAYS A N]. Examples from the BNC [British National Corpus] include once a Catholic, always a Catholic; once a Russian, always a Russian; once a misfit, always a misfit; once a dealer, always a dealer. The construction conveys that a person is not able to change their personality or their entrenched behaviour."
  (John R. Taylor, The Mental Corpus: How Language is Represented in the Mind. Oxford University Press, 2012)



• the . . . the
  "(129) The more John eats the less he wants.
  
  "This construction . . . is composed of two phrases, each of which expresses a comparative. Both may be of the form the more XP . . ., in which case the first is interpreted as a subordinate clause and the second as a main clause. Or, the first clause can simply contain a comparative, e.g. John wants less, in which case the first clause is interpreted as the main clause and the second is interpreted as a subordinate clause.
  
  "Of particular relevance to the present discussion is the fact that the internal structure of the more . . . is sui generis, in the sense that the learner must simply acquire the knowledge that an expression of this form can be used in the way that we have described. As shown by Culicover and Jackendoff (1998), the morefunctions as an operator that binds a variable, and the chain that is formed is subject to the usual locality constraints. The form the more . . . must be initial in the clause, and cannot piedpipe a preposition . . .."
  (Peter W. Culicover, Syntactic Nuts: Hard Cases, Syntactic Theory, and Language Acquisition. Oxford University Press, 1999)



• The Little Word the
  "(6) The more a student studies, the better grades she will receive
  
  In English, both the first phrase and the second phrase obligatorily begin with the little word the. The unacceptability of (7a) is due to the absence of the in the first clause, in (7b) in the second clause, in (7c), the absence of the in both clauses unsurprisingly also results in unacceptability.

  (7a) * More a student studies, the better grades she will receive. 
  (7b) * The more a student studies, better grades she will receive. 
  (7c) * More a student studies, better grades she will receive."

  (Ronald P. Leow, Little Words: Their History, Phonology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, and Acquisition. Georgetown University Press, 2009)

Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/Comparative-Correlatives.htm

[Grammar]Comparative/superlative

Comparative is the name for the grammar used when comparing two things. The two basic ways to compare are using as .. as or than. Examples of each are shown below:

• She's twice as old as her sister.
• He's not as stupid as he looks!
• I'm almost as good in maths as in science.
• This book is not as exciting as the last one.
• The cafeteria is not as crowded as usual.
• Russian is not quite as difficult as Chinese.

• This computer is better than that one.
• She's stronger at chess than I am.
• It's much colder today than it was yesterday.
• Our car is bigger than your car.
• This grammar topic is easier than most others.
• I find science more difficult than mathematics.
• Today's ESL lesson was more interesting than usual.

Note: In each of the example sentences above, the comparative form of the adjective is shown. See the foot of this page for information about the comparison of adverbs.

When comparing with as .. as, the adjective does not change. When comparing with than, however, some changes are necessary, depending on the number of syllables the adjective has:

1-syllable adjectives: add -er to the adjective

• My sister is much taller than me.†
• It's colder today than it was yesterday.

Note: If the word ends: consonant-vowel-consonant, then the last consonant is usually doubled in the comparative. Examples: big-bigger, fat-fatter, hot-hotter.

2-syllable adjectives ending in -y: change the -y to -ier

• She's looking happier today.
• This grammar topic is easier than the last one.
• Why is everyone else luckier than me? †

Beware: Do not confuse adjectives and adverbs. 2-syllable adverbs ending in -y must be compared with the word more. Example: I drive more quickly (quicklier) than my brother.

Other 2-syllable adjectives: use more with the unchanged adjective

• The shops are always more crowded just before Christmas.
• Is there anything more boring than reading about grammar?
• My sister is more careful with her writing than I am with mine.

Note: The comparative of some shorter 2-syllable adjectives can be formed with -er. Examples: simple-simpler, clever-cleverer, narrow-narrower. To be sure which comparative method to use, you will need to consult a good dictionary.

Adjectives with 3 or more syllables: use more with the unchanged adjective

• Russian grammar is more difficult than English grammar.
• My sister is much more intelligent than me.†
• I find maths lessons more enjoyable than science lessons.
• The older you get, the more irritating you become.

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In the superlative you talk about one thing only and how it is the best, worst, etc. You do not compare two things. The following guidelines apply to the superlative:

1-syllable adjectives: add -est to the adjective (plus the)

• My sister is the tallest in our family.
• Yesterday was the coldest day of the year so far.

Note: If the word ends: consonant-vowel-consonant, then the last consonant is usually doubled in the superlative. Examples: big-biggest, fat-fattest, hot-hottest.

2-syllable adjectives ending in -y: change the -y to -iest (plus the)

• The richest people are not always the happiest.
• Which do you think is the easiest language to learn?
• She's the luckiest person I know.

Beware: Do not confuse adjectives and adverbs. 2-syllable adverbs ending in -y form their superlative with the words the most. Example: Of all the people I know my father drives the most quickly (quickliest).

Other 2-syllable adjectives: use the most with the unchanged adjective

• The most boring thing about ESL class is doing grammar exercises.
• My sister is the most careful person I know.

Note: The superlative of some shorter 2-syllable adjectives can be formed with -er. Examples: simple-simplest, clever-cleverest, narrow-narrowest. To be sure which superlative method to use, you will need to consult a good dictionary.

Adjectives with 3 or more syllables: use the most with the unchanged adjective

• Some people think that Russian is the most difficult language.
• Albert Einstein was the most intelligent person in history.
• My most enjoyable class is English.
• You are the most irritating person I have ever met!

Following are two common irregular comaparative/superlative forms:

• good-better-the best
• bad-worse-the worst

---

The following guidelines apply to the comparative/superlative of mostadverbs:

1-syllable adverbs: add -er/-est

• I can run faster than you. / I can run the fastest in my class.
• She works harder than me.† / She works the hardest of all students.

Other adverbs: use more / the most*

• She ran more quickly than me.† / Of all the students she ran the most quickly.

* In informal English it is common to hear the adjectival comparative/superlative form of two-syllable adverbs. For example: She ran quicker than me.† | She ran the quickest.

† Many educated English speakers prefer to use the nominative plus a verb rather than the accusative in such comparative sentences, especially in formal situations. They say, for example, My sister is taller than I am. or She ran more quickly than I did.The alternative, omitting the verb as in the following examples, is considered to be even more formal and is avoided by most British English speakers: My sister is taller than I. or She ran more quickly than I.

Source: http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/rules/comp.htm

Writing Effective Emails

Email is a widely used tool for business communications, but a 2013 survey by Sendmail, Inc., found that it has caused tension, confusion, or other negative consequences for 64 percent of working professionals.
So, how can you avoid your emails doing this? And how can you write emails that get the results you want?
This article looks at strategies you can use to ensure that your use of email is clear, effective, and successful.

Writing Effective Emails

The average office worker receives around 80 emails each day. With that volume of mail, individual messages can easily get overlooked. Follow these simple rules to get your emails noticed and acted upon.

1. Don't overcommunicate by email.
2. Make good use of subject lines.
3. Keep messages clear and brief.
4. Be polite.
5. Check your tone.
6. Proofread.

1. Don't Overcommunicate by Email

One of the biggest sources of stress at work is the sheer volume of emails that people receive. So, before you begin writing an email, ask yourself: "Is this really necessary?"
As part of this, you should use the phone or IM to deal with questions that are likely to need some back-and-forth discussion. Use our Communications Planning Tool   to identify the channels that are best for different types of message.
Also, email is not as secure as you might want it to be, particularly as people may forward emails without thinking to delete the conversation history. So avoid sharing sensitive or personal information in an email, and don't write about anything that you, or the subject of your email, wouldn't like to see plastered on a billboard by your office.
Whenever possible, deliver bad news   in person. This helps you to communicate with empathy, compassion, and understanding, and to make amends   if your message has been taken the wrong way.

2. Make Good Use of Subject Lines

A newspaper headline has two functions: it grabs your attention, and it summarizes the article, so that you can decide whether to read it or not. The subject line of your email message should do the same thing.
A blank subject line is more likely to be overlooked or rejected as "spam," so always use a few well-chosen words to tell the recipient what the email is about.
You may want to include the date in the subject line if your message is one of a regular series of emails, such as a weekly project report. For a message that needs a response, you might also want to include a call to action, such as "Please reply by November 7."
A well-written subject line like the one below delivers the most important information, without the recipient even having to open the email. This serves as a prompt that reminds recipients about your meeting every time they glance at their inbox.

Bad Example	Good Example
Subject: Meeting	Subject: PASS Process Meeting - 10 a.m. February 25, 2014

If you have a very short message to convey, and you can fit the whole thing into the subject line, use "EOM" (End of Message) to let recipients know that they don't need to open the email to get all the information that they need.

Example
Subject: Could you please send the February sales report? Thanks! EOM

(Of course, this is only useful if recipients know what "EOM" means.)

3. Keep Messages Clear and Brief

Emails, like traditional business letters, need to be clear and concise. Keep your sentences short and to the point. The body of the email should be direct and informative, and it should contain all pertinent information. See our article on writing skills   for guidance on communicating clearly in writing.
Unlike traditional letters, however, it costs no more to send several emails than it does to send just one. So, if you need to communicate with someone about a number of different topics, consider writing a separate email for each one. This makes your message clearer, and it allows your correspondent to reply to one topic at a time.

Bad Example

Good Example

Subject: Revisions For Sales Report Hi Jackie, Thanks for sending that report last week. I read it yesterday, and I feel that Chapter 2 needs more specific information about our sales figures. I also felt that the tone could be more formal. Also, I wanted to let you know that I've scheduled a meeting with the PR department for this Friday regarding the new ad campaign. It's at 11:00 a.m. and will be in the small conference room. Please let me know if you can make that time. Thanks! Monica

Subject: Revisions For Sales Report Hi Jackie, Thanks for sending that report last week. I read it yesterday, and I feel that Chapter 2 needs more specific information about our sales figures. I also felt that the tone could be more formal. Could you amend it with these comments in mind? Thanks for your hard work on this! Monica (Monica then follows this up with a separate email about the PR department meeting.)

It's important to find balance here. You don't want to bombard someone with emails, and it makes sense to combine several, related, points into one email. When this happens, keep things simple   with numbered paragraphs or bullet points, and consider "chunking"   information into small, well-organized units to make it easier to digest.
Notice, too, that in the good example above, Monica specified what she wanted Jackie to do (in this case, amend the report). If you make it easy for people to see what you want, there's a better chance that they will give you this.

4. Be Polite

People often think that emails can be less formal than traditional letters. But the messages you send are a reflection of your own professionalism  , values, and attention to detail, so a certain level of formality is needed.
Unless you're on good terms with someone, avoid informal language, slang, jargon  , and inappropriate abbreviations. Emoticons can be useful for clarifying your intent, but it's best to use them only with people you know well.
Close your message with "Regards," "Yours sincerely," or "All the best," depending on the situation.
Recipients may decide to print emails and share them with others, so always be polite.

5. Check the Tone

When we meet people face-to-face, we use the other person's body language  , vocal tone, and facial expressions to assess how they feel. Email robs us of this information, and this means that we can't tell when people have misunderstood our messages.
Your choice of words, sentence length, punctuation, and capitalization can easily be misinterpreted without visual and auditory cues. In the first example below, Emma might think that Harry is frustrated or angry, but, in reality, he feels fine.

Bad Example	Good Example
Emma, I need your report by 5 p.m. today or I'll miss my deadline. Harry	Hi Emma, Thanks for all your hard work on that report. Could you please get your version over to me by 5 p.m., so I don't miss my deadline? Thanks so much! Harry

Think about how your email "feels" emotionally. If your intentions or emotions could be misunderstood, find a less ambiguous way to phrase your words.

6. Proofreading

Finally, before you hit "send," take a moment to review your email for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. Your email messages are as much a part of your professional image as the clothes you wear, so it looks bad to send out a message that contains typos.
As you proofread, pay careful attention to the length of your email. People are more likely to read short, concise emails than long, rambling ones, so make sure that your emails are as short as possible, without excluding necessary information.
Our article on writing skills   has tips and strategies that you can use when proofreading your emails.

Key Points

Most of us spend a significant portion of our day reading and composing emails. But the messages we send can be confusing to others.
To write effective emails, first ask yourself if you should be using email at all. Sometimes, it might be better to pick up the phone.
Make your emails concise and to the point. Only send them to the people who really need to see them, and be clear about what you would like the recipient to do next.
Remember that your emails are a reflection of your professionalism, values, and attention to detail. Try to imagine how others might interpret the tone of your message. Be polite, and always proofread what you have written before you click "send."

Source:http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/EmailCommunication.htm

7 Simple Steps to Improve Business Email Writing Skills in English

Most of us in the Business world use emails as the main, and in some cases the only, means of written communication. For many students studying Business English, practising their Business Email Writing Skills is an important part of their course. While most of us are happy to write informal emails to friends that might have grammatical mistakes in them, the same is not true when writing to colleagues and clients with whom we want to make a good impression. Or where we need to be a bit more careful or more diplomatic than usual. If you are looking for formal and informal email phrases, you should check this list!
So, how can you ensure that your email writing skills are up to standard? Here are some general tips I’d like to share with you:

1. Subject Line
Always have a subject line that summarises briefly and clearly the contents of the message. for example, Re: Summary of Our Meeting with ABC Suppliers

2. Short and Simple Sentences
Use short and easy sentences. Long sentences can often be difficult to read and understand. The most common mistake that I see my students making is to translate directly from their own language. This can often lead to confusing sentences. I always tell my students to use the KISS Test – Keep It Short and Simple

3. Think of who your reader is going to be
Is it a colleague, a client or your boss? Should the email be informal or formal? Most Business Emails these days have a neutral tone. Note the difference between Informal and Formal:
Informal – Thanks for the email of 15 February
Formal – Thank you for your email received 15 February
Informal – Sorry, I can’t make it.
Formal – I am afraid I will not be able to attend
Informal – Could you…?
Formal – I was wondering if you could….?

Some emails to colleagues can be informal if they are friends. This is the style that is closest to speech, so there are often everyday words and conversational expressions that can be used. For instance, ‘Don’t forget’, ‘Catch you later’, ‘Cheers’.
The reader will also accept bad grammar in informal emails.
However, if the email is going to a client or senior colleague, bad grammar and an over-friendly style will not be acceptable.

4. Be very careful of capital letters, punctuation, spelling and basic grammar
While these can be tolerated in informal emails, they are very important in business emails as they are an important part of the image you create. Give yourself time to edit what you’ve written before you push that Send button. In today’s busy world, it’s very easy to send out many emails without checking them so make a conscious effort to edit.

5. Think about how direct or indirect you want to be
In some cultures it is common practice to be very direct in email correspondence. However, this can cause a problem if you’re writing to someone in another country and in a language that is not yours. They might find your directness rude and sometimes offensive.
Consider these:
Direct – I need this in half an hour.
Indirect and polite – Would it be possible to have this in half an hour?
Direct – There will be a delay
Indirect – I’m afraid there will be a slight delay.
Direct – It’s a bad idea
Indirect – To be honest, I’m not sure it would be a good idea.
By adjusting your tone, you are more likely to get a more positive response from your reader.

6. Be positive!
Look at these words: helpful, good question, agreed, together, useful, I’d be delighted, mutual, opportunity.
Now look at these: busy, crisis, failure, forget it, I can’t, it’s impossible, waste, hard
The words you use show your attitude to life so choose your words wisely.

7. Get feedback
Try and get some feedback on the emails that you write in real life. This could be from your English Teacher or someone you know whose English is better than yours.
Study the English in the emails you receive. If it is a well-written email, look carefully at some of the language used. Start your own phrase book and build a bank of phrases from the ones you receive and think would be useful in the future.

Source: http://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/7-simple-steps-to-improve-business-email-writing-skills-in-english/