English Skills Exercise 1: FOCUS
Conventions of Punctuation
Focus
24-27
Use punctuation to set off complex
parenthetical phrases
Recognize and delete unnecessary commas
based on a careful reading of a complicated
sentence (e.g., between elements of a
compound subject or a compound verb joined
by and)
Use apostrophes to indicate simple possessive
nouns.
Recognize inappropriate uses of colons and
semicolons.
Text
Language is more than just words. People
Questions
communicate through inflection, body language, tone,
and facial expressions. Translators have the difficult
job of translating words on a page; they do not have
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the benefit of non-verbal cues. But how does a
1. Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. a page, they
C. a page they
D. a page yet
translator translate not only words but meaning? And
what are the benefits of translation?
The biggest
responsibility of a Spanish translation services
provider is to convey not only information, but also
2.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. information but also,
C. information but also
D. information but, also
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emotion. There are many words used to express
emotion. Just as there are many emotions, finding the
right words can be very difficult. Translation services
try to provide the best they can, but is it enough? What
3.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. texts’
C. texts
D. texts’s
4.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. equivalent and, vice versa
C. equivalent, and, vice versa
D. equivalent and vice versa
5.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. works and, will
C. works and will
D. works, and, will
6.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. foreign workers who
C. foreign workers—who
tools does a translator need when looking at a piece of
text?
A good translator will read over the entire text
first. Then they will begin to see beyond the words and
into the text's meaning. Spanish translators need to
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choose their words carefully. They will translate
sentence by sentence while trying to stay as close to
the emotional feeling as they can. This is very tedious
work since there are words in Spanish that do not have
an English equivalent, and vice versa. After a few
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drafts, they will find enough similarities in the two
works, and will hopefully convey the meaning of one
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text in another language. Today, translators are
needed more than ever. They are needed to close
cultural gaps that exist at the workplace, in the school
system, and in their own neighborhoods. English to
Spanish translations and translators are used to
speaking to large groups of foreign workers, who are
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desperately seeking employment in America.
D. foreign workers who,
Translation services are busier than ever translating
documents from different countries, since many
7.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. countries since,
C. countries; since
D. countries since
8.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. symposiums translators
C. , symposiums translators
D. symposiums; translators
9.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. profits, that wouldn’t otherwise exist
C. profits that wouldn’t otherwise exist
D. profits that wouldn’t otherwise exist,
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companies now conduct business internationally.
When these companies hold company meetings and
symposiums, translators are needed to help people get
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to their seminars, to restaurants, and to their hotels.
Needless to say, translators play an important part in
business, helping companies expand their markets to
include the global community. This means happy
clients from other countries and
profits, that wouldn’t otherwise exist, for the
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companies. Bob H. Dunaway, a translator for IBM
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says, “Anyone thinking about going into business in
our globally connected world should seriously study a
second language. The job market in this area will only
grow from here.”
10.
Which is the best choice? Why?
A. NO CHANGE
B. for IBM,
C. for IBM—
D. for IBM;