SOUND POLITE,

PROFESSIONAL & HELPFUL

AT WORK

Well hey there I'm Emma from

mmmEnglish!I've been getting lots
of requests for lessonsthat will help
you to expand your vocabularyand
help you to sound more
professionalwhen speaking in
English.So that is exactly what this
lesson is all about today.I'm going
to take some very
commoneveryday English verbs
and improve them a littleor give
you some more impressive ones to
use instead.So if you're ready to do
that, stick around. Let's think for a
moment about the manybasic
functions that we do when we're at
work.We think about things. We
make things.We change things. We
guess.We solve problems and we
 work together.Now all of these
words are goodand they will
definitely help you to
communicateyour messagebut
they're quite basic so if you want
tosound impressive, impress your
bosssound more professional with
colleagues and clientsthen
upgrading these words will
definitely help.So let's start with
the verb 'think'specifically to think
of or to think about something.To
think about attending an eventor
asking for a raise.Now we can
upgrade this phrasal verb to
'consider'.So instead of sayingI will
think about your suggestion.Say: I
will consider your suggestionbut I
need to find some extra budget
before I approve it.We can also
upgradeHave you thought about
employing?Have you considered
employing a marketingassistant in-
 house?Now if you're thinking
about something and the decisionis
difficult for some reason, it's also
importantthen using 'deliberate' is a
much better choice.Deliberate.So
it's also a synonym of think about
but it's used whenyou're making a
really tough decisionand you've got
to take some extra timeto decide
carefully.You've been deliberating
all week on this,are you any closer
to a decision?We also have this
idea of thinking something is...I
think Ben is one of thebest mentors
in our organisation.But we can
improve this by using the verb
'believe'.I believeBen is one of the
best mentors in our organisation.So
it sounds much surer, more
confident and moreassertive.We
can also use 'consider' here as
wellbut the structure changes a
little.So I want you to pay close
 attentionto what changes in this
sentence.We can say:
I think or I believe Ben isbut we
can also sayI consider Ben to be
one of the best mentorsin our
organisation.So when you use this
language, it helps you to speakwith
authority, to be more impressive,
more confident.It really sounds like
you know what you're talking
about.Another really common verb
to use at work is 'to make'That's
what we're there doing isn't it?
We're making stuffand there are
lots of different words that we can
useinstead of 'make'but it really
does depend on the context as to
which oneyou can use or you
should use.Let's take a look at this
sentence and seehow we can
improve it.Our team made a report
or wrote a report.
Can you think of a more
professional verbthat you could use
instead?
Should we prepare a report for the
board?Our team has already
produced a detailed report.
So these words 'prepare' and
'produce'are almost
synonyms.Prepare.Prepare relates
to the process, a little more.And
produce,relates a little more to the
result.So we often see the
collocation produce
content,prepare a report.
These are useful ones to keep in
mind.'To create' is another verb
upgrade on make rightespecially
when you're talking aboutdesign or
creative activities,really when
you're making something new you
know.We're creating a new
concept for the client.Can you
create a new image that we
canshare on social media?We
 created a design that will suit a
range of users.
Develop' is another synonym for
make,kind of leans a little more
towards the process.Our technical
team is developing a plan to
transitionto our new platform by
May.Or even better, a strategy.A
strategy. They're developing a
strategy.We also develop ideas and
we develop solutions.We're
developing an affordable solution
that will makesure every family
can access high-speed internet.So
these are really important
collocationsto keep in mind when
you're using these verbs.Often the
idea of change can be perceived as
negative,people don't usually like
change, do they?Often we talk
about change at workbecause we
need to fix something.It suggests
that there is something wrongso in
a professional context,it's definitely
important to make sure that you're
politeand that you're using
language in a supportive way.And
I've got some alternative words and
some usefulexpressions that will
help you with that.
And 'modify' is a really good
alternative.Modify.Modify
suggests minor changes,tweaks and
adjustmentsand things that will
improve the result.Actually, you
could also use the verb 'adjust'.If
it's okay with you, I'll adjustthis a
little before we send it to the
client.Now when you're talking
about changing ideas orhuman
behaviour, then 'adapt' is a really
good choiceespecially when there
is a new situation ora new set of
circumstances that's behind that
change.Again, nobody really likes
change do they but if you canuse a
 more positive verb to help talk
about that changethen it's much
easier to get other people on board
right?The new regulations are
tough,there's not much that we can
do about it!
We just need to adapt and keep
moving forward.The word
'transition' is an excellent one to
begin usingand to understand
because it helps us to talk aboutthe
need for change and the process of
changingin a comfortable way.So
if we transition from one thing to
another,it suggests that we sort of
move carefully you know,it's not
instant change which usually
scares people.If we talk about
transition, it suggests that the
changeis going to be gradual and
carefully considered.We want to
make sure that our new team
memberstransition into their new
 rolesas seamlessly as
possible.Although many of us try
not to admit it,we all guess what
the heck is going on right,it's part
of solving problems and reducing
riskis taking a guess.
And there are so many great words
that will help youto sound more
intelligent and more
professionalwhen you have to take
a guess.
We all do right?But sometimes
using 'guess' suggests that you're a
littleuncertain, you know, and in a
professional context,it can make
you seemuninformed or
unprepared.So using 'estimate'
suggests thatyou've put some
thought into this predictionor this
guess right?Estimate.It's difficult to
estimate the financial impact for
families.Now 'calculate' is a really
good optionwhen you're talking
 about specific numbers.You
calculate.We calculate that this will
savethree thousand dollars a
month.Now we have a slightly
different word form herebut you
can express the same idea by
saying:By our calculations, we will
savethree thousand dollars a
month.
When you're thinking about why
something happenedor you're
considering what might happen in
the future,then 'speculate' is a great
word.To speculate.So usually we
say 'speculate on' or'speculate
about' something.I don't want to
speculate on why heresigned so
suddenly.And 'predict' is another
great synonym for guess.Predict.So
it's used whenyou're taking
information that you haveand
you're making a call or a
decisionabout the most likely
 outcome.Industry experts are
predicting significantchanges to
our working environments post-
pandemic.It is difficult to talk
positively about problems
rightwhen things aren't going so
well or maybe they've beena little
more difficult than you
anticipated.So what words can you
use instead of 'problem'which does
kind of have a negative about it,
doesn't it?Well we can say
challenge,we can say
complication,obstacle.These are all
possible replacements, right?In a
professional context, we want to
make sure that wecommunicate
any problems that we have
clearlybut also do it in a way that
makes it sound likeyou have
solutions or you have a planto keep
things under control.We overcame
several obstaclesbefore we landed
 on the result.We anticipate some
technical challenges but
we'reconfident that we've got the
right teamin place to deal with
them.We even talk about problems
asheadaches or hiccups.
These are a little less formal ways
of expressing itbut they definitely
help to emphasise that the problem
isnot so serious you know or that
they're problems thatcan be
managed, they're just annoying.I
can see how these changes could
create some headaches for the sales
team but we're working on a
solution. There were a few hiccups
with the new ordering systemon
Friday,but things have been much
smoother this week.And lastly, if
you work in an office as part of a
team,it's very likely that you work
togetherwith other people to get
things done, right?
 We work together.
We work as a team.But just to
clarify, we do not do a teamworkall
right? This is a very common
mistakethat a lot of my students
make.'Teamwork' is a noun and we
never use it with'do' okay? We
don't do a teamwork.And a much
more professional way to explain
thatyou're working together with
someone elseor with other peopleis
to say that you collaborate.I'm
looking forward to collaboratingon
projects with you in the
future.Now if you really want to
emphasise that two peopleor
maybe two teams with different
skill setsor sets of expertise are
coming together to work together,
we say that they're joining forces.
They join forces. And this is quite
powerful. When our development
team joined forces with our
 product team, they created
something amazing. So there you
have it, I really hope that you
founda few new expressions to
expand your vocabulary range a
little. Make sure that you keep
these wordsbeside you at work
during this weekand see if you can
apply them.You know if you're
writing an email, make sure you
stopbefore you hit send, to try
andupgrade some of the language
that you're usingto sound more
professional and more helpful.

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