Netanyahu Is A Liar! Sarkozy Tells Obama Over Hot Mic!

French President Nicolas Sarkozy got an unfortunate lesson in the power of an open mike last week during the G20 summit.  Reporters say Sarkozy made some unflattering comments about Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a private conversation with Barak Obama. They weren’t caught on tape but the were heard loud and clear by a handful of journalists. “Netanyahu, I can’t stand him,” Sarkozy reportedly said. “He is a liar.” Obama was heard, through French translation, answering, “You are sick of him, but I have to work with him every day.” The reporters who heard the comment said they didn’t report them cause they were deemed private under French media law, as they happen before the press conference began. Neither the White House nor the French government has commented on the remarks.

VOCABULARY EXPANSION:

·      unfortunate: 1. embarrassing and/or offensive 2. having bad luck; caused by bad luck

·      open mike:

·      unflattering: making somebody/something seem worse or less attractive than they really are

·      caught on tape: recorded saying something

·      handful: a small number of people or things

·      sick of: to have experienced too much of someone or something with the result that you are annoyed

·      deem: 1. to consider or judge 2.to have a particular opinion about something

Business-English - Communication

Module One

This is a review of lesson one.

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Would you if you could? Hypothetical questions and statements

Conditionals

	Adapted from Betty Azar's Fundamentals of English Grammar Book
TRUE IN THE PRESENT	IF clause = simple present, RESULT clause = simple present/future
	If I visit italy this year, I will go to the Trevi Fountain.
	If the weather is nice today, we can go to the park.
	If the snow falls by morning, we can go skiing.
	If I have enough time, I will write a travel book.
	NOTE:  Superstitions often use this tense. If you knock on wood, your good luck will continue.
UNTRUE IN THE PRESENT/FUTURE	IF clause = simple past, RESULT clause = would / could + simple form
	If I visited Italy today, I would go to the Trevi Fountain.
	If the weather were nice today, we could go to the park.
	If the snow fell today, we could go skiing.
	If I had enough time, I would write a travel book.
	NOTE:  This tense is often used for this example. If I were you, I would accept the invitation.
UNTRUE IN THE PAST	IF clause = past perfect, RESULT clause = would have + participle
	If I had visited Italy this year, I would have gone to the Trevi Fountain.
	If the weather had been nice yesterday, we could have gone to the park.
	If the snow had fallen by morning, we could have gone skiing.
	If I had had enough time, I would have written a travel book. TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF CONDITIONALS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: Conditional_quiz