Describing a product

WD external hard drive
How would you describe this product?

Does your company manufacture products? Do you have to talk to customers about those products?

How do you describe a product?

One way is to start with the questions that customer might ask about the product.

Watch our video. We ask and answer questions about a common piece of computer equipment. At the end we put the answers together to create a short, clear description of that product.


Now test yourself

Here’s information about another product. See if you can make a question for each piece of information and then write down the answers to create the product description. The answers are at the bottom of this page.

Information

Steam iron

Product type steam iron
Dimensions 275mm x 117mm x 150mm, 550gms
 For use with silk, nylon, wool, cotton, linen
 Country of origin China
 Price €30

 

Answers

These are some suggested answers.

What’s this? It’s a steam iron.
What do you use it for? You use it to iron or press clothes.
How big is it? It’s 275mm long, 117mm wide and 150mm tall.
What does it weigh? It weighs 550 grams.
What materials can you use with it? You can use it with silk, nylon, wool, cotton and linen.
What’s it made of? It’s made of metal and plastic.
Where was it made? It was made in China.
How much does it cost? It costs €30.

 

How well did you do? Did you make any other questions and answers? Use the comment box and share them with us.


Do you need to expand your business English vocabulary? Contact us to talk about it.

 

Dealing with presentation questions

Dealing with presentation questions video

Do you need to give presentations in English?

Do people in the audience often want to ask questions?

Our latest video shows some ways of dealing with audience questions.

If this was interesting, why not look at Starting a presentation, and Describing upward and downward trends?

 

Video by Barney with the voices of Joy, Simon and Stephen.

 

If you have any questions or comments, leave a reply below.

Do you need help to prepare and give a presentation in English? Send us a message.

 

Saying small numbers

SAying small numbers in English video

After last week’s video about saying large numbers, we now have a video that focuses on saying small numbers.

Did you know there is more than one way to say the number 0? What are the important pronunciation points to consider when you say fractions like 3/4? Watch the video to find out.

by Barney

 

If you have any questions about this, leave a comment below.

If you are interested in learning and practising English vocabulary, send us a message.

 

Saying large numbers

Saying large numbers video screengrab

In English, how many zeros does a billion have?

When we write large numbers, do we use a comma (,) or a full-stop (.) to separate the thousands from the millions?

Is it the British or the Americans who say “and” after the hundreds?

Our video on saying large numbers answers all these questions and gives lots of examples of those large numbers in context.

by Barney

 

If you have any questions about this, leave a comment below.

If you are interested in learning and practising English vocabulary, send us a message.

 

Downward trends – quiz answers

On Friday, we set a short quiz using the verbs from the video about describing upwards trends.

Here’s the answers.

  1. I expect that interest rates will go down/are going to go down slightly this year.
  2. Our revenues decreased considerably last year.
  3. Stock levels have shrunk/have been shrinking since we introduced the warehousing system.
  4. Sales are falling steadily at the moment.

Did you get them right?

Watch out for more videos about the language of presentations.

Describing trends – downward trends

trends - downward arrowThis is our latest video on the language of presentations.

Business presentations often include charts showing trends.

This video gives you some common verbs for describing downward trends.

After you watch the video, try the short quiz.

Try this short quiz.

Complete these sentences. Put the verb in brackets into the correct form. Watch the video to see the different forms.

  1. I expect that interest rates _____ (go down) slightly this year.
  2. Our revenues _____ (decrease) considerably last year.
  3. Stock levels _____ (shrink) since we introduced the warehousing system.
  4. Sales _____ (fall) steadily at the moment.

Come back on Monday to see the answers.

Your can also see our video about upward trends.

 

By Barney

 

If you have any questions or comments, leave a reply below.

Do you need help to prepare and give a presentation in English? Send us a message.

Upward trends – quiz answers

On Friday, we set a short quiz using the verbs from the video about describing upwards trends.

Here’s the answers.

  1. Inflation has increased/has been increasing steadily since June.
  2. Our production output rose by 15% in the last quarter of last year.
  3. According to our forecast, sales will go up/is going to go up considerably this year.
  4. The number of visits to our website grew rapidly after the product launch.

Did you get them right?

Watch out for another video and quiz with verbs for describing downward trends. Coming soon!

 

Describing trends – upward trends

Upwards trend arrow

Business presentations often include charts showing trends.

This video gives you some common verbs for describing upward trends.

After you watch the video, try the short quiz.

 

Now try the quiz.

Complete these sentences. Put the verb in brackets into the correct form. Watch the video to see the different forms.

  1. Inflation _____ (increase) steadily since June.
  2. Our production output _____ (rise) by 15% in the last quarter of last year.
  3. According to our forecast, sales _____ (go up) considerably this year.
  4. The number of visits to our website _____ (grow) rapidly after the product launch.

Come back on Monday to see the answers.

For more language for presentations watch Starting a presentation.

By Barney

 

If you have any questions or comments, leave a reply below.

Do you need help to prepare and give a presentation in English? Send us a message.

Starting a presentation

Starting a presentation

Do you need to give presentations in English?

It is important to start your presentation with a clear introduction.

In this video, Barney demonstrates a set of phrases you can use in the introduction of a business presentation.

By Barney

 

If you have any questions or comments, leave a reply below.

Do you need help to prepare and give a presentation in English? Send us a message.