Are
there lots of gossip around your office?
Does Mr. or Ms. Nosy always talk about you? How can you get rid of
him/her? Well, I
don’t have answers to them.
Yet, what I have is to discuss grammar with you regarding gossiping. In other words, gossiping can help you learn spoken English. How? Read the following sentences:
a. I don’t like speaking behind
Mr. Nosy’s back.
b. I don’t like to speak behind Mr. Nosy’s back.
b. I don’t like to speak behind Mr. Nosy’s back.
The only
difference between the two sentences is the words in blue. So the
question is: 'SPEAKING' or 'TO SPEAK'.
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There
are two things to talk about here. First, concerning meaning, are they the same?
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‘I don’t
like speaking …’ is much
more general. What do
I mean by ‘general’? Well, ‘I don’t
like speaking…’ applies
to everyone. That is, your boss, your senior and
junior coworkers, and including YOU yourself.
Yet, ‘I don’t
like to speak …’ is much much much less general that it is only about one person. Who is
that person? You may make a guess. Three letters,
not four. Which
three? Y-O-U.
-------------------------------------------
So the Feel Good tips
are:
When you say ‘I don’t like to speak
behind Mr. Nosy’s back’, you talk about how good you are. It is
only about YOU.
When you say ‘I don’t like speaking behind Mr. Nosy’s back’, you refer to EVERYBODY in your office, which includes you.
(Which one is you?)
Picture sources
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76029035@N02/6829422155/sizes/m/in/photostream/
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