Professional English: Vocabulary for managers and supervisors (and parents!)

Hi there, and welcome back to engVid.

Today we are going to be looking at eight highly useful words and phrases

that you could use in the world of business English, for negotiations,

etc. but we're going to be applying them to a real-life situation. You may want to watch,

after this video, my video about asking for someone's permission to do something.

Today we're looking at phrases once we've got someone's permission and they are watching us to make

sure that we are doing things properly.

Okay, so: Have you watched the film Meet the Parents?

It stars Robert DeNiro, and it's

about a highly controlling father-in-law who works for the CIA, and he is out to get the

future son-in-law, and makes sure that he is exactly how the father-in-law, Robert DeNiro, wants him to be.

So these are all words and phrases that Robert DeNiro's character might

say to the young man who wants to marry his daughter.

So, DeNiro might say: "I will be keeping a close check on you." Okay? "A close check",

there used as a... As a noun. Or he might say, as a verb:

"I will be checking that your financial statements are in order. I will be checking".

On to "control", he's a controlling character. Now, a couple of ways you can use "control".

"To have control over someone", so he might say:

"Remember, I will always be controlling you" or "I will always have control over you."

As a noun: "to show some control". So as some advice, he might say:

"Now, you must show some control in terms of the way you converse around the dinner table."

"Monitor", again, this means sort of "to watch".

"I will be monitoring you. I will be watching you. I have my eyes out on you".

"I want..." Or if it's the other way around and he wants

the future son-in-law to do something:

"I want you to monitor. I want you to look at, I want you to monitor your spending habits."

Next phrase: "to keep an eye on". "I've got my eye on you. I will be keeping my eye out on you."

That means I am watching all the time.

Again, we're looking at words and verbs to do with sight. "Oversee", so over, on top of,

looking down, so we are looking down... "I will be overseeing... I will be looking to make sure that you are in the right."

Don't know if you know any Latin, but "video" means

"I watch" in Latin, so again, this is to do with the idea of sight. Super, over, I will

be looking over. I will be making sure that everything is just right. So we have the verb:

"to supervise", and we have the noun: "supervision", to make sure that there is proper supervision

in place. Supervision, looking down, making sure all is well.

"To ascertain", now, if I remove the prefix you'll see the word "certain". "Ascertain"

simply means to make certain of. Okay? So, to ascertain whether you are the right customer

for me, to ascertain whether you can actually be a good husband or not.

And lastly: "to keep a tab on". Now, this is a phrase you would find more in British

English rather than American English: "to keep a tab on". "Tab" has associations with

a pub. You would go into a pub and they would say to you: "Would you like to start a tab?"

"A tab" means kind of a running list of what you have spent in that place.

"To keep a tab on", so the idea here is that Robert DeNiro's character is writing down every single thing

that Ben Stiller's character does wrong, keeping a tab on, keeping a running list, a document.

So, hopefully you have learnt eight new phrases that you can use either in the world of work,

or to impress your friends with your fantastic English.

Maybe you'd like to do the quiz now just to make sure that you've got these words in the exact correct usage.

That would be great if you did give it a go. Until next time, see you soon.