Business Result A2

Lesson 1: Who is who?

A complete review of the verb "to be" across all three tenses: am/is/are, was/were, will be.

Grammar

am/is/are, was/were, will be / won't be

Vocabulary

Jobs, companies, nationalities

Communication

Introductions, hello/goodbye

Describe your team structure

6 exercises ahead: present tense - past tense - future tense - mixed practice - error correction - speaking. Let's go!

Self-Check: Before We Start

How confident are you right now? Be honest - we'll check again at the end!

Lead-in: About You

Let's start with some questions about your work and experience.

Discuss with your teacher:

1. What is your job title? What are your main responsibilities?

2. Where is your company's head office? How many people are in your team?

3. What was your first job? Was it in IT?

To Be - Present Simple

Read about Marcegaglia, then complete the exercises below.

Marcegaglia

Marcegaglia is an Italian company and one of its main products is steel pipes. The company's head office is in Italy, near Milan, but its customers aren't only Italian. They are in countries all over the world. Marcegaglia is a family company. Antonio Marcegaglia and his sister Emma are the Chief Executive Officers. For Emma, the family company isn't her only job. She is also the leader of the oil and gas company Eni.

Exercise 1: Choose the correct form

Listen to the interview about Marcegaglia and choose the correct word.

1.4

Interviewer: So, is Marcegaglia a family company?

Speaker: Yes, it is. The founder was Steno Marcegaglia. His children Antonio and Emma are the CEOs.

Interviewer: Are they from a big family?

Speaker: No, they're from a small family. Steno had only two children.

Interviewer: Marcegaglia isn't a small company.

Speaker: No, it's a multi-billion euro company. It's huge.

Interviewer: And are all the employees in Italy?

Speaker: No. They are in Italy and in many other countries. Over 7,500 employees in total.

Exercise 2: Complete with am / is / are / isn't / aren't

Fill in the gaps with the correct present form of "to be".

To Be - Past Simple

Listen to Janusz and Carlos talking about a presentation, then complete the conversation.

5.2

Exercise 3: Complete with was / wasn't / were / weren't

Choose the correct word for each gap in the conversation.

Janusz: Sorry I'm late. I was at the presentation on branding.

Carlos: Oh, was that this morning?

Janusz: Yes, at 7.30 in the Century Hotel.

Carlos: Oh. Was it good?

Janusz: Yes, the presentation was really interesting and there were lots of good questions at the end.

Carlos: Were there many people there?

Janusz: There weren't many people for the breakfast at the start, but there were lots for the presentation. It was too early for some people!

Carlos: Were you on time?

Janusz: Yes. But the breakfast wasn't very good.

Carlos: Anyway, why weren't you in the office yesterday?

Janusz: There were terrible problems with my flight back from Rome.

To Be - Future: will be / won't be

When we talk about the future state of things, we use will be and won't be.

Language Point: will be

We use will be to talk about future facts, predictions, and states: "The meeting will be at 3 pm."
Positive: I / you / he / she / it / we / they will be (short form: 'll be)
Negative: will not be (short form: won't be)
Questions: Will I / you / he / she / it / we / they be...?
Short answers: Yes, ... will. / No, ... won't.

Company Changes - Next Year

Our company will be very different next year. The new office will be in a bigger building near the city centre. It won't be far from the train station, so the commute will be easier for everyone.

The IT department will be on the third floor. The CEO says the open-plan layout will be better for teamwork. Some employees think it won't be quiet enough, but the company will be happy to provide noise-cancelling headphones.

Will the restaurant be in the new building too? Yes, it will. And it will be open from 7 am to 8 pm.

Exercise 4: Will be or won't be?

Complete the sentences about the future. Choose the correct form.

Grammar Reference: To Be

A complete summary of "to be" in present, past, and future.

TO BE - Present Simple

	Positive	Negative	Questions	Short answers
I	am / 'm	am not / 'm not	Am I...?	Yes, I am. / No, I'm not.
You / We / They	are / 're	are not / aren't	Are you/we/they...?	Yes, ... are. / No, ... aren't.
He / She / It	is / 's	is not / isn't	Is he/she/it...?	Yes, ... is. / No, ... isn't.

TO BE - Past Simple

	Positive	Negative	Questions	Short answers
I / He / She / It	was	was not / wasn't	Was I/he/she/it...?	Yes, ... was. / No, ... wasn't.
You / We / They	were	were not / weren't	Were you/we/they...?	Yes, ... were. / No, ... weren't.

TO BE - Future (will be)

	Positive	Negative	Questions	Short answers
I / You / He / She / It / We / They	will be / 'll be	will not be / won't be	Will ... be ...?	Yes, ... will. / No, ... won't.

Note: "will be" is the same for ALL persons - much simpler than present and past!

Tips:
- Short forms (present): I'm, you're, he's, she's, it's, we're, they're
- Short forms (past): wasn't, weren't - use in speaking. Use was not, were not in formal writing.
- Short forms (future): 'll be, won't be - "The meeting'll be short." / "It won't be a problem."

Exercise 5: Mixed Practice

Choose the correct form of "to be" - present, past, or future. All three tenses are mixed!

Exercise 6: Find and Fix the Mistake

Each sentence below has one error with the verb "to be". Type the corrected sentence.

Speaking Practice

Discuss these questions with your teacher. Use the verb "to be" in all three tenses.

Self-Check: After the Lesson

Answer the same questions again. Let's see your progress!

Lesson Complete!

Overall score

What I Learned

Ready to practise more?

The Workbook has extra exercises to reinforce what you learned.

Open Workbook

Lesson 2: What is where?

Your colleague from London is visiting your office. Can you describe your workspace, tools, and facilities in English?

Grammar

there is / there are, some / any, prepositions of place

Vocabulary

workspace, project board, meeting rooms, office facilities

Communication

Describing places, asking about facilities, explaining office layouts

Describe your workspace and tools

Office Vocabulary for this lesson:

project board to-do list task in progress done urgent workspace monitor server room meeting room break area whiteboard

Self-Check: Before

How well can you do these things right now? Be honest - we will check again at the end.

Warm-up: Recycling from Lesson 1

Quick review - complete with the correct form of "to be" (am/is/are/was/were + negatives and questions).

There Is / There Are

Read about TechFlow's office, then complete the exercises below.

TechFlow's Office in Berlin

Welcome to TechFlow's office in Berlin. There is a large open-plan workspace on the second floor. There are about 50 desks, and there is a project board on the wall near each team. There aren't any private offices - everyone works in the same space.

There is a server room in the basement. There are three meeting rooms and there is a small kitchen on every floor. There isn't a gym, but there is a nice garden outside.

3.1

Guide: OK, so this is TechFlow's office in Berlin. There is a large open-plan workspace on the second floor. There are about 50 desks, and there is a project board on the wall near each team.

Visitor: Are there any private offices?

Guide: No, there aren't any private offices. Everyone works in the same space.

Visitor: Is there a kitchen?

Guide: Yes, there is a small kitchen on every floor. There are also three meeting rooms. There isn't a gym, but there is a nice garden outside.

Visitor: And is there a server room?

Guide: Yes, there is a server room in the basement.

Exercise 1: Choose the correct form

Based on the TechFlow reading, choose the correct option.

Exercise 2: Complete the questions and answers

Fill in the gaps about a tech office. Type Is, Are, is, are, or isn't.

Some and Any

Learn when to use some and any, then practise.

Language Point: some / any

some - use in positive sentences: "There are some tasks on the to-do list."
any - use in negatives: "There aren't any problems."
any - use in questions: "Are there any bugs?"
some - also in offers/requests: "Would you like some coffee?"

Exercise 3: Choose some or any

Select the correct word for each sentence.

Grammar Reference

A complete summary of there is/are, some/any, and prepositions of place.

There is / There are

	Singular	Plural
Positive	There is (There's) a printer.	There are two printers.
Negative	There isn't a printer.	There aren't any printers.
Question	Is there a printer?	Are there any printers?
Short answer	Yes, there is. / No, there isn't.	Yes, there are. / No, there aren't.

Some vs Any

Rule	Example
some = positive sentences	There are some tasks on the to-do list.
any = negatives	There aren't any bugs.
any = questions	Are there any meeting rooms?
some = offers/requests	Would you like some help?

Prepositions of Place

inin the office

onon the desk

atat work

next tonext to the door

nearnear the window

betweenbetween rooms

behindbehind the building

oppositeopposite the cafe

in front ofin front of the screen

Remember:
- There is + singular noun (There is a server room.)
- There are + plural noun (There are three meeting rooms.)
- Use some in positive, any in negative and questions.

Exercise 4: Mixed Practice

Choose the correct option. Mixing there is/are + some/any + prepositions.

Exercise 5: Error Fix

Each sentence has an error with there is/are or some/any. Type the corrected sentence.

Speaking Practice

Discuss these questions with your teacher. Use there is/are, some/any, and prepositions of place.

Self-Check: After

Now check again - how well can you do these things after the lesson?

Lesson Complete!

Overall score

What I learned

Back to Course

Ready to practise more?

The Workbook has extra exercises to reinforce what you learned.

Open Workbook

Lesson 3: How things work

Present Simple, adverbs of frequency, and Wh-questions in an IT context.

Grammar

Present Simple (+/-/?), adverbs of frequency, Wh-questions

Vocabulary

Job titles (accountant, HR manager, project manager, sales manager, executive assistant), daily routines, responsibilities

Communication

Describing routines, asking about work processes, talking about team responsibilities

Explain your daily processes

8 exercises ahead: warm-up - vocabulary (jobs) - present simple - questions - grammar reference - mixed practice - error fix - speaking. Let's go!

Warm-up: Recycling L1 + L2

Quick review of "to be" and "there is/are" from previous lessons.

Reading: A Day in the Life of a Scrum Team

Read this text about a typical day in a development team.

A Day in the Life of a Scrum Team

Every morning, the development team has a daily stand-up at 9:30. Each person answers three questions: What did I do yesterday? What am I doing today? Are there any blockers?

The stand-up usually takes 15 minutes. After the stand-up, developers review pull requests and write code. The QA engineer tests new features.

The Scrum Master doesn't write code - she removes blockers and helps the team. The Product Owner prioritizes the backlog and talks to stakeholders.

Every two weeks, the team deploys to production. They always run automated tests before deployment.

Vocabulary: Jobs in a Company

Learn different job titles and what these people do every day.

Job Titles

accountant - бухгалтер

HR manager - менеджер по персоналу

project manager - менеджер проекта

executive assistant - помощник руководителя

sales manager - менеджер по продажам

IT support specialist - специалист техподдержки

marketing coordinator - координатор маркетинга

office manager - офис-менеджер

Exercise: Match jobs to responsibilities

Click a job title on the left, then click the matching description on the right.

Exercise 1: Choose the correct Present Simple form

Select the correct option for each sentence.

Exercise 2: Adverbs of frequency

Type the correct adverb of frequency in each gap. Word bank: always, usually, sometimes, often, rarely, never

Word bank: always / usually / sometimes / often / rarely / never

Exercise 3: Complete Wh-questions

Type the missing question word or phrase to complete each question.

Grammar Reference: Present Simple

A complete summary of Present Simple: positive, negative, questions, and adverbs of frequency.

Present Simple - Positive

Subject	Verb	Example
I / You / We / They	base form	I deploy every two weeks.
He / She / It	verb + -s / -es	She reviews pull requests.

Present Simple - Negative

Subject	Negative	Example
I / You / We / They	don't + base form	We don't deploy on Fridays.
He / She / It	doesn't + base form	He doesn't write code.

Present Simple - Questions

Question word	Auxiliary	Subject	Verb
(What / Where / When...)	Do	I / you / we / they	base form?
(What / Where / When...)	Does	he / she / it	base form?
Short answers: Yes, I do. / No, she doesn't.

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverb	Frequency	Position
always	100%	Before the main verb: "I always check." After BE: "He is always late."
usually	~90%
often	~70%
sometimes	~50%
rarely	~10%
never	0%

Remember:
- After he/she/it: add -s (works, deploys, fixes)
- Special spelling: -es after -ch, -sh, -s, -x, -o (watches, goes)
- Consonant + y: change to -ies (studies, carries)
- In negatives and questions with do/does, the main verb stays in base form: "Does he deploy?" NOT "Does he deploys?"

Exercise 4: Mixed Practice

Choose the correct form. All types mixed: positive, negative, questions, adverbs!

Exercise 5: Error Fix

Each sentence has a grammar mistake. Rewrite the sentence correctly.

Speaking Practice

Discuss these questions with your teacher. Use Present Simple and adverbs of frequency.

Ready to practise more?

The Workbook has extra exercises to reinforce what you learned.

Open Workbook

Lesson 4: When things go wrong

Past Simple: regular and irregular verbs, negatives, questions, and time expressions.

Grammar

Past Simple (regular + irregular), negatives with didn't, questions with Did

Vocabulary

launch, release, deadline, milestone, bug, crash, rollback, retrospective, hotfix, incident, escalate, downtime

Communication

Telling stories about past events, describing incidents, running retrospectives

Tell the story of your project

7 exercises ahead: warm-up - regular verbs - irregular verbs - negatives and questions - mixed practice - error fix - speaking. Let's go!

Warm-up: Recycling L1 + L2 + L3

Quick review of grammar from previous lessons.

Reading: The Big Crash

Read this story about a real production incident.

The Big Crash

Last Friday, our team launched a new version of the app. Everything looked fine at first. But two hours later, the system crashed. Customers couldn't log in.

The monitoring system detected the problem and sent alerts to the DevOps team. Our lead developer checked the logs and found the bug - a database migration failed.

He rolled back to the previous version immediately. The Product Owner called the main client and apologized.

We fixed the bug on Saturday, tested everything on Sunday, and deployed the hotfix on Monday morning.

In the retrospective, we decided to add more automated tests. The whole incident lasted about 30 hours.

Exercise 1: Regular Past Simple (-ed)

Complete using the past simple of the verb in brackets.

Exercise 2: Irregular Past Simple

Choose the correct past simple form for each sentence.

Exercise 3: Negatives and Questions

Choose the correct word for each gap: did, didn't, was, wasn't, were, weren't

Grammar Reference: Past Simple

A complete summary of Past Simple: regular verbs, irregular verbs, negatives, and questions.

Past Simple - Regular Verbs (-ed)

Rule	Example	Past form
Most verbs: + -ed	launch, test, call	launched, tested, called
Verbs ending in -e: + -d	apologize, release	apologized, released
Consonant + y: y -> -ied	deploy (not C+y!), carry	deployed, carried
CVC (short vowel): double last letter + -ed	stop, plan	stopped, planned

Past Simple - Common Irregular Verbs (IT context)

Base form	Past Simple	Example
go	went	The system went down.
find	found	He found the bug.
send	sent	The system sent alerts.
have	had	We had a retrospective.
choose	chose	We chose a new framework.
know	knew	I knew about the issue.
write	wrote	She wrote the test cases.
run	ran	We ran automated tests.
is/are	was/were	The client was unhappy.
can	could	They couldn't log in.

Past Simple - Negatives and Questions

Type	Structure	Example
Negative	Subject + didn't + base form	We didn't notice the bug.
Question	Did + subject + base form?	Did you check the logs?
Short answer	Yes, ... did. / No, ... didn't.	Did you test it? Yes, I did.
Wh-question	Wh + did + subject + base form?	What did you deploy?

Time expressions for Past Simple:
yesterday, last week/month/Friday, ago (two days ago), on Monday, in 2023, at 3 pm (yesterday), this morning (if the day is over)

Important: After didn't and did, always use the base form of the verb (NOT the past form).
Wrong: Did you deployed? Right: Did you deploy?
Wrong: We didn't found. Right: We didn't find.

Exercise 4: Mixed Practice

Choose the correct form. Regular, irregular, negatives, and questions are all mixed!

Exercise 5: Error Fix

Each sentence has a grammar mistake. Rewrite the sentence correctly.

Speaking Practice

Discuss these questions with your teacher. Use Past Simple throughout.

Ready to practise more?

The Workbook has extra exercises to reinforce what you learned.

Open Workbook

L1: Who is who?

Grammar

Vocabulary

Communication

Language Point: will be

TO BE - Present Simple

TO BE - Past Simple

TO BE - Future (will be)

What I Learned

Ready to practise more?

L2: What is where?

Grammar

Vocabulary

Communication

Language Point: some / any

There is / There are

Some vs Any

Prepositions of Place

Ready to practise more?

L3: How things work

Grammar

Vocabulary

Communication

Job Titles

Present Simple - Positive

Present Simple - Negative

Present Simple - Questions

Adverbs of Frequency

Your Error Patterns

Ready to practise more?

L4: When things go wrong

Grammar

Vocabulary

Communication

Past Simple - Regular Verbs (-ed)

Past Simple - Common Irregular Verbs (IT context)

Past Simple - Negatives and Questions

Your Error Patterns

Ready to practise more?