I have decided to extend the time that this offer is available. Therefore, if other readers would like this extremely useful grammar help book, they should simply send an e-mail to contact@4Sliteracy.com.au . Please write: Free Grammar Booklet as the subject of your e-mail as this will assist my office to know which e-mails are about the grammar booklet as hundreds of e-mails come into the office every week.

I am also giving those who want the grammar booklet, the right to copy it so that they can give it to others - or alternatively, they can simple on-forward my responsive e-mail to others for them to download the attachment themselves. However, I respectfully ask that those who get the booklet, honour my copyright intellectual property and NOT change the authorship.

Last week, I had the privilege to conduct an intensive, four-day, seminar – workshop in Manila entitled The International English Teacher-Tutor-Trainer – Literacy-Language-Grammar Program. The event was sponsored by the Active-E-Learning Technology Foundation (ALT-F) headed by Dr. Isagani R. Cruz and Rowena E. Bagadion and the Department of Education (DepEd). One hundred and one teachers from all over Metro Manila attended the course.

I must say that I was personally impressed by the dedication, the commitment and the professionalism of each and every person who participated. If these teachers are a sample of the quality of the teaching profession in the Philippines. then the citizens of this country, its educational heads and its political leaders can be extremely proud of those who are at the "class room-coal face" of education in this nation.

My 4S Accelerated English Program (4S-AEP) is now used in minor and major ways in 26 countries and I have conducted teacher-training programs in many of them. This Manila course proved to be the best that I have ever conducted over the last 10 years and the reason clearly centered on the attitude and aptitude of each person who attended. I have enormous confidence that through them, a new altitude shall be reached in the standard of teaching English as they share their newly acquired skills to their professional peers.

I also wish to use this column to place on record my appreciation and recognition of the foresight and initiative demonstrated by the DepEd in giving these teachers the opportunity to attend during normal school and college time. I am totally confident that as the coming months unfold and these teachers begin to impart the new teaching tools and techniques they have mastered to their students and to other teachers, the Department’s "investment" will be rewarded tenfold.

As the director of the Australian International Language Academy (AILA), I have decided to return to the Philippines in late September and on Sept. 27, to run a free, one-day, follow-up, international English language seminar-workshop that will take many of those who attended last week’s course to an even higher level of proficiency in teaching English language skills.

While I’m in Manila, on Sept. 26, I will now be partnering with EITSC – an arm of the European Chamber of Commerce – to run a special free 4S-AEP course for teachers and tutors interested in being part of a strategy to address English illiteracy problems in the Philippines especially among teenagers and young adults.

EITSC is also organizing other English-related courses that will be extremely beneficial to those in the corporate and administrative areas as well as in the general community. More information about these courses can be obtained by contacting Dominic Sabado or Mike Claparols at EITSC on +63 2 845 1324 or +63 2 759 6680.

For those teachers, tutors and trainers who reside the Angeles City region, on July 31 there will be the opportunity to attend a one-day, intensive 4S-AEP seminar-workshop being organized by a newly formed English Language Learning Centre headed by a local educationist, John David Ong. More information is available by e-mailing jdm_ong@yahoo.com.ph

One of the questions that is being asked repeatedly in relation to correct English pronunciation is typified by the words contribute and distribute. How should these words be pronounced and why?

The words contribute and distribute should be pronounced as contribute and distribute NOT as contribute and distribute. WHY? The answer is: – because they are both verbs.

There is a traditional pronunciation rule in English is that unless a word is built from a Latin or Greek root such as inspection and revision, the primary stress or emphasis in most bi-syllabic and multi-syllabic nouns is usually on the FIRST syllable, e.g. pi/lot; gar/den; wal/let; mis/sion; book/let; ho/tel; ti/ger; sail/or, etc.

In contrast, when a word performs the function of a verb, such as contribute and distribute do, the stress is applied further into the word.

The word, contribution is a noun and is therefore stressed on the first syllable, i.e. contribution. In turn, contribute is a verb and is stressed on the second syllable, i.e. contribute.

Likewise, the noun, distribution is pronounced as distribution while the verb, distribute is pronounced as distribute.

An excellent example to demonstrate this pronunciation rule is the word attribute. Compare these two sentences: Orlando’s greatest attribute is his loyalty to his friends regardless of their failures. (noun) – To what do you attribute the decrease in the number of road fatalities? (verb)

Another example is address – What is the address of the Australian Embassy in Manila? (noun) – Next Wednesday, the mayor is going to address our college assembly. (Verb).

Test yourself using the words: respect; record; permit, return and account in oral sentences as verbs.