Read the article “Email - a good thing or a bad thing?” and speak about the positive and negative sides of emails or debate

In recent years email has become an increasingly important means of communication. However, like most things it has both advantages and disadvantages.

On the plus side: •First of all, email is easy. All you need is the appropriate software on your computer. There are no stamps to stick and no trips in the freezing cold to postboxes. •The second point is that email is fast. No matter where you’re sending your message, whether it’s to the next street or to the other side of the planet it takes only seconds to reach its destination. Nowadays, whenever I send regular mail (or snail mail as email users call it), I can’t believe that it’s actually going to take days to reach its destination. How primitive! •Email is not only fast, it is also cheap. Unlike long distance telephone calls, you pay no more for messages. •Also, email messages are easily stored. Because they’re electronic, saving an email message you’ve received (and calling it back up again later) is a breeze. •In addition to this, email is environmentally friendly because of being electronic. It saves natural resources such as paper. •Last but not least, email is practically universal. More and more people use it every day.

On the minus side: •Firstly, email is impersonal. You can’t see a person, face to face; it’s difficult to get across subtle meanings in email prose with no visual or voice clues. •Secondly, it can be argued that email is in fact too easy. You can write a message in a few seconds and send it off with one click. And once sent, you can’t get back a message that may have been written in a fit of irritation or anger. •Another point is that email security is lax. As your email message makes its way to its destination, it has to pass through other, public, systems. Anyone with the right technical know-how can intercept it without your knowing. •although, as stated above, it’s an advantage that email messages are easily stored, this can also be a disadvantage. If you say nasty things about your boss in a message, a saved copy can come back to haunt you in the future. •A final and very important point is that email can take over your life. Because it is so easy to start getting more and more correspondence, and you end up spending most of your day reading and responding to floods of messages.

Overall, however, the pros of email outweigh the cons. Email has transformed the world of communication in largely beneficial ways, and alongside text messaging, is now a major way of keeping in touch.

Reporting Verbs

When using reported speech, most students learn to use "say" and "tell":

Examples:

John told me he was going to stay late at work.
Peter said he wanted to visit his parents that weekend.

These forms are perfectly correct for reporting what others have said. However, there are a number of other reporting verbs which can more accurately describe what someone has said. These verbs take a variety of structures. The following list gives you reporting verbs in various categories based on sentence structure. Notice that a number of verbs can take more than one form.

verb object infinitive	verb infinitive	verb (that)	verb gerund	verb object preposition gerund	verb preposition gerund
advise encourage invite remind warn	agree decide offer promise refuse threaten	admit agree decide deny explain insist promise recommend suggest	deny recommend suggest	accuse blame congratulate	apologize insist
Examples: Jack encouraged me to look for a new job. They invited all their friends to attend the presentation.	Examples: She offered to give him a lift to work. My brother refused to take no for an answer.	Examples: Tom admitted (that) he had tried to leave early. She agreed (that) we needed to reconsider our plans.	Examples: He denied having anything to do with her. Ken suggested studying early in the morning.	Examples: They accused the boys of cheating on the exam. She blamed her husband for missing the train.	Examples: He apologized for being late. She insisted on doing the washing up.

Reporting verbs

Practice

1. Write the correct verb in the correct form into the box.

be get help lose pay sack steal walk