📼 HOMEWORK 1.1: Selling Your Experience

Same grammar, same verbs — new challenges. Do it yourself. The system checks everything, and your teacher sees your final score. No pressure. (Okay, a little pressure.)

0 / 37 answered

🧠 Memory refresh (yes, read this first)

Past Simple = finished past with a date (in 2014, last year, two months ago). Present Perfect = result alive today (since 2014, for 10 years, recently, so far, just, yet, ever/never).
Executive verbs: secure, launch, structure, mitigate, streamline, overhaul, safeguard, recover, execute, align.

Exercise 1. The Collocation Game

Click a verb, then click its favourite noun. Lawyers love stable partnerships.

Exercise 2. Choose the verb that fits

Only one verb survives in each sentence.

1. Before signing, we need to ___ all financial risks.

2. The board asked us to ___ the approval process — too many signatures.

3. They managed to ___ the lost money through court proceedings.

4. We plan to ___ the new FinTech product in Q3.

5. The legal team must ___ the company's intellectual property.

6. It took six months to ___ the license from the regulator.

7. After the audit, we had to ___ the entire compliance system.

8. My job was to ___ the sale of the subsidiary — cleanly and fast.

Exercise 3. Time markers: pick the survivor

These little words decide everything. Choose carefully.

1. I joined the bank ___ 2007.

2. I have worked in legal management ___ 17 years.

3. We closed the M&A deal ___ year.

4. ___ 2024, I have built two legal departments from scratch.

5. I have ___ resolved a $16.5M IP dispute.

6. She secured the MFO license two months ___.

7. We have managed M&A transactions ___ the last decade.

8. He has been our Legal Director ___ January.

Exercise 4. One of these sentences is lying

Choose the grammatically correct sentence.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Exercise 5. Type the correct verb form

No hints this time. Just you, the keyboard, and the truth.

1. I (start) my career in 2007.

2. I (work) in legal management since 2009.

3. Recently we (implement) a new document flow system.

4. Last year the team (recover) $5.2M from debtors.

5. So far I (build) three legal departments.

6. In 2014 she (secure) an MFO license from the Central Bank.

7. We (know) each other for ten years.

8. He (just / accept) a counter-offer. We are devastated but happy for him.

Exercise 6. Read the email from HR (yes, a real one-ish)

Subject: Your application — next steps

Dear candidate,
Thank you for your CV. I have read it twice — once with coffee, once without — and both times I was impressed. Since 2007 you have worked in legal management, and last year you resolved a $16.5M IP dispute. Nice.
Before we meet, I have three quick questions. First, why are you looking for a new role now? Second, what have you achieved in your current company so far? Third, when can you start?
Please reply by Friday. If you don't reply, I will assume you have accepted a counter-offer, and I will cry quietly into my spreadsheet.
Best regards,
HR Manager (47 interviews this month, 3 hours of sleep this week)

True or False?

1. The HR manager read the CV twice.

2. The candidate started working in legal management in 2014.

3. The candidate resolved a $16.5M dispute last year.

4. HR asks four questions in the email.

5. The reply is expected by Friday.

Exercise 7. Writing: your trophy story

Write 80–100 words about your biggest professional achievement. Requirements: at least 3 executive verbs, 2 Present Perfect sentences, 1 Past Simple sentence with a date. The counter is watching.

0 words (target: 80–100)

Exercise 8. Speaking (voice message to your teacher)

Record 60 seconds: "My biggest professional achievement and why it matters". Use the structure: Present → Past → Future. Send the audio together with your score screenshot.

Useful openers: "I currently work as...", "Over the last years, I have...", "One achievement I'm proud of was...", "Now I'm looking to..."

Screenshot this panel + your writing and send to your teacher.