The ABCD’s of Thinking in English (By Vince Bonetti)

To think in English requires using a different mental sentence structure and syntax than in
Portuguese. Also, its important to understand the culture behind the linguistics; time is valuable
and people don’t enjoy long conversations unless its with someone close or intimate.
Furthermore, speed is extremely important in business because of people’s heavy workloads.
Here are the ABCD’s of thinking in English:

Accurate- be precise in your speech and don’t be redundant by repeating facts over and over.
Brief- be as quick and short as possible as time is valuable, especially in business.

Concise- be as clear as possible and cite only relevant facts; no long stories.
Direct- get to the point at the beginning of what you say or write and use simple words.

The ABCD’s of thinking in English can be learned by modeling effective English

communication and by practice. Ideally, one should be timed to do a 5 or 10 minute
presentation and be cut off if one goes over time.

5 Minute Presentation Structure

Introduction- 30 seconds or so, summarize the main topic of the presentation.

Main Body- 4 minutes or so, provide supporting evidence and arguments.

Conclusion- 30 seconds or so, restate main point with a summary of evidence.

Supporting evidence and arguments must contain both logic and emotion. Logic
requires accurate and relevant facts while emotion requires one’s confidence in
what one is saying. In short, to communicate well in English and to be persuasive,
one requires logic, emotion, and the ABCD’s of thinking in English.