Wednesday 25 May 2011

Barack Obama suffers royal toast mishap at Queen's banquet

Barack Obama suffered an awkward moment during a banquet at Buckingham Palace last night when he broke royal protocol by speaking over the national anthem.

The US President had just begun proposing a toast to the Queen when the orchestra accidentally struck up God Save The Queen. However, rather than pause and continue the speech a ter the !usic had stopped, "r #ba!a pressed on only to be rebu ed when he raised his glass to her. The Queen did not see! to take o ence at the !ishap and appeared to sti le an e!barrassed s!ile. Protocol de!ands that people stand to attention when the national anthe! is played. Seated between the Queen and the $uchess o %ornwall or the white tie unction, "r #ba!a got to his eet and addressed the guests saying& '(adies and gentle!en, please stand with !e and raise your glasses as ) propose a toast. 'To Her "ajesty the Queen.* "istakenly believing that was their cue, the orchestra o the Scots Guard began playing the national anthe!. "r #ba!a continued& '+or the vitality o the special relationship between our peoples and in the words o Shakespeare to ,this blessed plot, this earth, this real!, this -ngland..* /aising his glass, hal way through the anthe!, he concluded 'to the Queen*, but see!ed ba led when she did not respond. (ooking around sheepishly at the rows o guests stood in silence, "r #ba!a placed his glass back on the table and clasped his hands until the band had inished. He then repeated the gesture to the Queen, who s!iled again, as she inally raised her own glass to the President. 0u!erous US news websites poked un at the President over the ga e. 1ake Tapper, 23%.s 4hite House %orrespondent, co!!ented& ')t al!ost elt like one o those !o!ents at the 2cade!y 2wards when the speech ro! the recipient or 3est #riginal Screenplay goes on too long and the orchestra tries to hustle hi! or her o the stage.*

Revision Non-finite verb forms

Infinitival paradigm Present active: (TO) WRITE Present passive: (TO) BE WRITTEN Present progressive active: (TO) BE WRITING Perfect active: (TO) HAVE WRITTEN Perfect passive: (TO) HAVE BEEN WRITTEN Perfect progressive: (TO) HAVE BEEN WRITING

Gerundial paradigm Present active: WRITING ( asic for!) Present passive: BEING WRITTEN Perfect active : HAVING WRITTEN Perfect passive: HAVING BEEN WRITTEN

Participial paradigm Present active: P"A#ING$ %EEING Present passive: BEING P"A#E&$ BEING %EEN Past active: P"A#E&$ %EEN Past passive: $ Perfect active: HAVING P"A#E&$ HAVING %EEN BEEN

Perfect particip'e progressive: HAVING BEEN P"A#ING$ HAVING %EEING Perfect passive: HAVING BEEN P"A#E&$ HAVING BEEN %EEN