Katie Couric Interview

Katie Couric began the interview with Howard Schultz, CEO of starbucks, by asking him why he chose the names for the different sizes of coffee. He said that he went to Italy and saw these names, and they just made sense to him. Katie then asked why he was closing so many stores and what when wrong. was it because the company was growing too big and too fast. He replied yes, and he said that the growth had covered some mistakes. Katie went on and asked whether he had a business plan in place for the recession. He said no. He didn't have a business plan for the recession because history had demonstrated to him that in the a downturn of the economy would not affect Starbucks. Katie ended the interview by asking whether he would lower the prices for the Starbucks coffees. He said no. He said he would not cut corners that would jeopardize the Starbucks experience that his customer enjoyed. He said he saw a immediate uptick in the amount number of people coming in Starbucks after the 911 9-11. He said because he thought people wanted that human connection.

Looking around at my friends and family, I see that many of them are loyal Starbucks customers. I think Mr. Schultz is right that his customers come into Starbucks for the experience and the atmosphere, not just the coffee. Yesterday I was meeting my brother and sisters at Starbucks for coffee. We were sitting at the booth taking for a couple of hours. Beside being Starbucks is our meeting place, Starbucks is the place where my older sister has to have a Starbucks coffee every morning before work, and she’s been hooked on Starbucks coffee for more then couple years. By looking at these loyal customers that I know, I don’t think Starbucks should make any change or cutting cost on the store front. Maybe slow down the growth and mantained the Starbucks coffee quality and atmosphere could avoid more closing of stores and cutting jobs.

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Nice job of reporting on the interview and commenting on it with your personal experiences!
Regarding the form of noun clauses, the verb in the noun clause is conventionally past if the original form was present and past perfect if the original was past.

• Katie Couric began the interview with Howard Schultz, CEO of starbucks, by asking him why he chose had chosen the names for the different sizes of coffee.

You have to combine two noun clauses in the following sentence:

• Katie then asked why he was closing so many stores and what when wrong. was it and if it was because the company was growing had grown too big and too fast.

The highlighted phrase below is an adverbial phrase, which is a reduction of the adverbial clause:  When I look around at my friends and family.  The subject of the independent clause must be the same as the underlying subject of the adverbial phrase, which is I.  The second sentence is almost identical in structure with the correct subject in the independent clause.  This is the topic of our next module.

• Looking around at my friends and family, I see that many of them are loyal Starbucks customers.
• By looking at these loyal customers that I know, I don’t think Starbucks should make any change or cutting cost on the store front.

The modal should governs two verbs:  make and cut.  The nouns should be plural.

• I don’t think Starbucks should make any change or cutting cost on the store front.

The subjects of the verb should be in the gerund form:

• Maybe slow down the growth and mantained the Starbucks coffee quality and atmosphere could avoid more closing of stores and cutting jobs.