Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Question making(1) - 42

                                                                          
           Questioning Techniques -1
                                                                     

Question making is quite different from making statements. Statements that provoke response from the hearer are called a question.  In formal English there are standard structures to frame questions, however in informal ways body language and expressions pay a vital role in creating a question mood.  A simple statement can be converted into question by rising intonation. ( e.g. Obama won second term?,/ France lost AAA rating?)


KNOWLEDGE OF SUBJECT, VERB, AUXILIARY VERB ETC. IS ESSENTIAL FOR FRAMING QUESTIONS. Click grammarmail, to know Subject, verb etc


WHAT IS A SUBJECT?

Subject often describes the doer of an action, subject shows what  the sentence is about. All the nouns and pronouns can also be used as subjects. Subject  usually comes at the beginning of a sentence.

Jane gave a book to Jim (Jane = Subject)- Noun used as a subject
She gave a book to Jim (She = pronoun) – Pronoun used as a subject


SUBJECT PRONOUN

PersonSingularPlural
FirstIWe
SecondYouYou
Third
He
She
It

They

                                         

What is a VERB ?

 Verb is a word that tells us   


1. What a person or thing does.e.g The man runs on the wall.

2. What is done to the person or thing e.g She was awarded a Nobel Prize

3. What a person or thing is. e.g she is a teacher


A. A Verb  or Main Verb = action verb


The action verbs like read,see, watch  etc.are called an ordinary a verb or main verb.

They denote some action, they have present,past, past participle etc. forms (e.g go, went, gone etc.)
                      

                                     Auxiliary and modal auxiliary


A. Auxiliary verbs (helping verbs). These Verbs  are used with the main verbs  to form Tenses, passive forms,negatives and questions. The three forms of Auxiliaries are,

be  forms   am, is, are, was, were,  shall/will. e.g I am a teacher

do forms   do, does, did, . e.g. Do you Speak French.
have forms  have, has, had. e.g. She has done the job.


 B. Modal verbs or Modals or Modal auxiliary:  These verbs are used before ordinary or main verbs  to denote certainty,uncertainly,necessity, permission possibility etc. The verbs are can, could, shall, should,may,might,will,would,must and ought, have to, used to, need,dare,
e.g.
She can speak English. (can is an auxiliary verb Speak is a main verb)
He has gone to school. (has is an auxiliary verb, gone is a main verb.)
It will rain now. (will is an auxiliary verb, rain is a main verb.) - Rain is used as a verb here.

She is a doctor.  (is is an auxiliary verb acting as a main verb, because there isn't any main verb here.)


TYPES OF QUESTIONS

The two important  types of questions in English are ' wh' question and 'yes/no'  question. In this session we shall see 'yes/no' type..

1. 'Wh' question begins with  'wh' word  like what, when,where etc. ''Wh' question requires a complete response. e.g. Where is John// How is Shane?
2. 'Yes/no' - .The response to this type of question is either 'yes' or 'no' , a complete response is not required in this case. e.g. Are you tired? ,  Does she work in a bank?

A - Changing statement  ( having main verb + auxiliary verb) into question 

The new president  will save the economy - Statement
Will the new president save the economy - question ('yes/no')

More Sentences

She can speak French.  ----> Can she speak French?
They will come next week -----> Will they come next week?
She is speaking to her boss ------>Is she speaking to her boss?
They are attending the customers.--------> Are they attending the customers?
She has finished the assignment. -------> has she finished the assignment?

B - Changing statement (without a main verb) into questions

She is a timid girl. ----> Is she a timid girl?
The coffee is hot enough ------> Is the coffee hot enough?
You have some books. -----> have you  some books? (= Do you have some books?)

NOTE: If there is no main verb  in sentence auxiliary verb acts as a main verb

C. Changing statement (Without an auxiliary verb.) into questions.


She speaks five languages. -----> Does she speak five languages?
They like fruits. -----> Do they like fruits?
She went to Paris last week. -------> Did she go to Paris last week? (Did +  go = went)

Note: If there is no auxiliary verb in the statement, the question is made by introducing an auxiliary verb in the question.

Note:  Subject                Auxiliary Verb (For Making negatives/questions.)

        I/We/you/they                  Do --> Present , Did ---> past

         He/she/it                          Does --> Present, Did ---> past                                                                                        


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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Comparison - Contrast - 41

                                                                          
        Comparison and Contrast
                                                                     

Comparison and contrast forms an integral part of any free or formal talks. In our daily routine we compare or contrast the character of people, their attitude, their abilities etc.  Comparison and contrast doesn’t confine to people alone we can compare weather or population or anything ( Of different regions.). We have also discussed equating things/people. With regard to comparison there are three levels/degrees  namely positive, comparative and superlative.


In a sentence of positive degree  we just say good or bad about someone/something.

In a sentence of comparative  degree there is a comparison (Good or bad) between two things/people.

In a sentence if superlative degree there is a comparison (good or bad) between more than two things.


Smith is a Good student – positive degree

Jim is better then Smith – Comparative degree
Joe is the best student ( in the whole group or in comparison to Smith and Jim.) - Superlative degree

NOTE: In this session we have confined our discussion to comparison between the two things/people.
              Generally the comparison between two things/people is made either by using so…. as, as….. as, or comparative degree word (larger, smaller, bigger etc) + ‘Than’, combination. The emotional outcome is same in all the three cases. ( If a word has more than one syllable like ‘ beautiful’, most is added to make it a comparative word.)

e.g. 1. America is not so large as Russia. (= Russia is larger than America.)
          The new Russia is not so large as the old USSR. (= Old USSR was larger than new Russia.)

e.g. 2. Your family is not quite so large as hers. (quite as optinal word)
           Your family isn’t as large as hers.
           Your family is not larger than hers.
     

More sentences (Comparison)

The New government is not so good as the old one.
Her second novel is not so interesting as her first noel.
John is not so committed as his brother.
She is not so attractive as she appears in the media.
My brother is better today than he was ten years back.
Many people talk more about their rights than about their duty.
Jane likes him more that Clara.
Joe doesn’t play so hard as Jim.
I like her more than anything else.

Higher Level

Nothing else I want more, than your happiness and peace.
Nobody ever did more (Service) to this country than Mr.  Oliver.
It is more important that the rulers must be more cautious than the public.

More sentences ( Equalization)

She is as fair as me (‘me’ is used instead  ‘I’ in informal style.)
Is she as fair as Shane?
Isn’t Mitt Romney as efficient as Obama?
Your family is as large as mine.
Russia is as powerful as America.

Parallel/anti parallel Comparison ( The more…… the….)

The sooner you begin,  the sooner you will finish.

The more learned a man is, the more humble he usually is. (usually is optional)

The more he read, the less he understood. (‘read’ as a past tense verb)                                                                                                                                                                  


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Monday, November 12, 2012

Sarcastic Comments - 40

                                                        
          Sarcastic comments?
                          

Sarcastic = biting, sharp scathing, wounding cutting , mocking, sneering, caustic, derisive, demeaning etc.


Human way of thinking is diverse, so are the reactions and responses.  We shall see the formal way of making  sarcastic comments in our routine.  Diplomatic/tactical way of making sarcastic comments is quite different.
                                                                                            

Sarcastic comments(on some remarks) are common in talks, these comments are made by repeating the remarks and making SUBJECT - VERB  inversion. ( Here Verb refers to helping/auxiliary verb)


PRIOR INFORMATION

Subject?

The person or thing that we speak about in a sentence is called subject. A subject can be a noun pronoun, common noun, collective noun, adjectives etc. In the sentences below we have used   pronouns as subjects. Subject normally comes at the beginning of a sentence. It is more convenient to make sentences if the subject is in the form of a pronoun.  When you make a sentence always convert subject to it’s pronoun form mentally ( If the subject is not in the pronoun form). They are only nine pronouns (Personal) of all the subjects in the world, namely I, we, you, he, she, it, they

Helping/auxiliary verb?

Am, is, are,was, were, shall/will, do, does, have/has etc. are called helping/auxiliary verbs they are used to make negatives or questions.
NOTE: Comments may be friendly or  unfriendly/sarcastic.
 e.g. ‘ I won’t listen’ ‘ Oh you won’t ‘ Won’t you? ('Oh you won't '= remark, 'wont you' =  subject-verb inversion.)



                                                                       SECTION –A 
                       (affirmative sentence< remark > - Comment) 

More Sentences
( We haven’t inserted quotes in the following sentences)

I spoke to Caroline yesterday. You did, did you? (Friendly)

She is  fond of green tea. You is , is she?

He has completed the assignment. He  has, has he?

I will send you to the prison. You will, Will you? ( Listeners comment) - sarcastic

I will send you to prison (Who said?).  I will , Will I? (Speakers comment) – surprised

I shall have to take action against you. You will, Will you? ( shall can be used only with I and we.)

He hates the boss like an enemy. He does, does he?

She is very rude to her opponents. She is, is she?

I am going to call her now. You are, Are you?

I think she is quite careless. You do, do you?

NOTE: Do, and does are the helping verbs, they are used to make questions and negatives.



                                                                    SECTION – B 
                        (Negative sentence <remark> – Comment) 

You mustn’t behave (With her like that). I mustn’t, mustn’t I? (Mustn't = must not)

I didn’t do that. You didn’t , Didn’t you. (Didn't  = did not)

She won’t accept the offer. She won’t ,Won’t she.

The advancing army won’t retreat. It won’t, Won’t it?

The didn’t relocate the missile . They didn’t, didn’t they?

They are going to strike tomorrow. They are, are they?


                                                           SECTION – C 
                              (Question Tags in imperative sentence)

 Imperative sentence = command/order/request sentence

You hear me, don’t you?

Stop that nonsense, will you?

You weren’t absent yesterday, were you?                                                                                                                                                                                                                        


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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Agree - disagree? - 39

                                     How to agree/disagree in Talks ?

Human way of thinking is diverse, so are the reactions and responses.  We shall see the formal way of agreement and disagreement in our routine.  Diplomatic/tactical way of agreeing or disagreeing with others is quite different from formal language structure.

 

                                                                       SECTION  - I
A. When the statement/sentence is simple or affirmative the agreement words start with oh yes, Yes, of courseso, etc.  coupled with gestures (Head/ eye movement/ thumps up etc.)


This election is going to be a close race.  Of course.
The next president will a have tough task. Oh Yes/yes.
She can manage the office. – Of course she can/ Yes she can/ You are right/ No doubt about it.
He looks tired. Yes he does. (The auxiliary verb for he/she/it is does. The auxiliary verb is used to make questions and negatives when the verb is an action verb like  go, write, see etc.)
The boss has agreed. Yes he has.


SECTION  IIB. When the statement /sentence is simple or affirmative the disagreement words start with no and end with not (but is used with questions or  guess Sentence.)

She is an English.  No she isn’t.
You are careless about the job.  Oh no, I’m not.
I think She speaks French.  But she doesn’t.
Your Children are a nuisance.  Oh no/I swear/I bet, there aren’t.
Why did you let him go? But I didn’t.


A. When the statement/sentence  is negative the agreement words start with no and end with not.
She isn’t well. No, she isn’t.  
The players haven’t arrived yet. No, they haven’t.

We can’t   help them now. No, we can’t.
It’s doesn’t work properly. No, It doesn’t.
She didn’t attend the meeting yesterday. No, she didn’t.
NOTE: The rules are not followed strictly  in informal situations.

B. When the statement/sentence  is negative the disagreement words start with Yes/Oh yes or but Oh but.

She can’t do it. Yes she can.   
You don’t the procedure. But I do.
He didn’t close the door. Oh yes he did./ I am sure he did.
Why didn’t you call me yesterday.  But I did.
She likes you better that  John.  But  she doesn’t  (The auxiliary verb for he/she/it is does. The auxiliary verb is used to make questions and negatives when the verb is an action verb like  go, write, see etc.)                                                                                                             

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