Thursday, March 28, 2013

Vocabulary - 58



              Vocabulary Building                                                                                                                     

                             Importance of Vocabulary

                      

WHAT IS A VOCABULARY ?

You know,  Your boss has a better vocabulary than you. Good Vocabulary is a gateway to successful career and professional growth.

Words form the most important part of both written and oral communication. A good speaker or a writer will be able to choose the right words for an appropriate context, this  enhances the effectiveness of communication. The chosen words should be short  and to the point.  Rich vocabulary is a must for  the people who prefer high end career . Vocabulary is not inherent, one has to toil to acquire this gift. If you have a passion for the new words, you can win the battle. A good vocabulary includes knowledge of collocation, idioms and phrases, journalistic, scientific, political, business technical  terms etc.  Evelyn says “One's vocabulary  needs constant fertilizing or it will die”.  Journals, books, news papers and news are the great sources of current vocabulary.
                                                                                 

I’m to discuss Idioms and Phrases, Phrasal verbs, proverbs and expressions, that form an integral  part of One’s vocabulary treasure.


1. Idioms are  the group of worlds used over a period of time by a group of people. The meaning of this group of words is totally different from the meaning of the individual word

e.g. It rained cats and dogs.  = It rained heavily. (Originated in GB)

2. Phrases are the group of words which make sense but not complete sense, they make complete sense when used with other words.

e.g. The pirates struck the vessel on the high seas.

3. Phrasal verbs are the of group of words in which a verb is combined with other words
    e.g. The rebellion was put down with an iron hand.

4. A proverb is a simple and concrete saying or a popular saying. A proverb speaks the universal truth and it is based on human experiences e.g. A bad workman quarrels with his tools.

5. Expression is a group of words coined based on some human experiences.
e.g. Herd mentality – People who follow others blindly without any basis or reason, are said to posses heard mentality.
Many countries are making a beeline to exploit the minerals off Arctic without any concern for environmental impact. Is this not a herd mentality.


Thursday, March 21, 2013

Pronunciation - 57


          Pronunciation in English

                                 Out of the Books Stuff                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
 INTRODUCTION
Pronunciation is the ability to use correct stress rhythm and intonation of a word in a spoken language.  The pronunciation of a person depends on the place of his Residence, Education , Groups etc.  There is a lot of variation in spelling and pronunciation of English words and it’s the biggest hurdle for non native speakers, even in GB there are lot of phonetic variations, the problem with the English  word sound system is that the  same alphabets have many sounds in English language.  RP or  Received Pronunciation is the Standard accent of English in GB.


Pronunciation in English is as important as spelling and grammar. A slightest mispronunciation may cause huge damage to the reputation of  an individual. The conventional way to learn the pronunciation is a long and tedious journey for the non native speakers, I hope the following method would be helpful to learn the pronunciation in the shortest possible time.

TWO METHODS
There are two way in which you can learn English words Pronunciation namely a. Dictionary method and  b. Listening method, though the second method is very useful and handy. You need to be familiar with IPA before you start learning the pronunciation. Interestingly these phonetics symbols can be used to produce almost all the world languages' sound system. Once you are familiar with IPA you can produce the sound of any English word by just looking at these symbols next to the corresponding English word in the dictionary like (Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary), Please not that IPA symbols are written with slants(/IPA symbols/)For pronunciation through Audio please follow the instructions given bel


Jokes on Pronounciation 


A soldier was admitted in an Australian Hospital, after regaining his senses he inquired ,"when was I admitted here?" The doctor on duty told him "you came to die." (you came today). The soldier collapsed. 

A young Personal secretary told  her colleagues "I have  received an important massage (message) from my CEO yesterday." 


"He is the  Cheap General Manager of Finance", Announced the director of a company to the visiting dignitaries . (What is meant was 'He is the  chief general manager.)




STEPS TO THE LEARN PRONUNCIATION

STEP 1
IPA Or International Phonetic Alphabets ( in Latin)  represent phonetic notation. To view these symbols click IPA 

STEP 2
Listen to the pronunciation of the IPA by visiting this site Click   Pronunciation 

STEP 3
Type a word to listen to its pronunciation by visiting this site Click Sound  or   Oxford 

 STEP 4
Lookout for the meanings and explanation of the world like stress,intonation syllable rhythm etc. in online oxford dictionary Click      Oxford 

STEP 5
Watch any English news channel which display subtitles in English. (The Pronunciation changes in Talks or speech e.g. gonna = going to in American English). Watch carefully lips movement, pause and body language of the speakers and listeners


In about six months you will feel at home in English 

Pronunciation.                                                                                                                                                                
                                                                           
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Thursday, March 14, 2013

am is are Revised (2) - 56


          am is are Revised (2) - 56                                

PRIOR INFORMATION
Noun
Preposition
Adjective
Continuous/progressive verb
Past participle very

 For explanation of the above terms Click grammarmail

I Am/is/are + Noun

She is a teacher.
I am married
It’s a bank.
That is a Business school.
He is an Arab.

Six important types of sentences (e.g. She is a teacher)

She is a teacher
She is not a teacher. (= She isn’t a teacher)
Is she a teacher?
Isn’t she a teacher? (= is she not a teacher?)
What is she?
Is she a teacher or a student?

NOTE: Each of the above types can be spoken in many moods.

II am /is /are + preposition (in, on, at, above, of, for etc.)
She is in Sydney
They are in a hurry ( to go to the airport)
They are from Canada.
I am upstairs.
He is between Jack and Shane. (He is sitting between Jack and Shane.)

Six important types of sentences (e.g. she is in Sydney.)

She is in Sydney
She isn’t in Sydney.
Is she in Sydney?
Isn’t she in Sydney?
Where is she?
Is she in Sydney or in Mexico?

III am/is/are + adjective
She is tall
They are tired.
I am optimistic (about the new proposal)
Shane is ill (since last week.)
Jim is an introvert (by nature)

Five important types of sentences (e.g. She is tall.)

She is tall.
She isn’t tall.
Is she tall?
Isn’t she tall?
How is she?
Is she tall or short?

IV am/is/are + progressive/continuous verb
She is waiting (in the office)
They are swimming (in the lake.)
She is driving a car.
The child is playing (in the garden.)
I am reading a news paper.
She is watching TV.

Five important types of sentences (e.g. she is waiting.)

She is waiting.
She is not waiting. (is not = isn’t)
Is she waiting?
Isn’t she waiting?
What is she doing?
Is she waiting or not?


V am is are + past participle verb

She is interested (in Medicine)
They are held up (due to rain.)
We are disappointed (with the performance of the new government.)
He is given (a new responsibility.)
We are asked (to wait for an hour.)

Six important types of sentences ( e.g. she is interested …)

She is interested…
She is not interested…
Is she interested in medicine?
Isn’t she interested in medicine?
Is she interested in medicine or Engineering?

VI going to ( To indicate some future action which is already planned.)

I am going to attend the board meeting tomorrow.
She is going to marry next week.
They are going to visit Berlin next month.
Jane is going to come tomorrow.
Joe and John are going to start a business next week.

Six important type of sentences (e.g. They are going to visit Berlin next month.)

They are going to visit……
They are not going to visit….
Are they going to visit….?
Aren’t they going to visit ….?
When are they going to visit Berlin?
Are they going to visit Berlin or Belfast?

VII am/is/are +  either or
He is either an American or a Mexican.
They are either upstairs or in the Ballroom
She is either at the airport or at home.
It’s either a camera or a scanner. (It is = it’s)
Bill is either her brother or cousin.

VIII am/is/are + to + verb (To indicate some future action which is likely to happen)

Am to visit the dentist tomorrow.

She is to report by 10 O’ clock
They are to pay the cash by next week.
The president is to visit Moscow tomorrow.
The flight is to land in about 10 minutes.
                                                                                                                   

End of the post

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

am is are Revised - 55


               am is are Revised - 55

                            Out of the Books Stuff                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Basics

Subject
Articles a, an, and the
First Second and Third person
Noun and kinds
Preposition

Question Types
Click grammarmail to view the explanation of the above terms.


In our conversation with others we talk about someone or something (= Subject) , the subject is usually a noun/pronoun/common noun/proper noun/abstract noun etc. Before we try to make sentences with noun/common noun/proper noun/abstract noun etc. we should first try to learn to make sentences with pronoun as subject (or Subject pronoun) , because number of Subject pronouns are limited ( seven) on the contrary the list of   nouns, proper nouns, common nouns are unlimited. We can convert any noun/proper noun/common noun/abstract noun etc. into its equivalent pronoun and use that as a subject to make a sentence. See the following conversion table.


 NOUN TO PRONOUN CONVERSION

 NOUN
Father
Mother
Teacher
President
Manager
Customer
Brother
Clerk
Driver
Friend
Students
Machine
animal
 PRONOUN
He
She
He/she
He/she
He/she
He/she
He
He/she
He/she
He/she
They
It
It
 NOUN
Pain
Fever
Crowd
Team
Nation
Herd
Audience
Water
Tea
House
Shops
Chairs
meeting
PRONOUN
It
It
It
It
It
It
It
It
It
It
They
They
It


am is are are called the auxiliary (Helping verbs) – They help main verb to make questions negatives etc.
                                    am is are practical usage

Person                         Singular                              Plural

First                             I + am                                    We + are

Second                        You + are                               You + are

Third                            He/she/it  +  is                        They + are

 NOTE: The subjects he/she/it include all singular nouns, common nouns, proper nouns, abstract nouns etc. The subject they include all plural nouns

am is are – Practical usage

a. Used to describe someone or something or self (in the present time)
b. To say some fact about someone or things
c. To give some information about someone or something.
d. Used as an auxiliary (helping) verb with the main verbs like watching, writing, learning etc
NOTE : There  are many  uses, we shall see those later.


Read the following sentences
I am a student ( Someone describes about himself as a student.)
Shane is my sister. Shane is my a sister  (Someone describes Shane as his/her sister.)
My brother is a Teacher (Someone describes his/her brother as a teacher.)


Sentence construction – Formal

a. Simple statement/sentence/information/news/ fact etc.

I + am  e.g. I am 26 (years old) and  I am married.
We + are e.g. we are Germans
You + are (Singular and plural). e.g. You are late today.
He/she/it + is  e.g. He is an attorney. His sister (She) is a doctor
They + are e.g. They are students.



b. Negative Sentences

I + am + not e.g.  I am not single I am married.
We + are + not (=we aren’t) e.g. we are not children we ar grown ups.
You + are +not (= you aren’t) e.g. You are not sincere and committed in you work.
He/she/it  + is + not (=he/she/it isn’t) e.g. He is in Washington now.
They + are + not (= they aren’t) e.g.They are rich and powerful.


c. Questions ( ‘yes/no’)

am + I e.g. Am I Right?
are + we e.g. Are we on time?
are + you e.g. Are you late today?
Is +he/she/it e.g. Is she in the office?
Are + they e.g. Are they foreigners?

d. Negative question

aren’t + I (am + not + I)   e.g.  I am late today ….. aren’t I?
Aren’t + we (= are we not) e.g. Aren’t we sincere in our work?
Aren’t + you (= are you not) e.g. Aren’t you Oliver?
Isn’t +he/she/it (= is he/she/it not) e.g. Isn’t she Bill’s sister?
Aren’t + they (= are they not) Aren’t they Chinese?

e. Question (‘wh’ question word)

‘wh’ question word + am + I e.g. How much am I to pay for this? 60 $
‘wh’ question word + are + you e.g. Where are you these days? in Sydney
‘wh’ question word + is + he/she/it e.g. How is your mother (she)? Fine
‘wh’ question word + are + they e.g. How are your parents? They are OK

f. Alternate question

Am + I + Choice(1) or choice(2) e.g. am I right or not? you are right.
Are + we + Choice (1) or Choice (2) e.g. Are we on the firs floor or the second floor? First
Are + you (Singular and plural) + Choice (1) or choice (2) e.g. Are you an Indian or an American?
Is + he/she/it + choice (1) or Choice (2) e.g. Is he a student or a teacher?                                                                                                                    

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