Santana Pathak

Centre for Heritage Management

Ahmedabad University

Man of Science appears to be the only man who

has something to say just nowand the only man

who does not know how to say it.
It is sufficiently incriminating that it should concern

many of us.
Limited written and verbal communication skills
can severely hinder professional growth in
management or in engineering.

 For example, a survey of California businesses indicated

that effective communication skills were among the most

significant factors in moving men to top management
positions.
A recent study of over 2,000 executives concluded that
communication was the most significant factor in
influencing promotions.
Unaccustomed as you may be to the daily need for formal
communication, there is no question that attention to
improving those skills will be an important, in fact essential
ingredient of your future professional advancement.

The concept of error is based on

My perspective
Recognizes that the native

speaker is a misnomer
There are many more non-native
speakers of English in the world
than native speakers
Recognizes the importance of
global English

Verb Forms & Subject-verb Agreement

Adjective Placement
Prepositions
Misc. Grammar
Pronunciation
Punctuation
Spelling
Meaning
Ambiguity (2 types)

Oftentimes the degree to which you know the

verb system in English indicates your level of

language proficiency
i.e. mastery of the past tense indicates an
intermediate level
English teachers cite the following as major
problems with verbs:
Overuse of the infinitive
Indian usage of present continuous
becoming a fossilized error in Arab students
I as well as he am a teacher.

Although English verbs have only a few forms,

it can still be difficult to remember which

ending to use in different grammatical
situations, especially since some forms are
used in more than one pattern, and many
verbs are irregular.

Simple
forms (no
endings)

3-rd
Simple
person
past
(Present,
(ed)
-s and -es)

Present
Participl
e

Past
participle

Regu talk
lar
debate

talks
debates

talked
debated

talking
debating

talked
debated

Irreg
ular

is
goes
has
writes

was/wer
e went
had
wrote

being
going
having
writing

been
gone
had
written

be
go
have
write


ACTION
VERBS
VERBS the
Linking
verbs are verbs LINKING
that couple

subject and an adjective or noun that follows

Hethe
looked
him up and down.
He looked handsome.
verb.
I taste the food.

The food tastes good.

He sounded the alarm

The music sounded brassy.

I feel the table.

I feel good.

Linking verbs are verbs that couple the subject and an adjective or
noun that follows the verb.

 USE THE SIMPLE FORM OF THE VERB (no endings!)

AFTER INFINITIVE TO AND MODALS (HELPING

VERBS)can, could, may, might, must, shall,

should, will, would.
Incorrect: She wants partying tonight because

she can sleep tomorrow.

Correct: She wants to party tonight because
she can sleep tomorrow.

A few phrases ending with to are followed by

a gerund instead of the simple form of the

verb, such as object to, in addition to, be
accustomed to, be devoted to, be committed
to, and be opposed to.
Examples:
We look forward to seeing you.
Im used to sleeping with the window open.

 Many languages place adjectives after the noun

French: Une voiture bleue
Order of adjectives is often challenging
Opinion adjectives (nice, beautiful, delicious)
Fact adjectives (long, young, hot, large)
Opinion adjectives go before fact
Adjectives of size and length go before adjectives of

shape and width

When there is more than one fact adjective, use this
order
How big?How old? what color?what is it made of?
where from?+ noun
A small black plastic Indian bag
An old white cotton shirt
Big blue eyes

Little words in English cause the biggest

problems!
Phrasal verbs add to the confusion
Run away
Get by
Look out
Take off
Fill in
Cut down

There/their/theyre
a/an before h
Its/its
Your/youre
Who/which or that?
Anyone vs. any one

There is used in two ways

Can specify a place
I went to Hyderabad and met Ali there.
Can be used as an expletive or empty word to

start a sentence
There should be new methods of teaching
English.
Their is the possessive form of they
This is their new car.
Theyre is the contracted form of they are
Theyre my new friends.

Before a pronounced h, the indefinite article

should be a
A history book
Before a silent h, use an
An hour
These words must be proceeded with a not
an
( university unit union European useful
uniform)
I have a European friend.
She must buy a uniform to go to school.

Its

is the possessive form of the pronoun

That is a good book. Its title is..
Its is the contracted form of it is or it
has
Its time to go.
Its been great.

Your is the possessive form of a personal

pronoun
I like your website.

Youre is the contracted form of you are

Youre a dedicated employee.

 Who (or whom) refers to persons

Which refers to animals or things
That can refer to either persons or things
1- The mechanic is the person( who\that) fixes cars.
2- The mechanic whom I met yesterday is very clever.
3- The cow is an animal (which\that) gives us meat

and milk.

Anyone means any person

Not necessarily any specific person
Can refer to multiple people simultaneously
As two words, any one refers to a single

person
Examples:
Anyone can download my software. But the

software can only be used by any one user at a

time.

Learners define good pronunciation as

sounding like a native speaker

Many factors affect pronunciation

Stress
two-syllable nouns and adjectives--stress on the first
syllable (i.e. apple, hotel, lagoon, suspect)
words which can be used as both nouns and verbs
noun has stress on the first syllable He lives in the

desert!"
verb has stress on the second syllable They desert their
homes.
compound nouns are fairly equally balanced but with

stronger stress on the first part (i.e. hairbrush)

Individual Sounds
P/B for Arabic Speakers; L/R for Asians and F/V/W for
Indian Speakers of English-Pakstani th t.

Quotes before or after the period?

Quotation marks go
After a period or comma
Before a colon
After a question mark (unless the entire sentence is
a question)
End punctuation after URLs
There isnt any!
Apostrophes
When in doubt, leave them out!

Continues to be problematic even with

Spellchecker!
Spell check is good to check spelling
It cant determine meaning
They cannot determine whether the word is

the one wanted.

Seen scene
Need knead
Night knight
Be bee
Sea see

Literal and non-literal meanings (usually

called idioms) must be considered

Each of the following has two meanings. What

are they?
Bite your tongue
Kick the bucket
Red neck person
Blue-blooded person
Showing the long face

A word, phrase or sentence having more

than one meaning

There are two types

Structural
The school needs a new English Teacher
Is the teachers nationality English? or Does he
teach English?
We may say a teacher of English
Lexical
Ill meet you by the bank.
Does by the bank refer to a place where you
deposit money or to a river bank?

 In a now-famous article for the January 1947 Scientific Monthly, Paul W.

Merrill, former president of the American Astronomical Society, remarked

Poor writing is so common that every educated person ought to know
something about it. Many scientists actually do write poorly, but they
probably perform by ear without perceiving clearly how their results are
achieved. In this entertaining article, Merrill goes on to establish three
essential principles of POOR writing. These principles are worth repeating
here:

Ignore the Reader. It is desirable to write as if for a diary, thinking only of

the subject. (If you worry about the reader, he complicates the picture.)
The title should mean something to you; but if it baffles or misleads the
reader, you have won the first round. One good way to keep your facts
and ideas all on the same level of emphasis, without any tell-tale hints of
relative importance or logical sequence, is to use long sentences
containing many ideas loosely strung together. For this purpose AND is a
better connective than BECAUSE or the semicolon. Disguise transitions in
thought. Hidden antecedents (pronouns that refer to nouns a long way
back, or to nouns decidedly subordinate in thought or syntax, or to
something not directly expressed) are wonderfully effective for confusing
the sponsor. Avoid parallel constructions that give the thought away too
easily. Omit a few items that most readers need to know. You had to
discover these tings the hard way; why make it easy for the reader?

Be Verbose, Vague, and Pompous. Being specific ties

you down. Use plenty of deadwood, including
superfluous words and phrases, flowery and inexact
adjectives, and abstract nouns for razzle-dazzle.
Instead of saying Render to Caesar the things that are
Caesars how much better to write: In the case of
Caesar it might well be considered appropriate from a
moral or ethical point view to render to that potentate
all of those goods and materials of whatever character
or quality which can be shown to have had their
original source in any portion of the domain of the
latter. And isnt this rich, beautiful prose: Well for us
that the pulsing energy of the great life-giving dynamo
in the sky never ceases. Well, too, that we are at a
safe distance from the flame-licked whirlpools into
which our earth might drop like a pellet of waste fluff
shaken into the live coals of a grate fire.

 Do not revise. Write hurriedly, preferably when tired. If you

have no plan and write down items as they occur to you, your
report will be spontaneous. If you hand in your manuscript the
moment it is finished, you dont have to re-read it a few days
later. If you submit your manuscript to colleagues (a bad
practice), pay no attention to their criticisms or comments.
Later, resist firmly any editorial suggestions. Be strong and
infallible; dont let anyone break down your personality. The
critic may be trying to help you, or he may have an ulterior
motive, but the chance of his causing improvement in your
writing is so great that you must be on your guard.
One of the most common abuses of language among engineers
is Merrills second principlethe use of verbose, vague, and
pompous language. There is a tendency among engineers to
overuse technical jargon.

Dont let the fear of making mistakes prevent

you from communicating!