FOUNDATION COURSE ENGLISH – I

I YEAR B.Com./ Commerce (BM)/ B.C.A./B.B.A.(CA) 20LEC101

SEMESTER I
(From Batch 2020 onwards)

TIME: 3 hrs Marks – 75

Section-A (10x2=20)
Answer the following:-

1. Answer the Business phone calls within three rings.

2. The word communication is derived from communicare
3. Comments such as “yeah,” “right,” and “mm-hm” are examples of_____
(i) Polite interrupting expressions (ii) Active listening techniques (ii) Irritating
background noise (iv) Ways of signing off.
4. What are the 3 types of sound in English?
Three categories of sounds must be recognised at the outset: phones (human
sounds), phonemes (units which distinguish meaning in a language), allophones
(non-distinctive units). Sounds can be divided into consonants and vowels.

5. State two expressions of seeking and giving permission.

Would you mind if I opened the window?
Please feel free.

6. Choose the correct answer

(i) Businesspeople often greet one another with _____ (a handshake/ a
high five)
(ii) If you meet someone at night, you can greet them by saying___
(Good night/Good evening)
7. Turn each of the following into polite request.
i) Show me the way to post office.
Would you please show me the way to post office?
ii) Tell me something about your school.
Would you please tell me about your school.
8. Mark the stress on the following compound words.
i) ,satis'faction ii) ,chimpan’zee
9. How intonation affects meaning?
Intonation is a complex system of meaning communicated through the rise and fall of
a speaker's voice. English speakers use it to communicate many different types of
meaning: grammatical meaning e.g. different types of questions and statements.
10. Why is effective listening important?
Effective listening is actively absorbing the information given to you by a speaker,
showing that you are listening and interested, and providing feedback to the speaker
so that he or she knows the message was received.
 Section-B
Answer the following: (5x5 =25 Marks)

1. Make notes on the following passage in a suitable format using recognizable

abbreviations wherever necessary. Assign a suitable heading to the passage.
A good business letter is one that gets results. The best way to get results is to develop
a letter that, in its appearance, style and content, conveys information efficiently. To
perform this function, a business letter should be concise, clear and courteous. The
business letter must be concise: don’t waste words. Little introduction or preliminary chat
is necessary. Get to the point, make the point, and leave it. It is safe to assume that your
letter is being read by a very busy person with all kinds of papers to deal with. Re-read
and revise your message until the words and sentences you have used are precise. This
takes time, but is a necessary part of a good business letter. A short business letter that
makes its point quickly has much more impact on a reader than a long-winded, rambling
exercise in creative writing. This does not mean that there is no place for style and even,
on occasion, humor in the business letter. While it conveys a message in its contents, the
letter also provides the reader with an impression of you, its author: the medium is part of
the message. The business letter must be clear. You should have a very firm idea of what
you want to say, and you should let the reader know it. Use the structure of the letter—the
paragraphs, topic sentences, introduction and conclusion—to guide the reader point by
point from your thesis, through your reasoning, to your conclusion. Paragraph often, to
break up the page and to lend an air of organization to the letter. Use an accepted
business-letter format. Re-read what you have written from the point of view of someone
who is seeing it for the first time, and be sure that all explanations are adequate, all
information provided (including reference numbers, dates, and other identification). A
clear message, clearly delivered, is the essence of business communication. The business
letter must be courteous. Sarcasm and insults are ineffective and can often work against
you. If you are sure you are right, point that out as politely as possible, explain why you
are right, and outline what the reader is expected to do about it. Another form of courtesy
is taking care in your writing and typing of the business letter. Grammatical and spelling
errors (even if you call them typing errors) tell a reader that you don’t think enough of
him or can lower the reader’s opinion of your personality faster than anything you say, no
matter how idiotic. There are excuses for ignorance; there are no excuses for sloppiness.
The business letter is your custom-made representative. It speaks for you and is a
permanent record of your message. It can pay big dividends on the time you invest in
giving it a concise message, a clear structure, and a courteous tone.

Writing a Good Business Letter

A good business letter is that lends you positive and quality results. To get such
results, a business letter should be effective in appearance, style and content. Apart from
this it should be convey information efficiently, be concise, clear and courteous. The
structure of letter should have topic sentence, short introduction and precise words and
sentences. The letter must be courteous. It is your custom made representative and a
permanent record of your message. It can pay big dividends on the time you invest in
writing it.
2. Your college has adopted a village as a social responsibility. Students are being taken
to teach the children of that village on a regular basis. Write a report, for your college
magazine, on the various other programmes organized there in 120-150 words.

3. You want to sell off your motorbike which you have been using for five years since you have
decided to buy a car. Write an advertisement to be published under the classified columns of a
national daily. Furnish all the necessary details.
4. a) Write a dialogue between an interviewer and an interviewee looking for a job as a public
relation officer.
OR

b) What are the five major steps of effective listening?

5. a) Write about the methods of communication.

OR
b) List out 44 English sounds with examples.

Section-C (3x10=30)
Answer the following in 300 words
1. a)What advice does Dr.S. Radhakrishnan give in his Essay Character is Destiny?
(or)
b) Show the ironical twist and surprise ending of the story The Gift of the Magi

2. a)Write a critical summary of the poem, All the World’s a Stage?

(or)
b)Write an essay on the daring personality of Malala Yousafzai and her
accomplishments.

3. a)The Never Never Nest is a good example of how people manage to live a
comfortable and luxurious life without having much money – Justify?
(or)
b)How does the playwright build the atmosphere of suspense and horror in The
Monkey’s Paw?