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Com Skills
Com Skills
Com Skills
UNIT ONE
INTRODUCTION
Communication is the process of transmitting or receiving information. In our everyday
lives, we are constantly giving out information or receiving same. This activity that is so
universal to all living things is known simply as communication. In this very first unit of
our course, we shall learn the purposes of communication, its types, and how we
communicate and even the constraints of communication.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• State why we communicate
• Explain how we communicate
• State the constraints of communication
Why we communicate
Let us begin our discussion with a question. Why is it important for us to
communicate at all? Communication, as I have already mentioned is a process of
giving out information and receiving information. There are three (3) basic
reasons why we communicate
1. To initiate some action
(a) This is done by either expressing needs and requirements or
(b) By persuading & motivating others.
(i) Persuading others to appreciate, and be convinced and probably share your
viewpoint.
You might for example give people information either through the print or electronic
media on your views on how tertiary education should or ought to be funded in this
country. Your aim is to encourage your audience to agree with you about its merits or
demerits.
(iv) Influencing others -- a person becomes influenced only after awareness has
dawned on him/her and after he/she has been persuaded to understand and
become convinced by your information. It is only then that he/she is
predisposed to change his/her attitude or behaviour. As a communicator it
is important to know this.
out his nickname "Kaduna Bull" as you used to. That would be against protocol. People
would think you are mad and you would be lucky to escape a visit from the psychiatrist.
But have you ever paused to ask yourself why we receive or accept information or
communication for that matter?
We are most likely to attend to and accept a message if it has credibility and congeniality.
When a message is credible, it inspires trust and belief in the recipient and when it is
congenial; it appeals to the recipient's need for satisfaction or confirmation, and his desire
to avoid unpleasantness, difficulty or dissatisfaction.
Credibility stems from two main sources: perceived authority and perceived
intention. Perceived authority manifests itself when we tend to accept information
or opinions from someone who is seen to have the right or authority to give out such
information on the basis of his position or status in the establishment or organization
or on the basis of his prestige or reputation and/or on the basis of his knowledge,
skills, expertise or experience. If the registrar of a university, or a headmaster or
headmistress of a school causes an advertisement to be published in newspapers or
announces over the radio or TV, re-opening dates of the institution, we are most likely
to accept that information as authentic than when such an announcement or
publication comes from someone else. We believe the message by virtue of the status
or authority of the source/originator. Also if, we attend a particular hospital for
medical attention, we do so on the basis of the reputation of that hospital or the
expertise or knowledge of its medical staff.
Perceived intention on the other hand occurs when the information given out is
ambiguous to the extent that recipients of the information or message tend to read
different meanings into it. To avoid this and gain greater credibility, the source or
originator of the information ought to:
a. appear honest and straight forward. This is achieved by giving both sides of
the argument.
b. appear to be an objective and an unbiased expert and
c. appear to be acting against his/her own best interests.
Let me explain point (c) above. The principle of disinterestedness means having
nothing to gain; it does not mean lack of interest. When you appear disinterested in
giving out information, you are in fact protecting your interests by being objective.
Therefore the elements of perceived authority and perceived intention are important in
gaining credibility for your message or information.
(b) compatible. When things are compatible then they have similar
dispositions, tastes or attitudes etc.
But congeniality in effect creates bias. This is so because the receiver has a vested
psychological interest in accepting a congenial message or source over an uncongenial
one. That is why the experience of being proved right or being confirmed in one's own
beliefs is such a psychologically satisfying or pleasing experience. That is also why we
tend to relish being talked to, or being recognized in a crowd by an important or
famous personality.
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
Communication is simply the imparting or exchange of information, ideas or
feelings/emotions. There are basically two types:
• Verbal
• Non-verbal
Verbal communication is communication through words (in oral or written form) while
NonVerbal communication is communication without words: by body language or
graphics. By body language we refer to gestures and expressions such as nodding, smiling,
winking, shuffling and such other actions or inactions. Sometimes these actions or
inactions are open to different interpretations because of different cultures or cultural
backgrounds. Graphics is simply the use of illustrations/drawings as supplements to the
University of Mines and Technology 4 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA
words. As you read this handbook, you would know how to classify each unit - whether it
is verbal or non-verbal.
HOW WE COMMUNICATE
Now that we know why we communicate, how do we go about doing this?
In this section we shall learn about the communication cycle, the levels of communication,
and the potential problems in the communication process. By the end of this section you
should be able to:
• demonstrate your knowledge of the communication cycle by being able to draw it.
• recall the various levels of communication.
• appreciate the problems involved in the communication process.
Now, let us begin our discussion with the communication cycle. Effective communication
is a two-way process, a sort of `to and fro' motion. Perhaps it is best expressed as a cycle
where signals or messages are sent by the communicator and received by the other party
who `sends' back some form of confirmation that the `message' has been received and
understood. This process of sending back some form of communication is called
„feedback‟ .
MESSAGE
SENDER RECEIVER
FEEDBACK
This is like sending a letter or phone call or e-mail and receiving an acknowledgement
from the recipient. But the communication cycle can even be expressed in greater detail
in the following form.
There are therefore five steps in the communication process. Let me first of all explain the
sender‟ s action:
THE IMPULSE TO COMMUNICATE
The first stage of communication is when the sender decides to communicate and what
message to communicate. You might for example,
(a) Conceive the idea that you need a house of your own. You might then ponder over
it for a while and finally decide on how to achieve your objective methodically or
(b) You might chance upon a thief in your room. Your immediate impulse is to blurt
out or shout for help or attack the thief or even open wide your mouth in
amazement. These actions are involuntary.
Ideally a message must first be conceived, reviewed and then transmitted. This
includes planning - very much like writing, editing and re-writing. Thus planning is
very essential to efficient and effective communication.
ENCODING OF MESSAGE
Encoding of message simply refers to the form in which a message is to be transmitted.
Both the sender and receiver must understand this form. It must also be in such a way
that the receiver can correctly interpret the message. Words, pictures, figures,
numbers and even gestures for example, turn the idea or opinion in your brain into a
message. This can then be transmitted in whatever form you choose - orally,
graphically or written etc. Encoding a message is also very much like a code in the
sense that the words or figures, gestures or graphics that we use are only symbols
representing our idea or ideas. For the receiver to understand our idea or message he
must be able to "break" the code. That is to say, he must be able to decipher or translate
the message back into the idea. If he does this successfully then communication has
taken place since both of you (the sender and the receiver) have shared meaning of the
message.
However we must remember that symbols may not be universally understood. A symbol
that you understand and use may be ambiguous or subject to different interpretations by
some one of a different nationality, age, race, education, experience, religious belief or
inclination. The Twi word "Nana" for example refers to a chief or an important person,
but in Guyana in Jamaica it means "chamber pot".
The choice of the medium or media or channel of transmitting the message will depend
on several factors such as:
• The time required to prepare and transmit the message.
• The level of complexity of the message i.e. the channel of communication that will let
it be readily understood.
• The physical distance between the sender and receiver - how far are you from each
other?
This will affect the condition in which the message will be when it finally arrives.
• The cost involved - how much will it cost? Which channel will be cheaper, faster and
most reliable?
• The desire for confidentiality or conversely the dissemination of the message to as
many people as possible.
• The need for interaction – will „feedback‟ be immediate or delayed?
The notion of sensitivity - what effect will the message have on the receiver?
Will it anger him, please him, or incite him? What is the core objective of
your message?
• The emotional distance between sender and receiver - is it close, very close, distant
hence impersonal, cold or cool?
These and other factors you might have thought of by now are important in the choice of
a transmission channel or medium.
Let us now turn our attention to the activities of the receiver or recipient of the message.
The obvious first step in communication from the receiver's point of view is to decode the
message- to understand it for what it is. The receiver does this by;
• Grasping the meanings of the words or symbols used by the sender. If he does so, then
The receiver's second and final task is to send feedback to the sender. A feedback is
simply an indicator that the message has been successfully received or has not been
received successfully, understood and interpreted.
Action is taken as requested whereby a letter, memo or note or a smile, a wink or a thumbs
– up or phone call or e-mail etc. is sent confirming receipt of message.
Or
NEGATIVE in which case
No action or wrong action is taken.
We have almost come to the end of this section. Noting is better than summarizing the
communication cycle with a more complex illustration as follows:
From the above diagram, we can observe that communication is cyclical- from the sender
to the receiver and then back to the sender. However it is useful to take into account
variations in the communication process at different levels of communication. These
levels are:
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
Where communication is between two individuals (one-to-one communication) or
between one individual to a group (where there is a need to address a group as a whole
since they may adopt attitudes and behaviours different to those of their individual
members or between a group to an individual (where a message transmitted on behalf of
an organisation, institution or corporation may take on the authority of that organisation,
institution or corporation, say for example, in requesting a pay rise or in carrying out
disciplinary procedures.)Interpersonal communication is thus direct communication
between the source (sender) and the specific receiver(s) with a high potential for feedback
and interaction. The medium of interpersonal communication may be written, oral,
visual, non-verbal or any mix of them through channels such as face-to-face, phone calls
or postal systems or even notice boards and circulars.
INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
This is communication with oneself. This may sound odd to you because you are the
sender and receiver of the massage at the same time. But if you want for example, to
remind yourself to do something the question of a medium or channel will still arise, the
message will still require decoding and you can even give yourself feedback by taking
appropriate action or simply registering in your mind the recognition of your own
message. Take for example a schedule or a list of things you ;plan doing next week. You
can write down in your desk diary or planner the following: Monday -Board Meeting at
10 am., Tuesday - Give lecture on the importance of communication skills to Mining I
Students at UMaT Auditorium at 9am., Wednesday - Dinner Dance at Hilda Hotel, 10 pm
etc. At the end of each event or each day you would have completed the cycle for you would
have been sender and receiver.
i. Response mechanisms such as coupon returns, write-in offers and phone-in offers,
etc.
ii. Customer suggested or query or complaint boxes, hotlines, departments or
sections.
iii. Interactive devices such as television polls, draws or promotions inviting
immediate feedback by phone or fax or e-mail or even over the Internet.
You can see from our discussion above that it is absolutely important to know the level
of communication one is using during communication.
By way of bringing this unit to an end, we shall now turn our attention to potential
problems we would encounter in communication.
DISTORTION
Distortion refers to the way in which the meaning of a message is lost in ` handling' or in
transmission. It largely occurs at the encoding and decoding stages where the exact or
precise intention of the sender is not transmitted accurately into language, so that the
`wrong' message is sent. It can also occur when the language used is either ambiguous or
unclear. In this regard, the receiver would not properly understand the message.
NOISE
Noise refers to distractions and interference in the environment in which communication
takes place thereby obstructing the process of communication by affecting the accuracy,
clarity or even the arrival of the message.
Like Distortion, Noise also has different sources. They may include;
i. Physical noise such as other people talking in the room, or around the phone
booth, passing traffic, the clatter of machinery or even the crying of babies or
barking of dogs. All these and many others can prevent a message from being heard
or heard clearly.
ii. Social noise. This is interference created by difference in the personality, cultures,
religion or outlook of the sender and recipient. It includes difficulties in
communication experienced by members of different social classes, old and young,
male and female, boss and subordinate, student and lecturer etc.
iv. Psychological noise. When you are emotionally charged either with excitement
or sorrow or with anger or fear or with prejudice or nervousness, the transmission
of your message is likely to effectively affect the meaning of your message. For
example, your message is likely to be clouded by this irrelevant show of emotion or
University of Mines and Technology 12 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
attitude and may reach the recipient in a distorted version. This is psychological
noise.
A solution to the problem of noise is redundancy. Redundancy simply means using more
than one channel of communication so that if a message fails to get through by one
medium or channel, it might succeed by another. The alternative channel thus serves as
a back up. A discussion in the office can be backed-up later by a phone call or a decision
on when to hold a meeting can be followed up by issuing a circular.
Besides Distortion and Noise there are other barriers to effective communication such
as differences in personality, cultural differences and even differences in language.
Let me explain them.
PERSONAL DIFFERENCES
There are many factors in an individual's personality, mentality, experience and
environment, which make him distinct from others. This uniqueness can be a big problem
in communication because these shape his attitudes and behaviour. He may be humble
and respectful or he may be brash and disrespectful. He may also have different interests
or perceptions. All these come into play during the process of communication and can
effectively be a barrier to communication.
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
Since we come from different cultural backgrounds our perceptions and attitudes vary.
What may be considered polite in one culture may be classified as rude in another. What
may be considered a taboo in one culture may be seen as perfectly normal in another. All
these negatively affect the communication process.
UNIT TWO
LISTENING SKILLS
How will you improve your listening skills? Listening is an active process not a passive
one. According to Larry L. Baker in his book Listening Behaviour, 70-75% of a person's
Listening is therefore very important. It is also a quick and direct source of information
that gives you the opportunity to use the speaker's tone of voice to interpret underlying
messages. It is also interactive and flexible as it encourages an understanding of other
people's feelings and points of view. Through this, relationships are built. There are
several ways of improving your listening skills some of which are
Definition of Note
A note can be considered-as a record of the knowledge or information we acquired, and it
helps us to get back to the knowledge or information at a later time when we require it.
For instance, in your Education or Science lesson, you write down important issues
Note-taking refers to the faithful recording or writing down what one hears either during
a lecture or during an interview. To do this, one needs to pay attention closely to the
speaker so as to write down the important issues mentioned. Of course, the issues
recorded as important vary from one person to another. In other words the recorder
determines what he should write down.
Note-making on the other hand, involves selecting relevant points and - recording them.
Such relevant points may be got from a note that has been taken from a lecture or from a
page one has read. For instance, after recording a note on a lecture, you may decide to
read relevant information from some other important sources. Then, you may now put
the information you got from the lecture and the one from the book together. When you
sit down to write this, one can say you are making notes.
Both Note-taking and Note-making are active processes. If you cannot take notes, neither
can you make them. Would you say one involves more activity than the other? Some
scholars argue that Note-making is a more active process than Note-taking. Such scholars
say that note-making involves serious consciousness since one has to read, think, analyse
and select before making the note. What is your view? In fact, both Notetaking and Note-
making require that the individual should be active, conscious and sharp minded.
A good note should be one that presents ideas that reflect exactly what can be found at
the source, that is either from a book, lecture, etc. If the note fails to represent the source,
then it is a false one. That is, it is irrelevant and therefore, unreliable.
Another feature of a good note is that it must be readable and understandable. If the note
is written, it is for a future use. It is referred to later and cannot be deciphered by the
writer, then its purpose cannot be realized. Therefore it is imperative that we write notes
that we can read and .understand at any time that we need to use them. Is it necessary to
write notes.
(a) Notes serve as a record of what we studied. Can you readily mention all the courses
or topics you have studied so far in the university? If you take your note book(s) you will
see them all. This is because the notes serve as a historical record of your studies.
(b) Notes are very important in our academic work since they serve as a source of
reference. The human mind is limited. It cannot store all the information that we require
for our academic work. We may forget some but when we write notes on what we-hear at
lectures or read them we shall always remember them.
(c) Notes also serve as a summary of what we have studied or read. Usually notes are
not as long as the information we get during lectures or read from books. Notes are far
shorter. Therefore, without the notes, any time we require information on what we
studied, we need to re-read the books we had read or go back to our lecturers for the same
long, winding information. But if our notes are available, we can easily read them for the
information we need without going to the source.
(d) Notes also aid comprehension of information. As we shall soon study, we write
notes after we have understood them. Therefore, once we have notes on a lecture or book,
information is in a language we can easily understand.
(e) Notes help us identify useful information and realize the relationship that exists
among the pieces of information have gathered. In making notes we ensure that we select
only relevant issues. We also arrange these information under subheadings. By so -doing
we can tell the relationship existing among the points
Summary
In this seesion we studied note-taking and note-makiing. We saw that both are active
processes in wich the studetn triwes to record what he has learnt, that is either from a
lecture or from a book. We also saw that notes serve as a historical record of our studies.
Also, they are useful for us as a source of reference-when we need the information in them.
In addition notes help our comprehension. Finally, they summarize our information for
us so that we do not have to re-read very long, winding pieces of information again and
again. Finally, they help us to select-relevant issues and realize the relationship among the
issues.
In our everyday life, we hear a lot of things. These include the noise from vehicles,
animals, birds and sounds from human beings. We listen casually to some of these
sounds while we become very conscious of others. A lecture for instance, is one that we
need to listen to carefully. As a student, you cannot just decide to get a professor to
lecture you at any time you wish. There is a time schedule for you and the lecturer, within
which time you are expected to listen him as carefully as you can, for the information
that he plans to pass on to you. Some fresh students get into their lecture theatres quite
determined to listen and store the whole lecture in their brain. Is this possible? Some
other students plan to record the whole on tapes. Is this allowed? This is allowed only
when a special permission is sought from the lecturer. In most cases, however, lectures
are generally not recorded. Even when the recording is permitted, the part of the lecture
that voice carries is far less than what actually goes on. Why do you think so? That is
why it is necessary to be able to take notes from lectures. In this session we shall study
how to take such notes
Taking good lecture notes is a complex task that involves listening carefully to all that the
lecturer is saying, analyzing and grasping the overall structure of the lecture, selecting
the main ideas and distinguishing the important details of the lecture. It also involves the
writing of a set of items or notes which you can use at a later time so as to bring the
Apart from the topic, the lecturer himself may mention, in his introduction what he
intends to do. This may tell you how the lesson is likely to progress.
Items to Consider
While the lecturer is speaking, you need to take not of two major items. These are the
extra linguistic items and the linguistic items.
when he is pleased with a comment he is making or one that is a contribution from his
students. Thus, such extra linguistic items are important in helping you to select items
that you want to write as notes. So, you see why it is not advisable to absent yourself from
lectures?
Linguistic Items
The Linguistic items refer to the use of words during the lecture. To begin with, you need
to take note of the key expressions of the lecturer. From time to time, he may summarize
parts of his lectures orally, or write these summaries on the chalkboard:
You must regard them as important and so note them.
There are also the use of signposts. These are statements which signal the beginning of a
lecture. For instance, the lecturer may begin with ; introductories like:
"Today we are going to look at …”
“During this lesson, I want us to consider….”
"In our lesson today, we shall study….”
Such introductory statements guide you to know what to expect in the lecture.
As the lecture progresses, the lecturer may use enumerators to guide you in taking notes.
These enumerators are either cardinal numbers like, one, two, three, four, etc or ordinals
like. first, second(ly) third(ly), etc. For example
The lecturer may also use frames. These are statements which show the beginning and
ending of topics and sub-topics. For example:
“Let's now look at ..."
"We shall now focus on ...
"Another way of looking ..."
“ Let‟ s now turn to ….”
"In conclusion…”
You must also pay attention to foci. These are statements which highlight and emphasize
key points. Some examples are:
If a lecturer uses such foci, you must note that what he says is worth noting.
The lecturer may also use links. Links are utterances which join sections of the lecture
together. Some important ones are:
Thus, the solution to …
Nevertheless, one notes that…
These are very important in guidiing you I n taking notes from a lecture.
Diagrammatic Notes
The diagrammatic or formulaic notes are artistically patterned. The items in the notes are
written in a particular order to aid understanding. Examples of these notes are the outline
and the spidergram.
The Outline
An outline is a skeketal pattern or plan of a text. In the next session we shall discuss the
outline in much detail.
Spider gram
The spidergram which is also referred to as nuclear notes is one that is similar to an
outline. One needs to identify the various divisions and subdivisions of the points stated
under them. The diagram is presented in the form of a tree, with the main point at the
centre. The divisions spread out with their sub-divisions. For example:
The Quotation
The quotation has to do with faithfully recording exactly what has been written in a book
or source. For example:
That is a sort of protective device which each party involved employs in the expectation
that, in return, their own weaknesses will not be deliberately exposed to general view"
(Giddens 1989/1993: 93)
The Paraphrase
Closely related to the quotation is the paraphrase. This involves picking the ideas of an
author and writing them in your own words. For example: The above quotation can be
paraphrased as:
We lead unavoidably social lives since we depend on each other, but as far as possible we
try to lead our lives without losing our own face. However our face is a very fragile thing
which other people can very easily damage, so we lead our social lives according to the
Golden Rule ('do to others as you would like them to do to you!') by looking after other
people's faces in the hope that they will look after ours. In other words, face is something -
that other people give to us, that is why we have to be so careful to give to them.
If the paraphras is briefly stated then it becomes a summary. We shall look at the
summary later.
THE OUTLINE
Definition of Outline
The outline is a lineal representation of ideas or facts as presented in a topic. It is a formal,
detailed statement of the content and structure of written or spoken communication. We
say it is formal because it is constructed according to specifically laid - down rules. It is
detailed because it contains all the significant or relevant ideas of the communication.
The purpose of an outline is to present at a glance ideas contained in the communication
and the way in which these ideas are related to one another. For instance, all ideas of a-
certain in-level of importance are placed in a certain order while other ideas -of a different
-level of importance are placed in a different order. We shall soon see how this is done.
Labeling Divisions
A good outline is writeen in such a way that the topic, the major divisions and further sub-
divisions can be seen at a glance. This involves an orderly system of numbering headings
and sub-heading, and the indentation of sub-divisions.
a b c d e ..... z
Topic / Heading
I First main point
A Fist sub-division of main point I
1. First further division of subdivision A
2. Second further division of sub-division A
B Second sub-division of main points
1. Fist further division of sub-division of sub-division B
Power is the heart of political system. According to Max Weber, power is the ability to
exercise one's will over others. To put it another way, if one party in a relationship can
control the behaviour of the other, that individual or group is exercising power. Power
relations can involve large organizations, small groups or even people in an intimate
association. Blood and Wolfe (1960) devised the concept of material power to describe
the manner in which decision making is distributed within families.
There are three basic sources of power , within any political system - force, influence and
authority. Force is the actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one's will on others.
When leaders imprison or even execute political dissidents, they are applying force: so,
too are terrorists when they seize an embassy or assassinate a political leader. Influence
on the other hand refers to the exercise of power through a process of persuasion. A citizen
may change his or her position on regarding a Supreme Court nominee because of a
newspaper editorial, the expert testimony of a law school dean before the Senate Judiciary
committee, or starring speech at a political rally by a political activist. In each case a
sociologist will view such efforts to persuade people as examples of inf1uence.
The third source of power is authority. The term authority refers to power that has been
institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised. Sociologists
commonly use the term in connection with those who hold legitimate power through
University of Mines and Technology 25 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
elected or publicly acknowledge positions. It is important to stress that a person's
authority is limited by the constraints of a particular social position. Thus a referee has
the authority to decide whether a penalty should be awarded during a football match but
has no authority over the price of tickets to the match.
Max Weber (1970) developed a classification system regarding authority that has become
one of the useful and frequently cited contributions of early sociology. He identified three
types of authority: traditional, legal-rational and charismatic. Weber did not insist that
only one type is accepted in a given society or organization. Rather, all can be present but
their relative importance will vary. Sociologists have found Weber's typology valuable in
understanding different manifestations of legitimate power within a society.
Power
I. The notion of power
A. Ability to exercise one‟ s will over others.
C. Authority
1. This is power that has been institutionalzed and recognized by
the people over whom it is exercised.
A. Traditional authority
1. Legitimate power is confered by custom and accepted practice.
2. The orders of one‟ s superiors are felt to be legitimate.
B. Legal-rational authority
1. This power made legitimate by law.
2. power is derived from written ruels and regulations of political
system.
3. Leaders are conceived of as having specific areas of competence
and authority.
Look closely at the outline again, and you will observe the following features
1. The outline includes all the main points in the passage.
2. It does not contain any ideas that are not in the passage.
3. The points in the outline do not necessarily correspond, sentence by sentence, with
the passage.
4. The points are all expressed in the same grammatical form. That is noun prases,
prepositional prahres etc.
5. the points are all related to the topic either directly or indirectly.
6. The points are not expressed in complete sentences, but in phrases.
7. This is meant to save time. But, they may be written in senteces
With the above, you need to give yourself a lot of practice in writing the outline, and you
will find it very useful in your studies.
The outline is also useful for takiing lecture notes, because it helps the studetn to organize
the ideas presented. If you want your lecture notes and notes you prepare from other
sources to present facts to you in an organixed way, then you need to use the outline.
In addition to the above, the outline aids comprehension. While you outline reading
material, the major issues raised in the material come out clearly. This helps us to
understand what we read, and further helps us to remember what is read.
Moreover, since the outline provides a visual representation of the ideas and their
relationship within a communication, it serves as a useful kind of mnemoni device. The
information is presented in an order in which it can be easily memorized and easily
recalled at the time of need.
WHAT IS SUMMARY
Shakespeare states.
Since brevity is the soul of wit
And tediouness the limbs and outward flourishes, I
will be brief.
He implies that it is better to be brief in your speech. It is a process familiar to everyone
of us, for we are summarizing one way or another everyday of our lives. For instance, we
are often asked to give an account of a book we have read or a film we have seen, or what
happened at our office yesterday. We do this in a few sentences, ralating only the essential
facts and leaving out much of what is less important. In brief, that is the art of
summarizing.
Another important issue in summarizing is to ensure that you follow the trend of the
information that is being passed on to you. As a beginner. (of course, you are not actually
a beginner) you need a methodical approach to summarizing. It is advisable to proceed
by easy stages in the information flow to you. You must be. alert enough_ to determine
when there is a change in the direction of information flow.
If the speaker was talking about the causes of drug abuse for instance, and changes to
talk about the effects of drug abuse you must notice the change quickly enough. That will
help you to summarize the information in an
orderly manner.
Yet another important issue in summarizing is selection. Identifying the essential pieces
of information that should be included in your summary requires serious concentration.
University of Mines and Technology 29 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
It is necessary to consider the topic under discussion. Considering the topic, you will
note that all issues related to it become part of the summary.
1. the policy was one that can not be put into practice.
The underlined group of words can be replaced with one word “impracticable”. Thus, the
sentences becomes :
The underlined words can be replaced with the single word, “adjourned” The sentence
then reads:
Summarizing Sentences
The most important parts of a sentence are the subject and the finite verb. If the finite
verb requires an object then it must be supplied. Qualifying words and pharases may be
omitted, unless they form an essential part of the meaning of the sentence. Look at these
senteces.
The important part of a complex sentence is the main clause, and this or some portion of
it must form part of the summarry. The dependent or subordinate clasues are normally
left out except those that limit some words in the main clause. Let us consider the
following.
University of Mines and Technology 30 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
If we finish our paper early, I will call on you tomorrow, and we can talk about the research
which you mentioned in your letter.
Far too many typists use their notebook as if it were a rough book. They take no pride in
its apprearance, no pride in orderly setting out, so that they cnnot easily turn up a
particular letter. The efficient secretary on the other hand realizes that her notebook
may be useful for reference in an emergency and will keep it methodically and itidily.
Can you summarise the above passage in one or two sentences? What is the central idead
of the passage?
It can be observed that the central idea of the paragraph is the secretary‟ s shorthand
notebook. We can, therefore, summarize the paragraph as:
Passage B
A methodically and tidily kept shorthand notebook is one of the marks of an efficient
secretary, and has the advantage of being available as a source of reference, whereas a
badly kept notebook cannot be conveinently used for this purpose.
You will notice-from the above summary that we left-out examples and illustrations.
Definition of Abbreviations
Abbreviations are shortened forms of words. They save pace and time. They also prevent
unnecessary wordiness. For instance, B.C. is more concise and easier. than before Christ,
and A.M. more common and easier than in the morning. Most abbreviations require
periods or full stops after them.
If you are not sure of the form of a particular abbreviation, it is better to check it from a
dictionary.
Punctuations in Abbreviations
In using abbreviations, we use only one full-stop if the abrevation occurs at the end of a
sentece that would ordinarily take a full stop on its own.
Fro example:
i. They left at 9.00 P. M. ii. I spoke to the M.
D. iii. We visited Washington D. C. iv. The
empire reached its peak around 100 B. C.
However, if an abbreviation occurs at the end of a sentence that ends with a question mark
or an exclamation mark, we use a full stop and the question mark or exclamation sign.
Look at these sentences:
i. Did John leave at 8.00 P. M. ? ii.
Has he returned from the U. K. ? iii.
Have you applied for the M. A. ? iv.
How we loved Washington D. C. !
Capitalization of Abbreviations
Usually we capitalize abbreviations of proper nouns. For instance we write,
Dr. Martings
Prof. Oppong-Mensah
P. O. Box 301
Gov. Maclean
The following abbreviations related to historical dates and times should be capitalized:
A. B. (Anno Domini|) “ in the year of our loard” since the birth of Christ we normally place
abbreviation before the date. Fro example A. D. 60, A. D. 2004
B.C.E. (before the Common Era). This is equivalent to B.C., and is also placed after the
date. 1000 B. C. E., 400 B. C. E.
A.M. (Ante Meridian), "before noon", placed after exact times as in 4.15 A.M., 6.05A.
M.
P. M. (Post Meridian), “after noon”. This is placed after exact times. Example
6.30P. M., 7.05 P. M.
Titles that indicate profession and academic degrees are also abbreviated. Fro examples,
Kethleen Peterson, M. D.
Mensah Budu, Dr.
Henry Kellen, D. D. S.
Persoanl Abbreviations
Apart from the standard abbreviations, there are also personal ones which. are written for
our convenience. Our notes are meant for us., In writing them e wish to be as brief as
possible and to write as fast as possible. We, therefore, occasionally' use some signs or
letters to represent certain words or sentences. This is regarded as a personal abbreviation
since your writing may not be understood by other people. For example, some people
write.
a for that
University of Mines and Technology 34 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
e for the
Wh For who, which, whom, whose etc.
Univ for university
Lec for lecture or lecturer
These are not conventional and so cannot be used when we are writing documents that
we expect other people to read. We use them for our convenience. They are useful in
writing notes. Why do you think so? Yess, they aid our speed. They also help to save space.
UNIT FOUR
READING SKILLS
There is a common assumption that all kinds of reading materialas should be read in
similar ways. Do you think this is right? Is that the way you read all materials that you
come across?
In fact, experienced readers approach different reading materials differenly. That is why
Francis Bacon says:
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and
digested; that is, some books are to be read only and in parts; others to be read but not
curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books
also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others.
What Bacon is saying is that we should not pay equal attention to all kings of books or
reading materials; instead, we need more time for some written documents thatn others.
For instance, if you receive a letter from a friend, you may perhaps not read it as closely
as you may read your lecture notes. Why do you think this is so? It is probably because of
the purpose for which you are reading both materials. Thus, we need to adopt different
reading styles in response to different reading materials.
Considering the kinds of materials we read as mentioned above, we can identify three
major reading styles. These are skimming, scanning and close reading
Skimming
Skimming is a kind of fast or speed reading which involves reading quickly in order to get
the gist of a reading material or passage. It is sometimes done to locate a specific section.
By skimming, one does not pay attention to individual words, figures and phrases, but
rather seeks general information or ideas. For instance, if you want to skim a chapter of a
book you may quickly look at items like;
Passage 3
My ten years in America had been happy and eventlfu, but at the same time they had been
so much easier if I could have devoted all my time to study. As things were, however, I
was always in need of money and had to work out ways and means of earning my
livelihood.
On one occasion I found a job in a soap factory. I had imagined that I would leave work
each day exuding the scent of roses or honey suckle but this was far from the case. It
turned out to be by far the filthiest and most unsavoury job that I ever had. All the roting
entraisl and lumps fat of animals were dumped by lorries into a yard. Armed with a fork,
I had to load as much as I could of this reeking and utterly repulsive cargo into a whell
barrow and then transport it, load after load, to the processing plant. At the end of two
weeks, I was almost fit to be tranformed into a bar of soap myself.
A doctor friend of mine advised me strongly to leave the job. If I did not, I would certainly
not complete my education in America.
Taking his advice, I began to look for other work. I decided to go to sea, and was lucky in
getting a job abroad the Shawnee, a ship ply between New York and Vera Cruz in Mexico.
The pay was reasonalyb good and we were alsways assured of three good meals a day. On
University of Mines and Technology 37 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
the other hand, there was always a most haunting feeling of loneliness, not walked in the
streets of Vera Cruz or in other foreign port; the thought struck me that anybody could
have set upon and killed me and nojbody would have missed me induly.
I learned too, that to sleep under the stas in my native Africa was, in spite of the raiding
mosquitoes, a far happier prospect than sleeping out in cities of America. When I first
visited Philadelphia with a fellow student neither of us had any money for lodgings and,
as we had nowhere else to go, we walked back to the railway to pass the night there. We
had not reckoned with the ubiquitous American police. At about midnight we were rudely
shaken out of our dose and greeted by a firm but not unkind voice saying move on, chums,
you can‟ t sleep here. Thereafter, I devised another plan. For a nickel I bought a subway
ticket and boarded a train plying between Harlem and Brooklyn. With this ticket I
travelled backwards and forwards on the train the whole night, getting what sleep I would.
It was, of course, a very disturbed night, for every time the subnway reached its
destination, I got out and changed coaches in case the guard became curious about me
being in the same coach for so long.
Scanning
Scanning is a good method of speed-reading. It implies glancing speedily over a text to
locate spcific information. For instance, if you are interested in finding a name on a list,
or getting a specific answer to a question, or getting a figure from a passage. Scanning is
the method of reading to use.
Close reading is the technique a good student should adopt in reading reference books
and notes. Used this way, it enables the student to acquire certain useful vocabulary and
expressions that he /whe can use in connection with his subject.
Close reading can be considered in two forms depending on the reader‟ s concentration
and memorization of facts in the text. These, are intensive and extensive reading.
Extensive Reading
Extensive Reading, as the term implies, refers to reading widely with the purpose of
getting infromation to enrich your personal knowledge. It is not scholarly to concentrate
on only your notes or just some partifular reference books. One needs to read journals
that give information that the individual needs. For instance, as a science student you
need some knowledge about Arts or on economics and of course, general knowledge about
the world around you. Without these, you may be narrow minded. The reading that one
does in order to get this knowledge is referred to as Extensive Reading.
You may note, however, that Extensive Reading does not involve as much concentration
as you read your notes for examinations. On the other hand, it is sometimes done in a
more serious manner than skimming and scanning. The concentration depends on the
kind of information and the interest you have in it. Let's read this text:
High blood pressure can cause many problems, such as heart diseases, kidney disease,
and stroke. Fat people are especially likely to have high blood pressure. Some signs of
high blood pressure arc: frequent headaches, pounding of the heart or shortness of breath
with mild exercise, weakness and dizziness, and occasional pain in the left shoulder and
chest.
University of Mines and Technology 39 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
All the above problems may also be caused by other diseases. Therefore, if a person
suspects he has high blood pressure, he should see a health worker and have his blood
pressure measured.
To prevent high blood pressure, one thing to do is to lose weight especially when you arc
fat. Too much fat is unhealthy since it causes not only high blood pressure, heart disease
and stroke, but also gallstones, diabetes, arthritis in the legs and feet, and other problems.
It is easy to reduce fat or lose weight. All you need to do is to avoid eating greasy, fatty or
oily foods. You must also avoid sugar or sweet foods. Then you must engage in gentle daily
exercise. In fact, you need to eat only half of what you now eat.
Another thing you can do to prevent high blood pressure is to eat food prepared with very
little or no salt.
Now,
Well, you may be interested in the passage because it deals with a health problem that is
very common these days. Knowing about it will help you to protect yourself and help other
people around you to do the same.
Intensive Reading
Intensive reading is the close reading that is undertaken for academic or for professional
work. Intensive reading is the one we do for examination It, therefore, requires more
concentration than extensive reading because failure to note certain issues in the reading
is likely to create problems. For example, you are likely to answer your examination
questions wrongly.
Similarly, if a teacher does not read his information closely for teaching, he will end up
deceiving not only one student but all his students together with other people who will be
at the receiving end of the students.
The words that you recogl1lze when you listen or read can increase your comprehension
of what you have heard or read. Developing a good vocabulary can add to your ability to
use and recognize words. Let us study some strategies that will help us to learn new words.
When you come across an unfamiliar word in your reading, you may be able to determine
its meaning by examining the context. That is the words that are used together with the
unfamiliar word. In fact, the words that precede and follow the unfamiliar word and the
general meaning of the passage in which the word appears will help you to get the
meaning of the word.
1. Use the general sense of the passage along with your existing knowledge of what is
being described to infer the meaning.
2. Look for a synonym or re-stated definition of the unfamiliar word.
3. Look for examples in the passage that may help to determine the meaning of the
unfamiliar word.
4. See whether the unfamiliar world IS compared or contrasted with a familiar word
or idea. If it is, use that known idea to help you determine the meaning of the
unfamiliar word.
Now, let's read the following passage paying special attention to the words underlined.
For each of the underlined words write the meaning that you think the, word has in the
passage.
Farmers who live in arid areas have developed ingenious ways to provide water for their
crops. A simple method that they use is to leave half their land fallow or unplanted, each
year. That land accumulates moisture during the year and is suitable for growing crops
the next year. Farmers , who want to utilize all of their land use irrigation: that is, they
send water from lakes or wells to the crops through canals. These canals are lined with
fine materials so that, little water can pass though it. These two methods allow crops to
flourish in areas that would otherwise be barren.
If you know the meaning of some common roots, prefixes and suffixes, you can often use
them to determine the meanings of some Latin and Greek roots. If you recognize a root,
the central or basic elements of a word, you can use this clue to figure out the meaning of
an unfamiliar word. For example, you may recognize the common roots, - magn (which
means "great", "grand" or "large") in the words magnificent, magnify, magnitude,
magnanimous. You can, therefore, use the meaning of the root to guess the meaning of
the word. Sometimes, the spelling of a root may change slightly when it is combined with
a prefix, a suffix or another root. Let's consider a few roots at this point.
A prefix is a letter or a group of letters placed before a word or a root to create a different
word. A suffix is a letter or a group of letters placed at the end of a word or a root to change
its function and sometimes to change its meaning. The spelling of a root word does not
change when you add a prefix. The spelling may change however, ""hen you add a suffix.
Two or more suffixes may be added to a base ,word to make another word. For example,
residentially is made up of reside, -ent-, -ial- and -ly.
If you know the meanings of several prefixes, suffixes, and roots, you can use this
knowledge to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. For example, if you know that
con means 'together'; that juncle means 'to join', and that -ion means 'state of, you can
guess the meaning of conjunction as 'the state of being joined together'.
Now read the following passage and show your comprehension by answering the
questions based on it.
CAUSESOFWAR
There is a danger that we may be led into an artificial and over simplified explanation of
war. We can, for example, find this artificiality in the writings of those who treat war as if
it were a purely psychological problem. While maintaining that the essential explanation
of war lies in human aggressiveness, these writers seem often to have at the back of their
minds a very false idea of the facts that have to be explained. They write as if they thought
that since men are from birth quarrelsome, it is their own inner natures that lead them to
fight wars. Now the view implied here, that the men of different nations would always fly
at each other's throats unless they were restrained by some higher authority, is certainly
not true. It may he the case that men's own aggressive natures lead them to be
quarrelsome, but not to be quarrelsome with a selected group of other nations, and
certainly not to express that quarrelsomeness by the methods of warfare.
The kind of argument that these writers use runs something like this: "we find the
behaviour of fighting amongst children and amongst animals. It is agreed that this
behaviour is instinctive" The fallacy of the argument lies in the fact that the one word
"fighting" is used for two different kinds of behaviour, and that any statement true of one
of these kinds of behaviour is not therefore necessarily true of the other. The quarrelling
of children and animals is not the same bchc1\iour as making war. Nothing can stop us,
if we wish to, from using the same word "fighting" for both, hut our decision to use the
same word for two things is not a proof that one of those things has the same properties
as the other. On the other hand, it is very likely to mislead the reader into supposing that
this has been proved since he may not notice the change of meaning.
University of Mines and Technology 43 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
There are many differences between the quarrelling behaviour of children or of different
individuals of the same species amongst animals on the one hand and war on the other.
First, the aim of such quarrelling behaviour is generally although not quite universally
true; some fights between individuals of the same species do normally end in death of one
or the other antagonist although this is relatively rare. Secondly, the occasion of such
quarrelling behaviour is an emotional outbreak of anger and it eases when this emotion
passes. Thirdly, it is spontaneous behaviour of an individual or a small group of
individuals; it is not the organized behviour of a large mass of individuals acting as a
unified whole ...
A great deal of the debate that goes on as to the real cause of war is academic and
profitless, and it may be sufficiently disposed of by saying that there is no reason for
supposing that there is only one cause of war. On the contrary, it is only by considering
all the different kinds of causes (economic, sociological and psychological) that we can
hope to gain a true view why wars take place.
1. What example of an over-simplified explanation of war does the writer deal with in the
first paragraph?
2. For what might human aggressiveness account, and for what will it not account,
according to the author?
3. Why, therefore, is it over-simplifying matters to say that "the essential explanation of
war lies in human aggressiveness"?
4. Explain in your own words upon what depends the fallacy of the argument of the
writers Professor Thouless is criticizing.
5. Of what point in the second paragraph is the third paragraph an elaboration?
6. Express in your own words the three respects in which the fighting of children differ
from
7. the fighting that takes place in war.
8. What reason does the author imply for his assertion that a great deal of the debate as
to the real cause of war is profitless?
Vocalization and subvocalization are reading faults that refer to pronouncing words on
the lips or using a pointer to pick out words. They are the outward signs of reading word-
for -word. When you read word for word your reading will be very slow and this makes
understanding rather difficult.
Do you read that way? Some people do because they want to impress other people. That
is why is very common among children who wish to impress their parents or teaches. You
vocalize words in your reading only when your purpose is to give yourself some training
in pronunciation or when you are reading for other people to hear.
Fixation or fixity gaze comes close to sub vocalization. It is also a process of reading word
for word. Here you fix your eyes on a word at a time. It is entirely unnecessary to fix each
individual word with the eye because we read for meaning but not for words.
Fixation or fixity gaze is often the result of longstanding habit of reading aloud in class.
When we have passed the elementary stage, we read to encourage ourselves to read
silently and faster.
To be able to read faster, we should make a quick sweep of a line with our eyes by taking
in groups of words at a time. This is because ideas in a sentence arc organized in groups
of words. Look at the way the following text is grouped into meaningful segments.
The ability/ to select/ important points/ and to paraphrases/ is essential/ for effective
note-taking/. In many cases/ all you need/ to note down/ is the controlling idea/ in each
paragraph.
Thus, if we train ourselves to read a text by fixing our eyes on a group rather than the
single words, we are likely to read faster than our usual speed.
Regression
Regression is a reading habit which refers to the practice of reading and going back
immediately to read what we have already read. Sometimes we do this probably to get the
pronunciation of a difficult word right in our mind. It may also be because we have failed
to understand what we have read. What do you think causes this? It may be due to
When you come across a word with a 'difficult' form, you should not stop but you should
carryon with your reading task. In a long text the word may recur. Even if it does not, you
can always look it up in a dictionary after the reading task is done.
Regression is however, permissible if you, do not understand what you are reading. For it
is better, in the long run to regress a few sentences, or even a paragraph to gain
understanding rather than read without understanding may force us to re-read a whole
chapter which is longer than re-reading a paragraph.
Faster Reading
We must note that faster reading is never an end in itself. It only makes it possible for us
to read as much as is expected of us. What's more important is for us to be able to adjust
our speed to the text we are reading. Reading at a constant speed is not a good habit
because not all texts are the same. Some texts are more difficult than others and some
contain more facts than others. Good readers vary their reading speed to suit the level of
difficulty of a text. If a text is easy to understand, we need to read it fast. On the other
hand, a difficult text should be read fairly slowly. This implies that even within the same
text, some portions may be read faster than others.
S Survey
Questio
Q
n
R Read
R Recall
R Review
It is a very useful method of approaching a passage such as a chapter of a book which you
will want to study or master.
The survey constitutes the first stage of the reading approach. This stage is like the
skimming process 'which we discussed earlier. The purpose is to find out whether the
book or a piece of material will be useful for your purpose before you begin to do a close
reading.
Title
Author
Content page
Index
The Title
The title of a book is the item that first strikes you about it. It gives you a hint about the
subject area of the book, that is whether science, economics, religion etc. It also gives a
hint on what is likely to be discussed. Consider the following titles.
Author(s)
Having studied the title of a book, it is necessary to look at the author(s) or editors. You
may probably be interested in the work of a particular author. Even if you know the title
of his book, it may happen that other writers have written using the same title. Therefore,
you must look at the author to be sure he is the one whose work you are looking for. If you
are not looking for any particular author you may consider authors who are authorities in
the subject area you are dealing with.
The date of first publication and the present edition are important in your survey. It is
because you need to know how current the information is. If a book was first published in
1930, and the edition you have found was published in 1938, then it is not likely that the
information is current. Probably there have been some new editions because 1938 is a
University of Mines and Technology 47 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
long time ago. You need to get the latest editions which are likely to contain very current
information.
Preface and Introduction
The preface and introduction are very important in our survey. They normally give us
general information about the book. For instance they may mention the level the book is
written for. Thus, you may know whether the book is of your level.
Otherwise you may use a book that is either too low or too high for your course. It is the
habit of students to skip the preface and introduction. Is it also your habit? It is very useful
to skim through the preface and introduction because they ensure that you understand
the author's purpose for writing the book.
I hope you are already familiar with the content page of a book. What is normally stated
there? Yes, the chapter headings and subheadings. A good look at the chapter headings
and sub-headings will tell you whether the book will be useful. Probably you are interested
in a particular topic. The content will guide you to the topic.
We have already discussed this under the content. The chapter headings and subheadings
will give you a hint about the subject matter of every chapter or session.
Index
The index is at the end of a book. It consists of all the major terms used in the book
together with their page references or sub-heading number. Normally the terms are
arranged in alphabetical order. For example;
Axis 4.52
Bacillus 4-48
Back-formation 1.42
Looking at the index which acts as a guide to the type of note you might wish to make, you
can say that a poorly indexed book, or one with no index at all, requires better notetaking
than a well-indexed book.
Stage 1- Question
University of Mines and Technology 48 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
Having surveyed a book or a reading material, the next thing to do is to question. By this,
you ask yourself what you expect to gain from the material. This will depend on your
purpose for reading the material. In other words you begin by asking:
ii. What are the particular issues that I am interested in? lll. Are there any
Theses types of questions ensure that you approach the material with a purpose. Since
you have these questions which you need to answer, you first read the introductory and
concluding paragraphs of the materials.
Why do you think we need to do this? It is because the writer will state his purpose or
thesis in the introduction so that if we read it, we shall get some idea about what the
material will deal with. In the concluding paragraph, the writer is likely to summarize his
points. Therefore, if we read it we shall know in advance the important issues the writer
has dealt with. Consider the way your notes are written and see whether what we are
saying here is true.
If your purpose is to read the whole book, then you need to read the whole of the first and
last chapters of the book to help you decide whether the book is worth studying.
Stage 2 - Read
In the case of reading one chapter of a book, we will find it best to read it at least twice at
a fairly fast speed before we begin to study it in detail. This will enable us determine the
author's general stance for the chapter and also get some fundamental ideas about each
paragraph before we start serious reading. Some questions that we need to consider while
we do the initial reading are;
Obviously, he must have a purpose for these. Yet another thing to consider at this stage is
to consider the author's case or ideas
11. Are there any alternative ideas which contrast his or support his in the
circumstance?
iv. What are the probable outcomes of the alternatives you think of?
Answers to such questions will help you read and analyse the chapter or book.
You will observe from the discussion so far that at the beginning of the stage, your purpose
is to grasp what the author says and understand his argument. These will help you to
analyse and criticize the work after a more conscious reading.
The kind of reading style you must adopt next is close reading and particularly intensive
reading. This will enable you pay attention to every detail.
Stage 3 - Recall
The stage of recall is the one that follows the reading stage. The purpose of this stage is to
try to recollect the information you have read. Reading does not mean rote learning.
However, learning, we all know, is the ability to recall or remember what you have been
taught at any time that you need to. Thus, if you read and you cannot remember what
you've read, then no studies have taken place.
After reading, you must try remember what you have read. You may choose to do this at
regular intervals during the reading. That is, after reading a paragraph or two, you
probably close the book and ref1ect on what you have read. You may say it out or write
the information down so as to check whether it agrees with what has been read.
Stage 4 - Review
The review stage is the checking that follows the recall. Having attempted to remember
and jot down what you read, it becomes necessary to check on the amount of information
you have recollected correctly. You must now make a special note of important items you
University of Mines and Technology 50 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
could not recall. If possible you can build a mnemonics of the information to help you
recall it easily.
Now let us try applying the SQ3R method to the following passage.
Passage
The ideal classroom atmosphere allows for learner's questions. Where, after the end of a
lesson, no questions are asked the teacher should not be pleased with himself. In fact, the
exact opposite might be the case. Unfortunately, many a teacher-trainee gets scared of
learners' questions when the lesson has been poorly delivered, or that learners challenge
the teacher's authority through questions. In reality, however, questions are asked
sometimes when the lesson has succeeded brilliantly. Even when learners ask questions
because they are somehow confused, the teacher should endeavour to handle the
questions with skill. So, let us consider how one might handle some typical learners'
situations.
Quite often, learners ask questions on a point which the teacher has just finished dealing
with. The teacher feels frustrated and angry since he might fail to see how a normal
learner would fail to comprehend when he had just presented in a very clear and simple
language. He could do better no t to boil over. Rather, he might do one of two things.
First, he might ask another questions in return. This might serve to probe why the learner
could have failed to get the point. A question asked from a learner who appears to have
failed to follow the teacher's point might enable that learner to reason out the point on his
own. It might also serve to draw out from the learner the kind of response which could
show what problems he actually has. A good question asked in response by the teacher
might also serve to show that the learner had been allowing his mind to go on adventure
while the lesson was in progress. This, done quite often, would serve to warn the learners
to be attentive whenever a lesson is on.
Second, rather than ask another question in response, the teacher might throw that
Learner's question to the class. He might do this for an important reason. Should most of
the others signify that they can tackle the question, this will reassure the teacher that he
has not failed as the nature of the learners' question might have suggested. Should most
of the others fail to signify their ability to answer it, however, the teacher should accept
that he has not presented the point as clearly as possible.
UNIT FIVE
The term 'concord' or 'agreement' III grammar IS used to describe the relationship
between the inflectional forms of different elements within a sentence. For example,
Speaker (singular) I
Speaker (plural) We
Topic (singular) He
Masculine He
Feminine She
Neuter It
Generally, verbs agree with their subjects 111 number and person. The grammatical rule
about subject and verb concord can be stated simply as: "A singular subject takes a
singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb". Put another way, we can say "a
singular verb agrees with a singular subject and a plural verb agrees with a plural subject
e.g.
Simple and clear as these rules are, there are areas of sentences construction in which we
encounter a lot of trouble with agreement. We will use the rest of the unit to examine such
trouble areas.
When two or more singular subjects are joined together by "and", the plural form of the
verb is used.
a, When each of the singular subjects is considered individually, the singular form of the
verb is required. This is normally the case if the singular subject is modified by the
determiners 'each' and 'every'.
10. Every junior worker and senior officer contributes to the growth of the company. Each
man and woman submits a good report.
b. When the two singular subjects refer to one and the same person or thing, the singular
verb is chosen.
1. Kofi and staff secretary (ie. Kofi, who is the staff secretary,) is leading the
delegation
2. Red and red is a good meal (i.e. fried plantain and bean stew is considered
as one)
When two or more singular subjects are joined together by 'but', 'or', 'nor', a singular verb
is selected.
When one of two subjects joined together by 'or', 'but', 'nor' is singular but the other,
plural, the verb agrees in number and person with the nearer one. This is what is
referred to as proximity rule:
If in applying this rule, you find your construction awkward, recast your idea in form that
is correct, clear and natural. For instance instead of
k. Neither Allotey nor you areto pay for the lost book.
Expressions such as: as well as, in addition to, including, no less than, with,
together with etc are not true conjunctions; they, therefore cannot connect two singular
subjects to make them plural. Let us then state our fifth subject and verb concord rule
as:
A singular verb that is followed immediately by such expressions as: as well as, in
addition to, including, no less than, with, together with, along with, or a similar
construction requires a singular verb:
s. The bricklayer no less than the plumber is to blamed for the shoddy work.
t. The house in addition to the furniture was destroyed by fire.
u. The chairman along with the secretary has been arrested.
x. Both the brick-layer and the plumber are to blame for the shoddy work.
y. The house and the furniture are destroyed by fire.
Examine the following sentences carefully and draw a general rule of usage for them.
You observe that the underlined part is a modifier of the noun which is the true subject of
the sentence. All the three heads "behaviour", "leader" and "one" are all singular followed
by plural modifiers. Can you now state the concord rule of usage here? "A singular subject
followed by a plural modifier takes a singular verb". Note, however, that "a number of'
and "the number of' behave differently. "A number of' takes a plural verb as in:
Now state the reverse of this rule and compare your statement with this "A plural subject
followed by a singular modifier requires a plural verb"
Write down as many indefinite pronouns as you can recall. They include:
Anybody is allowed to apply. Either of the answer is acceptable. Each of the books costs a
fortune.
Nobody is permitted to skip classes these days.
Write down sample sentences with the rest of the indefinite pronouns. Note that the
indefinite pronouns "any" and "none" take plural verbs in casual usage.
Can you give an example of a relative clause? Here are some examples underlined.
The man who is standing behind is Janet's father. The pupil that has been caned is still
crying.
The relative pronouns in the sentences are who, that and which. Can you state the rule
regarding relative pronouns? Compare your answer with: "v\Then the subject is a relative
pronoun, the verb agrees with the antecedent of the pronoun"
Collective Nouns
Can you give examples of collective nouns? They include: army, flock, crowd, staff,
audience, team, family, committee, clergy, jury, government, etc.
The general rule is that a collective noun takes a singular verb when the class is considered
as a unit, and a plural verb when the members are considered as individuals.
(b) The class as individuals - plural. (This is called Notional Concord) The jury were
unable to agree on a verdict.
Our family have been arguing among themselves. The clergy are divided on the issue of
the trinity.
To make the (b) part more acceptable to some writers, we may introduce the term
"members" and make the collective nouns modifiers.
The members of the clergy are divided on the issue of the trinity.
Note that (a) and (b) sentences are acceptable alternatives. You may choose to adopt one
Now choose any two other collective nouns to use to convey both singular and plural
meanings.
Generally, plural numbers are followed by a singular verb when they are used to convey
the idea of a unit or sum:
Two thousand dollars is a lot of money. Is five years too long to wait?
a. News
Note that "Statistics" may take a singular or plural verb depending upon the meaning. For
example:
Statistics (as subject) is an interesting subject.
Netherlands is in Europe
1. Cattle, people (plural of persons), police, etc. The Police are on the road to
check vehicle papers.
2. Tools, instruments and articles of dress in two equal parts joined together; e.g.
jeans, pants, shorts, trousers, tights. Jeans are fashionable among ladies these
days.
3. Binoculars, glasses, spectacles, pliers, scales, tongs, etc. These spectacles are
expensive.
4. Archives, arms, means, oaths, funds, outskirts, premises, stairs, thanks. Many
thanks are given for the drink. Arms are stolen into the prison.
UNIT SIX
AMBIGUITY
PRONOUN REFERENCE
Sometimes there may be two nouns in the sentence but a pronoun which can refer to
both nouns is used in the statement. This can pose a problem of understanding since
the pronoun can refer to any of the nouns. Here are examples
In the above examples, he can refer to any of the nouns. In example (a) the speaker is
not certain whether it was Kwame who was invited or his friend. To avoid this, we can
re-write the sentence as: Kwame wanted to know if his friend had invited him or
Kwame wanted to know from his friend if he had invited him. Example (b) can also be
re-written as: John complained to his father about not knowing what to do.
This is where the word which is modifying another word is not placed close to it but
close to another word. In this case, the modifier seems misplaced therefore subjecting
the statement to different interpretations. Here are examples:
In example (a), it is the piano which has the carved legs but not the lady so it should
be written as: A piano with carved legs is being sold by a lady. Try and identify the
problems with example (b) and (c) and write them correctly.
In example a, the question is , is it the police themselves who are trying to stop
drinking or they are trying to stop people from drinking? The correct form should be:
The police are trying to stop people from drinking at football matches. Example two
should also read: Only one of his teeth is rotten, whilst example © should read:
Aeroplanes which are flying can be dangerous.
It is clear that in the above examples the sentences are ambiguous because some words
are missing. Example a, can mean that Adwoa likes me more than she likes you or
Adwoa likes me more than you like me. The correct form can be Adwoa likes me more
than she does to you.
4. As a student of UMaT, the Vice-Chancellor would like you to tell him about your
study plans.
5. Broken down in the middle of the road, I had to call on a passerby to help push
my car to safety.
6. With a lot of money in his pocket, a disco was Kojo's target.
What do you find unacceptable with each sentence above? I admit you have found
some of the sentences either ambiguous or outright absurd in meaning.
1. Wrong word order: When elements of a sentence are wrongly ordered, the result
can be a misrelated construction. We have already stated the basic English
grammatical rule that "opening prepositional phrases or non-finite participial
clauses should generally relate to the first noun, pronoun or noun equivalent
that follows". In (3) above, the mis-relation is caused by wrong word order. The
non-finite participial clause "driving to Accra" is placed near to the noun,
"monkey". This makes monkey the doer of the action, "driving to Accra". But
the actual doer of the action is '1', not 'monkey'. By re-ordering the words of the
sentence, we now get the acceptable sentences.
2. Separating the modifier from its antecedent: In the sentences above, the
modifiers were separated from their antecedents. The antecedent of 'Like all
adolescent' is Kofi (2), and that of 'as a student of UMaT' is 'you' (4). When
modifiers are placed as close as possible to their antecedents, we avoid
misrelated constructions and eliminate ambiguity.
3. Careless Choice of Subject: In examples (1), (5) and (6), we have instances of
careless choice of a subject - 'gaze' in (1), '1' in (5), and 'a disco' in (6). If the
writer is a little more careful, or has taken time to edit his work, these errors
could be avoided.
Exceptions
UNIT SEVEN
WRITING SKILLS
A simple sentence is a sentence which is made up of only one clause. Here are
examples.
A complex sentence is a sentence that is made up of a main clause or main clauses and
a subordinate clause or subordinate clauses. Here are some examples.
All the above examples are complex sentences because they are made up of main
clauses and subordinate clauses. All the underlined clauses are main clauses. You
realise that some of the sentences have two main clauses and one subordinate clause.
It is also possible to have two or more subordinate clauses but is not advisable to do
that because it will make your sentence too long.
What Ato says is not a sentence but a sentence fragment but Ama can understand it
because he knows it is Kweku who is in the garden. However, if we use such fragments
in our writings, we do not express complete thoughts. This is because in a fragment,
either the subject or the verb or sometimes all of them are missing. In the example
above, we see that both the subject and the verb are missing otherwise the sentence
should have been "Kweku is in the garden."
CAUSES OF FRAGMENTS
Sentence fragments in writing always result from carelessness. The writer writes a
piece of idea without finishing it. Then he or she races on to the next idea. May be the
writer's pen isn't keeping up with the steam of ideas. Eg The leaders of the two nations.
A summit conference in Paris. Discussing nuclear weapons.
The leaders of the two nations met yesterday. They held a summit conference in Paris
and discussed nuclear weapons.
You can see that the group of fragment is confusing but the group of complete thoughts
is much clearer.
Fragment: By the final quarter of the game. Yaw had recovered from his injury.
Sentence: By the final quarter of the game, yaw had recovered from his injury.
For each group of words that is a sentence, write S against and write F against all
fragments.
University of Mines and Technology 66 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
A run-on sentence is two or more sentences written as one. A run-on joins two ideas
that should be separate. The resulting sentence is confusing because the reader needs
a signal at the end of each complete thought. You can correct a run-on by using a period
at the end of each sentence.
EXAMPLES:
Run-on: Seth opened the garage door inside was a motor cycle.
Correct: Seth opened the garage door. Inside was a motor cycle.
Run-on: Our state has a lottery the grand prize is hundred Ghana cedis.
Correct: Our state has a lottery. The grand prise is hundred Ghana cedis.
EXAMPLES:
Run-on: Frank‟ s dog was lost, we searched the neighbourhood for it.
Correct: Frank‟ s dog was lost. We searched the neighbourhood for it.
EXERCISE:
There are four types of sentences. These are the declarative, the interrogative, the
imperative and the exclamatory sentences.
An interrogative sentence is a sentence that asks a question. There are two types of
question. These are questions that begin with wh-words also referred to as wh -
questions. Eg. What is your name? Where are you going? The other type of question is
the yes/no question. It always begins with a finite verb also known as auxiliary verb or
operator eg. Do you enjoy fufu? Is your mother in the house? Can you do the work?
Imperative sentences have no stated subjects but the subject is always understood to
be 'you' singular or plural. However, if the speaker wants a particular person or persons
to carry out his instruction, he mentions or writes down the person's name. As a rule,
the subject if present comes at the end of the sentence. The structure is VO-(s). The
imperative sentence must end with a full-stop. Where the subjects are given, a comma
separates the imperative structure form its subject.
These are simple sentences and organized strings of words. The sentences are said to
be simple because each of them has a single verb in it. Note that the sentence will still
be simple if the verb phrase is compound as in
or in complex as in
A simple sentence is so called because it has only one clause in which may be found
Subject (S), Verb (V), Object (O), Complement (C) and Adjunct (A). These are called
element of clause structure. An English clause, as you have studied, must contain a
subject and a finite verb. Depending on the type of verb, there may be an object or
complement following the verb. An adjunct may be brought in to tell time, place,
reason or manner expressed by the verb.
These are not English sentences because these strings of words are not organized
conventionally to convey meaning.
We observed that the strings contain identical words with the other strings, and yet
they are not acceptable English sentences because the strings are not properly ordered.
An essential feature of modern English structure is what is referred to as word order
or the sequencing of words in a sentence. For example, the S must precede the V
followed by the O or C in an English statement. It is word order that enables us to
interpret.
• Kofi killed the snake and
• The snake killed Kofi
As acceptable English sentences with different meanings. Can you offer the different
meanings of the two sentences? Yes. In (1c), we are happy because the snake is dead.
But in (1d), we are very sad because our friend, Kofi, is no more, he is dead.
Very often, it is the word order or the position of a word that determines its part of
speech. Let us look at an example. The word “round” can be classified into five
different parts of speech depending on the word‟ s position (and function) in the
sentences below:
1. The last round of the race was the most exciting (Noun)
2. John has just purchased a round table (Adjective)
3. The joggers rounded the field twice (Verb)
University of Mines and Technology 70 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
This sentence is ambiguous. Can you get two different meanings from it? Write down
your answers and compare them with:
The explanation is that the adverb normally is wrongly positioned. In general, adverbs
of manner (e.g. fast, early, heartily) appear after the verbs they modify while frequency
adverbs, (e.g. often, always, generally, etc,) precede the main verb. Thus, sentence 13b
has „manner‟ interpretation and 13c has “frequency” interpretation.
Note that a simple sentence may take the form of a
a. statement: you are a student.
b. Question: Are you a students? How old are you?
c. Command: Shut the door, please
d. May gave Mother a kiss (Ditransitive verbs take direct and indirect objects )
(SVOOA)
We sent Father a Christmas Card last year (SVOOA)
He posted John some money last week (SVOOA)
Remember that adjuncts are optional elements of structure, but they have the ability
to appear sentence initial:
What is Parallelism?
Parallelism is an important element in English writing, especially when you are listing
and comparing and contrasting items or ideas.
Parallelism means that each item in a list or comparison follows the same grammatical
pattern. When you write words, phrases, or clauses within a sentence to match in their
grammatical forms, the result is parallelism. If you are writing a list and the first item
in your list is a noun, write all of the following items as nouns also. If the first item is
an infinitive verb phrase, make all of the others infinitive verb phrases; if it is a
dependent clause, make all of the others dependent clauses. If you are making a
comparison or contrast, make sure that the items you are comparing or contrasting
are the same.
Example:
The deer often come to eat their grain, the wolves to destroy their sheep, the bears to
kill their hogs, and the foxes to catch their poultry.
Many writers attend to parallelism when they are revising. If you think while you‟ re
drafting that your parallelism is faulty or that you can enhance your writing style by
using parallelism, underline or highlight the material and keep moving forward.
When you revise, you can return to the places you‟ ve marked.
balanced sentence uses coordination. The two coordinate structures are characterized
by opposites in meaning, sometimes with one structure cast in the negative.
Example:
By night, the litter and desperation disappeared as the city‟ s glittering lights
came on; by day, the filth and despair reappeared as the sun rose.
Note:
Authorities differ about using a comma, a semicolon, or nothing between the
parts of a short balanced sentence. In Academic Writing, to avoid appearing to
make the error of a comma splice, use a semicolon (or revise in some other
way), as in the following sentence:
Parallel Phrases: Exercise helps maintain healthy bodies and handle mental
pressures.
Parallel Clauses: Many people exercise because they want to look healthy, because they
need to increase stamina, and because they hope to live longer.
Example:
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back
to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our
northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
If King had not used parallelism, his message would have made less of an impact on
his listeners. His structures reinforced the power of his message. A sentence without
parallelism could have carried his message, but with far less effect:
Activity:
Here‟ s a longer passage in which parallel structures, concepts, and rhythms operate.
Together, they echo the intensity of the writer‟ s message.
You ask me what is poverty? Listen to me. Here I am, dirty, smelly, and with no
“proper” underwear on and with the stench of my rotting teeth near you. I will tell you.
Listen to me. Listen without pity. I cannot use your pity. Listen with understanding.
Put yourself in my dirty, worn-out, ill-fitting shoes, and hear me.
It is the smell of the outdoor privy. It is the smell of young children who cannot
walk the long dark way in the night. It is the smell of the mattresses where years
of “accidents” have happened. It is the smell of the milk that has gone sour
because the refrigerator long has not worked, and it costs money to get it fixed.
It is the smell of rotting garbage. I could bury it but where is the shovel? Shovels
cost money.
The coordinating conjunctions are and, but, for, or, nor, yet, and so. To avoid
faulty parallelism, write the words that accompany coordinating conjunctions
in matching grammatical forms.
No: Differing expectations for marriage not only can lead to disappointment
but also makes the couple angry.
Yes: Differing expectations for marriage not only can lead to disappointment
but also can make the couple angry.
No: Having a solid marriage can be more satisfying than the acquisition of
wealth.
Yes: Having a solid marriage can be more satisfying than acquiring wealth.
Yes: A solid marriage can be more satisfying than wealth.
No: To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, free us from the
expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves – here lies the great,
singular power of self-respect.
Yes: To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the
expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves – here lies the great,
the singular power of self-respect.
Exercise C
Two or more items in each of the following sentences are written in parallel
grammatical form. Underline the items or ideas that are parallel, and circle the word
or words that connect the parallel structures.
Example: An ideal environment for studying includes good lighting, a spacious desk,
and a comfortable chair.
1. You know you are truly bilingual when you can calculate in your second language
and when you begin to dream in it.
2. People often spend as much time worrying about the future as planning for it.
3. You can learn a second language in the classroom, at home, or in a country
where the language is spoken.
4. My new personal computer is both fast and reliable.
5. My old typewriter is neither fast nor reliable.
Exercise D
Correct the following sentences with faulty parallel structures.
6. My English conversations class is made up of Chinese, Spaniards, and some are
from Bosnia.
7. The students who do well attend class, they do their homework, and practice
speaking in English.
8. The teacher wanted to know which country we came from and our future goals.
9. My grandmother not only speaks four languages but also she understands six.
10. Difficult bosses affect not only their employees‟ performance but their private
lives are affected as well.
UNIT EIGHT
CONVENTIONS OF USAGE
WHAT‟ S THE PROBLEM? There‟ s at least five common reasons writers mismatch
subjects and verbs. Did you notice the error? Let‟ s take a closer look.
The subject of a sentence ( the main who or what of the sentence) and its
corresponding verb (the word [s] expressing the subject‟ s action or state or being )
must agree in number. An agreement error occurs when a singular subject is used with
a plural verb or a plural subject is used with a singular verb.
The example above includes a subject-verb agreement error because the main part of
the subject, “reasons”, is plural, and the verb, “is” (contracted with “there”), is singular.
We can avoid the error by making the verb plural:
There are at least five common reasons writers mismatch subjects and verbs.
• When a sentence begins with “There is” or “There are”, the true subject follows
the verb:
• In long or complex subjects, the main noun (i.e. subject) may be difficult to
identify.
iii. The benefits of earning a Bachelor‟ s Degree are worth the trials along
the way.
In this example, “Degree” is the noun closest to the verb, and because it is
singular, a writer may be tempted to use the singular verb “is” after it.
However, “benefits”, a plural word, is the main noun of the subject and
requires the verb “are”. The words “of earning a Bachelor‟ s Degree” simply
expand on the idea of “benefits” and should not be mistaken for the main
part of the subject.
University of Mines and Technology 78 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
• Some words that may seem plural, such as everyone, anyone, no one, each,
either, and neither, are grammatically singular:
• Some Pronouns (words that stand in for nouns) like all, any , more, most, none,
and some may be either plural or singular, depending on whether they are used
in a general, collective way or, instead, with emphasis on the individual. The
same is true of some words that identify groups, measurements, and
disciplines:
vi. None of the students carries umbrellas. vii. None of the tea is
decaffeinated. viii. The faculty is the finest in the Northwest. ix. The
faculty are prepared to vote at the next meeting. x. Six hours is too long
to wait.
xi. Six hours have passed since we came here.
xii. Statistics is a challenging subject. xiii.
These statistics support your theory.
• When a subject includes nouns joined with “and”, it is usually plural. However,
when the nouns are considered a single unit, they form a singular subject:
• When two nouns are joined by “or” or “nor”, the noun closest to the verb
determines whether the verb should be singular or plural:
along with
in in
addition
including
of
The object of a preposition does not affect the number of the verb. For
example, if the object of the preposition is plural and the subject of the
sentence is singular, you must use a singular verb.
Eg. The manager, along with all assistant managers, invites you to the
company barbecue. [NOT The manager, along with all assistant
managers, invite you ….]
2. If the subject is complex, the first noun of the subject usually determines whether
the verb should be singular or plural. To check the agreement, eliminate
prepositional phrases and modifiers in the sentences and test the subject and verb
when they are immediately next to each other.
(xix) One of the teachers I met during my high school years has published a book.
3. Check sentences beginning with “There is” and “There are”. The first noun after
the phrase is probably the subject. Does it agree with the verb? If you‟ re not
sure, rearrange the word order of the sentence to check for proper subject-verb
agreement.
(xx) There are twenty people on the partly list so far. Twenty people are on the
party list so far.
Exercise
Directions : Revise any errors in agreement between subject and verb in the following
sentences.
ERRORS IN PRONOUNS
WHAT‟ S THE PROBLEM? If every writer avoided this in their papers, this topic
wouldn‟ t be necessary for you and I. did you notice the errors? Lets take a closer
look.
1. A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun. Without pronouns, sentences would
be much more cumbersome:
Wow! Words like “she” and “her” certainly come in handy, but they can also be
tricky.
2. A pronoun agreement errors occurs when the pronoun doesn‟ t match the noun it
refers to. The most common pronoun agreement errors occur when a plural
pronoun is used with a singular noun.
3. A pronoun cases error occurs when the wrong form of a particular pronoun is used.
Consider the following two sentences:
She sees him.
He sees her.
The verb, “sees”, is the same in both sentences, but the situation described in each
sentence is clearly different. If we ask, “Who or what „sees‟ ? the answer to the
question (“She” , “He”) is the subject of the sentence. If we ask, “sees‟ whom or
what?” the answer (“him”, “her”) is the object of the sentence. A noun following a
preposition (words such as with, from, to, by, near, between, etc.) is also an
object. The pronouns “you” and “it” take the same form whether they are subjects
or objects, but other pronouns have different forms:
Singular Plural
The latter half of the first example above contains a case error: ….. this topic
wouldn‟ t be necessary for you and I. In this situation, “I” is incorrectly used as
an object of the preposition “for”. Replacing “I” with the object form, “me”,
corrects the error:
…. This topic wouldn‟ t be necessary for you and me.
3. Some writers have the impression that the subject form is more formal or correct
than the object form. Of course, both forms are necessary and may be correct or
incorrect, depending on the situation.
4. Many people have a natural “ear” for the correct form of a pronoun, but hearing
an error is more difficult when the pronoun in question is part of a compound
subject or object such as “she and Sandy” (subject) or “Greg and me” (object).
2. Pay special attention to plural-seeming words that are grammatically singular. The
words every, each, someone, anyone, nobody, either, and neither commonly
mislead writers. Depending on the context, such errors may be revised in multiple
ways:
3. Also ask yourself whether the pronoun is serving as a subject or an object in the
sentence. If the pronoun is joined with another noun (perhaps a name), test for
the correct form of the pronoun by eliminating the other noun and the joining
word.
4. In other situations, you can test for the correct pronoun form by adding a word or
phrase that completes the idea of the sentence.
5. To decide between “who” and “whom”, test for the correct form by replacing it with
“he” or “him” (if singular) or “they” or “them” (if plural). For a handy mnemonic
device, not that all three object forms – “whom”, “him”, and “them” – end in “in”.
Explanation
This sentence has two clauses: „the boy will win‟ and „who works hard‟ and each
clause has its won subject. There is no need to use a pronoun when the noun it stands
for is already present in the clause.
Explanation
University of Mines and Technology 83 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
Explanation
It is considered conceited to put I first when there are two subjects.
Explanation
When a personal pronoun is used as a subject it should not be separated from its verb
if possible.
Explanation
The pronoun following than should be in the same case as the pronoun preceding it.
Note that this rule is no longer strictly followed and the sentence “He is taller than
me‟ is considered correct.
Explanation
The words every, each, none etc, are singular in number and should be followed by
singular verbs.
Incorrect: The size of the shoe should be the same as this shoe.
Correct: the size of the shoe should be the same as that of this shoe.
Explanation
In a comparative sentence we must be careful to compare the same part of two
things. That of, these of and those of are necessary words often omitted by ESL
students.
One of the easiest errors for ESL students to fix in their writing is singular/plural
errors with nouns. Noun Problems
As you edit your writing, you need to check for four noun problems:
1. Check each noun to decide if it is plural/singular or uncountable:
4. Check that each singular subject agrees with present tense verbs:
If you decide a noun should be plural, make sure it has a plural form “s” for most
nouns, and plural forms of irregular nouns such as “people,” “children”, “feet”, and
“women”.
Useful Advice
Plural nouns lead to fewer errors so make your nouns plural whenever possible.
Countable or Uncountable
ESL students often have trouble with two kinds of uncountable nouns:
a. English has many “group” or “category” words which are not countable, such
as equipment, furniture, grammar, research, vocabulary garbage, advice.
• However, the most convenient step to take when you are not sure is to
look up the word in a good learners‟ dictionary (ESL Dictionary)to
find out in which situations the words is used in an uncountable way. A
good online dictionary is:
www.ldoceonline.com
• Another good editing step is to ask a native speaker how to use any
specific abstract word you are not sure how to use.
For editing, remember how noncount nouns are treated as singular nouns for subject
verb agreement and for pronoun reference.
For example:
Some common expressions take singular verbs even though they may contain a plural
noun.
Examples are: bacon and eggs; cheese and biscuits; fish and chips etc.
a. Bacon and eggs was served for breakfast.
Not all nouns have a plural form: for example, furniture, wheat, dust, news, advice,
information, language, bread, trouble and scenery normally have only a singular
form.
a. The scenery here is good.( NOT the sceneries here are good).
e. There is no bread in this shop. OR There are no leaves in the shop. NOT There
are no breads in this shop.
f. Please excuse me for the trouble I have caused. (NOT … for the troubles I have
caused.)
When a group of words containing a plural noun represents a single subject, you
must use a singular verb.
a. The Adventure of Tom Sawyer is my favourite novel.
4. Collective nouns
Collective nouns take a singular verb if you are talking of the group as a whole.
They take plural verb if you are talking about individuals within the group.
Compare:
A theatre is a building where plays are acted, not the play itself.
Drama is rarely used nowadays in the sense in which foreign students are
likely to use it, that is to say to mean a play, whether acted by professionals or
amateurs.
Woman is the usual word to denote an adult of the female sex. It is quite
polite. „She is a lady‟ means that “She is a woman of particularly good birth,
breeding and taste”.
9. Dress
b. Hilary was supposed to meet us at Tim Horton‟ s, but she forgot. (NOT
Hilary was suppose to ...)
c. Has Daniel asked you to be a member of his group? (NOT Has Daniel ask
you ...?
Problem: Confusing the past tense with the past participle of irregular verbs.
Examples:
a. I saw the video three times. (NOT I seen the video …)
b. Someone has drunk all the chocolate milk. (NOT some has drank ...)
c. Joe has swum every summer since he was a child. (NOT Joe has swam … )
Remember: Helping verbs such as have, had, has, or will have are used with
participles to create complex tenses.
a. The past tense does not take a helping verb. ( Lee wore his new jeans.)
b. The past participle does take a helping verb. ( Lee has worn a hole in his
new jeans.)
b. If I had known about the party, I would have gone. (NOT I would of gone.)
c. You could have done better if you had studied harder. ( NOT you could of …)
b. If a had had more time, I could have finished the exam. (NOT If I could
have had more time ...)
b. Yesterday, John lay down for a short nap but slept for two hours. (NOT
Yesterday, John laid down…)
c. The dog has been lying in the sunny spot on the carpet all afternoon. (NOT
The dog has been laying …)
d. The dog has lain in the same spot all afternoon. (NOT The dog has laid …)
Remember: lie means “ to recline”. The principal parts are lie, lay, lying, lain.
Lay means “to place” The principal parts are lay, laid, laying. The
only way to avoid errors is to memorize the principle parts and to know which
part to use with a helping verb.
Here are some tense of lie.
Progressive Tense
I was / am/ will be lying we were / are/ will be lying
You were / are/ will be lying you were/ are/ will be lying
He /she/ it was / were / will be lying they were/ are/ will be lying
NOTE: Don‟ t confuse lie meaning „to recline” with lie meaning “ to state an
untruth”) The principal parts of the latter are lie, lied, lying, lied. So you would say
“Hank lies all the time” or “ Yesterday Hank lied to me” or “ I can‟ t tell whether or
not Hank is lying”.
5. Certain words are often used with the present perfect tense to show that
something began in the past and continues into the present. These words are
since, for, until now, so far, now, and these days.
a. John has been a boy scout leader since 1985.
6. Certain other words are often used with the present perfect tense to show that
something just recently ended. These words are just, already, and recently.
8. The following verbs rarely appear in a progressive tense, unless they are
describing a specific action, or they are part of certain expressions.
Examples:
a. I am hearing something in the distance. (A specific action)
belong to own
cost posses
Sometimes, writers must move from one tense to another to show a change in
time.
Move from present to future: Maris says that Larry will arrive tonight
present future
Move from past to present: Last year, I worked at Hamburger Heaven, but I
past now
am tutoring in the Math lab.
present
NOTE: If you move from one tense to another without a valid reason, you
create a problem called tense shift. An inappropriate tense shift is a problem
because it confuses the time frame of your writing.
Examples:
1. Confusing tense shift: after I stepped on the gas pedal, the light turns red.
past present
Correction: After I stepped on the gas pedal, the light turned red.
Past past
2. Confusing tense shift: I walked into my morning class and found a seat.
Past past
The instructor began lecturing, so I took notes. Then I realize that I am in
past past Present present the
wrong class.
Definition: Adjectives are words that describe nouns or pronouns. They may come
before the word they describe (That is a cute puppy.) Or they may follow the word
they describe. (That is a cute puppy).
Definition: Adverbs are words that modify everything but nouns and pronouns.
They modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. A word is an adverb if it answers
how, when or where.
The only adverbs that causes grammatical problems are those that answer the question
how, so focus on these.
Rule 1: Generally, if a word answers the question how, it is an adverb. If it can have
an – ly added to it, place it there.
Rules 2: A special –ly rule applies when four of the senses – taste, smell, look, feel
– are the verbs. Do not ask if these senses answer the question how to determine if –
ly should be attached. Instead ask if the sense verb is being used actively. If so, use
the – ly.
Examples:
I do not fell well.
You do not look well today.
Note: You may use good with feel when you are not referring to health.
Rule 5: a common error in using adjective and adverbs arises from using the wrong
from for comparison. For instance, to describe one thing we would say poor as in,
“She is poor”. To compare two things, we should say poorer, as, “she is the poorer of
the two woman” to compare more than two things, we should say poorest, as in, “ she
is the poorest of them all”.
Rule 6: Never drop the –ly form an adverb when using the comparison form.
Correct: she speaks quickly.
She spoke more quickly than he did.
Incorrect: She spoke quicker than he did.
Correct: Talk quietly
Talk more quietly.
Incorrect: Talk quieter
Rule 7: When this, that, these, and those are followed by nouns, they are adjectives.
When they appear without a noun following them, they are pronouns.
Rule 9: These and those are plural, whether they are being used as adjectives or as
pronouns. This points to something nearby while those point to something “over
there”.
Explanation:
Less is the comparative of little. Comparative form is not used in sentence where no
comparison is implied. But is the sentence in our school the number of students is
little” correct? No. the adjective little can be used only in the attributive position
(before a noun). In the predicative position (after a verb like “is”). We have to use a
verb with a similar meaning.
Explanation:
When a comparison is made between two people or things we use a structure with of,
not from. Note that we use an adverb or adjective in the comparative form to compare
two people or things.
Explanations:
It is wrong to use comparative or superlative form when no comparison is implied.
Compare:
Charles is the smartest boy in the class. (Here Charles is the being compared with other
boy in the class. Therefore we use a superlative adjective.)
He is the smarter of the two brothers.(Here a comparison is made between the two
people. Therefore we use the comparative adjective.
Explanation:
University of Mines and Technology 95 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
Although preposition is generally placed before the words it governs, it will also appear
in some other positions.
1. Who are you talking to?
FUNCTIONS OF PREPOSITIONS
Preposition have a wide variety of roles to play in the sentences they are used. For
instance, they indicate things like time, place, direction, movement, comparison,
means/ instrumentality, concession and source of manner.
The following sentences explain different roles of prepositions in the sentences.
1. Ram confuses to make a choice between mango and apple. (position)
EXPLANATION:
When reckoning from a particular date we use “since”: examples are since last
Friday, since May, since morning, since July 8th. But note that we always use “for” for
a period. Examples are: for a week, for a long time, for two hours, etc.
EXPLANATION:
The comparatives senior, junior, superior, inferior etc. are followed by to, and
not than.
Incorrect: He rides in a cycle.
Correct: He rides on a cycle.
Incorrect: He rides on a car.
Correct: He rides in a car.
Incorrect: He sat in a table.
Correct: He sat on a table.
Incorrect: The cat is in the roof.
Correct: The cat is on the roof.
EXPLANATION:
Use „on‟ when the meaning is clearly “on top of. Example, on a horse, on a bicycle,
on a table, on the roof etc. Use „in‟ when, on top of, is not appropriate. For example,
in a car, in an airplane etc.
EXPLANATION:
Between is followed by and, not to or against.
Incorrect: The First World War was fought during 1914 and 1918.
Correct: The First World War was fourth between 1914 and 1918.
Incorrect: There was a fight with John and Peter.
Correct: There was a fight between John and Peter.
Incorrect: England grew prosperous between Queen Victoria reigns. Correct:
England grew prosperous during Queen Victoria‟ s reign.
EXPLANATION:
Two events or people should be mentioned if you want to use between.
If English is your second language
If English is your second language, the following tips may be helpful.
1. A number of English verbs are made up of two words. Some of these two – word
verbs can be separated, and some cannot be separated. For example, give in
cannot be separated, but put off can be separated. However, verbs that can be
separated do not always have to be separated.
NOTE: If you are unsure which verbs are separable and which are not, you can consult
the list that follows. Example sentences appear with the first nine verbs in each list.
Separable Two – Word Verbs Ask
out: I will ask her out.
Burn down: We must burn the tree down.
We must burn down the tree.
Call off: The umpire called the game off when the rain began.
The umpire called the game when the rain began.
2. Be aware of the uses of in, on, and at, to show time and place.
A. Use in for seasons, month, and year that do not include specific dates, use on if a
specific date appears.
I was born in 1949.
I was born on May 4, 1963.
B. Use in for a period of the day. Use on for a specific day. Use for a specific time or
period of the day.
University of Mines and Technology 99 Mrs. Cecilia Addei
TREBLA Lecture Notes
C. Use for a location that is surrounded by something else. Use at for a specific location.
I lived in London for a year.
Join me in the living room.
I lived at 518 Tod Lane.
Meet me at the crossroads.
3. Prepositional phrases that show place come before those that show time.
NO: Edmund worked in 1992 in Mexico.
YES: Edmund worked in Mexico in 1992.
I cannot decide between the black suit and the brown one.
I cannot decide among the black suit, the brown one, and the navy one.
4. Use correspond to in a comparison; use correspond with to mean letter writing.
No: Stephen King has written many books, like Christine, Misery, and Needful
Things.
Yes: Stephen King has written many books, such as Christine, Misery and
Needful Things.
Yes: Stephen has many books. For example, he wrote Christine, Misery and
Needful Things.
11. Do not use over to or over at for to or at.
Explanation
When but is used as a preposition it means except. The preposition but should be
followed by a pronoun in an objective case.
REFERENCES
Adolinama, P.P. (2001), Business and Technical Communication, Sanko
Publications Ltd. Accra.
Afolayan, A and H. E. Newsum (1983), The Use of English, Longman,
London.
Campbell, Elaine (1995), E S L Resource Book for Engineers and Scientists,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. , New York.
Gborsong, P. A. (2001), A comprehensive Guide to Communicative Skills,
CTA Press, Kumasi
Gogovi, GAK et al (2005) Communicative Skills for Secondary School Teachers,
Centre for Continuing Education, U.C.C. Cape Coast Ghana.
Littell, McDougal (1985), Basic Skills in English, McDaugal Little and Company,
Evanston, Illinois.