HORIZON

(SEMESTERS I AND II)

FOR
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Prepared by
Department Of English
College for science and Humanities
SRM IST
CHENNAI
SEMESTER I
 SYLLABUS
UNIT I

POETRY
1. Punishment in Kindergarten – Kamala Das
2. Phallus I Cut – Kalki
3. Obituary - A. K. Ramanujam
4. Apologies for Living On – Meena Kandasamy

UNIT II

LETTERS BY MATHRABOOTHAM PUBLISHED IN THE HINDU

(Letters with regional relevance and national significance)
1. Enjoy within limits, says Mr. Mathrubootham
2. Nobel? What Nobel, asks Mr. Mathrubootham
3. Mr. Mathrubootham is fully supporting all new technologies
4. Pizza maavu : welcome to Mr Mathrubootham food recipe website

UNIT III

WRITING
1. Story Through Images
2. Autobiography Of Concrete Objects
3. Caption Writing
4. Public Speaking

UNIT IV

LISTENING AND READING

1. Monologues
2. Conversations
3. Loud reading
4. Reading comprehension

UNIT V

LANGUAGE COMPONENTS
1. Story through images
2. Autobiography of concrete objects
3. Parts of speech
4. Tenses
5. Errors in sentences
 UNIT I

PUNISHMENT IN KINDERGARTEN
Kamala Das

Today the world is a little more my own.

No need to remember the pain
A blue-frocked woman caused, throwing
Words at me like pots and pans, to drain
That honey-coloured day of peace,
“Why don’t you join the others, what
A peculiar child you are!"

On the lawn, in clusters, sat my schoolmates sipping

Sugarcane, they turned and laughed;
Children are funny things, they laugh
In mirth at other’s tears, I buried
My face in the sun-warmed hedge
And smelt the flowers and the pain.

The words are muffled now, the laughing

Faces only a blur. The years have
Sped along, stopping briefly
At beloved halts and moving

Sadly on. My mind has found

An adult peace. No need to remember
That picnic day when I lay hidden
By a hedge, watching the steel-white sun
Standing lonely in the sky.
ABOUT THE POET:
Kamala Das, (Kamala Suraiya), Indian author (born on march 31, 1934, Thrissur, Kerala,
British India—died on May 31, 2009, Pune, India), has inspired women struggling against
domestic and sexual oppression through her honest assessments of sexual desire of women
and their marital problems in more than 20 books of hers.
Kamala Das was part of a generation of English-language Indian writers whose work
centered on personal rather than colonial experiences, and her short stories, poetry, memoirs,
and essays brought her both respect and disrepute. She grew up primarily in Calcutta (now
Kolkata) in a family of artists, where she felt ignored and unloved. As a teenager she married
an older relative, and the emotional and sexual problems arising from that unsatisfying
relationship and her young motherhood provided material for her first memoir, My Story
(1976). Kamala Das wrote in English under the pseudonym Madhavikutty in Malayalam
language. She was an advocate for human rights, especially for women and children which
were prominently found in her short stories like “Padmavati the Harlot” (1992) and “a doll
for the Child Prostitute” (1977). Her style and content both markedly departed from 19th-
century romanticized ideas of love. Her main concentration throughout had been on an Indian
Hindu woman and her marital life. Mainly known as a confessional writer Ms Das often
rebelled against the conventions and this she did through opening up her personal life in her
writings: she had extramarital affairs with men and women, and had refused to identify
herself as a feminist, and she briefly even founded her own political party. In 1999 she
converted to Islam, renaming herself Kamala Suraiya and henceforth she also embraced
silence. She seemed had finally found her peace and she had nothing to clamour for in life
after accepting the Hijab.
 PHALLUS, I CUT (‘Kuri Aruthean’)
Kalki Subramaniam

No Transcendental Yoga
I performed
to transform myself
in to a woman.

I cut my phallus,
Soiled in blood
and
transcending death
I became a woman.

“O, you do not have

ovary,
woman, thou art not.”
said you.
Well.

“Lo, behold!
as thou have severed
thy manhood,
thou art now
a desolate tree
with decayed barks.
Thou have dug
the grave of
thy own lineage.
Live, thou may
Till thy roots last.
The earth that bears thee
Shall give up
one day
as thou have not
planted thy branches
below.”
Said, you.
Well.

I do not want that ovary

to carry your excretions
of caste and religious
fanaticism.

And I do not want

In my ovary
the gestation of
those seeds to grow in to a
tyrannous tree.

Many a woman
as she carried
the seeds of your
discriminations,
made her ovary
your lavatory.
Luckily,
I am not a woman
by birth.
And that you refuse
to accept me as one
is, in fact,
my real emancipation.

I do not recite
the gyno-grammar
you have crafted.
Call me
an error of nature.
Call me what you will.
I know it myself for sure
who I am
at any given hour.

Renouncing religion,
casting away caste,
united as the rejected,
can you live
this life we live?
Can you become a mother
without carrying a womb?
Can you become a daughter
without sucking at
your mother’s breast?
I can.
Cut the phallus
of your chauvinism
and then you will know
who you are.
And then,
and only then,
you tell me
that
I am not a woman.

ABOUT THE POET:

Kalki Subramaniam dons many hats — that of an actor, an author, a transgender activist and
an entrepreneur.
From a 16-year old boy who was confused about his sexual orientation and identity, Kalki
has come a long way. Breaking the stereotyping of transgenders and demonstrating to the
world that being a transgender is nothing to be ashamed of has been one of her biggest
challenges. She says, “Like anyone else we too can contribute positively towards our country
and the society we live in.”
To reach where she is today, Kalki’s had to cross many hurdles. First was coming to terms
with her own self. At 16, life was in a turmoil due to the tussle between the anatomical
gender identity of one’s sex and the psychological identity of the other. “It was the most
difficult period of my life. I was in school, as an effeminate confused boy student,” she says.
There was a realization that the adolescent young boy, would not be the same as the grown up
adult, the world was expecting to see. It was a very terrifying moment to deal with.
Overwhelmed with thoughts about family acceptance and their reaction to her true identity,
often pushed her to think of even suicide, though she never tried it.
One day she picked up the courage and spoke to her parents about her gender identity crisis.
“My parents broke down, they were frightened about my future. I was sad to see them crying
so I made them a promise that I would make them proud if they let me be. They did. It took a
lot of hard work but I kept my end of the promise.”
Kalki’s list of achievements is long. She walked down the path of entrepreneurship when a
friend, a young artist approached her for help in promoting his craft, especially musical
instruments. With this she invested in his products and began selling online. Brand Kalki
Enterprises was born. “I started earning and it was exciting to see the profit in my hands.
Today we are doing good, my friend is very independent, travels across the country for his
business.”
In 2009, she started a matrimonial website for the transgenders and in 2011 even acted in a
lead role in a Tamil film, ‘Narthaki’, a beautiful biography of the transgender community.
The movie brought her appreciation from both the critics and even worldwide audience.
She is soon starting a new venture called Kalki Organics offering pure, eco friendly, zero
chemical organic soaps and personal health care products.
Kalki writes in both English and Tamil, and has written extensively for trans equality for the
past 10 years. She loves poetry and recently her first collection of poems was released as a
book in Tamil named ‘KuriAruthean'(Phallus, I cut).
Kalki has been actively advocating for legal recognition of the transgender community of
India — from lobbying for their rights with the judiciary to campaigning for gender non-
conforming students in educational institutions,
With self-belief and self-respect as her greatest motivation, Kalki says, “I am different, yet I
am as good as anyone else, striving to be the better and the best. I keep learning constantly in
life.”
 OBITUARY
A. K. Ramanujam
Father, when he passed on,
left dust
on a table of papers,
left debts and daughters,
a bedwetting grandson
named by the toss
of a coin after him,

a house that leaned

slowly through our growing
years on a bent coconut
tree in the yard.
Being the burning type,
he burned properly
at the cremation

as before, easily
and at both ends,
left his eye coins
in the ashes that didn't
look one bit different,
several spinal discs, rough,
some burned to coal, for sons

to pick gingerly
and throw as the priest
said, facing east
where three rivers met
near the railway station;
no longstanding headstone
with his full name and two dates

to holdin their parentheses

everything he didn't quite
manage to do himself,
like his caesarian birth
in a brahmin ghetto
and his death by heart-
failure in the fruit market.
But someone told me
he got two lines
in an inside column
of a Madras newspaper
sold by the kilo
exactly four weeks later
to streethawkers.

who sell it in turn

to the small groceries
where I buy salt,
coriander,
and jaggery
in newspaper cones
that I usually read

for fun, and lately

in the hope of finding
these obituary lines.
And he left us
a changed mother
and more than
one annual ritual.

ABOUT THE POET:

A. K. Ramanujan (1993-1929) Poet, translator, folklorist, and philologist. A.K. Ramanujan
was born in Mysore, India. He earned degrees at the University of Mysore and deccan
College in Pune and a PhD from Indiana University. Ramanujan wrote in both English and
Kannada, and his poetry is known for its thematic and formal engagement with modernist
transnationalism. Issues such as hybridity and transculturation figure prominently in such
collections as The Striders (1966), Selected Poems (1976), and Second Sight (1986). The
Collected Poems of A.K. Ramanujan (1995) received a Sahitya Academy Award after the
author’s death. As a scholar, Ramanujan contributed to a range of disciplines, including
linguistic and cultural studies. His essay “is There an Indian Way of Thinking?” proposed a
notion of “context- sensitive” thinking based in complex situational understandings of
identity that differed significantly from Western thought and its emphasis on universal
concepts and structures. Context- sensitive thinking influenced Ramanujan as a folklorist as
well. His works of scholarship include The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical
Tamil Anthology (1967), Folktales from India: A Selection of Oral Tales from Twenty-Two
Languages (1991), and A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India (1997).
For much of his career, Ramanujan taught at the University of Chicago, where he helped
develop the South Asian studies program. In 1976, the Indian government honoured him with
the title Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in the country. Ramanujan’s other
honours included a Macarthur Fellowship. The South Asia Council of the association for
Asian Studies awards the A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation in honour of his
contributions to the field.
 APOLOGIES FOR LIVING ON

Meena Kandasamy

I am living on
because providing apologies is easy

once—

I was making choices

with insanely safe ideas of
fleeing-madly-and-flying-away

I was a helpless girl

against the brutal world of
bottom-patting-and-breast-pinching

I was craving for security

the kind I had only known while
aimlessly-afloat-and-speculating-in-the- womb

now—

I am locked away
a terrified princess waiting
for-death-and-not-any-brave-prince

I don’t dream or think

I just remember and wince
at-voices-of-the-past-smirking-in-sarcasm

once—

I ran away in the darkness

nothing beaconed me more than the
prospect-of-solitude-and-the-caress-of-a-million-stars

I ran into the arms of the ravishing night

nothing pulled me back: not even the memories
of-love-I-had-once-known-&-stolen-kisses-savoured-for-so-long.

I ran until terror stopped my tracks

for, trembling i turned and saw that the moon was
another-immodest-ogler-and-lecherous-stalk er.
ABOUT THE POET:
Meena Kandasamy is a poet, fiction writer, translator and activist who was born in Chennai,
Tamil Nadu, India. She has published two collections of poetry, Touch and Ms Militancy, and
the critically acclaimed novel, The Gypsy Goddess. Her second novel, When I Hit You, was
shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018. Her latest novel is Exquisite Cadavers. Her
op-ed/essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, The White Review,
Guernica, Al Jazeera, Financial Times, Himal Southasian, The Hindu, Outlook among other
places. She currently lives in East London.

In her late teens (2002) she was the editor of The Dalit, a bimonthly “that provided a platform
to record atrocities, condemn oppressive hierarchies and document the forgotten heritage.”
Subsequently, she translated the essays and speeches of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi
founder-leader Thol.Thirumavalavan into English: Talisman: Extreme Emotions of Dalit
Liberation (2003) and Uproot Hindutva: The Fiery Voice of the Liberation Panthers (2004).
In 2007, she translated Dravidian ideologue Periyar's feminist tract Penn Yaen Adimai
Aanaal? (Why Were Women Enslaved?) and co-wrote the first English biography of Kerala's
iconic Dalit leader Ayyankali.

Her debut collection of poems, Touch (2006) was themed around caste and untouchability, and
her second collection, Ms Militancy (2010) was an explosive, feminist retelling/reclaiming of
Tamil and Hindu myths.

Her critically acclaimed first (anti)novel, The Gypsy Goddess, (2014) smudged the line
between powerful fiction and fearsome critique in narrating the 1968 massacre of forty-four
landless untouchable men, women and children striking for higher wages in the village of
Kilvenmani, Tanjore, Tamil Nadu. Her second novel, a work of auto-fiction, When I Hit You:
Or, The Portrait of the Writer As A Young Wife (2017) drew upon her own experience within
an abusive marriage, to lift the veil on the silence that surrounds domestic violence and marital
rape in modern India. It was selected as book of the year by The Guardian, The Observer, Daily
Telegraph and Financial Times; and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for
Fiction 2018, among others. Her third novel, Exquisite Cadavers, a work of experimental
fiction was published in November 2019, and like her other novels was long listed for the
Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize.

She received a PEN Translates award for her translation of Salma's Manamiyangal (Women,
Dreaming; Titled Axis Press, Penguin-Randomhouse India, 2020). At present she is exploring
her non-fiction writing through an Arts Council, Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP)
grant. This support enabled her to write two long-form essays exploring female militancy in
the LTTE/ Eelam Tamil liberation struggle (The Orders Were to Rape You (The White
Review) and The Poetry of Female Fighters (Guernica)).

She holds a PhD in sociolinguistics from Anna University, Chennai (2010). Her work has
appeared in eighteen languages. She lives in East London with her children and her partner.
She is represented by David Godwin Literary Associates.
 UNIT II
ENJOY WITHIN LIMITS, SAYS MR. MATHRUBOOTHAM
Respected Madam/Sir,
Sometimes in life we are desperately wanting one thing. And we are waiting and waiting.
Then suddenly that thing is coming and we are feeling ayyo I unnecessarily wanted, maybe
other thing is better, or nothing is best.
Whether you are aware of one Mr. Prathapan, my nearby neighbourhood friend? 20–30 years
back he used to say, “Please please Tirupathi, Balaji, Baby Jesus, Gautama Buddha, Guru
Nanak, Thousand Lights Mosque, whichever fellow in Lotus Temple in Delhi, please please
give me one son.”
I told him ten thousand times, “Prathapan, you have two wonderful daughters, what nonsense
you are asking for boy boy like idiot. Look at me. God gave two boys and I said, ‘fine ok I
will manage’.”
Madam/ Sir, then what happened? Prathapan got boy. First of all boy was some 15 kg during
delivery. Prathapan’s wife even now when looking at family album tears are falling down her
face like Jog Falls. “What happened,” I asked, “you are having happy memories?”
She said, “Shut up, Mr. Mathrubootham, mannangkatti happy memories. Giving birth to
Parthipan was like giving birth to cement sack.”
Then Parthipan grew up and became computer science engineer and went to U.S. and today
he is right-hand man of Microsoft CEO ha ha ha ha ha ha. Just some comedy. Parthipan
broke all Anna Nagar record for failing in maximum subjects, decided to become guitarist in
one band, then after people said please stop assassination of music he got job in Dubai. I
think smuggling.
So better to be happy in life with what you have. But yesterday what happened. Mrs. M came
at 6 p.m. and said, “Wake up old man, sleeping like water buffalo.” I said,
umbbbbaaaaaaaaoooooo. She said, “So funny, I will put Baygon in your tea, mind it. One
friend from college days has come, I am leaving to spend whole day with friends group. You
please manage food by yourself. If you want, eat in hotel also. Enjoy.”
I thought, Eureka what a happy day, what a celebration day. I can eat anything. For breakfast
I took some coffee and biscuits. Then after reading classic novel Funeral in Berlin by Len
Deighton I said ok, time to enjoy restaurant lunch after many decades.
I went to Hot Chips nearby Tirumangalam metro station. Just as I was about to enter I
thought, what nonsense, today is celebration day. Why not try some new items. So I went to
nearby one other restaurant that is providing Rajasthani Thali type items. I stood outside and
looked through the window. Oho. Food is looking very nice. But then I saw waiter carrying
plate. Madam/ Sir, one Mount Everest of food. Ghee, oil, potato.
I thought too much heavy food. Enjoyment is there but there should be limits. I kept walking
and saw one Pizza Hut. Superb! Long time since I had pizza. I was looking at menu when
suddenly face of Mrs. M appeared in my mind. Oho. Last two-three weeks she is saying we
should eat pizza and some or the other reason I am giving. Now if I eat alone it will not be
good.
What to say. Like that like that I spent two hours going from hotel to hotel. Some problem is
coming in my mind. Too boring. Too heavy. Too sweet. Too expensive. Too much calories.
Finally stomach is singing like Balamuralikrishna so I came back to Hot Chips. Waiter said,
“Uncle, same pav bhaji?” I said, “Ok.”
Around 10 p.m. Mrs. M came back. She said, “I had Gujarati thali for lunch and pizza for
dinner. What did you have?”
I quietly went to sleep.
Yours in exasperation,
J. Mathrubootham
 NOBEL? WHAT NOBEL, ASKS MR. MATHRUBOOTHAM
Respected Madam/Sir,
Two-three days no peace of mind in the house, in the newspaper or in the television.
Everywhere I am looking, same thing only. Nobel Prize. Nobel Prize. Nobel Prize. I was
sitting in the dining room easy chair and reading superhit novel The Negotiator by superhit
novelist Frederick Forsyth. Suddenly Mrs. Mathrubootham came running and said Old man!
Nobel Prize for economics is announced, it is given to one Indian man, it is a proud day for
all Indians.
Madam/ sir, immediately I told her, Kamalam, whether he is working in India or abroad. She
said he is working in the U.S. or something but originally from West Bengal. His wife has
also won Nobel Prize with him. It is a wonderful news. I said what nonsense you are
celebrating as if Indian person has won the prize. Poor fellow has run away to U.S. to do
proper work without headache and now suddenly he is Indian it seems.
Ideas in India
Madam/ sir, this is the problem with our country. Will we let anybody to work peacefully?
Never. Imagine you are some Nobel Prize type fellow in the office. One day you get one
superb idea for economics or physics or something. At that moment, peon will come and say
excuse me sir, birthday party of Madam Vilasini is taking place in conference room.
Attendance is compulsory.
You will say okay no problem maximum it will take 15 minutes. After three hours, you will
come back to the office and you will say, oho where is that idea I had just before karumam
birthday party? Okay, okay, now I remember...
At that moment accountant will come and say, excuse me sir one problem is there in last
month house rent allowance requisition form. You have put year as 2018 instead of 2019.
Can you please submit new form? Then you will say, whether I can just cut year and put new
year on top? Accountant will say absolutely not allowed due to new rules, any correction
means you have to get affidavit signed from gazetted officer. So you will take one hour to fill
one new form.
After lunch break, you will come back to office. Oh my god, where is that amazing idea
gone… oh ok I remember writing it in my notebook. At that moment, power cut will be there
because electrician is putting decoration in the next building for one wedding function. After
half an hour, electricity will come and you will run to do good idea thinking.
Two minutes later, one colleague will come and say hello my friend have you heard latest
gossips from marketing department? What should you do? You should immediately tell
electrician to put little current through this fellow till expiry. But no. If you say I am not
interested in gossip, he will spread nonsense gossip about you itself.
Finally at 4.30 p.m., you are thinking ishwara at least two hours I can do something thinking
about good idea I had this morning. Ha ha ha ha. You are the biggest fool. Because at that
moment, head of department will come and say excuse me staff meeting has started,
attendance is compulsory. You will say just coming, two minutes. Then after opening
almirah, going inside almirah, and then screaming inside almirah for two minutes, you will
go for staff meeting.
At 5.30 p.m., you will tell head of the department, this morning I had one amazing good idea.
Maybe it will win international award. Tomorrow itself I will come back and do work. HOD
will laugh and laugh like hippopotamus: What nonsense you are talking, tomorrow onwards
Puja holidays are starting.
Then you will think mannangkatti, I am going to U.S. to do work in peace.
Correct or no? Fully correct
Yours in exasperation,
J. Mathrubootham
MR. MATHRUBOOTHAM IS FULLY SUPPORTING ALL NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Respected Madam/Sir,
Good morning. Shall I tell you one story that will provoke the thoughts in your mind? It is a
true story and happened to myself just two–three days back. As you are already knowing, Mr.
Mathrubootham is fully supporting all new technologies. If you come to my residence you
will find many new items. Alexa? She is there. Internet TV? It is there. Tablet computer?
Thousand times there! Light bulb which you can on-off and change colour from mobile? Ha
ha ha! I have from jambuvan times!
You are thinking, ‘Oh my god you tricky fellow, speaking like retired bank employee but
living posh like Tata-Birla and that family owning Bombay Dyeing I have forgotten’.
Madam/sir, latest technology is not Rolls Royce car or Cross pen. Retired people can also
buy some items.
What is Bombay Dyeing family? Now I will not be able to do anything except think about
this.
What I was saying? Technology! Around 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Mrs. M said, “Please go and
buy some jam-type item. I suddenly feel like having bread and jam sandwich.” I said,
“Kamalam, I just put DVD of Kane and Abel TV serial based on superhit novel by Jeffrey
Archer. You want jam now itself or it can wait two–three hours? Mind is full of Kane and
Abel, Kamalam.”
She said, “OK, fine, please get before 4 o’clock tea time.” I said god-promise on Tirupati
Balaji.
Is it Nadia family? Kadia? Bordia? Name is on tip of tongue but not coming out.
Anyway, what happened when I put DVD into player? One khee-khee-khee sound came like
Mrs. M putting teaspoon by mistake in mixie. Then DVD player broke down. Kamalam
immediately said, “See, see what happens when you ignore jam requirements of wife.”
I decided better to get jam before wife and Tirupati Balaji doing more damages. On return
journey, I suddenly saw one new coffee shop. I thought, oho, I must try it out. I went and had
one cappuccino and sandwich. When bill came I had one electric shock. Money is not there in
purse. I went to manager and said, “Thambi, purse is empty.”
He said, “Uncle, what you are talking like 1985. Do one PayTM. Whether you are having on
phone?” I said, “Of course, all latest innovations are there.” Madam/sir, I took phone and
karumam of karumams, battery is zero. No money, no battery. Manager now looking at me
like he is sandalwood tree and I am Veerappan. I am thinking what to do. Then Eureka! I had
one idea to put phone call to wife and she will bring money.
I picked up hotel phone and started dialling. Then nothing. Madam/sir, I am not remembering
more than first two digits of her phone number. Absolutely zero memory. Tragedy-o-tragedy.
At that moment, Dr. Shankaramenon is walking past hotel. I shouted, “Dr. Shankaramenon,
please come urgently, my dignity is going in drainage.” He came and paid the bill and then I
went home feeling ashamed like anything. When I reached home, house is locked and I have
no keys. After 10 minutes waiting, I went to Dr. Shankaramenon’s house. Two-three hours
later Mrs. M came back from ladies association meeting. I said, “Woman, whether you have
any responsibility, husband is waiting outside?” She said, “Old man, calm down, I sent
message to your phone, didn’t you see?”
I said, “Kamalam, take jam, I’m going to sit in bedroom alone for some time. Bring one
sandwich.”
Maybe it is Borgia? No, that is Italian arsenic family.
Yours in exasperation,
J. Mathrubootham
 PIZZA MAAVU: WELCOME TO MR. MATHROOBOOTHAM FOOD RECIPE
WEBSITE
Respected Madam/ Sir
Welcome to Mr. Mathrubootham food recipe website. Today I am going to make tomato and
cheese pizza totally 100%. Why because totally free on Friday evening and suddenly during
news reading on website one picture of pizza is appearing. And then many YouTube videos
are saying pizza and all easy-o-easy even small children are making within one hour.
I will give step by step instructions. First of all you must announce pizza plan to entire family
during morning breakfast time. Then please wait for 10 minutes for wife and son to laugh
BabaBabaBaba like diesel generator behind wedding tent.
Next make list of all ingredients. Then go to kitchen. You will immediately find that out of
11 items required for pizza only two items are available. Water and salt. So you will tell wife,
“Kamalam, I am going to shop to buy pizza items.” She will say, “Old man, don't buy ₹3,000
items to make ₹15 pizza. I said, “Thank you for moral support Kamalam, without you what I
will achieve in life.”
Next step is optional: immediately leave the family and start new secret life in Bengaluru or
Ernakulam. If this is not possible, then please proceed to shop for purchasing items.
Next step is very important, please avoid shopkeeper and assistants like anything. If you say,
“Thambi, what all items needed for pizza, please help,” they will look as if you have put one
speech in Hindi during DMK meeting. Then they will say, “Uncle, people are spending
crores to make food delivery company that is making crores of loss. You just order on the
Internet no?”
After 45 minutes you will come home with all items. Wife will say, “How much wheat you
bought? We cannot use in 15 years also.” Madam/ sir, make sure that right now tension and
kolaveri are filling up body and brain of chef. Don't worry whatsoever. It is very useful in the
next stage when you have to mix water and flour and salt and mix and mix and mix. Just
think of face of your family and within 10 seconds you will have nice pizza maavu.
Now put maavu in bowl and then make tomato and cheese and all. Recipe is saying please
keep maavu in warm place. Just you put it in one corner and then put one towel on top then to
avoid any confusion, put in the most corner of corners, behind a banana.
Then wife will come and say, “Old man, maid has come to clean house.” You will say, “No
problem, I will come after 20-30 minutes. Brain is non-stop thinking of pizza. Will it be
tasty? Will it be big? Should I have for lunch or dinner? Should only put tomato and cheese?
Maybe mushroom also?
Mouth is watering like anything.
Next step come home. Wife is not talking. Son is in bedroom working from home. Nobody is
speaking. What is the problem? Mystery of mysteries. Then I go to storeroom. Maavu is
gone. Like Harold Holt, old Prime Minister of Australia, totally disappeared.
“Kamalam, where is maavu?” Like talking to bougainvillea. No answer.
Then maid will come and say, “Uncle, I thought some fungus is growing, put everything into
dustbin. Very sorry. Please don't get angry.”
Whether I got angry? Never. Immediately I went to Internet and told billion-dollar company
to send pizza. I sat alone in the bedroom and ate happily. Kamalam came and said, “Old man,
eating alone or any sharing is there?” I said, “Pizza for you is ready. It is in the dustbin.”
This is the end of recipe.
Yours in satisfaction,
J. Mathrubootham
 UNIT III

STORY THROUGH IMAGES

Interpret the given visuals and write a story.

Education System
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CONCRETE OBJECTS

Definition
Unlike a biography, which is a true account of someone else's life, an autobiography is a
focused account of a writer's life told from the writer's own point of view. Autobiographies
fall into the nonfiction category.
Autobiographies are typically written in the first person, and use the pronoun, which makes it
easier for the writer to reflect upon and provide some perspective on life events.
Although autobiographical essays can be an abbreviated summary of an entire life, they
usually focus on a certain accomplishment or experience. Their purpose is to educate,
entertain or illustrate lessons learned retrospectively. As works of nonfiction,
autobiographical essays are expected to be accurate, as well as creative and expressive, so
that readers remain interested. Readers will only care about the writer's life if he or she is
emotionally invested.
Autobiographies of concrete object expects the students to tap their creative side and write a
very interesting write ups. It can be emotional, humorous, rational and all together has to be a
very intelligent peace of work. Basically, one has to develop the habit of thinking out of the
box to write such exercises.
EXERCISES:
Sketch an autobiography of the following:
A 500 rupee note
An Apple iphone
A book
A famous statue (Eg: Statue of liberty)
A Motor bike
The Spinning wheel
The Gramophone (Ancient record player)
A Top (Spinning the top game)
A Cycle
The Television
The Post box
An Inland cover
The Library
Facebook
My first love letter
My father's purse
My mother's tears
My pillow
 CAPTION WRITING
Photo captions and cutlines are the most read body type in a publication. Of all the news
content, only the titles of stories or headlines have higher readership than captions. It follows
that standards of accuracy, clarity, completeness and good writing are as high for captions
and cutlines than for other type. As with headlines, captions and cutlines must be crisp. As
with stories, they must be readable and informative.
Note: Captions and cutlines are terms that are often used interchangeably, particularly at
magazines. For our purposes, we will make the following distinctions.
Captions: Captions are the little “headlines” over the “cutlines” (the words describing the
photograph). See example.
Cutlines: Cutlines (at newspapers and some magazines) are the words (under the caption,
if there is one) describing the photograph or illustration. See example.
Example:
Obama vs. Palin
President Obama and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have agreed to
disagree over the rules of a “death match” scheduled between the two in
the Capitol Rotunda. Betting odds in Las Vegas give the nod to Palin, who
has been known to shoot a moose, after the two met on Thursday.
Note: Not all photographs carry a caption line.
________________________________________
Reader behavior
When writing a cutline with or without a caption, it is useful to have clearly in mind the
typical reader behavior when “using” a photograph and accompanying text:
• First, the reader looks at the photo, mentally capturing all or most of the most
obvious visual information available. Often this reader look is merely a glance, so subtle
aspects of the picture may not register with many readers.
• When that look at the photo sparks any interest, the reader typically looks just below
the photo for information that helps explain the photo. That's when captions and cutlines must
perform.
• Then, typically, the reader, after digesting the information, goes back to the photo (so
be sure you enhance the experience and explain anything that needs explaining).
________________________________________
Required information
The specific information required can vary from one photo to the next. But for most
pictures a reader wants to know such information as:
• Who is that? (And, in most cases, identify people from left to right unless the action in
the photograph demands otherwise.)
• Why is this picture in the paper?
• What's going on?
• When and where was this?
• Why does he/she/it/they look that way?
• How did this occur?
Simply stated, cutlines should explain the picture so that readers are satisfied with their
understanding of the picture. They need not — and should not — tell what the picture has
made obvious. It should supply vital information that the picture cannot. For example, a
picture can show a football player leaping to catch a pass, but it likely does not show that the
result was the winning touchdown. The cutline should give that information.
________________________________________
Tips and terms: Be concise; be precise; don't be trite
Cutlines should be as concise as possible, but they should not sound like telegrams or
machine guns. Unlike headlines (and caption lines), they should contain all articles and
conjunctions, just as do sentences in news stories. News picture cutlines should be
straightforward and clear.
Trite writing should be avoided. Do not point out the obvious by using such phrases as
“looks on,” “is shown” and “pictured above.”
Don't editorialize. The cutline writer should never make assumptions about what
someone in a picture is thinking or try to interpret the person's feelings from his or her
expression. The reader should be given the facts and allowed to decide for herself or himself
what the feelings or emotions are.
Avoid the known; explain the unknown. The cutline writer should avoid characterizing
a picture as beautiful, dramatic, grisly or other such descriptive terms that should be evident
in the photograph. If it's not evident in the photograph, your telling the reader won't make it
happen. However, the cutline should explain something about how the picture was taken if it
shows something not normally observable by the human eye. For example, was a wide-angle
lens used? Or time-lapse photography? Explanations also are needed for special effects, such
as the use of an inset or a picture sequence.
Reflect the image. Cutline writers should make sure that the words accurately reflect the
picture. If a picture shows two or more people, the cutline writer should count the number of
identifiable people in the photo and check the number and sex of the people identified in the
cutline to make certain that they match. Special precautions should be taken to make sure that
the cutline does not include someone who has been cropped out of the original photo.
Always, always, always check spelling. The cutline writer should check the spelling of
names in the story against the names that a photographer has provided to see if there are
discrepancies. The editor also should be sure that names in the cutline are the same names
used in the story. It should not be John Smith in the cutline, but John P. Smith in the story.
 “Wild art.” Photographs that do not accompany stories often are termed “wild art.” The
cutlines for wild art should provide the same basic information that a story does. Such things
as the “five W's” (who, what, when, where and why) are good to remember when writing
such cutlines. If you don't have all the information you need, get on the phone and get the
information. Don't try writing the cutline without needed facts. Sometimes, wild art is used
on a cover page to tease (refer) the reader to a story inside. But, unlike television, don't tease
the reader in the cutline. Give as complete a story as possible, giving the reader the option of
going inside for more details. Most cutlines for wild art also have a caption line (overline).
Accompanying art. If a picture is running with a story, a lengthy cutline is usually not
needed. Sometimes a single line is sufficient to identify the people or situation shown in the
picture and to make clear their relationship to the story. Remember that most cutline readers
have not yet read the story. Many of them will read nothing but the cutline and the headline.
So the cutline must strike a delicate balance between telling enough information for the
reader to understand the photo and its context while being as crisp and brief as possible.
Shorter is better. Cutline writing triggers a temptation to use long sentences. Avoid that
temptation. The cutlines that accompany Associated Press photos are notorious for their
rambling sentences. They need to be rewritten into clear crisp sentences.
________________________________________
Time elements
Most newspapers use a cutline writing style that calls for the first sentence to be written in
the present tense and for subsequent sentences to be in the past tense. The rationale is that the
first sentence tells the reader what is happening in the photo. Subsequent sentences tell the
context and background for what happened.
Example:
Bay City Fire Chief Art Brown carries 3-year-old Tina Wilson out of her
burning home. Tina's parents, Al and Barb Wilson, died from smoke
inhalation Friday night when fire destroyed their home at 1234 Maple St.

A common flaw is incorrectly placing the time element in the first sentence: . . . carries 3-
year-old Tina Wilson out of her burning home Friday night.
It is incongruous to have both the present tense verb and the past-tense time element (as
adverbial information) in the same sentence. The easiest solution is moving the time element
to a subsequent sentence as in the example above. It also is possible to avoid the incongruity
by using the time element as adjectival information: . . . carries 3-year-old Tina Wilson
away from the Friday night fire that destroyed her home.
Some publications omit the time element from single-line cutline’s. Critics (including me)
argue that this practice often mars reader understanding. Always include a time element to
inform the reader when the action pictured was taking place.
____________________________________
Finally, don't do fiction
“What, you say, fiction? Never!” Well, you'd be surprised. Newspapers, including
the Kansan and the Journal-World, often slip into it. It usually happens when the
photographer shows up to shoot something, but there's no action or nothing really to show.
For example, when a Kansan photographer needed to shoot a photo about a CD being
released locally, he went to the store. What he found was a bunch of the CDs lined up on the
shelf. And, of course, it's nice to get someone in the photo. So the photographer had one of
the store employees go to one of the shelves to hold one of the CDs slightly askew so it could
be seen. No problem, except the cutline said the clerk was rearranging the shelf. Nope. Pure
fiction. In this case, simply say the employee “displays” the CD. Readers won't mind. In
other situations, figure out the best way to say it; just don't do fiction.
EXERCISE :
Instruction: Teacher should go over these basic principles of caption writing, adding others as
needed.
⮚ Avoid stating the obvious. (“Looking into the camera…”)
⮚ Identify all people in the picture who are seen clearly. be sure to follow a pattern in
doing the IDs, and tell your reader the pattern (“left to right”, etc.)
⮚ Don’t start a caption with a person’s name or the name of the school.
⮚ Try not to start every caption in the same way. Be creative! Use a prepositional phrase
(“During the state soccer tournament”) and -ing words (“Kicking in for the last few
yards”), or other techniques. Don’t overuse any one technique!
⮚ For stand-alone feature photos, compose a headline to go with the caption.
⮚ Give the reader a lot of information in the caption. Use two or three sentences, if
possible.
⮚ Using quotes in a caption adds a personal voice.
⮚ Be sure photographers are trained to get IDs and additional information as they take
the pictures. Caption writing is so much easier this way!
Practice: Using a collection of old file photos, have students write captions for the pictures.
It helps to have them work of groups of two or three to collaborate on this. Depending on
time available, have them do one or more captions. Then have them read the captions aloud
to the class as they show the class the picture and do group critiques of the captions.
NOTE: You will probably not have names readily available for old file photos, so tell
students they can invent them. However, caution them that making up information for regular
publications work is an absolute NO-NO!
If old file photos are not available, clip photos from newspapers and magazines, removing the
caption and photo credit.
 PUBLIC SPEAKING
Public Speaking Skills is important for Workplace Success
Candidates with strong public speaking skills are in demand for the many occupations that
require the ability to speak to a group. Public speaking is seldom, if ever an entire job
description, but dynamic and well-prepared speakers are highly valued by employers and
tend to earn leadership positions and important client contact roles.
Anyone whose job involves communicating, teaching, or persuading will do a better job if
they have public speaking skills.
What is Public Speaking?
Public speaking is a soft skill that requires excellent communication skills, enthusiasm, and
the ability to engage with an audience. Public speakers make presentations to a group.
Presentations range from speaking to a small group of employees to presenting to a large
audience at a national conference or event. The same skillset and ability to be comfortable
speaking in public are required regardless of the size of the group.
Why Employers Value Public Speaking Skills
The art of public speaking comes into play not only in the delivery of speeches and public
talks, but also in professional presentations, training events, and motivational speaking.
Consultants, training, managers, clergy, sales representatives, and teachers, for example, all
have a reason at times to speak in front of others.
Effective public speakers are in an excellent position to get their messages across in the
workplace.
A lackluster speaker can make a solid product or proposal seem less than enticing, while a
polished speaker can add allure to an otherwise mediocre proposition.
Most professional-level roles require some amount of public speaking to carry out functions
like presenting findings, pitching proposals, training junior staff, and leading meetings.
Top Public Speaking Skills
When you want to highlight your public speaking skills in your cover letter, resume, or even
during an interview, be sure to go beyond stating that you have "public speaking skills." Go
into detail about which aspects of public speaking you are good at, and provide specific
examples of your skills and expertise.
● Clear Articulation: Of course, public speakers must be able to speak well. This
includes enunciating clearly, speaking loudly enough, and using proper grammar
without a lot of verbal crutches such as "um." It helps to be able to talk well in
ordinary conversation, but public speaking is a kind of performance and as such,
requires practice and preparation. Memorization itself is usually not necessary,
because most people can speak extemporaneously to some degree, but you must be
familiar enough with your material that you don't pause excessively, repeat yourself,
or stumble over your words. You also need to be able to pace yourself so that you
finish on time, rather than early or late.
 ● Engaging Presentation Style: Presentation style includes vocal tone, body language,
facial expression, and timing. The right style can make a talk that could have been
boring become exciting and engaging—even funny.
● Assessing the Needs of the Audience: Some audiences want a lot of technical detail;
others don't. Some enjoy humor; others won't. There are jokes that work in some
crowds but not others. To draft a successful talk and to adopt the appropriate
presentation style, you need to be able to assess the needs of your audience.
● PowerPoint Skills: PowerPoint is a popular software used for creating slides. Not all
public speakers use slides, but slides are so common that doing without them is
sometimes called "speaking naked." You must not only understand the technical
aspects of using the software, but also have the artistic ability to create slides that are
aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand—or, you must work with a collaborator
who can do so. Either way, you must know how to integrate your slides smoothly into
the other aspects of your presentations.
● Composition Skills: Whether you compose your talk ahead of time or work
extemporaneously, you must be able to construct talks that are rational, coherent, easy
to understand, and cover all the points you want to hit. Storytelling and humor help,
and you must know how to use them. Public speaking is not only a form of
performance art, but it also requires writing skills.
More Public Speaking Skills:
⇒ Articulating clearly
⇒ Assessing the needs and priorities of a potential audience of conference attendees
⇒ Consultants presenting the findings for a reorganization plan to a group of executives
at a client firm
⇒ Controlling performance anxiety
⇒ Creating attractive PowerPoint slides with the right amount of detail
⇒ Drafting an evaluation form that attendees are likely to complete
⇒ Grabbing the attention of the audience with a powerful opening
⇒ Handing out copies of slides in advance to minimize note-taking demands on the
audience
⇒ Maintaining eye contact with the audience and providing an energetic, animated
physical presence
⇒ Memorizing enough content so that the speech does not come off as a reading of notes
⇒ Modulating vocal tone to emphasize important points and avoid monotonous
presentation
⇒ Organizing a logical flow to a speech
⇒ Preparing examples that are relevant to the experience of the expected audience
⇒ Providing compelling evidence to support themes
⇒ Rehearsing the presentation and revising rough spots
⇒ Researching information about the latest trends in an industry before presenting at a
professional seminar
⇒ Restating critical points at the end of a speech to cement key concepts
⇒ Reviewing feedback and modifying the approach for talks in the future
⇒ Sales Representatives delivering a pitch for human resources software
 ⇒ Summarizing the topics to be covered at the beginning of a lecture to provide context
for attendees
⇒ Telling stories to illustrate points
⇒ Timing the speech in advance to make sure it meets the allotted time
⇒ Using humor to enliven a talk
How to Showcase Your Skills
Public speaking is a skill in itself, but it is also a collection of skills. Lists like this can help
you name some of these skills so you can identify which jobs require the abilities you have.
Be sure to read job descriptions carefully, because even very similar positions can have
different requirements, depending on what the hiring manager is looking for.
Mention Skills in Your Resume and Cover Letter
When you apply, you can use these skills as keywords in your resume or other application
materials. Hiring managers sometimes scan through applications looking for these keywords
to make an initial cut, so it's important to make it clear from the beginning that you have the
sought-after qualifications.
Then, use your cover letter to highlight some of your most relevant skills.
Share Your Skills During a Job Interview
Be prepared to give examples of specific times you embodied these skills during job
interviews, because your interviewer is likely to ask. If you've made public presentations or
internal company presentations, share the details with the interviewer.
 UNIT IV

MONOLOGUES
I. What is a Monologue?
A monologue is a speech given by a single character in a story. In drama, it is the
vocalization of a character’s thoughts; in literature, the verbalization. It is traditionally a
device used in theater—a speech to be given on stage—but nowadays, its use extends to film
and television.
II. Example of a Monologue:
A monologue speaks at people, not with people. Many plays and shows involving performers
begin with a single character giving a monologue to the audience before the plot or action
begins. For example, envision a ringleader at a circus…
Example 1
Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls!
Tonight, your faces will glow with wonder
As you witness some of the greatest acts ever seen in the ring!
Beauties and beasts, giants and men, dancers and daredevils
Will perform before your very eyes
Some of the most bold and wondrous stunts
You’ve yet beheld!
Watch, now,
As they face fire and water,
Depths and heights,
Danger and fear…
The ringleader’s speech is directed to the audience. His monologue helps him build
anticipation and excitement in his viewers while he foreshadows some of the thrills the
performance will contain.
Example 2
A monologue doesn’t have to be at the start or end of a play, show, or movie—on the
contrary, they occur all of the time. Imagine a TV series about a group of young friends, and
on this episode, one friend has been being a bully. The group is telling jokes about some of
the things the bully has done to other kids at school, when one girl interrupts everyone…
You know, I don’t think what you are doing is funny. In fact, I think it is sad. You think you’re
cool because you grew faster than some people, and now you can beat them up? What is cool
about hurting people? We are all here pretending that you’re a leader, when really, I know
that you’re nothing but a mean bully! All this time I’ve been scared to say that, but just now, I
realized that I’m not afraid of bullies—so, I won’t be afraid of you!
When a conversation stops and shifts focus to a single character’s speech, it is usually a sign
of a monologue. In this situation, a group conversation between friends turns into one girl’s
response; a monologue addressing bullying and the bully himself.
III. Types of Monologues
A. Soliloquy
A speech that a character gives to himself—as if no one else is listening—which voices his
inner thoughts aloud. Basically, a soliloquy captures a character talking to himself at length
out loud. Of course, the audience (and sometimes other characters) can hear the speech, but
the person talking to himself is unaware of others listening. For example, in comedy,
oftentimes a character is pictured giving themselves a lengthy, uplifting speech in the
mirror…while a friend is secretly watching them and laughing. The soliloquy is one of the
most fundamental dramatic devices used by Shakespeare in his dramas.
B. Dramatic Monologue
A speech that is given directly to the audience or another character. It can be formal or
informal, funny or serious; but it is almost always significant in both length and purpose. For
example, a scene that captures a president’s speech to a crowd exhibits a dramatic monologue
that is both lengthy and important to the story’s plotline. In fact, in TV, theater ,and film, all
speeches given by a single character—to an audience, the audience, or even just one
character—are dramatic monologues.
C. Internal Monologue
The expression of a character’s thoughts so that the audience can witness (or read, in
literature) what is going on inside that character’s mind. It is sometimes (depending on the
style in) referred to as “stream-of-consciousness.” In a piece of writing, internal monologues
can often be easily identified by italicized blocks of text that express a character’s inner
thoughts. On TV and in films, internal monologues are usually spoken in the character’s
voice, but without seeing him actually speak; thus giving the feeling of being able to hear his
thoughts.
IV. Importance of Monologues
Monologues give the audience and other characters access to what a particular character is
thinking, either through a speech or the vocalization of their thoughts. While the purpose of a
speech is obvious, the latter is particularly useful for characterization: it aids the audience in
developing an idea about what the character is really thinking, which in turn helps (or can
later help) explain their previous (or future) actions and behavior.
V. Examples of Monologue in Literature
Example 1
As a technique principally used on the stage (or screen), the best examples of monologues in
literature are found in dramatic literature, most notably in Shakespeare’s dramas. Below is
selection of arguably the most famous monologue in literature—soliloquy, specifically—
from Act III Scene I of the tragedy Hamlet. This soliloquy begins with the well-known words
“To be, or not to be- that is the question:”
HAMLET
To be, or not to be- that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die- to sleep-
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die- to sleep.
To sleep- perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
This scene reveals to the audience that Hamlet is contemplating suicide. His words express an
internal thought process that we would normally not be able to witness. The only reason that
Shakespeare has Hamlet speak these words out loud is so that the audience—not anyone else
in the play—can hear them. He uses a soliloquy to share Hamlet’s unstable state of mind and
disquieting thoughts.
Example 2
In Mark Twain’s short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” the
narrator is sent to find a man named Simon Wheeler, who will tell him a story. After the
narrator introduces the premise, he explains that he let Wheeler “go on in his own way, and
never interrupted him once.” He follows with Wheeler’s story, told in Wheeler’s voice, which
he achieves through the shift in the style of speech. Below is a small piece of the story:
There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of ’49—or may be it
was the spring of ’50—I don’t recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was
one or the other is because I remember the big flume wasn’t finished when he first came to
the camp; but any way he was the curiosest man about always betting on any thing that
turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn’t,
he’d change sides. Any way that suited the other man would suit him—any way just so’s he
got a bet, he was satisfied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always come out
winner.
Mark Twain was a literary genius when it came to storytelling—he could make the page
seem like a stage with the way he used spelling and grammar to bring a character’s accent
and personality to life. Wheeler’s story is a dramatic monologue, which Twain used to
achieve the feeling of a real storytelling exchange between two people. His employment of
this dramatic technique in this short story makes the readers feel like they are hearing
Wheeler’s story firsthand.
VI. Examples of Monologue in Pop Culture
Example 1
Oftentimes, a conversation occurs between characters and then shifts to one character giving
a significant speech. This is a popular way of inserting a monologue into a scene. In this
scene from Season 5 Episode 10 of the TV horror The Walking Dead, the group is talking
around the campfire:
Every day he woke up and told himself, ‘Rest in peace; now get up and go to war,’” says
Rick. “After a few years of pretending he was dead, he made it out alive. That’s the trick of it,
I think. We do what we need to do, and then we get to live. No matter what we find in D.C., I
know we’ll be okay. This is how we survive: We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead.
-Rick Grimes
Here, Rick’s monologue begins when the dialogue ceases to be a group discussion. Now he
alone is speaking to the group—he is giving a dramatic monologue.
Example 2
In one of the most popular Christmas movies to date, A Christmas Story, the protagonist
Ralphie is also the narrator. However, the narration is internal: Ralphie isn’t speaking directly
to us, but he is openly letting us in on his thoughts.
As you’ve now heard in this clip, Ralphie’s voice is that of an adult man, and that’s why the
narration style in this film is unique—adult Ralphie is simultaneously reflecting on the past
and reenacting present-Ralphie’s thoughts. The mental debate he has about who taught him
the curse word and what to tell his mother is an internal monologue: we can hear his
thoughts; thus the situation is funnier and more thought provoking.
VIII. Related Terms
Aside
An aside is when a character briefly pauses to speak directly to the audience, but no other
characters are aware of it. It is very similar to a monologue; however, the primary difference
between the two is that an aside is very short; it can be just one word, or a couple of
sentences, but it is always brief—monologues are substantial in length. Furthermore, an aside
is always said directly to the audience, usually accomplished (in film and television) by
looking directly into the camera. As an example, asides are a key part of the style of the
Netflix series House of Cards; the main character Francis Underwood often looks directly
into the camera and openly addresses the audience as if they are present, while the other
characters do not know that the audience exists.
Dialogue
While a monologue is a given by one character (“mono”=single), a dialogue is a conversation
that occurs between two or more characters. Monologues and dialogues are similar in that
they both deliver language to the audience. For instance, in a movie, a race winner’s speech is
a monologue, however, a speech collectively given by several members of a team is dialogue.
Both techniques can address the audience, but the difference lies in how many people are
speaking.
Conclusion
In conclusion, monologues (and dialogues) are arguably the most fundamental parts of
onstage drama and dramatic literature. Without them, essentially only silent film and theater
could exist, as monologues provide the only way for the audience to witness a character’s
thoughts.
EXERCISE
● Give the students any passage from any Shakespeare play and make the students to
read it effectively.
● Divide the class into groups and give them passage / scene from Shakespeare plays
and make them to enact the play.
 CONVERSATION
A dialogue is a verbal conversation between two or more people. When in writing, a dialogue
is a way of showing a story instead of explaining one through writing. Through a dialogue,
the writer allows the reader to know the characters first hand and interpret the characteristics
and story themselves.
Dialogue writing exposes the traits of the character, emotions, and internal motives at the
same time it establishes the relationship between the people. Dialogue-writing also shows the
actions taking place without boring the reader with a lot of explanations.
So while we are at it, let’s discuss how dialogues are written. First thing in grammar that is
essential to dialogue-writing is punctuation. Commas, quotations, semi-colon, period,
exclamation, question marks, and apostrophe- all these punctuation marks portray the
dialogue and its emotions. Let’s enlist all of them in detail:
First comes Grammar
If you get this right, the writing will not only be easier for the reader to understand, it will
convey a clear message through the dialogue.
Quotes
Quotes or quotation marks mark the beginning and end of a dialogue. For example – Nina
told Barti, “My mom makes the best pasta in town!” Here, we can tell the exact line Nina said
to Barti by looking at the sentence inside the quotation marks. Notice that the exclamation
mark that is also part of the quotation marks shows the emotion or the tone it was said with.
Now what happens when the person speaking wants to tell something else another person
spoke. In that case, we can use double quotation marks around person A’s dialogue and
single quotation marks around person B’s dialogue. Person A is the speaker and person B is
the one person A is speaking of.
“Dexter, her sister asked me, ‘What time is the game?’ Do you think we should take her
along?”
While we are here, let’s also not forget that the way quotation marks are used in American
English is slightly different. Apart from sentences that end in period and commas, everything
else goes outside the quotation marks.
Period
Use a period at the end of a sentence but always keep it inside of the quotation marks, unless
it isn’t a part of the quotation. If the quotation is ending before the sentence is, we can use a
comma inside the quotation marks instead of a period.
“May his soul rest in peace,” said Father.
Father said, “May his soul rest in peace.”
Commas
Well, first of all, a comma separates a dialogue from the rest of the sentence.
Tamera said to Adrienne, “My two-year-old son has started riding a cycle.”
Question Marks
This is quite simple: if it’s part of the dialogue, keep the question mark inside the quotations
and if it’s not, just keep it outside the quotations.
“Will you come to the party?”, asked Jeena to Candice.
Do you think Aden was telling the truth when he said, “I finished my homework.”?
Capitalisation
Whether it’s in the middle of a sentence or at the beginning, a dialogue always starts with a
capital letter word. A dialogue tag like he said or she said may not be used everytime we use
a dialogue. The quotation marks and the capitalization should be enough for that.
“Gina, will you pass me the spaghetti?
“Why, yes sir.”
Other Punctuation Rules in Dialogue Writing
● Even the punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.
● Use commas or periods after dialogue tags depending on where they are in the
sentence.
● Always remember to capitalize the first word of what the person says.
● Start a new paragraph each time a person speaks.
Dialogue-writing: How to do it perfectly?
1. Have a purpose for every single dialogue, a logical one. It might as well have an
objective implication. For example, ask logical questions like – What does this say about my
character? What characteristic am I painting with this dialogue? Is this dialogue moving the
story?
2. Try not overuse dialogues by writing dialogues that lead to no logical conclusions.
Basically, keep filler dialogues as less as possible. The more interesting and information
giving your dialogues are, the longer the reading span becomes of your dialogue.
3. Use narration in between dialogues to abstain from stray dialogue-writing. Keep it
short and simple. Create movement in the plot using actions and descriptions between
dialogues.
4. Keep it as real and closer to the characters as possible. Maintain the same theme or
purpose throughout. Dialogues are supposed to feel real conversations. The less fake you
make them, the better they sound.
5. Convey a point through your dialogue-writing. Don’t repeat the same shade you
painted in one dialogue into another. If you have established that A is tired, you can take
another dimension to it instead of re-iterating directly the same point again and again.
6. Keep the writing catchy and full of twists. Don’t forget the element of surprise is the
backbone of good dialogue-writing. Try to keep the characters different, bring in one strong
emotion every now and then to keep the dialogue-writing catchy and engaging. Make
resonating points that the readers can relate to.
Here are the main rules for writing dialogue:
1. Each speaker gets a new paragraph. Every time someone speaks, you show this by
creating a new paragraph. Yes, even if your characters are only saying one word, they get
new paragraphs.
2. Each paragraph is indented. The only exception for this is if it’s the start of a chapter or
after a scene break, where the first line is never indented, including with dialogue.
3. Punctuation for what’s said goes inside the quotation marks. Any time the punctuation
is a part of the person speaking, they go inside the quotes so the reader knows how the
dialogue is said.
4. Long speeches with several paragraphs don’t have end quotations. You’ll see more on
this below, but overall, if one character is speaking for so long they have separate paragraphs,
the quotation marks on the end are removed, but you start the next paragraph with them.
5. Use single quotes if the person speaking is quoting someone. If you have a character
who says, “Man, don’t you love it when girls say, ‘I’m fine’?”, the single quotes indicate
what someone else says.
EXERCISE
● The customer realizes that the shopkeeper is being unfair to him. Complete the
dialogue between the two in which the customer makes the shopkeeper realize his
mistake.
● Rohit calls up Rajat to make a plan for the weekend. Complete the dialogue between
them.
● Dialogue between two friends on the topic of air pollution.
 LOUD READING
When you read aloud, you’re employing a great number of your faculties, and more often
than not, the very act of reading aloud is a revelation in itself. However, for voice actors,
reading aloud is the very basis of your craft.
Here are 7 benefits of reading aloud to motivate you to get started. This wonderful practice
will help you build up your voice skills and become (more) successful as a voice actor.
Reading Out Loud:
Sharpens Your Focus
Increases Your Vocabulary
Results in Greater Reading
Comprehension
Gives you an Opportunity to Play
Exercises Your Body
Challenges Your Use of Intonation
Improves Listening and Reading Skills

1. Sharpens Focus
When you’re reading aloud, you will find that it becomes easier to put all of your energy into
the task at hand without the temptation of distractions. You are so focused that you likely
won’t even notice that you are strengthening your mental and verbal skills.
If you think about it, your mind is akin to a muscle. When it works out, you tone it and build
up strength. When you read aloud, you are exercising the connection between your mind and
your voice to the full extent which results in greater focus and cohesiveness.
This resulting focus and cohesiveness can help you when you are reading a longer piece of
narration for a job and want to nail the read in as few takes as possible.
The spoken word is also powerful. It conveys so much more than what can be contained on a
page. Instead of just hearing what a collection of words sounds like in your head, when those
words are spoken aloud, you enter into the realm of performance and deeper engagement.
This world you’ve stepped into is girded by the potency of words. Reading aloud gives you a
greater appreciation for the role each word plays and its placement in context.
Lastly, the written word sounds more deliberate and meaningful when it is read aloud.
Projected outward using the human voice, the words themselves are sharpened and take on
greater effectiveness. After all, the written word is usually present in the absence of its
author. Think of letters sent by couriers in ancient times. The letters didn’t just carry
information for one person to read alone and in their head, but many letters were sent with the
express intent that they be shared and read aloud to an audience.
The spoken word helps to not just focus the speaker, but to put the words in focus.
2. Increases Vocabulary
Ever come across a word in a script that you are unsure how to pronounce? Reading aloud
more often can help you become familiar with unfamiliar words. Saying something in context
aloud is very powerful.
When you are reading in your head, you only hear the words internally and their effect on
you is limited to how you interpret the script or other words during that very private
experience.
If you choose to read them aloud, you may find deeper layers of meaning in the words
because when they are spoken, they take on a life of their own and become a part of you. And
inevitably through comprehension, become part of your vocabulary and influence your use of
language.
In addition to increasing your spoken word vocabulary, you also gain the joy of discovering
the melody of words you have never spoken before. There’s more to words than their
definitions, after all. Words are often strung together because they sound lovely when ordered
a certain way. The hearing of a new word is like a discovery. Like you’ve unearthed a
precious jewel. New words destined for your vocabulary are just waiting to be found, but
you’ve got to seek them out.
Some people collect hockey cards, recipes or vintage cars. Others collect words (especially if
you are an avid Scrabble player!). Reading books that were written in different time periods,
about subjects you’re less knowledgeable of, and from distant places will give you an ‘around
the world in 80-days’ style tour of language while expanding your vocabulary. Keeping a
dictionary nearby is a must if you want to go exploring new vocabulary terrain.
3. Greater Reading Comprehension
People learn in a variety of ways – visual, aural, tactile and so on. By reading aloud, you’ll
stand a better chance of internalizing the words and making them your own before you
perform.
Of course, this approach helps others who are not reading aloud as an actor, but for the sake
of learning in general.
If you are an auditory learner, reading aloud will help the material to sink in and become
ingrained, making it easier to draw on the information you’ve just ingested for when you
need to reference it in the future.
Something you’ll want to think about is how important it is that you read a piece in its
entirety before going ahead and recording it. Not only do you need to know how you should
read those words, but you need to understand where those words are ultimately taking you.
You need to know how the story ends before you share it with others.
Comprehension goes beyond just knowing what the words are; it involves understanding the
bigger picture. When you understand the big picture, you will be able to more expertly relay
information, tell a story or even a joke. If you’re like me, the jokes you tell tend to fall flat.
Why? Perhaps the jokes were unrehearsed or the punchline was lost in its delivery.
Preparation is important on many levels for a performer and key to comprehension.
If you don’t know what you’re saying or why you’re saying it, how will you ever be able to
deliver those lines as the author intended them? Don’t fall into that trap. Get your audience
hanging on your every word by having a clear understanding of what you’re telling them.
One of the biggest hurdles for good communication is neglecting to read the words out loud
before they are delivered. Countless scripts and web copy mishaps (I know you’ve seen
some!) could have been avoided if the author of those words had only read them aloud first.
When you read copy aloud, errors not previously caught become glaringly obvious. Not all
copy is written with the intention that it be read aloud (think an instruction manual for your
new coffee maker in 12 different languages), but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be read
well.
4. Opportunity to Play
When is the last time you read something aloud just for the sheer pleasure of doing so? Don’t
worry about being in the recording booth or turning on your mic. Reading aloud should be
fun. Otherwise, why would you feel drawn to voice acting? Take a nice break to read out
loud just for fun.
If you are looking for an opportunity to stretch your imagination and explore the capabilities
that may be hidden in your voice, read a children’s book aloud to someone you love. Read
anything you can find! From cereal boxes, to instruction manuals to sample voice over scripts
– breathe life into every piece of copy you come across.
Audiobook narrator, Ilyana Kadushin shares her tips on learning to become a great speaker
and endure the challenges of reading long-form narration aloud. “Go to a senior citizens
home or a place for the blind, or a place for children and read to people out loud and really
feel what that’s like to have to sustain narration and to feel that someone’s listening,” Ilyana
says. “Just feel that in your body. That, to me, is very important – to understand that
someone’s listening and that what you’re doing with the language is landing in their ear.”
Can’t find a book that you’re wanting to read? Why not take a detour and read some poetry
instead. You can have some fun with rhythm and cadence. Whether you’re into Iambic
pentameter (think Shakespeare) or prefer the brevity of a haiku, reading something new or in
a different style than you’re used to is fun and a worthy experiment.
5. Exercises Your Body
When people speak, we often involve more than just our voice in the projection process. In
fact, many of us, attributable to culture or otherwise, make use of our entire body when
speaking to get a point across. Physical expression adds or supports what we are saying and
can also help your voice sound more engaging and animated – this is especially important if
you are putting on a character voice.
Now that you’ve seen how reading aloud can be good exercise for your body, remember that
it can also be excellent exercise for your facial muscles! Remember, your instrument as a
voice actor is your whole body. Another way to exercise your facial muscles while also
getting your resonators and articulators going is to recite tongue twisters.
Here are some short tongue twisters you can try right now:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Red leather, yellow leather.
Unique New York, Unique New York.
6. Challenges Your Use of Intonation
When you read aloud, sounding dull isn’t an option, especially if you have an audience. Make
use of the full range of your voice. By speaking the words as though you have full intention
of them being heard, you’ll be able to discover and explore your range more deeply.
If you’re wondering how you sound, try recording yourself and then playing it back, noting
where your voice goes up, down, starts, stops, fluctuates and even surprises you. Patterns of
speech matter as they help to frame what is being said and how it is received.
Use a pencil and paper to mark your scripts to help direct your tone and vocal interpretation
of the story or piece of ad copy. You’ll be amazed by how some forethought and attention to
detail can make an enormous impact on your delivery.
Once you’ve got intonation sorted out, take the time to paint your words. Adding your own
flavor to a script is best done through inflection. Inflection is key to sounding unique and
making the words your own.
When you bring your own experiences and motivations to a read, you make it special. Have
you seen the animated film, Inside Out? If so, you are likely familiar with how memories can
affect us and may appreciate how actors can use memories as fuel for their performances
(think method acting). Let your voice and artistry shine by infusing your words with rich
color and meaning that comes from your own experiences.
7. Improves Listening and Reading Skills
Lastly, reading aloud will make you more aware of things that you read, hear, and also help
you to identify proper grammar, sentence structure, and so on. Reading aloud also does much
for shaping your interpretation of what is being said.
You’ll be able to read with more efficiency and richness, expand your literary horizons and
also experiment with the many ways you could interpret the written word, then translate your
findings through spoken word expression.
Reading Out Loud as a Key to Voice Actor Success
Reading aloud can help you gain valuable skills that can be applied to your personal life
(think of reading aloud for leisure) as well as your professional life (help you become more
familiar with the pronunciation of words and can help you develop better enunciation
skills).Take some time out of your day or week to read aloud to a willing audience, or even
yourself! There are many voice over sample scripts online that can help you, including
samples of voice over narration scripts, video game sample scripts, voice over scripts for e-
learning and more! And see what improvements this new habit can have on your voice over
performances.
 READING COMPREHENSION
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions:
PASSAGE I
In terms of labour, for decades the relatively low cost and high quality of Japanese workers
conferred considerable competitive advantage across numerous durable goods and
consumerelectronics industries (eg. Machinery, automobiles, televisions, radios). Then
labour-based advantages shifted to South Korea, then to Malaysia, Mexico and other nations.
Today, China appears to be capitalizing best on the basis of labour. Japanese firms still
remain competitive in markets for such durable goods, electronics and other products, but the
labour force is no longer sufficient for competitive advantage over manufacturers in other
industrializing nations. Such shifting of labour-based advantage is clearly not limited to
manufacturing industries. Today, a huge number of IT and service jobs are moving from
Europe and North America to India, Singapore, and like countries with relatively well-
educated, low-cost workforces possessing technical skills. However, as educational levels
and technical skills continue to rise in other countries, India, Singapore, and like nations
enjoying labour-based competitive advantage today are likely to find such advantage cannot
be sustained through emergence of new competitors.
In terms of capital, for centuries the days of gold coins and later even paper money restricted
financial flows. Subsequently regional concentrations were formed where large banks,
industries and markets coalesced. But today capital flows internationally at rapid speed.
Global commerce no longer requires regional interactions among business players. Regional
capital concentrations in places such as New York, London and Tokyo still persist, of course,
but the capital concentrated there is no longer sufficient for competitive advantage over other
capitalists distributed worldwide. Only if an organization is able to combine, integrate and
apply its resources (eg. Land, labour, capital, IT) in an effective manner that is not readily
imitable by competitors can such an organization enjoy competitive advantage sustainable
overtime.
In a knowledge-based theory of the firm, this idea is extended to view organizational
knowledge as a resource with atleast the same level of power and importance as the
traditional economic inputs. An organization with superior knowledge can achieve
competitive advantage in markets that appreciate the application of such knowledge.
Semiconductors, genetic engineering, pharmaceuticals, software, military warfare, and like
knowledge-intensive competitive arenas provide both time-proven and current examples.
Consider semiconductors (e.g. computer chips), which are made principally of sand and
common metals. These ubiquitous and powerful electronic devices are designed within
common office buildings, using commercially available tools, and fabricated within factories
in many industrialized nations. Hence, land is not the key competitive resource in the
semiconductor industry.
Which country enjoyed competitive advantages in automobile industry for decades?
(1) South Korea
(2) Japan
(3) Mexico
(4) Malaysia
Why labour-based competitive advantages of India and Singapore cannot be sustained
in IT and service sectors?
(1) Due to diminishing levels of skill.
(2) Due to capital-intensive technology making inroads.
(3) Because of new competitors.
(4) Because of shifting of labour-based advantage in manufacturing industries.
How can an organisation enjoy competitive advantage sustainable overtime?
(1) Through regional capital flows.
(2) Through regional interactions among business players.
(3) By making large banks, industries and markets coalesced.
(4) By effective use of various instrumentalities.
What is required to ensure competitive advantages in specific markets?
(1) Access to capital
(2) Common office buildings
(3) Superior knowledge
(4) Common metals
The passage also mentions about the trend of
(1) Global financial flow
(2) Absence of competition in manufacturing industry
(3) Regionalisation of capitalists
(4) Organizational incompatibility
What does the author lay stress on in the passage?
(1) International commerce
(2) Labour-Intensive industries
(3) Capital resource management
(4) Knowledge-driven competitive advantage
PASSAGE II
The last great war, which nearly shook the foundations of the modern world, had little impact
on Indian literature beyond aggravating the popular revulsion against violence and adding to
the growing disillusionment with the ‘humane pretensions’ of the Western World. This was
eloquently voiced in Tagore’s later poems and his last testament, Crisis in Civilisation. The
Indian intelligentsia was in a state of moral dilemma. On the one hand, it could not help
sympathising with England’s dogged courage in the hour of peril, with the Russians fighting
with their backs to the wall against the ruthless Nazi hordes, and with China groaning under
the heel of Japanese militarism; on the other hand, their own country was practically under
military occupation of their own soil, and an Indian army under Subhas Bose was trying from
the opposite camp to liberate their country. No creative impulse could issue from such
confusion of loyalties. One would imagine that the achievement of Indian independence in
1947, which came in the wake of the Allies’ victory and was followed by the collapse of
colonialism in the neighbouring countries of South-East Asia, would have released an
upsurge of creative energy. No doubt it did, but unfortunately it was soon submerged in the
great agony of partition, with its inhuman slaughter of the innocents and the uprooting of
millions of people from their homeland, followed by the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi.
These tragedies, along with Pakistan’s invasion of Kashmir and its later atrocities in
Bangladesh, did indeed provoke a poignant writing, particularly in the languages of the
regions most affected, Bengali, Hindi, Kashmiri, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu. But poignant or
passionate writing does not by itself make great literature. What reserves of enthusiasm and
confidence survived these disasters have been mainly absorbed in the task of national
reconstruction and economic development. Great literature has always emerged out of chains
of convulsions. Indian literature is richer today in volume, range and variety than it ever was
in the past.
What was the impact of the last great war on Indian literature?
(1) It had no impact.
(2) It aggravated popular revulsion against violence.
(3) It shook the foundations of literature.
(4) It offered eloquent support to the Western World.
What did Tagore articulate in his last testament?
(1) Offered support to Subhas Bose.
(2) Exposed the humane pretensions of the Western World.
(3) Expressed loyalty to England.
(4) Encouraged the liberation of countries.
What was the stance of Indian intelligentsia during the period of great war?
(1) Indifference to Russia’s plight.
(2) They favoured Japanese militarism.
(3) They prompted creativity out of confused loyalties.
(4) They expressed sympathy for England’s dogged courage.
Identify the factor responsible for the submergence of creative energy in Indian
literature.
(1) Military occupation of one’s own soil.
(2) Resistance to colonial occupation.
(3) Great agony of partition.
(4) Victory of Allies.
What was the aftermath that survived tragedies in Kashmir and Bangladesh?
(1) Suspicion of other countries
(2) Continuance of rivalry
(3) Menace of war
(4) National reconstruction
The passage has the message that
(1) Disasters are inevitable.
(2) Great literature emerges out of chains of convulsions.
(3) Indian literature does not have a marked landscape.
(4) Literature has no relation with war and independence.
 UNIT V
STORY THROUGH IMAGES

Interpret the given visuals and write a story.

 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF CONCRETE OBJECTS

Write an autobiography of:

1. Car
2. Laptop
3. Encyclopaedia
4. Globe
5. Desk
6. Headset
7. A book
8. Barricade
9. Red Signal on the road
10. Paint brush
 PARTS OF SPEECH
In the English language, words can be considered as the smallest elements that have
distinctive meanings. Based on their use and functions, words are categorized into several
types or parts of speech. This article will offer definitions and examples for the 8 major parts
of speech in English grammar: noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction,
preposition, and interjection.
1. NOUN
This part of a speech refers to words that are used to name persons, things, animals, places,
ideas, or events. Nouns are the simplest among the 8 parts of speech, which is why they are
the first ones taught to students in primary school.
Examples:
▪ Tom Hanks is very versatile.
▪ The italicized noun refers to a name of a person.
▪ Dogs can be extremely cute.
▪ In this example, the italicized word is considered a noun because it names an animal.
▪ It is my birthday.
▪ The word “birthday” is a noun which refers to an event.
There are different types of nouns namely:
▪ Proper– proper nouns always start with a capital letter and refers to specific names of
persons, places, or things.
Examples: Volkswagen Beetle, Shakey’s Pizza, Game of Thrones
▪ Common– common nouns are the opposite of proper nouns. These are just generic
names of persons, things, or places.
Examples: car, pizza parlor, TV series
▪ Concrete– this kind refers to nouns which you can perceive through your five senses.
Examples: folder, sand, board
▪ Abstract- unlike concrete nouns, abstract nouns are those which you can’t perceive
through your five senses.
Examples: happiness, grudge, bravery
▪ Count– it refers to anything that is countable, and has a singular and plural form.
Examples: kitten, video, ball
▪ Mass– this is the opposite of count nouns. Mass nouns are also called non-countable
nouns, and they need to have “counters” to quantify them.
Examples of Counters: kilo, cup, meter
Examples of Mass Nouns: rice, flour, garter
▪ Collective– refers to a group of persons, animals, or things.
 Example: faculty (group of teachers), class (group of students), pride (group of lions)
2. PRONOUN
A pronoun is a part of a speech which functions as a replacement for a noun. Some examples
of pronouns are: I, it, he, she, mine, his, hers, we, they, theirs, and ours.
Sample Sentences:
• Janice is a very stubborn child. She just stared at me and when I told her to stop.
• The largest slice is mine.
• We are number one.
The italicized words in the sentences above are the pronouns in the sentence.
3. ADJECTIVE
This part of a speech is used to describe a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives can specify the
quality, the size, and the number of nouns or pronouns.
Sample Sentences:
• The carvings are intricate.
• The italicized word describes the appearance of the noun “carvings.”
• I have two hamsters.
• The italicized word “two,” is an adjective which describes the number of the noun
“hamsters.”
• Wow! That doughnut is huge!
• The italicized word is an adjective which describes the size of the noun “doughnut.”
4. VERB
This is the most important part of a speech, for without a verb, a sentence would not exist.
Simply put, this is a word that shows an action (physical or mental) or state of being of the
subject in a sentence.
Examples of “State of Being Verbs”: am, is, was, are, and were
Sample Sentences:
• As usual, the Stormtroopers missed their shot.
• The italicized word expresses the action of the subject “Stormtroopers.”
• They are always prepared in emergencies.
• The verb “are” refers to the state of being of the pronoun “they,” which is the subject
in the sentence.
5. ADVERB
Just like adjectives, adverbs are also used to describe words, but the difference is that adverbs
describe adjectives, verbs, or another adverb.
The different types of adverbs are:
▪ Adverb of Manner– this refers to how something happens or how an action is done.
 Example: Annie danced gracefully. The word “gracefully” tells how Annie danced.
▪ Adverb of Time- this states “when” something happens or “when” it is done.
Example: She came yesterday. The italicized word tells when she “came.”
▪ Adverb of Place– this tells something about “where” something happens or “where”
something is done.
Example: Of course, I looked everywhere! The adverb “everywhere” tells where I
“looked.”
▪ Adverb of Degree– this states the intensity or the degree to which a specific thing
happens or is done.
Example: The child is very talented. The italicized adverb answers the question, “To
what degree is the child talented?”
6. PREPOSITION
This part of a speech basically refers to words that specify location or a location in time.
Examples of Prepositions: above, below, throughout, outside, before, near, and since
Sample Sentences:
▪ Micah is hiding under the bed.
The italicized preposition introduces the prepositional phrase “under the bed,” and
tells where Micah is hiding.
▪ During the game, the audience never stopped cheering for their team.
The italicized preposition introduces the prepositional phrase “during the game,” and
tells when the audience cheered.
7. CONJUNCTION
The conjunction is a part of a speech which joins words, phrases, or clauses together.
Examples of Conjunctions: and, yet, but, for, nor, or, and so
Sample Sentences:
▪ This cup of tea is delicious and very soothing.
▪ Kiyoko has to start all over again because she didn’t follow the professor’s
instructions.
▪ Homer always wanted to join the play, but he didn’t have the guts to audition.
The italicized words in the sentences above are some examples of conjunctions.
8. INTERJECTION
This part of a speech refers to words which express emotions. Since interjections are
commonly used to convey strong emotions, they are usually followed by an exclamation
point.
Sample Sentences:
▪ Ouch! That must have hurt.
▪ Hurray, we won!
▪ Hey! I said enough!
 TENSES
Tenses play a crucial role in the English language. It denotes the time an action takes place,
whether sometime in the past, in the present or will take some time in the future.

PAST TENSE
1) Simple Past Tense-
Indicates an action took place before the present moment and that has no real connection with
the present time.
For example, "He danced in the function." (The action took place in the past, is finished and
is completely unrelated to the present)
"He flew to London yesterday."
Note:
a. The verb 'flew' is an irregular verb which does not take 'ed' in the past tense like regular
verbs.
b. The form of Simple Past Tense is - verb + ed
2) Past Perfect Tense-
Indicates an action in the past that had been completed before another time or event in the
past.
For example, "He had exercised before it started to rain."
"He had slept before I came back from the market."
Note:
a. The form of Past Perfect Tense is- had + verb (past participle form or the 3rd form of the
verb)
3) Past Continuous Tense-
Indicates an action going on at some time in the past or an action in the past that is longer in
duration than another action in the past.
For example, "It was getting darker."
"The light went out while theywere reading."
Note:
a. The form of Past Continuous Tense is- was/were + verb + ing
4) Past Perfect Continuous Tense-
Indicates an action in the past that took place before another time or event in the past and
continued during the second event/time point in the past.
For example, "At that time, he had been writing a novel for two months."
"He had been exercising when I called."
Note:
a. The form of Past Perfect Continuous Tense is- had + been + verb + ing
PRESENT TENSE
1) Simple Present Tense-
Indicates an action that is generally true or habitual. That is, it took place in the past ,
continue to take place in the present, and will take place in the future. This tense is used to
denote
-a habitual action- for instance, "He walk to school."
-general truths- for instance, "The sun rises in the east", "Honesty is the best policy."
-a future event that is part of a fixed timetable- for instance, "The match starts at 9 o' clock."
Note:
a. The form of Simple Present Tense is- verb (infinitive without 'to' and agreeable with the
subject)
2) Present Perfect Tense-
Indicates an action that has been completed sometime before the present moment, with a
result that affects the present situation.
For example, "He has finished the work."
"He has slept."
Note:
a. The form of Present Perfect Tense is- has/have + verb (past participle form or 3rd form of
the verb)
3) Present Continuous Tense-
Indicates an action that is taking place at the moment of speaking.
For example, "She is walking."
"I am studying."
Note:
a. the form of Present Continuous Tense is- is/am/are + verb + ing
4) Present Perfect Continuous Tense-
Indicates an action that started in the past and is continuing at the present time.
For example, "He has been sleeping for an hour."
Note:
a. The form of Present Perfect Continuous Tense is- has/have + been + verb + ing
Read More : What is Future Tense?Get Examples and Practice Exercise
FUTURE TENSE
1) Simple Future Tense-
Indicates an action that will take place after the present time and that has no real connection
with the present time.
For example, "She will visit her ailing grandmother soon."
"He will walk home."
Note:
a. the form of Simple Future Tense is- will/shall + verb
2) Future Perfect Tense-
Indicates an action in the future that will have been completed before another time or event in
the future.
For example, "By the time we arrive, he will have studied."
Note:
a. The form of Future Perfect Tense is- will/shall have + verb(past participle form or 3rd form
of the verb)
3) Future Continuous Tense-
Indicates an action in the future that is longer in duration than another action in the future.
For example, "He will be walking when it starts to rain."
Note:
a. The form of Future Continuous Tense is-will/shall be + verb + ing
4) Future Perfect Continuous Tense-
Indicates an action in the future that will have been continuing until another time or event in
the future.
For example, "He will have been exercising an hour at 2:00."
Note:
a. The form of Future Perfect Continuous Tense is- will/shall have been + verb + ing
EXERCISES:
Q1. Choose the correct verb from those in brackets:
a. The earth _____ round the sun. (move, moves, moved)
b. My friends _____ the film yesterday. (see, saw, have seen)
c. It started to rain while we _____ tennis. (are playing, had played, were playing)
d. I _____ English for five years. (have been studying, study, am studying)
e. The train _____ before we reach the station. (arrives, will have arrived, had arrived)
f. Don't disturb me. I _____ my work. (do, did, am doing)
g. Fortune _____ the brave. (is favouring, will favour, favours)
h. I _____ the letter before you arrived. (had written, wrote, will write)
i. He _____ us next week. (will have met, will have been meeting, will be meeting)
j. Perhaps we _____ Delhi next month. (visit, will visit, visited)
 SPOT THE ERRORS AND PUNCTUATION IN ENGLISH
Look at the following, spot the errors and correct them:

1. He speak the English.

2. Anderson went to abroad.
3. Though she is weak but she is active.
4. One of the employee has got the award.
5. Children prefer mobile games than story books.
6. Though she is ill, but she attends the class.
7. The manager with all the employees are present.
8. If he had contacted me, I would help him.
9. His father gave me a lot of advices.
10. If I was a bird, I would fly.
11. She is my cousin sister.
12. No one know the answer.
13. Rosy is best student in our college.
14. A group of twelfth students are travelling together..
15. He goes to school by feet..
16. Sun rises in the east.
17. I am a doctor, isn’t I?
SEMESTER II
 SYLLABUS
UNIT I

LISTENING
• Techniques of effective listening
• Listening and comprehension
• Probing questions
• Barriers to listening

SPEAKING
• Pronunciation
• Enunciation
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Common Errors

UNIT II

READING
• Techniques of effective reading
• Gathering ideas and information from a given text
• I. Identify the main claim of the text
• II. Identify the purpose of the text
• III. Identify the context of the text
• IV. Identify the concepts mentioned
• Evaluating these ideas and information
• I. Identify the arguments employed in the text
• II. Identify the theories employed or assumed in the text
• Interpret the text
• I. To understand what a text says
• II. To understand what a text does
• III. To understand what a text means

UNIT III

Writing and different modes of writing

• Clearly state the claims
• Avoid ambiguity, vagueness, unwanted generalizations and oversimplification of
issues
• Provide background information
• Effectively argue the claim
• Provide evidence for the claim
• Use examples to explain concepts
• Follow convention
• Be properly sequenced
• Use proper signposting technique
Be well structured
• I. Well-knit logical sequence
• II. Narrative sequence
• III. Category groupings
• Different modes of writing

I E-mails
II Proposal writing for higher studies
III Recording the proceedings of meeting
IV Any other mode of writing relevant for learners

UNIT IV
Digital Literacy
• Role of digital literacy in professional life
• Trends and opportunities in using digital technology in workplace
• Internet basics
• Introduction to MS Office tools
• Paint
• Office
• Excel
• PowerPoint

Effective use of social media

• Introduction to social media websites
• Advantages of social media
• Ethics and etiquettes of social media
• How to use Google search better
• Effective ways of using social media
• Introduction to Digital marketing

UNIT V
Non-verbal communication
• Meaning of non-verbal communication
• Introduction to modes of non-verbal communication
• Breaking the misbeliefs
• Open and closed body language
• Eye contact and facial expression
• Hand gestures
• Do’s and don’t
• Learning from experts
• Activities based learning
 UNIT – I

LISTENING
Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and
sentences. When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds (letters, stress,
rhythm, pauses) and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to
us.
▪ Techniques of Effective Listening:
1. Try to be still as you are listening.
2. Try to ignore distractions.
3. Make eye contact with the speaker.
4. Try to pinpoint the point of view of the speaker.
5. Try not to daydream. Refocus when you catch yourself thinking about something else.
6. Try not to think about what you are going to say next when another person is talking.
Concentrate on the speaker.
7. Observe body language (including your own).
8. Learn how to paraphrase what you have heard.
9. Learn how to ask for clarification if you don’t understand. Don’t pretend to
understand.
10. Avoid interrupting (unless you are practising how to interrupt politely). Take notes if
it is not distracting to the speaker

• Listening and Comprehension:

Hearing is simply the physical act of sound waves entering our ears and being transported to
our brain. This is a passive process that requires no effort. No meaning is attached. If your
ears work and you are in a place where sound is being transmitted, you will hear it. Listening
is an active skill. It requires effort, and you can choose not to do it. Listeners take sounds and
attach meanings to them. If they comprehend what a speaker has said, they can interpret and
respond to the message. This is called active listening.
1. Question response: You hear one statement or question and you have to choose the
next line from a second speaker or respond with your own voice.
2. Main idea: Describe the gist or main idea behind a lecture, conversation, speech, etc.
3. Detail: Answer who, what, where, when, how, why questions about what you heard.
4. Inference: Draw your own conclusions about what you heard.
5. About the speakers: Respond to questions about the speaker based on what he or she
talks about.
6. Pictures: Listen to statements about a photograph. Determine which one best
describes the image.
7. Oral response: Listen to a recording and respond to a related question with your voice.
8. Written response: Listen to a recording and write a short or long written response
based on a related question.

• Probing questions:
Sometimes listening questions are combined with speaking activities. You listen to a speaker
and you respond with your voice. Sometimes they are combined with writing activities. You
respond to what you’ve heard by answering questions in written form or by writing an essay.
You may encounter some pre-listening questions, but most questions will come after you hear
a conversation, speech or other recording
Pre-listening
1. What do you already know about this subject?
2. What would you like to know?
3. What is a …(insert vocabulary)?
4. What does …(insert vocabulary) mean?
Post-listening
1. What is the gist of this talk/lecture/reading?
2. What are the speakers mainly discussing?
3. What is the main problem?
4. Why does the speaker mention…?
5. According to the speaker, what is …?
6. What does the speaker say about …?
7. What does (word or expression) mean?
8. What does the speaker mean by…?
9. How does the speaker feel about…?
10. What does the speaker mean when she says, “…..”?
11. What can be inferred about…?
12. What does the speaker conclude?
13. Who is the target audience?
14. Why does the speaker say…?
15. What do you think will happen next?
16. How is the lecture organized?
17. Place the following in chronological order.
18. Which of the following is NOT mentioned?
19. Which is NOT true?

• Barriers to Listening:
Recognize why you don’t understand what you hear. First figure out which barriers are
affecting your listening. Next, reduce or eliminate the barriers that you have control over.
Your listening barriers may include some of the following:
1. The speaker spoke too quickly.
2. The speaker used informal language and idioms.
3. The vocabulary level is too high.
4. You assumed incorrectly that you knew what they were going to say.
5. The speaker has an unfamiliar accent.
6. The recording is not clear.
7. The recording is not loud enough.
8. You are not interested in the topic.
9. You don’t have any background knowledge.
10. You had a strong emotional reaction to a word or point that you heard.
11. You did not give the speaker (or recording) your undivided attention.
12. Something is distracting you.
13. You are tired.
14. You are hungry.
15. You are nervous.

Exercise:
1. Watch Clips from Movies and TV Shows
Pick short clips of movies that fit with the lesson you are teaching that day. Show a list of
names of the main characters that are in the clip you’re going to watch. Have all of the
students pick one character to pay a special amount of attention to. At the end of the movie or
video clip, have students fill out a questionnaire or do a miniature report on their chosen
character.

2. Create a listening activity using TED Talks or YouTube videos and encourage a
discussion in class through debates and open ended discussions.

Speaking:
Speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth. To speak, we create sounds using
many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips.
This vocalized form of language usually requires at least one listener. When two or more
people speak or talk to each other, the conversation is called a "dialogue". Speech can flow
naturally from one person to another in the form of dialogue. It can also be planned and
rehearsed, as in the delivery of a speech or presentation. Of course, some people talk to
themselves! In fact, some English learners practise speaking standing alone in front of a
mirror.
Speaking can be formal or informal:
1. Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people you know well.
2. Formal speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people
for the first time.

• Pronunciation:
“What?”
“Can you say that again?”
How many times do you hear this when you’re speaking? Even if your vocabulary and
English grammar are perfect, it can still be difficult for people to understand you because of
your pronunciation. Learning to pronounce English words correctly can be one of the hardest
parts of learning the language.
The English language has some sounds that your native language might not, so you will have
to learn how to make completely new sounds. Plus, English vowels make it really tricky to
know how to say a word. “Way,” “weigh” and “whey” are all said the same, for example,
while “comb,” “bomb” and “tomb” are all pronounced differently.
Tips to improve your English Pronunciation
1. Learn to listen.
2. Notice how your mouth and lips move.
3. Pay attention to your tongue.
4. Break words down into sounds.
5. Add stress to sounds and words.
6. Ask yourself which dialect of English you want to learn
7. Exaggerate certain sounds (make them bigger)
8. Write out difficult words by their sounds.
9. Practice with tongue twisters.
10. Use pronunciation podcasts and videos.

• Enunciation:
Enunciation is the distinctness with which words are uttered. If words are clearly formed,
they are easily recognized; if they are muffled and indistinct, they create a confusion of
sounds. Poor clarity makes it almost impossible to understand a speaker and denotes mental
slovenliness which decreases the speaker's prestige. Distinct enunciation helps the audience
to understand the speaker better and tends to approve his statements when they are clearly
enunciated. To pronounce words, esp. clearly and distinctly; articulate. Enunciate is defined
as to clearly pronounce or speak. An example of to enunciate is for an English language
learner to clearly say each part of a word.

• Vocabulary:
Vocabulary, also known as a word-stock, is a set of familiar words within a person's
language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool
for communication and acquiring knowledge.
The noun vocabulary refers to the words used in a language.
The word vocabulary can have at least three different meanings:
1. All of the words in a language
• New words are constantly being added to the vocabulary of English.
2. The words used in a particular context
• If you want to do an MBA you need to improve your business vocabulary.
• My neighbour is a doctor so he has an extensive medical vocabulary.
• I've just bought a book on the vocabulary of slang.
3. The words an individual person knows
• The teacher says that my vocabulary is good.
In our own individual vocabulary, there is a difference between:
Words that we understand and use (our active vocabulary)
Words that we understand but do not or cannot use (our passive vocabulary)
This is true for native speakers as well as for learners. In your own language, there are many
words that you use regularly when speaking or writing. These words are part of your active
vocabulary. And then there are many words that you understand when you hear them, on
television for example, but do not use in everyday speech. These words are part of your
passive vocabulary.
• Fluency:
Fluency is the ability to read "like you speak." Hudson, Lane, and Pullen define fluency this
way: "Reading fluency is made up of at least three key elements: accurate reading of
connected text at a conversational rate with appropriate prosody or expression." Non-fluent
readers suffer in at least one of these aspects of reading: they make many mistakes, they read
slowly, or they don't read with appropriate expression and phrasing.
If your goal is to speak English fluently, you will have to put in the effort required of any
expert. Just as professional hockey players must practise their skills in the off season,
language learners must practise outside the classroom. Here are a few tips that will help you
develop your fluency over time.
1. Make English friends (or find a romantic partner who speaks English)
2. Practise shadowing (listening to a native speaker recording and simultaneously
repeating, while paying attention to rhythm and tone of the speaker)
3. Listen to a bit of English every day (podcasts, radio, music)
4. Work or volunteer in an environment with English customers/staff
5. Watch an English video clip every day (films, sitcoms, cartoons, TED Talks,
instructional videos)
6. Read magazines, comics or film scripts
7. Write English letters or communicate in chat rooms
8. Study 1-1 with a teacher or tutor
9. Practise speaking with other English learners using video chat
10. Keep a vocabulary notebook (record new words and phrases)
11. Learn informal English (slang and idioms)
12. Learn collocations and phrasal verbs
13. Jump back into learning English after you have fallen out of the habit, continue where
you left off
14. Make use of every opportunity to use English, and never be ashamed of your level
15. Find a mentor who has time to chat with you once in a while (an advanced learner,
teacher or native speaker)
Exercise:
Am I fluent in English?
For most language learners, fluency occurs after many years of exposure to the language.
Becoming fluent in English does not mean that you never make mistakes or errors when you
use it. You may already be fluent in English without realizing it. In general, English learners
have a strong tendency to underestimate their speaking skills. Test your oral fluency by
answering YES or NO to the following:
1. You can engage in small talk with native English speakers (weather, sports, current
events).
2. You can respond to basic questions without asking English speakers to repeat
themselves.
3. You can speak clearly enough that native English speakers don’t often misunderstand
you or ask you to repeat yourself.
4. You can describe things easily in English without looking up words, even if you
forget a word once in a while (this happens to native speakers too).
5. You can easily have conversations in English over the telephone.
6. You can follow AND give basic instructions and directions easily in English (ordering
pizza, giving street directions etc).
7. You can understand and sometimes use sarcasm, jokes and idioms in English (you
don’t take everything literally).
8. You can express your personal opinions, emotions and concerns in English (about
politics, religion, relationships etc.).
9. You can understand an English television program or movie and paraphrase what you
saw in English.
10. You can understand English conversations that you overhear without relying on facial
expressions or gestures.

• Common errors:
English is a global language, thus knowing how to speak English correctly can help you in
various aspects of your life. Since we’re not the native speakers, there are some common
mistakes that we make whenever conversing in English.
Examples:
1. Incorrect: Myself I am Suresh babu.
Correct: I am Suresh babu.
While introducing oneself, it is usually observed that the users mix up both the possessive
pronoun 'myself' and the subject pronoun 'I'.
2. Incorrect: I am having four brothers and three sisters.
Correct: I have four brothers and three sisters.
Present continuous tense cannot be used for pragmatic situations such as this. Simple present
tense should be used.
3. Incorrect: He do not have a laptop.
Correct: He does not have a laptop.
Do not should not be used after the subject pronoun (He, She, It).
4. Incorrect: Does she has a car?
Correct: Does she have a car?
The helping verb does is used at the beginning and the main verb have denotes possession or
ownership.

UNIT – II
Reading:
"Reading" is the process of looking at a series of written symbols and getting meaning from
them. When we read, we use our eyes to receive written symbols (letters, punctuation marks
and spaces) and we use our brain to convert them into words, sentences and paragraphs that
communicate something to us.
Reading can be silent (in our head) or aloud (so that other people can hear).
Reading is a receptive skill - through it we receive information. But the complex process of
reading also requires the skill of speaking, so that we can pronounce the words that we read.
In this sense, reading is also a productive skill in that we are both receiving information and
transmitting it (even if only to ourselves).
• Techniques of Effective Reading:
1. Skim - read for the brief idea or overview.
2. Scan- read for specific details or a specific reason.
3. Determine what you know about the topic, what you want to know, and what you
learned.
4. Skip - if you don't understand a word or section, keep reading ahead. Come back to
the section or word again and try to figure out the meaning. Use a dictionary if necessary.
5. Look for headings, subtitles and keywords.
6. Read out loud - children read out loud when they first start reading. You can too. Get
comfortable hearing your English voice.
7. Create timelines or charts reorganize what you read in a different format.
8. Rewrite in a different tense.
9. Rewrite in a different format - for example, rewrite an article in letter or list form.
10. Illustrate - if you think you're a visual learner, sketch images or an info graphic
related to what you read.
11. Write the questions - as you read, think about which questions you might find on a
test or quiz. Write them down and answer them, or quiz a friend.
12. Summarize or retell - you can do this by writing a letter to a friend, writing a blog
post, making a web cam video, or just starting a conversation on this topic.
13. Learn affixes - knowing prefixes and suffixes will increase your word recognition.
14. Keep a vocabulary journal.
15. Get a vocabulary partner.
16. Use a pen or ruler - some people find it is easier to read with a pacer. A pen, ruler or
fingertip can help you keep your place and prevent your eyes from wandering off. This may
not be suitable if you are reading on a computer or mobile device. Adjust the screen to a
larger size if necessary.
• Gathering ideas and information from a given text:

It is important to read texts that are at the right level for you - not too easy, not too difficult.
You need to know what your personal reading level is. (Note that your reading level may not
be the same as your overall level in English. For example, your reading level is normally
higher than your writing level, and higher than your overall level.) Ask your teacher to help
you determine your reading level. If you don’t have a teacher, try reading a few texts from
different levels. If you have to look up a lot of words in a dictionary, the text is too difficult
for you. If you don't have to look up any words, the text is too easy for you. Try something at
a lower or higher level. A teacher, librarian or bookstore clerk can help you find something
easier or more difficult.
A. Identify the main claim of the text:
Attention is the key to pulling the main idea from a text, whatever the genre. Students need to
identify the most relevant information from the work and use it to develop a statement that
expresses what they perceive the main idea to be. We can refer to this as The Statement of the
Main claim. This statement should be a lean sentence or two. The process of composing this
statement starts with asking questions about the text. Not all questions will apply to every
text, but they will provide a good starting point for extracting the main idea from any piece of
writing.

1. Who - Can the student identify the person or people the text is about?
2. What - Can the student identify the topic or underlying theme of the text?
3. When - Can the student identify a reference to a specific time or period?
4. Where - Can the student identify a specific place or a setting?
5. Why - Can the student identify a reason or explanation for what happens in the text?
6. How - Can the student identify a method or theory in the text?
These questions, and variations of these questions, can help students draw out what the text is
about. The two most important questions of those above are who and what. These will be
sufficient to elicit the information required to identify the main claim in most circumstances.
But, the true litmus test of whether the student has been able to absorb the text’s main idea is
whether or not they are able to summarize what they have read in their own words.
B. Identify the purpose of the text:
Before actually beginning to read, it is important to know the purpose of reading, that is, why
the reading is being done. Knowing the purpose greatly enhances the effectiveness of the
reading. Also, knowledge of the purpose can help one adopt a style of reading best suited for
the purpose.
Some of the purposes why people read are:
1. Pleasure and enjoyment.
2. Practical application.
3. To obtain an overview.
4. To locate specific information.
5. To identify the central idea or theme.
6. To develop a detailed and critical understanding.

C. Identify the context of the text:

1. Word Parts
 Break down the different parts of a word—base word (word stem or root word), prefixes,
and suffixes—to figure out what it means. Some words have a prefix only (reread), a suffix
only (reading), both a prefix and a suffix (pre reading), a combination (unreadable), or neither
(read).
Example:
Discrimination
Dis: not, opposite of, reverse, deprive of; apart, away
crimin: verdict, judicial decision; judgment
tion: indicates the word is a noun
2. Definition/explanation

Look for a definition or an explanation within the sentence.

Example:
• Discrimination or unfairly targeting one or more groups by those who perceive themselves
to be superior can cause distress.
• Vulnerable people are oftentimes in need of protection under certain laws so others cannot
take advantage of them.
3. Synonym
Words next to the unknown word can be a clue that there is a synonym.
Example:
• Discrimination or bias can cause distress toward the targeted group.
• When people know they are vulnerable or defenceless, they tend to protect themselves to
avoid harm.
4. Antonym/contrast
Opposite information about the unknown word can be offset by words and phrases such as
unlike, as opposed to, different from.
Example:
• Discrimination, as opposed to fairness for all people, can have damaging effects on a
targeted group.
• Vulnerable people, unlike those who can stand up for themselves, tend to be the target of
unethical or dangerous individuals.
D. Identify the concepts mentioned:
Identifying the concepts or main ideas in a chapter of academic text can be challenging in a
second language. Here are little useful information about main ideas and concepts, and two
strategies. Identify these from the paragraph: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How and
list them. Then write a sentence or two using these terms. That can get you the main idea.
Read the paragraph, then think of a question you could ask that would be answered by that
paragraph. The question will be the main concept.
• Evaluating these ideas and information:
A. Identify the arguments employed in the text
An argument, in the context of your university career, is a formal way to make a point in
academic writing. This remains distinct from the "real world" definition where an argument
might mean a fight or a conflict. An argument consists of two parts. 1. Firstly, a claim or
statement that summarizes the main idea 2. secondly, reasons why that claim is true, and/or
evidence to support that claim. Let's look at an example. Reflective writing can help students
become better thinkers. It can help students see that ideas are meant to be discussed and
debated. Bridges and Jost found that students who did weekly reflective journal writing about
their course content for a semester could analyze course concepts at a deeper level than those
who didn’t In this case, the sentence "Reflective writing can help students become better
thinkers" is the claim. The claim is expanded upon in the next sentence, "It can help students
see that ideas are meant to be discussed and debated." Finally, evidence is presented, often in
the form of a citation. Here, we read that "Bridges and Jost found that students who did
weekly reflective journal writing about their course content for a semester could analyze
course concepts at a deeper level than those who didn't." This evidence supports the
originally presented claim and its expansion. This diagram displays a recommended argument
structure which should be utilized in a university level essay. 1. A main argument, or thesis,
is presented first. 2. Then, different sections are formed with the purpose of supporting the
main argument. 3. Within those sections, we find paragraphs which hold the purpose of
supporting the sections that support the thesis.
B. Identify the theories employed or assumed in the text:
The function of background knowledge in the reading process is formalized in schema
theory. According to schema theory, the reader brings previously acquired background
knowledge organized into interrelated patterns, or schemata, to the reading process. Then the
reader creates meaning by relating the text to this background knowledge, including
knowledge of customs and beliefs from his or her own experiences.
There are three types of schemata that have an impact on reading comprehension:
1. Formal schemata: prior knowledge of rhetorical structures and conventions (e.g.
different types of expository organizational patterns: cause and effect, comparison and
contrast, problem and solution, and chronological order, etc.)
2. Content schemata: background knowledge of the subject of the text, which is often
culture-bound.
3. Linguistic schemata: decoding knowledge used to recognize words and determine
their syntax in a sentence; that is, prior knowledge of a particular vocabulary and grammar
rules.
• Interpret the text:

A. To understand what a text says

Start by selecting excerpts from different texts with which you are unfamiliar—text books,
essays, novels, news reports, or any kind of text you feel you particularly struggle to
understand—and read them as you would normally. As you read, see if you can notice when
your attention, energy, or comprehension of the material begins to flag. If you find that your
concentration or comprehension starts to lag again, take a step back on your timing before
pushing yourself for more. Improvement comes with time, and it'll only cause frustration if
you try to rush it all at once.
Alternatively, you may find that your issues with reading comprehension have less to do with
the time spent reading than with the source material itself. Perhaps you struggle to
comprehend the essential elements of a text, the context of a piece, character arcs or
motivation, books or textbooks with densely packed information, or material that is heavily
symbolic. If this is the case, then be sure to follow the tips below to improve these areas of
reading comprehension weakness.
B. To understand what a text does
Truly understanding the Main Idea, Point, Argument, or Theme of a book can greatly
increase your enjoyment of it. By knowing why everything was included, the importance of
each line of dialogue and event becomes clear and impacts you more. Likewise,
comprehending what the author is showing you can improve your life by helping you to
consider complexities of life that you may never have before. Or, if you’re assigned the book
for school or work, it can help you earn a good grade or complete your project perfectly.
C. To understand what a text means
The habit of reading closely begins with inspection of the text in order to develop a solid
foundation in what it says—the literal meaning. It continues with investigation, as the reader
analyzes the parts of the text to gain a sense of how the text works. But deep reading doesn’t
stop there. Skilled readers are able to consolidate. They see how the parts relate to the whole,
and vice versa.

UNIT III
Effective writing requires writer’s adequate knowledge of language concern and techniques
of writing messages. Writers’ knowledge of language and techniques of writings enable them
to write skillfully and logically.
Some techniques or guidelines for improving writing skills are discussed below:
1. ADAPTING LANGUAGE TO THE SPECIFIC READERS:
Adaptation means fitting the message to the specific reader. While writing, the writer must
keep in mind that all the readers do not have the same level of understanding. They do not all
have the same vocabulary, the same knowledge, or the same mentality. Thus to communicate
clearly the writer should know the person with whom he wishes to communicate.
The writer should form the message to fit that person’s mind by using words that the reader
understands. Adapting requires visualizing the reader, that means imagining what the reader
knows, feels, thinks and such.
2. USING FAMILIAR WORDS
Using familiar words means using the words that most of us use in everyday conversation.
These words convey sharp and clear meanings in the mind. Complex and difficult words and
the words that do not communicate precisely or quickly should be avoided.
For example, instead of using the more unfamiliar word ‘endeavour’, use ‘try’. Instead of
using ‘terminate,’ use ‘end.’ In the same way, we should prefer the word ‘use’ to ‘utilize,’
‘do’ to ‘perform,’ ‘begin’ to ‘initiate,’ ‘find out’ to ‘ascertain,’ ‘stop’ to ‘discontinue’ and
‘show’ to ‘demonstrate.’ However, using difficult words are not always bad. They can be
used when they fit the writer’s need and are understood.
3. Choosing Short Words
Short words generally communicate better than long words. Use of wordy sentences even
these are understood give an impression of difficulty that hinders communication.
But it is not always true that all short words are easy and all long words are hard.
The suggestion is that in most situations the writer should concentrate on short words and use
long words with caution.
It is suggested further that long words can be used when the writer think the readers know
them.
4. Avoiding Overuse of Camouflaged Verbs
The writer should avoid using the camouflaged verb in writing. An action verb is changed to
a camouflaged verb by changing it to a noun and then adding action verb.
Since camouflaged verbs are abstract nouns and they frequently require a passive form of
sentence, they should be avoided for ensuring concreteness and active form of sentence in
writing.
For example:
If we want to change the action verb ‘consider’ to a camouflaged verb we have to change the
verb ‘consider’ to noun ‘consideration,’ then add verb ‘give, ’ and at last we get camouflaged
verb ‘give consideration to.’
5. Selecting Words for Precise Meanings
Certainly, writing requires knowledge of the language. In fact, the greater our knowledge of
the language, the greater we are likely to write.
Knowledge of language enables the writer to use words that carry the meaning that the writer
wants to communicate.
Unfortunately, many of us treat language routinely. We use words without thinking about the
meaning they convey. The result is vague writing.
Good writers require studying words carefully. They should learn their precise meanings,
especially the shades of differences in the meanings of similar words.
For example:
‘Fewer’ and ‘less’ mean the same meaning to some people.
But careful writer selects ‘fewer’ to mean “a smaller number of items” and ‘less’ to mean
“reduced value, degree or quantity”.
6. Avoiding Gender Discriminating Words
Our language developed in a male-dominated society. For reasons of fair play, the writer
should avoid using gender discriminating or sexist words.
There are some ways for avoiding such sexist words.
First, masculine pronouns such as he, his and him can be eliminated by rewording the
sentence. For example;the sexist sentence – ‘the typical college student eats his lunch at the
student corner’ can be changed to the nonsexist sentence as like – ‘the typical college student
eats lunch at the student corner.’
Secondly, the use of masculine pronouns can be eliminated by making the reference
plural. The plural pronouns such as their, them and they refer to both sexes.
Thirdly, masculine pronouns he, his or him can be substituted by a neutral expression
such as ‘he or her,’ he/she, you, one and person.
7. Using Technical Words and Acronyms with Caution
Every field of knowledge has its own technical language. This language can be so complex
that in some ease specialized dictionaries are compiled.
Individuals of a particular field need to learn its technical words and acronyms and later, use
these terms freely in communicating with I other people belonging to that respective field.
But problems may arise when people of a particular field communicate with people outside
their field by using their own technical terms.
Though these words are everyday words to them, these may be unfamiliar to the people
outside that field.
So, the writers should use their respective technical terms and acronyms with caution and
replace their technical words with plain words.
8. Select Words with the Right Strength and Vigor
Some words are strong and vigor. Some are weak and dull and some fall between these
extremes. Good writers know these differences and they consider them carefully.
So the writer should use the words that carry the best-intended meanings.
For example;
The word ‘tycoon’ is stronger than ‘eminently successful businessperson’, ‘bear market’ is
stronger than ‘generally decline market,’ ‘boom’ is stronger than ‘a period of business
prosperity’ and like.
9. Using Concrete Language
Concrete words are those that form sharp and clear meaning in the mind.
The writer should prefer these concrete words in their writings. Concrete is opposite to
abstract. Abstract words are vague.
Concrete words stand for things that the reader can see, feel, taste, or smell.
For example, write ‘a 48 percent loss’ instead of ‘a significant loss,’ ‘100 percent attendance
record’ instead of ‘good attendance record.’
10. Using Active Voice
The writer should prefer the active voice in making a sentence to the passive voice.
Active voice produces stronger and livelier writing. It emphasizes the action and it usually
saves words. For example, write ‘He plays football’ instead of writing ‘Football is played by
him.’
11. Avoiding Words that Stereotype by Race or Nationality
Words that label all members of a group by race or nationality are unfair. Members of any
minority may vary widely in all characteristics.
Thus it is unfair to imply that Jews are miserly, that Italians are Mafia members, that I
Hispanics are lazy, that African Americans can do only menial jobs and so on.
12. Avoiding Words that Stereotype by Age or Disabilities
Words that label people as old or young can produce negative reactions.
Similarly, disabled people are sensitive to words that describe their disabilities.
Therefore, it is suggested not to use words that discriminate against age or disabilities.
13. Emphasizing on Short Sentences
Writing simpler sentences largely depends on writing shorter sentences.
Research reveals that the more the words and relationships in a sentence, the greater is the
possibility for misunderstanding. The reader can not hold too much information at a time.
They generally prefer short and readable sentence so that they can easily read the message
and hold the information from it.
Thus it is recommended to write short and clear sentences by limiting sentence contents and
economizing on words.
14. Maintaining Sentence Unity
Sentence unity means all parts of a sentence should concern one thought.
In other words, all the things put in a sentence should have a good reason for being together.
Therefore, the writer must ensure that all the information in a sentence belongs together.
Sentence unity can be maintained by:
(1) Eliminating excessive details,
(2) Combining only related thoughts and
(3) Avoiding illogical constructions.
15. Taking Care in Paragraph Design
Paragraphing is also important to clear writing.
Paragraphs show the reader where topics begin and end.
They also help in organizing information in the reader’s mind. There are some suggestions
for designing a paragraph.
• First, each separate topic should be discussed in a separate paragraph.
• Secondly, the length of the paragraph should be as short as possible. Short
paragraphs’ attract the readers and communicate better.
• Thirdly, unnecessary details should be avoided in writing paragraphs.
• Fourthly, each paragraph should move to an additional step toward the goal.
A writing technique is a style an author uses to convey their message in a manner that is
effective and meaningful to their audience. Understanding the different types of writing
techniques is important to professionals because you will need to change your style of writing
to make a connection with your audience. For example, the writing method most effective for
selling products to consumers is different from what’s most effective at providing employee
feedback and coaching.
A writer’s style is a reflection of his or her personality, unique voice, and way of approaching
the audience and readers. However, every piece writers write is for a specific purpose—for
example, writers may want to explain how something works or persuade people to agree with
their point of view. While there are as many writers’ styles as there are writers, there are only
four general purposes that lead someone to write a piece, and these are known as the four
styles, or types, of writing. Knowing all four different types and their usages is important for
any writer.

TYPES OF WRITING TECHNIQUES

There are four different types of writing techniques:
1. Descriptive writing style
2. Narrative writing style
3. Persuasive writing style
4. Expository writing style
1. Descriptive writing style
Descriptive writing immerses the reader into a story by creating a vivid picture of characters,
settings and events in their mind. Writers who use a descriptive writing style often use
literary tools like similes and metaphors in their writing. The purpose of the descriptive
writing style is to make the reader feel like they are experiencing the events for themselves.
Most descriptive writing isn’t very long. Examples include poems, personal journals and
lyrics.
You can use descriptive writing in the workplace when you want to bring a story to life, such
as a brief biography or autobiography written to introduce a new employee to the company.
2. Narrative writing style
Narrative writing expands upon the descriptive writing style and tells an entire story with a
beginning, middle and end. Narrative writing style follows a clear storyline and plot, such as
a fictional novel, screenplay or memoir. Writers who use a narrative writing style often use
literary tools like foreshadowing and flashbacks in their writing.
Narrative writing could be used in the workplace for a salesperson using a personal anecdote
to prepare the reader for their sales pitch.
3. Persuasive writing style
Persuasive writing is used to convince or influence the reader to believe or do what the writer
wants them to do. The persuasive writing style requires the writer to combine research and
logical reasoning with an emotional connection that persuades the reader to adopt the writer’s
personal opinions and beliefs.
Examples of persuasive writing in the workplace include cover letters, letters of
recommendation, company brochures, business proposals and advertisements intended to
convince consumers to buy your product.
4. Expository writing style
Expository writing is used to inform, explain or describe something to the reader. The
expository writing style is one of the most common types of writing and answers questions
the reader has, such as what, why and how. When using an expository writing style, the
writer needs to separate their opinion from the facts they are sharing.
Examples of expository writing in the workplace include employee newsletters, how-to
guides and educational articles that are intended to provide information, insights and facts
about a specific subject.
Tips for using writing techniques in business writing
Here are a few additional tips for using these writing techniques to improve your business
writing:
• Determine what your message is. Knowing the message you are trying to convey to
the reader and the purpose of your writing will help you choose the writing technique that
will be most effective for your piece.

• Know your audience. You will also need to consider who your audience is and which
writing technique they will respond the most effectively to.

• Try combining writing styles. Many pieces of writing combine two or more writing
techniques to convey a message effectively. For example, salespeople often use a
combination of narrative storytelling and persuasive arguments to pitch and sell their
products.

• Use appropriate literary devices. Literary devices—like similes, metaphors,

alliteration, personification, foreshadowing and flashbacks—are powerful tools writers can
use to improve their writing. Expand your knowledge about different types of literary devices
and know which ones work best with each writing technique.
HOW TO WRITE A PROPER EMAIL:
Anatomy of a good email
Every email you write has the same basic structure: Subject line, greeting, email body, and
closing. But as with every written form of professional communication, there’s a right way to
do it and standards that should be followed. Here’s how to write a proper email:
1 Subject line
The subject line could be the most important part of the email, though it’s often overlooked in
favor of the email body. But if you’re cold-emailing someone, or just establishing a
professional relationship, your subject line can entice people to open the message as well as
set expectations about what’s enclosed. On the other hand, a poorly crafted or generic subject
line (like “Hi” or “You don’t wAnt to miss thos”) can deter the reader and result in your
email landing in the spam folder.
“Spend double the amount of time crafting the right subject line as you do on the [body]
because if they don’t open the email, it doesn’t matter,” says Cole Schafer, founder and copy
chief of Honey Copy.
2 Openers
In most email writing situations, you’ll want to include a quick greeting to acknowledge the
reader before diving into your main message or request.
The exception: When you’re on an email chain with close colleagues, it often becomes more
natural to drop the opener (as well as the closing). Though it may initially feel like a faux pas,
it signals a better professional rapport.
3 Body
The body of an email is the meat of your message, and it must have a clear and specific
purpose, such as getting feedback on a presentation or arranging a meeting with a new client.
It should also be concise. That way, people will be more inclined to read it, rather than
skimming it and risking missing critical information. If you can, boil it down to a few choice
sentences.
And for emails that require more length and detail, keep it as focused as you can. “Nobody
wants to receive a novel. You want to keep it between three, four, or five lines of text,” says
Schafer.
4 Closings
Just as you want to start things off on the right foot with your greeting, you also want to part
well. That means writing a friendly sign-off. And there are plenty of options to choose from.
For example, here are 12 common, and professional, closings that Grammarly users chose on
a given day:

You’ll want to choose a closing that feels genuine to your personality and tailor it to the
relationship to ensure an appropriate level of professionalism. On the other hand, common
closings like “love,” “sent from iphone,” or “thx,” may be best left unused in professional
emails.
Common email writing mistakes (and what to do instead)
Just as every email is an opportunity for professional growth, there’s also the potential to fall
into common email writing bad habits. Here are eight mistakes to avoid:
1 Omitting necessary Oxford commas
The Oxford comma can be somewhat polarizing when thinking about how to write a proper
email, depending on which style guide is utilized for professional communications in your
industry —it’s usually either shunned or hailed as a tool for clarification. Either way, a lot of
people have strong opinions about it. But leaving them out can lead to confusion, depending
on the sentence.
What to do instead: While the Oxford comma may not be suitable in certain contexts, it’s
usually a good idea to use them in emails. That’s because it can help you save time and avoid
miscommunication, confusion, and even legal trouble.
2 Hedging
Grammarly users know that when it comes to hedging, it’s better to omit it than leave it in,
especially in emails. And if you’re worried about coming off as impolite, don’t be: Contrary
to popular belief, hedging language makes you sound less confident, which can ultimately
undermine your writing.
What to do instead: State your idea or opinion, then explain the “why” behind your
reasoning. That way, you’ll be better understood and your brilliance can shine through.
3 Extremely long and/or unclear copy
Would you read an email that was 1,000 words long? Probably not—most people skim
emails that are on the long side. And if you add hard-to-follow sentences or mixed messages,
to your draft, you’re even less likely to get a satisfactory response. (Or any response.)
“I get a ton of [emails] that are just these huge blocks of text. And I understand why they do
that—so you have enough detail. But it’s really hard to read and I’m not going to read the
whole thing,” says Kat Boogaard, a Wisconsin-based freelance writer.
What to do instead: Keep it concise and focus on the matter at hand. Then end with a call to
action, a requested response date, and make it clear that you’re open to questions and follow-
ups (if that’s the case).
4 Being too casual (or formal)
Depending on your circumstances, wavering too much to the casual or formal side of writing
can be a misstep. Being overly casual is often seen as a rookie mistake, but stiff, formal
language can also be detrimental to your message.
What to do instead: In striking the perfect balance between formal and casual, the key is
thinking about the relationship between yourself and the recipient and take social cues as
your communication progresses.
“You kind of want to see what someone else is doing and participate, play along, sort of
acknowledge the way communication develops and the way expectations in a relationship
develop,” says Dan Post Senning, an etiquette expert at the Emily Post Institute.
5 Cliches
Not all email cliches are cardinal sins. Certain aspects of your emails are bound to be a little
formulaic. After all, most emails have the same basic structure, and there are phrases that you
may use to ensure clarity or cover your bases. But if you’re going to repeat phrases, make
sure they have a clear purpose.
As Kiera Wright-Ruiz, a social media manager at Google’s Local Guides puts it, “Even
though I always repeat, ‘please let me know if you have any questions,’ I actually do want to
know if they have questions.”
However, most of the time, you’ll want to edit out cliches whenever possible since they can
make people tune out. Here are the top seven to avoid:
Method: We searched for terms used by Grammarly users based on our most popular blog
articles.
What to do instead: Try reading the draft for cliches, tone, and voice to more effectively
communicate your message while keeping the reader engaged. Ask yourself: If your boss (or
mom) read this email, would you be happy with it? If the answer is yes, then you’re on the
right track.
6 Repetition
People often repeat words within the same paragraph, twice in two sentences, or just too
close together to go unnoticed. While it’s not the worst offense, it’s another thing that can
make a reader tune out.
What to do instead: Try reading your draft out loud, using the text-to-speech function on your
phone, or running it by a colleague before sending it off. Grammarly can also help you catch
these repeated or overused words.
7 Robotic language
Email may be a descendant of snail mail, but that doesn’t mean your messages should sound
like an old-timey version of yourself. In fact, emails should sound like the person who is
writing it. So using phrases that sound like something out of a Victorian novel isn’t the best
move if you want to connect with the reader.
“Let’s face it: Nobody wants to read a college textbook. You want to read a blog or an article
or a real conversation. They’re a person, they’re not a robot. So use language that sounds like
something you would say if you’re just sitting in a coffee shop,” says copy chief Schafer.
What to do instead: You can get a more natural effect by pretending you’re writing to a friend
or having a conversation with a friendly acquaintance. For example, you probably wouldn’t
say something like, “Greetings” and “I hope the weather is fair where you are” if you were
meeting someone for coffee. You’d say something like, “Hi” and “Thanks again for your
time.”
8 Overuse of exclamation points!
Enthusiasm is great. But in certain contexts, the overuse of exclamation points can do more
harm than good. This is especially true if you’re forging a new relationship or contacting
someone outside of your company. You are, after all, a representative of your work when you
use a company email address. But people love exclamation points, and they’re still something
that many people rely on to convey a positive tone.
What to do instead: After you’ve written your draft, do a quick search for exclamation points
and use your judgment to determine which (if any) to keep based on your relationship with
the recipient. As a general rule, try to keep it to one or two per email with colleagues.
Next-level email writing moves
Once you’ve got the proper email format and you know what mistakes to avoid, it’s time to
focus on making your drafts stand out from the myriad emails most people get every day.
Here are four strategies to take yours to the next level:
Think positive
Sending an email that is remotely negative, or even neutral, can put you in a tricky place. And
as with any written communication, there may be room for misinterpretation.
“In the absence of other information, our interpretation often defaults to the negative,”
explains communication-etiquette expert Post Senning. “When you’re talking about negative
communication, you’re [missing] the information that is tone of voice, the twinkle in your
eye, the good humor that you intend something with or even the genuine care or concern with
which you’re offering critique. So be really careful. When something reads as negative to
you, it probably comes across as even more negative to someone else.”
Strike the right tone
You wouldn’t want to get an email that reads, “Dear [client],” or which references your work
in public relations when you’re actually in sales, because it would immediately show that the
sender is either mass emailing you, or they didn’t do the proper research and find the right
contact. Similarly, you’ll want to make sure that every email you send has a tone that’s
crafted specifically for the recipient, and that you’re sending it to the right person.
So even though it may be tempting to use templates, it’s important to personalize it and keep
in mind the communication style of the recipient before hitting send. To accomplish this, a
quick Google search or a peek at the recipient’s LinkedIn or Twitter feed can do wonders.
Before sending, try putting yourself in the recipient’s shoes for a gut-check on tone and
content. And if you have a hard time reading your own tone in email, Grammarly’s tone
detector can help you determine how you sound to your recipient.
Follow up—in good time
If you’re sending an email, you’re likely looking for a timely response. But with the large
amounts of emails most people sort through each day, things can end up getting lost. As a
general rule, a follow-up message should never come less than twenty-four hours after
sending the initial email.
In other words: Don’t be the person who sends a follow-up request two hours after sending.
In extreme cases, that kind of behavior can even get you blocked. “When you’re taking more
time and actually caring about the person on the other side of the email, you’re immediately
going to see a much higher response rate. I had to learn that the hard way,” says copy chief
Schafer.
Make it easy on the eyes
Most of the messages you send will likely be on the shorter side, which is great for rapid
responses and getting things done. But for longer emails, scannability is the name of the
game. That’s when things like bolded font, bullet points, underlined sentences, and a TL;DR
(too long, didn’t read) section come in handy.
There are a lot of factors to keep in mind when composing an email, and there’s a wide
margin of error. But after all is said and done, it isn’t about perfection. It’s about effective
communication.
“I think people feel this pressure that you need to be this perfect communicator with this huge
vocabulary and these perfectly structured sentences. And I don’t know that that’s always the
case because you’re just two people, communicating,” says freelance writer Boogaard.
PROPOSAL WRITING FOR HIGHER STUDIES:
The goal of a research proposal is to present and justify a research idea you have and to
present the practical ways in which you think this research should be conducted. The forms
and procedures for such research are defined by the field of study, so guidelines for research
proposals are generally more exacting and less formal than a project proposal. Research
proposals contain extensive literature reviews and must provide persuasive evidence that
there is a need for the research study being proposed. In addition to providing rationale for
the proposed research, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the research
consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and a statement on
anticipated outcomes and/or benefits derived from the study.
A proposal should contain all the key elements involved in designing a complete research
study, with sufficient information that allows readers to assess the validity and usefulness of
your proposed study. The only elements missing from a research proposal are the results of
the study and your analysis of those results. Finally, an effective proposal is judged on the
quality of your writing. It is, therefore, important that your writing is coherent, clear, and
compelling.
Regardless of the research problem you are investigating and the methodology you choose,
all research proposals must address the following questions:
1. What do you plan to accomplish? Be clear and succient in defining the research
problem and what it is you are proposing to research.
2. Why do you want to do it? In addition to detailing your research design, you also
must conduct a thorough review of the literature and provide convincing evidence that it is a
topic worthy of study. Be sure to answer the "So what? question.
3. How are you going to do it? Be sure that what you propose is doable.
Beginning the Proposal Process
As with writing a traditional research paper, research proposals are generally organized the
same way throughout the social sciences. Most proposals are between ten and fifteen pages in
length. However, before you begin, read the assignment carefully and, if anything seems
unclear, ask your professor whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and
writing the proposal.
A good place to begin is to ask yourself a series of questions:
• What do I want to study, and why?
• How is it significant within the subject areas covered in my class?
• What problems will it help solve?
• How does it build upon [and hopefully go beyond] research already conducted on my
topic?
• What exactly should I plan to do, and can I get it done in the time available?
In the end, your research proposal should document your knowledge of the topic and
highlight enthusiasm for conducting the study. Approach it with the intention of leaving your
readers feeling like--"Wow, that's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!"
In general your proposal should include the following sections:
I. Introduction
In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars
seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write
your doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course assignment, treat your introduction as
the initial pitch of an idea. After reading the introduction, your readers should not only have
an understanding of what you want to do, but they should also be able to sense your passion
for the topic and be excited about its possible outcomes.
Think about your introduction as a narrative written in one to three paragraphs that succinctly
answers the following four questions:
1. What is the central research problem?
2. What is the topic of study related to that problem?
3. What methods should be used to analyze the research problem?
4. Why is this important research, and why should someone reading the proposal care
about the outcomes from the study?
II. Background and Significance
This section can be melded into your introduction or you can create a separate section to help
with the organization and flow of your proposal. This is where you explain the context of
your project and outline why it's important. Approach writing this section with the thought
that you can’t assume your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do.
Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the
research problem; instead, you must choose what is relevant to help explain your goals for the
study.
To that end, while there are no hard and fast rules, you should attempt to deal with some or
all of the following:
• State the research problem and give a more detailed explanation about the purpose of
the study than what you stated in the introduction.
• Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it is worth
doing. Answer the "So what? question [i.e., why should anyone care].
• Describe the major issues or problems to be addressed by your research.
• Explain how you plan to go about conducting your research. Clearly identify the key
sources you intend to use and explain how they will contribute to the analysis of your topic.
• Set the boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear focus.
• Provide definitions of key concepts or terms, if necessary.
III. Literature Review
Connected to the background and significance of your study is a more deliberate review and
synthesis of prior studies related to the research problem under investigation. The purpose
here is to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being explored,
while demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Think about
what questions other researchers have asked, what methods they've used, and what is your
understanding of their findings. Assess what you believe is still missing, and state how
previous research has failed to examine the issue that your study addresses.
Since a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is intelligently
structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments underpinning your study in relation
to that of other researchers. A good strategy is to break the literature into "conceptual
categories" [themes] rather than systematically describing materials one at a time.
To help frame your proposal's literature review, here are the "five C’s" of writing a literature
review:
1. Cite: keep the primary focus on the literature pertinent to your research problem.
2. Compare the various arguments, theories, methodologies, and findings expressed in
the literature: what do the authors agree on? Who applies similar approaches to analyzing the
research problem?
3. Contrast the various arguments, themes, methodologies, approaches and controversies
expressed in the literature: what are the major areas of disagreement, controversy, or debate?
4. Critique the literature: Which arguments are more persuasive, and why? Which
approaches, findings, methodologies seem most reliable, valid, or appropriate, and why? Pay
attention to the verbs you use to describe what an author says/does [e.g., asserts,
demonstrates, etc.].
5. Connect the literature to your own area of research and investigation: how does your
own work draw upon, depart from, or synthesize what has been said in the literature?
IV. Research Design and Methods
This section must be well-written and logically organized because you are not actually doing
the research. As a consequence, the reader will never have a study outcome from which to
evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. The objective here is to
ensure that the reader is convinced that your overall research design and methods of analysis
will correctly address the research problem. Your design and methods should be absolutely
and unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.
Describe the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples from your
review of the literature. Be specific about the methodological approaches you plan to
undertake to collect information, about the techniques you will use to analyze it, and about
tests of external validity to which you commit yourself [i.e., the trustworthiness by which you
can generalize from your study to other people, places or times].
When describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover these issues:
• Specify the research operations you will undertake and the way you will interpret the
results of these operations in relation to your research problem. Don't just describe what you
intend to achieve from applying the methods you choose, but state how you will spend your
time while doing it.
• Keep in mind that a methodology is not just a list of research tasks; it is an argument
as to why these tasks add up to the best way to investigate the research problem. This is an
important point because the mere listing of tasks to perform does not demonstrate that they
add up to the best feasible approach.
• Be sure to anticipate and acknowledge any potential barriers and pitfalls in carrying
out your research design and explain how you plan to get around them.
V. Preliminary Suppositions and Implications
Just because you don't have to actually conduct the study and analyze the results, it doesn't
mean that you can skip talking about the process and potential implications. The purpose of
this section is to argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or
extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and
objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results of your study will impact future
scholarly research, theory, practice, forms of interventions, or policy. Note that such
discussions may have either substantive [a potential new policy], theoretical [a potential new
understanding], or methodological [a potential new way of analyzing] significance.

When thinking about the potential implications of your study, ask the following questions:
• What might the results mean in regards to the theoretical framework that frames the
study?
• What suggestions for subsequent research could arise from the potential outcomes of
the study?
• What will the results mean to practitioners in the "real world"?
• Will the results influence programs, methods, and/or forms of intervention?
• How might the results contribute to the solution of social, economic, or other types of
problems?
• Will the results influence policy decisions?
• What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?
• How will the results of the study be implemented, and what innovations will come
about?
VI. Conclusion
The conclusion reiterates the importance or significance of your proposal and provides a brief
recap of the entire study. This section should be only one or two paragraphs long,
emphasizing why your research study is unique, why it advances knowledge, and why the
research problem is worth investigating.
Someone reading this section should come away with an understanding of:
• Why the study was done,
• The specific purpose of the study and the research questions it attempted to answer,
• The research design and methods used,
• The potential implications emerging from your proposed study of the research
problem, and
• A sense of how your study fits within the broader scholarship about the research
problem.
VII. Citations
As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used in composing your
proposal. In a standard research proposal, this section can take two forms, so speak with your
professor about which one is preferred.
1. References -- lists only the literature that you actually used or cited in your proposal.
2. Bibliography -- lists everything you used or cited in your proposal with additional
citations of any key sources relevant to understanding the research problem.
In either case, this section should testify to the fact that you did enough preparatory work to
make sure the project will complement and not duplicate the efforts of other researchers. Start
a new page and use the heading "References" or "Bibliography" at the top of the page. Cited
works should always use a standard format that follows the writing style advised by the
discipline of your course [i.e., education=APA; history=Chicago, etc].
RECORDING THE PROCEEDINGS OF MEETING:
Minutes are a written record of a board, company, or organizational meeting. Meeting
minutes are considered a legal document, so when writing them, strive for clarity and
consistency of tone. Because minutes are a permanent record of the meeting, be sure to
proofread them well before sending. It is a good idea to run them by a supervisor or seasoned
attendee to make sure statements and information are accurately captured.
The best meeting minute’s takers are careful listeners, quick typists, and are adequately
familiar with the meeting topics and attendees. The note taker must have a firm enough grasp
of the subject matter to be able to separate the important points from the noise in what can be
long, drawn-out discussions. Also, importantly, the note taker should not simultaneously lead
and take notes. (If you’re ever asked to do so, decline.)
Following, are some step-by-step hints to effectively write meeting minutes.
1. Develop an Agenda
Work with the Chairperson or Board President to develop a detailed agenda. Meetings occur
for a reason, and the issues to be addressed and decided upon need to be listed to alert
attendees. Work with the convener to draft an agenda that assigns times to each topic to keep
the meeting moving and to make sure the group has enough time to consider all items. The
agenda will serve as your outline for the meeting minutes. Keep the minutes’ headings
consistent with the agenda topics for continuity.
2. Follow a Template from Former Minutes Taken
If you are new to a Board or organization and are writing minutes for the first time, ask to see
the past meeting minutes so that you can maintain the same format. Generally, the
organization name or the name of the group that is meeting goes at the top: “Meeting of the
Board of Directors of XYZ,” with the date on the next line. After the date, include both the
time the meeting came to order and the time the meeting ended. For example:
Board of Directors of Super Company, Inc.
Meeting Minutes
Date: May 20, 2019
Time: 10:00 am to 12:30 pm

Most groups who meet do so regularly, with set agenda items at each meeting. Some groups
include a “Next Steps” heading at the end of the minutes that lists projects to follow up on
and assigns responsibility.
A template from a former meeting will also help determine whether or not the group records
if a quorum was met, and other items specific to the organization’s meeting minutes.
3. Record Attendance
On most boards, the Board Secretary is the person responsible for taking the meeting
minutes. In organizational meetings, the minutes taker may be a project coordinator or
assistant to a manager or CEO. She or he should arrive a few minutes before the meeting
begins and pass around an attendance sheet with all members’ names and contact
information.
Meeting attendees will need to check off their names and make edits to any changes in their
information. This will help as both a back-up document of attendees and ensure that
information goes out to the most up-to-date email addresses.
All attendees’ names should be listed directly below the meeting name and date, under a
subheading that says “Present.” List first and last names of all attendees, along with title or
affiliation, separated by a comma or semi-colon. For example:
Present: John Doe, President; Jane Smith, Vice President; Jack Williams, Secretary
If a member of the Board could not attend the meeting, cite his or her name after the phrase:
“Copied To:” There may be other designations in the participants’ list. For example, if
several of the meeting attendees are members of the staff, while everyone else is a volunteer,
you may want to write (Staff) after each staff member.
As a general rule, attendees are listed alphabetically by their last names. However, in some
organizations, it’s a best practice to list the leadership of the Board first. In that case, the
President or Co-Presidents would be listed first, followed by the Vice President, followed by
the Secretary, and then by the Treasurer. Then, all other names of attendees would be
alphabetized by last name. It is also common practice to note if a participant joined the
meeting via conference call.
4. Naming Convention
Generally, the first time someone speaks in the meeting will include his or her name and
often the title.
For example, “President of the XYZ Board, Roger McGowan, called the meeting to order.”
The next time Roger McGowan speaks, though, you can simply refer to him as “Roger.” If
there are two Rogers in the meeting, use an initial for their last names to separate the two:
“Roger M. called for a vote. Roger T. abstained.”
5. What (and What Not) to Include
Depending on the nature of the meeting, it could last from one to several hours. The attendees
will be asked to review and then approve the meeting minutes. Therefore, you don’t want the
minutes to extend into a lengthy document.
Capturing everything that people say verbatim is not only unnecessary but annoying to
reviewers.
For each agenda item, you ultimately want to summarize only the relevant points of the
discussion along with any decisions made. After the meeting, cull through your notes, making
sure to edit out any circular or repetitive arguments, and only leave in the relevant points
made.
6. Maintain a Neutral Tone
Minutes are a legal document. They are used to establish an organization’s historical record
of activity. It is essential to maintain an even, professional tone. Never put inflammatory
language in the minutes, even if the language of the meeting becomes heated.You want to
record the gist of the discussion objectively, which means mentioning the key points covered
without assigning blame. For example, “The staff addressed board members’ questions
regarding the vendor’s professionalism.”
Picture a lawyer ten years down the road reading the minutes to find evidence of potential
wrongdoing. You wouldn’t want an embellishment in the form of a colorful adverb or a quip
to cloud any account of what took place.
7. Record Votes
The primary purpose of minutes is to record any votes a board or organization takes. Solid
record-keeping requires mentioning which participant makes a motion, what the motion states
verbatim, and which participant seconds the motion.
For example, “Vice President Cindy Jacobsen made a motion to dedicate 50 percent, or
$50,000, of the proceeds from the ZZZ Foundation gift to the CCC scholarship fund.
President Roger McGowan seconded the motion.”
This vote tabulation should be expressed in neutral language as well: “The Board voted
unanimously to amend the charter in the following way,” or “The decision to provide $1,000
to the tree-planting effort passed 4 to 1, with Board President McGowan opposing.”
Most Boards try to get a vote passed unanimously. Sometimes in order to help the Board
attain a more cohesive outcome, a Board member may abstain from voting: “The motion
passed 17 to 1 with one abstention.”
8. Pare Down Notes Post-Meeting
Following the meeting, read through your notes while all the discussions remain fresh in your
mind and make any needed revisions. Then, pare the meeting minutes down to their
essentials, providing a brief account of the discussion that summarizes arguments made for
and against a decision. People often speak colloquially or in idioms, as in: “This isn’t even in
the ballpark” or “You’re beginning to sound like a broken record.” While you may be
tempted to keep the exact language in the minutes to add color, resist.
Additionally, if any presentations are part of the meeting, do not include information from the
PowerPoint in the minutes. However, you will want to record the key points from the post-
presentation discussion.
9. Proofread with Care
Make sure that you spelled all names correctly, inserted the correct date of the meeting, and
that your minutes read clearly. Spell out acronyms the first time they’re used. Remember that
the notes may be reviewed by others for whom the acronyms are unfamiliar. Stay consistent
in headings, punctuation, and formatting. The minutes should be polished and professional.
10. Distribute Broadly
Once approved, email minutes to the full board — not just the attendees — for review. Your
minutes will help keep those who were absent apprised of important actions and decisions.
At the start of the next meeting, call for the approval of the minutes. Note any revisions. Try
to work out the agreed-upon changes in the meeting so that you don’t spend a huge amount of
time on revisions.
Ask for a motion to approve the minutes with the agreed-upon changes. Once an attendee
offers a motion, ask for another person in the meeting to “second” the motion. They say, “All
approved.” Always ask if there is anyone who does not approve. Assuming not, then say:
“The minutes from our last meeting are approved once the agreed-upon changes have been
made.”
11. File Meticulously
Since minutes are a legal document, take care when filing them. Make sure the file name of
the document is consistent with the file names of previously filed minutes. Occasionally,
members of the organization may want to review past minutes. Know where the minutes are
filed!
One Caveat
In this day and age of high technology, you may ask yourself: Wouldn’t it be simpler to
record the meeting? This depends on the protocols of the organization, but probably not. Be
sure to ask what the rules are at the organization where you are taking minutes. Remember
that the minutes are a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said at the
meeting. The minutes reflect decisions, not discussions. In spite of their name, the “minutes”
are not a minute-by-minute transcript.
Bottom Line
Becoming an expert minutes-taker requires a keen ear, a willingness to learn, and some
practice, but by following these tips you will soon become proficient.

UNIT IV
Digital literacy is the foremost necessity of the 21st-century world. Common people, nation
builders, and the next generation of modern techno age are in the dire need of properly
digitally literate. Digital literacy is the new life skill in this age. The digital environment is
spreading out around the whole society. Well settled and comfortable life of all of us is
possible only if we will be digitally literate to survive in this digital era. Most of the job
opportunities are only for those who are digitally literate. In the modern system of education
teacher must have digital skills. A teacher who is digitally literate can survive in the digital
era. Technology will not replace the teachers, but teachers who use technology will replace
those who do not. So to keep the issue in the mind researcher made an attempt to through
light on digital literacy as a life skill in the present era of growing and global educational
society. Some of the important issues that a teacher should learn and use the digital devices
and create a digital environment in the classroom as well as in the school also are discussed
here. Students definitely will be benefitted if teachers use digital devices and ICTs at their
best. It is the time to enhance those skills which are the foundation for the present global and
growing educational society. Digital literacy is described as creating social mores within
individuals’ private lives and the ability to reflect on this process using digital tools
appropriately. Further, digital literacy involves identifying digital resources and content,
reaching, managing, combining, evaluating and making analysis/synthesis, forming new data,
creating new ways of media expressions and making it possible to communicate with others
(Martin, 2008). Digital literacy skills relating to the use of digital technology tools in
activities that locate, create, communicate, and evaluate information within a networked
environment, mediated by digital computing technologies (Boileau, 2014).
The meaning of "digital literacy" has shifted over the years. While there was a time when job
candidates were encouraged to list "Proficient at Microsoft Word" on their resume, now such
skills are considered standard. This shift toward a technologically savvy workforce has
permeated the classroom as well. It makes sense to assume that the more digitally literate our
teachers are, the more they'll employ these skills in the classroom, which will in turn foster a
strong sense of digital citizenship in our students. However, the importance and scope of
digital literacy extends beyond this simple theory. Here, we've laid out seven reasons why
digital literacy skills are important for today's teachers.
1. Moving Beyond Google
Google is a powerful tool. Students with access to a computer and the Internet are able to find
the answers to not only simple questions, but also incredibly complex problems. However,
there is a significant difference between Googling an answer and understanding why.
Looking at Bloom’s Taxonomy, we want students to gain the deepest level of understanding
when faced with a problem.
Create: Produce new or original work; Evaluate: Justify a stand or decision; Analyze: Draw
connections among ideas; Apply: Use information in new situations; Understand: Explain
ideas or concepts; Remember: Recall facts and basic concepts
Simply Googling an answer does not provide students with true, deep learning. And while
most students understand how to use a search engine, it is up to teachers to provide students
with the additional skills to bring the answers to the next level.
There are several ways teachers can embed digital literacy skills into Internet searches:
Teach students to evaluate and question their sources. Students need to know the difference
between a trustworthy and untrustworthy source.
• Is their source an academic website or a marketing company?
• When was the source last updated?
• How many other sites link to this source as a reference?
• Is the information presented in objective or biased language?
Teach students how to draw a strong conclusion. Sure, students might find the right answer to
a problem, but what use is that search if they’ve only memorized the logic to get them there?
It’s up to teachers to teach that logic and to contextualize the answer.
Push students to new levels of creativity. Once students have a deeper understanding of the
answers they’ve found, push for creative application of that knowledge. This could be
anything from challenging students to pose related questions to having students use other
digital platforms to create something new. Examples include:
• Film a science experiment based on the answer they’ve found.
• Record a history podcast that tells the story of how their answer came to be.
• Write an investigative journalism piece on that same topic.
Again, digital literacy does not mean knowing how to use every piece of software students
will encounter. Teachers should encourage students to seek out and learn the software they
need to know in order to do what’s required.
2. Teaching Digital Citizenship
Being a good digital citizen means understanding and applying appropriate and responsible
uses of internet and technology. Two issues top the list when it comes to digital citizenship:
academic plagiarism and cyberbullying.
Academic Plagarism
In a culture where students are constantly sharing content, they may not know what
plagiarism is, let alone when they’re doing it. Teachers should set clear anti-plagiarism
policies at the beginning of each year.
Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place through the use of electronic technology, and is a
pervasive issue in schools and online communities. And while today’s students may be digital
natives, they still need to be taught that social norms apply to online behavior. Resources
should be in place to prevent cyberbullying and to help students who are being bullied.
3. Closing the Digital Divide
According to a 2014 report External link by the Federal Communications Commission, 31
percent of urban schools and 41 percent of rural schools do not have an Internet connection.
Students in these schools struggle to take advantage of the tools, platforms, apps and
resources available to their connected peers. But this digital divide isn’t just in schools —
there is also a lack of access to devices and broadband at home External link . The divide is
pervasive and accentuates already destructive achievement gaps. Digitally literate teachers
advocate for change and seek innovative solutions.
4. Expanding Conceptions of the Digital World
While students may be adept at using digital tools, their understanding of what these tools can
do is often limited.
For example, students use Instagram to post photos but don’t think to use the platform for art
or history projects. They record themselves with a voice memo app but do not realize those
apps could also be used for journalism projects or a historical narrative piece. Digitally
literate teachers know how to inspire students to use today's technology as a powerful toolset
to expand their learning opportunities.
5. Enabling Differentiation
Differentiation in the classroom is essential to meeting the needs of all learners, but it is time-
consuming, especially for new teachers. Technology, when used creatively and correctly, can
be used to mitigate those differences, such as in one-to-one classrooms. Teachers can lead the
class through a lecture, while visual learners follow along with illustrations on their tablets
and audio learners record the lecture for later review. Technology like this enables teachers to
give their students choice in the kind of work they create for projects, such as a video,
podcast or written story. Digital literacy is required in order to set the standards and
boundaries for this kind of differentiation.
Digitally literate teachers also understand that it is less about the technology itself than it is
about the tailored experience the technology can provide to each student. This is what drives
differentiation and can make it powerful and highly targeted to students' individual needs.
6. Making Thoughtful Cultural and Platform Decisions
Teachers often receive mandates from administrations to use a particular technology product
or app even though it doesn’t make sense for their students. Good teachers know how their
students engage and learn and can use that knowledge to push for technology that will unlock
new teaching potential. This makes digitally literate teachers great advocates for the
appropriate technologies. These skills become increasingly important in diverse classrooms
in which students are bringing different cultural contexts into the mix. Both the content and
the technologies chosen may vary in effectiveness given a student’s familiarity with the tools
and the various norms within their culture. A sensitive teacher will make digital choices that
reflect these varied cultural contexts.
7. Improving the Technology
Teachers can offer important pedagogical and practical insights for edtech companies
developing learning technology for students. Today “teacherpreneurs” are sparking teacher-
based technological innovation — and they’re drawn largely from the ranks of the digitally
literate. Teacherpreneurs are teachers who see the need for digital solutions in their
classrooms, and some take on roles where they coach other teachers on using technology
External link as a powerful differentiation tool. As teachers master digital literacy with their
lessons, they can collaborate with peers to share technology and work toward improving
learning outcomes for their students.
Moving Forward
It is crucial that school and district administrators emphasize teacher digital literacy to avoid
policies that simply mandate placing technology into the hands of students without thought
for how that technology will be used.
Digitally literate teachers see technology for all of its creative potential, rather than
something they are mandated to do in a step-by-step fashion. Digital literacy doesn’t require
that teachers become experts, but it does require that they understand the digital tools that can
unlock their deeper teaching potential.
Application software that assist users in regular office jobs like creating, updating and
maintaining documents, handling large amounts of data, creating presentations, scheduling,
etc. are called office tools. Using office tools saves time and effort and lots of repetitive tasks
can be done easily. Some of the software that do this are −
• Word processors
• Spreadsheets
• Database systems
• Presentation software
• E-mail tools
Let us look at some of these in detail.
Word Processor
A software for creating, storing and manipulating text documents is called word processor.
Some common word processors are MS-Word, WordPad, WordPerfect, Google docs, etc.

A word processor allows you to −

• Create, save and edit documents
• Format text properties like font, alignment, font color, background color, etc.
• Check spelling and grammar
• Add images
• Add header and footer, set page margins and insert watermarks
Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet is a software that assists users in processing and analyzing tabular data. It is a
computerized accounting tool. Data is always entered in a cell (intersection of a row and a
column) and formulas and functions to process a group of cells is easily available. Some of
the popular spreadsheet software include MS-Excel, Gnumeric, Google Sheets, etc. Here is a
list of activities that can be done within a spreadsheet software −
• Simple calculations like addition, average, counting, etc.
• Preparing charts and graphs on a group of related data
• Data entry
• Data formatting
• Cell formatting
• Calculations based on logical comparisons
Presentation Tool
Presentation tool enables user to demonstrate information broken down into small chunks and
arranged on pages called slides. A series of slides that present a coherent idea to an audience
is called a presentation. The slides can have text, images, tables, audio, video or other
multimedia information arranged on them. MS-PowerPoint, OpenOffice Impress, Lotus
Freelance, etc. are some popular presentation tools.

Database Management System

Software that manages storage, updating and retrieval of data by creating databases is called
database management system. Some popular database management tools are MS-Access,
MySQL, Oracle, FoxPro, etc.

How to Draw and Color with Microsoft Paint

1. Click the Start button, type paint, and click Paint in the search results.
The Paint window opens. Maximize the window, if it isn’t already.

2. Click and drag your mouse over the white canvas to draw a black squiggle using the
default brush and color; then release the mouse button.
3. Click the down arrow on the Brushes button in the Ribbon to see a panel of brushes.
Select one you like.

Hover your mouse pointer over each brush to see a tooltip that describes it.

4. Click one of the small color boxes at the right end of the Ribbon to select that color.
5. Click and drag your mouse over the canvas again.
The new line will reflect the new brush and color you chose.
You can also use Paint’s premade Shapes tools. Click the Shapes button on the Ribbon; click
a shape on the panel that drops down; and click and drag in the canvas to draw that shape.
Then click the paint-bucket icon on the Tools panel to change the inside (or fill color) of the
shape.
6. To add text to your drawing, click the A button on the Tools panel; then click the
canvas and start typing in the text box that appears.
7. Select the text you just typed and choose options in the Text tab to size and format
your text.
You can change fonts, colors, sizes, and so on.
8. Save your drawing by pressing Ctrl+S.

UNIT V
NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION
The Non-Verbal Communication is the process of conveying meaning without the use of
words either written or spoken. In other words, any communication made between two or
more persons through the use of facial expressions, hand movements, body language,
postures, and gestures is called as non-verbal communication.
The Non-Verbal Communication, unlike the verbal communication, helps in establishing and
maintaining the interpersonal relationships while the verbals only help in communicating the
external events. People use non-verbals to express emotions and interpersonal attitudes,
conduct rituals such as greetings and bring forward one’s personality.
The non-verbal communication in the form of signals, expressions add meaning over the
verbal’s and help people to communicate more efficiently. It supplements whatever is said in
words, such as people nod to acknowledge and move their hands to give directions.
The non-verbal communication defines the distance between the communicators and helps
them to exchange their emotional state of mind. Also, it regulates the flow of communication,
for example, an individual can give signals to convey that he had finished speaking or else he
wants to speak.
Sometimes, the non-verbals acts as a barrier to communicating effectively as the recipient
could not understand what the sender is trying to say and may interpret it wrongly.
What is nonverbal communication?
Nonverbal communication is the transfer of information through the use of body language
including eye contact, facial expressions, gestures and more. For example, smiling when you
meet someone conveys friendliness, acceptance and openness. Everyone uses nonverbal
communication all the time whether they know it or not. Nonverbal communication is
dependent on seeing and analyzing physical movements as opposed to verbal communication,
or the use of language to transfer information through written text, speaking or sign language.
Why is nonverbal communication important?
Nonverbal communication is important because it gives us valuable information about a
situation including how a person might be feeling, how someone receives information and
how to approach a person or group of people. Paying attention to and developing the ability
to read nonverbal communications is an invaluable skill you can leverage at every stage of
your career.
There are several ways nonverbal communication can support your ability to communicate
effectively in the workplace, including:
• Supports your message. When having a conversation, participating in a meeting or
engaging in conversation, nonverbal cues can emphasize and underscore the content of your
message. For example, using hand gestures to indicate the importance of an idea may tell
your listeners to pay attention to and remember a key point.

• Communicates messages. You may also use nonverbal communication completely to

communicate with others. For example, if someone is explaining a sentiment you admire and
agree with, you might nod your head up and down to express solidarity.

• Communicates intention. Your body language may also intentionally or

unintentionally express your current condition. For example, people may pick up nonverbal
cues that you are being dishonest, unengaged, excited or aggressive.

• Conveys feelings. You can also use nonverbal communication to show your feelings,
such as disappointment, relief, happiness, contentment and more.

• Offers support. Nonverbal cues are also a great way to show support. Whether it's a
simple smile or pat on the back, action may speak louder than words in many cases.
• Showcases your personality. Nonverbal communication is a great way to show who
you are. For example, a kind and optimistic person might frequently smile with open body
language and offer friendly touches.

• Indicates a desired action. This might include inching toward a door to indicate your
desire to leave the room, raising your hand to offer an idea or putting your hand out to meet
someone new.

• Deescalates tension. Using a calm tone of voice, open body language, and directive
gestures may help to resolve a difficult situation.
TYPES OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
There are several types of nonverbal communications you should be aware of, including:
1. Body language
Body language is the way someone situates their body naturally depending on the situation,
the environment and how they are feeling.
Example: Someone might cross their arms if they are feeling angry or nervous.
2. Movement
The way you move your arms and legs such as walking quickly or slowly, standing, sitting or
fidgeting, can all convey different messages to onlookers.
Example: Sitting still and paying attention in a meeting conveys respect and attention.
3. Posture
The way you sit or stand can also communicate your comfort level, professionalism and
general disposition towards a person or conversation.
Example: Someone might slouch their shoulders if they feel tired, frustrated or disappointed.
4. Gestures
While gestures vary widely across communities, they are generally used both intentionally
and unintentionally to convey information to others.
Example: Someone in the United States might display a “thumbs up” to communicate
confirmation or that they feel positively about something.
5. Space
Creating or closing distance between yourself and the people around you can also convey
messages about your comfort level, the importance of the conversation, your desire to support
or connect with others and more.
Example: You might stand two to three feet away from a new contact to respect their
boundaries.
6. Paralanguage:
Paralanguage includes the non-language elements of speech, such as your talking speed,
pitch, intonation, volume and more.
Example: You might speak quickly if you are excited about something.
7. Facial expressions
One of the most common forms of nonverbal communication is facial expressions. Using the
eyebrows, mouth, eyes and facial muscles to convey can be very effective when
communicating both emotion and information.
Example: Someone might raise their eyebrows and open their eyes widely if they feel
surprised.
8. Eye contact
Strategically using eye content (or lack of eye contact) is an extremely effective way to
communicate your attention and interest.
Example: Looking away from someone and at the ground or your phone may convey
disinterest or disrespect.
9. Touch
Some people also use touch as a form of communication. Most commonly, it is used to
communicate support or comfort. This form of communication should be used sparingly and
only when you know the receiving party is okay with it. It should never be used to convey
anger, frustration or any other negative emotions.
Example: Placing your hand on a friend’s shoulder may convey support or empathy.
Nonverbal communication skills and examples
There are several common skills that make you a valuable colleague, leader and teammate.
These skills are also highly desired by employers you may interview with that fall into four
main categories:
• Paying attention. While it seems simple, the ability to stay engaged is an essential
skill that can help you learn quickly and communicate effectively.

• Picking up on nonverbal cues. It becomes easier to pick up on both small and obvious,
intentional and unintentional nonverbal communications when you practice. Pay attention to
people’s posture, movements, body language, facial expressions and eye contact as they
change.
INTERPRETING NONVERBAL CUES: Once you can more easily and accurately spot
nonverbal cues, it may sometimes be helpful to interpret them so you can be a better
communicator.

For example, if you notice that someone is speaking quietly with slouched shoulders or
crossed arms, it may be a cue that they feel nervous or anxious. You can respond
empathetically by smiling and holding a warm and open body posture.

• Using nonverbal cues. It is equally important to develop your own use of nonverbal
cues to support your professional skills and to control any unproductive or unprofessional
communications in the workplace. More on improving your nonverbal communication skills
below.
How to read body language
Reading body language is a difficult skill you will continue to develop throughout your
career. While each person uses nonverbal communication differently, there are several
common cues to pay attention to that will inform you about a person’s feelings, intentions,
motivations and more. When you are communicating with someone, it’s helpful to notice
their body language while also taking in their verbal communication.
Here are a few uses of body language you can begin to look for:
1. Posture. If a person has their shoulders back and spine straight, this is a sign that they are
engaged, listening and open to the ideas or information you are presenting. If they are
exhibiting poor posture with their shoulders slouched or raised and spine bent, they might be
nervous, anxious or angry.
2. Use of arms. If a person has their arms down to their side, on the table or arranged in some
other open way, this is a sign that they feel positive and ready to absorb information. If their
arms are crossed or closed, they might feel be experiencing some sort of negative emotion.
3. Use of legs. If a person has both feel placed flat on the ground, this is a sign that they feel
ready and open to hear your ideas. If their legs are crossed or arranged in some other closed
formation, they might be feeling irritated or stressed.
4. Use of facial expressions. If you are communicating with someone who is frowning, has a
furrowed brow or tight lips, you might pause to ensure they don’t feel confused, angry or
some other negative emotion. If you are communicating with someone who has a soft smile,
relaxed facial muscles or gently raised eyebrows, this is a sign that they feel good about the
information you are presenting.
Be sensitive when responding to nonverbal communications. Many people may be unaware
of their body language and might be embarrassed if you bring it up. If you sense someone
might be angry, anxious or confused during your communications, take a moment to consider
the best course of action based on the individual.
If you feel it would be beneficial to ask how they are feeling in the moment, gently address
them with something like:
“I sense you might be feeling overwhelmed with my presentation. Is there something I can
take time to explain, or an idea you’d like to give feedback on?”
OR
“Is this is a good time to talk about our new process? If not, I’m happy to find a better time
we can chat.”
If you are in a meeting with several people, it might be a better idea to address them
afterwards in a one-on-one setting.
How to improve nonverbal communication
If you’d like to improve the use of your own nonverbal communication, there are a few steps
you can take:
1. Do a body language test.
Pay close attention to the ways you use body language over a business week. Notice your
body language, facial expressions and posture in meetings, during casual exchanges and in
presentations. See how others respond to your natural nonverbal communications.
2. Notice how your emotions feel physically.
Emotions are not purely felt in the mind; they affect us physically, too. Throughout the day,
as you experience a range of emotions (anything from energized, bored, happy or frustrated),
try to identify where you feel that emotion within your body.
For example, if you’re feeling anxious, you might notice that your stomach feels tight.
Developing the self-awareness of how your emotions affect your body can give you greater
mastery over your external presentation.
3. Be intentional about your nonverbal communications.
Be attentive when trying to communicate with others using facial expressions or body
language. Make an effort to display positive body language when you feel alert, open and
positive about your surroundings.
You can also use body language to support your verbal communication if you feel confused
or anxious about information, like using a furrowed brow. Use body language alongside
verbal communication such as asking follow up questions or pulling the presenter aside to
give feedback.
4. Mimic nonverbal communications you find effective.
If you witness certain facial expressions or body language you find beneficial to a certain
setting, use it as a guide when improving your own nonverbal communications. For example,
if you see that when someone nods their head it communicates approval and positive
feedback efficiently, use it in your next meeting when you have the same feelings.
5. Nonverbal communication is an essential part of having excellent communication skills.
Take time to understand the body language and facial expressions of others you work with, as
well as to develop the ways you use nonverbal communications
Using nonverbal communication in an interview
Nonverbal communication is an essential part of the interview. It is important both to read
and interpret the nonverbal cues of your interviewers and to respond with appropriate body
language throughout. Here are a few tips for using nonverbal communication in your next
interview:
• Stand up when your interviewer enters the room and greet them with a reasonably
confident handshake.
• Smile when greeting your interviewer and naturally throughout your interview.
• Sit with your shoulders back and chin up to convey confidence
• Place both feet on the ground or crossed at the ankles and lay your hands on top of
one another on the table to express openness and friendliness
• Use gestures naturally without being distracting
• Speak with a reasonable, confident tone so your interviewers can easily and clearly
understand you without being too loud
• Use natural, conversational intonation without going up or down too unnaturally

Nonverbal Communication exercise for practice:

Nonverbal communication is just as important as verbal communication,
1. Power of Body Language
Here’s how it works:
1. Tell the participants that you are going to give them a series of instructions and you
want them to follow them as fast as they can.
2. State the following actions as you engage in them:
a. Put your hand to your nose.
b. Clap your hands.
c. Stand up.
d. Touch your shoulder.
e. Sit down.
f. Stamp your foot.
g. Cross your arms.
h. Put your hand to your mouth (but while saying this one, put your hand to your nose).
3. Observe how many participants copied what you did instead of what you said.

Share this observation with your group and lead a discussion on how body language can
influence our understanding and our reactions. It can reinforce what we hear or it can
interfere with the verbal communication we receive. The more aware we are of this
possibility, the better communicators we become. It’s vital to keep your own body language
in mind, just as it’s vital to notice and understand others’ body language.
2. Wordless Acting
Here are the instructions:
1. Separate your group into pairs.
2. Assign one participant in each pair to be Partner A and the other to be Partner B.
3. Give each participant a copy of the script (copied below).
4. Instruct Participant A to read his or her lines out loud, but instruct Participant B to
communicate his or her lines in a nonverbal way.
5. Provide Participant B with a secret emotional distraction written on a piece of paper
(e.g., Participant B is in a rush, is really bored, or is feeling guilty).
6. Have each pair work through the script.
7. After each pair has finished working through the script, have the “A” participants
guess what emotion their partner was feeling.
3. Silent Movie.
Divide your participants into two groups. For the first half of the activity, one group will be
screenwriters and the other group will be actors. In the second half, the two groups will
switch roles.
Instruct the screenwriters to write a silent movie, but to keep these things in mind:
1. Silent movies tell a story without words. It’s important to start the scene with the actor
doing an obvious task, like cleaning the house or rowing a boat.
2. The scene must be interrupted when a second actor (or several actors) enter the scene,
and their arrival should have a big impact. The character(s) could be anyone (or anything),
including burglars, salesmen, children, or even animals.
3. A physical commotion must occur.
4. The problem that is caused by the commotion must be resolved by the end of the
scene.
Give the screenwriters time to write out their script, and then have the actors perform the
script. Once the scene is finished, have the groups switch roles.

A Top (Spinning the top game)

A Cycle
The Television
The Post box
An Inland cover
The Library
Facebook
My first love letter
My father's purse
My mother's tears
My pillow