Showing posts with label CALL Lab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CALL Lab. Show all posts
26 March 2014
22 March 2014
17 March 2014
Homonyms
Homonyms
Homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and meaning.
List of Homonyms
Homonyms Meanings
AIR – HEIR : fresh air; the heir to the throne;
AISLE – ISLE : an aisle seat; the British Isles;
ALTAR – ALTER : to lead to the altar; to alter course;
BAND – BAND : a rock band; a rubber band;
BANK – BANK : the bank of the river; the Bank of England; a bank account;
BARE – BEAR – BEAR : with bare hands; I can't bear it; the polar bear;
BARK – BARK : the dog barked at me; barking dogs; the bark of a tree;
BAT – BAT : blind as a bat; a baseball bat;
BE – BEE : to be or not to be; to be as busy as a bee;
BEAT – BEET : to beat the drums; beets and carrots;
BRAKE – BREAK : car brakes; let's have a break; don't break it;
BUY – BY : to buy a car; to walk by the river; to sit by the window;
CACHE – CASH : cache memory; pay cash; I have no cash;
CELL – SELL : a prison cell; my cell phone; to sell books;
CENT – SCENT : 100 cents in a dollar; a faint scent of roses;
CEREAL – SERIAL : to eat breakfast cereal; to watch TV serials;
COARSE – COURSE : coarse fabric; a course of lectures;
CURRANT – CURRENT : red currant; current year; ocean current;
DEAR – DEER : Dear Sir; dear friend; a young deer; several deer;
DEW – DUE : morning dew; When is the train due?
DIE – DYE : He died two years ago. She dyed her hair red.
FAIR – FAIR – FARE : that's fair; book fair; bus fare;
FINE – FINE : one fine day; fine wine; to pay a fine for speeding;
FIR – FUR : pines and fir trees; a fir cone; a fur coat; natural fur;
FLEA – FLEE : a flea market; to flee the country;
FLOUR – FLOWER : two cups of flour; a bunch of flowers;
FOREWORD – FORWARD : a foreword in a book; to move forward;
GAIT – GATE : heavy gait; slow gait; to open the gate;
GRATE – GREAT : to grate cheese; a great opportunity;
GROUND – GROUND : to fall to the ground; freshly ground coffee;
HAIR – HARE : she has dark hair and green eyes; he ran like a hare;
HAY – HEY : to make hay; hay fever; Hey!
HEAL – HEEL : to heal the wounds; high heels;
HEAR – HERE : Did you hear what he said? She doesn't live here.
HI – HIGH : Hi; how are you? high walls; high speed; high temperature;
I – EYE : I can see it clearly. My left eye itches.
KNIGHT – NIGHT : the Knights of the Round Table; a dark night; days and nights;
KNOW – NO : Do you know him? No, I don't. I have no time.
MAIL – MALE : to send by mail; a male child;
MEAT – MEET : meat and potatoes; to meet a girl; to meet with friends;
NONE – NUN : none of them; she is a nun;
PAIL – PALE : a pail of water; his face is pale;
PAIR – PEAR : a pair of gloves; apples and pears;
PEACE – PIECE : peace and quiet; a piece of bread; a piece of paper;
PEAK – PEEK : a mountain peak; to peek into the hole;
PLAIN – PLANE : plain answer; plain food; to go by plane;
PRINCIPAL – PRINCIPLE : principal cause; a man of principle;
READ – REED : to read a book; reed grows near water;
RIGHT – WRITE : that's right; my right hand; civil rights; to write a letter;
RING – RING : a wedding ring; to ring a bell;
ROLE – ROLL : to play a role; a roll of toilet paper; the ball rolled away;
ROOT – ROUTE : the roots of the tree; Route 10; bus route;
SAIL – SALE : to sail on a ship; I bought it on sale;
SIGHT – SITE : a beautiful sight; to see the sights; good eyesight; construction site; website;
SOME – SUM : I need some money; a large sum of money;
SON – SUN : he is my son; she has three sons; the sun is shining;
STAIR – STARE : go down the stairs; don't stare at people;
STAKE – STEAK : the stakes are high; I'd like a steak for dinner;
STEAL – STEEL : to steal money; stainless steel;
SUITE – SWEET : a hotel suite; this cake is too sweet;
TAIL – TALE : a bird with a long tail; a long and interesting tale;
TOAST – TOAST: a piece of toast; I'd like to propose a toast to Alan's health;
TOE – TOW : I stubbed my toe; a tow truck; to tow a car;
TOO – TWO : I like it too. I spent two days at the lake.
TRUNK – TRUNK : the trunk of a tree; an elephant's trunk; a wooden trunk;
VAIN – VEIN : in vain; she is vain; veins carry blood to the heart;
WAIST – WASTE: a slender waist; a waste of time; to waste money;
WAIT – WEIGHT: to wait for an hour; her weight is 65 kilograms;
WARE – WEAR –WHERE : glassware; men's wear; he is wearing a suit; Where is Mike?
WAY – WEIGH : to find a way; the shortest way; she weighs 65 kilograms;
WEAK – WEEK : weak eyes; weak tea; next week; for two weeks;
WEATHER – WHETHER : nice weather; ask her whether she wants to go;
WHICH – WITCH: which of these; Which bag is yours? She is a real witch.
WHINE – WINE : my dog often whines; stop whining; red wine; French wines
Lets learn a song on homonyms
10 March 2014
5 February 2014
Letter Writing
Letter Writing
Letter writing is one of the important tools of written
correspondence. A good letter is of something that carries the
writer’s/sender’s presence. There are two types of letters. They are
business and personal letters.
A business letter is formal and written to communicate
with an official or a business firms. It is different from personal letters in
many ways like language, style, format and purpose. Information presented in a
business letter should be straight, lucid and precise.
The purpose or the reason of the letter must be mentioned in
the opening paragraph. Give complete details in clear terms in the body. State
clearly the expected action in the closing paragraphs.
There are six important parts for a business letters. They
are as follows:
1. The Heading: It consists of the sender’s address and the
date on the last line. Generally there should be a one line gap for the address
and date.There is no need to write the return address if letterhead of the
company is used for this purpose.
2. The Receiver’s Address: Write receiver’s address clearly
and completely.
There is a general rule that one line should be skipped
between date and address line.
3. Salutation: It deals with how one addresses the receiver
of the letter. In a business letter it has to be formal.
It starts with the word "Dear" and often includes
the person's last name.
4. The Body: The body carries important details in detail.
The language used should be lucid and courteous.
For each paragraph, one line should be skipped.
Also skip a line between the greeting and the body. Skip a
line between the body and the close.
5. The Complimentary Close: This brief expression usually
ends with a comma.
6. The Signature: Skip two lines and write your name
and just above the signature should be done.
Women may indicate how they wish to be addressed by placing
Miss, Mrs., Ms. or similar title in parentheses before their name.
Business Letter
Styles
The following are some of the formats of the business
letters. There are three accepted styles.
They are
1. Modified Block Style
2. Semi Block Style
3. Block Style
Of the three, the third one (Block Style) has been widely
used in the modern day communication. In block style, punctuation marks like
commas and full stops are omitted in many places. Comma should be given after salutation
and leave taking lines.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary PPT
Vocabulary is one of the important skills of English language. without a set of words, even the best comprehension of English grammar will not allow to speak English.
The ppt presentation may help the learners to get the various types forming vocabulary and knowing them may useful to the learners in the formation of new words in daily context.
For functional-English ppt
For presentation-skills ppt
For group-discussion-ppt
For interview-skills-ppt
For reading-comprehension-ppt
For resume-writing-ppt
12 January 2014
14 December 2013
22 December 2012
STRESS AND INTONATION
ACCENT / STRESS and Intonation
Stress or Accent
There are two different kinds of stress in English, word stress and sentence stress. Both are essential to communicate meaning satisfactorily and both cause many foreign learners of English considerable problems.
a) Sound and
syllable:
Speech sounds are put together
into syllables and syllables into words which in turn are combined into
sentences. A syllable may consist of one speech sound or more. Nevertheless, it
does not have more than one vowel sound. A vowel sound, as a matter of fact,
forms the nucleus of a syllable. Therefore, a word has as many syllables as
there are vowel sounds in it.
b) Syllable
division of words: English words consist of one or more syllables. Each syllable
contains a vowel. A syllable may have one or more consonants before and/or
after it. Thus, in the word ‘teach’ there is only one syllable, whereas the
word ‘tea-cher’ has two syllables. In the examples that follow the letter V represents a vowel sound and
the letter C represents a consonant
sound.
Words of one syllable
or V
my CV
aim VC
bit CVC
scratched CCCVCC
Words of two syllables
tapers CVCVC
matchbox CVCCVC
language CVCCVC
Words of more than two syllables
examination VCCVCVCVCVC
Concept of Word-stress – its importance
The syllables of a word can be spoken with more or less force or
emphasis. Where a syllable is spoken with emphasis, it is said to be stressed.
Syllables that are not spoken with emphasis are unstressed. Not all syllables
in an utterance are spoken with equal emphasis. There are certain syllables
that are stressed more than others. Thus in the word ‘father’, the first
syllable ‘fa-’ is stressed and so, is
spoken more prominently than the second syllable ‘-ther’. Similarly, in the
word ‘about’, the second syllable is stressed and so, is spoken more
prominently than the first syllable. We shall now look at some common words to
note the syllabic stress patterns. The
accent mark is put before the syllable stressed.
STRESS PATTERNS
Stress in English words varies from word to
word. In some words, the stress falls on the first syllable while in other, it
may fall on the second, third, or the fourth syllable.
Here are a
few examples of words stressed on different syllables:
(i) Words stressed on the first syllable:
Two-Syllable Three-Syllable Longer Words
'husband 'literature 'aristocrat
'stomach 'character 'benefactor
'dozen 'advertise 'chauvinism
'stupid 'industry 'melancholy
'splendid 'atmosphere 'pomegranate
(ii) Words stressed on
the second syllable:
Two-syllable Three-syllable Longer words
nar'rate ap'pendix par'ticipant
bal'loon ef'ficient ri'diculous
be'gin de'velop re'sponsible
draw'ee sa'liva ap'preciate
ru'pee an'tenna rhi'noceros
(iii) Words stressed on
the third syllable:
Three-Syllable Four-Syllable Five-Syllable
guaran'tee appli'cation irre'proachable
ciga'rette appo'sition irre`'sponsible
engi'neer appa'ratus satis'factory
remi'nisce corre'spondence irre'pressible
corre'spond elec'tricity
(iv) Words stressed on
the fourth syllable:
dedica'tee civili'zation
exami'nation mechani'zation
partici'pation inferi'ority
The above
lists clearly show that stress in English words has to be learnt individually.
Here
is a list of words consisting of varying number of syllables and having
different stress patterns. Listen to them on the tape and practice saying them
with the stress as marked.
Words consisting of two syllables:
Stress on first syllable Stress on second syllable
`bargain ad`mit
`govern for`bid
`thorough bam`boo
`secret mon`soon
`message suc`ceed
`canvas sup`press
`injure dis`miss
Words consisting of three syllables:
Stress on first syllable Stress on second syllable Stress on third syllable
`illustrate ad`venture recol`lect
`recipe spec`tator briga`dier
`tentative po`tato question`naire
`obstacle
ad`dition person`nel
`cemetery re`vision coin`cide
`symmetry um`brella addres`see
Words consisting of more than three syllables:
Stress on first
syllable
|
Stress on second
syllable
|
Stress on third syllable
|
Stress on
fourth syllable
|
`honorary
|
com`munity
|
ana`lytical
|
exami`nee
|
`honourable
|
com`modity
|
irre`sponsible
|
acade`mician
|
`secularism
|
e`xaggerate
|
psycho`logical
|
accele`ration
|
`cannibalism
|
a`nalogy
|
cata`strophic
|
mechani`zation
|
`favouritism
|
i`tinerary
|
pano`rama
|
exagge`ration
|
mathe`matics
|
exami`nation
|
RULES FOR WORD STRESS
Therefore,
stress in English is difficult to explain and to indicate any rules for
stressing individual words is all the more difficult. However, a few general
guidelines may be given as follows:
Functional shift of stress
There are a number of words of two syllables in which the accentual
pattern depends on whether the word is used as a noun, an
adjective or a verb. When the word is used
as a noun or an adjective, the stress is on the first syllable. When the
word is used as a verb, the stress is on the second syllable. Here are a few examples:
Noun/ Adjective Verb
'absent ab'sent
'object ob'ject
'subject sub'ject
'permit per'mit
'record re
'cord
'progress pro'gress
'produce pro'duce
'perfect per'fect
'increase in'crease
'decrease de'crease
'present pre'sent
Words with prefixes/suffixes; their stress patterns:
Words with
weak prefixes are accented on the root.
a'rise a’bout be'low be'hold com'pose
a'lone a'bove be'come be'lieve de'velop
a'loud ac'cept be'fall be'side re'duce
a'lone a'bove be'come be'lieve de'velop
a'loud ac'cept be'fall be'side re'duce
Prefixes with negative connotations are stressed.
'disloyal 'illogical
'insincere 'half-finished
Verbs of two syllables beginning with the prefix dis-
are stressed on the last syllable.
dis'arm dis'may
dis'band dis'pel
dis'cern dis'miss
dis'close dis'solve
dis'count dis'tend
dis'grace dis'turb
dis'guise dis'tress
Verbs of two syllables ending in -ate, -ise/-ize, -ct are stressed on the
last syllable.
-ate -ize/-ise -ct
nar'rate cap'size in'fect
vib'rate
chas'tise select
mi'grate bap'tize pro'tect
mi'grate bap'tize pro'tect
lo'cate
com'prise de'pict
Words ending
in -ion are stressed on the penultimate i.e. last but one syllable
appli'cation indi'gestion
civili'zation con'gestion
compo'sition sug'gestion
conver'sation 'question
culti'vation imagi'nation
exami'nation
intro'duction
Words ending in -ic/-ical/-ically/ -ial/-ially/ -ian have
the stress on the syllable preceding the suffix.
-ic -ical -ically
apolo'getic patri'otic apolo'getical apolo'getically
e'lectric scien'tific
sympa'thetic
-ial -ially -ian
me'morial es'sential of'ficially vic'torian
of'ficial super'ficial 'specially
politician
presi'dential cere'monial es'sentially
disciplin'arian
Words
ending in -ious. -eous have the stress on the penultimate (i.e., the last but one) syllable.
-ious -eous
'anxious 'piteous
'anxious 'piteous
in'dustrious cou'rageous
in'jurious 'gorgeous
la'borious 'hideous
re'bellious 'righteous
vic'torious simul'taneous
in'jurious 'gorgeous
la'borious 'hideous
re'bellious 'righteous
vic'torious simul'taneous
Words
ending in -ate,-ise/-ize, -ify, -ity, -cracy, -crat, -graph, -graphy,
-meter,
-logy
Words
of more than two syllables ending in ate, -ise/-ize, -ify are stressed on the ante-penultimate syllable
(i.e., third from the end).
'complicate
|
'colonise
|
'justify
|
'separate(v)
|
'enterprise
|
'classify
|
'educate
|
'brutalise
|
'beautify
|
'cultivate
|
'patronise
|
'certify
|
ar'ticulate
|
'realize
|
'gratify
|
Words ending in -ity
have the stress on the ante-penultimate syllable
(i.e., third from the end)
a'bility curi'osity elec'tricity gene'rosity
possi'bility proba'bility ac'tivity e'quality
Words
ending in -cracy. -crat have the stress on the ante-penultimate syllable
(i.e., third from the end).
-cracy -crat
au'tocracy 'autocrat
dc'mocracy 'democrat
tech'nocracy 'technocrat
plu'tocracy 'plutocrat
aris'tocracy a'ristocrat
bu'reaucracy 'bureaucrat
bu'reaucracy 'bureaucrat
Words ending in -graph, -graphy. -meter, -logy have the stress on the ante-penultimate syllable (i.e., third from the end).
-graph -graphy -meter -logy
'autograph pho'tography
ther'mometer psychology
'paragraph spec'trography lac'tometer
bi'ology
'photograph bi'ography di'ameter zo'ology
Words stressed on the suffix:
Words ending with the suffixes –ain,
-eer. -ental. -ential. -ese, -esce, -escence. -escent. -esque. -ique, -itis. -ee.
-ette -ade etc. are stressed on the suffix.
-ain -aire -eer
ob'tain re'tain millio'naire engi'neer mountai'neer
main'tain ex'plain question'naire volun'teer marke'teer
per'tain ascer'tain car'eer
ob'tain re'tain millio'naire engi'neer mountai'neer
main'tain ex'plain question'naire volun'teer marke'teer
per'tain ascer'tain car'eer
-ental -ential -ese
experi'mental
|
exis'tential
|
Bur'mese
|
funda'mental
|
provi'dential
|
Chi'nese
|
acci'dental
|
presi'dential
|
Assa'mese
|
dcpart'mental
|
Japa'nese
|
|
-esce
|
-escence
|
-escent
|
coa'lesce
|
effer'vescence
|
ado'lescent
|
conva'lesce
|
do'lescence
|
effer'vescent
|
-esque
|
-iquc
|
-ritis
|
pictu'resque
|
phy'sique
|
neu'ritis
|
gro'tesque
|
u'nique
|
arth'ritis
|
-ee
|
-ette
|
-ete
|
pay'ee
|
eti'quette
|
de'lete
|
addres'see
|
ciga'rette
|
re'plete
|
employ'ee
|
ga'zette
|
con'crete (v)
|
absen'tee
|
lhou'ette
|
com'plete
|
-ade
|
||
barri'cade
|
||
cas'cade
|
||
de'grade
|
||
lemo'nade
|
Sentence Stress
Connected
speech in English has its own patterns of accent. Words that are important for
meaning – content words like nouns,
adjectives, principal verbs and adverbs – are generally accented. Grammatical words like articles, personal
and relative pronouns, auxiliary verbs, prepositions and conjunctions are
generally not accented.
The situation is complicated by the fact that
sentences, too, are stressed to underline their meaning. Sentence stress is
very important since we use it to communicate part of the meaning of the
sentence. It also determines the rhythm of our speech. Normally, certain words in a sentence are
spoken more loudly than the others. In the
sentence ------ We are going to Spain for a holiday.------- the
word Spain takes the primary stress, if the sentence is spoken in normal
circumstances. However, when the speaker wishes to emphasize the fact that they
are travelling to Spain for a holiday and not on business, the sentence may be
spoken like this, stressing the last part of the sentence ------ We are going to Spain on a holiday.
INTONATION
To enable the learners familiarize themselves with the
use of the tunes/tones. We have already seen the vibrating glottis which
provides, in sounds, the voiced-voiceless distinction. However, it has another
important role to play in continuous speech, i.e., it provides pitch
fluctuation. By pitch fluctuation, we mean that the pitch of the voice is
continually in the process of either falling or rising while we are talking. In
fact, it never remains constant for more than a fraction of a second. Pitch
fluctuation is found in the speech of all communities. It is not a random
fluctuation but follows well-defined melodic patterns, which are meaningful.
Pitch
The pitch of the voice is
determined by the frequency of the vibration of the vocal cords, i.e., the
number of times they open and close in a second. The patterns of variation of
the pitch of the voice (i.e., the fall or the rise) constitute the intonation of a language. If you say,
Put it down! the pitch of your voice
will move from a high level to a low level. This is called the falling tone. It
can be illustrated thus:
Put it
d
o
w
n!
If you say the same sentence with a rising
tone the pitch of your voice will move from low to high, as shown below:
n!
w
o
Put it d
Tune/tone
shapes
The number of important words in a word
group decides the shape of a tune (tone) and by the attitude you wish to
express. By important words, we mean the words which carry most of the meaning
in a group. For example, in answer to the question "How was Sheila?” you say, "She
was in an appallingly bad temper” - the first four words are not especially
helpful to the meaning, i.e., they are not important. But the last three words
are important: each of them adds to
the picture you are giving of Sheila. Let us see how it might be said:
She was in an appallingly bad
t
e
m
p
e
r.
So the most important word in this group is temper and this decides the shape of the
tune.
Before we talk about the
speakers' attitude(s) let’s see what runes you must learn to use while speaking
English. We cannot teach you all the tunes that English speakers use, but we
will describe the ones that we feel you must know.
The falling tune
The falling tune is sometimes referred to as
the glide-down. It consists of a fall
in the pitch of the voice from a high level to a low level. It is marked [ \ ].
The falling tune is normally used in:
1.
Ordinary statements made without
any implications, e.g.:
a. I 'liked it very \ much
b. It was 'quite \ good.
2.
Questions beginning with a
question-word such as what, how, where,
why, etc., when said in a neutral way, e.g.:
a. 'Who were you \ talking to?
b. 'What's the \
matter?
3. Commands, e.g.:
a. 'Go and 'open the \window.
b. 'Take it a\way.
4.
Exclamations, e.g.:
a.
\Splendid!
b. \How extraordinary!
5. Question tags: when the speaker expects the
listener to agree with him, e.g.:
a.
It’s pleasant to'day, \isn't
it?
b. It was a 'good film, \wasn't it?
6.
Rhetorical questions, e.g.,
where the answer is obvious:
a.
Isn't that\ kind of
her?
b. Wasn't that a \difficult exam?
The rising tune
The rising tune is
sometimes referred to as the glide-up. It consists of a rise in the pitch of the voice from a low level
to a high level. It is marked (
/ )
The rising tune is normally used in:
1.
Incomplete statements, e.g.:
a.
It's 'seven ‘o /
clock (and she hasn't got up as yet.)
b. I'll 'buy you a /dress
(if I go there.)
2.
Polarity type questions which demand a yes/no answer, e.g.:
a.
'Are they /
coming?
b. 'Will you / do it?
3. Non-polarity
(wh-type) questions when said in a warm/friendly way, e.g.:
a.
'How's your /
daughter?
b. 'What's the / matter?
4. Polite
requests, e.g.:
a. 'Go and 'open the / window.
b. 'Take it a /way.
5. Question tags:
when the speaker gives his/her listener the option to disagree with him/her,
a. You're a \ gardener, /aren't
you?
b. It was a \good \ film, /wasn't
it?
6.
Repetition questions, e.g.:
(John told me to do it.) Who told /you?
7. Expected responses, e.g.:
/ Thank you.
(If you wish to express real
gratitude, you should say thank you with
a falling tune. A rising tune shows a rather casual acknowledgement of
something not very important.)
8. Alternative
questions, e.g.:
a.
Do you like / tea, / coffee
or \ coke?
b.
'Shall we / drive or
go by \train?
9.
Enumeration, e.g.:
/ One / two, /
three, / four, \five.
10.
Afterthought, doubt, hesitation, e.g.:
a.
I'd 'buy a \new one, if I could af / ford it.
b.
In 'spring it 'rains a \lot, / generally.
11.
Greetings, partings, apologies, encouragement, e.g.:
a.
Hel/lo.
b.
Good /bye.
c.
I'm so /sorry,
d.
You ought to keep on / trying.
The falling-rising tune
The last of the tunes that you must learn is
the falling-rising tune. This tune is
sometimes referred to as the dive. It
consists of a fall from high to low and then a rise to the middle of the voice.
This tune can be used on either one syllable or different syllables of a word
or sentence. It can be illustrated thus:
e
1. That was n c
i
y
of them.
t
n
2. There were s
e e
v
3. T e
h c
a i
t n
was
If the fall is on one syllable and the rise
begins on a later syllable it is referred to as a divided fall-rise. Sentence 3
is an example of this.
The fall-rise can be marked in two ways. If
the tune is used on one syllable it is marked ( )
e.g.,
seventy.
If the tune is used on different syllables of a word it
is marked ( )
e.g.,
seventy.
If the fall-rise is used on two
different words in a sentence it is marked as in the following example:
\That was,
nice.
The falling-rising tune is normally used for
special implications not verbally expressed. For example if you say
She’s \beautiful
With a falling tune you mean precisely that.
But if you say the same sentence with a falling-rising tune
She’s beautiful
You imply something-perhaps that she is
beautiful, but not intelligent.
Consider the following examples in which the
falling –rising tune is used to convey special implications, e.g.:
a.
I am waiting (so do hurry up).
b.
I haven’t much appetite (but
I’ll join you to be polite).
c.
The ‘houses are nice (but
perhaps to people are not).
This tune can also be used for correcting
what someone has said and as a warning, e.g.:
a.
(He’s forty-five.) Forty- six.
b.
(I like him a lot.) You used to
like him
c.
‘Please be careful.
References:
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