EFFECTIVE ENGLISH
v 24/03/09
F Course Outline.
1. Speaking Skill
1. 1. Segmental Phonology
1. 1. 1. Vowels
1. 1. 1. 1. Monophthong
1. 1. 1. 2. Diphthong
1. 1. 2. Consonants
1. 2. Suprasegmental phonology
1. 2. 1. Syllable
1. 2. 2. Stress
1. 2. 3. Rhythm
1. 2. 4. Intonation
2.
Concord
2. 1. Subject – Verb agreement
2. 2. Pronoun – Antecedent agreement
3. Writing Skill
3. 1. Paragraphing
3. 2. Types of paragraph
F What is language?
Language
can be defined as the system of communication in speech and writing that is
used by people of a particular country or area.
F Speaking Skill.
There
are four main skills in language, namely:
·
Speaking
·
Writing
·
Reading
·
Listening.
Language
exists in two main forms viz; spoken and written. While the spoken form is
primary, the written form is secondary. All human languages exist in the spoken
form but not all languages have been reduced into writing. However, the fact
that a language does not exist in the written form yet does not mean that it is
inferior to a language that has been reduced to writing.
Spoken
language could be studied from the angles of phonetics and phonology.
F Phonetics.
Phonetics
is a branch of linguistics that studies how sounds of a language are produced
in the raw forms. Phonetics has three branches:
·
Articulatory
phonetics
·
Auditory
phonetics and
·
Acoustic
phonetics.
Articulatory
phonetics deals with how a sound is produced by the speaker of a particular
language. Auditory phonetics concerns how a sound is perceived by the hearer.
Acoustic phonetics deals with the sound produced, focusing on properties of the
sound such as frequency, and length among others.
Phonetics
and phonology are closely related but they are not the same thing. While
phonetics is preoccupied with raw sounds, phonology concentrates on the
patterns the sounds of that language have. An important relationship between
phonetics and phonology is that phonology uses the raw materials supplied by
phonetics, while phonology gives phonetics patterns.
F Segmental Phonology.
Phonology
could therefore be defines as the branch of linguistics that studies how sounds
are patterned in a language. Phonology could be approached from segmental and
supra-segmental perspectives. Segmental phonology deals with individual
segments, that is, vowels and consonants.
F Vowels.
A
vowel is a sound produced without any obstruction of the airstream coming from
the lungs. Vowels could be classified as monophthong “Pure Vowels” and
diphthongs “which are made up of two pure vowels but produced as a single
vowel”. English has five long vowels and seven short vowels. It has eight
diphthongs. Thus, there are 20 vowels in English.
±
Monophthong
– Vowel made of one sound: a
vowel sound that keeps the same quality for the whole syllable
±
Diphthong
– two vowels as one syllable: a
complex vowel sound in which the first vowel is gradually raised by a second
vowel so that both vowels form one syllable, such as ‘a’ and ‘i’ in ‘rail’
±
Joined
letters – a character
formed by joining the two letters ‘a’ and ‘e’ as ‘æ’ or the two letters ‘o’ and
‘e’ as ‘œ’
v 31/03/09
F Vowels
1.
/i: / as in foetus, beat, teach, leave, breeze, quay, key.
2.
/i/ as in tick, kick, wanted, expected.
3.
/e/ as in says, said, read, red, fed.
4.
/‚/
as in cat, sat, transparent, rag.
5.
/a: / as in part, fast, task, last, cast, laugh, bask, mask.
6.
/‹/
as in lot, jot, pot, hot what, mock.
7.
/‹:/
as in law, awe, more, pour, door, talk, walk.
8.
/ª/
as in push, pull, good, would, put, should.
9.
/u: / as in juice, ruse, doom, move, broom
10.
/¬/
as in culture, son, sun, cup, love, much, such, judge, bunch, bus.
11.
/¯:/
as in turn, earn, first, birth, furniture, word, world, search, mercy, perch,
merge.
12.
/‘/
as in doctor, daughter, interim, mechanism, teacher.
v 7/04/09
F Diphthongs
13.
/ei/ as in bake, cake, rake, day say, make,
fake.
14.
/ai/ as in kit, write, fight, night, ride,
bride
15.
/aª/
as in now, bow, proud, crowd, foul, fowl
16.
/‹i/
as in boil, oil, foil, toy, boy
17.
/ ’u/as
in no, sow, November, bowl, home, know,
bold, sold, told, road, show
18.
/i‘/
as in near, real, fear, tear, here, ear,
mere
19.
/ª‘/ as in tour, pure,
cure sure, curious, furious
20.
/e‘/ as in care, rare,
fair, fare, there, where.
v 28/04/09
F Consonants.
1.
/P/ as in play, shepherd, top, ripe, past
2.
/b/ as in bottle, crab, bundle, grumble, bread.
3.
/t/ as in blessed, kicked, locked, laughed, tremble
4.
/d/ as in robbed, drug, window, desk, begged
5.
/k/ as in cliché, cork, block, cake.
6.
/g/ as in group, gold, goal, wig, grape, peg
7.
/½/
as in both, birth, through, think, thank, bath
8.
/„/
as in them, then, though, without, bathe, the
9.
/f/ as in bluff, farm, friend, fellowship, festival
10.
/v/ as vest, valley, cave, vast, valour, of
11.
/s/ as in simple, service, cats, caps, serious
12.
/z/ as in zest, zealous, beds, wrongs, zebra,
blessings
13.
/h/ as in home, hospital, help, health
N.B.
/h/ is absent in the following words: hour, heir, honour, honourable, honorary,
honorarium, honest.
14.
/©/
as in sheep, chauffeur, champagne, chalet, satchet,
wish, pressure
15.
/¯/
as in fusion, occasion, inclusion, genre, regime,
conclusion, vision, television, lesion, treasure,
pleasure, division.
16.
/t©/
as in church, Christian, torch, bench, question,
opportunity.
17.
/d¯/
as in John, journey, jump, educate
18.
/m/ as in tomb, plumb, plumber, climb, womb,
bomb, mercy, money, morning, thumb
19.
/n/ know, botton, Britain
20.
/‡/
as in sing, singer, bank, rank, ring
21.
/l/ as in lorry, oil, kettle, living, laundry
22.
/r/ as in river, wrestle, merry, worry, write, robber
23.
/w/ as in west, wonder, wicked, water, wise.
24.
/ j/ as in you, ewe, yes, Europe , young,
university.
± Consonant
Speech
sound other than vowel: consonants are speech sounds produced by partly
or totally blocking the path of air through the mouth, or the corresponding
letter of the alphabet.
F
Organs
of speech; tongue, upper and lower lips, upper and lower teeth, nose, Alveolar
Ridge.
v 05/05/09
F Supra-segmental of English.
These
aspects of phonology of English deals with features that are about individual
segments, that is, vowels and consonants. Such features include syllable,
stress, rhythm and intonation.
F The syllable.
The
syllable is the smallest pronounceable unit of a language. It is made up of
three parts namely; Onset, Nucleus and Coda. Among these
three, only nucleus is obligatory; onset and coda is optional. The onset and
the coda are made up of consonant. The nucleus is made up of vowel. However,
English permits syllabic consonants to occupy the nucleus of a syllable. The
three syllabic consonants in English are /m, n, l/ in the onset position,
English permits a maximum of three consonants while it permits a maximum of
four consonants in the coda position. Therefore, the structure of English
syllable is (Cc 0- 3) V (C 0- 4). These structures
produce different type of syllable such as:
1.
V. Eg: or, awe /‹:/
2.
CV. Eg: go /gԻ/
3.
CCV. Eg: try /trai/ clay /klei/
4.
CCCV. Eg: Spray / sprei/ stray / strei/
5.
CVC. Eg: cat /k‚t/, pot /p‹t/
6.
CVCC. Eg: toads /tԻds/,
sacks /s‚ks/
7.
CCVC. Eg: blame /bleim/, flame /fleim/
8.
CVCCCC. Eg: texts /teksts/ tempts /temts/, prompt /pr‹mpts/,
sixths /siks½s/
9.
VC. Eg: of /‹v/
±
V
= Vowel
±
C
= Consonant.
±
Whatever
comes before a vowel is known as “onset”, while whatever comes after a vowel is
known as “Coda” – (ONC) Onset, Nucleus, and Coda.
±
Onset:
start:
the beginning of
something,
±
Nucleus: Important
element: a
central or most important item or part that has others grouped or built around
it.
±
Coda: Extra
text: an
additional section at the end of a text, for example a literary work or speech
that is not necessary to its structure but gives additional information.
F Stress
If a word is made up of more than
one syllable, it is not the same degree of prominent that is given to them.
Among the syllables, one would be more prominent than the others. That more
prominent one is called “stressed syllable.” Therefore a stressed syllable is
that syllable which is produced with more muscular energy and more breathe
effort than the other syllables. It is also perceived as being louder than the
other syllables.
F Types/Degree of stress.
·
Primary stress
This is assigned to the most
prominent syllable. It is indicated by a small stroke before and after the
syllable that bears it.
·
Secondary stress
This is assigned to the syllable
that is next in prominence to the one that has received the primary stress. It
is indicated by a small stroke before and below the syllable that bears it.
·
Unstressed
syllable[1]
This is syllable that does not
receive either the primary or secondary stress. There is no special way of
indicating it.
F Stress placement in English
In English, stress is free. This
means that any syllable can receive the primary stress. This is why it is
difficult to make rules of stress that are devoid of exceptions. However, some
rules are still needed to guide the second language (L2). Some of the rules are
examined below.
±
A
syllable that contains “schwa”[2]
(V.12) will not be stressed.
±
A
syllable that contains consonant cluster is often stressed.
±
If
the last syllable contains /Ի/,
it will not be stressed.
±
In
most cases, a syllable that contains a long vowel or a diphthong is stressed.
Example:
v
¶Follow
v
¶Challenge
v
¶Madam
v
¶Teacher
v
Suc¶cess
v
¶Calculator
v
¶Educate
v
·Education
v
In¶tact
± 12/05/09
F Intonation
Intonation means variation in the
pitch of a speaker. Normally, the voice does not use the same pitch; at times,
it goes up and at times it comes down. There are four main intonation themes in
English, namely;
 |
|
·
Rise
no
Rise
no  |
|
·
Fall no
Fall no  |
·
Fall-rise no
Fall-rise no  |
|
·
Rise-fall no
F Functions of Intonation.
± Grammatical function of intonation
Intonation can be used to
indicate the sentence type. Usually declarative ‘why-questions’ are say with
the fall tune.
Example:
She is here, what is your name?
Conversely, imperatives and polar
questions are said with rise tune.
Example:
is she here? Get out!
Similarly, intonation can be used
to show clause boundary. In most cases, if a subordinate clause precedes a main
clause, the subordinate clause will be said with rise tune.
Example:
·
When
he got there, here greeted them.
·
Unless
you read, you may not pass.
± Semantic function of intonation.
Intonation can be used to show
the different interpretations that can be given to a sentence.
Examples:
·
Those
who sold, quickly made a profit.
·
Those
who sold quickly, made profit.
NB. The first sentence focused on
selling before making profit while the second sentence focused on time of the
sale before making profit.
± Attitudinal function of intonation
Intonation can be used t show
attitude. Such attitudes include politeness, enthusiasm, and indignations. In
most cases, the rise tune is more welcoming that the fall tune.
F Rhythm
Rhythm has to do with certain
phonetic events that occur at roughly equal time. In some languages, it is the
syllable that is isochronous, i.e. the syllable of the language occurs at
roughly equal intervals. This is the case with most Nigerian indigenous
languages. However, the situation is different with English. It is stress that
is isochronous in English i.e. it is stress that occur at relatively equal
intervals. The time spent to produce a syllable tat is stressed is the time
spent to produce a stressed syllable that has other unstressed syllables after
it. This means that all unstressed syllables following a stressed one will be
compressed and pronounced as a single syllable. This pattern is responsible for
the characteristic fastness noticed in the speech of native speakers of
English.
Generally in English, grammatical
words such as prepositions, conjugations, and articles assume their weak forms
when they occur in connected speech.
|
|
Strong form
|
Weak form
|
|
Them
|
/„‘m/
|
/ð‘m/
|
|
From
|
frŠm/
|
fr’m/
|
|
Of
|
/Šv/
|
/‘v/
|
|
For
|
/f‹:/
|
/f‘/
|
|
To
|
/tª/
|
/t‘/
|
|
Is
|
/iz/
|
/z/
|
1. The man is in that room
„’ m‚nzðt
ru:m
2. All the windows are bad.
‘l„‘ wind‘ªz‘ b‚d
± 19/05/09
F Concord
F Subject – Verb Agreement.
The subject of a sentence is the
performer of the action indicated by the verb or the entity that the sentence
talks about. The verb is the word that indicates the action of the subject or
its state of existence.
± Rule 1.
A subject that is singular in
form and singular in meaning takes a singular verb.
Example:
1. The boy is lazy
2. The head of the students is
around
3. She helps people.
± Rule 2.
The subject that is plural in
form and meaning takes a plural verb.
Examples:
1. Our leaders are corrupt
2. The minutes are not yet ready
3. They were honoured
± Rule 3.
A subject that is plural in form
and singular in meaning takes a singular verb.
Examples:
1. The news is to be broadcasted
soon.
2. Politics is not good for
Christians
3. Economics is my best subject
± Rule 4.
A compound subject that is
singular in meaning takes a singular verb.
Examples:
1. Matthew and sons is selling
shares
2. Bread and butter is poisonous
3. Rice and beans are good for
breakfast (Two meals taken separately)
4. Rice and beans is good for
breakfast (Taken together)
± Rule 5.
If “it”, is used as a grammatical
subject, the verb is singular.
Examples:
1. It is they who will do it.
2. It was she who first slapped
him
3. It is I who am needed.
± Rule 6.
When a number is used as subject,
the verb is plural
Examples:
1. A number of boys are crying
2. A number of parties are
bankrupt
± Rule 7.
When the number … is used as the
subject, the verb is singular
Examples:
1. The number of his concubines
has increased
2. The number of our patrons is
four.
± Rule 8.
When a collective conjunction is
used, the subject that is closest to the verb determines the choice of verb.
This is known as proximity concord. Examples of: either…or, neither…nor, not
only but also.
Examples:
1. Either the man or his boys are
guilty.
2. Either the men or their boy is
coming
3. Neither you nor I am invited.
4. Not only the governors, but
also the President is corrupt.
± Rule 9.
When some expressions are used with
the subject, they don’t affect the verb.
Examples:
1. in conjunction with
2. in collaboration with
3. Alongside
4. in company of etc.
v
Our
dean, in company of all the lecturers is coming to our class today.
v
Our
dean is coming to our class in collaboration with all the lecturers
v
Our
class in collaboration with to other schools has organised a send-off party for
him.
± Rule 10.
When a compound noun refers to a
single entity, a single verb is used.
Examples:
1. The pastor and the founder of
this church are friends (Refers to two different entities)
2. The pastor and founder of this
church is my uncles (refers to the same person)
3. The goalkeeper and skipper of
the Super Eagles is a role model.
± Rule 11.
An indefinite pronoun used as
subject takes a singular verb.
Examples:
1. Somebody is hiding
2. Nobody knows him
3. Something is missing.
± Rule 12.
A collective noun used as subject
could take either a singular or a plural verb but there must be consistency.
Notice that if a singular verb is used, the wholeness of the subject is
emphasised. But if a plural verb is used, the individuality of the subject is
emphasised.
Examples:
1. Our organisation is ready for
the programme.
2. The committee are divided on
this issue.
± Rule 13.
When percentage is used as
subject; the verb could be singular or plural. The verb is singular if the noun
is uncountable; but if the noun is countable, either a singular or plural verb
could be used.
Examples
1. Ninety percent of the yam is
rotten.
2. Sixty percent of the oil in
this keg is adulterated.
3. Five percent of my students
are way-ward.
± Rule 14.
In a sentence that has a copular,
the verb still agrees with the subject even if the nominal entity found in the
predicate position is different in number from the subject
Examples:
1. The problem of this class is
the ladies that surround the members.
2. Our goal is passing this exam
and becoming priests.
± Rule 15
Measurement of time and period
are regarded as a unit; therefore they take a singular verb.
Examples:
1. Forty minutes is enough for
this test.
2. Five years is enough to work
for you.
± Rule 16.
Measurement of weight and
capacity
Examples:
1. Seventy kilograms of turkey is
reserved for Simpar.
2. 20 litres of fuel is
sufficient for this journey.
± Rule 17.
When many “a”… is used as
subject, the verb is singular.
Examples:
1. Many a student is lazy
2. Many a lady is promiscuous.
± Rule 18
When one of… is used as subject,
the verb is singular.
Examples:
1. One of his teeth is bad.
2. One of these cars is for you.
± Rule 19.
When one ---who/which/whom etc,
is used as subject, the verb of the main clause is singular but that of the
subordinate clause depends on the subject of the subordinate clause.
Examples:
1. One of the ladies who sleeps/sleep
here is/are missing.
2. One of the cars which is/are
in your compound has/have been stolen.
± 26/05/09
F Paragraphing
A paragraph is a unit that
expresses a complete thought.
F Types of paragraphs.
There are three main types of
paragraphs
·
Introductory
paragraph
·
Transitory
paragraph
·
Concluding
paragraph
± Introductory Paragraph
The introductory paragraph is the
first paragraph in the piece of writing. It gives an idea of what the whole
essay is about. There is no rigid pattern for writing an introductory
paragraph. It depends on the skill, intention of the writer, and the topic
being addressed. Some people may choose to define the key terms in the topic
while some other people may just express general views on the topic. This
paragraph is like a door to the entire essay. If it is well written, it can
stimulate the interest of the reader. If it is not well written, it can kill
the interest of the reader.
± Transitory Paragraph.
This comprises hat is referred to
as the body of the essay. There is no limit to the number of paragraphs that
could be categorised as transitory paragraph.
± Concluding Paragraph
This is the paragraph that sums
up the entire piece of writing. It is usually made up of one paragraph. In it,
the writer tries to tie the various paths and points of the pieces of writing
together. It should not be unnecessarily long and at the same time, it should
not be unnecessarily short. It is not expected to make any new point and it is
not also expected to repeat any point already made.
F Features of Paragraph
·
Unity.
A good paragraph must have unity.
This means that all the sentences in that paragraph relates to the main idea.
In order words, such paragraph does not contain any extraneous material.
·
Cohesion
This means the logical
arrangement of the sentences that constitutes the paragraph. It means that the
sentences are sequentially arranged. This is quite different from unity. A
paragraph may have unity but lack cohesion. This is the case when the sentences
in the paragraph relate to the main idea but they are haphazardly arranged.
Similarly, a paragraph may have cohesion but lack unity. This is the case when
the sentences are sequentially arranged but when not all of them address the
main idea.
·
Completeness.
A paragraph is complete when it
leaves no essential point unaddressed.
·
Emphasis
A good paragraph should strongly
pursue and state the central idea. This will enable the reader to capture the
essence of that paragraph.
F Thought-flow/Paragraph Development Pattern
·
Chronological
This is a pattern in which the
events/ideas are presented in the order in which they occur. Example, if three
events are to be presented in a single paragraph and the three events happened
at different times, say, 7:00 am, 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm, the paragraph pattern
would be described as chronological if that order of occurrence is followed.
·
Analytical
This is a pattern in which an
issue or an idea is analysed. This analysis may be subjective or objective. In
most cases, it is coloured by the writer’s ideas.
·
Definition
This thought-flow pattern
involves giving n operational definition to a concept. Issues that involve
going beyond the conventional view-points are usually approached from this
angle. However, this pattern could also involve presenting conventional
definition and dictionary definitions of concepts.
·
Description.
When a paragraph describes a
concept, a phenomenon, a place, a personality or any issue, it is described as
descriptive. In such a paragraph, adjectives and adverbs are copiously used.
·
General-Particular/Particular-General
If the ideas in a paragraph are
presented first from how they affect a small entity and then how they affect
larger entities, it follows the particular-general pattern, if the order is
reversed, it is general-particular.
·
Cause effect.
In this thought-flow pattern, the
cause of a particular incident is stated and the effect is also included
·
Problem-solution
This thought-flow pattern
involves stating a problem and proffering solution(s) to it.
·
Expository
In this pattern, attempt is made
to expose the reader to a particular concept or issue. This involves
simplifying or demystifying the issue or concept.
Geography
Inferiority
Interpret
Steadfastness
University
Sellotape
[1] Syllable: unit of spoken language: a unit of
spoken language that consists of one or more vowel sounds alone, a syllabic
consonant alone, or any of these with one or more consonant sounds
letters
corresponding to spoken syllable: one or more letters in a word that
roughly correspond to a syllable of spoken language
[2]
Schwa: unstressed vowel: an unstressed
vowel, for example ‘a’ in ‘above’ or ‘e’ in ‘sicken’. It is represented in the
International Phonetic Alphabet by the symbol ə. Also called
indeterminate vowel.
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