UNIT – 4

Introduction

4.1       Syllables

A syllable can be defined as a single or unbroken sound of a written or spoken word. It is a unit of uninterrupted speech which must contain a  vowel sound a diphthong or a syllabic consonant. They are also known as beats of a spoken language.

Syllables often contain a vowel with a singular or multiple consonants but that does not mean that there are no syllables without vowels. Some syllables contain only consonants but they do have a verbal sound in them.

A word can be monosyllabic as well as polysyllabic. Monosyllabic meaning it will consist only one syllable for example the words dog, bat, try, shy, kill, heel etc. While polysyllabic words might contain two or more than two syllables, for example, computer (comp-u-ter), relax (re-lax), independent (in-de-pen-dent), extra (ex-tra), document (do-cu-ment).

Syllabus are not to be confused with phonemes as phonemes  represent the smallest unit of sound whereas syllables represent and unbroken sound within the word. For example the word chat is made up of three phonemes /ch/ /a/ and /t/, however it contains only one syllable – chat.

There are a few basic rules to determine the number of syllables in a word, they are as follows –

1. Prefixes and suffixes must always be separated from root words.

Examples: Pre-view, End-less, Il-literate

2.      If there are two or more consonants next to each other there is always a division between the first and second consonant.

Examples: Buf-fet, Des-sert, Ob-ject.

However if the two consonants produce a single sound they are not to be divided.

Examples: th, sh, ph, ch, sc.

3.      If a consonant is surrounded on either sides buy a vowel –

1.  If the volume has a long sound it has to be divided before the consonant.

Examples: Ba-by. Re-sult, Fro-zen

b.     If the Vowel has a short sound, it has to be divided after the consonant.

Examples: Mo-del, Ra-vage, Me-tal

4.      Words that end with ‘ckle’ have to be divided right before the ‘le’

Examples: Freck-le, Tick-le, Buck-le

5.      Word that end with ‘le’ without the ‘ck’ –

1. If the letter before ‘le’ is a consonant it has to be divided one letter before ‘le’.

Examples: Ap-ple, Fa-ble, Ta-ble

b.     If the letter before ‘le’ is a vowel, it should be considered as a single syllable.

Understanding the use of syllables is very essential to improve one’s skill while speaking. Syllabic structure in spoken English is quite flexible, for example a single vowel can be considered a whole syllabus like in the word Unequal (Un-e-qual).

4.2       Structures

Structure in English grammar simply means how the different parts of speech are arranged and organised in a sentence so as to form a complete coherent thought. The English language comprises of many parts such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs conjunctions, prepositions, adjectives etc. It is through the correct use of these elements in a sentence that it becomes meaningful. Therefore it is essential to understand how each of these parts of speeches has to be structured in a sentence.

There are mainly four types of sentence structures in English language –

1. Simple Sentence:

A simple sentence consists of only a subject and a verb. It may also contain an object but it will always have only one independent clause.

Examples: They Studied.

                    I used the shaver.

                    He will not fight.

An independent Clause is a group of words containing a noun and a verb which expresses a complete thought.

2.      Compound Sentence:

Compound sentences are sentences which comprise two or more independent clauses these clauses are often combine using a semi-colon or an appropriate conjunction.

Examples: I took my umbrella to work today but it did not rain.

                    He organized his files by tags; then, he updated his reference list.

                   She tried to write a good review and she succeeded in her efforts.

3.      Complex Sentence:

A complex sentence is a type of structure that consists of at least one independent clause and one dependent clause/subordinate clause. Dependent clause is a group of words that contain a subject and a verb but they do not express a complete thought.

In a compound sentence, a dependent clause will usually refer to the subject (who, which) the sequence/time (since, while), or the causal elements (because, if) of the independent clause.

Examples:  Because he did his work so diligently, he was praised by                    everyone in the room.

                           Jake cried because he couldn’t hit the ball.

He studied for hours and hours with no interest in the subject whatsoever.

4.      Complex-Compound Sentence:

The complex-compound sentence is the combination of complex and compound sentence structures. A complex compound sentence will contain at least two independent clauses and at least one subordinate clause.

Examples:  She did not mean to hurt him, but he wouldn’t listen to reason, so she had no choice.

                     Bill tried to apologize to the manager but she ignored him, so he quit the job.

                     I’m not wrong for thinking this way because I have been hurt in the past as I was a naïve young boy.

4.3       Strong and Weak Forms of Words.

Depending on the stress placed on word while a sentence is being spoken the words can be divided into two types’ strong forms and weak forms.

Grammatical words such as prepositions conjunctions auxiliary verbs and adverbs do not contain any meaning and themselves but are essential for the construction of a sentence. Sometimes while speaking very little or no stress is placed in these words and therefore their effect is weakened. The weakened form of these words is known as weak form. On the other hand some words in a sentence are pronounced with great stress to emphasize them. The emphasized form of these words is known as Strong form.

Strong form only occurs when the words are pronounced separately or they are emphasized on purpose.

Strong forms usually include content words such as nouns and independent verbs whereas weak forms usually include structure words such as verbs, adverbs and adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliary verbs.

It is essential to learn the proper usage of strong and weak forms of words in order to hone one’s skill during speaking.

1. Amar can play the piano.

Here the word ‘can’ is unstressed and therefore is in its weak form. Whereas the words Amar, play, the and piano are strong forms.

2.     Martha is from California.

Here the words ‘is’ and ‘from’ are unstressed and are in weak forms.

Whereas the words, ‘Martha’ and ‘California’ are strong forms of the two nouns.

A lot of function words in the English language can have both strong and weak forms.

• auxiliary verbs such as - am, are, be, been, can, could, do, does, has, had, shall, should, was, were, would,
• prepositions - at, for, from, of, to,
• pronouns - he, her, him, his, me, she, them, us, we, you,
• conjunctions - for, and, but, or, than, that,
• particles - to,
• Articles - a, the, an.

4.4            Word Formation – Prefixes and Suffixes

Word formation simply means creation of a new word by changing its meaning or by changing its form. 

There are two ways by which new words can be formed, first by adding a prefix to the root of the word which generally changes the meaning of the word completely, sometimes by emphasis and other times by creating antonyms, whereas suffixes usually alter the form of a word, changing its behaviour in a sentence.

Prefixes are a group of letters that are added at the beginning of a word and suffixes are a group of letters that are added at the end of a word

Below are examples of some commonly used prefixes with their meanings:

Below are some examples of the most commonly used suffixes with the change in forms of words:

4.5       Contractions and Abbreviations:

Contractions and Abbreviations are ways in which a word can be shortened. While both contractions and abbreviations are used for the same purpose they do share their differences.

The use of Abbreviations and Contractions has increased even more ever since the advent of mobile phones and the internet. Mails, texts and general written communication often make use of abbreviations and contractions.

Contractions:

A contraction is a shortened form of a word that omits certain letters from the word. Contractions usually omit letters from the middle of a word instead of the last letters. Contractions are usually made up of verbs, auxiliary verbs and modals that are attached to other words.

Below are few examples of some commonly used contractions:

Doctor – Dr.

Saint – St.

Private Limited. – Pvt. Ltd.

There is another type of contracted form where two words are usually combined and shortened. These words are separated by an apostrophe. They are abbreviated forms of more than one word. The omitted letters are represented by an apostrophe just as they are represented by a period in abbreviated words.

Below are some examples of these types of contractions:

1. She isn’t that pretty.

Here the words is and not are combined to form the contraction isn’t.

2.     You can’t say that in front of others.

Here the words can and not are combined to form can’t.

3.     Let’s go to the park in the evening.

Here the words let and us are combined to form let’s.

4.     That wasn’t my intention at all.

Here the words was and not are combined to form wasn’t.

Some other examples of these kinds of contractions include we’re, doesn’t, aren’t, don’t, would’ve, should’ve, I’d, he’d, we’ll, you’ll, they’ll etc.

These contractions are widely spoken in daily speech but one should avoid the use of such contractions in formal writing. Some contractions like should’ve are often pronounced as ‘should of’ which the speaker might not take into notice but they should never be written as such.

Abbreviations:

An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word where the last letters of a word are omitted.  Abbreviation is useful in writing when one has to cram a lot of words into a small space. Although they help at simplifying the language it is essential to note that one must avoid using them in formal writing except for some universal abbreviations. It is essential to know if your audience knows the abbreviation before using it while conversing with them.

Below are examples of some commonly used abbreviations:

Professor – Prof.

B.S. = Bachelor of Science B.A. = Bachelor of Arts M.A. = Master of Arts M.B.A. = Master of Business Administration Ph.D. = Doctor of Philosophy

UN – United Nations

Times and dates -

a.m. (ante meridiem) = before noon p.m. (post meridiem) = after noon

Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec.

Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., Sun.

Places -

U.S. (United States), U.K. (United Kingdom), E.U. (European Union), U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates).

Units of Measurement -

in. (inches) ft. (feet) lbs. (pounds)

mm. (Millimetres) cm. (centimetres) m. (meters)

There are some rules that must be kept in mind while using abbreviations, they are as follows:

1. Periods should be used in abbreviations that contain lowercase letters. For example – c.o.d.
2. Periods should not be used for organizations, titles, time zones, businesses, and acronyms. For Example: UN, CIA, NASA, ISRO, IBM, EST.
3. Proper nouns always have capitalized abbreviation such as United Nations – UN or World Health Organization – WHO. Common noun do not have capitalized abbreviation such as compact disk – cd or air conditioner – ac.

4.6       Spelling Rules and Words Often Misspell 

Figuring out how to spell words is one of the most helpful long lasting abilities and it fabricates the fundamental establishment that all individuals will require all through their training and life when all is said in done. Figuring out how to spell is significant for other fundamental abilities, including reading and writing. In addition, being acceptable at spelling may affect the future vocations of understudies.

Spelling in English language can be very complicated. Words are often not spelled the way they are pronounced. There are silent letters and invisible letters in various words which make it difficult for one to use correct pronunciation while speaking and write the spelling correctly. Therefore it is significant to be acquainted with various spelling rules in order to be good at writing in English.

Following are some basic rules that one can follow if they found themselves in a spelling dilemma:

1. Rule 1: Double Consonants

Double consonants can often change the meaning and pronunciation of a word. It’s is difficult to figure out double consonants when a word is spoken, especially if the word has only one syllable. Double consonants can be usually found with words having suffixes added to them.

Example: She dropped her keys on the floor by accident.

Some words can be pronounced as either mono syllabic or bi syllabic.

Example: Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Here the word ‘blessed’ is pronounces as Bless-ed.

Whereas in the sentence below, blessed is pronounced as ‘blest’.

Example: He got blessed by both his father and mother.

2.     Rule 2: “I before E, except after C”

Although this rule got many exceptions it can be used as a general guideline. This rule states that if a word got both I and e in it, then I will come before e. But if the word also has a c before I and e, then the I will come after e.

I before E

Example: This game is a piece of cake.

Except After C

She received a suspicious package on her birthday.

3.     Rule 3: Plural Words

Some words can be changed into plural forms by adding suffixes like ‘s’ and ‘es’. The question remains where to use the ‘s’ suffix and where to use the ‘es’ suffix.

The rule is this: if a word ends in ‑s, ‑sh, ‑ch, ‑x, or ‑z, the suffix –es should be used.

Example: The Genie granted Aladdin three wishes but gave Jaffar only one wish.

For all other kinds of words the suffix ‘s’ can be used.

Example: Jake got three chocolates while Julie got only one chocolate.

There are also a number of words that don’t change spellings when their plural forms are used such as, Moose, fish, sheep.

Also there are a number of words that change their vowels when converted to plural forms such as foot-feet, goose-geese, mouse-mice etc.

4.     Rule 4: The Silent E

Usually the ‘e’ at the end of a word which is preceded by a consonant is silent. This however, does not affect the way the vowel before the last consonant is pronounced. It is essential to be careful while using ‘e’ at the end of a word as it might change the meaning of said word.

Example:

The monkey bit me. Keep your fingers out of the cage: the monkeys bite.

Here the tense of the word ‘bit’ changed after adding the suffix ‘e’.

The addition of ‘e’ might also create a completely different word such as in cut – cute.

While adding suffixes such as –ed, -er, or –est, the silent ‘e’ is usually dropped from the end.

Example: She had blue eyes. She had the bluest eyes I had ever seen.
 

5.     Rule 5: Suffixes to Words Ending With ‘y’

When a suffix is added to a word that starts with E (such as -ed, -er, or -est) to a word that ends in Y, the Y typically will change to an I.

Examples:  Baby – Babies, Cry – Cries, Family –Families.

If the suffix –ing is added to a word ending with ‘y’, the ‘y’ is not removed.

Examples: Carry – Carrying, Cry – Crying

If a word contains two consonants before the ‘y’ one should change the ‘y’ to ‘I’ before adding the suffix ‘ly’

Example: Happy – Happily, Lucky – Luckily.

Words which are often misspelt:

Commonly misspelt English words are some of the most used words that are unintentionally misspelt by users in day to day writing. Although it is difficult to determine which words are more prone to spelling mistakes, words with double consonants, multiple connected vowels, and long arduous words are more commonly misspelt compared to other words.

Below are some of the most commonly misspelt words in the English Language:

The first column represents the correct spelling of the word followed by the mistake commonly made by writers and the last column represents the misspelt form of the word used.

4.7       Word Pairs

Word pairs are two or more words which, if used in proper context give a different meaning than when they are used separately. In other words, they are a coupling of words that go very well together.

Word pairs may also include collocations. Collocations are two or more words that are often used collectively. They sound natural to the native ear.

 These word pairs are often non-reversible, meaning the sequence of the words in a word pair cannot be interchanged.

Below are some examples of the most commonly used word pairs in the English language:

Following examples describe how collocations are used in sentences:

1. Are you fully aware of the consequences you’re about to face?
2. He fell on the ground in excruciating pain.
3. The bomb went off when he started the car engine.
4. The prisoner was hanged for committing homicide.
5. After her eyes were filled with horror, suddenly she burst into tears.

4.8        Sequence of Tenses (Rules in Use of Tenses)

Tenses determine whether something has happened, is happening, or will happen. The tense of a verb describes its position in time.

Tenses can be divided into 3 main types and further sub dived into 4 types:

PRESENT TENSES

1. SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE: In this type of tense the action is still taking place, there is no mention of its completeness.

Example: I sleep.
She studies vocabulary every day.

2. PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE: In this type of tense the action is still in progress, therefore the use of the word ‘continuous’.
 

Example: I am sleeping.
I am eating lunch, I will call you later.

3. PRESENT PERFECT TENSE: In this type of tense the action has already been completed, hence the use of the word ‘perfect’.

Example: I have slept.
I have eaten Chinese food a few times already.

4. PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: In this type of tense, the action has started taking place beforehand and is still ongoing.

Example: I have been sleeping.
I have been eating a lot of vegetables lately.

PAST TENSES

1. SIMPLE PAST TENSE: In this type of tense the action which is mentioned has already taken place in the past, there is no continuity.

Example: I got some sleep yesterday.

2. PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE: This type of tense describes an on-going action that took place in the past.

Example: I was having lunch when u called yesterday.

3. PAST PERFECT TENSE: This type of tense describes a completed action which took place in the past.

Examples: I had slept.
I had already eaten when my doorbell rang.

4. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: This type of tense describes an action which started in the past and continued until another point in time, still in the past.

Example: I had been sleeping for two hours before my friend arrived.

FUTURE TENSES

1. SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE: This type of tense describes an action taking place in the future; there is no mention of its continuity.
Example: I will sleep.
I shall finish my project by tomorrow morning.

2. FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE: This type of tense describes an action that will take place in the future but will still be ongoing.

Example: I will be sleeping at 11 p.m.
I’ll be staying at my parents’ house for a few weeks.

3. FUTURE PERFECT TENSE: This type of tense describes an action that will occur in the future before another action in the future.

Example: I will have slept before you arrive.                  

4. FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: This type of tense describes an on-going action in the future before a completed action in a specific point in time.

Example: I will have been sleeping for seven hours by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.
I will have been studying for two hours by the time my parents arrive.

Below are some basic rules regarding the sequencing of tenses:

Rule 1

A past tense in the independent clause is always followed by a past tense in the subordinate clause.

Example: I found out that she was out of town.

However, there is an exception to this rule. When the independent clause in the past tense, the subordinate clause can be in the present tense if a universal truth is being stated by it. 

Example: The children were taught that honesty is the best policy.

Another exception to this rule is when the word ‘than’ is used in the sentence to introduce the subordinate clause. In this case, the subordinate clause can be used in any tense irrespective of the tense of the independent clause.

Rule 2

If the tense used with the independent clause is in the present or future tense, the tense of the subordinate clause can be in any tense based on what needs to be conveyed.

Example: She is saying that she is alright. She says she is fine.

Rule 3

If the independent clause is in the future tense, the subordinate clause is not used in the future tense instead a subordinating clause beginning with when, until, before, after etc. is used.

Example: I will call you when dinner is ready. I shall wait until you return.

Rule 4

When the subordinate clause is introduced with the conjunction ‘that’, the following rules must be followed,

• ‘May’ should be used in the subordinate clause when the independent clause is in the present tense.
• ‘Might’ should be used in the subordinate clause when the independent clause is in the past tense.

Example: We eat that we may live. She tried to live so that he might have a chance at life.

Rule 5

When some phrases such as If only, wish that, what if, it is time are used, the clauses that follow it are always in the past tense.

Example: I wish I could eat another ice cream.