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Course: English-II (6465)

Semester: Spring, 2020
Level: B. Ed (2.5 & 4 Years)
ASSIGNMENT No.1

Q. 1 Give a detailed note on Active Language?

Answer:

When writing marketing content, you may hear terms used such as active and passive voice.
While you might have heard how vital active voice is for marketing content, you may find
yourself asking what active voice is. Why is it so important, and more importantly, how can I
use it?

When writing, your sentences will form what is either called passive voice or active voice.
The primary difference between the two is the word order, which makes the subject of the
sentence either actively performing the verb or inaccurately presents the subject as a direct
object. Whether the voice is passive or active will wholly depend on the relationship
between the subject of the sentence and the verb used. To illustrate the point an example
of passive voice would be,

“The rabbit is being chased by the dog.”

The subject, the dog, is performing the action, but this sentence is phrased as though it’s
begin acted upon. An example of the same sentence worded in the active voice would be:

“The dog chased the rabbit.”

In this sentence, it is clear that the dog is performing the action.

Why do Many Writers Write in Passive Voice?

Authors get into the habit of using passive voice because it is the most common type of
voice use used in academic writing. Academic writing typically refers to active language as
more simplistic and finds it less effective at highlighting the important participant in the
sentence, which, although counterintuitive, is not always the subject.

Passive voice can help to add more description and help a writer develop the subject more
in-depth. In active writing, the action becomes more important than the performer of the
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action, which is inconsistent with the goal of most academic papers. Using passive voice in
academic papers is also more acceptable because the word counts are significantly longer
and meant to be read by peers that will be spending a long time reading the piece.
Unfortunately, passive voice can often dilute the action in the content, which causes more
difficulty for the reader when used in shorter marketing pieces.

Why is Active Voice Important in Content?

Now that we have established what active voice is, you may be wondering why active voice
is so important in content marketing. When writing marketing content, you will want to
utilize active voice as often as possible. Using active voice in content marketing helps to:

 Engage – Action verbs and active voice help the reader get into the story and
directly engages with the reader.

 Readability – Active language and phrases are easier to read than passive verbiage,
especially for those whose first language is not English.

 Persuade – All content is created with the purpose of calling the reader to action,
either by doing business with your company or sharing your content. Using action
verbs and active language makes your writing persuasive and engaging.

 Momentum – When you write in passive voice, your content becomes drawn out
and less exciting to read. By using active language throughout your content, you will
keep your readers from scrolling to the end of the article or leaving the page.

 Connect – Web content is meant to provide information in a way that is quick and
easy to digest. Consistently using passive language can cause articles and posts to
sound more academic, sometimes to the point of alienating readers.

Incorporating Active Voice in Your Content

Active voice is essential to creating dynamic online content, so naturally, the next step is to
incorporate more active language in your content. Although one of the easiest ways to
identify active and passive language is by reading your content out loud, there are specific
things that you can look for that can help you quickly identify and revise passive language.

Make Sure the Subject is Performing the Action

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One of the quickest ways to identify and change passive to active language is by making
sure that the subject is performing the action in the sentence. In a passive sentence, the
subject will have the action being performed on them instead of acting as a participant in
the sentence. When you notice this kind of passive voice, you can often flip the subject with
the direct object and remove the helping verb to make the subject become the active
participant. For example, you can change “The fish was caught by the man,” to “The man
caught the fish,” simply by switching the subject and the direct object.

Watch Out for Helping Verbs

Passive voice often contains helping verbs like am, is, are, was and were, being, been, and
be, have, has had, do, does, did, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must, can, and could.
While these verbs do not always have to change, if you notice them in your content, you will
want to read the sentence to see if it is creating passive voice. Sometimes simply
eliminating the helping verb can turn a passive phrase into an active one.

Read the Sentence Aloud to Check Readability

Sentences that use active language are easier to read. Trust your ear: if you are reading the
information aloud and it sounds awkward, it’s probably using passive voice.

Make Sure You Understand Who is Performing the Action

When checking a sentence for active language, you should be able to easily identify who or
what the subject is and what action is being performed. If it’s unclear which noun is
performing the verb, the sentence is probably written passively. To change to the active
voice, rethink the sentence so that the subject and the action they are performing is
apparent. Using active voice in your content will increase readability, provide better
customer engagement, and promote action and interaction with your website. Being able to
identify both active and passive voice and knowing the steps you can follow to change
them is an essential part of content marketing training, Try the tips above to help your
content get active and get the viewers you need.

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Q. 2 Write a detailed essay on shorter sentences?

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Answer:

The sentence length check in Yoast SEO warns against using too many long sentences. But
what makes a sentence too long? Why should you avoid too many long sentences? And
how do you chop up one longer sentence into several shorter sentences? In this article, we’ll
explain why you shouldn’t use too many long sentences and how to do this!

Why shouldn’t you use too many long sentences?

Longer sentences are generally more difficult to read than shorter sentences. Try reading
this sentence, for example:

Although it was clear that Brian had listened intently when it was explained to him what he
should do and he had actually followed most of the instructions exactly as the instructor had
written down for him on the sheet of paper to make sure he would remember them, he had
added the packet of sugar which was already on the kitchen counter rather than the vanilla
extract which he actually should have used which was still in the kitchen cabinet because he
had forgotten that the instructor had told him to always put every ingredient on the kitchen
counter in advance to make sure he wouldn’t forget anything, which completely ruined the
recipe as it was that very same vanilla that gave the dessert its distinct flavor.

Phew, are you still there? Did you notice your mind wandering off mid-sentence? Mine sure
did. If yours did too, that’s because it’s difficult to process information that isn’t structured.
Before you can wrap your head around the information, a new piece of information is
already vying for your attention. That’s actually a big reason why we use periods. Periods
actually say: “OK, this is the end of what I want to say, let that sink in before you
continue”. Let’s rewrite this passage with shorter sentences.

Brian had listened intently when it was explained to him what he should do. He had actually
followed most of the instructions exactly as the instructor had written them down for him on
the sheet of paper. The instructor had wanted to make sure he would remember them. But
Brian had made a big mistake. He had added the packet of sugar which was already on the
kitchen counter. Actually, he should have used the vanilla extract. The extract, however, was
still in the kitchen cabinet. After all, he had forgotten that the instructor had told him to
always put every ingredient on the kitchen counter in advance. This would’ve helped him
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remember. The different sugar ruined the recipe. It was the vanilla extract, after all, that gave
the dessert its distinct flavor.

This fragment is a lot easier to read and more engaging. Shorter sentences make it easier to
get your message across. And make no mistake: this is true for more advanced readers as
well. We’ve lost count of the number of people who have ignored our advice because they
are “writing for a sophisticated audience”. It doesn’t matter. Clear and concise writing
benefits everyone. Your content can be as complex as you want it to be. Your writing
shouldn’t. Period.

Express only one idea in each sentence. Long, complicated sentences often mean that you
aren’t sure about what you want to say. Shorter sentences are also better for conveying
complex information; they break the information up into smaller, easier-to-process units.

Sentences loaded with dependent clauses and exceptions confuse the audience by losing
the main point in a forest of words. Resist the temptation to put everything in one sentence;
break up your idea into its parts and make each one the subject of its own sentence.

 Before

Once the candidate’s goals are established, one or more potential employers are identified.
A preliminary proposal for presentation to the employer is developed. The proposal is
presented to an employer who agrees to negotiate an individualized job that meets the
employment needs of the applicant and real business needs of the employer.

 After

Once we establish your goals, we identify one or more potential employers. We prepare a
preliminary proposal to present to an employer who agrees to negotiate a job that meets
both his and your employment needs.

Complexity is the greatest enemy of clear communication. You may need to be especially
inventive to translate complicated provisions into more manageable language. In the
following example, we have made an “if” clause into a separate sentence. By beginning the
first sentence with “suppose” (that is, “if”) and the second sentence with “in this case” (that
is, “then”) we have preserved the relationship between the two.
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 Before

If you take less than your entitled share of production for any month, but you pay royalties
on the full volume of your entitled share in accordance with the provisions of this section,
you will owe no additional royalty for that lease for prior periods when you later take more
than your entitled share to balance your account. This also applies when the other
participants pay you money to balance your account.

 After

Suppose that one month you pay royalties on your full share of production but take less
than your entitled share. In this case, you may balance your account in one of the following
ways without having to pay more royalty. You may either:

o Take more than your entitled share in the future; or

o Accept payment from other participants

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Q. 3 Explain the role of Jargons in writing?

Answer:

Jargon is necessary in academic writing. It provides a shortcut for concepts that would
otherwise take many sentences to describe. It signals the author’s awareness of, and
presence within, in-group conversations. Jargon also has stylistic value: Aristotle tells us that
the inclusion of uncommon words “is necessary in style, for the strange (or rare) word, the
metaphorical, the ornamental will raise it above the commonplace and mean” (p. 37, trans.
Butcher, see also Garber 2003 p. 100).

Academics need jargon, and yet it is widely derided. A 2015 article in The Atlantic,  “The
Needless Complexity of Academic Writing,” describes scholarly writing as “riddled with
professional jargon.” The article cites the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize – winning research of Daniel
Oppenheimer, which showed that readers judge the authors of hard-to-read texts as less
intelligent than the authors of easy-to-read texts. Yet Dr. Oppenheimer’s research focused
on the judgments of undergraduate students, not experts, and came with the caveat that
experts “find the jargon [of their peers] a great deal more fluent than non-experts” (p. 152).
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However, the fact that jargon is unavoidable (sometimes even necessary), for good
academic writing isn’t license to use any ol’ 10-dollar word. Let’s look at three different
types of jargon and the contexts in which you should and shouldn’t use each type.

Jargon Type 1: Niche terms for your discipline or field

“Embouchure” is indeed the best way to describe playing the trumpet, but only when you’re
writing for other trumpet-players. When you’re writing for non-musicologists — if, for
example, you want to publish in an interdisciplinary journal dedicated to a time period or
movement — include a picture or a description that integrates sensory language, so that
your readers can see embouchure in their mind’s eye.

Similarly, “equanimity” is an apt word for psychologists to use when talking amongst
themselves, and likewise “oncogenesis,” for medical doctors speaking to other MDs. But if
your research has the potential to be relevant across disciplinary fields — if you are, for
instance, researching resilience among newly diagnosed cancer patients — you’d do best to
speak about “level-headedness” and “the process through which healthy cells become
transformed into cancer cells,” respectively. (With thanks to Nature for the concise definition
of “oncogenesis”).

Jargon Type 2: Acronyms

WHUFC doesn’t like VAR because it isn’t part of the DNA of the EPL. And if you don’t follow
English soccer, WHUFC and VAR and EPL will simply be alphabet soup to you.

Some acronyms (in this case, initialisms, to use some editor jargon) are common
knowledge. There’s no value in spelling out “deoxyribonucleic acid” or “computerized
tomography” when most people will recognize “DNA” and “CT” scans.

Other acronyms function the same as any other field-specific piece of jargon: VAR is to
soccer fans what embouchure is to brass instrument fans. That is, it’s fine to use these terms
within niche, closed conversations.

But then there are the acronyms that individual researchers develop within their own
writing. If you are the only person who uses “EMF” to mean “embouchure mouth
formation,” then I advise against including the acronym, even if you spell out the full term
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upon first using it. As Dr. Oppenheimer showed, using uncommon language — such as

invented acronyms — makes a text harder for a reader to take in, which leads to the reader
believing that the writer is less intelligent than the writer of an easy-to-understand text.

Not all long words are bad to write; not all short words are good — and when your short
word is an acronym that will be unfamiliar to your reader, I’d encourage you to seriously
consider simply spelling out the phrase.

Jargon Type 3: “Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity”

Or, as Dr. Oppenheimer translates, “using long words needlessly” — it’s a cliché of scholarly

writing. There’s no need to “utilize” tools when you can simply “use” them. And did your
process really “commence,” or did it actually just “start”?

Jargon words and acronyms are one thing; unnecessarily complex words are another thing
entirely. It’s fine to use whatever words come to your fingertips when you first draft a piece.
Still, you should identify and eliminate these needless ten-dollar words as you get close to
publishing your work.

If you want your readers to understand, remember, and cite your work, then it’s in your best
interests to reduce the cognitive load that your writing places on your readers.

Identifying jargon

To identify the jargon and unhelpful long words in your text, get outside of your insider’s
perspective on your own writing and your own field’s vocabulary. The best way to do that is
to have someone else read your work. Trade manuscripts with a colleague or circulate your
paper among your writing group. Hire an editor if you want.

If you’re friendless, writing-group-less, or editor-less, though — or if you like using free

algorithms to identify patterns in your writing — then the following two online tools may
help you to find and edit the jargon in your work:

1. Simple Writer

To use Simple Writer, cut and paste your text into the “put words here” field, and the little
robot will identify (in red) the “less simple words” you’ve included in your text. Some of
these red words will be jargon.
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Simple Writer was developed by Randall Munroe, who’s Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff
in Simple Words explains complex machines and systems using a set of the 1000 most
common words in English. Thing Explainer  is popular in a number of scientific and medical
fields: it was, for example, the model used to develop these delightful simplified
explanations of the new research coming out of Rebecca Todd’s Motivated Cognition Lab at
University of British Columbia.

2. Simplish.org

Going a step beyond Simple Writer, Simplish.org will suggest a rephrased, simplified version

of your writing. However, the Simplish robot is imperfect: “It’s fine to use these terms within
niche, closed conversations” was simplified as “It is in very small grains to use these terms
within special place, closed talks.” Essentially, robots can’t translate well. Still, Simplish’s
colour-coded system is helpful in identifying words that may put a barrier in your reader’s
path.

Using jargon appropriately

When publishing, the key is to understand the full scope of your work’s implications. Might
you be touching on a wicked problem that needs many brains and many perspectives to
solve? If so, be diligent in ensuring that a range of readers can understand your work.
Alternatively, are you speaking solely to those in the know, and purposefully excluding
readings from outside of your subfield? Then, use your niche shorthand.

When applying for research funding that is adjudicated by peer review, write as if you are
writing for your niche audience. An analysis of the American National Science Foundation’s
data suggests that grant applications that include jargon are associated with receiving more
award money:

Grant abstracts that are longer than the average abstract, contain fewer common words,
and are written with more verbal certainty receive more money from the NSF
(approximately $372 per one-word increase). … According to the data, there is little financial
incentive to write according to the NSF’s guideline for plain and simple language.
(Markowitz 2019)
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How much Dr. Markowitz’s findings can be extrapolated to non-American, non-scientific

funding applications has yet to be interrogated. Given, though, the widespread suspicion
and emerging evidence that interdisciplinary research is harder to get funded than
traditional disciplinary work, there seems to be good justification for treating your next
grant application as if it were a publication in a discipline-specific journal.

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Q. 4 Give comprehensive overview of Audience Profile?

Answer:

A strong and well though-out audience profile can help you build up a relationship between
you and your prospects, in turn gaining sales and returning customers through brand
loyalty.

Once you have defined your target audience successfully, you are able to monitor their
buying behaviour. You can then target each segment/audience differently with the best
messaging for each persona, giving you a stronger chance of a good ROI.

When you fully understand who your audience is specifically, the world is your oyster:

 You can look to solve your audience’s problems.

 Build up a relationship with your audience and develop brand loyalty.

 Understand their problems and tailor your marketing to what they want and need.

 Grow your brand with customer testimonials and a reputation that sells itself.

Why Do We Profile?

When time and money is involved, you really don’t want your marketing to be a stab in the
dark or a matter of trial and error. There are many reasons for why we create audience
profiles, here are a few:

• Audience profiling is good for ROI. However much time and money you put into your
marketing, you will be rewarded highly.

• Keep up with your competitors. As technologies become increasingly more intelligent,

your marketing opportunities will expand. The digital world is ever-evolving so staying on
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top of your game and ahead of your competitors is important – you need to be seen as a
leader in your industry and your marketing.

• Customers are always expecting more from brands. If you can understand who your
customers are, you’ll have the answers to their queries and problems.

• Thorough audience profiling is reliable: Profiling is a reliable method of gathering

insights for brands to define profile groups.

• Allows you to create 3D insights: Strong audience profiling will allow you to understand
the attitudes, desires and behaviours of your audiences.

• Improve your customers: As people are becoming lazier, marketers can’t afford to be.
You now have to work harder to getthe attention from your customers, it’s in their heads.

4 Key Steps of Audience Profiling

No matter how simple or how complex you need your audience profile to be, there are four
sections to break it down into to help identify your overall audience profile more easily.

1. Segmentation – Divide a market of potential customers into groups based on

characteristics.

2. Message – What are you trying to tell your audience? Is the message different for
different audience profiles?

3. Engagement – Figure out where, when and how to reach your audience, so that you
can contact them using their preferred contact channel.

4. Measurement – Optimise your marketing for next time, what you can change to
better reflect your audience. This is quantifiable data that allows you to identify the
positive and negative, so you can continue to strengthen your marketing activities.

Customer Specifics

A key aspect to audience profiling is demographics. These can be split into two different
levels:

 Valuable: age, gender, race, location – this is just the basic level.
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 In depth: education, lifestyle, interests, income, cars they drive, employment status,
home ownership, marital status, if they have children etc. – from these you can work
out their previous and predicted buying behaviours.

These different demographics and characteristics allow you to have an understanding of

what may influence your audience to buy your product/service and when they are most
likely to engage with you. This understanding enables you to target your audience
accordingly, in terms of when and where to market to them.

Considerations When Audience Profiling

Although there are many reasons for audience profiling, it is important to look at the
potential drawbacks that creating the profiles could have.

 Stereotypes are said to be outdated, people rarely conform to these.

 Your audience is not always the perceived audience – if anyone can buy your
product, it is likely to be relevant to more than one group, so therefore significant
customers could fall through the cracks if you don’t create multiple profiles. (Although,
ideally, a large amount of your customers will fit the profile.)

 If you’re a smaller company, it could be expensive to drive results, as you’ll need

more data from a larger market than just your customer data in order to get an accurate
representation of the market.

 Audience profiling can be very time consuming, depending of the nature of your
marketing activities, business and products/services, you may think that your time is
more valuable somewhere else.

 Some may see ethical issues with audience profiling, as it could been seen as
exploiting customer data in order to only target certain people based on incomes or
other demographics. However, providing your data subjects have given clear,
unambiguous consent and you have been transparent about your data processing
activities, your audience profiling activities will be GDPR compliant.
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 Commonly, cookies are used to track users online, however, often many different
users make use of single device. This means data and predicted behaviours might not
always be accurate.

 You have to ensure you know what competition is in each specific audience segment,
as this could lead to higher costs and less profit for your business.

 Issues could arise if you are launching a new product, especially if there is no
provided research/data to base the segmentation on. Although, you might have data
from similar products, they aren’t the exact concept. Despite this, in time you can
revaluate your audience profiling with more of your own more accurate data once the
product is launched and you have built up a customer base.

There are, however, many ways to overcome these issues:

 By using your existing customer data, you can build accurate profiles based more on
facts.

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) uses algorithms to optimise impressions on ads. From this,
it provides analysis and decides which advert the user is most likely to engage with. This
software not only can tell you what type of ad your audience will engage with, but also
at what time they are most likely to engage.

 Listen more than you speak. If you listen to what your audience is already telling you,
you can find out their problem and empathise with them on an emotional level – rather
than guess or speculate.

 Align your brand to meet your customer’s needs, speak their language and be
relatable.

 You cannot create a need for your product, it might be simply because your product
is not marketable. No matter how extensive your research is and how good you are at
marketing, your product could be letting you down.

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Q. 5 Explain the infinitives?

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Answer:

The infinitive is the base form of a verb. In English, when we talk about the infinitive we are
usually referring to the present infinitive, which is the most common. There are, however,
four other forms of the infinititive: the perfect infinitive, the perfect continuous
infinitive, the continuous infinitive, & the passive infinitive.

The present infinitive has two forms:

 the to-infinitive = to + base

 the zero infinitive = base

The present infinitive base is the verb form you will find in a dictionary.

To-infinitive Zero infinitive

to sit sit

to eat eat

to have have

to remember remember

The negative infinitive is formed by putting not in front of any form of the infinitive.

Examples

 I decided not to go to London.

 He asked me not to be late.

 I'd like you not to sing so loudly.

 I'd rather not eat meat.

 I might not come.

Functions of the to-infinitive

The to-infinitive is used in many sentence constructions, often expressing the purpose of
something or someone's opinion about something. The to-infinitive is used following a
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large collection of different verbs as well. See this page about verbs followed by
infinitives.

The to-infinitive to indicate the purpose or intention of an action

In this case to has the same meaning as in order to or so as to.

Examples

 She came to collect her pay cheque.

 The three bears went to find firewood.

 I am calling to ask you about dad.

 You sister has gone to finish her homework.

The to-infinitive as the subject of the sentence

This is a formal usage and is far more common in written English than spoken

Examples

 To be or not to be, that is the question.

 To know her is to love her.

 To visit the Grand Canyon is my life-long dream.

 To understand statistics, that is our aim.

The to-infinitive to indicate what something can or will be used for

In this pattern, the to-infinitive follows a noun or pronoun.

Examples

 The children need a garden to play in.

 I would like a sandwich to eat.

 I don't have anything to wear.

 Would you like something to drink?

The to-infinitive after adjectives

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There is a common pattern using the to-infinitive with an adjective. These phrases are
formed:
subject + to be + adjective + (for/of someone) + to-infinitive + (rest of sentence)

Subject + to + (+ for/of + to- (+ rest of sentence)

be adjective someone) infinitive

It is good   to talk.  

It is good of you to talk to me.

It is important   to be patient.  

It is important for Jake to be patient with his little

brother.

I am happy   to be here.

The is naughty   to destroy our couch.

dog

The to-infinitive to make a comment or judgement

To use the to-infinitive when making a comment or judgement about a noun, the pattern is:
Subject + to be + noun phrase + to-infinitive

Subject + to be + noun phrase + to-infinitive

It was a stupid place to park.

That is a dangerous way to behave.

What you was a rude thing to say.

said

This is the right thing to do.

Those were the wrong kind of to buy.

eggs

Jim is the best person to hire.

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The to-infinitive with adverbs

The to-infinitive is used frequently with the adverbs too and enough to express the

reasoning behind our satisfaction or insatisfaction. The pattern is that too and enough are
placed before or after the adjective, adverb, or noun that they modify in the same way they
would be without the to-infinitive. We then follow them by the to-infinitive to explain the
reason why the quantity is excessive, sufficient, or insufficient. Normally the to-infinitive and
everything that follows can be removed, leaving a sentence that still functions
grammatically.

Examples

 There's too much sugar to put in this bowl.

 I had too many books to carry.

 This soup is too hot to eat.

 She was too tired to work.

 He arrived too late to see the actors.

 I've had enough food to eat.

 She's old enough to make up her own mind.
 There isn't enough snow to ski on.
 You're not old enough to have grand-children!
The to-infinitive with question words

The verbs ask, decide, explain, forget, know, show, tell, & understand can be followed by a
question word such as where, how, what, who, & when + the to-infinitive.

Examples

 She asked me how to use the washing machine.

 Do you understand what to do?
 Tell me when to press the button.
 I've forgotten where to put this little screw.
 I'm not sure I know who to call.
Functions of the zero infinitive
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The zero infinitive after auxiliaries

Examples

 She can't speak to you.

 He should give her some money.
 Shall I talk to him?
 Would you like a cup of coffee?
 I might stay another night in the hotel.
 They must leave before 10.00 a.m.
The zero infinitive after verbs of perception
With verbs of perception, the pattern is verb + object + zero infinitive.
Examples
 He saw her fall from the cliff.
 We heard them close the door.
 They saw us walk toward the lake.
 She felt the spider crawl up her leg.
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