BASIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS
sentences.
Listening
 is the active process of receiving and
responding to spoken (and sometimes
unspoken) messages.
 Is the ability to accurately receive and
interpret messages in the communication
process.
 When we listen, we use our ears to
receive individual sounds (letters, stress,
rhythm and pauses) and we use our
brain to convert these into messages that
mean something to us.
 A key to all effective communication.
Types of Listening:
Appreciative Listening
 listening to enjoy, to appreciate or to
have fun.
 Listening for pleasure.
Emphatic Listening
 listening to provide emotional support
for the speaker.
 Listening with the intent to understand
HOW the speaker FEELS in addition to
understanding his/her ideas
Strategies to Develop Emphatic Listening
 It’s not about you
 Put away your phone
 Be an active listener
 Refrain from criticism
 Adjust your body language
 Paraphrase your conversation partner
 Ask open-ended questions
 Stop giving unsolicited advice
 Don’t ‘fill up’ the silence
Comprehensive Listening
 Listening to understand the message of
the speaker
 Accurately understanding the meaning
of the speaker’s message while
interpreting non-verbal symbols
Critical/Analytical Listening
 Listening to evaluate the message for
purposes of accepting or rejecting it.
BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS
Subject-Intransitive Verb (S-IV)
 Intransitive verb - is a verb without a
direct object
o The class studied.
o She wept
o The choice sang.
 Provides the basis for many kinds of
 How, when, where
 The class studied diligently. (how)
 She wept bitterly last night. (when)
 The choir sang at the cathedral. (where)
Subject-Transitive-Direct Object (S-TV-DO)
 Transitive verb – an action verb that
requires a subject and a direct object.
 Direct object – answers the question
what or whom. A noun or pronoun that
receives the action.
 The instructor discussed today’s lesson.
 Paulo painted this picture last month.
 She joined the basketball team.
Subject-Linking Verb-Subject Complement (S-
LV-SC)
 Subject complement – a word or phrase
(usually an adjective phrase, noun
phrase, or pronoun) that follows a
linking verb and describes or renames
the subject of the sentence
Subject-Linking Verb-Predicative Noun (S-LV-
PN)
 Anne is the boss.
 She is my mother.
 Wilma has been my friend for a long
time.
Subject-Linking Verb-Predicative Adjective (S-
LV-PA)
 During the storm, driving became
difficult.
 Her performance was phenomenal.
 The corridor is too narrow.
Subject-Transitive Verb-Direct Object-Object
Complement (S-TV-DO-OC)
 Object complement – a noun, pronoun
or adjective which follows a direct
object and renames the it or tells what
the direct object has become.
 The class elected Nadine president.
 She cut her hair short.
 The clown got the children too excited.
Subject-Transitive Verb-Intransitive Verb-Direct
Object (S-TV-IO-DO)
 Indirect object
 comes between the transitive verb
and the direct object
 answers the question to whom or for
whom.
 We gave these men our money.
 Mark surprised his sister with a reward.
 Pearl sent Tom a book.
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
1. Subjects and verbs must agree in 16. Indefinite pronouns = singular
number
2. Don’t get confused by the words the
come between the subject and verb.
3. Prepositional phrases between the
subject and verb usually do not affect
the agreement.
4. If a sentence starts with “there” or
“here” the subject will always be placed 17. Both
after the verb. Many Plural
 There is a meeting today. Others
 Here are the results from this past Several
month 18. All
5. Subjects can come after the verb in Any
questions. More Object of the
 Does Betty always play with dolls? Most prepositional phrase
None
 How are the Bosco sticks today?
Some
6. If two subjects are joined by “and” they
 All of the chickens have
typically require a plural verb.
 The puppy and the lady are friends.  Some of the milk has
19. The number = singular
7. If two subject are separated by “and’
refer to the same thing, the verb is A number = plural
singular. INFLY VS INFER
 Spaghetti and meatballs is my
favorite past dish. Implication
 The owner and manager of this store  Giving information
is very friendly.  To strongly suggest the truth or existence of
8. Or something that is not expressly stated.
Nor
 The speaker, or someone who is giving
Neither/nor singular/plural
information, may imply something.
Either/or
 When we imply something, we’re hinting at
Not only/but also
what we mean but not directly saying it
9. Or
directly
Nor
 I didn’t mean to imply that your grasp on
Neither/nor nearest subject
grammar is bad.
Either/or
Not only/but also  He didn’t make any promises, but he did
10. Units of measure = singular imply that he’d be back for the holidays.
 Six gallons was Inference
 Five dollars is
 Five miles is  Receiving information
 One thousand pesos is  To deduce or conclude information from
11. Collective nouns = singular evidence and reasoning rather than from
explicit statement of that information
 The heard is
 The listener, or someone who is receiving
 The class was
information, may infer something.
 The flock
 When you come to a conclusion based on
 The jury has
something you think someone implied,
 The jury members have
you’re inferring.
12. Titles of books, movies, novels, etc.
 Am I right to infer that you think my
= singular
grammar is bad?
13. Two infinitives separated by and take a
 We inferred that he’d be back before the
plural verb
holidays because he didn’t leave with
 To run and to read are
enough luggage for a long trip.
14. Gerunds = singular/plural
15. Each MOODS OF THE VERB
Every before the subject = singular
No Verb mood – classifications that indicate the
 Each boy and girl has attitude of the speaker.
 Every frog and toad turns
 No paper and pen is

Three moods:
1. Indicative – a verb form that makes a
statement or asks a question.
 The sky is clear tonight?
 He walks every day after lunch
 Does he believe in the benefits of
exercise?
2. Imperative – used in requests or
commands. Imperative statements have
an understood subject of “you” and
therefore take second-person verbs.
 Drive the car!
 Please drive the car.
3. Subjunctive – used in special kinds of
statements.
 The most common use of this is in
contrary-to-fact or hypothetical
statements.
 If something is likely to happen, use
the indicative. If something is
hypothetical or contrary to fact, use
the subjunctive.
 Used for expressing wishes,
suggestions, or desires, and is
usually indicated by an indicative
verb such as wish or suggest, paired
then with a subjunctive verb.
Present Subjunctive – to express a suggestion, a
necessity, or an indirect command/order.
 I demand he lower his voice.
 I propose he work full time.
 I suggest that Lee play the guitar.
Past Subjunctive – to express an untrue
condition, a wish or a desire.
 I wish you were here.
 If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.
 If I had been king, you would have been
queen.
VERB TENSE
 Is a combination of “time” and “aspect”
of an action.
 Time – past and present some would
include future.
 Aspect – refers to simple, progressive,
perfect
Present Time
- Base form
- Add an -s/-es to the verb
Past time
- Adding -ed (or using an irregular form)
Future Time
- Modal will or the progressive be going
to
- [be] going to walk
Simple Present Tense
- Indicates that an action is taking place at
the time you express it, or an action that
occurs regularly.
- -s/-es
- I watch documentary each Sunday night.
Simple Past Tense
- Indicates that an action is completed and
has already taken place.
- -d/-ed
- Marin Luther King, Jr. gave his most
famous speech in 1963.
- As a girl, she wondered how her college
degree would help her career.
Simple Future Tense
- Indicates that an action will or is likely
to take place.
- Later today I will rinse the dishes.
- The defendant probably will plead
innocent.
Perfect Tenses
- Designate actions that were or will be
completed before other actions. You can
form the perfect tenses with the
appropriate tense form of the helping, or
auxiliary, verb have plus the past
participle.
Present Perfect Tense
- Refers to an action or state that either
occurred at an indefinite time in the past
or began in the past and continued to the
present time.
- Have/has + past participle
- We have worn organic cotton shirts.
- She has donated extensively to
UNICEF.
Past Perfect Tense
- Indicates an action occurring before a
certain time in the past.
- Had + past participle
- By 1995, Doctor Harvey had built the
first artificial brain.
Future Perfect Tense
- Indicates that an action will be finished
by a certain time.
- Will have + past participle
- By Thursday, the President will have
apologized for his mistake.
Progressive Tenses
- Express continuing action.
 - You can form them with the appropriate Present Emphatic Tenses
tense of the verb be plus the present
- Formed by adding the basic present
participle.
form of the verb to the present tense of
Present Progressive tense the verb to do (do or does)
- He does run fast.
- Indicates that something is happening at
- I do call.
the time you express it.
- The worker is hammering and her Past Emphatic Tenses
foreman is watching lazily.
- Formed by adding the basic present
- Is/are + present participle
form of the verb to the past tense of the
Past Progressive Tense verb to do (did).
- He did call me last night.
- Indicates two kinds of past action.
- He did come to work yesterday.
- Simple past + past progressive
- Was/were + present participle
- The mob tackled Jean-Luc Goddard
while he was introducing the film.
Future Progressive Tense
- Indicates a continuing action in the
future.
- Will be + present participle
- The government will be monitoring the
phones in the lab.
Perfect Progressive Tenses
- Also called perfect continuous tense
- Used to say an event or action is, was, or
will be continually occurring
(progressive) but that it is, was, or will
be completed at a late time, or that it
relates to a later time (perfect).
Present Perfect Progressive Tense
- Indicates action continuing from the past
into the present and possibly into the
future.
- Has/have been + present participle
- The teacher has been grading since
yesterday afternoon.
Past Perfect Progressive Tense
- Indicates that a past action went on until
another occurred.
- Had been + present participle
- Before her promotion, Nico had been
working on restoring open space on
campus.
Future Perfect Progressive Tense
- Indicates that an action will continue
until a certain
- Will have been + present participle
- On Tuesday I will have been working on
this paper for six weeks.
Emphatic Tenses
- Often used to give greater emphasis to
the idea expressed by the verb.
- The auxiliaries DO, DOES and DID are
used to give additional emphasis.