Functional English

What comes to your mind when you hear English? Shakespeare! Keats! But is there a
difference when we talk about English as an academic discipline and English as a day-to-day
language that we speak? English is increasingly becoming a universal language and it has
seen a growth in the number of speakers than any other language in the world. Around 20%
of the world’s population speaks English and, in most colleges, universities and workplaces
across the globe, English has become an official language. While travelling to a country with
a different culture, you will end up finding a lot of people speaking and communicating
effortlessly in English. The science of this communicational aspect of English is known as
Functional English. In this blog, we will walk through the central aspects of building a career
in Functional English as well as the major courses offered across the world for those wanting
to discover this language in its natural glory.

What is Functional English?

Literature encompasses a larger portion of the academic discipline of English. Involving a
deep study of classic and contemporary literature, English Literature can take you years to
master. But when you are appearing for an interview or writing an essay, you might not
consider reading a 600-page-long English classic. That’s where Functional English works as
a helpful tool as it deals with the application aspect of the English language with a lesser
focus on its history and more focus on communication skills. Whether you are giving a
presentation, teaching a class in university, or simply writing an email, Functional English
gives you the key skills to communicate in an English-speaking society. This aspect of
English is to help students develop speaking and writing proficiency in this language. 

Uses of Functional English

Focusing essentially on the communication skills in English, Functional English comprises
the study of how this language is used practically in terms of speaking, writing, listening and
reading. It analyses how English is used in real-life situations and further helps learners gain
interactional competencies and fluency skills in English. It is often referred to as everyday
English and is often included in degree and diploma programs in English to impart students
with a comprehensively theoretical as well as practical understanding of this language.
Further, Functional English can be used for different purposes,

 Technical English like Aviation English

 Everyday communication in English
 English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
 For academic purposes in School curriculums
 For English Proficiency Assessments like IELTS, TOEFL, etc.
Benefits
Being a practical-oriented field, a degree in Functional English has several advantages over a
general course in English. Here is a list of some of the benefits of pursuing a course in this
field:

 Gives you the confidence to talk efficiently and effortlessly in English.

 Helps you understand the English jargon of texts, documents and instructions, thus
boosting your productivity.
 Increasing your efficiency in communication as it can prove to be an essential tool in
influencing your clients and effectively disseminating your ideas.

Grammar 101: Building a Foundation for Great Writing with

Grammar Basics
Grammar—all those rules and structures that govern written and spoken language—might seem
to some like a tedious affair. But the truth is that without some rules in place to follow, we would
probably struggle to understand each other’s speech and writing at all. In fact, whether you know
it or not, you’ve already acquired an understanding of many grammar rules just by going about
your business.

While many of these grammar rules are made to be broken, having a basic awareness and
command of grammar in your writing is of vital importance: With the right understanding and
approach, you can help ensure that you present your best self on the page—you can make sure
that your best ideas are clearly presented and understood by whoever reads them.
Word processing features like spelling and grammar checkers can make it easy to spot simple
errors in our writing. And AI-powered digital writing assistants like Microsoft
Editor and Grammarly with more advanced features and capabilities can make it even easier to
ensure that your writing is clear, error-free, and the best that it can be. But being armed with a
range of in-depth grammatical knowledge can still be a huge help for which there’s no real
substitute. Not only will you be able to able to pick out potential mistakes on your own, but you’ll
have a better sense of all the tools available to you to get your best ideas across.
At the end of the day, gaining grammar knowledge is all about expanding that tool set. Because
great writers aren’t just creative thinkers and communicators; they’re also master technicians who
are highly conscious of how to structure and control their words on the page—whether that’s in
emails or letters, resumes or reports.

So to jumpstart your journey toward mastery, we’ve covered some of the grammar basics that
will get you on your way.
 Basic Grammar Concepts: Parts of Speech
To start expanding your grammar knowledge, it’s helpful to begin with an understanding of the
eight traditional parts of speech that make up our sentences: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions. Each of these parts of speech has a
distinct role to play in how we communicate, and a grasp of their basic definition and function
will serve you well in any future grammar lessons.
Nouns: The people, places, things, or ideas we refer to in our writing and speech. Nouns can
refer to concrete, unique things as well as abstract concepts.
Examples: accountant, New York, boredom, Tom Hanks
While there a number of ways to classify all the kinds of the people, places, and things that we
refer to in language, nouns can broadly be broken down into categories:

 Common nouns: any general term for a class of people, places, things, or ideas. Common nouns
are never capitalized.
o Examples: woman, car, city, mountain, book

 Proper nouns: unique or specific people, places, things, or ideas that are always capitalized.
o Examples: Alice, Ford Edsel, Beijing, Denali, Moby Dick

Pronouns: Words that take the place of any nouns in a sentence.

Examples: I, me, my, she, he, they, we, who, yours, them
Verbs: Words that express actions or states of being. Verbs typically indicate what the subject (or
main noun) in a sentence is doing or feeling.
Examples: I wrote a sentence. I called my mother. I will walk my dog. I am happy.
Adjectives: Adjectives provide description in our sentences. Crucially, though, they specifically
identify, modify, or describe a noun.
Examples: I wrote a beautiful sentence. I called my wonderful mother. I will walk
my restless dog. I am happy.
Adverbs: Adverbs also add description to our sentences. However, what distinguishes them from
adjectives is that they describe verbs—instead of characterizing a person, place, or thing, adverbs
provide information about when, where, why, and how something is done.
Examples: I carefully wrote a sentence. I finally called my mother. Importantly, I walked my
dog. I am very happy.
Prepositions: These words link information about the time, location, or logical relationship of
one noun to another word in a given sentence. Importantly, they tell us things like when or where
one thing is among other things.
Examples: I wrote a sentence in a Word document. I called my mother on her birthday. I walked
my dog around the park.
Interjections: Often followed by exclamation points, these are words or expressions that convey
emotions.
Examples: Oops! There’s an error in that sentence. Oh, gosh! I forgot to call my mother.
Conjunctions: These words (like and, but, and or) connect words, concepts, parts of sentences,
and even whole sentences.
Examples: I wanted to call my mother. However, I ran out of time today. I will make it up to
her and call sometime tomorrow.
 Identifying Parts of Speech
Once you’ve got these basic grammar concepts down, you’ll be on your way to becoming an
expert. Of course, you’ll need to not just be able to know what distinguishes these parts of speech
but also identify them in a given sentence. To help, here a few tips to identifying certain parts of
speech based on their suffixes—that is, based on the letters that come at the end of the word:
Nouns: -ance (insurance); -dom (freedom); -ence (persistence); -er (trainer); -or (editor); -ism
(modernism); -ist (scientist); -ity (responsibility); -ness (happiness); -ship (championship)
Verbs: -ate (indicate); -ify (specify); -ize (specialize). While you’ll have to look more closely at
these words to know their part of speech, verbs can also end in -s (she walks), -ed (she walked),
and -n or -en (she has fallen; her offer was withdrawn).
Adjectives: -able (comfortable); -al (temporal); -ible (terrible); -esque (picturesque); -ful
(beautiful); -ic (drastic); -ish (selfish); -ive (apprehensive); -ous (gorgeous); -less (careless); -y
(creamy).
Adverbs: -ly (carefully). While many adverbs end in -ly, there are exceptions to watch out for:
Anytime you add -ly to an adjective it creates an adverb. However, adding –ly to a noun produces
an adjective (brotherly, cowardly).
Beginning Grammar: Sentence Components and Verb
Tenses
Sentence Components
In English grammar, sentences are composed of two principal parts: the subject and
the predicate. In simple terms, the subject is who or what the sentence is about. Meanwhile, the
predicate contains information about the subject.
Example Sentence: The city of Chicago is a beautiful place to visit.

 Subject: The city of Chicago

 Predicate: is a beautiful place to visit.

Almost all sentences will include both of these parts, although there are some exceptions. For
instance, an in imperative sentence (one that communicates a command or demand) typically
omits the subject of the sentence (usually you) because it is understood or implied, as in: Pass the
butter, please. or Give me a break! or Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.

Verb Tenses
One other helpful tool to kick start your grammar learning journey is a basic understanding of
verb tenses. In short, verb tense refers to when the action a verb describes occurs. While each of
these breaks down into further, more specific classifications, that’s a more advanced lesson for
another day. For now, you can get through Grammar 101 with a simple understanding of the three
main verb tenses:
Past: Past tense verbs describe something that has already happened
Example: I ran a marathon.
Present: The present tense describes things that are happening currently or continuously.
Example: I am running a marathon. I run marathons.
Future: Future tense verbs describe an action that has not happened yet or will happen.
Example: I will run a marathon next year.
Continuing On: Beyond Basic Grammar
All this information, of course, just scratches the surface. Grammar is ultimately a limitless
pursuit, and one which evolves along with any language over time—just as your understanding
and mastery of it will as you keep reading and writing.
But this lesson in Grammar 101 should still serve you well as you look to improve your own
writing skills. Whatever you’re writing and wherever you’re writing it—whether it’s in Google
Docs or Microsoft Word—you can take these basic English grammar concepts and terms and
build on them.
More importantly, you can build your confidence and start to move on to the nitty-gritty aspects
of not just grammar but what makes great writing truly great, taking each lesson back with you
every time you explore your brightest ideas on the page.