Communication and soft skills

Course Outline:
This course consists of three parts:
1. Basics of English Grammar
2. Communication Skills for Freelancers
3. Soft Skills for Freelancers
 English Language Basics

Language Basics: Parts of Speech:

 Words are divided into different categories called parts of speech.
 There are eight parts of speech in the English Language.
 A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place, thing, or
idea.
 In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect
object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective.
 A verb is a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence and form
the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become,
happen, etc.
 A pronoun is a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and
that refers either to the participants in the discourse (E.g. I, you) or to
someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (E.g. she, it,
this).
 An adjective is a word naming an attribute of a noun, such as sweet, red, or
technical.
 An adverb is a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb,
or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time,
circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc.
 A preposition is a word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or
pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the
clause, as in “The man on the platform”.
 A conjunction is a word used to connect clauses or sentences or to
coordinate words in the same clause (E.g. and, but, if).
 An interjection is an exclamation, especially as a part of speech (E.g. Ah!,
Dear me!).

Language Basics: Introduction to Vowels and Consonants:

 Vowels are pronounced with an open mouth.
 Consonants are pronounced with the interaction of lips, tongue, etc.
 Use of ‘Article’ requires the knowledge of ‘Vowels’ and ‘Consonants’.
  In the indefinite article, ‘an’ is used when a word starts from a vowel sound
and, ‘a’ is used when a word is beginning from a consonant.

Language Basics: Introduction to Articles:

 Indefinite articles ‘a’ or ‘an’ is used to refer to a person or thing that is not
identified or specified. For example, ‘a car’, ‘an apple', etc.
 The definite article ‘the’ talks about a specific noun. For example, ‘The cake
which my friend gave me was from that bakery’.
 The definite article ‘The’ is used before singular and plural nouns while
indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ are used before a singular noun.
 Articles are not used before proper nouns.

Language Basics: Introduction to Nouns:

 There are two categories of nouns, Common nouns and, Proper nouns.
 A common noun is the general, non-specific term for a person, place, or
thing. (e.g. City)
 A proper noun is a specific name for a particular person, place, or thing.
(e.g. Lahore)
 Nouns can be countable and uncountable.
 Uncountable nouns can’t be plural.
 An abstract noun is a concept that does not exist in the real or cannot be
touched, like happiness, freedom, joy, etc. They are singular nouns.
 A concrete noun portrays a physical object available in the real world like a
pen, a computer, a book, etc. It can be countable as well as uncountable.

Language Basics: Integration of Nouns with Articles:

 Every countable, concrete and singular noun must have an indefinite article
before them.
 Articles cannot be used before proper nouns.
 The term "sit on the chair" can refer to a chair with no arms and/or back
support while "sit in the chair" refers to a chair with arms and/or back
support.
Language Basics: Singular and Plural Nouns:
 Nouns that can be made plural by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’ at the end of the word
are called regular nouns (e.g. Car -> Cars).
 For nouns that end with ‘x’, ‘ch’, ’s’, ‘z’, ‘sh’, ‘ss’, add ‘es’ at the end of the
word to make them plural (e.g. Box -> Boxes).
 Some nouns act as only singular. They can’t be made plural (e.g. Fish, Hair,
Sheep, etc.).
 While making a plural of a word ending with Y followed by Vowel will
simply add ‘s’ whereas while making a plural of a word ending with Y
followed by a Constant will replace Y with ‘ies’. (e.g. Toy -> Toys, Boy ->
Boys , Sky -> Skies, Fly -> Flies).
 For nouns that end with ‘f or ‘fe’, add ‘ves’ at the end of the word to make
them plural (e.g. Knife -> Knives).
 Irregular nouns are the nouns that do not become plural by adding ‘s’, ‘es’,
‘ies’, or ‘ves’ (e.g. Man -> Men).
 A collective noun is a word used to represent a group of people, animals, or
things (e.g. People).

Language Basics: Introduction to Pronouns:

 The words used in place of a Noun are known as Pronouns.
 There are three types of pronouns.
 The Pronouns which are used in place of a subject are called subjective
pronouns (e.g. Ahmad is my friend. He lives in Karachi.).
 The Pronouns which are used in place of an object are called objective
pronouns (e.g. Ali wrote him a letter.).
 A pronoun that is used to express ownership or possession (E.g. I own this
place.).
 Emphatic pronouns are used to emphasize the subject. (E.g. I, We.).
 First-person pronouns refer to myself or ourselves (E.g. I live in Lahore.).
 Second person pronouns refer to someone present in front of you (E.g.
You).
 The third person pronoun refers to someone that is not present in front of
you (E.g. He, She). ‘It’ is used for animals and non-living things.
Language Basics: Use of “I”, “Me”, “Myself” and “Mine”:
 “I”, “Me”, “Myself” and “Mine” are known as first-person personal
pronouns.
 If the doer of the action in a sentence is the subject then use “I” for the
subject (E.g. I wrote a letter.).
 In the objective case, “I” becomes “Me” for the object (E.g. He called me.).
 If the subject and object are the same in a sentence then use “Myself” for
the object i.e reflexive case (E.g. I hurt Myself.).
 "Myself" is used to emphasize (E.g. I wrote the letter Myself.).
 “My” is used to show possession in a sentence (E.g. Ali is my friend or Ali is
a friend of mine.).

Language Basics: Use of “You”, “Your”, “Yourself” and “Yours”:

 The subjective and objective forms of second-person pronouns are “You” is
“You” (E.g. You wrote a letter (Subjective Case), Sajjad wrote a letter
to you(Objective Case)).
 “Your” and “Yours” are used to show possession (E.g. This is your house or
This house is yours.).
 “Your’s” is incorrect.
 “Yourself” is used to emphasize (E.g. You told me yourself.).
 “Yourself” is also used as a reflexive pronoun (E.g. You should take care
of yourself.).

Language Basics: Use of “Is”, “Am” and “Are”:

 “Is”, “Am” and “Are” are the forms of the verb “To be”.
 They tell us about the existence and state.
 “Is”, “Am” and “Are” are the present forms of “To be”.
 “Am” is used with “I”, “Is” is used with a singular subject, and “Are” is used
with the plural subject or when there is more than one noun.
 To form the negative form of the verb “To be”, add “not” after “Is”, “Am”,
and “Are”.
 Language Basics: The Sentence:
 A sentence is a group of words that conveys a complete sense.
 The subject is the doer of the action or it is the topic of the sentence.
 Three things can be used after the verb, the first one is the object (on which
the action is performed) (E.g. Ali hit a ball.), and the second is a compliment
(means part of the subject) (E.g. He is a lawyer.) and third is an adverb
(which tells about the verb, why? Where? And when?) (E.g. She lives in
a big house.).

Activity 1: Writing a Sentence - Introducing Yourself:

 An introduction is to tell someone about you.
 Introduction can be divided into formal and informal types.
 When you talk to a client or get a project on a freelance marketplace, it will
be formal.
 When you introduce yourself to a family member or friend, it will be
informal.
 In the formal introduction, you should tell your name, age, address or
location, education, experience, and skills. (E.g. I am Ahmed. I am 20 years
old. I was born in Lahore. I am a Mechanical Engineer and have strong IT
skills).
 In an informal introduction, you can skip any of the above-mentioned
parameters. (E.g. I am Ahmed. I am 20 years old. I was born in Lahore. I
have 2 sisters and 1 brother.).
.