Communication Skills

Training for Recruitment

Associates

September 10, 2011

 Objectives
 Be able to improve and enhance
communication skills and apply these
learning on your job
 Be more knowledgeable in scoring for initial
interviews
 Agenda
 Pronunciation
 Vowels and Consonants

 Comprehension and Reasoning

 English only
 TOPICS

 Vowels (Diphthongs)  Filipinoisms

 Consonants  Intonation
 Articles  Open & Close Questions
 Prepositions
 Simple Tenses
 Perfect Tenses
 Enunciation
‘feel your facial muscles’

 Tense Vowels – long vowel sound

• Aaaa, Eeee, Iiii, Oooo, Uuuu

 Lax Vowels – short vowel sounds

• A! E! I! O! U!
Diphthongs – combination of 2 or more vowel sounds
PHONETICS – symbol representing one particular sound

 The GOAT sound [æ] “ma-a-a-ah”

• short A
• to pronounce, drop your jaw [a] then [eh]
*Mnemonic – end result of the combination

TRY IT!

æ : that, back, black, gas, chance, had, hat, satin, value

æo : bow, blouse, browse, sound, foul, shout, mountain
 The DOCTOR sound [ä] “aahhh”
• short O
• the sound when the doctor wants to see your throat
• to pronounce, relax your tongue, drop your jaw

TRY IT!

ä : caught, pot, fog, father, fall, calm, gone, walk, shot

är : far, part, guard, march, shark, charge, hard, heart
 The SCHWA [Ə] “uh”
• spelling doesn’t help identify it
• vowel that can be crossed out
• its absence wouldn’t change the pronunciation of the word

TRY IT!
annoy = uhnoy
balloon = buhloon
gallop = guhlop
soda = soduh
oven = uhven
data = datuh
love = luhv

American, customer, understand, circus, zebra, ajar, blood, cut, flood,

button, chuck,hut, what
 The SMILIEST SMILE [Ḕ] “Eeee”
• Long E
• to pronounce, exaggerate your smile, show your teeth

TRY IT!
beak, bleed, peak, feet, meal, eaten, these, reveal, feel, key, peel,
seen, weak, sheet

 The I sound [i]

• short I
• to pronounce, say it fast

TRY IT!
Bliss, pit, kit, kid, fit, fill, give, lick, pill, shiver, shift, chin, this, hit
villain, tick
 Practice reading, check your sounds 

æ - back, gas, catch, satin, shack, tack, that, had, hat, value
æo – bow, blouse, browse, couch, found, flower, frown, about
U – booed, blued, brood, boot, fruit, Luke, fool, two, review
i – bliss, pit, fill, give, mill, shiver, chin, this, villain, hit, kid
ee – beak, bleed, heat, reveal, weak, feel, free, peak, meal
Ü – book, put, foot, full, wooden, would, should, fructose
ɛ - bled, bread, pet, French, lecture, chef, vegetable, then
a – bake, blade, paid, afraid, main, change, hate, vague
ə - buck, blood, brother, gun, button, what, some, fuss, mother
ä – block, brought, pot, caught, fog, father, calm, mom, thought
r – blurred,fir, curt, flurry, pearl, sir, certain, insured, shirt, sure
är – bark, cart, guard, march, sorry, charge, hard, heart, harm
O – boat, broke, post, code, phone, photo, local, mobile, potent
i – bite, bright, kite, cried, shy, shine, hide, height, white, file
oi – point, boy, broil, ointment, poison, thyroid, avoid, soil, goiter
CONSONANTS

 Voiced TH

TRY IT
although, the, this

 Unvoiced TH
 requires tongue action

TRY IT!
Third, month, thing
 Rules on the American T
Top of the Staircase
 Pop the T!
 Stop touching ted’s toes!
 It takes two to tango!

 Middle of the Staircase

 Unstressed T in the middle between 2 vowel sounds
 Betty bought a bit of bitter butter.

 Bottom of the Staircase

 T is held at the end of the word
 Tongue does the T position but the air is not released.
 hit, sit
 Rules on the American T
Held T before n
 T & N are very close in the mouth
 No need to pop the T, sharp upward sliding intonation
 The cotton curtain is not in the fountain.

Held T before W,R,K,G,Y

- T before throat consonant is in the held T position
 What was that one?

The Silent T
- T & N are so close in the mouth that the T can simply disappear
- He had a great interview.
- Internet connection
 S AND Z SOUNDS
Say “Z when the word ends in a vowel or other
voiced sound like the m, n, ng, l, b, d, g, v,
voiced th, or r sound.
S=Z S=Z
B = subscribes L = falls
D = cards TH = breathes
R = dollars NG = savings
M = problems G = tags
N = sanctions V = receives
vowels = fees, was, is
 S AND Z SOUNDS
Say “IZ when the word ends in s, z, sh, zh, ch, or
j sound
 Bus/busses
 Buss/buzzes
 Wish/wishes
 Sabotage/sabotages
 Crunch/crunches
 Judge/judges
 ARTICLES
Use of “THE” (definite article)
- refer to objects as unique
- to identify
Exceptions:
- before superlatives, ordinals
- names of meals (lunch, breakfast)
*The 5th of July
- with professions (Engineering)
- adjectives (group)
- individual mountains, lakes, islands
*The Briton National
- uncountable nouns (war, rice)
- geographical areas, oceans
- names of stations, airports
*The Philippines
- some fixed expressions
- decades, groups of years
(by car, in bed, on air)
*The 80’s
 ARTICLES
Before a
consonant Before a vowel

Exceptions/Confusions:
Use of “A/AN” (indefinite
article) - an hour, an honor

- refer to something the first time
- one to add emphasis or to
contrast with other numbers
*a hundred, a thousand
- to refer to a particular member
of a group/class (jobs,
nationalities, religion)
*a nurse, an American
- she is English (nationality) / She is an Englis
woman (noun)
- I lived in England/ I lived in Japan/ I lived in
the United States
- he plays the violin / he was playing a violin
(scene)
- I was born on a Thursday / She’ll be there
on Thursday
 PREPOSITIONS
 words that show the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to
another word in a sentence
 never end your statement with a preposition

Example:

AT – specific, exact
IN – anywhere there

Where are you? In Shangrila.

Where at Shangrila? At the lobby (exact)
/ In the lobby (anywhere there)
SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
 PREPOSITIONS
 Transportation
ON – use when its moving/where you normally can sit, stand and walk around
(on a ship, on a plane, on a bus)
IN – use when its moving but you don’t normally sit or walk around (in the
elevator)

 Time
AT – specific time (at 3:00pm)
ON – days/dates (on the 4th of July)
IN – nonspecific times during a day, month, season, year
(in September, in 2007)
 Place
AT – specific addresses
ON – names of streets, avenues
IN – names of land areas
 PREPOSITIONS
TOWARD/TOWARDS are also helpful prepositions to express
movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same
word, use which ever sounds better to you.

WITH REGARD, IN REGARD (without S!)

FOR – when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months)
SINCE – specific time/date
 NOUNS & PREPOSITIONS
APPROVAL OF – not the person, its something
AWARENESS OF – something (his presence)
BELIEF IN – people and things
CONCERN FOR – someone
CONCERN ABOUT – something
FONDNESS FOR – people and things
CONFUSION ABOUT – something
FONDNESS FOR – people and things
GRASP OF – something
REASON FOR – something
RESPECT FOR – people and things
INTEREST IN – people and things
 ADJECTIVES & PREPOSITIONS
AFRAID OF – someone & something
ANGRY AT - someone
AWARE OF - something
CAPABLE OF - something
CARELESS ABOUT - something
FAMILIAR WITH – something, someone (qualities of the person)
FOND OF – something
HAPPY ABOUT - something
INTERESTED IN – someone & something
MADE OF - something
WORRIED ABOUT – someone & something
PROUD OF – someone & something
SIMILAR TO - something
SORRY FOR - something
SURE OF - something
TIRED OF - something
VERBS & PREPOSITIONS
APOLOGIZE FOR – something
ASK ABOUT – something
ASK FOR – something
BELONG TO – someone & something
BRING UP – something
CARE FOR – someone & something
FIND OUT – something
GIVE UP – someone & something
LOOK FOR – someone & something
LOOK FORWARD TO – something
TALK ABOUT – someone & something
TRUST IN – someone & something
WORK FOR – someone & something
WORRY ABOUT – someone & something
THINKING ABOUT – someone & something
 UNNECESSARY PREPOSITIONS

She met up with the new salesman.

The book fell off of the desk.
He threw the book out of the window.
Where did they go to?
 TENSES

tense aspect simple continuous perfect perfect continuous

Present talks am/is/are talking has/have talked has/have been talking
Past talked was/were talking had talked had been talking
Future will talk will be talking will have talking will have been talking
 SIMPLE TENSE

 Present Simple Sentence

I work at Convergys.

 Past Simple Sentence

I worked at Convergys for three years.

 Future Simple Sentence

I will work at Convergys next year.
 PERFECT TENSE
uses the form of the word HAVE
(have/has/had/will have)

 Present Perfect Sentence

 I have worked at Convergys for three years. (it means: Three years ago I started working
at Convergys. Today, I am still working at Convergys)

 Past Perfect Sentence

 I had worked at Convergys for three years when I got my first raise. (it means: I
worked at Convergys. I may or may not still work there. I worked there for 3 years at the same pay
rate. Finally, after 3 years were finished, I got a raise.)

 Future Perfect Sentence

 I will have worked at Convergys for three years in March. (it means: It’s not yet
March. I will have completed three years of work at Convergys.)
*NOTE: this explains something that is not yet complete, it will be completed in a
certain time (in the future).
 SIMPLE PROGRESSIVE TENSE
uses the verb to be + ing

 Present Simple Progressive Sentence

 She is playing the piano magnificently.
*Right this second

 Past Simple Progressive Sentence

 I was jogging when you called.

 Future Simple Progressive Sentence

 I will be working at MTV Singapore when my sister goes to college.
PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE uses
has/have been/ had been/will have been + ing

 Perfect Progressive Sentence

 She has been playing tennis 2 hours ago.
(started in the past, continuing in the present)

 Past Perfect Progressive Sentence

 I had been working at Scott’s for 2 hours before they announced the
pay hike.
(shows how long something had been happening & something
interrupted it)

 Future Perfect Progressive Sentence

 She will have been dancing for 14 years in 2 months.
(shows how long something will have been
happening by a future time)
 CONCEPT CHECK
 Register
 gives information through the use of vocabulary; degree of formality
 a particular style of speaking or writing appropriate to a particular social
situation
 Tone
 quality in the voice; adds functional meaning that expresses feeling, mood or
attitude
 Slang
 an extremely informal style of speaking used mainly by people who know
each other very well
 Syntax
 word order
 Diction
 word choice, a vocal expression; enunciation
 Semantics
 study of meaning in speech
 Stress
 relative loudness
 FILIPINOISMS

INCORRECT CORRECT
At around 2pm At about 2pm
Can I speak with? May I speak with?
Close the light/TV/PC Turn off the light/TV/PC
CR (comfort room) Washroom
Drink your medicine Take your medicine
For a while In a minute; just a moment
Free subscription of Free subscription to
Hand-carry Carry-on luggage
Time-first! Time-out!
Hold on the line Let me put you on hold.
How does she look like? What does she look like?
 FILIPINOISMS
INCORRECT CORRECT
I failed in accent training. I failed accent training.
I want to request for approval. I want to request approval.
I’ll ask her an apology. I’ll apologize to her.
It will be traffic. Traffic will be heavy.
It’s for free! It’s free.
My brother is taking up Law. My brother is taking Law.
Pictorial Photoshoot
Polo Shirt
Re-touch your make up Touch-up
Salvaged Assasinated
Take a ride with me Ride with me
Tuck out Untuck/tuck it out
Where are you studying? What school did you go to?
Xerox Photocopy
We were under Ms. Tiongson. Ms. Tiongson was our teacher.
 BASIC INTONATION PATTERN

 Falling
 information
 Information questions (who, what, where, why how)
 Statements
 Imperatives/directives
 Question tags showing confirmation

 Rising
 Question tags showing uncertainty
 List of items
 Yes/No questions
 OPEN QUESTIONS
 Questions which begin with who, what, where, when, how, which,
whose and why

 Questions which elicit a freer, more open response rather than a

simple yes or no

Write open questions using these word groups

printer-scanners…kind…offer
 What kind of printer-scanners do you offer?
much…cost…upgrade….
 How much will it cost for an upgrade?
 OPEN QUESTIONS
STATEMENT: Tom will start work next week.
QUESTION: When will Tom start work?

STATEMENT: He is speaking with the manager?

QUESTION: Who is he speaking with?
With whom is he speaking?

DIRECT: Which one is it?

INDIRECT: Can you tell me which one it is?
 CLOSED QUESTIONS
 questions that are logically answerable by a simple yes/no
 you can use extra words (auxiliary verbs)
- do, does, have, has, can, could, is, are

Statement: You like the Philippines.

Questions: Do you like the Philippines?

Statement: She learned quickly.

Questions: Did she learn quickly?
Has she learned quickly?
For more grammar exercises…
visit this page  http://www.englishpage.com

This PowerPoint Presentation is strictly for recruitment use only.