Assignments

Paragraphs for
Contextual
Grammar Practice
Excellent (Synonyms)
FORMAL: very good, superb, outstanding,
magnificent, of high quality, of the highest
quality, of the highest standard, exceptional,
marvellous, wonderful, sublime, perfect,
eminent, pre-eminent, matchless, peerless,
supreme, first-rate, first-class, superior,
superlative, splendid, admirable, worthy,
sterling, fine, applaudable, magnificent,
glorious, lovely, delightful
 Excellent (Synonyms)
INFORMAL: super, A1, ace, great, terrific, tremendous,
fantastic, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, top-notch, tip-top,
class, awesome, magic, out of this world, too good to be true,
mind-blowing, mind-boggling, brilliant, brill, smashing,
champion, bosting, super, great, amazing, amazeballs,
fantastic, terrific, tremendous, sensational, incredible,
heavenly, gorgeous, dreamy, grand, fabulous, fab, fabby,
fantabulous, mega, crucial, far out, sound, marvy, spanking,
peachy, dandy, jim-dandy, neat, boss, radical, rad, boffo, bully,
bitching, bodacious, beaut, bonzer, kif, lank, dope, def, phat,
groovy, divine, capital, champion, wizard, corking, cracking,
ripping, spiffing, top-hole, topping, beezer, swell, keen
literary wondrous archaic goodly
Because of (Synonyms)
on account of, as a result of, as a
consequence of, owing to, by reason of, on
grounds of, by dint of, due to;
thanks to, by virtue of, on the strength of;
through, after, following, in the wake of
 Faulty (Synonyms)
FORMAL: substandard, poor, inferior, second-rate, second-
class, unsatisfactory, inadequate, unacceptable, not up to
scratch, not up to par, deficient, imperfect, defective, faulty,
shoddy, amateurish, careless, negligent;
dreadful, awful, terrible, abominable, frightful, atrocious,
disgraceful, deplorable, hopeless, worthless, laughable,
lamentable, miserable, sorry, third-rate, diabolical, execrable;
incompetent, inept, inexpert, ineffectual
INFORMAL: crummy, rotten, pathetic, useless, woeful, bum,
lousy, ropy, appalling, abysmal, pitiful, God-awful, dire, poxy,
not up to snuff, the pits, duff, chronic, rubbish
rare egregious
 Clarity
• Clarity implies emphasizing on a specific goal
or objective at a time, rather than trying to
move away from track.
• Clarity helps to understand the message easily.
• Complete clarity of thoughts and ideas
enhances the meaning of the message.
• Clarity comes with the use of exact,
appropriate and concrete words.
• Getting the meaning from your head into the
head of your reader accurately is the purpose
of clarity.
 Clarity
Certainly you know it is not simple we all carry around
our own unique interpretations, ideas, experiences
associated with words.
Clarity is achieved in part through precise and familiar
language. When you use precise or concrete language
you select exactly the right word to convey your
message.
Familiar words as between two good friends

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 WAYS TO INDICATE CLARITY

Choose precise, concrete and familiar words.

Construct effective sentences and paragraphs.
 CHOOSE PRECISE, CONCRETE
AND FAMILIAR WORDS
Clarity is achieved in part through a balance between
precise language and familiar words.
Precise language means selecting exactly the right
word to convey the meaning.
Familiar language comprises words of one’s personal
repertoire, familiar to the audience and appropriate for
the situation.

MORE EXAMPLEs: EBC, Chapter 2, page 49

 EXAMPLEs
FAMILIAR WORDS PRETENTIOUS WORDS

 after subsequent
 home domicile
 for example e.g.
 invoice statement for payment
 EXAMPLE
UNFAMILIAR FAMILIAR

 After our perusal of pertinent The data we studied show

data, the conclusion is that a that your property is
lucrative market exists for the profitable and in high
subject property. demand.
 USE BUSINESS JARGON

Use business language and technical terms in

professional situations.
Avoid when communicating to a person who is not
acquainted with the terminology.
Even then if you must use the terms, explain briefly
and clearly for proper understanding.
Refresher: ½ min. break and food for thought
“Englishnization.”
construct EFFECTIVE SENTENCES
AND PARAGRAPHS
At the core of clarity is the sentence.
Grammatical statement when clearly expressed moves
thoughts within a paragraph.
Important characteristics to consider while making
effective sentences and paragraphs are:
 Length
 Unity
 Coherence
 Emphasis
 LENGTH

Short sentences are preferred.

Suggested average sentence length should be 17- 20
words or it could be from 3- 30 words or so. But more
than 40 words sentence should be rewritten to reduce
length.
 UNITY
Keep one main idea and other ideas must be related to
the main idea.
EXAMPLE
Wrong: I like Jim, and the Eiffel Tower is in Paris.

Correct: Mr. James is in his late sixties. His hands

trembles when he eats.
 COHERENCE
Words are correctly arranged so that ideas correctly
convey the intended meaning.
EXAMPLE
UNCLEAR: Being an excellent lawyer, I am sure you can
help us.
Clear:
As you are an excellent lawyer, I am sure you can help us.
 EMPHASIS
The quality that gives force to important parts of
sentences and paragraphs is emphasis.
The writer needs to understand what should be
emphasized.
In a complex sentence, main idea should be placed in
the main clause and less important points are to be
placed in a subordinate clause.
 EXAMPLE
Little Emphasis:
The airplane finally approached the speed of sound, and
it became very difficult to control.

Better Emphasis:
As it finally approached the speed of sound, the airplane
became very difficult to control.
OTHER WAYS TO SHOW EMPHASIS
Use of semi-colon (;)
 Headings
 Tabulations
 Pie charts
 Graphs
 Underlining
 Italics
 Coloured fonts, etc…

 MORE EXAMPLEs: EBC, Chapter 2, page 51-52

CHECKLIST FOR CLARITY
Choose precise or as concrete a word as possible.
Select words that have a high sense of appropriateness
for the reader.
Go for the familiar words.
Limit average length of a sentence is 17- 20 words.
Insert no more than one main idea in a sentence.
Arrange words so that the main idea occurs early in a
sentence.
Refresher: ½ min. break and food for thought
“Readers are leaders.”
 Courtesy
• Courtesy means being polite, kind, judicious, enthusiastic
and convincing.
• Courtesy is an important element of effective
communication.
• Courtesy reflects the nature and character of the sender
of the message.
• It is the same as give respect and then expect the same.
• Courtesy is being not at all biased in nature.
• Courtesy stems from a sincere “you-attitude”
• Show respect and concern for others .
• Consider your audience.
 Courtesy
True courtesy involves being aware not only of the
perspective of others, but also their feelings.
It is not just to show politeness with magnetized
assertion of “please” and “thank you”, but it is
politeness that grows out of respect and concern for
others
For this one should need to be sincerely tactful,
thoughtful and appreciative.
Use expressions that show respect.
Choose non-discriminatory expressions
Examples from Book.

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 GUIDELINES FOR
GENERATING COURTESY

Be sincerely tactful, thoughtful and appreciative.

Use expressions that show respect.
Choose nondiscriminatory expressions.
BE SINCERELY TACTFUL,THOUGHTFUL
AN APPRECIATIVE

Be tactful keeping in mind audience culture, feelings

and respect.
Avoid being blunt or abrupt as negative feelings arise
from personal negative attitude or when a person does
not know the culture of a country …
 EXAMPLE
Tactless , Blunt
 Stupid letter; I can’t
understand any of it.
 Clearly, you did not read my
latest fax.
 I rewrote that letter three
times; the point was clear.
More Tactful
It’s my understanding that I
did not get what you mean.
Sometimes my wording is not
precise; let me try again.
I’m sorry the point was not
clear; here is another version.

 MORE EXAMPLEs: EBC, Chapter 2, page 53

 THOUGHTFULNESS AND
APPRECIATION

Be polite and courteous when communicating with

your audience as it helps building goodwill.
Goodwill is worth thousands for an organization
which can be achieved by sending cordial, courteous
messages of appreciation.
 USE EXPRESSIONS THAT SHOW
RESPECT
 No reader wants to receive messages that offend.
EXAMPLE
OFFENSIVE: Hey man, what’s this I hear about your wedding?
You didn’t tell any of us about it. Give my regards to the lady
and wish her the best.
COURTEOUS: Warm congratulations on your wedding!
Well, you certainly took us by surprise. In fact, just a few of us
suspected you were taking off to get married. But even though
we didn’t hear about it until later. We wish you the best.

MORE EXAMPLEs: EBC, Chapter 2, page 54-55

 CHOOSE NONDISCRIMINATORY
EXPRESSION
Nondiscriminatory language reflects equal
treatment of people regardless of gender, race,
ethnic origin and physical features.
EXAMPLE
In the past, ‘man’ was used to denote not only male
persons but also humanity at large. Today, many
people connect ‘man’ with a ‘male human being’.
Thus, English language uses alternative
expressions for man that are neutral in form.
 EXAMPLEs
Questionable More Desirable
 Freshman Entering students, first year
students
 Manpower Workers, employees, work
force.
 Man-made Manufactured, constructed,
built

 MORE EXAMPLEs: EBC, Chapter 2, page 55-56

 CHECKLIST FOR
COURTESY

Communication should have you-attitude.

 Have someone review of your statement to avoid
disrespect.
Be careful in using language. Be aware of gender, race,
colour, creed, etc.
Refresher: ½ min. break and food for thought
“Be a strategist in every sphere of life.”
 Correctness
• Correctness in the communication implies that the
correct information is conveyed through a message.
• Correct communication boosts up the confidence level of
the sender.
• Correct information has greater impact on the audience.
• Free from grammatical errors and use of appropriate and
correct language.
• Correct information includes the precision and
accurateness of facts and figures used in the message.
 Correctness
At the core of correctness is proper grammar,
punctuation and spelling.
However a message may be perfect grammatically and
mechanically but still may embarrass insult or lose a
customer.
The term correctness as applied to business messages
also means the following three characteristics.

1. Use the right level of language

2. Check accuracy of facts, figures and words
3. Maintain acceptable writing mechanics.

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 USE THE RIGHT LEVEL OF
LANGUAGE
There are three levels of language
 Formal
 Informal
 Substandard

So writing style for each level is different.

MORE EXAMPLEs: EBC, Chapter 2, page 57-58

 FORMAL LANGUAGE
Formal writing is often associated with scholarly
writing:
 Doctoral dissertations
 Scholarly articles
 Legal documents
 Government agreements
and other materials where formality of language is
demanded.
STYLE: Style is non-conversational, usually impersonal
and often contains long sentences.
 INFORMAL LANGUAGE
Informal writing is more characteristic of business
writing as words are short, well-known and
conversational… As,
More Formal Less Formal
participate join
procure get
endeavor try
edifice building
deem think
 POEM
Colleges are not schools,
They are learning institutions;
Problems don’t have answers,
They have viable solutions.
People don’t spend money,
They re-allocate resources.
Speakers don’t make speeches,
They give oral presentations.
Bosses don’t set quotas,
They just indicate objectives.
Workers don’t take orders,
They implement directives.
Machinery can’t break down ,
But components can malfunction.
A court does not command
It just issues an injunction.
Programs don’t have failures,
They have qualified successes.
And jargon doesn’t hurt you—
It just constantly distresses!
Enid C. Stickel
 SUBSTANDARD
LANGUAGE
Avoid using incorrect words, incorrect grammar, faulty
pronunciation , all suggest an inability to use good English.
SUBSTANDARD MORE ACCEPTABLE
 Ain’t isn’t, aren’t
 Can’t hardly can hardly
 Aim at proving aim to prove
 Irregardless regardless

 Brung brought
 Should of should have
 CHECK ACCURACY OF FIGURES,
FACTS AND WORDS
Data and information should be correct, check and
double check the accuracy of facts and figures.
Verify statistical data.
Double check your totals.
Avoid guessing at laws that have an impact on you, the
sender and the receiver.
Have someone else read your message if the topic
involves data.
Determine whether a “fact” has changed over time.
 WORDS THAT CONFUSE

Our English language is constantly changing … In fact

even dictionaries cannot keep up with the rapid
change in our language. But the dictionary is still a
major source for locating correct words and their
intended meanings.
 LIST INCLUDES WORDS OFTEN
CONFUSED IN USAGE
accept, except Accept is a verb and means
to receive.
Except is a verb or a
preposition means omitting
or leaving out.

Between involves two people

between and among
or groups.
Among involves three or
more.

 MORE EXAMPLEs: EBC, Chapter 2, page 59-60

 MAINTAIN ACCEPTABLE
WRITING MECHANICS
Message should be correct grammatically.
Computers provide spell and grammar check to make
editing easy.
Every message should be carefully written.
CHECKLIST FOR CORRECTNESS
Select the right level of language for communication;
either formal or informal.
Realize that informal language is used in business
communication.
Check your accuracy of facts and figures by making
other person read your material.
 Exercises
1. Do Exercises 4 and 6 (Chapter 2, pages 62 and 63)
2. For many years your company has been sending free copies of a
glossy magazine Improving Your Correspondence to any one
who requested to be on your mailing list. Seldom do you hear
from your readers. The cost of this little publication is about $2
each. In an effort to try to pare unnecessary expenses, your
firm`s directors have suggested that the mailing list be revised
to include only those persons and firms that still read and
appreciate the publication. They realize that after a passage of
years those who originally requested to be on the mailing list
may no longer be reading the magazine. Write a pleasant,
positive-sounding, processed message that will offend no one,
even though it is basically bad news. Your goal is to find out
which readers wish to keep the magazine coming. They`ll help
you keep your mailing list up to date by taking a certain action
that you request. Can you word your announcement in such a
way that the readers will be dropped from your mailing list if
you don’t hear from them?