COURSE TITLE:
USE OF ENGLISH
COURSE CODE:
GSE 107
LANGUAGE
REGISTER
MEANING OF
REGISTERS
Registers refers to words or vocabulary
associated with certain fields of human endeavours. The language registers of
particular field or discipline are their trade marks. They are the specialized
words or expression used in discourses in those fields or professions. For
instance, a member of the discipline of medicine is expected not only to be
well acquainted with the language of medicine, but also to use those specialized
words properly in communication, especially with his colleagues in the medical
profession.
Further
more, register is the appropriate word or vocabulary used in or associated with
particular human activity or edneavour. Any other word used instead of the
appropriate word will not be suitable. For instance in education sector we talk
about ‘classroom’ as a place where ‘students’ assemble to receive instruction.
Therefore any other word used in place of classroom is not appropriate register
or word or vocabulary.
PHONETICS AND
PHONOLOGY OF ENGLISH
The study of speech sounds
is divided into tow closely related and overlapping sub-disciplines phonetics
and phonology.
Phonetics is the study of
language sound production, the quality of sound produced in terms of phonetic
environment in which they occur and the perception of such sounds. Here are
three branches of phonetics.
(1)
Articulatory phonetics: This is the study of language sound production.
(2)
Auditory phonetics, this branch is concerned with the perception of
language sounds.
(3)
Acoustic phonetics these deals with the qualities language sounds
acquire in the process of production.
Meanwhile, phonology is the
study of the pattering of language sounds. In other words, it is primarily concerned
with the acceptable sequence or arrangement of the speech sounds of a
particular language.
CLASSIFICATION
OF ENGLISH SOUNDS
There are forty-four sound units in English
alphabet and some conventional symbols are used to represent the sound units.
These sound units are also called phonemes.
In
transcription, letters of the English alphabet and some conventional symbols
are used to represent the sound units. These symbols are union as phonetic
symbols. The forty-four sounds of English have been classified into vowels and
consonants.
English
vowels sounds: A vowel is a speech sound produced when a speech airflows
through the oral cavity without obstruction.
Short
vowel sounds: The short vowel sounds are so called because their production is
usually brief.
Long
vowel sounds: The pronunciation of the long vowel sounds is usually a little
longer and louder than that of short vowel sounds.
The
diphthong: the difference between a diphthong and a pure vowel sound is that a
diphthong is a union of two vowel sounds.
English
consonant sounds: There are twenty four English consonants
NB: Study the symbols and practice their
pronunciation
COMPREHENSION
AND INTERPRETATION
Comprehension is the skill of extracting
meaning from print. This entails getting meaning or information from reading a
print. Comprehension proceeds from three levels, namely: the literal or factual
level, the inferential level and critical level.
The
literal or factual level: this means the understanding we get by reading words
or sentence as they are stated directly in texts.
The
inferential level: these deals with the relationships or ideas implied rather
than explicitly stated.
The
critical level: this is where the writer’s ideas are used in projecting new
ideas. At this level facts are established, opinions are adequately
investigated and proved as either real or unreal with evidences.
Meanwhile,
interpretation is the proof of comprehension. It is obvious therefore, that we
cannot talk about comprehension without touching the issue of reading as the
end product of reading is comprehension. See the diagram below:
Reading - comprehension - interpretation
FACTORS THAT DIRECTLY AND INDIRECT COMPREHENSION
There are some obstacles
that may directly or indirectly affects comprehension. These include the
followings.
Poor academic foundation:
learning is gradual process and knowledge is built from know to unknown. If for
any reason an educational experience is skipped, it invariably shows at the
long run. The problem of not having enough vocabulary leads to inability to
comprehend words used in a passage.
Psychological situation such
as bereavement, sickness can affect comprehension as the body has to be
sound-physically, spiritually and socially before it gives its best in any
field.
Environmental factor: this is another factor that can obstruct
proper comprehension. This follows that the environment one finds himself when
reading will to a large extent determine the level of comprehension.
Cautious
Writing
Outline is a process of planning and
organizing the points or ideas to be developed in an essay, in a letter, in a
report, in a story, or any other form of writing. It involves thinking through
the thesis of the essay and arranging the ideas bit by bit so as to have a
clear focus while writing.
Outlining
does not just mean writing down the points it involves logic-good reasoning.
The writer thinks, critically, analyses the prints and puts down the basic
framework of the essay and its details, which he develops one after another as
he writes.
Types of outline: There are three ways an outline of
the essay statement can be done. Main ideas outline, topic outline and sentence
outline.
1.
Main idea outline: Main idea outline consists in simply thinking and
writing down the main ideas to be use in developing an essay statement.
2.
Topic outline: This is different from main ideas outline because apart
form giving the main ideas, the writer forms subordinate ideas from the main
ideas.
3.
Sentence outline: in this type of outline, complete sentence are used
to write the main ideas, the subordinate ideas, and the subdivisions of the
subordinate ideas.
PARAGRAPHING
A
paragraphing is a group of sentences that develops single main ideas.
Therefore, a main idea expressed on a sentence often requires other sentences
to fully develop the idea. This is why a paragraph is a larger unit of
expression than the sentence. A paragraph can serve as a formal introduction to
the ideas expressed as means of transition from one idea to another as a
summary.
Essay
Writing
Essay writing is the art f composing ideas,
thoughts, knowledge and facts in an orderly and logical manner on a specific
topic.
Types of Essays: Essay writing can be generally
classified under four broad types: narrative essay, descriptive essay,
argumentative/ persuasive essay and expository.
1. Narrative
Essay: This is the art of recounting or giving an account of a story, event,
incident or happening in a sequence. The order of occurrence is very important
in this type of essay. It is necessary to understand that events do not occur
in a haphazard manner.
Point of view
in a narrative Essay
This refers to the angle from which a story
or narration is made. This is whether the narrator is an outsider or an insider
to the events in the narrative. There are two types of point of view:
(a)
Omniscient point of view: In this type, the narrator is every where and
knows everything. He is an outsider and tells his story in the story in the
third person. He is very familiar with characters and knows their thought and
ideas. It is this type of point of view that is most commonly used by fictional
writers.
(b)
Limited point of view: Here, the narrator is one of the characters in
the story or narration. He is usually the chief character. The narration is
limited as he narrates only what he sees and hears. He does not know the other
characters thoughts or ideas and cannot predict effectively what their next
action will be. He narrates his story mostly in the first person using “I” or
“We”
2. The
Descriptive Essay: This entails saying what somebody is or something looks
like. In doing so, we furnish details of characteristics features,
peculiarities, identifying marks, strength, weakness etc.
3. The
expository Essay: This is the type of essay that seeks to explain new ideas,
facts, knowledge, discoveries, findings etc. it does so by experimenting and
expounding the information in such a way that it becomes fairly comprehensible
and intelligible to the reader. Exposition describes how something is done. It
defines an idea or tangible object, compares and contrast two objects.
4. The
argumentative Essay: Here the writer tries to win his reader to his own point of
view. This type of writing makes use of a lot of persuasion, convincing and
logical presentation of facts. A writer can make an effort to convince his
readers appeal to their sense of reason.
LETTER
WRITING
Correspondence is the act of writing and receiving
letters. It is a kind of communication through which information, instruction,
message or request is disseminated through writing. Letter writing like any
other write-up or composition is individualistic in nature.
Types
of letter writing: letter writing is divided into three, namely: Informal
letter, formal letter and semi-formal letter.
1. Informal
letter: This can be called personal or friendly letter. It is a letter written
to people who are very familiar to us such as members of our family, father,
mother, sister, brother uncle, nephew cousin or close friends and
acquaintances. Informal letter takes the following format:
a. the
writer’s address and date
b. the
opening greeting or salutation
c. the
body of the letter
d. the
closing greetings or subscription
2. The
formal letter: This is equally called business or official letter. It includes
letter of complaint, official request, letter of enquires, letter of order and
delivery written for an order of goods and services. There is no element of
familiarity in this type of letter.
Features
a. Two addresses: the address of the writer and the address of
the recipient.
b. salutation no intimacy here
c. title or headline
d. the body of the letter
e. closing
3. Semi-formal: As the name implies is neither an informal
letter nor formal letter. It gets its format and style from both formal and
informal letter. This type of letter can
be written to people whom we are familiar with, but not so intimately.
Features
a.
The writers address compulsory
b.
The address of the recipient optional
c.
There may or may not be a subject matter or heading
d.
Salutation the surname of the recipient is usually used the body of
letter contains both the style of both formal or informal letter.
e.
The complimentary close: This usually bears yours sincerely, signature,
and the full of name of the writer.
Research
Reports
A
research is an investigation that is discovery orientated. According to
Otagburuagu and Ogbonna (1990) say that a research may focus on:
i. finding
out the answer or solutions to intriguing questions
ii. upholding
a certain point of view
iii.
refuting a hypothesis or a contention
iv.
demonstrating an alternative point view
v.
finding out new facts.
Then the findings of such
academic investigation according to them, may be embodied in specialized forms
of writing such as:
a. Dissertation
b. Thesis
c. Term paper
The thesis and the
dissertation are highly specialized in content, form and methodology. These are
projects written for the award of degrees. Students are gradually introduced to
the thesis and dissertation through the writing of term papers or long essay.
The term paper is therefore
a training in organization, information sifting and precision and finally in
research reporting.
The process of writing
research, report is included in the following steps:
1.
Select a topic that you can really research on
2.
Limit your topic and make purpose of the paper clear.
3.
Gather information on your limited topic
4.
Plan your paper and take note in your topic
5.
Write the paper
Format for writing term paper or long essay.
Term paper
1. Preliminary
pages
a. blank page
b. title page
c. the dedication page
d. table of content
e preface
f acknowledgment
2. The Text
a. introduction
b. body of
the paper with well defined division and subdivisions
such as chapters division and subdivision.
3. The supplementary pages
a. references
b. glossary
c. appendices
Use of an acceptable format and method of documentation
(a)
Format: in research two referencing styles are acceptable depending on
your disciplines. Discipline in the arts make use of the modern language
association (MLA) format. While education and social sciences accept the
American psychological association (APA) format.
What is a memo
(memorandum)?
A
memo is an official note form one person to another within the same
organization, establishment, Institution Company etc. it is a form of written
communication, just like the letter.
Types of
Memos
There are two types, depending on area of
circulation
(i)
Interdepartmental Memo: This is the type of memo
that sent from one department to another within the same organization. It is
usually printed on a sheet within the same organization’s or company’s letter
head.
(ii)
Intra-departmental Memo: It is intra-departmental
when it circulates within the same department in an organization
Format for
Memo or features
i.
a letter head
ii.
to line
iii.
subject line
iv.
date line
v.
ref line
vi.
body
vii.
signature
viii.
cc
ix.
enclosure/attached
What is Speech
Writing?
Speech writing is the
graphic representation of a formal talk given to an audience.
The occasion for a speech
making could be the inauguration of a students association, a formal welcome
address to an important visitor. It could be leaders addressing members of club
or a town union, a politician making a formal speech to an electorate before
elections or even after.
Planning a
Speech:
The ultimate aim of every speech maker is to
communicate some ideas, some messages to the audience to accept his ideas,
beliefs or personality etc. For the speaker to succeed he must plan his speech
very well, along some important points. Then in his planning he must consider
the following points.
(a) The purpose of the speech
(b) His audience
(c) The occasion or context of speech
(d) The topic or content of the speech
Then in choosing the
audience the followings should be considered.
i. Educational
level of the audience
ii. Size
of the audience
iii. Occupation
of the audience
iv. Age
of the audience
vi. Sex
of the audience
vii. The
religious background of the audience
Format of a
Speech
The following features of every speech include the
following:
i. Title
ii. Mark
of identification
iii. Salutation
iv. Body
v. Name
and signature of writer or speaker
Public
Speech
Public speech or speaking is a specialized
form of communication which requires skill. Like essay writing, public speech
has topic and a targeted audience, but unlike essay writing, public speech is
open, practical and some what complex exercise, it reveals the personality of
the speaker, his knowledge of the subject matter and his alertness and
enthusiasm. Every public speech must be candid, concise, clear, correct,
concrete and courteous.
Types of
Public Speech
i. The
impromptu public speech: This is the type of speech delivered without prior
knowledge and preparations. The speaker is usually called up to present a
speech without any form of preparation.
ii. Prepared
public speech: As the name implies, the public speech is the one the speaker
has had a fore or knowledge. In this type of speech presentation, the speaker
is normally given the topic before hand or asked to choose one himself.
Introduction
of Literature
Literature can be defined as any work or
writing that has an enduring value and of universal interest touching on themes
such as religion, government romance, politics and science.
Distinction
between English literature and literature in English
English literature: This is the literature
written in English by writes who are English in origin or adoption. It deals
with mode of life of the English people including their origin, customs,
beliefs and experience.
Literature in English: This is the literature in
English by writers who are not English by birth.
Types
of literature are oral literature and written literature
Branches of
Literature
Literature is divided into three branches the
three divisions are referred to as
the genres of literature. They are drama, poetry and prose.
Drama refers to plays acted on the stage. It is the
reenactment of action by actors/ actresses impersonating fictional or
historical personage.
Characteristics
of Drama
1. It
is written in acts and scenes
2. It
makes use of dialogue
3. It
is action centered
4. it
makes use of dramatic personae
5. It
is best appreciated when acted in the stage.
6. It takes
place in a theatre, on a stage or platform
Prose: This is a short or long
story that is not written in verse
Characteristics
of Prose
1. It
is written in chapters and paragraphs
2. It
deals with intellect
3. Not
always musical and may not contain a rhyme scheme
4. Written
to inform and instruct
5. Uses
only denotation of words
6. It
may be factual or fiction
Poetry: Poetry as an imaginative
work of art expressed in strong emotions. Usually contains rhyme and rhythm it
is also said to be the beautiful arrangement of words in lines. Forms of poetry
include poems, songs, recitations, hymns etc
Characteristics
of Poetry
1. Written
in stanzas
2. Deals
with imagination and emotion
3. Usually
musical and in rhyme pattern
4. It
is technical
5. It
is written principally to express emotion
6. Uses
words both connotation and denotation
7. Uses poetic licence with the application of incorrect forms
of words and expression.