Section
1
You are at a stage in your life when you
want to use English to converse with your classmates, with your teachers and
others.
But you aren’t too sure about your ability
to use English for all these. The main reason is you didn’t get an opportunity
to listen to and speak in English. And so now you find it difficult to mix with
others. You see others talking in English and enjoying themselves.
Unfortunately, you are unable to do this.
point one
1. When do you greet someone ‘good
morning’?
a. any time during the day
b. up to 1 p.m.
2. You say ‘good morning’ to seniors in age
or position.
a. yes b. no
3. You say ‘hello’ or ‘hi’ to
a . people of your age b. seniors in age or
position
4. ‘Good night’ is a greeting.
a. yes b. no
[it’s a leave-taking expressions like ‘bye’, good bye’, ‘see you’]
5.
How do you respond to a greeting?
a. anyway I like b. repeat the
greeting
________________________________________________________________________
game one
Fill in the blanks:
1.
2.
3.
6. Figure 1 is in _________________ shape.
a. circular b. square c. oval
7. Figure 2 is in _________________ shape.
a. circular b. square c. oval
8. Figure 3 is in _________________ shape.
a. circular b. square c. oval
________________________________________________________________________
point two
9. Your response to ‘how are you?’ from an
elder or a superior should be
a. Fine. b. Fine,
sir/madam. c. Fine, sir/madam,
thank you.
10. This is generally immediately followed
by ‘how are you, sir/madam?’ and the
response should be
a. Fine, sir, thank you. b.
Fine. c. Fine, Gautam,
thank you.
11. Generally speaking, no enquiry is
necessary between people of the same age or
position.
a. yes
b. no
________________________________________________________________________
word game two
Match the words with their meanings:
12. friend a. one you may
see around but do not know
13. acquaintance b. one you know very well
14. stranger c. one you met
somewhere but do not have much contact
________________________________________________________________________
point 3
15. Lets’ say you introduce two of your friends
to each other.
What will they say to each other?
a. ‘How d’you do?’ ‘How d’you do?’
b. ‘Glad to meet you.’ ‘Glad to meet you.’
c. ‘Hello’/ ‘Hi.’ ‘Hello’/
‘Hi.’ d. either ‘a’, ‘b’ or
‘c’
16. Your two friends say to each other ‘how
d’you do?’ because
a.
their positions or statuses are
such that they wish to be formal.
b.
despite their positions or
statuses they wish to be less formal.
c.
they wish to be informal.
17. Your two friends say to each other
‘glad to meet you’ because
a.
their positions or statuses are
such that they wish to be formal.
b.
despite their positions or
statuses they wish to be less formal.
c.
they wish to be informal.
18. Your two friends say to each other
‘hello’ or ‘hi’ because
a. their positions or statuses are such that
they wish to be formal.
b. despite their positions or statuses they wish
to be less formal.
c. they wish to be informal.
19. a. ‘How d’you do?’ is used only when
the first meeting takes place.
b. ‘How d’you do?’ can be used in the place of ‘how are you?’
c. ‘How d’you do?’ can receive a response ‘Fine, sir, thank you.’
20. When you introduce two of your friends
to each other, you say the names with
titles like ‘mr’, ‘miss’, ‘mrs’, ‘Ms’, ‘Dr’, ‘Father’ when the context
is
a. formal b. informal
________________________________________________________________________
word game three
Match the words with the meanings:
21. rival [i] one trying to become
better in sports or business
22. enemy [ii] one acting or speaking
against another
23. competitor [iii] one trying to become better
in business
one
taking part in a competition
24. opponent [iv] one playing or fighting
against another
________________________________________________________________________
point 3
25. Sometimes situations arise where you
may wish to introduce yourself.
You say, __________________
1.‘I’m Kumaran.’
2.‘I’m Mr Kumaran.’
3.‘My name is Kumaran.’ 4. ‘My name is Mr
Kumaran.’
a. 1 or 3
b. 2 or 4
26. When you introduce yourself,
a. don’t use any title with your name.
b. use a title
with your name.
c. don’t use a title with your name unless it is necessary in a given
context.
27.You’ve introduced yourself. You want to
know the name of the other person.
You ask: ____________________
1.What is your name?
2. May I know your good name?
3.Can I know your name?
4. Can you tell me your name?
5.Can I ask you your name?
6. Will you tell me your name?
7.You are…
a. any one of the seven b. only seven
________________________________________________________________________
information one [‘info’ is an abbreviation
used in conversations between friends]
Do you know the words for the sounds
animals make?
The cow moos. The chicken cackles. The donkey brays. The cat mews or miaows.
The horse neighs. The goat bleats. The sheep baas or bleats.
The dog barks. The pigeon coos. The wolf bays.
[All the underlined words are verbs
referring to the sounds the animals produce.]
________________________________________________________________________
word game four
Match the following:
28. chaos [a] clarity
29. confusion [b] knowledge
30. ignorance [c] dissuade
31. persuade [d] order
________________________________________________________________________
point 4
32. A subordinate to superior: “Sir,
________ located the file. …..”
a. I’ve b. I have
33. A colleague to another : “Ganesh, _____located the file…..”
a. I’ve b. I have
34. “ John, where is Gokul?” “______ gone,
I tell you,”
a. He’s b. He has
35. “ Okay. ______ meet at dinner.”
a. We’ll b. We will
________________________________________________________________________
info two
Let’s say you go into a bookshop, on
impulse rather than by intention. What do you do?
You move round, look at the titles and
the authors, flip or glance through a few pages, look at the back covers
where the publishers normally provide some interesting info about the books
and the authors.
We can replace the underlined expressions
and the one in bold with two single words. Do you know them? They are ‘browse’
and ‘blurb’.
Fill the blanks with ‘impulse’ or ‘intention’ :
36. He doesn’t think. He acts on
________________.
37. My _________________ is to save money,
not to spend it.
________________________________________________________________________
section 2
point five
using the telephone
When we use the phone, landline or the
mobile, wrong calls do occur. Either we dial the wrong numbers or someone else
does. To avoid embarrassment, it’s better to confirm first we’re making a call
to the right number, don’t you think?
Say you want to call 9444 2570 82. It’s
possible you pressed 52 instead of 25, or 07 for 70, or for that matter 28 for
82. So when somebody from the other end says ‘hallo’, you confirm by asking ‘is
that 9444 257082, please?’ When ‘yes’ is the response, you then proceed
further. If ‘no’ is the answer, say ‘sorry’ and disconnect.
________________________________________________________________________
word game five
38. Rearrange the letters : lbceh to
get the word meaning ‘let out air noisily’ __________
39. Fill in the two letters __ __lingual meaning ‘speaking two
languages’.
40. A _____________ system uses only 0 and
1 as a system of numbers. The word is
related to computing.
41. This word also means ‘let out air
noisily’. It is ________________
________________________________________________________________________
info three
You know ‘neck’ is a part of human body.
41. The back part of the neck is called
_______.
42. The front part is the ________.
The human body is divided into two parts:
1. head 2. trunk [=the rest of the
body].
Sometimes, the police find a corpse or dead
body without the head. The word for such a body is headless body.
________________________________________________________________________
point six
using the telephone
Suppose[=imagine] you want to talk to your
lecturer or professor:
43.You dial the number. You
hear:”______________”
a. who is speaking? b. Yes?
c. Hullo!
[you recognise the voice]
44. You say : ‘______________________________________________
a.
Sir, I want discuss something important.
b.
Are you busy, sir?
c.
Good morning, sir. I’m Sundar, third year EEE, speaking.’
__________________________________________________________________________
Imagine[=suppose] you want to talk to your
friend:
You dial the number. You hear: ‘Hello!’ [your friend’s mother is
speaking]
You say: “Auntie, is Vijay there?
[or] I want to talk to Vijay.”
_______________________________________________________________________
word game six
45. This is part of your food. It’s chilli
hot and soaked in oil. Either mango or lemon
pieces and spices form the content of this food. It is ____________________.
46. Change the first letter of this word
and it will mean: move fingers over a sensitive
part of someone’s body making them laugh. The word is
__________________.
47. We use this word to refer to the
movement of tears from the eyes. We also use this
word to refer to the slow movement of people to gather in a given place.
You need
to add one letter to the second word. The word is _______________.
48. Remove the last two letters from the
second word and add one letter. It will mean:
‘difficult to deal with’. The word is _____________. ________________________________________________________________________
info four
Do you know the word for the ‘top edge of a
cup/glass/bowl’? It’s
We say ‘fill the cup to the brim.’
Do you know the word for the ‘edge of
something circular’?
We say ‘Don’t hold the glass by the rim.
The glass contains hot water.’
Another word that comes to mind is ‘grim’
which means ‘looking very serious’.
We say ‘Why does she always look grim? I’ve
never seen her smile.’
‘Grim’ reminds me of another word ‘glum’
which means ‘sad, quiet and unhappy’.
We say ‘Don’t be so glum, darling. Things
will look up soon enough.’
The underlined expression means ‘become better’.
________________________________________________________________________
info five
You know who a ‘villain’ is. There’s
almost no film without a villain. A villain, as you know, does indulge in doing
evil things. But you’ll be surprised to learn that this word once referred to
‘an honest agricultural labourer’!
Today we get money as ‘salary’ for
the work we do for someone. In olden days, only salt ration was given to
soldiers. This ration was known as ‘salarium’, which later became ‘salary’.
________________________________________________________________________
point seven
49. How do you ask for permission from
someone?
1. How may I help you? 2. May
I help you? 3. Shall I help you?
4. Will I help you?
5. Should I help you? 6. Could I
help you?
a. any one of the six b. 1
and 2 c. 3 and 4 d. 5 and 6
50. How do you ask for permission when
there is no need for politeness?
a. How may I help you? b. Can I
help you? c. Should I help you?
________________________________________________________________________
word game seven
If you are a cricket fan, you’ll know these
two words: ‘bat’ and ‘bail’.
‘Bat’ is a piece of wood with a handle,
which a batsman uses to hit the ball to score runs.
‘Bat’ is also an animal that moves in the
night and looks like a mouse with wings.
51. The single word for ‘in the night or
during the night’ is___________________ .
Find this word by rearranging these letters: ctrulnaon. The
opposite of this word
is ‘diurnal’ which means ‘during the day’.
52.‘Bail’ is a piece of wood kept on the
stumps. This word is used also in another
context [place]. It is a ______________ of law where an accused or a
defendant asks
for ‘bail’, that is, permission to leave jail until the trial.
________________________________________________________________________
info six
You know what a ‘sandwich’ is, don’t
you? It’s two toasted thin slices of bread with butter and jam, meat, or tomato
and cucumber between the bread slices. People eat sandwiches for breakfast.
Do you know how this food got its name?
John Montagne belonged to a place called Sandwich in England. He was a round-the-clock
gambler. As he didn’t want to stop gambling, he thought of having food like the
presentday sandwiches. The name of his town became the name of the food.
________________________________________________________________________
section 3
info seven
Listen to my pronunciation of these words.
I shall pronounce them in two ways. The first one is [a] and the second one is
[b]. Tick [a] or [b] as you listen.
53. cassette [a] [b] 54. video [a] [b]
55. film [a] [b] 56. July [a] [b]
57. Wednesday [a] [b] 58. school [a]
[b]
59. eleven [a] [b] 60. twenty [a]
[b]
________________________________________________________________________
word game eight
A baker is a person who makes cakes and bread.
61. A ________________ is a glass cup used
in chemistry laboratory.
62. Any road leading to a school will have
several speed- ____________s for vehicles
to move slowly.
63. When traffic lights are on amber, it
means ___________________
[a] you can move [b] you
should stop [c] you should be
ready to move
64. Sheep’s meat is ‘mutton’. Pig’s meat is
___________. Cow’s meat is
____________.
__________________________________________________________________
info eight
Listen to my pronunciation of the words
printed in bold below and then tick [a] or [b]:
65.
I’m content with my job.
What is the content of the letter you received? [a]
[b]
66.
Shall we sign the contract?
When cooling, metal contracts. [a] [b]
67. The contest is between me and my
enemy.
I intend to contest for the office of the Student President. [a] [b]
68. I want to convert dollars into
rupees. I’m a convert to Christianity. [a] [b]
69. Your son’s conduct is very
good. Who’s going to conduct the
meeting? [a] [b]
70.
A table is an object.
I object to the new proposal. [a] [b]
71. Farmers produce grains. This year’s produce is less than
last year’s. [a] [b]
info nine
72.When someone does some service for you,
how do you respond to it?
1. Thank you very much. 2.
Thank you. 3. Thanks. 4. Thanks very much.
5. Many thanks. 6. Thanks a
lot.
a. any one of them b. 1
and 2 only c. 3 and 4 only d. 5 and 6 only
73. When someone thanks you, how do you
respond to it?
1. Not at all 2. Don’t
mention it. 3. You’re welcome.
4. That’s all right. 5. That’s
okay. 6. It’s okay. 7. No problem
a. any one of them b. 1,2 and
3 c. 4,5,6 and 7
74. You use 1, 2 and 3 of the choices to 73
when you wish to be polite.
a. Yes. b. No.
75. You use 4,5,6 and 7 of the choices to
73 on other occasions.
a. Yes. b. No
________________________________________________________________________
game nine
Match the following:
81. gathering i. group of people watching or
listening to a play/concert/speech
82. mob ii. people in great number in public
places
83. audience iii. large number of people in
excited mood
84. crowd iv. meeting of people for a
particular purpose
________________________________________________________________________
info ten
85. When you wish to disagree with someone,
you say ‘______________.’
1.Very
sorry 2. I don’t agree 3.That’s not right/correct 4. You’re wrong
a. any one b. all except
1 c. 1 and 2 d. 3 and 4
86. When you wish to leave your guests to
themselves for a short time so that you can
attend to some other activity, you say ‘_____________.’
1. Sorry, I’ve got to go
2. Excuse me for a moment
3. I won’t be long 4. be back in a jiffy
a. any one b. all except 1 c. only 2 d. 2 and 3
87. When you have to ask someone to wait for
a short time, you say ‘____________.’
1. One moment, please
2. Just a minute, please
3. Just a second, please
4. Just a moment, please
a. any one b. 1and
2 c. 3 and 4 d. only 1
88. When you want someone to repeat what
they’ve just said because you didn’t
hear it, you say
‘_________________.’
1. I beg your pardon [formal]
2. Come again? [informal]
3. Sorry? [BrE] 4. Excuse me?
[AmE]
a. 1 and 2 b. 2 and 3 c. any one d. 3 and 4
________________________________________________________________________
game ten
Choose the best expression to fill in the
blanks:
89. If I were defying, I would be
____________.
a. questioning the authority b.
disagreeing c. refusing help d. rejecting an offer
90. If I was ignorant, it would mean
________________.
a. I’d be stupid b.
I’d be a fool. c. I’d be a dunce d. I lacked knowledge
91. When people understand you,
you’re__________________
a. intelligent
b. intelligible c. clever d. an intellectual
92.
If I lose hope , it results in___________________
a. rejection b.
dejection c. injection d. reflection e. elation
93. When I contemplate, it results in
__________________
a. rejection b.
dejection c. injection d. reflection e. elation
94. If you called yourself as someone
you’re not, for personal gains, you’d be_________.
a. a cheat b. an
actor c. a pretender d. an imposter
95. When I say ‘I’m guilty,’ I’m
_______________.
a. professing b.
confessing c. confiding d. protesting
96. Dissatisfaction not expressed
forcefully is__________________.
a. criticising b. rambling c. grumbling d. blaming
97. One of the important duties of an
embassy is to _______________.
a. canvass b.
propagate c. disseminate d. advertise
98. If the noun ‘dog’ were repeated every
time there was a reference to it, it would
make reading ______________________
a. interesting b.
monotonous c. disinteresting d. exciting
99. Oil and salt are added to a pickle to
________________ the food for several days.
a. preserve b.
protect c. save d. continue
100. How do you greet someone on their
birthday or marriage day?
a. Congrats! b. Many
happy returns of the day
c. Best of luck! d. All the
best! e. Congratulations!
________________________________________________________________________
Notes on items of pages 1-10
point 1
Greetings
always come first, don’t they?
[1] to faculty, supporting staff, admn.
staff
good morning, sir [before 1 p.m.], good afternoon, sir [up to 5
p.m.]
good evening, sir [from 5 p.m.]
Such greeting indicates politeness, respect. You always greet
first.
[2] to senior students [in the first few
weeks or if not in close contact]
good morning, good afternoon, good
evening
Such greeting shows respect for seniority in college
[3] to batchmates, other equals and seniors
[after knowing them well]
hello! hi!
Responses are the same as the greetings.
________________________________________________________________________
point 2
Enquiries come
next to greetings.
[1] to faculty, supporting staff, admn.
Staff
How are you, sir/ mam?
If they ask you : “How are you?”
your response: “Fine, thank you sir/mam”
[2] to senior students [in the first few
weeks or if not in close contact]
How are you?
If they ask you: “How are you?”
your response: “Fine, thank you.”
[3] to batchmates, other equals and seniors
[after knowing them well]
generally, no enquiries [unless it is necessary]
________________________________________________________________________
point 3
Introductions take place very often. You introduce ‘x’ to ‘z’. When necessary you
introduce yourself to others. Let’s see how you can do it.
[i] introducing one stranger to another
stranger [in any place]
“
Sekhar, this is Father Higgins.
[‘Father’ refers to a Christian priest.]
Father, this is Prof. Sekhar.”
[a] response: Sekhar: How d’you do?
Father : How d’you
do”
Shaking hands takes place as they greet each other.
‘how
d’you do? is a polite way of acknowledging the other person. It has
no other purpose. It’s not an
enquiry and so don’t say: ‘I’m fine, thank you.’
Don’t use ‘how d’you do? in place of ‘how
are you?’
[b] response: Sekhar: Glad to meet you.
Father : Glad to meet
you. less formal
________________________________________________________________________
[ii] introduce yourself to a stranger
“ I’m Kumaran. You are…” or :
“My name is Kumaran. You are….”
response:
“I’m Sumathi” or “My name is Sumathi.”
[There may or may not be hand shaking.]
Avoid
asking: What is your name?
May I know your good
name?
Can I know your name?
Can you tell me your
name?
Can I ask you your
name?
Will you tell me your
name?
Avoid using titles [mr,
prof, Dr etc] unless it is necessary for further communication.
There are several more ways of
introductions. To learn these, you’ll need to buy my
book ‘Managing
Soft Skills’, information about which you’ll find elsewhere in this blog.
________________________________________________________________________
point 4
In conversations, contractions are a common
feature. What is a contraction?
I’m [I am], I’ve [I have], I’ll [I will],
I’d [I had or I would] doesn’t, didn’t and similar ones are contractions.
When we talk, we don’t say: we have
answered all the questions.
We rather say: We’ve
answered all the questions.
We don’t say: She
will come now.
We rather say: She’ll
come now.
________________________________________________________________________
point seven
using the telephone
Suppose you want to speak to someone in an
organisation:
You ring a number. Operator: ‘Good afternoon, DLF.’
You say: ‘Good afternoon. I’d like to speak to Mr Karthik Ganesan.’ [or]
‘Good afternoon. Can
you connect me to Mr Karthik Ganesan?
Operator: ‘Please stay on the line, sir. I’ll connect you to him.’
________________________________________________________________________
point eight
How do you ask for permission from
someone?
Say :“May I help you?” to
strangers. Say: “May I leave
now?” to superiors or elders.
‘May’ expresses ‘politeness’ and ‘respect’, in addition to seeking
permission.
Say: “Can I help you?” when there is no need to be polite,
Say: “Can I leave now?” for instance with equals who may also be
strangers.
________________________________________________________________________
Learn and practise the difference in the
pronunciation of each word in its different functions:
content [as adjective and noun] contract [as noun and verb] contest [as noun and verb] convert [as noun and verb] conduct[as noun and verb] object
[as noun and verb] produce [as noun and verb]
There are several more such words that are
pronounced differently depending on their function in sentences:
contrast perfect permit
progress protest subject
compound
___________________________________________________________________________
Key
1.
b 2. a 3. a
4. a 5. b 6. a
7. b 8. c 9. c
10. c 11. b [it’s not necessary]
12. b
13. c 14. a 15. d
16. a 17. b 18. c.
19. a 20. a 21. i
22. ii 23. iii 24. iv
25. 1
26. c 27. b 28. d
29. a 30. b 31.
c 32. b
33. a 34. a 35. a
36. impulse
37. intention 38. belch 39 bilingual 40. binary 41.
burp 41. nape 42.throat
43. c 44. c
45. pickle 46. tickle
47. trickle 48. tricky 49. b
50. b 51. nocturnal 52. court
61. beaker
62. breaker 63. c, pork 64. beer
72. a 73. a 74. a
75. a 81. iv 82. iii
83. i 84. ii 85. b
86.d 87.a 88.c
89. a 90. d 91. b
92. b 93. d 94. d
95. b 96. c 97. c
98. b
99. a 100. b
___________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment