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01 - grammar

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wikipedia writes:
Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". Although there is such a thing as one-way communication, communication can be perceived better as a two-way process in which there is an exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings or ideas (energy) towards a mutually accepted goal or direction (information).

Communication is a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver
via some medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and a receiver. Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are nonverbal means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, and writing.

Definition of communication

1) notion of abstraction

2) articles

3) verb

4) tips: adapted from: Marcia Yudkin - Writing articles about the world around you./Ted Hughes writes: Poetry in the Making from the programme "Listening and writing"

At advanced level, we aim to improve speech, comprehension, research, transcription and writing.



ABSTRACTION

A word is said to be abstract when you cannot take a picture of it. “cat”, “Mr Smith” “the United Kingdom” are concrete because you can take a picture of them, but it is not possible to take a picture of “beauty”, “idea”, “evil” - we may be able to use real images as a metaphor or a symbol of these words, beyond that, it's not possible to illustrate an abstract noun. In order to understand an abstract word, you need to look at a dictionary definition or read some philosophical comments. You will find abstract nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs


ARTICLES

the nominal group

PRONOUN

or ARTICLE + (ADJECTIVE )+ NOUN
a red guitar (= the guitar is red)

THE NOUN, THE ARTICLE, THE PRONOUN
a nominal group answers the question "what is it", "Who is it"

It can be a name
- name of a person (or group of people): --> Nathan Fisher, The Libertines, man, singer, Northern Railways
- name of an object --> table, guitar,
- name of wildlife - flower, animal, bear,
- place: ---> London, studio,
- brand --> Google,
- idea --> structuralism, politics,
- abstract --> July, metaphor, friendship, quality


a proper name is always written in Capitals, many of these proper names cannot be translated. Your clever dictionary will tell you how they are called in the other language. It is generally agreed that people's names, group names, companies and brand names should not be translated.

a common name is a noun that cannot be placed into a sentence without an article which tells you more about it. During the beginner and intermediate levels, we mostly focussed on nouns and adjectives and used a few articles (or equivalent expressions like "one half of")

ARTICLES
simple definite article singular: THE
(means, one and this one that I mean)
the forum --> I mean this forum that I am talking about

simple definite article plural: THE
(means more than one and the ones that I mean)
the horses --> I mean these horses (more than 1) that I am talking about

simple definite article negation: NO
(means there is none at all of the ones that I mean)
no horse --> I mean the horse that I am talking about is not here
no horses --> I mean that there is no horse at all where I am looking at

demonstrative article singular: THIS, THAT
(means the noun I am talking about is here (near distance) or there (further away)
THIS man (the man in the near distance), THAT man (the man further away)

demonstrative article plural: THESE, THOSE
(means the nouns (more than one) are here (near distance) or there (further away)

THESE men (the men in the near distance), THOSE men (the men further away)

demonstrative article negative: NONE OF THESE, NONE OF THOSE
means the nouns (usually in plural) that I mean are not in my near distance, nor are they further way.
NONE OF THESE men -- NONE OF THOSE men

simple indefinite article singular : A
means: 1 of these is alright by me they'll do the trick:
a man: 1 man and any will do

simple indefinite article plural: --
(in english there is no word for it)
means any number of these is alright by me, they'll do the trick:
men: more than one and any will do.

numeric article:
0 = none of them
1 = one of them
treat like indefinite article singular
fraction: 1/3, 2/3, 50% etc
treat like indefinite article singular
over 1: same rule as simple indefinite article plural
(mathematics uses minus numbers, treat them like simple, indefinite article plural)


units:
a unit is a complex indefinite article - the structure is :
numeric article (or A) + unit/fraction + OF + noun in plural
one kilogramm of potatoes.

simple possessive articles
they give you a clue to whom the noun belongs to:
my --> belongs to me
your --> belongs to you
his --> belong to him
her --> belongs to her
its --> belongs to it
our --> belong to us
your --> belongs to you (plural)
their --> belong to them
a variation of the simple possessive article is the genitive:
noun in genitive + noun

ex: my car, your car, his car, her car, its car, our car, your car, their car, Sam's car
the caretaker's car

possessive pronouns do not need a common noun after them. by definition a pronoun replaces a noun.
mine --> belongs to me
yours --> belongs to you
his --> belongs to him
hers --> belongs to her
its --> belongs to it
ours --> belongs to us
yours --> belongs to you (plural)
theirs --> belongs to them
owner in genetiv --> belongs to the owner

it's mine, it's yours, it's his, it's hers, (you say it's its --> it belongs to it), it's ours, it's yours, it's theirs, it's sam's, it's the caretaker's.

personal pronouns:
they can replace any noun.
I --> this is me
you --> this is the person I am talking to
he --> this is a male creature
she --> this is a female creature
it --> this is an object, an idea, a brand, a place, this is anything that is not a creature
we --> this is me and a few other people
you --> this is the person I am talking to plus other people
they --> this is a group of people, objects, etc
(some languages make distinctions according whether they are creatures or according to male/female gender)

all you need to do is now look into your dictionary to see how they translate all the articles and pronouns I have given you and make a list of them.
art. = article
pron. = pronoun

THE (art.)
THE (plural) (art.)
NO (art.)
THIS (art.)
THAT (art.)
THESE (art.)
THOSE (art)


NONE OF THIS (art.)
NONE OF THAT (art.)
NONE OF THESE (art.)
NONE OF THOSE (art.)
THIS (pron.)
THAT (pron.)
THESE (pron.)
THOSE (pron.)

NONE OF THIS (pron.)
NONE OF THAT (pron.)
NONE OF THESE (pron.)
NONE OF THOSE (pron.)
A (art.)
(plural of A) (art.)

(measurements) --> check out if your dictionary has a measurements/conversion table
my (art.)
your (art.)
his (art.)
her (art.)
its (art.)
our (art.)
your (art.)
their (art.)
mine (pron.)
yours (pron.)
his (pron.)
hers (pron.)
its (pron.)
ours (pron.)
yours (pron.)
theirs (pron.)
Proper noun's (pron.)
article + noun's (pron.)
I (pron.)
you (pron.)
he (pron.)
she (pron.)
it (pron.)
we (pron.)
you (plural) (pron.)
they (pron.)

You can make a noun more specific by adding an adjective to it. your dictionary will label an adjective as (adj)
in English the place of an adjective is always:







3) THE VERB

many people don't like the verb because it changes according to the past present and future, the person subjected to the verb, and the conditions the verb gets into.
my job here is to make things a bit easier until you become more fluent and start speaking like nobel prize winner of languages.

Revision: Intermediate Verb Dictionary

what is a verb?:
a verb tells us what's going on in a sentence (description, action, etc), it tells us who does the action or who is described, it tells us when all this happened and if it happened.

DESCRIPTIVE VERB:
to be --> gives us information about the nature of the subject
to have --> gives us information about what the subject owns
can --> gives us information about what the subject is able to do
may, might --> give us information about the possibility of something the subject will do or can do.
must --> gives us information about the obligations of the subject


ACTIVE VERBS
all the others except the ones which have similar meanings to the ones above. ex: to go to ---> tells us that the subject is doing something (going) to do


amongst active verbs you will find:
TRANSITIVE VERBS
these are verbs that do not need further words attached to them She does her housework --> "her housework" follows directly after the verb when you find a verb in the dictionary, it should say "vt" --> verb transitive.Take note of it and write it down on your list when you look it up.
INTRANSITIVE VERBS
She goes to Paris ---> "Paris" is separated from "to go" by the word "to"
"to" is a preposition (see next section),
in the dictionary the abbreviation is "vi" --> verb intransitive.


PAST- PRESENT -FUTURE -CONDITIONAL
or known as conjugaison.

I would suggest that you get a copy of the rules from the dictionary. What I can suggest in the meantime is a by-pass method in the style of telegrammes until you feel confident enough to incorporate the proper conjugaison.

step one: take note of this:
TO BE:
(present) I am, you are, he is, she is, it is, we are, you are, they are
(past): I was, you were, he was, she was, it was, we were, you were, they were
(future): I shall, you will, he will, she will, it will, we shall, you will, they will
(conditional) I would, you would, he would, she would, it would, we would, you would, they would
(gerund): being
(past form): been


TO HAVE
(present): I have, you have, he has, she has, it has, we have, you have, they have
(past): I had, you had, he had, she had, it had, we had, you had, they had (future): I shall have, you will have, he will have, she will have, it will have, we shall have, you will have, they will have
(conditional): I would have, you would have, he would have, she would have, it would have, we would have, you would have, they would have
(gerund): having
(past form): had

can --> use the verb "to be able to"
must --> use the verb "to have to"

TO DO:
(present): I do, you do, he does, she does, it does, we do, you do, they do (past): I did, you did, he did, it did, we did, you did, they did
(future): I shall do, you will do, he will do, she will do, it will do, we shall do, you will do, they will do
(conditional): I would do, you would do, he would do, she would do, he would do, it would do, we would do, you would do, they would do.
(gerund): doing
(past form): done

TO GO (TO)
(present) I go to, you go to, he goes to, she goes to, it goes to, we go to, you go to, they go to.
(past): I went to, you went to, he went to, she went to, it went to, we went to, you went to, they went to
(future): I shall go, you will go, he will go, she will go, it will go, we will go, you will go, they will go.
(conditional): I would got to, you would go to, he would go to, she would go to, we would go to, you would go to, they would go to.
(gerund): going
(past form) gone


(in time, you will be able to know the conjugaison of most verbs but for the moment concentrate on those)

Of course you need other verbs to make a conversation, here comes the bypass method (which, remember) is not grammatically correct

let's say we have a verb called "to verb", this is how it works:

Present: I do (verb), you do (verb), he does (verb), she does(verb) it does (verb), we do (verb), you do (verb), they do (verb)
(in english you only use the verb part, in other languages you will need the "infinitive form" of the verb (which is the way it is given in dictionaries)

Past: I did (verb), you did (verb), he did (verb), she did (verb), he did (verb), we did (verb), you did (verb), they did (verb)
(in other languages they use to be and to have to make what is called a composed past tense, so it makes more sense doing it that way)

Future: I will (verb), you will (verb), he will (verb), she will (verb), it will (verb), we shall (verb), you will (verb), they will (verb)
some latin-based languages use the infinitive form of the verb and add the endings of one of the modals.
conditional: add the _expression: "it is possible that" in front of the sentence

THE NEGATIVE FORM
in english, it's relatively easy: you add "not" after the verb.
if the verb is "composed" = more than two elements of verb, then the negation slots in between.
I do not
I do not have a cat

some languages have two particles of negation, usually the first one slots just before the verb and the second bit just after the first part of the verb. You dictionary should give you some rules and examples.

THE QUESTION FORM (interrogative form)
rotate the subject and the verb and you have a question form:
You do. ---> do you?
if the verb is composed form then the subject slots between the two parts of the verb.
You (do) have a cat -> Do you have a cat?
Don't forget the question mark.
it is possible to ask a question without changing the place of the words, but make sure that people realise you are asking a question, and do not forget the question mark.

if all this is too confusing, leave the verb in infinitive form in your sentence, if you are writing then put : (?) which means: I am not sure about the correct word and wait till you gain more experience in speaking and reading the language to attempt again. Remember, this teaching method is not about ramming things into your head, but help you understand how the language works so that you can help yourself if you want to venture out in the world of a foreign language. Travel lightly, enjoy yourself, and take the option of just letting words flow above your head. One day if you persevere, you'll realise that you are there.


Examples of verbs:

PICK UP, CHANGE, ACCUSE, TURN ON, ENDURE, RELAX, BAKE, BATHE, ORDER, KEEP, PRETEND, VISIT, START, BITE, RECOVER, OCCUPY, MOVE, BEND, OFFER, BIND, ASK FOR, BLOW, STAY, FRY, BREAK, BURN, BRING, THINK, HIT, PRESS, IMAGINE, RECOMMEND, ARRIVE, EXPLAIN, WAKE UP, CONSIDER, EAT, DRIVE, FALL, CATCH, FIND, FLY, FLEE, FLOW, FREEZE, FEEL, LEAD, GIVE, THRIVE, COMMEMORATE, GO, SUCCEED, ENJOY, HAPPEN, WIN, GET USED TO, POUR, BELIEVE, COMPARE, GLIDE, GLOW, DIG, GRAB, HAVE, BE, LIFT, HELP, HEAR, HOPE, BUY, KNOW, GOSSIP, CLIMB, PINCH, COOK, CRAWL, LAUGH, LOAD, LET, FUNCTION, SUFFER, LIVE, TEACH, LEARN, READ, LOVE, LIE DOWN, LIE, MAKE, GRIND, AVOID, MEASURE, LIKE, MUST, TAKE, NAME, WHISTLE, PRAISE, OPEN, ADVISE, RUB, TRAVEL, RIP, RUN, SMELL, CALL, REST, BOOZE, SUCK, MANAGE, DIVIDE, SEEM, PUNISH, SEND, PUSH, SHOOT, SLEEP, WOLF DOWN, THROW, MELT, CUT, WRITE, SCREAM, PACE, KEEP SILENT, SWELL, SWIM, DWINDLE, SWING, SWEAR, SEE, SING, MUSE, SINK, SIT, SHOULD, PART, SPIT, GO CRAZY, TALK, JUMP, PRICK, STAND, STEAL, CLIMB, DIE, PAINT, ARGUE, SEARCH, (NOT) KILL, CARRY, MEET, TO BE UP TO, KICK, DRINK, DO, TRANSFER, CHANGE, MOVE AWAY, FORBID, SPOIL, FORGET, COMPARE, FALL IN LOVE, LOSE, SELL, FORGIVE, APOLOGIZE, PLAN, PREFER, GROW, RISK, WASH, DUCK, CRY, WEEP, POINT AT, PROMOTE, BECOME, THROW, WEIGH, KNOW, WANT, WISH, PAY, MIGRATE, FORCE,



Here are some tips for advanced learners.

adapted from:
Marcia Yudkin - Writing articles about the world around you.
Writers Digest Books (an imprint of F&W Publications Inc.) Cincinatti, Ohio, USA
ISBN: 0-89879-814

Strong style

Your writing needs to be descriptive, with colourful specific details. Give readers descriptions that their visual - and auditory, olfactory, gustatory and tactile - imagination can go to town with.
Break abstractions, especially enormous numbers, down into more familiar terms.
1a) More than $ 160 Billion...
1b) More than $ 160 Billion or about $ 689 for each man, woman and child in the United States.

Add concrete examples to general comments.

As well as a conversational tone, you have to master that of specific, concrete writing.
You can use "I", "who" instead of "whom", as well as, "and" and "but" at the beginning of a sentence. You can also repeat a word: there is no need to find a complicated synonym.

A) When you encounter writers whose style sings to you, go back and observe observe how the winds they choose contribute to the overall effect of the text. As with music, which creates miracles out of a limited number of notes, you may find that you know every word used by a writer you admire. The arts lies in which one ends up where.

B) Types of sentences

At intermediate level, you should be able to manage writing sentences as depicted in 1a, 1b and 2. At advanced level, ideally, you need to balance all the following types of sentences in a paragraph. On this site, we offer you the possibility to practise sentence structures with the quiz on the home page.

1a) Simple one subject-verb unit. eg: The sun rises in the East.

1b) Simple sentence with one subject and a compound verb. Eg: The sun rises and sets. 2) Compound sentence. Two or more subject-verb units connected by a semi-colon (;) or conjunctions like "and" and "but". Each segment of a compound sentence could stand on its own as a separate sentence. Eg: The sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west.

3) Complex. two or more subject-verb units, and one of which should stand on its own, and the other not, because it is introduced by a word like "when", "before", "who" or "which". Eg: When all is working well, the sun rises in the east.

4) Compound complex. Combination of compound and complex sentences with at least two subject units that could stand on their own, and at least one non-independent subject-verb unit. eg: When all is working well, the sun rises in the east and it sets in the west.

C) Expand your vocabulary

Apart from these guidelines, your writing thrives and improves to the extent that you take a keen interest in words, your medium. Keep a dictionary close at hand and use it when you encounter unfamiliar words or expressions or when you well tempted to use a word whose meaning is hazy for you.

D) Strong verbs If possible, replace "to be", "There is" with strong verbs.
eg: 1a) There is no finer artist in the history of art than Pablo Picasso.
1b) No artist has ever deserved more accolades than Pablo Picasso.

2a) Valerie was a rangy as a newborn doe, and for years as ellusive as Houdini.
2b) As rangy as a newborn doe, Valerie escaped notice for years.

3a) The behind-the-scenes perpetrator of this crime was no other than the wife Pamela Smart.
3b) Pamela Smart holds the real responsibility for her husband's murder.

4a) There were tears in his eyes as he delivered his son's eulogy.
4b) Tears came to his eyes as he delivered his son's eulogy

Do not overuse "really", "very", "extremely" nor adverbs.
5a) She walked slowly up to the podium to accept her award.
5b) She struggled up to the podium to accept her award.

6a) Her grandson smiled proudly.
6b) Her grandson beamed.


Ted Hughes writes:

Poetry in the Making from the programme "Listening and writing", 1967.
published by Faber
ISBN: 0-571-09076-1
Reading Milton or Keats to children is one thing. Asking them, or allowing them, to use such as models for their own writing is another. All falsities of writing - and the consequent dry-rot that spreads into the whole fabric - comes from the notion that there is a stylistic ideal which exists in the abstract, like a special language, to which all men might attain. (...)

So in my examples I have avoided specimens whose great and celebrated charms or powers are beyond the sympathies of children. I have stuck to poems where the language is basically plain, modern speech, and the mental operation simple or very simplified - as in description or fable. At the same time, there will be inevitably more artistic and intellectual complexity in these works than any child will exhaust.

How can a poem, for instance, about a walk in the rain be like an animal? Well, perhaps it cannot look much like a giraffe, or an emu or an octopus, or anything you might find in a menagerie. It is better to call it an assembly of living parts moved by a simple spirit. The living parts are the words, the images, the rhythms. The spirit is the life that inhabits them when they all work together. It is impossible to say which comes first, parts or spirits. But if any of the parts are dead... if any of the words of images or rhythms do no jump to life as you read them... then the creature is going to be maimed and the spirit sickly. So, as a poet, you have to make sure that all those parts over which you have control, the words and rhythms and images, are alive (...)

Well, you will say, this is hopeless. How do you control all that? When the words are pouring out, how can you be sure that you do not have one of those side meanings of the word "feathers" getting all stuck up with one of the side meanings of the world "treacle", a few words later. In bad poetry, this is exactly what happens, the words kill each other. Luckily you don't have to bother about it so long as you do one thing.

The one thing is, imagine what you are writing about. See it and live it. Do not think about it laboriously, as if you were working out mental arithmetics. Just look at it, touch it, smell it, listen to it, turn yourself into it, when you do this, the words look after themselves like magic... The minute you flinch, and take your mind off this thing, and begin to look at the words and worry about them... then your worry goes into them and they set about killing each other. So you keep going as long as you can, then look back and see what you have written. After a bit of practice, after telling yourself that you do not care how other people have written about this thing, this is the way you find it, and after telling yourself you are going to use any old word so long as it seems right at the moment of writing down, you will surprise yourself. You will read through what you have written and you will get a shock. You will have captured a spirit, a creature.