Become Proficient In Speaking And Writing - Good English

Practical short cuts to write and speak correct English effectively

Archana Mathur

• Publisher: V&S Publishers
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9789381384381
• eBook ISBN: 9789350572184
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Become Proficient in Speaking and Writing GOOD ENGLISH. The book offers practical advice for writing proper and attractive prose. It will help improve one's communication ability and skill. The topics cover Common Errors, Confusing set of Figures of Speech, Foreign Words and Phrases and various aspects of Grammar and Syntax. The entries have adequate and appropriate examples. The topics are arranged alphabetically for easy reference. Eight Appendices are added to enrich the Vocabulary. This work is a contribution to various aspects of writing correct and good English, focusing on the requirements of the Indian writers. It is not a text that deals with theoretical aspects of writing but offers practical advice in an alphabetical format for writing proper and attractive prose to improve one's communication skills. Topics cover commonly made mistakes and confusing set of words, proper and effective use of figures of speech, various aspects of grammar and syntax, even foreign language words commonly used in English, besides many other aspects of attractive writing. Examples have been given everywhere to illustrate the entries. It also gives an insight into aspects of the language that would help in writing good prose. Eight appendices are included to enrich the vocabulary and knowledge of the reader. #v&spublishers

A

A and An are indefinite articles.

‘A’ is generally used before nouns starting with a consonant or consonantal sound.

A cow gives milk.
A pen is used for writing.

‘An’ is used before nouns, starting with vowels or vowel sounds.

An elephant was used to move timber.
An umbrella gives protection from the sun and the rain.
An hour a day is sufficient to learn the subject.
She is an honest woman.
She is an M.P. [But: She is a Member of Parliament.]
She works for an NGO [But: She works for a Non-Government Organization.]

‘A’ is used before the words starting with a vowel but having a consonant sound.

A one-rupee coin.
A useful book.

‘An’ is also used before a word where the initial constant ‘h’ is silent before a vowel.

An hour a day is sufficient to learn the subject.
He is an honorary member of the club.

But: a word beginning with ‘h’ where it is pronounced takes ‘a’:

There is also a hotel in the village. He is a historian.

A, as a prefix to certain verbs, forms its unstressed variant. Some examples are given here.

abed = in bed

She saw the kids abed before leaving for the movie.

afloat = in floating condition

The life jacket kept him afloat.

aglow = radiate with light or excitement

She was aglow with pride on her achievement.

amoral = lacking moral sensibility or unconcerned whether something is right or wrong

Children are amoral, and often cannot distinguish between a right or wrong action.

anew = once again

Having failed once, he will try to climb the Everest anew.

apolitical = having no interest in politics

Although born in a political family he is apolitical.

awake = wake up, rouse from sleep

He was jolted awake when the first shock of the quake hit his house.

await = wait for

The students eagerly awaited their result.

awash = covered or flooded with water

The beach was awash with tiny shells as the tide hit it.

A number of…Here is confusing grammar. Though the subject, number, is in a singular form it is so strongly plural in meaning that it takes a plural verb.

A number of children are absent today.

A number of men were arrested for rioting.

A number of seats are still available in the school.

A number of shops were gutted in the fire.

However, when used with definite article ‘the’, number takes a singular verb.

The number of children absent today has come down.

The number of men arrested for rioting is only ten.

The number of reserved seats for the handicapped has been increased.

The number of shops looted during rioting is not known.

Abbreviated Latin Words and Phrases. Several foreign words and phrases are abbreviated in English writing and used widely. They are generally from the Latin and are not italicized. The common abbreviations with original Latin and their English meanings are given below:

Abbreviation	Latin word(s)	English meaning
A.D.	Anno Domini	of the Christian era
Ad lib.	ad libitum	improvised, without preparation
c./ca.	circa	about a certain date
cf.	confer	compare
C.V.	curriculum vitae	brief account of ones’ previous career
e.g.	exempli gratia	for example
et al.	et alii	and others
etc.	etcetera	and so forth
et seq.	et sequential	and following pages/matter
ibid	ibidem	in the same work, book, chapter, or passage
id.	idem	the same author, or the same word
inf.	infra	below
N.B.	nota bene	take careful notice
non seq.	non sequitur	it does not follow
op. sit.	opere citato	in the work already cited
P.S.	postscriptum	post-script
P.S.S.	postscriptuma	post-scripts [plural]
q.v.	quod vide	which see
R.I.P.	requiescat (pl. reqiescant)	rest in peace (after death)
R.S.V.P.	respondez s’il vous plait	please answer (the invitation)
sup.	supra	above
v./vs.	versus	against
viz.	videlict	namely

Abbreviated Phrases. It has lately become popular in correspondence and journalistic writing to use abbreviations for some popular phrases. They are written with or without punctuation (generally the latter) and each letter is pronounced individually.

a.k.a. /aka = also known as

Dacoit Ambika Patel aka Thokia was killed recently in a police encounter.

a.s.a.p. /asap = as soon as possible

Please reply asap as the matter is urgent.

AWOL / awol) = Absent Without Official Leave (without notice or permission but not with intent to desert) [military term, used also in general]

The office could not work full strength as five employees went AWOL last week.

PDQ = pretty damn quick (immediately) [Naval jargon, also used in general]

I want this letter delivered to the client PDQ.

w.e.f. = with effect from

She will take charge of the Principlal w.e.f. next July.

Abbreviation is the shortened form of a word or words that consists of the initial letter or letters and is generally punctuated by stops, though there is a current tendency to ignore the stops. Names of practically all multi-word organizations, products, phrases are abbreviated in common usage, usually in capitals. Little-known abbreviations used in a communication should be used only after the full form in written first and the abbreviation indicated within parentheses. Titles, ranks, academic degrees, compass directions are commonly abbreviated. They are different from acronyms and letter symbols. [See also Contraction and Elision]

Abbreviations as contractions. Some abbreviations are actually contractions without an apostrophe even though the first and last letters of the word have been used. They generally take a stop though there is increasing tendency to omit it.

Dept.	=	Department
Dr.	=	Doctor
Govt.	=	Government
Jr.	=	Junior
Mr.	=	Mister
Mt.	=	Mount / Mountain
Rd.	=	Road
Sr.	=	Senior
St.	=	Saint

Abbreviations of diurnal time. The correct way to write abbreviation of time is in lower case, but capitals, normal or small, are sometimes used, particularly by the Americans. Forenoon and afternoon abbreviations are always in capitals.

a.m.

p.m..

F.N.

A.N.

Abbreviations with a slash. Some abbreviations take a slash.

a/c	=	account
c/o	=	care of
d/o	=	daughter of
i/c	=	incharge
S/B	=	savings bank
s/o	=	son of

Abbreviations, their plural. Plurals of most abbreviations are formed by suffixing the usual ‘s’ in lower case. In some cases the plurals are indicated by repetition of the abbreviated letter. The styles of capitalization are shown in the examples:

cc	…	copies
ff	…	following pages
JJ	…	Judges
MSS	…	manuscripts
pp	…	pages

Abridge and condense are both verbs having the meaning of ‘to shorten or compress’. Abridge has the fine sense of ‘shortening a text by omission of words without losing the sense’, while condense implies ‘to reduce to fewer words a longer document or speech’.

Both the words can often ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• The Need of “Good English”
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z
• Appendix A - Collective Nouns of Animals
• Appendix B - Collective Nouns of Vegetation
• Appendix C - Collective Nouns of Things and People
• Appendix D - Animals: Male, Female, and the Young
• Appendix E - Anmal Sounds
• Appendix F - Phobias
• Appendix G - Manias
• Appendix H - Fields & Branches of Knowledge