ASSINGMENT

Assigned By:
Engr. Umar Mushtaq
Assigned To:
Ahmad Abdur Rahman
Roll No:
2K8-BS-28
Department:
Computer Science
Date:
15-12-09

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 Topic: PCI Express

Four Basic Language Skills

Most people who desire to learn a new language do it for a
variety of reasons but most importantly it is done in order
to communicate in that language. To communicate it is
important to study a balance of the four basic language
skills. Reading, listening, writing, and speaking are the
main skills you need to communicate in any language.
Being very good at only one of these skills will not help you
to communicate. For example you need to be able to read
well before you can write well. You also need to be able to
listen before you can speak.

Although there should be equal importance to these skills, I

think the following order is best, especially if the writing
system is different: reading - listening - writing – speaking.

Language educators have long used the concepts of four

basic language skills:

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 • Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing
The four basic skills are related to each other by two
parameters. We can show their relationship in the following
chart:

Oral

Receptive (Input)

Listening

Productive (output) Speaking

I speak to you (OUTPUT: my thoughts go OUT of my head).

You listen to me (INPUT: my thoughts go INto your head).

You write to me (OUTPUT: your thoughts go OUT of your

head).

I read your words (INPUT: your thoughts go INto my head).

Listening
When we speak of listening what we really mean is listening
and understanding what we hear. In our first language, we
have all the skills and background knowledge we need to
understand what we hear, so we probably aren't even
aware of how complex a process it is. Here we will briefly
describe some of what is involved in learning to understand
what we hear in a second language.

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We can be involved in our listening, which is called
Interactive listening and that situation

usually includes face-to-face conversations and telephone

calls, in which we are alternately listening and speaking,
and in which we have a chance to ask for clarification,
repetition, or slower speech from our conversation partner.
Some non-interactive listening situations are listening to
the radio, TV, films, lectures, or sermons. In such situations
we usually don't have the opportunity to ask for
clarification, slower speech or repetition.

Micro-skills

Richards (1983, cited in Omaggio, 1986, p. 126) proposes

that the following are the micro-

skills involved in understanding what someone says to us.

The listener has to:

retain chunks of language in short-term memory

•discriminate among the distinctive sounds in the new

language

•recognize stress and rhythm patterns, tone patterns,

intonational contours.

•recognize reduced forms of words

•distinguish word boundaries

•recognize typical word-order patterns

•recognize vocabulary

•detect key words, such as those identifying topics and

ideas

•guess meaning from context

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•recognize grammatical word classes

•recognize basic syntactic patterns

•recognize cohesive devices

•detect sentence constituents, such as subject, verb,

object, prepositions, and the like

Application

• Listen to the radio

• Watch English TV

• Call Automated Answering Machine recordings

• Watch movies & have a script in hand

(www.eslnotes.com)

• Use Internet listening resources

Listening as a Communications'
Skill:
Are you REALLY Listening?
Most of us do not realize the importance of listening as a
communicative tool. Yet studies have shown that we actually
spend 50% more time listening than we do talking. We often
take listening for granted, never realizing that it is a skill that
can be learned.

Watch someone who listens attentively. He/she makes eye

contact and focuses on the other person while he/she listens.
He/she listens with his eyes as well as his ears. While
listening, he nods or makes attentive noises from time-to-
time. This is both a skilled listener and an attentive listener.

The person he/she is listening to feels a sense of

communication. Everyone wins with beneficial listening.

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After your next conversation, test your ability to benefit from
listening to that conversation. Analyze and ask yourself:

• What did I learn from the other person(s)?

• What did I learn about the other person(s)?
• Who did more talking ?
• Who did more listening?
• Did anyone interrupt?
• What questions should I have asked?
• What questions should I have answered more thoroughly?
• Was I absolutely certain I understood everything?
• Did I ask for clarification?
• Did I practice acknowledgment?
• Did he or she practice acknowledgment?
• Were both parties attending?
• Was the conversation balanced?
• Did anyone keep changing the subject?
• Did anyone get angry?
• Did anyone appear sad?
• Was everyone paying attention?
• What will I do different in my next conversation?

The ability to listen is a skill that can be improved with use. This
skill can and will improve all your relationships with friends,
mates, partners, children, and co-workers, even your boss!

10 Tips to Effective & Active

Listening Skills
Listening makes our loved ones feel worthy,
appreciated, interesting, and respected. Ordinary
conversations emerge on a deeper level, as do our
relationships. When we listen, we foster the skill in others
by acting as a model for positive and effective
communication.
In our love relationships, greater communication brings
greater intimacy. Parents listening to their kids helps build
their self-esteem. In the business world, listening saves
time and money by preventing misunderstandings. And we
always learn more when we listen than when we talk.

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Listening skills fuel our social, emotional and professional
success, and studies prove that listening is a skill we can
learn.

The Technique. Active listening is really an extension of

the Golden Rule. To know how to listen to someone else,
think about how you would want to be listened to.
While the ideas are largely intuitive, it might take some
practice to develop (or re-develop) the skills. Here’s what
good listeners know — and you should, too:
1. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward
slightly to show your attentiveness through body language.
2. Maintain eye contact, to the degree that you all
remain comfortable.
3. Minimize external distractions. Turn off the TV. Put
down your book or magazine, and ask the speaker and
other listeners to do the same.
4. Respond appropriately to show that you understand.
Murmur (“uh-huh” and “um-hmm”) and nod. Raise your
eyebrows. Say words such as “Really,” “Interesting,” as well
as more direct prompts: “What did you do then?” and
“What did she say?”
5. Focus solely on what the speaker is saying. Try not
to think about what you are going to say next. The
conversation will follow a logical flow after the speaker
makes her point.
6. Minimize internal distractions. If your own thoughts
keep horning in, simply let them go and continuously re-
focus your attention on the speaker, much as you would
during meditation.
7. Keep an open mind. Wait until the speaker is finished
before deciding that you disagree. Try not to make
assumptions about what the speaker is thinking.
8. Avoid letting the speaker know how you handled a
similar situation. Unless they specifically ask for advice,
assume they just need to talk it out.
9. Even if the speaker is launching a complaint
against you, wait until they finish to defend
yourself. The speaker will feel as though their point had

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been made. They won’t feel the need to repeat it, and you’ll
know the whole argument before you respond. Research
shows that, on average, we can hear four times faster than
we can talk, so we have the ability to sort ideas as they
come in…and be ready for more.
10. Engage yourself. Ask questions for clarification, but,
once again, wait until the speaker has finished. That way,
you won’t interrupt their train of thought. After you ask
questions, paraphrase their point to make sure you didn’t
misunderstand. Start with: “So you’re saying…”
As you work on developing your listening skills, you may
feel a bit panicky when there is a natural pause in the
conversation. What should you say next? Learn to settle
into the silence and use it to better understand all points of
view.

Ironically, as your listening skills improve, so will your

aptitude for conversation. A friend of my partner once
complimented me on my conversational skills. I hadn’t said
more than four words, but I had listened to him for 25
minutes.

Active Listening
Hear What People Are Really Saying

Listening is one of the most important skills you can have.

How well you listen has a major impact on your job
effectiveness, and on the quality of your relationships with
others.

We listen to obtain information.

We listen to understand.
We listen for enjoyment.
We listen to learn.

Given all this listening we do, you would think we’d be good
at it! In fact we’re not. Depending on the study being

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quoted, we remember a dismal 25-50% of what we hear.
That means that when you talk to your boss, colleagues,
customers or spouse for 10 minutes, they only really hear
2½-5 minutes of the conversation.

Turn it around and it reveals that when you are receiving

directions or being presented with information, you aren’t
hearing the whole message either. You hope the important
parts are captured in your 25- 50%, but what if they’re
not?

Clearly, listening is a skill that we can all benefit from

improving. By becoming a better listener, you will improve
your productivity, as well as your ability to influence,
persuade negotiate. What’s more, you’ll avoid conflict and
misunderstandings – all necessary for workplace success. )

Good communication skills require a high level

of self-awareness. By understanding your
personal style of communicating, you will go a
long way towards creating good and lasting
impressions with others.

The way to become a better listener is to practice “active

listening”. This is where you make a conscious effort to
hear not only the words that another person is saying but,
more importantly, to try and understand the total message
being sent.

In order to do this you must pay attention to the other

person very carefully.

You cannot allow yourself to become distracted by what

else may be going on around you, or by forming counter
arguments that you’ll make when the other person stops
speaking. Nor can you allow yourself to lose focus on what
the other person is saying. All of these barriers contribute
to a lack of listening and understanding.

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Tip:
If you're finding it particularly difficult to
concentrate on what someone is saying, try
repeating their words mentally as they say it –
this will reinforce their message and help you
control mind drift.

To enhance your listening skills, you need to let the other

person know that you are listening to what he or she is
saying. To understand the importance of this, ask yourself if
you’ve ever been engaged in a conversation when you
wondered if the other person was listening to what you
were saying. You wonder if your message is getting across,
or if it’s even worthwhile to continue speaking. It feels like
talking to a brick wall and it’s something you want to avoid.

Acknowledgement can be something as simple as a nod of

the head or a simple “uh huh.” You aren’t necessarily
agreeing with the person, you are simply indicating that you
are listening. Using body language and other signs to
acknowledge you are listening also reminds you to pay
attention and not let your mind wander.

You should also try to respond to the speaker in a way that

will both encourage him or her to continue speaking, so
that you can get the information if you need. While nodding
and “uh huhing” says you’re interested, an occasional
question or comment to recap what has been said
communicates that you understand the message as well.

Becoming an Active Listener

There are five key elements of active listening. They all help
you ensure that you hear the other person, and that the
other person knows you are hearing what they are saying.

1. Pay attention.
Give the speaker your undivided attention and

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 acknowledge the message. Recognize that what is not
said also speaks loudly.
o Look at the speaker directly.
o Put aside distracting thoughts. Don’t mentally
prepare a rebuttal!
o Avoid being distracted by environmental factors.
o “Listen” to the speaker’s body language.
o Refrain from side conversations when listening in
a group setting.

2. Show that you are listening.

Use your own body language and gestures to convey
your attention.
o Nod occasionally.
o Smile and use other facial expressions.
o Note your posture and make sure it is open and
inviting.
o Encourage the speaker to continue with small
verbal comments like yes, and uh huh.

3. Provide feedback.
Our personal filters, assumptions, judgments, and
beliefs can distort what we hear. As a listener, your
role is to understand what is being said. This may
require you to reflect what is being said and ask
questions.
o Reflect what has been said by paraphrasing.
“What I’m hearing is…” and “Sounds like you are
saying…” are great ways to reflect back.
o Ask questions to clarify certain points. “What do
you mean when you say…” “Is this what you
mean?”
o Summarize the speaker’s comments periodically.

Tip:
If you find yourself responding emotionally to
what someone said, say so, and ask for more
information: "I may not be understanding you
correctly, and I find myself taking what you

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said personally. What I thought you just said is
XXX; is that what you meant?"
4. Defer judgment.
Interrupting is a waste of time. It frustrates the
speaker and limits full understanding of the message.
o Allow the speaker to finish.
o Don’t interrupt with counter-arguments.

5. Respond Appropriately.
Active listening is a model for respect and
understanding. You are gaining information and
perspective. You add nothing by attacking the speaker
or otherwise putting him or her down.
o Be candid, open, and honest in your response.
o Assert your opinions respectfully.
o Treat the other person as he or she would want
to be treated.

Key Points:
It takes a lot of concentration and determination to be an
active listener. Old habits are hard to break, and if your
listening habits are as bad as many people’s are, then
there’s a lot of habit-breaking to do!

Be deliberate with your listening and remind yourself

constantly that your goal is to truly hear what the other
person is saying. Set aside all other thoughts and behaviors
and concentrate on the message. Ask question, reflect, and
paraphrase to ensure you understand the message. If you
don’t, then you’ll find that what someone says to you and
what you hear can be amazingly different!

Start using active listening today to become a better

communicator and improve your workplace productivity and
relationships.

We were given two ears but only one mouth.

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This is because God knew that listening was twice as
hard as talking.

People need to practice and acquire skills to be good

listeners, because a speaker cannot throw you
information in the same manner that a dart player
tosses a dart at a passive dartboard. Information is an
intangible substance that must be sent by the speaker
and received by an active listener.

THE FACE IT SOLUTION

FOR EFFECTIVE LISTENING
Many people are familiar with the scene of the child
standing in front of dad, just bursting to tell him what
happened in school that day. Unfortunately, dad has
the paper in front of his face and even when he drops
the paper down half-way, it is visibly apparent that he
is not really listening.

A student solved the problem of getting dad to listen

from behind his protective paper wall. Her solution was
to say, "Move your face, dad, when I'm talking to
you.'' This simple solution will force even the poorest
listener to adopt effective listening skills because it
captures the essence of good listening.

GOOD LISTENERS LISTEN WITH THEIR FACES

The first skill that you can practice to be a good
listener is to act like a good listener. We have spent a
lot of our modern lives working at tuning out all of the
information that is thrust at us. It therefore becomes
important to change our physical body language from
that of a deflector to that of a receiver, much like a
satellite dish. Our faces contain most of the receptive
equipment in our bodies, so it is only natural that we
should tilt our faces towards the channel of
information.

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A second skill is to use the other bodily receptors
besides your ears. You can be a better listener when
you look at the other person. Your eyes pick up the
non-verbal signals that all people send out when they
are speaking. By looking at the speaker, your eyes will
also complete the eye contact that speakers are trying
to make. A speaker will work harder at sending out the
information when they see a receptive audience in
attendance. Your eyes help complete the
communication circuit that must be established
between speaker and listener.

When you have established eye and face contact with

your speaker, you must then react to the speaker by
sending out non-verbal signals. Your face must move
and give the range of emotions that indicate whether
you are following what the speaker has to say. By
moving your face to the information, you can better
concentrate on what the person is saying. Your face
must become an active and contoured catcher of
information.

It is extremely difficult to receive information when

your mouth is moving information out at the same
time. A good listener will stop talking and use
receptive language instead. Use the I see . . . un hunh
. . . oh really words and phrases that follow and
encourage your speaker's train of thought. This forces
you to react to the ideas presented, rather than the
person. You can then move to asking questions,
instead of giving your opinion on the information being
presented. It is a true listening skill to use your mouth
as a moving receptor of information rather than a
broadcaster.

A final skill is to move your mind to concentrate on

what the speaker is saying. You cannot fully hear their
point of view or process information when you argue
mentally or judge what they are saying before they

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 have completed. An open mind is a mind that is
receiving and listening to information.

If you really want to listen, you will act like a good

listener. Good listeners are good catchers because
they give their speakers a target and then move that
target to capture the information that is being sent.
When good listeners aren't understanding their
speakers, they will send signals to the speaker about
what they expect next, or how the speaker can change
the speed of information delivery to suit the listener.
Above all, a good listener involves all of their face to
be an active moving listener.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

1. If you are really listening intently, you should feel tired

after your speaker has finished. Effective listening is
an active rather than a passive activity.
2. When you find yourself drifting away during a listening
session, change your body position and concentrate on
using one of the above skills. Once one of the skills is
being used, the other active skills will come into place
as well.
3. Your body position defines whether you will have the
chance of being a good listener or a good deflector.
Good listeners are like poor boxers: they lead with
their faces.
4. Meaning cannot just be transmitted as a tangible
substance by the speaker. It must also be stimulated
or aroused in the receiver. The receiver must therefore
be an active participant for the cycle of
communication to be complete.

Speaking skill

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Speaking involves more than just pronouncing words.
Interactive speaking situations include face-to-face
conversations and telephone calls, in which we are
alternately listening and speaking, and in which we have a
chance to ask for clarification, repetition, or slower speech
from our conversation partner. Some speaking situations
are partially interactive, such as when giving a speech to a
live audience, where the convention is that the audience
does not interrupt the speech. The speaker nevertheless
can see the audience and judge from the expressions on
their faces and body language whether or not he or she is
being understood.

Some few speaking situations may be totally non-

interactive, such as when recording a speech for a radio
broadcast.

Micro-skills

Here are some of the micro-skills involved in speaking. The

speaker has to:

• pronounce the distinctive sounds of a language clearly

enough so that people can distinguish them. This includes
making tonal distinctions.

• use stress and rhythmic patterns, and intonation patterns

of the language clearly enough so that people can
understand what is said.

• use the correct forms of words. This may mean, for

example, changes in the tense, case, or gender.

• put words together in correct word order.

• use vocabulary appropriately.

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• use the register or language variety that is appropriate to
the situation and the

relationship to the conversation partner.

• make clear to the listener the main sentence constituents,

such as subject, verb,

object, by whatever means the language uses.

• make the main ideas stand out from supporting ideas or

information.

• make the discourse hang together so that people can

follow what you are saying.

Application

• Talk to yourself

• Record your own voice

• Use the telephone.

• Learn common idioms

• Understand the sounds that your language doesn't have

• Practise minimal pairs

• Study word and sentence stress

• Practice tongue twisters

Better Public Speaking and

Presentation
Ensure Your Words Are Always Understood

Think of the last really memorable talk or presentation that

you attended. Now, was that easy to do, or did you really

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have to rack your brains to remember one? Sadly, too
many presentations are easy to forget. And that's a big
problem because the only reason the presenter gave the
talk was to communicate something to you!

However, there are three basic things that you can do to

ensure that your verbal messages are understood – and
remembered – time and time again.

Although somewhat obvious and deceptively simple, these

are:

• Understand the purpose of the presentation

• Keep the message clear and concise
• Be prepared
• Be vivid when delivering the message

Understand what you want to achieve

Before you start working on your talk or presentation, it's
vital that you really understand what you want to say, who
you want to tell and why they might want to hear it. To do
this, ask yourself: Who? What? How? When? Where?
Why?

Who are you speaking to? What are their interests,

presuppositions and values? What do they share in common
with others; how are they unique?

What do you wish to communicate? One way of answering

this question is to ask yourself about the ‘success criteria’.
How do you know if and when you have successfully
communicated what you have in mind?

How can you best convey your message? Language is

important here, as are the nonverbal cues discussed earlier.
Choose your words and your nonverbal cues with your
audience in mind. Plan a beginning, middle and end. If time
and place allow, consider and prepare audio-visual aids.

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When? Timing is important here. Develop a sense of
timing, so that your contributions are seen and heard as
relevant to the issue or matter at hand. There is a time to
speak and a time to be silent. ‘It’s better to be silent than
sing a bad tune.’

Where? What is the physical context of the communication

in mind? You may have time to visit the room, for example,
and rearrange the furniture. Check for availability and
visibility if you are using audio or visual aids.

Why? In order to convert hearers into listeners, you need

to know why they should listen to you – and tell them if
necessary. What disposes them to listen? That implies that
you know yourself why you are seeking to communicate –
the value or worth or interest of what you are going to say.

Keep it simple
When it comes to wording your message, less is more.
You're giving your audience headlines. They don't need to
and are usually not expecting to become experts on the
subject as a result of hearing your talk.

If you're using slides, limit the content of each one to a few

bullet points, or one statement or a very simple diagram

Be prepared
Preparation is underrated. In fact, it is one of the most
important factors in determining your communication
successes. When possible, set meeting times and speaking
and presentation times well in advance, thus allowing
yourself the time you need to prepare your
communications, mindful of the entire communication
process (source, encoding, channel, decoding, receiver,
feedback and context). By paying close attention to each of
these stages and preparing accordingly, you ensure your

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communications will be more effective and better
understood.

Of course, not all communications can be scheduled. In this

case, preparation may mean having a good, thorough
understanding of the office goings-on, enabling you to
communicate with the knowledge you need to be effective,
both through verbal and written communications.

Unforgettable delivery
Your delivery of your speech or presentation will make or
break it, no matter how well you've prepared and crafted
your clear, concise message. Some useful tips for keeping
your presentation vivid include:

• Use examples to bring your points to life

• Keep your body language up-beat – don't stay stuck
behind a rostrum
• Don't talk to fast. Less is more here too. Pauses are
effective.
• Use a variety of tones of voice
• Use visual aids.

Most important speaking skill

Recently, a test taker asked me this about the speaking test
in IELTS (International English Language Testing System):
“Can you tell me what the most important skill for speaking
is? How is pronunciation marked?”

My reply was:

Regarding your question about the most important speaking

skill, there’s no simple answer. Four areas are assessed in
the speaking test, and you need to be good at all four.
Having good vocabulary, for example, is not going to help
you get a satisfactory band score if your grammar is weak
or your fluency is poor.

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Areas assessed

Here are the four areas assessed by examiners in the

speaking module and an outline of the factors influencing
your band score:

Fluency and Coherence: Can you talk at a normal rate of

speech (not too fast and not too slow), with normal effort,
and without too many pauses or corrections? Can you
present and link ideas in an understandable and connected
way?

Lexical Resource: How clearly can you present your

information, ideas and opinions through the words you
choose to use? How appropriate are those words? How
broad is your range of words? How well can you get
round any lack of vocabulary by using other words?

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: How broad is your

range of grammatical structures? How complex are those
structures, and how long are your answers? How accurate
and appropriate are the structures? How much do any
grammatical errors affect the examiner’s ability to
understand what you’re talking about?

Pronunciation: How difficult is it for the examiner to

understand what you’re saying because of the way you’re
pronouncing words? How well do you communicate meaning
by using pronunciation features (such as the use of a rising
tone to show you’re asking a question)?

Pronunciation scoring

“Pronunciation” refers to the way a word or a language is

usually spoken.

IELTS examiners use a nine-band scale to measure test

taker’s pronunciation skills. The scale considers how easily
an examiner can understand a candidate plus a number of
features of spoken English. Here’s a brief introduction to
some of the features of English pronunciation:
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Word and sentence stress: “Word stress” relates to the
stress given to one syllable within a word. “Sentence stress”
relates to the stress that is given to the key words in a
sentence: the words that communicate the sentence’s main
meaning.

Intonation: This refers to the use of rising or falling tones

to indicate different meanings. For example, different tones
can show whether the speaker has a positive or negative
attitude, is certain or unsure, or is asking a question.

The linking of words: The pronunciation of a word can

change a little when it’s part of a phrase or sentence. This
allows that word and the following word to be said together
more quickly.

Rhythm: This is a combination of stress, intonation, linking

and the speed of talking. In a stress-timed language like
English, syllables are stressed at roughly regular intervals.
As it is the key words in sentences that are stressed, the
words in between get shortened and weakened so that two
or three of them together take up the same amount of time
as the single, stressed syllables before and after them. This
produces the rhythm, or “beat,” of spoken English.

Phrasing: This refers to the appropriate use of pauses to

show the correct meaning of groups of words.

Nine-band scale

Here’s my simplified version of the band scores for

pronunciation:

Band 1: Any English that the test taker tries to produce is

impossible to understand.

Band 2: The candidate’s English is often impossible to

understand as pronunciation is so poor.

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Band 3: The test taker’s pronunciation shows some of the
features of Band 2 and some, but not all, of the positive
features of Band 4.

Band 4: Although the candidate uses a limited range of

pronunciation features, his or her overall control of spoken
English is poor. There are often pronunciation errors that
make it difficult for the examiner to understand what the
candidate is trying to say.

Band 5: The test taker’s pronunciation shows all the

positive features of Band 4 and some, but not all, of the
positive features of Band 6.

Band 6: The candidate uses a range of pronunciation

features with mixed control, and can only produce some
pronunciation features effectively for a short while.
Although individual words or sounds
are occasionally pronounced incorrectly, causing brief
difficulty for the examiner, the candidate can generally be
understood throughout the test.

Band 7: The test taker’s pronunciation shows all the

positive features of Band 6 and some, but not all, of the
positive features of Band 8.

Band 8: The candidate uses a wide range of features of

spoken English with only occasional errors. The candidate is
easy to understand throughout the test (even if there’s an
accent from his or her first language).

Band 9: The test taker uses a full range of pronunciation

features with great precision and skill. The examiner can
understand the candidate without any effort.

Strategies for Developing

Speaking Skills
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Students often think that the ability to speak a language is
the product of language learning, but speaking is also a
crucial part of the language learning process. Effective
instructors teach students speaking strategies -- using
minimal responses, recognizing scripts, and using language
to talk about language -- that they can use to help
themselves expand their knowledge of the language and
their confidence in using it. These instructors help students
learn to speak so that the students can use speaking to
learn.

1. Using minimal responses

Language learners who lack confidence in their ability to

participate successfully in oral interaction often listen in
silence while others do the talking. One way to encourage
such learners to begin to participate is to help them build
up a stock of minimal responses that they can use in
different types of exchanges. Such responses can be
especially useful for beginners.

Minimal responses are predictable, often idiomatic phrases

that conversation participants use to indicate
understanding, agreement, doubt, and other responses to
what another speaker is saying. Having a stock of such
responses enables a learner to focus on what the other
participant is saying, without having to simultaneously plan
a response.

2. Recognizing scripts

Some communication situations are associated with a

predictable set of spoken exchanges -- a script. Greetings,
apologies, compliments, invitations, and other functions
that are influenced by social and cultural norms often follow
patterns or scripts. So do the transactional exchanges
involved in activities such as obtaining information and
making a purchase. In these scripts, the relationship
between a speaker's turn and the one that follows it can
often be anticipated.

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Instructors can help students develop speaking ability by
making them aware of the scripts for different situations so
that they can predict what they will hear and what they will
need to say in response. Through interactive activities,
instructors can give students practice in managing and
varying the language that different scripts contain.

3. Using language to talk about language

Language learners are often too embarrassed or shy to say

anything when they do not understand another speaker or
when they realize that a conversation partner has not
understood them. Instructors can help students overcome
this reticence by assuring them that misunderstanding and
the need for clarification can occur in any type of
interaction, whatever the participants' language skill levels.
Instructors can also give students strategies and phrases to
use for clarification and comprehension check.

By encouraging students to use clarification phrases in class

when misunderstanding occurs, and by responding
positively when they do, instructors can create an authentic
practice environment within the classroom itself. As they
develop control of various clarification strategies, students
will gain confidence in their ability to manage the various
communication situations that they may encounter outside
the classroom.

Public Speaking Skill

Jerry Seinfeld said, "According to most studies, people's
number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death.
That would mean at a funeral, people are five times more
likely to want to be in the casket than giving the eulogy."

Speaking in public is often cited as the number one fear of

adults.

People get a perception about how competent you are by

how you present yourself when you stand and speak in
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front of the public. A person who is confident in front of a
group gives off an air of competence, whereas a person
who fumbles might leave a negative impression in the
audience.

Self-confidence is the basic foundation towards public

speaking. But how can you look and feel confident when
faced with the challenge of giving a presentation or speech
to a large number of people?

No one is born as an excellent public speaker. Most of the

famous speakers have gone through the same experience
what you have when doing first speech. What made them
successful is their effort in preparing and practicing.

If you deliver a good speech, you become lovable to

audience. And, to be capable you have to learn the skill of
doing it and master it. When you feel that you are Lovable
and Capable, your self esteem will rise and become
confident.

Your feelings and confidence are connected. If you feel

confident it will show and the reaction you get from your
audience will be a positive boost to your self esteem which
will spur you on to success.

Preparation is most important in public speaking. It means

getting all information such as, who is your audience and
what is you are going to talk about, where and how long
your speech going to be, what message your audience must
take away from you and your Key points what your
audience should remember at end of your speech.

Story telling is an excellent tool in public speaking. Stories

build rapport with your audience and gain credibility.
Audience will remember your stories longer than your key
points of your speech. You must be able to connect your
key points to the story and deliver it. Your audience will
love your stories and remember your key points.

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Tell your personnel experiences and avoid white lies. Be
prepared to inject relevant story at appropriate part of your
speech. Let your audience see you and your enthusiasm,
and you will have a great speaking performance.

Dale Carnegie said, "There are always three speeches, for

every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the
one you gave, and the one you wish you gave."

I believe in success principles and attracting what I want in life.

My life is an example of how law of attraction works. I am
blessed father of two beautiful daughters. I am living in
Singapore with my wife and children.
More on Speaking Skill
The Department and School provide many opportunities for
students to practice their speaking skills. Here are just a
few:

• Research area seminar series (AI, CS, Logic, POP, PS,

Theory)
• Research unit seminar series (CALD, HCII, LTI,
Robotics)
• SCS Cultural Exchange Series
• Regular lunchtime talks (e.g., SDI lunch, Graduate
Student Seminar Series)
• Research area group meetings (e.g., Machine
Learning, SSSG, Multicomputer)
• Oral presentations in regular graduate courses or as
part of a project course
• Recitations, tutorials, and guest lectures (as a teaching
assistant)

To satisfy the oral communication skill requirement each

student should give a public talk at Carnegie Mellon. The
talk is scheduled so that members of the standing
committee, the Speakers Club, can attend, evaluate the
student's talk, and provide oral and written feedback to the
student.

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This talk must be accessible to a general Computer Science
audience. It should be advertised as ``In Partial Fulfillment
of the Speaking Requirement'' so the audience knows what
kind of feedback the student is seeking and so all interested
and available Speakers Club members can mark their
calendars accordingly.

Students should be able to use existing forums (e.g., those

listed above) to give their talk, and thereby avoid having to
schedule a special talk. Of course it is acceptable if the
student wants to schedule a special time and date. The only
requirement is that at least two faculty members and one
graduate student member of the Speakers Club be present
at the talk. The Speakers Club ``robot'' helps students
schedule their talks, ensures a quorum of Speakers Club
members is met, and reminds Speakers Club members of
their responsibility and commitment to attend talks.

All Speakers Club members are welcome to attend the

advertised talk. Immediately after the talk, those members
in attendance confer among themselves (with the student
absent) about the talk. They also each fill out a Speaking
Review Form, available from the Associate Department
Head. If at least two faculty members and one graduate
student member of the Speakers Club grade the student's
talk to be ``Good'' or better, then the student passes. If
not, the attending members should come to a consensus as
to what further action is necessary: to give another talk or
to do a ``remedial'' (equivalent to a conditional pass). After
a decision has been made, one of the attending faculty
members volunteers to discuss the feedback and outcome
privately with the student.

If the student passes, the student takes all signed forms to

the Associate Department Head who keeps copies in the
student's file and marks in the student's records the
completion of this requirement. Much of this part of the
process is like what happens after a thesis proposal
presentation or thesis defense; the focus here, however, is
on oral communication skills.
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As with writing, speaking well takes practice. Satisfying this
requirement might take a few tries on the student's part.
For students who are naturally good speakers or are
already experienced speakers, one try may suffice. No
stigma is attached to those who have to try more than
once.

Reading skill
Reading can develop independently of listening and
speaking skills, but often develops along

with them, especially in societies with a highly-developed

literary tradition. Reading can help

build vocabulary that helps listening comprehension at the

later stages, particularly.

Micro-skills

Here are some of the micro-skills involved in reading. The

reader has to:

decipher the script. In an alphabetic system or a syllabary,

this means establishing a relationship between sounds and
symbols. In a pictograph system, it means

associating the meaning of the words with written symbols.

recognize vocabulary.

•pick out key words, such as those identifying topics and

main ideas.

•figure out the meaning of the words, including unfamiliar

vocabulary, from the

•(written) context.

recognize grammatical word classes: noun, adjective, etc.

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•detect sentence constituents, such as subject, verb,
object, prepositions, etc.

•recognize basic syntactic patterns.

•reconstruct and infer situations, goals and participants.

•use both knowledge of the world and lexical and

grammatical cohesive devices to make the foregoing
inferences, predict outcomes, and infer links and
connections among the parts of the text.

get the main point or the most important information.

•distinguish the main idea from supporting details.

•adjust reading strategies to different reading purposes,

such as skimming for main ideas or studying in-depth.

Application

• Read something every day: Children's books, simplified

readers (Penguin),

newspapers, magazines, Internet sites, novels, and much

much more...

• Read what interests you.

• Read at the appropriate level

• Review Who, What, Where, When, Why for each story you
read

• Always have an English-English dictionary nearby

• Record vocabulary in a personal dictionary

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Chall's Stages of Reading
Development
Jeanne Chall's model of the stages of reading acquisition is well
known.(Resnick, pg 38) In Chall's model, each stage builds on
skills mastered in earlier stages; lack of mastery at any level can
halt the progress beyond that level.

 Stage 0. Prereading: The learner gains familiarity with the

language and its sounds. A person in this stage becomes aware
of sound similarities between words, learns to predict the next
part in a familiar story, and may start to recognize a few
familiar written words. Chall's Stage 0 is considered comparable
to what is often called "reading readiness." Typically developing
readers achieve this stage about the age of 6.

 Stage 1. Initial reading stage, or decoding stage: The

learner becomes aware of the relationship between sounds
and letters and begins applying the knowledge to text. This
demonstrates the reader has achieved understanding of the
critical concept of the alphabetic principleand is learning sound-
symbol correspondences, the alphabetic code.Typically
developing readers usually reach this stage by the age of 6 or 7.

 Stage 2. Confirmation: This stage involves confirming the

knowledge acquired in the previous two stages and gaining
fluency in those skills. Decoding skills continue to improve, and
they begin to develop speed in addition to accuracy in word
recognition. At this point, the reader should be able to give
attention both to meaning and to the print, using them
interactively to build their skills and fluency. This stage is critical
for the beginning reader. If the developing reader stops making
progress during this stage, the individual remains, in Chall's
words, "glued to the print." Typically developing readers usually
reach this stage around the age of 8.

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  Stage 3. Reading to learn: At this stage, the motivation for
reading changes. The reader has enough reading skill to begin
to read text in order to gain information. Readers' vocabulary
development accelerates at this point resulting from increased
exposure to the written word. Typically developing children
usually achieve this stage in 4th grade, around the age of 9.

 Stage 4. Multiple viewpoints: The reader at this stage

begins to be able to analyze what they read, understand
different points of view, and react critically to what they read.
Typical readers are developing this skill set during the high
school years, around ages 14 to 19.

 Stage 5. Construction and judgment: At this stage,

readers have learned to read selectively and form their own
opinions about what they read; they construct their knowledge
from that of others. This highest level of reading development is
not usually reached until college age, or later, and may in fact
be achieved only by those who have an intellectual inclination.

Other views
 Phase 1: Uta Frith's view of phase 1 as
the logographic phase. Linnea Ehri calls it the visual-cue phase.

 Phase 2: Ehri's phonetic cue, or rudimentary alphabetic,

stage.

 Phase 3: Gough and Hillinger's cipher or alphabetic phase

 Phase 4: Orthographic phase

Skills required for proficient

reading

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According to the National Reading Panel, the ability to read
requires proficiency in a number
of languagedomains: phonemic awareness, phonics (sound-
symbol correspondence), fluency, vocabulary, and text
comprehension.

 Phonemic awareness: The ability to distinguish and

manipulate the individual sounds of language. The
broader term, phonological awareness, also
includes rhymes, syllables, and onsets and rimes.

 Phonics: Method that stresses the acquisition of

letter-sound correspondences and their use in reading
and spelling. This helps beginning readers understand
how letters are linked to sounds (phonemes), patterns of
letter-sound correspondences and spelling in English, and
how to apply this knowledge when they read.

 Fluency: The ability to read orally with speed,

accuracy, and vocal expression. The ability to read
fluently is one of several critical factors necessary for
reading comprehension. If a reader is not fluent, it may
be difficult to remember what has been read and to
relate the ideas expressed in the text to his or her
background knowledge. This accuracy and automaticity
of reading serves as a bridge between decoding and
comprehension.

For struggling readers, traditional phonics instruction can

have the unintended consequence of promoting dysfluency.
The difficulty lies in the coarticulated nature of speech.
Speech sounds are overlapping], while print is discrete and
sequential. This can be appreciated if one places his/her
mouth in position to begin to produce the word cat vs cot.
The initial hard c is colored by the subsequent vowel even
before speech begins, i.e., the smiling position as one
prepares to say cat vs the more limp position as one
prepares to say cot. As the early reader works from left to

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right, beginning with the onset consonant, s/he typically
does not yet know the vowel with which it must be
coarticulated. And, the vowel sound itself cannot be known
until the remaining rime (the rime is the portion of the
syllable beginning with the vowel and extending to its end:
ig in rig vs ight in right) is fully encountered.
The following example illustrates the dysfluency that this
can create. Without looking ahead, begin to sound out the
following word, left to right, using letter-sound knowledge.
The first letter is b, the sound of which is- try to say it. The
second letter is o. If you said the sound of b was buh, you
have some revision to do since you have ended in a vowel
sound that does not allow for blending with the o. But how
does the o sound? Now you have bo. What does it sound
like? The o could be long or short. Try bou, bough. At this
point you might have begun to appreciate that the vowel is
not knowable until you reach the end of the syllable, i.e.,
until you have considered the full rime. Now try bought.
For these reasons, teaching reading through orientation to
rime first and then adding the onset (ought-bought) can be
helpful in promoting fluency through supporting the
phonological problems of coarticulation. Emphasis on the
rime also supports the development of an intuitive, and
therefore more fluent, awareness of orthographic
patterns. [7]

 Vocabulary: A critical aspect of reading

comprehension is vocabulary development. When a
reader encounters an unfamiliar word in print and
decodes it to derive its spoken pronunciation, the reader
understands the word if it is in the reader's spoken
vocabulary. Otherwise, the reader must derive the
meaning of the word using another strategy, such as
context.

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  Reading Comprehension :The NRP describes
comprehension as a complex cognitive process in which a
reader intentionally and interactively engages with the
text. Reading comprehension is heavily dependent on
skilled word recognition and decoding, oral reading
fluency, a well-developed vocabulary and active
engagement with the text.

 Rapid automatized naming : The ability to quick say

the name of both letters, objects and colors predicts an
individual's ability to read. This might be linked to the
importance of quick retrieval
of phonological representations from long-term
memory in reading and the importance of object-naming
circuits in the left cerebral hemisphere that are recruited
to underpin a child word-recognition abilities.

Top 10 Ways to Improve

Reading Skills
Nothing is more important to academic achievement than
being a good reader. Parents know their children best and
can provide the one-on-one time and attention that will lead
them to success in reading. Here is a list of ways to help
your children become more effective readers.

1. Set aside a regular time to read to your children

every day.
Studies show that regularly reading out loud to children will
produce significant gains in reading comprehension,
vocabulary, and the decoding of words. Whether your
children are preschoolers or preteens, it will increase their
desire to read independently.

2. Surround your children with reading material.

Children with a large array of reading materials in their
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homes score higher on standardized tests. Tempt your kids
to read by having a large supply of appealing books and
magazines at their reading level. Put the reading materials
in cars, bathrooms, bedrooms, family rooms, and even by
the TV.

3. Have a family reading time.

Establish a daily 15 to 30 minute time when everyone in the
family reads together silently. Seeing you read will inspire
your children to read. Just 15 minutes of daily practice is
sufficient to increase their reading fluency.

4. Encourage a wide variety of reading activities.

Make reading an integral part of your children's lives. Have
them read menus, roadside signs, game directions, weather
reports, movie time listings, and other practical everyday
information. Also, make sure they always have something
to read in their spare time when they could be waiting for
appointments or riding in a car.

5. Develop the library habit.

Entice your children to read more by taking them to the
library every few weeks to get new reading materials. The
library also offers reading programs for children of all ages
that may appeal to your children and further increase their
interest in reading.

6. Be knowledgeable about your children's progress.

Find out what reading skills they are expected to have at
each grade level. The school's curriculum will give you this
information. Track their progress in acquiring basic reading
skills on report cards and standardized tests.

7. Look for reading problems.

Teachers do not always detect children's reading problems
until they've become serious. Find out if your children can
sound out words, know sight words, use context to identify
unknown words, and clearly understand what they read.

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8. Get help promptly for reading problems.
Reading problems do not magically disappear with time.
The earlier children receive help, the more likely they will
become good readers. Make sure your children receive
necessary help from teachers, tutors, or learning centers as
soon as you discover a problem.

9. Use a variety of aids to help your children.

To help your children improve their reading, use textbooks,
computer programs, books-on-tape, and other materials
available in stores. Games are especially good choices
because they let children have fun as they work on their
skills.

10. Show enthusiasm for your children's reading.

Your reaction has a great influence on how hard they will
try to become good readers. Be sure to give them genuine
praise for their efforts.

Reading Strategies
Reading Efficiently by Reading Intelligently

Good reading strategies help you to read in a very efficient

way. Using them, you aim to get the maximum benefit from
your reading with the minimum effort. This section will
show you how to use six different strategies to read
intelligently.

Strategy 1: Knowing what you want to know

The first thing to ask yourself is: Why you are reading the
text? Are you reading with a purpose or just for pleasure?
What do you want to know after reading it?

Once you know this, you can examine the text to see
whether it is going to move you towards this goal.

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An easy way of doing this is to look at the introduction and
the chapter headings. The introduction should let you know
at whom the book is targeted, and what it seeks to achieve.
Chapter headings will give you an overall view of the
structure of the subject.

Ask yourself whether the book meets your needs. Ask

yourself if it assumes too much or too little knowledge. If
the book isn't ideal, would it be better to find a better one?

Strategy 2: Knowing how deeply to study the

material
Where you only need the shallowest knowledge of the
subject, you can skim material. Here you read only chapter
headings, introductions and summaries.

If you need a moderate level of information on a subject,

then you can scan the text. Here you read the chapter
introductions and summaries in detail. You may then speed
read the contents of the chapters, picking out and
understanding key words and concepts. At this level of
looking at the document it is worth paying attention to
diagrams and graphs.

Only when you need detailed knowledge of a subject is it

worth studying the text. Here it is best to skim the material
first to get an overview of the subject. This gives you an
understanding of its structure, into which you can fit the
detail gained from a full, receptive reading of the
material. SQ3R is a good technique for getting a deep
understanding of a text.

Strategy 3: Active Reading

When you are reading a document in detail, it often helps if
you highlight, underline and annotate it as you go on. This
emphasizes information in your mind, and helps you to
review important points later.

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Doing this also helps to keep your mind focused on the
material and stops it wandering.

This is obviously only something to do if you own the

document! If you own the book and find that active reading
helps, then it may be worth photocopying information in
more expensive texts. You can then read and mark the
photocopies.

If you are worried about destroying the material, ask

yourself how much your investment of time is worth. If the
benefit you get by active reading reasonably exceeds the
value of the book, then the book is disposable.

Strategy 4: How to study different sorts of

material
Different sorts of documents hold information in different
places and in different ways. They have different depths
and breadths of coverage. By understanding the layout of
the material you are reading, you can extract useful
information much more efficiently.

Reading Magazines and Newspapers:

These tend to give a very fragmented coverage of an area.
They will typically only concentrate on the most interesting
and glamorous parts of a topic - this helps them to sell
copies! They will often ignore less interesting information
that may be essential to a full understanding of a subject.
Typically areas of useful information are padded out with
large amounts of irrelevant waffle or with advertising.

The most effective way of getting information from

magazines is to scan the contents tables or indexes and
turn directly to interesting articles. If you find an article
useful, then cut it out and file it in a folder specifically
covering that sort of information. In this way you will build
up sets of related articles that may begin to explain the
subject.

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Newspapers tend to be arranged in sections. If you read a
paper often, you can learn quickly which sections are useful
and which ones you can skip altogether.

Reading Individual Articles:

Articles within newspapers and magazines tend to be in
three main types:

• News Articles:
Here the most important information is presented first,
with information being less and less useful as the
article progresses. News articles are designed to
explain the key points first, and then flesh them out
with detail.
• Opinion Articles:
Opinion articles present a point of view. Here the most
important information is contained in the introduction
and the summary, with the middle of the article
containing supporting arguments.
• Feature Articles:
These are written to provide entertainment or
background on a subject. Typically the most important
information is in the body of the text.

If you know what you want from an article, and recognize

its type, you can extract information from it quickly and
efficiently.

Strategy 5: Reading 'whole subject'

documents
When you are reading an important document, it is easy to
accept the writer's structure of thought. This can mean that
you may not notice that important information has been
omitted or that irrelevant detail has been included. A good
way of recognizing this is to compile your own table of
contents before you open the document. You can then use
this table of contents to read the document in the order
that you want. You will be able to spot omissions quickly.

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Strategy 6: Using glossaries with technical
documents
If you are reading large amounts of difficult technical
material, it may be useful to photocopy or compile a
glossary. Keep this beside you as you read. It will probably
also be useful to note down the key concepts in your own
words, and refer to them when necessary.

Usually it is best to make notes as you go. Effective ways of

doing this include creating Concept Maps or using
the Cornell Note Taking System.

Key points:
This section shows six different strategies and techniques
that you can use to read more effectively.

These are:

• Knowing what you need to know, and reading

appropriately.
• Knowing how deeply to read the document: skimming,
scanning or studying.
• Using active reading techniques to pick out key points
and keep your mind focused on the material.
• Using the table of contents for reading magazines and
newspapers, and clipping useful articles.
• Understanding how to extract information from
different article types.
• Creating your own table of contents for reviewing
material.
• Using indexes, tables of contents, and glossaries to
help you assimilate technical information.

Writing skill

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Writing is more complicated than it seems at first, and often
seems to be the hardest of the

skills, even for native speakers of a language, since it

involves not just a graphic

representation of speech, but the development and

presentation of thoughts in a structured way.

Micro-skills

Here are some of the micro-skills involved in writing. The

writer needs to:

• use the orthography correctly, including the script, and

spelling and punctuation

conventions.

• use the correct forms of words. This may mean using

forms that express the right

tense, or case or gender.

• put words together in correct word order.

• use vocabulary correctly.

• use the style appropriate to the genre and audience.

• make the main sentence constituents, such as subject,

verb, and object, clear to the reader.

• make the main ideas distinct from supporting ideas or

information.

• make the text coherent, so that other people can follow

the development of the ideas.

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• judge how much background knowledge the audience has
on the subject and make clear what it is assumed they
don't know.

Application

Keep a diary/journal

•make lists

•Write emails

•Rewrite your local news in target language

•Learn important spelling rules

•Learn commonly misspelled words

•Learn common English errors

•Get an penpal

Getting Your Written Message

Across Clearly
A colleague has just sent you an email relating to a meeting
you're having in one hour's time. The email is supposed to
contain key information that you need to present, as part of
the business case for an important project.

But there's a problem: The email is so badly written that

you can't find the data you need. There are misspellings
and incomplete sentences, and the paragraphs are so long
and confusing that it takes you three times more than it
should to find the information you want.

As a result, you're under-prepared for the meeting, and it

doesn't go as well as you want it to.

Have you ever faced a situation similar to this? In today's

information overload world, it's vital to communicate
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clearly, concisely and effectively. People don't have time to
read book-length emails, and they don't have the patience
to scour badly-constructed emails for "buried" points.

The better your writing skills are, the better the impression
you'll make on the people around you – including your
boss, your colleagues, and your clients. You never know
how far these good impressions will take you!

In this article, we'll look at how you can improve your

writing skills and avoid common mistakes.

Audience and Format

The first step to writing clearly is choosing the appropriate

format. Do you need to send an informal email? Write a
detailed report? Create advertising copy? Or write a formal
letter?

The format, as well as your audience, will define your

"writing voice" – that is, how formal or relaxed the tone
should be. For instance, if you write an email to a
prospective client, should it have the same tone as an email
to a friend?

Definitely not.

Start by identifying who will read your message. Is it

targeted at senior managers, the entire human resources
team, or a small group of engineers? With everything you
write, your readers, or recipients, should define your tone
as well as aspects of the content.

Composition and Style

Once you know what you're writing, and for whom you're
writing, you actually have to start writing.

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A blank, white computer screen is often intimidating. And
it's easy to get stuck because you don't know how to start.
Try these tips for composing and styling your document:

• Start with your audience – Remember, your readers

may know nothing about what you're telling them.
What do they need to know first?

• Create an outline – This is especially helpful if you're

writing a longer document such as a report,
presentation, or speech. Outlines help you identify
which steps to take in which order, and they help you
break the task up into manageable pieces of
information.

• Use AIDA – If you're writing something that must

inspire action in the reader, follow the Attention-
Interest-Desire-Action (AIDA) formula. These four
steps can help guide you through the writing process.

• Try some empathy – For instance, if you're writing a

sales letter for prospective clients, why should they
care about your product or sales pitch? What's the
benefit for them? Remember your audience's needs at
all times.

• Use the Rhetorical Triangle – If you're trying to

persuade someone to do something, make sure that
you communicate why people should listen to you,
pitch your message in a way that engages your
audience, and present information rationally and
coherently. Our article on the Rhetorical Triangle can
help you make your case in the most effective way.

• Identify your main theme – If you're having trouble

defining the main theme of your message, pretend
that you have 15 seconds to explain your position.
What do you say? This is likely to be your main theme.

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 • Use simple language – Unless you're writing a
scholarly article, it's usually best to use simple, direct
language. Don't use long words just to impress people.

Structure

Your document should be as "reader friendly" as possible.

Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and numbering
whenever possible to break up the text.

After all, what's easier to read – a page full of long

paragraphs, or a page that's broken up into short
paragraphs, with section headings and bullet points? A
document that's easy to scan will get read more often than
a document with long, dense paragraphs of text.

Headers should grab the reader's attention.

Using questions is often a good idea, especially in
advertising copy or reports, because questions help keep
the reader engaged and curious.

In emails and proposals, use short, factual headings and

subheadings, like the ones in this article.

Adding graphs and charts is also a smart way to break up

your text. These visual aids not only keep the reader's eye
engaged, but they can communicate important information
much more quickly than text.

Grammatical Errors

You probably don't need us to tell you that errors in your

document will make you look unprofessional. It's essential
to learn grammar properly, and to avoid common mistakes
that your spell checker won't find.

Here are some examples of commonly misused words:

• Affect/effect

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 • "Affect" is a verb meaning to influence. (Example:
The economic forecast will affect our projected
income.)
• "Effect" is a noun meaning the result or outcome.
(Example: What is the effect of the proposal?)

• Then/than

• "Then" is typically an adverb indicating a

sequence in time. (Example: We went to dinner,
then we saw a movie.)
• "Than" is a conjunction used for comparison.
(Example: The dinner was more expensive than
the movie.)

• Your/you're

• "Your" is a possessive. (Example: Is that your

file?)
• "You're" is a contraction of "you are." (Example:
You're the new manager.)
• Note: Also watch out for other common
homophones (words that sound alike but have
different spellings and meanings) – such as
their/they're/there, to/too/two, and so on.
• Its/it's

• "Its" is a possessive. (Example: Is that its

motor?)
• "It's" is a contraction of "It is." (Example: It's
often that heavy.) (Yes, it is this way around!)

• Company's/companies (and other possessives

versus plurals)

• "Company's" indicates possession. (Example: The

company's trucks hadn't been maintained
properly.)
• "Companies" is plural. (Example: The companies
in this industry are suffering.)

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To learn more about commonly misused words, misused
apostrophes, and other grammatical errors, take our Bite-
Sized Training session on Written Communication.

Tip:
Some of your readers – arguably an increasing number – won't be
perfect at spelling and grammar. They may not notice if you make
these errors. But don't use this as an excuse: there will usually be
people, senior managers in particular, who WILL notice!

Because of this, everything you write should be of a quality that every

reader will find acceptable.

Proofing
The enemy of good proofreading is speed. Many people
rush through their documents, but this is how you miss
mistakes. Follow these guidelines to check what you've
written:

• Proof your headers and subheaders – People often

skip these and focus on the text alone. Just because
headers are big and bold doesn't mean they're error
free!

• Read the document out loud – This forces you to go

more slowly, so that you're more likely to catch
mistakes.

• Use your finger to follow text as you read – This is

another trick that helps you slow down.

• Start at the end of your document – Proofread one

sentence at a time, working your way from the end to
the beginning. This helps you focus on errors, not on
content.

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Key Points
More than ever, it's important to know how to communicate
your point quickly and professionally. Many people spend a
lot of time writing and reading, so the better you are at this
form of communication, the more successful you're likely to
be.

Identify your audience before you start creating your

document. And if you feel that there's too much information
to include, create an outline to help organize your thoughts.
Learning grammatical and stylistic techniques will also help
you write more clearly; and be sure to proof the final
document. Like most things, the more you write, the better
you're going to be!

Why Writing Skills

Are Important
Of all the classes I took in college and graduate school, the
two that have helped me most in my career have been
English Composition and Business English. In these classes
I learned effective writing skills, which I have used in every
job I have ever had. No other job but my work on this site
included writing as part of my job description. In spite of
this, I was required to write in every job, and it was taken
for granted that I would be able to do this. This is the case
with most jobs -- whether you must write internal memos,
correspond with clients, or help design sales materials.
Writing beautiful prose and poetry is a talent. Writing
effectively, however, is a skill that can be learned.

Organize Your Writing

Whether you are writing a memo to your co-worker or a

report for your boss, you should decide what information
you want to convey. Here is how to do this:

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 1. List each item you need to discuss in your memo
or report.
2. Put them in order — from most to least important
3. Write a brief summary of your entire memo —
this will be your first paragraph.
4. Expand on each item listed in step 1.
5. If any action needs to be taken by the recipient,
state that in your closing paragraph.

Some Tips

Avoid wordiness. Say out loud what you are trying to write.
Listen to how the words sound. For example, the sentence,
"I found out that I should take a look at our past sales
figures in order to come up with a plan to help us re-
evaluate our sales technique" could be more simply stated
as "I must take a look at our past sales figures to re-
evaluate our sales technique."

Write for your audience. Use simple language. You don't

want the reader to need a dictionary to decipher what you
are trying to say. You should not try to impress your reader
with your huge vocabulary. Chances are you will frustrate
your reader instead. Most people are juggling several tasks
at the same time, and are interested in receiving only
necessary information. You are responsible for making this
happen. Instead of saying, "His gregarious nature
credentials him as a superlative candidate for the job," say
"His friendliness makes him a top candidate for the job."

Stay away from jargon your reader may not understand. If

your work is very technical, but the person you are writing
to is not well versed in that field, stick to words that person
will understand. For example, if you are a Web site
designer, this sentence in a memo to your client, a
psychologist, will make no sense: "What would you like me
to use as the BGCOLOR for your site: #ADD8E6 or
#FFFFFF?" Anyone proficient in Web page design knows

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that this question can be translated to "What would you like
the background color of your site to be: Light Blue or
White?" However, don't expect your client to be more
familiar with this technical jargon than you would be with
her discussion of a psychological term such as
trichotillomania.

A cliche a day keeps the reader away — or at least it does

not make him or her remember what you are saying. You
want your writing to be memorable. Because we hear
cliches often, we become desensitized to them. The words,
then, are not uniquely associated with your writing. Rather
than saying "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do
today" in a memo to a subordinate you are trying to
motivate. Simply say, "Stop procrastinating. Get the job
done now."

When possible, use the active voice. The active voice makes
your sentence stronger and usually shorter. Let's try these
examples. Passive voice: "Sales increased due to the
networking I did." Active voice: "My networking increased
sales."

Don't be redundant. It is not necessary to say "2 p.m. in

the afternoon" or "the expectant pregnant woman." Saying
"2 p.m." or "2 in the afternoon" or "the expectant woman"
or "the pregnant woman" all convey what you want to say
and are less wordy.

Of course pay attention to grammar. Use Strunk and

White's Elements of Style, available on the Web. A good
dictionary should be nearby, along with a thesaurus. A
thesaurus will allow you to keep your writing fresh by
helping you find a variety of words to use. Many of these
resources are available online.

Proofreading is one of the most important things you can

do. Since you probably do most of your writing on a

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computer, you have access to automated spelling and
grammar checkers. Beware though — some words, used in
the wrong context may be missed by computerized spell
checkers. For example the sentence "To employees
attended too meetings two learn about the gnu software,"
would pass through the spell check without any misspellings
being detected. Have someone else proofread your
document, if possible. If time allows, put your composition
away, and proofread it later, or even better, the next day.