GST111 Lecture Notes PDF

GST 111 EDWARD CARES STATUS: REQUIRED CREDIT UNITS: 2 LECTURE DAY: THURSDAY LECTURE TIME: 12 – 2PM LECTURER: DR. FLORENCE CHIKA NWOSU DEPARTMENT: LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGES, FACULT...

GST 111 EDWARD CARES STATUS: REQUIRED CREDIT UNITS: 2 LECTURE DAY: THURSDAY LECTURE TIME: 12 – 2PM LECTURER: DR. FLORENCE CHIKA NWOSU DEPARTMENT: LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF ARTS  MODULE Listening Skills is one of the vibrant topics in GST 111. It is designed to help the learner develop the communication skills of listening. It critically analyse listening skills as aspects of grammatical acquisition in language learning especially in the second language (L2) learning situation. It highlights how best a learner can comprehend aspects of grammar through the use of appropriate listening skills. Among the areas of concentration of this topic are: definition of listening skill, listening communication processes, principles of effective listening, barriers to effective listening, process of listening, listening types, and purpose and role of listening.  LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of the teaching and learning, student should be able to: i. itemise the principles of effective listening skill; ii. identify the types and levels of listening; iii. enumerate the various listening communication processes; and iv. list factors that inhibit effective listening skill;  AIM This course aimed to: i. demonstrate the principles of effective listening skill; ii. examine the types and levels of listening; iii. highlight the various listening communication processes; and iv. identify the factors that inhibit effective listening skill;  TITLE LISTENING SKILLS  INTRODUCTION Listening is taken for granted mainly because people fail to differentiate between the two concepts of hearing and listening. They also forget the fact that listening requires more than the hearing of speech sounds. Hearing does not require much effort since the auditory organs are not impaired for the sound waves to pass through. Hearing is the mere process by which sound wave are received and relayed along the nervous system of the ear. Hearing covers picking out all forms of sound around us irrespective of the source of the sound. Listening on the other hand, is the process of directing attention to the sound contrasts produced by the human organs of speech and their sequences. Beyond sounds, listening is the ability to differentiate between the dictionary meaning of words and the meaning words acquire when used in connected speech.  DEFINITION OF LISTENING SKILLS Listening skills is the ability to pay undivided attention to utterances and effectively interpret what was said. Listening skills encompasses receiving sounds, understanding the message conveyed in the sounds that is heard, evaluating the message, and responding to it.  TYPES OF LISTENING ACTIVE LISTENING PASSIVE LISTENING LISTENING COMMUNICATION PROCESS Information Transmitter Noise source Source Destination Receiver ACTIVE LISTENING VERSUS PASSIVE LISTENING Active Listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Passive listening is tantamount to hearing because it does not require concentration unlike active listening. Principles of Effective Listening Things to do to enhance your listening ability include the following: 1. Stop talking 2. Prepare Yourself to Listen by Relaxing 3. Put the Speaker at Ease 4. Ignore Distractions 5. Empathise: Try to understand the other person’s point of view 6. Be patient 7. Listen to the tone, pitch and volume for emphasized parts 8. Watch out for the Non-Verbal Communication Aspects Barriers to Effective Listening Listening to more than one conversation at a time Lack of interest in the topic of discussion Lack of interest in the speaker. Meaning, Nature and Characteristics of Listening Listening is one of the four communicative skills of language, used most often in our daily lives than the other three skills of speaking, reading and writing. PROCESS OF LISTENING Predicting what the talk is about. Guessing the contextual meaning of unfamiliar words and phrases. Identifying and retaining relevant points. Recognizing discourse markers and cohesive devices. Understanding the speaker’s inferred meaning and attitude to what he is saying. Separating facts from opinions, and Understanding the speaker’s pattern of thinking and presentation Types of Listening 1. Attitudinal Listening: The listener must be able to develop positive attitude toward the subject matter of the speech 2. Appreciative Listening: The listener here goes ahead to infer the mood of the speaker and see how the speaker makes his words have effect on his intended meaning. Here you watch out for the tune/intonation of the speaker for that is what will inform you the mood of the speaker. 3. Analytical/Critical Listening: This involves listening to explicitly stated points and using the point and their contents to arrive at other points in other discourse situations Purpose and Role of Listening in Verbal Communication 1. Listening for information Processing 2. Listening to Conversations 3. Listening for Taking Directions 4. Listening for Inferences 5. Listening to Narrations 6. Listening to an Arguments 7. Listening to an Advertisement 8. Listening for Note Taking Listening in the ESL (English as Second Language) Classroom Situation The listener needs to be trained to enhance his listening ability especially in the English for Secondary Language user’s (ESL) case. The major reason being that some sounds in the foreign language are not present in our languages, using Nigeria learners as example. A learner in this case tends to mistake the foreign sound he hears for the familiar sound in his own native language. Conclusion Listeners must first and foremost develop auditory discrimination among sounds, tones, stress, intonation, words and sentences. Auditory discrimination is an important aspect of listening. This is for the fact that it aids general comprehension of listening types, purposes, processes and aims. Listening is not only hearing. It goes beyond hearing to paying attention to cogent message, information, argument directions, instructions, etc.  GST 111 STATUS: REQUIRED CREDIT UNITS: 2 LECTURE DAY: THURSDAY LECTURE TIME: 12 – 2PM LECTURER: DR. FLORENCE CHIKA NWOSU DEPARTMENT: LINGUISTICS AND NIGERIAN LANGUAGES, FACULTY OF ARTS  MODULE This topic on GST 111 compliments the fact that languages of the world to an extent demonstrate grammar specificity. English language shows some exceptional characteristics which differentiate it from what we have in Nigerian languages for example. As a result of language specifics existing in the linguistic backgrounds of English and Nigerian languages, native speakers of any of the Nigerian languages tend to encounter challenges in speaking skills in English. Therefore, this section of the course in GST 111 is intended to alleviate the difficulties non native speakers of English may encounter in mastering and displaying effective speaking skills in the use of the vocabulary and grammar of the English language. This section concentrates on sound system of English, stress pattern of English, intonation in English, and guidelines for effective speaking skills.  LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of the teaching and learning, student should be able to: i. differentiate between English letters of alphabet and the speech sounds; ii. itemise the major classes of English speech sounds; iii. pronounce English words with no or with less mother tongue interference; iv. demonstrate significant English accent in spoken texts with minimal mother tongue interference; and v. highlight the guidelines to effective speaking skills.  AIM This course aimed to: i. explore the differences that exist between English letters of alphabet and the speech sounds; ii. identify the major classes of English speech sounds; iii. determine how English words can be used by the learners of English with no or with less mother tongue interference; iv. discuss measures to take by learners of English in incorporating English accent in their spoken English with minimal mother tongue interference.; and v. examine the guidelines to effective speaking skills.  TITLE SPEAKING SKILLs  INTRODUCTION There is no gainsaying that languages of the world share certain similarities such as having letters of alphabet, speech sounds, word classes, vocabulary and grammar, and that letters of alphabet of any language is used in the formation of its words while the speech sounds are for the pronunciation of words. Nonetheless, every language has its phonotactics or the rules of grammar that guide its vocabulary and grammatical construction. This means that the way features in language are harnessed differ from language to language. For example, unlike English language, Nigerian languages such as Yoruba and Igbo are one to one correspondence, that is, the way a word is spelt in Igbo and Yoruba is the way it is pronounced but the way a word is spelt in English may not be the way it is pronounced. Igbo has 36 letters of alphabet, so also the number of its speech sounds; Yoruba has 25 letters of alphabet, so also its speech sounds; but English has 26 letters of Alphabet with 44 speech sounds. Igbo, Yoruba and many other Nigerian language are tonal languages while English is stress and intonationally patterned, These identified features made the learning and usage of English a bit complex to the native Nigerian language speakers. We are going to explore the sounds of English and its classification, stress and intonation patterns in English, with the aim of lessening the level of difficulty Nigerian learners of English encounter in the usage of English.  PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF ENGLISH The phonological system of English is divided into two broad types. The include: Segmental Suprasegmental The segmental system encompasses the sound system of English while the suprasegmental covers the stress and intonation aspects.  SEGMENTAL SYSTEM All speech sounds result from air being somehow obstructed or modified within the vocal tract. The obstruction or modification of the air involves three processes working together. These processes iv. are: highlight the guidelines to effective The Airstream process speaking skills. The Phonation process The Oro-nasal process The airstream process tells the sources of the air that is used in producing sounds in language; phonation process tells when a sound is voiced or voiceless; and oro-nasal process tells if a sound is an oral or nasal sound. Articulatory Phonetics is that branch of Phonetics that studies the production of human sounds made with the organs of speech. All speech sounds are made within the human organs of speech provided the human vocal tract is capable of producing it and the human ear is capable of hearing it. English speech sounds are made by manipulating air as it is exhaled from the lungs. The air that pushes the produced sounds may or may not encounter certain constrictions or blockage. Vowel sounds of English are classified as oral sounds because they are produced without any form of constriction of the airstream in the oral cavity, but with rigorous obstruction mounted around the larynx (i.e. the Adam’s apple), which causes the vibration of the vocal chords. The vibration of the vocal folds results to the vowel sounds being voiced. On the other hand, consonant sounds of English are produced with obstructions which can be complete or partial. The blockage becomes complete, when two articulators come together to produce sound without any available space for air to escape until the sound is produced as in the case of stops/plosives. While the obstruction can iv. be partial highlight if air can the guidelines escape while two to effective speaking skills. organs of speech meet to produce sounds as in the case of fricatives and affricates and some others.  CLASSIFICATION OF SOUNDS OF ENGLISH Sounds of English are 44 in number. They are divided into two, which are; Vowel Consonant iv. highlight the guidelines to effective Vowel sounds are 20speaking whileskills. consonant sounds are 24 in number. The 20 vowel sounds are divided into two; monothongs and diphthongs. The monothongs are 12 in number while the diphthongs are eight. The monothongs are sub-divided into short and long vowels. The short vowels are 7 while the long ones are 5 in number. All the vowels are voiced. The 24 consonant sounds on the other hand, are classified as either voiced or voiceless. They are also classified based on their place and manner of articulations.  The Monothongs /i:/, /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /a:/, /ɔ/, /ɔ:/, /ʋ/, /u:/, /ɜ:/, /ə/, /ʌ/ The Shor Vowels /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɔ/, /ʋ/, /ə/, /ʌ/ The Long Vowels /i:/, /a:/, /ɔ:/,/u:/, /ɜ:/ In order for the non natives of English to attain proficiency in the use of the vowels of English, the vowels of English shall be listed and their pronunciations be exemplified in words. The vowels that should be pronounced as /i:/when found in English words are: ‘ea’ as in team, cheap, stream, lead, read, leak, please, meal, sea, mean, etc. ‘ee’ as in keep, sleep, seed, weed, week, jeep, need, see, meet, knee, etc. ‘ei’ as in conceive, deceive, receive, perceive, etc. ‘ie’ as in belief, field etc. ‘ua’ quay, etc. ‘i’ as in police, machine, pizza, liter, meter, system, busy, pity, sunny, key, etc. ‘e’ as in complete, me, be, eve, friend, said, etc. /i/ are found in words like, is, sit, hit, sip, busy, big England, myth, this, with, if, think, kiss, etc /e/or /ɛ/ in words like head, bed, sect, shed, any, length, leopard, etc. /æ/ as in pan, man, lad, slab, cat, sat, etc. /a:/ as in park, car, hard, arm, heart, hearth, clark, pass, calm, aunt, march, etc /ɒ/ as in dog, pot, dot, hot, holiday, what, cough, knowledge, etc /ɔ:/ fork, war, warm, law, court, hurt, before, etc. /ʋ/ as in full, look, book, woman, put, foot, would, should, etc. /u:/ as in who, food, music, you, new, boot, to, too, soup, group, do, move, rule, chew, blue, shoe, juice etc. /ɜ:/ as in girl, birth, heard, word, world, work, her, earth, bird, church, journey etc. /ə/ as in about, around, Lagos, announce, the, us, above, famous, colour, doctor, figure, etc. /ʌ/ as in son, sun, cut, fuck, luck, blood, rough, does, love, etc.  Diphthongs Diphthongs are vowel sounds that are formed by the combination of two vowels in a syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another. They can also be defined a s gliding vowels, which are created when a speaker glides from one vowel sound into another. There are eight diphthongs in English, which are: /aʋ/ as in shout, loud, cow, town, bow, etc. /aɪ/ as in sky, my, lie, nine, side, light, might, buy, by, rice, like, etc. /ɔɪ/ as in soil, coin, loin, toy, joy, boy, oil, voice, etc. /əʋ/ as in go, goat, slow, boat, home, etc. /eɪ/ as same, game, play, cain, make, etc. /eə/ as in air, hair, there, care, ear, bear, claire, heir, etc /iə/ as in here, deer, fear /ʋə/ as in poor, tour, sure, pure  CONSONANT SOUNDS OF ENGLISH Unlike vowels, consonant sounds are produced with either complete or partial constriction of air in the oral and in the nasal cavities. Consonant sounds are either voiced or voiceless. The consonant sounds that are voiced are fifteen (15) in number while the voiceless consonants are nine (9) in number. The voiced consonants are: /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/, /ʤ/, /l/, /r/, /w/, /j/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/. The voiceless ones are: /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /h/, /ʧ/. The following are the adjectival description of the consonant sounds and their examples in words: /p/ voiceless bilabial stop/plosive paul, pink, pan /b/ voiced bilabial stop/plosive back, burn, ball /t/ voiceless alveolar stop/plosive tin, truck, tap /d/ voiced alveolar stop/plosive dog, dine, day /k/ voiceless velar stop/plosive king, sack, care /g/ voiced velar stop/plosive gun, guy, group /ʧ/ voiceless palato-alveolar affricate chin, chalk, /ʤ/ voiced palato-alveolar affricate joy, George /f/ voiceless alveolar fricative fan, five, fun /v/ voiced s alveolar fricative vow, van, volvo /θ/ voiceless dental fricative thing, think /ð/ voiced dental fricative mother, father /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative sin, sake, socks /z/ voiced alveolar fricative zinc, zion, songs /ʃ/ voiceless palato-alveolar fricative sure, should, chalet, champagne /ʒ/ voiced palato-alveolar fricative pleasure, measure, genre, vision, garage /h/ voiceless glottal fricative hope, rehearsal /m/ voiced bilabial nasal might, make, must /n/ voiced alveolar nasal noise, name, snake /ŋ/ voiced velar nasal sing, king, crying /l/ voice alveolar lateral long, last, like /r/ voiced post-alveolar continuant rice, grace /w/ voiced bilabial approximant work, week /j/ voiced palatal you, university urine  AUTOSEGMENTAL SYSTEM The autosegmental aspects to consider include:  Stress Intonation  STRESS When producing a word, a part of the word is usually heard to be louder than the other and a part is spoken with greater energy than the rest. It is the loudness and greater force applied to a part of a word that is called STRESS. Application of stress at the right place is very important in spoken English because, stress determines the meaning of what one says. A good knowledge of Syllable also, is prerequisite to a good understanding and mastery of Stress in spoken English. A syllable can be defined as a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word. Stress usually coincides with chest pulse when an utterance is made. Every stressed part has a vowel segment as its nucleus. TYPES OF STRESS IN ENGLISH They are three, namely  Primary stress Secondary stress Weak stress/unstressed syllable Primary stress is the syllable with the most emphasis in a word. Its pitch is usually louder, longer and higher. Secondary stress is the syllable with lesser emphasis than primary stress. It is usually quiet and short. Weak/Unstressed syllable is usually shorter and lower than primary and secondary stress syllables. It is marked by the absence of any type of prominence. Examples: One word syllables: ˈcome, ˈman, ˈsick, go, ˈdance, ˈland. Two syllable words: ˈleader, ˈstudent, ˈpower, ˈ ˈ ˈjourney, ˈmadam, aˈbout, ˈtable, aˈcross. Three word syllable: inˈfection, aˈttention, ˈlimited, ˈ ˈhappily, ˈcelebrate, ˈsilently Four syllable words: examiˈnation, inauguˈration, acaˈdemy, aˈgility, achieˈvable Five word syllable: elecˈtricity, globaliˈzation When more than one syllable is stressed in one word, then it means that one is primary stress and the other secondary stress. Examples: ˌindeˈpendence ˌeduˈcation Stress is also used to differentiate words with the same spelling but different grammatical functions. For instance, stress placement at a particular part of the word determines the correct pronunciation of the word as well as the intended meaning of the word. For example: Noun Verb ˈconvert conˈvert ˈimport imˈport ˈexport exˈport ˈextract exˈtract ˈincrease inˈcrease  INTONATION Intonation is used to describe the fall and rise of pitch in speech. It can also be referred to as variation in speech. There are tow basic tunes in English. These tunes include Falling tune [↘] Rising tune [↗] Wale (2001, p. 221) says that “intonation is used to convey attitudinal meaning, illocutionary force, grammatical structure and information value”. This means that intonation conveys the mood of the speaker to his audience.  USES OF THE BASIC TUNES IN ENGLISH Falling Tune: Falling tune is used to mark declaratives/statement. For instance,  We will have lecture in the morning↘  They are dancing↘ Falling tune also accompanies imperative and exclamation. Example, Come out!↘ Eat your food now!↘  RISING TUNE Among the functions of rising tune include: Rising tune is used to make polite requests Examples: Give me that cup please.↗ Could you stand in in class for me today please?↗ Rising tune is also used to ask questions that demand Yes/No responses. Examples: Is that your house?↗ Are you going to school tomorrow?↗ You don’t like beans. Do you?↗  Guidelines to Effective Speaking Skills In view of the subject matters discussed above, there is need to inculcate the following but not the least habits for effective performance in English usage: appropriate use of the English past tense marker ‘–ed’; appropriate use of the English plural maker ‘s’; avoidance of mother-tongue interference in the use of sound /h/. For instance, the omission of ‘h’ in words like hospital, hope, happy, hot, etc; appropriate use of article ‘a’ and ‘an’. For instance, we should focus on the sound the letter represents instead of on the initial letter of the word. Example, ‘a European’ instead of ‘an European’ er/or are pronounced as an unstressed or weak vowel /ə/ in words like sister, doctor, designer, player, sailor, etc.;  the comparative and superlative markers ‘er’ and est’ are pronounced as /ə/ and ‘ist’ respectively and not as ‘a’ and ‘ɛst’;  some consonants are silent in certain environments. These sounds are not pronounced in words where they exist. For instance, the underlined sounds are not pronounced in the following words: debt, subtle, doubt, lamb, bomb, womb, plumber, knee, knight, gnash, gnaw, gnat, half, should, palm, folk, yolk, almond, walk, fasten, apostle, wrestle, listen, challet, whistle, Christmas, hasten, handsome, wrist, wrestle, pneumonia, cupboard, receipt; etc.;  the pronunciation of ‘p’ is optional in words kike: symptom, presumption, jumped, tempt, empty; etc.; Sound ‘Th’ is pronounced as ‘T’ in words like: Thomas, Thames, Thyme; etc;  ‘c’ is pronounced as ‘s’ in ceiling, Celine; and is pronounced as ‘k’ in comb, come, chemist, accord, stomach, antique, cake, council, etc. READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES Unit 1: The Reading Language Skill Introduction Our interaction with any language we come in contact with occurs in either of four ways. Usually, we start by listening to people speak and use the language. Then we can speak it ourselves. We would go on to read materials and texts written in such a langage. And finally, we write it or write with it. These are referred to as language skills. This unit will focus on the reading skill. Reading is an important part of learning any language. Reading either as a mental (cognitive) or vocal exercise is aimed at understanding and interpreting written or printed words, represented by symbols (mechanical task). it is for this reason that we can separate reading comprehension from listening comprehension. This exercise is done with the use of eyes (following symbols with the eyes) or fingers (tracing the symbols with the hand) or both. Learning Outcomes At the end of this unit, you should be able to: Identify the type(s) of reading skills required in a situation for accurate comprehension within some minutes when given a passage for an examination. Identify and engage in various activities that would encourage reading for comprehension with 80% accuracy within 10 minutes when given a topic in a recommended textbook for GNS. State the factors that will determine the appropriate reading type within ten minutes with 70% accuracy when given a material to read. Main Content Let us first establish the fact that there are factors to consider in determining what reading type one is engaging in before we go on to look at reading types. Factors Determining Appropriate Reading Types They are: Reading purpose, Reading environment and time; and Reading posture. Types of Reading The following are the types of reading that we have. Intensive reading: The word intensive literally means thorough reading or a rigorous one. Mechanically, it refers to a reading exercise in which energy is directed to a single area or subject for the purpose of examination of any sort. Thus, intensive reading is a reading deliberately done to enrich oneself academically and/or professionally. This is a type of reading that demands that adequate attention is paid to every statement without having to waste much time in doing so. Extensive reading: Extensive reading, on the other hand, covers a larger area or wider scope, with the sole intention of indulging in reading for enjoyment, general knowledge, information on current affairs, material survey, and so on. Approaches to Intensive Reading Reading skill 1 (Skimming): This is a process of searching for relevant materials based on one's area of study or a particular topic through selective reading. Reading skill 2 (Scanning): The next activity after skimming is scanning. This activity consists of reading through parts of relevant pages already identified during skimming. This reading skill enables you to decide whether the material is worth being read further or not. Reading skill 3 (Speed reading): Speed reading has to do with flexibility of a reader's movement of his/her eyes. A good reader is expected to take in several words and comprehend them with fewer eye movements. This flexibility must match the purpose and available time for the reader. Habits like sub-vocalizing (silent pronunciation of words), regression, (going over a line more than once) constitute big constraints to speed reading. Approaching Extensive Reading Preparatory Activities to Extensive Reading Note that, as general as extensive reading is, you still have to approach it prepared. You have to be selective from the abundant materials available for extensive reading, since what makes every individual relax or gives him pleasure differs. For example, the materials to be selected for these purposes will vary. In this case, the skills of skimming and scanning as discussed earlier are still relevant to extensive reading. Summary In this unit, you have learnt that reading is a mental or vocal reproduction of printed words. Reading can either be intensive or extensive. Intensive reading demands a detailed comprehension of the written material while extensive reading serves the purpose of speed, preparatory or informative reading. The choice of a type of reading is determined by the purpose of reading and environmental factors. Self –Assessment Questions List three activities that will encourage reading for comprehension. List three factors that determine appropriate reading type. List and explain two types of reading taught in this topic. References Abubakar, A. S. (2008). Historicism and political dialectics in Osofisan’s Nkurma ni…. Africa ni and Rotimi’s Ovonramwen Nogbaisi. In the Parnassus Journal of Cultural Research, 4, 59- 60. Nuttal, C. (1982). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. London: Heinemann. Obah, T. Y. (1981). Teaching for faster reading. In B. O. Oliukpe (Ed.) The use of English for higher education. Onitsha: Africana FEP Publishers Ltd. Williams, R. (1982). Panorama: An advanced course of English for study and examinations. Essex: Longman. Zimmerman, M., & Beth, S. (2012). An introduction to nutrition Vol. 1. (http: 2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/an-introduction-to-nutrition.pdf). Further Reading: Adegbija, E. E. (ed) (1987) Effective Study Skills and Use of English. Ilorin: University of Ilorin. Alabi, V. A., & S. T. Babatunde (eds.) (2005) Basic Communication Skills for Students and Humanities. Ilorin: University of Ilorin, Ilorin. Unit 2: Comprehension of Written Passages/Texts Introduction The essence of any language use, whether written or spoken, is to achieve communication. At the receiving end, whatever message is sent or encoded at the productive end should be passed through the milling process of meaning-making. This process is a complex one. It involves series of operations depending on the form and function of the channel/medium through which the message is dispatched. Learning Outcomes: At the end of this unit, you should be able to:  list two activities that culminate in reading comprehension, explain two approaches to reading activity validate the choice of any of the approaches in a reading task with reasons, and apply the study skills strategies in answering questions your lecturers have formulated or the ones from comprehension passages. Main Content I need you to note that, comprehension is defined as the act or capacity of understanding a text or a passage in order to be able to react and give correct answers to questions asked on the contents of the text/passage irrespective of the discipline (Ofuya, 1996, p.72). Comprehension represents the cornerstones of erecting the podium of effective communication; as it is only when the receiving end satisfactorily understands the intention of a speaker or a writer, as the case may be, that we say effective communication has taken place. Approaches to Reading Activity The two major approaches to reading are intensive and extensive. The choice of each in an attempt to comprehend a written passage would be dictated by the purpose, the environment, the volume of what is to be read and even the time factor, as hinted earlier. The implication here is that each of them, being a deliberate choice to achieve desired goals, has its place in the learning process. Intensive Reading This is a more demanding activity of ‘surfing’ and ‘combing’ to the last strand every aspect of a passage in an attempt to dig out and unravel information which is not necessarily displayed in the grammatical structures of the discourse. An ‘intensive reader’ is supposed to deploy certain skills to their fullest in gaining access to embellished bits of information wrapped in not-too-accessible discourse. Skimming, scanning and speed reading constitute major reading skills in this category. Skimming denotes selective reading. In a situation where one has many information materials to ‘browse’ just for certain technical facts; and in view of the limited time and resources, the reader goes straight to selected sections of the volumes. This is a deliberate effort on the part of the reader to determine the suitability of the materials for one’s endeavour. This method is called skimming. For example, a reader may be able to determine the appropriateness of a particular written work in his search by making a quick glance through the table of contents or index. Scanning involves reading of chunks or portions already identified as relevant at the skimming level. A reader at this stage is expected to give some attention to a closer study of selected paragraphs and sub-topics to determine the worth of their contents. This would enable him to be acquainted with the major thrust of the entire text. Speed reading pertains to the ability of a reader to capture and comprehend many words, sentences and passages within the shortest possible time. Certain personal habits like sub-vocalisation (lip-reading every word), finger-tracing, and oscillation of head (instead of eye movement) have been established as detrimental factors against speed reading. So, as much as possible, a good reader is expected to do away with any personal attitude or habit that would constitute detractors to concentration. Logically, when one achieves full concentration while reading, it is hoped that more information is processed, digested and diffused within a given time limit. Reasons for Intensive Reading As suggested earlier, rapt attention and unwavering devotion should be given to intensive reading as a meaning-making process. The essence of reading for comprehension may be to achieve any of the following targets: 1. Reading for the purpose of arriving at both explicit and embellished meanings engendered in the text. 2. Reading in order to identify the salient points in the passage and how they have been developed into a unified whole; 3. Reading for coherent assimilation of organised body of knowledge in one’s area of specialization;  4. Reading in order to clarify knotty ideas or ambiguous expressions; 5. Reading to update and expand the frontiers of one’s view or knowledge about a particular phenomenon, etc. Imperative of Context in Comprehension Task As we have stated earlier, reading is a conscious and demanding activity that involves dissecting and appreciating the information engendered in a written discourse to its fullest. Since it is a general truth that a language corpus may be used to achieve different communicative goals; and that a given structure may mean differently in different occasions, it becomes necessary to situate the reading process within the immediate and wider contexts or social circumstance in which the text is originally rendered. This endeavour would automatically require the reader’s ability to intermittently jostle between the outside world of reality and its graphical representation in writing. Also, the theme, subject or central idea which underlies the composition should be focused on in the light of the contributions and role relation of interaction set between/among the characters or subjects involved. The reading process should not be made too passive to avoid recession in comprehension. Note that in certain texts, information is not explicitly stated; in which case, the messages borne by the texts are not readily packaged to be understood easily by average minds. Thus, recourse to shared understanding and common frontiers of situating meaning in certain subjects would be necessary for the reader to grasp the implied meanings. Here lies the importance of setting in the comprehension activity. Other Skills that can Enhance Effective Comprehension More often than not, a major challenge for a university undergraduate like yourself is how to cope with the ever-increasing volumes of materials to be read, understood and applied at one point in time or the other. When a student is asked: “What’s your stress?” The most likely response you will get would be similar to: “I have so much to read in too many courses I’m offering, in preparation for my choking C.A. tests, deluge of assignments and fast-approaching exams.” Hence, some students embark on a ceaseless tour of reading, non-stop sessions of night classes and ineffectual ‘cramming’ in order to wade through these different levels of assessment. Little do they know that reading for comprehension is not necessarily a question of longevity of hours spent in actual reading but the best one makes out of the reading, as an activity, is what matters. Reading is not just a string of passive moments. A good reader should also imbibe a culture of exercising his brain and hand while reading. Note-taking and summary writing are therefore good reading accompaniment which would be examined briefly. Note-taking: This is an important skill that an ‘intensive’ or ‘extensive’ reader requires in documenting salient facts which run through the volume(s) being read. To be able to do this successfully, one should learn to differentiate important details from not-too- important information so that the end product is not rendered a bunch of burdensome experience. Outlining proves to be a better alternative here. Outlining is a well- established strategy for generating highlights from extensive passages. Note-taking aids recall of what has been read and it can also give good background and guidelines for writing comments, critiques, arguments, etc on what has been read. In order to write logical and clear notes, the reader/writer should focus on the main points as relayed by topic sentences of paragraphs involved in successive order under highlighted headings and subheadings. One should avoid use of vague, ambiguous or conspicuous words and expressions which may militate against easy recall. To cap it up, it is equally important to be as brief as possible. Summary Writing: This is another process which actively engages the reader in the reading task. It is a proven fact by educational psychologists that when one is actively involved in the course of imbibing a learning experience, motivation is higher and this stands the learner a better chance of understanding and easy recall. Summary is a synthesis of important details of a passage. It should be rendered in clear expressions with strict avoidance of undue repetition or mindless elaboration. Information in a summarised form should be tightened and succinct. Direct lifting of chunks from the original text which may foment redundancy should be avoided as much as possible. Redundancy has been identified as a major problem of achieving easy recall. In written comprehension, summary technique aids memorability. It has a peculiar way of highlighting the focal points of the entire text through recapitulation and reverberation. The major difference between note-taking and summary writing, thus, lies in their structures. In note-taking, outlining (which may involve numbering) is the major strategy used while in summary-writing, the salient ideas being re-focused are written in an essay form – numbering is not allowed. The SQ3R Reading/Study Strategy The SQ3R strategy is a reading comprehension method named for its five steps: survey, question, read, recite, and review. Remember: The information you gain from reading is important. If you just “do it,” without learning something, you’re wasting a lot of your time. Train your mind to learn while reading with SQ3R. SURVEY Survey involves going through the textbook or material to identify the sections relevant for your purpose of study. In the process, you reduce the volume of reading you would do, and stand the chance to preserve your energy for the actual mental processing of the facts you will encounter in print. The appropriate reading skill for surveying a text is skimming. Gather the information necessary to focus and formulate goals Read the title – Help your mind prepare to receive the subject at hand. Read the introduction and/or summary – Orient yourself to how each chapter fits the author's purposes, and focus on the author's statement of most important points. Notice each boldface heading and subheading – Organize your mind before you begin to read and build a structure for the thoughts and details to come.  Notice any graphics – Charts, maps, diagrams, etc. are there to make a point. Don't overlook them. Notice reading aids – Italics, bold face print, chapter objective, and end-of - chapter questions are all included to help you sort, comprehend, and remember. QUESTION Help your mind engage and concentrate Turn the boldface heading for each section into as many questions as you think will be answered in that section. The better the questions, the better your comprehension is likely to be. You may always add further questions as you proceed. When your mind is actively searching for answers to questions it becomes engaged in learning. This stage is somewhat still preparatory for the actual study which begins in the next stage of SQ3R. READ Fill in the information around the mental structures you've been building Now, you should read the material with concentration. See if you can locate where answers to specific questions may be found and underline the places cautiously. As you read sections, pause to add questions where necessary, and attempt to answer the questions relying on the knowledge just gained. The more correctly you answer the questions, the more efficiently you’re reading. While reading, you may: Make short notes in the margins on pages to summarize points. Build an outline of the ideas that you have imbibed from the textbook. Whatever you do, read one section at a time with your questions in mind and look for the answers. Recognize when you need to make up some new questions. RECITE Retrain your mind to concentrate and learn as it reads After each section, stop and recall your questions and see if you can answer them from memory. If not, look back at the text again (as often as necessary), but don't move to the next section until you can recite the answers from the previous one. REVIEW Here is the last leg of SQ3R. Its goal is to recall. Refine your mental organization and begin building memory Once you've finished the entire chapter using the preceding steps, go back over the questions you created for every heading. See if you can still answer them. If not, look back and refresh your memory and then continue. So, whichever technique you choose to employ to facilitate comprehension and aid recall, you should know that reading is a complex activity; a melting point of many skills and techniques. And in order to accomplish adequate mastery of a written passage, most especially, the idea surrounding context of the passage should not, equally, be underestimated. Summary In this unit, you have learnt that, comprehension is a process that is applicable to both oral and written modes of language use. Just as we have listening comprehension as the envisaged response to speaking, we equally have reading comprehension as a direct consequence of effective writing. This implies that adequate understanding of a written passage can only be achieved by deploying commensurate reading skill. In order to achieve this feat, the strategies to be employed have been discussed as well. Self-Assessment Questions Mention two approaches to reading activity. State three reasons for Intensive reading. What is an extensive reading?  List the five steps involved in SQ3R reading method. Briefly highlight the tasks for each step. References Adeyanju, D., & Egwuogwu, C. (2003). Vital aspects of English usage for tertiary institutions. Ibadan: Stirling-Horden Publishers. Babatunde, S. T. (2005). Note-making, outlining and summary skills. In V. A. Alabi, & S. T. Babatunde (Eds.) Basic communication skill for students of science and humanities (pp. 125 – 137). Ilorin: Department of English, University of Ilorin. Balogun, P. O. (2005). The mastery of comprehensions skills. In V. A. Alabi, & S. T. Babatunde (Eds.) Basic communication skill for students of science and humanities (pp. 110 – 124). Ilorin: Department of English, University of Ilorin. Manuh, B. M. (1975). Combined principles and applied economics for G.C.E. ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels (Volume I). Kumasi: University Press. Further Reading Noble, R. W. (1989). English composition and summary. London: Longman. Nuttal, C. (1982). Teaching reading as a foreign language. London: Heinemann. Ofuya, A. (1996). Comprehension, note-making, outlining and summary skills for MESTA students. In E. Adegbija, & A. Ofuya (Eds.) English language and communication skills for MESTA students (pp. 72 – 86). Ilorin: The Outer English Language Circle.  Oloruntoba-Oju, O. O. (1998). Meaning in reading: Encoding and decoding techniques. In E. E. Adegbija (Ed.) Effective communication in higher education: Use of English (pp. 146 – 156). Ilorin: The GNS Unit, University of Ilorin. Owolabi, H. O. (2003). Foundations of Western education: Role of the Jews, the Greeks and the Romans. In J. O. O. Abiri (Ed.) Perspectives on history of education in Nigeria (pp.17 – 28). Ibadan: Emola-Jay Communications Inc.  READING COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES Objectives: At the end of the lesson the students should be able to i. Explain what comprehension is. ii. Explain what reading comprehension means. iii. Identify reading comprehension strategies. Introduction: The term reading has various possible interpretations. Some say it is reading aloud as against reading silently. Reading aloud is itself mediated by meaning identification because it is the only way in which information about the appropriate intonation pattern, articulation etc. is shown. Reading aloud is primarily an oral matter and requires a familiar text, detailed explication, practice of specific pronunciation problems in the text and group practice technique. Reading aloud is often restricted to teaching and learning situations. Reading can also mean silent reading. But the purposes of silent reading skill vary according to the use to which it is being put. The uses to which silent reading is put are: (a) Surveying of material to be studied; (b) Skimming for an item from a mass of information, and (c) gaining superficial comprehension as is obtainable in reading for pleasure or preparing to read aloud others are (d) Studying in detail the content of a subject e.g. History, Economics for purposes of examination; (e) studying the language in which the text is written – as is the case in literary criticism What is Reading Comprehension? Comprehend means “get meaning out of”, therefore reading comprehension means “getting meaning out of what is read”. Any reading that does not lead to an understanding cannot be said to be a success. Note, however, that getting the said meaning involves a complex process which is highly dependent on both the teacher (you) and your learners. But you may be asking what are the skills to develop and how do I teach these skills. Let us look at the skills. Reading Skills Reading is concerned with the development of certain abilities such as translation, interpretation and extrapolation. When one interprets; one is giving the same information in another form e.g. if a learner is able to say “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world” so points at the important role of women in the society he has done an acceptable translation. This ability is lacking in many learners today. Interpretation calls for an understanding of major ideas, idiom, clichés etc. and inter-relationships. A learner who says “Those living in a glass house must not throw stones” literally means “Owners of houses built of glass must not throw stones” has not interpreted rightly. Extrapolation is the ability to use, determine the use, consequences and effects of a piece of writing. When your learner gives meaning to symbols effectively, he has comprehended. When he transforms meanings into visual representation of language, he has comprehended. Let us now look at the specific reading comprehension skills that must be developed through training your learners. These skills are (a) Reading for exact or surface meaning; (b) Reading for implied meaning; (c) Reading for relationship of thoughts; (d) Reading to get the gist of a story; (e) Reading for required information to do assignments, examinations and reports. In addition you want to develop the habit of reading for pleasure – this though not a skill is an important aim. Intensive Reading Intensive reading involves different objectives and different skills. In intensive reading we examine the text very closely and carefully to get the full meaning. We can do the following when we do intensive reading: 1. Reading for exact meaning (factual, exact, surface meaning) deal with the plain sense of words and sentences, and enables the pupils to see exactly what the printed marks on the page mean. 2. Reading for implied meaning deals with the implications behind words and sentences, and enables the pupil to draw conclusions form what he has read. (inferential reading ) 3. Reading for relationships of thought deals with the connections between sentences, and between paragraphs. This helps greatly the process of summarizing. These skills are necessary for reading all the school subjects where books are used to find out facts, draw conclusions, and relate information. Your learners must be able to understand information in letters, reports, regulations, instruction and so on as well as anything that may probably be implied from contexts. This is true of any efficient reader too. These are the specific aims of the reading programme. To achieve them you need conscious skill – training approaches. You need to know when these skills may be instructed and the levels at which they any be taught. Extensive Reading: The purposes of reading enumerated earlier, namely, survey reading, skimming and superficial readings etc. are grouped under extensive reading. The aim of these is covering the greatest possible amount of the text in the shortest possible time. A low degree of comprehension is adequate here. Extensive Reading is used mainly to facilitate familiarity with a large body of reading materials. These skills are used in reading newspapers, tables of content and even literature/literacy works. Through extensive reading, speed reading is trained and vice versa Intensive Reading: Content study reading for exact surface meaning, for implied meaning and reading for relationship of thoughts require intensive reading skills. Intensive Reading is concerned with the understanding of the features of language – (syntactical and lexical) which your learners will draw on in order to decode messages in print. The focus is on recognition rather than production of language features. To help your learners achieve this, train them in logical argument, arrangement pattern contained in your choice of texts, its emotional and social overtones and attitudes. Study however, involves other kinds of intellectual activities or skills and efficient study technique may call for different kinds of reading skills. To develop high reading speed in your learners, you must be aware that there may be some problems calling for your attention. Some of these problems may be physical such as eye movement which may be ‘jerky’ translated from French “saccade”. Saccades normally proceed from left to right across the page instead of moving from one fixation/position to another to pick up information. Another type of saccade is a regression; meaning that a saccade that goes in the opposite direction e.g. from right to left. The more the saccade, the slower the speed. Eye span – number of words or symbols the eye can take in at each fixation is another source of problem. The greater the span the fewer the number of stops required and the faster the reading. Psychological factors such as actual perception of the text; inability to grasp linguistic patterns in a text and sub-vocalizing – saying the words in the mind, and intellectual ability are all sources of problems. The solution to all these is practice. Understanding the nature of the reading skill is important but the essential thing thereafter is still regular practice. Strategies for Reading Comprehension Sub-vocalization Subvocalization, or silent speech, is the internal speech typically made when reading; it provides the sound of the word as it is read. This is a natural process when reading, and it helps the mind to access meanings to comprehend and remember what is read. This inner speech is characterized by tiny movements in the larynx and other muscles involved in the articulation of speech. Most of these movements are undetectable (without the aid of machines) by the person who is reading. Techniques for studying sub-vocalization Subvocalization is commonly studied using electromyography (EMG) recordings, concurrent speaking tasks, shadowing, and other techniques. Subvocalization plays a large role in memory encoding. Subvocalization appears to facilitate the translating of visual linguistic information into acoustic information and vice versa Eye Regression Regression is the behavior we engage when reading a book and we go back to re-read something we already read in order to be sure if we really understood the message we read. Regression is the process of re-reading text that you’ve already read. It goes by other names including back- skipping, re-reading, and going back over what you’ve read. Whatever you call it, regression is like taking two steps forward with your eyes and one step back – and sometimes, a lot more than one step back; like when you go back and re-read an entire page or worse, an entire chapter! Regression is just a mechanism of laziness. Our brain relies in the fact that you can go back and re-read at any time, so it relaxes and does not concentrate properly. Why should it  concentrate on the reading if you can check it later at any time? The brain is sure that it can check the text again at any moment so does not give its best at the time of reading. The result is that you have to go and read again the text, with a huge decrease in your reading speed. Additionally, it may happen that you lose concentration and start thinking about whatever. Your brain is now lost in space. Again, the brain doesn’t really care about what you are reading, since you can perform regression and re-read later. Then it decides to daydream. Another cause of regression is to doubt about the skills of oneself. In those cases, you do not trust yourself and what you have read. Since you want to be sure that you understood what you read you go back and read again the text in order to confirm to yourself that you were right (or not). This behavior is actually a lack of confidence in oneself. As earlier said, regression is a habit that can seriously slow your reading speed. And not only that, regression disrupts your concentration. You’ve probably never thought about it, but reading isn’t all that matters. You also have to comprehend what you read. Without comprehension, reading is a wasted effort. A lack of concentration, whether real or perceived, is one reason you might regress when you read. For some reason you don’t trust your brain’s ability to comprehend the material, so just to be sure you go back and read the information again. What you don’t realize is that re-reading is the more likely cause of reduced comprehension because it interferes with the proper flow and meaning of the words. Subvocalization can also cause regression for the simple reason that your eyes usually move faster than the mouth. When the difference between what your eyes see and your mouth reads becomes too much, comprehension falters. Regression might also be a form of compulsive behavior. The Techniques of Avoiding Eye Regression The technique to remove regression in your reading is very simple. The technique consists of reading for a given amount of time while following the next two principles. 1. First you must set yourself in a state of trying to concentrate and read for a given time. You must commit to the activity of reading. It does not matter if finally you do not achieve it, but you must try your best. The exercise is just a matter of trying, but trying with all your heart. 2. Second, you will need a white paper to cover the text. I recommend you to have a sheet of paper folded by the middle. Take the folded sheet and put it on top of the book, on top of the line you just read, covering it completely. As you read one line, push the sheet down to cover that line. Keep reading and pushing the sheet until it covers the whole page. Then switch to the next page and do the same. Having the paper covering the text prevents you from having a look to your previous read text. Of course, you will have the urge to do it, but you should never remove the paper to re-read. Yes, it may happen that you lose concentration and miss some lines. Do not worry. Keep reading and forget about that part. You will discover that you actually understood more than you thought. Word Recognition Is "the ability of a reader to recognize written words correctly and virtually effortlessly". It is sometimes referred to as "isolated word recognition" because it involves a reader's ability to recognize words individually from a list without needing similar words for contextual help. Word recognition is a manner of reading based upon the immediate perception of what word a familiar grouping of letters represents. This process exists in opposition to phonetics and word analysis, as a different method of recognizing and verbalizing visual language (i.e. reading). Word recognition functions primarily on automaticity. On the other hand, phonetics and word analysis rely on the basis of cognitively applying learned grammatical rules for the blending of letters, sounds, graphemes, and morphemes. Word recognition is measured as a matter of speed, such that a word with a high level of recognition is read faster than a novel one. This manner of testing suggests that comprehension of the meaning of the words being read is not required, but rather the ability to recognize them in a way that allows proper pronunciation. Therefore, context is unimportant, and word recognition is often assessed with words presented in isolation in formats such as flash cards Nevertheless, ease in word recognition, as in fluency, enables proficiency that fosters comprehension of the text being read. Causes of Problems in Reading Comprehension 1. Failure to recognize letters properly. This is called letter recognition and is a problem of physical perception. An example is when ‘b’ is seen as ‘p’ “ban” becomes “pan”; “but” becomes “put”.  2. Inability to recognize a particular lexical item is another source of breakdown due to faulty association e.g. associating “concerted effort” with a concert or music. 3. Failure to recognize the grammatical relations which exist between lexical unit or even the failure to grasp the meaning of a particular grammatical item in a particular context. An example is “slow men at work” when spoken it is clearer than when written. Is slow an adjective or a verb giving instruction? Only the context will determine which is appropriate. 4. Inability to grasp the author’s attitude to his own writing. In order to overcome this, some knowledge of a number of different styles of writing and sensitivity to linguistic cues to indicate the status of the passage – irony, humorous, deadly serious or light-hearted is essential. Your learners require some instructions on stylistic effects. How to do this will be shown to you later. The other cause of breakdown in comprehension that you need to be aware of is your learner’s inability to apply logical principles adequately. Unjustified assumptions or reading more than is necessary into a text or may be properly deduced is done. Sometimes sheer carelessness in thinking may be responsible for this problem. Self-Assessment Questions 1. What is reading comprehension? Tutor Marked Questions 1. Explain the importance of comprehension when reading. 2. list the strategies for reading comprehensively REFERENCES Buller, D. J. (2005). Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature. Massachusetts: The MIT Press Charlotte Emigh (2011), "Subvocalization", Accelerated Reading, University of Puget Sound Center for Writing, Learning & Teaching Curtin, S. & Graham, S. (2014). Early word learning. In Brooks, P.J. & Kempe, V. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Language Development, 183-186. http://www.caluniv.ac.in/free_book/Encyclopedia-Dictionary/Encyclopedia-of-Language- Development.pdf Eiter, B., & Inhoff, A. (2010). Visual Word Recognition During Reading by Subvocal Articulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 35(2), 457-470. Girbau, D. (2007). A Neurocognitive Approach to the Study of Private Speech. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 10(1), 41-51 Hubbard, T.L. (2010). Auditory imagery: empirical findings. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 302-329. Perea, M; Gomez, P (2012). "Subtle Increases in Inter letter Spacing Facilitate the Encoding of Words during Normal Reading". PLoS ONE. 7 (10): Rick T. (2014) Speed Reading; Avoid Regression When Speed Reading CLAUSE AND CLAUSE TYPES A clause is a group of words which forms a part of a sentence and contains a subject and a predicate. Examples of clause are: 1. When I was walking on the street 2. That honesty is the best policy 3. How to speak English correctly 4. Why she left her parents 5. How to answer the questions  It is very important to know that a clause can be turned into a sentence. For examples: 1. I saw Bayo when I was walking on the street. 2. Everyone knows that honesty is the best policy. 3. I can teach you how to speak English correctly. 4. We can’t understand why she left her parents. 5. Does Nike know how to answer the questions?  Kinds of Clauses Clauses are divided into two classes, namely: 1. Principal clause or main clause or independent clause and 2. Subordinate clause dependent clause 1. Principal clause is a clause which makes complete sense standing by itself, e.g. a. I tried my best. 2. Subordinate clause is a clause which relies on another clause for its meaning to be realised. Examples are: a. If you are a postgraduate b. After she had left home Note that, subordinate clauses can be turned into meaningful sentences with the help of other clauses. For example: a. If you are a postgraduate, you are eligible for the scholarship  Subordinate clause can further be divided into three, namely: 1. Noun clause 2. Adjective clause 3. Adverb clause 1. Noun clause is a group of words which contains a subject and predicate of its own and does the work of a noun.  Examples are: a. I know that she is a teacher in the school. b. What I like most in her is her modesty. c. I know when to apply for admission. Note that a noun clause can be used as: 1. The subject of the verb  2. The object of a transitive verb 3. The object of a preposition 4. In apposition to a noun or pronoun 5. The complement of a verb of incomplete predication 1. Examples of the subject of the verb: a. What I like in Bayo is his modesty b. Whether to apply for the post is a problem to me  2. Examples of the object of a transitive verb: a. I know that she is a teacher in the school. b. I know when to apply for admission. 3. Examples of the object of a preposition a. She did not pay attention to what I explained to her. b. I have confidence in what I do. a. I accept the theory that man is a social animal. b. We believe the principle that all men are bore free. 5. Examples of the complement of a verb of incomplete predication a. My belief is that hard work brings success b. The question is where to find the money for the project.  which contains a subject and a predicate on its own and does the work of an adjective It very important to note that an adjective clause is usually introduced by relative pronouns such as who/which/that/but/as, and relative adverbs like where/when/why. Examples are: a. The girl whom you saw at the car pack is my sister b. The beautiful girl whose father is the Accountant in the bank is preparing for her final exam c. The man who invited you to dinner is my uncle d. This is the book that/which I told you about e. This is the place where I met Janet  3. Adverb Clause is a group of words which contains a subject and a predicate of its own and does the work of an adverb. Examples are: a. I shall wait here till you return. b. If you know her, please tell me. c. I stopped the work because I was very tired.  Kinds of Adverb Clauses Adverb clauses are classified into eight kinds, and they are: 1. Adverb clause of Time 2. Adverb clause of Place 3. Adverb clause of Purpose 4. Adverb clause of Cause 5. Adverb clause of Condition 6. Adverb clause of Result 7. Adverb clause of Comparison  8. Adverb clause of Supposition or Concession a. Adverb clause of Time is used to indication time. Adverb clause of time is introduced by words like when/whenever/before/after/as/since /till/once/now. Examples are: i. I felt happy when I saw my brother. ii. Whenever you want to eat, please pray.  iii. I had never thought of marriage before I saw Josephine. iv. He found his way home after he lost the money. v. As he began to sing, we stopped talking. vi. I haven’t seen Sulaiman since he was married. vii. I shall wait for you until you have written the letter.  viii. Don’t talk while I am teaching. b. Adverb clause of Place is used to indication the place of an event. A clause of place is introduced by where or wherever. Examples are: i. Where there is a will, there is a way. ii. Wherever you go, I will go with you. iii. I visited the place where she built the house for the poor  c. Adverb clause of Purpose is used to indicate the purpose of something. It is usually introduced by words like that/in order that/so that/lest. Examples are: i. We read that we may understand the world  ii. He worked hard to earn enough money in order that he might make his wife happy. iii. He went to Ghana in order to marry a Ghanaian girl. iv. She left very early lest she be delayed v. He filled the petrol thank so that he might avoid any hitch in his journey. d. Adverb Clause of Reason is used to indicate cause or reason for something. It is introduced by words like because/since/as/in as much as/that. Examples are: i. I slept early because I was tired. ii. Since she has a desire for marriage, she terminated her studies.  iii. As I love you, I can do anything for you. iv. We happy that he bought a new car. e. Adverb Clause of Condition is used to indicate condition. It is introduced by words like if/unless/whether/provided that/so long as.  Examples are: i. If you help me, I shall be happy. ii. Unless you tell her about your job, she wont know it. iii. I can help you provided that you follow my advice. iv. So long as you work hard, you have no problem with me. v. You must do the work whether you like it or not.  f. Adverb Clause of Result or Consequence is used to indicate result or consequence. It is introduced by words like so that/such that. Examples are: i. Omotayo is so brilliant that I loved him at first sight. ii. He has such ability in Mathematics that all were amazed.  g. Adverb Clause of Comparison is used to indicate comparison. It is introduced by words like as/as__as/so___as/than. Examples are: i. Omolara is as beautiful as Nike. ii. Our country is as rich as America. iii. He speaks better than his sister. iv. He disguised so as to deceive everybody.  h. Adverb Clause of Supposition or Concession is used to indicate supposition or concession. It is usually introduced by words like though/although/even if/even though/while/where as. Examples are: i. Though she is clever, she is not proud. ii. Although he tried hard, he did not succeed in his attempt.  iii. Even if you are a beautiful queen, I can’t marry you. iv. Even though you are my brother, I can’t allow you to do such a cruel act. v. Where as Jamiu is friendly, his friend is impolite. SOUND PATTERN IN ENGLISH LANGAUGE (PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY) Introduction: Sound is a unit of speech which is produced by the human speech organs. Sound is usually heard. Here we can compare sound to noise which is also usually heard but whereas noise is a distraction and is also often meaningless, sound is an organised realisation from a natural language. The International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA) comprises the symbols that are used to represent sounds. When we write in a language, we make use of letters of the alphabet. Letters are normally seen while, in comparison, sounds are normally heard. However, sounds and letters are related in that letters are the symbols with which sounds are represented on paper. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to i. differentiate letters from sounds ii. explain the speech pattern of consonant sounds iii. explain the speech pattern of vowel sounds. Main Content: Phonetics Phonetics is concerned with the study of the sounds of natural language i.e. languages into which human beings are born. Phonetics is the study of production of sounds as produced by the organs of speech. It deals with the analysis of the sounds of languages in terms of articulation, transmission and perception. Phonetics seeks to identify sounds that constitute speech units which are distinct from all other possible human sounds. There are three major braches in the study of phonetics, namely acoustic Phonetics, articulatory Phonetics, and auditory Phonetics. Acoustic Phonetics. This deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air (sound waves). Different instruments are used to measure the characteristics of these sound waves. Articulatory Phonetics. Articulatory phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are produced. Sounds are classified according to the place of articulation in terms of the organs of speech used in their production (bilabial, alveolar, palatal), and according to manner of articulation in terms of the how airflow from the lungs is obstructed in their production e.g. stops, fricatives, affricates etc. Auditory Phonetics. Hearing, or audition, is one of the traditional five senses, and refers to the ability to detect sounds. In human beings hearing is performed traditionally by the ears which also perform a function of maintaining balance. For instance to indicate the consonant sounds of the following English words: boy, saw, too, square brackets are used by convention: [b] as in boy [s] as in saw as in too Phonemes, which are the distinguished sounds, constitute the basic unit of study in Phonetics. Phonology Phonology, on the other hand deals with the organisation, grouping, patterning and distribution of the basic sounds of natural languages (vowels and consonants). It studies the restrictions and regular patterns of sound combinations. The syllable is the basic unit of study. Symbols which are used to indicate the pronunciation of sounds syllables or words are written within slanting lines / /, sometimes called slashes or oblique slashes following phonological convention. When the differences in sound combinations are as a result of non-segmental phenomena like tone, intonation, rhythm and accentuation, it is referred to as supra-segmental phonology. For example, when the first syllable in the word import is stressed, it constitutes a difference in meaning in that it functions as a noun, but as a verb if the stress is on the second syllable. In phonology, distinctive features of phonemes are determined and used to describe, compare and contrast phonemes. The distinctive features of a phoneme refer to the group or bundle of features which differentiate a phoneme from other phonemes. The features are derived from the parameters for classification of sounds. Consonants are classified according to the parameters of place and manner of articulation, and voicing. Vowels are classified according to the parameters of tongue height, rounding of the lips, and length of production. Below is the distinctive feature chart for consonants and vowels in English: Phonetics and Phonology The relationship between phonetics and phonology is such that human speech is subject matter. However, Phonetics is the starting point while phonology takes off from where phonetics ends. The example of aspiration in English will illustrate this relationship. Through phonetic analysis, the consonant /p/ is a distinct speech sound in English in terms of the parameters of classification, place and manner of articulation. Through phonological analysis, /p/ is a distinct phoneme because it constitutes a difference in meaning when in combination with other sounds in a syllable. Also, /p/ is produced with a puff air when it occurs in word initial position and before a vowel as in people [pi:pl]. This production of /p/ is a variant called an allomorph. It is aspirated and represented as [ph]. The second /p/ in people does not meet the conditions of occurrence and so is not aspirated. Note however, that the aspirated [ph] is not a distinct sound nor is it a distinct phoneme of English. In other words, its occurrence does not constitute a difference in meaning. Sound Patterns Consonants In their production, consonants show greater constriction of the vocal tract and are less sonorous, less prominent than their counterpart – the vowels. In a majority of the world’s languages, a vowel can serve as a syllable or a word, but a consonant cannot, except it is accompanied with a vowel. Although we can produce certain sequences like mm, mmn, sh, shr, zsr, etc. (all made up of consonants), such sequences cannot rightly be claimed to belong to any particular language, they are simply identifiable human sounds which may express some kinds of emotion in certain situations. In a majority of the world languages also, the consonants are marginal or peripheral in the structure of words while the vowels are central in such structural patterning. In the production of sounds generally, there are three operative terms which all students of the subject should be firmly knowledgeable about. These are the terms plosive, fricative and nasal. Practically all natural languages have plosive consonants, fricative consonants and nasal consonants, in varying numbers and in varying distributional patterns. In the realization of a plosive consonant, four stages described here in sporting terms are notable: (i) Two articulators come together – the articulators may be the lips coming together; the tongue moving up to be in contact with the teeth ridge (alveolar ridge) or the back part of the tongue being in contact with the soft palate. We may refer to this as the preparatory or the “on-your-marks” phase. (ii) The air from the lungs is now held completely in check; the united organs prevent it from escaping. We can call this the ‘get-set’ phase. (iii) There follows a sudden parting of the organs, a process which allows the imprisoned air to escape. This is the ‘go’ or the ‘plosion’ phase. (iv) What follows immediately in the wake of the plosion may be voicing or voicelessness depending on the action of the vocal lips: vibration or absence of it. We may call this the post-plosion (the “pp” stage). These four stages are applicable to the articulation of plosive consonants in practically all natural languages. From these four stages we can also appreciate why plosive consonants are sometimes referred to as stop consonants. With respect to English, six consonant sounds /p, b, t, d, k, g/ are often realized following the four stages outlined above. Of these six, /b,d,g/ are generally said to be voiced (even if they are not equally vigorously voided in all word positions), while /p, t, k/ are generally said to be voiceless. It has also generally been claimed that the voiceless plosives are produced with a great exertion of energy and so the consonants are said to be strong. On the other hand, it is generally claimed that the realization of the voiced plosives /b,d,g/ takes a comparatively less exertion of energy in their realization and so the plosives are said to be weak or lenis. The terms fortis and lenis are however not restricted to English alone. Indeed, any language in which the dichotomy of energy exertion is observable may employ the terms for the description of plosive or any other consonant sounds for that matter. The next term in our preliminary discussion of consonant is fricative. Fricative consonants are realized when articulating organs get near to each other, leaving a small space between them. Because of the narrowed space, the air that passes through makes some kind of hissing sound. Such consonants are often said to be continuant consonants, and this is because of the fact that the fricative sounds can be continued almost indefinitely so long as the speaker has enough air to continue the pronunciation at any given time. The last of our operative terms is nasal. Nasal consonants are those which are realized through the nose. For this to happen, the soft palate must be lowered to cover the mouth cavity and this allow the nasal cavity free for the air to pass through. In all natural languages, consonants of this class exist and are explicable in terms of this kind of lowering of the soft palate. This possibility of lowering the soft palate during sound production presupposes that even oral sounds can be nasalized, (for illustration or for any other reasons). The process of nasalized is a very crucial one in sound production because it makes the important difference between two sets of sounds – oral and nasal. Ordinarily, all vowels and all consonants produced without a lowering of the soft palate belong to one class – oral sounds. All other sounds which pass through the nose cavity are nasal sounds. In a majority of the world’s languages, all nasals are voiced. So, in a detailed description of a nasal, it is superfluous to say something like. Voiced velar nasal for / /. It is enough to say: velar nasal. A Summary of Consonant Patterning Consonants in English may be patterned according to place of articulation. Here, from the view point of; (i) place of articulation, English has four bilabial consonants – those sounds realized between the two lips: /p,b,m,w/ (ii) two labio-dental consonants – those sounds realized with the lower lip and the upper front teeth: /f,v/ (i) two interdental (or dental) consonants – those sounds realized with the tip of the tongue between the two rows of teeth: / ,ð/ (ii) seven alveolar consonants – those sounds realized with the tip of the tongue at the teeth ridge (alveolar ridge): /t,d,l,n,r,s,z/ (iii) Four palato-alveolar consonants – those sounds realized with the tip of the tongue simultaneously against the hard palate and the teeth ridge: / , , , / (iv) one palatal consonant – the sound realized with the tongue touching the hard palate /j/ (v) three velar consonants – those sounds realized with the tongue touching the soft palate: /k,g, / (vi) one glottal consonant – the sound realized in the glottis: /h/ VOWELS The English language has a total of twenty vowels, twelve pure vowels and eight diphthongs. Pure vowels, also called monothongs, are those vowels which are produced by the movement of the tongue in one direction only. Pure vowels are also described as simple vocalic sounds that are said to have ‘a steady state articulation’, implying that the tongue, lips and jaw achieve, however briefly, a stable configuration, commonly called Target Configuration, if produced in isolation (Clark & Yallop,1990:73). It is common knowledge that the tongue and lips undergo transitions in anticipation of a sound that follows or was produced before another sound but these transitions notwithstanding, a vowel sound which appears to have a stable auditory quality qualifies to be called a pure vowel. The diphthongs are often characterised by a glide from one vowel position to another. In such vocalic sounds, according to (Clark & Yallop, 1990: 73), ‘the glide component is so prominent even though it is still heard as a single sound.’ Unlike the pure vowels, they are not tied to conventional numbers. The word diphthong comes from Greek. It means ‘double sound.’ The first vowel in diphthong marks the starting point while the second sound marks the direction of tongue movement. The first vowel is often longer and louder than the second. Diphthongs are often transcribed, using diagraphs made up of two vowel symbols, which represent the starting point and the direction of movement of the tongue during articulation. The eight English diphthongs are thus: [ei] as in day, make, great, late [ai] as in time, light, try, buy [ i] as in boy, noise, joy, buoy [ u] as in both, soap, know, sold [ u] as in sound, town, owl, cow [i ] as in dear, idea, hero, here [u ] as in poor, sure, tour, truant [e ] as in share, pair, wear, Mary In addition to eight diphthongs, we also have five triphthongs. In careful and slow pronunciation, it is often possible to distinguish three vowel sounds articulated together. These are called triphthongs. For example, a careful pronunciation of the vowel in the word ‘tower’ shows three vowels in one sound thus: [t u ]. In English, there are five triphthongs made up of the five closing diphthongs with schwa [ ] added to them. Thus we have [ei] + [ ] – [ei ] as in player, layer [ i] + [ ] – [ i ] as in fire, tyre [ i] + [ ] – [ i ] as in royal, loyal [ u] + [ ] – [ u ] as in sower, lower [ u] + [ ] – [ u ] as in flower, tower In each case, the glide is from the first sound to the sound and to the third. As already noted, it is only the slow and careful English speaker whose speech can feature these complex vowels. In rapid or normal speech, triphthongs are often reduced to long vowels and diphthongs with the middle vowel heard only slightly or not at all. Grouping of the Vowel Sounds of English The vowel sounds of English may be grouped, first, following the relative duration of the sounds. Here, four subgroups are generally recognised. These are: i) Long monothongs (pure vowels): [i:, :, :, u:, :] ii) Diphthongs (glides): [ei, i, i, u, u, i , e , u ] iii) Trigpthongs [ei , i , i , u , u ] As you already know, the above are all long vowels. iv) Short monothongs (pure vowels): [ , e, æ, u, , ] Secondly, the vowel phonemes of English may be grouped according to the part of the tongue raised. There are three subgroups of vowels here: i) Front [i:, , e, æ] ii) Back [ , :, u, u:] iii) Central [ , , :] There is a vowel that does not neatly fit into any of these three subgroups. It is [ :] usually grouped as nearer back than front. Thirdly, the vowel phonemes of English may be grouped according to the extent of raising of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth. Six subgroups are generally noted here: i) Close [i:, u:] ii) Half-close [ , u] iii) Half-open [ ] iv) Between ii) and iii) [e, :, ] v) Open [ :] vi) Between iii) and v) [æ] The close vowels [i:, u:] may, alternatively, be grouped as high vowels; the half-close and half-open [ , u, ] may be said to be mid vowels while the open vowel [ :] may be said to be low vowels. With regard to the position of the lips at the time of pronunciation, i) [u:, :] ii) [u, ] iii) [i:, , e, æ, , :, , :] are realised with spread or neutral lips. Self-Assessment Questions 1. What is the relationship between Phonetics and phonology? 2. Examine the sound patters of vowel and consonant sounds. Tutor Marked Assignment Attempt a brief grouping of vowels sounds of English according to the part of the tongue raised to the roof of the mouth and the extent of such a raising. REFERENCES/FURTHER READING Eka, D. & Inyang, U. (1996). Aspects of spoken language. Calabar: BON Universal Eka, D. (1996). Phonological foundations of English. Uyo: Scholars Press (Nig.) Ltd. Clark, J & C. Yallop (1990): An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology; Oxford; Basil Blackwell. Yule, George (2002): The Study of Language. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Courseware for GNS 111 Professor Abdullahi Kadir Ayinde Topic: Writing Skills Introduction This chapter concentrates on the techniques for writing all form of essays, letters, reports and other academic course works requiring a step-by-step method of pre-writing, writing and re- writing. Of all the skills of communication, writing is the most difficult because it demands meticulous effort and painstaking commitment to accomplish. Writing essays does not mean using long words and lofty phrases. Matthew Arnold cited in Collinson (1986, p.144) advises that “Have something to say and say it as clearly as you can”. There is no single, universal and exclusive set in which an essay should be written, but certainly, writing requires a form or shape for it to be meaningful. Writing is of various categories. Its dominant characteristics are the audience, subject matter, and purpose. The different kinds of writing include essays namely: (Narrative, Descriptive, Argumentative, and Expository), letters (Formal and Informal), creative writing, business correspondence, news reports, feature articles, editorials, advertisements, press release, technical and research reports among others. For effective communication, all learners must be adequately familiar with the skills of writing already enumerated above. The purpose of this chapter is to deal with some of the main conventions and techniques for the scholarly presentation of written work. The chapter provides a working knowledge of the main conventions for effective written communication. Basic Form The basic form of writing may nearly be derived from the kind of the discourse in question. The basic form must be developed into a coherent plan that can be given content. Writing, according to linguists, is a dual interaction and interface between the writer and audience. A good writer must, therefore, have a firm grasp of the various steps required for presenting a good piece of essay. These steps have been simplified into pre-writing, writing and post-writing. Pre-Writing Pre-writing is the first major stage of presenting a good essay. It is the preliminary stage where the writer assembles relevant ideas that could serve the purpose of developing a coherent discourse. The activity at this stage is brain-storming. The writer prods his thought to generate cogent ideas that can support the essay. The writer also reads widely to gather materials needed for content development. At this era of information and communication advancement in technology, the writer can also take advantage of the internet and emerging artificial intelligence platform to research ideas that can concretely help to develop a meaningful report. The golden advice is that when you read through an essay question for the first time, you may immediately find ideas about the topic crowding into your head or you may have to do quite a lot of reading and thinking before you start writing. Preparatory reading for gathering ideas and brain- storming is what the linguists referred to as the pre-writing stage. The recommendations for preparing an essay at this stage include: 1. Assemble the materials you will need for the writing 2. Develop an outline plan that will deal systematically with the essay  3. Read the topic carefully to see exactly what it requires you to do. Devise a basic form for the writing, noting key words in the topic 4. Jot down the main points that you think should be included in the essay and fit them into the plan 5. Refer back to the topic to check that you are actually doing what is required of you 6. Write a short opening paragraph to the essay embodying your main idea, conclusion, argument or claim A word of warning at this stage is that one must be aware of the danger of assembling a large number of books and notes at the same time. The writer may find him or she bogged down in reading and searching for materials and so confused in starting the essay. Resist spending a disproportionate amount of time on this stage. Writing Writing is the second stage that launches the writer into the real business. This is also the segment where the writer arranges ideas in logical paragraphs. Essay must be developed coherently in such a way that there is a free flow of thought from one level to another. The stage requires the writer to prepare a meaningful draft that follows the order of the beginning, body and conclusion. The beginning is the introductory paragraph where the writer sets the tone of the essay in a way that is highly captivating for the reader to develop a strong interest in reading the content. The body is where the writer communicates the rest of the ideas systematically in a stream of coherent paragraphs. Writing involves combining a sequence of ideas until they form a cohesive whole. The advice is that the writer must avoid an haphazardly combined string of sentences with disjointed paragraphs and ungrammatical expressions that make mutual intelligibility difficult to achieve. Writing requires the rules of meaningful expression be carefully done. It also involves an avoidance of the pitfalls that typify bad writing. The basic rules is that the writer must be guided by the following signposts to make the writing reader-centred: 1. What am I trying to communicate to my audience? 2. What is the better way to achieve mutual intelligibility? 3. What image or word choices will make the communication have the desired effect? 4. Is the general expression good enough to have an effect? 5. Have I avoided unnecessary digression? 6. Are there superfluous preambles to be removed? In the words of Collinson (1986, p.157), the good writer is someone who has paragraphs varied in length, development and organization. He lets me know where he is going, moves quickly through the simple materials, and explain and illustrates more difficult points. His paragraphs are carefully connected, and when there is a marked change in thought, there are enough indications to help me follow the shift. He does not repeat unnecessarily or digress; instead, he covers his subject thoroughly and briefly. While I am still interested, he completes his work in a satisfactory final paragraph and leaves me wishing that there were more writers like him. Post-Writing The post-writing stage is where the writer carefully edits, reviews and proof readings the draft generated at the writing stage. The idea is that since the mind travels faster than the pen while writing, the possibility of mistakes, omissions and grammatical infelicities are  inevitable. This stage requires two levels of editing namely: structural and stylistic. Structural editing involves the overhauling of the entire structure of the paragraphs to achieve an effective organization of ideas and adequate logical and coherent forms. Stylistic editing involves paying attention to grammatical expressiveness, mechanical accuracy and relevance. Basic rule here is that: 1. Check back the topic to be convince of appropriateness of the ideas 2. Mark and remove any words, phrases and sentences that do not relate directly to the argument 3. Remember to make sure you edit, review and proof read 4. Improve the sentence structure 5. Have an eagle eye to spot mistake and effect corrections 6. A careful editing and revising reduces mistakes of grammar, lexical choices, bad organization and several other inappropriateness References Collinson, D.J.(1986) Writing English: A Working Guide to the skills of written English, England: Wildwood House  PARTS OF SPEECH Sub Topic: Modifiers and Qualifiers Introduction: In English language, there are some words or phrases that give additional information. Modifiers and qualifiers are in the category of those parts of speech that give details (more information) in sentences. Objectives: At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to: i. identify part of speech that can be classified as modifiers ii. identify the part of speech that can be classified as qualifiers iii. identify the functions of both modifiers and qualifiers in any given sentence. Main Content: Modifiers Modifiers generally mean any part of speech that describes or adds detail. Modifiers provide additional information about other words or phrases in a sentence. A modifier can just be a word, a phrase, or an entire dependent clause. Adjectives and adverbs are parts of speech commonly called modifiers. An adjective modifies (or describes) a noun or pronoun, and an adverb modifies (or describes) a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Types of Modifiers Right from the definition above, the main types of modifiers can be deduced as Adjectives and adverbs. Adjectival:  these are words that describe nouns Examples: beautiful, tall, brilliant, dull, smart etc.)   adjective phrases Examples: i. that’s a melodious song, ii. a delicious cake iii. that’s a brilliant performance…… Adverbial  adverbs (words that describe verbs, , adjectives, or other adverbs) Examples: beautifully, very , smartly, brilliantly etc.  adverb phrases Examples: a very tall girl beautifully made dress….. How do you identify a modifier in a sentence? A modifier that gives some information such as size or color of a noun, is an adjective while a modifier answers questions such as why? when? or how is an adverb. Qualifier What are qualifiers in writing? A qualifier in English grammar, is a word, or phrase, (such as very) that precedes an adverbs or adjectives increasing or decreasing the quality signified by the word it modifies. Qualifier is a type of word that is used to add extra meaning to another word. Qualifiers could also come before a verb and noun, - depending on the type of qualifier used. One common use of a qualifier is to either enhance or limit the meaning of the following word. Examples of common qualifiers: very, quite, rather, somewhat, more, most, less, least, too, so, just, enough, indeed, still, almost, fairly, really, pretty, even, a bit, a little, a (whole) lot, a good deal, a great deal, kind of, sort of. i. she is extremely happy ii. the cake is absolutely delicious iii. the classroom is fairy peaceful. Self-Assessment Questions: 1. Define modifiers. 2. Which classes of words are classed as modifiers? 3. List 10 examples of quantifiers. Tutor Marked Assignment How can identify Modifiers and Quantifiers in sentences? References Babatunde, S.T (2019) Basic Syntactic Classes in Courseware on Fundamentals of Use of English, (pp 33-41). General Studies Division, University of Ilorin,. Nordquist, Richard. (2024). Qualifier Words in English Grammar. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/qualifier-words-1691707 Rodney, H., & Geoffrey, K. (2005). A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Grammatical Words Words can be categorised along various parameters. Using one of such parameters dichotomises words into (i) Content Words and (ii) Grammatical Words. Content Words, also known as Lexical Words, are the carriers of specific meanings that are germane or integral to the overall meaning of a sentence. The removal of a content word makes the intended meaning of a sentence collapse. For example, John is going to Lagos. If someone who speaks poor English says, “John going Lagos”, this ungrammatical statement is meaningful because the content words necessary to convey the intended meaning have been retained after deleting the words “is” and “to”. Therefore, it is obvious that the content words in the sentence “John is going to Lagos” are “John”, “going”, and “Lagos”. The foregoing means that “is” and “to” are not content words. They are, therefore, examples of grammatical words. Now that we have an idea of what content words are, let us delve into the necessary details about grammatical words. Grammatical words, also known as function words, are those that merely help to make sentences adhere to the rules and structures of grammar in a language. They do not contribute significant or specific meaning to sentences. They only show grammatical relationships among the meaning-giving words in sentences. From our earlier example, we must have found that “is” and “to” are grammatical words. Without them, the sentence is