GSE 212 GENERAL ENGLISH

 GSE 212 GENERAL ENGLISH

COURSE OUTLINE

A) Grammar

i. Identification and usage of phrases clauses

ii. Sentence types

iii. Sentence patterns, S.V.O etc.

iv. Voice Active and Passive

B) Writing

i. Planning, Drafting and Editing

ii. Logical Sequence, of ideas

iii. Paragraphing/structure and development

iv. Qualities of a good paragraph (unity, coherence completeness).

C) i Vocabulary Development connotative, denotative

i. Idiomatic expressions

ii. Figures of speech and proverbs

iv. Registers. (Must be relevant to students' area of study).

D) Speech

Speech Types:

1. Narrative descriptive

ii: Argumentative, Conversational

iii. Dialogue

iv. Reported speech

V. Inference

Grammar

Phrase: The phrase is small group words that adds meaning to the sentence. A phrase is not sentence because it is not a complete idea with a subject, verb and a predicate.

Examples:

a- In the gender

b- The boy

C- The beautiful car

d- Reading in the sun

e- Something bad

Types of Phrase

Noun Phrase: This is the phrase that is made up of a noun or pronoun (as the head word), and does, the work of noun in a sentence.

Structure of the noun phrase

Structure Examples

Noun Bala

Determiner +Noun the children

Determiner + adj+ Noun the old man

Pronoun He

Function of Noun Phrases

A noun phrase can function in a sentence in various ways (similar to the function of a noun in a sentence). It functions as subject, object, complement of sentence (subjects and object complements) and as complement preposition

a) NP as subject of a sentence.

Example:

i. The man is kind

ii. The nice girl is my sister

iii. The clever boy in the garden is a student

iv. She is coming

b) NP is object of a verb

i. He bought a car

ii. Bala broked my chair

iii I was given a new pair of trousers

c) NP as subject complement (complement of a linking verb)

Examples:

i. Abdul is a student

ii. The women is kind

iii. John is my friend

D) NP as object complement

Examples:

i. They appointed him a captain

ii. The judge declared my brother an innocent

iii. He called his friend a coward.

E) NP as the object of a preposition

Example:

i. The woman went to the market

ii. He threw the ball over the bar

iii. I placed the bọok on the table

Verb Phrase: This phrase usually contains a lexical or main verb, with or without auxiliary verb. A verb phrase can either be finite or non-finite.

A) Finite verb phrase have tense distinction and concord between the subject and finite verb.

Examples:

i Bala speaks English

ii. They speak English 8

iii. Bala is speaking English

iv. John had been arrested before

B) The non-finite verb phrases do not have subject verb concord and nor tense distinction. Its features are to-infinitive, ing, ed, er, etc.

Examples:

i. Bala always likes to read

ii. I saw him reading a novel

iii. We are being interviewed

iv. He has been teaching for years.

Adverbial Phrase: This is the phrase that does the same work to that of an adverb that means it modifies the verb in the main clause. It indicates manner, place, time, reason, etc.

Example:

i. Bala save money in order to buy a car (Adv phrase of reason)

ii. He will travel abroad later in the Weak (Adv phrase of time)

iii. The man very carefully drove the car. (Adv Phrase of manner).

iv. He placed the book on the table (Adv Phrase of place).

Adjectival Phrase: An adjective phrase is a group of words that describes a noun or a pronoun in a sentence. The head word of this phrase is always an adjective.

Example:

i. The man reading in the sun, is kind.

ii. Bala was very happy when he heard the news

iii. Training a child in quite essential

iv. The work is tedious and risky

Other types of Phrases

Gerund: This phrase consists of a gerund (i.e) verb ing form) and one or more other elements such as an object as objects of the gerund, and modifiers. A gerund phrase functions as a noun in a sentence.

Examples:

i. Getting enough money is difficult.

ii. My fovourite game is playing soccer.

iii. I am tired of shouting at your everyday.

iv. Telling lies is something ba.

V. Reading in the sun is not good.

Participial: This type contains a participle and one or more other elements (participles are words. Like: done, given, walked as well as verb + ing form). But unlike the gerund phrase, the participate phrase acts as an adjective in a sentence.

Examples:

i. Having seen the man, she was happy

i. He met the clothes well ironed.

iii. Going to the market, she saw her aunt.

Infinitive: It contains an infinitive (to+verb) and one or more other elements, such as subjects objects and modifiers.

Examples:

i. Everybody loves to watch movies.

ii. I wish to see him immediately.

iii. To drive at night is dangerous.

iv. The company decided to reduce hours for everyone.

V. To err is human.

Appositive: This phrase restates a noun and consists of a noun or more words.

Examples:

i. Her horse, an Arabian, was her pride and joy.

ii. My wife, the love of my life, is also my test friend.

iii. His goal, to retire at 40, is unrealistic

iv. My idea, to recycle the paper, was accepted by the boss.

Prepositional: It consist of a preposition and its object with their modifiers, if any, and can act as a noun, an adjective and an adverb.

Example:

i. The book was on the table.

ii. I waited for a while.

iii. I met them at the bank.

iv. He was between a rock and a land place.

Clause

A clause is a group words that contains a subject and a predicate but cannot always be considered as a full grammatical sentence. Clauses can be either independent clause (or so called main clause) or dependent clause (also called sub-ordinate clause).

a) Main clause /independent clause: This is a group of words that contains subject and predicate and which makes sense. In other words, it is the clause that can stand on its own.

Examples:

i. She dresses beautifully

ii. The visitor arrived early

ii. Habu sings a song

b) Subordinate clause/Dependent clause: This clause also contains subject and predicate but does not make complete sense, instead, it has to be attached to other structures to complete its meaning.

Example:

i. Because he was ill.

ii. lf you pass the interview

ii. How to find his house

Types of Subordinate Clause

Noun Clause (Nominal Clause): A noun or nominal clause is a subordinate clause that fruitions as a noun in sentences. This clause can be introduced by that, what, who, whenever, etc.

Functions of Noun Clause

a) NC as subject of verb

Examples:

i. What Bala Said made his friend cry.

ii. That you can answer the question is not a surprised thing

iii. Whatever you intend to do, will have a negative result.

b) NC as object of verb

Examples:

i. She didn't know that the direction was wrong

ii. Audu like what he received

ii. They will appoint whoever comes first in the race

c) NC as object of preposition

Examples

i. I was not responsible of what the boy decided to do

ii. We paid no attention to what Bala said.

Adjectival Clause (Relative Clause). This clause performs the same function with an adjective, it modifies it in a sentence. The clause can be introduced by that, which, who, whose, etc.

Example:

i. The man who came here yesterday, is my uncle

ii. We bought the book which was recommended by our teacher.

iii. The box that bounded across the kitchen floor, has broken.

Adverbial Clause: This is a group of words that performs the function of an adverb that is modifying the verb in the main clause. There are various types of this clause, Time, Place, Manner, Reason, etc.

Examples:

i When I wake up: it was raining (Adv clause of time modifying was raining").

ii. He placed the book where I could find it. (Adv clause of place modifying the verb "placed").

jii. He laughs as if he is mad. (Adv clause of manner modifying “laughs").

iv. The student was punished, because he was late to school. (Adv clause of reason  modifying “was punished").

Other Types of Clause:

Besides the functional categories of clauses discussed above, we may analyze clauses according to structural types:

Finite Clauses: This contains finite verb such as gave, did, had, are, is, say, etc.

Examples:

i. Since he had gone.......

ii. Because they are working.......

iii. The book he gave to me...

Non-Finite Clauses: A clause which contains a non-finite verb such as: to see, having, washed, given, reading.

Examples:

i. To see the boy......

ii. Having washed his clothes...

iii. Given her performance in the class.......

Verb less Clauses: This is a clause in which the verbal element is missing, yet is implied. Thus, the clause can be analyzed in terms of subject, object, complement or adverbial.

Examples:

i. Whether black or white, its fine.

i. Though intelligent, he could not pass

iii. Where possible, try to help him

iv. While still a youth, he demonstrated remarkable intelligence.

In the sentences above, the verbless clause are underlined. The clauses could be re-written inserting the appropriate verbs. For stylistic variation, verbal clauses may be used in place of the fully written versions.

Sentence Types

A sentence is group of words that are put together to 'mean something. In other words, a sentence can be seen as the basic unit of language which expresses a conflict thought. A complete sentence has at least a subject and a main verb to state (declare) a compete thought.

Features of a Good Sentence

i. Subject: This refers to the doer of an action, i.e what is being talked about. E.g:

a) She smiled

b) The old man returned from work.

ii. Predicate: This is the statement about the subject which starts from the verb and in some cases, with other structures e.g an object compliment, adjunct, etc.

Examples:

i. a) He arrived

b) Bala is a lawyer

c) The old man died yesterday night

iii. Independent: A good sentence should stand on its own.

Example:

a) I read a novel

b) He likes music

c) They won the game

iv. Meaningful: A good sentence should be self-explanatory i.e to express complete and understandable meaning

Examples:

a) Do you understand?

b) Maryl has gone home

c) He failed the interview

A sentence can therefore be grouped according function and structure.

Functional types of Sentence

a- Declarative: This is the type of sentence that gives statement or information based o facts. e.g

i. I am a teacher

ii. He has gone

ii. The baby cries for food.

b- Imperative: This sentence gives command e.g

i. Get out! (strong)

ii. Please come in. (weak)

c- Interrogative: This types of sentence is used to ask questions e.g

i. When did he returned?

ii. Who owned that car? (Direct questions)

iii. I do not know whether you understand. (Indirect question)

d- Exclamatory: This sentence expresses emotional feelings, surprise, anger, happiness, etc e.g

i. Wow! xWhat a beautiful car?

ii. Ah! I am tired

iii. How do you challenge me!

Structural Types of Sentence

a) Simple Sentence: The type of sentence consisting one independent or main clause which has a subject and a predicate. Eg.

i. Fati is lucky

ii. He has bought a very big house in the city

b) Complex Sentence: "This type of sentence, consists of one main (independent) clause and one or more subordinate (dependent) clauses.

Examples

i. 1The candidates were assembled in the room.' where the interview was to take place.

ii. Bala had read hard through his performance was poor.

iii. The lady, who works in the hospitals, is my sister.

c) Compound Sentence: This sentence consists of two or more main clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction or a coordinator. Eg.

i. She went to the market but Bala went to the cinema

ii. I blamed her for being late and she explained why she was late.

d) Compound Complex Sentence: This sentence consists of two or move main clauses (to make it compound) and one or more subordinate clauses (to make it complex as well) eg.

i. Bala danced and Musa sank though they had not written their schools assignment

ii. You may do the work yourself or you may ask somebody else to do it for you, but I want the work to be done.

Sentence Patterns

The following are some of the English language patterns and their representations in sentences.

              S                 A

1. The      visitor     arrived

       S            v           o (Direct)

2. He bought   a     car

             S           v     A

3. The man came early 

S       s        c

4. She is a lawyer 

               S     v       o

5. Bala beats his wife often 

              S                v      o        oc

6. They appointed him a captain 

                S                 v           1o       DO

7. My father bought me a car

 Meanwhile it should be noted that those are not the only English language patterns upon which sentences can be built. 

Active and passive voices.

Active voice:- A verb is said to be active when the subject of a sentence performs the action of the verb. In other words, attention is more accorded to the doers of the actions, rather than the action performed. Eg. 

He speaks fluent English 

She is cooking rice 

The man broke glass

I have passed my exams 

Abdul had gained a new job

Writing

Writing is a process that involves thinking, jotting down ideas, refining these ideas, thinking about structures linking ideas and much more. 

There are three rules to be considered as one starts writing. They are planning, drafting and editing.

a) Planning: A good writing should have a purpose and an idea of who the reader is going to be. Planning in writing takes longer time than the actual writing, but that is needed is to have a better piece of writing. Therefore, planning can take all sorts of shapes and forms, from brain storming ideas to jotting down important facts or piece of information to be included in the writing.

b) Drafting: This is the stage whereby ideas, facts| and information are put together in order to come up with a piece that is good enough. In drafting therefore, the writer is expected to write a first version to be filled out and published later for the systematic representation and dimensional specification of mechanical structures.

c) Editing: In this stage, the writer needs to go back and 'prepare the written materials for final publication start by reading through the piece and see if he is satisfied with what he said, improve the vocabularies, correct spelling, mistakes, punctuation, etc. Having to edit a piece of writing is not a sign that the writing is bad; it is rather an indication that the writer is good.

Logical Sequencing of Ideas

Effective and clear writing is one in which facts or ideas are presented logically. Logical sequence of idea in writing refer to the situation in which ideas are written sequentially. This is where ideas are written according to occurrences and the degree of importance.

Paragraphing Structure and Development

Paragraph is a collection of related sentences dealing with a single topic or subject matter. In other words, it could also be defined as an important part of an essay which related words, phrases, clauses and sentences are grammatically joined together in a given write up.

Basically, there are two types of paragraphs:

Indented paragraph: This is the types of paragraph in which the writer leaves a space in the first line as he starts writing. It is typically seen in newspapers and books. 

Block Paragraph: In this type, the space comes between one paragraph and the other. This is normally seen in business letter and on the internet.

Qualities of a Good Paragraph

A good paragraph should have the following qualities 

Unity: Unity in terms of paragraphing development, refers to the situation in which a given paragraph talks about only one main idea. This main idea is stated in a complete sentence called “topic sentence" which could be found in the beginning, middle or final position of a. paragraph.

Completeness: For a paragraph to be successful and effective, the thought expressed in sentences should be complete and ideas developed to logical conclusion.

Vocabulary Development

Vocabulary refers to the total sum of words that make up a language. In other words, it is the total number of words acquired or learn by a particular individual.

Denotation

This is the literal or primary meaning of a word in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests. In other words, it refers to the direct or dictionary meaning of words or expressions. Denotatively, these words have the following meanings:

a. White: colour

b. Red: colour

C. Lion: A wild animal living in the bush

d. Rat: A long tailed animal

Connotation

This is the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning. A word can have only one denotative meaning, but may have as many connotative meanings as possible. Connotatively; the above words may have the following meanings:

a- White: light, freedom, happiness, success etc

b- Red: blood, danger, revolution etc

C- Lion: strong or brave person

d- Rat: somebody who breaks promise or a thief

Idiomatic Expression

Idioms are group of words whose meaning is different from the meaning of the individual words. In other words, it is an expression in which its meaning does not, always relate to the meaning of the individual words that make up the expression.

Examples of some Idiomatic Expression

S/N IDOMS MEANING

1. Off the record Unofficial

2. To be in red To be in debt

3. At logger heads To disagree with one another

4. A case in point An example

5. To kick the bucket To die

6. To kiss the duster To surrender

7. To take French leave To go without permission

8. Out of touch with No longer familiar with

9. To hit the nail on the head To go straight to the point

10. To let the cat ant of the bag To tell what should be kept secret

Figure of Speech

These are expressions which carry the picture of something to the people. In other words; it is the use of language in a stylistic manner in which the statement or the idea expressed does not make sense on the surface level.

The commonly used figures of speech in English include the following:

a- Simile: This is a direct comparison between two objects which are not generally alike. Simile expressions are introduced by the use "like" or as!!

Examples:

i. Bala works like an engine

ii. He is as strong as a lion

ii. The boy speaks like a parrot

b- Metaphor: This is a direct comparison between two things without the use of like or as e.g:

i. Abdul was a lion in the field

ii. The boy is a parrot

iii. She has a heart of stone

c- Personification: This is the type of figure of speech in which human qualities are given to non-human e.g:

i. The sun simile on the earth

ii. The leaves clap their hands

iii. Hunger sat shivering on the road.

d- Onomatopoeia: This figure of speech is used when the situations or expressions can be understood from their sound e.g:

i The dog barks (bow-bow)

i. The bray of a donkey

iii. The splash of water

iv. The trumpeting of an elephant

Register: These are words, expressions or terminologies that are regularly or peculiarly used in various human activities. Every profession ranging from education, family, law and lots more have specialized lexical items which are peculiar to them.

Examples:

Religion Foundation Education

1. Worship 1. Foundation 1. Schools

2. Prayer 2. Block 2. Learning

3. Fasting 3. Brick layer 3. Punishment

4. Faith 4. Scaffold 4. Syllabus

5. Paradise 5. Comment 5. Examination

Note: Teachers should give further examples based on the study area of their various students' combinations.

Speech

Speech is the vocalized form of human communication which is based upon the syntactic combination of lexical items. Spoken language unlike written one, usually occurs in face-to-face situation between the speaker and the listener.

Narrative Speech: This is the types of speech in which the speaker is expected to tell a story on an event that took place in the past. The story to be narrated may, be true life, imaginary or combination of both.

Descriptive Speech: In this speech types, the speaker creates picture in the mind of his listener as he describes an object, an event or even â person. The dominant tense used in this situation is simple present tense and the frequent use of adjective al words.

Argumentative Speech: This is the types of speech whereby a speaker discusses a view point about a particular topic. Argumentative speech appears in form of debate in which an individual is to take on either side for or against a particular motion. The primary aim of this speech type in to convince your listener.

Conversational Speech: This is the types that are related to, or similar to casual and informal talk. It is an exchange of thoughts and feelings by means of speech or sign language.

Dialogue

This is a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play or film. Dialogue takes part in a discussion to resolve a problem. In other words, dialogue is the exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue which involves more than one person.

Reported Speech.

This is otherwise known as indirect speech where a speaker's words are reported in subordinate clauses governed by a reporting verb with the required changes of person and tense. In other words, reported speech refers to the words of a speaker as reported by someone else.

Some rules guiding reported speech:

a- The quotation marks are no longer useful

b- The main verb changes, present to past, past to perfect and future tense becomes future in the past.

Examples

Direct: He said, "I am happy"

Reported: He said that he was happy

Direct: *I will travel tomorrow" said Bala.

Reported: Bala said that he would travel the following day.

Inferences: Is the act or process of deriving logical conclusion from premises known or assumed to be true. In other words, it is a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.