Technical communication noun pronoun phonemes

Technical communication

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1.0 PRONUNCIATION
What is Phonetics?
? It is the study of human speech sounds which are used in language to convey meaning.
? It deals with how sounds are created and how those sounds change in different
environment.
Fields of phonetics:
There are three sub fields of phonetics
? Articulatory phonetics
? Acoustic phonetics
? Auditory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics: The study of the production of speech sounds by the articulatory and
vocal tract by the speaker
Acoustic phonetics: The study of the physical transmission of speech sounds from the speaker
to the listener.
Auditory phonetics: The study of the reception and perception of speech sounds by the listener.
Phonemes:
? A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in speech that can differentiate a meaning. For
example – the word ‘hat’ has 3 phonemes – ‘h’ ‘a’ and ‘t’.
? There are 44 phonemes .Because ‘c’ can make two sounds .For example we have ‘c’ as in
cat and ‘c’ as in city.
Grapheme:
? A grapheme is a letter or a number of letters that represent the sounds in our speech.
? It is the smallest unit of written language that can differentiate meaning.There is always
same number of graphemes in a word as phonemes. The 26 letters of the alphabet is called
as Graphemes. For example:
1 letter grapheme – m a t (m)
2 letter grapheme – sh i p (sh)


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3 letter grapheme – n igh t (igh)
4 letter grapheme – eigh t (eigh)
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):
? It is a system for representing each phonetic with a symbol and we use these symbols to
transcribe the correct pronunciation of a word.
? In the English language, there are 44 phonetic symbols and its made up of vowels (short
and long), diphthongs and consonant sound.
? phoneme symbols are enclosed within slant brackets //.
Phonemic chart:

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2.0 TYPES OF NOUNS AND PRONOUNS
What is Noun?
? A Noun is a word that represent person, places, things,
activities, emotions, and ideas
Example: Women, pen, pencil, hotel, Tajmahal.
Types of Nouns:
There are four kinds of nouns which are commonly used.
They are
? Proper Noun
? Common Noun
? Collective Noun
? Abstract Noun
Proper Noun:
? Proper Noun is the name of a particular person or place.
? Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.
Examples: Hema, Rajesh, Delhi, Kanpur.
Common Noun:
? Common Noun is a name given in common to every person or thing of the group.
? Common nouns begin with a capital letter only if it is the first word of the sentence.
Examples: Girl, Boy, City.
Collective Noun:
? Collective Nouns are those nouns that denote a group of people, animals, objects, concepts
or ideas as a single entity.
Examples: Army of Soldiers, Class of Students, Crew of Sailors, Band of Musicians.




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Abstract Nouns:
? Abstract Noun is the name of a quality, action or state. You cannot see, hear, smell or taste
an abstract noun.
Examples: Kindness, Loyalty, Childhood,
Sickness, Laughter.
Exercises:
Underline the Proper Nouns
? John went to the town.
? Robert is a fine little boy.
? California is a beautiful place.
? I live in Paris.
? Jack loves his Cat.
Underline the Common Nouns
? We saw many animals.
? These flowers are beautiful.
? That man is eating.
? This is a pen.
? Are you a good boy?
Underline the Collective Nouns
? The committee will meet again on Sunday.
? Our family will stay in Chennai.
? Our team will win this time.
? We got a bunch of red roses.
? The whole gang was caught yesterday.
Underline the Abstract Nouns
? One must always tell the truth.
? May her soul rest in peace.
? Never tell a lie.
? She took your advice seriously.
? He was very happy when he got the first rank.
What is a Pronoun?
? A Pronoun is a word which is used instead of a noun.
Example:
1. Marie went for a walk.
2. She went for a walk.
In the second sentence, she is a pronoun that takes the place of the
noun Marie.

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Types of Pronouns:
There are six kinds of Pronouns which are commonly used:
? Personal Pronouns - refers to persons, he, she
? Reflexive pronouns - refers back to the subject
? Indefinite pronouns - unsure, some, few
? Demonstrative pronouns -points to with gesture
? Interrogative pronouns - question words, who
? Possessive pronouns - show ownership.
Personal Pronouns:
? Personal pronouns refer to specific persons or things.
Example:
1. Ram ate pizza. He was hungry.
The word “he" is a personal pronoun that refers to “Ram."






Reflexive Pronouns:
? Reflexive pronouns are personal pronouns that have "-self" or "-
selves” added to the end.
Example:
1. Bob finished the homework himself.
The reflexive pronoun is “himself."

Indefinite Pronouns:
? Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that do not refer to a specific person or thing.
? The pronouns which refer to persons or things in a general way but do not refer to persons
or things in particular.
Example: Someone, anybody, and, everyone are indefinite pronouns
1. Someone stole my Purse.
The word "someone" is the indefinite Pronoun.
Examples:
? anybody anyone
? anything everybody
? everyone everything
? nobody none
? no one nothing



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? somebody someone
? something several
? all another
? any both
? each
? few
? many
? neither
? some
? Either
? One
Demonstrative Pronouns:
? A demonstrative pronoun is used to single out one or more nouns referred to in the
sentence.
? The pronouns which point out the objects.
Example:
This, that, these, and those.
1. These lemons are sour.
The word "these" is a demonstrative pronoun

Examples:
? This is ridiculous. (This refers to an object or event close to the speaker.)
? That is ridiculous. (That refers to an object or event farther away in space or time.)
? These are ridiculous. (These refer to objects close to the speaker.)
? Those are ridiculous. (Those refer to objects farther away in space and time.)
1. I’ll buy these roses.
2. Those belong to Sita.
3. I own those cars.
4. These are nicer than those.
5. Is this yours?
6. Did you see that?
7. That is one way to do it.
8. Is that right?
9. That is incorrect.
Interrogative Pronouns:
? Interrogative pronouns are used to ask a question.
Example: Who, whom, and which
1. Which shoes are mine?
The word "which" is an interrogative pronoun.

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? What
? Which
? Who
? Whom
? Whose
? Whatever
? Whichever
? Whoever
? Whomever
? Whosever
Possessive Pronouns:
? Possessive pronouns are used to show ownership, but they never have an apostrophe.
Example:
Ours, his, their, and her are possessive pronouns
1. Those are his pencils?
The word "his" is a possessive pronoun
Exercises:
Underline the Personal Pronouns
? I have closed the door.
? You are late.
? We are going to watch the movies.
? I am going to read the book.
? We don’t play the piano well.
Underline the Reflexive Pronouns
? Alice accidentally cut herself.
? Brandon blames himself.
? They cannot help themselves.
? Carol poured herself a glass of milk.
? The young girl was singing happily to herself.
Underline the Indefinite Pronouns
? Does anybody have the time?
? All are welcome to our house for thanksgiving.
? Michael passed his card to another.
? Anyone can see what’s going on here.
? Many missed the bus.
Underline the Demonstrative Pronouns
? I really like this.
? This smells heavenly.
? That costs too much money.



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? I heard that.
? These look perfect.
Underline the Interrogative Pronouns
? What are you talking about?
? Who is the villain here?
? Which color did you choose for your bedroom wall?
? Whose camera is this?
? Once you learn to speak French, whom are you going to talk to?
Underline the Possessive Pronouns
? The money is as good as ours.
? Is this coat yours?
? Mine is the coat with the fur collar.
? This gift is hers.
? His is the package with the big red bow.
Underline the pronouns in the sentences below. Some sentences have more than one pronoun.
? She went to the store with Angela.
? Six of us had to squeeze in the tiny car.
? Every Thursday, Kenny goes to Wal-Mart with them.
? At the store, the cashier gave her some change.
? When the sun comes up, he leaves for work.
? I enjoyed seeing them on the playground.
? Have you hung the painting on the wall?
? If I eat all of these vegetables, mother will let me watch television.
? We played with the puppy, then fed her a biscuit.
? Have you seen the sandcastle we built?
? I bounced the ball and Jack ran after it.

3.0 TENSES

Types of Tenses:
? Past tense - I sang a song yesterday.
? Present tense - I sing a song.
? Future tense - I shall sing a song.
Past Tense:
There are four types:
? Simple past
? Past Continuous
? Past Perfect
? Past Perfect Continuous