COMPETENT LANGUAGE USAGE ESSENTIALS

C.L.U.E

Muhammed shuhaib cv S1 mcom

GUIDELINES SENTENCE STRUCTURE Express ideas in complete sentences .a subject, a verb, make sense Avoid run-on sentences

eg: Robin visited resorts of the rich and famous, and he also dropped in on luxury spas

Avoid comma splice sentence use comma and words like consequently,

further more, however, therefore, then

…..

VERB TENSE Use present tense, past tense and past

participle verb forms correctly Use the subjective mood to express

hypothetical ideas VERB VOICE .active voice: subject performs the action .passive voice: subject recieves the action

VERB AGREEMENT Make subjects agree with verbs despite

intervening phrases and clauses eg: our study of annual budget, five

year plans and sales proposels is progressing on schedule.

Subjects joined by ‘and ‘ require plural verb

eg: the CEO and his assistance have ordered a limo

Subjects joined by or, nor may require singular or plural verbs

Use singular verbs for most indefinite pronoun

eg: every one in both offices was given a bonus

Use singular or plural verbs for collective nouns, depending on whether the members of the group are operating as a unit or individually

eg: the planning committee are having difficulty agreeing

PRONOUN CASE Learn the three cases of pronouns and

how each is used - I, me, my/mine . We, us, our/ours Use nominative case pronouns as subjects

of verb and as complement eg: we think that she and he will win

the race Use objective case pronouns as objects of

proposition and verbs eg: The HOD appointed him to the

position Use possessive case pronouns to show

ownership eg: all reports except yours have to

be re written

Use self ending pronouns only when they refer to previously mentioned nouns or pronouns

eg: send the package to me Use who or whoever for nominative case

constructions and whom or whomever for objective case construction

eg: for whom was the software ordered

PRONOUN REFERENCE Make pronoun agree in number and

gender with the words to which they refer eg: each of the female nurses was

escorted to her car Be sure that pronouns such as it, which,

this and that refer to clear antecedents eg: our office recycles as much

paper as possible because such efforts helps the environment

ADJECTIVE AND ADVERBS

Use adverb, not adjectives, to describe or limit the action of verbs

eg: after its tune up the engine is running smoothly

Hyphenate two or more adjectives that are joined to create a compound modifier before a noun

eg: a well designed keyboard is part of their state-of-the -art equipment

PUNCTUATIONUse commas to separate three or more items

(word , phrase or short clauses) in a series eg: downward communication delivers

job instruction, procedures, and appraisals use commas to separate introductory clauses

and certain phrases form from independent clauses

eg: if you recognize introductory clauses, you will have no trouble placing the comma

Use comma before the cordinating conjunction in a compound sentence

eg: southern california is the financial fraud capital of the world, but some in visitors refuse to heed warning signs

Use commas appropriate in dates , address , geographical name , degrees and long numbers

eg: September 30,1963Use commas to set off internal sentence

interrupters

eg: Harvard researchers, working

steadily for 18 months, developed a new cancer therapy

Avoid unnecessary commas eg: all students with high grades,

are eligible for the honor society

SEMICOLONS,COLONS

Use a semicolon to join closely related independent clauses

eg: learning history is easy; learning lessons is almost impossible

Use a semicolon to separate items in a series contains internal commas

eg: representatives from as far away as Blue Bell, Pennsylvania; New York, Arizona, attended the conference

Use a colon after a complete thought that introduces a list of items

eg: the following places are on the tour: Wayanad, Kannur, and thiruvananthapuram

Use a colon after business letter salutations and to introduce long quotations

eg: Dear mr.Duran

APOSTROPHE Add an apostrophe plus s to an ownership word

that does not end in an s sound eg: the company’s assets rose in value Add only an apostrophe to an ownership word that

ends in an s sound-unless an extra syllable can be pronounced easily

eg: some workers’ benefits will cost more Use s to make a noun possessive when it precedes

a gerund, a verb form used as a noun eg: we all protested Laura’s smoking Use a period to end a statement, command,

indirect questions, or polite request eg: send the completed report to me by June

Use a question mark after a direct question and after statements with questions appended

eg: most of their training is in house, isn’t it?

Use a dash to (a)set off parenthetical elements containing internal commas, (b)emphasize a sentence interruption, or(c) separate an introductory list from a summarizing statement

eg: three top students-gene English, Donna Hersh, and Mika Sato-won awards

Use parentheses to set off non essential sentence elements, such as explanations, directions, questions, or references

eg: February 15 and march 1 Use quotation marks to(a) enclose the exact words

of a speaker or writer;(b) distinguish words used in a special sense, such as slang; or(c) enclose titles of articles, chapters, or other short works

eg: if you make your job improvement, said the consultant, “it’s quite likely to return the favor”

CAPITALIZATION Capitalize proper nouns and proper

adjectives Capitalize only specific academic courses and

degrees eg: professor Mangrum, PhD, will

teach accounting 121 next spring Capitalize courtesy, professional, religious,

government, family, and business titles when they precede names

eg: Mr. James Capitalize the principal words in the titles of

books, magazines, newspaper, articles, movies, plays, songs, poems, and reports

eg: I enjoyed the book a customer is more than the value

Capitalize south, north, east, west, and their derivatives only when they represent specific geographical regions

eg: living in the East Capitalize the names of departments, or

committees with in your own organization Capitalize product names only when they refer

to trade marked items. Don’t capitalize the common names following manufacturers names

eg: Coca-Cola Capitalize most nouns followed by numbers or

letters (except in page, paragraph, line, and verse references)

eg: Room 14

NUMBER USAGEUse word form to express (a)number ten and

under and(b)number beginning sentencesUse words to express general references to

ages, small fractions, and periods of time eg: when she reached twenty-one, she

received one half of the estateUse figures to express most references to

number 11 and over eg: over 150 people from 53 companies

attended the two day workshopUse figures to express money, dates, clock

time, decimals, and percents. Use a combination of words and figures to express sums of 1million and over

REFERENCE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION -MARY ELLEN GUFFEYENGLISH AT YOUR FINGER TIPS -FR.THOMAS KUTTIKATUKUNNELWWW.WIKIPEDIA .COM

THANKS

QUESTIONS