Communication in English for Postgraduate Studies – Prof. Dr. Christian Anieke
The course aims at helping Postgraduate students to discover their weak areas in English grammar, writing, reading and speaking. It also aims at assisting students to improve their knowledge of English grammar as well as their writing, reading and writing skills. There is no doubt that a good knowledge of English grammar and good writing will be of immense benefits to students in the course of their studies, especially in the writing of their projects, journal articles and theses.
The course has three sections:
- Grammar and Writing. This section aims at identifying weak areas of English grammar by administering a placement test. It will offer grammar lessons aimed at improving the identified areas of weakness. It will also introduce students to the elevated style of writing and the formal language of thesis or project writing.
- Speaking and Listening. The target of this section is to develop oral skills, especially the standard RP pronunciation, with a view to improving student academic presentations.
- Reading and Vocabulary. This last section aims at improving the reading skills of students, especially the reading and comprehension of difficult texts. It will also help students to improve their vocabulary, which is necessary in understanding and summarizing difficult texts.
Exercises: Grammar tests Reading comprehension passagesPronunciation exercises
Section A Grammar and Writing *Basic building blocks of grammar: parts of speech *Tenses in English and tense consistency in writing *Word-for-word translation and the interference of mother- tongue *Concord errors
CONCORD AND COMMON ERRORS ( by Prof. Christian Anieke)
The Oxford English Dictionary defines concord as “(of things): to agree, be in harmony, harmonize”. In other words, concord is about agreement or harmony of the units of a sentence. The units of a sentence refer to the words or group of words that make up the sentence. A sentence is like a chain linked by various units. If a unit of the chain breaks, it ceases to be intact as one chain. This of course affects whatever the chain is holding. Let us look at the following sentences:1. Nkechi is my friend. He is not here now.2. Christiana has reached his destination.3. We are talking about the items on the table. It is of no use.4. This mangoes taste very good.5. These girl snobs everybody.6. Please turn and look at that boys. 7. The family is happy about their new house.8. The boys is my friend. 9. Peter are a stupid boy.10. The meat sold in our markets are very bad. A close look at the sentences will reveal that each of them sings a discordant tune. We can put the disharmony in the sentences in three categories:1-3: Noun-pronoun concord 4-6: Determiner-noun concord 7-10: Subject-verb concord Noun-Pronoun Concord
Since a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun, it must agree with its noun. If the noun is masculine, then a masculine pronoun must be used to refer to it. This means that a feminine noun will require a feminine pronoun. In the first sentence, for instance, ‘she’ should have been the pronoun ( not ‘he’) since Nkechi is a female name. In the second example, ‘her’ ( a pronoun used as an adjective) should have been used for Christiana, a female name. Finally, ‘It’, used in the second sentence of number three, is dangling. What noun does it refer to? If it is ‘items’, then it is not the right pronoun. A plural noun requires a plural pronoun. So the correct word is ‘they’. The sentence should read: They are of no use. Note: There are cases where animals and inanimate objects take personal pronouns like ‘he’ or ‘she’. Some animals also take names of human beings. A ship may be referred to as ‘she’. The same goes for a country. However, the use of ‘she’ to refer to a country, city, town or an institution is no longer grammatically fashionable. Determiner-noun concord
A determiner must agree with its noun in gender and in number. A singular noun requires a singular determiner. A plural noun needs a plural determiner. Use this rule to discover the errors in numbers 4-6. What is wrong with these determiners: this, these and that? See also errors in these sentences: I don’t have much friends. My friends are not much. Subject-verb concord What is subject? “The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something.” ( grammar.ccc.commnet.edu). An easy way to find the subject is to find the verb and ask: who/ what is doing this? For example:The point is that Okeke has hurt the girl several times.If we take the verb ‘has hurt’, for instance, we can ask: Who has hurt the girl several times? The answer is: Okeke. So Okeke is the subject of the verb. Also ask who/what is being this or that or simply ‘who is being’? In the same sentence what ‘is being’ expressed by ‘is’? The answer is ‘point. So if you are able to answer who/what is doing or being this or that, you have the subject. Let us look at the rules of subject-verb concord:1. A singular subject takes a singular verb:The boy is my friend.John speaks good English.Note: a verb in the present tense indicates its singularity by adding an (inflection) ‘s’ to its base. The verb ‘speak’ takes an ‘s’ to become a singular verb. A verb is not a noun. If a noun adds an ‘s’ ( in many cases), it becomes a plural noun. 2. A plural subject requires a plural verb:The boys are my friends.John and Mary are hardworking.Girls speak better English than boys.Note: a plural verb is the normal form of the verb (the base) without an ‘s’. If there is an auxiliary verb and a main verb, it is the auxiliary verb that carries the singular marker of the verb. For example: He does not speak English. In this case, the auxiliary verb ‘does’ takes the singular marker ‘s’ and the main verb ‘speak’ does not need to add an ‘s’. Both the auxiliary verb and the main verb are treated as a unit of meaning.Also note that you and I, even though they are singular personal pronouns, take verbs without an ‘s’. They take plural (or the base form of) verbs: you are; you speak; I am; I speak; I like. This explains why you cannot say this: I does not understand it. If we follow the rule of ‘ a singular subject takes a singular verb’, this will be correct. But ‘you’ and ‘I’ are exceptions. ‘I’even takes a special type of verb ‘am’. 3. The verb agrees with the headword in the subject phrase:The message between the lines is/ are that we have to be careful in our expenditure this year.If we ask what is being ( subject), we see it is ‘The message between the lines’. Determining the singularity or plurality of the verb may be difficult because of two nouns in the subject phrase: message and lines. In a case like this, look for the headword. It is the message (not the lines) that is the point here. So ‘is’ is the correct verb.Look at this sentence: The total cost of the buildings is/ are outrageous. The subject phrase ‘The total cost of the buildings’ has two nouns ‘cost’ and ‘buildings’, which one should the verb agree with? Ask yourself this: what is the point? What is being talked about- the buildings or the cost? Once this is clear, choose the verb that agrees with the noun. In this case, it is the cost that is the point. So the correct sentence is: The cost of the buildings is outrageous. Find out the headword in the following sentences: 1. The whole argument presented by his opponents point/ points to his carelessness with public funds and lack of respect for rules of democracy. 2. The supply of water to all surrounding villages is/ are a big problem. 3. The sentiment in our offices is/are that the authorities do not care about the workers. Also identify the errors in these sentences: (a) Depopulation due to plague and migration in the fifth and sixth centuries appear to be responsible for the demise of the lowland British kingdoms. (b) You are, no doubt, aware of the Smith &Jones cases, in which an age limit of 27 years and of 35 years ( 37 years for clinical staff) were found to be indirectly discriminatory against women, in the civil service and UGC New Blood Scheme, respectively. 4. In ‘referential’ or existential words like ‘what’ or ‘there’, the verb agrees with the noun referred to: There is a boy here. There are boys here. ‘There’ in the first sentence refers to ‘boy’, which is singular, and this explains the use of the singular verb ‘is’. In the second sentence ‘there’ refers to ‘boys’, hence the use of a plural verb ‘are’. (In informal speech the existential ‘there’ can take a a singular verb when the noun is plural: There’s books here.) Other examples: What are these things? What is this thing? In the first ‘what’ refers to ‘things’ and in the second sentence it refers to ‘thing’, hence the use of ‘are and ‘is’ respectively. 5. Two subjects connected by either/ or, neither/ nor: Either John or Ngozi knows the answer. Neither John nor Ngozi knows. Either John or his friends are reposible for the theft. Neither John nor his friends are responsible for the theft. Either his friends or John is responsible for the theft. Neither his friends nor John is responsible for the theft. The rule is that in the constructions involving ‘either/ or’, neither/nor if both nouns are singular, the verb is singular. But if one of the nouns or pronouns is plural, the verb agrees with the noun that is closest to it. You can see it in the sentences containing John and his friends. However, some grammarians argue that the verb should be plural if one of the nouns is plural (Sydney Greenbaum, The Oxford English Grammar, 1996, p.240)6. The pronoun ‘none’: ‘The pronoun none is treated as either singular or plural’ (Greebaum, 240). None of the locals know its true name. None of us knows his name. 7. Indefinite pronouns such as everyone, everybody, everything or each take a singular verb. Note: There is no concord mistake when you write: Everyone has be shown their position. The use of ‘their’ is preferable to ‘he or she’, especially when it has to be repeated. Do not make ‘everyone’ a masculine word by using ‘he’ to refer to it. Use rather a less offensive word ‘their’ or its equivalent. The same goes for all indefinite pronouns referring to human beings. 8. ‘All’ can take either a singular or plural verb, depending on whether it refers to a singular or plural noun. All that glitters is not gold. ‘(all’ in the sense of everything). All of them are here. 9. Use a singular verb if a noun is qualified by the adjective ‘every’, even if the noun is a compound noun:Every student has returned.Every girl and boy knows the correct answer. 10. If a compound subject expresses a single concept, the verb is singular:Rice and stew is my favourite food.Garri and onugbu soup is delicious.Two plus two equals four. Four times two is eight.The vice chancellor and director of Godfrey Okoye University Group of Institutions is Professor Anieke. (Note that the use of the determiner ‘the’ before ‘vice chancellor’ and ‘director’ will mean that you are talking about two persons. For example: The vice chancellor and the director of… Here you are talking about two persons and need a plural verb.11. Titles of books, even if they are plural, take a singular verb: Great Expectations is a great novel. 12. If a singular noun has a plural ending (measles, headquarters, aerobics, mathematics ), the noun must remain singular and must take a singular verb.13. Nouns referring to units of measurement take a singular verb: Twenty dollars is a good price for the shoes. Twenty kilometers is not a short distance. Thirty minutes is all need to prepare for the meeting. 14. Some words like police, belongings, goods, clothes, scissors, trousers, eye-glasses and Pyjamas use only a plural verb. For example: The police have done their work well. These trousers are too small for you. 15. Collective nouns and concord. Collective nouns denote a group of persons or things (Greenbaum, 240). There are hundreds of collective nouns in English and new ones come into existence as language grows and new ideas sprout. What is important is that a collective noun must be the name of a group of persons or things: family, team, pack, college (of cardinals), company, public, mass, board, staff, galaxy, congregation, colony (of ants), herd (of cows), fleet ( of ship), pride (of lions), flock, organization, class, audience, etc. A collective noun can take either a singular or plural verb. A singular verb will indicate that the group is treated as a unit whereas a plural verb will refer to members of the group. For example it is correct to say ‘The Nigerian team are very good’ or ‘The Nigerian team is very good’. But the temptation is inconsistency in usage. For example: The Nigerian team are very good and is adored by every Nigerian. Notice that this user has moved from the treatment of the collective noun as plural (are) to referring to it as singular ( with ‘is’). This is totally unacceptable in British English. Sometimes users may drop the word ‘team’ and use the country to refer to team. In this case the word behaves like a collective noun: Nigeria (meaning the Nigerian team) are good. 16. Some non-collective nouns take singular or plural verbs: minutes (of meeting), fish, sheep, aircraft. For example: The fish is beautiful. The fish are many and swim very fast. 17. Do not confuse ‘a number’ with ‘the number’. ‘A number’ means ‘many’ and takes a plural verb whereas ‘the number’ expresses a single unit and takes a singular verb. A number of boys are here. The number of the boys is high. Note: As Sidney Greenbaum points out, modal auxiliaries do not have the -s form. This means that the agreement rule does not apply to all modal auxiliaries (can, could,will, would, may, might, must, ought, shall and should). Also non-finite verbs ( especially participles and infinitives) do not have the -s form and do not follow the rules of concord. A non-finite verb is not limited in number by a noun. Note: Gerunds, because of their nominal functions, can take the -s form as a plural marker.
Section B.Speaking and ListeningLearning the art of public speaking and presentations Texts: “I have a Dream” by Martin Luther King and other great speeches. Presentations in seminars, conferences and thesis defence.
Section C Reading and Vocabulary Phonetic symbols and exercises on pronunciation with YouTube demonstrations Reading comprehension for summarizing Recommended Texts-The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary-A University Grammar of English by Rudolf Quirk and Sydney Greenbaum-Oxford English Grammar by Sydney Greenbaum-Great Speeches (Ed. Edward Humphreys)-Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe-Hard Times by Charles Dickens
