Fluency, only through idea units

You want to achieve a high level of fluency in spoken English. And this is only possible if you’re aware of certain
fundamental things. So let’s start off with them.

‘Speech’ comes first, and ‘writing’, only next.

You know, the first thing you should understand about a language is this: A language has two sides, like a coin.
Yes, two sides. A ‘spoken’ side and a ‘written’ side.

Listen. Doesn’t a child learn to speak long before it sees writing? Hadn’t people been speaking, long before
writing came? So isn’t one thing clear — that the ‘spoken’ stage of a language comes before the ‘written’ stage?
Isn’t this also clear — that ‘speech’ and ‘writing’ are different things, and aren’t to be looked at or learnt in the
same way?

This is true about any language. It’s true about English, too.

Don’t you get one thing now? Don’t you see why most non-native speakers of English find it hard to speak fluent
English?

Non-native speakers learn English the ‘wrong’ way.

By ‘non-native speakers of English’, I mean people for whom English is not their first language or mother-
tongue, but a second language — or just a foreign language. You see, for people in India, English is a foreign
language — but it’s also a second language. For people in several other countries, English is simply a foreign
language, and not even a second language.

Most non-native speakers of English find it hard to speak English fluently, because they can’t learn English the
way they learn their first language. You see, they’re born and brought up in a country where English is not
spoken as the first language. And so they can only learn English in the wrong way: In a way that is just the
reverse of the natural process of language acquisition. Haven’t we seen just now what the natural way is?
Haven’t we seen that the natural way is to learn to speak first, and then only to learn to write? But most non-
native speakers of English don’t have the opportunity of learning English in that way.

So you see, as a non-native speaker of English, you’ve been learning English in the ‘non-natural’ way — in a
way that’s opposite to the natural way of language acquisition. You’ve been learning to write English first, rather
than to speak it. That’s what you’ve been doing at school and college. You’ve been learning to produce written
English. And the methods you had to follow never fully made you understand this: The ‘spoken’ style is quite
different from the ‘written’ style.

You see, the spoken word is the basis for the written word, and not the other way round. And so spoken English
is more fundamental than written English. But the non-natural way in which you had to learn English planted the
wrong notion in your mind: A wrong notion that things are the other way round — that written English is more
fundamental than spoken English.

So the result is this: You’re now steeped in written English. And your written English orientation has been
preventing you all along from understanding one thing. It has been preventing you from understanding that
spontaneous speech has to be composed differently — that is, in a way quite different from the way writing is
produced. Result? You always try to speak the way you write. And you do this by trying hard to follow principles
of grammar and usage as applied to writing, and not as applied to speech itself.

Is there any wonder fluency has eluded you so far?

So I want you to understand one thing here and now: When they speak spontaneously, fluent speakers apply
principles of grammar and usage in a way that is different from the way they apply those principles when they
write. And the spoken style has a number of devices and conventions of its own, and these devices and
conventions are not derived from the written style.
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Learning words alone won’t help

Now just think about this: Suppose you learn a number of English words very well — say, a nice big stock of
them. Then, will you be able to speak English fluently? I’m sure you know the answer. The answer is, you won’t.
You won’t be able to speak English fluently just because you’ve mastered all the common words there are. If this
hadn’t been so, would speaking have been a problem? In fact, you may yourself have an excellent vocabulary.
Why, even a student who has completed high school knows all the common words we use in everyday spoken
English! But, is every student who completes high school able to speak fluent English? The truth is, even most
post-graduates aren’t able to speak English fluently — even though they know all the English words commonly
used in speech! Why is this so? Here’s a chief reason: People who aren’t fluent try to speak in ‘words’, by trying
to put individual words together. They’re not aware that this is not the right way of speaking English. The right
way to speak English is to speak it in “word groups”, by putting word groups together — and to use individual
words only when an individual word can do the work of a word group. This is because the real units of speech
are ‘ideas’ (or ‘information’). And ideas normally get expressed in groups of words, rather than in individual
words.

Bite-sized pieces of ideas

So the point you should understand is this: Natural speech comes out in units or very short pieces of ideas. And
most often, these units of ideas are said and heard in groups of words. Sometimes they’re said and heard in
individual words, too.

Let’s take a look at a few spoken texts, so that you can get a clear idea of all this. Here we go:

• He unlocked the front door + and we went in + and he said + I’ll be back in a minute + and he went upstairs +
so I remained in the hall + and then the phone started ringing + and he shouted to me to answer it + and I
picked up the receiver + and I said ‘hello’ + but the person at the other end suddenly hung up + so I replaced the
receiver.

• He passed the exam + with a very high score + and he was thrilled + very pleased + and happy + and he
treated us to ice-cream + the very next day.

• They were close friends + and they had similar opinions + and similar ideas + attitudes + and they’ve worked
together + on several projects.

• She gave him something to eat + something soft and thick + sticky + a toffee-like thing.

• It’s a bit heavy + and so you can’t move it easily + from place to place + but it doesn’t take up much space + so
you can put it in your bedroom + or in the hall.

• Actually + I don’t like that idea + though I can’t say anything against it + because I can’t give any reasons +
and I don’t know why I have this feeling + but something in me tells me + that this idea may not work + and it
may even achieve the opposite result + from the one we want to achieve + and that is not going to be a good
thing.

Go through these five examples. Three of them contain one one-word idea unit each. Did you spot them the first
time you went through the examples. If you didn’t, why don’t you try and spot them now?

How does natural speech come out?

When a child wants something, what does it say? It says: “Give it to me”. Do you think the child first learns the
words ‘Give’, ‘it’, ‘to’, and ‘me’ separately, and, then connects them together? When a child doesn’t want a thing,
it says: “I don’t want it”. When a child gets tired of walking, and wants to be carried, it says: “Pick me up”. Do you
think the child first learns the words ‘I’, ‘don’t’, ‘want’, ‘it’, ‘pick’, ‘me’, and ‘up’ separately, and, then, connects
them also together?

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For the child, “Give it to me” is the same as a single word ‘givitumee’, and not four separate words. “I don’t want
it” is the same as a single word ‘Aidonwantit’, and not four separate words. “Pick me up” is the same thing as a
single word ‘Pickmeeyup’, and not three separate words. The child says each of these word groups as a single
utterance without any gap between any two words. It doesn’t make separate utterances for each of the words in
a word group. The child says each word group as a single unit — as though it were a single word.

This is what normally happens when a fluent native speaker of English speaks English. And this is what normally
happens when a fluent native speaker of any other language speaks that language. Think about what happens
in your own mother-tongue. Notice how you yourself speak in your own mother-tongue.

What does natural speech come out in? From what I’ve said so far, don’t you see one thing? Normally, natural
speech doesn’t come out in ‘words’. It comes out in word groups.
Strictly speaking, natural speech comes out neither in single words nor even in word-groups. Actually, it comes
out in units of ideas. Of course, most often, these units of ideas get expressed through multi-word units (= word-
groups) — and sometimes in single words.

Now listen: What was the child doing when it had said “Give it to me”? Wasn’t the child just giving expression to
a unit of “idea” or a “thought” or a piece of “information”? The idea (or thought or information) came up in its
mind, and it just made an utterance — an utterance that the child thought would express that idea (or thought or
information). This was so when it had said “I don’t want it” and “Pick me up”, too.

Actually, this is always so. Children always speak in their mother tongue by uttering idea by idea, and not word
by word. So do adults, and everyone who speaks their mother-tongue fluently. When they speak spontaneously,
do fluent speakers consciously search through their brain for word after word? No, normally, they don’t. Do they
consciously stop to think about how to string the words together? No, normally they don’t. They just say what
they have in mind by using such vocabulary items as occur readily to them — spontaneously and without any
conscious effort. And normally, the stretch of speech that come out happen to be in groups of words.

But how do they get this skill? ...

Speech-generation Technique

Throughout this course, you'll be made to do several drills and exercises. Those drills and exercises have one
and only one aim: To make you fluent in speaking genuine English.

Now, when do you become fluent? You become fluent when you're able to speak with a free flow of English. And
when do you get that flow? You get that flow when you can speak on without your speech getting broken up in
the middle. When will you be able to say that you can speak on without your speech getting broken up? You can
say that, when you're able to keep on "generating" as much "speech" as you want - without much conscious
effort.

Learning by heart is NOT a solution

Now let us stop and think for a bit. We're talking about "generating" (that is, "producing") speech. And that's not
all. We're talking about generating 'as much speech as you want'.

Now how is it possible to generate 'as much' speech as you want? Let me ask you one thing: Is there any limit to
the number of idea units in English? No, of course not. There can be millions and millions of idea units, because
people can speak in millions and millions of different word-combinations. There are so many idea units that are
possible that we can't even count them up. When that is so, is it possible for anyone to learn them all by heart?
Why speak about learning them all by heart! Can we learn even one half or one-fourth or even one-hundredth of
them by heart? No, we can't. Nobody can. Not even people whose first language is English!

Even then, don't we find one thing? Don't we find that fluent people are able to 'generate' idea unit after idea
unit? Haven't you noticed that people are able to produce 'newer' and 'newer' idea units every time they speak?
Just think about your own mother-tongue. Do you utter only the same idea units day after day, in all situations?

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Don't you utter 'newer' and 'newer' idea units from moment to moment - idea units with some change or the
other? Of course, you do. Everybody does!

Generative Feature & Generative Structures

The point I want you to understand is this: The number of idea units in a language is countless, and so nobody
can learn them all by heart. But still, people are able to 'produce' as many idea units as they want. You see,
they're able to do that, not because they've learnt all those idea units by heart. No. There's another reason:
They're able to take advantage of a special feature of their language - the generative feature.

And what is this generative feature? Every language has its own way of making up idea units. That is, it has its
own 'structures'. Some of those structures are fundamental. They are fundamental, because you can't do
without them. You can’t do without them, because of this reason: If you master those structures, you'll be able to
generate as many idea units as you want, because those structures act as frame-works or skeletons of idea
units.

Normally, there cannot be any idea units that do not fit into these frame-works. So suppose that you've mastered
the frame-works of idea units. Then half the work in making up idea units is over. Why? All you need to do then
is to fill up the frame-works with ready-to-use vocabulary items and other words and word groups that can
express your ideas. This is not difficult, either, because the type of the frame-work will tell you what kinds of
words to use. Each time you fill up a frame-work, you get an idea unit.

So the fundamental structures in a language have the capacity to generate or give birth to any number of idea
units. Let’s call these structures "Generative Structures" (GSs).

How does the Generative Feature work?

If you master a limited number of GSs in a language, you'll be able to generate an unlimited amount of speech
in that language. This is what we call the generative feature of a language.

Let me now show you how the generative feature works in practice. Take a very common type of idea unit as an
example:

He is a science teacher.

From this idea unit, we can generate a number of other idea units as follows:

• She is a science teacher. Gopal is a science teacher. My brother is a science teacher. That lady near the door
is a science teacher. Both of them are science teachers.

• He is a history teacher. He is a teacher. He is a genius. He is a clever boy. He is the person I told you about.
He is an expert at doing these things.

• He isn't a science teacher. He was a science teacher. He wasn't a science teacher. They aren't science
teachers. He sounds to be a science teacher.

You can multiply your idea units in this way to any number.

Here you can note one thing: All these 16 idea units have the same pattern:

Naming word (group) --> Linking words --> Naming word (group).

An underlying pattern like this is called a "structure".

In the 16 idea unit examples, the Naming word/word groups on the left-hand side are:
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He/She/Gopal/My brother/The lady near the door/Both of them/They.

The Linking words in the middle are:

is/isn’t/are/aren’t/was/wasn’t/sounds to be.

The Naming word/word group on the right-hand side are:

a science teacher/a history teacher/a teacher/a genius/a clever boy/the person I told you about/an expert at
doing these things.

'Generation' through 'substitution'

How do we multiply idea units in this way? We do that by using a new (and appropriate) word or word group in
place of another word or word group. Thus we used 'Gopal' in place of 'He'; 'a clever boy' in place of 'a science
teacher'; 'isn't' in place of ‘is’. This technique of using a new and appropriate word or word group in place of
another word or word group - this technique is called "substitution".

How to become skilled at 'substitution'?

If you want to become skilled at 'substitution', you must know two things:

1) You must know what words/word groups to use in place of others; and
2) You must know how to fit those words/word groups in the GSs.

Core words: Words of the most general utility

If you want to decide what words and word groups to use in place of another, you must have a close, intimate
knowledge of the "core words" in English. Now what do I mean by "a close, intimate knowledge of the core
words"? I mean the following:

• A thorough knowledge of (a) how (b) where and (c) when to use the core words; AND
• The way one core word is related to another.

And what are these core words? You see, there are about 5,00,000 words in the English language. But most of
these are highly technical words and words that are archaic, obsolete or dialectal. You won’t normally meet them
even in print. No.

Take an educated native speaker of English of the level of a college-graduate. Do you know how many words
they would be able to recognize while reading? About 25,000 words. That's all. So their recognition vocabulary
is about 25,000 words.

Out of these, can you say how many words they normally use?

In writing, they use about 10,000 to 15,000 words. That's all. So their writing vocabulary is about 10,000 to
15,000 words. And don't think that all these 10,000 to 15,000 words are equally important. No, they're not. In
fact, about 75% of all their vocabulary needs in writing is met by a mere 2000 of these words alone.

So a native speaker of English makes use of about 10,000 to 15,000 words in writing. Can you say how many
words out of these they actually use in speech? You see, in everyday speech, they only make use of about 2000
to 3500 of these words. And in serious conversations, or when they speak about a wide variety of subjects, they
make use of about 4700 words. That's all. And note this: Just as in writing, more than 75% of all their vocabulary
needs in speech is met by just about 2000 words.

You see, most words other than these 4700 words usually sound out of place in speech - even to the ears of a
native speaker of English. Why? Because they generally meet these other words only in writing. So if you speak
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using very many words other than these 4700 words, your hearers are likely to mark you down as a pedant, or
even as an idiot. For example, in conversation, no native speaker of English would say, "Extinguish your
cigarette". Instead, they would normally say, "Put out your cigarette".

So the normal speaking vocabulary of an educated native speaker of English is just about 2000 to 3500 words.
These are the most essential of the 4700 core words. But remember three things:

• If the person you're speaking to is not very well-educated, you'd normally use only around 2000 words or
fewer. But if you're speaking to an educated hearer, you'd even make use of the full range of 2000 to 3500
words. And in serious conversations, you might even make use of as many as 4700 odd words.
• Apart from the core words, you may also have to use a few special words depending on the topic you're
speaking about. For example, if you're speaking about the topic of fluency building, you may have to use the
word 'utterance'. This is not a frequently-used word, but a special word. Similarly, if your topic is politics, you
may have to use the word 'defection'. This is not a frequently-used word, but a special word. So remember this:
Each subject has its own special words, and in speech, you'll have to use those special words also - in addition
to the core words.
• Don't imagine that a list of 4700 words is short and easy enough to master. You see, these 4700 words can
combine among themselves in many different ways. And they can give rise to thousands of other vocabulary
items like phrasal verbs, collocations, fixed expressions, set phrases and idioms.

You'll be getting a list of the 4700 core words in two instalments. In Lesson 3, you'll be getting a list of
polysyllabic core words. There are 3152 of them. And in Lesson 6, you'll be getting a list of monosyllabic core
words. There are 1612 of them. Together, they make up a collection of 4764 core words.

'Teaching' your 'tongue'

There are certain principles of the English language that you'll have to teach your tongue (and other organs of
speech). These are principles that'll help you 'describe' your ideas in English. So let's call them "principles of
description". Of course, these are elementary principles. And you know them all. But does your tongue know
them?

Mind you, there's one thing about a language you aren't fluent in. You may know several words and principles in
that language. But not your tongue! That's why many people can't speak fluent English - even after years of
experience in written English. Of course, even a X-standard student would have learnt the principles we're going
to look at. But experience has shown one thing: When they try to say more than two or three idea units at a
stretch, even post-graduates get mixed up about these principles. And, in their confusion, they falter.

Of course, when they limit themselves to one or two idea units, these problems may not happen. But when they
try to go beyond that and try to speak continuously, then the trouble begins. This is not because they haven't got
the principles straight. This is because their tongues haven't got the principles straight.

Important Principles of description

Descriptive principle 1

There are certain function words in English that always keep company with one another. Here they are, classed
into six groups:

(a) I/We/You/They/Plural (people or things) + don't... (NOT "doesn't")

That is, you should only say "I don't...", "We don't...", "You don't...", "They don't...", "Apples don't...", etc., and not
"I doesn't...", "We doesn't...", "You doesn't...", "They doesn't...", "Apples doesn't...", etc.

(b) He/She/It/Singulars (A person or thing) + doesn't... (NOT "don't")

That is, you should only say "He doesn't...", "She doesn't...", "It doesn't...", "An apple doesn't...", etc., and not
"He don't...", "She don't...", "It don't...", "An apple don't...", etc.
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(c) All the words at (a) & (b) above: I/We/You/They/Plural (people or things)/He/She/It/Singulars (A person or
thing) + didn't...

That is, you can say "I didn't...", "We didn't...", "You didn't...", "They didn't...", "Apples didn't...", etc., and "He
didn't...", "She didn't...", "It didn't...", "An apple didn't...", etc.

(d) I/We/You/They/Plural (people or things) + have... /haven't... (NOT 'has' or 'hasn't')

That is, you should only say "I have/haven't...", "We have/haven't...", "You have/haven't...", "They
have/haven't...", "Apples have/haven't...", etc., and not "I has/hasn't...", "We has/hasn't...", "You has/hasn't...",
"They has/hasn't...", "Apples has/hasn't...", etc.

(e) He/She/It/Singulars (A person or thing) + has... /hasn't... (NOT 'have' or 'haven't')

That is, you should only say "He has/hasn't...", "She has/hasn't...", "It has/hasn't...", "An apple has/hasn't...", etc.,
and not "He have/haven't...", "She have/haven't...", "It have/haven't...", "An apple have/haven't...", etc.

(f) All the words at (d) & (e) above: I/We/You/They/Plural (people or things)/He/She/It/Singulars (A person or
thing) + had... /hadn't...

That is, you can say "I had/hadn't...", "We had/hadn't...", "You had/hadn't ...", "They had/hadn't...", "Apples
had/hadn't...", etc., and "He had/hadn't...", "She had/hadn't...", "It had/hadn't...", "An apple had/hadn't...", etc.

Descriptive principle 2

After "didn't", you should only use the basic form (= infinitive) of verbs, and not past tense forms. That is, you
should say:

• I didn't know. • He didn't like it. • She didn't speak French. • It didn't happen often. • We didn't buy things from
them. • They didn't worry about things like that. • The car didn't start.

You shouldn't say :

• I didn't knew. • He didn't liked it. • She didn't spoke French. • It didn't happened often. • We didn't bought things
from them. • They didn't worried about things like that. • The car didn't started.

The same rule applies to "doesn't" and "don't" also. That is, you should say:

• I don't know. • He doesn't like it. • She doesn't speak French. • It doesn't happen often. • We don't buy things
from them. • They don't worry about things like that. • The car doesn't start.

You shouldn't say:

• I don't knew. • He doesn't liked it. • She doesn't spoke French. • It doesn't happened often. • We don't bought
things from them. • They don't worried about things like that. • The car doesn't started.

Descriptive principle 3

After "has", "hasn't", "haven't", "had", and "hadn't", you should only use past participles, and not past tense
forms or the basic forms (infinitive). That is, you should say :

• I have/haven't forgotten it. • I had/hadn't done it. • He has/hasn't seen it. • He had/hadn't stolen it. • She
has/hasn't written it down. • She had/hadn't hidden it from them. • We have/haven't given it to them. • We
had/hadn't eaten it. • They have/haven't spoken to her. • They had/hadn't taken it away. • The show has/hasn't
begun. • The show had/hadn't begun.

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You shouldn't say :

• I have/haven't forgot it. • I had/hadn't did it. • He has/hasn't saw it. • He had/hadn't stole it. • She has/hasn't
wrote it down. • She had/hadn't hid it from them. • We have/haven't gave it to them. • We had/hadn't ate it. •
They have/haven't spoke to her. • They had/hadn't took it away. • The show has/hasn't began. • The show
had/hadn't began.

The way to teach your tongue

Now understand one thing: There is no use in learning to repeat these principles by heart. The thing you must
do now is this: You must get your tongue to 'learn' them. In other words, you must 'teach' your tongue.

This can only be done if you give 'training' to your tongue. That is, you must get your tongue into the habit of
saying “don't” along with 'I', “doesn't” along with 'he', “has” along with 'she', etc. This can easily be done through
the following kinds of practice:

Drill 1
Look at descriptive principle no. 1 (page 5).

• Say “I don't …”, “We don't…”, etc. — ALOUD.

• Say “He doesn't…”, “She doesn't…”, etc.— ALOUD.
• Say “I didn't…”, “We didn't…”, etc.— ALOUD.
• Say “I have…”, “I haven't…”, etc.— ALOUD.
• Say “He has…”, “He hasn't…”, etc.— ALOUD.
• Say “I had…”, “I hadn't…”, etc.— ALOUD.

NOTE: Repeat each several times. Of course, you know these rules. Still you must carry out this drill.
Remember this: The purpose of this drill is to get your tongue and other organs of speech to get into the habit of
associating certain words together.

Key speech-initiators

Basic speech-initiators

We’re now going to take up a most important item of practice.

One reason why people lack fluency in English-speech is this: Their tongue and other organs of speech find it
difficult to start saying idea units. Let me explain: If you want to say anything, you have to start your utterances.
That is, you have to start speaking. The initial words in almost all idea units are simple words like ‘I’, ‘have’, ‘are’,
etc. These simple words combine together in various ways, and these word combinations are the initial parts of
most idea units. These combinations look simple, and it’s easy to start writing them. But note one thing: These
combinations are not easy to say freely. Our tongues and other speech organs do not just yield to these initial
word combinations easily. That’s why people find it difficult to start their idea units.

You see, a stretch of speech is a chain made up of several idea units. At the beginning of each idea unit, the
speech-organs show reluctance to say the initial word combinations, and the flow of speech breaks up. The only
way to overcome this difficulty is this: Get your organs of speech to become familiar with the initial word
combinations. And the only way to do this is to practice — by uttering these initial word combinations ALOUD
several times. All the common combinations are given below. These combinations start or initiate speech units,
and so we can call them speech initiators.

Don’t shrug your shoulders and think that this practice is too elementary. No. This practice is not an elementary
or non-essential practice. This is an essential practice. Of course, meaning wise, the word groups given below
are all elementary. They’re all simple and straightforward and are made up of the most basic words in English —
words that you learn when you first begin to learn English at school. But remember this: The aim in getting you
to do the following drill is not to teach you the meaning of words. No. The aim is to train your organs of speech in
uttering these word groups easily.
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Mind you, though these word groups are all elementary, speakers who are not fluent normally stumble over
them — no matter how highly educated they are. Yes, non-fluent speakers trip up when they utter these word
groups, lose their balance of speech-delivery and falter. That’s why the drill you’re going to do with the speech
initiators is extremely important. Once you start the practice, you’ll realize how stiff your organs of speech had
been — while uttering these word groups. And once you complete the practice, you’ll realize how supple they’ve
started becoming. So let’s go for it. Pick up each word combination and say it several times — ALOUD.

Group 1:

• I have. • I haven’t. • I had. • I hadn’t. • I have a. • I haven’t a. • I had a. • I hadn’t a. • I have got a. • I haven’t got
a. • I have to. • I had to. • I have got to. • I have been. • I haven’t been. • I had been. • I hadn’t been. • I have
been the. • I haven’t been the. • I had been the. • I hadn’t been the. • I have been able to. • I haven’t been able
to. • I had been able to. • I hadn’t been able to.

Group 2:

• I don’t. • I didn’t. • I don’t have to. • I didn’t have to. • I don’t have an. • I didn’t have an.

Note: Repeat the exercise with the word groups in Group I and Group II by substituting for the word ‘I’ — (i) first
‘We’, (ii) then ‘They’, and (iii) then ‘You’. That is, utter the word group in these two groups first by using ‘We’ in
place of ‘I’, then by using ‘They’ in place of ‘I’, and then by using ‘You’ in place of ‘I’.

Group 3:

• He has. • He hasn’t. • He had. • He hadn’t. • He has a. • He hasn’t a. • He had a. • He hadn’t a. • He has got a.
• He hasn’t got a. • He has to. • He has got to. • He had to. • He has been. • He hasn’t been. • He had been. • He
hadn’t been. • He has been the. • He hasn’t been the. • He had been the. • He hadn’t been the. • He has been
able to. • He hasn’t been able to. • He had been able to. • He hadn’t been able to.

Group 4:

• He is. • He isn’t. • He is an. • He isn’t an. • He was. • He wasn’t. • He was a. • He wasn’t a. • He was the. • He
wasn’t the. • He is to. • He isn’t to. • He was to. • He wasn’t to. • He is able to. • He isn’t able to. • He was able to.
• He wasn’t able to. • He is going to. • He isn’t going to. • He was going to. • He wasn’t going to. • He is going to
be a. • He isn’t going to be the. • He is going to be. • He isn’t going to be.

Group 5:

• He doesn’t. • He didn’t. • He doesn’t have to. • He didn’t have to. • He doesn’t have a. • He didn’t have the.

Note: Repeat the exercise with the word groups in Groups III, IV & V by substituting for the word ‘He’ — (i) first
‘She’, and (ii) then ‘It’.

Group 6:

• I am. • I am not. • I am a. • I am not a. • I was. • I wasn’t. • I was an. • I wasn’t the. • I am to. • I am not to. • I
was to. • I was not to. • I am able to. • I am not able to. • I was able to. • I wasn’t able to. • I am going to. • I am
not going to. • I was going to. • I wasn’t going to. • I am going to be an. • I am not going to be a. • I am going to
be. • I am not going to be.

Group 7:

• We are. • We aren’t. • We are the. • We are not the. • We were. • We weren’t. • We were the. • We were not
the. • We are to. • We are not to. • We were to. • We were not to. • We are able to. • We are not able to. • We
were able to. • We weren’t able to. • We are going to. • We are not going to. • We were going to. • We weren’t
going to. • We are going to be the. • We aren’t going to be the. • We are going to be. • We aren’t going to be.

9
Note: Repeat the exercise first by substituting the word ‘They’ for the word ‘We’. That is, say ‘They are’, ‘They
aren’t’, ‘They are the’ etc. several times. Thereafter, repeat the exercise by substituting ‘You’ for ‘We’.

Group 8:

• I can. • I can’t. • I could. • I couldn’t. • I can’t have. • I could have. • I couldn’t have. • I can be. • I can’t be. • I
can be the. • I can’t be the. • I can’t have been. • I could have been. • I couldn’t have been. • I can’t have been
the. • I couldn’t have been the.

Group 9:

• I may. • I may not. • I might. • I might not. • I may have. • I may not have. • I may be. • I may not be. • I may
have been. • I may not have been. • I may be the. • I may not be the. • I may have been the. • I may not have
been the. • I may have been able to. • I may not have been able to.

Group 10:

• I must. • I mustn’t. • I must have. • I mustn’t have. • I must be. • I mustn’t be. • I must have been. • I mustn’t
have been. • I must be the. • I mustn’t be the. • I must have been the. • I mustn’t have been the. • I must have
been able to. • I mustn’t have been able to.

Group 11:

• I needn’t. • I needn’t have. • I needn’t be. • I needn’t have been. • I needn’t be the. • I needn’t have been the. • I
needn’t have been able to.

Group 12:

• I ought to. • I oughtn’t to. • I ought to have. • I oughtn’t to have. • I ought to be. • I oughtn’t to be. • I ought to
have been. • I oughtn’t to have been. • I ought to be the. • I oughtn’t to be the. • I ought to have been the. • I
oughtn’t to have been the. • I ought to be able to. • I oughtn’t to be able to.

Group 13:

• I should. • I shouldn’t. • I should have. • I shouldn’t have. • I should be. • I shouldn’t be. • I should have been. • I
shouldn’t have been. • I should be the. • I shouldn’t be the. • I should have been the. • I shouldn’t have been the.
• I should be able to. • I shouldn’t be able to.

Group 14:

• I used to. • I didn’t use to. • I never used to.

Group 15:

• I had better. • I had better not.

Note: Repeat the exercise with the word groups in Groups 8 to 15 by substituting for the word ‘I’ — (i) first ‘He’
(ii) then ‘She’ (iii) then ‘It’ (iv) then ‘We’ (v) then ‘They’, and (vi) then ‘You’.

Group 16:

• I shall. • I shan’t. • I’ll. • I won’t. • I would. • I wouldn’t. • I shall have. • I shan’t have. • I’ll have. • I won’t have. •
I’d have. • I wouldn’t have. • I shall be. • I shan’t be. • I’ll be. • I won’t be. • I’d be. • I wouldn’t be. • I shall be the. •
I’ll be the. • I won’t be the. • I’d be the. • I wouldn’t be the. • I’ll have been. • I won’t have been. • I’d have been. • I
wouldn’t have been. • I’ll be able to. • I won’t be able to. • I’d be able to. • I wouldn’t be able to.

10
Group 17:

• I should like to. • I shouldn’t like to. • I’d like to. • I wouldn’t like to. • I’d have liked to. • I wouldn’t have liked to.

Note: Repeat the exercise with the word groups in Groups 16 & 17 by using ‘We’ in place of ‘I’.

Group 18:

• He will. • He won’t. • He would. • He wouldn’t. • He’ll have. • He won’t have. • He’d have. • He wouldn’t have. •
He’ll be. • He won’t be. • He’d be. • He wouldn’t be. • He’ll have been. • He won’t have been. • He’d have been. •
He wouldn’t have been. • He’ll be able to. • He wouldn’t be able to. • He’d be able to. • He wouldn’t be able to.

Group 19:

• He’d like to. • He wouldn’t like to. • He’d have liked to.

Note: Repeat the exercise with the word groups in Groups 18 & 19 by substituting for ‘He’ — (i) first the word
‘She’, (ii) then ‘It’, (iii) then ‘They’, and (iv) then ‘You’.

Group 20:

• There is. • There is a. • There is no. • There are. • There are no. • There was. • There was a. • There was no. •
There were. • There were no. • There isn’t. • There aren’t. • There wasn’t. • There weren’t. • There has been. •
There hasn’t been. • There have been. • There haven’t been. • There had been. • There hadn’t been. • There
has been no. • There have been no. • There had been no. • There’ll be. • There won’t be. • There’d be. • There
wouldn’t be. • There’ll be no. • There’d be no. • There can be. • There can’t be. • There could be. • There couldn’t
be. • There can be no. • There could be no. • There may be. • There may not be. • There might be. • There might
not be. • There may be no. • There might be no. • There must be. • There mustn’t be. • There must be no. •
There ought to be. • There oughtn’t to be. • There ought to be no. • There can’t have been. • There could have
been. • There couldn’t have been. • There could have been no. • There may have been. • There may not have
been. • There might have been. • There might not have been. • There may have been no. • There might have
been no. • There must have been. • There mustn’t have been. • There must have been no. • There ought to have
been. • There oughtn’t to have been. • There ought to have been no. • There is going to be. • There isn’t going to
be. • There are going to be. • There aren’t going to be. • There was going to be. • There wasn’t going to be. •
There were going to be. • There weren’t going to be. • There is going to be no. • There are going to be no. •
There was going to be no. • There were going to be no. • There seems. • There appears. • There remains.

Note: Don’t worry about when to use each of these initiators or where. At present, pay attention only to uttering
each word group ALOUD —several times.

Functional English

One of the chief reasons why people want to learn a foreign language is this: They want to be able to “do things”
in that language. That is, they want to “agree or disagree with someone”, “accept or reject an offer”, “deny
something”, “express likes/dislikes”, “offer food and drink”, “compliment someone” and do a lot of things like
these. In other words, they want to use that language and perform a number of “everyday communicative
functions”.

Functions like these are everyday functions, because you’ll have to perform these functions whenever you deal
with people. In fact, you’ll have to perform each of these functions not once, but several times, every day.

If you want to become good at performing these everyday functions in a particular language, keep this in mind:
Every modern language has a certain set of word groups that would help a speaker perform a certain set of
functions. And when you want to perform a particular function in that language, you’ll have to utter one or more
of the word groups that are normally used in that language to perform that function.

11
For example, if you want to “express your gratitude” in English, you’ll have to use an expression like “Thank
you”, “That’s very kind of you”, “I can’t thank you enough” etc.

Through this Supplement and the next, I’m going to introduce you to all the important functions you’ll have to
perform every day in English. Under each function-heading, I’ll also give you a collection of word groups that
would help you perform that function.

What you must do is this:

You must utter each of the word groups several times — ALOUD. In that way, you must get your ears and
organs of speech used to these word groups.

While uttering each word group, take a look at the function-heading (under which it comes) and remind yourself
what function it helps you to perform. This is very important. While doing your practice with each word group,
keep reminding yourself (silently) that it helps you perform a particular function. For example, while uttering the
word group “I do wish you’ll be more careful” during your practice sessions, remind yourself that it helps you
perform the function “Forgiving someone”. In that way, that particular function and that particular word group
would get associated in your mind. And your mind gets conditioned to recalling that word group automatically,
whenever you use English to perform that function.

Now remember this: It’s not as though one particular word group can be used only to perform one particular
function. No. That’s not so. Often, you can use a particular word group to perform more than one function. For
example, take the word group “Thank you very much”. You can use this word group to perform the function
“Expressing gratitude” as well as the function “Accepting an invitation”.

So there’s no strict one-to-one correspondence between word groups and functions. That is, we can’t say that a
particular word group is used only to express a particular function or that a particular function can only be
expressed by a particular word group. At the same time, bear in mind that certain word groups are used more
often to express certain functions than to express certain other functions.

In fact, most word groups can normally be used only to express one or two functions. I’ve classified the word
groups you’re going to get by taking these realities into account.

And remember this: When you say something to a person, he’s aware of the conversational situation in which
you say it. And this awareness of the conversational situation would easily help him understand what function
you intend a particular word group to perform when you utter it.

So when you practice uttering the word groups aloud, don’t let your aim be to reproduce by heart a list of word
groups that would help you perform a particular function. That is, you don’t have to learn to list the word groups
by heart and to say that such-and-such a word group listed under such-and-such a function-heading would help
you perform such-and-such a function. No, that’s not necessary at all and won’t be of much help. All you need to
do is to associate in your mind each of the word groups listed under a function-heading with that function —
because nobody ever says anything in real life by first recalling the names of the functions they want to perform
from moment to moment and then by recalling word groups that’d be appropriate to fulfill those functions. No —
nobody does that! In fact, once you complete your practice with the functional word groups, you can safely
forget about the names of the functions that those word groups perform. Actually, the function-names are not
important outside the practice sessions.

So let me stress one thing: When you practice uttering each word group aloud, you must keep reminding
yourself what specific function that particular word group helps you to perform. I want you to do this, because
the name of a particular function-heading would form a common basis for relating in your mind a set of word
groups together (that is, to one another) as well as to a particular function. Of course, this exercise may also
help you to easily and readily recall appropriate word groups — function-wise at the right time — when you have
a real conversation. But the point is, that’s not the reason why I want you to do this exercise.

Let’s now move on to the functions themselves.

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You’ll find these functions covered by two Supplements in this course: Supplement 1 and Supplement 2. You
should first take a look at the tables of contents on pages 3 and 4 of these Supplements. Each table gives a list
of the functions covered by each of the Supplements. These tables give you a bird’s eye view of the
communicative functions that you’ll have to perform every day, and of the word groups and patterns of word
groups that English-speaking people often use in order to perform those functions.

But when you have to locate a negative function-heading like “Expressing inability”, “Expressing disagreement”,
“Expressing disapproval”, “Expressing uncertainty” etc, don’t look for them in the places for “inability”,
“disagreement”, “disapproval”, “uncertainty”, etc. Instead, look for them in the places for the positive words
“ability”, “agreement”, “approval”, “certainty”, etc.

And to make it still easier for you to locate a particular function, the key-word in the name of each function has
been printed in italics.

Here we go for the word groups that help you express each function.

1. Expressing ability

• He can drive. • I can drive a car, but not a lorry. • The door was stuck, but he was able to open it. • When I was
your age, I could run a mile in 5 minutes. • He’s better able to do it than her. • He’s quite an expert at this sort of
work. • She knows how to swim. • He finished the work on his own without help from anyone else. • He has
ability, but he is lazy. • She’s capable of passing the exam if she tries harder. • He’s a good painter. • He’s a
good carpenter. • Will you be able to come to the meeting tomorrow? • She’s good at guessing things. • I
wouldn’t put it past him to do a thing like that. • You can do much better, I’m sure. • He has the ability to make
decisions. • She can speak Spanish fluently. • You’re capable of doing better, you know.

2. Expressing inability

• He cannot do it without help. • She can’t speak Telugu very well. • He couldn’t understand a thing she said. •
I’m sorry, I won’t be able to come. • I couldn’t answer her questions. • He won’t be able to type so fast. • She’s
incapable of behaving rudely to anyone. • I wasn’t able to pass the driving test the first time. • He’s incapable of
hard work. • He’s incapable of telling a lie. • He’s unable to help her. • I can’t swim as far as you. • I tried to move
it, but I couldn’t. • I want to come, but I’m unable to. • I’ve never been any good at repairing things.

3. Asking about ability or inability

• Can you swim across the river? • Can you drive a car? • Can you ride a bike? • Can you type? • Is she able to
understand the instructions? • Were you able to solve the problem? • Can’t you explain it more simply? • Isn’t he
able to read or write? • Is he unable to walk without crutches?

4. Accepting sth (= something)

[See Function (Fn). no.18 Accepting an apology, Fn.no.67 Accepting help, Fn.no.85 Accepting an invitation,
Fn.no.100 Accepting an offer of food or drink, and Fn.no.149 Agreeing to/Accepting a request. See also
Fn.no.10 Expressing agreement].

5. Expressing admiration

(See also Fn.no.21 Expressing appreciation, Fn.no.22 Expressing approval, and Fn.no.41 Complimenting sb).

• That’s the most magnificent performance I’ve ever seen! • You don’t say! You mean you made it? • Look at the
building. Isn’t it beautiful? • I just adore this colour. • I’ve never seen anything like it! • You’re the prettiest girl I’ve
ever seen! • Oh, that’s marvellous! • Ah, really wonderful! • It’s really wonderful! • It’s really something! • Isn’t that
fantastic! • It’s quite extraordinary, really! • Oh, that’s lovely! • What a grand view! • Well, I never! That’s
incredible! • Really fantastic! • It’s absolutely splendid! • That’s quite fantastic! • This dress looks really stunning
on you. • Terrific! • What glorious roses! • Ah, super! • Oh, smashing! • Oh, lovely! • My! • Oh, it’s the most
impressive speech I’ve ever heard! • I’ve never met anyone so attractive.
13
6. Admitting sth

• Yes, it’s possible. • I’m sorry. It was a mistake on my part. • Well, perhaps I should have handled it with some
more care. • I’ve been wrong about that. • It was my mistake entirely. • I think it was wrong of us not to invite
them. • Well, perhaps I may have been a little careless about it. • I guess I didn’t have the nerve. • Well, it could
be true. • No one is to blame but myself. • Yes, OK, it looks as though I’ve slipped up. • Look, I’m not able to do
this — I find it too difficult. • I’ve made a mistake in inviting them. • I don’t know much Tamil. • Yes, all right. • I
admit that I was absent-minded. • He may be able to do it. Yes. • So what if I broke the vase? It wasn’t
intentional, you know. • I’m sorry. You’re quite right about it. • It was my fault entirely. • This was all my own fault,
really. • What I said was quite wrong. I know. • Well, perhaps we ought to have been a bit more careful. • I’m
entirely to blame for it. • Oh dear, I seem to have made a mistake. • There’s something in what he says. • I made
the mistake of trusting him with money. • I had a part in that decision, too. I admit that.

7. Admonishing sb (= somebody)

(See also Fn.no.168 Warning sb).

• Don’t repeat the same mistake again. • Don’t try to harass me — I’m warning you. • You’ll be more careful in
future, won’t you? • Don’t give me any more cause for complaint. • There’ll be serious consequences if you try to
cheat us again. • I think you’re making a mistake. • I don’t think that was very wise. • Let me warn you: Don’t
interfere in my affairs in future. • Be more careful in future. • Next time, I won’t forgive this kind of behaviour. •
You had better watch out! • You had better not make another mistake. • Don’t all talk together. • I wouldn’t do
such a thing again, if I were you. • Just be more considerate in future. • If you do this again, I’ll come down hard
on you.

Fluency in Functional English

How have you got on with the practice of the functional word groups in Supplement 1?

Let me stress one thing once again. In actual life, nobody ever speaks by first recalling the name of the
communicative function they have to perform in a particular context and then by deciding on a word group that
would help them perform that function. No. Nobody ever does that. What people actually do is to rely on their
feelings for what’s appropriate in a particular context. Yes, they just utter what they feel is appropriate.

And the practice you do with the functional word groups would help you develop this sense of appropriateness in
everyday situations.

We’ve already seen one thing in Supplement 1: The word groups under the various function-headings show you
how you can “do things” in English. But that’s not the only benefit you get out of the practice you do with the
function word groups. For one thing, this practice adds to your skill in handling some of the most useful of the
core words in English. For another, it adds to your flexibility in handling some of the most common grammatical
patterns. And of course, it trains your organs of speech to handle everyday English speech.

So continue doing your practice with the function word groups with all seriousness and sincerity. We looked at
as many as 62 communicative functions in Supplement 1. We’ll now take up the remaining functions in this
Supplement. Just as you’ve done with the function word groups in Supplement 1, practice uttering the word
groups in this Supplement, too — several times, ALOUD. Go through the instructions given in the introductory
part of Supplement 1 once again — and follow those instructions.

Remember this: The purpose in uttering the word groups several times — that too, ALOUD — is this: That’s the
quickest and easiest way you can train your organs of speech and ears to get used to these word groups. And
so long as your organs of speech and ears don’t get used to these word groups, you won’t be able to produce
those word groups (or similar word groups) easily in actual conversations! So keep uttering the word groups
ALOUD, until they come out of your mouth smoothly and continuously — without hesitation.

14
When you go through the various function-headings given below, you’ll come across two abbreviations: ‘sb’ and
‘sth’. The abbreviation ‘sb’ stands for ‘somebody’, and the abbreviation ‘sth’ stands for ‘something’. And now,
here we go for the function word groups:

63. Responding to greetings from sb you already know

Take a look at these everyday greetings:

• “How are you?”

• “How’s things?”
• “How’s everything?”
• “How’s it going?”

Structurally, they’re all questions. But they’re all greetings, too. In fact, pragmatically, a question like this is more
a greeting than a question. Yes, it’s a greeting in the first place, and a question only in the second place.
Normally, it’s from someone you already know, rather than from a person you meet for the first time, that you get
a greeting of this kind.

The most common responses to these greetings are:

“Fine, thanks. And how are/about you?”

“Very well, thanks. And how are/about you?”

You can answer other greetings like ‘Hi’, ‘Hello’, etc. with a return ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ — or with one of the other
greetings given at Sl. no. 62 (Greeting people you already know). Or you can use a combination of a ‘Hi’ (or
‘Hello’) and one of the other greetings given there. For example, you can say:

“Hi, what a nice surprise!”

“Hello, Alfredo! Fancy meeting you here!”

64. Greeting sb you’ve just met for the first time

(See Sl. no. 82 Introducing people and responding to introductions.)

65. Sending greetings through sb to sb else

• Please give my regards to your father, will you? • Don’t forget to remember me to Ashok. • Say hello to Rekha.
• Give my best wishes to your mother. • Give my love to the children. • Give my regards to Julia. • Please
remember me to Sumitra.

66. Offering help

• Can I help you? • Can I give you any help? • Do you need any help? • Is there anything I can do to help? • Why
don’t you let me help you with the cooking? • I’ll do it, shall I? • Maybe, I could help you do it. • I’m going to the
post office. Would you like me to get anything for you? • Can I help? • Everything all right? • I’ll help you. • I’ll ring
for the office boy. • Want me to try? • Please let me help you. • Can I help you with it? • Do you want me to help
with the washing-up? • Can I be of any help? • Do you need some kind of help? • Allow me to do it for you. • It’s
cold in here. Would you like me to shut the windows? • I’ll do it for you. • Is there anything else? • Perhaps I
could be of some help? • Would you like me to try? • I’ll be glad to help, if you need it. • Do you want me to have
a look? • If you like, I’ll phone him up. • Let me carry your bag. • I suppose you want something else, do you? •
Shall I see if I can help you? • I can help, if you like. • If you like, I’ll help you with your work. • Let’s have a look. •
Could I give you a hand to complete it? • Here, I’ll show you how to do it. • Permit me to help you. • Can I help
you with anything? • Well, if you have any more trouble, just let me know. • It looks heavy. Could I give you a
hand with it? • You seem to be having some problem. • What’s wrong? • I haven’t got much, but you can borrow
what money I have. • Perhaps I could help you do it. • Let me help you. • I’ll help you, if you like.

15
67. Accepting help

• Oh, that’s very kind/thoughtful of you. • Could you? • You’re most kind. • Yes, please. I’d appreciate it. • Oh,
could you do that? That’d be very helpful. • That’d be lovely/great. • I’d be delighted if you could. • Would you? •
That’s extremely good of you. • I’d appreciate it if you could. • If you’re sure it’s no trouble for you... • I’d be glad
if you could. • Thanks. That’d be a great help. • Thanks very much. • I’d be glad if you would.

68. Declining help

• No, thank you. • Don’t bother. • No, please don’t bother — I can manage. • Don’t worry. • That’s very kind of
you. • Thank you, but I can manage. • I’d rather do it myself, thank you. • No, thanks. I’m fine. • That’s OK,
thanks. • I’d better do it myself, thank you. • I’m all right, thank you.

69. Asking for help

(See Sl. no. 148 Requesting others to help you or to do sth or to give you sth).

70. Expressing hope

• I just hope she’ll be able to come. • I was hoping for something different this time. • We hope to go there next
month. • I hope so. • I think you’ll like our food. • I very much hope they’d realize its importance. • I hope we can
make them feel welcome. • I only hope he’ll be able to help them out. • Hopefully, he’ll bring it with him. • I hope
to see her soon. • I hope you haven’t paid for it. • I hope he’ll do it. • Let’s hope he’ll get better soon. • I’m rather
hoping the weather’ll be good.

71. Identifying sb or sth

• It could be Anitha. • That’s her, isn’t it? • This is the bag he had with him. • Maybe, it’s that contractor. • It’s me.
• It’s us. • It’s them. • That’s her. • It’s him. • She’s here. • It could be a Honda. • Yes, it is. • There’s a big mole on
his right cheek. • That girl on his left is his younger sister. • I think that’s her husband. • It’s Ashok Malhotra from
next door. • I suppose that must be him. • It’s a very good book. • She’s got a wart on her nose. • I know the man
she’s standing beside. • That’s him, your friend. • Ah, there’s the man I told you about. • I think he’s an electrician
or something. • I think it’s a Rolls Royce . • Yes, she is. • It’s your father on the phone. • He has a slight limp. •
These are his clothes. • I think that’s the one. • I am a client of his. • Yes, it’s her all right. • This is the book you
wanted, isn’t it? • He has a scar on his forehead. • Perhaps it’s a Honda. • Well, there he is. • He’s a mechanic.

72. Asking about identity

• Who are you? • May I know who you are? • Are you Mr. Iyengar? • Who’s that man over there? • What make of
TV is it? • Is that you, Asha? • Who did you see at the bank? • What the hell is that? • Which Sharma do you
mean — his brother-in-law or his neighbour? • See that man? Who’s he? • What sort of book is it ? • Do you
know who she is? • Who’re those people? • What in the world is it? • Are you policemen? • Who are you
phoning? • Excuse me. Are you the teacher of VIII A? • What colour is it? • Who on earth told you that? • What’s
the name of that girl? • That man standing over there. Do you know him? • See that thing there? What is it? •
Isn’t that your father? • Do you recognize that man in a blue shirt? • Do you know what that thing is? • Who are
you going to meet? • What on earth is that thing in your bag? • Do you have some identification with you? • Do
you know what that woman is? • Isn’t that your bag? • What kind of typewriter is it? An electronic one? • That’s
your uncle, isn’t it? • Who is that packet for? • Which of these bags is yours? • What make is your car? • Who’s
he talking to? • What type of oil do you use?

73. Not identifying

• I don’t recognize him. • I’m afraid I’ve no idea. • I don’t know who it was. • I know his face, but I can’t place him.
• I’ve no idea what it is. • There’s some man at the door. • Sorry. I don’t know. • I only saw his back. • I’m not
certain. • There’s something on the floor. • He just reminds me of someone. • But I can’t put a name to his face. •
I haven’t the faintest idea. • I have no idea who that is. • I have no idea what his name is. • No. I don’t think so. •
I haven’t a clue. • This isn’t mine. It must be somebody else’s. • God knows. • I’m not sure.
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74. Imagining a situation

(See Sl. no. 154 Speculating about things).

75. Expressing indecision

(See also Sl. no. 34 Expressing uncertainty and Sl. no. 56 Expressing doubt)

• Look, I don’t know what to do. • I can’t decide whether to invite him or not. • Oh, I don’t know. • Maybe I
shouldn’t do it. • Perhaps I should write to his deputy first. • I’m in two minds whether or not to do it. • I don’t
know what to tell them. • Yes, I suppose so. • I’ll possibly be able to do it. • Maybe I’ll buy it, maybe I won’t. • I’m
a bit uncertain about this. • Well, of course. • It’s up to you. • I’m not sure. • He’s possibly one of our best
workers. • Well, maybe. • I’m not sure what to do next. • I don’t know whether to accept it or not.

76. Expressing indifference

• It makes no difference to me. • It makes no difference. • Do what you like. I don’t care. • I suppose so. • How
should I know? • It’s all the same to me. • I shouldn’t worry if I were you. • I don’t care! • I don’t mind what you
do? • It’s your decision. • I don’t mind. • Look, why don’t you relax? • It doesn’t matter. • Go ahead, do it. • If you
like. • I wouldn’t mind. Why should I? • I know he’ll be angry, but I don’t care. • Who cares! • Who knows! • It
makes no difference either way. • I’m easy (= I don’t mind, I have no preference). • As you like. • I couldn’t care
less. • So what? • You can say whatever you like. • Do as you like.

Fluency in Telephone English

There’s an important point you must remember when you have a telephone conversation. When you have a
conversation with someone on the telephone, you’re not face-to-face with them. You and the person you’re
having the conversation with are not within each other’s presence or sight. On the other hand, when you have a
face-to-face conversation with someone, you’re near them, and you can see them. And you can listen to them
and speak to them — by actually looking at them (and their facial expressions and gestures) and at the
surroundings.

You see, when you have a face-to-face conversation with someone, you communicate not only through the
actual words you use, but also through a number of extra-linguistic factors — such as facial expressions,
gestures, etc. But when you have a telephone conversation, many of the extra-linguistic factors are absent —
and you’ve got to rely mainly on the actual words you use in order to convey your meaning. The person at the
other end can’t watch your facial expressions or gestures. And you can’t watch his. And so, neither of you can
take advantage of extra-linguistic factors like facial expressions or gestures to add meaning to the actual words
used.

In the same way, when you have a face-to-face conversation with somebody, you don’t need to spell out
everything in words. Many of the things you want to communicate to them would be clear to them from the
situational context. But when you have a telephone conversation, a number of aspects of the situational context
are absent. So when you have a telephone conversation, you’ll have to spell out all these things clearly in
words. Or the person at the other end of the line won’t be able to understand what you mean. For example,
when you have a telephone conversation, you won’t be able to speak about something or someone by pointing
them out to your addressee — because the addressee is not near you, and the addressee can’t see them. So
on the phone, you’ll have to speak about them by mentioning their actual names (if your addressee knows them
by those names) — or by actually describing them in such a way that the addressee understands what you’re
referring to or who you’re referring to. Similarly, the addressee (the person at the other end of the line) won’t be
able to see the surroundings at your end or what is going on around you at your end at the time you’re speaking.
And so the addressee’s eyes give him no help in understanding what you’re saying, and he’ll have to depend
solely on his ears.

All this means that when you speak to somebody on the phone, you’ll have to assume less and spell out more.
Yes. When you have a phone conversation, you’ll have to explain almost everything in the clearest or the most
detailed way. What I’m trying to tell you is this: When you speak to somebody face to face, you can take a

17
number of things for granted. That is, you can assume one thing: Even if you don’t spell out many of the things
clearly in words, your addressee would be able to understand them from your facial expressions, gestures and
the situational context. And so, when you speak to somebody face to face, you needn’t spell out these things
clearly. In other words, when you speak to somebody face to face, you can assume a lot, and you need only
spell out the important things. But when you speak to somebody on the telephone, you’ll have to do the
opposite: You’ll have to assume less and spell out more. And that’s not all. When you have a telephone
conversation, you must be careful to do one other thing: You’ll have to spell out what you want your addressee
to understand in a way that’s clearer than you would’ve done if you had been speaking to him face to face. That
is, when you have a telephone conversation, it’s not enough that you spell out a lot. You must also spell them
out far more clearly and in a far more detailed way.

In short, when you have a telephone conversation, you’re handicapped in several ways. And it’s not always as
easy to get your meaning across over the telephone as it is when you have a face-to-face conversation. But all
this does not mean that when you speak on the telephone, you’ll have to be as explicit as you are when you
communicate the same thing in writing. No. That’s not so. First of all, you can never be as explicit during a
telephone conversation as when you write something — because even during a telephone conversation, you
communicate through the spoken medium (and not through the medium of writing). So, even during a telephone
conversation, you speak under pressure of time, and you can only express yourself by composing and speaking
at the same time, just as you do when you have a face-to-face conversation. Secondly, when you have a
telephone conversation, you keep getting feedback and reactions to what you say from your addressee — in
words, exclamations and other sounds that he produces over the phone as he listens to what you say. And so,
depending on the addressee’s reaction, you can keep modifying, improving and adding to what you say from
moment-to-moment, and thus make your meaning clear to him. And his moment-to-moment reactions would let
you know the points on which he shares knowledge with you and the points that he has understood without your
having specifically mentioned them. This saves you from having to spell out those points in words, and you can
safely speak on by taking those points for granted.

Because of all these reasons, if you want your telephone conversation to be effective, you must never forget to
do the following things:

Guidelines for making a call

1). Whenever you dial a number and someone picks up the phone at the other end, you should do these things:

i) Ask the person who picks up the phone at the other end if the number of the phone he has picked up is really
the number you dialed.

Eg: • Are you 3467983? • Is that 3467983?

ii) If he says it is the right number, it’d be a good idea to go ahead and ask him if it’s really the place (office,
house, etc.) that you want.

Eg: • Is that the XYZ Co.? • Is that the Fire Station?

iii) Then you should announce your identity. (You should do this — if the person who picked up the phone at the
other end has not already recognized your voice). Tell him who you are and where you’re calling from — that is,
the place, office etc. you’re calling from.

iv) After announcing your identity, you can straightaway ask him if you could speak to such and such a person —
without asking him who he is. Of course, if you recognize his voice, and if he’s the person you want to speak to,
you can straight away launch into a conversation.

v) If the person who picks up the phone at the other end voluntarily announces his identity, and if he’s not the
person you want to speak to, tell him you’d like to speak to such and such a person — or ask him if you could
speak to that person.

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vi) Suppose that the person who picks up the telephone at the other end tells you that the person you want is
not available or that, for some reason, you can’t speak to him at that point of time. Then if you want, you can ask
the person who has picked up the phone who he is — before you start telling him anything else.

Eg: • Who’s this speaking? • May I know who this is speaking, please?

But remember one thing: In general, nobody likes to tell you who they are if you don’t tell them who you are first.
So the best policy is to announce your identity first, before asking for the identity of the person at the other end.

vii) Suppose that the person who picks up the phone at the other end is not the person you want, and suppose
that he puts you through to the right person. Then, announce your identity once again, and ask this second
person if he is really the person you want to talk to.

Eg: Is that Mr. Sridhar?

2). Once you get the person you want on the phone, and once you’re sure that he’s the person you want, you
can state the purpose of your call. But don’t just rush into explaining the purpose all of a sudden. Instead, start
by preparing the ground — by telling him that you’re now going to state the purpose. For example, if you’re
calling him to tell him something about a meeting, you can begin by saying something like this:

• I’m calling you about tomorrow’s meeting. Or,

• It’s about tomorrow’s meeting.

Tell him what you want to tell him about the meeting only after you get him ready to listen to it by preparing the
ground in this way. On the one hand, this step gives a sense of direction to what you want to say. And on the
other hand, it directs your addressee’s attention to what you’re going to say.

3). In the same way, before you speak to him about anything important, start by telling him that you’re going to
speak to him about such and such a thing or such and such a person or such and such a topic. In this way, you
must always build an expectation in him about what you’re going to say — before you actually say it. This step is
very important if your telephone communication is to be really effective.

4). Before you actually ring off, say something appropriate that’d indicate to the person at the other end that
you’re going to ring off. Depending on the context, word groups like the following would help you do this:

• Bye, then. • I’ll get back to you soon. • Well, that’s settled, then. • Thanks a lot. Goodbye. • Until tomorrow,
then. Goodbye.

Guidelines for answering a call

So far, I’ve been telling you about making a phone call. Let me now tell you a few things about answering a call.

When you answer a call, points 3 and 4 given above are as important as when you make a call. But the
preliminary things that you must do (when you answer a call) are not the same.

And here are the preliminary things you must do when you answer a call:

1). As soon as you pick up the phone to answer a call, let the caller know that you’ve picked up the phone and
that he has your attention. You can do this by saying “Hello”.

2). If you want to be more helpful, you can voluntarily announce the number of your phone or announce your
identity while saying “Hello” (or instead of saying “Hello”).

Eg: • Hello, 3468953. • Hello, Ashok Kumar here. • XYZ company. Good morning.

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3). If the caller starts stating the purpose of his call without announcing his identity, you can ask him who he is
before telling him anything or helping him — if you find it necessary to do so.

How to deal with hesitation

Here’s a Lesson that’s going to do two things for you: It’ll keep your speech flow from breaking up. And it’ll help
you keep up a regular flow of speech.

Pauses and syllable lengthening

As a background to what follows, you must note one thing: In speech, pauses are as important as words
themselves.

A pause is a temporary stop or break in speech - a momentary silence when you stop uttering words. A
momentary stopping of the speech flow. A momentary stopping of the sound stream.

Pauses are important, because they help you divide up what you want to say into chunks of manageable sizes.
And what’s more, they help you deal with hesitation.

There are two types of pauses. They are: (i) Junction pauses; and (ii) Hesitation pauses.

Junction pauses
Junction pauses are pauses made at junctions between idea units. That is, they’re made at the ends of idea
units (= chunks).

Why does a speaker pause at an idea unit junction? The reason is usually one of the following:

• To mark the end of one idea unit and the beginning of the next; or

• To take a breath; or

• To give a moment or two to the listener — to digest the idea contained in the idea unit that the speaker has just
uttered.

So generally, when you pause at an idea unit junction, your aim is not to deal with hesitation. Most often, your
aim (in making a junction pause) is to mark off one idea unit from the next. And you mark off one idea unit from
the next one, because of two reasons:

(a) Your listeners will then find it easier to understand you properly.

(b) You will then find it easier to go on with your speech without faltering.

So remember this: You’re free to make a junction pause, even if you have no hesitation when you’ve finished
uttering an idea unit.

As you know, an ideal idea unit ends at a grammatical break, and so an ideal idea unit is a whole (=
unfragmented) grammatical unit. So an ideal idea unit junction would be a grammatical junction.

Now go through the following examples. In these examples, the symbol ‘ + ’ indicates a grammatical junction,
that is, an ideal idea unit junction. And the pauses you make at these junctions are junction pauses, and they
mark off one idea unit from the next.

Eg: • Mr. Gupta + please come over here. • For three hours + he waited there. • Finally + he gave it to me. • The
route we took + wasn’t short. • What he told me + wasn’t the truth. • I met him there + and he came with me. •
Ask her father + or one of her brothers. • He left the place + after John and others had come. • Before I came +

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nobody had left the place. • He’s been with that company + since last April. • I asked him to tell me + if he had
seen it.

Junction pauses and grammatical breaks

Spontaneous speech

When you speak spontaneously, what’s the natural way of composing and delivering speech? You know, the
natural way is to compose and deliver the things you want to say chunk by chunk — each chunk containing a
few closely connected words. About 80% of all the chunks would normally contain 1 to 7 words per chunk. The
most frequent number of words per chunk is about 5 words, and such a chunk would take about 2 seconds to
utter. As you know, each such chunk is an idea unit.

So you can see that the junctions between every two idea units are natural points for making pauses, and so
natural points for your organs of speech to get momentary rest. And there’s a strong tendency for most of these
idea units to be whole (unfragmented) grammatical units. (= whole clauses or whole phrases; sometimes even
single words). The idea units marked off by the ‘ + ’ sign in the above examples are all whole, unfragmented
idea units.

Occasionally, a chunk (uttered as a single idea unit) may even consist of two (or even three) whole grammatical
units (each unit being short — and made up of just 1 or 2 or 3 words).

Eg: • [(breakfast) (and dinner)]. • [(dozens) (of people)]. • [(He parked) (off the main street)]. • [(a matter) (of
great importance)]. • [(You know) (what he said) (surprised me)]. • [(This happened) (at about 10 O’ clock) (last
night)].

So the junction between an idea unit (whether it contains only one grammatical unit or two or three) and the idea
unit next to it tends to be a natural grammatical break — a grammatical junction.

But remember that this is just a tendency. And so, this is just what’s likely to happen often, or what happens
often — but not what actually happens all the time.

When you speak spontaneously, (that is, without prior planning or preparation), idea unit junctions may not often
coincide with grammatical junctions. You see, spontaneous speech situations are not ideal, because in those
situations, you’re not delivering something planned ahead, or composed or organized in advance. Nor are you
making a scripted speech. When you speak spontaneously, you find yourself having to compose your speech
and speak at the same time. You have to think and plan your speech, produce it, organize it and process it as
you go along. And the time you have at your disposal, in order to do all this, is limited to the duration of speech.

What fluent speakers do in such a situation is to put together units of ideas or information that occur to them on
the spot. They put them together by using such words and structures as occur to them on the spot. And they
refine and clarify things as they speak along — by uttering other clarifying idea units.

This is so, whether the spontaneous speech situation is public, non-public, formal, non-formal, informal or casual
or whatever.

So when fluent speakers speak spontaneously, their idea units may not often end exactly at grammatical breaks,
and so their idea units may not often be whole grammatical units. Their idea units would be a word or two
shorter than a whole grammatical unit, or a word or two longer than a whole grammatical unit. That is, their idea
units would often be fragmented grammatical units. And so, many of the chunk junctions may not happen to be
grammatical junctions.

In other words, many of the junction pauses in spontaneous speech may not actually happen at grammatical
junctions. (Most often, they happen at the foot-boundary next to a grammatical junction).

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Non-spontaneous speech
Bear in mind that we’ve been speaking about spontaneous speech — speech that’s produced without prior
planning, preparation or rehearsal.

But when you speak after preparation, or when you speak about something that you have spoken about several
times before, most idea units tend to be whole grammatical units, and most idea unit junctions tend to be
grammatical junctions. This is because in such cases, you don’t hesitate as much as you do when you speak
about a new topic spontaneously.

When you read aloud from a prepared text or when you prepare your speech thoroughly in advance and deliver
it in a formal setting, almost all idea units would end at grammatical breaks. That is, almost all idea units would
then be whole (= unfragmented) grammatical units. And so, in these ideal situations, almost all idea unit
junctions would coincide with grammatical junctions. And in these situations, almost all junction pauses happen
at grammatical junctions.

Hesitation pauses
Hesitation pauses are pauses that speakers make whenever they have some kind of hesitation. You can make
these pauses anywhere — at any point in the speech stream. Yes, any: You can make them not only in the
middle, but also at the end or at the beginning of idea units.

Normally, you make a hesitation pause under the following circumstances:

• You make a hesitation pause when you’re uncertain about what to say next, or when you’re deciding what to
say next. This often happens when you have something to say, but you have not planned it in detail. This is a
speech-planning pause, and this usually occurs immediately after the first one or two words in an idea unit —
often after the very first word.

• You make a hesitation pause when you’re not sure that what you’ve said or what you’re going to say is right.

• You make a hesitation pause when you have difficulty in finding an appropriate word.

• You make a hesitation pause when you want to utter a word that’s specially significant or that’s of high lexical
content or that may sound surprising in that context.

• You make a hesitation pause when you have difficulty completing a particular syntactic structure.

Remember that when you want to deal with hesitation, you’re free to pause anywhere in your utterance — that
is, not only in the middle of an idea unit, but also at the end or even at the beginning of an idea unit. So suppose
that you pause at a junction, and that your aim in pausing there is to deal with a hesitation, then that pause is
actually a hesitation pause, rather than a junction pause, though you make it at a junction.

You’ve already seen in this Lesson that you can make a junction pause even if you have no hesitation when you
reach a junction. But as far as a hesitation pause is concerned, speakers normally make it only if they have
some hesitation. Mind you, when you speak spontaneously even for a few seconds, there will be points of
hesitation here and there in your speech. That is, whenever anybody speaks continuously, they’ll certainly
hesitate every now and then.

So a hesitation pause is made because of this reason: You won’t be able to go on with your speech without
faltering — if you don’t pause at every point of hesitation and deal with the hesitation properly.

Now go through the following examples. In these examples, the symbol ‘–’ stands for a hesitation pause, and
the symbol ‘+’ stands for a junction pause.

Eg: • Who planned + and directed the – campaign? • If – you have any doubts + why don’t you – express them?
• Pull on the rope + and see if it’s – secure. • Fry the onions + but – don’t use too much – oil. • He shows –
contempt for everybody. • That road +– ran by the side of a – railway. • He had a job + in the – Civil Service.

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In this Lesson, we’ll be dealing with hesitation pauses in detail. Don’t get worried over the difference between
junction pauses and hesitation pauses or about any other aspect now. Once you finish going through the
explanations and examples, you’ll find that this is not a complicated topic at all.

Training in ‘General Structures’

We saw the first instalment of GSs in Lesson 2. Let’s now go through the second instalment.

Some of you may now be thinking like this: ‘Oh, these are all elementary sentences. Why should I learn them at
all?’. If you have any such thought, give it up. The aim of the practice with GSs is not to improve your
understanding of the meanings of words or word groups. The aim of the practice is to help you get your organs
of speech used to working in a special way — the way the English language wants them to work. You must be
clear in your mind about this aim. That’s why I explained the reasons behind our drills early on. (Here, read
through what I have said about GSs in Lesson 2). Of course, the drills give you another benefit on the side: They
put you in the midst of ‘everyday vocabulary’ — word groups that help you carry on conversations of all kinds.
But that’s only a side benefit. The main aim of the drills with GSs is this: To get the patterns of the structures
fixed in your mind, so that it becomes second nature to you to use those patterns to build speech.

The way speech gets produced

Here’s something you should firmly understand:

You know, human beings have a tendency — the tendency to imitate things. You have that tendency; everybody
has that tendency. The word ‘imitate’ only roughly expresses the idea. There’s no exact word for that tendency.
But you can easily get an idea of what that tendency is: That tendency is to make things by copying. To make
new things that are similar to the things that are already known — by using the known things as models.

For example, if you hear a song with a special tune, you have a tendency to make up other songs with the same
tune — using other words. If you notice that most others are wearing a particular kind of dress, you have a
tendency to get a similar dress for you. If you’re faced with a tough situation and you have to take a decision,
your tendency is to find out whether others have faced similar situations in the past, and if so, what decisions
they have taken.

All these are examples of the same thing — our mental slant. We always imitate. Sometimes consciously;
sometimes unconsciously. Show me something. I am sure to imitate it — consciously or unconsciously. And
here comes the importance of the GSs. I’m putting you in the middle of those GSs. You’re sure to imitate them
— consciously or unconsciously. And what is the result of this imitation? Production of new idea units, of course!
That is, new idea units that are similar to the GS word groups.

Frame-work for speech-production

Now we can look at everything from another angle. Suppose you want to make up a song. Your work will be
easier if you have another song to copy. Suppose you want to make a dress. Your work will be easier, if you
have another dress as a ‘pattern’. Suppose you want to take a decision on some issues. Your work will be
easier, if you have another decision on a similar issue as a guide.

So this is the point: It’ll be easier for you to do anything, if you can have another thing as a reference or pattern
or guide or frame-work.

Of course, when you make anything with reference to a pattern or guide or frame-work, you’re free to make
changes here and there. But the point is this: The pattern or guide or frame-work will make it easy for you to
make new things. This is so about making new idea units, too. GSs are nothing but patterns or guides or frame
works. That’s why they’re called ‘structures’. Think about the structure of a tall building. It’s just a frame-work or
skeleton. You have to fill it up with bricks and other materials to make the building. In the same way, a GS is only
a frame-work or a skeleton. You can fill it up with words and word groups to make an idea unit.

Shape of speech units

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You see, the word groups given under GS No. 1, GS No. 2, GS No. 3, etc. are only examples of GSs — and not
GSs themselves. GSs are the ‘shapes’ of those examples. For example, look at the examples under GS No. 1.
They all have a common shape, don’t they? That ‘shape’ is GS No. 1. It’s that ‘shape’ that must get ‘imprinted’
on your mind.

Fluency tools

Think about children. Take the case of a boy or girl aged 10 or 12. Their vocabulary in their mother-tongue isn’t
large. They know how to use just about 2000 words or so in their mother-tongue. That’s all. But still, aren’t they
able to speak fluently in their mother-tongue?

You see, they’ve learnt to fit those few words in different ways into the basic syntactic structures of their
language — unconsciously. They’ve unconsciously picked up the ‘feel’ about the various structures by listening
to other people and from reading — and through actively using them in real life situations. They’ve also learnt
how to fill those structures with the words and word groups they know.

These structures and the limited vocabulary they’ve mastered are the core of their language skill. These core
structures help them expand their fluency, because whenever they learn a new word or word group, they can
easily fit them into those structures, and make newer and newer idea units. For example, a boy or girl of 10 or
12 has been exposed only to a very limited quantity of their mother-tongue. Yet, with that limited quantity, they’re
able to produce an unlimited quantity of idea units. The key to this mystery is this: They have mastery over the
core structures, and these core structures help them process, bend, twist and manipulate the limited quantity of
the language they know in a number of different ways. They can fit the words and word groups they know into
the basic structures appropriately — to suit their communicative convenience. In short, the core structures help
them juggle with and manipulate the words they know. The core structures are their fluency tools.

Repeated exposure

It’s true that children know only a very few words. Yes, they’re exposed only to a limited quantity of language.
But there’s one thing. They come across this limited quantity not just a few times, but a lot of times. They come
across and use the few words that they know in a large number of contexts and situations. And they’re exposed
to the limited quantity of the language they know quite frequently, too.

So this is the point: The more frequently you come across the same thing, the more you will become acquainted
with it. That’s why it’s useless to spend your time trying to learn a lot of ‘newer’ and ‘newer’ words. Instead, you
should be paying more and more attention to the words you already know.

The most important point in vocabulary choice

Why do you speak at all? What is the reason why you speak to someone? Because you want to be nice and
friendly to them — or because you want to communicate something to them. Isn’t that so? But will you be
successful in your efforts if the addressees do not understand the words you use? If they don’t understand your
words, is there any point in your speaking to them? Of course not.

So isn’t one thing plain? Your speech must be ‘understandable’ to your addressees. And how can you make
sure that what you say would be ‘understandable’ to your addressees? The most important thing you should do
is this: Use only those words that the addressees can understand. That is, the words you use must be known to
the addressees. But this brings up a difficulty. Is it practically possible to find out how many words each of your
addressees know?

So the only solution to this problem is this: There are certain fundamental, everyday, words. These are words
that every speaker normally uses and every hearer normally understands. Use only those words while you’re
speaking. Then you can be sure that your addressees would understand those words, too.

About words you should master

24
Now what are these fundamental, everyday, words? You see, they’re the core-words I told you about in Lesson
2.

Here let me tell you one thing: There’s no use in making up a list of the core-words and learning their meanings
alone. For example, the word ‘beautiful’ means ‘nice to look at’. You certainly should have a clear understanding
of this meaning in your mind. But you needn’t learn to explain this meaning in words. What you need to learn is
to ‘use’ the word ‘beautiful’. That is, you need to fit this word into the various structures that are possible. This
means that you must have a command of these structures.

You’ll come across the most essential ones among the core words several times in this course. They’ve been
spread out throughout the several Lessons in such a way that they stick in your mind unconsciously. Here you
should note two things:

1) I am not talking about limiting the vocabulary range to an artificial number (say, 2000 words), because
occasionally, you’ll have to go beyond this range — depending on the nature of the topic you’re speaking about.
And may have to use several ‘special words’, too. These special words are not part of the core words. I have
already told you about these special words in Lesson 2. Now go back to Lesson 2 and find out what these
special words are.

2) Nobody can be precise and say that there are only 2000 core words, or 1999 core words or 2001 core words.
All we can say is this: There are about 2000 words that can meet more than 75% of everybody’s vocabulary
needs in speech. And if you have a complete mastery of about 3500 most frequently-used words, vocabulary
difficulty won’t stop you from being fluent. When you want to speak about a wide variety of subjects, especially
in educated circles, you may have to use a higher vocabulary range. But even then, if you have a good
command of about 4700 words, you won’t have any vocabulary-related difficulty.

Objective-based vocabulary-development

So the crux of all I have been saying is this: There’s no use in hunting after ‘newer’ and ‘newer’ words — as far
as fluency building is concerned. That is not worth the effort.

Remember this: I am speaking about production vocabulary, that too, speech-production vocabulary, and not
about recognition vocabulary. That is, I’m speaking about the vocabulary you need to have mastery of in order to
produce speech — and not about the vocabulary that you need to have acquaintance with in order you
understand written things while reading. Mind you, our aim is ‘fluency development’. For fluency development,
your attention should be on words you and others are likely to actively use in order to produce speech. (In fact,
this is true not only of fluency in spoken English, but also of fluency in plain written English — plain, straight-
forward, modern English).

I’ve already pointed out in Lesson 2 that your ‘reading’ vocabulary would always be far higher than your ‘spoken’
and ‘written’ vocabulary. But even if you come across a few words that you do not know while reading, there’s no
point in rushing to learn their meanings and usage. Normally, the context in which those words occur will give
you an idea of the whole passage.

If you’re a college graduate or above, and if you’ve done your studies through the medium of English in college,
and if you (with your educational background) have not come across those words so far, the chances are that
those words are not words in general use. So even if you spend time mastering them now, you won’t be able to
use them.

Packing of information

The extent of your fluency in spoken English depends on an important factor: The way you pack information in
your speech. That is, the way you pack words within your idea units, as well as the way you pack idea units
within your speech. If you pack information densely, you will find it difficult to be fluent. If you pack information
loosely, you will find it easier to be fluent. This is the general principle of information-packing.

25
This principle is of great importance for fluency-development. So we must take it up immediately. We’ll only be
able to get a clear idea of this principle if we do one thing: We must look at a basic point of difference between
spoken English and written English. This all-important difference is this: Written English normally packs
information densely. But spontaneous spoken English always packs information loosely.

So here’s a fundamental principle you should always remember: Never pack information in speech the way you
pack information in writing.

Techniques of information-packing

How does written English pack information densely? How does spoken English pack information loosely? These
things happen in the following ways:

A. Written English uses a tight syntax. But spoken English uses a loose syntax. (‘Syntax’ is the grammatical
arrangement of words). And so written English relies more on a ‘hierarchical arrangement’ of clauses called
subordination than spoken English does. Spoken English relies far less on subordination. What spoken English
does is to rely far more on an ‘equal arrangement’ of clauses called co-ordination than written English.

B. Written English uses heavily-modified, complex phrases freely. Spoken English does not.

C. Written English goes in search of the ‘right’ words and uses ‘specific’ and ‘non-general’ words wherever
possible. Spoken English does not do so. Spoken English prefers non-specific and general words.

A. Subordination and co-ordination

We can connect two clauses by one of these methods:

1) Co-ordination; or 2) Subordination.

In co-ordination, we connect two clauses by the conjunctions and, and then, or, but, so, yet, nor, neither, either...
or, and neither... nor. (Or, sometimes we just utter two independent clauses next to each other — without using
a co-ordinator between the two).

In subordination, we connect clauses by conjunctions like after, although, when, etc. (There are, of course, other
methods of subordinating a clause, and we’ll look at them later in this Lesson).

You see, co-ordination is far more helpful than subordination in speech-production. The reason is this: If you
connect two clauses by co-ordination, the clauses continue to remain structurally independent, and one clause
does not become a burden on the other by becoming structurally dependent on it. This sort of ‘equal
arrangement’ is not a tight arrangement (as subordination is), and so, it makes the speech-production process
quite flexible.

Eg: I was coming from the office + and I saw an elephant.

Here the clauses ‘I was coming from the office’ and ‘I saw an elephant’ are both independent clauses, because
neither of them is a constituent element of the other. But if we connect the two clauses by subordination, the
clause that has been subordinated becomes a constituent of the other clause, and becomes embedded in it —
by becoming fixed there firmly and deeply. And the clause that has been subordinated loses its independent
status.

Eg: As I was coming from the office + I saw an elephant. (Or, I saw an elephant + as I was coming from the
office).

Here the clause that’s been subordinated is: ‘as I was coming from the office’. (It’s been subordinated by making
it start with the subordinator ‘as’). This is not an independent clause, because it cannot stand alone as a
sentence. The subordinating conjunction ‘as’ has forced it to become a constituent element of the matrix clause

26
‘I saw an elephant’. Thus subordination has brought about an ‘unequal’ arrangement, and has created a
hierarchical order — with the matrix clause having superior status (because it can stand alone as a sentence)
and the subordinate clause having inferior status (because it cannot usually stand alone as a sentence).

On the other hand, in co-ordination, the clauses that are linked together continue having equal status, because
they continue to remain independent.

Matrix clause first

You see, the idea units in spontaneous speech are not made up before we start speaking. No. They’re made up
as we speak on and, that too, under pressure of time. So speakers don’t have the time to hierarchically arrange
their clauses into matrix clauses and subordinate clauses. What they normally find easier to do is this: Utter
independent unit after independent unit, and leave them independent and of equal status — through co-
ordination.

But don’t be under a wrong impression. In spontaneous speech, nobody can avoid subordination completely.
No. This is because, in certain situations, grammar, usage or even common sense gives you no choice.

Now suppose that a construction that occurs to you spontaneously is a subordinate one and that it tends to
become involved or complicated — making it difficult for you to keep up a flow of speech. Then you can avoid
the problems of subordination in four ways: (i) Convert the subordinate construction into a co-ordinate one; (ii)
Leave the subordinate clause half-finished, and start uttering a new independent clause in its place; (iii)
Reconstruct the subordinate clause differently, by introducing it with a simple subordinator — rather than in any
other way. (iv) Reconstruct your utterance, by uttering the matrix clause first and the subordinate clause next.

The fourth point is very important. You see, written English often prefers the order ‘subordinate clause first and
matrix clause next’.

Eg: As I was coming from the office + I saw an elephant.

But spoken English prefers the order ‘matrix clause first and the subordinate clause next’.

Eg: I saw an elephant + as I was coming from the office.

This is the natural order. You know, you can avoid a lot of problems that subordination brings up by this simple
trick: Utter the matrix clause first and the subordinate clause next.

Note 1: In writing as well as in speech, co-ordination is more frequent than subordination. But between writing
and speech, you’ll find the percentage of co-ordination far more in speech than in writing.

Note 2: If the speech is formal, the percentage of subordination would be more than if it is informal. In fact, the
less formal the speech becomes, the less the percentage of subordination and the more the percentage of co-
ordination.

Nature of information-packing and fluency

You see, when you connect one clause to the next by co-ordination, you feel a sense of completeness at the
end of each clause. You have a feeling that there’s no syntactic compulsion to continue in a rigidly-fixed
direction. You do not feel under any syntactic pressure to construct the next clause in a particular way. No. In
fact, you have a feeling of considerable syntactic freedom, and you feel free to construct it in a way that suits
your convenience.

But what happens in subordination is entirely different:

Eg: As I was coming from the office + I saw an elephant.

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Here the subordinate clause ‘As I was coming from the office’ has been placed first, and so this is a tight
arrangement. If you follow this tight arrangement, you feel a sense of incompleteness at the end of the
subordinate clause. And there’s then in you a sense of restraint and a sense of being tied down to something.
This is because your mind is burdened by a thought: “Now that I’ve uttered a subordinate clause, I’ll have to
utter a matrix clause too, and I’m bound to construct it in a way that the subordinate clause dictates, and not in a
way that I find convenient”. That is, after uttering ‘As I was coming from the office’, you don’t feel that your
responsibility for the utterance is over. There’s a sense of syntactic compulsion weighing down on your mind,
asking you to continue in a rigidly-fixed direction. You’re now under considerable syntactic pressure to construct
the next clause in a pre-determined way. And you don’t have any syntactic choice — as when you use co-
ordination.

So at the end of the subordinate clause that’s been placed first, you tend to lose your speech-composition
balance, and you tend to falter, and you find it difficult to continue. In fact, subordination tends to make you lose
not only your speech-composition balance, but also your speech-delivery balance. Mind you, when you utter the
subordinate clause first, there’s no sense of completeness at the end of that clause. So your organs of speech
are in stretched (and uncomfortable) positions towards the end of the subordinate clause. And they try to
complete the subordinate clause and to start the matrix clause from their stretched and uncomfortable positions
— and not from their normal or relaxed positions. Naturally, you find it difficult to speak with a flow. Your speech
tends to falter and comes to a stop.

You see, this does not happen in co-ordination.

That’s why, if you employ subordination, it’s generally better to utter the matrix clause first, and the subordinate
clause next. Do this as far as possible. You see, when you do that, a lot of the syntactic pressure on your mind
gets relieved. This is because at the end of the matrix clause (which you utter first), you have several syntactic
options for the next idea unit. Subordination then becomes just one of those several options. And when you
follow this order, your subordinate arrangement becomes a lot similar to a co-ordinate arrangement, because
the structure of the subordinate arrangement would then be:

Independent clause + Connector+ Independent clause.

The only difference then between the two types of arrangement is this: In co-ordination, the connector is a co-
ordinating conjunction, and in subordination, the connector is a subordinating conjunction.

Now listen. Suppose that you happen to start your utterance with a subordinate clause (rather than with a matrix
clause). And suppose that you run into speech-composition difficulties. Then you can get over the difficulties by
leaving the subordinate clause unfinished. You see, this kind of unfinished units and incomplete structures are
quite common in naturally-occurring speech. A main reason is this: When your organs of speech are already in
stretched positions, you’ll find it necessary to relieve them of the pressure on them. So you give up the structure
half-finished. Then your organs of speech would immediately come back to their normal positions, and they
become relaxed and free of the pressure on them. The organs of speech can then start the next utterance from
these relaxed positions.

Impromptu word group ordering

Makeshift improvisations

We’ve already learnt that spontaneous speech is composed and spoken at the same time. That is, spontaneous
speech-making is an impromptu action — one that you do without planning or organizing it in advance.
Therefore, if you look at a long stretch of spontaneous speech, you can always notice one thing: Spontaneous
speech has a distinctive flavour — the flavour of “makeshift improvisations”.

The reason is this: In spontaneous speech, you use a particular word group only because nothing better occurs
to you readily — and not because you know that that particular word group is the most appropriate one. You
see, when you start speaking, the information that you want to convey is not available in an organized form or
set in words. So the only option you have is to speak on by using such word groups as occur to you as suitable
on the spur of the moment —whatever they may be. You’re not definite that you’re using word groups that are

28
absolutely right. You want to try them out, feel them out, experiment with them. You want to see what’ll happen.
Then you refine and edit what you’ve said — words, word groups, structures, everything. These processes of
‘trying out’ and ‘editing’ go on — one after the other.

In other words, when you speak spontaneously, you speak exploratorily. You see, it’s like this: How will you
move from one end of a room to another in the dark? You feel the ground; you feel the walls; you move your
hands around or hold them in front of you in order to feel your way; you move step by step — pausing here and
there. You retrace your steps. You change your direction, you stumble and regain balance. The more familiar the
room and the objects in it are to you, the less your difficulty. In spontaneous speech also, you proceed almost in
the same way. The more familiar the subject-matter is to you, the less your difficulty.

Thus everything that you say in spontaneous speech is tentative —and subject to revision and refinement. True,
you may not revise or refine everything. But everything is subject to revision and refinement. Many of the things,
you revise and refine. The remaining things, you leave in their crude forms.

Therefore, from the very nature of its production, spoken language gets the flavour of “makeshift
improvisations”. It’s this flavour that gives an individuality of its own to spoken language — and marks it out from
written language. If you take away the tentativeness, the vagueness and the lack of exactness from spoken
language, it would immediately cease to be spoken language.

Special ways of word group ordering

The earlier Lessons have taken you through a number of spontaneous spoken English texts — texts containing
speech-composition features. An important point that would have struck your mind is this: The way a sizeable
proportion of word groups is ordered (arranged) in spoken English — it’s different from the way word groups are
ordered (arranged) in written English.

The reason for this difference is this: If you order word groups in certain special ways, it’ll be easier for you to
plan and execute your speech simultaneously. That is, these special ways of word group-ordering will help you
in the moment-to-moment speech-production more than the written English style of word group-ordering. In
other words, these special ways of word group ordering will help you make makeshift-improvisations and, thus,
help you compose your speech and speak at the same time.

But here’s something you should remember: All this doesn’t mean that you should only compose whatever you
say in these special ways. No, that’s not what I mean. What I mean is this: There are special methods that you
can use when you find normal methods (of structuring clauses and groups of clauses and phrases) inconvenient
in certain contexts. These are certainly supplements to the normal methods — and not substitutes for them.
When ordinary syntactic processes fail to help you to keep up an acceptable level of fluency, you don’t have to
falter and the flow of your speech doesn’t have to stop. There are these special ways of word group ordering in
existence, and you can (and must) take help from them. And I want you to understand that every fluent speaker
depends a lot on them.

Let’s now examine these special ways of word group-ordering in spoken English.

1. Topic–comment arrangement

Take this word group:

When is the next train to Delhi?

This is a simple question, and it’s grammatically sound (even according to written English rules). And you can
use it in spoken English also. But there’s a more natural and simpler way of asking this question in spoken
English:

The next train to Delhi – when is it?

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Here what the speaker has done is this: He presented the topic (theme) first: “The next train to Madras”. Then
he made a comment on it — separately, by an independent structure: “When is it?”

Here’s another example:

This habit of yours – it will get you into difficulties.

The normal style — acceptable in written English also — is this: “This habit of yours will get you into difficulties”.

This type of Topic-Comment arrangement is very common in spoken English. This type of word group ordering
will liberate you from the written English clutch to a great extent.

A few examples will help you master the knack. Here we go:

Group 1

• That man + who is he? • The man who shouted at me + he’s in the next room. • Our new boss + have you met
him? • That man + I’ve seen him somewhere. • Your friend + what’s his name? • The postman + his house is
somewhere there. • John’s sister + is she abroad? • My wife + she’s from Calcutta. • His mother + have you
seen her? • The girl I told you about + I didn’t see her there today. • The girl in red + is her father abroad? • Your
secretary + her computer needs repairing. • The cash book + where is it? • Your letter + I got it yesterday. • His
book + what’s its name? • This shirt + I don’t like its colour. • The thieves + were they wearing masks? • Father
and mother + they’re coming today. • Those people + do you know them? • These men + you should be cautious
about them. • Your friends + what’s their interest in this? • The manufacturers + it’s their fault. • The cake you
gave + did he eat all of it? • The oil in this bottle + I took a little of it. • The things he said + none of them is true.

Group 2

• Crying like this + it wouldn’t help you at all. • Meeting him there + it’s no use. • Shouting at her like this + what
good will it do? • Working with them + isn’t it a great privilege? • Making all these arrangements + it isn’t easy. •
Threatening him + it’s not wise. • Moving to another place + it won’t solve the problem. • Getting a part-time job
+ will it be difficult? • Attending evening classes + I find it inconvenient. • Travelling around + she finds it exciting.
• Doing the washing up + she finds it tedious.

2. Comment–topic arrangement

This arrangement is the reverse of the topic-comment arrangement. That is, here we make a comment about
the topic (theme) first, and then emphasize the topic by presenting it as a tag.

For example, take this word group:

Where has the gate-keeper gone?

The topic-comment arrangement of this question would be like this:

The gate-keeper + where has he gone?

On the other hand, the comment-topic arrangement would be like this: Where has he gone + the gate-keeper?

In spoken English, the comment–topic arrangement is as important as the topic-comment arrangement. The
following word groups will help you learn the arrangement:

Group 1

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• Who’s he + that man? • He’s in the next room + the man who shouted at me. • Have you met him + our new
boss? • I’ve seen him somewhere + that man. • What’s his name + your friend’s? • His house is somewhere
there + the postman’s. • Is she abroad + John’s sister? • Have you seen her + his mother? • I didn’t see her
there today + the girl I told you about. • Is her father abroad + that girl’s + the girl in red. • Her computer needs
repairing + your secretary’s. • Where is it + the cash book? • I got it yesterday + your letter. • What’s its name +
his book’s? • I don’t like its colour + this shirt’s. • Were they wearing masks + the thieves? • They’re coming
today + father and mother. • Do you know them + those people? • You should be cautious about them + these
men. • What’s their interest in this + your friends? • It’s their fault + the manufacturers’. • Did he eat all of it + the
cake you gave? • I took a little of it + the oil. • None of them is true + the things he said.

Group 2

• It wouldn’t help you at all + crying like this. • It’s no use + meeting him there. • What good will it do + shouting
at her like this? • Isn’t it a great privilege + working with them? • It isn’t easy + making all these arrangements. •
It’s not wise + threatening him. • It won’t solve the problem + moving to another place. • Will it be difficult +
getting a part-time job? • I find it inconvenient + attending evening classes. • She finds it exciting + travelling
around. • She finds it tedious + doing the washing up.

Group 3

• Does anyone know it + how you’re going to handle the situation? • Will father do it + what mother has asked
him to do? • Can you predict it + which team will win? • Have you settled it + where to go for the picnic? • Do the
police know it + the place the murderer is hiding in? • Does she suspect it + that the cloth is quite cheap? • Do
they believe it + that he’s an educated man? • Have you found it + how they broke open the door?

Fluency through mouth gymnastics

All non-native speakers of English face a major problem when they try to speak fluent English.

You see, every language requires your organs of speech to work in certain ways in order to produce the sounds
and sequences of sounds in that language. Your mother-tongue is no exception. And mind you, you’ve been
using your organs of speech and producing the sounds and sequences of sounds in your mother-tongue since
you were a child. From such a long experience, your organs of speech have got into certain habits. And they
now have certain set ways of moving and working: These are habits that suit mostly your mother-tongue, and
not English.

Now many of the sounds and most of the sequences of sounds in the English language have features that are
different from those of the sounds and sequences of sounds in your mother tongue. And so the English
language requires your organs of speech to move and work in a different set of ways.

But because your organs of speech tend to move and work in certain set patterns, they resist and fight shy of
moving and working in the new ways that the English language requires them to work. And when you speak,
they move in ‘non-English’ ways. This causes you to stumble on some English sounds at several places, and on
most English sound sequences at most places.

Past experience handicaps advanced non-native learners

For advanced non-native learners of English, there’s another difficulty: They know English reasonably well or
quite well. But you see, they’ve been speaking non-fluent or semi-fluent English for some years. This experience
is actually a liability, and not something helpful. The reason is this: From the experience they’ve had in speaking
non-fluent or broken English, their organs of speech have acquired the habit of working in “wrong” ways —
because in order to speak non-fluent English they’ve been using their organs of speech to work in non-English
ways, that is, in the patterns set by their mother-tongue. So if they want to achieve true fluency, they’ll first have
to get their organs of speech to break these “wrong” habits, and then re-educate them in the “right” habits suited
to the fluent production of English speech.

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So remember this: If you want to become fluent in spoken English, you should train your organs of speech to
move and work in the way that the English language requires them to move and work — so that they stop
moving and working in ‘wrong’ ways, and start moving and working in ‘right’ ways while you’re speaking English.

Now don’t get me wrong: All this doesn’t mean that, from now on, your organs of speech must stop working
altogether in the way your mother-tongue or any other language requires them to work. No. What I mean is this:
When you speak English, your organs of speech must work in the way the English language requires them to
work, and not in the way your mother-tongue requires them to work. And when you speak your mother-tongue,
your organs of speech must work in the way your mother-tongue requires them to work, and not in any other
way.

Mouth gymnastics

Now how can you get your organs of speech to get used to working in the new ways that the English language
requires them to work? The only effective way is this: Train them. Train them in moving, bending and working in
patterns that they’re not used to. You can do this by uttering aloud a “sufficient” quantity of specially selected
word groups a “sufficient” number of times. These word groups must be those that are capable of exercising all
the organs of speech in the new ways.

You see, this sort of training develops the strength, co-ordination and agility of your organs of speech and
increases their muscular dexterity. We’ll call this sort of training ‘mouth gymnastics’.

Ineffective methods
There’s a traditional method that can train your organs of speech. But this method won’t help you achieve
fluency. This method is to get the learners to train with what are known as ‘tongue-twisters’ or sentences that are
difficult to say. Here are a few such tongue-twisters:

• Lots of hot coffee in a proper copper coffee-pot.

• Six thin thistle sticks.
• A pinch of paprika pepper popped in a paper poke.
• Two toads totally tired of trying to trot to Tetbury.

This method is often used in English-speaking countries to train professionals like drama actors and actresses
who are already fluent in English, but who have to produce and imitate different types of sounds and sequences
of sounds other than their own genuine sounds. This method is not suitable to train the organs of speech of
people who are trying to achieve fluency. You see, even native speakers of English who are quite fluent in
speech find it difficult to say these tongue-twisters easily without special training. So remember this: What you
need is not training with tongue-twisters, because that kind of training won’t help you achieve fluency.

There’s also a variation of the tongue-twister training. This is to keep uttering aloud poems or nonsense word
groups overstuffed with a particular sound or sequences of sounds. This method is also employed to train drama
actors and actresses. Often, this method is adopted in English-speaking countries to train children in nursery
schools in the basic sounds of English. Here are two such traditional poems:

• Round and round the rugged rocks

The ragged rascals ran their rural races.

• Betty Botter bought some butter,

But, she said the butter’s bitter;
If I put in my batter
It will make my batter bitter.
So she bought a bit of butter
Better than her bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter,
And so the batter wasn’t bitter.

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• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper;
A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,
Where’s the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?

But understand this: Even this method is not suitable for adult fluency trainees, because the skill of making the
basic English sounds with perfection won’t make you fluent in speech. First of all, what you need is not just the
skill of making the basic sounds in isolation, but the skill of making sequences of those sounds — that is, the
basic sounds in a variety of combinations. Secondly, it’s even not enough that you gain the skill of making
sequences of the basic sounds. What you need is the skill of making sequences of those sounds as they occur
in the word groups used in normal speech. And the word groups used in normal speech are of a kind totally
different from the poems, nursery rhymes and nonsense word groups overstuffed with one or two basic sounds.

Fluency in “wrong” usages is a handicap

There’s another reason why the mouth gymnastics that non-native speakers do must be with everyday word
groups, and not with tongue twisters or nonsense word groups or poems and nursery rhymes overstuffed with
one or two specific sounds.

We’ve already seen that advanced non-native learners have an added difficulty, because their organs of speech
have acquired fluency in working in the ‘wrong’ ways. Now advanced non-native learners face yet another
difficulty. As they have the experience of speaking English for a few years, the chances are that they’ve acquired
fluency in wrong and inappropriate usages — usages that do not occur in genuine, natural, native English. If
they want to achieve fluency in genuine English, they’ll have to break these wrong habits, too — and they’ll have
to pick up native speaker-like habits.

Training with specially selected everyday word groups would help you get over all these difficulties at one stroke.

So what I’m going to do in this Lesson is to give you collections of everyday word groups. These word groups
are not random ones and have not been put together in a random way. No. They’re specially selected word
groups. You see, each collection has been put together in such a way as to give most training to a particular
organ of speech. This training helps that organ to stop being clumsy, stiff and awkward while producing English
sound sequences and to start producing them smoothly and with suppleness — in co-ordination with other
organs of speech. Each collection focuses attention on a particular organ of speech — that is, on the way it
works together with one or more other organs in order to produce connected speech. And you’ll not find them
overstuffed with any particular sound to an extent that is artificial. You see, in natural speech, there’s always a
certain interval between the occurrences of the same sound or the same sequence of sounds within a word
group uttered as a single unit.

Word classes for mouth gymnastics

You’ll find the collections of word groups you’re going to get categorized into three major classes:

1). Throat class. 2). Mouth class. 3). Nasal class.

And you’ll find the word groups under each class grouped organ wise as follows:

1). Throat class.

(i) Larynx group. (ii) Pharynx group. (iii) Velar group.

2). Mouth class.

(i) Tongue group. (ii) Dental group. (iii) Alveolar group. (iv) Hard palate group. (v) Velar-proper group. (vi) Lip
group.

33
3). Nasal class.

Knowledge of organs of speech

Strictly speaking, it’s not necessary for you to understand why I’ve called a particular group of words a ‘larynx
group’, ‘alveolar group’, etc. Nor is it essential to find out what a larynx or pharynx is. All that you need to do is to
train your organs of speech with the word groups given under each head. This is because it’s from this practice
that the organs become supple and you get control over them and become able to move them and bend them
and make them work the way English language wants them to move, bend and work.

But experience has shown one thing: If you’re a serious fluency trainee, you’ll find it helpful to have at least a
general idea of what your organs of speech are, and what roles they play in forming speech sounds. This
understanding helps you have a clear idea of how one English sound differs in quality from another. And this
awareness would keep working inside you and would help you pronounce English better.

A person’s “make-up”

A person’s “make-up” is his/her nature or a combination of the various qualities that form their character.

I have chosen this topic for you because this is an area in which most people aren’t fluent.

If you monitor day-to-day conversations for a long time, you’ll be convinced of one thing: There are four subjects
that very often come up during all conversations. They are:

1). A person’s behaviour.

2). A person’s attitude.

3). A person’s intelligence.

4). A person’s personality and personality traits.

These are the main elements in a person’s make-up, and during conversations, most people fail miserably in
expressing ideas that have to do with these four subjects.

Why does this happen? Why do you often find it difficult to speak about someone’s behaviour, attitude,
intelligence, personality or personality traits?

These are the chief reasons: Firstly, though you know the core words in English, you may not have much
experience in using them to speak about these topics (a person’s behaviour, attitude, etc.). Secondly, to speak
about a person’s behaviour, attitude etc., you should be good at using English in the “descriptive style” — and
this style is quite different from the style of ordinary functional English dialogues.

The second reason needs some explanation.

In very general terms, we can classify the English language as “descriptive English” and “non-descriptive
English”. Descriptive English is the type of English that you use when you want to explain or describe what
someone or something is like or what they look like. And when you use descriptive English, what you actually do
is to try and give a picture of someone or something to your listeners. For example, take the following word-
groups:

• He’s a man of powerful build with a severe face.

• She’s a tall, business-like, woman of 35.

34
• He’s a short man in the early fifties, with a bald head.

• She had a blue dress on.

• His house has an entrance hall, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bath.

• The floor is of white tiles.

• A hovercraft is a sort of vehicle, and it travels above the surface of land or water, and it can float above the
land or water on a cushion of air.

These are examples of descriptive English. On the other hand, take the following examples:

• Don’t repeat the same mistakes.

• You’d better explain everything to her.

• Perhaps you may have a point there.

• Sorry, I’m not ready yet.

• That’s all right.

• I’m happy about the whole idea.

• Have a look at this photo.

• I’m not satisfied with this mixer.

Here you’re not trying to describe or explain what someone or something is like or what they look like, and so
these are not examples of descriptive English, but of non-descriptive English. (Just a casual look at the two sets
of examples would give you an idea of the difference between the two styles).

In general, when you speak about a person’s behaviour, attitude, etc., the style of English you use is the
descriptive English style, and not the non-descriptive English style.

Now, there’s a complicating factor: When you describe or explain the physical appearance of a person or a
thing, things are not very difficult, because you’re then speaking about concrete things — things you can see or
touch or things whose pictures you can easily form in your mind. But when you describe or explain the qualities
of a person or thing, the position is different. You’re then speaking about abstract things (and not concrete
things) — things you cannot see or touch or things whose pictures you can’t readily form in your mind (because
they don’t exist as material objects).

So when you try to speak about the behaviour, attitude etc. of a person, what you are trying to do is to describe
or explain abstract concepts. And this is not easy.

Now remember this: I’m not trying to tell you that descriptive English is always more difficult than non-descriptive
English. Actually, there would be occasions when you may find descriptive English easier than non-descriptive
English, and there would be occasions when you may find descriptive English more difficult than non-descriptive
English. But, in general, descriptive English becomes difficult to produce when you try to describe or explain
abstract concepts like the behaviour, attitude, etc. of people. That’s why we’re concentrating on these areas in
this Supplement.

Under each of the four topics in this Supplement, you’re going to get plenty of word-groups. Each word-group
has been hand-picked to give you maximum training in using the core words that are relevant to that particular

35
topic. Go through all the word-groups carefully. They’ll give you plenty of experience in using the core words to
speak about these topics. And they’ll give you plenty of experience in handling descriptive English to deal with
abstract subjects.

Now remember this: Core words are words of the greatest general service, and when you practise using them
under a particular topic, you become good not only at using those words to handle that particular topic, but also
at handling all topics in general.

Let’s now take up the word-groups. Here we go:

Behaviour

Group 1

• What I like about her is, she isn’t shy or embarrassed in the company of other people. • He’s very harsh/cruel,
and will do anything to get what he wants. • He’s friendly, and enjoys talking to other people. • He behaves
differently from other people. • He avoids too much of eating/drinking. • I found him willing and eager to be
helpful. • He’s lively and enthusiastic. • He’s very concerned about unimportant details and is very difficult to
please. • She frequently changes her mood without warning. • He was angry and upset. • His behaviour was
stupid and insensitive. • She never does what she’s told to do. • She was in a bad situation, and she was willing
to do anything to get out of it. • He’s stubborn and determined to have his own way. • She behaved as though
she felt at ease. • He has the courage to do what he believes is right. • He allows things other people disapprove
of. • He’s very aggressive and eager to argue. • I found him humble and unassuming. • Even when he knows
what he has done is wrong, he doesn’t feel guilty or sorry about it. • That was a difficult situation, but she was
calm and unemotional. • Stop behaving like a woman, can’t you, Ashok? • He’s very unwilling to spend money. •
He’s very reliable and respectable. • I found him very confident and assured. • She was very upset and was
behaving in an uncontrolled way.

• Those children are noisy and not easily controlled. • He’s not careful in obeying rules. • She often complains
about things. • She’s very sensitive and sympathetic towards other people. • She’s rather reserved and behaves
very correctly. • He keeps trying to make people like him. • She feels embarrassed and nervous when someone
is looking at her. • He’s not afraid of doing things even if they involve risk/danger. • I think he’s too confident and
aggressive. • He’s very mean and hates spending money. • He gave the impression of being dishonest. • He
was lively and entertaining. • Sometimes he behaves in a silly way, rather than being serious and sensible. • He
only helps people if he thinks they’re important. • She’s always at ease in social situations. • He’s full of
wit/humour. • He’s respectable, well-bred and refined. • She’s polite and has good manners. • He behaves as
though he has no emotional interest in the things he does. • They were too eager to obey their boss and to do
things for them. • They were cowardly, or they wouldn’t have attacked that old lady. • He felt so happy and
excited, he found it hard to think and act normally. • He looked slightly embarrassed — as though he felt he had
done something silly. • She was very helpful and polite. • It was a frightening situation, but he was brave. • He’s
weak and cowardly. • It was a frightening experience, but she was very calm and self-controlled.

• She’s very kind and sympathetic towards other people, and she tries to do them as little harm as possible. •
She was very friendly and relaxed. • I found him quiet and not aggressive. • He likes to have fun embarrassing
people. • He behaves/speaks as though he’s superior to other people. • He behaves in a gentle and helpful way
towards other people. • He was nervous and excited and seemed likely to lose control of himself. • He does a lot
of dishonest/illegal things every day. • That child is very spirited and playful. • He often gets involved in
arguments. • She’s very quiet and rather shy. • He doesn’t take enough care over how his words will affect other
people. • The children were noisy, lively and full of energy. • He behaves in a way that’s too lively. • He doesn’t
talk much about his abilities and qualities. • He is very dishonest and secretive. • He never understands how
complicated things can be at times, and he interprets them in a way that’s too simple. • He doesn’t show any
feelings or emotions. • He strongly supports people he likes, without thinking carefully about the matter. • He
always says unkind things. • He appeared to be relaxed and was not trying to hide anything. • Our next-door
neighbours are very friendly and helpful.

Group 2

36
• He’s very religious and moral. • He was angry, irritated and bored. • He was worried and unhappy about
something. • She’s cheeky, but lively and full of energy. • She’s easily upset by unpleasant sights and situations.
• He won’t hesitate to take risks to achieve what he wants. • It was a dangerous situation, but she showed
courage. • He’s too self-confident and rather cheeky. • He gets angry quickly and easily. • He recognizes and
accepts the true nature of situations, and tries to deal with them in a practical way. • He never gives any
importance to other people’s opinions or beliefs. • He’s always careless about doing things. • He was so upset
and worried that he couldn’t think clearly. • He’s very cheeky and always speaks rudely/disrespectfully. • I found
his behaviour/accent very artificial. • He always behaves in a formal and unfriendly way. • He’s lively and full of
enthusiasm and excitement. • He only agrees with people if he considers them to be important. • He has no
hesitation in doing things even if they’re morally wrong. • He has an enthusiastic nature and is interested in
everything he does. • He’s playful and unpredictable rather than serious and practical.

• Why do you hesitate to show affection openly and freely? • He has a strong belief in democracy. • He becomes
angry and upset very quickly about small, unimportant things. • He’s rather shy and doesn’t enjoy talking about
himself. • He’s very careful and detailed in his work. • He’s willing to try out new and unusual ways of doing
things. • He’s prepared to be cruel to other people and feels no pity for them. • He was angry and said a lot of
bitter things. • He’s very gentle, and he doesn’t get angry very easily. • He’s very naïve and believes that
everybody is honest. • He’s a noble person. • Our new boss is bad-tempered and is easily irritated. • He’s quiet
and shy. • Her son is disobedient and behaves very badly. • Your behaviour was so bad that you ought to be
ashamed. • Our new boss is very strict and serious — I don’t like him. • She must have been very courageous to
go into the burning building. • She always talks/behaves in a rude and offensive way. • She’s very lively and
easily excited. • He’s a mild person, and he never shouts at other people. • He behaved as though he didn’t
like/respect them. • He’s full of confidence and energy. • She seemed cold and aloof. • He does things suddenly
without thinking about them first. • She’s always ready to quarrel. • He always behaves in a proud and
unpleasant way towards other people. • She deals with situations without anxiety or emotional tension. • His
behaviour was silly and immature.

How to make questions

Role of questions

Are you really good at asking questions in fluent English? If you’re not, do you think you’ll be able to have a
satisfactory chat or conversation in English with someone?

Suppose you’re at a party or in a gathering. Or suppose that you’re travelling on a train. What will make a
conversation go on? You see, it’s mainly your capacity to ask questions. If you’re not able to ask questions,
you’ll find it difficult to keep up conversations, and the conversations you have will come to a stop quickly — or
you’ll find yourself forced back into the position of a silent listener. Others around you will go away with a wrong
impression about you — that you do not know English.

Again, if you want to effectively carry out a number of communicative functions in English, you need to be good
at asking questions in fluent English.

Suppose you want some information from someone or somewhere. What alone will help you get the information
you want? Only your skill in putting questions. Isn’t that so? Nothing else. If you ask someone about something,
they’ll give you some kind of a reply. That may not be the kind of information you want. Or that may only be part
of what you want. You’d then want extra information or the right information, or clarifications or explanations.
Which means that you have to put questions — more questions, the right kind of questions.

Or suppose that you want to ask somebody for something, or to offer something to somebody, or to make a
polite suggestion. Or suppose that you want to buy something from somewhere. Do you think you’ll be able to
do these things effectively in English if you aren’t fluent in asking questions in English?

Mind you, most non-native speakers of English are handicapped in one way: In schools and colleges, they never
had much opportunity of learning to make ‘questions’. They only had the opportunity of learning to make
‘answers’. And of course, generally speaking, the answers could not be in the form of questions. The answers
had to be in the form of statements.

37
Many non-native speakers of English started facing the problem of having to make questions only when they left
school or college. They came face to face with this problem only when they found themselves having to SPEAK
in English — in real-life situations.

Difficulty in framing questions

Most educated people are able to produce questions correctly in writing. True. But when they have to produce
questions in speech, they falter and fail.

Sometimes, they end up asking such un-English questions as “What you’re doing?” (instead of “What are you
doing?”), “Where you’ve put it?” (instead of “Where have you put it?”), “Why she’s standing there?” (instead of
“Why is she standing there?”), “When you came?” (instead of “When did you come?”), “How she is managing?”
(instead of “How is she managing?”), “Whether he is coming?” (instead of “Is he coming?”), “Whether you will do
it?” (instead of “Will you do it?”), “Whether he can come?” (instead of “Can he come?”), etc.

At other times, they end up muttering nonsense. Or they become nervous and embarrassed and keep mum —
or they fall back on their mother tongue.

Even very highly-educated people can be heard to make these sorts of distortions. Yes, they are distortions,
because they do not represent natural or genuine English. This is not the kind of English that native speakers of
English speak. It’s artificial English.

Of course, you may already know all this. You may already know that this is not the right way to frame questions.
But the problem is this: If the right question patterns are not firmly fixed in your mind, you’re sure to slip up and
utter questions with “un-English” patterns.

So it’s now time for us to pay close attention to question patterns. You know, making questions is one of the
most important spoken English skills. One of the most difficult skills, too. Of course, many people are likely to be
thinking like this: “Oh! That is quite easy. I can make any number of questions without difficulty”. Perhaps you
can. But the problem is not simply of making questions. The problem is of making them while you’re speaking —
on your feet.

Mind you, you’ll never be able to learn “right” question patterns from a list of “wrong” and “right” samples. The
thing to do is to get the “right” question patterns imprinted on your mind — so they don’t fade away. They’ll then
remain there, and act as the framework for all the questions you utter. And soon, it becomes second nature to
you to use those patterns and to produce the ‘right’ sort of questions.

Chief reason for the difficulty

Here’s the chief reason for the difficulty in asking questions in the right way:

The way you should arrange your words when you utter a question — that is different from the way in which you
arrange your words when you utter a statement. That is, when you’re uttering a simple sentence (a single
independent clause) in the form of a statement, you order your words in one way. But when you’re uttering a
simple sentence (a single independent clause) in the form of a question, you order your words in another way.

For example, when you say, “John is a good boy”, you’re uttering a statement, and not a question.
(Grammatically speaking, you’re using a declarative structure here). But when you arrange the words in a
different order and say “Is John a good boy?”, you’re uttering a question. (Grammatically speaking, you’re using
an interrogative structure here). A basic difference between a statement (declarative structure) and a question
(interrogative structure) is this: A statement normally starts with a Subject element and is followed by a verb. But
in questions, the Subject element is pushed into another position. (We’ll soon look at how this word-order
reversal happens).

You see, simple sentences belong to four syntactic classes, and each has a separate semantic function. Here
are the names of these syntactic classes (with the corresponding semantic class name given within brackets):

38
• Declarative form (= Statements). • Interrogative form (= Questions) • Exclamative form (= Exclamations) •
Imperative form (= Directives).

If you want to speak English fluently, the right order of words must come easily and naturally — whether you’re
uttering a statement or a question or an exclamation or a directive. The right word-order must come as second
nature to you, almost without thinking.

So the most important thing you should do now is to get the patterns of questions in English fixed in your mind
and to get into the habit of uttering questions in those patterns. You know, any advanced learner of your level
can easily achieve these goals through constant and thorough practice — constant and thorough practice with a
sufficiently large collection of everyday questions.

And this sort of extensive practice is just what you’re going to do. And you’re going to get large collections of
everyday questions that are sufficient for your purpose.

Question types

There are 3 major types of questions. They are:

• ‘Yes-No’ questions. • Wh-word questions. • Alternative questions.

Yes-No questions. ‘Yes-No’ questions are questions that expect ‘affirmation’ or ‘negation’ as a reply. The most
common word that expresses affirmation is ‘Yes’, and the most common word that expresses negation is ‘No’.
That is why these questions are called ‘Yes-No’ questions. Here are a few examples of yes-no questions:

• Is he a nice person? • Isn’t she coming to the wedding? • Are there any objections? • Aren’t you ready yet? •
Doesn’t she like coffee? • Did you paint it yourself? • Would you like an orange? • Can I come too? • Hasn’t she
been here often? • Can’t we do something about it?

As you can see from these examples, a yes-no question starts with an auxiliary verb. Here’s a complete list of
the auxiliaries that are normally used to make yes-no questions:

Reply Expressions

Have you noticed one thing from your own experience? Have you noticed that the most difficult part in giving a
reply is to start the reply? When somebody asks you a question, do you get the feeling that you have a lump in
your throat? A tight feeling in your throat, preventing the reply from coming out? Often, the reply just doesn’t start
coming out. Most non-fluent people have this problem.

To overcome this problem, this is what you must do:

You see, there are certain prefabricated-sort-of response-initiator word groups — word groups that would help
you start your reply. Sometimes, these expressions alone would be enough for a complete reply. At other times,
these expressions would help you to avoid a lump getting formed in your throat, and to start your reply. You have
to get into the habit of starting your replies with an expression of this kind.

Once you get started, your general training would come to your help — the training you get through the other
Lessons in this course. So the thing you should do now is to get to know closely the frequently-occurring types
of response-initiator word groups. You’ll find these expressions against the letter ‘Y’ under the following heading
(‘Prompt-response practice’). Pay particular attention to them.

Prompt-response practice

You’ll find below a series of prompts and responses. Most of the prompts are questions made up of the
“question-initiator word groups” you saw in Book 9.

39
Repeat each prompt (‘X’) and each response (‘Y’) several times — ALOUD.

• X: Will they be angry with me? ~ Y: I think so, yes. • X: Have they left the office? ~ Y: No, I don’t think so. • X:
Won’t he be busy now? ~ Y: Yes, I think so. • X: What does it cost? ~ Y: Let’s find out. • X: Will she come here
today? ~ Y: Yes, she will. • X: When does she go to bed everyday? ~ Y: Quite early. • X: How does it concern
you? ~ Y: It doesn’t. • X: Aren’t you the daughter of our Principal? ~ Y: Yes, I am. • X: Did he bring the books? ~
Y: Yes, he did. • X: Has she managed to get a camera? ~ Y: Yes, she has. • X: What were they telling you? ~ Y:
Nothing. Nothing important anyway. • X: Should we be punctual? ~ Y: You had better. • X: Can you come a little
early? ~ Y: I’m sorry, I can’t. • X: Why did they leave so early? ~ Y: I have no idea. • X: How far will this train go?
~ Y: As far as Hyderabad. • X: Hasn’t he been away on a tour? ~ Y: Yes, he has. • X: Why can’t he come here
more often? ~ Y: I’m afraid I don’t know. • X: What did you do that for? ~ Y: Just to scare the children. • X: Who
did I talk to yesterday? ~ Y: To me. • X: Can they be a little more strict with the children? ~ Y: I’ll ask them. • X:
Why did David borrow money? ~ Y: I don’t know. Please tell me. • X: What is the name of the baby? ~ Y: We’ll
have to ask someone. • X: Wasn’t she a little rude to him? ~ Y: Yes, she was. • X: Would you like to have a cup
of tea? ~ Y: No, thank you. • X: Can they come here right over? ~ Y: No, they can’t. • X: What can it be used for?
~ Y: For washing clothes. • X: What did you have for breakfast? ~ Y: Nothing much. • X: Will they be asking for
the payment? ~ Y: No, they won’t. • X: What was he doing there? ~ Y: Eating food. • X: When do they have
breakfast everyday? ~ Y: You’ll have to ask them. • X: Should he be experienced in your line? ~ Y: Yes, he
should. • X: What vegetable do we get most protein from? ~ Y: I don’t quite know. • X: Have you a match to light
a cigarette? ~ Y: No, I haven’t. • X: Were they waiting for long? ~ Y: Yes, they were. • X: What are you doing for
your headache? ~ Y: I’m taking tablets. • X: Has Simon been sleeping long? ~ Y: Yes, he has. • X: How much
should I pay for these fruits? ~ Y: Ten rupees altogether. • X: Which one do you prefer — the red one or the
yellow one? ~ Y: Neither. • X: Who’s that man standing there? ~ Y: I’m not sure who he is. • X: Do you know
what the punishment for late-coming is? ~ Y: I really wonder what. • X: How often does he go for films? ~ Y: Not
very often. • X: What is the best way to the zoo? ~ Y: I’m out of this place myself. • X: Are your friends going
home this weekend? ~ Y: No, They aren’t. • X: Is there a restaurant anywhere near here? ~ Y: There’s one a
kilometre to the south. • X: What road is the hotel on? ~ Y: I don’t know what road. • X: Did it take him long to get
back? ~ Y: No, not very long. • X: Weren’t you supposed to send a report? ~ Y: Sorry, I didn’t know that. • X:
Why did you have to leave so early? ~ Y: Because I had some private work to do. • X: What size shoes does he
wear? ~ Y: I’m afraid I don’t know. • X: Haven’t you heard what happened? ~ Y: No, what did happen? • X: What
should they have done to escape punishment? ~ Y: Ask someone else. • X: What has he been complaining to
you about? ~ Y: About the way those boxes were unloaded from the trucks. • X: Does he have to put in a written
complaint? ~ Y: No, he doesn’t. • X: What sort of a trick did he play? ~ Y: A nasty trick. • X: How long is the
journey from here to Chicago? ~ Y: Just about ten hours. • X: Does John usually carry your bags? ~ Y: No, he
doesn’t. • X: How much are these oranges? ~ Y: Ten rupees a dozen.

X: Did you have trouble finding this address? ~ Y: Just a little. • X: Why didn’t she marry him? ~ Y: No one can
explain. • X: Which one are you going to select? ~ Y: I can’t decide. • X: What do I have to do to help him? ~ Y: I
really can’t say. • X: Who did he meet there? ~ Y: I’m sorry I didn’t hear you. • X: Are there any samples left? ~ Y:
No, no more samples. • X: Will there be any deduction? ~ Y: Sorry, there won’t be. • X: Which one did they like
best? ~ Y: I can’t tell. • X: Isn’t he showing off too much lately? ~ Y: I think so, too. • X: Have you ever seen a
better film? ~ Y: It’s difficult to say. • X: Why weren’t you getting her the things she wanted? ~ Y: You’d like to
know, wouldn’t you? • X: Does he get up early? ~ Y: Yes, he does. • X: Couldn’t he be doing this just to fool you?
~ Y: Yes, he could. • X: Weren’t you well yesterday? ~ Y: No, I wasn’t. • X: Which will you give me — the one in
the right hand or the one in the left hand? ~ Y: The one in the left hand. • X: Should I be more strict with the
children? ~ Y: Yes, you should. • X: Has John come back from the office? ~ Y: I hope so. • X: Why should she
get upset over such a minor thing? ~ Y: I wonder why. • X: How much did you pay for the bag? ~ Y: I don’t
remember. • X: Were father and mother here yesterday? ~ Y: Yes, they were. • X: Are all the staff in the office
against you? ~ Y: No, only a few of them. • X: What time do you get up in the morning? ~ Y: Sometimes quite
early, and sometimes quite late. • X: Do you want to come with me? ~ Y: No, thank you. • X: Could they be
planning to strike work tomorrow? ~ Y: I’m afraid they could be. • X: What did she pick up from there? ~ Y: We
know what. • X: What do you plan to do during the summer holidays? ~ Y: I haven’t decided yet. • X: Do we have
time for coffee before the film begins? ~ Y: I’m afraid not. • X: What will it look like if nobody goes for the party? ~
Y: He’ll think everyone has ganged up against him.

• X: Have your father and mother been away long? ~ Y: Not very long. • X: Where will they stay if they come? ~
Y: With you; where else? • X: How did he do in the last examination? ~ Y: Quite well. • X: Where have they been
all these days? ~ Y: They alone know where. • X: Do Mary and Minu have raincoats? ~ Y: Who knows! • X: Did
you like the film? ~ Y: No, I didn’t. • X: How soon will the rains come? ~ Y: In a month or two. • X: Who did they
40
laugh at? ~ Y: I don’t know who. • X: Why wasn’t anyone friendly with him? ~ Y: Because he was rude. • X: Can I
show you a trick? ~ Y: What trick? • X: Should the man be asked to go away? ~ Y: You decide. • X: What should
it cost according to you? ~ Y: Far less. • X: Haven’t you been going there frequently? ~ Y: Yes, I have. • X: Which
one of these is the best? ~ Y: The one lying on the top. • X: Can you tell me how I can get to this address? ~ Y:
Ask someone else, please. • X: Who is the officer-in-charge here? ~ Y: The one who is sitting there. • X: Didn’t I
warn you not to fight with him? ~ Y: You did. • X: How can I start this engine? ~ Y: Press this button. • X: Do you
often come here? ~ Y: No, only seldom. • X: Are short people taken in the army? ~ Y: I don’t quite know. • X: Will
Mary and you be at the party today? ~ Y: Can’t say. • X: Where do you get vegetables from? ~ Y: From the
market. • X: How large is your bedroom? ~ Y: Not very large. • X: Should she be where others would see her or
behind the curtain? ~ Y: Behind the curtain. • X: How much will it cost to have this shoe mended? ~ Y: Fifty
rupees. • X: What did he do when the plane landed? ~ Y: I wasn’t there. • X: Don’t you care for mutton chops? ~
Y: No, I don’t. • X: How long ago did his grandfather die? ~ Y: I don’t know exactly.

• X: How old are you? ~ Y: Twenty years. • X: Who is this little boy with you? ~ Y: My nephew. • X: Where has
Priya been studying all these years? ~ Y: Somewhere outside. • X: Have you and your friends taken exercise
today? ~ Y: Yes, we have. • X: Do you have to take a lot of exercise to keep fit? ~ Y: Yes, they say so. • X: How
far is Calcutta from here? ~ Y: Very far. • X: How often are there trains to Calcutta? ~ Y: Everyday, there’s a train.
• X: Can I show you some magic? ~ Y: That’d be fine. • X: Isn’t it wonderful to have such good friends? ~ Y:
Really it is. • X: How will you get to the station from here? ~ Y: I’ll get a taxi, I guess. • X: Where are you staying
tonight? ~ Y: In a hotel. • X: Have you ever been to this place before now? ~ Y: No, this is the first time. • X: Are
you a salesman? ~ Y: No. • X: Could you spare some money for a week? ~ Y: I’m indeed sorry. • X: Do you want
anything else? ~ Y: No. These are about all, I guess. • X: What did he want? ~ Y: You know it, don’t you? • X:
Have you got a few minutes to spare? ~ Y: Certainly, please come in. • X: Are you going to the cinema? ~ Y: No.
Not really. • X: Who will be the Home Secretary next? ~ Y: Who knows!. • X: Has Dad ever scolded him? ~ Y:
No. That’s the trouble. • X: Do you like being scolded? ~ Y: No, of course not. • X: Did she have to give him a
beating? ~ Y: No. He told the truth when he got a good scolding. X: Did he have to pay for the seat? ~ Y: It
doesn’t seem so. • X: Did Gita have to take a plane to reach there early? ~ Y: It looks like it. • X: How many
students are there in your school? ~ Y: I’m not sure just how many. • X: Hasn’t he repaid the loan? ~ Y: He
probably has. • X: What places have you visited so far? ~ Y: Just a few. • X: Did your brother bring you any
present? ~ Y: Yes, he did. • X: How much did you draw from the bank? ~ Y: You’d like to know, wouldn’t you? •
X: Do you prefer tea with sugar or without? ~ Y: With sugar, and plenty of it. • X: Are you sure today is
Thursday? ~ Y: Well, the calendar says so. • X: How old is your father? ~ Y: Not very old. • X: Did you have a
nice time at the party? ~ Y: Yes, I had a wonderful time. • X: Do you often go to restaurants? ~ Y: Not often, but
on occasion. • X: When should she serve coffee? ~ Y: A little later. • X: Did it take him long to come back from
the shop? ~ Y: Yes it did. I was wondering what kept him so long. • X: Why weren’t you angry with him? ~ Y:
Because it’d do no good. • X: Can you tell me all these things in French? ~ Y: I’ll try to. • X: What time does he
leave for the office? ~ Y: By about eight. • X: Have you ever been to the department store? ~ Y: Yes, why? • X:
Did the workers strike work today? ~ Y: No. The dispute was settled yesterday. • X: What is wrong with this
report? ~ Y: Everything. Take a look at it. • X: Doesn’t Mary come here any more? ~ Y: No, she doesn’t. • X:
Would you like to go for a film? ~ Y: That’d be fine. • X: How was the film? ~ Y: Not very good. • X: Do you think
we’ll be late for the film? ~ Y: No, there’s plenty of time. • X: Does he always find fault with everything you do? ~
Y: Yes, he does. • X: Hadn’t we better stay away from that area? ~ Y: Yes, we had. It’s quite unsafe. • X: Who did
she go to the park with? ~ Y: With a friend of hers. • X: What are they supposed to do when a customer comes
in? ~ Y: Give him service. • X: How long ago did he borrow the money from you? ~ Y: Five or six months ago. •
X: Are you having a headache? ~ Y: Yes, I am. • X: What hotel is the best hotel here? ~ Y: That’s difficult to say.
• X: What school is nearer to her house? ~ Y: I don’t remember its name.

Moment-to-moment speech production

If you want to be fluent in producing long sequences of speech, there’s a basic skill you must have: The skill of
composing speech and uttering it at the same time. That is, the skill of moment-to-moment speech production.
Of course, you must have this skill not only for producing long sequences, but also for producing short
sequences, too. But this skill has a greater role in producing long sequences than in producing short sequences.

By now, you already have a sound theoretical knowledge of speech-composition features and moment-to-
moment speech production. You have already had considerable oral training, too. It is now time for you to get
some more intensive training in moment-to-moment speech production. But before going through the practice
materials given below, go carefully through Lessons 5, 7 and 8 once again.

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Life-giving elements of spoken English

Now remember this: What gives life to a spoken language is the presence of speech-composition features. Yes,
features like starting-troubles, false-starts, repetition of syllables, repetition of words and word groups,
incomplete structures, unfinished word groups, pauses, pause-fillers, reformulations, refinements,
rearrangements, back-tracking, looseness in packing information etc. If these features are absent, your speech
will have no life in it, and it won’t even sound like spoken language. What is more, if you try to avoid these
features, you won’t be able to speak on either.

Go through the following three pieces of spoken texts:

1) I was going that way + and I saw a - a picture + in a shop + th - the picture of a – Chinese – net + you know +
a very beautiful picture + and I wanted to buy it + but :– I didn’t – didn’t have any money on me then + no +
actually + I had some money + but not much + anyway it wasn’t – wasn’t enough for the – for the – picture. (=
When I was going that way, I saw a very beautiful picture of a chinese net in a shop. I wanted to buy it. But I did
not have enough money for buying it).

2) There was a - There was a huge – m structure + you know : – they call it the dome + oh it’s amazing + the
way they have built it. (= There was a huge structure called ‘the dome’ there. The way they have built it is
amazing).

3) She wanted this – this new book + and as she - she picked it up + then there was another man there who +
he wanted it too + and this man said + I’ve - I’ve already reserved it + and he – sort of started shouting + and he
made a scene there. (= She wanted this new book, and as she picked it up, another man who was there, and
who also wanted the book, said that he had already reserved it, and he started shouting and making a scene).

The materials within the brackets are the written English equivalents of the materials outside the brackets. And
the materials outside the brackets are spoken English texts. Look at the difference between each spoken
English text and its written English equivalent. Now don’t you see? The chief difference between a spoken
English text and its written English equivalent is this: The spoken English text contains features of speech-
composition. The written English equivalent does not. So the lesson you must learn is this: If you take away
speech-composition features from a spoken text, it ceases to be a spoken text.

A common mistake
The trouble with most non-fluent people is this: They believe that the word groups that a fluent speaker
produces are similar to those within the brackets. When they aim at spoken English fluency, their aim is to gain
the skill of producing word groups similar to those within brackets. That is, they try to produce written English
word groups orally. No wonder they don’t become fluent in speech.

What they must try to produce orally is a sequence of oral (spoken) English word groups, and not a sequence of
written English word groups. Only then can they become fluent in oral (spoken) English. And oral (spoken)
English word groups are similar to those outside the brackets (in the three examples given above), and not
those within the brackets.

Speech-composition features & duration of speech

Remember one thing — always, whenever you open your mouth to speak. Yes, whenever. Without the help of
speech-composition features, nobody can produce speech — orally. Nobody can. Not even a fluent native
speaker of English.

In fact, whenever a fluent speaker speaks, 30% to 50% of the speaking time is taken up by pauses, hesitations
and other speech-composition features. Yes, 30% to 50% of the speaking time! Yes, when a well-educated
native speaker of English speaks, the information content of his speech takes up only about 50% to 70% of the
speaking time. The rest of the time is taken up by pauses, hesitations and other speech-composition features.

42
It is this duration of time (taken up by speech-composition features) that gives fluency to the production of the
information content. And so if you don’t spend 30% to 50% of your speaking time to speech-composition
features, you won’t be able to produce the information content fluently. No.

So speech-composition features are an essential part of a spoken language — particularly spoken English. But
listeners don’t consciously notice the speech-composition features. They don’t keep track of the time that the
speaker spends on the process of spontaneous speech-composition. Everybody unconsciously accepts the
speech-composition features in their native speech as an integral part of the speech content. That’s why people
don’t consciously notice the presence of these features in speech.

In fact, most people are not aware that 30% to 50% of the speaking time is taken up by speech-composition
features alone — though everyone makes use of these features to speak in their native language. That’s why
when a non-native speaker tries to produce a foreign language orally, he tries to fill the whole of his speaking
time with information content alone. And he does not spend any time on speech-composition features. The
result is that he fails to speak fluently — though he may be highly educated in that foreign language and has a
good command of its grammar and vocabulary.
You are not going to commit this mistake. From now on, make it a point to spend 30% to 50% of your speaking
time for getting help from speech-composition features.

Spoken English texts

What follows is a collection of spoken English texts. Each text (stretch of speech) is divided into chunks, and
each text contains speech-composition features. As you know, there’s no rigid rule about where exactly to divide
a stretch of language into chunks. There are only guidelines — practical guidelines. You are free to divide a
stream of speech virtually anywhere — depending on the needs of the “on-the -spot-speech-composition”
process.

Go through each text carefully. Identify the speech-composition features found in each text. Notice how different
in form each text would have been if the speech-composition features had not been present. Notice how
different the written-English equivalent of each text would be.

Read each text ALOUD — making full use of the speech-composition features. Repeat several times. Here we
go:

• The place + it looks really - dirty + in the rainy season + I mean + gutters and - pools of mud + and everything.
• He’s a very able man + I’ve noticed that + I mean + m – just from the point of view of his – mastery of law +
and – looking at the way he - explains things + he grasps things quickly + and prepares himself - thoroughly +
before coming to the Court. • At the next junction + about th - two furlongs from here + you’ve got – m – well it’ll
be a bit expensive + but it’s a good hotel. • It go – goes to the – comes from the other side. • It takes a – it’s
about a ten-mile-drive from here. • You would love the place + the buildings + the parks + the playgrounds + but
it is the - backwaters + you can hire a boat and + and – it’ll be really be enj – fantastic. • In a place where – : –
places like these + if we have – if you have a small - shop + or something like that + you can make money + a
very busy place + this – bus stop + railway station + and all that. • Abraham Lincoln + it’s very interesting
actually + there’s a story about Lincoln where + one day Lincoln was… • And one of them + he was m – a fat
fellow you know + m - bulky + and - m – he was in that chair + oh - and the other man came in + through that
door. • Di - did - oh - you went there + didn’t you? • They kept it in – they have a big iron safe + they put it away
safely. • Oh the – she says + they didn’t complete it she says. • I met her husband there + John + that’s right +
and John told me the + when he started the business + that was years back + he didn’t have much money with
him – then. • She filled up the form + and dropped it in the - box + and the office people + on the last day + she
dropped it on the last day + and their – they got it on the last day. • Some of these people + they - you can easily
convince them. • He quarrels with everybody + yes + and criticizes everybody + and this sort of thing happens
whenever you – whenever you meet him. • He was so interested in – in this thing that – you see + this was his
hobby + and he – he used to spend thousands of rupees every year + buying books, tools and things.

Everyday Medical English: Speaking about health and illness

This is an area where even people who are generally fluent stumble quite often. You see, when you’re ill, you’ll
have to describe and explain to your doctor (and to other people) how you’re suffering. The doctor would ask
43
you a number of questions, and you’ll have to understand those questions and answer them. And at home and
when you’re among your friends, you’ll often have to talk about your own or someone’s illness or health.

And if you’re a doctor or a medical professional, you’ll have to discuss illness and health with patients and
others. You’ll have to speak to patients about the history and symptoms of their illness. You’ll have to speak to
them while examining them, while prescribing medicines, about the treatment. And even if you’re not a doctor,
you’ll find it necessary to use these word groups quite often, because ‘illness’ is a topic that people speak to you
about quite often.

All this means that you need to be fluent in using a set of special kinds of word groups. Not a set of technical
terms, but plain everyday language that has to do with health and illness. For a fluent native speaker of English,
this is not normally a problem, of course — just as this is not a problem for you in your own mother tongue. But
for non-native speakers of English, this is a real problem when they have to use English to speak. This Lesson
will help you get over this difficulty.

Doctor to patient

Here are 3 separate collections of word groups. These are word groups that doctors (as well as others) usually
use when they’re speaking to patients.

The first collection contains word groups that doctors (as well as others) use when they’re speaking to patients
in order to find out about an illness. The second collection contains word groups that doctors (as well as others)
use when they’re speaking to patients while examining them. The third collection contains word groups that
doctors (as well as others) use when they’re speaking to patients about the diagnosis that has been made and
about the treatment.

Now remember this: Just because this section has been given the heading “Doctor to patient”, don’t think that
the word groups given are useful only to doctors. No, that’s not so. You see, these are word groups that
everybody will find useful when they have to speak to someone who is ill: Sons and daughters when they have
to speak to fathers, mothers and others who are ill. Fathers and mothers when they have to speak to sons and
daughters who are ill. Friends when they have to speak to friends and others who are ill. Everyone to everyone
else who is ill. So you can imagine how universally useful these word groups are.

Case-taking: Questioning the patient

Pick up each word group and utter it ALOUD — several times. Practise uttering the word groups until you can
utter each of them with a ready flow. After that, come back to the word groups once a week (at least for 3 or 4
weeks at a stretch) and repeat uttering them several times — ALOUD.

• Any pain in your muscles? • Any pains in your chest when you cough? • Any problems with your chest? • Any
problems with your waterworks? • Any shortness of breath?

• Apart from your headaches, are there any other problems? • Are your parents fit and well? • Are your parents
in good health? • Are you a heavy drinker? • Are you aware of anything when you swallow? • Are you
breastfeeding? • Are you doing better today? • Are you having any difficulty with your hearing? • Are you long-
sighted? • Are you married? • Are you short of breath? • Are you short-sighted? • Are your bowels regular? • Are
your stools black?

• Can I just come back for a moment to these dizzy spells? • Can you describe the pain? • Can you describe the
problem? • Can you describe the symptoms? • Can you see any letters at all? • Can you show me where it
hurts? • Can you tell me exactly how you turned your foot? • Can you tell me which tooth is causing the
problem? • Can you describe the dizzy spells?

• Describe what’s wrong, will you? • Did the tablets help? • Did you ever have any fractures? • Did you ever have
trouble with your liver? • Did you have a comfortable night? • Do bright lights bother you? • Do the eyes water
when you read? • Do you always sweat? • Do you belch? • Do you bring up any phlegm? • Do you cough a lot? •
Do you cough much? • Do you cough up phlegm? • Do you cough when you smell certain foods or other smells?
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• Do you drink a lot? • Do you drink? • Do you ever bring something up? • Do you ever faint? • Do you ever feel
completely possessed by another person? • Do you ever feel giddy? • Do you ever feel like vomiting? • Do you
ever get short of breath? • Do you ever get wheezy? • Do you ever have dizzy spells? • Do you ever have nose
bleeds? • Do you ever see double images in front of your eyes? • Do you ever see distorted images before your
eyes? • Do you ever see unusual shapes before your eyes? • Do you ever suffer from headaches? • Do you
ever wet the bed? • Do you feel any pain inside your ears? • Do you feel any pain or discomfort down below? •
Do you feel any weakness in your limbs? • Do you ever take aspirins or anything like that? • Do you relate the
cramps in anyway to your meals? • Do you have any cough or phlegm? • Do your ankles ever swell up? • Do
you feel sick when you get these headaches? • Do you find that you’re losing your eyelashes? • Do you get any
pain on breathing? • Do you get any pains in the chest? • Do you get headaches when you’re reading? • Do you
get headaches? • Do you get out of breath easily? • Do you get tired easily? • Do you give him liquids? • Do you
go out drinking much? • Do you have a cold? • Do you have a history of any serious illness? • Do you have a
sore throat? • Do you have any allergies?

• Do you have any chest pains after exercise? • Do you have any difficulty moving your arms or legs? • Do you
have any discharge from your eyes? • Do you have a cough? • Do you have any aches or pains? • Do you have
any pain in passing water? • Do you have any trouble with passing water? • Do you have any trouble with your
stomach or bowels? • Do you have any pain while passing urine? • Do you have bad breath? • Do you have
headaches? • Do you have palpitations? • Do you have to strain to pass your motions? • Do you have to strain
to pass your water? • Do you know when these headaches are coming on? • Do your muscles feel stiff in the
morning? • Do you often get diarrhoea? • Do you often get constipation?• Do you often have a fever? • Do you
often lose your temper? • Do you play any sports? • Do you see spots in front of your eyes? • Do you smoke? •
Do you socialize much? • Do you strain when you pass water? • Do you suffer from double vision? • Do you
sweat at night? • Do you vomit? • Do you wheeze? • Do your eyeballs feel painful? • Do your eyes get red
easily? • Do your eyes get tired easily? • Do your eyes itch? • Do your eyes water? • Do your legs swell? • Do
your motions smell bad? • Do you wear glasses? • Do these headaches come on at any particular time? • Do
you ever get these headaches at night?

• Does it bother you when you are walking? • Does any special food upset your stomach? • Does anyone else in
your family suffer from this problem? • Does anything in particular bring on this pain? • Does anything make the
pain better? • Does anything make the pain worse? • Does he cough a lot? • Does he ever bring up his food? •
Does he ever get diarrhoea? • Does he pass wind as normal? • Does the pain affect your work? • Does it bother
you in any way? • Does it burn when you pass water? • Does it come on any particular time? • Does the
discharge have a bad smell? • Does it hurt if you bend your knee? • Does it hurt much? • Does it hurt when I do
this? • Does it hurt when you swallow? • Does the pain stay in one place, or does it go anywhere else? • Does
light bother you? • Does lying down help the pain? • Does she eat at the usual times? • Does she have a good
appetite? • Does she have any rashes? • Does she sleep at the normal time? • Does that medicine have any
effect? • Does that hurt at all? • Does the knee feel tender here? • Does the pain have any relation to all this? •
Does your husband smoke? • Does your nose run a lot? • Does your water dribble?

• Has he ever had a fever? • Has there been any changes in your health since your last visit? • Has this been a
problem before?

• Have these headaches affected your vision at all? • Have you brought your urine sample? • Have you noticed
any problems with your eyesight? • Have you got a cough — a persistent cough? • Have you ever been
admitted to a hospital? • Have you ever been operated on? • Have you ever blacked out? • Have you ever
coughed up blood? • Have you ever fainted? • Have you ever had backaches before? • Have you ever had any
problems? • Have you ever had chicken pox? • Have you ever had measles? • Have you ever had your tonsils
out? • Have you had a head injury? • Have you had an anaesthetic before? • Have you had any cough at all? •
Have you had any diseases in the family — like diabetes or high blood pressure? • Have you had any falls? •
Have you had any miscarriages? • Have you had any pain in your chest? • Have you had any serious illness in
the past? • Have you had any shortness of breath? • Have you had (this) problem before? • Have you had this
(problem) long? • Have you lost any weight? • Have you noticed any blood in your stools? • Have you noticed
any blood in your water? • Have you noticed any swelling of your ankles? • Have you noticed any twitching of
your muscles? • Have you noticed any weakness or tingling in your limbs? • Have you put on weight recently? •
Have you taken any aspirin? • Have you taken anything for it? • Have you usually got lots of energy?

• How about sore throats? • How about your bowels? • How about your relations with your colleagues? • How
about your relations with your husband? • How are you at the moment? • How are you feeling today? • How can
45
I help you? • How do you feel in general? • How are you feeling at the moment? • How does it feel? • How have
you been keeping up to now? • How is your appetite? • How long do these headaches last? • How long does the
pain last? • How long has it been bothering you? • How long has this been going on? • How long has this
bothered you? • How long has your voice been hoarse? • How long have the headaches been bothering you? •
How long have they been bothering you? • How long have you had this pain? • How long have you had these
pains? • How long have you had this boil? • How long have you had this discharge? • How long have you had
this problem with your vision? • How long have you had this problem? • How long have your gums been
bleeding? • How many do you smoke each day? • How many times do you have to go during the night? • How
often do you feed him? • How often do you get this pain? • How old are you? • How old is your last child? • How
would you describe the pain(s)? • How many episodes (of cramps) a day were you getting? • How’s your health
otherwise? • How about your weight? Is it steady?

• Is his toilet normal? • Is it a localized or general pain? • Is the pain bad enough to wake you up? • Is it broken?
• Is the pain continuous or does it come and go? • Is it sore all the time? • Is it sore to the touch? • Is it thick or
light? • Is she active, like other children? • Is there a history of diabetes in your family? • Is there any bad smell
from your nose? • Is there any blood in it? • Is there any discharge from your ears? • Is there any discharge or
watering of the eyes? • Is there any heart disease in the family? • Is there any rash on the body? • Is there
anybody with blood pressure trouble in the family? • Is there anybody with kidney trouble in the family? • Is there
anything else you feel the same time? • Is there anything that makes the pain better? • Is there anything that
makes the pain worse? • Is there anything you need? • Is this a life-long habit? • Is your digestion all right? • Is
your hearing affected? • Is there anybody with heart trouble in the family?

• So you fell over and grazed your knees? • Try and explain what happens when the pain comes on.

• Was it painful? • Was it something you tried to lift? • Was there any other position that might bring the cramp
on? • Was there anything that started it off? • With the right eye, can you see anything?

• What about coughs? • What about wheezing? • What about shortness of breath? • What are you taking for
your headache? • What brings on your cough? • What brings you here? • What brought this on? • What caused
this? • What colour is the stuff you bring up? • What colour is the vomit? • What effect does food have? • What
has your health been like? • What kind of pain is it? • What seems to be the problem? • What seems to bring it
on? • What sort of exercise do you take? • What sorts of things makes it sore? • What’s your appetite like? •
What’s brought you along today? • What’s the colour of this discharge? • What’s the matter? • What’s the pain
like? • What’s the stream (= urine) like? • What’s the trouble? • What medication are you taking now?

• Were you breathless? • Were you breathless with this discomfort? • Were you aware of palpitations? • Were
you sneezing and coughing?
• When did his first tooth appear? • When did the trouble first start? • When did the pain(s) start? • When did you
first notice the lump? • When did you first notice the pain? • When did you first notice this? • When did you move
into town from the country? • When does the pain come on? • When was the last time you had a tetanus shot? •
When was the last time you visited your dentist?

• Where did you catch the infection? • Where does it hurt? • Where is it sore? • Where is the pain exactly? •
Where is the pain most severe? • Where are these headaches?

• Which one is worse — the top teeth or bottom teeth? • Which part of your chest is affected? • Which part of
your back is affected? • Which part of your head is affected? • Would it be sore if I were to tap the tooth? •
Where is the pain exactly?

• You’re not vomiting now? • No black-looking stool? • You don’t think the cramps are likely to come on before or
after meals? • And the longest episode (of cramps) lasted for? • And your bowels? Have they changed? • You
don’t feel sick at all? • Any questions, or anything we can do for you?

Fluency in speaking about a wide range of topics

One of the important things this course has been trying to do is to improve your command over everyday
English vocabulary. You see, it’s impossible to master a word just by learning its meaning or by learning the

46
rules governing it’s usage. These things are important, of course — but these things would only help you get to
‘know’ that word. But when you’re aiming to become fluent, it’s not enough that you know a word. What is
needed is that you should have complete mastery over it. You should not only have a clear idea of its meaning
and other features, but also have the experience of actually using it in various contexts. Yes, not in one context
alone, but in different contexts. That’s why I’ve been giving you word-groups by relating them to a particular
communicative function, or to an idea or a notion, or to a particular topic.

Now, this is the point that I’d like you to note carefully: The collections of word-groups that you get under various
topics (such as ‘Banking’, ‘Business’ or ‘Food & Drink’) help you in several ways. Let me stress just three of the
ways they help you: Firstly, they help you associate the words in those word-groups to the topic they come
under. This sort of association would increase your command over those words more effectively than if you had
gone through the same word-groups individually (in isolation) without relating them to that topic. Secondly, the
topic-wise collections of word-groups bring into one place the most useful word-groups and structures that have
to do with a particular topic. This helps you concentrate on becoming fluent in speaking about that topic. And
what’s more important, this helps you increase your command over a collection of words — words that are
related to one another through a common topic. Thirdly, each topic-wise collection of word-groups helps you
look at the core words in the English language from a new point of view, and this adds to your flexibility in using
those words — to speak about any topic.

The third point needs some explanation. You see, though I give a large collection of word-groups under various
topical headings, the words used are not of a technical or rare nature. No. I only concentrate on giving word-
groups made up of frequently-occurring words — that is, words that occur frequently in everyday conversations
among educated speakers. These words make up the core vocabulary of the English language. And as far as
fluency development is concerned, it’s these words that are important. Thus, even if the topic dealt with is
‘Banking’, the words in the word-groups you get are core words; even if the topic dealt with is ‘Business’, the
words in the word-groups you get are core words; even if the topic dealt with is ‘Food & Drinks’, the words in the
word-groups you get are core words. So what happens is this: You’re made to use the core words not under one
topic alone, but under a number of topics. And you come across the same words again and again under different
topics — as part of newer and newer word-groups. And even under the same topic, you come across most of
the words several times — and not just once.

The result of all this is this: You get to handle the core words again and again — in context after context, and
situation after situation. And you don’t come across them in isolation; you come across them in the company of
other words that frequently occur with them. And these other words are core words, too. This helps you relate
each core word to the other core words that usually come before it and after it (in speech units) in various
contexts. In other words, you get to learn the inter-relationship among words without any conscious effort — and
this is what helps you really master the core vocabulary of a language.

In this Supplement, we’re going to take up word-groups that have to do with seven topics that are of everyday
interest. These are:

1). Driving.

2). Vehicle repairs and maintenance.

3). Clothes.

4). Weather.

5). Money.

6). Entertainment & Leisure.

7). Sports & Games.

These are high-frequency subjects, and they’re of general importance any time you speak. But when they come
up during conversations, most people often find it difficult to put their thoughts and ideas into words. Of course,
47
I’m not talking about the language required for a theoretical or academic discussion of the various technical
aspects of these topics. No. I’m talking about everyday situations when these topics come up. In day to day life,
a large number of situations come up again and again when you’ll have to say something or other about these
seven topics. Yes, this is so even if you don’t drive a car, and even if you are not going to get a car repaired, and
even if you are not interested in sports or games. That is, these are topics that everyone would come across
during everyday conversations — topics on which everyone would find it necessary to say something or other
quite frequently. Of course, the things you will find it necessary to say are usually of a general nature, and not of
a technical nature, but most people find it difficult even to say things of a general nature about these topics.

The main reason is this: They don’t have much experience in using the core words in English to express ideas
related to these topics. As far as you are concerned, the practice material in this Supplement would put an end
to this difficulty. The practice material you’re going to get now would give you ample training in handling the core
words to express ideas related to these topics. And the result would be this: You not only become good at saying
things related to these topics, but also get to see the core words at work in newer and newer contexts. And this
will help you become better at handling the core words — and become more fluent.

We shall now take up the word-groups under each of the topics. This is what you should do: Go through all the
word-groups under a topic quickly once. Complete all the seven topics in this way once. Then come back to the
first topic, pick up each word-group, and start uttering it several times — ALOUD. Get your organs of speech to
become familiar with the sounds of these word-groups. Here we go:

Driving

Group 1

• The police car overtook our car. • On hills, you must use low gears. • I was in a traffic jam for more than an
hour. • The car must be in neutral when you start the engine. • Get out of the way — the car is backing up. • I
hate driving along stony roads. • Turn off this road at the next corner on the left. • Let’s park the car here. • I got
stuck in traffic for some time. • Put the gear lever in the neutral position, and start the car. • The authorities will
have to do something to reduce the traffic jams in the city centre. • The truck veered out of control, overturned,
and hit a lamp-post. • The sign said ‘No Parking’. • This tyre is very worn — you should get it changed. • There
were skid marks on the road where the accident happened. • Pull up at the pedestrian crossing. • Put the car in
the garage, and lock the garage door. • Most cars have four forward gears and a reverse. • I’m thinking of
learning to ride a motorbike. • A car came in the opposite direction, and the driver dipped his headlights. • The
car kept hitting potholes and bumps. • He was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. • He drives very well, and
he’s very cautious, too. • He goes to work by car/on his motorbike. • What’s the correct tyre pressure for your
tyres? • The car was travelling very fast. • The crash happened on a sharp bend. • That car didn’t have its
headlights on. • The car skidded and hit a lamp post, and the side of the car crumpled. • If you use the choke
when you start the car, you should push it in before you move forward. Yes, push the choke in when the engine
is idling. • A few speed-bumps will have to be installed in that street. • For a moment, I was blinded by the lights
of the oncoming car.

• The driver pulled up in front of a shop. • Slack off when you approach the junction. • He got into the car and
fastened the seat belt. • The tyres squealed when he braked hard. • Can you ride a motorbike? • His car drove
into the back of mine. • He crashed the car into a tree and smashed it up. • This is the second car he’s smashed
up. • He was involved in a motor accident. • She swerved to avoid another car. • Is there a garage in this street?
• The car began to speed up. • During the rush hour, the traffic would be bumper to bumper. • She went round
the building. • He rides to work on a motorbike. • The car was in third gear. • My tyre burst when I was driving
along a stony road. • He released the hand brake, and the car moved forward. • The car hit a lamp-post. • There
was heavy traffic on the roads. • He got into the car, and wound the window down. • In a few minutes, he began
to speed up. • He opened the door, got in and started the car. • He pulled into a petrol station. • I saw the car
turning the corner. • The car park is behind the building. • He rides his motorbike to work. • The driver got out of
the bus. • I was doing 60 kph, and a blue Maruti passed me at 90 kmph. • He drives to work by car. • That’s a
dangerous stretch of road. • Let’s go out for a drive. • He got into the car and folded the roof down. • These
parking spaces are reserved for employees. • I don’t want to go with him — he’s not a safe driver. • He let the
engine tick over for about 30 seconds before the car moved forward. • The car skidded on the road — the driver
had pulled up too fast. • We’ve nearly run out of petrol. • He pressed the accelerator hard. • Is the hand brake on
or off? • Put the car in gear and drive on. • This is a no-parking zone. • Our car had a breakdown, and we had to

48
push it into a garage. • He braked sharply to avoid a car. • He wound up the window, and locked the car door. •
He undid the seat belt, and got out of the car. • Put your car into neutral when you stop at traffic lights. • The car
is now in bottom gear. • I’ve got another puncture in my front tyre. • He turned down a street where there was a
‘No Entry’ sign. • Change into second gear when you go up the hill. • He took the handbrake off, and the car
moved forward. • Why don’t you roll the window down? • The authorities have been doing their best to ease
traffic congestion in the city. • I thought he would pull up at the traffic lights, but he drove straight on. • We saw a
restaurant by the road, and pulled in. • I think you’re a bit low on petrol. • Our car was travelling at a speed of 60
kilometres per hour. • Is this a parking place?

How to pronounce English like a native speaker of English

We’ve already dealt with the topic Flow Production Techniques in Lesson 2. There we saw several techniques
that would help you speak English by making the end of one word flow into the beginning of the next word.
While dealing with that topic, I told you that the sounds made by five of the letters in English (a, e, i, o and u) are
called vowels and that the sounds made by the remaining twenty one letters are called consonants. Now, when
you speak, words come together, and when words come together, four different types of junctions are formed. In
Lesson 2, we saw that these junctions are:

• Consonant-consonant junctions.

• Consonant-vowel junctions.

• Vowel-vowel junctions.

• Vowel-consonant junctions.

And in Lesson 2, you learnt certain important techniques that would help you utter one word after another
smoothly — without the junctions between every two of them causing problems and forcing you to falter. Now
this is what I am going to do through the present Supplement: I’m going to deal with the Flow Production
Techniques at an advanced level.

Connected speech and pronunciation

Let me explain. When you watch an English film, are you able to understand what the people in that film are
saying? When you listen to native speakers of English having a conversation, are you able to understand what
they are saying? Well, many people aren’t able to. And in this Supplement, I’m going to tell you what one of the
chief reasons is.

Well, simply put, this is what happens: When you listen to them, you hear several clusters of sounds that are
unintelligible to you. That is, you’re not able to make out what words these sound clusters represent. Although
they actually stand for everyday words that you know very well, these sound clusters don’t sound to you to be
like anything you know. For example, suppose that you hear a native speaker of English say something like this:

isnch sod man

Note: As I’ve already told you in Lesson 3, ‘ ’ stands for the ‘schwa’. This is a vowel sound — but not a distinct
one. It occurs in the unstressed syllables in words. This is the sound of ‘a’ in “above”, “about”, etc., that of ‘e’ in
“water”, that of ‘i’ in “possible”, that of ‘o’ in “actor”, and that of ‘u’ in “suppose”. For all practical purposes, these
sounds are one and the same.)

What do you think was he saying? Well, if he had written the same thing down (rather than uttered it aloud), this
is how it would’ve looked:

He isn’t your sort of man.

Or suppose that you hear him say things like these:

49
• ’snochos. • ’so’right. • ’sipmatter? • ’kyou. • Praps.

If he had written these things down, they would’ve looked as follows:

• It’s not yours. • It’s all right. • What does it matter? • Thank you. • Perhaps.

A foreign learner finds spoken word groups like these difficult to understand (when a native speaker of English
say them aloud). This is mainly because of two reasons:

1). He (the foreign learner) has had his training mainly in written English, and his eyes are used to seeing
spaces between every two written words. And he gets confused and somewhat disoriented when he hears a
group of words uttered as a single unit — without even the briefest possible pause corresponding to those
spaces.

2). He has learnt to pronounce every word individually, and he expects that a particular word would sound the
same whether it’s pronounced individually (in isolation) or as part of a word group (in connected speech).

As far as the first point is concerned, understand this: Blank spaces among the words in a written word group
have no importance when you utter that word group in connected speech. In connected speech, there are no
pauses corresponding to the spaces among written words. No. In connected speech, there are normally no
pauses between two neighbouring words in a word group (except when you make use of a pause as a device in
overcoming hesitation or as a device that helps you compose and speak at the same time). In general, there are
only pauses between word groups, and not between words. And the words in a word group are spoken as a
single, tight, well-knit unit, having no gaps among them. You can even say that, in speech, a group of words is
treated as equivalent to a single word — and so the spaces you see among the words (when you write that word
group down) have no relevance at all when you utter them in connected speech.

Now let’s take up the second point. In a way, this entire lesson is going to be a detailed study of this (second)
point.

At the outset, there’s something you should understand firmly: Words in English don’t sound the same when
they’re pronounced individually (in isolation) as when they’re pronounced as part of a word group in connected
speech. No. A word is pronounced in one way when it’s uttered in isolation — that’s its ideal pronunciation. And
it’s often pronounced in a different way when it’s uttered in combination with other words — that’s its
pronunciation in practice.

Tongue movement and phonetic simplification

You see, when you utter a consonant or a vowel individually, your tongue gets into the ideal position that’s
required to produce that sound. When you utter another consonant or vowel after that, the tongue will have to
get back from that ideal position, and then get into the ideal position required to produce the new sound. This is
only possible when you utter words individually in isolation, because then you’ll be uttering the sounds slowly,
and your tongue will have enough time to move from ideal position to ideal position. But when words are
combined (and uttered aloud) in speech, a cluster of consonants or a cluster of vowels come together. And your
tongue will have to move from one position to another in quick succession. And in that process, the positions to
which the tongue moves will not often be the ideal positions required to produce the various sounds. So the
consonant sound and the vowel sound the tongue produces in connected speech will be different from the ideal
sounds. (The quality of the sounds the tongue actually produces thus would depend on the nature of the
neighbouring sounds.)

In English, stressed syllables are normally uttered slowly and clearly, and unstressed syllables are always
uttered quickly and far less clearly. So when you utter stressed syllables in speech, there’ll be time enough for
your tongue to get into the ideal positions required to produce the ideal consonant sounds and vowel sounds.
But when you utter unstressed syllables, your tongue won’t have enough time to get into the ideal positions
required to produce those syllables, because they’re uttered quickly. So when you utter a cluster of unstressed
syllables, your tongue gets into such positions as it finds easier to get into from the preceding positions, and not

50
into the ideal positions. As a result, a cluster of unstressed syllables often sounds different in speech from what
it might sound if those syllables are pronounced slowly one after another.

As it’s difficult (and sometimes impossible) for the tongue to move from ideal position to ideal position in
connected speech, it only moves from possible position to possible position, and each consonant and each
vowel in a cluster will have to adjust to the sounds of the neighbouring consonants and vowels. In this process
of mutual adjustment, this is what happens: The sounds of various consonant clusters, vowel clusters and
consonant-vowel clusters become different from their ideal sounds — because the sounds that the tongue
produces are those that it finds easier to produce rather than the ideal sounds. And that’s not all. Many
consonants and vowels even get left out, and are not pronounced. In other words, in the process of mutual
adjustment among neighbouring consonants and vowels, a lot of phonetic simplification (of consonant and vowel
clusters) takes place. Remember this: The tongue sometimes finds that it’s easier to utter a cluster of
consonants or vowels if it modifies the sounds of some of them or leave them out altogether (without
pronouncing them), and that’s when all these phonetic changes happen. So if you want to understand a native
speaker of English, you must never expect him to pronounce words with the same precision as he would if he
were asked to pronounce them individually. Expect that the shapes of most of the words would change in
speech. And you should have a clear idea of the sort of changes that can be expected. And this Supplement,
would help you here.

Phonetic simplification and fluency

Now as far as fluency development is concerned, how are these phonetic changes important? In Lesson 3, we
noted the following points:

• English is a semi-musical language.

• You should speak English by uttering stressed syllables very clearly, and unstressed syllables far less clearly.

• This contrast between stressed syllables and unstressed syllables is the key to the rhythm of English speech.

• You should speak English in stress-units called “feet”.

• Each “foot” is made up of a stressed syllable which may (or may not) be followed by one or more unstressed
syllables.

• The number of syllables a foot has varies from foot to foot within an idea unit. But you should only take
approximately the same amount of time to utter each foot — no matter how many unstressed syllables a foot
has.

• You should utter stressed syllables at fairly equal intervals of time.

Now, for example, in an idea unit that you utter, one foot may only have a single syllable (a stressed syllable),
another may have two syllables (a stressed syllable and an unstressed syllable) and another may have four
syllables (a stressed syllable and three unstressed syllables). How can you utter each of these feet by giving
each the same amount of time? We’ve already seen in Lesson 3 that you can do this by doing two things:

1). You should utter the stressed syllables alone clearly, and you should play down the unstressed syllables by
not uttering them clearly.

2). And you should utter the unstressed syllables (that follow a stressed syllable) as fast as is necessary to allow
the next stressed syllable to come up at the next rhythmic beat. (See Lesson 3 for details and examples).

Now when you try to utter a foot containing, say, as many as four syllables within the same length of time as a
foot containing, say, a single syllable, you can imagine what’s going to happen to the three unstressed syllables
in that foot. Obviously, they’ll have to be pronounced so quickly that they run into one another. And then, it’s only
natural that these two things happen:

51
1). Some of the consonants in those unstressed syllables undergo a change in sound (to suit the neighbouring
consonants) or get dropped altogether from the utterance.

2). And some of the vowels in them get weakened or dropped from the utterance.

Phonetic changes like these are quite normal in all styles of speech in English — formal, informal (= casual) and
neutral styles. You can notice them whenever a native speaker of English speaks. Yes, whenever — because all
styles of speech in English are subject to the pressures of rhythm and stress, and it’s these pressures that make
it difficult for the tongue to move into ideal positions during a long utterance and thus brings about the phonetic
changes. These phonetic changes happen even when non-native speakers speak English, but many non-native
speakers (wrongly) think that these changes are abnormal — and they try hard to deliberately avoid these
changes. And this is what happens then:

1). The (unnecessary) effort they make to avoid the phonetic changes interrupts the natural flow of speech when
they speak.

2). This effort takes away their concentration from what they are saying to how they are saying it, and their
attention gets diverted away from the meaning of their message to the details of pronunciation. This stops them
from concentrating on composing the content of their message, and they falter.

So if you want to be fluent in spoken English, remember this: You should never make a conscious effort to resist
the natural tendency of unstressed syllables to undergo phonetic simplification. Instead, you should give in or
yield to this phenomenon.

Fluency in speaking about a wide range of topics

I told you in Supplement 6 that, if you are to become fluent in speaking about a wide range of topics, it is not
enough that you know a lot of words and have a clear idea of their meanings and other features. And I told you
this: What’s needed is that you should have complete mastery over the core words in English. But this is only
possible if you have the experience of handling the core words again and again, that too, by relating them to
frequently-discussed topics. In Supplement 6, I gave you carefully chosen collections of word groups that have
to do with six topics. In this Supplement, I’m going to give you word groups that have to do with seven other
important topics:

1). Good and bad.

2). Farming, Agriculture & Gardening.

3). Sports & Games.

4). Essential Computer English.

5). Crime.

6). Nature.

7). Building and home.

Let’s go straight for the word groups. As usual, utter each word group aloud several times, so that you and your
organs of speech become familiar with them. Remember this: What’s needed is not just to learn the content of
these word groups; what’s needed is to train your organs of speech with them.

Here we go:

Good and bad

52
Group 1

• We had a really pleasant time together. • His French wasn’t as good as his English, but good enough. • What
an unpleasant man! • Don’t expect them to be truthful — they’ve got no ethics. • The weather conditions were
bad, and the plane couldn’t land. • He’s a very able lawyer. • It’s an old car, but it’s basically sound. • This is
perhaps the finest film I’ve ever seen. • He showed excellent self-control in his answer. • What an awful smell! •
His work is satisfactory, but not outstanding. • He’s a nasty man, and he won’t help anyone. • That’s a
remarkable achievement. • She gave us some hints on how to look after indoor plants, and I found them very
useful. • He says he’s a policeman, but he doesn’t look authentic/genuine. • He has a lot of good qualities and
he deserves admiration. • The conference was very dull, and I didn’t know what to do to amuse myself. • That’s
a marvellous dress you’re wearing. • Some of these drugs have a harmful effect on the nervous system. • She’s
a very skilled and experienced swimmer. • Many of them are incapable and don’t have the abilities necessary to
do their jobs. • His work is first class. • What miserable weather! If only it stopped raining! • That’s a first rate
plan/idea. • The management of that company seems to be very inefficient. • Their work is well below standard. •
I don’t think it was an honest answer. • All the players were good, but he was easily the best. • This dishwasher
is an ingenious invention.

• The index at the back of the book is not as good as it should be. • He had a better life there. • He’s a very
gifted violinist. • If you want to be successful in this business, you’ll have to offer the best to your customers. •
The new park is going to be an excellent place for kids. • I think his argument/reasoning is faulty. • The dress
she had on wasn’t suitable for the occasion. • The telephone line was defective. • He’s all right — you can trust
him. • He did an admirable job in dealing with the situation. • One thing I like about him is, he has a positive
attitude to everything. • He was very unfriendly, and his behaviour was nasty. • That was an
outstanding/impressive performance. • He’s an ethical person — I’m sure he won’t stoop to blackmail. • It isn’t a
genuine/an authentic Michelangelo drawing, but a fake. • Their computers are superior to those of others. • He
never loses his temper, and that’s an admirable quality. • He’s a nice person, but rather dull and boring. • The
election didn’t produce a satisfying result for them. • Don’t buy those vegetables — they’re rotten. • Do you think
the supplies of food are sufficient? • He’s good looking and fashionable. • The boss was in a foul temper today.

• He’s a fine painter/musician/actor. • He likes to play tricks on others — he’s a mischievous person, you know. •
The painters have done an excellent job of that building. • Our company is going through a bad time. • That was
a surprise to me, but an agreeable one. • His new house is a bit small, but very pleasant. • That egg is rotten —
don’t eat it. • He isn’t very clever, but he tries hard. • He showed great surprise at the news, but I don’t think it
was genuine. • He’s always hopeful and confident, and it’s great to work with him. • I like the design of this
building/dress/furniture — it’s stylish. • I’m not happy with his work — it’s below a satisfactory standard. • Thank
you for an excellent evening. • His argument/reasoning was deeply flawed. • I don’t think it’s a sound idea/plan. •
The problem is, the supplies of medicines are not adequate. • She always goes out dressed in fine clothes. • His
new film is a miserable failure. • He’s a first-rate professional. • They’re all fine singers. • Change that dress — it
looks awful on you. • He’s very truthful, and you can trust him. • I find it difficult to believe that he’s a
real/genuine doctor. • The telephone system in our area is very inefficient. • We had a really good time at the
party last night. • This food has a nasty mouldy smell.

Group 2

• The terms of the new contract are really advantageous to us. • This film doesn’t have any technical merit, but
it’s very entertaining. • This medicine isn’t suitable for all patients. • He’s a superior musician. • He’s very
competent in foreign languages. • I think the fears of the industrialists are legitimate, and not groundless. • My
room has a fine view of the countryside. • The kitchen smelt foul. • His car is in first class condition. • If you want
to know how to start up a company, you should consult Mr. Ashok Arora — he’s a specialist adviser, you know. •
He’s the most honest man I ever met. • They treated us dreadfully. • Last night’s party was good wholesome fun.
• He has a bad character, and he can’t be trusted. • Many of our doctors are not adequately trained. • We had a
really enjoyable time there. • The arrangements for the conference — I don’t think they were adequate. • I don’t
know if this make of TV is all right. • Who cooked this dish? It’s superb!

• His interpretation of the balance sheet figures — it’s faulty. • I don’t think he’s suitable for that job. • He had a
terrible accident last year. • Stress in itself is not always harmful. • He’s a nice person, and is pleasant to be with.
• Their village/town is rather crowded, but very pleasant. • He’s good-looking and stylish. • The new boss is
always nasty to me. • The work was not up to standard. • That was a very competent performance. • The boss

53
seems to be in a foul mood today. • He’s a genuine person — always honest and sincere. • This butter tastes
stale. • I like her — her behaviour has a childlike quality. • She’s very clean, and always keeps the kitchen free
from dirt. • Most people in that area are poor and live in housing of sorts/of a sort. • That was a satisfying meal. •
That bridge is in poor condition and may soon collapse. • He’s an expert tailor. • He claims to have invented this
device, but do you think his claim is legitimate? • The smell of rotting cabbage was disgusting. • The new
arrangement suits me fine. • He’s a miserable man, and always bad-tempered. • That’s a great idea. • It was a
bad accident, and his injuries were awful. • I don’t think he was being truthful with us when he said all those
things. • The whole marketing department in our company is very inefficient. • This milk has gone bad. • The
food in that restaurant is very good/poor. • His hearing/sight was defective. • He’s a very talented tennis player. •
This food has gone off, and it smells. • He has superb confidence. • If you bury a piece of wood, it’d decay/rot. •
This medicine is an effective cure for TB. • This method is inefficient and expensive. • The flight was very
comfortable, and I enjoyed it. • He’s a poor singer — his wife can sing better than him. • He’s a very friendly and
agreeable person. • She has a nice little house there. • Don’t keep biting your nails — it’s a disgusting habit. •
He’s a very moral person — don’t expect him to stoop to bribery.

• This is not the most favourable time to start up a company. • There’s no doubt that his work deserves to be
praised. • This is a boring subject. • This is a wicked world. • He’s an outstanding musician. • That building is
very impressive. • The things they’ve done are morally unacceptable. • Prof. Ahmed is an expert on this topic. •
Their new interest rates seem very advantageous. • That’s a fine book. • I found his joke offensive. • He has an
excellent brain and is very competent. • This method isn’t effective and isn’t going to produce the result we want.
• The boss liked her because she was honest and reliable. • It’s immoral to deceive other people. • That’s a
faulty switch — we’ll have to get it replaced. • I didn’t like the food — it wasn’t all right. • They sell good quality
furniture. • This bread isn’t fresh — it’s stale. Don’t eat it. • The terms of the contract are not very advantageous
to us. • He’s a great painter — he has superb skill. • You shouldn’t wear this sort of dress to the office — it isn’t
suitable, you know. • I’ve had a bad day at work. • This is certainly an awesome achievement. • The food was
poor. • He’s a fine-looking young man. • He lives in a nasty little flat there. • He was way below the standard
required, and was not chosen for the job. • Most of our employees are hardworking and responsible. • He’s a
warm and friendly man. • He’s a mischievous person — he takes delight in embarrassing others. • I like him —
he’s an admirable character. • The children looked smart in their white shirts. • His new film has a lot of artistic
merit. • Our new boss looks very stern, but is actually harmless. • He was splendid company during the journey.
• He was found to be a superior candidate, and he was chosen for the job. • She’s an expert at cooking. • They
claim to be the market leaders in this industry, and I think their claim is reasonable and justified. • She gave us
an excellent meal. • He says this diamond is flawed. • The food here is first class.

Group 3

• You’ll have to give me a truthful answer. • Rumours like these would certainly be damaging to our reputation. • I
hate that place — it’s awful. • The preparations for the meeting were not satisfactory. • These floppy disks are of
superior quality. • I don’t think the response to their latest ad was very good. • Don’t use this milk — it smells off.
• That machine was of poor quality. • His financial situation is awful. • He exercises every day and keeps in
perfect shape. • The bathroom was dirty and disgusting. • I don’t think the investigation has been thorough. • It’s
not a very expensive hotel — the prices are OK. • Did you go to the carnival? It was an impressive spectacle. • I
found his argument defective. • I think today’s going to be a pleasant day. • She’s a very attractive and
fashionable woman. • He made some nasty jokes about me. • He’s the most upright and trustworthy man I’ve
ever met. • This sort of diet isn’t suitable for most people. • He has a few valuable contacts in the government. •
The lecture was so dull I fell asleep. • The film didn’t have a satisfying ending. • Her grandfather is past 90, but
his mind is sound. • Do you think the talks the unions had with the management were genuine? • There’s
nothing more enjoyable than lying on that beach. • He’s an excellent student.

54