The Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is a genre that blends elements of both comedy and tragedy. Most often seen in dramatic literature, it can be a tragedy with a happy ending or a tragedy with enough comic relief that the...
The Comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that is intended to incite laughter and amusement, especially in theatre, television, radio, books, film, stand-up comedy or any other entertainment medium. It dates bac...
Exploration into Individuality
Well-known in her native Poland, Maria Wislawa Anna Szymborska received international recognition when she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. In awarding the prize, the Academy praised her ...
Confusing Contronyms
Many people -native speakers and learners alike -decry English as being illogical. But some other words are just as frustrating: Contronyms. It is a word that is its opposite -like 'fast', which can r...
From Transience to Permanence
Rabindranath Tagore’s Chitra is a drama on the theme of true love. This lyrical play is a work of supreme art that has immense use of symbols and poetical language. Tagore is known for his aesthetic a...
The Present Tense
In the English language, verb tenses indicate whether an event is from the past, present, or future. There are 12 verb tenses in the English language:Present Simple
Present Cont...
A Dog has Died
A Dog has Died by Pablo Neruda is a heart-wrenching eulogy for the poet’s much-loved, deceased dog that also explores the dog’s personality and interactions with the speaker. It was written in Spanish...
Introduction to Tenses
In modern linguistic theory, tense is understood as a category that grammaticalizes time reference; namely, one which, places a state or action in time. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of spe...
ICT in ELT
English is one of the most important languages which have played a significant role in the process of globalization and knowledge explosion. It is the most common means of communication throughout the...
Fire on the Mountain
Anita Desai has added a new dimension to Indian fiction in English by writing a novel like Fire on the Mountain, which probes deep into the bottomless pit of the human psyche and brings the hidden con...
ICT Enabled Learning
Long before the e-learning era, Plato (428 BC– 348 BC) said: “Someday, in the distant future, our grandchildren's grandchildren will develop a new equivalent of our classrooms. They will spend many ho...
Developing Soft Skills
Soft skills relate to how you work ie, they refer to the way one conducts himself/herself at the workplace. Soft skills include interpersonal (people) skills, communication skills, listening skills, t...
Factors Influencing Learning
Learning is a complex process that defies easy definition and description. Human learning is influenced by the family, the community, the school and the societal structure in which the child is born a...
The Nightmare of Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the story Malcolm tells of his experiences and his growth. The first chapter begins in 1926 and chronicles the first eleven years of Malcolm’s life with his hard-work...
The Simulation Technique
Simulation, in industry, science, and education, is a research or teaching technique that reproduces actual events and processes under test conditions. Developing a simulation is often a highly comple...
Journey to the Interior
Margaret Eleanor Atwood's Journey to the Interior is a metaphysical poem with the recurring motif of ‘journey’ that Atwood explores in other works like Surfacing. It is in form of a monologue, the apt...
The Tragedy
The tragedy is a classic and effective literary device that has developed over time. From ritualistic portrayals, in ancient Greece of noble or prominent tragic heroes, to modern works featuring a m...
Tradition Against Modernity
R K Narayan is a great novelist who still lives in the mind of readers, India as well as abroad. Narayan had more ‘spell-bound power’ and offered a more consistent, prolific output over 66 more years ...
Debating as a Teaching Tool
The main mission of the educational system is to provide opportunities for students to get practical and useful training to create a thinking field and to enhance their social abilities. As an effecti...
Writing a Memo
A memo (also known as a memorandum, or reminder) is used for internal communications regarding procedures or official business within an organization. Unlike an email, a memo is a message sent to a la...
The Subaltern Speaks
In post-colonial theory, the word ‘subaltern’ is used to refer to a member of any group who faces oppression due to caste or gender or race. In her seminal essay, Can the Subaltern Speak?, Gayathri Ch...
Critical Pedagogy in the Classroom
Correcting students need not amount to the banking method of education. Rather, teachers should call on students to contribute their experiences so that teachers can critically engage with students’ i...
A Critique of Gender Discrimination
Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! The Court is in Session is a critique of gender discrimination in patriarchy and the women’s fight against the injustice done to her. He represents the problems faced by ind...
Ritusamhara
Kalidasa's Ritusamhara is an ode to nature's bounty and the enduring emotional response it evokes in mankind as a whole. The word Ritu (season) with the word saṃhāra is used here in the sense of "comi...
Sophoclean Drama
Sophocles was an ancient Greek playwright and the second of the 3 greatest Greek writers of tragedy with Aeschylus and Euripides. He is known best for what he wrote about Oedipus, the mythological fig...
From Critical Theory to Critical Pedagogy
Critical Pedagogy (CP) emanated from Critical Theory (CT) which was developed by the philosophers and theorists of the 1923 Frankfurt School of Thought like Theodor W. Adorno, Jürgen Habermas, and Her...
Dante Divine
Dante Alighieri was a Medieval Italian poet and philosopher whose poetic trilogy, the Divine Comedy, made an indelible impression on both literature and theology. He was one of the most learned Italia...
Bringing Classroom and Society Together
Critical pedagogy is a teaching philosophy that invites educators to encourage students to critique structures of power and oppression. It is rooted in critical theory, which involves becoming aware o...
Universal Grammar
Universal Grammar Theory states that all children are born with an innate ability to acquire, develop, and understand language. While different languages may have different kinds of grammar, humans ha...
Antigone, the Classic
Classical works of literature usually share a common element: a memorable main character. Classics feature central characters with vivid, distinct personalities and strong points of view about the wor...
Dawn at Puri
Jayanta Mahapatra is a poet of remarkable power and vision and is a near contemporary of established Indian English poets like Nissim Ezekiel and A K Ramanujan. Dawn at Puri by Mahapatra is the most c...
Types of Drama
From the earliest times drama has been divided broadly into two kinds, Tragedy and Comedy, the one dealing with the dark side of life, the other with the light side of life. Tragedy aims at inspiring ...
Language Games
Language learning is a hard task that can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target language. Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give...
A Satire Against Racism
Telephone Conversation is a poetic satire against the widespread racism still prevalent in modern western society. As the title suggests, the poem depicts a telephone conversation between a West-Afric...
Preparing a Curriculum Vitae
A curriculum vitae or CV (and sometimes called a vita) is an academic resume that highlights your scholarly accomplishments. A CV provides the employer with a clear outline of your accomplishments so ...
Homer’s Epics
Homer, the earliest poet in Western culture, composed two major works Iliad and Odyssey. In conjunction with Hesiod, Homer acts as a great pool of information for the Greeks about their gods. The Gree...
Learner Oriented Teaching
In the traditional approach to teaching, most class time is spent with the professor lecturing and the students watching and listening. The students work individually on assignments, and cooperation i...
A Challenge to Fate
Belonging to the period of pre-independence, Sarojini Naidu attracted the younger generation of India through her genuine verse. Her poems tell us of her fantasies and longings, her memory, her moment...
Homer
T S Eliot said that genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. Homer is perhaps the greatest of all epic poets and his legendary status was well established by the time of Classical Athen...
Shelley Calls for Action
Percy Bysshe Shelley once gave up sugar in tea. It was not because he was diabetic, but for a cause. He not only gave up himself but also spearheaded a campaign that resulted in up to 4,00,000 Britons...
Basics in Language Learning
Language is a system of communication. A system comprises a set of signs or symbols arranged in a particular pattern and has some meaning. Speech and writing are the two modes of linguistic communic...
Imagery
Imagery is a very common term in Modern criticism. It stands for all the objects and qualities of sense perceptions referred to in a poem or any other literary writing. It is thus the conveying of sen...
The Origin of Drama
Drama is a form of literature intended to be performed by actors and written as prose or verse dialogue. In Western culture, it is one of the three genres developed by the Greeks: drama, epic and (lyr...
Studying Classics
Classic literature is an expression of life, truth, and beauty. In classic literature, work is usually considered to be a representation of the period in which it was written and it merits lasting rec...
Psycholinguistics
Language is an integral part of our society and the way we live our lives. It is an irreplaceable aspect of every culture, and it helps make us unique as individuals. For these reasons, it is importan...
The Classics
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. It encompasses the study of the Greco-Roman world particularly of its languages and literature. Traditionally in the West, the study ...
Writing Advertisements
If you're in business you know that to attract customers and get results, you have to advertise. A great ad attracts attention, generates interest in your product, and leaves consumers with a strong d...
Govinda’s Disciple
The poem Govinda’s Disciple by Rabindranath Tagore beautifully highlights the traits of a true master and his disciple who has not been able to overcome his materialistic nature. The setting of the po...
Advertisements
An advertisement is a kind of public notice asking for or offering services or buying and selling property, goods etc., or providing information about missing persons, pets, etc. An advertisement may ...
Literature and Life
Literature is composed of those books which by their subject matter and mode of treating it are of general human interest and in which the element of form and the pleasure which form gives are essenti...
Essential Components of Communication
In order to better understand the communication process, we can break it down into a series of eight essential components.Source
Message
Channel
Receiver
Feedback
...
Writing an Agenda
An effective agenda sets clear expectations for what needs to occur before and during a meeting. It helps team members prepare, allocates time wisely, quickly gets everyone on the same topic, and id...
Defining Communication
Communication is a Latin word that means ‘to share’. It is the sharing of information between different individuals. It includes the sharing of ideas, concepts, imaginations, behaviours and written co...
More About Ballads
Ballads, as stage performances, enjoyed the status of being one of the main sources of entertainment in ancient times. Legends and historical events were narrated in the form of ballads, which would c...
Designing an Agenda
Here are some tips for designing an effective agenda for your next meeting. You can use these tips whether a meeting lasts an hour or three days and whether you’re meeting with a group of five or fort...
Ballad Forms
A ballad is a poem that tells a story, usually (but not always) in four-line stanzas called quatrains. The ballad form is enormously diverse, and poems in this form may have any one of hundreds of dif...
Ballads
Ballad is a popular narrative song passed down orally. Folk (or traditional) ballads are anonymous and recount tragic, comic, or heroic stories with an emphasis on a central dramatic event; examples i...
Types of Formal Letters
Letter of EnquiryThe agenda behind writing this letter is to collect information about something or someone. Here you should mention why you expect the sender to give you particular information.Fo...
Formal Letters
We live in a world of technology backed communication. E-mails, texts, etc are most of our preferred modes of communication. However, letters still have a major use and importance in our society, espe...
Usage of Adverbs
An adverb is a word that’s used to give information about a verb, adjective, or another adverb.they sang loudly
she’s very pretty
he writes really wellWhen used with a verb, ...
Dramatic Monologue
Monologue refers to a speech or a verbal presentation that a character gives to exhibit his ideas as well as thoughts in a loud manner. Through monologue, the character shares his thoughts with the au...
Informal Letters
An informal letter also referred to as a friendly letter, is a personal letter written to friends or relatives (Informal letter to a friend). It is written in a personal fashion. You can write it to...
Levels of Aesthetic Distance
Aesthetic distance, the frame of reference that an artist creates by the use of technical devices in and around the work of art is to differentiate it psychologically from reality. German playwright B...
Letter Writing Tips
The art of writing a letter was considered an important requirement. Here are some tips for writing a good letter.Identify the TypeThis is the first step of the letter-writing process. You must ...
Aesthetic Distance
Aesthetics is a word that comes from the ancient Greeks. It is used to describe the relationship between art and one's perceptions of beauty. The word is also used to summarize the style of one artist...
Letter Writing
Before the advent of modern technology made communication so easy, the art of writing a letter was considered an important requirement. Even today a letter is an important means of communication in ...
Recent Trends in TG
There have been numerous changes in transformational grammar from the seventies onwards. Some of the important aspects of these changes are:Standard theory
Extended Standard Theory (E...
Meeting Minutes Writing
Meeting minutes, or MOM (for minutes of the meeting) can be defined as the written record of everything that's happened during a meeting. They're used to inform people who didn't attend the meeting ab...
Adverbialisation
Adverbialisation is the process of forming sentences with Adverbs and Adverbial Clauses in them. In adverbial clauses, there are Sentence adjuncts and Predicate Phrase adjuncts. Sentence adjuncts modi...
Structuring a Report
Reports generally involve presenting your investigation and analysis of information or an issue, recommending actions and making proposals.Main Sections of a ReportTitle Section – This incl...
Placement of Adverbs
Putting the adverb in the wrong spot can produce an awkward sentence at best and completely change the meaning at worst. Place adverbs as close as possible to the words they are supposed to modify. Be...
Complement Clause Transformations
Complement ClauseThe Complement clauses ( abbreviated as COMP-clauses) are commonly defined as subordinate clauses functioning as an argument of a predicate. The Complement Clause functions as an NP...
Types of Reports
Reports are well researched, planned and organized documents that are written for a purpose. A report is written for a specific audience; it must always be accurate and objective. It is a concise do...
Complementation
A characteristic property of certain types of sentence embedding in English, the Sentential Complementation, is the deletion of the initial Noun Phrase of the Sentential Complement. The study of compl...
Relativization in Subordination
In transformational grammar, relativization is the process of forming sentences with relative clauses in them. Relativization as a syntactic process, like complementation and coordination exhibit the ...
Report Writing
In academia, there is some overlap between reports and essays, and the two words are sometimes used interchangeably, but reports are more likely to be needed for business, scientific and technical s...
Double Based Transformations -Subordination
In generative grammar, embedding is the process by which one clause is included (embedded) in another. This is also known as nesting. More broadly, embedding refers to the inclusion of any linguistic ...
British and American Expressions
There is an old saying that America and Britain are “two nations divided by a common language.” While they are essentially the same, British and American English also differ a great deal, with some ...
Use of Adjectives
An adjective is a word that qualifies a noun or a pronoun. An adjective can be used in two ways:
(1) Attributively: She is a good teacher. (Adjective is before noun)
(2) Predicatively: Bimala is intel...
Double Based Transformations -Coordination
Double-based TransformationsA generative grammar of the type proposed by Chomsky makes use of two types of transformational rules- the singe-base or simple transformations, which is converting a sen...
A Blog Post in Five Easy Steps
Step 1: Plan your blog post by choosing a topic, creating an outline, conducting research, and checking facts.
Step 2: Craft a headline that is both informative and will capture readers’ atte...
Passivisation
In English grammar, passivisation is the transformation of a sentence from an active form to a passive form. Through the process of passivisation, the direct object of an active declarative sentence c...
Adjectives
Adjectives are Noun Modifiers, as they generally describe some aspect of nouns.beautiful
good
happy
cool
distantKinds of AdjectivesAdjectives of QualityThey des...
Short Response and Emphasis Transformation
Short Response TransformationIn spoken English and informal writing, a short answer is a response made up of a subject and an auxiliary verb or modal. Short answers are brief but complete—they can a...
Types of Nouns
Recognising the different types of nouns in English grammar will help to develop one's ability to write and speak with precision.Compound NounsCompound nouns are formed from two or more words. Mos...
Tag Question Transformation
The standard or classical, model of transformational generative grammar posits two levels of representation for sentences, an abstract deep structure of meaning relationships and a concrete surface st...
Writing an Effective Email
While most of us are happy to write informal emails to friends, we get jittery when asked to write to people whom we are supposed to make a good impression on, or where we need to be careful or diplom...
Noun Classes
Nouns are described as words that refer to a person, place, thing, event, substance, quality, quantity, etc. The grammatical categories associated with nouns are number, gender and case. There are dif...
Disambiguation Using TG Grammar
TG grammar attempts to describe actual and potential sentences. It aims at generating all and only sentences of a language. It is able to detect ambiguity. If a structure is understood in two ways by ...
Email Writing
Email stands for electronic mail. It is the easiest and the cheapest way of communication. It is used in formal, semi-formal as well as an informal way of expression or writing.Every email you wri...
Analysis Using TG Grammar
In English, sentences are always made up of noun phrases (NP) and verb phrases (VP).A noun phrase should always contain at least a noun. It can also contain a determiner (Det), an adjective, and a p...
The Transformational Framework
TG grammar makes use of transformations. The transformational component helps to convert structures from one level to another. In TG analysis we start with the kernel sentence to which PS rules are ap...
Transformational Rules
Transformational Generative grammar is based on the assumption that sentences are of two types- those with the simplest structures are called the basic or kernel sentences. Several sentences with more...
Question Tags
A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. We use tag questions to ask for confirmation. They mean something like: "Is that right?" or "Do you ...
An Introduction to TG Grammar
Transformational grammar is a theory of grammar that accounts for the constructions of a language by linguistic transformations and phrase structures. It is also known as transformational generative g...
Barriers to Reading
The major hurdles in developing efficient reading are:Lack of concentration
Uninteresting subject matter
Lack of motivation
Faulty reading habits
Defective Reading
...
Why Transformational Generative Grammar?
In Syntactic Structures, Chomsky claims that one of the main reasons for preferring a transformational grammar to a phrase structure grammar is that the former is, in a certain sense, simpler than the...
Wh- Question Words
In English grammar, a wh- word is one of the function words used to begin a wh- question: what, who, whom, whose, which, when, where, why, and how.Nounswhat, whatever
who, who...
Derivation of a Sentence
A phrase structure grammar consists solely of phrase structure rules, whereas transformational grammar does not consist only of transformational rules. It includes a set of phrase structure rules as w...
Limitations of Phrase Structure Grammar
The processes that pose problems to PS grammar are:ambiguities
synonymies
permutations
discontinuous constituents (Eg: particles)
remote relationship (Eg: those of cases)
...
Statement to Question
Turning a statement into a question can seem hard at first, but it will appear easier later. A statement is used to express a fact, opinion, or viewpoint about a topic. On the other hand, questions ar...
The Constituent Structure
The PS grammar is an alternative way of expressing the information found in a tree diagram employing rewrite rules. This is a method of structural description. It specifies the subunits and the level ...
Writing a Good Essay
An essay is a composition that defends a position or opinion, also called a thesis, that has been put forth by the author. Not only should an essay demonstrate your overall knowledge of the broader su...
Phrase Structure Grammar
The second of Chomsky's 'three models for the description of language', is Phrase Structure Grammar. Any set of sentences that can be generated by a finite state grammar can be generated by a phrase s...
Phrasal Verbs
A phrasal verb is the combination of two or three words from different grammatical categories — a verb and a particle, such as an adverb or a preposition — to form a single semantic unit on a lexical ...
Generative Grammar
Generative grammar, a very formal system is the first of the three models for the description of the language discussed by linguist Noam Chomsky in Syntactic Structures. In linguistics, generative gra...
IC Analysis: Advantages and Limitations
The process of IC analysis always ends when the smallest constituents are reached, which are often words although the analysis can also be extended into words to acknowledge how words are structured. ...
IC Analysis of Sentences
A single sentence is made up of an NP (subject) and a predicate phrase. This predicate phrase, apart from a compulsory verbal group, may optionally have one or more noun phrase(s), preposition phrase(...
Guidelines to Paragraph Writing
Developing an effective paragraph -a combination of sentences joined cohesively together to further a focused topic -requires seven steps. Emily Layfield outlines these easy steps which will help one ...
The Gleason Method
The grammatical constituents in a sentence like Noun Phrase, Verb Phrase, Adverbial and Preposition Phrase can be further divided into categories such as Noun, Adjective, Verb, Tense and Morpheme....
Confusing Words
Everyone knows the problem with spell-check: your word might be spelt right, but it may be the wrong word. It happens all the time. You're writing a paper or texting a friend and have to ask yourself,...
Labelled IC Analysis
Immediate Constituent analysis aims at analysing each utterance into the smallest meaningful units possible. In this model, we begin by cutting the sentence into two natural divisions, and each of the...
Strategies in Paragraph Writing
Writing a paragraph means writing a series of sentences related to a single topic. In theory, it sounds simple enough, but finding the right topic, building sentences with substantial ideas, and conne...
Immediate Constituent Analysis
The advent of generative grammar with the publication of Chomsky's monograph Syntactic Structures in 1957 was a scientific revolution. From the beginning, this revolution was directed almost exclusive...
Paragraph Features
A paragraph is a collection of sentences that all relate to one main idea or topic. Good writing in any form has the following characteristics, which is true of well-written paragraphs as well. The ...
The Structuralist View of Grammar
The beginning of the 20th century was marked by a new approach to grammar suggested by linguists like Ferdinand de Saussure and American linguists such as Franz Boas, Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomf...
One Word Substitutes
One word substitution is the process of using one word for a phrase. As the phrase indicates, they are the words that replace a group of words or a full sentence effectively without creating any kind ...
The ‘Bloomfieldians’
Linguistics in the United States has been very strongly influenced by the necessity of describing as many as possible of the hundreds of previously unrecorded languages existing in North America. Si...
Paragraph Writing
Originating from the ancient Greek term paragraphe meaning 'marked passage', a paragraph is a group of sentences that introduces, presents, develops and winds up one main idea on a topic. The idea i...
Modern Linguisitics: Aims and Attitudes
Linguistics is commonly defined as a science of language. A scientific description is carried out systematically based on objectively verifying observations and within the framework of some general ...
Basic Sentence Patterns
A Basic or a Kernel sentence is the simplest form of sentence which is simple (not complex or compound), declarative and affirmative and is in the active voice. Such sentences can be broadly class...
The Writing Process
A simple, lucid style of writing is often the product of long years of practice in using the language in the written context of various kinds. The writing process involves a series of stages. Essen...
Strong and Weak Forms
Words are mainly divided into form-class words and function-class words. Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives and Adverbs belong to the form class whereas Articles, Determiners, Auxiliaries and Modals belong to t...
Pamela or Virtue Rewarded
Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. It tells the story of a maid named Pamela whose master, Mr B., makes unwanted advances towards her. She ...
Poem in October
Poem In October by Dylan Thomas is about a man who has turned 30 and goes out to have a walk, reflecting on life. He reflects on how his inner child is now gone. "Year to heaven" could mean that he be...
Religio Medici
Religio Medici or The Religion of a Doctor is a book by Sir Thomas Browne, which sets out his spiritual testament as well as being an early psychological self-portrait. In its day, the book was a Euro...
Syntax
The syntax is the grammar, structure, or order of the elements in a language statement. (Semantics is the meaning of these elements.) Syntax applies to computer languages as well as to natural langu...
Fundamentals of Writing
Writing may be defined as the physical manifestation of language. A process of recording information using a coded system of symbols. It is a means by which ideas are transferred from one mind to anot...
The Characterisation in Alice in Wonderland
The Alice books mingle human and animal characters with nursery rhyme figures and game pieces come to life. Alice, of course, is an ordinary little girl from Victorian England. At first, her encounter...
Teaching Grammar
There is a strong relationship between grammar, writing instruction and student achievement. Effective grammar instruction is key to increase student achievement and learning. Grammar has to be taug...
Teaching Prose
Teaching prose is mainly meant to develop the four language skills -Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. The activities planned by the teacher must allow developing these four skills in a class...
Teaching Poetry
Poetry contains the best and most sublime emotions of the human mind. It is also the most effective means for the purgation of evil emotions. Good poetry is a thing of beauty, thought and form. It a...
Teaching Literature
Literature is the study of the world of imagination where anything is possible and anything can be assumed. Ideas, feelings and experiences expressed through language are known as literature. Theref...
The Lesson Plan
Teaching is a complex task. The different steps constituting the process of teaching are called the phases of teaching.Phases of TeachingThe teaching process can be divided into three phases-...
Alice in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story...
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew title of the book is Qohelet, a term related to the verb qāhal, "to gather, assemble." The English name derives from the Greek translation of t...
What I Believe
E M Forster is primarily known as a novelist, short story writer and literary critic of a rare distinction. Though his contribution to English essay is substantial he has not received the critical d...