Group Discussion
Group discussions (GDs) are essential tools in human interaction, serving as platforms for sharing ideas and evaluating individuals' talents, viewpoints, and teamwork abilities. They are structured in...
The First Circle of Hell
Canto 4 of Inferno is part of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, an epic poem that traces the soul's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory, and Heaven (Paradiso). In Canto 4, Dante explores the firs...
The Drunken Boat
Arthur Rimbaud's poem The Drunken Boat (Le Bateau Ivre) is a vivid and imaginative exploration of freedom, isolation, and the boundaries of human experience. The 16-year-old Rimbaud wrote this poem to...
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is one of the most celebrated and influential works in world literature, written between 1308 and 1321. This epic poem is a profound spiritual and allegorical jour...
Essential Skills for Building Connections
Interpersonal communication is fundamental in personal and professional interactions, allowing individuals to exchange messages and emotions effectively. Key elements of this process include expressin...
New Criticism
New Criticism is a formalist approach to literary analysis that emerged in the early to mid-20th century, primarily in the United States and Britain. This movement emphasised the close reading of text...
Giving Directions and Instructions
Effective communication of directions and instructions is essential in various aspects of daily life, from navigating unfamiliar areas to performing complex tasks. This comprehensive guide delves deep...
World Classics
The world's literary classics form a mosaic of humanity's most profound expressions, encompassing ancient epics, philosophical novels, and powerful dramas illuminating universal truths and individual ...
Formalism
Formalism is a school of literary theory and criticism that focuses on the formal elements of a text —such as its structure, language, style, and use of literary devices —rather than its content, hist...
The Sleeper in the Valley
The Sleeper in the Valley (Le Dormeur du Val) is a poem known for its powerful imagery and subtle anti-war message, written by French poet Arthur Rimbaud when he was only 16 years old. This work is on...
Introducing Others
Introducing others is a subtle yet powerful social skill that helps build connections and enhance communication. It serves as a bridge, fostering rapport between people who may not know each other. A ...
The Scholar-Gypsy
Matthew Arnold was a writer of many activities, but it is chiefly as a poet and a critic that he now holds his place in English literature. The Scholar-Gypsy is a lyrical poem by Arnold, published in ...
Introducing Oneself
Introducing oneself is integral to communication, setting the foundation for every personal and professional interaction. Whether it's a casual meeting, a formal business introduction, or even online ...
Exotic Perfume
Charles Baudelaire's Exotic Perfume (Parfum Exotique) is a sensual and evocative poem that explores themes of desire, indulgence, and the allure of the exotic. Published in his ground-breaking collect...
Structuralism and the Qualities of Literature
Jonathan Culler's Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics and the Study of Literature explores the qualities of literature through the lens of structuralism. He defines structuralism as a th...
Fallen Flower
Kumaran Asan is one of the most refined geniuses in the whole gamut of Malayalam literature, and he has used his creativity to epitomise the reason for his fighting in his life. His writings are the c...
Structuralism and Beyond
Structuralism, primarily associated with linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, is a theoretical approach that seeks to understand human culture by identifying structures that underlie all social phenomena. ...
Four Kinds of Meaning
I A Richards, a prominent literary critic, introduced the concept of the "four kinds of meaning" in his influential book Practical Criticism (1929). Richards' theory was part of his effort to develop ...
Objective Criticism
Objective criticism is a significant approach in literary theory that emerged in the early 20th century, primarily associated with the New Criticism movement. It emphasises analysing a work of literat...
The Romantic and Victorian Era
The Romantic and Victorian periods were two of the most transformative eras in English literature, with each bringing distinct styles, themes, and philosophies to poetry and criticism. While the Roman...
The Decline of English Literature
The "decline of English literature" concept is often debated among scholars, critics, and readers alike. This decline does not necessarily imply a reduction in the quantity of literary works produced ...
Nehru and Science in the Age of Coronavirus
Nehru and Science in the Age of Coronavirus is a significant work that revisits the scientific vision of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Santos...
Movement Poetry
Movement Poetry is a term used to describe a group of British poets who came to prominence in the 1950s. They shared a common desire to break away from the modernist traditions of the early 20th centu...
Neoclassical Criticism
Neoclassical criticism, which flourished during the 17th and 18th centuries, was deeply rooted in the intellectual and cultural movements of the Enlightenment. It emphasised the values of reason, orde...
The Indian Constitution: Limited but Necessary
Prof Gopinath Ravindran, the former Vice Chancellor of the Kannur University, is a renowned history scholar. He has written prominent works that serve as a reference for students and scholars, and he ...
To a Skylark
To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the most celebrated Romantic poems, written in 1820. The poem is an ode to the skylark, a bird whose song epitomises pure, unbounded joy and transcendent...
Modernism and Postmodernism
Modernism and Postmodernism are two significant movements in literature, art, architecture, and culture that emerged in response to the dramatic changes in society, technology, and worldviews in the l...
Union Government, Not Central Government
Nanabhoy "Nani" Ardeshir Palkhivala was an eminent Indian jurist, constitutional expert and liberal economist. Born in Mumbai in 1920, he had his master's degree in English Language and Literature. La...
A Hindu Princess and Her Islamic Dynasty
A Hindu Princess and Her Islamic Dynasty is a tale from Kottarathil Sankunni's renowned work, Aithihyamala (Garland of Legends), a collection of traditional stories, folklore, and historical narrative...
Aristotle’s Poetics
Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and scientist regarded as one of the most prominent figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle was a student of Plato, the preeminent Greek philosopher of ...
Naturalism: A Harsh Reflection of Reality
Naturalism is a style and philosophy in literature and art that aims to replicate a believable everyday reality, emphasising the role of heredity and environment in shaping human character and destiny...
Realism: A Mirror to Society
Realism is an approach to art and literature that attempts to depict subjects as they appear in everyday life without idealisation or romanticisation. It sought to portray everyday life and society wi...
Literature and the Second World War
The Second World War, spanning from 1939 to 1945, was a cataclysmic event that irrevocably altered the course of human history. It left an indelible mark on the world, profoundly affecting every aspec...
Classical Criticism
Classical criticism refers to the literary theories and principles established by ancient Greek and Roman scholars that have profoundly influenced Western literary thought. It was a period of profound...
The Rich Will Make Temples for Siva
Basavanna (1105-1167 CE) was a 12th-century philosopher, statesman, and social reformer from Karnataka, India. He founded the Lingayat sect and was a prominent figure in the Bhakti movement. His poetr...
Integrating Grammar and Vocabulary in Context
Integrating grammar and vocabulary within meaningful contexts is essential for effective language teaching. This approach ensures that learners understand the rules and words and know how to apply the...
ELT Contexts and Acronyms
English Language Teaching (ELT) occurs in diverse contexts worldwide and is influenced by varying goals, learner needs, and educational environments. Understanding these contexts helps educators tailo...
Teaching Language Skills
Effective communication requires mastering broad language abilities (macro skills) and detailed language mechanics (micro skills). Macro skills ensure learners can use the language for meaningful comm...
Methods in ELT
Methods in English Language Teaching (ELT) are systematic procedures or plans for presenting material for instruction. A method is a way of teaching with prescribed objectives and guidelines, and the ...
Terms in ELT
Understanding the key terms and concepts in ELT is essential for educators, students, and policymakers involved in English language education. Each term represents a critical aspect of the teaching an...
ELT in India
English language teaching (ELT) in India has a long and complex history, deeply intertwined with the country's colonial past and its current aspirations as a global economic power. Today, English is w...
Meter in Poetry
Meter refers to the structured rhythm of a poem, determined by the pattern of stressed (ˈ) and unstressed (˘) syllables. It forms the backbone of many forms of poetry, contributing to its musical qual...
Absurdist Drama
Absurdist drama, also known as the Theatre of the Absurd, is a post-World War II theatrical movement that reflects the existential philosophy of the absurd, highlighting the sense of disorientation an...
Epic Theatre
Epic theatre, also known as epic drama, is a theatrical genre that emphasises narrative, grand scale, and a combination of theatrical elements to create an immersive and thought-provoking experience. ...
Poetic Devices
The English language contains dozens of poetic devices. Any expression that impacts how a poem or other written work looks or sounds is a poetic device. It is a unique literary tool that shapes words,...
Black Comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, is a genre of comedy that finds humour in subjects typically considered serious, taboo, or distressing. It uses satire and irony to explore themes like death, ...
Domestic Tragedy
Domestic tragedy is a subgenre of tragedy that focuses on the lives of ordinary people and the personal and familial issues that lead to their downfall. Unlike classical tragedies, which often involve...
Stanza Forms
Like any art form, poetry combines creativity and technique to produce realised concepts within a particular medium. One technique used to achieve a poet's ideas is the use of stanzas. Stanzas are bot...
Poetry: Subjective and Objective
Poetry can be broadly categorised into two types: subjective and objective. They are two distinct approaches to poetic expression that differ in their focus, perspective, and emotional engagement.Su...
Kitchen Sink Drama
Kitchen sink drama, a term originating in post-war Britain, refers to a genre of theatre, film, and literature that focuses on the domestic lives of working-class people, often highlighting social and...
Calpurnia’s Dream
Act 2, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is a pivotal scene in the play, marked by rich symbolism, foreshadowing, and character development. This scene is significant for several reasons,...
Heroic Drama
Heroic drama, also known as heroic tragedy or heroic romance, is a type of play that arose in the Restoration era of England during the late 17th century. The genre drew inspiration from French Neocla...
Revenge Tragedy
Revenge tragedy is a dramatic genre characterised by its focus on a protagonist's quest for vengeance against those who have wronged them or their loved ones. This genre explores themes of vengeance, ...
The Satire
Satire is a literary and artistic genre that uses humour, irony, exaggeration, and ridicule to criticise and expose the flaws, vices, and follies of individuals, societies, institutions, or even entir...
English Literature Through the Ages
English literature has a rich and diverse history spanning several ages, each with distinct characteristics and contributions. Literature from different periods exhibits distinct stylistic trends and ...
The Chorus
The word chorus means a 'group of dancers' in Greek, and choral songs were performed in religious festivals in ancient Greece. The importance of the chorus in literature and performing arts lies in it...
Writing a News Report
A news report is a factual and informative piece of writing that presents news to the public. It covers current events, issues, and other relevant information and is typically written in a concise, st...
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is the British writer Thomas Gray's most famous poem, first published in 1751. It mourns the lives of the obscure and forgotten populace of a rural village, whose...
The Soliloquy
The soliloquy is a dramatic device often used in literature and theatre, where a character speaks their thoughts aloud, usually while alone on stage. This dramatic device is used extensively in theatr...
Tips for Writing Reports
Writing reports can be challenging, but you can create clear, concise, and effective reports with careful planning and organisation. Before you start writing, make sure you understand why the report i...
Not My Best Side
Not My Best Side by U A Fanthorpe is a poem that humorously reinterprets the classical legend of Saint George and the Dragon by giving a voice to each of the three main characters depicted in Paolo Uc...
Sentimental Comedy
Sentimental comedy is a genre of theatrical comedy that emerged in the 18th century as a reaction against the more cynical and morally ambiguous comedies of the Restoration period, offering a more opt...
Macavity: The Mystery Cat
Macavity: The Mystery Cat is a poem by T S Eliot that is part of his collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, a collection of feline-centered poems published in 1939. These poems later became t...
Comedy of Manners
Comedy of Manners, also known as Restoration Comedy, is a genre of English comedic plays that emerged during the Restoration period (1660-1710) after the end of the Puritan ban on theatre. This genre ...
Courtroom Language and the Common Man
Legal English is the language used in law, characterised by its precision, complexity, and specialised terminology. While it provides clarity and specificity in legal contexts, it can often be less ac...
The Circus Animals’ Desertion
The Circus Animal's Desertion is a poem by William Butler Yeats, published in 1939 as part of his final poetry collection, The Winding Stair and Other Poems. It is often seen as Yeats's reflection on ...
Comedy of Humours
Comedy of Humours is a type of comedic play that explores the idea of characters being dominated by a particular "humour" or temperament. Humours were a concept derived from ancient Greek and Roman me...
Legal English
Legal English refers to the specialised language used within the field of law. It encompasses a wide range of vocabulary, terminology, and syntax specific to legal documents, contracts, statutes, regu...
Romantic Comedy
The romantic comedy, often abbreviated as rom-com, is a subgenre of comedy that focuses on developing a romantic relationship. It typically focuses on the romantic relationships between two central ch...
The Arrow and the Song
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is an American poet known for his lyrical and introspective works. The Arrow and the Song is a beautiful poem about the contrast between an "arrow" and a "song". This metaph...
A Subaltern
A Subaltern is a poem by Siegfried Sassoon, a World War I poet known for his stark representations of the war. As with many of Sassoon's writings, he focuses on the harsh realities of war and its impa...
Porphyria’s Lover
Porphyria's Lover is a dramatic monologue by the Victorian poet Robert Browning. It tells the story of a man who, driven by his obsessive love for his beloved Porphyria, commits a shocking and violent...
The Short Story
The short story is a fascinating and versatile literary form, offering a compact yet impactful reading experience. It is a form of literature that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a...
Kubla Khan
Kubla Khan is a renowned poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797 and published in 1816. It's often considered one of Coleridge's most famous and enigmatic works. Coleridge claimed that Kubla ...
Grim Realities, Hopeful Hues
Justice V R Krishna Iyer was a Supreme Court Judge and Minister who reformed the Indian criminal justice system. He stood up for the poor and the underprivileged. Throughout his life, he remained a hu...
The Royal Order of Adjectives
The English language gives the liberty to use multiple adjectives to describe everything one can perceive. While adjectives can be used to describe and provide more information about a noun, there is ...
The Sonnet
The sonnet is a famous classical form that has compelled poets for centuries. It originated in Italy during the 13th century and gained popularity during the Renaissance period. The name comes from th...
A Farewell
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne is a poignant and deeply philosophical poem that explores love and separation with exquisite craftsmanship and intellectual depth. Donne wrote this poe...
Voiced and Voiceless Sounds
In linguistics, sounds produced in human speech are categorised into two main types: voiced and voiceless. These terms refer to the presence or absence of vibration of the vocal cords during articulat...
To Become Better Listeners
Developing listening skills is a key to successful communication. Persons with good listening skills can comprehend what they hear and respond accordingly. Effective listening prevents misunderstandin...
Under Fire
Laurence Housman is a prolific playwright, writer and illustrator. Under Fire, one of the best of his one-act plays portrays a sensational episode in the life of Queen Victoria during the early period...
Good Listening
Good listening involves a set of skills and attitudes that go beyond simply hearing words. It's a multi-faceted process that requires active engagement with the speaker and ourselves. Listen to Our...
A Consumer’s Report
A Consumer's Report by Peter Porter is a satirical critique of consumerism and commodification in modern society. It reflects on excessive materialism, loss of human connection, and the impact of cons...
Barriers to Listening
Listening effectively is crucial in all aspects of life, fostering communication, understanding, and connection. However, numerous barriers can impede our ability to hear and absorb what others are sa...
Prayer Before Birth
Prayer Before Birth is a poem by the Anglo-Irish poet Louis MacNeice, written during World War II. The speaker, an unborn child, prays for future guidance and protection from the horrors of the modern...
The Process of Listening
Listening is a complex brain function involving several steps or stages that allow an individual to give attention to, interpret, and respond to spoken language and other auditory stimuli. Hearing...
The Pie and the Tart
Hugh Chesterman is a British author who wrote several children's books in the 1920s and 1930s. He and his friend Basil Blackwell edited a children's magazine, The Merry Go Round, published in Oxford. ...
Complement Clause
A complement clause is a subordinate clause (a clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence) that complements or completes the meaning of a verb, adjective, or noun in the main clause. Complement clau...
General’s ‘Powerful’ Tank
General, Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle is a poem by Bertolt Brecht, found in his Svendborg Poems collection, written while he was in Danish exile from Nazi Germany. The poem is also known as General...
The Brink of Silence
Esther E Galbraith's one-act play The Brink of Silence is based on the theme of an expedition to Antarctica. The process of looking for information and resources is called exploration or expedition. N...
Irony
Irony is a literary and rhetorical device where there is a contrast between expectations and reality. It's when the intended meaning of words is different from the actual meaning or a situation turns ...
Listening vs. Hearing
Listening is a valuable skill and assumes official importance in one's personal, academic and professional setting. With the increased use of computers, mobile phones and the internet, the importance ...
Collective Noun
A collective noun is a type of noun that refers to a group of people, animals, or things as a single unit. It describes a collection or a whole rather than individuals within the group. Examples inclu...
The Road Not Taken
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost is a poem that delves into the theme of decision-making and the complexity of choices in life. It presents a speaker standing at a fork in the road, metaphorically r...
The Dear Departed
William Stanley Houghton was an English dramatist who was a prominent member of a group of playwrights known as the Manchester School of Dramatics. He was influenced strongly by Ibsen. Houghton's play...
A Modernist Masterpiece
T S Eliot's The Waste Land is considered one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a modernist masterpiece. A dramatic monologue that changes speakers, locations, and times throughout, T...
One-act Play
A one-act play is a theatrical performance that consists of a single act or scene, usually lasting around 30 minutes to an hour. Unlike traditional plays, which are divided into multiple acts, a one-a...
The Waste Land
The Waste Land, the most important highlight of T S Eliot's poetic career, is a complex and multifaceted poem widely regarded as one of the most significant works of modern literature. It was written ...
The Speech Mechanism
The speech mechanism involves a complex interplay of various anatomical structures and physiological processes. It can be broadly divided into three main stages:The initiation of speech
...
Complexities of Gender Roles
Easterine Kire's novel A Terrible Matriarchy explores the complexities of gender roles and societal expectations in a traditional Naga society. The narrative centres on the life of Dielieno, a young w...
The Organs of Speech
The organs of speech refer to the various parts of the human body producing speech sounds. These organs work together to manipulate airflow and create the sounds that form language.The LungsThe ...
A Rich Tapestry of Characters
Amitav Ghosh's novel The Shadow Lines is a rich tapestry of characters, each with their unique complexities and motivations. The novel's protagonist, an unnamed young boy growing up in Calcutta, India...
English as Lingua Franca
English as Lingua Franca -ELF refers to the use of English as a common language of communication between speakers from different first language backgrounds. It is not the native language of any of the...
Road Literature
Road literature, also known as travel literature or road trip literature, refers to a genre of writing that focuses on characters' stories, experiences and adventures while journeying on the road. It ...
Formal and Informal Speech
Speaking is one of the most important skills we learn. It allows us to communicate with others, share our thoughts and ideas, and build relationships. Speaking skills can be divided into two categorie...
An Introduction
Kamala Das, a prominent Indian poet, is known for her candid and emotive writing style that often explores themes of love, identity, and the female experience. An Introduction is one of her most celeb...
Speaking as a Skill
Speaking is crucial in various aspects of life, from personal relationships to professional success. It involves articulating thoughts, ideas, and emotions through language and transforms internal cog...
Insight into Experiences and Challenges
The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story by A Revathi is a memoir that utilises various narrative techniques to convey the author's journey as a transgender woman in India. These techniques help provide...
Simple, Compound, Complex Sentences
Understanding sentence structure is crucial in writing because it allows for clear and effective communication. These are the three main types of sentences, each distinguished by the number and types ...
Exploring the Complex Social Dynamics
The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story provides a firsthand perspective on the challenges and discrimination faced by transgender individuals in Indian society. It's more than just a personal narrativ...
The Kerouac Narrative
Jack Kerouac's On the Road is a novel that employs several narrative techniques to capture the spirit of the Beat Generation and the author's own experiences on the road. These techniques contribute t...
Degrees of Comparison
Degrees of comparison refer to the different forms of adjectives and adverbs that indicate the level of comparison between two or more things. These degrees are classified into three categories: posit...
A Hijra Life Story
The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story is an autobiography by A Revathi, a prominent Hijra activist. This groundbreaking work gives voice to the often marginalized and misunderstood Hijra community in...
More About Verbs
Verbs are the backbone of any language, conveying action, existence, and states of being. Understanding verbs is crucial for effective communication, as they determine the meaning and structure of a s...
Pronunciation of Past Tense “-ed”
Correct pronunciation plays a crucial role in language learning as it helps learners effectively communicate and be understood by native speakers. In addition, proper pronunciation enhances listening ...
Countercultural Movements
Countercultural movements are social and cultural phenomena in which a group of individuals or a subculture rejects or opposes mainstream cultural, societal, and political norms. They often emerge in ...
Trophic Cascade
Trophic Cascade by Camille T Dungy is a poem that explores the ecological concept of a trophic cascade, where changes in one level of a food chain can profoundly affect an entire ecosystem. The poem i...
The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation refers to a literary and cultural movement that blossomed in the United States in the post-World War II era. It reached its peak in the 1950s. The Beats were a diverse group of wri...
The Intrusive ‘r’ in Phonetics
Intrusive 'r' is a phenomenon in phonetics that occurs in some varieties of English where an /r/ sound is inserted between certain vowels in connected speech, even when it doesn't appear in the writte...
A Diverse and Dynamic Cast
On the Road by Jack Kerouac features a diverse and dynamic cast of characters, each representing various aspects of the Beat Generation's ethos and the counterculture of the 1950s. Almost all characte...
In Search of Adventure and Meaning
On the Road is a 1957 novel that follows two friends, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, as they travel across the United States in search of adventure and meaning. The novel is loosely based on Kerouac'...
An Autobiography
An autobiography is a written account of a person's life, typically written by the person. It is a genre of literature where an individual reflects on and narrates their own life experiences, includin...
Linking ‘r’
In phonetics, linking 'r' refers to the process of connecting the sound /r/ to the following word in connected speech. It occurs when a word that ends with /r/ is followed by a word that begins with a...
On the Road
On the Road by Jack Kerouac is a seminal work that has become a cornerstone of the Beat Generation's literature. The semi-autobiographical novel, published in 1957, is an account of Kerouac's journeys...
Travel Writing
Travel writing is a captivating genre that allows readers to explore different parts of the world through the eyes of the writer. It is a form of storytelling that invites us to embark on a journey fi...
Precis Writing
Precis writing is a summarisation process in which a long text is condensed into a shorter version without losing its main ideas or concepts. The goal is to convey the gist or key message of the origi...
Standard English
Received Pronunciation, also known as RP, is a British accent known as the "Standard British" accent. It is spoken mostly in London and South East England but is also the accent most often used in for...
The Alcoholic at Dawn
The Alcoholic at Dawn by Jeet Thayil is a poignant and introspective poem that explores the themes of addiction, despair, and self-destruction. It delves into the harsh reality of alcoholism and the d...
The English Phonetic Alphabet
Pronunciation in English is quite diverse, varying by region. English pronunciation is crucial for several reasons.Effective CommunicationCorrect pronunciation ensures your message is understood ...
The Little Black Boy
William Blake was the most remarkable poet among the precursors of the Romantic Revival in English. The Little Black Boy is an 18th-century poem from his collection Songs of Innocence and Experience, ...
Allomorph
The allomorphs are the variations of a morpheme that depend on the context in which they appear. An allomorph can be termed as a phonetic variant form of a morpheme. These tiny word-building blocks mi...
Identity Card
The poem Identity Card by S Joseph portrays the strong undercurrents of the caste system that are deep-rooted in the psyche of an otherwise progressive community. The poet purely talks about the unsee...
House of a Thousand Doors
Meena Alexander’s poetry reflects her multicultural heritage and the tension it creates. Her poems reflect the writer’s subjective response to her experience and also project or create new experiences...
Constructivism
Constructivism is the theory that says learners construct knowledge rather than just passively take in information. As people experience the world and reflect upon those experiences, they build their ...
Morpheme
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology.A morpheme is a short segment of language that...
Naga-Mandala
The play Naga-Mandala is based on the two oral stories from Karnataka that the playwright Girish Karnad heard from his mentor, Professor A K Ramanujan. Karnad through the play exposes the exploitation...
Cognitivism
Cognitivism is a theory of learning that focuses on processes of the mind. Cognitivist learning states that the way we learn is determined by the way our mind takes in, stores, processes, and then acc...
Karnad the Playwright
Girish Raghunath Karnad is a noted writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada. But, among the creative geniuses of the modem age who have contributed significantly to Indian...
Behaviourism
Behaviourism or the Behavioural Learning Theory is a popular concept that focuses on how students learn. Behaviourism focuses on the idea that all behaviours are learned through interaction with the e...
The Gift Outright
Robert Frost was a great lover of his country, especially the part of the country known as New England. He wrote several poems dealing with American life and culture, and with the beliefs, manners, an...
Podcasting
A podcast is a digital audio file one can download or listen to over the internet. Podcasts are typically available as a series of prerecorded talk-radio shows that users can get on their computers or...
World Literature
World literature is used to refer to the total of the world's national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred t...
The Shadow Lines
The Shadow Lines (1988) by Amitav Ghosh is a book that captures the perspective of time and events, of lines that bring people together and hold them apart, lines that are visible from one perspective...
A Terrible Matriarchy
Easterine Kire is a well-known English writer from Nagaland. Most of her writings are about the Naga people and their society. She has lucratively captured the true essence of Naga life by exploring t...
Tagmemics
The tagmemic theory is concerned primarily with a grammatical analysis and is especially associated with Kenneth Lee Pike. It is an offshoot of structuralism. Structuralism ignored the functions of a ...
Flat and Round Characters
Characters are a vital component of any literary work. Characters can be sorted into different types according to their creation and development. Flat and round characters are one such classification....
The Mind Without Fear
Chitto Jetha Bhayshunyo -Where the Mind is Without Fear -represents Rabindranath Tagore's vision of a new and awakened India. It is a distinctly political and patriotic poem amongst the religious lyri...
Cleft Sentences
A cleft sentence is one in which a single thought is split (or cleft) into two parts. This allows one to emphasize a specific element by moving it from its normal position into a position of focus or ...
A Gandhian Novel
Kanthapura is a fictional but realistic account of how the great majority of people in India lived their lives under British rule and how they responded to the ideas and ideals of Indian nationalism. ...
Intonation
Intonation is a feature of pronunciation and is common to all languages. Other features of pronunciation include stress, rhythm, connected speech and accent. As with these other features, intonation i...
Preposition
A preposition is a word or group of words used before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase to show direction, time, place, location or spatial relationships, or to introduce an object. Some examples of prep...
Kanthapura
Kanthapura is the first novel of Raja Rao. It was written in France thousands of miles away from India and yet it gives a most graphic, vivid and realistic account of the Gandhian freedom struggle in ...
Being Incomplete
Hayavadana, Girish Karnad’s popular play, fulfils our romantic fantasies. A woman aspires to the perfect man, pursuing her dream of being complete. And a man with a horse’s head yearns to be fully hum...
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou’s works often focused on the experience of being a black woman in America. She had to live through some of the worst oppression and inequality for African American people. Although slaver...
History Plays
A history play is a dramatic work where the events of the plot are either partially or entirely drawn from people and events of the past. It is also considered a theatrical genre. William Shakespeare ...
Direct to Indirect
Direct speech is exactly what it sounds like -text that reports the exact thoughts expressed by a person in their original form. It is often enclosed in quotation marks so that the reader understands ...
Mystery Plays
Mystery plays are religious performances based on Biblical stories, such as the Fall of Adam and Eve and the Last Judgement. They were originally performed in churches and then moved out into public s...
Conjunction
A conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. They can be one word or a few words. They glue words, phrases and clauses together and are made to conv...
Hayavadana
Hayavadana, the play by Girish Karnad, tells the story of two friends who are in love with the same woman and who accidentally swap heads. A comedy ending in tragedy, the narrative also tells the stor...
Types of Phrases
A phrase is one or more words that form a meaningful grammatical unit within a clause. A clause contains a subject and a predicate and in many cases, can be a sentence on its own. In contrast, a phras...
The Kitemaker
Ruskin Bond’s story The Kitemaker presents the differences between the past and present in rural India primarily through the nostalgic recollections of an elderly man. The past differs considerably fr...
Father’s Help
Father's Help is one of R K Narayan's most popular short stories from his famous collection Malgudi Days. In this story, he presents a young boy, Swaminathan who is unwilling to go to school but is fo...
Pather Panchali: Romantic and Realistic
In a folk narrative of any culture, there are always both romantic and realistic elements. Generally, the description is romantic with realism lurking within it. Thus, Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhusha...
Passive Voice in Action
Active sentences are about what people (or things) do, while passive sentences are about what happens to people (or things). In academic writing, it is generally preferred to choose an active verb and...
Woman as Protagonist and Victim
Silence! The Court is in Session is the first of Vijay Tendulkar’s plays to become part of the New Indian Drama phenomenon of the sixties and the first significant modern Indian play in any language t...
I Can’t Help Blossoming
Dr K Ayyappa Panikar is one of the pioneers of modernism in Malayalam poetry. In his poem, I Can't Help Blossoming, he speaks about the importance of contentment in accomplishing one's life's mission ...
Active and Passive
Voice refers to the form of a verb that indicates when a subject performs the action or is the receiver of the action. Active voice means that a sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb. Passive...
Tagore as a Poet
An outstanding poet, a legend of prose, and a perfect philosopher, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore is the greatest of the Indians to write in English. His fine writings, popularly described as 'magical ...
The Song of the Road
Pather Panchali, a vibrant ballad that begins with joy and ends in determination, chronicles the glorious discoveries along the path of everyday life- from spots for secret picnics and the flavour o...
Speech Sounds
A language can be used in two ways for communication. It can be spoken or written. In most fields of study, language is thought of principally in terms of the written word, for it is in this form that...
The Art of Losing
Tishani Doshi is an Indian English poet born to a Gujarati father and an English mother. This intermixing of two different worlds can be seen in her works. The Art of Losing is a poem that tells us ab...
Describing People
Character descriptions are often the first way one starts to gather together their understanding of people. The most basic character descriptions usually centre around physical details. Physical attri...
The Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is a genre that blends elements of comedy and tragedy. Most often seen in dramatic literature, it can have a happy ending or a tragedy with enough comic relief to improve the mood of the e...
The Comedy
Comedy is a literary genre and form of entertainment that aims to amuse and entertain the audience, often through humour, wit, and satire. It encompasses many styles and forms, from light-hearted an...
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 portrays an inward journey describ...
The Tragedy
Tragedy is a genre of literature and drama that explores human suffering, often culminating in a disastrous conclusion. Tragedies typically depict the downfall of a noble hero or protagonist, leadin...
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 its enduring emotional response to humanity. The word Ritu (season) with the word saṃhāra is used here in the sense of “coming together” or “gro...
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 Herb...
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
A ballad is a popular narrative song passed down orally. Folk (or traditional) ballads are anonymous and recount tragic, comic, or heroic stories emphasising a central dramatic event; examples include...
Types of Formal Letters
Formal letters are written communication for professional or official purposes, characterised by a structured format and formal language. They are often used in business, academic, legal, and official...
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 and thoughts in a loud manner. Through monologue, the character shares his thoughts with the audience ...
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 ...
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 SectionThis includes t...
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 (COMP-clause) are commonly defined as subordinate clauses functioning as an argument of a predicate. The Complement Clause functions as an NP in a sentence – ...
Types of Reports
Reports are well-researched, planned, and organised documents written for a purpose. They are written for a specific audience and must always be accurate and objective. A report is a concise documen...
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 ...
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...
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 and Emphasis Transformation are techniques often used in writing and communication to convey information concisely or to shift focus and importance within a sentence or passage.Short ...
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...
Understanding Graphics and Visual Aids
Understanding graphics and visual aids is essential to reading comprehension, especially in academic and professional texts. Graphics and visual aids, such as charts, graphs, diagrams, maps, and photo...
Improving Reading Skills
Improving reading skills is vital for academic success and lifelong learning. It involves a combination of practice, strategy, and exposure to diverse texts. Strong reading skills enable a better unde...
Modes of Reading
Reading strategies can be developed and improved over time, helping individuals become more efficient and critical readers. It is essential in academic contexts where reading comprehension is fundamen...
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 (E.g., particles)
remote relationship (E.g., those of cas...
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 in a tree diagram employing rewrite rules. This is a method of structural description. It specifies the subunits and the level at whi...
Writing a Good Essay
An essay is a composition that defends a position or opinion, also called a thesis, that the author has put forth. Not only should an essay demonstrate your overall knowledge of the broader subject, b...
Phrase Structure Grammar
The second of Chomsky's 'three models for language description' is Phrase Structure Grammar. A phrase structure grammar can generate any set of sentences that a finite state grammar can generate. But ...
Phrasal Verbs
A phrasal verb combines 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 or syntactic ...
Generative Grammar
Generative grammar, a very formal system, is the first of the three models for describing the language discussed by linguist Noam Chomsky in Syntactic Structures. In linguistics, generative grammar is...
IC Analysis: Advantages and Limitations
Immediate Constituent Analysis, also known as IC Analysis, is a method used in linguistics to analyse the hierarchical structure of sentences by breaking them down into their immediate constituents or...
IC Analysis of Sentences
A single sentence comprises an NP (subject) and a predicate phrase. Apart from a compulsory verbal group, this predicate phrase may optionally have one or more noun phrase(s), preposition phrase(s), a...
Guidelines to Paragraph Writing
Developing an effective paragraph -a combination of cohesive sentences to further a focused topic -requires seven steps. Emily Layfield outlines these easy steps to help one write an impeccable piec...
The Gleason Method
The Gleason Method in linguistics, developed by influential American linguist Henry Allan Gleason, is a systematic approach to analysing and understanding languages. This method includes a variety of ...
Confusing Words
Everyone knows the problem with spell-check: your word might be spelt right, but it may be wrong. It happens all the time. You're writing a paper or texting a friend and must ask yourself, "Is it affe...
Labelled IC Analysis
Immediate Constituent analysis analyses each utterance into the smallest meaningful units possible. In this model, we begin by cutting the sentence into two natural divisions, and each is again cut in...
Strategies in Paragraph Writing
Writing a paragraph means writing a series of sentences related to a single topic. In theory, finding the right topic, building sentences with substantial ideas, and connecting them effectively can so...
Immediate Constituent Analysis
The advent of generative grammar with the publication of Chomsky's monograph Syntactic Structures in 1957 was a scientific revolution. This revolution was directed almost exclusively against the taxon...
Paragraph Features
A paragraph is a collection of sentences relating to one main idea or topic. Good writing in any form has the following characteristics, which are true of well-written paragraphs: a topic sentence, ...
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 Bloo...
One-word Substitutes
One-word substitution is the process of using one word for a phrase. As the phrase indicates, they are words that replace a group of words or a complete sentence effectively without creating any ambig...
The ‘Bloomfieldians’
Linguistics in the United States has been strongly influenced by the necessity of describing as many of the hundreds of previously unrecorded languages existing in North America as possible. Since t...
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 ...
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 in the active voice. Such sentences can be broadly classi...
The Writing Process
A simple, lucid writing style is often the product of long years of practice in using the language of various kinds in the written context. The writing process involves a series of stages. A writte...
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, Auxiliary, and modals belong to ...
Pamela or Virtue Rewarded
Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. It is considered one of the earliest examples of the English novel and is significant for its exploratio...
Poem in October
Poem in October is a beautiful work by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. It centres around celebrating his 30th birthday in his beloved Welsh fishing village of Laugharne. It is a testament to the poet's p...
Religio Medici
Religio Medici, or The Religion of a Doctor, is a seminal work by Sir Thomas Browne, written in the 17th century. It is a reflective and philosophical text that explores Browne's personal beliefs, exp...
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 lan...
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 an...
A Delightful Hodgepodge
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 vital to increase student achievement and learning. Grammar has to be ta...
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 for the development of these four skill...
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...
Hyponymy
In linguistics, a hyponym is a word that denotes a subcategory within a broader category, which is named by a hypernym. The relationship between a hyponym and a hypernym is called hyponymy, a fundamen...
Teaching Literature
Literature studies the world of imagination, where anything is possible, and anything can be assumed. Ideas, feelings and experiences expressed through language are known as literature. Therefore, t...
The Lesson Plan
Teaching is a complex task. The different steps constituting the teaching process 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 o...
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 essays is substantial, he has yet to receive the critic...