Lesson 4 Linguistic Competence

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

What makes effective communication?  Three

important concerns of effective communication: content, format and the precise appropriate adherence to the conventions of grammar and usage.  One needs practice in building and combining basic sentence structures.

The Basic Sentence Structures A

sentence contains the basic parts: the subject (noun or pronoun) and the predicate (verb).  Defined as a complete unit of thought.  Does any of the following:     

Expresses a relationship Conveys a command Asks a question Describes someone or something Conveys a strong emotion

Basic Sentence Structures S-TV-DO (subject-transitive verb-direct object)



The object receives the action and usually follows the verb.  Answers the questions who or what after the verb. Examples: 4. Our professor wrote books in English. 5. He received an award for being an author. 

Exercise: Identifying subjects and objects Directions: For each of the sentences below, encircle the subject, underline the verb and box the object. 2. Financial managers actively manage the financial affairs of a business. 3. They perform varied tasks: planning, extending credit to customers and raising money to fund the firm’s operation. 4. The owners of a corporation are its stockholders. 5. You will learn the career opportunities in managerial finance. 6. Managerial finance and accounting are not often easily distinguishable.

Sentence Combining Technique  Combining

sentences with adjectives and

adverbs Study how the following sentences may be combined: Personal selling is a tool at certain stages of the buying process. Personal selling is the most effective tool. **Personal selling is the most effective tool at certain stages of the buying process.

Sentence Combining Technique  Combining

details from three or more

sentences The agent explained clearly in the BOM (Business Opportunity Meeting). The agent explained the marketing scheme. The BOM was jampacked.

How do you decide which is the best combination?  Six

considerations offered by Richard Nordquist (1991):      

Meaning: Clarity Coherence Emphasis Conciseness Rhythm

Expanding and Building Sentences with Prepositional Phrases  Prepositional

acting phrases like adjectives and adverbs add meaning to nouns and verbs in a sentence. Example:

The proprietor from Laguna arrived in the business meeting.

Study these examples: Before breakfast every morning, the proprietor reads the newspaper’s Business Section. The proprietor reads the Business Section before breakfast in the lawn.

Rules on Subject-Verb Agreement  







Be verbs change form from singular to the plural. In a sentence with compound subjects joined by and, the verb is plural unless the subjects are considered a unit. In a sentence with compound subjects joined by or, nor, either….or, neither….nor, the verb usually agrees with the closest subject. A singular subject followed by a phrase introduced by as well as, together with, along with, in addition to ordinarily takes a singular verb. Collective nouns (committee, jury, crowd, team, etc) usually take a singular verb.

Rules on Subject-Verb Agreement 









When a collective noun refers to members of the group individually, a plural is used. Expressions signifying quantity or extent (kilometers, years, etc.) take singular verbs when the amount is considered as a unit. A singular subject followed by a phrase or clause containing plural nouns is still singular. When a sentence begins with there is or there are, the verb is determined by the subject which follows. A verb agrees with its subject and not with its complement.

Rules on Pronoun Agreement  

 



A pronoun must agree in number with the word for which it stands, its antecedent. When a pronoun’s antecedent is a collective noun, the pronoun may either be singular or plural, depending on the meaning of the noun. For nouns joined by or or nor, the pronoun agrees with the nearer noun. When an antecedent is a common-gender noun (customer, manager, instructor, supervisor, employee, etc.), the traditional practice has been to use he and his. Those who are sensitive to sexist elements of language are more prone to use both his or her if the gender of the antecedent is not known.

Rules on Pronoun Agreement 



  

“His” or “her” repeated many times can be cumbersome, so to avoid this, use a plural construction. Some indefinite pronouns (some, all, none, any, etc.), used as antecedent require singular or plural pronouns, depending on the meaning of the statement. All, any, some or most are either singular or plural, depending on the meaning of the statement. In standard English usage, “none” is usually singular unless the meaning is clearly plural. A pronoun when used must always have a clearly identified antecedent.

Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs do not end in –d or –ed in the past tense. Their ending may be different from those of regular verbs, but they rely on the same helping verbs that indicate present, past and future time.  Irregular verbs work the same way as regular verbs do; the only difference is their endings. Examples: The meeting was supposed to begin at nine. It actually (begin) at nine. The meeting began at nine. I wished it had (begin) earlier. 