Unit 4, BASICS OF TECHINICAL ENGLISH CODE 6465
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This document provides an overview of mechanics of technical writing, including parts of speech, punctuation, and abbreviations. It discusses the basic parts of speech like nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. It also covers punctuation marks and their usage, including periods, commas, colons, semicolons, quotation marks, parentheses, hyphens, and more. Finally, it briefly discusses abbreviations and provides some common examples. The overall document serves as a reference for the key elements of grammar and mechanics for technical writing.
Unit 4, BASICS OF TECHINICAL ENGLISH CODE 6465
- 1. UNIT NO. 4 MECHANICS OF TECHNICAL WRITING PRESENTED BY zahid Mehmood
- 2. OBJECTIVES After going through this unit, you will be able to: Use grammar rules Punctuate the sentence properly Use capital words
- 3. THE PARTS OF SPEECH The basic communication tools are called the parts of speech Nouns Pronoun Verbs Adverbs Adjectives Prepositions Conjunctions Interjections
- 4. NOUN Words that mean persons, places, objects, events, or concepts TYPES OF NOUN: COMMON NOUN: Nouns that are common or general people, places, or things PROPER NOUN: Nouns that refer to people, places, or things that are special or particular
- 5. POSSESSIVE NOUNS : A possessive noun owns or possesses something. You form the possessive by adding "'s" or simply an apostrophe (') to the end of the noun COLLECTIVE NOUNS : Nouns that refer to a single group made up of a number of people, places, or things
- 6. PRONOUNS: Pronouns take the place of nouns. Pronouns do virtually everything that nouns do. Personal Pronouns Intensive/reflexive pronouns Indefinite pronouns Possessive pronouns Relative pronouns Interrogative pronouns Demonstrative Pronouns Personal Pronouns
- 7. PERSONAL PRONOUNS Personal pronouns take the place of a noun that represents a person Person Case Singular Plural First:, Nominative, I We Possessive, My/Mine Our/Ours Objective Me Us Intensive/Reflexive Myself Ourselves Second: Nominative, You You Possessive Your/Yours Your/Yours Objective You You Intensive/Reflexive YourselfYourselves Third: Nominative, She/he/It, They Possessive His/her, Hers/It’s Their/Theirs Objective Him/her/ It Them Intensive/Reflexive Himself/ Herself/ Itself, Themselves
- 8. Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns show unspecified people or things All Each most other Another Either neither several Any everybody nobody some Anybody everyone none somebody Anyone Few no one someone Both many one Such
- 9. Relative Pronouns The relative pronouns that, whom, whose, and that typically refer to people. The pronouns which, that, and of which refer to things. Interrogative Pronouns Interrogative pronouns always ask a question. The pronouns who, whose, and whom all refer to people. The pronouns what and which refer to objects or concepts. Demonstrative Pronouns This ,that ,these , those
- 10. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement Antecedents are the nouns to which pronouns refer. Pronouns must agree with their antecedent This means that the number, case, and person of the pronoun must be the same as the noun to which it refers.
- 11. VERBS They show a sense of being, a sense of action, and a sense of time. Verbals Verbals are derived from verbs. They are verb forms that act as other grammatical elements, such as nouns, adverbs, and adjectives, within a sentence. There are three types of verbals: Infinitives Participles Gerunds
- 12. Infinitives It is the root form of a verb Participles A verb that is used as an adjective is called a participle. There are both past participles and present participles. Most present participles end in ''ing," and most past participles end in "ed," "en," "ed," or "t." Gerunds Gerunds always end in "ing" and signal the use of an action verb to be used as a noun
- 13. Verb Tenses Verb tenses deal with time Present Past Future Present perfect Past perfect Future perfect Special Functions: Progressive Conditional
- 14. MOOD The sense of intention is called mood. Three moods of English The indicative mood makes a direct statement or asks a question. The imperative mood commands, directs, or requests. The subjunctive mood makes a statement of urgency, formality, possibility, or speculation.
- 15. Subject-Verb Agreement Verbs are like pronouns in that verbs must agree with their subjects in person and number Agreement in person: I am You are It is Agreement in number: She writes They write
- 16. ADJECTIVE Words that qualify a noun or pronoun Demonstrative Adjectives They show or demonstrate particular items and their distance from the speaker. E.g. that, which, what, these, those. Limiting Adjectives Limiting adjectives identify and number the nouns they modify e.g a/an, both, several, few, some, many, any, every, most, each, one, every
- 17. Comparative Adjectives Many adjectives make comparisons of people, places, and things. The positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives show different degrees of the quality or characteristic. Compound Adjectives are hyphenated forms when they precede the noun they modify. If they follow the noun they modify, they are two separate words. This is a past-due report. This report is past due. Predicate Adjectives Adjectives following linking verbs are called predicate adjectives. They refer to and modify the condition of the subject and its relation to the verb.
- 18. PREPOSITIONS Prepositions are the words that connect informational phrases to the rest of a sentence. CONJUNCTIONS Conjunctions connect major elements within sentences and show their relationships. There are four basic types of conjunction: Coordinating Conjunctions Coordinating conjunctions join two or more elements in a sentence. The elements joined together can be nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, or phrases and clauses. The coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, and nor.
- 19. Correlative Conjunctions are used in pairs to emphasize the elements they join e.g either or, neither nor, not only, but also. Subordinating Conjunctions join elements of unequal importance or rank.e.g after, since,unless Linking Adverbs Linking adverbs join two independent clauses. Linking adverbs show results, contrast, or continuation.
- 20. INTERJECTIONS Interjections express emotion or get the reader's immediate attention.e.g Hurrah! Alas ! PUNCTUATION Punctuation is unique to written language. You don't use punctuation when you speak. What you do use is a series of meaningful pauses and tonal changes in the sound of your voice What Is Punctuation? Punctuation is systems of symbols that help readers understand the structural relationships within a sentence
- 21. The following 11 marks of punctuation are often seen being used in writing. Period Or Full Stop . Apostrophe ‘ Colon : Semi Colon ; Comma , Exclamation Mark ! Dash --- Hyphen - Parenthesis ( ) Question Mark ? Quotation Mark “ ”
- 22. Period or Full Stop A period usually indicates the end of a declarative or imperative sentence. Use periods after initials in names. John T., J.P. Morgan Use periods as decimal points with numbers. 109.2 degrees; $540.26; 6.9 percent Use periods to indicate abbreviations. Ms. Dr. Inc. APOSTROPHE (‘) An apostrophe (‘) is used to show possession, to indicate the omission of letters, and sometimes to form the plural. Do not confuse the apostrophe used to show the plural with the apostrophe used to show possession.
- 23. CONTRACTION When you combine two words to make a contraction, you will always take out some letters. In their place, use an apostrophe. they + have = they’ve; are + not = aren’t; they + will = they’ll COMMA(,) It is used to indicate shortest pause in the sentence. Commas after an Introductory Word or Phrase Commas in a List of Items Commas and Coordinating Adjectives Commas in Dates, Addresses, Greetings and Closings of Letters
- 24. Colons The colon (:) is a mark of anticipation and introduction that alerts readers to the close connection between the first statement and what follows. A colon is used to connect a list or series to a word, clause, or phrase with which it is in opposition. Three topics will be discussed: the history of language, the origin of English, and the importance of grammar. Semicolons The Semicolon (;) links independent clauses or other sentence elements of equal weight and grammatical rank, especially phrases in a series that have commas in them.
- 25. Exclamation Marks (!) The exclamation mark indicates strong feeling. Hurry! Great! Wow! Dash (—) A dash (—) is a punctuation mark used to set off information in a sentence for emphasis. Arrive to the interview early—but not too early Hyphens The hyphen (-) serves both to link and to separate words. The hyphen’s most common linking function is to join compound words. used to form compound numbers from twenty-one throug A hyphen is always used as part of a letter or number modifier. 5-cent 9-inchh ninety- nine and fractions
- 26. Parentheses ( ) Parentheses ( ) are most often used to identify material that acts as an aside or that is secondary to the main information (such as this brief comment) or to add incidental information. Question Marks (?) Is used to end a sentence that is a direct question Direct Quotations A direct quotation is an exact account of what someone said or wrote. To include a direct quotation in your writing, enclose the words in quotation marks.
- 27. ABBREVIATION An abbreviation, is a shortened form of a word. The most common title abbreviations include: Mr. = Mister Mrs. = Mistress (pronounced “missus”) Ms. = (pronounced “miss” or “miz”) Introduce Them with Parentheses. ... Abbreviate Personal and Professional Titles. ... Only Abbreviate Well-Known Terms. ... Look Closely at Initialisms. ... Keep Date Abbreviations Informal. ... Time and Time Zones Can Follow Several Styles. ... There Are USPS Standards for Addresses. ... Latin Abbreviations Need Punctuation.