PART B

1. Word Stress and Intonation

Stress is about which sounds we emphasise in words and sentences. For example in the word
‘banana’ the stress is on the second syllable, in the word ‘orange’ the stress is on the first
syllable. In sentences, we usually stress the most important, ‘content’ words.
Rhythm is about how we use a combination of stressed and unstressed words in sentences.
Sentences have strong beats (the stressed words) and weak beats (the unstressed words).
Intonation is the way the pitch of a speaker’s voice goes up or down as they speak. We use
intonation to help get our message across.
Stress Identifying the main words that are stressed.
Rhythm Concentrating on saying the strong beats, and not worrying too much about the weaker
parts.
Intonation Recognising if the intonation is going up or down or staying flat, because the patterns
are very different in my own language.
2. Concept of Meaning with example
Semantics is the study of meaning. Meaning in this case refers to the relation between signifiers
and what they stand for. Signifiers are words, signs and symbols.
The word semantics was first used by a French man named Michel Bréal. He studied the way
that language was put together, how language changed as time passed, and the connections in
languages.[1] Semantics can include simple or very complicated ideas. In everyday speech, it
means a problem with understanding language that can confuse because of the words or their
connotation (another idea created by a word that is not in its definition). This problem of
understanding has been studied for a long time, especially in the field of formal semantics, where
people explain the connection between words and their meanings in a clear way.
In linguistics (the study of language), semantics is the study of the attempts to understand signs
or symbols used in agents (the words that cause an action) or communities in different situations.
[2]
Other items of language that are said to have meaning are sounds, facial expressions, body
language, and proxemics, which is the use of personal space. Each of these topics connects to
many ways of studying. In writing, things like the way paragraphs are written and the use of
punctuation show meaning. Other types of language create other meanings.[2]
Formal semantics is sometimes similar to many other areas of language study. Some of these are
lexicology (study of words), syntax (ordering of words), pragmatics (the study of language in
different situations), and etymology (the history of words). Semantics is also a well-defined field
on its own.
 3. Report Writing
Report writing is a formal way of writing in-depth about a subject. A report’s writing style and
tone are always formal. The target audience is the segment on which you should concentrate.
Report Writing Format for Magazine and Newspaper
Heading: A title that catches the attention of the reader so that readers may get interested in
reading the full report.
Byline: Name of the person writing a report, Not to mention your personal details in the answer.
Opening Paragraph: It can include the ‘5 Ws’ namely, WHAT, WHY, WHEN and WHERE
along with WHO was invited as the chief guest.
Sequence of the event in details: The correct order in which the events took place, along with a
description of each. It serves as the primary paragraph and can, if necessary, be divided into two
short paragraphs.
Report Writing Format Important Points
 Make sure the language you use is appropriate for the group of people you are speaking
to. It is not advisable to speak to children using complex words.
 Make sure to use paragraphs when writing.
 Practice with exam papers from prior years.
 Read all the examples as much as you can. You will get a sense of how things are
genuinely written from it.
 At least twice through the question, highlight the key details. It’s crucial to comprehend
the question and look beyond the obvious. Once, Albert Einstein said,
.
4. Components and Contrast of Meaning
There are many different ways to approach the problems of meaning, since meaning is related to
many different functions of language. The meanings of words in a language are interrelated and
they are defined in part by their relations with other words in the language. Analyzed in the same
semantic domain, words can be classified according to shared and differentiating features.
Breaking down the sense of a word into its minimal distinctive features, componential analysis
of meaning can be a useful approach in the study of meaning, particularly in determining the
meaning of a lexeme. Although componential analysis has some difficulties and limitations in its
application, it is still used in modern linguistics. A word or lexeme presents a complex semantic
structure.
A lexeme is built up of smaller components of meaning which are combined differently to form a
different lexeme. The meaning of a lexeme is a complicated structure where elements of
meaning have definite interrelation. All semantic elements in a word are not equally important.
One (or some) of them is the dominant semantic element and it organizes around itself all the
other ones, which may be more or less important for the meaning of a lexeme. A lexeme can be
analyzed and described in terms of its semantic components, which help to define different
lexical relations, grammatical and syntactic processes. The semantic structure of a lexeme is
treated as a system of meanings. To some extent we can define a lexeme by telling what set it
belongs to and how it differs from other members of the same set. Some abvious sets of this sort
are sports (tennis, badminton, soccer, golf, basketball,…), colors (red, blue, yellow, green, pink,
…) and creative writing (novel, poem, short story, essay, biography,…).
It is not difficult to say what the members of each set have in common. According to Semantic
field (or semantic domain) theory, lexemes can be classified according to shared and
differentiating features. Here are more examples. Wasp, hornet, bee and other items denote
‘flying, stinging insects’; moth and housefly, among others, denote insects that fly but do not
sting; ant and termite are names of insects neither fly nor sting.
Contrast of Meaning
Contrast is often overtly marked by markers such as but or however, such as in the following examples:

5. It's raining, but I am not taking an umbrella.

6. We will be giving a party for our new students. We won't, however, be serving drinks.
7. The student knew about the test on Friday, but still he did not study.

In the first clause, It's raining implies that the speaker knows the weather situation and so will prepare for it,
while the second clause I am not taking an umbrella implies that the speaker will still get wet. Both clauses (or
discourse segments) refer to related situations, or themes, yet imply a contradiction. It is this relationship of
comparing something similar, yet different, that is believed to be typical of contrastive relations. The same
type of relationship is shown in (2), where the first sentence can be interpreted as implying that by giving a
party for the new students, the hosts will serve drinks. This is, of course, a defeasible inference based on world
knowledge, that is then contradicted in the following sentence.

The majority of the studies done on contrast and contrastive relations in semantics has concentrated on
characterizing exactly which semantic relationships could give rise to contrast. Earliest studies in semantics
also concentrated on identifying what distinguished clauses joined by and from clauses joined by but.

In discourse theory, and computational discourse, contrast is a major discourse relation, on par with
relationship like explanation or narration, and work has concentrated on trying to identify contrast in naturally
produced texts, especially in cases where the contrast is not explicitly marked.

In morphology, 'contrast' is identified, when two linguistic elements occur in the same environment(s), and
replacing one with the other creates a difference in meaning. [1] Two elements that contrast in identical
environments make a minimal pair.

5. Precis Writing

What is Precis Writing?

Precis writing is summarising a comprehension in limited words, covering all the important aspects
and details of the passage given.
Rules of Precis Writing

To avoid making any errors in writing a precis, follow a set of rules as mentioned below:

8. Read the comprehension carefully

9. Note down the important points
10. Make a rough draft of the precis
11. Make use of simple and precise language, as much as possible
12. Draft the final precis once all the points have been included
6. Deductive logic and Inductive logic

Inductive research approach

When there is little to no existing literature on a topic, it is common to perform inductive
research, because there is no theory to test. The inductive approach consists of three stages:
13. Observation
o A low-cost airline flight is delayed
o Dogs A and B have fleas
o Elephants depend on water to exist
14. Seeking patterns
o Another 20 flights from low-cost airlines are delayed
o All observed dogs have fleas
o All observed animals depend on water to exist
15. Developing a theory or general (preliminary) conclusion
o Low cost airlines always have delays
o All dogs have fleas
o All biological life depends on water to exist
Limitations of an inductive approach
A conclusion drawn on the basis of an inductive method can never be fully proven. However, it
can be invalidated.
ExampleYou observe 1000 flights from low-cost airlines. All of them experience a delay, which
is in line with your theory. However, you can never prove that flight 1001 will also be delayed.
Still, the larger your dataset, the more reliable your conclusions.
Deductive research approach
When conducting deductive research, you always start with a theory. This is usually the result of
inductive research. Reasoning deductively means testing these theories. Remember that if there
is no theory yet, you cannot conduct deductive research.
The deductive research approach consists of four stages:
16. Start with an existing theory and create a problem statement
o Low cost airlines always have delays
o All dogs have fleas
o All biological life depends on water to exist
17. Formulate a falsifiable hypothesis, based on existing theory
o If passengers fly with a low cost airline, then they will always experience delays
o All pet dogs in my apartment building have fleas
o All land mammals depend on water to exist
18. Collect data to test the hypothesis
o Collect flight data of low-cost airlines
o Test all dogs in the building for fleas
o Study all land mammal species to see if they depend on water
19. Analyze and test the data
o 5 out of 100 flights of low-cost airlines are not delayed
o 10 out of 20 dogs didn’t have fleas
o All land mammal species depend on water
20. Decide whether you can reject the null hypothesis
o 5 out of 100 flights of low-cost airlines are not delayed = reject hypothesis
o 10 out of 20 dogs didn’t have fleas = reject hypothesis
o All land mammal species depend on water = support hypothesis

8. Lexical Relations

Lexical relations are the connections between words. Lexical relations are used to analyze the
meanings of words based on their relationships with one another. In fact, it is one of the so many
ways of understanding the meaning of words.

Types of Lexical Relations

Here are the most common types of lexical relationships between words:
 Synonymy
 Antonymy
 Hyponymy
 Prototypes
  Homophones and Homonyms
 Polysemy
 Metonymy

Synonymy
When two or more words have a very close meaning is called 'synonymy'. Words with the same
meaning often can be substituted for each other in sentences. However, there are some cases in
which a synonym of a word would be odd and cannot be used in a sentence. Note that synonymy
does not mean total sameness; To replace a word with its synonym you must consider many
factors including context and the relationships between words.

Antonymy
Antonymy refers to words with opposite meanings. There are usually in pairs and can be found
across all parts of speech.

Hyponymy
Hyponymy happens when the meaning of one form is included in the meaning of another in
some type of hierarchical relationship. It can be found in verbs, adjectives, and nouns. There are
three major terms used in hyponymy: 'hypernym' which refers to a general term, 'hyponym'
which refers to a more specific term, and 'co-hyponyms' which refer to the hyponyms of the
same level.

Prototype
A member or a set of members of a group that best represents the group as a whole is called a
'prototype'. An example of a group that is easily recognized by people is prototype.

Homophones and Homonyms

When words with different spelling and meanings have the same pronunciation, they are defined
as homophones. When words with the same spelling and pronunciation have different
meanings, they are described as homonyms.