Parts of Speech in Communications Skills | ECE 8020, Papers of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Download Parts of Speech in Communications Skills | ECE 8020 and more Papers Electrical and Electronics Engineering in PDF only on Docsity! 1 2004 Gail Palmer Professional Communication Skills School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 2 Parts of Speech The eight parts of speech: Nouns Pronouns Verbs Adjectives (including Articles) Adverbs Conjunctions Prepositions Interjections 2 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 3 Nouns Nouns A noun is a word that names a person, a place, or a thing. All nouns have six characteristics: Countability Gender Number Person Type Form Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 4 Nouns Countability Countable Nouns: Countable nouns typically are discrete units that can be counted: chip, electron, transistor Countable nouns can be made plural: chips, electrons, transistors Singular countable nouns require an article or some other determiner: a chip, an electron, the transistor Plural countable nouns require an article only to restrict the interpretation of the noun: chips, the (specific) chips; electrons, the (specific) electrons, transistors, the (specific) transistors 5 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 9 Nouns Person First person: includes the writer Second person: includes the reader and excludes the writer Third person: excludes both the writer and the reader When replacing a noun with a pronoun, choose a pronoun that agrees with the noun in person Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 10 Nouns Type Proper Nouns: Have names: Thomas Edison Figure 4 Capitalize the first letter of each word in a name: Professional Communication Skills Georgia Institute of Technology 6 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 11 Nouns Type Common Nouns Do not have specific names: scientist, figure Are not capitalized Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 12 Nouns Form Nominative: the standard form for nouns Student, students Possessive: the form used to show possession Student’s, students’ 7 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 13 Nouns Forming the Possessive Case of a Noun Add –’s to a singular noun NOT ending in –s: Edison’s, child’s, city’s, deer’s, mouse’s Add –’ or –’s to a singular noun ending in –s: Thomas’ or Thomas’s Add –’ to a plural noun ending in –s: Students’, cities’, states’ Add –’s to a plural noun NOT ending in –s: Women’s, children’s, deer’s, mice’s Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 14 Pronouns Types of Pronouns Personal pronouns Possessive pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Relative pronouns Indefinite pronouns Reciprocal pronouns Reflexive/Intensive pronouns Interrogative pronouns 10 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 19 Pronouns Who/Whom For formal writing, the cases are as follows: Nominative PossessiveObjective who whoever whom whomever whose Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 20 Pronouns When who introduces a dependent clause after a preposition, use the nominative case of the pronoun: Return the paper to who is in charge. Give this book to whoever wants it. 11 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 21 Pronouns Use whom for the objective case: The project was awarded to an engineer whom I knew well. I spoke to the engineer to whom the project was awarded. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 22 Pronouns Possessive Case Pronouns Possessive pronouns show ownership and do not take an apostrophe: Its cost Her plan ~ The plan is hers. Their project ~ The project is theirs. 12 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 23 Pronouns Use possessive case pronouns before present participle (-ing) verb forms: The crowd cheered his making a three-point basket. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 24 Pronouns Demonstrative Pronouns Demonstrative pronouns refer to things: This, that, these, those This propagation delay line is longer than that one. 15 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 29 Indefinite pronouns, such as all, any, more,most, none, and some, may be either singular or plural, depending on the meaning of the sentence: Singular: Some of my homework is finished. Plural: Some of these disks are chipped. Singular: All of the coffee is brewed. Plural: All of the students are happy. Pronouns Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 30 Pronouns Reciprocal Pronouns Reciprocal pronouns refer to individual parts of plural terms: Each other, one another The two students helped one another on the project. 16 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 31 Pronouns Reflexive/Intensive Pronouns Reflexive/intensive pronouns end in –self or - selves and intensify the nouns to which they refer: Myself, yourself, itself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves I, myself, have not started on the project. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 32 Pronouns Interrogative Pronouns Interrogative pronouns are used in questions: Who, whose, whom, which, what Who is Thomas Edison? Whose circuit board is on the table? Which project is more expensive? What caused the computer to crash? 17 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 33 Verbs Verbs Verbs describe actions – what has happened, what is happening, or what will or might happen – or a condition. Transitive verbs take an object. Intransitive verbs do not take an object. Verbs must always agree with their subjects. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 34 Verbs Verbs, with the addition of auxiliary verbs, sometimes express Tense Mood Voice Verbs can be modified (described) by adverbs 20 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 39 Verbs Simple Past Tense Use the simple past tense to express actions completed at a specific time in the past. To form the past tense add the ending –ed to the base form of the verb. As the object approached the speed of light, its mass increased. In the Los Angeles basin during December 1982, acid fog reached a level of acidity comparable to that of vinegar. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 40 Verbs Simple Future Tense Use the future tense to indicate action that will occur at some point after the present. You can express future tense by using a verb in the simple present with a future adverb, by using the auxiliary will, or by using the expression is going to or are going to. 21 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 41 Verbs Simple Future Tense When the object approaches, we shall calculate its speed. The spring term will begin in January next year. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 42 Verbs Present Perfect Tense Use the present perfect tense to express states or actions that occurred at an unspecified time in the past, were repeated in the past, or begun at an unknown or arbitrary time in the past and continue into the present. 22 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 43 Verbs Present Perfect Tense To form the present perfect, use the present tense form of the auxiliary have and the past participle of the main verb. The present perfect is commonly used with the following adverbs: already, always, ever, just, lately, never, recently, since, still, and yet. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 44 Verbs Present Perfect Tense In the past ten years, optical networking has emerged as one of the cutting-edge technologies. For more than a century, researchers have known that direct eye contact with most laser beams causes severe eye injury. 25 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 49 Verbs Progressive Form The Internet is revolutionizing the way we communicate. Among the younger generation, letter writing was disappearing even before the Internet. Letter writing will be disappearing even more rapidly in the next ten years. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 50 Verbs Progressive Form Do not use the progressive form with states of facts; use the simple present tense or simple past tense instead. Some verbs that commonly describe such states are appear, appreciate, be, believe, belong, care, compromise, consider, contain, cost, desire, dislike, doubt, fear, forget, have, hear, love, look, resemble, think, want. 26 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 51 Adjectives Adjectives Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. Although adjectives usually precede the words they modify, they may follow them and be separated by a form of the verb be or a substitute verb such as seems or feels. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 52 Adjectives Examples of adjectives: The beautiful rose The rose is beautiful The rose looks beautiful Two important types of adjectives: Determiners Participial adjectives 27 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 53 Adjectives Determiners These are special adjectives that identify the noun being described or that specify the quantity of the noun. They include demonstrative adjectives, possessive adjectives, and quantifiers, as well as articles. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 54 Adjectives Demonstrative Adjectives These are special adjectives or determiners used to identify or express the relative position of a noun in time or space. A demonstrative adjective comes before all other adjectives in the noun phrase. Some common demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these, and those. 30 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 59 Adjectives Quantifiers Quantifiers are determiners used to express the quantity of the noun being described. Like possessive adjectives, quantifiers usually precede all other elements in a noun phrase. All the undergraduate students in electrical engineering are required to use computers. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 60 Adjectives Quantifiers Some common quantifiers are most, much, any, no, some, and few. Most people have a hard time understanding the specifics of Maxwell’s equations. Choose a quantifier that is appropriate for the noun. In general, do not use articles before quantifiers. 31 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 61 Adjectives Quantifiers Articles and demonstrative adjectives can be used before the quantifiers few and little. A few problems in optics can only be solved numerically. This little mistake in measuring the current can have devastating results. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 62 Adjectives Participial Adjectives A participial adjective is formed by adding to the base form of the verb either the present participial ending –ing or, unless the verb is irregular, the past participial ending –ed. In quantum electronics, a tunneling electron is one that overcomes a potential energy barrier. When two electrons come close to each other, the resulting electrical force causes them to repel. 32 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 63 Adjectives Passive Participial Adjectives Passive participial adjectives are formed from the past participles of verbs. They describe nouns that are receiving the effects of an action. The information theory being unknown to them, electrical engineers in the mid-twentieth century were astonished by Shannon’s research. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 64 Adjectives Comparative and Superlative Adjectives A comparative or superlative adjective is used to compare the degree of some quality of one item with the degree of the same quality in another item [comparative] or in multiple others [superlative] 35 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 69 Articles Examples of definite articles: The IEEE style for citations The broken chip Examples of indefinite articles: A specific airflow velocity An electronic circuit Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 70 Articles Definite Articles The definite article the signals to the reader that the noun is specific, not arbitrary, and not new to the reader. The noise incurred by the operational amplifier is eliminated. 36 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 71 Articles Definite Articles Also use a definite article if you intend a singular noun to refer to an entire class of items. This is particularly common with species of animals, inventions, or musical intruments. The Internet has revolutionized communication among the global community. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 72 Articles Indefinite Articles An indefinite article signals that the noun is nonspecific or that other examples of the noun exist. Use an indefinite article (a or an) if a noun is new to the reader or is an arbitrary example of the class to which that noun belongs. A computer is required to perform a circuit simulation. 37 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 73 Articles Choosing between a and an Use a before consonant sounds and an before vowel sounds. Note: Some words whose first letter is a consonant (hour) actually begin with a vowel sound, and other words whose first letter is a vowel (unit) actually begin with a consonant sound. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 74 Articles Choosing between a and an Unacceptable: A electron, a oxidant, a hour An human gene, an unique solution Acceptable: An electron, an oxidant, an hour A human gene, a unique solution 40 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 79 Articles Which article is appropriate? Unacceptable: Packet is the unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on the Internet, or any other packet-switched network. Acceptable: A packet is the unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on the Internet or any other packet-switched network. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 80 Articles Which article is appropriate? Never use an indefinite article with a plural countable noun or with an uncountable noun. Unacceptable: Unlike a bipolar junction transistors, a MOS transistors have a negative thermal coefficient. Acceptable: Unlike bipolar junction transistors, MOS transistors have a negative thermal coefficient. 41 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 81 Articles Which article is appropriate? Do not use the definite article when referring to uncountable nouns or plural countable nouns in a general sense. Unacceptable: The discovery of the transistors led to the invention of the integrated circuits. Acceptable: The discovery of transistors led to the invention of integrated circuits. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 82 Articles Which article is appropriate? Use the definite article whenever a noun is used with a superlative adjective (most or least with the modifier or adding –est to the modifier), with the word same, or with an ordinal number (first, fourth). 42 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 83 Articles Which article is appropriate? Unacceptable: A most commonly used protocol is TCP/IP. First cellular telephone was a type of short- wave analog transmission. Acceptable: The most commonly used protocol is TCP/IP. The first cellular telephone was a type of short- wave analog transmission. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 84 Articles Articles and Demonstrative and Possessive Adjectives Demonstrative and possessive adjectives are determiners. Since a noun phrase takes only one determiner, do not use an article if the noun is modified with a demonstrative adjective or a possessive adjective. 45 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 89 Articles Articles and Proper Nouns Use the definite article with plural lakes, mountains, and islands: Unacceptable: Blue Ridge Mountains Galapagos Islands Acceptable: The Blue Ridge Mountains The Galapagos Islands Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 90 Articles Articles and Proper Nouns Do not use an article with singular lakes, mountains, and islands. Unacceptable: The Smith Mountain Lake The Edisto Island The Lake Santee Acceptable: Smith Mountain Lake Edisto Island Lake Santee 46 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 91 Adverbs Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs; they introduce clauses. There are several categories of adverbs: Attitude adverbs Sentence adverbs Time adverbs Manner adverbs Quantity adverbs Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 92 Adverbs Attitude Adverbs Attitude adverbs express the writer’s attitude toward the state or action described in the sentence. They typically are placed before the subject. Some common attitude adverbs are fortunately, luckily, obviously. Fortunately, there was no need to debug the circuit. Obviously, you need to debug the circuit. 47 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 93 Adverbs Sentence Adverbs Sentence adverbs express the certainty or uncertainty of the state or action described in the sentence. They typically are placed between the subject and the first verb of the sentence, or after the first auxiliary verb, if one is present. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 94 Adverbs Sentence Adverbs Some common sentence adverbs are certainly, possibly, and probably. Computers certainly have changed our lives. Computers have certainly changed our lives. 50 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 99 Adverbs Quantity Adverbs Quantity adverbs modify the quantity or intensity of an adjective, a verb, or another adverb. They typically are placed immediately before the words they modify. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 100 Adverbs Quantity Adverbs Some common quantity adverbs are almost, completely, especially, hardly, just, nearly, only, quite, really, relatively, extremely, and very. Electrical engineers have just recently begun to question whether or not the use of fiber optics is cost effective. Opinions are quite diverse on that subject. 51 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 101 Adverbs Degrees of Adverbs: Like adjectives, adverbs can appear in the positive, comparative, or superlative degree: Rapidly [positive] More rapidly [comparative] Most rapidly [superlative] Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 102 Adverbs Comparative and Superlative Adverbs A comparative or superlative adverb is used to indicate the relative degree of some quality expressed by the word or phrase the adverb the adverb modifies. A comparative adverb indicates that an item has more or less of the quality than does another item. A superlative adverb indicates that an item has the quality to the greatest or least degree. 52 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 103 Adverbs Comparative Adverbs All adverbs ending in –ly and certain other adverbs, especially long ones, form the comparative by the addition of the word more or less. We performed the experiment more quickly than we expected [comparative with more]. The robot completed the course less rapidly than we thought it would [comparative with less]. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 104 Adverbs Comparative Adverbs Some short or irregular adverbs, however, form the comparative by the addition of the ending –er. The first robot executed the turn better than the second robot [well changed to comparative form better with ending –er]. 55 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 109 Conjunctions Coordinating Conjunctions The following coordinating conjunctions are used after a comma to join one independent clause to another: and, but, or, for, nor, so, and yet. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 110 Conjunctions Coordinating Conjunctions Unacceptable: The loudspeaker enclosure determines the lower cutoff frequency of the system and the crossover network determines how the signal is divided between the loudspeaker components. Acceptable: The loudspeaker enclosure determines the lower cutoff frequency of the system, and the crossover network determines how the signal is divided between the loudspeaker components. 56 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 111 Conjunctions Coordinating Conjunctions Starting a sentence with a coordinating conjunction was once considered poor style; however, this structure is now widely accepted. The gain of the amplifier is set by the feedback resistors. But, its bandwidth is set by both the feedback resistors and the gain-bandwidth product of the op-amp. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 112 Conjunctions Correlative Conjunctions These consist of two parts, both of which must be included in the sentence. Some common correlative conjunctions are both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but (also), and whether…or. His new job in the Electrical Department is both interesting and lucrative. Neither the engineer nor the architect was familiar with correlative conjunctions. 57 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 113 Conjunctions Correlative Conjunctions If a correlative conjunction is used to join two independent clauses, the latter clause must be separated with a comma before the second element of the conjunction. Either Dr. Leach will conclude the experiment by March, or he will ask for additional research funds. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 114 Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions When a clause has less emphasis or is less important in a sentence, it is subordinate to or dependent upon the other clause. The relationship between a subordinate or dependent clause to the main clause is shown by a marker word that begins the subordinate clause. 60 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 119 Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions Unacceptable: Because the thermal noise voltage dominates. It is difficult to see the signal on the oscilloscope. Acceptable: Because the thermal noise voltage dominates, it is difficult to see the signal on the oscilloscope. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 120 Conjunctions Conjunctive Adverbs Adverbs that function as conjunctions when they link two independent clauses separated by a semicolon are called conjunctive adverbs. Some common conjunctive adverbs are consequently, otherwise, however, thus, furthermore, therefore, moreover and nevertheless. 61 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 121 Conjunctions Conjunctive Adverbs Common positions for conjunctive adverbs in sentences are before the subject, between the subject and the first verb, and at the end of the sentence. Conjunctive adverbs at the beginning of a clause must be followed by a comma ( and preceded by a semicolon if the clause is linked to the previous clause). The students have repeatedly obtained the same results from their controlled experiments; therefore, the results should be reliable. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 122 Conjunctions Conjunctive Adverbs Conjunctive adverbs between the subject and the verb must be both preceded and followed by a comma. The students have repeatedly obtained the same results from their controlled experiments; the results, therefore, should be reliable. The students have repeatedly obtained the same results from their controlled experiments; the results should, therefore, be reliable. 62 Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 123 Conjunctions Conjunctive Adverbs Conjunctive adverbs at the end of a clause must be preceded by a comma and followed by a period. The students have repeatedly obtained the same results from their controlled experiments; the results should be reliable. Gail Palmer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology 124 Prepositions Prepositions Prepositions show the relationship between nouns and other words or phrases in the sentence - they often express location in terms of space or time.