Nature of language

Every creature strives to communicate with its own kind. One of the ways in which
this need is fulfilled is by expressing thoughts in the medium of language.

Meaning of Language
Language is a means of communication

Language is the bridge between individuals that tells them they are needed, they
are not alone. Language thus gives self-expression and by extension, identity.

Language is a systematic and conventional means of human communication by

way of vocal sounds.
Language is a system for communicating. Written languages use symbols (that is, 

characters) to build words. The entire set of words is the language's vocabulary.
The ways in which the words can be meaningfully combined is defined by the
language's syntax and grammar. The actual meaning of words and combinations of
words is defined by the language's semantics.

Functions of Language

   Gives self-expression and identity. It tells our listeners or readers about

ourselves, in particular about regional origins, social backgrounds, levels of
education, occupation, age, sex and personality.
  It gives shapes to thoughts and emotions and communicates these to
intended audiences.
      It is the basic elements with which the history of the world has been
recorded.
     It is a time capsule that allows us to view any moment in the past of a
literate man.
     It is a storehouse of information.
    It helps to express judgement, opinions, assertions etc. it is used if a
statement is true or false.
  It helps to maintain social rapport between people to build and maintain
relationship.
 One of the basic human urge is to communicate.


 A Communication Model




   
 Communication happens when the decoder receives, decodes and
understand the message of the encoder.

 The encoder and the decoder are called the interlocutors. (Person who take
part in a conversation)

 Language is not only human phenomenon. Animals cry, hoot, bleat, coo,
dance and sing to communicate their message.

 Sounds are basic units of language. But not sounds in themselves or in a
jumble. Sounds have to be meaningful. They acquire meaning when they
organize themselves in an intelligible combinations 




 Sounds + Forms + Meaning gives us an intelligible (that can be understood)
sensible structure to understand the world around us. These three
components, in fact, represent the three fundamental dimension of the
organizations as well as the three levels of analysis in language
– Phonological, Syntactic and Semantic.


 1. Phonological level – Sound and their organizations. (sounds put together
to form a word)

 2. Syntactic level – Forms and their organizations. (words put together to
form phrases)

 3. Semantic level – Meaning as manifested at the phonological and syntactic
levels. (phrases put together to form sentences)


 Features of Human Language:
 Language as a system: Language is a system of system. Language is not a
collection of sounds and forms at random but a highly organized system in
which each unit has its place and value. Each sound is related to other
sounds, each word is related to other words to make meaning.


 Arbitrariness: Human Language is an arbitrary phenomenon. There is no
natural connection or relationship between a word and its meaning. The
signifier and the signified are brought together arbitrarily.


 Open-ended System: The sounds, words and sentences in language may be
finite or limited, but the combinations and constructions are infinite or
unlimited. Thus, this creative and productive potential of the language
enables its user to manipulate and make varieties of constructions to express
himself or herself. So human has the ability to say things that never been
said before, including the possibility to express invented things or lies.


 Duality of structure: Human language is organized at two levels: Sound
production and its Meaning. At the level of sound productions or individual
sounds like a, b, c, d, e ….. But none of these individual sounds have any
meaning in themselves. Their meaning comes from the meaningful
combination to produce words. Although our capacity to produce new
sounds (letters) is limited, we frequently coin new words. Hence our
capacity to produce vocabulary (words) is unlimited.


 Displacement: Human language can be used to refer to any dimension of
space and time. We can use language to refer to the past, present and future.
It can also be used to refer to any place, here or elsewhere; in neither case
does the language user have to move from his or her place to refer to any
time or place.


 Meta-linguistic system: Human language can be used to talk about itself. Its
features, functions, varieties and levels of sophistications.


 Cultural Transmission: Human Beings may be born with innate
predispositions to acquire language, but they are not born with the ability to
produce utterances in a specific language. Language is not genetically
transmitted. It is culturally transmitted and has to be consciously learned.
(The process thereby language is passed down from generation to generation
is described as cultural transmission)


 Language is an individual and social phenomenon: Language serves in
expressing individual needs and urges; it brings an individual into
relationship with the external world.


 Theories of Language Acquisition

 Language acquisition is the process by which we are able to develop and
learn a language. This includes (in general but depends on the specific
language) speaking, listening, writing, and overall communication. Our
ability to acquire language is a uniquely human trait because although
bonobos, a species of primate, can produce vocalizations with meaning,
birds can produce song, and whales have their own version of a language,
no species on Earth that we know of can express neverending infinite
ideas (sentences) along with a limited set of symbols (gestures, words,
and sounds). The term language acquisition often refers to the first-
language acquisition which simply means that it’s the first language learned
as an infant (unless the child learns two or more language at the same time).
However, there is also the term second-language acquisition which refers to
the process in both children and adults when they learn addition languages
apart from their native one. Each of these terms has at least one language
 acquisition theory behind them and the big question of “how do we learn a
language?”


 A Little History behind Language Acquisition Theory
 As with most of history, it all begins with some philosophers in ancient
societies who were interested in how humans were able to develop language.
Using “armchair psychology” (sitting and thinking about the problem), the
large conclusion from these philosophers was that we were able to learn
languages as we do due to the subset of a human’s ability to gain knowledge
and learn concepts. Easier said they found that language was an innate
ability that we were born with. Plato felt that word-meaning mapping was
also innate in one way or another. Grammarians who studied Sanskrit
debated over 12 centuries on whether or not a humans ability to recognize
and use the correct meaning of words in Sanskrit (an ancient Indian
language that is over 3,000 years old) was something passed down by
generations and learned from pre-established conventions (for example, a
child learns the word for horse because he hears older speakers talking about
horses) or whether it was innate (“God-given”).

 A while later, philosophers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes got in
on the language party and argued that knowledge (and language, in Locke’s
case) come from abstracted sense impressions. What does that mean? They
argue that language comes from a sensory experience.

 Behaviorists, people who believe that everything is acquired through
conditioning, argued that language is learned through operant conditioning-
a form of conditioning that happens through rewards and punishments which
makes someone associate between a particular behavior and its consequence.
A child learns that a specific combination of words or sounds stands for a
specific thing/idea through successfully repeated associations. For example,
a child would learn that their house animal, Whiskers, is a cat while their
other house animal, Fido, is a dog. He would do so because when the child
would call Whiskers his dog, his parents would say that no, Whiskers is a
cat, not a dog. The “big face” for this language acquisition theory is B.F.
Skinner and he went on to publish this theory.


 However, Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s greatest linguists to
date strongly criticised Skinner’s theory. Chomsky argued that kids often
 ignore their parents’ corrections and would not likely learn that actual,
proper use of the word or phrase and end up using it incorrectly, by means of
Skinner’s conditioning theory. Chomsky’s language acquisition theory
involved a more mathematical approach to language development based on a
syntax (the meaning of a word) study.



 The Behaviourist Theory (the Sociocultural Theory)
 The sociocultural theory, also known as the interactionist approach, takes
ideas from both biology and sociology to interpret our language acquisition.
This language acquisition theory states that children are able to learn
language out of a desire to communicate with their surrounding environment
and world. Language thus is dependent upon and emerges from social
interaction. The theory argues that due to our language developing out of a
desire to communicate, our language is dependent upon whom we hang
around and with whom we want to communicate. Essentially, the theory
says that our environment when we grow up has a heavy influence on how
quickly and how well we learn to talk. For example, an infant who is raised
by a single dad will develop the word “dada” or “baba” before developing
“mama”.

 Behaviourists believe that children learn to speak by imitations and parents
then reinforce or correct their speech constantly. They believe that the child
is born with an empty slate and language items ate written on that mental
slate as the child grows and experiences the world which it is experienced.

 The Behaviourist Theory focuses on the use of imitation and practice for
language acquisition. According to this theory babies learn oral language
from the humans in their environment through imitation rewards and
practice. Then a baby tries to speak a word and succeeds parents and other
adults in his world often praise him. This propels the child to try harder to
achieve more. Behaviourism is an approach to language acquisition based on
the proposition that behaviour can be researched scientifically without
recourse to inner mental states. It is a form of materialism denying any
independent significance for mind. The behaviourist theory emerges on the
basis of following assumptions.

 1.           Language learning is a habit formation resembling the formation of
other habits. That is a language is learned in the way in which other habits
are learned.

 2.           Free will is illusory and all behaviour is determined by the
environment either through association or reinforcement.

 3.           Human acquire a language as discrete unit of habits independently
trained not as an integrated system

 This theory puts emphasis on three important factors like stimulus, response
and reinforcement.


 The Rationalistic Theory (the Nativist Theory)

Rationalistic argue learning is a much more complex process. The child is
born with all the facilities to learn language. The linguistic ability is in
inherited in the mind of the child. All the child does is discover and test.  

 American linguist Noam Chomsky proposed a completely different view of
language acquisition. His Rationalist view was a direct challenge to the
established Behaviourist theories of the time rekindling the age-old debate
over whether language exists in the mind before experience or not. This oral
language development theory states that learning is a natural process for
human beings. The Rationalist Theory gives rise to the Language
Acquisition Device (LAD which is thought to be a part of the brain that
enables all children to grasp language naturally). However, the Rationalist
Theory fails to explain why children from different cultures and
environments vary in the time taken to develop oral language. The
Rationalist Theory is more widely accepted and understood than the
Behaviourist Theory.


 More Detailed Idea: 
 Being the most well-known and one of the most scientifically accurate
theories yet, the Nativist Theory suggests that we are born with genes that
allow us to learn language. This language acquisition theory argues that
there is a theoretical device known as the language acquisition device
(LAD) that is somewhere in our brain. 
 This “device” is in charge of our learning a language the same way the
hypothalamus, for example, is in charge of regulating our body temperature.
The language acquisition theory also suggests that there is a universal
grammar (a theory by Noam Chomsky) that is shared across every language
in the world because universal grammar is part of our genetic
makeup. Essentially, almost all languages around the world all have nouns
and verbs and similar ways to structure thoughts. All languages have a finite
amount of rules that apply to all languages from which we can build an
infinite amount of phrases. The core and basic ideas from these finite rules
are built into our brains (according to Universal Grammar and the Nativist
Theory).
 This language acquisition theory explains well how humans seem to have a
far more complicated and complex set of communication patterns than any
other species in the world. It also is a working theory for how children are
able to learn so quickly complicated ideas. This language acquisition theory
is comparable to how we think of numbers- everyone in the world knows
what 4 apples look like regardless if we say that there are four, cuatro, vier,
or dört apples.

 The theoretical assumptions underlying the Rationalist theory is as follows:

 1.          Every human child possesses innate knowledge of language
structure which called language Acquisition Device or LAD.

 2.          Language learning is distinct from other cognitive capacities.

 3.          Young children learn and apply grammatical rules and vocabulary as
they are exposed to them and do not require initial formal teaching.


 Similarities between Behaviourist Theory and Rationalist
Theory
 Both are the theory of language learning.

 Both of these theories help to describe some aspects of first language
acquisition.

 Neither the Behaviourist nor the Rationalist theories are able to adequately
encompass the complexity of language acquisition.

  Both of them are some way logical in some aspect of acquiring first
language.

 Both of them are not totally independent one has been corrected by the
other.

 Both of them have emphasis on a specific part of language learning process
but none of them is completely wholly appropriate for first language
learning.
 Differences between Theory and Rationalist Theory


Behaviourist Theory Rationalist Theory
According to behaviourism language According to rationalism language
is learnt in the way other habits are develops in the same way as other
learnt. biological functions.
Through behaviourist theory language
acquisition is a stimulus response Language acquisition is a congenital
process. process.
In behaviourism knowledge is seen as In rationalism knowledge is seen
constant. dynamic.
In rationalism learning is said to be
successful when the child can
In behaviourism learning is said to be generate innumerable grammatically
successful when the child can repeat correct sentences and rejects
what was taught. ungrammatical ones.
The behaviourist view holds that The Rationalist view maintains that
children need formal teaching and children do not require primary
guidance to learn in a correct way. formal instruction.
It ignores the creativity of human It views language acquisition as a
beings. creative process.
The Rationalist theory is not
The behaviourist theory is mechanical since it does consider the
mechanical. child as an inert recipient.
The behaviourist theory cannot
explain how the child precedes in The Rationalist theory gives some
his/her journey of language rational explanations about children’s
acquisition. language acquisition procedure.
Language acquisition is the result of Language acquisition is the result of
 nurture. nature.
The behaviourists experiment upon The Rationalist experiment on human
animals not human beings. child not animals.
[The notes on the grammar will keep changing. As i get more materials, more notes will be
added below. So keep checking the blog for any new updates😆💪]

Tenses and their Identification

Tenses need to be memorized and their uses understood. We will go

through a quick and easy method to successfully memorize and identify
tenses.

Tenses fall under three categories:

1.The Present Tense                        

2.The Past Tense                   
3.The Future Tense

These tenses are further subdivided into four categories.

1.        The Present Group of Tenses

            a.         Simple Present Tense
            b.        Present Continuous Tense
            c.         Present Perfect Tense
            d.        Present Perfect Continuous Tense

2.        The Past Group of Tenses

            a.         Simple Past Tense
            b.        Past Continuous Tense
            c.         Past Perfect Tense
            d.        Past Perfect Continuous Tense

3.        The Future Group of Tenses

            a.         Simple Future Tense
            b.        Future Continuous Tense
            c.         Future Perfect Tense
            d.        Future Perfect Continuous Tense
Tenses can easily be identified by their helping verbs which need to
be memorized.

The Present Group of

Tenses

First form of the Verb, Verb I +

1 s/es in case of 3rd. person singular
. Simple Present Tense pronoun. e.g. sings
is, am, are, followed by the verbs
2 Present Continuous ending with the
. Tense letters ‘ing’. e.g. going, doing etc.
Has, have + 3rd. form of the
Verb. e.g. has done, have spoken
3 etc.
. Present Perfect Tense
Has been, have been + Verbs
ending with the letters ‘ing’. e.g.
4 Present Perfect has been crying, have been
. Continuous Tense playing.
           
The Past Group of
Tenses
Second form of the Verb.
e.g. They served us coffee.
1. Simple Past Tense
Was, were, followed by the verbs
ending with the letters ‘ing’. e.g.
was dancing, were singing etc.
2. Past Continuous Tense
Had + 3rd. form of the verb. e.g.
had done, had spoken etc.
3. Past Perfect Tense
Had been + verbs ending with the
letters ‘ing’ e.g. had been singing
Past Perfect Continuous etc.
4. Tense
 The Future Group of
Tenses
Will, shall + Verb I e.g. will invite
etc.
1. Simple Future Tense
Will be, shall be followed by the
verbs ending with the
letters ‘ing’. e.g. will be inviting
etc.
2. Future Continuous Tense
Will have, shall have + 3rd. form
of the verb. e.g. will have done,
shall have done etc.
3. Future Perfect Tense
Will have been, shall have been +
verbs ending with the letters ‘ing’
e.g. will have been doing, shall
Future Perfect have been doing etc.
4. Continuous Tense

Now let us study the following examples:

Present Group:
1 Simple Present He studies.
2 Present Continuous He is studying
3 Present Perfect       He has studied/ They have studied
Present Perfect He has been studying/ They have
4 Continuous been studying.
Past Group:
5 Simple Past He studied.
He was studying/ They were
6 Past Continuous studying.
7 Past Perfect He had studied.
Past Perfect
8 Continuous  He had been studying.
base form past simple -ed
beat beat beaten
become became become
begin began begun
Future Group:
bend 9bentSimple Future
bent He will study/ We shall study
bet bet bet He will be studying/ We shall be
1 studying.
bite 0bit Future Continuous
bitten
bleed 1bled bled He will have studied/ We shall have
1 Future Perfect studied.
blow blew blown
1 Future Perfect He will have been studying/
break 2broke
Continuous broken We shall have been studying.
breed bred bred
bring brought brought
build built built
Table if Irregular
burn burnt/burned burnt/burned
Verbs 
buy bought bought
catch caught caught
choose chose chosen
come came come
cost cost cost
cut cut cut
do did done
dig dug dug
draw drew drawn
dreamt/dreame
dream d dreamt/dreamed
drink drank drunk
drive drove driven
eat ate eaten
fall fell fallen
feed fed fed
feel felt felt
fight fought fought
find found found
fly flew flown
forget forgot forgotten
forgive forgave forgiven
  Directed and Indirect Speech 

👉Notes on Direct and Indirect Speech 

               Direct Speech       Indirect Speech

Simple Past
Simple present She said (that) she went to temple every
She said, “I go to temple every day.” day.
Past Perfect
Simple past She said (that) she had gone to temple
She said, “I went to temple every day.” every day.
Present perfect Past perfect
She said, “I have gone to temple every She said (that) she had gone to temple
day.” every day.
Present Continuous Past continuous
She said, “I am going to temple every She said (that) she was going to the
day.” temple every day.
Past continuous Perfect continuous
She said, “I was going to temple every She said (that) she had been going to
day.” temple every day.
Would +verb name
Future (will) She said (that) she would go to temple
She said, “I will go to temple every day.” every day.
 Present progressive
She said (that) she is going to temple
every day
Future (going to) Past progressive
She said, “I am going to temple every She said (that) she was going to temple
day.” every day.
                    DIRECT SPEECH               INDIRECT SPEECH
Auxiliary+ verb name     Simple past
She said, “Do you go to temple every She asked me if I went to temple every
day?” day.
 She said, “where do you go to temple?” She asked me where I went to temple.
Imperative Infinitive
She said, “Go to temple every day.” She said to go to temple every day.

The situation changes when say is used instead of said. In this case, the verb
usually remains the same.

                   DIRECT SPEECH               INDIRECT SPEECH

Simple Present + Simple Present
 Simple present +simple present She says (that) she goes to temple every
She says, “I go to temple every day.” day.
Present perfect + simple present
Present perfect +simple present She has said (that) she goes to temple
She has said, “I go to temple every day.” every day.
Past continuous + simple past
She was saying (that) she went to temple
every day.
Past continuous + simple past Past continuous + past perfect
She was saying, “I went to temple every She was saying (that) she had gone to
day.” temple every day.
Future + simple present
Future + simple present She will say (that) she goes to temple
She will say, “I go to temple every day.” every day.
Sometimes, modal constructions are used when the verb is said. In such case, we
use the form of the modal that has a past meaning is used. Look at the example
given below:

     DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH

 Can Could
 May Might
 Must Had to
Should Should
Ought to Ought to

Becomes (Vice- versa)

Remember:
When you are asked with Yes/No question in Direct Speech, you have to construct
the sentence using If/Whether.If you are asked with WH question in direct
speech, and then use the WH to introduce the clause.

The word expressing nearness

Now Becomes then
of time/place is changed into
This Becomes That words showing distance. Look
Here Becomes there at the example given below:
These Becomes Those
Hence Becomes Thence
Hither Becomes Thither
Thus Becomes So
Ago Becomes Before
Come Becomes Go
Today Becomes That day
The previous
Yesterday Becomes day
Tonight Becomes That night
The previous
Last night Becomes night
Tomorro
w Becomes The next day
 Active voice and Passive Voice 

There are two special forms for verbs called voice:

        1.     Active voice
        2.     Passive voice

The active voice is the “normal” voice. This is the voice that we use most of
the time. A feature of sentences in which the subject performs the action of
the verb and the direct object is the goal or the recipient.

Example:
The teacher                     teaches                         the
students.
Subject doing
action                               verb                                             object
receiving action

Karma                               washes                            the
dishes.
Subject doing
action                               verb                                          object
receiving action
Example:
The students               are taught              by the
teacher
Subject receiving action                       passive
verb                            doing action

The dishes                   are washed               by

Rigsel
Subject receiving action                      passive
verb                                 doing action

In passive sentences, the thing receiving the action is the subject of the
sentence and 
the thing doing the action is optionally included near the end of the
sentence. You can 
use the passive form if you think that the thing receiving the action is more
important or should be emphasized. You can also use the passive form if
you do not want to mention who is doing the action.

Examples:

Tense Subject verb Object

Simple Active: Karma writes a letter.
Present Passive: A letter is written by Karma
Simple Active: Karma wrote a letter
Past Passive: A letter was written by Karma
Present Active: Karma has written a letter.
Perfect Passive: A letter has been written by Karma
Active: Karma will write a letter.
Future I Passive: A letter will be written by Karma
Present Active: Karma is writing a letter
Continuous Passive: A letter is being written by Karma
Past Active: Karma was writing a letter
Continuous Passive: A letter was being written by Karma
Active: Karma had written a letter
Past perfect Passive: A letter had been written by Karma.
Active: Karma will have written a letter.
will have been
Future II Passive: A letter written by Karma
Active: Karma would write a letter.
Conditional  I Passive: A letter would have written by Karma.
Active: Karma would have written a letter
would have been
Conditional II Passive: A letter written by Karma.
 Passive sentences with Two Objects.

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive

voice means that one of the two objects becomes the
subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to
transform into a subject depends on what you want to put
the focus on.
Subject Verb Object 1 Object 2
Active: Karma wrote A letter To.
Passive: A letter Was written To me By Karma.
Passive: I Was written A letter By Karma.

Idioms

[Admin: More information on idioms will be added later. Keep checking the posts😉]
 Definition- Expressions which have a meaning that is not obvious from the individual words. It
is a phrase or sentence whose meaning is not clear from the meaning of its individual words and
which must be learnt as a whole unit.
i)                    Write your understanding of what idiom is with some definitions from any other sources.

Example of the idioms

Dig one’s grave-caused her own down fall. (If you are negative about others and plan to
do some harm to others, you will fall into your own trap)

1)      To tear one’s hair- unbearably frustrated/desperate.

2)      Spread like wild fire- spread very fast.
3)      With an iron hand- with great severity.
4)      Fell on deaf ear- was ignored by others.
5)      Dancing to her manager’s tune- doing everything her manager demands.
6)      Hit the bull’s eye- reach the main point/achieved/success
7)      Act like an ape-behave badly/wildly/foolishly
8)      Monkey business-  unethical/bad activities
9)      Slipped my mind- forgot
10)  Racked my brain- tried to remember hard but couldn’t.
11)  Down to earth- practical/simple and wise person
12)  Got out of hand-couldn’t control
13)  Given the thumbs up- has been approved/successful
14)  Couldn’t believe my ears- couldn’t believe the news/talk etc.
15)  Stab in the back- suspect sth harmful done to you by your trusted friends.
16)  With the above example of the idioms, make sentences from each idiom.
17)  Write down at least 5 idioms of your own (do not mention the discussed ones) and make
sentences of it.

Phrasal Verb
Definition-a verb combined with an adverb or a preposition, or sometimes both to give a new
meaning. It often bears no relation to the meaning of either of the verb or preposition which is
used with it. So sometimes, it is problematic and difficult to understand and remember.
Example of the Phrasal Verbs
                    1)      Abide by- to accept or obey an agreement.

2)      Back away- to move backwards away from someone or sth, usually because you are afraid
3)      Back down- to admit that you are wrong or that you have been defeated
4)      Back off- same as back away
5)      Beef up- to make sth stronger or more important
6)      Bed out- to move young plants inside and plant them in the ground.
7)      Beg off- to say that you cannot do sth that you are expected to do.
8)      Boil up- bad emotion (esp. anger) that you cannot control.
 Write down the correct phrasal verbs for the sentences. The phrasal verbs are all related to
different types of walking.
                     1)      Dash off
2)      Wheeled round
3)      Milling around
4)      Plodded along
5)      Sidled up

i)                    We………………………behind the others.

ii)                  A young man with dark hair ………to her at the bar.
iii)                She had to……………after the meeting to pick up her son.
iv)                He looked down on the people…………..in the circle below.
v)                  Dorji ……………….and stared at her.

Choose the correct meaning for the phrasal verbs on left hand side.
                        1)      Take out-       lend     subtract     withdraw
2)      Cut back-       reduce     repay     discount
3)      Pay back-       withdraw     borrow     repay
4)      Pick up-       total     buy     spend
5)      Set aside-       borrow     save     increase
6)      Hand out-       submit     distribute     correct
7)      Rub out-       ignore     cancel     erase
8)      Work out-       calculate     allocate     reply
9)      Miss out-       return     cancel     omit
10)  Hands in-       finish     submit     answer

Prepositions 
   
                  
           2)      Complete these sentences using an appropriate preposition.
i)                    The trip didn’t live up……..our expectations.
ii)                  She would never miss out………..an opportunity to make some money.
iii)                All she kept on ……..was going to live in Australia.
iv)                You have to have the courage to own up…….your mistakes.
v)                  The government says it will press on…….its reforms.

            3)      Choose the correct preposition to complete these sentences.

i)                    When do we have to give (to/off/in) our assignments?
ii)                  The fire gives (across/off/away) quite a bit of heat.
iii)                The tourist office gives (out/to/off) free maps of the city.
iv)                Don’t give (out/away/about) the ending of the story.
v)                  Is she going to give (over/up/down) work when she has the baby?

Gerunds and Participle

acho XMarch 31, 2020

Gerunds and Participle

Every gerund, without exception, ends in ing. Gerunds are not, however, all
that easy to identify. The problem is that all present participles also end
in ing. What is the difference?

Both gerunds and participles are verbal; that is, they are both formed by
adding +ing to a verb and both express action or a state of being. The
difference between the two lies in their function within the sentence.

Gerund has the same functions as Nouns in sentences. They can be

single words or gerund phrases.

Unlike Gerunds, which function as nouns in sentences, Participle can

function as Adjective in sentences. The examples and exercises in this
activity focus on present participles, which suggest action and come from
active verbs. As adjectives, participles modify nouns or pronouns.

Examples of Gerund:

Since Francisco was five years old, swimming has been his passion.

Francisco's first love is swimming.
Francisco enjoys swimming more than spending time with his girlfriend
Diana.
Francisco gives swimming all of his energy and time.
 When Francisco wore dive fins to class, everyone knew that he was
devoted to swimming.

Note: Swimming in all the above examples functions as a noun that’s

why   Swimming is a Gerund

Examples of Participles:

One day last summer, Francisco and his coach were swimming at Daytona
Beach.
A Great White shark ate Francisco's swimming coach.
Now Francisco practices his sport in safe swimming pools.

Note: Swimming in all the above examples functions as Modifiers that’s why
swimming is a present participle Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that
provide description in sentences.
More Examples of Gerund:

Subject Gerunds:
     1. Learning is a lifelong process. .
     2. Learning to speak and write English well takes a lot of practice.

Direct object Gerunds:
     1. Bertha hates shopping. She'd rather save her money.
     2. She prefers putting her money in a savings account.

Gerunds as objects of prepositions:.

     1. James is not known for studying
     2. He failed his last exam on identifying the parts of speech.

Subject complement Gerunds after linking verbs:

      1. All summer long, Lisa's favorite pastime has been  surfing.
     2. Meanwhile, her younger brother's favorite activity has
been surfing the                internet.

More Examples of Participle:

        Adjective + Noun: I was awakened by the screaming child. (The
participle modifies child.)
        Subject + Linking Verb + Adjective complement:  The horror film was
extremely frightening. (The participle modifies  horror film).
        Participial Phrase:  The police noticed the thief  hiding on the rooftop.
(The participial phrase modifies thief).
        Introductory Participial (Adjective) Phrase: Looking for a place to
hide, the thief climbed the fire escape to the rooftop.

English Grammar - The Gerund

        A traditional grammatical term for a verbal that ends in -ing and functions
as a noun.
        A gerund with its objects, complements, and modifiers is called a gerund
phrase or simply a noun phrase.
        Etymology:

        From the Latin, "to carry on"

        Form

        infinitive + -ing
        Examples

        Going to parties is fun

        I enjoy reading.
        

      Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

        Shooting paintballs is not an art form.
        Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it.
        Eighty percent of success is showing up.
Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs are usually two-word phrases consisting of verb + adverb or verb +

preposition. Think of them as you would any other English vocabulary. The important
thing is that students should become aware of the fact that learning phrasal verbs is a
process that requires different methods and activities. Study them as you come across
them, rather than trying to memorize many at once.
As well as learning their meanings, you need to learn how to use phrasal verbs.

👉Phrasal Verb List👈 

Phrasal Verb ‘BREAK’

The phrasal verb is like all other English verbs. Take a verb; add a preposition which
changes with every preposition.
BREAK AWAY = A. leave others behind B. leave State or organization

A. Lance Armstrong broke away from the other riders to win his 8th tour De France.
B. The break away Republic of China is causing problems for their neighbors again.

BREAK DOWN = A. end negotiations                    B. begin to cry      C. stop working     D. have

physiological problems

A. The mid-east peace talks broke down after only two days.

B. She broke down when he left her.
C. The truck broke down in the desert.
D. She had a break down after her husband died in a terrorist attack.

BREAK IN = A. wear or use sth new   B. interrupt    C. enter unlawfully

A. I need to break in these new shoes... they're killing my feet.

B. While discussing the subject, John broke in with his take on the situation.
C. There was a break in down the street last night be sure to lock up.

BREAK IN ON = interrupt

John broke in on our private conversation... how rude!

BREAK INTO = enter unlawfully

A burglar broke into our house and took all of my mom's jewels.

BREAK OFF = A. end relationship                   B. stop speaking about something

A. Are you still with Pema? No, we broke it off in May.

B. He broke off in mid sentence and then started speaking about something else.

BREAK OUT = A. happen suddenly, violently B. get a rash   C. use for celebrating

A. Violent protests broke out in Athens after the shooting of a student.

B. She broke out in red blotchy spots before the big exam.
C. Break out the champagne! I'm getting married!

BREAK OUT OF = escape

The violent patient broke out of the prison ward of the psychiatric hospital.

BREAK THROUGH = advance in science, medicine social issues etc.

Jackie Robinson broke through the color barrier in professional baseball.

BREAK UP = A. break into pieces       B. stop a fight              C. end a relationship

A. I broke up the puzzle into a thousand pieces.

B. As a teacher, I've had to break up a fight or two.
C. They broke up after being together for 3 years.

Phrasal Verb ‘Break’ exercise

1. "Why did the negotiations break ____ again? Don't they want to
have peace?."
2. John broke ____ with Jill again. I doubt they'll get married now.
3. He broke _____ from the group and won by more than 10 meters..
4. Jill broke ____ the glass ceiling. She is the first woman president of
her company.
5. Don't let him break ____ us. We've got a lot to talk about.
6. Our house was broken ____ last week but nothing was taken.
7. Like the song says, breaking ____ is hard to do.
8. He broke ____ jail and now he's on the run.
 9. Professor Jonas is known for breaking ____ in mid-sentence. He's
losing it.
10. Our truck broke ___ on the way home from school and we had to
walk home.

 ‘Bring’ Phrasal Verbs

If you ‘bring something about’, you cause it to happen.
         How can we bring about change in this old-fashioned company?
         We need to bring about a change in attitude.

If you ‘bring someone along’ with you, they come with you.

         I want to bring along Karma to the meeting, if that is OK.
         Why not bring Dema along, if he’s interested?

If something ‘brings back’ memories, it reminds you of the past.

         That photo brings back memories of our visit to Thailand.
         Meeting him brought back memories of when we worked together.

If you ‘bring down’ a price, you reduce it.

         We need to bring down the price to something more affordable.
         They’re bringing down the price of all their cars.

If you ‘bring forward’ a meeting, you arrange it for an earlier time.

         I want to bring forward the meeting to Tuesday.
         Can we bring forward the meeting by an hour?

If you ‘bring someone in on’ a discussion, you ask them to join in with your discussion.
         I want to bring in Sonam on this as he is an expert.
         We need to bring in an outside consultant.

If you ‘bring out’ a new product, you introduce it to the market.

         I hear they have brought out a new model.
         We’re bringing it out early next year.

If you ‘bring someone round’, you persuade them.

         He was against the idea but Pema brought him round.
         How can we bring him round?

If you ‘bring up’ a subject, you mention it.

         Mark brought up the problem with the heating.
         Any other problems that you want to bring up?
 If you ‘bring on’ somebody, you train them to be better.
         Sonam always brings on the trainees really well.
         We try to bring on people quickly and promote them.

Phrasal verbs with bring exercise

Complete the following sentences.

1. His dishonesty brought ……………………………….. his ruin.
a)        in                       b)     about               c)      out
2. The government plans to bring ……………………………………….. a new legislation to
eliminate corruption.
a)        in                       b)      round              c)      about
3. Vitamin deficiency brings ……………………………………….. many ailments.
a)        in                       b)     on                     c)      down
4. The publisher is bringing ………………………………………. a new edition of this book.
a)        out                    b)      on                     c)       down
5. He was hit hard on the head but the doctors managed to bring him
……………………………………… after a while.
a)        about               b)      round              c)      on
6. At last I brought him …………………………………………. to my opinion.
a)        about               b)      round              c) u   p
7. The matter was brought ………………………………………….. by a member of the
council.
a)        up                      b)     about               c)      out

Answers
1. His dishonesty brought about his ruin. (bring about – cause to happen)
2. The government plans to bring in a new legislation to eliminate corruption. (bring in –
introduce)
3. Vitamin deficiency brings on many ailments. (bring on – cause)
4. The publisher is bringing out a new edition of this book. (bring out – publish)
5. He was hit hard on the head but the doctors managed to bring him round after a
while. (bring round – cause somebody to regain consciousness)
6. At last I brought him round to my opinion. (bring somebody round to – persuade)
7. The matter was brought up by a member of the council. (brought up – raise for
discussion)

Correlative Conjunction
As soon as
Directly should not be used as a conjunction where as soon as would be better.

Scarcely
Scarcely should be followed by when not by than.

No sooner
No sooner is followed by than, not by when or but. 

[Note that sooner is a comparative form, and comparatives are always followed by
than.]

Example on how it changes from one form to another

As soon as he went to bed, somebody knocked at the door.

Scarcely/Hardly had he gone to bed, when somebody knocked at the door.
No sooner had he gone to bed, than somebody knocked at the door.

As soon as the meeting begun, some protesters started shouting slogans.

Scarcely/Hardly had the meeting begun, when some protesters started shouting
slogans.
No sooner had the meeting begun, than some protesters started shouting slogans

As soon as she ate the apple, she fell down.

Scarcely/Hardly had she eaten the apple, when she fell down.
No sooner had she eaten the apple, than she fell down.

As soon as we left home, it started to rain.

Scarcely/Hardly had we left home, when it started to rain.

No sooner had we left home, than it started to rain.

As soon as he went, a policeman knocked at the door.

Scarcely/Hardly had he gone, when a policeman knocked at the door.
No sooner had he gone, than a policeman knocked at the door.

As soon as he left, the storm began to below.

Scarcely/Hardly had he left, when the storm began to below.
No sooner had he left, than the storm began to below.

As soon as he reached the station, the storm began to blow

Scarcely/Hardly had he reached the station, when the storm began to blow.
No sooner had he reached the station, than the storm began to blow.
As soon as he returned, he was off again.
Scarcely/Hardly had he returned, when he was off again.
No sooner had he returned, than he was off again.

As soon as I spoke, he left.

Scarcely/Hardly had I spoken, when he left.
No sooner had I spoken, than he left.

As soon as I found the secret, I undiscovered everything

Scarcely/Hardly had I found the secret, when I undiscovered everything
No sooner had I found the secret, than I undiscovered everything

As soon as I reached the corner, the bus came.

Scarcely/Hardly had I reached the corner, when the bus came.
No sooner had I reached the corner, than the bus came.

As soon as I spoke, he left.

Scarcely/Hardly had I spoken, when he left.
No sooner had I spoken, than he left.

As soon as the fight began, he ran away.

Scarcely/Hardly had the fight begun, when he ran away.
No sooner had the fight begun, than he ran away.
As soon as he left, he comes back again.
Scarcely/Hardly had he left, when he comes back again.
No sooner had he left, than he comes back again.

As soon as John left, Susie arrived.

Scarcely/Hardly had John left, when Susie arrived.
No sooner had John left, than Susie arrived.

How to good write Essay?

1. A Brief Guide to Writing an Argumentative Essay

2. A Brief Guide to Writing an Persuasive Essay

Introductions

Some tips for writing good introductions

1. The funnel method

2. Defining a word or phrase
3. Asking questions 
4. Turn about 
5. Using an anecdote 
6. Using quotations

The body 
 Conclusions 

1. Review its major ideas 

2. Restate the thesis 
3. Make predictions based on the material in the body of the essay 
4. Use questions and quotations 

At school you probably have been taught that an essay consists of minimum five
paragraphs: an introduction, a body and a conclusion. However, we should ask
ourselves the questions: What is an essay? What do we try to do in an essay? In Prep
School you are given a topic by your teacher to write about; in academic writing your
teachers ask you to prove a point, collect sufficient data to prove a point, or
demonstrate that you have comprehended a text they have assigned. In all cases, the
writing process is the same: the amount of evidence that goes into your paper or the
length of the paper may change, but the stages you follow in the writing process are
more or less the same. You have to have a thesis to prove, you have to have sufficient
evidence and you have to make a conclusion. 

Thesis statements 

A thesis statement is the sentence that tells your reader the subject of your paper states
the controlling idea of your paper, i.e. it makes an assertion about the subject predicts
the logical order of discussion you will follow in your paper 

In other words, the thesis statement is the anchor of your essay: with a good thesis
statement your reader does not have to wait until he finishes reading all of your essay to
learn what kind of a claim you are making, what your stance is, or how you are going to
prove your viewpoint. 

1. An effective thesis should be a declarative sentence, never an open ended question.

If you just ask a question, the reader will have no idea what you are trying to illustrate. 

Not a thesis statement: What are the disadvantages of living in a big city? 

2. A good thesis should be restricted and focused. It should not be too general or too
comprehensive. If it is too comprehensive, you may not be able to prove it all in one
essay. 

Too general: Computers have advantages and disadvantages. 

This thesis is too general. How are you going to discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of computers in one essay? There are technical and economic issues,
social effects, time and financial considerations, etc. 
 3. A thesis statement should not make an announcement. It should make a claim. 
Announcement: In this essay I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of living
on your own. 

Revised thesis statement: When considered generally, living on your own is much better
than living with your family. 

4. A thesis statement should not make a claim that cannot be proved by logical
analysis. 
Moral judgment of the writer: Only evil and wicked young people choose to live on their
own. 
Such a statement expresses the moral judgment of the writer and cannot be proved in
any factual or logical way. 

Although it is a recommended practice to state your thesis in the introduction part of

your essay, you will see that some writers choose not to state their thesis at the
beginning of their writing but to come up with a conclusion after they discuss the issue
thoroughly. Such a practice may be adopted for stylistic purposes. 

Introductions 

Why is the introduction important? 

Your introduction is the part that invites your reader to read your essay: 

 it tells your reader what it is about, 

 it sets the tone for your essay. In other words, it tells the reader whether your
essay will be light, humorous, serious, controversial, etc. 
 it shows your reader how your essay will develop. That is to say, there must not
be big surprises in the development of your essay 
 it helps the reader to make a transition from the conditions he is in to the content
of your essay 
 it is where the reader decides whether to read your essay or not. In other words,
they may put your essay down if they feel that it is going to be extremely boring (your
instructors excluded because they have to read your essays whether they are extremely
boring or not, they have to correct and evaluate your essays anyway) 

Some tips for writing good introductions 

Think about the question: most of the time you are assigned a topic to write about.
Think about the question: your answer to the question will be your thesis. How you
prove it will be your development. Your thesis should be stated in the introduction
paragraph. 

You may find it difficult to write an introduction at the beginning. Sometimes you may
only write a tentative introduction, continue with the development, then come back and
write the introduction last. 

Pay attention to your first sentence. This is the sentence your reader (your instructor
and the exam marker too) reads first. You should make a good impression, and should
be careful not to make too many mistakes. If you start your essay with a sentence full of
grammar, spelling or vocabulary mistakes, you cannot expect to make a good first
impression. 

Avoid making announcements: Do not start with opening sentences such as "In this
essay I will discuss ..." 

Avoid making "Dawn of man" introductions. That is, whatever topic you are assigned ,
you should not start with sentences such as " Since the beginning of history", "Since the
beginning of humanity", "Since the industrial revolution", etc. These kinds of statements
make only very broad generalizations, and you cannot start everything with the
industrial revolution! It also indicates that you do not really have much to say about the
topic! 

Since the beginning of humanity young people have had problems with their families. 

Avoid using clichés. Clichés mean that you do not have anything new to say. 

Avoid filler introductions: When you do not have much to say about a topic, you list a
couple of sentences one after the other, just to fill the introductory space. If the writer
had something effective to say, he would have said it. However, in this example, he is
just filling space. 

Many young people choose to live on their own. The number of people living on their
own is increasing. Many people in the cities prefer to do this. There are reasons for this
phenomenon. There are also some results. 

Strategies for writing good introductions 

There is a number of strategies for starting your essays. Sometimes more than one
method can be used to start your essay. 
1. The funnel method 

In this method, the first sentence is broad and general. It introduces your thesis, and
each following sentence is narrower and more focused. Finally, it narrows down to your
thesis. The important thing in this approach is that your funnel should not be too large,
because you never will be able to narrow down. For example, if you start with the
beginning of human history to write about young people living on their own, it will take
you ages to narrow down. Therefore, your funnel must be appropriately narrow at the
beginning. 

Example paragraph 1: 

"Animals have been used in medical research for a long time. In recent years animal
rights organizations have started a controversy whether it is ethical or not to use
animals for the benefits of medical progress. They believe that animals are equal to
humans and that they have equal rights with human beings. In my opinion, animals as
things, have some rights, but humans with their more developed brains are superior to
them, therefore if there is no other alternative, animals may be used in medical
research." (Ezgi Ozer, Adv 2003) 

Example paragraph 2:
"In life, people pass through different phases. They are born into a family, and then they
grow up and reach puberty. After puberty, they are considered adults. At this time, the
social burden on people become heavier, and new responsibilities are added to a
person’s burden. Graduating from a good university, finding a job, getting married and
having children are some of these expectations. Most people consider these
expectations, especially having children, reasonable and see them as sources of
happiness . However, it is my opinion that children are far away from being the ultimate
bliss in our lives; on the contrary, they bring about more responsibilities and
restrictions." 

2. Defining a word or phrase 

Sometimes defining a term or a phrase that will be used throughout the essay is a good
strategy. However, it should not be a dictionary definition since anyone can consult a
dictionary. The definition you offer should match your thesis, or the claims you will be
making in the essay. 

Example paragraph : 
"The term “violence in the family” refers to male violence against females. It means that
men are generally rude to women both physically and psychologically. Concerning this
issue, a study has been conducted by Family Research Institute in five different
geographic regions of Turkey on married women about husband violence against wives.
The results of this survey indicate that two independent variables seem to be related to
approval of violence." (Derya Aslan, Adv 2004) 

3. Asking questions 

Using questions to attract the attention of your readers is another useful strategy. Then,
your essay proceeds to answer the questions you have posed in the introduction. 

Example paragraph 1: 

"Turkish governments have been trying to join the European Union for years. Despite all
the difficult tasks that have to be achieved in order to join the EU, Turkish governments
are persistent. Turkish citizens seem to agree with their governments, too. Why are we
insisting on becoming a member of the union then? It is probably because of the
differences between the happiness levels of Turkish and EU citizens." (Gokhan Remzi
Yavuz, Adv 2003) 

Example paragraph 2: 

"Who can imagine a world without music? Just as we –the humans- appeared, music
emerged as one of our important needs too. It is obvious that music has filled our lives
very effectively in that now it is impossible to eradicate it out of our lives. Who can claim
the opposite? When we are born, the first thing we hear is the lullabies of our mothers.
Then, as time passes, we continue to listen to music much more. Of course, we don't
listen to lullabies any more, but we choose a particular type of music that influences us.
Why we listen to music and like the type of the music we like is not a simple
phenomenon, on the contrary, the reasons are much more complex." (Beste Kalender,
Adv 2003) 

4. Turn about 

This strategy involves starting with the idea, belief or opinion that is opposite of your
own claim or thesis. You first present the opposite party's opinion, the turn about with a
"but or however", and present your own point of view. This strategy is especially useful
in argumentation. 

Example paragraph: 
"Reproduction is something that is in the nature of human beings. Giving birth to
children, bringing them up and when they get older looking forward to them having
children are all built in wishes and expectations of almost everybody. But in a limited
environment, humans cannot keep expanding their population. There must be some
ways to control the population." (Gamze Gumuslu, Adv 2003) 

5. Using an anecdote 
Using a short anecdote is another way to start your essay. If you have a relevant
anecdote ready, using it in the introduction will make your essay more interesting and
attract the attention of your reader. 

Example paragraph: 
"In a myth it is told that once humans did not have gender. They were neither male nor
female. One day they made one of the gods angry and he punished them. He separated
them into two parts: male and female. Also he put them away from each other to make
them look for their partners all over the world. For centuries and centuries it went on like
that, people searching for the missing part of the puzzle, their missing half ." (Ozge
Uraz, Adv 2003) 
6. Using quotations 

Using quotations in the introduction is another effective way to start your essay. If you
have the right quotation that matches your thesis or summarizes what you want to say,
it adds flavor to your essay. In the essay below, the author has found a quotation that
expresses the exact idea she wants to discuss, and she builds the whole paragraph
around the quotation. 

Example paragraph 1: 

"Music is maybe the first invention of humankind in which he was firstly inspired by the
nature and then completed with his own emotions and senses. By then, music became
the most indispensable friend of human kind, but why is it so fundamental? 

“Music was invented to confirm human loneliness”, says Lawrence Durrell. Although
they live in a society and are labeled “social animal” by some philosophers, humans are
in fact alone. They have an inner world which they could hardly express to others or
they could even hardly identify themselves. Music helps people understand themselves,
melodies make them wander in their own world and discover the lonely parts of their
souls. People who can understand or identify themselves are no more alone in the
world. They find a friend which will never let them down, and never will leave them, or a
friend from their “inner” world. (Sinem Kavak, Adv 2003) 

The body 
The body of your essay is minimum two-three paragraphs long, and supports /illustrates
/ explains the thesis with the help of evidence, details, facts and examples. How you
organize your thoughts in a logical order may depend on your topic and thesis. There
are various ways of treating a topic: the essay may be organized in order of importance,
in chronological order, or spatial order. It can also be a description, narration,
comparison and contrast, cause and /or effect, definition, process, classification or
argumentation essay. An essay can be written in one of those methods, or it can be a
combination of two or more types. It all depends on the purpose of the essay. 

Conclusions 
If you have written an effective introduction, and logically developed your essay, the
flow of ideas naturally leads to your conclusion. A good conclusion should round up
your arguments and reach a final conclusion. There are a number of ways you can
conclude your essay. 

1. Review its major ideas 

This is the simplest way to finish an essay. You go over your essay, restate the main
idea in the conclusion. 
"Music is a great way to relax and be happy in daily life. It is also very useful for
musicians and composers to express their feelings. This is one of the reasons which
make music universal; it has nothing to do with age, race or religion. Anyone who wants
to listen to music, listens to music and anyone who wants to do music does music."
(Aysegul Dogan, Adv 2003) 

"As you can see, music makes our lives better. It increases the things we share both
with ourselves and with others. It helps our loneliness to get smaller and smaller
because sharing is the only way to get rid of our loneliness. That is why music is so
important in our lives." (Sinem Kavak, Adv 2004) 

2. Restate the thesis 

Sometimes, conclusions can restate the thesis of the essay. This is done using different
words to avoid monotony. In the essay below, the author restates the thesis idea in the
conclusion paragraph. 

Introduction: 
"For a long time there has been a controversy between animal rights supporters and
scientists about whether it is right to use animals in experimental research. Also, it is
very debatable whether using animals for such research results in finding a cure for
diseases. From my point of view, if there are no other alternatives, and if it is possible
that this will contribute to science, animals may be used for experimental research." 
Conclusion: 
"All in all, it can be said that using animals for medical research is ethical as long as it
contributes to scientific development and helps scientists find ways to improve human
health. And this practice is only acceptable on the condition that necessary pains are
taken and animals are treated humanely." (Ayse Ipek, Adv 2004) 

3. Make predictions based on the material in the body of the essay 

"Regardless of what you think, whether you think cell phones are a positive
improvement or a serious threat; they are becoming a part of modern life. It seems that
stationary phones will gradually decrease in number because of the rivalry of mobile
phones. You may think they limit your personal freedom because of accessibility, or you
may feel safe with the help of your cell phone. It is a personal choice whether to buy a
cell phone or not and maybe it is a matter of personality too. However, it is going to get
more and more difficult to resist the spread of the cell phone." (Muzaffer Sisli, Adv
2003) 

4. Use questions and quotations 

Using questions and quotations in the conclusion can be a good way to bring your
essay to a close. If you can find a quotation that fits your position, the conclusion will
sound interesting. 
There are other ways of ending an essay, of course. Whichever method you use, make
sure that you reach a conclusion at the end of your essay. 

Never bring up new ideas or start new discussions in the conclusion. 

Do not let your essay finish weakly with a weak conclusion section. A good essay
deserves a good conclusion. 

Make sure that your conclusion is consistent with the arguments in your essay.
Sometimes you may get carried away and end up concluding the opposite of your
thesis, especially if you do not plan well. Do not let such inconsistency happen. 
“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger
connection between people than storytelling.” Stories and an essential part is woven
into the history of our times. Let us learn some basics about story writing. 

Story Writing 
A story is basically a narrating of real or imaginary events, involving real or imaginary
people. A story needs to be represented in words necessarily. Even images or moving
pictures (movies) can narrate a story. A story is generally designed to entertain, and/or
send a message across. 

The length of a written story will depend on the format, whether it is a novel, novella,
short story etc. The length of a story has no bearing to its quality. Take for example the
famous writer Ernest Hemingway. He was once challenged that he could not write a
story in six words. But he delivered his story: “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn”. 

While there is no given format as such for story writing, there is a basic structure one
can follow. It helps construct a story in an understandable manner and keeps the flow of
the story. 

Beginning: The beginning or the introduction of a story is of essential importance. This

is the part where you can hook the reader and capture their attention. You must have
come across some often used beginnings to stories like, “Once upon a time” or “A long
time ago”. However, you can get more creative and begin your story with intrigue. 

Character Introduction: Your story will depend heavily on how well you write your
characters. To develop your characters, you can use dialogues as well. But you want to
keep the dialogues limited in the shorter format. Also, do not include unnecessary
secondary characters, every character of the story must have a purpose. 

Plot: Here is where the actual narration of the story will happen. The events that occur
or the description of the situation will be written in the plot. A plot must always have a
conflict, which is the focus of any story. 

Climax/Conclusion: And this is where the story will come to its logical conclusion. If
there is a plot twist, this is where you will include it. Always end your story in an
interesting manner. Also, it is not necessary to give your story a definite ending. A
cliffhanger is another effective tactic. 

Some Points to Keep in Mind 

Make sure you give your story an exciting and appropriate title. A title is the first
impression you made on the reader. 

Make sure that the facts you include in your story are accurate. You can take creative
license while writing your story, but do not change universally accepted truths and
facts. 

The story must flow fluently. If there is a series of events taking place, make sure the
flow has some order. The reader must not be confused. 

Do not use very flowery language or overuse complicated words. The best stories are
written in uncomplicated verse, so as not to distract from the plot. 

Source: https://www.toppr.com/
 in depth of story writing 

Step 1. Summarize Your Short Story.

Whether you have a small, seemingly uneventful short story idea or fully developed
character arc, you'll want to first begin by summarizing your short story.

This can be by just talking about what you want to happen in your short story or to
actually discuss the narrative from start to finish. It's up to you, though there are no hard
rules here as this phase is just to help you nail the idea on paper.

If you're having trouble summarizing your short story, try writing a one-sentence
summary about the piece. It doesn't need to resolve the ending or explain all the details
—just quickly explain your idea in a sentence, like so:

A young woman witnesses something out of the ordinary at work and decides to
investigate it.

This may not seem like much, but if you can take this one-sentence summary and
expand on it with one or two more sentences, you already have a solid start to your
outline.

Step 2. Define Your Character's Theme And Importance To Your Story.

Next, put your story's summary aside and write down your main character's name, or a
temporary name if you haven't decided on one yet. You can even just write "main
character."

From there, write down your character's theme and what they represent. Write why they
are important to the story and what they are trying to express in this story. Then, explain
what you are trying to say with them as well.

For example:

My main character is all about examining workplace habits and Americans desire to
overwork themselves.
Yes, it really can be that simple if needed. You may think that you need to devote time
to working out further characteristics, be it external or internal, but given that short
stories are so short, it's far more important (in my opinion) that you nail down the theme
and reason of your character for the first draft than it is the appearance, as the
appearance can easily change. The theme, on the other hand, is interwoven into every
aspect of your short story and hard to omit once you've started.

Step 3. Define Your Story's Theme. 

Once you know your character's reason for being in the story, you'll want to focus on the
general theme of the story. You may think that this will be the exact same thing as your
character's theme, but that is not always the case.

Often, in short fiction, the character is making one point while the overarching story,
including the main character, makes a different one, or one in addition to who the main
character is.

With that in mind, take some time to discuss what your story—not your character—is all
about, like so:

My story is about work environments and how they appear to have improved, but
actually haven't.

As you can see, this somewhat relates to the character's theme, but not exactly. It's
okay if it relates exactly the same or somewhat differently, it's just important that you
understand the themes of both separately before combining them together in an outline
and short story.
Step 4. Outline Your Short Story At A High-Level.

After you've defined the core concepts that power your short story and its reason for
needing to be written, you can now write the short story outline at a high-level, ideally
connecting the summary to the story's theme and the character's theme.

This high-level approach is great for those who maybe don't like to outline or prefer
outlines that offer flexibility. However, even if you prefer in-depth outlines, you'll want to
start at a high-level for your short story, so if you decide your in-depth one isn't right,
you can return to your story's core.

At the highest and most flexible level, every short story follows this structure:
Plot Point 1: A brief glance at ordinary life. This can often be so brief it is only a
sentence or a few words, or it can take up a large portion of the short story.
Plot Point 2: Something out of the ordinary happens. What is out of the ordinary can
vary. It can be that someone arrives and interrupts the characters usual way of life, or it
can be more subtle and just involve a new perspective or shift in a mood. In other
words, a change occurs.
Plot Point 3: The character responds to the change. This can be by ignoring it and
remaining unaffected, or by addressing it and experiencing the consequences, no
matter how insignificant or significant they may be.

Most short stories do not have an ending the way a novel would. While yours might, to
keep the outline at a high level in this point of the process, we really only want to focus
on these three plot points.

Step 5. Outline Each Section Of Your Main Outline In Detail. (Optional)

Not everyone likes to work out every single detail of their story in an outline. Some
prefer to instead discover the rest of the story as they write, and if that is the case, the
high-level, looser outline from step four is more than enough.

However, other writers feel that if they work out all the details in the outline they can
spend more time focusing on perfecting their language and prose during the actual
writing phase. For those people, it is preferable to take the higher-level outline and
break it down further.

For each plot point in your outline, you'll want to break down all the scenes in the work.
One way to do this is to write each major plot point on a separate piece of paper so as
to separate each part of the story, but you can easily do it all on one sheet as well.

Beneath each plot, make a list of every possible scene that has to happen for you to get
from the beginning to the end of each plot point. If needed, write down whatever comes
to mind, then cut it down afterward.

After you've done this, move on to writing out the "beginning, middle, and end" of each
scene. Again, how much detail is up to you and your needs as a writer.

Here is an example of how you'd break down a plot point:

Plot Point 1: A brief glance at ordinary life.
A scene demonstrating my protagonist unhappy, but at ease with their coworkers.
Establish relationships with coworkers and boss—quickly
A scene showing my protagonist's regular life.
Keep to about 2-3 paragraphs, focusing on how they feel right before work
A quick scene—more like a flash—of the life they want.

As you can see, you can continue to break it down as much as you'd like until you feel
you have a solid plan for approaching your short story.

Granted, because short stories do not have a distinct or common structure we find in
them, it is often difficult to pin down a particular flow or outline for the work! However, I
hope that this brings clarity to those who are struggling and allows those who need the
flexibility some room to breathe.
1. Imagery
The only thing that will make your poetry powerful and enticing is great imagery. This
goes along with the line you always hear “show don’t tell.” Only with poetry, it’s ALL
show and NO tell. For the love of god, don’t just say that love hurts, give us a metaphor.
Show us a weapon, maybe draw some blood. Make it appeal to the five senses

2. Rhythm
Yes, rhythm can include rhyme. No, it doesn’t have to. It’s not even recommended. In
fact, the further away you can get from Dr. Seuss, the better. (Of course not all poems
that rhyme are obnoxious, but I think you can use fair judgement here.)

There are other ways to make a poem rhythmic without rhyme. Stringing words with
similar sounds together in a line works very well.

(this is an example of assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words)

Simultaneous hate came with the pain

(this is an example of consonance, the repetition of consonant sounds at the end or

middle of words)

the same rhymes are momentously timed

3. Sound

The rhythm of a poem goes along with the general sound of it as well as making it
easier to remember. There are two sound patterns to know here. One is soft and
harmonious, I like to think of it like the sound of angels humming. This is euphony.

In euphony, words are chosen for their soft consonant sounds and melodious quality.

(euphonious letters/sounds: L, O, S, SH, M, N, Y, W, U, PH, A)

Lulled minds like sunny lakes in summertime

The other sounds more like large metal machines clanging about in an empty
warehouse. It’s much harsher and the sounds kind of rattle off your tongue. This is
cacophony.

In cacophony, words are chosen for their hard sounds and general obnoxiousness.

(cacophonic letters/sounds: K, J, T, Q, V, C, X, G, Z, CH)

Childish tales of gung-ho attitudes never results in progres

4. Density
Density is what sets poetry apart from prose (normal speech patterns/ the way fiction
and nonfiction books are written) Density is how much is said in how little of space. The
ability to use metaphors, not conform to traditional grammar styles, and incorporate
sounds and rhythms is unique to poetry. All of these allow for greater density.

As you describe an image, you’re actually underlying a metaphor, which expresses an

idea about the human condition, while simultaneously persuading the reader to feel a
certain way through the sound and rhythm of the words, and all of this is done in the
same space. Pros can’t, and never will, be able to do that.

5. Line
In traditional poetry, you’re a prisoner to the line. The line owns you, telling you “Four
lines there, five there, then four again.” So as a poet in the hipster age, of course you
don’t want to conform. Unless you’re so against the grain that you actually want to write
traditional poetry. But whatever the case may be, the line is a very important part of
poetry. In fact, that’s another thing that makes it unique to pros. In prose, you can
format the lines however you want and it has no impact on the writing. However, in
poetry, that’s not the case.

In poetry line is like one sentence. And since poetry doesn’t conform to grammar rules,
and no one is obliged to use a period, the end of a line is like a period would be in pros.
It creates a natural pause, making a break in the flow. This is a tool you can use to
control the rhythm of your poetry. So keeping the way you break your lines up in mind is
crucial to writing great poems.

Type of Poems 

Ballad
Are you familiar with the term "ballad"? You probably are, because people sometimes
refer to songs - particularly romantic ones - as ballads. In fact, ballad poems are
frequently sung - or at least they are intended to be sung - and are often about love.

Usually, these ballads tell a story, often of a mystical nature. Just as a song does,
ballads tend to have a refrain that repeats at various intervals throughout.
Guido Cavalcanti's "Ballad" and Sir Walter Raleigh's "As You Came from the Holy Land"
both demonstrate the musical quality of the ballad. As an excerpt from Raleigh's poem
demonstrates:

As you came from the holy land

Of Walsinghame,
Met you not with my true love
By the way as you came ?

How shall I know your true love,

That have met many one,
As I went to the holy land,
That have come, that have gone?

Elegy
Because poems can express a wide variety of emotions, there are sad forms of poetry
as well as happy ones. One of these sad forms is known as an elegy.

Elegies express a lament, often over the death of a loved one. This makes elegies
especially popular for funerals. Some elegies are written not only to be read out loud;
they can be put to music and sung.

Alfred Tennyson's "In Memoriam" is an elegy to a close friend, Arthur Henry Hallam,
and was written over 20 years:

Strong Son of God, immortal Love,

Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;

Thine are these orbs of light and shade;

Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made.

Epic Poem
One of the longest types of poems is known as the epic poem, which has been around
for thousands of years.
Technically a type of narrative poem, which tells a story, epic poems usually tell the
story of a mythical warrior and the great things that he accomplished in of his journeys,
such as The Odyssey and The Iliad.

Epic poetry began as folk stories that were passed down from generation to generation,
which were then later written into long form.

One of the oldest epic poems is actually one of the oldest pieces of written literature in
the world. This ancient Mesopotamian poem is called the Epic of Gilgamesh and dates
back to 1800 BC. The start of this epic (with the translator's notes) reads:

He who has seen everything, I will make known (?) to the lands.
I will teach (?) about him who experienced all things,... alike,
Anu granted him the totality of knowledge of all.
He saw the Secret, discovered the Hidden,
he brought information of (the time) before the Flood.
He went on a distant journey, pushing himself to exhaustion,
but then was brought to peace.
He carved on a stone stela all of his toils,
and built the wall of Uruk-Haven,
the wall of the sacred Eanna Temple, the holy sanctuary.

Free Verse
While it is easy to think that poems have to rhyme, free verse is a type of poetry that
does not require any rhyme scheme or meter. Poems written in free verse, however, do
tend to employ other types of creative language such as alliteration, words that begin
with the same sound, or assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds.

Some people find free verse to be a less restrictive type of poetry to write since it
doesn't have to employ the form or the rhyming schemes of other types of poetry.

The free verse form of poetry became popular in the 1800s and continues to be popular
among poets even to this day. TS Eliot was one of the masters of the form, as best
seen in his poems "The Waste Land" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which
begins:

Let us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question.
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.

Haiku
Many people have heard about haiku. In fact, most of us are instructed at one point or
another - usually in middle school or high school - to write one of our very own. Even if
you did that, do you remember what this type of poem actually is?

Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry which is composed of three non-rhyming lines. The
first and third lines have five syllables each and the second line has seven syllables.
They often express feelings and thoughts about nature; however, you could write a
poem about any subject that you would like to in this form. Perhaps the most famous
haiku is Basho's "Old Pond:"

Furuike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

Translated, this poem reads:

The old pond--
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.

Imagery

We decided to place a focus on imagery poems because of the immense power that
they possess. Many, many poems can be classified as imagery poems; however, some
are better at the task than others.

Individuals who often write imagery-based poems are known as Imagists. William
Carlos Williams' short poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" is a famous example of a short
imagist poem:

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

These types of poems work to draw a picture in the mind of the reader, in order to give
an extremely powerful image of what the writer is talking about. They work to intensify
the senses of the reader.

Limerick
A limerick is a poem that is often silly or whimsical, written in five lines with an AABBA
rhyme scheme. Often, limericks tell a short, humorous story.

These types of poems have been popular for hundreds of years, particularly in the
English language. When limericks first became popular, they often expressed ideas that
were crude and off-color but today, limericks express all sorts of ideas.

The form of the limerick was made popular by a British poet named Edward Lear in the
1800s, whose limericks often started off: "There once was..." or "There was...".

Some of his limericks include "There was an Old Man with a Nose" and "There was a
Young Lady of Dorking," which goes like this:

There was a Young Lady of Dorking,

Who bought a large bonnet for walking;
But its colour and size,
So bedazzled her eyes,
That she very soon went back to Dorking.

Pastoral
One of the poetic favorites is pastoral poetry because it elicits such wonderful senses of
peace and harmony. Examples of this form include Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn,"
which is also a type of ode. A stanza of this poem reads:

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,

Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Like the haiku, nature is often at the center of these types of poems as well. In general,
pastoral poetry will focus on describing a rural place, but the terms will be peaceful and
endearing. You will feel at ease after reading these types of poems.

Many pastoral poems are written about shepherds. They are written as a series of
rhyming couplets.

Sonnet
One of the most famous types of poetry, the sonnet, has been popular with writers from
Dante to Shakespeare.

A sonnet contains 14 lines, typically with two rhyming stanzas known as a rhyming
couplet at the end.

There are several types of sonnets, including:

Italian (also known as Petrarchan)
Spenserian
English or Shakespearean sonnet

William Shakespeare, famous for writing more than 150 sonnets (including his popular
"Sonnet 138") is credited with creating for a form of the sonnet that enjoyed widespread
popularity throughout England for hundreds of years. "Sonnet 138" reads:

When my love swears that she is made of truth

I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.