Communication and soft skills

Course Outline:
This course consists of three parts:
1. Basics of English Grammar
2. Communication Skills for Freelancers
3. Soft Skills for Freelancers
 English Language Basics

The Past Perfect: Introduction:

 The past perfect tense is used to describe an action/state in the past that
happened before another action took place. (E.g. He had gone before I
reached his office.).
 The sentence structure is “Had + past participle”.
 We can also use past perfect to make hypotheses about the past (when we
imagine/suppose something). (E.g. If he had worked hard, he would have
passed the examination).

The Past Perfect Continuous:

 Past perfect continuous tense describes something that started in the past
and continued up to a given time in the past. (E.g. Everything was wet. It
had been raining for hours / They had been working in this bank for five
years before they left that bank)
 The sentence structure is “Had been + present participle”.
 “Since” and “For” is used in the past perfect continuous tense.
 “Since” is used with a day, date, event, or a specific time. (Monday, 04
p.m).
 “For” is used for a period of time or duration of time. (A few days, half an
hour, two years).

The Past Perfect Continuous:

 Verbs like know, like, hear, smell, taste, believe, understand cannot be used
in present participle form.

Parts of Speech: Prepositions:

 In grammar, the preposition is a word that is used before a noun, a noun
phrase, or a pronoun, connecting it to another word.
 Prepositions are used to show the direction (in, on), space (under, above, in
front of, over, beside, behind), and time (in the morning, at night).
  Some prepositions function as conjunctions like “since” and “for”.
 Some prepositions also behave as adverbs like “about”, “across”, “around”,
“before”, “opposite”, “near”, “inside”, “in”, and “beyond”.
 Prepositions can also comprise of two or more than two words like “in front
of”, or “in place of”. (E.g. Shaheen will be playing in the team in place
of Afridi.).

Application Techniques – Prepositions (in, on, under, above, beneath):

 “Over” is used to show movement. (E.g. The plane was flying over the
building.).
 If there is no movement then “above” can be used. (E.g. A picture was
hanging above the window.).
 When two nouns are touching (when a noun is directly on top of another
noun). (E.g. The books are lying on the table.).
 “Below” is used when something is lower or less than something else. (E.g.
It is 18 degrees below zero.).
 “Under” refers to when something is just below the other. (E.g. The ball is
under the sky.).
 “In” is used to indicate location or position within or inside something or to
refer to one point in time. (E.g. We went for a swim in the lake / He reads in
the evening.).
 “Underneath” is often used to say that something is covered by another
thing. “Beneath” has the same meanings as “under” or “underneath”, but
it's formal. (E.g. I was sitting beneath the tree.).

Application Techniques – Prepositions (in front of, behind, next to,

between, around):
 Most commonly used prepositions in the context of position are “in front of
-> face to face: You are always in front of the mirror”, “behind -> at the
back of: She is hiding behind the curtains”, “next to -> on the left or right
side: Jalil sits next to me in the class”, “beside -> on the left or right side:
We had a picnic beside the river”, “between -> in the middle of: I live in a
small town between Sialkot and Gujranwala”.
Application Techniques – Prepositions (beside and besides):
 Beside means, next to or at the side of or close to something. (E.g. Your
shoes are beside the closet / I feel lonely, please come and sit beside me).
 Besides means, in addition to or apart from. When used as an adverb, it
means, moreover, furthermore, another thing, as well. (E.g. Besides Tom,
who else has not completed their project / These salads are delicious
besides being healthy).

Application Techniques – Prepositions (Toward and Towards):

 “Towards” is used in British English while “Toward” is used in American
English.
 “About” is referred to general topics. (E.g. We were talking about money.).
 “On” is referred to academic-related matters or serious topics. (E.g. He
gave a lecture on finance.).
 “Through” is used for movement in a three-dimensional space, with things
on all sides. (E.g. Ali is walking through the rooms.).
 “Across” is used for movement on two sides, and open fields. (E.g. He
travelled across Turkey.).

The Future Tense: Introduction:

 We use “will/shall” and the base form of the verb in the simple future
tense. (E.g. She will go to Multan next week / We’ll meet the principal
tomorrow.).
 “Shall” is used with “I” and “We”. “Will” is used when we are determined or
sure that the action will happen in the future.
 We use “will/shall + be” and present participle form of the verb in the
future continuous tense. (E.g. She will be reaching Gilgit at 05 p.m.
tomorrow.).
 We use “will/shall + have” and the past participle form of the verb in the
future perfect tense. (E.g. They will have reached the station before the
train comes.).
 We use “will/shall + have + been” and present participle form of the verb in
the future perfect tense. (E.g. I shall have been studying in this university
for 5 years in 2025.).
When to Use “Will Have” and “Would Have:
 “Will have” is used when we are looking back from a point in time in the
future or looking back from the present. (E.g. By the end of the decade,
scientists will have discovered a cure for influenza / I’ll phone at six o’clock.
He will have got home by then / Look at the time. The match will have
started).
 “Would have” is the past tense form of “Will have”. (E.g. I phoned at six
o’clock. I knew he would have got home by then / It was half past five.
Hanif would have finished work.).
 “Would have” is also used in conditionals to talk about something that
didn’t happen in the past. (E.g. If he had worked hard, he would have
succeeded / If it had been a little warmer, he would have gone for a swim).

Use of Definite and Indefinite Article:

 Indefinite articles ‘a’ or ‘an’ is used to refer to a person or thing that is not
identified or specified. For example, ‘a car’, ‘an apple', etc.
 The definite article ‘the’ talks about a specific noun. For example, ‘The cake
which my friend gave me was from that bakery’.
 The definite article ‘The’ is used before singular and plural nouns while
indefinite articles ‘a’ and ‘an’ are used before a singular noun.
 Articles are not used before proper nouns.
 Definite articles is used before the names of region (The north, The east),
united countries (The U.K, The U.S.A), Deserts (The Gobi Desert), oceans
(The Pacific Ocean), sea (The Arabian Sea), gulfs (The Arabian Gulf), rivers
(The Indus).

Omission of the Article:

 Articles are not used before the names of milk, gold, and liquids.
 If a singular noun is representing the whole class then the article will be
omitted. (E.g. Man is a social animal.).
Repetition of the Article:
 If two or more Nouns refer to the same person or thing using the
conjunction “And”. The article is to be used only once before the first noun.
(E.g. Quaid-e-Azam was a great Orator and Statesman.).
 But if the Nouns in the sentence refer to different people, then separate
articles need to be used. (E.g. The president and the Secretary cut the
cake.).