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TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENT PAGE
VARIETIES OF ENGLISH AND ADVANCED WRITING SKILLS Error! Bookmark not
defined.
TABLE OF CONTENT i

UNIT 1
Concept of Variation 1
Contextual variation 2
The Concept of -lect 2
Types of Lects Error! Bookmark not defined.
Dialect continuum Error! Bookmark not defined.
Standard versus Non-Standard varieties of English Error! Bookmark not defined.
Standard English Error! Bookmark not defined.
Non –standard language 9
Defining Language Variations 9
Broken English/bad English/ Pidgin 2
How Pidgin Emerge 2
The essence of Pidgin 2
LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF PIDGIN 2
CREOLES 3
SLANG 3
JARGON 3
Vernacular 4
Socioeconomic status 5
Occupation 5
Gender 6
Sociolect vs dialect 6

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Importance of idiolects in linguistics 6

Idiolect examples 7
What is Synchronic Linguistics? 8
What is Diachronic Linguistics? 8
Difference between Synchronic vs Diachronic Linguistic 8
The study of language at a given point in time (synchronic) 8
Does not focus on the history of language and language evolution 8
Diachronic Linguistic 8
Study of language through different periods. 8
Contact and Shift Varieties of Language 9

UNIT 2
Brief History of Contemporary English 9
Introduction 9
The spread of English 11
A Little Note on Language Reconstruction: Cognates 12
The Primitive Old English Period (450-700A.D.) 12
I-Umlaut 13
Consonant Changes in Primitive Old English 13
The Old English Period (700-1100 A.D.) 14
The Heptarchy 14
4.2. A Brief Linguistic Description of Old English 14
11 4.3. Old English Vocabulary 15
CELTIC: 15
SCANDINAVIAN: 16
Vikings and their Influence on English 16
Figure 5. Distribution of place names with Scandinavian origins and the Danelaw 17
5. Middle English Period (1100-1500) 18
6.1. Norman French Influences on English Vocabulary 18
6.2. Grammatical Changes in Middle English 19

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6.3. The Emergence of a Standard 20

Modern English (1500-) 20
The Great Vowel Shift 20
7.3. Early Modern English Vocabulary 22
Native Vrs Non-Native Varieties Of English 22
Native Varieties of English 22
Non-Native Variety of English 23
A Regional Dialect 23
Manifestations of Varieties Of English Differences 24
Between British and American English 24
Introduction: 24
7. Miscellaneous 27
British and American English Punctuation 29
PUNCTUATION 29
British and American English Pronunciation 29
The Alveolar Flap lrl 29
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR 31
BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR 32
Past Tense Formation 33
The use of Collective Nouns 33
Ghanaian Variety of English (Educated Ghanaian English) 34
Category of Educated Ghanaian English 34
Phonetics-Consonants 35
Phonetics-Vowels 35
Educated Ghanaian English-Spelling 36
Educated Ghanaian English-Grammatical 36
Non count nouns as count nouns 37
Reduplication for emphasis 38
New meanings for old words and expressions 39
Some of the common ones 39

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Other expressions-tautology 39
REGISTER THEORY/GENRE/DISCOURSE 40
INTRODUCTION 40
How Register Operates 41
Tenor of discourse: the role relationships between the interactants 41
GENRE 43
DISCOURSE 44
Formality/ informality 44
The difference between Formal and Informal Writing 45
Subordinators 49
Computer-Mediated Language 53
FORMS OF COMPUTER MEDIATED LANGUAGE 53

UNIT 4
ADAVANCED WRITING 55
Referncing/ Citation 55
Plagiarism 58
Type of Plagiarism 59

UNIT 5
PERSOSNAL STATEMENT AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 72
A Statement of Purpose and Personal Statement 72
Statement of Purpose 73
Personal Statement 73

UNIT 6
Memorandum/ Editing/ Proofreading 74
Memorandum 74

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Types of Memos 74
Editing in Academic Writing 82
Definition of Editing 82
Substantive Editing 84
Mechanical Editing 84
Proof Edit 85
IMPORTANCE OF EDITING 85
Importance for proofreading a document? 86
What to look for by proofreader 87

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UNIT 1
Concept of Variation
The study of language variation is an important part of sociolinguistics, (thus relationship
between language and society), to the extent that it requires reference to social factors.
Languages vary from one place to another, from one social group to another, and from one
situation to another, and these are the main topics of this chapter.
The various variations are treated as Geographical variation, Social variation, and
Contextual variation, respectively. Language variation is a political issue, when two or
more people communicate with each other in speech, we can call the system of
communication a code. In most cases that code will be something we may also want to
call a language. Language has been defined as a system of arbitrary voluntarily produced
vocal symbols which serves a medium through which social groups cooperate
Geographical variation:
It should have come as no surprise that language varies geographically. We often talk
about the Chinese language, the Hindi language, the Arabic language, and the Fula
language, Akan language, however, we are not surprised to hear that people who live far
from each other speak more differently than people who live close to each other, because
those who live close to each other have more contact with each other than those who live
far away from each other.
Social variation:
Social variation to a large extent—although not exclusively—is variation between
individuals belonging to different societal groups. The terms closeness and distance
originally came from the spatial domain but metaphorically they have been transferred to
the social domain. For example, we talk about the varying social distance between
individuals in a society, and differences in social distance correlate strongly with language
variation.

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Contextual variation
While social variation to a large extent—although not exclusively—is variation between
individuals belonging to different societal groups, contextual variation is variation within the
individual: we all vary our language between contexts.
The Concept of -lect
Definition and Examples of Language Varieties
In sociolinguistics, language variety—also called lect—is a general term for any distinctive
form of a language or linguistic expression. Linguists commonly use language variety (or
simply variety) as a cover term for any of the overlapping subcategories of a language,
including dialect, register, jargon, and idiolect.
Background
To understand the meaning of language varieties, it's important to consider how- lects differ
from Standard English. Even what constitutes Standard English is a topic of debate among
linguists.
Varieties of language develop for a number of reasons: differences can come about for
geographical reasons; people who live in different geographic areas often develop distinct
dialects—variations of Standard English. Those who belong to a specific group, often
academic or professional, tend to adopt jargon that is known to and understood by only
members of that select group. Even individuals develop idiolects, thus, the individual’s own
specific ways of speaking.
Dialect

Speech communities are made up of dialects, e.g. the Akan speech community is made up of
Asante Twi, Akuapim Twi and Mfantse speakers. The word dialect—which contains “lect”
within the term—derives from the Greek words dia- meaning “across, between” and lect-
meaning “speak.”A dialect is a regional or social variety of a language distinguished by
pronunciation, grammar, and/or vocabulary. It is a variety of a language arising as a result of
where the speaker comes from, thus the geographical location. The term dialect is often used
to characterize a way of speaking that differs from the standard variety of the language.
Dialect is also defined as a geographical subdivision of a language. It is regarded as a
geographical variety of a language, spoken in a certain area, and being different in some

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linguistic items (vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation) from other geographical varieties of
the same language. Thus, a dialect is a variant of a language or one of several mutually
intelligible geographical varieties of a particular language.

It must be noted that every language is a composite of dialects; however, one dialect within
the language can develop to have its own dialect. A case in point is the fanti dialect of the
Akan language which has Gomoa, Ajumako, Ekumfi, Komenda, Elmina, Takoradi etc.
varieties.

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND DIALECT

According to Crystal (1987), “one of the most difficult theoretical issues in linguistics is how
to draw a satisfactory distinction between language and dialect. There are two separate ways
of distinguishing a ‘language’from a ‘dialect’.

One of the two parameters is the question of size, that is, a language is larger than a dialect.
That is, a variety called language contains more items than one called a dialect. It is in this
sense that we may refer to Ewe as a language, containing the sum total of all the terms in its
dialects while Ewedome, Anlo and Tongu are regarded as dialects of Ewe. Similarly, we may
refer to English as language and Standard English, Indian English, Ghanaian English,
Yorkshire English as dialects as dialects of English.

The second parameter for distinguishing language from a dialect is a question of prestige.
With this, language is regarded as having some elements of prestige. However, dialect is
regarded as less prestigious in sociolinguistic context. In terms of acceptability, language is
more acceptable in formal context while dialect is mostly used in informal context. If we
apply the terms in this sense, Standard English (the type used in formal writing) is not a
dialect at all but a language, whereas the varieties which are not used in formal writing will be
considered as dialects. Whether some variety is called language or dialect depends on how
much prestige one thinks it has, and for most people, this is clear-cut matter, which depends
on whether it is used in formal writing or not.

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SOCIAL AND CONTEXTUAL VARIATIONS IN LANGUAGE: THE CONCEPT OF

THE ‘-LECT’

In Sociolinguistics, a sub-field of linguistics, language variety or –lect – is any distinctive

form of language or linguistic expression. This section takes a look at the concepts of
sociolect, idiolect, genderlect, ethnolect, acrolect, basilect and mesolect.

SOCIOLECT: It refers to a form of language (non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a

set of lexical items used by a socio-economic class, a profession, an age group or other social
group. It is a variety of speech associated with a particular social class or occupational group
within a society. It is also variously referred to as social dialect, group idiolect and class
dialect. Sociolects typically develop among groups of people who share the same social
environments and backgrounds. It is usually influenced by social factors such as socio-
economic status, age, occupation and gender. The implication is that the language a group of
people use differs greatly from what other groups use depending on the level of education
they have attained, the people they choose to spend time with or can afford to spend time
with, the jobs they do and the income they earn. It is important to note that most people will
use several different sociolects throughout their lives depending on where they are and who
they are talking to. Thus, people's sociolects will change when their status changes.

IDIOLECT: “Idiolect” refers to an individual’s unique variety and/or use of language, from
the level of the phoneme to the level of discourse. Idiolect is Greek word; idio (personal,
private) and (dia) lect, was coined by linguist Bernard Bloch. An idiolect is a distinctive
speech pattern of an individual, a linguistic pattern regarded as unique among speakers of a
person’s language or dialect. A person’s idiolect includes the vocabulary appropriate to one’s
interests and activities, pronunciations reflective of the region in which the person has lived,
and variable styles of speaking that shift depending on whom that person was addressing.
However, a person’s idiolect is not just vocabulary; it’s everything from how the person
pronounces certain words to how he/she puts them together to what we imagine they mean.
Almost all speakers make use of several idiolects depending on the circumstances of
communication. In summary, idiolect is a language use which identifies an individual as
unique within a particular speech community.

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GENDERLECT: the term “genderlect”, coined by Deborah Tannen (1990), is used to

describe the way that the conversation of men and women are not right or wrong, superior and
inferior- they are just different. It refers to a set of linguistic features that characterizes the
language production of a socially defined gender category (typically male and female).

It defines differences between male and female language in terms of lexicon range,
complexity of syntactic structures, verbal taboo, and usage of local vernacular, degree of
formality, positive politeness, and verbosity. It is argued that women’s language is replete
with linguistic forms that reflect and reinforce women’s subordinate role - the use of hedges
(“sort of”, “kind of” etc.), (super) polite forms(“Would you mind...”,“I'd appreciate it if...”,
etc.); the use of empty adjectives (divine, lovely, adorable), and hypercorrect •

ETHNOLECT: An ethnolect is a -lect spoken by a specific ethnic group. For example,

Jewish-American English, Ebonics, the vernacular spoken by some African-Americans, is a
type of ethnolect.

ACROLECT: It is the most prestigious dialect or variety of a particular language. This

variety tends to command respect because its grammatical structures do not deviate
significantly from those of the standard variety of the language. The term was introduced in
the 1960s by William A. Stewart and later popularized by linguist Derek Bickerton in
Dynamics of a Creole System (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1975).It is the highest variety, often
spoken by the most educated speakers. In case of the English language, the acrolect is
identified based on its nearest to say the British variety, the Received Pronunciation (RP).
One unique thing about the acrolect is that anyone who speaks it is considered as one who
may have lived in a native speaker setting for a long time.

BASILECT: The basilect, a language variety that is significantly different from the standard
variety. The basilect refers to the lowest form of language standards. This is the variety which
is used by people with little or no form of education. It is characterized by its far distance
away from the standard variety.

MESOLECT: The term mesolect refers to intermediate points in the post-creole continuum.
The mesolect refers to a variety of language that is midway between the acrolect and the
basilect. In between the two extremes (i.e. in between the acrolect and the basilect) is the wide

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range of varieties. This grey area between the two extremes is what is often referred to as the
mesolect. Often, there is a continuum of mesolects (‘in between variants’) which range from
being very close to the acrolect to those which are very close to the basilect. The mesolect, a
variety which is used by majority of the people both for local and for international
communication is what get selected as the standard in non-native settings.

STANDARD VS. NON-STANDARD LANGUAGE

STANDARD LANGUAGE

A standard language is a variety of language that is used by governments, in the media, in

schools and for international communication. Standard languages arise when a certain dialect
begins to be used in written form, normally throughout a broader area than that of the dialect
itself —e.g., in administrative matters, literature, and economic life. The written language
plays an important role in this connection. In general, only standard languages have a stable
written form, which is what is generally taught in schools. It is very important to be aware of
the fact that not all languages have a standard variety, and that standard varieties rise and fall.
The ‘adjective’ standard means ‘recognized as correct or acceptable’, and a standard language
is a variety that, in different ways, is recognized as more correct and acceptable than other
varieties.

A standard language has the following properties or features:

1. It is the variety often used by educated users/class/group, political leaders, upper

socioeconomic class e.g. those in the professions like the academia, the media, and so
on.
2. It is the variety defined in dictionaries, grammars, and usage guides.
3. It is regarded as more correct and socially acceptable than other varieties.
4. Standard language enjoys greater prestige than dialects and non-standard varieties:
non-standard varieties are felt to be the province of the less educated.
5. It is used as a written language.
6. It is used in important functions in society – in the government, the parliament, courts,
bureaucracy, education, literature, trade, and industry.

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7. A variety of a language becomes standard when it undergoes the process of

standardization.
8. The process usually involves the development of such things as grammar, spelling
books, dictionaries, and possibly a literature.

Standardizing a language follows some interrelated steps (Holmes, 2001):

1. Selection: choosing the variety or code to be developed;

2. Codification: It is the process by which a language is documented. It involves
standardising the language’s structural or linguistic features through formulating rules
and setting them down in grammar books, dictionaries, manuals; textbooks etc.
3. Elaboration: extended its functions for use in new domains;
4. Spread: extending its use to a wider setting
5. Acceptance: enhancing its prestige, for instance, and encouraging people to develop
pride in the language or loyalty towards it.
6. In many speech communities, the standard dialect is regarded as the correct form of
the language.
7. Usually, the standard variety of the language has an official body which has the power
to determine what usages will constitute the official language; and all deviations from
the standard are frowned upon by this body.
8. This body attempts to legislate what words, what grammatical rules, and what
pronunciation should be used in that speech community.
9. The standard variety is dominant and widespread, and it is this variety which is used
for all literary and academic purposes.

The Non-standard Variety of a language

This is a dialect perceived as vernacular or colloquial which may be different from each other
within a given variety. An example can be cited from fanti, a dialect of Akan, which has
within it other non-standard varieties such as Enyan, Ekumfi, Ajumako, Gomoa and others.
The reason is that these varieties have not been through the process of codification etc; they
are mostly spoken but not written. This variety is usually not prestigious and it is not learnt in
school. It is not used for official government business.

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STANDARD ENGLISH

Standard English (SE) is a controversial term for a form of English that is written and spoken
by educated users. It is also known as Standard Written English (SWE).

According to McArthur (1992) as cited by Nordquist (2020), the term “resists easy definition
but is used as if most educated people nonetheless know precisely what it refers to”. Standard
English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone substantial regularization (in terms
of its grammar, spelling etc.) and is associated with formal schooling, language assessment,
official government business, the media and official print publication. Standard English is
local to nowhere: its grammatical and lexical components are no longer regionally marked,
although many of them originated in different non-adjacent dialects. According to Trudgill
(1999), Standard English is a social dialect pre-eminently used in writing that is
distinguishable from other English dialects largely by a small group of grammatical and
lexical structures. There are substantial differences among the language varieties that
countries of the Anglosphere or Anglophone (countries where English is used) identify as
“Standard English”. In England and Wales, the term Standard English identifies British
English, the Received Pronunciation and the grammar and vocabulary of the United Kingdom
Standard English (UKSE). In Scotland, the Standard variety is Scottish English. In the United
States, the General American variety is the standard and in Australia, the Standard English is
the General Australian variety.

STANDARD ENGLISH IN THE WORLD

The following standard Englishes can be found around the world;

• Standard British English

• Standard American English

• Standard Scottish English

• Standard Australian English

• Standard South African English

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Other varieties (especially the varieties used by countries which have colonial ties with either
America or Britain- Second Language varieties) rely on one of these standards as the
yardstick to measure their use of the English language. These varieties differ in terms of
pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and orthography. Such countries include South Africa,
India, Singapore, etc.

DIACHRONIC & SYNCHRONIC VARIATIONS

Diachronic language study refers to the study of how speech habits change as time goes by
(Hockett, 2006) and concerns itself with the historical development of language through
different periods of time. It also focuses on the history of words, history of speech
communities and developing theories about why and how languages change. The diachronic
language study provides evidence for the cognitive representation of phonological and
grammatical forms.

Synchronic language study, on the other hand, refers to the study of language at any given
point in time. The time studied may be present or past. Dead languages such as Latin,
Hebrew, Akkadian, Sanskrit, etc. can be studied from synchronic point of view. Sometimes,
it studies the sound patterns that can occur in a given language. It describes and analyses how
the parts of a language or grammar work together as they develop.

Non –standard language

Non -standard language is language variety that has not historically benefitted from the
institutional support or sanction That is; a form of variety that is mostly associated with
the uneducated users.
Defining Language Variations
There are a handful of ways linguists categorise varieties of language; some definitions refer
to word usage and rules, or merely to vocabulary, while others refer to the way language
adapts culturally, in broader strokes. All of these terms, however, can cover variations in
grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Below we’ll look at the following variety terms:
• Standard / Polite / Formal • Social Dialect
• Colloquial / Informal • Lingua Franca
• Regional Dialect • Pidgin

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• Creole • Lingo
• Vernacular • Slang
• Patois

E.g.
Colloquial / Informal
Colloquial language is effectively any language that is not formal, often described as ‘spoken’
language. It is informal as the aim is to communicate rather than stick rigidly to rules, so it is
where we see contractions and idiomatic language being used. There are countless varieties of
this, and it is a blanket term that really covers all of the other terms.
Broken English/bad English/ Pidgin
A pidgin is a simplified version of a lingua franca, where people trying to communicate
across different languages develop their own form of communication. Though this technically
makes it a lingua franca, it often come from merging two or more languages together rather
than as something true to one common language. Pidgins can therefore develop their own
vocabulary and rules that can be very independent of the original or source languages;
One by which language varieties get mixed up is the process known as pidginization.
Pidginization is therefore the process that creates a new variety out of two (or more) existing
codes. A language that apparently does not exist. It was spawned about thirty years ago and
has developed into an extended pidgin, which will be referred to as Student Pidgin (SP), and it
is spoken by male university students in Ghana's five universities and used nearly exclusively
for their out-of-classroom communicative needs. Pidgin plays a very minor role in Ghana's
linguistic repertoire. It has always been a low prestige, marginal language associated with
illiteracy and the deprived multiethnic urban areas of the coastal towns. Today GhaPE (Ghana
pidgin) is losing out to Twi, as Twi is assuming an increasingly important role as the lingua
franca of Ghana.

How Pidgin Emerge

In the Carribean Plantations for example, the slaves from one language background were
separated to reduce risk of rebellions and escape plots. The pidgin that developed thus, was

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the heterogenous (mixed) to allow the West Africa Slaves to communicate with one another
and with their bosses.
The essence of Pidgin
Generally, it is said that pidgin develops as a system of communication among people who do
not share a common language but who want to talk to one another for trading purposes or
other reasons. Note those who use or speak pidgin also speak or have a native language. So,
pidgin is an addition to the linguistic repertoire of any person that speaks it. This language
variety therefore, is created for very practical and immediate purposes of communication
between people who otherwise, would have no common language whatsoever. Thus, you
could see, that pidgin is no ones’ native language and it is sometimes called Trade
Language.
LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF PIDGIN
1. Pidgins are created to serve a narrow range of functions in a very restricted set of
domains. They thus tend to have a simplified grammatical structure thus; and small
vocabulary as compared with that of fully developed languages.
2. Pidgin words do not have inflections, verbs to make tense (present, past, perfect forms),
Nouns for plurals, adjectives (comparative and Superlative) and Pronouns (subjective and
Objective. Again, there are no affixes to mark gender. This makes them very simple and easy
to learn,
e.g. we hear,
A: me I no sabi wey tin ‘dey to k; im palava be dat
B: Wat bi dat? What is it?
C: Ali Baba im mata? Ali Baba's case?
Some people think of pidgin as a language which is grammarless, i.e. broken version of other
languages, a baby- talk, for people of primitive thought process, corrupted, mental or
language deficiency, closely associated with slaves and people of poor social status.

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CREOLES
A creole is an established form of pidgin, where a language developed from
communicating with two or more languages and by that taken up by a culture as a
native language.
Again, the traditional definition of it is that, a Creole is a pidgin language which has
become the mother tongue (first language) of a generation of children. What this means is
that a creole develops from pidgin where the pidgin becomes the mother tongue (first
language) of a community.
Jargon→ Pidgin→Creole
The diagram indicates the development process.
Many of the languages which we called pidgins are now in fact a creole language. They are
learned by children as their first language and used to illustrate issues on pidgin in a wide
range of domains. Tok Pisin of Papua New Guinea is one obvious example of Pidgin because
it meets the linguistics needs of the people.

SLANG
Slang is the language that emerges within a subgroup to describe new ideas, or to assign new
words to existing ideas to develop a sense of identity. As with jargon, this can be
exclusionary, though while jargon typically refers to specialisms, slang is more typically
associated with social groups, an informal language used by younger generation with common
attributes. Extreme form of slang may be used specifically to disguise conversation.
gkipper Noun. The face. E.g."Did you see the miserable kipper on that idiot stood at the
back?" [Liverpool/North-west use.] kisser Noun. Mouth. Origins in boxing. knocking shop
Noun. A brothel. kooky Adj. Crazy, eccentric.

JARGON
Jargon refers to the specialized language of a professional or occupational group. In other
words, Jargon is a set of vocabulary items used by members of particular professions, that is,
their technical terms. For example, linguists have a large vocabulary that is not well
understood by non-linguists.

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Dictionary definitions of jargon usually give examples like computer jargon and the jargon of
the advertising business, but all professions have their own jargons. We can therefore talk
about farmer‘s jargon or the jargon of Fulani shepherds who have a huge vocabulary for
cattle.
NOTE: only those on this inside group can understand and it has a social implication.
Lingua Franca
A lingua franca is a common language used between people who speak different languages.
As the full purpose is bridging gaps in communication, this can be very adaptable and
therefore will not necessarily stick to traditional language rules. English is used as a lingua
franca all over the world, more commonly in fact than it is used by native speakers, and in
some cases may even be taught in a specific form to fit these needs, rather than as Standard
English.
Vernacular
Vernacular is the term used to describe language as it is used naturally by a specific people.
What it describes can therefore vary depending on what we wish to specify: we could speak
about the vernacular of a country or a smaller community within a city, or of a certain time
and place (for example, we have a modern vernacular which would include vocabulary that
would not be part of the vernacular of, for example, fifty years ago).
Patois
Patois is a term used to refer to minority, non-standard use of a language, so this could cover
all dialects, creoles and pidgins, but this carries somewhat negative connotations as it implies
an inferiority.
Lingo
Lingo is a term used to refer to any wording or phrasing that is specific to a certain group,
including jargon or slang (see below). Lingo is roughly synonymous with argot and can also
be referring to the language of specific groups.
Accent
The distinction between accent and dialect can become kind of hazy, but, to put it simply,
whereas dialect refers to pronunciation and vocabulary and grammar structures used

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that may differ from the “expected” version of a language, accent tends to refer only to the
sounds or pronunciation that combine to create a particular accent/variety.
SOCIOLECT
Social factors that influence sociolects include socioeconomic status,
age, occupation, and gender.
Let's take a close look at each one of these factors:
Socioeconomic status
This typically refers to a person's class. According to a recent survey, there are now seven
social classes in the UK:
• Precariat (precarious proletariat)
• Emergency service workers
• Traditional working class
• New affluent workers
• Technical middle class
• Established middle class
• Elite
The language someone uses will likely differ greatly depending on their socioeconomic
status. This can all be linked to the education they received, the people they choose to spend
time with (or can afford to spend time with), the job they do, and the income they make.
Age
New words are added to the dictionary every year, and many words that were once common
fall out of use. This is because language is constantly changing. These changes are often
apparent when we examine the different sociolects across ages. Think about your
grandparents or someone significantly older than you. Do you think they would understand if
you told them that the email they received looked “suss” (suspect/suspicious)?
Occupation
This factor is about the jobs we do. As we learn and develop skills for specific jobs, we also
pick up lots of new vocabulary along the way. Take a computer programmer, for
example. They probably know and use a lot of technical 'jargon' that a neurosurgeon
wouldn't understand, and vice-versa. Consider the term 'garbage collection': for most people,

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this makes us think of the day our rubbish is collected. However, for a computer programmer,
this refers to a form of online automatic memory management.
Gender
This factor is a little more controversial than the others as there is a lot of conflicting research
around the differences in men and women's speech. Some researchers suggest that it is due to
genetics, whereas others state that women's lower status in society has impacted their
speech. However, some studies have found that women tend to be more polite and expressive,
and men tend to be more direct. Further studies have shown that men use more swear words,
and women are more likely to use 'caretaker speech' as they are often the primary caregivers.
Think about your own social background. Do you think it has influenced the way you
speak? Do you recognize yourself as belonging to a particular social group? If so, do you
think your speech helps you create a sense of unity and belonging within that group?
It is important to remember that most people will use several different sociolects throughout
their lives. Our speech will likely change depending on who we talk to and where we
are. Think about how your vocabulary differs from when you're at work compared to hanging
out with your friends.
Age is one of many social factors that will influence a person's language use.
Sociolect vs dialect
As you are reading this, you might be wondering where the term dialect fits in. Let's go ahead
and clear up any confusion you may have.
Whereas sociolect refers to a variation in language between different social groups, dialect is
a language variation based upon a geographical location.
In the UK, dialects typically vary from region to region and often have different
pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary than Standard English. Common UK dialects include
Geordie (found in Newcastle), Scouse (found in Liverpool), and Cockney (found in London).
Importance of idiolects in linguistics
Whereas sociolect is the dialect of a particular social group, idiolect refers to an individual's
unique dialect. The term idiolect is a combination of the Greek idio (personal) and lect (from
dialect) and was coined by the linguist Bernard Bloch.

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Idiolects are uniquely personal and constantly change and develop as individuals move
through life. Idiolects are dependent on social factors (just like sociolects), current
environments, education, friendship groups, hobbies and interests, and so much more. In fact,
your idiolect is directly influenced by almost every aspect of your life.
Much like sociolects, each individual utilises different idiolects in accordance with their
environment, choosing which version of their language they deem most appropriate.
Idiolect examples
As idiolects are so personal, it's pretty tricky to give any examples. So, let's try a short
exercise instead.
Imagine the following scenarios and consider how each situation could affect your idiolect:
1. You spend a year working abroad in Germany.
2. You being-watch an entire American Netflix series in a short time.
3. You begin an internship at a law firm.
4. You become best friends with someone whose native language is Mandarin.
Imagine all of the above scenarios are true. You may find yourself saying 'thank you' instead
of 'thanks', using more up speak (rising inflection), dropping some legal jargon, and cursing in
Mandarin.
To summarize, your idiolect is your individual use of language.
Sociolect vs Idiolect
Here is a handy table highlighting the differences and similarities between sociolects and
idiolects:

Sociolect Idiolect

• Is influenced by social groups • Is based on the individual

• Is a shared variety • Is unique
• Is influenced by social factors such as • Is influenced by all aspects of
socioeconomic status, age, occupation, and an individual's environment
gender • Most people make use of
• Most people make use of several sociolects. several idiolects.

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Sociolect vs Idiolect - Key takeaways

Idiolects are the speech habits completely unique to an individual. Idiolects can be influenced
by all aspects of a person's life, including social background, education, friend group, and
hobbies.
What is Synchronic Linguistics?
Synchronic linguistics, also known as descriptive linguistics, is the study of language at any
given point in time, usually at present. However, this point in time can also be a specific point
in the past. Thus, this branch of linguistics attempts to study the function of language without
reference to earlier or later stages. This field analyzes and describes how language is actually
used by a group of people in a speech community. Thus, involves analyzing
grammar, classification, and arrangement of the features of a language.
What is Diachronic Linguistics?
Diachronic linguistics basically refers to the study of language through different periods in
history. Thus, it studies the historical development of language through different periods of
time. This branch of linguistics is the diachronic linguistics. Main concerns of diachronic
linguistics are as follows:
• Describing and accounting for observed changes in particular languages
• Reconstructing the pre-history of languages and determining their connection,
grouping them into language families
• Developing general theories about how and why language changes
• Describing the history of speech communities
• Studying the history of words

Difference between Synchronic vs Diachronic Linguistic

The study of language at a given point in time (synchronic)
Does not focus on the history of language and language evolution
Diachronic Linguistic
Study of language through different periods.

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Focus on the history of language and language evolution

Contact and Shift Varieties of Language

Language contact
Language contact is the social and linguistic phenomenon by which speakers of different
languages (or different dialects of the same language) interact with one another, leading to
a transfer of linguistic features. Contact with other languages and other dialectal varieties
of one language is a source of alternative pronunciations, grammatical structures, and
vocabulary." Prolonged language contact generally leads to bilingualism or
multilingualism.
Language contact often occurs along borders or as a result of migration. The transfer of
words of phrases can be one-way or two-way. In recent decades the internet has brought
many languages in contact, thus influencing one another. As a result, English words are
influencing other languages worldwide at a far greater rate as a direct result of internet
use. The study of language contact is of value toward an understanding of the inner
functions and the inner structure of 'grammar' and the language faculty itself.
Language Shift
Language shift is the process by which a speech community in a contact situation (i.e.
consisting of bilingual speakers) gradually stops using one of its two languages in favor of
the other
Sometimes speakers’ attitudes (both explicit and implicit) toward a language and domains
of language use in the community, as well as other macro social factors make bilingual
speakers) steadily halts using one of its two languages.

UNIT 2
Brief History of Contemporary English
Introduction
The most important factor in the development of English has been the arrival of
successive waves of invaders and settlers speaking different languages. The history of

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place names in Britain is closely connected to the dominance of various languages at

various points in time.
English today is different from what it was a few hundred years ago. The native speakers
of English living in the 14th century used a variety of English which was very different
from the variety of English used in the eighteenth century which, in turn, was very
different from the variety of English used in the present century Study the following text:
Fæder ure þu þe eart
on heofonum; þinnama
gehalgod to becume þin on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.
urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg
And forgyf us ure gyltas
ac alys us of yfele soþlice
You might be surprised to discover that this is actually English! Not present-day English of
course, but Old English, which was spoken between 700 and 1100 AD.
Now take a look at the following text of the same passage but in a different modern-day
language:
Faðir vor, þú sem er á himnum. Helgist þitt nafn, til komi þitt ríki, verði þinn vilji,
svo á jörðu sem á himni. Gef oss í dag vort daglegt brauð. Fyrirgef oss vorar
skuldir, svo sem vér og fyrirgefum vorum skuldunautum. Og eigi leið þú oss í
freistni, heldur frelsa oss frá illu.

Do you recognise any similarities? What language is it? Do you have any explanations as to
why these two passages display so many similarities? The purpose of this compendium
(collection) is to give you a brief outline of the history of English. A knowledge of the
history of English will give you a better insight into the grammar and phonetics of Modern
English and explain the strange makeup of its vocabulary. In addition, a study of how
historical events have affected the English language will highlight many of the
sociolinguistic principles that we discuss on this course.

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Pre-History
Proto-Indo-European English is a Germanic language which belongs to the Indo-European
languages which are English, German, Dutch and Friesian and are daughters of a West
Germanic proto-language (which may or may not actually be an attested language, and if
attested, may or may not still exist)
The question of the original home of the Indo-Europeans has been much debated, but
nowadays most scholars agree that the original group of people that spoke ProtoIndo-
European, the language which would later split into a number of branches, including the
Germanic branch, lived somewhere between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea some 6000
years ago. Most scholars believe that this population then expanded/migrated eastward,
westward and northward and thereby came to inhabit most of Europe and parts of Western
Asia.
We can learn about the earliest Indo-Europeans from aspects of their reconstructed
vocabulary. Some words, for example, describe an agricultural technology whose existence
dates back to 5000 B.C
Reconstructed vocabulary also tells us much about the climate and geography of the region
where the Proto-Indo-Europeans lived. The assumption is that there was once a single
language, thus, Indo-European where the speakers of that language (which may have had
various dialects) spread to different parts of the world, and that the original language
eventually diverged into the various.
The spread of English
This huge expansion cannot be attributed to any great merit in the English language as such.
Rather it must be attributed to historical developments, many of them accidental, by which
England (and later Britain) gained a huge empire and then Britain and its former colonies
gained influence far beyond the boundaries of that empire. As a result of colonialization and
trade, English language was imposed on them for the purposes of administration, religion and
education.

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A Little Note on Language Reconstruction: Cognates

How then can we say anything about a language which existed more than 6000 years ago,
before the time of written language? The answer comes from the study of so-called cognates,
5 words of common origin in different languages. These words often resemble each other, and
differences that exist between languages tend to be systematic (more about this later).

Table 1. Indo-European Cognates (adpated from Dr. Dan Mosser's HEL site): By
studying cognates, linguists are able to make precise guesses about what words may have
looked like in a proto-language. Cognates also reveal systematic sound changes that have
occurred as new languages have emerged. One such famous sound shift is Grimm‘s Law. By
comparing Germanic languages with Latin language, Jakob Grimm (and yes, he was one of
the Grimm brothers) was able to show that the following systematic changes of the plosive
consonants had taken place at some point in history (Latin/English words in brackets)
: p → f (ped/foot, pisc/fish, pater/father, pyro/fire) t
→ ө (th-sound) (tres/three, tu/thou, frater/bother).
k→ h (centum/hundred, cord/heart, cannabis/hemp, canard/hana, cornu/horn)
d → t (dent/tooth, duo/two, decem/ten) g → k (genu/knee, genus/kin,
gelidus/cold).
An additional systematic sound change was short /o/ →/a/ (noctem/nacht) , and long /ã/
→ long /õ/ (mater/moder).
Why did such systematic sound changes take place? The most likely explanation is that the
Indo-European languages were influenced by the sound patterns of other, older European
languages as the tribes moved into new parts of Europe and mixed with the native
populations. Such effects are known as substratum effects, where one language is
systematically influenced by the languages of a subjugated (dominated) group.
The Primitive Old English Period (450-700A.D.)
We know very little about the exact nature of Primitive Old English since only a few runic
inscriptions have been found dating from this period. We do, however, know some Angles
sound changes that took place during the Primitive Old English period. This is because certain
sound patterns had changed in Old English by the time extensive written texts were recorded

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(around 700 A.D.), sounds patterns that remained in the original Western Germanic
languages.
I-Umlaut
One such sound change that occurred during this period was the so-called i-umlaut or front
mutation. I-umlaut can be seen as a kind of assimilation, whereby a front vowel towards the
end of a word affects the vowel of a preceding syllable, raising it. In many cases, the final
front vowels were later lost. Because many Germanic inflectional endings, including some
noun plural endings and non-finite verb forms, contained front vowels (/i/ and /e/), i-umlaut
changes are relatively frequent and explain many rather strange forms in English. Let us take
a look at some examples:
The Primitive Old English (POE) word Blod (blood) gave rise to the verb blodjan.
The i-umlaut led to a raising of the vowel in the preceding syllable so that the word changed
to bledjan.> The final vowel sound was lost producing bledan. > Later the inflectional ending
was lost altogether producing the modern form bleed. This explains the, what at first seems
rather strange, sound relationship between the noun blood and the verb bleed. Another such
example is the noun man/men. Why should the plural form have a different vowel sound than
the singular form? Again i-umlaut can be used to explain this. The original POE word for man
was mann and the plural form was manniz. Iumlaut resulted in a raising of the vowel of the
first syllable, and finally a loss of the last syllable: Manniz > menniz > menn. Can you think
of any more examples of this phenomenon?

Consonant Changes in Primitive Old English

/k/ → /tʃ/ before front vowel (cild/child)
/g/ → /j/ before front vowel (gieldan/ jieldan (yield))
/sk/ → /ʃ/ in all positions (skall/shall)
/f/ → /v/ between voiced sounds. (this explains modern English patterns such as
half/halves).

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The Old English Period (700-1100 A.D.)

The oldest manuscripts written with Roman letters found in Britain date from 700 A.D. This
thus marks the beginning of the Old English period. Prior to this date the Jutes, Angles and
Saxons had been Christianised, which meant that they adopted the Roman alphabet and
started to produce a comprehensive primarily Christian literature in English. A number of
manuscripts found from this time have given us a fairly good idea of what Old English looked
like, or rather what some old English dialects, primarily the dialect of West Saxon spoken in
Wessex, looked like.
The Heptarchy
The England of the Old English period was not one kingdom. The original tribes that had
invaded Britain had organised themselves into seven smaller kingdoms: Kent, Essex (East
Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Wessex (West Saxons), Mercia (Angles), Northhumbria
(Angles) and East Anglia. These kingdoms competed for supremacy, but from the ninth
century, Wessex, with Winchester as the capital dominated and this explains the relative
abundance of records written in West Saxon dialect found from that time. The main point to
note here is that these kingdoms actually spoke different languages based on the
grammars, vocabularies and pronunciations of the original Germanic languages of the
different tribes. This partly explains the very great dialectal differences that exist in the
relatively small geographic area represented by modern-day England.
4.2. A Brief Linguistic Description of Old English
Old English can be described as a highly synthetic (artificial) language. By this we mean that
inflectional endings were used to signal the grammatical function of words, and word order
was thus of less importance. Old English nouns, for example, had two numbers, four cases,
three grammatical genders and roughly ten different patterns of declensions.
Nouns Masculine strong, noun Feminine, noun Neuter strong noun Adjectives also had
inflectional endings that reflected the noun they described as did pronouns and articles.
The verb system too, was highly inflectional. The verb took different endings depending on
the grammatical subject. In addition, there were ten different classes of verbs, all with
different systems of declension:
Table 3. Verb endings weak verb Class I.

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Cwen (queen) Singular Plural Nominative (seo) cwen (þá) cwena Accusative (þa) cwene (þá)
cwena Genitive (þære) cwene (þára) cwena Dative (þære) cwene (þæm) cwenum stán
Singular Plural Nominative (se) stán (þá) stánas Accusative (þone) stán (þá) stánas Genitive
(þæs) stánes (þára) stána Dative (þæm) stáne (þæm) stánum scip Singular Plural Nominative
(þæt) scip (þá) scipu Accusative (þæt) scip (þá) scipu Genitive (þæs) scipes (þára) scipa
Dative (þæm) scipe (þæm) scipum person Present tense Past tense Ic hiere Hierde Þu hierest
Hierdest He/heo/hit hiereþ Hierde We/ge/hie hieraþ hierdon.

11 4.3. Old English Vocabulary

Old English was purely a Germanic language. There were, however, some influences from
other languages on the vocabulary and these are listed below:
CELTIC:
The influence from Celtic was minimal. This is to be expected from a sociolinguistic point of
view: conquerors do not usually borrow words from the subdued. Aside the place names, the
influence of Celtic on Old English is negligible (compare with the influence of Native
American languages on American English).
• Place Names: Thames (the dark river), Kent, London (the town of the wild one), York, Avon
(the water), Dover, Cumberland, Wight. Note that the word Welsh is actually an Old English
word meaning ―foreigner; slave‖.
LATIN:
There were several terms borrowed from Latin. These can be grouped into different semantic
fields (fields of meaning):
a) Early loans: From the first to fifth centuries A.D. around fifty words came into
Germanic through Germanic contact with Rome before the invasion and settlement
of Britain. Semantic fields include:
War: camp meaning battle from Latin campus; pil meaning javelin from Latin pilum.
straet (road) from Latin strata; mil (mile) from Latin milia.
Trade: ceap (L. caupo) 'bargain,'; pund (L. pondo) 'pound,'; win (L. vinum) 'wine,';
mynet (L. moneta)'mint, coin;'

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Domestic Life: cuppe (L. cuppa) 'cup' disc ([Link]) 'dish' pyle (L. pulvinus) 'pillow'
cycene (L. coquina) 'kitchen' linen (L. linum) 'linen' gimm ([Link]) 'gem;'
Foods: ciese (L. caseus) 'cheese; ' butere (L. butyrum)'butter'; pipor (L. piper) 'pepper';
senep (L. sinapi) 'mustard'; cires (L. cerasus) 'cherry'; pise (L. pisum)'pea'; minte (L.
mentha) 'mint.'
b) The Period of the Christianizing of Britain (7th –10th centuries): Most of these
loans are related to the fields of religion and learning:
Religion: abbot, alms, altar, angel, anthem, candle, collect, creed, deacon, demon,
disciple, hymn, martyr, mass, nun, offer, organ, palm, pope, priest, prime, prophet,
psalm, relic, rule, sabbath, temple, tunic.
Learning: school, master, Latin, verse, meter, circe, history, paper, title, grammatical,
accent, brief (vb).
Other: fever, cancer, paralysis, plaster, place, sponge, elephant, scorpion, camel, tiger,
giant, talent.

SCANDINAVIAN:
Surprisingly, there are a number of Scandinavian loans that entered English towards the
end of the Old English period. What these loans were and how they came to be part of
English is the subject of the next section.
Vikings and their Influence on English
The first Viking attacks on England started around 800 AD and were at first merely
plundering raids, but some fifty years later these attacks had become more serious and groups
had even started settling in Britain.
The resistance from the English was badly organised and often ineffective. The lack of unity
in England made it a great deal easier for the Vikings to roam and raid the countryside. The
Vikings, usually referred to as Danes‘, successfully took control of large parts of England, and
towards the end of the ninth century their eyes turned to Wessex, the strongest of the Saxon
kingdoms not yet under Danish control. Here, their conquering of England came to an end
when King Alfred and his followers put up resistance, eventually forcing the Viking troops to
surrender in 878. Alfred and the Viking leader Guthrum reached an agreement, called the

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Treaty of Wedmore, where the Vikings promised to leave Wessex alone and to accept
Christianity. The northern and eastern counties already belonged to the Danes, and now a
southern boundary was drawn. This area was what would be called the Danelaw.

Figure 5. Distribution of place names with Scandinavian origins and the Danelaw
Naturally, the massive migration and settlement that the Scandinavians undertook led to
extensive use of the Norse (Scandinavian) tongue in the area of the Danelaw, and we can
see evidence of it even today through its influences on the English language. The Anglo
Saxons and the Vikings were culturally quite similar. They spoke similar languages and
had similar traditions and it appears that the Vikings soon started integrating with the
Anglo Saxons. Scandinavian vocabulary penetrated nearly every area of the English
language, but most words of Scandinavian origin in English are concrete everyday words.
A few examples follow here:
o Nouns bank, birth, booth, egg, husband, law, leg, root, score, sister, skin, trust, wing
and window o Adjectives awkward, flat, happy, ill, loose, low, odd, sly, ugly, weak, and
wrong o Verbs to cast, clip, crawl, cut, die, drown, gasp, give, lift, nag, scare, sprint,
take, and want and of course the present plural of ‗to be‘, are. Pronouns both, same,
they, them and their
The fact that even the Norse pronouns ‗they‘, ‗them‘ and ‗their‘ were accepted into
English is remarkable; it is very unusual that grammatical items are borrowed. This
suggests 14 that there was extensive contact between the Anglo Saxons and the Vikings
and a gradual integration of the two groups.
It can be difficult to recognise the Scandinavian words since the languages are so
closely related; many words that look Scandinavian are actually native English words.
Here are some hints on how to decide whether a word is a Scandinavian loan or not:
1. Germanic /sk/ became / ʃ / (sh) in all positions. This change occurred later in
Scandinavia, and therefore words like shall, shoulder and shirt are native English
words whereas skin, sky and skirt are Scandinavian words.

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2. In early Old English the Germanic /g/ before front vowels became /j/, and /k/ became /
ʃ /. In Old Norse /g/ and /k/ remained. Thus, child, choose and yield are all native
words, while give, gift, kid and kindle are Scandinavian.
3. Date of first appearance. For instance, the Old English word for ‗take’ was niman, but
in late Old English tacan is found. The Old Norse word was taka, which shows that it
must have been borrowed from the Scandinavians. In the same way, the word for law’
was originally æ but a later recording is lagu, which comes from Old Norse.
In fact, judging by the large number of Scandinavian words in the legal area, The Vikings
had a considerable impact upon the law and order of the Anglo-Saxons. Some examples
are fellow (partner’), law, and outlaw. Even more Scandinavian words related to the legal
area existed in Old English but were later replaced. Not only did the Scandinavian peoples
bring their laws and customs to the Danelaw, but their view on law and legal custom was
to a great extent acknowledged by all of England.

5. Middle English Period (1100-1500)

The Middle English period begins with the Norman Conquest at the Battle of Hastings
in 1066, when the duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, defeated King Harold
and became king of England. The Norman invasion England in 1066, brought French
(F) into England. The Normans (North-men, descendants of Danes), spoke a French
influenced by Germanic dialect. This dialect was Norman French. This led to the
unusual situation, in which the common people spoke one language (English), and the
aristocrats another (Norman French). Naturally, the two languages gradually began to
mix into what we now call Middle English.

6.1. Norman French Influences on English Vocabulary

By the 13th century approximately 10,000 French words had come into English. About
three quarters of these French loans are still in the language today. These new words
duplicated words that existed in Old English from Anglo-Saxon times. Sometimes one
word would supplant the other or both would co-exist, but develop slightly different

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meanings. For example, doom (OE) and judgment (F), hearty (OE) and cordial (F), and
house (OE) and mansion (F).
A study of the types of words that were borrowed from Norman French says
much about the socio- cultural situation of the time. The vast majority of the borrowed
words belong to the spheres of court, administration, law, the army, the Church, art,
literature, medicine and the sciences. Some examples include prince, duke, count, baron,
crown, majesty, mayor, minister, parliament, state, accuse, crime, defend, judge, justice,
prison, punish, army, battle, lieutenant, navy, soldier, dean, divine, prayer, preach, saint,
vicar, image, paint, literature, poem, medicine, physician, surgeon, science, theory, invent
etc.
It is significant that the names of the domestic animals (which were tended by the
Englishmen of the lower classes) remained native, while the corresponding dishes (which
were eaten by the Norman lords) are often French: ox-beef, calf-veal, pig-pork, sheep-
mutton, hen- poultry.
Not only did Norman French bring great changes to Old English vocabulary,
spelling changes also occurred. The Norman scribes listened to the English they heard
around them, and began to spell it according to the conventions they had previously used
for French, such as qu for cw (queen for cwen). The scribes also introduced gh (instead of
h) in such words as night and enough, and ch (instead of c) in such words as church.
Another change introduced was ou for u (as in house). Yet one more change was the use
of c before e (instead of s) in such words as cercle (circle’) and cell.
6.2. Grammatical Changes in Middle English
Perhaps as a result of the influence of French pronunciation patterns, unstressed vowels
were gradually lost in English. This phonological change had extreme consequences on
the grammar of English. As we have seen Old English was a highly inflected language.
These inflections appeared at the end of words and were unstressed. Because the
inflectional endings showed the relationships between words in a sentence, the word order
of Old English was fairly free. As a consequence of the loss of inflectional endings,
grammatical relationships 16 began to be marked through word order and the use of

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preposition. English thus changed from being a synthetic language to become an analytic
language.
1. the loss of
inflections
2. loss of grammatical
gender
3. loss of case system
4. less freedom in
word order
5. greater use of
prepositions

6.3. The Emergence of a Standard

The Normans gradually became isolated from their French roots. In 1204 King John, a
descendant of William the Conqueror, lost the province of Normandy to the king of
France. At the end of the 14th century the Anglo-Normans no longer had any land left in
France. The Normans decided to adopt English as their official language and in 1362,
Parliament was opened in English. This parliament was situated in Westminster, London
and this resulted in the eventual dominance of the London dialect as the standard spoken
and written language due to London‘s importance as a commercial centre and seaport, as
well as its proximity to the court in Westminster. A process of standardisation of English
had begun.

Modern English (1500-)

Two major factors that influenced the language and served to separate Middle and Modern
English were the Great Vowel Shift and the advent of the printing press.
The Great Vowel Shift
The Great Vowel Shift was a change in pronunciation that began around 1400. During the
next two centuries there was a great influx of people into the London region and the
different dialects began to affect the pronunciation patterns of the standard. While modern

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English speakers can read Chaucer with some difficulty, Chaucer's pronunciation would
have been completely unintelligible to the modern ear. Shakespeare, on the other hand,
would be accented, but understandable.
In short we can summarise the vowel shift as a process which led to long vowel
sounds being raised and diphthongised. Chaucer's Lyf (pronounced /lif/), for
example became the modern life.
The principal changes were roughly the following — though exceptions
occur; the transitions were not always complete.
/a:/ -> /e:/ (in e.g. make)
/e:/ -> /i:/ (in e.g. feet)
/i:/ -> /ai/ (in e.g. mice)
/o:/ -> /u:/ (in e.g. boot)
/u:/ -> /au/ (in e.g. mouse)

7.2. The Printing Press

The last major factor that led to the development of Modern English was the
advent of the printing press. William Caxton brought the printing press to England
in 1476. Books became cheaper and as a result, literacy became more common.
Publishing for the masses became a profitable enterprise, and works in English, as
opposed to Latin, became more common. Finally, the printing press brought
standardization to English. The dialect of London, where most publishing houses
were located, became the standard. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the
first English dictionary was published in 1604. Note that much of this
standardisation in spelling took place before the Great Vowel shift was completed,
and old pronunciation patterns are often reflected in English spelling.

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7.3. Early Modern English Vocabulary

One of the most dramatic changes in the English language has been the expansion of
vocabulary. In particular, this has been achieved by importing words from other
languages.

The Early Modern English period coincided with the Renaissance. This was a great time of
learning and discovery. Many new words had to be found for all the new concepts that needed
naming. At the time, there was a heated debate going on in England whether these terms
should be coined from Anglo Saxon words or whether they should be borrowed from Latin
and Greek, which were considered to be the languages of learning. To cut a long story short,
the Latin/Greek promoters won the dispute (later called the Inkhorn Controversy), and a great
number of Latin and Greek terms were borrowed into English.

A final factor which affected the vocabulary of English was the expansion of the British
Empire. People came in contact with languages all over the world and borrowed freely 18
from them, especially words denoting objects and phenomena that they themselves lacked
words for. Examples include taboo (Polynesian), bungalow, jungle and yoga (Indian
languages), tea and ketchup (Chinese), boomerang (Aboriginal languages), moccasin and
squaw (Native
American languages)

NATIVE VRS NON-NATIVE VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

NATIVE VARIETIES OF ENGLISH
English is used by a native community of speakers (e.g. England, the U.S.A., Canada and
Australia), the crucial point is that all members of such a group consider themselves not
only as using the same language but also as being 'born into' or 'born with' the same
language. The language is native also in the sense that the person who identifies with it
gets her/his first cognition of the world through this language, acquires it before any other
language and continues to owe allegiance to it. That is why it is also often called 'mother-

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tongue' or 'first language'. The language we identify with in this manner is generally
referred to as the native language.

Thus, one can speak of the Chinese speech community, the German speech community,
the Hindi speech community, the English speech community, and so on and so forth. All
members of such communities, irrespective of 'where' they are, 'who' they are, and at what
point of time they are located, identify with a given language.

NON-NATIVE VARIETY OF ENGLISH

English is widely used in different parts of the world where it is not a native language. As
a matter of fact, if we look at English in the global perspective, we find that there are
many times more non-native speakers ‘use of English than there are native speakers. It is
estimated that while there are 500 million native speakers of English, there are about 2. 1
billion non-native speakers of English spread over different parts of the world.
In contrast, the term non-native means the forms, uses and functions of English in those
parts of the world where it is not the native, language (or first language or mother tongue)
of the people
The German, the African, the Indian all learn English as a non-native language in addition
to an already existing native.

A REGIONAL DIALECT
A regional dialect is not a distinct language but a variety of a language spoken in a
particular area of a country. Some regional dialects have been given traditional names
which mark them out as being significantly different from standard varieties spoken in the
same place. The use of regional dialect is how dialect can be used in the construction of local
identity (Johnstone 2013) and is showcased in words such T-shirts, postcards, and other
souvenir items—even talking dolls.
WEST AFRICA DIALECT
The English spoken in the West African among countries such as the Gambia, Sierra Leone,
Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, which are also called the anglophone are classified as West African

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dialect. It provides an overview of the historical phases of trading contact, British colonization
and missionary activities describes the current role of English in these multilingual countries.
Further, it outlines the commonalities and differences in the vocabulary, phonology,
morphology, and syntax of the varieties of English spoken in anglophone West Africa.

UNIT 3
Classifying Varieties of English
Languages vary from one place to another, American English is different from British
English and, within British English, and there is regional variation as one moves from the
south of England to the northern parts. Languages also vary among other dimensions viz.
Social class, sex, education,

MANIFESTATIONS OF VARIETIES OF ENGLISH DIFFERENCES

BETWEEN BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH
Introduction:
According to Quirk and Greenbaum (1985) there are two national standards that are
overwhelmingly predominant both in the number of definitive usage and in the degree to
which these distinctions are "institutionalized": American English and British English.
Grammatical differences are few. Lexical differences are far more numerous, but many of
these are familiar to users of both standards. More recent lexical innovations in either area
tend to spread rapidly to the other as a result of modern Technology.
As second language users, the Ghanaian students are in a dilemma as to which variety to
learn on, whether British or American. In this unit, we've made an attempt to bring out
some of the differences that exist between British and American English.
British and American English Spelling as a Mark of Variation in British English and
American English

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The major distinction is usually drawn between British and American spelling
conventions. Let us begin by making the simplifying assumption that this is all we have to
worry about. Given just these two varieties, we have the following possible cases:
• Both varieties spell a word the same way: cat.
• The two varieties spell a word in different ways: honor/honour.
• American English allows either of two spellings for a word, British English allows only
one: ax/axe.
British English allows either of two spellings for a word, American English allows
only one: generalize /generalize. 3"-our" and "-or" words
In writing some nouns, British English writers use ―-our whereas American
English writers use ―-or‖ .Some examples are:

6. honour for British English and

honor for American English
7. labour for British English and labor
for American English
8. Colour for British English and color
for American English
Question: Add five examples.
4. The diagraphs "-ae-" "-oe-" and "-e".
In some foreign words, British English writers use the diagraph "-ae-" where as
American English writers use "-e". For example,

Anaemia British English

Anemia American English
Oesophagus British English
Esophagus American English
Amoeba British English
Ameba American English
Words that end with "ce" and "se

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There are some words that end in ―-ce‖ in British English but end in ―-se‖ in American
English.
Some examples are:

British English American English

Offence offense

6. Verbs ending in "-l".

Some verbs that writers end in "l in British English are written with double ―l American
English before the addition of "-ed" or "-ing" suffices

America British
English English
Counseled Councelled
Parceled Parcelled

Similarly, some words which are written with single "-l" ending in British English are
written with a double "-ll" in American English. For example:
British English American English
9. fulfil fulfill
10. enrol enroll
11. appal appall
12. instil instill
There are a number of spelling variations practised by British English and American
English writers. Let us examine some of them.
1. ‖ise" and "-ize" words
In writing, British English writers prefer to write some verb with "·-ise" whereas
American writers prefer to use "-ize". For example: energize American English

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NANA BOATENG

energize British English…., organise American English…. organize ,… British

English…. organise
Other examples have been captured on the table below:
American Britain
Realize Realise
Socialize Socialise
Internalize Internalise

2. ―-er and ―re

In writing certain words British English writers use ―re in situations where American
English writers use ―-er. For example
American Britain
Center Centre
Counter Countre
Panter Pantre

Both varieties allow variation in spelling for a word (though possibly not in the same
proportions): judgment/judgement Add six examples to the above. Remember this
does not happen with all "-1" ending words.
In addition, some words which end in "-11", drop one "-1" before the addition of the
suffix "-ment" in British English. In American English, such words do not drop the "-1"
before the addition of the suffix. For example:
Install – instalment for British English and installment for American English
Enroll - enrolment for British English and enrollment for American English
7. Miscellaneous
There are other miscellaneous areas of spelling between British English and American
English. Some are listed here:
British English American English
13. tyre …………………tire
14. kerb curb

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15. Honour honor

16. technique technic
17. labour labor
18. programme program

In using the above spelling, one needs to be consistent. A mixture of both spelling forms
is usually frowned upon.
In this session, we looked at some differences between British
English and American English in the area of orthography. We concentrated on spelling.
Do you remember some of the spelling differences? Yes, we saw differences in "-ise" and
"-ize" words. We also noted differences in some words that end in "er" and "re".
Similarly, we said words that end in "-"our" in British English, end in"-or" in American
English. Do you remember the difference between a word like "encyclopaedia" in BE and
"encyclopedia" in AE? There are other minor spelling differences between BE and AE. As
you read your story books begin to look for such differences in spelling.

Self-Assessment Questions
Exercise 2.2
State whether the following words are written in British English or American English.
1. Neighbour
2. Counsellor
3. Offense
4. Controlled
5. Fulfill
6. Enrolment
7. Centre
8. Tire
9. Check (financial document)
10. Programme

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British and American English Punctuation

PUNCTUATION
1. Dates
When writing a date, Americans put month, day and year in that order. So, December
25, 2015 would be 12/25/2015. The British (and most of the rest of the world) practice is
to list the day, month, then year. So, the same date would be 25/12/2015.
To avoid confusion, writing out the month is probably your best tactic.
2. Titles
In American English, Mr., Ms., and Mrs. all have periods. In British, however, no
periods are used.
3. Time
When denoting time, the British system uses periods—noon would be 12.00—while the
American system uses colons (12:00).
4. Quotes
British style uses single quotation marks for initial quotations, and then double quotes
when there is a quotation inside the quotation. The British also put punctuation that is not part
of the quotation outside the quotation marks. Americans do the opposite on both counts. For
example:
British style: „I love lyrics that tell stories‟, said the songwriter, „like in Marc Cohn‟s
song where he says that he “put on his blue suede shoes and boarded the plane.”‟
American style: ―I love lyrics that tell stories,‖ said the songwriter, ―like in Marc
Cohn‘s song where he says that he ‗put on his blue suede shoes and boarded the plane.‘‖

British and American English Pronunciation

The Alveolar Flap /r/ (rhoticity)
One of the differences between American English and British English in terms of
pronunciation is in the use of the consonant /r/. In the British variety of English /r/ is
pronounced in a syllable only when it occurs initially or medially as for example: road
railway run initial or crep crop crew medial

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When /r/ occurs at the final position of a syllable or word, it is not pronounced unless the next
word or syllable begins with a vowel. For example:
19. far away
20. for ever
21. Mister Alhassan

The /r/ that is pronounced as such a position is referred to as a linking /r/. The same
linking /r/ occurs in the American variety of English.
However, in the American variety of English the /r/ is pronounced no matter the position
in which it occurs, i.e., initial, medial or final position of a word. For example:
Read, red, reach at
initial position
bread, brook, break at medial position

Final position
car /ka:r/
father/ fa:ocf'r
water /wst8'r

Try pronouncing the following words bringing out the differences between British English
and American English in terms of the use of /r/.
Tree, feather, mother, turn
For example: Another difference between British English and American English is in the
pronunciation of the voiceless alveolar stop, /t/.

The voiceless Alveolar stop /t/ becomes slightly voiced. In American English, when the
voiceless alveolar stop occurs at the medial position of in a word, it latter is pronounced
like ladder / '/ So the /t/ sounds like /d/ (the voiced alveolar stop).
chatter as chadder and potter as podder, lither as lidders

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b. Tune, Student and New.

In the pronunciation of words like "tune", new”, duke'', student”, etc., a speaker of British
English would insert the palatal semi-vowel /j/ before the /u/, but a speaker of American
English would not For example, whereas a British English speaker would say tune / /
the American speaker would say /tu:n/. Whereas the British English speaker would say
news /nju:z/, the American English speaker would say /nu:z/
Stress
ln giving prominence in words, (that is stress), one notes a difference between British
American English.
Similarly, certain verbs that end in...ate" as for example, dictate, prostrate, frustrate, have
their stress on the second syllable in British English, but on the first syllable in American
English. For example:

British English
dic’tate
frus'trate
pros'trate
American English
'dictate
'frustrate
'prostrate

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR

A few· differences occur between British English and American English in the area of
Grammar. Let's look at them.
1. The use of Tag Questions
In using tag questions, one notes a difference between British English and American
English. In British English the following formations of tag questions exist. a. A positive
statement is followed by a negative tag. For example:

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22. She brought the bull, didn't

she?
23. They slept early, didn't
they?
24. A Negative statement is followed by a positive tag. For example
25. She didn't buy the bull, did she?
26. They didn't sleep early, did they?
The above tag questions also exist in American English. But British English has extra two
forms of tag questions. Let's look at them.
A Positive statement followed by a positive tag. For example
1. It's time, is it?
2. She went, did she?
3. They are writing, are they?

BRITISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH GRAMMAR

This form is sometimes used in incredible situations. A negative statement followed by a
negative tag. For example:
a. It isn't time, isn't it?
b. They didn't come early, didn't they?
c. The boys are not here, aren’t they?
These forms are not often used in American English.

Tags with “right /ok

Another important thing to note about tag questions is that the word "right"/"ok"
1s used as a response to tag questions m American English. For example:
a. He is coming, right?
b. They bought the house, right?
c. She is coming, ok?
d. She eats banku, ok?

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In British English, there should be some correlation between the subject and the
Response. For example,
He is coming, isn't he?
They bought the house, didn't they?

2. The use of Adverbials

A difference exists between British English and American English in the use of some
adverbials like "yet", "just" and "already".

Past Tense Formation

In forming tenses, one notes a difference between British English and American English.
Certain verbs take two past forms in American English. They occur with "-ed" and with
"t". For example:

1. Learn has the variation of past markers as learned or learnt

2. Dream has…..dreamed or dreamt
3. Spill has…….spill, spilled or spilt
NOTE: Whereas British English uses only the ―t forms in such words. There is an American
English preference for the "-ed" forms.
Question: Can you identify some other verbs? Identify at least five of such verbs.

The use of Collective Nouns

In using collective nouns, one notes a difference between British English and American
English. British English allows a variation between the use of the collective noun as
singular or as plural in concord relationship. For example:
1. The audience is here.
2. The audience are here.
3. The team is playing.
4. The team are playing

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5. The staff is in meeting

6. The staff are in meeting

American English, on the other hand, prefers the singular forms. For example:
The crowd is happy.
The congregation likes the message.

Ghanaian Variety of English (Educated Ghanaian English)

Introduction
Ghanaian English is an English spoken and written by Educated Ghanaians. Ghanaians
themselves feel that there is Ghanaian English. This has resulted in what is described as
Ghanaian English. Studies have shown that there are differences in the use of English
between highly educated Ghanaians, the averagely educated Ghanaian and those who have
no formal education. English underwent and continues to undergo indigenization as a
result of language contact with the Ghanaian languages.
English underwent and continues to undergo indigenization as a result of language contact
with the Ghanaian languages. There are expressions and lexical items that are used by
speakers of all levels and can be described as Ghanaian English. Some of these
expressions are directly translated from different local languages while lexical items are
borrowed and used directly as if they were original English words. Besides lexical items
and expressions, there are accents that are considered Ghanaian. A distinct accent that can
be identified as Ghanaian when one considers the spoken language.
Note English being international language spoken by both native and non-native speakers
has undergone changes affected by local culture. ‘ It is by this token that we now refer to
the varieties as British English, Canadian English, Indian English, Australia English,
Ghanaian English, and Nigerian English etc.

Category of Educated Ghanaian English

Educated Ghanaian English -Phonetic
Educated Ghanaian English-Vocabulary

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Educated Ghanaian - idiomatic usage

Phonetics-Consonants
The final consonants of some words in English are either not heard or weak. As a result,
students write what they hear (e.g You are suppose to come with us. We were ask to
answer all the questions. We were encourage to learn hard)
Some words sound very similar or the same but are used differently. Examples are:
1. Knight…….Night
2. Refuse……….Refuse
3. Booth………….Booth
4. Wet…………..whet
Examples of such words in context are treated below:
1. She (turn and tend) to work hard during exams.
2. We need you to contribute for a worthy course (cause).
3. I wet (whet) my appetite.
4. You may have to use the telephone boot (booth). He is very fun (fond) of me.
Use of /t/ and /d/ for Inner Circle /θ/ and /ð/.
1. (He tanked (thanked) her.
2. These ( deez are the boys., Dey (they) come from Mampong Dat (that) was a good
story (mistakes here are only oral not written).

Phonetics-Vowels
• In English like many other languages there are short and long vowels. These
differences are not made by many of the students (lose/loose, bid/bead). This results in
the use of wrong words. (e.g We shall not loose today‘s football match. The opposite of
tight is lose. Girls in Ghana wear bids).
Like the consonant sounds, some vowels sound the same or very similar (cite, sight, site;
tag, tug; shirk, shake, touch, torch etc.). This is another reason for the use of wrong words.
(He showed us his cite plan. I did not site (means to see) him. Don‘t torch him.
The students write what they say thus having basic spelling problems.

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Educated Ghanaian English-Spelling

Wrongly spelled word may produce a new word with different meaning that distorts the
understanding of a text. Wrong spelling (as deviations from the standard) cannot be
accepted as a part of the corpus of Ghanaian English.
Spelling errors due to incorrect pronunciation.
✓ Soo so
✓ run-about roundabout
✓ imform inform
✓ acadamic academic
✓ diffrent different
✓ live leave
✓ turn tend
Mispronunciations are reflected in wrong spelling
1. Firs first
2, Las last
2. Pos post
3. mis mist
Spelling errors due to confusion over double letter and non-double letter words
1. dinning dining
2. writting writing
3. profesor professor
4. personel personnel
Spelling errors due to lack of firm grasp of word
division:
1. alittle a little
2. infact in fact
3. infront in front
4. alot a lot
Educated Ghanaian English-Grammatical
Prepositions as verbs

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Students were given different contexts in which they had to give orders on stopping an
engine, putting or tuning on and off a machine or light. The following were the
commonest mistakes:
1. Of the light!
2. On the light!
3. On the fan!
4. Off the engine!)
6.3.2 Use of wrong possessive pronouns
The commonest ones sampled in educated Ghanaian English were:
1. Your own is different from my.
2. Her own is the same.
3. This is mine own
4. My is the right answer).
Subject-verb agreement
This deals with a verb that has a central controlling subject. This means that the verb must
always agree with the subject in terms of number. Some of the mistakes that are often
recorded in educated Ghanaian English are captured below:
1. He don‘t have any money.
2. She have everything she wants.
3. The questions is difficult.
4. These changes is necessary.
5. Ishmael don’t want to lose.)

Non count nouns as count nouns

Very often, speakers of English language in Ghana unconsciously add the plural markers to
non-count (mass) nouns. Such mistakes are treated below:

1. We have a lot of furnitures in our laboratory.

2. She complained of her lost lugguages.
3. We need more equipments for the computer lab.
4. We get different informations from the media.).

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Reduplication for emphasis

I need to get there quick quick.
We are managing small small.
She was ask to go fast fast.
She made it fine fine).

Vocabulary:
New words to describe Ghanaians institutions and culture.
You have to do the knocking before marriage.
Enstoolment /enskinment .
The chief was enstooled last year.
The Bolga-Naba‘s enskinnment was a grand event.
The ‗stool‘ or ―skin‖ refers to the associated ceremonial stool/skin and depending on
where the event is taking place in Ghana, one of the words becomes more appropriate. In
Northern Ghana, chiefs sit on skins and so enskinment is used while chiefs in Southern
Ghana sit on stools and so the word enstoolment.
Outdooring: Everywhere in Ghana babies have outdoorings on the eighth day. You are
invited to my brother‘s outdooring. Outdooring is very common with Moslems.
Face-the-wall
I am running out of funds so I have resorted to ―face the wall‖ these days. (Face the
wall is a semi-solid food made from cassava, usually eaten with soup but regarded as a
less expensive food).
Mosquito sprays and coils
• We bought mosquito sprays and mosquito coils. Mosquito sprays and coils are insect,
more precisely mosquito repellants. It is also believed that these sprays and coils also kill
mosquitoes.

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New meanings for old words and expressions

These words are about existing English words that are used to mean something else other
than the meaning in English.
• That was a brutal film (Brutal translates as exciting ‘in this construction).
• The newcomer is very wild in class (intelligent)
• Would you like tea, coffee or Milo (hot chocolate). Any. All three are used to mean a
beverage for breakfast which is referred in Ghanaian English as tea.
• After bathing, I rubbed pomade (apply cream on the body)
• I did not have money to stay in a hotel so I put up with my friend. (stayed with)
Introduction of entirely new words and expressions A number of lexical items have
undergone semantic change in Ghanaian English. Many words from different languages
have been adopted and modified to fit their new situations while others are formed.
Darko (2003) refers to this group of words as Ghanaianisms:
We Akans like ―fufu‖ a lot. Fufu is pounded cassava, plantain or a combination of the
two or yam)
Red-red is the favourite of all students. (Red-red is fried ripe plantain served with beans
cooked with palm oil).
We have two gates in our chieftaincy. Gates here imply lines of succession.

Some of the common ones

He gave him a piece of advice.
If the Deans do not act promptly, we shall advise ourselves.
We celebrated his funeral recently.
I am after my son (looking for). Accra always has go slow. (traffic jam).

Other expressions-tautology
The food is not adequate enough
In my opinion, I think that he is right
The book is red in colour
You don‘t have to return back

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NANA BOATENG

You should re-examine your decision again Well

you can refer back to what she wrote.
Give two different reasons why he should not be here
Should in case he comes late, tell him to see the class rep (representative).

REGISTER THEORY/GENRE/DISCOURSE
INTRODUCTION
Register
Register is defined as the way a speaker uses language differently in different circumstances.
Think about the words you choose, your tone of voice, even your body language. You
probably behave very differently chatting with a friend than you would at a formal dinner
party or during a job interview. These variations in formality, also called stylistic variation,
are known as registers in linguistics.
They are determined by such factors as social occasion, context, purpose, and audience.
Registers are marked by a variety of specialized vocabulary and turns of phrases,
colloquialisms, the use of jargon, and a difference in intonation and pace.
Registers are used in all forms of communication, including written, spoken, and signed.
Depending on grammar, syntax, and tone, the register may be extremely rigid or very
intimate. You don't even need to use an actual word to communicate effectively. A huff of
exasperation during a debate or a grin while signing "hello" speaks volumes.
Again, Language varies according to the situation in which it is used, and these varieties of
language can be referred to as registers. If we examine a text we can make guesses about the
situation; on the other hand, if we are in a particular situation we make certain linguistic
choices based on that situation. In other words, the language we use needs to be appropriate to
the situation in which we use it or speech is occasioned by the situation of use. This brings in
the concept of register and these varieties of language can be referred to as registers.

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Definition of Register
The term Register is used to describe language according to the use we put it to. In
other words, the various uses that we put our language to is referred to as Register.
The register of football
The register of journalism;
The register of law;
The register of religion, etc.

How Register Operates

There are key terms used to describe how register functions. The linguist Michael
Halliday divides these variables into three categories. These are field, tenor and mode.
These three variables combine to form the register of the text. Here is an outline of the three
categories.
Field: This explains what language is being used to talk about. That is the area or
discipline in which a language is being used to described.
The field includes:
1. the topic;
2. the interactants.
The topic of discourse can be: specialised/technical (e.g. talking about the environment,
football, article writing etc.);
everyday (e.g. talking about shopping etc.) The interactants may have: specialised
knowledge of the field (e.g. a scientist writing for an article for an academic journal);
common knowledge of the field (e.g. the readers of a newspaper article).
The field determines the use of specialised language, for example whether technical terms or
everyday terms are used. It is of course always important for a writer to think about his/her
audience (who he/she is writing for), which may be specialist or wide public.

Tenor of discourse: the role relationships between the interactants , for instance; a
superior and a subordinate, friends, pastor and a congregants, husband and wife, etc.
The relationships between the interactants varies according to:

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a. status (ranging from unequal as in the case of a boss/ employee to equal as

with friends);
b. affective involvement (ranging from high as with friends/family members to
low as with business clients);
c. contact (ranging from frequent to occasional)
The relationship between interactants can also influence the formality of the language used
(see section “Language differences between registers”).

NOTE: Look for example of emails, one from a seminar organiser to a participant (unequal
status; low affective involvement; occasional contact) and the other from a family member
(equal status; high affective involvement; frequent contact).

Mode of discourse: This talks about the role language is playing in the interaction
Language can be:
1. written;
2. spoken;
3. written to be spoken (e.g. a political speech).
4. spontaneous (e.g. conversation);
5. planned (e.g. a composition or article).
The level of interactiveness of language varies. There can be the possibility of having:
1. immediate feedback (e.g. conversation);
2. rapid feedback (e.g. emails); s
3. delayed feedback (e.g. letters).

Conversation is spontaneous, interactive and often accompanies actions. The language of

conversation is characterized by: hesitations, interruptions etc.; interrogatives and
imperatives; ellipsis (omitting words/phrases because they are clear from the context); use of
the pronouns I, you, we; low frequency of nouns (low lexical density.

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GENRE
Genre meaning a ‘kind of’ or ‘sort of’ any form or type of communication in any mode
(written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed conventions developed over time
Genre is mostly known as a style, category or kind of literature, music, art, or other forms of
entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic
criteria. But genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional.

Types of Genre
Literary genre: It is a category of literary composition which has its conventions. Genres
may be determined by literary technics, tone, content or even (as in the case of fiction) length.
The most general genres in literature are epic (narrates story of heroes in society), novel and
short story. We can have a genre within a genre, e.g. genres of prose could be tragedy or
comedy. Also, a genre such as satire might appear in any of the above, not only as a sub-genre
but also as a mixture of genres: tragedy-comedy.
Music genre: Plato created three Imitational genres: dramatic dialogue, pure narrative, and
epic (a mixture of dialogue and narrative). Aristotle distinguished four types of classical
genres: tragedy (superiordramatic dialogue), epic (superior-mixed narrative), comedy, and
parody (Imitation of the style or art of a writer).
Many of these genres have a number of sub-genres; a sub-genre is a subordinate within a
genre. Two stories being the same genre can still sometimes differ in sub-genre. The basic
genres of film can be regarded as drama, e.g. most dramatic films: fall into the film genres
such as war film, horror film, romantic film, musical crime film, etc. E.g if a fantastic
story has darker and more frightening elements of fantasy, it would belong in the sub-gender
of dark fantasy: whereas the other fantasy story feature magic swords and wizards would
belong to the subgenera of sword and sorcery. Often, works have multiple genres through
borrowing and recombination of these conventions; e.g. a piece of writing or pieces of
communication may have their styles, literature, or music has their own style, but genres are
fusion together of these texts based on conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly
adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility

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DISCOURSE
Discourse According to
(i) in Post-colonial theory: discourse is a system of domination,
(ii) in Anthropology: discourse is a culture or ideology
(iii) in Sociolinguistics: discourse is a speech style or register
(iv) in Psychology: discourse is a physical or bodily practice
(v) in Feminist theory: discourse is a type of subject (Sawyer, 2002:434).
(vi) in Language, discourse is seen as language in use beyond a word.
There are different views of what a discourse is. The definition of discourse depends on the
subject area or the theoretical orientation of a researcher. Discourse is about language: e.g.
one view sees discourse simply as language in use (Potter, 2004; Widdosson, 2007).
Discourse analysis e.g. focuses on what people do in their everyday usage of the language
consciously and unconsciously.

Formality/ informality
When it comes to writing in English, there are two main styles of writing: formal and
informal. The style of writing, or the way we use words to say what we want to say differs
in different situations; the difference in the styles of writing is what is known as formality
and informality in writing. E.g. the way we write in academic and scientific settings
differs from the way we write to a friend or close one. E.g. (i) the tone, (ii) vocabulary,
and (iii) syntax, as well as phonology, all change as the occasion changes.
We say two texts differ because one is ‘formal’ and the other is ‘informal’. The main thing
to remember is that both are correct, it is just a matter of tone and setting. Formal English
is used mainly in academic writing and business communications, whereas Informal
English is casual and is appropriate when communicating with friends and other close
associates. In writing, it is important to choose the style of writing which agrees with what
one is writing and to whom. But whichever style you write whether formal or informal,
one has to be consistent and by extension avoid mixing the two.

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Informal language, or informality, is an aspect of style. Every person makes at least an

instinctive distinction between formal and informal behaviour and communication. A
great deal of spoken language is informal; the interactants are of equal status and have a
close relational involvement e.g. conversation between friends.
On the other hand, written language is often formal (the interactants do not know each
other e.g. academic prose). Yet there is also formal spoken language and informal written
language. Features of Formality is based on two categories:
1. surface formality
2. deep formality.
The authors propose deep formality as the most important dimension of variation between
language registers or styles.
Again, formal language contains a higher frequency of nouns, adjectives, prepositions and
articles and informal language contains a higher frequency of verbs, adverbs, pronouns
and interjections. Formality lies with what they connote about a social setting in which
they are appropriately used; they do not necessarily differ in the number of elaborations of
syntactic (or other) rules governing their use. Some authors go further to blend all three
senses of formality and arguing that formal descriptions are most suitable (or only
suitable) for the more structured discourse that occurs in ceremonial like formal situations.
The difference between Formal and Informal Writing
Both formal and informal words are used in spoken and written language. However, while
colloquial words and expressions are accepted in informal writings, they are usually
avoided in formal writings. Informal writing is as good as spoken conversation. Words
such as kids, guys, dad, mum, bro, lad, awesome, a lot, are accepted in informal writing
those such as children, man/boy, father, mother, brother, boy, wonderful, many, etc. are
accepted in formal writing.
Usage of person: Informal writing uses a personal tone to relate directly to the reader.
Personal style of writing is avoided in formal writing. Except for business letters where
first person may be used, formal writing is usually in third person. In informal writing,
however the writer is disconnected from the subject matter and thus does use the point of

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view of the first person; first, second, or sometimes third person e.g. I, we or second
person i.e. you.
Abbreviated words: It is advisable to use full-words and avoid using abbreviated words
in formal writing. Words like photograph, television, etc. are used in full in formal
writing. The use of short forms or contracted forms and abbreviations such as photo
(photograph), tele or TV, (television), etc. are accepted in informal writing but
unacceptable in formal writing.
Active voice and passive voice: Passive voice is used in formal writing; e.g. It has been
noticed that….). Active voice is used in informal writing, We have noticed that…..)
Sentence formation: Complex sentences are used in formal writing. In formal style of
writing, information are normally written in detailed and as elaborate as possible. Every
point should have an introduction, elaboration, and conclusion. Informal writing is made
up of much shorter sentences. Information shared is brief and in an informal tone
Informal writing may accept cliches (e.g. loads of, conspicuous by absence, etc.). Formal
writing style however avoid cliches, e.g. use many, was absent, etc.)
Informal: May address readers using second person pronouns, e.g. you, your, etc.).
Formal writing however avoids the use of you, your and instead uses one, one’s, the
reader (’s), etc
Common and uncommon words are often words such as linking words. And, but and so
are informal, while furthermore, however, and therefore are the formal equivalents.
Vulgar words are, ta for thank you, ta-ta or tra for goodbye, tummy for the stomach
and belly button for the navel, etc.
Formal language uses passive voice.
For instance: Philip and Keith attended the meeting. Informal.
The meeting was attended by Phillip and Keith. Formal
Phillip and Keith thought the meeting was a success. Informal
The meeting was thought to have been a success. Formal.
Martin Luther King translated the bible into English in the 1900s. (Informal)
The Bible was translated into English in the 1900s. Formal

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SAMPLE FORMAL LETTER

Thank you for your letter we received on the 10th of December, 2015. A copy has been
sent to company headquarters in addition to a memorandum concerning your financial
situation. A meeting has been scheduled for the 2nd May, 2016 at 10 am to discuss your
request for a further bank loan. Therefore, please inform us of your availability for this
meeting at the earliest opportunity. However, a number of issues concerning your income
and expenditure may be queried prior to a loan being granted.

Example of informal letter

Thanks for your letter. We got it on 10 Dec. We’ve sent a copy to comp. H.Q. along with
a memo, your financial situation (Active & contracted). I’ve set a meeting for 2 May 10
am to talk about another bank loan. So, please let us know if you can make it a.s.a.p. But,
we might ask you a few things to do with your inc. and exp. before giving you a loan.
Also, I need to get in touch with the G.M. to okay it. Plus, we’ll first have to think about
the last time you didn’t keep up with your payments.
The contracted forms of auxiliary verbs (you‘re, I‘ll etc.) are often used in spoken English
and informal written English e.g. informal letters and e-mails. Negative contraction (it wasn‘t,
you shouldn‘t etc.) are nearly always used in spoken English and informal written English,
but rarely in formal written registers such as academic prose. See the figure on p.
2. Negation with no is very rare in conversation (informal spoken language), which
prefers negative + any.
Examples:
They had no sympathy for him. (formal written)
They didn‘t have any sympathy for him. (Spoken)
3. Going for future prediction is rare in formal written registers such as academic prose.
Examples: ...
it will run out of kinesic energy … (ACAD)
«It‘s going to be hard to convince him» (CONV)
4. Passives are common in formal written registers such as academic prose and
newspapers but rare in spoken language. Example: Saddam was seized on Saturday

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night in a rudimentary hiding place dug into the earth on the modest farm of his former
cook, close by the village of al Ouja where he was born 66 years ago. The dramatic
news was announced to the world by Paul Bremer, the Americans ‘chief administrator
in Iraq.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," he said. (The Guardian, 15.12.2003) The
relative pronoun that is the most common in conversation, who is the most common in
newspapers and which in academic prose.
Examples: the car that was going past (CONV) the girl that
lives down the road (CONV) a woman who has been missing
for weeks (NEWS) the ratio which will give an acceptable
performance (ACAD)

7. Academic prose uses a lot of linking adverbials

e.g. moreover, however, therefore
Vocabulary
1. Informal language uses colloquial lexis (slang, swearing etc.) while formal
language uses neutral/formal lexis (no slang, polite formulae e.g. Dear Sir in
letters)
Examples: informal: get, kid, guy/bloke, stressed out, rip off etc. neutral/formal:
obtain/become, child, man, under stress, cheat etc.
2. Abbreviations can often be found in more informal registers.
Example: Have you got all the info? (information)
I‘m enjoying uni. (university)
To understand whether a word is informal or neutral/formal, look it up in the
dictionary.
Punctuation
In informal writing, you can often find:
exclamation marks !
dots …
dashes –

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These serve to create the impression that the writer is talking to the reader.
C. Linking in the sentence
When sentences consist of more than one clause, these clauses are often linked by
conjunctions. There are two kinds of conjunctions, coordinators and subordinators.
Coordinators are used to link two or more main clauses: in other words, clauses which are
considered to be of equal importance.

Coordinators are: and, but, or, yet, both...and, not only...but also, either...or,
neither...nor
Taking regular exercise both helps you stay slim and reduces the risk of heart attack.
People criticise the party, but/yet they continue to vote for it.
Professor Wright is not only an authority on slavery in democratic Athens, but she has
also done extensive research into the position of women in the ancient world.
The law states that detainees should either be taken to court within 48 hours of their
arrest, or released without charge.
The government has neither reduced inflation nor created new jobs.

Subordinators
Some sentences consist of a main clause and an adverbial clause, which gives additional
information about the circumstances of the main clause. Adverbial clauses are
dependent on the main clause and are often introduced by subordinators.
Adverbial clauses of time. These can be introduced by the subordinators: after, as, as
soon as, before, since, until, when, whenever, while, hardly...when, scarcely...when
1. Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay and lived in India until his mother
decided to send him back to Britain and entrust his upbringing to foster
parents.
2. They had hardly begun their studies at Oxford University, when the First
World War broke out and irrevocably changed the course of their lives.

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The subordinators of time after, before, on, when, whenever, while, since, until can
introducing clauses when the subject of the main clause is the same as that of the
subordinate clause.
After interviewing over one thousand applicants, the board picked fifty candidates
for their management training programme.
On becoming conductor of the Bakewell Choral Society, Mr Barnes introduced a
greater number of modern works into the choir's repertoire.
On is used to indicate that one action happened immediately after another. As a
subordinator of time, it is only used with the -ing form.
*On he became conductor...
When can only be used with the -ing form if its meaning is similar to that of while or
whenever.
When studying for exams, students become short-tempered and irrational.
When travelling abroad, one should always take along health insurance.
When the painter arrived in Spain, it was placed under heavy security.
*When arriving in Spain, the painting was placed under heavy security
Adverbial clauses of reason
Because is the most commonly used subordinator of clauses of reason. It is not very often
found at the beginning of the sentence.
The case is to be reopened, because doubt has been cast on the reliability of some of the
key witnesses.
Because of is a preposition:
Bookings for the States are 60% higher than last year, because of the weakened dollar
As and since are used in particular when the "reason" is already known to the addressee.
They are often found at the beginning of the sentence
As/Since English is an international language, some traditionalists still hold the
view that the teaching of foreign languages in school is a waste of time.
For is used in more formal writing. It is never found at the beginning of the sentence.
After a long and successful career she left the world of the theatre, for she felt that her
energies would be better spent in politics.

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The non-finite -ing form and the past participle may also be used in clauses of reason.
Being a teacher herself, she realised that her son was not receiving a good
education.
If the subject of the main clause is different from that of the subordinate clauses, the ing
form follows the subject.
The evidence being insubstantial, the case had to be dropped.
*Being the evidence...
The past participle is only used with passive meaning.
Caught up in a web of scandal, he was forced to resign

Adverbial clauses of purpose

The most common way of introducing clauses of purpose is by using the infinitive.
A group of world-famous musicians have organised a concert to raise money for third-
world development.
For + -ing form is not used in clauses of purpose.
*They organised a concert for raising money...
For + -ing form is only used to describe the function of an object.
This machine was used for grinding corn.
In order to and so as to can be used instead of the infinitive of purpose. They must be
used to introduce a negative clause of purpose.
The research unit has carried out a survey to discover/in order to discover/so
as to discover whether video games can lead to aggression in young people.
BUT
She wrote her first novels under a pseudonym, in order not to reveal/so as not to
reveal (not to reveal *) her true identity.
In order that and so that are used when the main clause and the subordinate clause have
two different subjects
Buckingham Palace is to be opened to the public once again this summer, in
order that/so that people can have another chance to see the riches of our royal
heritage.

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When the main clause is in the past in order that and so that are followed by would,
could, should or might.
The plundered treasures were hidden in secret depositories, in order that/so that
no-one would/could/should/might learn of their existence.
Written vs Spoken
Differences between speech and writing
Speech is different from writing, e.g. Speech is produced by the speaker, and processed by
the hearer in real time. Speech thus has shorter constructions, e.g. fewer cases of
subordination, but more coordination, incomplete structures (sentence fragments), etc.
Other differences are due to the conversational interplay between the participants in the
speech sample, such as the high number of pronouns (especially first- and second-person).
Spoken and written discourse differ for many reasons. Spoken discourse has to be
understood immediately, written discourse can be referred to many times. M.A.K.
Halliday. Spoken and Written Language. (1989). Singled out the characteristics of spoken
discourse.
• Variations in speed, but it is generally faster than writing.
Loudness/quietness.

Spoken discourse:
Gestures/ Body language (Mr. Bean) Intonation.
• Pitch range: ↑ - the shift to the higher pitch; ↓ - the shift to the lower pitch,
V - a fall rise.
• Stress: underlined words in transcription: good.
• Rhythm.
• Pausing and phrasing: (.) – a tiny gap, difficult to be measured, (7.1) – a
pause of 7.1 seconds, a longer pause like (..)

Which Discourse is More Complex?

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• Grammatically? Spoken discourse – fewer subordinate clauses, fewer

that/to complement clauses, fewer sequences of prepositional phrases,
fewer attributive adjectives, more active verbs.
Lexical characteristics?
Spoken discourse – longer, more repetitions. Spoken discourse – the percentage of
different word is below 40%, written discourse – above 40%. Spoken discourse –
shorter, less complex words and phrases (less contractions, fewer nominalizations,
more verb-based phrases, more words that refer to the speaker, less abstract words,
more quantifiers).
• Lexical characteristics?
Spoken discourse has:
• More verb-based phrases: having treatment (W) – being treated (S)
hospital care (W) – go to the hospital (S)
• More predicative adjectives:

Computer-Mediated Language
The rapid development of information and communication technologies in recent years is
associated with a corresponding interest in computer-mediated communication (CMC).
Computer-mediated writing is regarded by some scholars as a great advancement of
"writing technology”. It is therefore an intermediate between speaking and writing.
Computer-mediated communication (CMC) has gained popularity over the last decade.
Students can work simultaneously in a chat-room context (synchronous computer
mediated communication) or write to each other with delay between turns (asynchronous
computer-mediated communication). The computer, and specifically the Internet, has
made it possible for students to interact not just with their classmates but also with a wide
range of native speakers or other non-native speakers of the language.

FORMS OF COMPUTER MEDIATED LANGUAGE

Synchronous CMC includes various types of text-based online chat, computer, audio, and
video conferencing. Contrary to the synchronous, asynchronous CMC encompasses email,

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discussion forums, and mailing lists. CMC can take place over local area networks
(LANs) or over the Internet, e-mail, video, audio or text chat (text conferencing
including "instant messaging"), voice and video conferencing, bulletin board systems,
list-serves, and MMOs.
These settings are changing rapidly with the development of new technologies. Note that
the electronic computer system cannot provide all the contextual and non-verbal support
of real conversation.
IMPORTANCE OF COMPUTER MEDIATED LANGUAGE
1. It provides a linguistic description of Interchange discourse, these results support the
general claim that the electronic mode of production shapes computer- mediated
language, just as writing and speaking modalities shape the nature of written and
spoken.

2. The computer-mediated communication system reshapes the forms and functions of

language.

3. It can also help increase students' motivation to learn the foreign language;
• lower their anxiety,
• increase their fluency in the target language,
• leads to improved intercultural competence and democratize classroom
communication.

Since the late 1980s, this trend has led teachers and learners alike to engage with the
possibilities and complexities of CMC for language teaching and learning. CMC is an
umbrella term which refers to human communication via computers. Temporally, a distinction
can be made between synchronous CMC, where interaction takes place in real time, and
asynchronous CMC, where participants are not necessarily online simultaneously.

In addition to the technological and logistical complications involved in bringing different

groups of learners together online at the same time, there are also significant emergent

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discourse features. Teachers and learners need to be aware that in online chat, the speed of
turn-taking seems to be more important than careful writing, and that misspellings,
abbreviated words, and unpunctuated become norms even among those that are noted to have
exceptional skills in language use.

This means that models for teaching and research that were developed for speech and writing
do not necessarily map directly onto online discourse. New ways of learning and teaching are
enabled by CMC. Studies comparing oral classroom discussion with computer-assisted
classroom discussion draw attention to salient differences between the two accesses to a wide
range of learning opportunities. The future direction of CMC includes the prospect of
increased availability and the use of voice and video conferencing, assuring a continued
growth in its significance for teaching and learning.

UNIT 4
ADAVANCED WRITING
REFERNCING/ CITATION

REFERENCES

Referencing is a key academic practice for college and university students. It is also referred
to as citation. This gives authors credit for their contribution to your understanding, whilst

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also giving those who read your work the opportunity to reproduce your research by studying
the same texts you have used.
Correct referencing and citation also allow the reader of your work to easily identify those
sources used in your work and to follow up on them if necessary. It is good academic practice
to acknowledge the contributions that others have made to your work in other words
referencing means acknowledging your source in the body of your work.
The basic principle in referencing is to acknowledge the source of ones write up. Failure to
recognize the source whether or not it is intentional, can lead to accusations of plagiarism or
academic misconduct which is equivalent to cheating which is a serious academic offence.
One of the skills undergraduate students or beginning post-graduate students must develop is
independent research skills. The overarching reason is intellectual honesty and integrity. 
The reasons we often cited to support the importance of acknowledging sources of
reference are the following:
i. provide details or background to what is being written or investigated and
to lend authority and credibility to the work;
ii. support or strengthen the researcher(s)’ own ideas or argument;
iii. give credit to those whose idea(s) you have used;
iv. allow readers and other researchers to confirm sources of material(s) used
for your work
v. make it possible for the researcher(s) to distinguish their own work from
that of others in order to receive credit for their project or research;
vi. enable the researcher(s) to be confident and fully understand the research
published in their area of study
vii. make it possible for other researchers to read further on the topic
investigated; vii. provide interest;

A parenthetical reference is the information about the source material in the form of
quotation, summary or paraphrase that has been put in an enclose bracket after it has been
cited in a new work. The information in the parenthesis contains the author’s surname, the
year of publication as well as the page or pages in which the portion was taken. There are

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several referencing styles used in different academic environments across the world.
However, in this course, two styles will be discussed. The two styles of making in-text
citation are;

1. Modern Language Association of America (MLA)

2. American Psychological Association (ASA)

MLA

It is mostly used for long essays, dissertation or research papers in Humanities and Literature,
Law, Art, Sociology etc.

These are some styles of MLA.

1. When the citation is from one author: Indicates the author’s surname, the page
number or numbers of the book, magazine, journal etc. from where the information
was taken.

Eg 1. Newspapers are complex reading materials in Ghana (Alhassan, 27)

Eg 2. The attempt to stage a debate requires robust language repertoire (Alhassan, 35)

2. When citing from material written by two authors. In this case, write the surnames of
the two authors and the page(s)

Eg 1. Reading newspapers is a complex task in Ghana (Alhassan and Asantewaa, 88)

Eg 2. Newspapers ought to be written in simple language (Alhassan and Asantewaa, 33)

3. When citing from material written by more than two authors, here write only the
surname of the first author and add [Link]

Eg 1. Newspapers are circulated in urban centers in Ghana alone (Alhassan [Link], 35)

Eg 2. Newspapers must be circulated to all parts of the country (Alhassan [Link], 48)

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MLA for out text reference

List the names of the authors in alphabetical order. This is followed by the title of the work,
publisher and the year of publication.

Referencing a work written by one author:

Eg 1. Alhassan, Hamidu. Words speak to themselves: Analysis of Things Fall Apart by

Achebe. University of Ghana press, UG, 2021.

Referencing a work written by two authors:

Eg 2. Alhassan, Hamidu, Asantewaa Bediako. Words speak to themselves: Analysis of Things

Fall Apart by Achebe. University of Ghana press, UG, 2021.

Eg 3. Alhassan, Hamidu, Asantewaa Bediako, Eric, Aning. Words speak to themselves:

Analysis of Things Fall Apart by Achebe. University of Ghana press, UG, 2021.

PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism refers to “the use of information from someone’s work without giving credit to
that person” (Asemanyi et. al., 2018, p.115). This assertion corroborates claim the by
Buramen and Roy (1999, p. 212) that “plagiarism is literary – or artistic or musical – theft. It
is the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another
person’s mind and presenting it as one’s own” (as cited in Asemanyi et al., 2018, p. 116).
Plagiarism is therefore regarded as a form of intellectual misconduct or an unethical practice
in the academic discourse community and must be avoided.

Plagiarism is seen as one of the highest offences in the academic environment and by that,
people who fall foul to it whether consciously or unconsciously are severely punished. It is
regarded as an act of stealing because it is a way of appropriating someone’s property as your
own. It is therefore not entertained in all academic discourse communities. In 1978 for
instance, Alex Harley wrote a book entitled Roots: The saga of an American Family. It greatly

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influenced popular culture upon its release. However, it was discovered that some parts of
Harley’s book were plagiarised from Harold Courlander’s novel, The African, which was
published in 1965. As a result, Harley was sued and he was made to pay a $650,000
settlement. Now, let us consider our context as members of the St. Monica’s College of
Education academic discourse community. Sometimes instead of writing an original project
work, some students go for already submitted project work, try to edit it, and present it as
their own. This is also plagiarism because, in this instance, somebody’s work is being
presented. Our lecturers/examiners have the right to fail us if they discover that our
assignment or project work was plagiarised. For instance, an attempt to copy a work either
thesis, dissertation, project work, etc. and claiming it as one’s own could land the culprit into
serious trouble including suspension from graduation. The institution also reserves the right to
withdraw students who engage in plagiarism. It is also considered as an act of disgrace and
condemnable.

Instances of plagiarism, according to Asemanyi et al., (2018, p. 116), are as follows:

a. Failure to put a portion one has quoted in quotation marks and

acknowledge the source of information
b. Quoting a source wrongly as a results of the fact that one has no
enough knowledge on documentation style
c. Failure to identify the source from which a material; is paraphrased or
summarised.
d. Failure to give credit to any creative ideas borrowed from any original
source
e. Replacement of words of the original text with one’s own by
maintaining the same sentence structure when paraphrasing.
f. Failure to recognise the author’s unique way of saying something. The
only way to avoid plagiarising someone’s work or idea is simply to
acknowledge the source the information or idea is taken from.

TYPE OF PLAGIARISM
1) Clone (The Ghost Writer ) submitting another’s work, word-for-word, as one’s own.

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2) “The Photocopy” The writer copies significant portions of text straight from a single
source, without alteration.
3) “Hybrid ( Potluck Paper) combining perfectly cited sources with copied passages
without citation. Thus the writer tries to disguise plagiarism by copying from several different
sources, tweaking the sentences to make them fit together while retaining most of the original
phrasing.
4) “The Poor Disguise” Although the writer has retained the essential content of the source,
he or she has altered the paper’s appearance slightly by changing key words and phrases.
5) Remix (The Labor of Laziness)
The writer takes the time to paraphrase most of the paper from other sources and make it all
fit together, instead of spending the same effort on original work.
6) Recycle (The Self-Stealer) The writer “borrows” generously from his or her previous
work, violating policies concerning the expectation of originality adopted by most academic
institutions.

What’s a Bibliography?
A bibliography is a list of all of the sources you have used in the process of researching your
work. In general, a bibliography should include:
• the authors’ names
• the titles of the works
• the names and locations of the companies that published your copies of the sources
• the dates your copies were published • relevant page numbers (optional)

Referencing Styles
Particular referencing styles are preferred by particular academic disciplines because they
work better with the kind of texts that are most commonly used in that discipline.
MLA (Modern Language Association)
APA (American Psychological Association)
AMS (American Meteorological Society)

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Vancouver
Oxford
OSCOLA (Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities)
MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association)
Harvard style
Chicago style referencing
Material which you must acknowledge includes but is not limited to:
• exact words (written or spoken) *Note that exact words must be placed in
quotation marks or indented depending on the referencing style you use.
See reference style guides for details
• summarised or paraphrased text
• data
• images (graph, tables, video, multimedia etc)
• pictures or illustrations
• ideas or concepts
• theories
• opinion or analysis
• music or other performance media
• computer code
• designs, drawings or plans
CV verses Resume Writing
Writing CV
Curriculum Vitae is a document which gives a personal data, a summary of qualifications and
experiences if any. It is mostly written down before any application letter since it sometimes
provide some background information to support the application letter. The function of CV is
to get attention for interview and possibility to secure a job.

A good CV should be clear, concise and credible. It should be well organized so as to attract
attention. A CV that is saddled with inconsistencies, distortions, elusions must be avoided. It
should be unambiguous.

Features of a good CV

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1. Personal data: full name, age, country, religious background, denomination, language
spoken, address, phone number

2. Career objectives (objective of self-development into future)

3. Education (school, college, university and corresponding certificates/degrees). State the

class obtained, if it is degree or diploma.

4. Work experience (places, institutions, organizations, in which one has ever worked). It is
important to attach a summary of job description.

5. Interest (hobbies, extracurricular activities you have been participating).

6. Skills acquired within and outside an organization one has ever operated.

7. Awards, honors, decorations as well as achievements.

8. References: They are people who know you so well that, they can vouch for you whenever
contacted. They mostly include teachers who have trained you. Referees must be at least three
or more.

In these three people, at least one of them should be your teacher, supervisor, medical or legal
practitioner who knows you well.

Purpose
A CV provides the reader with your full professional and educational history that includes
every job, award, publication, successful grant application, and conference presentation from
your career. A resume, on the other hand, shows the hiring committee how you are qualified
for their job. A resume does not list every job you‘ve ever had, but rather includes only recent
work experience that is relevant for the position you‘re applying for.

Appearance
CVs have a minimalist style and no design elements. The content is organized by section
headings. When it comes to a resume, style and content are important. A resume should

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look nice and have more white space than a CV. The content of a resume is organized by
section headings and then bullet points, which rarely appear on CVs.

Length
Unless otherwise specified, a CV doesn‘t have a page limit. As you progress in your
career, your CV will get longer. A resume is different and should always be between one
to two pages long.

Scope
A CV is a comprehensive list of your academic achievements, research, and teaching.
Because it should provide a full history, a CV is not usually tailored to the job you‘re
applying to. A resume, on the other hand, is an overview of the work experience and skills
that you have which make you fit for the job you‘re applying for. It is tailored for each
application and briefly describes the relevant jobs you‘ve had and your responsibilities
and achievements in each position.

Layout
A CV includes sections for your education, academic employment, publications, awards,
grants and fellowships, invited talks, conferences, teaching experience, research
experience, service and leadership, professional affiliations, and references. A resume
often begins with a profile section that includes a summary of your qualifications. It is
followed by sections for relevant work experience, education, awards, and hobbies. These
are the typical sections found in a resume, however, depending on the industry and
position, candidates might also include sections for language skills, volunteer work, or
professional certifications/affiliations.

Organization
CVs are organized in reverse chronological order, with the most recent jobs, publications, and
awards coming before older ones. Resumes can also be organized in reverse chronological
order, but they can also be ―functional‖ (also called ―skills-based). This means that the

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resume is organized by the specific skills and experience that the job seeker has that are
relevant for the position, rather than by work experience. A functional resume is often used by
those who are changing careers, have gaps in their employment history, or have work
experience.

Sample CV

CURRICULUM VITAE

KWADWO BONSU

[Link] 7

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Mampong Ashanti
Mobile: +233-243737689
Email: kwadwobonsu213@[Link]
PERSONAL DETAILS:

Date of Birth: 11th November, 1983

Gender: Male

Nationality: Ghanaian

Marital Status: Married

Languages spoken: Asante Twi and English language

Hobbies: Reading and listening to music

Interest: Research and exploring the unknown

Residence: Mampong, Ashanti

EDUCATION:

A Candidate For Ph.D, English Language ongoing

University Of Education, Winneba

[Link], English Language 2016 - 2018

University of Education, Winneba

B.A English Education 2011 - 2015

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University of Educati0n, Winneba

Diploma in Basic Education

University of Cape Coast 2009 – 2011

''A'' 3-Year Teachers Certificate

Ofinso College of Education 2002 - 2005

SSSCE
Amaniapong Senior Secondary School 1999 –2001

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Tutor of English Language

St. Monica’s College Of Education (2020 Till Date)

Lecture of English Language

3 Semester Sandwich, University of Cape Coast, St. Monica’s College of Education Center
(2021 To 2022)

Lecturer of English Language and Communication Skills

CODel, University Of Education, Winneba (2019 till Date)

Teacher of English Language (2015-2019)

Asanteman S.H.S

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LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE:

Chairman-Electoral Commission, Grasag-Uew 2017-2018

Form Master- Asanteman S.H.S 2016-2019

S.R.C Welfare Chairman- U.E.W 2013-2014

L. A Member, S.R.C-U.E. W 2013- 2014

Unified Welfare Chairman-Uew 2013 - 2014

SEMINAR/ WORKSHOPS/CONFERENCES

Fifth UHAMKA International Conference on ELT and CALL (UICELL) in Jakata, Indonesia
(2021)
Training Workshop on the use of LMS by CoDeL, UEW (2021)
Training Workshop on the use of LMS by University of Cape Coast (2020)
Online Teaching Training Workshop for Tutors of Colleges of Education by University of
Amsterdam (2020)
Civil service Appraisal Management System by JICA (2015
General and Financial Administration for Student Leaders at UEW (2013)
Electoral Administration and Related Processes at UEW (2013)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

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Corpus Linguistics
Critical Discourse Analysis
English as Second Language
Grammar of English
Semantics

RESEARCHES UNDERTAKEN

MPHIL THESIS: A Corpus –Based Analysis of Verb- Noun Collocations in Newspaper

Editorials in Ghana

UNDERGRADUATE: Using Language Games to Assist Students of St. Joseph College of

education to overcome their Challenges in Concord

PUBLICATIONS:

1. Arkoh Fenyi, Kwadwo Bonsu & Aikins Addae (2020). Feedback on Ghanaian ESL
students’ Essay: An Analysis of Emotive Reactions and Perceptions of English Major
Students of Selected Colleges in Ghana: International Journal of Basic Education and
Research Policy. Volume no 2(2)

2. Arkoh Fenyi, Aikins Addae & Kwadwo Bonsu (2020). Second Language Pragmatics:
A Speech Act Analysis of Ghanaian ESL Tutor-Student Interaction: International
Journal of Basic Education Research and Policy. Volume 2(2)

3. Aikins Addae, Arko Fenyi & Kwadwo Bonsu (2021). Discursive Strategies of
Ideological Representations in Political Speeches: A Critical Discourse Analysis of
Selected Speeches of Kwame Nkrumah: UICELL, Jakata, Indonesia

4. Kwadwo Bonsu, Millicent Quarcoo & Aikins Addae (2022). Verb- Noun Collocations
in Newspaper Editorials in Ghana. A Corpus- Based Analysis: Contemporary Journal
of African Studies, UG, Legon

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ONGOING RESEARCH:
1. Ideological Motivations of Metaphors in Selected Speeches of John Dramani Mahama
2. A corpus-Based analysis of modality in the COVID 19 Addresses by President Akufo
Addo
3. A Corpus-Based analysis of Adjective-noun collocations in the COVID 19 Addresses
delivered by President Akufo Ado

COURSES I HAVE BEEN TEACHING

Phonetics and Phonology of English language

Semantics
Forms and Functions of English Clauses
Language and Linguistics
Communication Skills
General English (English Language Studies 1)
Modern English Structure and Usage (MESU 1, 2 &3)
Language and Literacy
Comprehension and Composition
Methods of Teaching English Language

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PROJECT WORK SUPERVISION

I have supervised sixty-three students from both St. Monica’s College of Education and
CoDel, University of Education, Winneba

ASSESSMENT
I have served as both examiner and assistant examiner for both Institute of Education, UCC
and CoDel, UEW. The courses I have served as both examiner and assistant examiner are
listed below:
Phonetics and Phonology
Semantics
Forms and Functions of English Clauses
Language and Linguistics
English Studies 1
Language and Literacy
Communication Skills

COMPETENCE:

Hardworking, self-motivated, possess good sense of humour.

Enjoy meeting new challenges and seeing them through to completion, while remaining
confident and composed under pressure.
Adapt well to new situations and able to work independently and, as part of a team.
Able to work effectively with or without supervision.
Ready to learn, and accept constructive criticisms as and when they come.

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REFEREES:

Prof. Evershed K. Amuzu

Head, Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon

TEL: 0243754406

Dr. Akosua Bossompim Quarcoo

Senior Lecturer: Department of English Education,

University of Education, Winneba

Tel: 0208182933

Dr. Israel Peace Nwendu,

Lecturer: Department of English Education,

University of Education, Winneba

Tel: 0269167726

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SIGNATURE: ………………………. DATE: ……………………

PERSOSNAL STATEMENT AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

A Statement of Purpose and Personal Statement
Statement of Purpose. While SOP includes a two-page essay about your motivation, goals,
experience, extracurricular activities and so on. On the other hand, a Personal Statement is
a crisp one-page essay about your motivation, inspiration, goals, and achievements.
A Personal Statement is more personal than an SOP so a Personal Statement should
elaborate on your aspirations and motivations. An SOP is a much more detailed version of
the Personal Statement. First of all, you need to understand what a Statement of purpose is
and what is Personal Statement?
The main difference between the two is that a statement of purpose contains what you
want to do or achieve by pursuing the course you are applying to, whereas a personal
statement includes details about you, who you are?

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Statement of Purpose
A Statement of Purpose is an essay stating the purpose of applying for a particular course
in a particular university. This essay consists of a gist of who you are, who you want to
become, and how ready you are to pursue a certain course in an institution. The SOP
states the candidate‘s life, the motivations for the chosen career path and his/her goals.
Therefore, a candidate should discuss the past incidents that have influenced your career
path in a specific domain wherein you aspire to grow by joining a course/college.

Personal Statement
It is a piece of writing which paints an image of you. It reveals all that can be found in your
CV / resume or transcript. It could also be explained as a brief personal summary to be given
to a prospective employers to help you stand apart from the competition or selection process.
Some of the various personal statements have been treated below:

Personal statements for scholarship application.

- It should indicate why you deserve the scholarship. This implies that the statement
should relate to the goals of the scholarship
- It should showcase your strength

Personal statement for application of college admission

It should paint a picture for every reader to know what the college represents. This should
come with examples rather than stating the accomplishment.

- It should complement the other parts of the application.

The personal statement should tell a story about you.

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Features of a good personal statement

- It should be personal: It should be unique to the writer’s identity.

- Speaks like you: It should have a genuine tone that reflects who you are.
- Think about your audience: It is important to consider the interests and goals of your
audience in order to get their attention.
- Edit your work.
- In events that you are not sure of yourself, get someone to do editing for you.

Importance of personal statement

- It is an important part of one’s CV.

- It offers the chance to sell yourself to employer, registrar, selection officer etc.
- It brings out the difference between you and other competitors.

A personal statement should not be more than 150 words.

It should be concise, pertinent and straight to point.

UNIT 6
MEMORANDUM/EDITING/PROOFREADING
MEMORANDUM
A memorandum is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting such as
organizations, institutions companies. Etc. Commonly abbreviated as "memo,"
It can again be explained as a form of written communication within an organization. It can be
vertical or horizontal. This implies that a memo can be sent from upward to downward or
from downward to upward (sideways).

The forging suggest that one person from a department can send a memo to another person in
a different department within same organization. At times, the memo could be sent from an
individual to a unit, section or division in an organization. This implies that memo does
internal communication which uses mails, desk delivery, pigeon-holes, and collection in
person. It therefore leaves a mark in order for directives to be given, inquiries to be made,

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given instructions, requests, recommendation etc. and can serve as future reference for
something pressing.

Format of a memo

A memorandum serves as a guide to memory of people who read it. It is therefore used to
give brief message, decisions, and activities in an organization. This implies that the format
of memo varies from one organization to another and other traditional forms of
communication. It may also vary according to the policy of an organization.

Features of a standard Memo.

The three bullets below are the features of a standard memo:

a. heading which bears the name of the organization.

b. identity of the sender, recipient and the subject written in capital letter.

c. date of the memo

The location of the features stated above on a memo is solely the discretion of the
organization (also known as a house style of the organization). It can be typed on a blank
sheet or on organizational memo pads which contains all the necessary features of the
organizational house style for writing memos. Whatever form it takes, a memo may be written
on A4 size sheet/pad or A5 depending on the length of the memo.

One of the feature of memo is that it has no closing remarks or complimentary close or a
signature. In order to make the memo authentic, it should indicate the source as (e.g from.
Alhassan, Yaa Asantewaa, Oduro Isaac, etc. In distribution, the sender should place a
distribution list at the end of the memo (e.g. Copy to: Madam Yaa Asantewaa, Bambark, Mr
Aning, Mr. Ampoma etc).

Sample of memo

St. Monica’s college of Education

To: All Heads of Department Ref:ST/DAA

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From: Mr Amankwaa, College Secretary

Date: 10th June, 2022

Subject: invitation to academic board meeting.

I write to inform you that as part of our mandates, the college management wishes to invite
you to the first academic board meeting in the 2022/2023 academic Year. You are also
reminded to bring along a report from the department you represent.

The meeting has become necessary during PRINCOF meeting which took place at WESCO
on 14th March, 2022. In line with the directive from the director general of GTEC, all staff in
the colleges of education must be abreast with duration of the teacher training education.

Characteristics of memo

Every standard memo should have the characteristics below:

a. It has flexible structure.

b. It has simple structure.
c. It can be less formal, formal or informal depending on the position of the sender and
the recipient in the organization. It is formal when a subordinate is writing to a
superior (report or complains). It is informal or less formal if a colleague is writing to
a college of same level or similar.
d. In writing a memo, the writer’s language should be simple, clear and unambiguous.
This is important because it will serve the language need of varied people in the
organization.

Types of Memos

The most known memo are;

a. Internal recommendations,
b. Justifications, progress,
c. Periodic and survey.

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Internal Recommendation Report

A subordinate usually writes this kind of memo to a superior who has assigned a duty to him.
It is mostly persuasive, factual and formal. Find sample below:

St Monica’s College of Education

Accounts section

To Mr Antwi, the F. O

From - Ben, Accountant

Subject: Disbursement of Refund

This is to inform you that appropriate measures are far advanced to carry out the refund
process as discussed over phone while you were on assignment outside Mampong.

In respond to your directives, I have compiled all the list of affected student to be paid.

I hereby request that you order the auditor to expedite action so that the refund is done as
scheduled.

Signed (optional)

Justification Memos

In this Memo, the writer plans by him/ herself. It is not borne out of superior’s influence
unlike the recommendation memo. They are often written to justify changes in policies and
procedures of an organization. Subordinates often use it to lay bare their initiative skill and to
be recognized by senior officers. Sample of internal justification memo has been captured
below:

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Format of Justification Memo.

- Recommendation at their benefits

- Advantages of the sender’s suggestions
- Conclusions
- Details on how conclusions were arrived at

Example

St. Monica’s S.R.C

To: The President

From: Linda Ansu, course Rep for level 200, languages

Subject: Reducing travelling cost through the use of WhatsApp and phone calls

Purpose:

Through the use of social media specifically WhatsApp and also calls, the S R C can save
50,000 cedis every year. I therefore recommend the use of these two media instead of
travelling.

Cost and saving/ benefits

Two hundred Minutes calls and 1000mgb data for WhatsApp will cost only 5000 cedis. This
has very cost advantage over travelling which costs the SRC 50,000 cedis every year. This
implies that two media will save the S.R.C 45,000 cedis every year.

Existing Procedure

As matter of fact, travelling to various campuses for meetings and other networking has been
the major source of drain in the S.R.C coffers. Such medium can be replaced with phone calls

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and some media such as whatsApp, Zoom, Google meeting, etc. which require airtime, a data
and internet connection. This will obviously be much cheaper compared to the other medium.

Anticipated Problems.

Though there are sometimes challenges associated with the use of phone, internet and social
media, it must also be pointed out that the face-to-face interactions equally have their
challenges.

However, people are becoming use to the new trends of communication and networking

Conclusions

In conclusion, the SRC shall derive some benefits from the use of social media apps than
traveling. These benefits include;

1. it reduces risk .

2. it cost effective: An amount of 45000 cedis can be saved for other purposes .

3. it will take away absenteeism in meetings due to health and other personal issues.

4. It avoids lateness to meetings

Discussion and conclusion

In the last six months, the SRC has embarked on 28 different journeys for different purpose
which could have been carried out through 20 gigabyte and other means using mobile apps.
This has cost the S. R .C an amount of 50,000 cedis in the last six months. In these journeys,
the executives just spent just 20 hours in all for such meetings. Meanwhile, they always spend
three days whenever they embark on such journeys for meetings. In this case, mobile apps can
reduce number of lost days for academic works and school related businesses.

Most cases, these meetings end abruptly without way forward. In this case, the purpose for
travelling becomes meaningless. However, the use of mobile apps and other media will avoid
these things. This is because it is business like via the phone and laptop.

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Progress reports/memo

Progress reports are used to keep the activities of the organization on track. In a situation
where different tasks have been assigned to different people, it is important for the
organization to receive a report on how the tasks are being carried out. The reports are used to
evaluate the activities assigned to individuals as well as progress of the organization.

Progress report gives management answers to the following questions

- How much has been achieved or covered since the last progress report
- What is the present status of the project - is it on schedule?
- If yes, what is the stage and if not, what went wrong
- How was the problem rectified

A progress report-/memo covers the current status of the project. Find sample below:

Department of languages St.

Monica’s college of Education.

To: The Head of Department

From: The Unit Head, English language

Subject: Progress Report: Update on Student’s performance.

Work completed: Our unit has met twice this semester beginning from February to May
2022. In our first meeting, we identified some challenges that affect teaching and learning.

Types of meeting

- Discussion of contact hours per tutor

- Training section for tutors
- Teachers’ professional development

At our second meeting which was on 17th May, 2022 targeted certain concerns raised by
tutors in the unit.

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Discussion on contact hours.

The number of hours assigned to tutors are way beyond measure. It will be ideal for the
department to consider recruiting at least two tutors to augment the strength of the staff. We
also request that, the college puts up large auditoriums to host more students at a time. In this
case, one teacher can handle at least 150-200 students at time. This will help teachers to deal
with stress which is caused as result of fatigue.

Work in progress

Many attempts have been made to update ourselves on new topics that have been introduced
as well as new courses.

Expectations

It is expected that by close of this semester, the department through the head of department
will table a written request to management to facilitate the process of recruiting additional
tutors to the unit. A discussion on extra tuition allowance should be considered and forwarded
to management for action. As soon as these are done, the unit will be strong and vibrant.

OTHER TYPES OF MEMOs NEEDED TO BE READ

For the purposes of this discussion Internal Memo proposal will be considered. internal
memo – A communication between members of, or groups within, a single department.
Internal memorandums provide your co-workers and managers with information on
projects, goals, deadlines, problems request and other topics. If you expect your memo to
be read, it's important to write as briefly as possible and clearly identify the purpose of the
memo. Other types of memos include the following
• Interoffice memo – An internal communication between two or more
departments; similar to an internal memo, but with one or more added
departments
▪ Office memo – Another name for an internal memo

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▪ Business memo – A formal correspondence between two parties within a

company
▪ Policy memo – A directive sent by the head of a department to all employees
communicating a change in company policy
▪ Operational memo – Similar to a policy memo, an operational memo issues
a directive to all employees discussing a change in operational procedure
▪ Memorandum of agreement – An agreement between two parties
describing a working relationship. Unlike most memos, a memorandum of
agreement is a legal document
▪ Memorandum of understanding – A memorandum of understanding is the
same as a memorandum of agreement
We use memo when one or you want to:
• Persuade
• Issue a directive
• Provide information
• Communicate semi-formally
• Request
EDITING AND PROOFREADING IN ACADEMIC WRITING
Definition of Editing
It is the process of revising the content, organization, grammar and presentation of piece of
writing. Proofreading on the other hand is an attempt to check accuracy in a piece of writing
that is nearly completed. It includes smaller details of grammar and punctuations. The purpose
of editing is to ensure that ideas are presented to readers as clearly as possible. However,
proofreading focuses on checking on accuracy of details of a work. Though proofreading is
part of the whole editing process, it is always done at the final stage of editing.
Editing involves a process of correcting errors and making words and sentences clearer, more
precise and as effective as possible. It involves adding, deleting and rearranging words to cut
the clutter and streamline overall structure.

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Editing is an attempt to make a piece of writing flawless. It ensures that sentences are more
informative and clear to the reader. Editing makes work more professional and valuable. It
identifies the strength of work and makes it powerful.

IMPORTANCE OF EDITING

• It leads to clarification of ideas

• It ensures imagination
• It leads to rethinking

Editing checkpoints

This focuses on:

- Spellings
- Grammar
- Numbering

Stages of editing

The stages have been listed below:

- Adding

- Deleting

- Rearrangement of elements

Types of Editing
Ongoing editing:

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This is editing process which goes concurrently with the writing process. This involves
reconciliation, replacing words, phrase, clauses and sentences with new ones while the writing
is ongoing.

Draft editing
This is the point in which the writer stops writing, looks back at what he/she has writing in
order to rewrite what did not go down well. This is the kind of editing that makes the work
assumes professional rank.

Line Edit
This is where a manuscript is edited line by line, paying careful attention to every line,
literally, of your manuscript. The arrangement of words in a sentence, the power a sentence
does or does not carry, strength of dialogue lines, etc.
Developmental Editing
Developmental editing like most edits, happen during the revision process. This edit will
focus on improving the manuscript as a whole and focuses on major elements such as overall
plot, character development
Substantive Editing
This deals with the organization and presentation of existing content. It involves rewriting to
improve style or to eliminate ambiguity, reorganizing or tightening disorganized or loosely
written sections, adjusting or recasting tables, and other remedial editing.”

Mechanical Editing
This involves the consistent application of a particular style to a written work–including text
and documentation and any tables and illustrations… Mechanical editing also includes
attention to grammar, syntax, and usage.”

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Proof Edit
Proof editing is the last stage of editing and is done with the finalized copy of the manuscript.
At this stage, the proof editor will look for issues in format, misspellings, grammar issues,
inconsistencies, etc. This is the last chance to correct issues before the manuscript goes to
print. Fresh eyes are crucial during this type of editing to ensure typos are caught and fixed.

IMPORTANCE OF EDITING
• To bring consistency, correctness on formatting and layout in the writing
• To bring proper tone or mood of a document as author intends
• To bring perfectness on the draft that has been prepared
• To be well researched with clarity written ideas
• To record accurate research findings
• To make writing error free
• To be as concise as possible in writing
• To establish logical flow and good arguments in the document
• To bring uniformity and correctness in citing and referencing following a particular
style APA, MLA, Harverd
• To check redundancy in the writing
• To entice the readers to keep on reading

PROOFREADING
It is mostly referred to as last line of defense in the editing process to make sure no errors go
through to the final manuscript. A proof is a final version of a book. Therefore it requires last
stage of editing before publishing. It involves fine-tuning the work to resolve all issues
regarding spelling, grammar, numbering, line spacing etc. It may also include page layout,
page numbering, table of content etc.
From another perspective, Proofreading is the act of reviewing and fixing errors within the
final draft of your writing to make sure the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and format are
consistent and accurate. You can either decide to proofread the copy yourself or to hire a

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professional proofreader. In other words, proofreading is limited to the final phase of the
writing process and is for the explicit purpose of eliminating distracting minor errors from the
manuscript.

Importance for proofreading a document?

Having your copy professionally proofread is important because:
• It eliminates spelling, grammatical, capitalization, and numbering errors that look
unprofessional
• It cleans up punctuation mistakes
• It fixes formatting inconsistencies
• it improves word choices and sentence structure
But that's not all. In addition to ensuring that your copy is completely free of errors, there are
other reasons why proofreading is essential for your business:
1. It ensures clarity of brand message. You already know the message you want to
convey to your audience, but that doesn't mean it will automatically translate to your
readers. Confusing wording or grammar errors can lead to a misunderstanding or a
lack of interest. Proofreaders clear up misunderstandings, ensuring that your message
is clear and consistent. They eliminate confusion and bring your brand message front
and center.
2. It gives a positive image of your business. As mentioned earlier, there are some
mistakes that just make your writing feel unprofessional and almost rude. Having a
proofreader review every piece of work published under your business name
eliminates every unprofessional mistake. Having a polished piece of writing reassures
your audience that you are, in fact, the expert in your field.
3. It saves time and money
In addition to saving you time, you can save yourself thousands by ensuring simple errors
are avoided.

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What to look for by proofreader

Fixing errors is the main action a professional proofreader takes when proofreading, but there
is much more behind a proofreader's job.
Going into more details a professional proofreader checks your copy for:
1. Spelling Typos. Even the best writers make the occasional spelling mistake. When
writing, the focus is predominantly on the brand message and voice, leaving plenty of
room for a misspelled word to slip in. This can cause an unprofessional appearance or
even a poor interpretation of your meaning, depending on how grievous the mistake
may be.
2. Grammar Errors. Grammar errors are the fastest way to discredit yourself to your
reader, which can hurt your chance of being viewed as an authority in your industry.
Like spelling errors, these are difficult to catch when you are so focused on conveying
your broader meaning. A good proofreader will find your sentence fragments,
dangling modifiers, and vague references. They will take those issues and turn them
around to make shiny new sentences that have a clear meaning, eliminating confusion
for your readers and prospective customers.
3. Punctuation Mistakes.
A proofreader will make sure that your punctuation is in the right spot, conveys the
right tone, and plays by all the guideline rules it needs to.
4. Incorrect Word Usage. There are many commonly misused words and phrases.
Sometimes, it’s a matter of focusing on the big picture instead of the individual word.
Other times, it’s a matter of simply not knowing the difference. Having the wrong
word can change the meaning drastically and can make it unclear to your audience.
5. Inconsistent brand style and voice. Proofreaders look for places this voice changes
and help create a more cohesive experience for your readers. It is important to be
consistent be in formal, conversational etc.
6. Hyphenation and capitalization errors. Both capital letters and hyphens can get
confusing at times, and they'll confuse your readers too. Make it easy on yourself and
your readers and hire a professional proofreader.

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7. Verb tenses. They make sure your verbs don’t contradict each other, making your
writing awkward and clunky. Writing should be smooth and easy to read, and
proofreaders help make it so.
8. Formatting. Formatting your writing is just as important as the words themselves that
is ensuring the right headings and subheadings are in the right place. The correct font
is used before publishing. Poor formatting can lose a reader's interest before they make
it past the introduction, so be sure someone is looking to make your writing as visually
polished as possible.

TOPIC

SPEECH

Types of speeches

Speeches varies according to:

a. size and composition of audience

b. purpose and objective of the speech.

c. the complex nature of the content of the speech

d. the context of the speech and

e. Time for the speech.

Size and composition of audience

Regarding the audience, speech delivered to college students will be different from speech
delivered to tutors. The size of audience can range from single individual, small group, a
conference of delegates such as churches, banks etc. It is important for the audience to have a

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fore knowledge about what one is going to say. They must also know the area and topic to
speak from, register, vocabulary are important elements which the audience must be in the
know.

Purpose of the speech

This refers to what one is offering the audience. It could be any of the listed below;

1. Technical information or briefing (e.g. Problems identified in an area, new policies in

education, research)

2. Persuasion: to convince people to respond to how one wants things to be done.

3. Instructions: How to perform some task, write stories.

4. Recommendations

5. Entertainment

How easy or difficult the subject is also largely influence the type of speech. For instance, it is
not so easy to deliver a speech on a topic to specialists in the field in which the topic was
culled from.

Context of speech

This has to do with formality and informality of the situation.

Time and Speech

Time is very crucial in speech delivery. Time allocated for speech is important in the
presentation process. A short speech will require short time whiles long speech will require
long time.

Stages of Speech writing

Speech delivery goes through three main stages. These are planning, writing and delivery.

PLANNING

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This is the stage in which an objective is determined, purpose described and the content of the
speech. The objective could be that the speech intends to change attitude, motivate people,
and entertain people. For instance, if the objective of the speech is to entertain, we expect that
people feel entertained at the end. The planning involves learning to give clues that will help
the audience to follow the speech.

In planning the speech, it must be;

• Credible
• Relevant
• Entertaining
• Supportive in decision making
• Understandable to all
• Avoid offensive, threatening etc.

In planning, the physical strength of the audience listening to the speech must be considered.

Stay focus to avoid situation where listeners may want to listen outside. It is also important to
consider the duration of the presentation as well as being clear in articulation during speech
writing and delivery.

WRITING STAGE

This is the stage at which the author presents all the thoughts through planning onto paper.
Putting one’s thought on a paper can sometimes be frustrating and confusing. It is important
to stay focus and write within the plans made.

Writing speeches involves;

• Brainstorming: It involves writing all the thoughts, ideas, and points as they fall out of
the brain. It is important to write them down as they occur without considering
whether they are relevant or not.
• Prioritizing: This involves selecting key points as well as important points that are
relevant to the topic being written on. This is where points writing in the
brainstorming stage are either rejected or selected to be incorporated into the speech.

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• Outline: This involves designing the structure of the speech. It includes introduction,
supporting evidence, examples, illustrations etc. and conclusions.
• Practice: This is the stage in which the speech is rehearsed so as to be abreast of what
the author has done. It also involves learning the sequence of ideas of your
presentation. Practice helps one to identify mechanical accuracies in sentences,
illogical ideas, dull and uninspiring words or phrases, unexplained terms etc. It also
enables one to adjust the length and of the speech and manner of delivery.

DELIVERY

Areas to avoid in speech delivery;

• Mannerism – It can affect the flow of the speech and therefore must be avoided
• Too much questions must be avoided (1mean, you know etc. can discourage audience
from following the speech)
• Stage fright and narrowness: To duel with this, prepare thorough and rehearse
expected or anticipated questions
• Being at the venue on time
• Maintaining eye contact
• Keeping an upright gesture

The most important part of speech delivery is introduction. This is the part in which the one
presenting the speech demonstrates credibility and acceptance from the audience. One can do
this by:

✓ Establishing the relevance of the topic

✓ Establishing authority to speak on the subject
✓ Let the audience know how you want to present the topic so as to arouse the interest of
the audience.

The purpose of the bullets above is to whet the appetite of the audience through smooth
transition from one paragraph to the other

Example of speech

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The open part of speech contains vocatives and it must be strictly ensured. The vocatives are
itemized below:

Mr. Chairman, the Head of Department, Tutors, Invited Guest, Parents, Students, Ladies and
Gentlemen.

It gives me a great pleasure to stand before you this afternoon to deliver a speech on the topic
that affects our academic progress as students. Eventhough I don’t claim to be an expert in
education, I have strong conviction that, this speech will add to the repository of knowledge
we already have. If the speech ends on the note that it has highlighted on some issues that
impede our academic progression and solutions adduced, I would then say the speech has
achieved its target.

Now to my topic Mr. Chairman

…………………………………………………………………….

Note: Speeches are not signed. This means that they do not come with subscription.

The concluding part of it should capture the summary of all that have been discussed in the
body.

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