The first part of the book, ‘Communication Skills and Language’, has units on communication, writing skills, vocabulary and grammar. The second part, ‘Reading for Enrichment’, has five reading texts followed by exercises on reading comprehension, communication skills and language. The book offers students adequate opportunities to work on their language and communication skills, particularly writing, through guidelines and examples as well as a variety of challenging exercises.
Professor Suresh Kumar is Head, Department of English, Osmania University, Hyderabad, and Director, English Language Training Centre, Osmania University.
Preface v
PART I: COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND LANGUAGE
1. Introduction to Communication 1 Role and Importance of Communication 1 Features of Human Communication 1 Process of Communication 2 Types of Communication: Verbal and Non-verbal Communication 4 Importance of Listening in Effective Communication 9 Barriers to Communication 11
2. Communication through Writing 17 Paragraph Writing 17 Communication through Letters: Personal and Offi cial Letters, Emails 26 Résumé Writing 41 Report Writing 45 Punctuation 55
3. Effective Vocabulary 71 Words Often Confused 71 One-word Substitutes 73 Idiomatic Usage 76 Using a Dictionary and a Thesaurus 81
4. Functional Grammar 85 Parts of Speech 85iv Enriching Speaking and Writing Skills Articles 86 Prepositions 89 Tense 90 Concord 96 Question Tags 99 PART II: READING FOR ENRICHMENT 5. Sachin Tendulkar 101
6. Michael Jackson 110
7. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam 117
8. Our Picture of the Universe 125
9. The Scientific Point of View 138