Letter Writing
DIAGRAMATIC REPRESENTATION (DATA VISUALIZATION) A pie chart (or a circle chart) is a circular statistical graphic, which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice (and consequently its central angle and area), is proportional to the quantity it represents. A bar chart or bar graph is a chart that presents grouped data with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A vertical bar chart is sometimes called a column bar chart.. Principles for Drawing Tree Diagrams Different textbooks present different variations on the tree diagram, depending on the details of their analysis. The basic principles, however, remain constant, and if you understand them, you should be able to grasp the diagrams' essence no matter what the details. Tree diagrams are most often drawn above the item being diagrammed.[1] A tree consists of nodes. A node has a label, for example NP for noun phrase, VP for verb phrase, and so on. The node at the very top of the tree, the one from which all the others ultimately derive, is called the root of the tree. The nodes are connected by lines, known as edges. The terminal nodes of our diagrams, the ones without any children, are known as the leaves of the tree. They will contain labels for the word categories (parts of speech) of each word. Borrowing terminology from genealogical trees, the nodes below another node are sometimes called the children of that node. A node that has children is a parent node. Just as with people, parent nodes can themselves be children of other parents. If we need to talk about nodes that are children of children, we call them descendants. Unlike genealogical trees, however, it is important to note that while a node may have several children, it only has one parent. Also, each line should connect to one child node. Do not show two edges connecting to a single word.
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How to make notes: NOTE MAKING Read the passage carefully. Heading What is the main idea of the passage? Frame a heading based on the central idea and write it in the middle of the page. Subheadings How has the main idea been presented and developed? Are there two or three subordinate/associated ideas? You can frame subheadings based on these. Points Are there further details or points of the subtitles that you wish to keep in these notes? Indent, i.e., suitably space and number. All subheadings should be written at a uniform distance from the margin. Indenting All points should also maintain the same distance away from the margin. Note: Do not write full sentences. And use abbreviations wherever necessary. Read below for more help on abbreviations. Help with abbreviations Use standard abbreviations and symbols as far as possible: Capitalized first letters of words e.g. U.P.,U.S.A.,U.K.,U.S.S.R.,etc. Common abbreviations Sc. (for science), Mr., Ms., Dr., Govt., etc Common symbols e.g., : \, ∴ , +ve, -ve, ® (leading to), ↑ (rising), ↓ (falling), =, etc. Measurements and Figures e.g., : 100′, 100", 100 kg, 1000 mm, 100ml, etc. Making your own abbreviations: Keep the main sounds of the word. For example, edn. (education), progm. (programme) Retain the suffix so that later when you are going over the notes you may recall the full form of the word —e.g., ed'nal (educational), prog've (progressive). Caution Do not get over-enthusiastic about abbreviations. You should not abbreviate every word. One abbreviation in point is enough. As a general rule, the heading should not be abbreviated. You may use abbreviations in subheadings. (It is essential to know its format to score well: Main Heading 1. Sub-heading 1A Line1 1B Line2 2. Sub-heading 2A Line1 2B Line2 These are few points which are to be kept in mind while making notes. • Indent the notes properly • Use of abbreviations • Heading / Title (should be 3 - 4) • Sub heading (should be 3-4) • Key at the end of the note (It should be enclosed with a box) • Don't include all the information present in an article or paragraph. • There should be no grammatically correct sentences in the notes. One thing to note here is that, note making is one of the highly scoring part in your English examination provided you get an easy article. Don't panic if you don't, just read it twice or even thrice depending upon your grip over the language. Once you are fine and are able to grasp the main points of the article, just jot them down somewhere and bingo! there you go with your notes. Just arrange them using the format mentioned above and you're done.
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It is better to follow what has been prescribed by BIE. However, from the point of view of a layman, you can follow the following formats for letters, speeches, articles, and notices:- 1) Formal Letters: - Address the concerned person, along with his/her full address - Write the present date - Give a Subject Line that should briefly talk about the purpose of the letter - Address the person with salutation - Body of the letter - Sign off with your signature, name, designation, phone number Example: To The Manager Canara Bank Gole Market New Delhi- (Pincode) Date: Subject Dear Sir/Madam Body of the text (Here, towards the end you can mention - Please find attached my CV/resume for your perusal OR I have attached my updated resume for your reference) Yours sincerely, (Signature) Name Phone Number 2) Informal Letters - Address of the person you are writing the letter to - Date - Address the concerned person with salutation -Body of the text - Sign off with your name and address Example:- XYZ Block ABC Colony New Delhi- (Pin Code) Dear (Friend/Person's Name) Body of the text (Here too, you can write a sentence saying- I have attached my resume for your consideration/reference) Yours faithfully, Name Address 3) Speeches - Keeping in mind the time of the day, address by saying Good Morning/Evening - Your point of contact here is the audience, jury members and your fellow participants - Give an introduction about yourself along with the topic you are going to speak on - Conclude by a vote of thanks Example: A Very Good Morning To All of You Respected jury members, and my dear friends. I am (Your Name) of (Name of school/college/organisation). I am going to speak to you about (The Topic) 4) Articles - Depending for what purpose you have to write an article on, your beginning will vary. - However, for any article, you have to keep in mind the fact that you address the 5Ws and 1H- What, When, Why, Where, Who, and How. - Once you have these 6 things in place, you have to ensure your article has a structure. Usually while writing news articles, (which also holds true for a general article), following an inverted pyramid structure is advisable. An inverted pyramid structure basically means there will be an introduction, body and conclusion to the article. - Keep your sentences short, and crisp. - Give headings, sub-headings wherever necessary. But do not over do it. - Your headline (title of the article) should be short as well. Maximum 7 words. 5) Notice - Understand for what purpose is the notice. This is important because you may not need detailed information for everything. - Give a short heading with maximum 5 words. Eg: Come One, Come All OR Annual Fair OR Library Session OR Important Notice - Date, Time, Venue must be captured in the notice and preferably, in BOLD. - Do sign off the notice with your name, designation and organisation - The body of the notice should ideally have maximum 80 words. The shorter the notice, the better it is to comprehend for people.
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WORD-STRESS There are some word stress rules about which syllable to stress. But...the rules are rather complicated! Probably the best way to learn is from experience. Listen carefully to spoken English and try to develop a feeling for the "music" of the language. When you learn a new word, you should also learn its stress pattern. If you keep a vocabulary book, make a note to show which syllable is stressed. If you do not know, you can look in a dictionary. All dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word. This is where they show which syllable is stressed, usually with an apostrophe (') just before or just after the stressed syllable. (The notes in the dictionary will explain the system used.) Look at (and listen to) this example for the word plastic. There are two syllables and the first syllable is stressed. phonetic spelling for plastic dictionary A dictionary B /plæs' tIk/ /'plæs tIk/ Notice that dictionary A uses a different system to dictionary B to show which syllable is stressed. Of course, it's the same word (plastic), and the stress is the same (the first syllable). But dictionary A puts an apostrophe after the stressed syllable, and dictionary B puts an apostrophe before the stressed syllable. You need to check your dictionary's notes to know which system it uses. Word Stress Rules There are two very simple rules about word stress: One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.) We can only stress vowels, not consonants. Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally. A. Stress on first syllable rule example Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy B. Stress on last syllable rule example Most 2-syllable verbs preSENT, exPORT, deCIDE, beGIN There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable. C. Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end) rule example Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic Words ending in -sion and -tion teleVIsion, reveLAtion For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy. D. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) rule example Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical E. Compound words (words with two parts) rule example For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part BLACKbird, GREENhouse For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part underSTAND, overFLOW
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