Conjunctions – Uses of Conjunction from MBA MB0023 Business Communication

We already have discussed about Preposition in detailed. Now, the chapter will reveal some secret about conjunctions. A Conjunction is a word which connects words, phrases, clauses or sentences. There are two classes of conjunctions. They are:

Co-ordinate Conjunctions

Subordinate Conjunctions

Co-ordinate Conjunctions joins two clauses or sentences which are at par in terms of importance. They also join two words of equal grammatical rank. The chief co-ordinate conjunctions are – and, but, for, nor, or, otherwise, else, also, either --- or, neither --- nor, both --- and.

Co-ordinate conjunctions are further divided into:

Cumulative conjunctions: They add one statement/fact to another. They are – not only – but also, both – and, as well as, too, also, moreover, and.

For example – They sang melodiously, and played the guitar well.

Alternative conjunctions: They express a choice between two alternatives. They are – or, else, either – or, neither – nor, otherwise.

For example – She is good neither at games not at studies.

Adversative conjunctions: They express a contrast between two facts or statements. They are – however, but, only, yet, still, whereas, nevertheless.

For example – I would have been there; only I am too busy this week.

Illative conjunctions: They show that a statement/fact is proved or inferred from another. They are – hence, therefore, so, subsequently, consequently, for.

For example – He is honest and amiable, hence is revered.

Subordinate conjunctions: are the conjunctions that connect the subordinate clauses to the main clauses in sentences.

Subordinate conjunction of time – The patient had died before the doctor arrived.

Subordinate conjunction of reason – Since you insist, I will come to your home.

Subordinate conjunction of purpose – We eat so that we may live.

Subordinate conjunction of condition – I wonder why you left the company.

Subordinate conjunction of consequence – The baby was so tired that it slept immediately.

Subordinate conjunction of concession – Though you insist, I will not talk to her.

Subordinate conjunction of comparison – You are taller than I.

As like verb and adverb, conjunction is also the most important chapter in English grammar. So, I have tried to explain some basic uses of conjunctions in this chapter.

Preposition – Uses of Prepositions from Business Communication MB0023 SMU MBA

Prepositions are the words, which tell us about the relations of the nouns, pronouns and adjectives in a sentence. Their position is before (pre) the noun. Hence they are said to govern the noun. The noun which follows is said to be the object of the preposition. They are:

Simple Prepositions: in, on, after, at, which, under, above, etc.

For example – He wrote the notes with a pen.

Complex Prepositions: along with, apart from, as for, as to away from, onto, out of, together with, upto, such as, except for, owing to, due to, but for, because of, by means of, on account of, in comparison with, in accordance with, in view of, in spite of, instead of.

Uses of Prepositions:

A preposition can be used at the beginning of an interrogative sentence.

For example – At what time do you leave for office?

A preposition is placed at the end of the sentence in the following ways:

If a preposition governs a relative pronoun – This is the book which I mentioned about.

When the relative pronoun is ‘that’ – This is the school that I went to.

When the relative pronoun is understood – This is the person you spoke to.

If a preposition governs an interrogative pronoun or an interrogative adverb – What are you looking at?

When the preposition is used with the infinitive at the end of the sentence – Do you have a chair to sit on?

A word is considered a preposition when it governs a noun/pronoun. Otherwise it becomes an adverb. The most important words are – about, above, across, along, after, before, below, behind, besides, by, down, in, on, near, off, over, past, round, through, under, up etc.

He got off the bus at the corner (preposition)

He got off at the corner (adverb)

Peter is behind us (preposition)

He’s a long way behind (adverb)

She climbed over the wall (preposition)

You’ll have to climb over too (adverb)

Relations expressed by prepositions:

Preposition of time: on, in, at, for, before, after, until, till, between, by, upto.

For example – She was healthy till yesterday.

Preposition of place: to, at from away, on, onto, of, in, into, out, upon, inside, within, by over, above, on top of, behind, in front of, below, beneath, across through, all over, throughout, between, among.

For example – Where do you come from?

Preposition of method and manner: by, with

For example – The boys skipped going to school with audacity.

Preposition of reason and purpose: with, of, for

For example – I rented a house for my holidays.

Preposition of possession: of, with, by

For example – The tomb of Akbar is in Sikandarabad.

Preposition of direction and motions: into, towards, up, round, across

For example – They climbed into the lorry.

Preposition of contrast: despite

For example – Despite his mistakes, he is a sincere worker.

Correct use of some of the Prepositions:

Beside, besides:

The house is beside the river. (By the side of)

Besides being good at Tennis, he is also an excellent player of Golf. (In addition to/moreover)

Since, for:

He has been absent since Monday last. (Point of time)

He was absent for four days. (Length or period of time)

Between, among:

I have to choose between the two pictures. (Two persons/things)

This is the custom among the tribes. (More than two)

By, with:

He was killed by a servant. (Doer of the action)

He was killed with a knife. (Instrument of action)

In, at:

He lives at Juhu in Mumbai. (‘at’ – smaller area / ‘in’ – bigger area)

In, into:

He is in bed. (Indicates rest or motion inside anything)

He fell into the well. (Motion towards the inside of anything)

On, upon:

He sat on a chair. (Things at rest)

He lives on his maternal uncle. (Denoting support)

I wrote books on philosophy. (Denoting concern)

He jumped upon the horse. (Thins in motion)

In, within:

The loan will be repaid in a year. (End of a period of time)

The loan will be paid within a year. (Any time before the specified period)

Over, above:

They saw the peaks towering above them. (Higher)

We hung the picture over the fire place. (Vertically above)

Preposition is the biggest chapter in English Grammar. I have tried to explain the chapter with some good examples. The chapter has been taken from Business Communication MB0023 of SMU MBA.

Adverb – Uses of Adverbs from Business Communication MB0023

Adverb is also the biggest chapter in English grammar just like verb and Noun. Here, we talk about adverb and uses of adverbs from Business Communication MB0023.

Adverbs add more meaning to the verb, adjective, or another adverb in a sentence. It ‘modifies’ that word.

For example – Radha sings melodiously.

He left immediately.

Formation of Adverbs:

By adding – ly, to an adjective: beautifully, strongly.

By adding – wise, ways, wards: otherwise, sideways, upwards.

By combining a noun and a prefix: asleep, ahead, away, besides.

By combining a prefix and an adjective: alone, around, below.

Two adverbs joined by conjunction: by and by, over and above, now and then.

Adverbs tell us about the time, place, manner, quantity, reason and frequency of an action. They are recognized by asking certain questions to the verb.

Useage of Adverbs:

An adverb must be placed as near as possible to the word it modifies.

For example – He waited long.

If the verb is in the simple tense form, the adverb is usually placed between the subject and the verb it modifies.

For example – He often visits his home town.

If the verb is in the form of ‘to be’ (is, am was, are, were) the adverb comes after the verb. For example – She is a very sober girl.

If the verb is compound, the adverb comes after the auxiliary.

For example – He will always teach.

If the sentence is negative, the adverb of frequency follows ‘not’.

For example – They are not generally selfish.

If the sentence is interrogative the adverb takes position immediately after the subject.

For example – Has he ever spoken to you?

In case of infinitives (to + simple form of verb + do), adverb should not be placed in between ‘to’ and ‘do’.

For example – He refused to do the task quickly.

Use of ‘hardly – ‘Hard’ as an adverb usually follows the verb.

For example – He works hard to make both ends meet.

‘Hardly’ as an adverb conveys a negative meaning of scarcely or barely.

For example – Hardly had he spoken when the bell rang.

Use of ‘scarce’, scarcely’ – ‘Scarce’ as an adverb means hard to find.

For example – Coal has become scarce in England.

‘Scarcely’ as an adverb is almost synonymous with ‘hardly’.

For example – I can scarcely hear you.

‘Hardly’ and ‘scarcely’ are followed by when. ‘No sooner’ is followed by than.

For example – Hardly had the bell rung when the children ran out of the classroom.

No sooner had the bell rung than the children ran out of the classroom.

Now, adverb chapter is very clear to improve your communication skills. The chapter has been taken from Business Communication book of SMU MBA.

Verb – Uses of Verb in Tenses from Business Communication of MBA

Verb is the name of action in English grammar. Verb is divided into two parts – Transitive Verb and Intransitive Verb.

Transitive verb: the action passes from the subject to an object.

For example – My cat killed a rat.

In the sentence, the action of “killing” passes from the “cat” to the “rat”. In the sentence “killed” will be known as the transitive verb.

Intransitive verb: the action does not have any succeeding object. It merely points to a condition.

For example – The girl is dancing.

The action of “dancing” does not have any object that comes after it. Here “dancing” is an intransitive verb.

Uses of Verb in Tenses:

Tense refers to the time of action. The form of main verb changes with the change of tense. Tense has twelve structures.

Simple Present:

It is known for habitual action and permanent truths or facts.

Rules - Subject + V1

For example – The sun rises in the east.

Present Continuous:

The tense indicates the present time when an action is going on.

Rules – Subject + {is, am are} + V1+ ing

For example – My son is drawing scenery.

Present Perfect:

The tense indicates an action that has happened at an indefinite time in the past.

Rules – Subject + {have, has} + V3

For example – My father has just left.

Present Perfect Continuous:

The tense indicates an action that began in the past and still occurring in the present.

Rules – Subject + {have, has} + been + V1 + ing

For example – He has been working in Washington for 5 years.

Simple Past:

The tense is used for a completed action that had happened in the past. It indicates habits of the past also.

Rules – Subject + V2

For example – We always played together.

Past Continuous:

The tense indicates an action which was occurring in the past and was interrupted by another action.

Rules – Subject + {was, were} + V1 + ing

For example – I was watching cricket.

Past Perfect:

The tense is used to indicate an action that happened before another action in the past. Usually two actions are mentioned in the sentence.

Rules – Subject + Had + V3

For example – Ram had gone to the store.

Past Perfect Continuous:

The tense is used to convey an action which happened in the past and continued for certain time.

Rules – Subject + had + been + V1 + ing

For example – Ramu had been working at the university before he retired.

Simple Future:

The tense is used to express the speaker’s opinions or assumptions about the future.

Rules – Subject + {will, shall} + V1

For example – They will wait for us.

Future Continuous:

The tense is used to express an action as going on at some time in the future.

Rules – Subject + {will, shall} + be + V1 + ing

For example – I will be helping Marie tomorrow.

Future Perfect:

The tense is used for an action which at a given future time will be in the past. It is usually used with a time expression “by then”, “by that time”.

Rules – Subject + {will, shall} + have + V3

For example – By the end of next month he will have been here for ten years.

Future Perfect Continuous:

The tense can be used instead of future perfect tense.

Rules – Subject + {will, shall} + have + been + V1 + ing

For example – By the end of the week he will have been training pupils for ten years.

Verb and tense are interrelated elements in English grammar. It is the basic chapter of learning English. We already have discussed about Noun and Pronoun in the communication process chapter. Now, the Verb and uses of verb in tenses will surly improve your grammar skills. It will help in the examination of Business Communication of SMU MBA also.

Pronoun – Types of Pronoun and Uses of Pronoun from Business Communication of SMU MBA

After the discussion of Noun, I need to share some thought about Pronoun. The chapter is the most important in English grammar. Types of Pronoun are related to the uses of pronoun. The chapter deals the book of Business Communication of SMU MBA.

Pronoun:

Pronoun is known as another face of Noun. Pronoun is used as a proxy to the proper noun to avoid repetition of the Nouns. The word “Pronoun” means “For a Noun”. Thus, Pronoun is a word that is used instead of noun.

Types of Pronoun:

Personal Pronoun

Relative Pronoun

Distributive Pronoun

Demonstrative Pronoun

Indefinite Pronoun

Reflexive Pronoun

Emphatic Pronoun

Interrogative Pronoun

Reciprocal Pronoun

The personal Pronoun replacing the noun should conform to the gender, number and person of the noun.

Relative Pronoun must always be placed as near its antecedent as possible.

Distributive Pronoun is singular in number and must be followed by singular verb.

Demonstrative Pronoun is also used to avoid the repetition of a preceding noun.

Indefinite Pronoun refers to noun in a general way.

Reflexive Pronoun is used when subject and object refer to the same person.

Emphatic Pronoun is used to emphasize the subject of the sentence.

Reciprocal Pronoun expresses a mutual or reciprocal relationship.

Interrogative Pronoun is used for questions.

Uses of Pronoun:

When two singular nouns joined by “and” are preceded by “each” or “every”; the pronoun must be singular in number.

For example: Every student and every teacher took his seat.

When two singular nouns are joined by “and” denoting the same person/thing, the pronoun used for them must be singular in number. The definite article “the” is placed before the first noun.

For example: The accounts officer and treasurer should be careful in his work.

When nouns of different genders are combined by a conjunction, the pronoun must agree with the gender of the noun which is next to the conjunction.

For example: Every boy and girl went to her house.

Pronoun is always considered as the biggest chapter in English grammar. To develop communication skills, pronoun is the essential chapter.