Notesale: Turn your study into money

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COURSE TITLE: USE OF ENGLISH I
COURSE CODE: GST 101

BASIC ELEMENTS OF WRITING AND READING
Basic Elements of Writing
Handwriting: this can be described as the act of forming letters or combination of letters by
hand to represent the sounds we make in speech
...
Handwriting is neither
composition nor essay writing which is a way of communicating ideas to people far away
fromus or a means of recording events or facts we want to preserve, it is rather the skill
employed in letter formation, spacing, alignment, slant and line quality to drive a legible text
...
Spacing: This refers to the gap left between letters and between words when writing
single letters of the alphabet
...
In all cases, whether between letters or words, uniformity should be
strictly observed
...
The same thing applies to the
space between words in phrases and sentences
...
The writer must
be careful to maintain equal spacing between letters, words or paragraphs as anything
short of this could throw the reader into confusion
...
Alignment: This is a means of checking whether all letters rest on the same base line
...
This is the reason why 2D
exercise books are often recommended for handwriting in Nigerian Schools
...
Letters a, c, e, i, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w, x, and z fall within the two blue
middle lines and begin from the upper red line
...
Slant: Lines are of a straight or uniform – slanting nature which are drawn through the
letters to ascertain whether letters are well formed or not
...

4
...
This can be observed
easily by anybody
...
g eat: The letter ‘a’ appears painted
...
With that, you are expected to consistently practice writing in your 2D exercise book
...

BASIC ELEMENTS OF READING

Reading and writing are two other language skills known as literary skills in any given language
...

An adult native-speaking user of a language does not have to know how to read and write to live
a normal rural adult life
...
However, to enjoy full and enriched adult life, one needs to
be literate in one language, be it one’s native language or a second language
...
Many students do not enjoy reading because they have not developed the necessary
reading skills
...
Skimming demands that you look at something very briefly so
that you can have only a general idea
...
You would take
upthe book, flip through it, glance briskly at the table of contents, the topics of the chapters,
the diagrams, the exercises,etc
...
The main
purpose in skimming at that point is to obtain a broad view of the book and thus decide
whether or not to purchase it
...

In skimming through a passage or a chapter, what would the eyes catch? Only the key words
such as the nouns, the verbs, the adjectives and the adverbs
...
It is the sumtotal of the key words that one takes in that forms the basis
of one’s summation of the material
...
In looking out for specific information, e
...
the title of a book, the name of an animal,
the trade name of a manufacturing company, etc, the scanning skill is used; reading details
isn’t necessary here
...
For instance, this could be done to pick up only the topic sentence
of each paragraph
...
By the time
this is done for every paragraph, the reader would have grasped what the passage is
saying
...
When not engaged in battles against nature, we think of him labouring selflessly for
mankind, attending the sick and spreading culture to the nonliterate
...

I don’t know whether this portrait ever did correspond to reality or whether it was limited to the
engravings on colonial bank notes
...
The cultural and moral mission of a colonizer, even
in the beginning is no longer tenable
...
It is simply a voyage towards an easier life
...
He may mention adventure, the picturesque
surroundings or the change of environment
...
The change in moving to a colony, if one can call it a change, must first of all
bring a substantial profit
...

You go to a colony because jobs are guaranteed, wages high, careers more rapid and business
more profitable
...

However, let us suppose that there is a naïve person who lands just by chance, as though he were
going to Toulouse or Colmar
...
Of course, a European in the colonies can also be
fond of this new land and delights in its local colour
...

Soon he hides it no longer; he is often heard dreaming aloud: a few more years and he will take
leave of this profitable purgatory and will buy a house in his own country
...
How can he return to his homeland if this would mean cutting his standard of
living in half? Go back to the viscous slowness of progress at home?
It is this simple reasoning which delays their return, even though life has become difficult, if not
dangerous, during the recent past
...
An unexpected fear of disorientation arises as soon as they
begin to plan the return home
...
Their children
were born in the colony and it is there that their dead are buried
...
In organizing their daily habits in the colonial community, they imported and imposed
the way of life of their own country, where they regularly spend their vacations, from which they
draw their administrative, political and cultural inspiration, and on which their eyes are
constantly fixed
...

They will therefore carry on as long as possible, for the more time passes, the longer the
advantages last, and these advantages are, after all, worth a little concern
...

From Albert Memi’sThe Colonizer and The Colonized (Pg47)
c) Reading for Detail
When the purpose is to aquire details, reading is done much more slowly
...
In this case, not every word is read, rather, the
reader reads at least every sentence and concentrates on the facts
...
It

is also helpful to read the material twice or even thrice to ensure the facts have become very
familiar
...
In reading along, or re-reading the material,
one is required to think along with the author, to analyse his points, to interpret his concepts,
to ask questions on his ideas and to reach conclusions based on those
...
An active reader reads ideas, not words,
discusses with the author rather than accept everything the author says
...
of the author
...
In short, it is a test of flexibility in reading
...

Okonkwo never did things by halves
...

‘I am calling a feast because I have the wherewithal
...
My mother’s people have been good to me and I must show my gratitude
...
It was like a wedding feast
...

All the umunnawere invited to the feast, all the descendants of Okolo, who had lived about two
hundred years before
...
The kola nut was given to him to break, and he prayed to the ancestors
...
‘We do not ask for wealth because he that has health and children will
also have wealth
...
We are better than
animals because we have kinsmen
...
’ He prayed especially for Okonkwo and his family
...

As the broken kola nuts were passed round, Okonkwo’s wives and children and those who came
to help them with the cooking began to bring out the food
...
There was so much food and drink that many kinsmen whistled in surprise
...

‘I beg you to accept this little Kola’ he said
...
A child cannot pay for its mother’s milk
...
’
Yam pottage was served first because it was lighter than foo-foo and because yam always came
first
...
Some kinsmen ate it with egusi soup and others with bitterleaf soup
...
Every
man rose in order of years and took a share
...

As the palm wine was drunk, one of the oldest members of the umunnarose up to thank
Okonkwo:
‘If I say that we did not expect such a big feast I will be suggesting that we did not know how
open-handed our son, Okonkwo is
...
But it turned
out to be even bigger than we expected
...
May all you took out return again tenfold
...
A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do
so to save them from starving
...
When we gather together in
the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon
...
We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so
...
I say it because I fear for the younger generation, for you people
...
‘As for me, I have only a short while to live, and so have
Uchendu and Unachukwu and Emefobut I fear for you young people because you do not
understand how strong is the bond of kinship
...
And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you
...
He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors like a
hunter’s dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master
...
’
He turned again to Okonkwo and said, ‘Thank you for calling us together
...
O (1989) Faster Reading for Better Comprehension, Ibadan: Associated Book
Makers, Ltd
...


PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
Spoken English
Introduction
Because of the inability of some students to distinguish between the English letters and the
English alphabet, most students hold the view that the English alphabet is 26
...
The
English alphabet is 1 made up of 26 letters (A---Z)
...
The
44 sounds are further broken into consonants and vowels
...

The English Consonants
Consonant sounds are those sounds that we produce with total or partial obstruction of the air
that flows from the lungs
...
/p/: pan, pin, soup, tap, stupid, pepper, sap,
2
...
/t/ /: ten, talent, top, set, but, light, try, tyre, tie, toe
4
...
/k/: kick, key, kind, cow, crow, pick, coat, cane, liquor,antique, boutique, stomach,
6
...
/f/: fat, fast, physics, cough, laughter, tough, frog, feud, phenomenon
8
...
/θ/: thank, think, thing, author, length, third, thigh, death, birth, breath
10
...
/s/ sing, ice, cease, seat, sit, hiss, his, us, see, stay, sing, bus, stay, city, sea
12
...
does, example, rose, crazy,
13
...
/Ӡ/: measure, treasure, usual, vision, decision, closure, leisure, allusion, seizure
15
...
/t∫/: chin, chore, check, torch, chief, chain, clench, clinch, etch, itch, feature, future
17
...
/l/: leg, lake, girl, dilute, flat, black, silly, light, blow, call, ball, ugly, clear
LIQUID:
19
...
/w/: wake, well, will, week, woo, wine, guava, twine, swell, once, suite, choir, twenty
21
...
/m/: man, many, mat, mob, mop, cream, balm, psalm, maggot, dogma, lamb, tomb,
thumb
23
...
/ŋ/:sing, song, bang, long, tongue, wing, finger, fling, anxious, uncle, bangle, ring

The Vowel Sounds
Vowel sounds are those sounds that we produce without any obstruction of the air that flows
from the lungs
...
The monothongs which are also called the pure
vowels are 12 while the diphthongs which are also called the impure vowels or the glides are 8
...
LONG VOWELS:
1
...

3
...

5
...
SHORT VOWELS:
6
...
/e/: egg, mend, den, said, when, hen, generation
8
...
/ᴐ/: pot, cot, rot, bond, song, long
10
...
/Λ/: cup, enough, love, flood, money, sum
12
...
/ai/: site, sight, sigh, ice, eye, lie, guy, buy, why
14
...
/әu/: go, so, road, soap, bold, load, moan, bone
16
...
/ᴐi/: boy, coil, coy soy, soil, boil, oil
18
...
/eә/: bear (verb) fair
...
/au/: how, bow, cow, sound, down, wound(verb)

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The process by which words are acquired is called vocabulary development
...
Passive
vocabulary contains all the words that you understand when you read or listen, but which you do
not use (or cannot remember) in your own writing and speaking
...
Your active vocabulary, in
English and your own language, is probably much smaller than your passive vocabulary
...

The process of acquiring new words includes:
i
...
studying the growth of the English words by the language’s encounter with other
languages and culture, for examples, words borrowed from French, German, etc
...
understanding word formation—movement from simple words to polysyllabic words, and
word inflections;
iv
...
designating certain words as favourite words and joining a word-a-day online group; and
vi
...

Learning New Words
Learning new words is a very important part of learning a language
...

Which words to learn
Every day you hear or read many new English words
...
You can’t possibly learn all these new words,
so your first problem is to decide which ones to concentrate on
...
Here are a few ideas:
 write the words in a notebook (with their translations or definitions)
 write
the
words
and
definitions
on
small
cards
(advice on how to do this is found below)
 say the words many times (if you have an electronic dictionary you can hear how the
word is pronounced)
 put the words into different groups (you could use a graphic organiser)
 make associations (in pictures or with other words)
 ask someone to test you
 use the words in your own speaking or writing



linking words with other words associated with it
Some students put a tick or cross in their dictionary next to every word they look up
...

In all of the above ways, you are doing something with the words
...
Most
students find that they memorise words better if they do something with them
...
Learning that to apologize
means to say sorry is a good start, but it's much better to learn a whole expression containing the
word, e
...
He apologized for being late
...

Learning vocabulary with cards
An excellent way to learn new words is to make vocabulary cards
...
g
...

On the back of the card, write either the translation of the word in your language, or a
definition of the word, or a gap sentence
...
You could of course copy
the definition and example sentence from a text book, but writing your own is the better
choice
...
So for example it’s better to
write “to purchase” than “purchased” or “to strike” than “struck
...
To do this, you can
test yourself in many different ways
...

If you get the answer right, write a tick in the left corner on side one of the card, put the
card at the back of your “To learn” stack, and take the next card
...
When you have
three ticks in a row on your card, you know the word and can put the card into a second
stack, called the “Done” stack
...
If you have, then you can
return the card to the “To learn” stack and start the process again!
Learning vocabulary by reading
The way you learned very many of the words in your own language was by meeting them in the
books and magazines you read
...
Meeting the word again and again in your reading helped
you learn it for use in your own speaking and writing
...
But choose
books that you find quite easy to read
...
But remember: to learn new words
from reading you have to read A LOT!
Things to know about the words you learn
Usually the first thing you learn about a new English word is what it means
...

For example, you have to learn:








how it is spelled
how it is pronounced
how it is inflected (i
...
how it changes if it is a verb, noun or adjective)
other grammar information about it
how it collocates (i
...
what other words are often used with it)
if it has a particular style or register
the context in which it is most likely to be used

Native speakers learn these things about words by hearing them and reading them again and
again
...


PARTS OF SPEECH
The term 'parts of speech' refers to the different kinds of words from which sentences are built
...
Traditional grammar recognized eight of them, namely noun,
pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, conjunction, preposition and interjection
...
But the likes of George Yule would rather substitute interjection with
article/determiner, thereby maintaining the usual eight pars of speech
...
A Pointer: The part of speech to which a word belongs is
determined not by its form or shape, but by the function the word performs in a sentence
...
The eight
word classes are divided into two broad categories: open and close classes
...

In other words, that these word classes are open is to say that they are ever ready to admit
new words; as a consequence, open class items are said to be innumerable, indeterminate
as new words are constantly being created
...
The characteristic of their openness is exemplified by the fact that when a new
thing is invented, a name is given to it, which thereby increases the inventory of noun
...
Consider as an example the word
'internet', which with its emergence has given us such verb, adjective and adverb as
internet, internetable and internetably respectively
...
But this is a moot point, as disagreement is
bound to erupt when the issue of emphatic stress is raised
...

 The Closed Classes: As the name indicates, admittance to this class is closed, as no new
word is added to the list that already exists
...
To these others have
added auxiliary verbs and determiners
...

 The Major Parts of Speech and their Grammatical Functions
1
...
Whatever that is nameable, anything
that can be spoken about is a noun
...

Classification of Nouns:
 Proper Noun: A proper noun names a particular person, place or thing, as
distinct from every other
...
For example Ebuka, Enugu, Tuesday, Godfrey Okoye
University etc
...
*Note that a proper name can become a common noun when it
is used in a descriptive or general sense; for example, he is the Achebe of our
time
...
'Common' (Latin Communis) means'
shared by several,' possessing some property in common
...
Common nouns usually begin with lowercase except
where they occur at the beginning of a sentence
...
Consider the name 'Struggle' in
Pepetela's novel, Mayombe, and 'Man' in Armah's The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet
Born; both of which, though used to be common nouns, cannot in these instances
be seen as such
...
Examples: congregation, family,
flock, herd, bevy, bouquet, clergy, gang etc
...
The latter has been distinguished by Nesfield with what he called 'a noun of
multitude' (see Manual of English Grammar17)
...
For instance,
it is correct to 'The choir sings so well that it always receives an applause'; or 'The
choir sing so well that they always receive an applause’
...
All the above three
classes of nouns we have considered fall within the concrete nouns
...
'Abstract'
(Latin abstractus) means 'drawn off' (abstracted in thought) from the object
...

An exception to this is when an abstract noun is used to denote the kind of action
or a state of being that is meant; thus 'they were able to reach an understanding', 'a
good knowledge of English vocabulary is required for effective communication'
are both acceptable sentences
...

Further examples are maturity, happiness, obedience, love, humility, education
etc
...
In
other words, they can go with an indefinite article a/an or any of the
determiners like every, each, another etc in their singular form; when in
plural, they admit such determiners as few, many, these, those several etc
...

 Uncountable (Non-count) Nouns: As the name implies, this kind of nouns
cannot be counted
...
Two outstanding features of these nouns are that they are not to be
pluralised, nor used with an indefinite article a/an
...
To show a sign of
singularity or plurality, uncountable nouns are used with partitives, namely
some, little, much, a lot, a piece of or pieces of, an item of, items of, a bit etc
...
*Note that some words can be both
countable and uncountable, with a relative difference in sense
...
*Note
also that almost all the abstract nouns are uncountable nouns
...
The students have all
resumed
...
The
underlined nouns/noun phrases are all subjects of verbs in their respective
sentences
...
’
 As object of a transitive verb: Chuks married Jane
...
Do you know his name? The nouns/noun phrases underlined are objects
of their sentence
...
’ A noun also functions as
an indirect object of a verb; in such case, we can have: He did his friend a
great service
...

 As subject and object complement: A complement is a word or a group of
words which is used to complete the meaning of a sentence
...
Examples: Chisom is a dancer
...
In the first case, we have noun as a subject complement;
in the second, it is the object complement
...
When we talk of complement, we are referring to the same
person/thing; hence it is said that a complement is another name for the
subject or object
...
Refer to the examples above for clarification
...
Examples: He jumped across the fence
...

 As apposition: An apposition is a nominal which describes another noun
...


Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Governor of Enugu state
...

 As adjective: In this case, a noun is used to give more information about
another noun in the sentence; hence it is adjectival in function
...
The students will be leaving for Christmas
holiday
...

2
...
But
the paradigmatic definition sees verb as a word which fits into an inflectional verbal
paradigm
...

 Subdivision of Verbs:
Verb:
 Finite and non-finite verb
 Finite verb:
 Lexical/main verb and auxiliary verb
o Lexical verb:
 Transitive (including ditransitive), intransitive and
ergative verb
 Auxiliary verb;
o Primary and modal auxiliary verb
 Non-finite verb (verbals):
 Infinitive, participle and gerund
o Infinitive
 Bare infinitive and full (to-) infinitive
o Participle
 Present and past participle
 Finite Verb: A finite verb is a verb limited by its subject; in other words, it is a
verb that changes when there is any change in the sentence, whether in terms of
number or tense
...
Examples:
Chisom runs to school every morning
...
Chisom ran to school yesterday
...
He knows the answer
...

 Transitive Verb: The action expressed by a transitive verb does not remain with
the subject but passes to the object
...

Some transitive verbs do take two objects, one direct, the other indirect; such
verbs are called Ditransitive verbs
...
We enjoyed the
meal
...
You promised him a visit
(ditransitive)
...
Examples: Did you swim? Ifechi
cries every day
...
Examples: He killed a rat
(transitive)
...
My sister is cooking rice (transitive)
...

 Auxiliary Verb: This is otherwise called helping verb, for it assists the main verb
in the formation of tense
...

 Primary Auxiliary: There are three primary auxiliaries, namely have, do and
be
...
He does go to church when the father is
around
...
What is peculiar about primary auxiliaries
is that they can as well function as a main verb when used alone in a sentence
...
He has the book
...

 Modal Auxiliaries: These verbs show whether the action expressed by the
main verb is possible, probable, certain, necessary, permissible or
hypothetical
...
Modal verbs are will, would, can, may, could, might, shall,
must, should, need, ought to etc
...
I
must leave now (necessity)
...

Non-finite Verb: This category of verbs do not observe any change in the sentence;
they remain in the same form whether the subject changes from singular to plural, or
the action from present to past
...
The non-finite verbs are mostly referred to as verbals, and include
infinitive, participle and gerund
...

The full infinitive verbs take 'to' while bare infinitives do not
...
Hence it is wrong to say,
‘The plan will enable us achieve the desired results'; instead, 'The plan will
enable us to achieve the desired results’
...
For bare infinitives, we have make, let, hear, watch, see etc
...
Can you let
me have it (not 'to have')? While the distinction is clear, some verbs can both
be full infinitive and bare infinitive
...
I will help
you to do (or do) the assignment
...
He dared me to slap him
...

Read up the grammatical functions of infinitives
 Participle: The participle is derived from verb but functions as adjectives
...
Examples: This is an interesting joke
...
We had a class on spoken English this morning
...
Gerunds have he same form as the present

participles, but while they function as nouns, the latter perform adjectival
functions
...
I hate going out when it is
raining
...

Read up verb tenses, active, passive and stative verbs
3
...
Currently, it is understood as a word that fits into adjective
inflectional paradigm, responds to gradability, and performs attributive or
predicative functions
...
Examples: He is a handsome boy
...

 Classification of Adjectives: Adjectives are broadly classified into attributive
and predicative adjectives
...

Some adjectives like indoor, main etc are only used attributively, while all the
adjectives that begin with 'a' are used only predicatively
...
But a good number of adjectives can be used both attributively
and predicatively
...

 Kinds of Adjectives:
 Descriptive Adjectives: These adjectives describe persons or things viz
kind, red, bright, tall, greedy etc
...
They have the same form as demonstrative pronouns, but the
difference inheres in the fact that while demonstrative adjectives are
immediately followed by the nouns they modify, those of pronouns stand
in place of nouns
...
This is a difficult question
(pronoun)
...
The
former is a Deputy Vice-Chancellor
...
They include either,
neither, each, every
...

Each member is to present his own findings
...

They are to be distinguished from possessive pronouns which include
mine, his, hers, theirs, yours, ours and its
...
Bring your pen (adjective)
...
His shirt is costly (adjective)
...

 Interrogative Adjectives: Just as the name implies, this kind of adjectives
are used to ask questions
...

Examples: Whose book is this? What choice have I? Which thing do you
mean?



Proper Adjectives: These adjectives result from using a proper name to
describe another noun
...

 Order of Adjectives: This has to do with the arrangement of adjectives when
they occur in a series
...

Read up the difference between gradable and non-gradable adjectives
...
Adverbs
 Definition: Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs or the
entire sentence
...
He is shockingly
arrogant
...
Truly, I am innocent
...
In view of this, adjuncts have been classified into place, time,
degree, manner and frequency respectively
...
I will see you soon/tomorrow/next year
(time: when?)
...
Ngozi is very/nearly/almost snobbish (degree: to what extent?)
...

 Conjuncts: These are otherwise called conjunctive adverbs
...

Examples are accordingly, additionally, also, as a result, besides, hence,
consequently, then, therefore, on the contrary, yet, thus, however,
furthermore etc
...

Read up other classes of adverbs (relative, interrogative and negative) and the formation of
adverbs
...
Pronouns
 Definition: A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun so as to avoid an
unnecessary repetition of nouns in the sentence
...




Types of Pronouns:
 Personal Pronoun: This sort of pronouns are used to replace names of things
in a sentence
...

 Classification of Personal Pronouns: Personal pronouns are
classified, first, according to person; second, according to case; and
third, according to number
...


Singular

 According to Number:
Plural

I

We

You

You

He, she, it

They

















Possessive Pronouns: These are pronouns used to show possession
...
*Note that possessive
pronouns are different from possessive adjectives such as my, our, your, their,
his, its and her
...
The difference
between possessive pronouns and adjectives has been pointed out above
...
They are ‘this’ and ‘that,'
whose plurals are ‘these’ and ‘those’ respectively, and former and latter
...
Those are his shoes
...

Interrogative Pronouns: They are pronouns we use for asking questions viz
who, which, whom, what and whose
...

Reflexive Pronouns: This category of pronouns refer back to the subject of
the sentence
...
They are myself, himself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves,
themselves and herself
...
He injured himself
...
*Note that reflexive pronouns are not used as the
subject of the sentence; hence it is wrong to say 'Emeka and myself went to
the party
...
They
have the same form as the reflexive pronouns, but differ in function
...
They all know themselves (reflexive); They all saw the man
themselves (emphatic)
Reciprocal Pronouns: These are pronouns used to show that objects in a
sentence share the same action between or among them
...
Traditionally, each other is used when two persons or
things are involved, while one another is used when what is referred to is
more than two
...
Examples: Students of this university care for each
other/one another
...
Examples are all, any, anyone, anybody, anything, one,
some, nothing, everything etc
...
No one knows what he
is saying
...
They are who, which, whom, what, whose, that, but and as
...

Examples: Kate is the girl whose father died
...
Note on usage: who and whom relate to persons only, and
they are more often than not used in relation to subject and object
respectively: I want to know whom I am serving here
...
In informal context, who can be used in

objective case, as in ‘I’ know the man who (whom) you are talking to
...
The
book that I read was not interesting
...
What as a relative pronoun means that which, and relates to
understood things only, hence combining both the antecedent and the relative:
I know what (that which) you are thinking about
...
But as a
relative pronoun means who do(es) not or which do(es) not, and is used to
relate to a negative antecedent such as nobody or no one: There is no one but
respects the lecturer (there is no one who does not respect the lecturer)
...

6
...

 Classification of Conjunction: Conjunction may be classified in two ways,
namely (a) according to form and (b) according to function
...
In the second, we
have co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions
...
They include simple conjunction and, but, for, or,
yet, nor, so etc, and compound conjunction as much as, rather than etc
...
I love you as much you love
me
...
Subordinating conjunctions include because, if,
unless, while, although, when, as of, as far as, in order that, such that etc
...
She studies hard, in order that
she might pass the course
...
Examples are either …or, neither
…nor, if…then, so…as, such…as, sooner…than etc
...
No sooner had I left than she
began to cry (subordination)
...
As stated then, conjunctive adverbs function as both
conjunction and adverb, in that they join two clauses or paragraphs
together, and modify verbs in their own clauses
...
Most conjunctive adverbs are used
as half conjunctions
...

7
...
In other words, it is a word
that governs nouns or noun equivalents in the objective case
...
Prepositions
show how things relate to each other in space, time or in other ways
...

Functions:
 Prepositions Express Location: Examples, I own the garden behind the
stadium
...
He kicked the ball across the net
...
We haven’t seen for a long time
...
Dave opened the bottle with an opener
...

Difference Between Prepositions and some Adverbial Particles
We have crossed over (adverb)
...

Cecilia went up the hill (preposition)
...

He just passed by (adverb)
...


8
...
It performs no grammatical functions, for which reason it has
been excluded in modern grammar as part of the word classes
...
Interjections
are always followed with the exclamation mark '!'
...


CONCORD AND COMMON ERRORS
The Oxford English Dictionary defines concord as "(of things): to agree, be in harmony,
harmonize"
...

The units of a sentence refer to the words or group of words that make up the sentence
...
If a unit of the chain breaks, it ceases to be
intact as one chain
...
Let us look at the
following sentences:
1
...
He is not here now
...
Christiana has reached his destination
...
We are talking about the items on the table
...

4
...

5
...

6
...

7
...

8
...

9
...

10
...

A close look at the sentences will reveal that each of them sings a discordant tune
...
If the noun is
masculine, then a masculine pronoun must be used to refer to it
...
In the first sentence, for instance, 'she' should have been the
pronoun (not 'he') since Nkechi is a female name
...
Finally, 'It', used in the
second sentence of number three, is dangling
...
A plural noun requires a plural pronoun
...

The sentence should read: They are of no use
...
Some animals also take names of human beings
...
The
same goes for a country
...

Determiner-noun concord
A determiner must agree with its noun in gender and in number
...
A plural noun needs a plural determiner
...
What is wrong with these determiners: this, these and that? See also errors in
these sentences: I don't have much friends
...

Subject-verb concord

What is subject?
"The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something
...
ccc
...
edu)
...

If we take the verb 'has hurt', for instance, we can ask: Who has hurt the girl several times? The
answer is: Okeke
...
Also ask who/what is being this or that or
simply 'who is being'? In the same sentence what 'is being' expressed by 'is'? The answer is
'point
...

Let us look at the rules of subject-verb concord:
1
...

John speaks good English
...

The verb 'speak' takes an 's' to become a singular verb
...
If a noun adds an 's'
( in many cases), it becomes a plural noun
...

A plural subject requires a plural verb:
The boys are my friends
...

Girls speak better English than boys
...
If there is an
auxiliary verb and a main verb, it is the auxiliary verb that carries the singular marker of the
verb
...
In this case, the auxiliary verb 'does' takes the
singular marker 's' and the main verb 'speak' does not need to add an 's'
...

Also note that you and I, even though they are singular personal pronouns, take verbs without an
's'
...
This
explains why you cannot say this: I does not understand it
...
But 'you' and 'I' are exceptions
...

3
...

If we ask what is being ( subject), we see it is 'The message between the lines'
...
In a case like this, look for the headword
...
So 'is' is the correct verb
...
The subject phrase 'The
total cost of the buildings' has two nouns 'cost' and 'buildings', which one should the verb agree
with? Ask yourself this: what is the point? What is being talked about- the buildings or the cost?
Once this is clear, choose the verb that agrees with the noun
...
So the correct sentence is: The cost of the buildings is outrageous
...
The whole argument presented by his opponents point/ points to
his carelessness with public funds and lack of respect for rules of democracy
...
The supply of
water to all surrounding villages is/ are a big problem
...
The sentiment in our offices is/are that
the authorities do not care about the workers
...
(b) You are, no doubt, aware of the
Smith &Jones cases, in which an age limit of 27 years and of 35 years ( 37 years for clinical
staff) were found to be indirectly discriminatory against women, in the civil service and UGC
New Blood Scheme, respectively
...


In 'referential' or existential words like 'what' or 'there', the verb agrees with the noun
referred to: There is a boy here
...
'There' in the first sentence refers to 'boy',
which is singular, and this explains the use of the singular verb 'is'
...
(In informal speech the existential 'there' can
take a a singular verb when the noun is plural: There's books here
...


5
...
Neither John nor Ngozi knows
...

Neither John nor his friends are responsible for the theft
...
Neither his friends nor John is responsible for the theft
...

But if one of the nouns or pronouns is plural, the verb agrees with the noun that is closest to it
...
However, some grammarians
argue that the verb should be plural if one of the nouns is plural (Sydney Greenbaum,
The Oxford English Grammar, 1996, p
...


The pronoun 'none': 'The pronoun none is treated as either singular or plural' (Greebaum,
240)
...
None of us knows his name
...


Indefinite pronouns such as everyone, everybody, everything or each take a singular verb
...
The
use of 'their' is preferable to 'he or she', especially when it has to be repeated
...
Use rather a less offensive word 'their' or
its equivalent
...


8
...
All that glitters is not gold
...
All of them are
here
...


Use a singular verb if a noun is qualified by the adjective 'every', even if the noun is a
compound noun:
Every student has returned
...


10
...

Garri and onugbu soup is delicious
...
Four times two is eight
...
(Note that the use of the determiner 'the' before 'vice chancellor' and 'director' will mean
that you are talking about two persons
...

Here you are talking about two persons and need a plural verb
...


Titles of books, even if they are plural, take a singular verb: Great Expectations is a great
novel
...


If a singular noun has a plural ending (measles, headquarters, aerobics, mathematics ), the
noun must remain singular and must take a singular verb
...


Nouns referring to units of measurement take a singular verb: Twenty dollars is a good
price for the shoes
...
Thirty minutes is all need to
prepare for the meeting
...


Some words like police, belongings, goods, clothes, scissors, trousers, eye-glasses and
Pyjamas use only a plural verb
...
These
trousers are too small for you
...


Collective nouns and concord
...
There are hundreds of collective nouns in English and new ones come into
existence as language grows and new ideas sprout
...
A collective noun can take
either a singular or plural verb
...
For example it is correct to say 'The
Nigerian team are very good' or 'The Nigerian team is very good'
...
For example: The Nigerian team are very good and is adored by every
Nigerian
...
This is totally unacceptable in British
English
...
In this
case the word behaves like a collective noun: Nigeria (meaning the Nigerian team) are good
...


Some non-collective nouns take singular or plural verbs: minutes (of meeting), fish,
sheep, aircraft
...
The fish are many and swim very fast
...


Do not confuse 'a number' with 'the number'
...
A number of boys
are here
...


Note: As Sidney Greenbaum points out, modal auxiliaries do not have the -s form
...
Also non-finite verbs ( especially participles and
infinitives) do not have the -s form and do not follow the rules of concord
...

Note: Gerunds, because of their nominal functions, can take the -s form as a plural marker
...
com as the proper way to write a word, using the correct
order of letters
...
Spelling is an important aspect of writing
...
If one wants to create a good impression in one’s writing and to wants to get one’s
meaning across clearly, it’s important to get one’s spelling right
...

Learning to spell correctly is perhaps as important as learning grammar, vocabulary and
phonology
...
For example, few, sew, which contain the same
letters are pronounced differently
...
However, our focus for now is the distinctions
between British and American spelling, spelling of words from other languages
...
That is why
in this course you are required to read, and in that way build up your vocabulary
...

Singular
Plural
Basis
bases
Thesis
Theses
Hypothesis
Hypotheses
Criterion
criteria
Nucleus
nuclei
Vertebra
vertebrae
Alumnus (m)
alumni
Alumna (f)
alumnae

Distinctions between British and American spellings:
A
...
‘re’ endings change to ‘er’:
Theatre
theater
Caliber
caliber
Centimeter
centimeter
Fibre
fibre
Litre
liter
Manoeuvre
maneuver
Meager
meager
Sabre
saber
Scepter
scepter
Somber
somber
Note: these words are spelled with‘re’ both in Britain and the USA:
Acre, massacre, mediocre, ogre
C
...
‘l’ endings do not double in US spellings:
Traveller
traveler
Cancelled
canceled
Counselor
counselor
Equaled
equaled
Fuelled
fueled
Marvellous
marvelous
Jewellery
jewelery
Quarrelling
quarreling
Modelling
modeling
E
...
‘ae’ and ‘oe’ words change to ‘e’:
British
American
Encyclopaedia
encyclopedia
Diarrhoea
diarrhea
Foetus
fetus

Manoeuvre
Anaemia
Ceasarean
Gynaecology
Haemorrhage
Leukaemia
Paediatric

maneuver
anemia
cesarean
gynecology
hemorrhage
leukemia
pediatric

G
...

H
...
More spelling changes
Letter change
Ph - f
Ugh - f or w
Y–I
Ou – o
Mme –m
Que – ck
Ge –g

British
sulphate, sulphide, sulphur
draught, plough
tyre, gybe
mould, moult, smoulder
programme
cheque (money) chequer (game)
acknowledgement
Ageing
Judgement

American
sulfate, sulfide,sulfur
draft, plow
tire, jibe
mold, molt, smolder
program
check, checker
acknowledgment
aging
judgment

Aluminium
Axe
Cosy

aluminum
ax
cozy

Others include:

Kerb (edge of road)
Furore
Grey
Carat (gold)
Liquorice
Moustache
Naught
Pyjamas
Sceptic
Phial
Whisky

MOST COMMONLY CONFUSED OR MISSPELLED WORDS
Correct spelling
Spelling advice

curb
furor
gray
karat
licorice
mustache
nought
pajamas
skeptic
vial
whiskey

Common misspelling

accommodate, accommodation

two cs, two ms

accomodate,
accomodation

achieve

i before e

acheive

across

one c

accross

aggressive, aggression

two gs

agressive, agression

apparently

-ent not -ant

apparantly

appearance

ends with -ance

appearence

argument

no e after the u

arguement

assassination

two double s’s

assasination

basically

ends with -ally

basicly

beginning

double n before the -ing

begining

believe

i before e

beleive, belive

bizarre

one z, double -r

bizzare

business

begins with busi-

buisness

calendar

-ar not -er

calender

Caribbean

one r, two bs

Carribean

cemetery

ends with -ery

cemetary

chauffeur

ends with -eur

chauffer

colleague

-ea- in the middle

collegue

coming

one m

comming

committee

double m, double t, double e

commitee

completely

ends with -ely

completly

conscious

-sc- in the middle

concious

curiosity

-os- in the middle

curiousity

definitely

-ite- not –ate-

definately

dilemma

-mm- not -mn-

dilemna

disappear

one s, two ps

dissapear

disappoint

one s, two ps

dissapoint

ecstasy

ends with –sy

ecstacy

embarrass

two rs, two s’s

embarass

environment

n before the m

enviroment

existence

ends with -ence

existance

Fahrenheit

begins with Fahr-

Farenheit

familiar

ends with -iar

familar

finally

two ls

finaly

fluorescent

begins with fluor-

florescent

foreign

e before i

foriegn

foreseeable

begins with fore-

forseeable

forty

begins with for-

fourty

forward

begins with for-

foward

friend

i before e

freind

further

begins with fur-

futher

gist

begins with g-

jist

glamorous

-mor- in the middle

glamourous

government

n before the m

goverment

guard

begins with gua-

gaurd

happened

ends with -ened

happend

harass, harassment

one r, two s’s

harrass, harrassment

honorary

-nor- in the middle

honourary

humorous

-mor- in the middle

humourous

idiosyncrasy

ends with -asy

idiosyncracy

immediately

ends with -ely

immediatly

incidentally

ends with -ally

incidently

independent

ends with -ent

independant

interrupt

two rs

interupt

irresistible

ends with -ible

irresistable

knowledge

remember the d

knowlege

liaise, liaison

remember the second i: liais-

liase, liason

lollipop

i in the middle

lollypop

millennium, millennia

double l, double n

millenium, millenia

Neanderthal

ends with -thal

Neandertal

necessary

one c, two s’s

neccessary

noticeable

remember the middle e

noticable

occasion

two cs, one s

ocassion, occassion

occurred, occurring

two cs, two rs

occured, occuring

occurrence

two cs, two rs, -ence not -ance

occurance, occurence

pavilion

one l

pavillion

persistent

ends with -ent

persistant

pharaoh

ends with -aoh

pharoah

piece

i before e

peice

politician

ends with -cian

politican

Portuguese

ends with –guese

Portugese

possession

two s’s in the middle and two at
the end

posession

preferred, preferring

two rs

prefered, prefering

propaganda

begins with propa-

propoganda

publicly

ends with –cly

publically

really

two ls

realy

receive

e before i

recieve

referred, referring

two rs

refered, refering

religious

ends with -gious

religous

remember

-mem- in the middle

rember, remeber

resistance

ends with -ance

resistence

sense

ends with -se

sence

separate

-par- in the middle

seperate

siege

i before e

seige

successful

two cs, two s’s

succesful

supersede

ends with -sede

supercede

surprise

begins with sur-

suprise

tattoo

two ts, two os

tatoo

tendency

ends with -ency

tendancy

therefore

ends with -fore

therefor

threshold

one h in the middle

threshhold

tomorrow

one m, two rs

tommorow, tommorrow

tongue

begins with ton-, ends with -gue

tounge

truly

no e

truely

unforeseen

remember the e after the r

unforseen

unfortunately

ends with -ely

unfortunatly

until

one l at the end

untill

weird

e before i

wierd

wherever

one e in the middle

whereever

which

begins with wh-

wich

http://www
...
com/spelling
https://www
...
com/pages/british-american
...
oxforddictionaries
...
These words are called
nouns
...
There is another class of words that rather than name things, assert what those
things do, what they are or how they are
...
These words that assert action, being, or state of
being of their subjects are called verbs
...
If a verb
asserts the action, being or state of being of a person or thing (a person or thing named by a
noun) in a sentence, such a thing in question will in turn serve as the subject of the verb
...
In the sentence ‘the clock ticks’, the verb
‘ticks’ asserts the actions of the noun ‘clock’, hence ‘clock’ is the subject of the verb ‘ticks’
...
When this happens, we say that the verb in
question agrees with its subject (the noun)
...
Verbs that
agree with their subjects are called the finite verbs, whereas those ones which do not have this
kind of relationship with nouns are called the non-finite verbs
...

VERBS

FINITE VERB

NONFINITEVER
B
GERUND

LEXICAL
VERB

INFINITIVE

AUXILIARY VERB

PARTICIPLE
TRANSITIVE
VERB

INTRANSITIVE

PRIMARY AUX
...


The Finite Verb
If one considers the term 'finite verb' literally, one may very likely think of a verb whose
operation in a sentence is limited in some sense and respect
...
A finite verb is a verb whose operation is limited by its subject
...
This, like we have pointed out
already, is the major distinction between the finite and the non-finite verb, for once we see in a
sentence a verb that does not agree with any subject (that is to say a verb whose operation is not

limited by a subject)we know that such a verb has become non-finite
...

They sleep noiselessly
...

They spend recklessly
...
In the first two sentences, the verb 'to sleep' changes from 'sleeps' (singular) to 'sleep'
(plural) as the subject changes from 'he' (singular) to 'they' (plural)
...
The change occurs because those finite verbs needed to agree with
their subjects in number
...


Classification of Finite Verbs
The finite verb has two broad categories: lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs
...
The auxiliary verbs on the other hand express only
grammatical meaning regarding what the lexical verb states about the subject
...

They do not like politics
...
'Do' and 'does' on the other hand express such grammatical functions as tense,
number, negation and so on
...
Their past tense form and past participle form are identical
...
They do not take the 'predictable -ed inflection' in forming their past tense
...
) The vowel base changes, as in: find – found; wring – wrung; wind – wound
b
...
) Vowel identity, as in: split – split; put – put; cut – cut
Below are more examples of irregular verbs and their inflections:
Present Tense
Past Tense
Past Participle
Bind
bound
bound
Grind
ground
ground
Sink
sank
sunk
Bite
bit
bitten
Breed
bred
bred
Burst
burst
burst
Shoot
shot
shot
Broadcast
broadcast
broadcast
Cast
cast
cast
Cling
clung
clung
Creep
crept
crept
Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs
...
This is why they cannot be fully meaningful on their own,
without the main verbs in a sentence
...

She is dancing
...

The king has spoken
...

It is clear from the above instances that auxiliaries usually precede the main verb
...

The primary auxiliaries are three in number and include 'be', 'do' and 'have'
...
Hence
He does not know
...

She has flunked the course again
...

She is coming
...

Let us also note that when there is an auxiliary in a sentence, the main verb does not take the past
tense inflection, only the auxiliary does
...
All
primary auxiliaries can also function as lexical verbs; it is context that makes it either auxiliary
or lexical
...

He does his work expertly
...
One distinctive feature of all modals is that they do not take the '-s' inflection to
indicate singularity
...
Note that the past tense of 'shall' is not
'should' but 'would'
...


Non Finite Verbs
They include infinitive, participle and gerund
...
In other words, they are naturally verb forms which in their
various applications perform other functions than what we usually associate verbs with–
asserting something about the subject
...

Singing is my hobby
...

In the first sentence, 'broken', though naturally a verb, here performs adjectival function in that it
modifies the noun 'utensils'; ‘singing’ in the second sentence occupies a slot reserved for noun,
the same is the case with 'to sing' in the third sentence
...
This is because their respective functions are not limited by a subject
...
Examples are: 'to sleep', 'to
go' 'to work', 'to succeed', etc
...
Consider the following:
I wantto sleep ('to sleep' functions as the object of the verb 'want')
...


Gerunds
They are verb forms with '-ing' ending which occupy the grammatical slots of noun
...

My hobby is singing ('singing' functions as the compliment of the verb 'is')
...

Participle
We have this when the participle form of a verb takes the slot of an adjective in a sentence
...
Let us consider the examples below:
I hate broken things
...

The much criticised governor has become quiet
...
There are only
two tenses in English
...
To some people,
there are as many tenses as possible in English
...
In line with the above, Oji (1998),
argues: “there is no form of the verb which indicates a future event; consequently there is no
future tense in English”
...

(ii) She will eat the food (future)
...

(iv) Sheate the food (simple past tense)
...
It is
the form of the verb that tells us whether an action happened in the past but is still continuing or
has been completed
...

(b) Habitual action:
She goes to church every Sunday
...

(d) Expressing ability
Ujudances very well
...

(e) Historic present
Vehicles collide, seven die
...

The Simple Past Tense
(a) This is used to show that an event took place before the time of speaking or at a specific
time in the past
...
g
...

(b) It is used in unreal clauses:
E
...
If I were you, I would slap someone
...
g
...
They are:
1
...
The perfective aspect
The progressive Aspect
The progressive aspect is indicated by the form of the verb ‘be’ plus a present participle
...

E
...
He is dancing (present tense/progressive aspect)
...

Eyisi (2006), goes further to show the difference between the simple present tense and the
present progressive aspect with the following examples:
(i) She is wicked (simple present) = not kind at all
...
(Present progressive form) = not kind just for the moment
(iii) I live in Anambra (simple present tense) = I am in Anambra state and have no plan to change
residence
...

The Perfective Aspect
This is indicated by the form of the verb ‘have’ plus a past participle
...
g
...

She has sown a cloth
...

E
...
Shehas beenwashing her clothes
...

Perfective
progressive
The Future
There is no future tense in English
...

We shall go
...

Okochais going to play football
...

The pluperfect
When two actions take place in the past, one preceding the other, the pluperfect is used to
express them
...
g
...

(ii) The bomb had exploded before the detectives arrived
...


FORMAL LETTER WRITING
A formal letter is one written in a formal and ceremonious language and follows a certain stipulated
format
...
Hence they are commonly
referred to as official letters or business letters
...
and not to personal contacts, friends or family
...
It is still necessary to know how to write formal letters especially for
students, to obtain information, to apply for an academic programme, job or service, to complain
about product or service or to simply express your opinion in an expressive and coherent manner
...
The writer’s /sender’s address is set out at the top right hand part (in modified block or
semi-block format)or top left part (In block format) of the page of the letter
...
There is the option
of using commas to mark off the elements of the address, but it should be consistent, and
at the end it with a full stop, or one can write the address without punctuation and it also
has to be consistent
...
The date indicates when the letter was composed
...
For the British, the date format is day-month-year: 1 July 2014,while
for the US, the date format is month-day-year:July 1, 2014
...

3
...
It is written a line or two below the date
...
The letter should be
addressed to a specific person, if possible
...
e
...
, Mrs
...
, Dr
...

Only omit the title if you do not know the person’s gender (i
...
, for unisex names)
...
g
...
The salutation is the letter's greeting
...
The salutation is left justified,
regardless of format
...
Eg
...
Letters that aren't addressed
to a specific person are less likely to be read
...

5
...
It is began from the left side of the page
...
g
...
The body includes most of the content of your letter
...
In semi-block format, the paragraphs are still
left justified, but the first line of each paragraph is indented by one tab (five spaces)
...
In the first paragraph of your letter, you
should introduce yourself to the recipient, if he or she does not know you, and state your
purpose for writing
...

7
...
It begins two lines
below your final body paragraph
...
Capitalize only the first word of the closing, and end
with a comma, your signature and your full name
...
g
...
Michael
https://en
...
com/writing-help/how-to-lay-out-a-letter#sender

LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY TEXTS AND DISCUSSION OF LITERARY TERMS
ELEMENTS OF A STORY
Elements of a story are important features without which a story is incomplete
...

PLOT
The plot is the sequence of events
...
Key parts of the plot
include the conflict, the climax, and the resolution
...
In
Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel, the conflict is the rivalry between Baroka and Lakunle
over who will marry Sidi
...
In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple
Hibiscus, the climax is when Mama tells Kambili and Jaja that she poisoned Papa
...
In Chinua Achebe’s
Things Fall Apart, the resolution comes with Okonkwo’s suicide
...
Depending on the kind of story in focus, the character can
be human, animal or inanimate—its status as a character rests on how it is presented by the
author and the extent to which it contributes to the movement of the plot
...
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, there
are human as well as animal charcaters: Mr Pilkington, Napoleon the pig, Boxer the horse
...
At the end of the story, the character
remains the person she or he is at the beginning
...
An example is Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, who is
defined by his nger and pride
...
At the end of the
story, such characters are no longer the persons they are at the beginning
...
An
example is Ezeulu in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God, whose responses to situations are
unpredictable
...
The story is about them and they
contribute directly to the turn of the plot
...

Examples are Kambili in Purple Hibiscus, Njoroge in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Weep Not, Child,
and Nnu Ego in Buchi Emecheta’s The Joys of Motherhood
...
Most times, though, minor characters have no notable role to play
in the story
...

THEME
The theme is the central idea running through the story
...
Usually, stories have more than a single theme
...

SETTING
The setting is the point in place and time at which a story happens
...

GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING
A story’s geographical setting is where the story takes place
...
” The geographical setting of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House is Norway
...
It is also called “the setting in
time
...

DICTION
A story’s diction is the author’s choice of words
...
Diction can be dictated by either the period of writing or the
author’s preference
...
In
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, we find diction that is detailed and with step-bystep action (“Things started to fall apart in our home when my brother, Jaja, did not go for
communion and Papa flung his heavy missal across the room and broke the figurines on the
etagere
...
‘He that brings kola nuts brings
life,’ he said
...
Diction enhances the artistry of
writing, and is sometimes developed to match the subject-matter
...
An expression is said to
have a literal meaning when it means what it says
...
An expression such as “He
kicked the bucket” has both literal and figurative meanings
...
Figuratively, it means that the person in
question has died
...

Here are some of the most common figures of speech
...
For it to be a simile, the two things must be dissimilar, otherwise it would
become ordinary comparison
...
A good example is “Nkechi is like a lioness,”
which means that Nkechi behaves like a lioness, perhaps due to her bravery or boldness
...
”


Metaphor

A metaphor is a direct comparison of two dissimilar things in which one is said to be the other
due to a shared trait
...



Antonomasia

Antonomasia is a direct comparison between two similar things in which one inherits a quality
represented by the former
...
Examples: “Aba is the Japan of Nigeria”; “Soyinka is the Shakespeare of Africa”; “Wayne
Rooney was the white Pele
...
The initial trio
of Aba, Soyinka and Wayne Rooney have been said to represent in their respective regions—
Nigeria, Africa, and among white people—the excellence of Japan, Shakespeare and Pele
...
Verbal irony is an intended contradiction between what one
says and what is meant, for emphatic or humorous effect
...
Dramatic irony is when
readers already learn of shocking knowledge about characters in a story that the characters are
not yet aware of
...
An example of verbal irony is when someone gets robbed of their money
and they say, “Thanks to these robbers, I won’t have to buy that book
...
Example:
“The sky roared and wept all through the night
...



Oxymoron

An oxymoron is the placement of contradictory terms side by side
...
” Something genuine is not
considered an imitation, and the word “growing,” which means to increase, has been used with a
contrasting word “smaller
...



Paradox

A paradox is a statement that seemingly contradicts itself
...
”


Antithesis

An antithesis is the juxtaposition of contrasting statements for balanced effect
...
”


Litotes

Litotes is the use of negation to highlight the real significance of something
...
”


Meiosis

Meiosis is the use of understatement for deliberate effect
...
’”


Synecdoche

Synecdoche is the use of a part to represent a whole
...
” “Hands” represents people, and so the meaning conveyed is that everybody’s contribution
is needed
...
Example: “‘All these
late nights is not what I married,’ he said in annoyance
...
Another example is the use of their
locations to refer to the governments of countries—Aso Rock for Nigeria’s, the White House for
the U
...
A
...
K
...



Apostrophe

An apostrophe is an address to an inanimate phenomena as though it would hear the speaker
...
”


Euphemism

Euphemism is the substitution of unpleasant or unpalatable words for less crude terms
...
”


Hyperbole

Hyperbole is an exaggeration done for emphasis
...
”


Pun

Pun is a play on words for effect
...
”
SELECTED LITERARY TEXTS
Prose (short story)
1
...
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
Poems:
3
...
Free Will by Amaka Chime
CIVIL PEACE BY CHINUA ACHEBE
Jonathan Iwegbu counted himself extra-ordinarily lucky
...
It went
deep to his heart
...
As a bonus he also had his old
bicycle--a miracle too but naturally not to be compared to the safety of five human heads
...
One day at the height of the war it was commandeered 'for
urgent military action'
...
It wasn't his
disreputable rags, nor the toes peeping out of one blue and one brown canvas shoes, nor yet the
two stars of his rank done obviously in a hurry in biro, that troubled Jonathan; many good and
heroic soldiers looked the same or worse
...
So Jonathan, suspecting he might be amenable to influence, rummaged in his raffia bag
and produced the two pounds with which he had been going to buy firewood which his wife,
Maria, retailed to camp officials for extra stock-fish and corn meal, and got his bicycle back
...
When he dug it up again a year later after the surrender all it
needed was a little palm-oil greasing
...
He put it to
immediate use as a taxi and accumulated a small pile of Biafran money ferrying camp officials
and their families across the four-mile stretch to the nearest tarred road
...
At the end of a fortnight he had made a small fortune of one hundred and fifteen pounds
...
It was
unbelievable
...

But, needless to say, even that monumental blessing must be accounted also totally inferior to the
five heads in the family
...
Indeed
nothing puzzles God! Only two houses away a huge concrete edifice some wealthy contractor
had put up just before the war was a mountain of rubble
...
But what was that? And anyhow he had returned to Enugu
early enough to pick up bits of old zinc and wood and soggy sheets of cardboard lying around the
neighbourhood before thousands more came out of their forest holes looking for the same things
...
He paid the pounds, and moved in with his
overjoyed family carrying five heads on their shoulders
...
With his
family earnings he took his bicycle to the villages around and bought fresh palm-wine which he
mixed generously in his rooms with the water which had recently started running again in the
public tap down the road, and opened up a bar for soldiers and other lucky people with good
money
...
The only thing he did
find out in the end was that that little house of his was even a greater blessing than he had
thought
...
As the weeks lengthened and still nobody could say what was what Jonathan
discontinued his weekly visits altogether and faced his palm-wine bar
...

Came the day of the windfall when after five days of endless scuffles in queues and counterqueues in the sun outside the Treasury he had twenty pounds counted into his palms as exgratia
award for the rebel money he had turned in
...
They called it (since few could manage its proper official
name) _egg-rasher_
...
He had to be extra careful
because he had seen a man a couple of days earlier collapse into near-madness in an instant
before that oceanic crowd because no sooner had he got his twenty pounds than some heartless
ruffian picked it off him
...
But of course he had insisted that the money had been in the other
pocket, pulling it out too to show its comparative wholeness
...
Jonathan
soon transferred the money to his left hand and pocket so as to leave his right free for shaking
hands should the need arise, though by fixing his gaze at such an elevation as to miss all
approaching human faces he made sure that the need did not arise, until he got home
...
Even the night watchman who knocked the hour on some metal somewhere in the
distance had fallen silent after knocking one o'clock
...
He couldn't have been gone for long,
though, when he was violently awakened again
...
'I don't know,' he whispered back breathlessly
...

'Who is knocking?' he asked then, his voice parched and trembling
...
'Make you hopen de door
...
Maria was the first to raise the alarm, then he followed and all their children
...
Perhaps they had
scared the thief away
...
But only for a short while
...
'Make we help you small
...
'_ There were at least five other voices besides the
leader's
...
Maria and the
children sobbed inaudibly like lost souls
...
The silence that
followed the thieves' alarm vibrated horribly
...
'My frien,' said he at long last, 'we don try our best for call dem but I tink say
dem all done sleep-o
...
No be so?' 'Na so!' replied his men
...
His legs were sagging
under him and his throat felt like sandpaper
...
I de ask you
say you wan make we call soja?' 'No'
...
Now make we talk business
...

We no like for make trouble
...
War done finish and all the katakata wey de
for inside
...
This time na Civil Peace
...
'What do you want from me? I am a poor man
...
Why do you come to me? You know people who have money
...
' 'Awright! We know
say you no get plenty money
...
So derefore make you open dis
window and give us one hundred pound and we go commot
...
' A volley of automatic fire rang through the sky
...
'Ah, missisi de cry again
...
We done
talk say we na good tief
...
No molest
...
'My friends,' began Jonathan hoarsely
...
If I had one hundred pounds
...
If we make mistake and step for inside you no go like am-o
...
' 'To God who
made me; if you come inside and find one hundred pounds, take it and shoot me and shoot my
wife and children
...
The only money I have in this life is this twenty-pounds _eggrasher_ they gave me today
...
Time de go
...
We go manage am like dat
...
Make we go inside and search properly well
...
' 'Shurrup!' rang the leader's voice like a lone shot in the sky and silenced the
murmuring at once
...
At
the first sign of light as neighbours and others assembled to commiserate with him he was
already strapping his five-gallon demijohn to his bicycle carrier and his wife, sweating in the
open fire, was turning over akara balls in a wide clay bowl of boiling oil
...
'I count it as nothing,'
he told his sympathizers, his eyes on the rope he was tying
...
Nothing puzzles God
...
Taken from his Girls at War and Other Stories collection the story is
narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the
reader realises that Achebe may be exploring the theme of gratitude
...
He may have lost one son but this does not dim the
appreciation that Jonathan has in succeeding in surviving the war
...
If anything Jonathan is optimistic about his and his
family’s future
...
It is also noticeable how easily Jonathan accepts what has
happened
...
The fact that Jonathan’s
house is still intact is viewed upon as a blessing by Jonathan particularly when he realises that
others have not been as fortunate
...

Even though all of Jonathan’s money has been robbed he knows that things could have been
worse
...
There is also a sense that Jonathan will not be beaten
...
He
knows that he can start over again and that all he needs is time
...
Something that is not important to Jonathan
...
At all stages Jonathan remains calm knowing what important (family) is and what is
not important
...
The country might have been torn apart but Jonathan and
his family haven’t been
...
If anything Jonathan or his family will not be defeated
...
com/civil-peace-chinua-achebe
http://vtenged10
...
com/f/Chinua+Achebe-Civil+Peace
...
Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to
her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death
...
Her husband's friend
Richards was there, too, near her
...
" He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had
hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message
...
She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms
...
She would have no one follow
her
...
Into this she sank,
pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul
...
The delicious breath of rain was in the air
...
The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly,
and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves
...
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless,
except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep
continues to sob in its dreams
...
But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze
was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky
...
There was something coming to her and
she was waiting for it, fearfully
...
But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents,
the color that filled the air
...
She was beginning to
recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with
her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been
...
She said it over and over under
her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went
from her eyes
...
Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed
and relaxed every inch of her body
...
A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial
...
But she saw beyond that
bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely
...
There would be no one to live for her
during those coming years; she would live for herself
...
A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no
less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination
...
Often she had not
...
Josephine was
kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission
...
What are you doing, Louise?
For heaven's sake open the door
...
I am not making myself ill
...
Her fancy was running riot along those days
ahead of her
...
She
breathed a quick prayer that life might be long
...
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's
importunities
...
She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs
...
Some one was opening the front door with a
latchkey
...
He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know
there had been one
...
But Richards was too late
...








Discussion
Louise Mallard is Kate Chopin’s strongest example of the self-assertive woman—so strong an
example
...
Mallard certainly is a woman ahead of her time, for by the standards of the 1890’s
she should be happy
...
” Nor does she dislike Brentley
...
Her face “bespoke repression”; no matter how kind Brentley has been, he has
still imposed his will on his wife
...
She therefore emerges from her room “like a goddess of Victory,” with “a
feverish triumph in her eyes
...
Though Chopin does not specify
how Louise will use that liberty
...
Just as the death of her husband sets Louise’s body free, so, too,
does it free her spirit to find happiness in any way that she wishes
...
She is again a mere wife, subservient
...
Still, she is spared the living death of a stifling
relationship, and before she thought her husband was dead she had dreaded a long life
...

The story contains both irony and
tragedy as the shock that her friends fear will kill Louise restores her freedom, and the joy they
anticipate for her is the heartbreak that kills her
...

Themes that can be seen in the
story include the idea of freedom, selfhood, self-fulfilment, the meaning of love etc
...
enotes
...

Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back
...
20
Summary
The speaker stands in the woods, bearing in mind a fork in the road
...
The speaker chooses
one, while telling himself that he will take the other road another day
...
And he admits that someday in the future
he will recreate the scene with a slight twist: He will claim that he took the less-traveled road
...
Several kinds of
literary devices can be found in the poem
...
In the second stanza, the traveler
says the other road has "perhaps the better claim/because it was grassy and wanted wear,"
implying that this road is "less traveled by
...
But this is not so as he contradicts his
initial description showing that both roads are same by saying that "Though as for that the
passing there/had worn them really about the same
...
The line "Because it was grassy and wanted wear, in the third
stanza is an example of personification because the poet says that the road "wanted wear"
while we all know that a road cannot think and would not have any desire at all
...
The figurative theme of the poem is the crucial
nature of the choices people must make on the road of life
...
The tone of the poem is melancholic because the
traveler laments the possibilities that the necessity of making a choice leaves

unfulfilled, as we can see from the words used in the poem such as "sorry" and
"sigh
...
It suggests that once a choice is made, we
spend our daily existence trying to attune to the choice we made so as to show that we made the
right choice
...
For in making one decision, we preclude another
...
It could have been in relation to career
choice, marriage, beliefs, values, vocation and many more
...

This poem makes a reader feel at first hand that the poem is all about excitement at taking the
right decision
...
The feeling of
nostalgia is revealed in the last stanza “I shall be telling this with a sigh”
Literary Devices
Metaphor: ‘Road’ is used as a metaphor for choices
...

Imagery: The poet has also used imagery as a literary device: "Two roads diverged in a
yellow wood" (from the first stanza), and "And both that morning equally lay/in
leaves no step had trodden black" (from the third stanza) to create a picture in the
reader's mind

---