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Education Resources

Oral Communication – Advantages and Disadvantages of Oral Communication from Business Communication

Sunday, April 18, 2010

When you seek permission from your father to visit a nearby museum, he might say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Thus, in oral communication, there is a possibility of immediate response. This ensures speedy interaction and makes immediate feedback possible. This is the greatest advantage of oral communication.

Another advantage is that the speaker can observe the listener’s reaction to what is being stated. For instance, if someone brings to you your exam results and tells you that you have passed in first class; your reaction to the message will show that you are happy. Similarly, if someone tells you that your friend met with an accident and got injured, you will be shocked and the person who gave you the message will notice it.

The disadvantage of oral communication is that it does no always save time. People have to meet each other all the time to communicate orally, which is impossible. It may result in spending a considerable amount of money, time and other important resources.

Improving Oral Communication:

Speaking to friends and family members is easy, because you know them. But when you are asked to go and speak to a stranger you may hesitate. It is even worse when you have to address an angry client or present a project proposal in front of your higher authorities at the organizational meeting.

Oral skills should be paid adequate attention because learning to speak well will improve one’s personal and professional life considerably. You should remember that even if the listener cannot see you, while you are engaged in telephone conversation, it is easy to deduce your personality with the help of the quality of your voice. Your tone indicates your age, sex, intelligence etc. It also reveals whether you are confident or not. Even your geographical origin can be traced by noting the accent you use while speaking.

One-to-One Oral Communication:

In your day-to-day dealings, you have to interact with people on a one-to-one basis. It is central to developing positive working relationship with the clients as well as your co-workers and superiors. There are two ways in which we communicate orally through face to face and telephonic conversation.

The chapter has been taken from Business Communication of SMU MBA MB0023. It is the part of communication process.

Question Tag and Uses of Question Tags in English Grammar from MB0023 of SMU MBA

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Question tags are used in conversation and in informal letters. They are added to a statement to either indicate force or draw attention to the statement.

The question tag consists of the ‘helping verb’ followed by the ‘subject’ in the form of a suitable pronoun.

Rules to construct a question tag:

1. A positive statement takes a negative tag.

E.g.: Meena is a good swimmer, isn’t she?

2. A negative statement takes a positive tag.

E.g.: I did not tell you, did I?

3. The tense of the verb in the tag should be the same as the one in the statement.

E.g.: You are going to the cinema, aren’t you?

4. When the statement doesn’t have a helping verb, use ‘do’ form (does, did, don’t didn’t)

E.g.: We lived in Nigeria, didn’t we?

5. When the helping verb is ‘am’, the tag will always be aren’t.

E.g.: I am singing, aren’t I?

6. When the subject of the sentence is anyone, anybody, no one, nobody, none, neither, we use the pronoun ‘they’ as the subject of the tag.

E.g.: No one would object, would they?

7. Semi-negatives (hardly, few, little) take a positive tag.

E.g.: Few students knew the answers, did they?

A few and A little are positive and take a negative tag.

A little progress was made, wasn’t it?

Question tag is the most important chapter in English grammar. It is compulsory for spoken English. We already have discussed and learnt about other chapters of English grammar such as – Noun, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition and Conjunction. The chapter is also taken from Business Communication book of MB0023 SMU MBA.

In this chapter, I have shared some important aspect and uses of question tags in English grammar. So, it is not the full analysis of question tag. I will try to introduce the chapter in details in coming future on the blog.

Direct and Indirect Speech in English Grammar from MB0023 of Business Communication

Sunday, April 4, 2010

In our daily communication, we come across various types of conversations. Of these, there are two ways of what one person has related to the other. They are –

1. Direct Speech: This refers to the relating of the spoken words of one person to the other verbatim. We can recognize a direct speech with the help of the punctuations. It is written within the inverted commas. A comma or colon is placed immediately before the spoken words.

Mr. Rooster said to Mrs. Hen, “I never eat meat. So I like the way you cook these berries.”

Note: The inverted comma in the above presentation of the conversation between Mr. Rooster and Mrs. Hen. They are talking to each other. So it is a direct speech.

2. Indirect Speech: This is also called as ‘Reported Speech’ because it refers to the meaning of the word spoken by one person though the exact spoken words are not used.

Note: The absence of inverted comma and the change in tense of the verb. This is indirect speech.

Mr. Rooster to Mrs. Hen that he never ate meat. He also praised her saying that he liked the way she cooked those berries.

Direct and indirect speech chapter in English grammar is just like Voice lesson. It is based on types of verbs; we have ‘active voice’ and ‘passive voice’.

The sentences which have ‘transitive verbs’ can be changed from “active voice” to “passive voice”.

E.g.: The Principal read the report. (Active voice)

The report was read by the Principal. (Passive voice)

In the simplest word, in the type of active voice, the subject of the sentence acts on the agent. While in the passive voice, the subject is acted upon by the agent.

So, both chapters – narration and voice are the most important in English grammar to learn, read and speak. The chapter has been taken from SMU MBA MB0023 of Business Communication book.

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