Lesson VI: Spoken English (Conversation Types)

Do go through all the previous posts before starting this lesson. If you ignore the basics, you might never be able to ably grasp the speech of English language.

I would like to cite the fact accepted worldwide that there are almost as many accents for any language in all of the world as many mouths speak that language. We just have to break-free off that strain/tension that how somebody is going to speak about us at our back and it should be kept in mind that some good people also do exist who can simply correct us without making fun of us. I would write and try to explain about few basic concepts of pronunciation in English language so as a beginner, you may get to learn the basics. If you are already well-versed with the language, then feel free to revise your skills or point out any proofreading errors which may have crept into this blog.

Often we're posed with the possibility of public speech anywhere in this modern age where we look to move forwards in all aspects of life, be it public dealing, personal impression or maybe just conversations of varying lengths.

Conversations are also distinguishable into types & further sub-types. It is very important to know about types of conversations before proceeding any further into the topic of learning how to actively participate in a conversation in English language with your professors, different acquaintances and that girl or boy you have a crush on.

Conversations are mainly distinguished into two types whence (from where) follow their sub-types given below.

Main types:

1. Written Conversation
2. Verbal Conversation

Sub-types:

1. Written Conversation
   This may be in the direct form first person to second person, or in the indirect form it might be addressed to a lot of people like when a national leader's message to the country.
   The sub-types are:
   a) Formal written conversation: For example while complaining the local authorities about sewage block.
   b) Informal written conversation: For example while 'txtng' our friends.
2. Verbal Conversation
   This is where most people - even those doctorate holders - lag the most and become too shy if required to deliver a public speech in English when in India only. These may be direct and indirect too with a personal dialogue form of speech being direct speech and public address being of the latter kind.
   The sub-types are classified in a manner similar to written conversation.

Now emphasis must be laid on the fact that while verbal conversation is the need of the hour among people of all age groups, an exceptional proficiency over verbal conversation can only be achieved only through the written conversation.

Formal Verbal Conversation:

This comes into use generally while addressing a formal gathering, or an official meeting, or simply a general gathering for a formal speech like addressing a group of students formally, coworkers or any similar group. English language formal verbal conversation is really need to be taken care of when you appear in job interviews across the world & specifically in India.

Informal Verbal Conversation:

This is the area you need in daily life more frequently. If you have a proficient verbal hold over the language even if you don't really have ever scored well in the English exams, immeasurable is the extent of positive impression that you leave on the listeners. This comes in as really helpful when you have to leave a superior impression among your friends, the potential-friends and the potential boyfriends or girlfriends - yeah people in India do get influenced by a person's proficiency in informal English conversation as well.

Lesson V: Pronouns

You might be thinking why I created a separate blog-post for 'pronouns'. Well you would soon know why, just read on and be surprised over your limited knowledge of English pronouns. A pronoun is a simply a word or form that substitutes for a noun or noun-phrase, with or without a determiner. The common types of pronouns include:

• Personal pronoun (or Subject pronoun): These tell about an entity of a specific grammatical person: first person (I, we, me, etc.), second person (you, you both, you all, etc.) or third person (he, she, they, etc.)
  Subject pronouns: These signify a specific person or people in a sentence. As is in the example: I'll tell you a story about me, Satyaa & Dhananjay. I loved her and all of them knew it but she behaved in a discouraging way towards me and encouraged Dhananjay instead. That was creating differences between me and him and one day he & I came close to a fist fight because of that. But sometime later, after that encounter had passed, Dhananjay & me decided that the girl must be taught a lesson that what she was doing to us wasn't a joke at all.
  Second person formal & informal pronouns: Second person informal pronouns are no different from the usual, but the (now outdated) second person formal pronouns in English are just like the आदरणीय words like 'आप' in Hindi and the second person formal pronoun in English is considered archaic and lost its status as a part of active language. The word that spares much explanation is the example from archaic English language called thou and it really sounds funnily respectful. Try talking in daily life putting 'thou' in place of 'you'.
  Intensive reflexive pronouns: These pronouns are used in sentences where stress has to be laid upon the subject itself, explaining or saying something. It might be observed & applied across all language persons. Some examples will better explain than the definition itself:
  First person intensive reflexive: I myself am going to convey its importance to the students.
  Second person intensive reflexive: You yourself will be responsible if something went wrong.
  Third person intensive reflexive: They themselves don't want to make progress.
• Object pronoun: These tell about the entity of a specific non-human object in a sentence. Depending on the type of object, these are classified as:
  Living object pronouns: Most animals, fishes, microorganisms, plants and similar living organisms come under the definition of a living object. Exceptions are involved when these have any gender-designated names for identification; i.e., when they are pets. E.g. The dog went back to its owner when it heard its name being called. A small girl who was holding an apparently recently broken latch complained to her mother, "Tiger has become rebellious of late, he keeps breaking the latch to follow cats!"
  In plural, the living object pronouns will be similar to human pronoun.
  
  Non-living object pronouns: For singular and multiple non-living objects, the pronoun used are 'it', 'them', 'they' & 'this' or 'these', 'those' & 'that'. The bold words depict pronouns used for multiple things. Words 'this, them, these, those, that, they' all are used in a similar manner for animals including Homo Sapiens or humans. It may only be used for unknown human babies/other organism's offspring.