Topics from pedagogic analysis

ACRONYMS

An acronym (pronounced AK-ruh-nihm, from Greek acro- in the sense of extreme or tip and onyma or name) is an abbreviation of several words in such a way that the abbreviation itself forms a pronounceable word. The word may already exist or it can be a new word. Webster's cites snafu and radar, two terms of World War Two vintage, as examples of acronyms that were created.

According to the strictest definition of an acronym, only abbreviations that are pronounced as words qualify. So by these standards, for example, COBOL is an acronym because it's pronounced as a word but WHO (World Health Organization) is not an acronym because the letters in the abbreviation are pronounced individually. However, opinions differ on what constitutes an acronym: Merriam-Webster, for example, says that an acronym is just "a word formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name."

. Acronyms are sometimes pronounced as sequences of letters and sometimes as a word, e.g.

1.     OPEC-Organization of  Petroleum Exporting Countries.

2.     ABC- American Broadcasting Company

3.     WHO- World Health Organisation

4.     MBA- Master of Business Administration

5.     EEG-Electroencephalogram

6.     UNESCO-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

7.     UNICEF-United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

8.     NATO   -         North Atlantic Treaty Organization

 

COMPOUNDS

 Compounding puts together two free forms to give rise to a new word. The importance of compounding stems from the fact that there are probably no languages without compounding. Compounds are particularly interesting linguistic constructions for a number of reasons.  There are three forms of compound words: The closed form, in which the words are melded together, such as firefly, secondhand, softball, childlike, crosstown, redhead, keyboard, makeup, notebook;

The hyphenated form, such as daughter-in-law, master-at-arms, over-the-counter, six-pack, six-year-old, mass-produced;

and the open form, such as post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half sister, attorney general.

  Question Tag

Ø A question tag is a short question placed at the end of  a statement, usually in informal English.

Ø A Question tag is used to get a statement confirmed.

How to form Question Tags?

(1)            He has  written it, hasn’t he?

                ↓

Rules: 

Ø Here the question tag consists of only two words: hasn’t he? It has the same subject as the statement(he).We can use a pronoun of the same person as the subject.

Ø If the main sentence has an auxiliary verb, the auxiliary verb is repeated in the question tag.

Ø If the main sentence does not have any auxiliary verb, we use do/does/did in  the question tag:

·       Selene sang well, didn’t she?

                     ↓

( no auxiliary verb in the main sentence)

Ø Here the tense of the tag remains the same.

Ø If the statement is positive, the question tag will be negative. If the statement is negative, the question tag will be positive:

·       We are ready, aren’t we?

                   ↓                 ↓

(Positive statement)   (neg.ques.tag)

·       You haven’t worked hard, have you?

                         ↓                            ↓

 (neg . statement)     (Positive.ques.tag)

In negative question tags, we usually use short forms of the negative:

·       haven’t

·       aren’t

·       didn’t

·       doesn’t

·       can’t

·       won’t

·       isn’t

Here are some examples

          1.Madhu lies, doesn’t he

2. He used to have a tea in the morning, didn’t he?

3. You will hire me your car, won’t you?

4.Manu is very cunning, isn’t he

How to Form Question Tags-2

·       I am

The question tag for I am is aren’t I?

     I’m short tempered, aren’t I?

·       Imperatives

 After positive commands, will you? and won’t you? can both be used:

(1)Please take it, won’t you?

(2)Get me the jar kept under my table, will you?

 After negative commands, we use will you?

(1)Don’t speak lies, will you?

·       Let us

After Let us we use shall we?:

(1)Let us go out for a walk, shall we?

(2)Let us stay here till he comes, shall we?

 

Points to ponder…….

Positive Statement	Negative question tag
Negative Statement	Positive question tag
No change in tense	.......................
Auxiliary in a statement No auxiliary	Auxiliary repeated in the tag Do/does/did in  the tag
I am	The tag is: aren’t I?
Positive commands	The tag is: will you/won’t you
Negative commands	The tag is: will you
Let us	The tag is: shall we