English 101 Lesson 2

LESSON 2 Lesson 2 is about using the dictionary to learn the pronunciation of English words Students of English are often worried about English pronunciation because English spelling cause confusion. Students have difficulty in correctly pronouncing words they read. This lesson is in 2 parts. In the 1st part you will be familiarized with a set of special symbols known as phonemic symbols that are used to indicate each speech sound. In the second part of the lesson and work out a few exercises.

Look at the following words. Chorusk sound Churchcheysound Rationshsound Machineshsound e.g. The word ‘chorus’ which begins with the letters ch is pronounced with the 'k' sound while in the word church the letters ch is pronounced as the Urdu/Punjabi letter :. e.g. In the word ‘ration’,- tion is pronounced as ‘sh’ while in the word ‘machine’- ‘ch’ is also pronounced as ‘sh’

You are familiar with the 26 letters of the English alphabet. These 26 letters are not sufficient to describe all the sounds of English. So to help people know the correct pronunciation special symbols are used to represent speech sounds on phonemes. A dictionary can help you learn the pronunciation of any word. For this you need to be familiar with the symbols used to indicate each sound. All dictionaries have a table/key of pronunciation symbols either on the inside front or back cover. Be sure to study this. In any language we can identify a small number of regularly used sounds (know as vowels and consonants). In English 44 sounds or PHONEMES have been identified. We will look at the vowels of English and their symbols. Vowels are sounds produced without any obstruction in the mouth.

Remember phonemic symbols are given in slash brackets in the dictionary./ / Now repeat after me. Look at the shape of my mouth and lips. Short Vowels (7)Long Vowels (5) Notice the symbols for long vowels have two small dots in front of them.

Next we have 8 diphthong vowels. These are sounds which are produced by combining two vowel sounds. There is a movement or glide from one vowel sound to another So there are 20 vowel phonemes are sounds in English. (7 short, 5 long and 8 diphthong).

Now we will look at the consonant sounds / phonemes. In English there are 24 consonant sounds. These are sounds produced by a complete or partial stoppage of breath. Now repeat after me.

Another area closely related with English pronunciation is STRESS. Stress is the extra force, used in pronouncing or speaking, on a particular word. A dictionary will indicate stress by a tiny mark on top of a word like this: When you look up a word in the dictionary be sure to learn where the stress falls in the word. e.g. (a) mother table, after – here the first part of the word is stressed. (b) hotelbamboo banana- There are some words in English – which have the same spelling but belong to different parts of speech because they are stressed differently. E.g. rebel (noun)The rebels laid down their arms. rebel (verb)Children re bel against their parents. present (n)The present was lovely. present (adj)Were you present at the party? present (v)Please present your work. This is the end of part 1 of Lesson 2.

Listen to the following passage. COMPUTERS IN OUR DAILY LIVES Computers are now an integral part of our lives. Many things that we do during the course of the day, public or private is affected by them. Visit any public organization or office, from hospitals to schools, from the meteorological bureau to the stock exchange, etc… and you are sure to come across people working at computers. Gone are the days when entries were made manually in registers and ledgers at the bank. Now all monetary transactions are conducted by the computer. Most films and TV advertisements use graphics or pictures produced with the help of a computer. There is hardly a sphere of life that does not involve the use of a computer.

Even when you go out on personal errands, to the travel agent to buy an airline ticket or book a seat on the inter city bus, to the shopping plaza or a grocery store, the man behind the counter uses a computer equipped with laser and bar code technology to scan the price of each item you put before him and then uses it to add up the price to present you with a total; all within minutes. A bar code is a pattern of thick and thin lines and spaces that represent characters that can be read by a scanner. The bar code identifies the item to which it is affixed; the scanner transfers the signal to a computer that matches the code to a price or inventory unit. Computers are no longer things only encountered outside the home; they are very much a part of household items. One cannot imagine a world without computers.

Exercise I The passage will be read out a second time. As you hear this passage you will see a list of words on your TV screen. Tick only the words that you hear being read. 1. integral6. involve11. bookkeeping 2. games7. maintain12. encountered 3. machines8. errands13. scanner 4. ledgers9. grocery14. art 5. flight10. libraries Exercise II You may face difficulty in using the right stress for the following words. Listen and repeat after me. 1. advertisement 6.computer10. meteorological 2. affected 7.exchange11. technology 3. affixed 8.inventory12. thick 4. bureau 9.manually13. transactions 5. character End Lesson 2 See u next time Allah Hafiz

The purpose of today’s reading passage is to give you a sense of the key elements of any written passage. They are The topic The main idea, and The supporting ideas Good comprehension is recognizing the main idea. When you read any passage ask yourself the basic question. What is the main point the author is trying to make? To answer this question first determine what the topic or subject is being discussed. In the passage you have just read the topic is ‘Computer’. The main idea about the topic is “The Role of Computers in our Daily Lives”. The rest of the paragraph supports that idea by giving details of how computers effect our lives.