Engineering Tutorials

HUM-451-E LANGUAGE SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS

The real challenge before the students starts when they cross the threshold of the college after completing their degree. They, all of a sudden, find themselves competing for job/ P.G. Degrees, through various entrance tests and interviews. Verbal ability forms a major portion of these tests. Without sound language skills and its semantic-syntactic know-how, the students with engineering background find themselves almost under- prepared for such tests. With this difficulty of students in mind, this course is proposed to make them technically proficient in handling the language skills required in competitive exams. The course would expose students to almost all variety of items, the common run of such tests as CAT, GMAT etc. And in the context of LPG, this cutting edge competence becomes imperative, and no professional education can afford to overlook this aspect.

COURSE CONTENT:

UNIT I

Remedial English: Parts of speech; Gerunds, participles and infinitives; Clauses; Sentence-constructions (unity; avoidance of choppy and rambling sentences, logic and consistency, conciseness, sequencing of ideas); Sentence errors – agreement between verb and subject, pronoun and antecedents, sequence of tenses, problems involving modifiers (dangling and misplaced modifiers); Shifts in point of view – consistency of number and person, tense, mood, voice and subject; Parallelism; Omissions and mixed constructions.

UNIT II

Vocabulary: Methods of building vocabulary – etymological roots, prefixes and suffixes; Commonly used foreign words and phrases; spelling; words often confused; synonyms and homonyms; one word substitutes; verbal idioms.

UNIT III

Punctuation and Mechanics: End Punctuation; Internal Punctuation; Word Punctuation.

UNIT IV

Comprehension: Abstracting; Summarising; Observations, Findings and Conclusions; Illustration and Inductive Logic; Deduction and Analogy.

UNIT V

Presentation: Oral presentation – Extempore, discussion on topics of contemporary relevance, interviews.

SUGGESTED READING:

1. Working with Words by R.Gairns and S.Redman, Cambridge University Press, London.

2. Meanings into Words – Upper Intermediate Students Book, Doff/jones, Foundation Books (Cambridge university Press), Delhi.

3. A Practical English Grammar by A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet, OUP, Delhi.

4. Examine your English by Margaret M. Maison, Orient Longman, New Delhi.

5. A Practical Guide to Colloquial Idiom by W.J. Ball, Longman.

6. A guide to Correct English by L.A. Hill, Oxford.

7.Structural Essentials of English by H. Whitehall, Longman.

8. Advanced English Practice by B.D. Graver, OUP. Delhi.

9.Public Speaking, Sudha Publication Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

10.Group Discussion, Sudha Publication Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

SCHEME OF EXAMINATION:

(A) THEORETICAL:

The pattern of the exam would be more or less like the pattern of the competitive exams. (i.e., OBJECTIVE TYPE) like CAT G-MAT etc., as far as the units I, II, III and IV are concerned.

Unit-I, II, III: (30,20,10 Marks respectively)

The first section of the question paper will have 110 objective type questions with no choice at all. These 110(60+40+10) questions will cover all the first three units (I, II, III) of the syllabus and would carry 30,20 and 10 marks respectively. The questions may be in the form of multiple choices, fill-in-the-blank, supply the right word/choice, choose the right alternative, do as directed etc.

Unit-IV: 20 Marks

The question from this unit will test comprehension competence (in the form of various elements mentioned in the unit) of the text given.

(B) PRACTICAL (Presentation):

There will be an oral test carrying 20 marks. The presentation part of the section i.e. Unit-V will be covered in this test. Hence, there is no need to include this unit in theory exam.

Three hours for a group of 15 students are required for this test. Test can be in the form of any of the activities mentioned in the Unit-V.

A panel of examiners appointed by the University will evaluate the presentation.

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