Perform well in your Exams!

My dear student friends as you are going to write your exams within couple of days, I wish to give you some hints/tips to perform well in your Examinations.

• You should design your own time-table which directs all the material that has to be covered within the time.
• Tough subjects should be given more hours and easier ones should be given less hours by you.
• You should overcome fear and stress to perform well in the exams.
• Try to meditate or pray to God well before the exam which will help you to relax your mind and also you will get some positive energy.
• Don’t forget to sleep well and eat well.
• Write your answers neatly and legibly.
•  Never leave the examination hall early, write answers by guessing even if you don’t know the exact answers.
• Understand the question carefully before answering.

All the Best for your exams!

Byreddy Balaji Reddy
Senior Lecturer in English.

Follow me on Facebook: "Learning English is Easy"

Improve your English by reading Newspaper

There are many interesting ways that one can apply to improve his/her English Communication skills. Reading English newspaper regularly is one among them and there are many significant benefits if one reads newspapers.

How to improve your English by reading newspapers?

• Choose a newspapers that suits you best. Reading the standard newspaper like – The Hindu is little bit difficult for you to understand. So select the newspaper which uses simple language and simple words. I suggest you to read The Hans India or The Deccan Chronicle newspapers in the initial stage.
• Then read the newspaper for at least 30 minutes daily.
•  Note down difficult words and learn their meanings with the help of a dictionary.
•  While going through the sentences observe very carefully how they are written.
• Guess the meaning of the words that you don’t understand. Don’t refer to a dictionary immediately.
• Try to use the words and sentences/expressions that you read in the newspapers in your day-to-day conversations.
•  Make it a regular habit of reading newspaper. You will not witness much progress if you give up this habit.
• Don’t try to read the entire newspaper. Select any 3 or 4 articles and read them slowly by understanding each and every word and sentence.
• Although it is a newspaper don’t read it like that; instead read the newspaper of English just like your academic subjects.
• If possible write your views/suggestions and send them to the Editors by e-mail.
• Keep a pocket note book and enter the new words and expressions that you learn every day by reading newspapers of English.
• Revise them (the new words and expressions) at least twice in a month. If you have forgotten them, this sort of revision will help you to recollect them again.

                 ***ALL THE BEST***

How to learn English naturally?

In spite of writing many articles on how to improve English speaking skills, I do not feel happy about the student community. As a senior teacher of English I think that it is my responsibility to share my views and experiences with the students those who are really interested to develop or improve their English language speaking skills.

Let me share my experiences about learning English—

1.    Do you know I studied in Telugu medium that to in Government schools and Colleges but now discharging my duties as a Senior Lecturer in English? You will be surprised more if I tell you that I scored average percentages in my studies.
2.     You might wonder then how did I learn English – Learning English is really very easy for your kind information. Yes! I tell you learning English is really easy!!

Some Hints for improving your English speaking skills:

• Speak in English with someone who is good at English or at least with your classmate who is really aspiring for becoming a good speaker. While speaking you will struggle a lot, of course it is quite common that you will struggle; but don’t bother about it – keep on talking in English, English, only in English with the people whom you consider good at English speaking.
• Learn some very important topics in English Grammar such as –

1.       Tenses in English.

2.       How to ask/put questions.

3.       Articles.

4.       Prepositions.

5.       Passive Voice.

6.       Indirect Speech.

7.       Some required Verb forms for day-to-day conversations.

          By learning these seven topics or concepts perfectly you can speak English almost fluently.

• Buy children novels and read them. Find out the sentences are constructed there carefully. With this observation you will gain a very good idea on sentence formation in English.
• When you are learning English, reading is one of the most important skills to develop. Shall I tell you one secret tip to learn English very easily is – read and by heart the situational dialogues and conversations by purchasing some specified books. Learning English in the form of dialogues is a best technique to gain command over it.
• Spend your time with the people who speak good English. Listen very carefully the words and sentences that they speak.
• If you think too much about what you are going to say, it will make you more nervous. So start with simple English. But if you just speak simple sentences you won't feel too pressured and you will feel more confident.
• Before speaking a sentence, try to form it correctly in your mind first slowly. It may take some time in the initial stage but in course of time you will speak fast.

Note:  A small appeal to my dear students! Please be practical in your life. In this article I have offered you some valuable tips. After reading them try to put them in practice without fail so that you will succeed with in no time.

 I wish you all the very best in your endeavour.

Yours…….

Byreddy Balaji Reddy,

Senior Lecturer in English.

Practical ways to improve your English

Every learner of English would like to speak English well. They are excited at the idea of being able to communicate in English fluently. However, they usually don’t care about the learning process itself. To be successful in any field first of all you should love it and work hard every day with commitment and dedication.

Here are some practical ways to improve your English Communication skills:

1. Reading English newspapers, magazines and easy understanding novels will help you to understand how those sentences are constructed. Do this reading almost daily without fail for 6 months and then see the change in your life!
2. Learning new words from a dictionary is another way to develop your vocabulary skills.
3. While conversing in English with someone give importance to the message and do not be preoccupied with grammatical accuracy. If you are much worried about grammar and pronunciation errors, you will not develop your fluency.
4.  If you know someone who speaks English well, try to converse with him regularly. Find out from him how he mastered certain language skills and try them by yourself.
5. Be a good listener always to become a good communicator in English.
6. Read more conversations and situational dialogue books and try to learn them so that you can use them in your day-to-day conversations.
7. Have a burning zeal to develop your English speaking skills with that zeal and intension you will surely improve your English speaking skills in course of time.

***ALL THE BEST***

How to Excel in your Engineering studies

Gone are the days that you were concentrating only for marks in your +2 and by hearting subjects for scoring better percentages in the exams. In a professional course like Engineering you should utmost importance to improve your knowledge in the subjects and of course you should also get good percentage. At present, majority of the students don’t realize that what they are going to become in the upcoming future. They merely attend the classes and pass the exams without gaining proper knowledge in their core subjects and as a result of this they will not be offered decent jobs in the MNC’s.

If you are really serious about your future and to settle yourself in a good job then you should work hard with a systematic plan. Given below are some important suggestion to you to excel in your engineering studies.

•  Have faith in yourself and complete tasks to the best of your ability.
• Always be a good listener and pay attention to each class and try to grasp the information that is being explained by your lecturers.
• After a lecture, spend some time on that same topic that to on the same day reviewing the lecture notes. Look back through and think about what was covered and how far you have understood.
• Never shirk the classes for unnecessary and silly reasons. Be regular to classes every day.
• Keep on improving your communication skills in English language and various required soft skills for a better life in future.
• Be active in the class and never allow your mind to roam somewhere.
• Gain more practical knowledge especially in your laboratories and you know your future employers will appreciate practical experience.  
•  Find your drawbacks and get them rectified by seeking help from your seniors and teachers.
•  If you are careful enough in planning and work hard with punctuality and dedication, you will definitely achieve your career goals with ease.
• By utilizing your English language labs you should polish your spoken English and take participation in group discussion, debates, And JAM sessions etc.
• Do not indulge in any illegal activities. Any minor incident may totally ruin your future.
• Compare notes and discuss concepts with your study partners regularly.
• Never forget that your parents do have some expectations on you and never let them down with your performance in the studies.

***Wish you all good luck***

Letter writing points for the students

Many of you may take leave from college for various reasons and most of the students still don’t know the formalities to write an official letter. Letter writing is an art. While writing a letter to the officials such as – Principal, HOD, and Class Teacher etc., you should follow certain format without fail. Given below are some important ready made type points for the students for various occasions. By using these points in your letters you can avoid a number of mistakes and your letters will look impressive.

Useful points:

• On the right side of the top corner of the page write down the town name and put a comma and then write the date with full stop.
• Write “from” address and then “to” address. Don’t put comma after ‘’from’’ and ‘’to’’ and never underline them.
• Write Sir/Respected sir after ‘’To address” and next write a brief subject. For example – Sub: Request for two days leave – reg. / Request for Transfer Certificate – reg./ Request for study certificate – reg.
• After writing the brief subject then begin body of the letter.

Given below are some useful points for you for different occasions:

• I shall be grateful if you kindly grant me leave for three days with effect from Monday next, because I shall have to go to Nellore to attend the marriage ceremony of my sister there, with my family.
• With due respect and humble submission, I beg to state that I am suffering from severe fever. Hence I will not be able to attend college for a few days. Kindly grant me leave for a few days. As soon as I recover from illness, I will resume to college.
• With due respect I beg to state that I am (write your name), a student of I. B.Tech Mechanical Engineering asking two days leave to attend ailing grandmother in Vizag. I along with my parents will be out of station. Therefore, I kindly request you grant me leave for this said reason.
•  I am sorry to inform you that I am I B.Tech student of ECE Branch asking four days leave as I am suffering from viral fever due to climatic temperature. I am at present in my native place and the doctor has suggested me to take complete bed rest for at least four days. Therefore, I kindly request you to grant me leave.
• I am very sorry to bring to your kind notice that my grandfather died yesterday at my native place and hence I request you to kind grant me one day leave to go over there.
• I am __________(your name), studying ________, (state your course) and currently applying for Adhaar Card. Writing in to kindly ask your good office to furnish me a Study Certificate at the earliest as it is one of the requirements in acquiring the said card.
• I am------------ (write your name), I did my B.Tech from your college session 2009-2013. As I lost my Study and conduct certificates unfortunately, I am requesting you sir to kindly issue me these said certificates. I hope you will consider my humble request and provide them as early as possible.

--- After writing down body of the letter then write ‘’Thanking you sir,” and finally complete your letter by writing “Yours faithfully,” followed by your signature.

Speaking English is Easy!

English is very easy to learn. All you need to do is train yourself to speak English daily by practicing a lot. To learn any other Indian language is rather difficult when compared to learning English. The reason is you have already learned many words and sentences in English language. With hard work, systematic plan, commitment and confidence you can easily learn English and become a fluent speaker within two or month’s duration.

Follow these tips to develop your English speaking skills with full dedication.

• Find out a friend who also wants to improve his/her English and spend much of your time with him/her by talking only in English language but not in your mother tongue.
•  Read a book with lots of dialogues in English regularly so that you can gain an understanding you a sentence is constructed.
•  Learn the basics in English Grammar to avoid mistakes while speaking.
•  Listen carefully to the people who speak good English. The more you listen the more you will learn quickly.
• Try keeping a diary; write something in English in it every day, even if it’s very simple. Start with small sentences and make them longer.
•  Try to teach some English basic concepts you already know is a great way of permanently fixing that knowledge in your own brain.
• Never suppress your zeal of speaking English. Keep on talking in English always this is the key to success.

                                                                    *All the Best*

Why Engineering students fail to get jobs quickly

Majority of the Engineering students at the moment are not getting proper jobs as soon as they complete their graduation. If you study these reasons you will come to know them and also notice some instruction for gaining a job.

• One of the important reasons is lack of English communication skills both in the oral and written form. Hence improve your English communication skills as quickly as possible without wasting any more time from hereafter.
• Candidates must always show their worth. Candidates who fail to establish their worth are quickly eliminated.
• Never forget to learn the basics in your core subjects.
• Always try to improve your practical knowledge by spending your time in the laboratories.
• Always be willing to work in a team. Team work is the most important skills which should not be overlooked.
• Engineering knows no political or cultural borders; engineers are in demand everywhere in the world. Increase your worth by becoming proficient in another languages such as Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi etc.
•  Develop your computer knowledge.

All the Best

One Sample JAM Session

Here is a sample Jam session topic for you to have some understanding. Just go through it and you will get some knowledge regarding with JAM sessions.

Is Religion an obstacle to God?

Good morning my dear friends. I do think that now-a-days religion is really becoming an obstacle to God rather being a gateway to God. This is so because we have lost touch with the real sense of religion. In modern times, religion is reduced to either a divisive or a ritualistic formula. Most of the religions today, rather than emphasizing the eternal human values, peaceful and honest living, brotherhood etc., and try to stress their fixation for a particular doctrine, and as a result of this some believers are getting alienated. In addition to these, in the name of faith and God some superstitions are blindly followed by the people. In my considered opinion, all the religions should try their level best to emphasize the universal values of love, compassion, tolerance, and non-violence; otherwise the religion will remain as an obstacle or hurdle to discover the ultimate truth, reality, or God. Thank you one and all for you kind attention and patient listening to me.

Overcome your stage fear

Here are some tips for overcoming your stage fear successfully:

• Be prepared. There is no substitute for preparation. Practice your speech, revise, and then practice again.
• Think positive things about your content.
•  Have a great opening line that you know will grab the attention of your audience.
• Don't allow the negative thoughts such as ‘I'm so scared, I am not going give a nice presentation etc.’ to dominate your thoughts. Push them out with "I'm going to have a winning presentation without any doubt”.
• Breathe slowly and deeply and focus on releasing and relaxing any tension that you are holding in your body.
• Don’t underestimate your memory. You can easily recollect the points that you had already prepared, but let not fear enter in your body.
• Visualize your presentation will be going on perfectly and with this you can effectively present your content.

Conquer your fear of Speaking English

Most of you may have fear to speak before audience. Do you know why? There are many reasons – one of the important reasons is fear. The present article of mine helps you to conquer your fear of speaking English with easy tips. Come on, go ahead!

•  If you are not very confident and you generally tend to be a bit on the shy side, you can find it very intimidating when speaking English and you may automatically make mistakes. So be confident and brave enough always.
• Don’t get anxious and imagine unnecessarily that you can’t speak well. This sort of negative feeling will surely make you a loser but not a winner. Overcome anxiety with positive attitude.
• Lack of vocabulary is also one of the reasons people are afraid of speaking English and they get discouraged to start a conversation. Learn at least four or five new words every day and in due course of time you will learn more and more words and with this ability you can communicate better.
•  Picture yourself as a successful English speaker; visualize yourself being smooth and confident when speaking! As soon as you start picturing yourself as a fluent speaker of English, you will dominate your fear and perform superbly.
•  I think you should practice grammar so that you can construct a sentence instantly and speak desperately without thinking about your errors .Just be careful about that whether you are able to convey your message or not.
•  Prepare well in advance about the topic/subject that you are going to talk.

Tips for Telugu medium students to Improve Communication skills

• Telugu medium students have been suffering from negative attitude towards learning communication skills. First of all, have confidence in yourself that you can be perfect in communication skills.
• Lack of interest to learn is another important reason. Try to develop your interest to learn communication skills effectively.
•  Due to lack of motivation, the rural area students do not generally come forward to improve their communication skills. So motivate yourself always.
• Cannot be able to mingle with good speaking students is also one more reason. Keep on mingling with the students who speak good English so that you can develop your communication skills within no time.
•  Have more patience and work very hard in order to improve your communication skills which will not happen overnight.
• Try to enroll in some Institute which offers speaking as well as writing courses in English
• To start with one has to make a habit of reading. Read anything in English from the field of your interest.
• Work on the grammar rules and sentence structures regularly.
• Make it a habit of reading English newspaper daily for not less than twenty minutes even if you understand very less.

With these tips I believe you will certainly develop your communication skills soon. 

Tips for better performance in Viva Voce

Of late the Viva Voce or oral test is a kind of practice that is followed by the lecturers and professors of various colleges and universities. The students are expected to answer to the questions posed by their teachers. The students have to answer those questions in such a way as to demonstrate their sufficient knowledge on the subject.

By knowing the following tips I am sure that the students can easily overcome their problems and get succeed the Viva Voce or Oral Test:

• Spend the necessary time studying for an oral test or Viva voce. Be thoroughly knowledgeable about the subject your will be tested on and put all your efforts to remember the content that you studied.
• Avoid mumbling or speaking in a monotone voice. Do not rush through the test and alter your voice tone. Make sure your voice is audible to the teacher.
• Practice for the test by creating possible questions and answering them. This sort of practice will boost up your confidence and you can answer without any hesitation.
• Take care of body language which is a very important one while you are answering the questions posed by your teacher.
• Dress appropriately for your test since poor dress can distract from your presentation.
• Maintain good eye contact and posture. Don't slouch if you're sitting or lean if you're standing.
• Pay close attention to the questions asked. If you don't understand the question ask your teacher politely to repeat the question again.
• Speak in complete sentences. Try not to give one or two word answers, whenever possible.
• If you don’t know the answer for any specific question agree frankly that you don’t know the answer and for excuse. Never bluff your lecturer that you have known the answer. In many case you will be caught.
•   Be sure to thank the instructor for his/her time when you are finished with the test.

***Wish you all the Very Best***

Telephone Skills

In the contemporary world, most of our conversations, interaction, and discussions with others take place over the phone. Telephone or cell phone is, in fact, the most commonly used tool of communication, among professionals staying in different parts of the world. Although telephonic conversations and discussions are held by most of the professional, not all of them seem to be well equipped to reflect proper telephone etiquette while making or receiving a call.

Given below are tips following which one can maintain proper etiquette while making or receiving a telephonic call:

•  Identify yourself immediately to your listener by saying, “Hello! I am BBR. May I speak YSR?”
•  Answer calls promptly, by the second or third ring.
• Have pens, pencils and notepaper handy.
• Ask, "To whom am I speaking?" and “How may I help you?"
•  Focus your entire attention on the caller.
• Take care of your articulation clearly. Speak distinctly.
•  Use Plain English and avoid unnecessary jargon and acronyms.
• Never eat, drink or chew gum while on the phone.
•   Never let a phone ring more than four times.

Tips for JAM sessions

Just-a-minute (JAM)

In the present professional world a candidate’s ability and worth is assessed by using different recruitment tools such as – group discussions, debates, personal interviews and JAM presentations. JAM presentation will not last long, though it lasts only one minute duration it has become an important means of evaluation in the recruitment process now-a-days. Through the JAM session, apart from the language skills of the candidates, the MNCs would like to assess the over-all personality of the candidate. Hence, the professional candidates at present should know how to perform well during the JAM.

Important points for effective participation in JAM:

• A candidate should have a lot of imagination and presence of mind as the JAM sessions are short.
• You must be creative, prompt, relevant, and witty enough to capture the idea in an arresting and emphatic manner.
• Come to the point immediately; avoid long introductory ideas.
• Stay focused on one point; try to avoid digressions to the extent possible.
• Avoid examples and instances to substantiate.
• Always use vivid language; don’t leave the audience guessing what you have said.
• Avoid great expectations from yourself as a speaker.
• Avoid being nervous instead be confident enough.
• Forget not to manage your time well.
• Do not repeat the same points/views again and again.
• Take care of your body language – stand straight, maintain proper eye contact, use proper gesture and hand movements.
• Take care of your grammar mistakes.
• Use only the following structures: * Simple present tense * Present perfect tense * Simple past tense  * Simple future -will/shall can be used. * Model auxiliary verbs (can, should, could, would)
•  Content should be good and simple.
• Fluency and Pronunciation should play a crucial role in your presentation.
•  No breaks and pauses in your sentence. It should be continued.
• Suggestions must be given at the end of the conclusion.
• Conclusion can start with the words: Hence, Therefore, Overall, In short, In brief, In a bird eye view, I conclude that
• Concentrate on what you are saying rather than how you are saying it.
• Maintain a steady pace, not too fast, and don't get in a hurry to "get it over with."
• Make sure that your voice is audible.
• Don’t use high sounding words.      

Presentational Skills tips

1. If you make a mistake in presentation, don’t worry or think much about it, just on with a smile.
2.  Encourage and involve your audience by asking questions.
3.  If possible, make everybody turn OFF their electronic devices.
4. If you are presenting your topic with power point presentation, don’t simply read your slides, which will not create a good impression in your audience mind.
5. Try to encourage your audience at the beginning.
6. Don’t spend too long worrying about voice and hand gestures.
7.  Make sure that your speeches are entertaining and informative.
8. Try to maintain eye contact will almost everyone in the room.
9. In case your presentation is a longer one, explain your points with the help of short stories.
10. It is not necessary to memorize every single word you are going to say in your presentation. Instead, memorize the main points of the information you want to get across.
11. To improve your presentation skills, keep your presentation moving and keep it to a reasonable length of time.
12. Practice well before hand so that your presentation will surely good. 

Brush up your Debating Skills

What is a debate?

A debate involves a discussion of the pros and cons of an issue.  Debating successfully is all about using argument and persuasion to convince other people that your views are right.

Some useful debating tips:

ü  Read extensively about different topics in the newspapers so that you can involve very easily in debate and can also succeed.

ü  Use logic to develop your case and make your points.

ü  Think and try to guess about what the counter arguments are likely to be, so that you can work out your case well in advance.

ü  Be open minded and prepared to change your opinion if it is proved wrong.

ü  Don't get drawn into personal attacks.

ü  Stick to the subject being debated.

ü  When debating you should never raise your voice. An argument is not won by the person with the loudest voice, it is won by the person with the most compelling arguments.

ü  Your manner will play an important role. There are a few techniques that make any speaker more engaging: make eye contact with the audience, don’t speak too quickly and don’t just read from your notes!

ü  Listen carefully to points or questions raised by other speakers.

ü  Be confident throughout the debate. Projecting the confidence is vital.

Know where to use 'which' and 'that'

“That” and “which” are pronouns used to introduce clauses in a sentence. If you don't know where to use them carefully you will be confused a lot. The following information will help you to overcome these problems while using "which" and "that".

• Our customers were confused by the instructions. + They were not written very clearly. = The instructions, which were not written very clearly, confused our customers.

• The article was clearly plagiarized. + It was removed from the publication. = The article that was clearly plagiarized was removed from the publication.

The confusion sets in when it comes to deciding which pronoun to use—“that” or “which.” They are not interchangeable. And they should certainly never be mixed for the sake of word variation.

One way of deciding whether to use “that” or “which” is to determine if the clause in question can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. If the clause can be omitted, use “which.” If the clause cannot be omitted, use “that.”

“The article that was clearly plagiarized was removed from the publication.”

“That” is used in this sentence because “that was clearly plagiarized” tells the reader which article was removed: The one that was plagiarized.

“The instructions, which were not written very clearly, confused our customers.”

In this case, “which” is used in this sentence because you can remove the clause “which were not written very clearly” without changing the meaning of the sentence. Another way to remember which word to use—always use “that” unless you could justifiably place a comma before the clause. “Which” always mandates the use of a comma.

Simple tips for Better Communication

1. Turn off all electronics that could go off during the conversation. They will distract both you and your listener, and effectively kill the communication.
2. Make it clear what you are wishing to convey from the outset. People need to know in advance what you expect from your communication.
3. Thank the person or group for having given you some time to listen and respond.
4.  Keep your listener at ease.
5. Discuss what you want to communicate with those you feel comfortable around first in order to better develop the message in your own mind.
6. Be attentive when listening and ensure that your facial expressions reflect your interest.
7. It is important to look into the other person's eyes if possible and maintain contact for a reasonable amount of time.

Boost your self confidence

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”      - Norman Vincent Peale

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

“No matter what the situation, remind yourself “I have a choice.” – Deepak Chopra

“We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.” – Swami Vivekananda

“The next time you feel slightly uncomfortable with the pressure in your life, remember no pressure, no diamonds. Pressure is a part of success.” - Eric Thomas

“If you can change your mind, you can change your life.” – William James

“The best way to gain self-confidence is to do what you are afraid to do.” – Unknown

“All things are difficult before they are easy.” – Thomas Fuller

Overcoming the barriers to Communication

Following are some of the remedies to overcome the different types of barriers that we confront in our day-to-day life.

•  Always deliver the messages skilfully with proper plan and clarity to avoid miscommunication.
• Try to avoid using jargons and ambiguous words to the extent possible.
• Have a positive attitude about communication. Defensiveness interferes with communication.
• Prepare and deliver the message by keeping the understanding capability of the receiver.
• Contents of your message should be as brief as possible and take care of your tone, accent and language.
• Make sure that your content of message will be beneficial and very much useful to the receiver and with this you will achieve the effectiveness of communication easily.
• Never forget that you should be an attentive listener to overcome any sort of communication barriers.
• Maintain a strict time sense if you wish to be appreciated by your listeners.
• If you can adopt question-answer technique, you can eliminate misunderstanding and you can also deliver your message easily and clearly.
• You can reduce the risk of miscommunication by delivering your message keeping the feelings and attitude of the receiver in your mind.
• Avoid unnecessary repetitions and over-elaboration in your message to the maximum extent.
• Forget not to collect the feedback from the listeners.
• Take care of your body language and use appropriate facial expressions, gestures and maintain proper eye contact while delivering your verbal messages.
• Try to highlight the main points in your message.

Tips for improving Conversational skills

Since we are living in a fast moving business world, we need to keep pace with the progressive activities of the world. Good conversation skills are very urgently required for all categories of the people in the world especially to the student community. Speaking efficiently during the conversation in an art and by having this skill we can easily persuade the people and get the things done quickly. Unfortunately in the present scenario, it is found that many people are incapable to converse well and facing difficulties while interacting with others.

The present article helps you to improve your conversation skills and it also provides a few important tips.

Clarity: Before you start talking, think twice about the points that you are going to speak. After having formulated the ideas clearly in your mind then put them in conversation in clear-cut terms. This will reduce misunderstandings and communication gap.

Be simple: There has been a misconception in the minds of many people that if they speak highly difficult words or terms, they will be considered able and efficient conversationalists. It is not true and as a matter of fact, one should use simple words and simple language as much as possible in order to achieve the purpose of communication. Avoid using superfluous words and jargon.

Never be rude and impolite: you must not be rude and impolite towards others during your interaction with them. By being rude you not only hurt their feelings but also ruin your social and professional relationships with them.

Be flexible in your approach: To remain one of the successful communicators/conversationalists, it is necessary on your part to be flexible rather than rigid. During the conversations, most of the times it may happen that we may not agree with the views that are expressed by others. In such cases, we may disagree with them politely and we ought to change our view also if it is proved incorrect instead of arguing with wrong information.

Be brief: A message to be delivered should be brief. It should neither be too short nor too long. Time factor is very important both for the speaker as well as the listener.

Maintain proper eye contact: This suggestion should not be overlooked by you during the conversation you need to maintain proper eye contact. Looking directly at the person as you speak helps to communicate your sincerity and increases the directness of your message hence do not fail to maintain eye contact.

Keep an eye on the flow of your speech: Talking too much fast and too slow will create confusion and disinterest in the minds of your listeners. Try to maintain a moderate speed while interacting with someone.

Tips to overcome your Public Speaking problems

1.Most of the times you fear unnecessarily, if you have prepared well you can present well your speech.

2. Practicing a breathing exercise before you go on will relax your body and mind.

3. Even if you are not confident enough, Stand tall, with shoulders back and chest out and smile. By behaving like this, you will create good impression in the minds of your listeners.

4. Mastering the art of public speaking comes not from memorizing word for word your entire speech but by remembering key points.

5. Keep going gracefully. The audience will never know most of your mistakes, unless you halt your speech, break down, and confess them. Carry on with poise.

6. Greet some of the audience members as they arrive. It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to strangers.

7. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and confident. Visualize the audience clapping while listening to your speech. This will boost your confidence.

Overcome language problems with the help of ELCS Lab

1. Try to know about your communication nervousness.

2. Accept your mistakes and if you have fear and nervousness when you are asked to speak in front of an audience.

3. Keep the point in your mind that speech anxiety is a natural emotion.

4. Write your mistakes and find out all these where you are committing errors.

5. Take steps to develop your confidence level.

6. Share your communication problems with your teacher.

7. Have an outline plan of your presentation.

8. Take steps to improve your English and your pronunciation.

9. Utilize the lab for your communication improvement.

10. Try to participate in all kinds of topics actively so that you can acquire language.

11. The teacher should identify the areas in which students have communication problems and training should be individualized.

Word stress in English

English is an accent-based language, and that in a word not all the syllables are pronounced with equal emphasis. Native speakers of English would not generally listen to the weak syllables instead they listen to stressed syllables. Hence it is imperative for us to be aware of the rules that decide which word is to be stressed where.  A syllable always has one vowel sound.

Rules: Now, let us see the various word stress rules with examples:

1.Words with weak prefixes are accented/stressed on the root.

Eg: a'go, be'low, a'bove, ad'mit

2.Verbs of two syllables beginning with the prefix dis- are stressed on the last syllable.

Eg: dis'pel, dis'turb, dis'close, dis'miss

3.Verbs that have two syllables and end in –ate, -ise/ize, -ct are stressed on the last syllable.

Eg: at'tract, nar'rate, de'bate, bap'tize

4.Words ending in –ion are stressed on the last bust one syllable.

Eg: appli'cation, intro'duction, exami'nation, explan'ation, simplifi'cation, communi'cation

5.Words ending in –ic/-ical/-ically, -ial/-ially, and –ian are stressed on the syllable before the suffix.

Eg: charis'matic, me'morial, sub'stnatial, mu'sician

6.Words ending in –ious and –eous are stressed on the last but one or penultimate syllable.

Eg: 'curious, mys'terious, 'serious, 'courageous

7.Words ending in –ate, -ise/-ize, -fy are stressed on the third syllable from the end.

Eg: 'duplicate, 'modernize, 'justify

8.Words ending in –ity, -cracy, and –crat are stressed on the third syllable from the end.

Eg: a'bility, de'mocracy, 'autocrat

9.Words ending in –graph/-graphy, -meter, -logy are stressed on the third syllable from the end.

Eg: 'autography, psy'chology, zo'ology, 'paragraph, ba'rometer

10.Words ending with the suffixes –eer, -aire are stressed on the suffix.

Eg: pio'neer, ca'reer, millio'naire, question'naire, billion'naire