MIND YOUR LANGUAGE“Do not believe what your teacher tells you

merely out of respect for the teacher” Gautama Buddha

QUERIES RELATING TOLANGUAGE SKILLS

Do you find grammar confusing? Do youget stuck with words when writing a letter,

an essay or a blog? Do you have a fear of pub-lic speaking? Or do you simply want to

improve your communication skills? TimesNIE is here to help you to master the

intricacies of the English language.Just shoot us your queries on

toinie175 @gmail.com

To begin you need aspeech overview

1It’s a basic but oft-forgottenrule: A good story needs a be-ginning, a middle, and an

end. So does a good speech. You’llfind that an audience reacts bestif you tell them early on in yourspeech what you plan to tell them,

and give them mileposts along theway. Before you start writing youneed to know:

WHO you are writing yourspeech for (the audience) and WHY

WHAT your speech is going tobe about (its topic)—You’ll want tohave thought through your mainpoints and have ranked them in or-der of importance. And have sort-

ed the supporting re-search you need to makethose points effectively.

HOW long it needsto be eg. 3 minutes, 5minute.

Remember youare writing

“oral language”

2You are writing as ifyou were explaining,telling or showing

something to someone. It does-n’t have to be perfect sentences.We don’t talk like that. We usewhole sentences and part ones,and we mix them up with asidesor appeals e.g. “Did you get that?Of course you did. Right...Let’smove it along. I was saying ...”

Have a point (but nomore than a few)

3Even if your audience has-n’t had to pay money to at-tend your talk, they’re giv-

ing you something potentiallymore valuable: their time. Respectthem by having at least one mainpoint, but also remember that hav-ing too many messages createsthe same problem as having none.

Hold the audience’sattention for the next15 minutes

4Yes, the very beginning of thepresentation is crucial, andyour ending can make or break

it, too, but everything in between is

just as important — and it’s im-perative that you hold your audi-ence’s attention throughout.“There’s only one way that worksreliably, and that involves askingyourself one simple question:What’s the problem the audiencehas for which the information I’mready to talk about is the answer?”says Nick Morgan, speech coachand author of ‘Power Cues: TheSubtle Science of Leading Groups,Persuading Others, and Maximis-ing Your Personal Impact in ‘Busi-ness Insider. ’

Tell a story

5Bill Murphy Jr. writing ininc.com explains, “Thereare many great examples of

this, but the one I always pointclients to is the commencementaddress Steve Jobs gave in 2005at Stanford. This was a master-

ful speech organised around intothree stories: how taking callig-raphy courses later impacted theMacBook (a story about con-necting the dots), being fired fromand returning to Apple (a storyabout love and loss), and what helearned from his firstdiagnosis with pan-creatic cancer (astory aboutd e a t h ) .

Offer a solution to their problem

6Write a speech that address-es the problem and solution.“It’s an ancient formula for

persuading somebody of some-thing,” Morgan says. “Unless youdon’t want to be persuasive, it’sthe best structure for a speech.The Greeks invented it more than2,000 years ago, and it workedwell for them. It will work wellfor you today.”

Provide a call toaction

7The best way to finish is togive your audience some-thing to do, Morgan says.

Why? “Because you’ve justforced normally active people tobe passive for the better part ofan hour, and it’s time to let themabsorb your message actively. Inthis way, they’ll better remem-ber — and even act on — whatyou’ve been talking about.” Hesays the best action step he eversaw was at a charitable event,where the speaker asked every-one to reach into their pocketsand grab their loose change. “Hesaid, ‘Now hold it out at arm’slength.’ Once everyone was do-ing so, he added, ‘Now, throw iton the floor.’ The sound wasamazing. What’s more, thespeaker had runners collect the

money, and that audience raisedliterally thousands of dollarsfor AIDS in one or two mo-ments.” Find something rele-vant and connected closely toyour message. Ask yourself,“What’s the next thing I wouldwant my audience to do after thespeech is over?” Then, get them

to do that, or moti-vate them totake a step to-ward that.

02

Hi friends. We are

You always want to leave your audiencefeeling enlightened, hopeful, andinspired — but that’s no easy feat

SPEECHHOW TO WRITEA GREAT

Key ingredients for a superb speech sandwich

Opening

Conclusion

Body

➤ Check the “tone” of yourlanguage

➤ Is it right for the occa-sion, subject matter andyour audience?

➤ Check the length of yoursentences

➤ If they’re too long orcomplicated you risk losingyour listeners

➤ Have you chosen wordseverybody will understand?

➤ Example: He “spat”. He“expectorated”

HOW TO CHECKWHAT YOU’VE

PREPARED

Achilles’ heelMeaning: a small weakness in a per-son or system that can resultin failureOrigin: The legend of Achilles has itthat he was dipped into the riverStyx by his mother Thetis in orderto make him immortal. His heelwasn’t covered by the water and hewas later killed by an arrow woundto his heel.Example: Though he was a goodperson, his short temper was hisAchilles heel.

The Midas touchMeaning: to have good fortune ineverything you do. Origin: King Midas was grantedone wish. He requested that every-thing he touched be turned intogold. But King Midas soon learnedthat having this wish preventedhim from doing some wonderfulthings like eating food and hug-ging his daughter. Lucky for Midasthat his prayers to Dionysus wereheard and he was given a remedyfor his ailment.Example: That teacher has theMidas touch. He turns any studentinto one of the best.

Harp onMeaning: dwell tediously on thesame subject Origin: In Greek mythology, harpieswere birds with the heads of beauti-ful women who were winged spiritsbest known for constantly stealingPhineus’ (king) food. Harpy meansthat which snatches.Example of use: Her daughter keptharping on about buying that toybut she did not budge.

Cut the Gordian knot Meaning: to solve a difficult prob-lem in a very direct way by doingsomething forceful or extremeOrigin: The phrase alludes toGordius, the king of Phrygia, whotied a knot that an oracle pro-claimed would only be cut by thefuture ruler of Asia. Alexander theGreat allegedly cut the Gordianknot in one blow. Example: Mark has tamed the mad

elephant. I have no idea how he didit, but he sure cut the Gordian knot.

Phobia Meaning: a fear ofThe word phobia comes from thename Phobos, the son of the Greekgod Ares. Phobos in Greek literallymeans fear.Example: Many famous people havehad a phobia of public speaking.

Uses them to enrich your vocabulary…

nuts and boltsMeaning: Everyday detailsof somethingExample: I have a general knowl-edge of the American market, butif you want to know the nuts andbolts of setting up a businessthere, you should ask Amit.

cutting edgeMeaning: highly advanced; innovative or pioneering.Example: The engineering con-ference was filled with technolo-gy that was so cutting edge andadvanced that it seemed like magic

pull the plugMeaning: to do something that

prevents an activity from continuing.Example: If the viewing figuresdrop much more, the TV networkwill probably pull the plug on thewhole series.

to push someone’s buttonsMeaning: To do things that createa very strong emotional reactionin one, especially anger, irritation,or exasperation.Example: I try not to get mad,but he knows exactly how to pushall my buttons.

blow a fuseMeaning: To blow a fuse meansthat someone suddenly gets very

angry, perhaps over somethingunexpected. Example: For all my experience, Iblew a fuse in the quarter-finaland could have been sent off.

to be on the samewavelengthMeaning: (of two or more people)to think in a similar way and tounderstand each other well.Example: What makes the prob-lem worse is that Rishabh and Tinaare not on the same wavelengthabout how to deal with it.

cog in the machineMeaning: If you describe some-one as a cog in a machine orwheel, you mean that they are asmall part of a large organisationor group.Example: I decided to set up myown business because I was tiredof just being a cog in a machine.

Tech idioms

Ology: list of sciences

anthropology— humans

apiology — bees

archaeology — past culture of humans

astrology — stars (for making predictions)

bacteriology — bacteria

biology — life

cartology — maps and map-making

climatolgy — climate

conchology — shells

meteorology — climate and weather

microbiology — microscopic life

morphology — structure of organisms

musicology — music

mycology — fungi

myrmecology — ants

nephology — clouds

neurology — brain

ornithology — birds

ophiology — snakes

ophthalmology — eyes

philology — historical language

phonology — speech sounds

phraseology — use of words and phrases

physical anthropology — human characteristics

physiology — characteristics of organisms

ufology — unidentified flying objects

speleology — caves

storiology — stories and legends

phytosociology — relationships and characteristics of plants

somatology — human characteristics

speleology — caves

storiology — stories and legends

topology — characteristics and history of a place

The suffix ology is used to denote a field of study

Herculean taskMeaning: A herculean task or abil-ity is one that requires extremelygreat strength or effort.Origin: The hero Hercules, son ofthe god Zeus by a human mother,was famous for his superhumanstrength. To pacify the wrath ofthe god Apollo, he was forced toperform twelve enormously diffi-cult tasks, or “labours”. Becausethe Twelve Labours were so diffi-cult, a “Herculean task” refers to anear-impossible challenge.Example: The building of theGreat Pyramids of Egypt must

have been a Herculean task.

cetology — whales

Photo: Getty images

Dwayne Johnson as Hercules

6 phrases from GreekMYTHOLOGY