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Kev Nair

Idea Units and Fluency

Prof. Kev Nair was born in Kerala, South India, in 1949.

He’s an eminent scholar of international repute. He’s a first class LL.B. and a first class LL.M. And he was ranked first in university in both the LL. B. and LL. M. exams.

• “Nair was the first person in the world to give shape to the area of study now known as ‘English fluency development’ and to systematize it into a distinct teachable subject... So he is better known as the father of fluency development.” – General Knowledge Today.

• “He had been researching since 1971, and the results... led him to new discoveries... ” – THE HINDU.

• “Prof. Kev Nair is regarded the world over as the father of fluency lexicography... Fluency lexicography came into existence as a separate branch of dictionary writing with the publication of Prof. Nair’s Dictionary of Active Fluency Combinations in 1986.” – Competition Success Review.

• “A renowned English language lexicographer” – The New Sunday Express.

• “One of the world’s most respected English language scholars...Perhaps more innovative in method than Roget and more modern in approach than Fowler, Prof. Kev Nair is... one of the foremost Indian scholars who wield great influence on the thinking of the English-educated people around the world.” – General Knowledge Today.

• “A towering English language expert” – Competition Success Review.

• “Prof. Kev Nair... has... reached out to thousands – judicial

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officers, professionals, top executives, scholars – who need that comfort and ease in speech with his specialised fluency techniques.” – The New Indian Express.

Prof. Nair is a lawyer by profession. He lives with his wife and children in Kochi, Kerala, an enchanting place on the earth.

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Fluent English Dictionaries1 by Kev Nair

• A Dictionary of Active Fluency Combinations.

• A Dictionary of Fluency Word Clusters.

• The Complete Fluency Words.

• A Dictionary of Essential Fluency Phrases.

• Core Fluency Thesaurus.

• Comprehensive Adjectival Fluency Dictionary.

• Narrative Fluency Dictionary.

• Thesaurus of Phrasal Verbs.

1 Note: The Fluent English Dictionaries do not form part of Fluentzy: The English Fluency Encyclopedia. They’re separate publications – meant for those who want to specialize in fluency-oriented vocabulary. For details, visit www.fluencybookz.com.

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Books by Kev Nair making up Fluentzy: The English Fluency Encyclopedia

• B1: Idea units & Fluency.

• B2: Speech Generation & Flow Production.

• B3: Teaching your Tongue & Speech Rhythm.

• B4: Key Speech-initiators & Speech-unit Patterns.

• S1/B13 & S2/B14: Fluency in Functional English (Vols. 1 & 2).

• S3/B15: Fluency in Telephone English & Sectoral English.

• B5: How to Deal with Hesitation.

• B6: Oral Training in Fluency Vocabulary (Vol.1).

• B7: Packing of Information.

• B8: Impromptu Speech-flow Techniques.

• S4/B16: Fluency Building & Mouth Gymnastics.

• S5/B17: Fluency in speaking about people.

• B9: Fluency in Asking Questions.


• B11: Fluency & Moment-to-Moment Speech-production.


• S6/B18 & S7/B19: Fluency in Topicwise English (Vols. 1 & 2).

• S8/B20: Fluency & Pronunciation.

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B1

Idea Units and Fluency

“How units of ideas help speakers achieve fluency”– THE HINDU.

Fifth Edition

Prof. Kev Nair

Adult Faculties Council

TM

TM

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For Uma

IDEA uNITS & FluENCy

Copyright © Prof. K. E. V. Nair @ KevNair 1982, 1988, 1995, 2000, 2007.

First published 1982.

4th edition 2000 (16 impressions).

5th edition 2007. Reprinted, 2008.

Prof. K. E. V. Nair @ KevNair has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this book in accordance with the Copyright Act, 1957.

All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this book shall be copied or reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or manner whatever, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission, in writing, of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations or as expressly permitted by law.

All quotations from this book shall credit the author, Prof. KevNair.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on any acquirer or the subsequent purchaser.

Any violation of these terms and conditions will invite civil and criminal proceedings and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Published in India by Mrs. uma V. Nair, Adult Faculties Council, DP lane, Elamakkara PO, Kochi-682 026, Kerala.

Printed in India by Ayodhya Printers ltd., Elamakkara PO, Kochi-682 026, Kerala.

Adult Faculties Council’s websites: www.fluentzy.com; www.fluencybookz.com.

Phone: (91)(0484) 2538449, 2408361.

Fax: (91)(0484) 2408361. E-mail: [email protected].

Price: Rs.175.00

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Contents

How to make the best use of the Fluentzy books, 13

A one-pointed aim, 13

Read aloud and silently, 13Importance of theory, 14Importance of oral practice, 14

How to use the books for independent study, 15Non-detailed study, 15Detailed study, 16learning in bursts, 17Regular study, 18

Do a lot of general reading, 19Ordinary novels & plays suit fluency-building best, 20Recommended reading, 21

You need a good dictionary, 22Avoid bilingual dictionaries, 22Avoid high-sounding and rarely-used words, 23What dictionary should you buy? 23

Chapter 1: Fluency, only through idea units, 25

‘Speech’ comes first, and ‘writing’, only next, 25Non-native speakers learn English the ‘wrong’ way, 25

Learning words alone won’t help, 27

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Fluent speech and individual words can’t go together, 27Bite-sized pieces of ideas, 28How does natural speech come out?, 29What does natural speech come out in?, 30

Chapter 2: Ready-to-assemble units, 32

Chapter 3: Idea units: Your key to fluency, 42‘Idea units’ of speech, and “sentences” of writing, 42How context helps the speaker, 44Importance of context, 45

Chapter 4: Types of idea units, 48

Phrases, 48Phrases as idea units, 50Don’t let a few grammatical terms scare you, 51Word knowledge and word mastery, 52

Clauses, 53Independent clauses, 53Non-independent clauses, 54No complicated grammatical stuff, 56

Incomplete clauses and incomplete phrases, 56‘Whole plus’ clauses and phrases, 57

Chapter 5: Why can’t we speak in ‘sentences’? 61

Just a little at a time, and not a mouthful, 62Strands of information, 63Length and shape of idea units, 65Points for dividing speech, 65Boundary of a ‘whole’ grammatical unit, 66

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Boundary of an ‘incomplete’ grammatical unit, 67Boundary of a ‘whole plus’ grammatical unit, 68Other spots, 68

Chapter 6: How to divide speech into idea units, 70

Chapter 7: Segmentation Practice, 83

Chapter 8: Embedding and Lining up, 90Roundabout connectivity, 91Straight connectivity, 92

Speak in idea units, and not in sentences, 93

Chapter 9: V+N Clusters, 95

The thing to do, 103

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Preface to the 5th edition

Here’s the latest edition of this book.What is new about this edition is this: I have added some new material – extremely valuable – covering the topic “Ready-to-assemble word clusters” (including “Verb + Noun” clusters).If you have any comments and suggestions, please do write to me care of the publishers.

KEV NairKochi, 2007.

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Abbreviations

sb somebody

sth something

sw somewhere

S Subject (Grammatical Subject)

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INTRODuCTION TO THE Fluentzy SeRIeS

How to make the best use of the Fluentzy books

let me start off with a few suggestions about how to make the best use of the books in this series — the Fluentzy series.

A one-pointed aimThe Fluentzy series is a set of 20 short books. And all these books have a single aim — a one-pointed aim: To help you gain a priceless skill: The skill of fluency in advanced spoken English — the skill that gets your words to flow readily and easily when you speak English. Especially, when you speak in detail, at length — when you describe something, explain something, tell a story, argue, make a presentation, make a speech in public.

Read aloud and silentlyAs you go through the various books in this series, you’ll notice one other thing: you’ll notice that I’ve written the books in a style that is closer to the spoken style than to a high-sounding written style.

Of course, one reason for this is plain enough: I want you to clearly understand what I say — quickly and without much effort. But you see, there’s one other reason: I want you to keep reading this sort of English for some time — English written in a style that approximates to the spoken style. Why? Because that’ll help you pick up the ‘feel’ of the real English speech — to a great extent. And that’ll help you to get out of the written English track and to get into the spoken English track.

So it’s not enough if you read through the books silently. No. you should read the books aloud as well. Aloud and silently.

14 HOW TO MAKE THE BEST uSE OF THE FluENTzy BOOKS

Not loudly or by producing a lot of noise, but just aloud in your normal voice, so that you can hear yourself. you’ll then get the ‘feel’ of spoken English.

Importance of theoryyou know, the various books in this series consist of theory as well as practice materials. That is, they’re made up not only of practice-materials, but of theory, too.

By ‘theory’, I mean the detailed and basic practical aspects of the things you should know (in order to become fluent) — and not a set of abstract ideas. The theory parts teach you the nuts and bolts of fluency development, the rules and principles that form the basis of the fluency skill.

So the parts containing theory are very important. They tell you what you should practise, why you should practise those things, how you should practise those things, and all other details of principles. understand the theory, and you’ll be half way through to your goal.

Importance of oral practiceThe practice-materials should be said aloud, and that too, again and again. This is important. Why? Because, first off, you should get to know these materials well. Secondly (and this is very important), you have to train your tongue, lips and other organs of speech — train them to produce the sounds and groups of sounds of the English language in the right way. Thirdly, you have to train your ears to listen to these sounds and groups of sounds, and to get to know them closely.

Do you know why you should train your ears? Because you see, no matter how often you’ve read a group of words, and no matter how often you’ve written it, there’s still a problem: your tongue and mouth would hesitate to produce in speech the sound combinations it contains. your mind will fight shy of the sound combinations, too.

15HOW TO MAKE THE BEST uSE OF THE FluENTzy BOOKS

And when will you be able to break free of this hesitation? Not until those sound combinations have stopped sounding strange to your ears. And when will they stop sounding strange? Only when you’ve let your ears hear them said through your own mouth often enough. yes, often enough, and not once in a while. And this is only possible if you do oral practice with word groups of different types: Not with just any word groups whatever, but with word groups that contain the kind of sound combinations that are essential.

Mind you, your tongue, lips and other parts in your mouth and throat — these organs of speech have learnt certain habits. These are the habits of your mother-tongue. And the habits of our mother-tongue are different from the habits of the English language — not in one way, but in several ways. The way groups of sounds are produced in English, and the way idea units are produced in English — these ways are different from the way sound-groups and idea units are produced in your mother-tongue. So if you want to speak English well, do you know what you should do? you should train your organs of speech and your mind: you should train them to learn the habits of English. you should train your organs of speech and your mind to produce the sound-groups and idea units of spoken English.

So give great importance to saying the practice-materials aloud.

How to use the books for independent studyNow let me tell you how you can use the various books in this series for independent study.

Non-detailed studyBefore starting detailed study, do a non-detailed study. That


is, first you should spend some time trying to get a general understanding of everything in all the books in the series (or in the set of fewer books out of them that you’ve purchased). Go through all the books — once or twice. Read through them quickly, without making any attempt to study any particular portion thoroughly. This would give you the overall picture of the fluency-building system covered by the Fluentzy series of books. A general idea. And whenever you take up a particular part for intensive study later, this general idea would act as a helpful background.

First, go through Books 1 to 4 (in that order) – and Books 13 to 15. Then, go through Books 5 to 8 (in that order) – and Books 16 and 17. Then, go through Books 9 to 12 (in that order) – and Books 18 to 20.

When you do the non-detailed study, use a pen or pencil, and mark every part that strikes you as particularly helpful or interesting.

Detailed studyOnce you’ve finished the non-detailed study, you can pick up each individual book for detailed study. Now, as far as possible, you should spend a definite length of time every day, reading and learning from the books, and doing drills and exercises. Can you spend two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening every day – seven days a week – till you finish a round of detailed study of all the books in the series? That’d be ideal.

Ideally, you must complete each book in about four days’ time. you can then spend the remaining three days of the week on extra practice and revision. Organize the periods you plan to spend on the books accordingly.

Am I asking too much of you? Perhaps many of you are already working hard on other things. For those learners, it may be a bit difficult to find much time every day for this sort of


intensive study and practice. I’m sure they’ll work out on their own a different schedule that suits them. For example, even if they cannot devote sufficient time to their study for a few days at a stretch, they’ll find a way of compensating for the lost time on some other day — by spending extra hours on that day. But the best plan would be to spend regular hours every day on the learning activities. Otherwise, for many learners, the progress would be a bit slow. But remember this: Slow progress is better than no progress at all. So feel free to work out your own timetable.

Learning in burstsSome learners may not like to study at a regular pace, or may not be able to do that, because of the type of jobs they have. They may like to work in short bursts. That is, they may like to spend a few days at a stretch learning from several books at once and with great effort. Then they may like to relax their efforts for a few days or for a few weeks. Then they may again work with another burst of activity.

As far as fluency training is concerned, this sort of learning in bursts is not a bad plan at all. you see, each burst of learning activity adds to your fluency skill, and a series of such bursts have a cumulative effect. Interim improvements are extremely important, you know.

So, as far as fluency training is concerned, even during the periods when you’re not studying, you’re actually learning. you see, once you learn from a book about a few stumbling blocks to fluency, this is what happens: From then on, you start becoming aware of their presence in every real-life speech situation that you come across. Till then, you haven’t been noticing them, but from then on, you start noticing them. And you start dealing with those stumbling blocks — by putting to practical use the fluency techniques that the book has taught you. From each of those situations, you’ll be learning about the nicer aspects of the


fluency techniques. So you know, even during the periods when you’re not studying from the books, the things you’ve already learnt are working inside your mind — working hard to build fluency in you.

you know, as far as the fluency skill is concerned, there’s no such performance as can be called a final performance. No. your performance keeps on becoming better and better throughout the period of time you spend studying from the books (and throughout your life) — through gradual additions to it.

Regular study

Set 1: Books 1 to 4 and 13 to 15First, pick up Book 1 and read through all the pages in it slowly, carefully and seriously.

Try and understand what the explanatory parts say. Make a conscious effort to get to know what they mean. Mark every part that you find especially helpful or interesting. These parts would be in addition to the parts you had marked when you had done the non-detailed study.

Go through the examples and find out how they illustrate the points in the explanatory parts. Practise the drills and work through the exercises. Whenever a book in this series asks you to do your reading aloud, read aloud. And whenever a book asks you to repeat saying word groups several times, repeat them several times. (Repeat saying each word group 3 to 5 times at each sitting).

When you’ve finished Book 1 in this way, you can pick up Book 2 and complete it in the same way. Then you can complete Books 3 and 4 also (in that order) in the same way.

When you’ve finished Books 1 to 4, you can pick up and complete Books 13 to 15 one after another in their serial order.


Set 2: Books 5 to 8 and 16 & 17When you’ve finished the set consisting of Books 1 to 4 and Books 13 to 15, you can pick up and complete the set consisting of Books 5 to 8 and 16 & 17 in the same detailed way.

Revise the set consisting of Books 1 to 4 and Books 13 to 15 once a week. Pay particular attention to the parts you’ve marked as important in those books. Practise the “word group repetition drills” hard.

Set 3: Books 9 to 12 and 18 to 20When you’ve finished the set consisting of Books 5 to 8 and Books 16 & 17, you can pick up and complete the set consisting of Books 9 to 12 and 18 to 20 in the same detailed way.

Revise the set consisting of Books 1 to 4 and Books 13 to 15 as well as the set consisting of Books 5 to 8 and Books 16 & 17 once a week. Pay particular attention to the parts you’ve marked as important in those books. Practise the “word group repetition drills” hard.

All 20 Books (Set 1, Set 2 & Set 3) Revise Books 1 to 12 and 13 to 20 at least twice. Pay particular attention to the “word group repetition drills” and other exercises. you can now follow any order you want. you can pick up any book now – or any part in any of it – first or next. But do revise all the books at least twice.

Do a lot of general readingEvery week, you should read at least one English novel (or play). Read a light one — one that’s enjoyable, entertaining and easily understood, rather than a serious one.

This is because light novels and plays are normally written


in everyday English. And that’s the kind of English that brings you fluency. Of course, books dealing with serious subjects would also help you — if they are in everyday English. My aim is just this: I want to get you exposed to a large amount of a particular type of English — the type of English that native speakers of English actually use in speech in today’s world.

Ordinary novels & plays suit fluency-building bestunderstand this: In general, classics of English literature won’t suit our purpose. No, they won’t. In general, they won’t help you supplement your fluency efforts. No.

Of course, classics of English literature are splendid when your aim is appreciation of literature. But not when your aim is to get help with your fluency efforts. The reason is this: Classics of English literature are generally written in a literary style, and not in an easy, conversational, everyday style. And they’re often full of literary words and expressions. Most of them even contain structures, words and expressions that are rare in speech or that are no longer used even in writing. And they may mislead you into thinking that the style of writing and vocabulary items used in them are appropriate for use in speech. And you may even unconsciously start copying them. That would be a disaster. An utter disaster.

On the other hand, light novels and plays are normally written in an ordinary, everyday style, and not in a literary style. And they’re full of structures, words and expressions that are used every day in real-life speech. These structures, words and expressions are the power-house of the English that’s actually in use — of the living English. And these are the structures, words and expressions you need to have a mastery of. light novels and light plays get you to come across these structures, words and expressions again and again in a variety of everyday contexts. This develops your familiarity with them remarkably well, and


these structures, words and expressions begin to occur to you readily whenever you think of putting facts and thoughts into words.

Ordinary crime stories, romances, humorous novels and plays may not be books of high literary merit. But they’ll give you a lot of exposure to these living structures, words and expressions. For a start, it’s better to confine yourself to one author. you’ll then be exposed repeatedly to the same language, style, expressions, etc. in a large number of situations. After you’ve read five or six books by the same author, turn to another author. Then you’ll come across a sizable amount of the same language, style, expressions, etc. in a variety of situations created by this other author. The cumulative effect of all this reading experience would be this: A bank of ready-to-use English phrases and expressions gets set up in your brain. And through association of ideas, this bank starts supplying you with ready-to-use phrases and expressions when you think of expressing your ideas.

Recommended readingBooks by Erle Stanley Gardner, James Hadley Chase and John Grisham are ideal from this point of view. These authors would keep you soaked in the living part of modern-day English. This is the kind of English that you’ll find to be of the most general use.

Of course, books even by these authors contain here and there vocabulary items and usages that are dated. Any book by any author is almost certain to contain a certain percentage of dated elements. But what these authors repeatedly expose you to is that part of the English language that has achieved some sort of permanence over the last 100 years or so, and not those parts that only had a short life or will only have a short life. These authors would get you immersed in English that is neither too old nor too modern.


You need a good dictionaryyou must get into the habit of looking up words in a dictionary every now and then. Pick any word. From any page. Check their meanings, usage, pronunciation. Read all the example sentences under an entry. Don’t try to learn anything by heart. Neither the meanings nor the examples. Just pay attention to them. That’s all. look at the meanings and examples. listen to what the meanings and examples tell you. Just be with them for some time. Spend some time with them.

you must do this dictionary work every day for some time — even if you think you know all the important words quite well. you must. This dictionary work is very important, because it helps you develop a feel for words and their collocations (= words that normally tend to occur with those words). And if you want to achieve a real mastery of the core vocabulary, this ‘feel’ is essential.

But there are two things you must be careful about:

1. Avoid bilingual dictionariesyou should generally use only an English-English dictionary, and NOT a dictionary that gives ‘English meanings’ for your ‘mother-tongue words’ or a dictionary that gives your ‘mother-tongue meanings’ for English words.

you see, bilingual dictionaries can only help beginners starting to learn English, and not advanced learners like you. In fact, they’ll harm you. yes. First of all, if you keep on using a bilingual dictionary, your mind will get into the habit of thinking in your mother-tongue and of trying to translate those thoughts into English — instead of getting into the habit of connecting your thoughts directly to English speech. This translation-instinct will stand as a barrier between your thought and speech, and you’ll find it difficult to become fluent in English. And secondly, the English you speak will be stilted and artificial, and not like


the genuine English that native speakers of English speak — or even write.

So you should avoid using a bilingual dictionary.

2. Avoid high-sounding and rarely-used wordsWhen you run your eyes over the pages of a dictionary, your aim must not be to learn all sorts of high-sounding and rarely-used words. No. your aim must be to learn how you can use frequently-occurring words. And even if you look up high-sounding words and rarely-used words, your aim must not be to actually use those words, but to find out how you can avoid them — by making use of simpler words in their place. The meanings of those words will give you a clear idea.

you’ll get lists of frequently-occurring words in the various books in this series. They’re the words you should pay all your attention to.

What dictionary should you buy?Now, here’s a list (in alphabetical order) of some of the most helpful dictionaries on the market:

• Cambridge Advanced learner’s Dictionary.• Collin’s COBuIlD Advanced learner’s English Dictionary.• longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.• Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced learners.• Oxford Advanced learner’s Dictionary of English.Chances are, you already have one of these dictionaries with

you. But if you don’t, buy at least one of them now. Today. Don’t worry about which of them to buy. you can buy any of them blindly. you won’t go wrong. They’re all equally suitable for our purpose. Of course, each gives greater attention to one or two aspects, and the others don’t give as much attention to them. But this doesn’t take away the general usefulness of any of them for


our purpose. So you should have at least one of these dictionaries with you. All the time, if possible. And you should make use of them every day.

Of course, these are ‘British’ dictionaries, and not ‘American’ ones. But you should buy and use one of them, even if your sole interest is in ‘American’ English. yes. This is because these dictionaries deal with the common core of British, American, Australian and other varieties of English thoroughly. But if you’re very particular that you must have an ‘American’ dictionary meant for advanced learners, you can also think of buying one of the following dictionaries — in addition to one of the five dictionaries listed earlier.

• NTC’s American English learner’s Dictionary• Random House Webster’s Dictionary of American EnglishBut don’t forget to buy one of the five dictionaries listed

earlier — because the English language that has international acceptance is the common core of the British, American, Australian and other varieties of English. And that is the kind of English you should be fluent in.

And whichever be the dictionary you buy, make sure that you get the latest edition. yes, the latest.

That’s it. Start building true English language fluency now.

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25FluENCy, ONly THROuGH IDEA uNITS

CHAPTER 1

Fluency, only through idea unitsyou want to achieve a high level of fluency in spoken English. And this is only possible if you’re aware of certain fundamental things. So let’s start off with them.

‘Speech’ comes first, and ‘writing’, only nextyou know, the first thing you should understand about a language is this: A language has two sides, like a coin. yes, two sides. A ‘spoken’ side and a ‘written’ side.

listen. Doesn’t a child learn to speak long before it sees writing? Hadn’t people been speaking, long before writing came? So isn’t one thing clear — that the ‘spoken’ stage of a language comes before the ‘written’ stage? Isn’t this also clear — that ‘speech’ and ‘writing’ are different things, and aren’t to be looked at or learnt in the same way?

This is true about any language. It’s true about English, too.Don’t you get one thing now? Don’t you see why most non-

native speakers of English find it hard to speak fluent English?

Non-native speakers learn English the ‘wrong’ wayBy ‘non-native speakers of English’, I mean people for whom English is not their first language or mother-tongue, but a second language — or just a foreign language. you see, for people in India, English is a foreign language — but it’s also a second language. For people in several other countries, English is simply a foreign language, and not even a second language.

26 FluENCy, ONly THROuGH IDEA uNITS

Most non-native speakers of English find it hard to speak English fluently, because they can’t learn English the way they learn their first language. you see, they’re born and brought up in a country where English is not spoken as the first language. And so they can only learn English in the wrong way: In a way that is just the reverse of the natural process of language acquisition. Haven’t we seen just now what the natural way is? Haven’t we seen that the natural way is to learn to speak first, and then only to learn to write? But most non-native speakers of English don’t have the opportunity of learning English in that way.

So you see, as a non-native speaker of English, you’ve been learning English in the ‘non-natural’ way — in a way that’s opposite to the natural way of language acquisition. you’ve been learning to write English first, rather than to speak it. That’s what you’ve been doing at school and college. you’ve been learning to produce written English. And the methods you had to follow never fully made you understand this: The ‘spoken’ style is quite different from the ‘written’ style.

you see, the spoken word is the basis for the written word, and not the other way round. And so spoken English is more fundamental than written English. But the non-natural way in which you had to learn English planted the wrong notion in your mind: A wrong notion that things are the other way round — that written English is more fundamental than spoken English.

So the result is this: you’re now steeped in written English. And your written English orientation has been preventing you all along from understanding one thing. It has been preventing you from understanding that spontaneous speech has to be composed differently — that is, in a way quite different from the way writing is produced. Result? you always try to speak the way you write. And you do this by trying hard to follow principles of grammar and usage as applied to writing, and not as applied to speech itself.

Is there any wonder fluency has eluded you so far?


So I want you to understand one thing here and now: When they speak spontaneously, fluent speakers apply principles of grammar and usage in a way that is different from the way they apply those principles when they write. And the spoken style has a number of devices and conventions of its own, and these devices and conventions are not derived from the written style.

Learning words alone won’t helpNow just think about this: Suppose you learn a number of English words very well — say, a nice big stock of them. Then, will you be able to speak English fluently? I’m sure you know the answer. The answer is, you won’t. you won’t be able to speak English fluently just because you’ve mastered all the common words there are. If this hadn’t been so, would speaking have been a problem? In fact, you may yourself have an excellent vocabulary. Why, even a student who has completed high school knows all the common words we use in everyday spoken English! But, is every student who completes high school able to speak fluent English? The truth is, even most post-graduates aren’t able to speak English fluently — even though they know all the English words commonly used in speech!

Why is this so? Here’s a chief reason: People who aren’t fluent try to speak in ‘words’, by trying to put individual words together. They’re not aware that this is not the right way of speaking English. The right way to speak English is to speak it in “word groups”, by putting word groups together — and to use individual words only when an individual word can do the work of a word group. This is because the real units of speech are ‘ideas’ (or ‘information’). And ideas normally get expressed in groups of words, rather than in individual words.

Fluent speech and individual words can’t go togetherJust listen attentively to the way fluent speakers speak. you can


then notice this truth: Fluent speech flows out mostly in bursts of word clusters. As far as individual words are concerned, they make their appearance in this flow of word clusters only occasionally. And during each burst (of word clusters), fluent speakers normally present a chunk of 2 to 10 words — with most of the chunks consisting of 4-6 words each. (In a long stretch of speech, the largest number of chunks tend to be 5-word chunks).

And when they’re speaking even at the slow-to-normal rate, fluent speakers produce as many as 120-150 words per minute (grouped into fewer than 20-30 chunks). And when they’re speaking at a faster rate, they produce as many as 200-300 words per minute (and sometimes, even more than 300 words).

Would anybody be able to speak at these rates, if they spoke by choosing individual words? Of course not. Isn’t that quite obvious? Fluent speakers are able to speak at these rates, only because they speak mostly by choosing groups of words, that too, tried-and-tested ones — rather than by choosing individual words. If they were to speak mainly by choosing individual words, they would have had only less than 1/5 to 1/2 of a second to choose each word. And they would have had to construct speech by choosing 2 to 5 words per second — in 2 to 5 separate word-selection efforts. This is something impossible for anybody to do. Not even for the most articulate of native speakers of English!

Is there any wonder people who are word-oriented, rather than word-group-oriented, find it impossible to be fluent?

Bite-sized pieces of ideasSo the point you should understand is this: Natural speech comes out in units or very short pieces of ideas. And most often, these units of ideas are said and heard in groups of words. Sometimes they’re said and heard in individual words, too.

let’s take a look at a few spoken texts, so that you can get a


clear idea of all this. Here we go:• He unlocked the front door + and we went in + and he said + I’ll be back in a minute + and he went upstairs + so I remained in the hall + and then the phone started ringing + and he shouted to me to answer it + and I picked up the receiver + and I said ‘hello’ + but the person at the other end suddenly hung up + so I replaced the receiver. • He passed the exam + with a very high score + and he was thrilled + very pleased + and happy + and he treated us to ice-cream + the very next day.• They were close friends + and they had similar opinions + and similar ideas + attitudes + and they’ve worked together + on several projects.• She gave him something to eat + something soft and thick + sticky + a toffee-like thing.• It’s a bit heavy + and so you can’t move it easily + from place to place + but it doesn’t take up much space + so you can put it in your bedroom + or in the hall.• Actually + I don’t like that idea + though I can’t say anything against it + because I can’t give any reasons + and I don’t know why I have this feeling + but something in me tells me + that this idea may not work + and it may even achieve the opposite result + from the one we want to achieve + and that is not going to be a good thing.Go through these five examples. Three of them contain one

one-word idea unit each. Did you spot them the first time you went through the examples. If you didn’t, why don’t you try and spot them now?

How does natural speech come out?When a child wants something, what does it say? It says: “Give it to me”. Do you think the child first learns the words ‘Give’, ‘it’, ‘to’, and ‘me’ separately, and, then connects them together? When


a child doesn’t want a thing, it says: “I don’t want it”. When a child gets tired of walking, and wants to be carried, it says: “Pick me up”. Do you think the child first learns the words ‘I’, ‘don’t’, ‘want’, ‘it’, ‘pick’, ‘me’, and ‘up’ separately, and, then, connects them also together?

For the child, “Give it to me” is the same as a single word ‘givitumee’, and not four separate words. “I don’t want it” is the same as a single word ‘Aidonwantit’, and not four separate words. “Pick me up” is the same thing as a single word ‘Pickmeeyup’, and not three separate words. The child says each of these word groups as a single utterance without any gap between any two words. It doesn’t make separate utterances for each of the words in a word group. The child says each word group as a single unit — as though it were a single word.

This is what normally happens when a fluent native speaker of English speaks English. And this is what normally happens when a fluent native speaker of any other language speaks that language. Think about what happens in your own mother-tongue. Notice how you yourself speak in your own mother-tongue.

What does natural speech come out in?From what I’ve said so far, don’t you see one thing? Normally, natural speech doesn’t come out in ‘words’. It comes out in word groups.

Strictly speaking, natural speech comes out neither in single words nor even in word-groups. Actually, it comes out in units of ideas. Of course, most often, these units of ideas get expressed through multi-word units (= word-groups) — and sometimes in single words.

Now listen: What was the child doing when it had said “Give it to me”? Wasn’t the child just giving expression to a unit of “idea” or a “thought” or a piece of “information”? The idea (or thought or information) came up in its mind, and it just made an


utterance — an utterance that the child thought would express that idea (or thought or information). This was so when it had said “I don’t want it” and “Pick me up”, too.

Actually, this is always so. Children always speak in their mother tongue by uttering idea by idea, and not word by word. So do adults, and everyone who speaks their mother-tongue fluently. When they speak spontaneously, do fluent speakers consciously search through their brain for word after word? No, normally, they don’t. Do they consciously stop to think about how to string the words together? No, normally they don’t. They just say what they have in mind by using such vocabulary items as occur readily to them — spontaneously and without any conscious effort. And normally, the stretches of speech that come out happen to be in groups of words.

But how do they get this skill? This various books in this series will tell you how. And these books will help yOu get this skill, too. Just read on, and don’t worry.

So, don’t you see what the natural way of speaking is? It’s to make “utterances”, each carrying one component of an idea or thought — that is, one strand of information.

let’s call such an utterance an “idea unit”.

* * *

32 READy-TO-ASSEMBlE uNITS

CHAPTER 2

Ready-to-assemble units let me tell you something very important. It’s about what we’ll call ready-to-assemble units. Once you learn about them, you’ll have a clearer idea of what an idea unit is.

Before I tell you more, just keep this in mind: Most of the idea units that articulate native speakers of English use are ready-to-assemble units (that can be assembled into an idea-unit chain or complex). As for the remaining idea units they use, generally speaking, they make them up either by assembling short ready-to-assemble units or by joining one or two short ready-to-assemble units with single words.

The point I’m coming to is this: you should master ready-to-assemble units of frequent utility, and you should learn how to let ready-to-assemble units work for you. you should learn to assemble them into idea units and into chains and complexes of idea units. That is the only way to achieve true fluency. The only way. Make no mistake about it.

Let me explain.There’s a basic fact about fluent English you should be very

clear about. It’s this: Whether you’re going to be able to speak English fluently or not depends a lot on a simple fact: Do you have a good command of a type of word groups that can be described as ready-to-assemble word groups? They’re word groups that are ready-made or ready-built. So when you use them, you don’t have to do the work of building them on the spot (by finding and combining the words they consist of – into a grammatically correct combination on the spot). Thus they save you a lot of trouble. And they save you time – yes, they generate a good amount of time for you – which you can utilize for planning how to go on speaking.

33READy-TO-ASSEMBlE uNITS

understand this: The kind of word groups that are the mainstay of fluent speech are these ready-built word groups, and not word groups that speakers construct on the spot. That is, ready-built word groups are the most basic part of fluent speech.

let me make this point clearer. Just recall one thing: I’ve already told you that the basic units of speech are not individual words, but word groups. Now I’m going to go a step further and to introduce you to another important fact about speech production. It’s this: A long stretch of genuine fluent speech would always consist of a far greater percentage of ready-built (pre-built) word groups than word groups made by the speaker on the spot from individual words. (We’ll call the word groups that speakers build on the spot spot-made word groups).

That is, whenever they speak spontaneously, every articulate native speaker of English (as well as every fluent non-native speaker) depends far more heavily on ready-built word groups than on spot-built word groups.

And what you should note from this truth is this: If you want to be truly fluent in English, you must start using ready-built word groups as the most basic part of your speech.

Now what are the kinds of word groups that we can call ready-built word groups?

Take the case of advanced learners of English who have been exposed considerably to everyday English — for example, through months of deliberate practice (of the kind that the books in this Fluentzy series get them to do) as well as through months of reading, writing and listening.

Suppose that an idea occurs to them and that they’re trying to express that idea. The moment they form an intention to say something, this is what normally happens: Several ‘previously-heard’ word groups and several ‘previously-used’ word groups come rushing into their minds — automatically, without any


effort on their part. (you’ll soon notice that this is what happens to you yourself, once you’ve progressed through the kind of skill-building practice that the Fluentzy books get you to do). These are word groups like speech initiators, fixed and semi-fixed expressions and phrases, collocations, everyday idioms, etc. Here are a few examples:

abandon a plan, accidents happen, apply early, avoid a pitfall, bear a grudge, beat a drum, big reward, confusion arises, a cup of tea, develop a fault, eat heartily, firm intention, How about...?, How would you like...?, I’m dying to know..., temperature drops, It looks delicious, It takes all sorts (to make the world), It’s going to turn cold, It’s not as bad as all that, make your voice heard, open secret, out of all proportion to..., really mean (sth), solid achievement, spotlessly clean, stiff competition, take the lead, terribly ill, That’s the whole point, the law of the land, the question of the hour, There’s no sign of him, There’s nothing wrong with..., This will hurt me more than it hurts you, thoroughly dishonest, What’s so special about that?, wrongly assume (sth), you can bet your life that...

These example word groups can be grouped into three categories:

1). Some of these word groups are complete clauses. So they can be used as whole (complete) idea units — complete clausal idea units.Eg: It looks delicious, It takes all sorts (to make the world), It’s going to turn cold, It’s not as bad as all that, That’s the whole point, There’s no sign of him, This will hurt me more than it hurts you, What’s so special about that? 2). Some are phrases that can be used as complete idea units — complete phrasal idea units. They can also be used as sections (segments) of longer idea units (especially, of clausal idea units).


Eg: abandon a plan, accidents happen, apply early, avoid a pitfall, bear a grudge, beat a drum, big reward, confusion arises, a cup of tea, develop a fault, eat heartily, firm intention, temperature drops, make your voice heard, open secret, really mean (sth), solid achievement, spotlessly clean, stiff competition, take the lead, terribly ill, the law of the land, the question of the hour, thoroughly dishonest, wrongly assume (sth). 3). And some are multi-word items that can be used as sections (segments) of idea units.Eg: How would you like...?, I’m dying to know..., out of all proportion to..., There’s nothing wrong with..., you can bet your life that... For a person who knows English very well or reasonably well,

word groups like these are ‘previously-heard’ and ‘previously-used’ word groups. Word groups like these are what I mean by ready-built word groups. These are word groups that occur to you ready-built and constructed in advance, and so you can simply adopt them as ‘wholes’ and use them in speech (and writing), and you don’t have to spend time and effort in constructing them anew every time you want to express an idea that they can express. you don’t have to create them anew on the spot, for the occasion — by struggling with grammatical rules and trying hard to find the appropriate words. They’re already available to be used off the shelf. They’re already available as pre-created clusters, with the work you’d normally have had to do in order to create them already done by past speakers (including yourself, perhaps). From long or frequent use and acquaintance, these word groups become memorized, and they occur to you readily and effortlessly. They occur to you prefabricated. All you need to do is to grab them when they occur to you and use them.

Now, there are two points I want to stress: First, so far I’ve been using the term ready-built “word

groups”, and not ready-built “idea units”. So to avoid confusion,


let me clarify a point: A ready-built word group that is a clause often works as a whole idea unit. A ready-built word group that is a phrase often works either as a whole idea unit or simply as a section (= a portion; a segment) of an idea unit. Ready-built word groups that work as sections of idea units fall short of being whole idea units, but they can combine with one or two other ready-built word groups or individual words and form an idea unit. This sort of an idea unit (built by combining ready-built word groups alone or by combining ready-built word groups with one or two individual words) is a spot-built idea unit.

For example, if you combine the ready-built word groups ‘How about...?’ and ‘a cup of tea’, you can build an idea unit “How about a cup of tea?” on the spot. This is a spot-made idea unit made by combining two ready-built word groups.

Second, don’t be under the impression that all the idea units in fluent speech are ready-built idea units. No, that is not so. That doesn’t happen often — except in short stretches of speech during chats and light conversations. Most often, especially during serious conversations and long stretches of speech (during chats and light conversations), fluent speech (that gets produced spontaneously) is a combination of two types of idea units:

(i) ‘Ready-built’ idea units that come ‘pre-fabricated’.(ii) ‘Spot-made’ idea units created by the speaker ‘on the spot’ — (a) mostly, by combining two or three short ready-built word groups among themselves, or (b) by combining a ready-built word group with one or two individual words, and (c) sometimes by stringing individual words together.let me tell you something important here. It’s this: Don’t

let all these details and explanations worry you. you know, you don’t have to learn these details and explanations in such a way or to such an extent that you’re able to repeat them verbatim somewhere or to somebody. No, you don’t. In fact, you need to understand only this one point: To a very great extent, fluency depends on ready-built word groups. The role of the details and


explanations is only to help you see this one point from different angles. Remember this: A mere superficial understanding of this point won’t do. your understanding of this one point must be deep and thorough — so that there would always be an internalized feeling in you of how important ready-built word groups are. Ready-built word groups would then become the backbone of your oral English. Every detail and every bit of explanation would help you deepen your understanding.

Now let’s take a look at some of the very useful types of ready-built word groups. Here’s a small collection:

by accident, achieve your aim, in action, out of action, take advantage of somebody/something, break the agreement, go it alone, reach an agreement, as always, answer the door/the phone, within arm’s reach.go bad, have/take a bath, to the best of my knowledge/ability, you bet, better off, that’s better, a bit of a problem, bit by bit, for a bit, you’ll only have yourself to blame, at full blast, break a promise, out of breath, by air, by bus, by car, by force, by himself/herself, etc., by plane, by train.in that case, certainly not, in charge, take charge, under the circumstances, under no circumstances, come true, come to a conclusion, as far as I am concerned, take a chance, by chance, how come?, out of control, cover the cost, at all cost(s), a course of action, go to court.keep a dairy, out of date, these days, in dead trouble, make no difference, get into difficulties, down the road, get dressed, on duty, off duty.from beginning to end, in the end, excellent value (for money).fair enough, in fashion, out of fashion, fast asleep, on fire, open fire (on the crowd, etc.), put a fire out, set fire to something, at first, go up in flames, in a flash, fall flat, on foot, for free, free of charge, free time, fresh air, have fun,


make fun of somebody, that’s funny, make a fuss.have a hair-cut, by hand, these things happen, hard at work, come to no harm, there is no harm in…, with all your heart, a heavy sleeper, a heavy smoker, here and there, here it is, think highly of somebody, hold your breath, go on holiday, on holiday, hope for the best, I hope (that)…, lose hope, have high hopes, for hours, in an hour, how about...?, in a hurry.have no idea, Do you mind if…?, if I were you…, was taken ill, make an impression on somebody, on the increase, in ink, take out insurance.just a minute, just a moment, keep quiet, keep a secret, as far as I know.at last, laugh at somebody/something, against the law, at least, least of all, not in the least, less and less, let’s see, as long as, looks as if.go mad, like mad, make sure, no easy matter, what’s the matter?, a mild-mannered person, change your mind, I don’t mind, in a minute, too good to miss, by mistake, at any moment, make a living, make money, more and more, more or less, at (the) most, move house, remain a mystery.never mind, no doubt, no wonder, for nothing, at short notice, right now.how often?, in the old days, on the left/right, at once, once more, once or twice, keep things in order, the other day, out of order, over there.I beg your pardon, pay attention to somebody/something, pick a quarrel, I can’t see any point in..., point of view, in practice, in the presence of.on the radio, pouring with rain, raise your voice, out of reach, within reach, break a record, as a last resort, right away, right now, quite right.


for goodness’ sake, I must say, make sense, set an example, settle a bill, shake hands with somebody, What a shame!, go into shock, have/take a shower, feel sick, sleep soundly, go to sleep, so far, or so, soaking wet, something like that, soon after, that sort of thing, without a sound, spare time, in spite of, stay behind, in stock, out of stock, straight away, call a strike, call a strike off, go on strike, on strike, all of a sudden, moral support.What are you talking about?, take a seat, in theory, tell tales, have a temperature, that’s it, all the time, at a time, at times, from time to time, in a month’s time, just in time, I told you so, I think, I thought, top of the class, get in touch, keep in touch, by public transport, get into trouble, in trouble, no trouble, tell the truth, take it in turns, turn a corner.get undressed, up and down, up the road, a stomach upset, as usual.wait your turn, at war, declare war, go to war, keep a close watch on somebody, by the way, find your way, lose your way, on the way, out of the way, weather permitting, lose weight, put on weight, in other words, a long way, wear well, what about, What’s wrong with…?, the whole of, on the whole, have a word with somebody, send word, worse off.use your dictionary. Make these ready-built word groups

part of your everyday speech. (you’ll be getting large collections of ready-built word groups later in this Book and in the other Books in the Fluentzy series).

Of course, many of the ready-built, ready-to-assemble, units may only be capable of expressing your ideas in a very vague way — or of just helping you start off by saying something connected to that idea or of acting as a floor-holder while you’re deciding what to say next or how to say it. But remember this: In spontaneous speech, things are made clear not through tight


structures and precise vocabulary, but through a number of speech-specific techniques. (Don’t worry about them now. I’ll be telling you about them in the other Books in this series).

Why do word groups of certain types like these occur to you ready-built? you know, this is because your experience with the language gets you conditioned to uttering them automatically in certain contexts. This conditioning happens this way: you notice that certain word groups occur frequently in certain types of contexts. And you also hear people you listen to uttering them frequently in the same types of contexts. And you frequently see many of the word groups in print in the same type of contexts. From all this experience, you unconsciously get to associate these word groups with the types of contexts they frequently occur in. you connect together in your mind these word groups and the types of contexts they frequently occur in. And you yourself start uttering them frequently in those contexts.

Now note this: All these word groups have a particular feature, and this feature makes them likely to be remembered: Whenever they occur, they occur in set forms: Almost all the words within such a word group are always the same, and they occur next to one another in a fixed order — with each word having the same words before and after it. These words thus remain constantly associated with one another in this fixed order.

And many of these word groups are also memorable, because they’re phrased in an apt way or because they’re full of meaning.

Because of these reasons, it becomes second nature or a firmly fixed habit for you to utter these word groups in their set forms. This habit helps you utter them with a great degree of ‘automaticity’ — far more quickly and with a far greater degree of ease than you utter spot-made word groups. In fact, you don’t ‘utter’ ready-built word groups — you just run them off. you know, as they’re frequently-occurring word groups, they occur again and again in a large number of contexts in your own


speech and in the speech of other people. This sort of frequent repetition and exposure give constant practice to you in making use of them, and they get primed to come out of you readily and smoothly (without any break) as a single word or well-knit unit at the slightest stimulus.

* * *

42 IDEA uNITS: yOuR KEy TO FluENCy

CHAPTER 3

Idea units: Your key to fluencyFrom what I’ve said so far, one thing must be clear to you:

Most often, an idea unit contains more than one word, and so, most often, an idea unit occurs in groups of words. But sometimes an idea unit may happen to contain only one word. These are situations when a single word would do the work of a word group. In those situations, idea units come out as one-word units. Thus, suppose somebody asks you, “When do you want me to come?”, and suppose you reply, “Tomorrow”. In that context, doesn’t this single word ‘Tomorrow’ do the work of a word group and convey an idea? yes, it does.

So here, ‘Tomorrow’ is an idea unit, even though it’s a single word. In this context, you don’t always need to reply: “I want you to come tomorrow”. All you need to do is to say “Tomorrow”, and the idea would be clear. Here the single word “Tomorrow” does the work of the word group “I want you to come tomorrow”.

A few pages back, we looked at a few spoken texts. Here are three one-word idea units that three of those spoken texts contained:

• + attitudes + • + sticky + • + Actually +Go back to those spoken texts and spot these one-word idea

units.

‘Idea units’ of speech, and “sentences” of writingHere’s an important fact, and you may have noticed it by now from what I’ve said so far: An idea unit isn’t always the same thing as a sentence that we use in written English. No. Often, an idea unit has a form that is quite different from that of a sentence. Of course, this doesn’t mean that short sentences cannot occur as idea units. especially, simple sentences that are short. In fact,

43IDEA uNITS: yOuR KEy TO FluENCy

simple sentences that are short can occur as idea units and they often do.

But first let’s look at word groups that can only function as idea units in spoken English, but not as sentences in written English.

Suppose you ask a person, “When did you come?”, and suppose he replies: “Just now”. Then in that context, doesn’t this group “Just now” make sense? And isn’t this word group “Just now” a grammatically acceptable combination of words? And so, in that context, isn’t this word group an idea unit? Just see! In the context we’ve just now seen, the addressee doesn’t need to reply: “I came just now”. The addressee need only reply, “Just now”, and the idea would be clear. This is because the words ‘I’ and ‘came’ are understood from the context.

But is the word group “Just now” a ‘sentence’ — as a sentence is usually understood in written English? It isn’t hard to tell. No. This group is not a sentence. you see, as it is generally understood in written English, a sentence is a group of words that contains a verb — or a subject and a verb. But the word group “Just now” doesn’t contain a verb. And it doesn’t contain a subject, either. So it isn’t a sentence. But haven’t we seen just now that this group is an idea unit, when the context is clear?

But let me ask you: Even if the context is clear, is this word group a sentence? No, it’s not. you can tell this even if you know nothing about the grammatical definition of a sentence. yet haven’t we seen that you can use it in speech— to do the work of a ‘sentence’?

Now let’s take the word “Tomorrow”. Is this word a sentence? No. Of course, not. It’s only a word, and not a sentence. But haven’t we already seen that a single word like this can be used as an idea unit? Haven’t we seen that it can be used in conversations — to do the work of a full ‘sentence’?


How context helps the speakerNow what helped the word group “Just now” and the single word “Tomorrow” to make sense and do the work of sentences? The contexts in which they were uttered, of course. Contexts.

Suppose that a stranger comes to you now and says all of a sudden: “Just now”. Will it make any sense to you? No, it won’t. It won’t convey any meaning. But suppose you had first asked a question, “When did you come?”, and suppose he had then said “Just now” in reply to that question. Then this word group would certainly have made sense, because then the question would have provided enough context for the reply to be understood. So a context is a thing of great help in speech. It’d save you from a burden — the burden of having to make up full sentences all the time.

Suppose that somebody comes to you now and says: “Tomorrow”. Will it make any sense to you? No, it won’t. But suppose he’d said this word in reply to a question from you, “When do you want me to come?”, then it’d have made sense, because then this question would have provided enough context for it to be understood.

So the word group “Just now” and the word “Tomorrow” are idea units in spoken English, but they cannot function as sentences in written English.

Now let’s take a word group that is not only an ‘idea unit’ in speech, but also a ‘sentence’ in written English.

For example, take this word group: “Can I have a look at it?”. Suppose a stranger comes to you and says all of a sudden: “Can I have a look at it?”. Would it make any sense? No, it wouldn’t — because he hasn’t given you any idea about what he means by the word ‘it’. But suppose he points towards a book lying on your table and says, “Can I have a look at it?”. Then, wouldn’t this word group make sense? Of course, it would — because the context then makes the meaning of the word ‘it’ clear and shows


that the word ‘it’ refers to the book.

Importance of contextSo don’t you see? There’s a great advantage on the conversational side of a language. you can make the context to help you speak. you see, in speech, your hearers understand several things even if you don’t use words to say those things. The factor that makes your hearers understand these ‘unsaid’ things is the context.

By ‘context’, I mean everything that helps you make the meaning of an idea unit to be clearly understood: The verbal or linguistic context (= the things you say before and after that idea unit), the situational context (= the place, time, attending circumstances, etc.), the shared knowledge (= the things that both you and your addressee know about each other, about the world in general, about the topic of the conversation, etc.) and the body language.

As there’s always the context to help you in speech, you don’t have to make up and say full sentences on many occasions. And even if you do make up a full sentence, you don’t have to express everything fully and clearly in that sentence. And you don’t have to hunt up and use ‘right’ words in order to make your meaning graphically clear and detailed through words alone. And often, you don’t have to complete your sentences at all, but can leave them half-finished and start another one. And you don’t even have to start your utterance in a sentence-form. All that you need to do is to just utter what stands out in your mind — just utter the bite-sized word groups that readily occur to you through association of ideas. If what you utter doesn’t make the idea complete, the context would.

For example, take a look at the following strings of idea units:

1. I like him + Hard-working + Polite + Always cheerful (you don’t always have to say like this: I like him, because he is hard-working, polite and always cheerful).


2. He is a family man + Seven children (you don’t always have to say like this: He is a family man and has seven children).3. Where have you been? + Flu or something? (you don’t always have to say: Where have you been? Were you in bed with flu or something?).4. Nice dress. Paris? (you don’t always have to say: That’s a nice dress you have on. Did you buy it in Paris?).5. Flip the switch + before you do that. (The speaker as well as the addressee know what the word ‘that’ stands for in this context, and so the speaker doesn’t have to use more words to describe the thing that the word ‘that’ refers to).Keep this in mind: Whenever you speak, a number of

contextual elements would normally be there to help you. you won’t have to find out and add more words to what you utter just for the sake of making up a perfectly-formed sentence.

In fact, if you find that your meaning has become clear to your hearer (even before you’ve completed saying what you started saying), you can even leave unfinished the word group you’re uttering.Eg: • There’s no truth in his story + I don’t believe a word

of what... + you know + This isn’t the first time… + He always tells lies.• Two thousand rupees? + Daylight robbery or what? + I never thought the bill would come to... + This must be the most expensive restaurant + in town.• I think + I’ll have to refuse + you know + I’ve thought about it + carefully + And for a long... + Well, I don’t want to accept that offer.In the 1st example, the speaker has left the word group “I

don’t believe a word of what...” unfinished. But it’s clear from the context that what the speaker wanted to say was something like this: “I don’t believe a word of what he’s said”. In the 2nd


example, the speaker has left the word group “I never thought the bill would come to...” unfinished. But it’s clear from the context that what the speaker wanted to say was something like this: “I never thought the bill would come to so much”. In the 3rd example, the speaker has left the word group “And for a long...” unfinished. But it’s clear from the context that what the speaker wanted to say was something like this: “And for a long time”.

So when the speaker’s meaning is clear to the hearers from the context, the speaker can leave a word group unfinished and start the next one. Actually, a speaker can do this under other circumstances, too. We’ll take up this topic for detailed study later.

* * *

48 TyPES OF IDEA uNITS

CHAPTER 4

Types of idea unitsFrom what we’ve seen so far, one thing must be clear to you: There are four types of word groups that can occur as idea units:

• Phrases (including single words). • Clauses. • Incomplete clauses and incomplete phrases. • ‘Whole plus’ clauses and phrases.

1. Phrasesyou see, there are 5 types of phrases in English:

• Verb Phrase (VP). • Noun Phrase (NP). • Adjective Phrase (Adj. P). • Adverb Phrase (Adv. P). • Prepositional Phrase (Prep. P).you’ll be learning about the various types of phrases from the

fluency development angle later. But for the time being, let’s take a general look at what phrases are like.

In general, we can say that a phrase is (a) a single content word, or (b) a small group of words that stand together as a unit of meaning — with a content word as the main word in the group. Generally speaking, a content word is a verb, noun, adjective or adverb.

A phrase normally occurs in speech in two ways: Either it occurs as an idea unit by itself or it occurs as part of an idea unit (that is, as a constituent element in a short independent clause — a clausal idea unit). And mind you, in modern grammar, even a single content word is treated as a phrase.

(i) Verb phrase (VP)VP = (helping verbs) + full verb.‘Helping verbs’ are words like am, is, are, have, etc. and

words like can, may, will, etc. The term ‘helping verbs’ have been

49TyPES OF IDEA uNITS

given in brackets, because words that are helping verbs may or may not occur in a VP. In the following examples, you’ll find verb phrases given in italics.

• She laughed. • They disappeared suddenly. • This belongs to me. • He made a suggestion. • I am working. • She is crying. • They are having a meeting. • He was doing something. • We were trying to help them. • This sort of life doesn’t suit me. • I don’t know. • He didn’t answer the question. • She has a headache. • They have changed their plan. • We have been waiting for the result. • She can speak German and French. • He couldn’t do it. • They will come tomorrow. • If I may interrupt for a moment, here’s an urgent message you should see now.• They would have left by now. • They might have been expecting all that. • you should decide what to do now. • I must exercise more. • you ought to apologize to her.

(ii) Noun phrase (NP)NP = determiners + (pre-modifiers) + noun + (post-modifiers)

Eg: Ajith, Jai Shankar, India, Great Britain, the uS, science, authorities, a pair of gloves, my family, Dr. John, the top of the stairs, the water level, two cats, that book, her son, some experience, some oranges, a big car, a pleasant evening, a disappointed man, the ruling party, all those people there, the civil service, the shop across the street, the girl who went in just now, a feeling of satisfaction, the width of the road, her uncle’s house, the man you were speaking to, the boy in blue shirt.

(iii) Adjective phrase (Adj. P)Adj. P = (pre-modifiers) + adjective + (post-modifiers)


Eg: very tall, very happy, rather dull, quite comfortable, actually hot, comparatively cheap, dreadfully ill, equally correct, extremely busy, relatively mild, really amazing, terribly sorry, large enough.

(iv) Adverb phrase (Adv. P)Adv. P = (pre-modifiers) + adverb + (post-modifiers)

Eg: very carefully, rather too quickly, very seriously indeed, a little more clearly, as quietly as he could, pretty faithfully, extremely well, quite foolishly, most cunningly, more sincerely than I expected, more and more effectively, fairly easily, somewhat quietly, really professionally.

(v) Prepositional phrase (PP)PP = preposition + a complement (= a noun phrase, generally)

Eg: about that topic, above my head, along the road, among the trees. around/round our house, at the shop, before the next junction, below the knee, beside the bed, between them, beyond control, by cheque, from London, in his pocket, inside the house, into his mouth, near the door, off duty, on the ground, opposite the Library, outside that building, over the table, past bedtime, through the front door, towards the gate, under the bed, up the stairs, within earshot.

Phrases as idea unitsThis is what we’ve seen so far: In general, a phrase is —

• A single lexical word. Or,• A group of grammatically related words.

The importance of a phrase in speech is this: On the one hand, it can function as an idea unit by itself. On the other hand, it can act as part of other types of idea units (= ‘clauses’).


So by itself, a phrase can occur as an idea unit — if it is short enough for you to utter it as a single unit. And a phrase is short enough, if it doesn’t contain more than 5 or 6 words on an average. For example, we’ve already seen that words and word groups such as the following can occur as idea units:

“Just now”, “Tomorrow”, “with a very high score”, “on several projects”, “a toffee-like thing”, “from place to place”, “Hard-working”, “Polite”, “Always cheerful”, “Seven children”.These are all phrases.In fact, just as single phrases, combinations of phrases also

often occur in speech — short combinations. For example, we’ve already seen that the word group “Flu or something?” is an idea unit: See example 3 under the sub-heading “Importance of context” above. This is a combination of two noun phrases ‘Flu’ and ‘something’, and the combining has been done by using the connector ‘or’. Here are a few more examples of combinations:Eg: • Priya and her father + were here. • My whole body +

shivered and ached. • He deals with things firmly + you know + Decisively and firmly. • I was very tired + tired and hungry.

Don’t let a few grammatical terms scare youGo through the examples carefully. They’ll give you a clear idea of what a phrase is like.

Now let me tell you something important: Don’t let what I’ve said so far (about phrases) give you a wrong idea. you see, in order to speak English fluently, it’s not necessary that you should learn to define a verb, noun, etc. No. And it’s not necessary that you should be able to look at a word group and say that it’s a noun phrase, verb phrase, etc. No. you don’t have to learn to label phrases by their names.


All that is needed is this: you should have a feel for what a phrase is — no matter what its name. you should have a clear understanding of what a close group of words is: A close group of words that go together and form a unit.

The easiest and quickest way of developing this feel is to train yourself with the word groups you’ll be getting in the various Books in this series. Go through them silently several times. And utter them aloud several times.

So don’t let the names of different types of phrases scare you.

Word knowledge and word masteryAn important part of your fluency training is to get to know the various types of word-clusters called ‘phrases’ and to train your organs of speech in uttering them.

you should do this training seriously and in earnest. you shouldn’t let up, even if you’re very highly educated in English and even if you’re extremely good at written English. you see, phrase training is one of the most effective techniques for mastering English vocabulary. Mind you, one reason why many educated people can’t speak fluent English is this: They haven’t mastered essential English vocabulary. They think they have, but they haven’t, actually.

Of course, they know a very large number of words. But their knowledge of most of these words is superficial and is limited to recognizing these words in reading — or to understanding them when somebody else uses them in speech. Their knowledge of these words doesn’t extend to a mastery of the full details of how to use them — how to use them along with other words. They have no clear idea of the other words that occur regularly whenever that word is used, or about the typical syntactic patterns in which that word tends to occur normally. No, they haven’t achieved a real mastery of these words. A real mastery — the skill of using them easily in order to express what they see, hear, feel.


And the phrase training you get through the various books in this series will help you achieve a real mastery over the essential words. yes, essential words — because a serious problem with educated learners is this: A lot of the words they’ve spent time in learning are not essential words. This is because those are not ‘production’ words, ‘speech-production’ words. No. They’re just recognition vocabulary or reception vocabulary. If you want to produce English on your own, you should have a mastery not of just a set of random words (or of words belonging to the reception or recognition vocabulary), but of speech-production words. That’s why phrase-training is going to be extremely important.

2. ClausesIn general, a clause is a combination of different types of phrases in a certain order. So it is a grammatical unit that is one rank higher than a phrase. Broadly speaking, there are two types of clauses:

• Independent clauses. • Non-independent clauses.

(i) Independent clausesAt the minimum, an independent clause consists of a Subject element (= S) and a Verb element (= V). This is the SV-pattern.Eg: • The door opened. • They laughed. • My stomach hurts.

• A car crashed. • She coughed. • Somebody screamed. • The jewels sparkled.But most often, there will be one more element after the

Verb element. And this other element is usually an element called the Object element (= O). This is the SVO-pattern. This is the most common clause pattern you’ll find in spoken English.Eg: • She picked a red rose. • They welcomed him. • I enjoyed

that book. • She heated some milk. • The news upset her. • He threatened revenge. • She praised him. • The cat climbed a tree. • Her behaviour pleased those people. •


That man grabbed her handbag. • He lit a cigarette. • She wrote a cheque. • Most of them break traffic rules.There are, of course, other patterns that are not as common

as the SVO pattern. In fact, we’ll be taking a detailed look at all the clause patterns (common as well as less common) later in the other Books in this series.

Now, if an independent clause is short enough (for you to utter it as a single unit), it can occur as an idea unit in speech.

For example, we’ve already seen that word groups such as the following can occur as idea units:

• He unlocked the front door. • He passed the exam. • They were close friends. • She gave him something to eat. • It’s a bit heavy. • I don’t like that idea. • Give it to me. • Pick me up. • I don’t want it. • Can I have a look at it? • I like him. • He is a family man. • Where have you been? These are all single independent clauses. you know, a single

independent clause is also known as a simple sentence.

(ii) Non-independent clausesWe saw that the word group “before you do that” can occur as an idea unit. (See example 4 under the sub-heading “Importance of the context” above). Grammatically speaking, this is a non-independent clause — more commonly known as a ‘dependent clause’ or a ‘subordinate clause’.

So you see, like an independent clause, a non-independent clause can also occur as an idea unit — if it is short enough for you to utter it as a single unit. Here are the various types of non-independent clauses you’ll come across in speech:

(a) Subordinate clauses• Subordinate clauses starting with a ‘subordinator’ like after, as if, because, before, if, so and though:


Eg: • They arrived + after you had left. • He spoke to me + as if I had done something wrong. • He bought it + because it’s so cheap. • They’ll come + if you invite them. • Discuss it with him + so he can give you some tips. • He hadn’t left the office + though it was past 7.• Subordinate clauses starting with a wh-word like when, whenever, wherever, etc.:

Eg: • She was out + when you phoned. • I always visit them + whenever I’m in Bombay. • The police will find him + wherever he is. • you won’t be disappointed + whichever you choose.

(b) to-infinitive clausesEg: • They’re planning to do everything possible + to cut costs.

• Why don’t you ask him + to come tomorrow? • He took it home + to show it to his wife. • you should tell him + to stop doing that.

(c) -ing participle clausesEg: • I waved to that man + thinking that he was Hamid. • We

sat there for some more time + talking about this and that. • I don’t want to go to them + asking for help.

(d) -en participle clausesEg: Taken by surprise + he couldn’t answer their questions.NOTE: Clauses like these are rare in speech.

(e) Verbless clausesEg: While in Bombay + he used to take some interest in social

activities.Now remember this: Among clausal idea units (= idea

units that are clauses), independent clauses occur far more frequently as idea units than non-independent clauses. yes, far


more frequently. And among non-independent clauses, those introduced by subordinators [(a) above] are more common than the other types. In fact, the last two categories of non-independent clauses (-en participle clauses, and Verbless clauses) are not common at all.

We’ll be learning about all the types of non-independent clauses later.

No complicated grammatical stuff Before we go ahead, let me ask you something: Do these grammatical terms scare you? Don’t start thinking that fluency work requires you to learn a lot of complicated grammatical stuff by heart. It doesn’t. And so don’t worry. (Just treat these grammatical terms as names — names for things). Just as I told you while we were dealing with phrases, understand this: In order to speak English fluently, you don’t have to learn to describe the various types of clauses to anyone. No. And you don’t have to be able to look at a word group and say that it’s such and such a type of clause. No. you don’t have to learn to label clauses by their names. All that is needed is this: you should have a feel for what a clause is — whatever its name.

In the various Books in this series, you’ll be getting collections of various types of clauses that are usual in spoken English. Train yourself with them as these Books tell you. And you’ll soon develop the kind of feel that’s needed.

3. Incomplete clauses and incomplete phrasesunder the sub-heads ‘Phrases’ and ‘Clauses’ above, we saw clausal idea units and phrasal idea units that are whole ones — clauses and phrases that are complete in themselves. But in spontaneous speech, you’ll find one more class of idea units. They’re incomplete clauses and phrases: Clauses and phrases that are partly uttered and then discarded, left unfinished. yes, fragmentary clauses and fragmentary phrases. They’re as important for spontaneous


speech composition as whole clauses and whole phrases. We’ve already looked at a few unfinished word groups that can occur as idea units. Here they are:

• I don’t believe a word of what... • I never thought the bill would come to... • And for a long...Now here are a few spoken texts. They contain other examples

of incomplete word groups occurring as idea units:Eg: • He’s a very... + you know + He’s always annoyed about

something + or other + And so he’s very difficult to be with. • you’ll have to... + you shouldn’t give up + though it’s a bit difficult + And you should keep trying to do it. • He came and told me all about it + And he was very... + And he showed how much he enjoyed it + And he was very excited + I could tell that + by the way he... + you know + he described it to me in great detail + and with a lot of enthusiasm.

4. ‘Whole plus’ clauses and phrasesA ‘whole plus’ clause = A ‘whole’ clause + one or two extra words (The extra words are not grammatically part of the whole clause). A ‘whole plus’ phrase = A ‘whole’ phrase + one or two extra words (The extra words are not grammatically part of the whole phrase).

So you see, a ‘whole plus’ clause is a 1¼ clause, and a ‘whole plus’ phrase is a 1¼ phrase. A few examples would make the nature of ‘whole plus’ clauses and phrases clear:

‘Whole plus’ clauses

(i) “Independent clause and Extra word(s) +”In the examples that follow, you’ll find the extra words (that converts ‘whole’ clauses into ‘whole plus’ clauses) given in italics.


• (He handled the situation + with a great deal of courage) He handled the situation with + a great deal of courage. • (He has a good chance + of getting that job) He has a good chance of + getting that job. • (I can do it + with the help of those people) I can do it with the + help of those people. • (I didn’t want him + to do all those things) I didn’t want him to + do all those things. • (He smiled at me + and said something) He smiled at me and + said something. • (Handle it properly + or it can be dangerous) Handle it properly or + it can be dangerous. • (I like him + but I don’t want to work with him) I like him but + I don’t want to work with him.In these examples, the ‘whole plus clauses’ are the

following:‘He handled the situation with’, ‘He has a good chance of’, ‘I can do it with the’, ‘I didn’t want him to’, ‘He smiled at me and’, ‘Handle it properly or’, ‘I like him but’.

(ii) “Extra word(s) and Comment clause +”Comment clauses are pre-fabricated or ready-to-use expressions like ‘I believe’, ‘you know’, etc. They’re often used as fillers in spontaneous speech. Comment clauses become ‘whole plus’ clauses when they’re used medially (= in the middle of an independent clause, rather than at the beginning or the end).

In the examples that follow, the extra words occur immediately before comment clauses. The part that are not in italics before the ‘+’ sign is a comment clause. The words in italics are the extra words.

• that man I believe + is a doctor. • this I think + is that girl’s idea. • this plan I’m afraid + isn’t going to work. • that wasn’t you know + what they had expected. • they were you see + trying to help us. • He is if you ask me + very rude. • He isn’t if I may be frank + experienced enough to get that job. • that was if I may be blunt + a


very foolish thing to do. • they have since you want to know + decided to cancel your contract. • you shouldn’t have if I may say so + refused that offer. you’ll be learning more about comment clauses later in the

other books in this series..let me point out one thing here: ‘Whole plus clauses’ occur quite frequently as idea units in

spontaneous speech. So whenever they occur to you naturally, don’t try to avoid them.

‘Whole plus’ phrasesyou see, idea units happen to take the shape of ‘whole plus’ phrases when the speaker adds an optional phrase in the middle of an independent clause — rather than at the beginning or at the end.

The following examples would make this point clear. In these examples, you’ll find the extra words added at the beginning of the optional phrases given in italics.

• He had for twenty years + worked for that company. • She hadn’t before her marriage + seen him at all. • She had by then + left the building. • He could with the help of those people + complete the work in time. • He occasionally + goes and meets them. • He doesn’t usually + criticize anybody’s work. • I was frankly + a bit worried. • He’s obviously + in love with her. • the whole campaign was in short + a disaster. • they were of course + a bit disappointed. • He wasn’t strictly speaking + guilty. • He’s after all + their boss. • their loss was in comparison + quite small.Here are some examples containing vocatives used

medially. (A vocative is a word like ‘madam’ that you use when you’re speaking to someone or when you want to attract their attention).


• that is madam + a very good idea. • Will you Mr. Saxena + be standing again in the next election? • you mustn’t Dad + be so nasty to them. • that wasn’t professor + what I meant. • let’s Grandma + sit here and talk. • that you stupid idiot + isn’t what you should do.

* * *

61WHy CAN’T WE SPEAK IN ‘SENTENCES’?

CHAPTER 5

Why can’t we speak in ‘sentences’?

What we’ve seen so far can be summed up like this: If your speech is to be fluent, you’ll have to learn to speak by stringing ‘idea units’ together. Very roughly, about 50% of these idea units would grammatically be the same as written English sentences. And most of these are simple sentences (= independent clauses). The remaining 50% of idea units won’t be sentences. They’d only be phrases, non-independent clauses and incomplete clauses and phrases — that is, units that are lower in rank than a sentence, and the fragments of those units.

Now why aren’t we able to speak spontaneously by stringing sentences of the written English kind alone? Why do we have to use a lot of ‘non-sentence’ idea units, too? Why?

The chief reason is this: Spontaneous speech is produced under conditions that are quite different from conditions in which a piece of writing is planned and produced. And speech is generally processed by hearers who hear it under conditions that are quite different from conditions in which a piece of writing is read and understood.

When we speak spontaneously, we compose our speech as we go on speaking. That is, we give shape to our speech at the same time as we speak. So when we speak spontaneously, we only have a very limited time to construct what we say. And that limited amount of time we have is not sufficient to plan and construct sentences of the written English type, and to put them together into a ‘text’. We need much more time to do a thing like that. And so, when we speak spontaneously, we won’t be able to speak by constructing and stringing sentences of the written English kind. While speaking spontaneously, we’ll only be able to

62 WHy CAN’T WE SPEAK IN ‘SENTENCES’?

say what we want to say chunk by chunk — bite-sized chunks, each chunk containing a few closely related words and carrying one unit of information. These chunks may or may not happen to be sentences. In fact, many won’t be sentences at all, but just sentence-fragments and phrases.

Just a little at a time, and not a mouthfulRemember this: unlike writing, speech is produced orally. This means that each group of words that you utter at a time will have to be short enough, so that it’s length is manageable for you to utter as a single unit. That is, it should not be a mouthful — or so complicated or long that it is difficult to say as a single unit.

you see, normally, our organs of speech will have no difficulty in uttering chunks containing 5 or 6 words on an average — if these words are short and simple, and are closely related grammatically and lexically. But if the chunks contain more than 9 words each, the organs of speech will find it difficult to produce them without faltering — even if the words are short and simple.

But listen: This does not mean that all your chunks must contain as many as 5 or 6 words. No. The length of the chunks keeps varying from 1 to 9 words. Of course, chunks with a single word are not very frequent. And chunks with as many as 9 words or more are not frequent, either. In fact, on an average, a native English speaker’s chunks tend to contain only 5 or 6 words, and not more. yes, on an average. Most of the chunks contain around 5 words. Many chunks contain less than 5 words. And some chunks contain more than 5 short words (but less than 10 words). Normally, only about 20% of the chunks would contain more than 7 words. And here’s something you should note: For uttering a standard chunk with 5 to 6 words, a fluent English speaker takes about 2 seconds.

Fluent speakers produce a series of these chunks or segments continuously, one after another. Connectors like and, but, or, then


and so help them move smoothly from one segment to the next or from a group of segments to the next. In this way, fluent speakers produce a series of speech-segments as a stream.

Here’s an example of a series of speech-segments lined up end to end:

She’s had two job offers + and she can’t decide + which one to accept + because both the companies + you know + both offer a generous salary + and the working conditions are good + at both places + and she’ll have to give a reply + by this Saturday + and her father says + her career prospects would be better + in the first company + but her friends say + that’s not so + and they want her to join the second company + though she’ll have to be miles away + from home + if she joins the second company + but her mother wants her + to reject both the offers + because...So an idea unit is nothing but a bite-sized speech-segment:

A short group of words that is uttered as a single unit. And each unit usually carries one strand or unit of information.

Strands of informationNow, what exactly is a strand of information? This is something that is difficult to define or state in precise terms. But I can give you a general idea. you see, a strand of information is a one-component thought, a one-component idea that the speaker has in mind — a thought or idea that only has a single component or a single ingredient. Thus, if a thought or idea has more than one component part, each component part can be treated as a separate unit of information.

In practical terms, a strand of information is nothing but what the speaker himself chooses to present as one thin piece of information to his addressee. That is, the speaker has the freedom to decide how much of a thought or idea he must present as a single unit of information. Of course, he’ll have to limit the


content of the information to 5 or 6 words on an average — or he’ll find it difficult to utter the unit as a single chunk.

For example, take this word group: They had a country home in that village.you can see that the information contained in this word

group has two informative components: (i) ‘They had a country home’; and (ii) ‘The country home was in that village’. If the speaker chooses to treat the whole information as a thought with two component parts, he’ll utter it as two idea units:

They had a country home + and it was in that villageBut if the speaker chooses to treat the whole information as

a thought with only one component, he’ll utter it as a single idea unit:

They had a country home in that village.Here are a few more examples:• The explanation he gave was not satisfactory. (= He gave an explanation + and it was not satisfactory). • A man carrying a brief case left that house. (= A man left that house + and he was carrying a brief case). • He gave her some flowers done up in tissue paper. (= He gave her some flowers + and it had been done up in tissue paper).• He criticized her harshly and upset her. (= He criticized her harshly + and he upset her). • He opened the door and went out. (= He opened the door + and he went out). • you can show it to her or her husband. (= you can show it to her + or you can show it to her husband). • He was very happy and in high spirits. (= He was very happy + and he was in high spirits).• I like him though he’s a bit rude. (= I like him + though he’s a bit rude). • I’ll speak to you after I get back. (= I’ll speak to you + after I get back). • I gave it to her because I like her. (= I gave it to her + because I like her). • He


spoke to me before he left. (= He spoke to me + before he left). • you can have it if you want it. (= you can have it + if you want it). • I saw him when he came in. (= I saw him + when he came in). • I’ll ask him after the meeting. (= I’ll ask him + after the meeting).• Both of them had come from far away. (= Both of them had come + from far away). • He showed it to us during the interval. (= He showed it to us + during the interval).

Length and shape of idea unitsBy now, you must have noticed that the length of an idea unit is an important factor. you see, if you speak continuously for a long time (say, for an hour), almost 80% of the idea units that you utter is likely to be 1 to 7 words long — and the most common lengths would tend to be 5 or 6 words. As I’ve already told you, idea units of more than 9 words are not very common.

Obviously, by their very nature, the lengths of idea units tend to vary considerably within these ranges. This is because the speaker has to adjust their lengths depending on the communicative convenience and needs of himself and his hearers. So this is what you must understand from all this: The speaker only says at a time what is possible for him to say as a single unit, and he says it in a shape that is possible for him to give at that moment. That is, the speaker has the freedom to decide what information, and how much of it, is to be presented to the addressee through an idea unit.

Points for dividing speechBy now, we’ve learnt one thing: English speech does not come out of the speaker’s mouth word by word or as a continuous stream or at a non-stop or uniform rate. It comes out as short chunks or short stretches of language. Each chunk or stretch is what we call an idea unit. And each idea unit highlights one piece


of information. Now a question naturally arises in your mind. What are the points at which a stream of speech can be split up into idea units?

Boundary of a ‘whole’ grammatical unitIn connected speech, the boundary of a ‘whole’ clause and the boundary of a ‘whole’ phrase are grammatical junctions.

A grammatical junction marks the end of one clause or phrase and the beginning of the next clause or phrase. This means that grammatical junctions are ideal points for splitting up a stream of speech into idea units. This is the general principle you should follow for splitting up a long utterance into idea units. In fact, idea units that native speakers of English produce do generally tend to form their boundaries at grammatical junctions.

Here are the grammatical junctions of various types. The examples would give you a clear idea. In these examples, you’ll find the idea unit marker ‘+’ at grammatical junctions.

(a) The junction between two clausesEg: • They were very tired + and he asked them to rest for a

while. • He must be very busy + or he would have come. • you can tell him + but I don’t know how he’s going to react. • If you don’t work harder + you won’t be able to go to university. • He decided to resign + though everybody was against it. • He always says exactly what he thinks + even if that may offend other people. • He said + he was leaving. • She was very happy + that they came. • She asked me + to go and meet Sekhar. • I had an awful job + persuading him to come.

(b) The junction between a clause and a phraseEg: • There was a bit of a confusion + over their hotel


reservations. • He took a firm grasp + on the rope. • I found the suggestions + very helpful. • Could you get me + a glass of water? • I know both of them + perfectly well. • That’s the way he behaves + all the time. • The contractors completed the work + last month.

(c) The junction between the Subject and the Predicate (within a clause)you see, the Predicate is the part of a clause that follows the Subject element. (An independent clause = Subject + Predicate).Eg: • People like him + can’t be trusted. • The finance

committee + has made some recommendations. • She and her sister + hate housework. • Her father + is a doctor.

(d) The junction between two phrasesEg: • An old building + in a bad state of repair. • A lively little

girl + very cheerful + and pleasant. • Very friendly + and easy to talk to. • At 4 o’ clock + next Monday + at the Chairman’s office.

(e) The junction between a ‘phrase’ and a clause Eg: • After the meeting + they went out for lunch. • For a few

days + I’ll be out of town. • The whole day + they were here. • Next month + our sales will be going up. • George Thomas + That’s his name. • Obviously + he doesn’t want to be interrupted. • Curiously enough + he wasn’t at the party.

Boundary of an ‘incomplete’ grammatical unitThe point at which speakers give up a fragmentary grammatical unit and start uttering another idea unit — that point is a


suitable point for splitting up a stream of speech. Here are some examples:

• I don’t know what your... + If you want to tell me something + stop beating about the bush. • I think he wants to... + Is he planning to join the army? • Ask them if... + Do they have enough supplies of food + for a week? • They all thought she... + I knew she would get the job.

Boundary of a ‘whole plus’ grammatical unitWe’ve already looked at ‘whole plus’ clauses and ‘whole plus’ phrases in some detail. Here are some examples that’ll show you the boundaries of idea units belonging to this category:

• He handled the situation with + a great deal of courage. • That man I believe + is a doctor. • He had for twenty years + worked for that company. • Will you Mr. Saxena + be standing again in the next election?For more examples, go back to the discussion under the

heading “4. ‘Whole plus’ clauses and phrases” a few pages back.

Other spotsHere’s an important thing you should note: There are no rigid rules that say that you can only split up a stream of speech at grammatical junctions or at boundaries of ‘whole’ clauses and ‘whole’ phrases — or at the boundaries of fragmentary grammatical units. No. There are no such rigid rules.

This is an important thing to understand. And once you’re clear about it in your mind, you’ll realize that you have a lot of freedom in marking off one idea unit from the next. And once you understand this clearly, your speech-production-stress would instantly get relieved to a great extent.

In fact, when you speak spontaneously (that is, without any prior planning or preparation), your idea units can form their


boundaries at virtually any point. yes, even at points that are not boundaries of ‘whole’ clauses and phrases or of ‘incomplete’ or ‘non-whole’ clauses and phrases. your idea units can form their boundaries at virtually any other point — at any other point you choose according to your communicative convenience.

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70 HOW TO DIVIDE SPEECH INTO IDEA uNITS

CHAPTER 6

How to divide speech into idea units

By now, we’ve seen a few general principles of speech composition. Based on those general principles, here’s a set of guidelines. These guidelines will help you split up a stream of speech into idea units.

Guideline 1: Short clauses: Undividedutter a short independent clause (= simple sentence) as a single idea unit. A short idea unit is one that contains not more than 9 simple and short words. usually, a short independent clause contains 5 to 6 words on an average.

IMPORTANT: Here’s a tip: you’ll find it easy to utter a short clause as a single idea unit if you use as the Subject element a pronoun (I, He, She, It, you, We or they) or a simple noun — rather than a noun phrase containing 2 or more words.

Eg: • They’ve gone. • Everybody has come. • He’ll help you. • The meeting began at 11. • We’ve met before. • His work has improved. • She made a cake. • He’s won the election. • He loves classical music. • I admire her courage. • Nothing satisfies our boss. • She can’t keep a secret. • He’s applied for several jobs. • He’s aiming at a promotion. • She called him a liar. • They’ve chosen him captain. • We elected him (as) our President. • She served our food hot. • He dyed his hair brown.

Guideline 2: Short clauses: Dividedeven if a clause is short, you are free to split it into more than one idea unit, if you want to highlight a particular element.

71HOW TO DIVIDE SPEECH INTO IDEA uNITS

Eg: • He used a box + as a stool. • He was lying + on his bed. • That book + is mine. • My back + is aching. • The lights + have become dim. • The surface + felt smooth. • your coffee + has turned cold. • The fire + was burning low.

Guideline 3: Long clauses: SubjectSplit up a long independent clause (or one with a complex Subject element), into its Subject and Predicate, and utter the two as separate idea units. As I’ve already told you, the Predicate is the part of a clause that follows the Subject element.

(a) Subject element: A short noun phraseEg: • America + will have a new government soon. •

Arrogance + will get you nowhere. • Corruption + seems to be on the increase. • The weekly meeting + will be when the boss gets back. • That blue bag + is 1000 rupees. • All children + like funny stories. • The girl who just left + is his secretary. • Some powerful and influential people + have agreed to back the scheme. • People like him + are impossible to deal with.

(b) Subject element: A long noun phraseIf the Subject element itself is long, divide it up into two (or more) idea units. (See the tip given under Guideline 1).Eg: • Cheap + and inferior products + won’t give you value for

money. • Her elder brother + and my next-door neighbour + were standing outside the gate. • People he was living with + in Delhi + were from England. • The thing I like + about his style + is its simplicity.

Guideline 4: Long clauses: PredicateAs I’ve already told you, the Predicate is the part of the clause


that follows the Subject element. you know, sometimes, the Predicate may happen to be long

or its elements may happen to be complex. When that happens, divide up the Predicate into more than one idea unit. Eg: • [He] [takes a lot of interest + in everything we do]. •

[She] [did the job + with a great deal of enthusiasm]. • [All this] [shows + a lack of experience of life]. • [He] [tries to impress + people who are listening + by exaggerating things]. • [He] [thought + that it was an easy job]. • [The spot over there] + [is where the new building is going to come up]. • [The tourist season] + [is when their sales usually go up].

NOTE 1: In each example, the first pair of brackets encloses the Subject element. The following pair of brackets encloses the Predicate.

NOTE 2: For the time being, if you feel like pausing before a full stop, pause only where you see the ‘+’ sign (= the grammatical junction marker). We’ll be learning in detail about ‘pauses’ later.

Guideline 5: ‘Fronted’ elementsSometimes you’ll find it easier to speak if you can arrange the elements in a clause in a different order than usual. you can do this, by placing a later-occurring element before all other elements — even before the Subject. This process is known as ‘fronting’. If you front an element in this way, you can utter the fronted element as a separate idea unit.

(a) Fronted Object (Direct Object)Eg: • Some of the branches + She had to cut off. • Both the

exams + He’s passed. • A firecracker or something + He exploded during the meeting. • Her hair + She tied with a ribbon. • The dishes + We’ll have to wash and dry now. •


Complicated methods + let’s avoid. • Traffic regulations + Many people occasionally break. • The way mothers take care of their babies + you should watch. • A doll + He gave her for her birthday. • One more question + I would like to ask you. • How much they had to pay + They haven’t told me yet. • Which of the two offers is better + you have to decide. • What they want + I don’t know. • Whether they’ll agree + I doubt. • Sitting at home doing nothing + I can’t imagine. • Working with those people + I enjoyed very much. • Waiting for half an hour or so + I don’t mind. • Gossiping + She hates. • Being criticized + She can’t stand.

(b) Fronted ComplementEg: • About five feet tall + She was. • Sweet + Those flowers

smelt. • Very heavy + That box felt. • Guilty + The judge found him. • Very calm + She was. • Very strange + Her voice sounded. • Rather bitter + That tea tasted. • Very odd + Everybody found what happened. • Her cousins + They are. • An expert + He’s become. • A nice girl + She found him. • A good idea + It sounded. • Chairman + They elected him. • Clean and tidy + you should keep the room. • That man + I can’t trust. • Very serious + The whole situation was.

Guideline 6: Co-ordination: Clauses If you use the link-words ‘and’, ‘or’, or ‘but’ and connect two (or more) independent clauses, you can treat the word group up to ‘and’, ‘or’, or ‘but’ as one chunk, and the remaining portion (including ‘and’, ‘or’ or ‘but’) as another chunk.Eg: • I met him there + and he came with me. • I like novels +

but he likes plays. • He may not be there + or she would have seen him.


‘and’• He saw smoke + and he raised an alarm. • She did well at the interview + and she got the job. • Sales have improved + and we’ll be able to make some profit this year. • He opened the door + and (then) he flicked a light-switch on. • life is splendid + and we’re quite happy here. • He’s a bit reserved + and she’s very outgoing. • He works hard + and (yet) they’re not satisfied. • Give him some money + and (then) he’ll do it for you. • let him apologize to her + and she’ll forgive him.

‘or’• We can go for a film + or we can go to the museum. • you have to do a lot of learning yourself + or you can’t be a good teacher. • He must have killed her + or he knows who killed her. • That must be an old car + or that’s not in good condition. • you can call him back + or you can leave a message. • you must be very careful + or you’ll make mistakes. • He doesn’t like this job + or that’s what he said.

‘but’• She saw him + but she didn’t smile at him. • He panicked + but she remained calm. • Our income hasn’t increased much + but our expenses have gone up considerably. • I am all for this campaign + but I’m against the way it’s being planned. • I’ll wait for you + but you should hurry up. • I can explain it to them + but I don’t know if they’ll understand me correctly.

Guideline 7: Co-ordination: Predicates If you use ‘and’, ‘or’, or ‘but’ and connect two (or more) Predicates together, you can treat the word group up to ‘and’, ‘or’, or ‘but’ as one chunk, and the remaining portion (including ‘and’, ‘or’ or


‘but’) as another chunk.Eg: • [He] [picked up a novel] + [and started reading]. • [He]

[wants it] + [but hasn’t told me yet]. • [We] [can go for a film] + [or visit some friends].

Guideline 8: Subordination: Clauses Suppose that you use a subordinator and connect two independent clauses together. Then one independent clause becomes the main clause and the other independent clause becomes a subordinate clause. Here are the simple subordinators that speakers normally use in spontaneous speech for making this sort of connection:

after, although, as, because, before, however, if, once, since, that, though, till/until, unless, when, where, while, as far as, as/so long as, as soon as, as if/as though, (just) in case, rather than, so, so that.you can utter the combination of the two clauses as a single

idea unit — if the combination is short enough (that is, if it doesn’t contain more than 9 simple and short words).Eg: • He left after I had come. • They came because you called

them. • Ask her if she saw him. • He was sure (that) you would.Of course, even if the combination of the two clauses is not

long, you’re free to utter the two clauses separately as two idea units, if you want to highlight a particular element in each of the clauses — or if that is what you find convenient to do.Eg: • He left + after I had come. • They came + because you

called them. • Ask her + if she saw him. • He was sure + (that) you would.But suppose that the combination of the two clauses contains

more than 9 words. then you must divide up the combination and treat the main clause and the subordinate clause as separate idea units. Normally, in speech, the main clause comes first, and the subordinate clause comes next. Here you can make the division


immediately before the subordinator.Eg: • He left the place + after John and the others had come.

• Their house is quite large and has plenty of space + although it’s a bit old. • They looked surprised + as she started speaking in fluent French. • He behaved in a strange way + as if he didn’t trust us. • They came all the way from there + because you wanted to see them. • you can do it + however you want. • He wanted to ask her + if she saw him anywhere there. • Take a copy of that report with you + in case he asks for it. • His attitude towards work changed + once he got his promotion. • They decided to go by car + rather than taking a train. • They’ve never made a loss + since they started that business. • It is not seen here + so it must be with my wife. • you must start early + so that you can avoid traffic jams. • He was not very sure + that your brother would come. • He’s very hard-working + though he isn’t as competent as others. • I had to wait + till he came out of his office. • We won’t be able to do much in this matter + unless you co-operate with us. • I hate it + when people speak to me like that. • I didn’t know + where he had gone. • I can’t sit back and watch + while they suffer like this. • He’s still with that company + as far as I know. • There won’t be any disputes + as long as you keep to the agreement. • I fell asleep + as soon as I went to bed.But sometimes you may choose to speak by reversing the order

of binding the two clauses. you may then utter the subordinate clause first, and the main clause next. even here, you can treat the clauses as separate idea units. Here the point of division is at the boundary of the subordinate clause:Eg: • After I had come + nobody left the place. • Because you

called them + they came. • If you want it + you can have it.


Guideline 9: Scene-setting adverbialsyou can utter scene-setting adverbials as separate idea units. NOTE: Adverbials are vocabulary items that express

circumstantial information such as the position of someone or something, the direction of their movement, the manner in which something happened or was done, etc. Single-word adverbials are often adverbs, and sometimes nouns. Multi-word adverbials are usually prepositional phrases.

Eg: • For several years + she’s been suffering from a disease of the liver. • On Monday + there’ll be another meeting. • For an hour + he studied hard. • From 4 to 6 + we waited for them. • For two months + he’ll be away. • Twice a day + you must take these tablets. • Once a month + he goes there. • That evening + they had a quarrel. • The whole day + he lay on the sofa. • Till 10 + the rain has been pouring down. • During the meeting + he remained silent. • last week + several workers reported sick. • On Friday next + she’s getting married. • A week ago + they cut off our electricity supply. • All the year round + they get plenty of water for their crops. • Every day + they start work at 9. • Generally + he doesn’t make mistakes like this. • Originally + this was not what we had planned to do. • Daily + he leaves at dawn. • Suddenly + her face became very sad. • All of a sudden + she got up and left the room. • This past year + their company didn’t make much profit.

Guideline 10: Attitude-disclosing adverbialsyou can treat attitude-disclosing adverbials, and field-marking adverbials placed initially (or finally) as separate idea units, especially when the adverbials are polysyllabic adverbs.


Polysyllabic adverbsEg: • Actually + I’ve just had my lunch. • Admittedly + they

were against the proposal. • Apparently + he didn’t like the idea. • Basically + he’s against political ideologies like these. • Briefly + that’s all I’ll be able to do. • Certainly + this is a very important event in his life.• Clearly + his work isn’t good. • Cleverly + she avoided all those difficulties. • Confidentially + they’re not satisfied with her work. • Definitely + he deserves some reward. • Essentially + you should have a clear idea of the procedure you should follow. • Evidently + he isn’t interested. • Foolishly + we decided to change the plans. • Frankly + I didn’t like it. • Fundamentally + our legal system is quite sound. • Honestly + that music affected me deeply.• Ideally + we should ask the opinion of each one of them. • Maybe + he doesn’t want to do the job you’ve given him. • Naturally + they couldn’t believe what they heard. • Obviously + she’s having a fine time. • Officially + the news hasn’t been confirmed. • Plainly + they don’t want to give you a friendly welcome. • Perhaps + this is the best time to sort out the dispute. • Personally + I like it very much. • Possibly + many of the passengers are badly hurt. • Privately + I didn’t like it. • Probably + her feet were wet. • Really + you should consider yourself lucky. • Rightly + they decided to call off the strike. • Seriously + this job needs a lot of skill and knowledge. • Curiously (enough) + he wasn’t disappointed at all. • Funnily (enough) + I ran into that man again in the street. • Oddly (enough) + the bag was empty. • Strangely (enough) + they haven’t even sent a reply yet.• Fortunately (for me) + I am on good terms with them. • Hopefully + they’ll come to an agreement soon. • luckily (for her father) + that bus was going to Pune. • Mercifully + it was not a serious accident. • Thankfully + it didn’t


rain that day. • unfortunately (for them) + there was a long period of dry weather that year.• Even more important + we should prevent the situation becoming worse. • Most decidedly + there’s something wrong. • Most likely + he’ll be back in an hour. • Most unexpectedly + certain problems came up. • Quite likely + she was trying to avoid him. • Very likely + he was afraid to tell him about it.

Prepositional phrases• As a rough estimate + it may cost a million. • From what I know about him + he won’t hesitate to betray his friends. • In all fairness + they tried their best to help us. • In all frankness + I won’t trust him for a moment. • In short + that portrait was a fraud. • In practice + rules like these are more often broken than obeyed. • In theory + these things may appear possible. • On paper + that’s our only task. • He failed the driving test once again + to his great disappointment. • To my knowledge + he’s a very courteous man. • To my misfortune + that was a holiday. • To my regret + they refused my offer. • To everybody’s surprise + he got promoted within a year. • With assistants like them + you’ll be able to get any job done easily. • Without some help from them + we won’t be able to complete the project in time. • Without a bank loan + we won’t be able to buy a car.

to-infinitive clauses• To be fair + he must get all the credit. • To be frank + I don’t think this dress suits you at all. • To be honest + we don’t have enough money for all this. • To judge from what he said + he seems to be an authority on this subject. • To be precise + this happened on the 15th of July (+ last year). • To put it frankly + I didn’t expect him to behave like that.


-ing participle clauses• Frankly speaking + I don’t like people playing jokes on others. • Generally speaking + jobs like these take a long time to complete. • Putting it bluntly + you take yourself too seriously. • Putting it crudely + they don’t care two hoots about all this. • Putting it frankly + we don’t want to charge them for the damage. • Putting it mildly + your criticism was a bit too much. • Roughly speaking + he draws about Rs. 75,000.00 a month. • Speaking frankly + neither of them is correct. • Speaking generally + we’re not conscious of our shortcomings. • Speaking personally + I feel some hesitation. • Speaking (purely) for myself + I liked that film very much. • Strictly speaking + he’s a lt. Colonel (+ and not a Colonel).

Guideline 11: Clause-relating adverbialsyou can treat clause-relating adverbials (multiword phrases as well as polysyllabic adverbs) as separate idea units.Eg: • you can raise prices + (Or) Alternatively + you can

cut costs. • Their food is superb + And you get excellent service + Altogether + That’s a very good restaurant.• That house is too big for us + Anyhow + we can’t afford it. • We won’t be able to complete it today + Anyway + there are two more days left. • He’s very good at this sort of work + Besides + his charges are very reasonable. • you must pay a small advance + Otherwise + they may sell it to somebody else. • He’s very generous in giving help + And he has done a lot for us + Above all + he has a kind heart. • you should treat them well + After all + they’re here to help you. • (All) in all + it was an excellent idea. • Sometimes he behaves very rudely + All the same + I like him. • He doesn’t want to get married + At any rate + not right now. • I don’t think they expected to win +


At the same time + this defeat must be disappointing. • They didn’t ask you to do it + By the way + why did you do it? • There are several reasons + First of all + he’s new to this job. • I don’t think we should accept this offer + For one thing + the price they’ve quoted is too high + (And) for another (thing) + their service is very poor. • They haven’t done a good job + For example/instance + look at those tiles + They’re out of alignment. • you must get as much information on this as possible + For a start + why don’t you make a few phone calls? • He’s an experienced engineer + and an expert in this field + For all that + he couldn’t find out what caused the explosion + at the plant. • They’ve already hired two buses + In addition + they’ve asked us to provide two or three cars. • We haven’t received a reply yet + In any case + the worst they can do is say ‘no’. • In the first place + he didn’t have the necessary qualifications + In the second place + he was over-aged. • They’re planning to simplify the procedure + In the meantime + we’ll have to follow the present system. • He’s a District Collector + In other words + he’s a civil servant. • All these flowers smell sweet + In particular + this flower has a very pleasant smell. • you earn your living as a photographer + In the same way + I earn my living as a journalist. • We did everything we could to persuade him to stay on + In spite of it all + he resigned and left. • He trained hard for several months + In spite of that + he couldn’t reach his best form. • you think he’s for this proposal + In that case + why did he speak against it at the meeting? • There are a number of mistakes in that report + But of course + she had to type it in a hurry. • He didn’t like the film + On the contrary + I found it quite enjoyable. • On the one hand + he wants to continue as a doctor + But on the other hand + he wants to practice as a lawyer. • Their attitude towards all this has changed +


Similarly + they have softened their position on several other government policies. • His car broke down on the way + Therefore + he couldn’t get there on time. • To begin/start with + this idea may not work in practice + And secondly + how are you going to find the funds?

Guideline 12: VocativesVocatives are attention-drawing words and word groups. you can treat them as separate chunks — if they are uttered at the beginning.Eg: • Sheela + give it to me. • Mr. Gupta + please come here.

• Excuse me + are these yours? • look at that one + madam. • Sir + can I have a word with you? • What’s for dinner + mum? • listen to this + kids. • you fool + that’s not the way to do it. • That’s all + ladies and gentlemen. • Doctor + is it anything serious? • Don’t do that + darling.

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83SEGMENTATION PRACTICE

CHAPTER 7

Segmentation practiceBy now, I’ve given you certain guidelines, and those guidelines showed you the points where you could divide a stream into chunks. Go through the guidelines once again.

Now remember two points:First, the knack of segmenting – dividing – a stream into

idea units is not difficult to get into. The training you’ve had so far must have helped you pick it up by now. I’m now going to give you some more material for the segmentation practice. Go through the practice material given below. They’ll give you a lot of training in dividing up long stretches of speech into idea units.

Second, in a long stretch of speech, there will often be more than one point where the division can be made. And it’s normally up to you to decide where exactly to make the divisions. In general, you’re free to split up a long stretch at any one or more of those points. The only thing you must not forget is this: you must divide a long stretch of speech into idea units. And you must divide them into idea units of manageable lengths. (As you know, a manageable unit is one that contains, on an average, 5 or 6 words and, in any case, not more than about 9 words).

Now let’s go for the practice material. Say each word group aloud – several times. Here we go:

• Strictly speaking + it’s a work of little value. • Besides + the mark of the wound still shows. • Fortunately + it was nice to the taste. • I’m off to Bombay + tomorrow. • I heard someone coming + stamping loudly + and you know + a shiver went down my back. • I’ve sent it to her + by post. • Of course + they made friends again + after the quarrel. • Now that I’ve come here + I’d like to see them all. • To quote him + you have a strong

84 SEGMENTATION PRACTICE

will. • He’s a doctor + now. • look at it for some time + and it’ll make your eyes water. • Sometime soon + you should meet him + and give it back. • It’s quite good + really. • Oddly enough + this bucket could hold more water + than that one. • Actually + there was no money on me. • Maybe + the water spread on the floor. • He told me + it was made of a sort of plastic. • From now on + don’t tell him more + than you can help. • That’s all + for today. • I’ll be there + by tea-time. • This is Anita + my sister. • Fortunately for us + that was news to him. • If you ask me + there could be no mistaking + what he had seen. • I heard it + and my heart skipped a beat. • He has only brought a few + this time. • Definitely + it was only imagination.

• Seriously speaking + it’s a lazy habit to go to bed + so early every day. • From what she told me + I can’t see any harm in that. • Technically + it hardly matters at all. • There’s Anita + over there. • He was standing at attention + and didn’t look friendly at all. • In my opinion + it’s too costly. • As you know + he’s in poor health. • Thank you + for your help. • If you tell her + she’ll tell them. • She hit him + so he struck her back. • For goodness sake + keep quiet a minute. • He has a cat + and it lives in his bedroom. • By the way + when’ll it be finished? • Apparently + he fell heavily. • Personally + it weighed heavily on my mind. • Curiously enough + she didn’t pour out the coffee. • During the day + he has his business to attend to. • I’m leaving + the day after tomorrow. • let’s not do it + that way. • Plainly + it’s more blue than green. • I’m boss + here. • It’s a bit chilly + today. • With most children + play is more important + than study. • He gripped her shoulder hard + and shook her. • He tells me + it’s not available. • What’s more + they had lost all hope of winning.

• Frankly + there was no one in the restaurant + to serve us. • The trouble with him is + he’s too ambitious. • Even more important + you must sleep more than you do. • On top of it all + he was very quarrelsome. • you can have it + if you like. • It


hadn’t been used in a long time + and it looked rather battered. • With your help + I can manage it. • If I may say so without offence + I had imagined you as a sadist. • We stayed away + for a very good reason. • He struck at her + but missed his aim. • All things considered + we’re bound to win. • Break the egg into a cup + and crumble some bread into it. • This shirt + doesn’t fit me. • If I may be blunt + the quarrel has not yet been settled. • From what his wife told me + he valued it at 5000 rupees. • To their disappointment + washing it didn’t do it any good. • In that case + give them cloth that won’t tear. • She has got a job + as a typist. • I won’t tell anybody + I promise. • If you ask me + it’s worse than useless. • Also + don’t play in the dirt. • His ambition + is to be a doctor. • With all her faults + I like her. • I was dumbfounded + and my knees kept buckling. • We did sight-seeing + mostly. • With friends like that + your hopes will only be disappointed.

• Evidently + it’s a valuable sort of wood. • She didn’t see the joke + and I had to explain it to her. • There are no shows + on Sundays. • As she puts it + he has an uncertain temper. • He nudged me + and pointed to her with a glance. • No + thanks. • Quite likely + he went there for his health. • you needn’t pay + this time. • I’m leaving for Bombay + day after tomorrow. • He spends his time there + all day. • He lost control of himself + and he struck her a violent blow. • How extraordinary + she keeps sending us letters. • He likes to play + but only if he wins. • I couldn’t get her + on the phone. • No doubt + he paid a high price for it. • Speaking for myself + I can come to a settlement. • Next + she poured some water into the glass. • In two week’s time + I’ll be back from my journey. • What’s more interesting + somebody has moved these papers. • So far + they’re a man short. • They all say + it’s not serious. • I’m not objecting + this time. • Thankfully + he can stand without support now. • He poked a finger into my stomach + and gave me a big smile. • Thank you + for all you’ve done. • Most unexpectedly + he looked hopefully at me.


• If I may say so + their help has been valuable. • Presumably + this was a secret between them. • He had a shop + in Bombay. • Honestly + it’s difficult to tell + at this distance. • After the accident + the car was only a pile of iron. • I’ll be ready + by then. • If I may be personal + you have always had bad health. • That’s mine + over there. • They started off + at the India Gate. • At present + he’s far too busy. • Instead + it’ll only strike terror + into their hearts. • He wasn’t at home + last night. • She gave it to him + and he carried it around + in his pocket. • Seriously + don’t hold pins in your teeth. • To judge from his remarks + he was asking + for a settlement of the account. • In other words + nothing remained of it. • She’s staying with us + next month. • At that very moment + the string came untied. • It would be awful + if we failed. • It’s a bit stuffy + in here. • Strangely enough + he didn’t move in his sleep + yesterday. • It would be nice + to have a house like that. • Thankfully + he didn’t mind what I said. • He clapped for silence + and we burst out laughing. • I’m not free + at the moment. • Above all + she spoke about it quite hopefully.

• If you ask me + the flag was up + and not down. • If I may say so + I can’t see the good of doing that. • To my regret + he’s a quarrelsome fellow. • I’ve some business + with him. • He’s quite upset + I gather. • Sadly + she suffered in health + when she was there. • She says + she simply must go. • Fruits are quite cheap + this time of the year. • last night + my foot struck against a stone. • All told + that makes 75 rupees. • The road was slippery + and I had to watch my step. • That knife + won’t cut at all. • Surprisingly + he couldn’t manage + to settle the business. • If I may be frank + they didn’t weigh it at all. • For several days + people poured into that place. • Frankly + I was so angry + that I felt like tearing my hair. • Hullo + Anil. • I’m glad + to have you here. • Possibly + she’s more frightened than hurt. • Get a move on + do. • I’m sorry I couldn’t come + on Monday. • As far as I can see + you were foolish to do it. • With all his influence + he’s unhappy. • I got into bed + but I


couldn’t fall asleep. • Those people + left nearly a week ago now. • Somehow + he raised my hopes.

• To be frank + it’s immensely valuable to us. • Anyhow + they’re all in the secret now. • Generally speaking + they take no pity + on the losers. • It rained all day + last Sunday. • A big lorry piled high with fire-wood + passed this way. • It’s a shame + he can’t continue. • last of all + we put them in a big heap. • He has no patience with you + I’m sure. • She has dropped it + all over the place. • What’s even more remarkable + it struck fear into their hearts. • It’s so tiring + by bus. • When he’s feeling good + he likes to hop and skip. • I’m not sure + yet. • First of all + can the room hold + all the people? • Hopefully + that settles the matter. • By any chance + did anything remain of the house + after the fire? • It’s a nuisance + having to wait so long. • Many times + the string came undone. • Not a single fine day + this week. • I like it + here. • To her displeasure + they moved nearer to the light. • your handwriting is quite good + really. • By then + it had quite gone out of my mind. • until then + everything was coming along fine. • I should perhaps + have tried some other method. • Evidently + he didn’t see the inside of it.

• In all frankness + is that of any value? • Personally + I don’t like her manners at all. • To start with + we separated the small ones. • I’ve just been talking to him + in the other room. • The man sitting opposite me + laughed a real sneering laugh. • Next + I heaped them up together. • It’s the absolute truth + I swear it. • It’s useless + meeting him again. • Surprisingly + I didn’t hear the clock strike. • When I retire + I would like to live there. • In that circus + there are wonderful elephants. • To my misfortune + it was slippery + and I lost hold of it. • The cheapest chair + costs 75 rupees. • As far as I’m concerned + I rather liked it. • Putting it bluntly + there’s nothing settled. • If you understand me + he’ll remain like this + all his life. • After a time + it comes easy. • His steno + is first class. • We’ll


be getting more soon + after all. • Anyhow + it’s no business of mine. • you’ll have to do it + I suppose. • Not unreasonably + they mistook my meaning. • I must go + now. • I bit into the cake + and she said + that was no way to eat. • No one can go in there + so he said. • Sadly + he was suddenly taken ill.

• Since you want to know + your ideas haven’t much value. • In any case + he’s rather a showy person. • Basically + he’s a quick learner. • I really haven’t time + this morning. • She came running over + and smiled a sneaky smile. • The paper says + 200 rupees. • Then + I heaped all those things over it. • The answer to the question + is ‘no’. • I don’t want it + really I don’t. • Seriously + will these shoes stretch? • As a general rule + we don’t do it. • When the engine is running + you can smell the petrol fumes. • First to the hotel + and then to the office. • luckily for him + it was slippery + and I couldn’t keep hold of it. • In short + there’s nothing decided. • Quite likely + the rain has spoilt all the flowers. • His shirt + is the blue one. • With the audience making so much noise + how could you make the speech? • They aren’t making him Manager + surely. • It’ll be easy + if you help. • I want five + at least. • She rang me up + at the last minute. • Clearly + he’s not much of a painter. • I can’t come + I’m afraid. • Since you want to know + there’s no mistaking who I had seen. • He’s a stuck-up person + and thinks he’s very special. • Anita’s + is the red one. • Perhaps + he may have fallen ill.

• To my surprise + he asked me to settle the bill. • Certainly + the news will soon spread. • I’ll bring it tomorrow + honestly, I will. • Confidentially + how does this plan strike you? • He didn’t look serious or angry + and I heaved a sigh. • I saw her + at the party. • Curiously enough + that was no news to her. • He’s professor + and he comes from london. • I saw her + last week. • In all fairness + there can be no mistaking + how he had done it. • Keep it for yourself + or return it to her. • He grabbed her by the hand + and dragged her + down the hall. • So long as the


place is not crowded + it’s easy. • What is even more important + she has a very strong imagination. • Most likely + they haven’t paid him + the full value of those things. • For a month + we did business with them. • Actually + the hall was packed with people. • I was through with my food + and I wanted to wash my hand. • I’m terribly lazy + these days. • To begin with + they directed me wrongly + and I went to a wrong place. • This bag + is Asha’s. • Evidently + his hearing is not very good. • I can’t get it to work + anyway. • When he walks + he stamps his feet + and makes a lot of noise. • I’ve got a party + tonight. • To his annoyance + the bag couldn’t hold all his things.

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90 EMBEDDING AND lINING uP

CHAPTER 8

Embedding and Lining upThere are two techniques that help you combine several strands of ideas : ‘Embedding’ and ‘lining up’. But if you want to achieve fluency in speech, ‘embedding’ is something you should avoid as much as possible. And ‘lining up’ is what you should go after.

‘Embedding’ happens (i) when you work one clause or phrase into another phrase as an element within this phrase (the way an egg is placed inside a ball of dough); or (ii) when you work one clause into another clause as an element within the second clause (the way one tube is forced inside another tube).

‘lining up’ happens when you place one phrase or clause next to another phrase or clause — end to end (the way an egg is placed side by side with a ball of dough or the way one tube is placed next to another tube — end to end).

Here’s an example of embedding:A tall girl {from an office [in that building (across the street)]} gave that to him.And here’s an example of lining up:A tall girl gave that to him. She’s from an office + in that building + the building across the street.Here’s another example of embedding:Somebody who had come from the uS where he was a computer engineer told our boss something.And here’s an example of lining up:Somebody told our boss something + That person had come from the uS +and he was a computer engineer there.Here’s another example of embedding:When we had a huge mass of data to analyze, somebody

91EMBEDDING AND lINING uP

told our boss something.And here’s an example of lining up:We had a huge mass of data to analyze + and somebody told our boss something.you see, lining up is the natural way in which strands of

information come out of their minds when fluent speakers speak spontaneously. But writing depends on embedding to a great extent, because it serves a useful purpose in writing. Within limits, embedding helps the writer to save words and space, and to save his reader from having to spend much time and energy trying to separate essential points from what is strictly unnecessary.

Take a look at this group of clauses: “When we had a huge mass of data to analyze, somebody who had come from the uS, where he was a computer engineer, told our boss that we needed a computer to do the job, as it was impossible to analyze all that data by hand”.This is a written English sentence. Now, how many strands

of information are there in this sentence? At least six, and not just one:

(i) We had a huge mass of data to analyze; (ii) It was impossible to analyze all that data by hand; (iii) We needed a computer to do the job; (iv) Somebody told this to our boss; (v) That person was somebody who had come from the uS; (vi) He was a computer engineer in the uS.Actually, you can see that some of the strands can still be

split up and separated into thinner strands of information (as you’ll see below), depending on the speaker’s communicative convenience.

Roundabout connectivityyou see, what the writer of the sentence has done is this: He


has connected together the individual strands of information in a roundabout way — through the process of embedding.

This is what he has done: He has worked the 3rd strand into the 4th, then he has worked the 1st strand into this combination of the 3rd and 4th strands, then he has worked the 6th strand into the 5th strand, then he has worked this combination of the 5th and 6th strands into the 4th, then he has worked the 2nd strand into the 3rd, then he has worked this combination of 2nd and 3rd strands into the combination of 3rd and 4th.

So you can see that he has passed the connecting threads across each other in a criss-cross fashion, and has made up a single sentence. A complex one.

In natural speech, embedding and roundabout connectivity do not normally happen — to this extent. No. Instead, fluent speakers line up strands of information end to end, and connect one to the next, that to the next and so on, and move straight from one strand to the next, and keep the strands separate, yet connected. They don’t bind the strands together, the way several strands of cord are twisted together into a rope or the way several cards are bound together by putting a rubber band around them.

Straight connectivityIn natural speech, the things that come straight out of your mind (and your mouth) would be simple idea units — each containing one strand of information, and each said as one utterance. And they would appear as a chain of railway coaches that are all connected together end to end. So in natural speech, you’d say something like this:

“We had a huge mass of data to analyze + And it was impossible to analyze all that data by hand + And somebody told our boss + we needed a computer to do the job + That was somebody who had come from the uS +

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where he was a computer engineer”.Or something like this — by dividing up some of the longer

idea units into shorter ones:“We had a huge mass of data to analyze + And it was impossible + to analyze all that data by hand + And somebody told our boss + we needed a computer to do the job + Somebody who had come from the uS + and he was a computer engineer there”. Or something like this — by dividing up some of the longer

idea units into still shorter ones and by adding a few ‘fillers’ like you see, you know, I mean, and yes:

“We had a lot of data + to analyze + A huge mass, actually + And you see + it was impossible + quite impossible you know + to analyze all that data + I mean + by hand + And somebody told our boss + we needed a computer + yes + a computer + to do the job + And that man + you know + he had come from the uS + and he was a computer engineer there”.The point of all this is this: When you speak spontaneously,

don’t try to do what you do when you write: Don’t try and fuse two or more strands of information together into a single unit. Let the strands remain separate, but connected — end to end.

Speak in idea units, and not in sentences By now, you must be convinced about one thing: “Sentences” are not part of natural spoken English. They’re part of written English. Spoken English is made up of idea units, instead. So don’t even think of speaking in sentences. Speak in idea units, instead.

And we saw one thing: you started learning English the wrong way — that is, not in the natural way. you started learning to WRITE first, and not to speak. And perhaps, for several years since you started learning English, you haven’t been living in a


place where you could regularly listen to a lot of conversational English.

So, don’t you see? Because of these reasons, your mind is immersed in written English. And so, which way does your mind work? The written-English-way, of course. And what’s your automatic instinct, when you want to speak English? It’s to speak in the way you write. To follow the written English style.

So whenever you want to speak in English, what do you do? you try to express your ideas and feelings — not by speaking out idea units, but by making up ‘sentences’. By using the wrong thing, written English, as your model.

When your mind is so set on making up written English sentences, what happens? your mind turns away from what you say… to how you say it. you stop paying attention to the substance of your speech and start concentrating on the form. Result? you lose track of what to say, you get lost and confused, and you find yourself at a loss for speech.

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95V+N CluSTERS

CHAPTER 9

V+N Clusters I’ve already introduced you to a special type of word groups, and I’ve called them ready-built word groups.

Now, among the ready-built word groups, there’s a very useful category of word groups called collocations. yes, collocations.

Let me tell you what a collocation is. A collocation is a combination of words — but a special

kind of combination. It is a combination of words that combine together habitually. As a matter of habit. That is, the words that combine to form the combination have a tendency to occur together with a certain amount of regularity. So just keep this in mind: A collocation is not a chance combination or a random combination, but a habitual combination, a typical combination.

Here are some examples of collocations:1). Verb+Noun: run a department, call an election, do the dishes, fight the flames, take a trip, take a break, have dinner, make lunch, run a risk, shrug your shoulder.2). Noun+Verb: bomb explodes, culture spreads, engine runs, focus shifts, luck improves.3). Adjective+Noun: my big brother, consistent manner, funny joke, a huge construction.4). Noun+Noun: car key, chair leg, pay packet.5). Adverb+Verb or Verb+Adverb: seriously harm, sincerely hope, fit badly, shiver violently.6) Adverb + Adjective:

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absolutely clear, totally impractical, madly jealous, dreadfully sorry.Of these six types of collocations, “Verb+Noun” collocations

are the most frequently occurring ones. Here’s a very useful collection of these collocations –

“Verb+Noun” collocations – for intensive oral practice. Get a lot of practice saying them aloud, and your ability to express thoughts in word groups would start improving immediately:

Group 1change the oil (every 5000 kilometres), avoid an accident, cause an accident, have an accident, close an account, begin an action, bring an action (against sb), control an activity, feed an addiction, build an addition, deliver an address, enjoy a big/great advantage, enjoy an advantage, gain an advantage, have an advantage, answer an advertisement, place an advertisement, break an agreement, conclude an agreement, have an agreement (with sb), form an alliance, call an ambulance, double the amount, draw an analogy, find an answer, get an answer, give an answer, guess the answer, have an answer, demand an apology, change the appearance (of a building), approve an application, grant an application, break an appointment, adopt an approach, begin the final approach, clear an area, accept an argument, cause an argument, have an argument, enter the army.

confirm an arrangement, have an arrangement, consider an aspect, discuss an aspect, foil an attempt, attract the waiter’s attention, clear the attic, adopt a more responsible attitude, adopt a positive attitude, adopt a wait-and-see attitude, have a (bad/good) attitude, have a (positive/negative) attitude, convince the authorities, contrast A and/with B, expect a baby, find a babysitter, fold the corners back, carry a bag, check the contents (of a bag), achieve a balance, find a balance, catch the ball, hit a ball, break a barrier, create a basis, establish a basis, form a basis, clean the bath, charge a battery, fight a battle, fight a losing battle,

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confirm a belief, encourage a belief, have a belief, hold a belief, feel a sense of belonging, enjoy the benefit(s), feel the benefit(s), gain a benefit, have a benefit, close the gap between, approve a bill, debate a bill, deliver a blow, check the departure board (for flight/train times), drop a bombshell, close a book, close a border, cross the border, defend the border, cross a boundary, draw a boundary, bury a box, apply the brakes (of a vehicle), hit the brakes, extend an olive branch, cut a slice of bread, build a bridge, call the fire brigade, extend the budget, enter a building, fire a bullet, carry the burden, catch a bus, drive a bus, enter the film business, expand a business, cut the cake, divide the cake, answer a call, conduct a campaign, fight a campaign.

buy a new car, clean the car, design a car, drive a car, fix the car, bring a case, close a case, feed a cat, advance a cause, champion a cause, add a note of caution, accept a challenge, enjoy a challenge, face a challenge, anticipate a change, cause a change, demand a change, effect a change, create a character, develop a character, establish a character, feature a character, admit a charge, bring a charge, deny a charge, drop the charges, face a charge, cash a cheque, dress a chicken, adopt a child, help a child, feed the children, catch a chill, have a choice, build a church, draw a circle, form a circle, bring a claim, deny a claim, beat the clock, buy a new coat, break a code, enter a code, battle a cold, catch a cold, display a collection, have a collection, enter a college, develop a company, draw a comparison (between two events), enter a competition, file a complaint, build a new shopping complex, find a compromise, gain a concession, grant a concession, bring a meeting to a conclusion, draw a conclusion, break the conditions, create the conditions (for sth), attend a conference, enter a conflict, establish a connection, accept a consequence, consider a consequence, face the consequences (of your actions), award a contract, break a contract, conclude a contract, end a conversation, have a conversation, hold a conversation, double the cost, fly the country, free the country, attempt a coup, adopt a course, attend a computer course, attend

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a course, complete a course, enjoy a course (of study), finish a course (of study), follow a course.

Group 2commit a crime, attract a crowd, bring a crowd, draw a crowd, force a passage through the crowd, break a cup, drop a cup, close the curtains, draw the curtains, beat the deadline, break the deadlock, close a deal (with sb), conclude a deal (with sb), cut a deal (with sb), die a natural death, die a painful death, die a sudden death, die a violent death, close a debate, clear a debt, announce a decision, challenge a decision, avenge a defeat, accept a demand, call the fire department, fit the description, give a description (of sb/sth), fight the desire, forget the details, draw a diagram, follow a diet, discuss the difference, explain the difference, cause a difficulty, face a dilemma, cook a good dinner, face the opposite direction, conclude a discussion, end a discussion, have a discussion, hold a discussion, catch a disease, cause a disease, contract a disease, control a disease, develop a disease, fight a disease, draw a distinction (between two events), gain distinction, ask a doctor, become a doctor, call the doctor, answer the door, close the door, force a door, get the door, break the door down, design a dress, beat a drum, have a duty (to do sth), get an education, give an education, have an education, achieve an effect, counteract the effect, examine the effect, experience the effect, feel the effect, have an effect, call an election, fight an election, hit the enemy, force an entry, affect the environment, create an environment, damage the environment, destroy the environment, commit an error, contain an error, correct an error, attempt an escape, have a lucky escape, have a miraculous escape, have a narrow escape, celebrate an event, hold an event, connect the two events, draw a parallel between two events, conduct an exercise, cover sb’s expense.

describe an experience, enjoy an experience, have an experience, conduct an experiment, accept an explanation,

99V+N CluSTERS

demand an explanation, give an explanation, have an explanation, assume an expression, catch the reader’s eye, forget a face, accept the fact (that), establish a fact, explain a fact, give the facts, hide a fact, examine the facts, feel a failure, feed a family, have a family, correct a fault, develop a fault, discover a fault, find a fault, have a fault, charge a flat fee (for sth), enjoy a new feeling, get the feeling (that), have a feeling, catch the ferry, continue the fight, face a fight, have a fight, discover a secret file, face a fine, build a fire, fight a fire, buy a flat, announce the cancellation (of a flight), book a flight, clean the floor, clean the kitchen floor, hit the floor, arrange the flowers, gain a foothold, bear the responsibility (for), complete a form, cost a fortune (S = sth), build a foundation, establish a foundation, form a foundation, form a close friendship, extend the frontiers, fulfil a function, have a function, close the gap, check the fuel gauge, cast a glance (at sb/sth), achieve a goal, establish a goal, advise the government, elect a government, establish a government, form a government, gain a high grade, draw a graph, cut the grass, fix a post in the ground, hit the ground, form a group, gather a group, bear a grudge, change the guard, aim a gun, carry a gun, draw a gun, fire a gun, become a habit (S = sth), break a habit, develop a habit, feed a (drug etc.) habit, balance a pot on your head, cut the hedge, climb a hill, drop a hint, fill a hole (with earth/water), book a holiday, build a house, buy a house, clean the house, disturb the whole house, extend a house, cross a hurdle, advance an idea, get an idea, get the idea (that), have an idea, cause an illness, develop an illness, have an illness, create the illusion (of sth).

create an impression, form an impression, gain the impression (that), get an impression, get the impression (that), give an impression, have an impression, have the impression (that), achieve an improvement, demand an improvement, expect an improvement, control an impulse, fight the impulse (to do sth), earn an income, generate an income, get an income, have an income, cause an increase, have an influence (on/over sb/sth),

100 V+N CluSTERS

gain the initiative, grant an injunction, cause an injury, have an injury, conduct an inquiry, hold an inquiry, gain an insight, follow the instructions, cover the cost of insurance, announce an intention, confirm an intention, declare an intention, express an intention, develop an interest (in sth), express an interest (in sth), have an interest (in sth), attend an interview, conduct an interview (with sb), get an interview, give an interview, grant an interview (to sb), have an interview, close an investigation, conduct an investigation, demand an investigation, decline an invitation, address an issue, avoid an issue, become an issue, cloud the issue, consider an issue, discuss an issue, evade an issue, examine an issue, explain an issue, explore an issue, force the issue, highlight an issue, detect a note of jealousy, accept a job, finish the job, get a job, handle the pressures of a job, have a job, begin a journey, complete a journey, continue a journey, cloud sb’s judgment, exercise your judgment, form a judgment, hit the kids, climb the career ladder, climb the social ladder, develop the land, adopt a language, break the law, cut the lawn, change a law/the laws (on sth), establish a lead, extend a lead, hold the lead, challenge the leadership, bend your legs, cross your legs, address the letter (before posting it), answer a letter, hold a licence.

Group 3close the lid, have a full life, call the lift, define a limit, extend a limit, draw a line, form a line, develop a link, establish a link, find a link, earn a/your living, arrange a loan, establish a location, find a location, force a lock, cast a look, handle the mail, form a majority, get a majority, have a majority, die a poor man, assist the manager, head a march, carry a mark, hit the mark, finish the match, discuss a matter, cook a meal, catch the meaning, discover the meaning (of sth), explain the meaning (of sth), develop the means, find the means, adopt a measure, announce a measure, approve a measure, arrange a meeting,

101V+N CluSTERS

attend a meeting, call a meeting, call an emergency meeting, chair a meeting, close a meeting, conclude the meeting, fix a meeting, have a meeting, hold a meeting, become a member, carry a message, deliver a message, adopt a method, apply a method, choose a method, develop a method, employ a method, find a method, fire a missile, admit a mistake, avoid a mistake, correct a mistake, discover a mistake, contribute the money, find the money, exercise a monopoly, break the monotony, create a mood, climb a mountain, cross the mountains, enjoy a movie, commit a murder, adopt a name, forget the name, answer a need, fulfil an emotional need, build a nest, announce the news, break the news, hear the news, buy a newspaper, hear a low moaning noise, hear a noise.

change a 100-rupee note, double the number, achieve an objective, employ a staff of thirty etc., fit the description of, form an impression of, gain the distinction of, admit an offence, commit an offence, deny an offence, accept an/your offer, consider an offer, decline an offer, enter an offer, call the office, design an office, blow the whistle, advance an opinion, change an/your opinion, express an/your opinion, form an/your opinion, give an/your opinion, have an opinion, hold an opinion, enjoy the opportunity, get an/the opportunity, have an/the opportunity, found an organization, bear the pain, feel a sharp pain, change a paragraph, draw a parallel, act the part/role (of sb/sth), crash a party, check a passport, hit a problem/bad patch, clear a path, create a pattern, draw a pattern, establish a pattern, follow a pattern, form a pattern, accept a payment, delay a payment, demand a payment, carry a penalty, draw a pension, deliver a performance, give a performance, have a (great) personality, have an interesting etc. personality, file a petition, answer the phone/telephone, draw a picture (of sb/sth), buy a little place, clinch a place, earn a place, gain a place, agree a plan, announce a plan, back a plan, construct a plan, discuss a plan, drop a plan, explain the plan, have a plan, board a plane, catch a plane, drop a plate, direct a play, call a plumber, develop a point, call the

102 V+N CluSTERS

police, develop a policy, conduct a poll, adopt a position, consider a possibility, discuss a possibility, exclude a possibility, explore a possibility, catch the post, fill a post, agree a price, ask the price, charge a price, cut the price (of sth), abuse a privilege, exercise a privilege, grant a privilege, award a prize, collect a prize, get a prize, address a problem, attack a problem, cause a problem (for sb), consider a problem, create a problem, discuss a problem, establish a problem, experience a problem, fix a problem, have a problem, follow a procedure, head a procession, enter a profession, enter the legal profession, enter the medical profession, achieve a profit, earn a profit, forecast a profit, generate a profit, broadcast a program (live), hate a programme, finish the project, break a promise, extract a promise (from sb), fulfil a promise, discuss a proposal, enter a protest, defeat the purpose (of sth), have a purpose, gain a qualification, affect the quality (of sth), have a quality, answer a query, address a question, answer a question, ask a question, discuss a question, evade a question, have a question, form a queue, hear the rain, become a reality (S = sth).

explain the/your reason, give a reason, have a reason, beat a record, break a/the record, establish a register, break a regulation, establish a relation, end a relationship, enter a relationship, form a long-term relationship, form a relationship, have a relationship, have no religion, find a copy of a report, build a reputation, develop a reputation, earn a reputation, establish a reputation, gain a reputation, consider a request, grant a request, conduct a research, have a responsibility (to do sth), find a good restaurant, achieve a better result, beat a (hasty) retreat, hitch a ride, avoid the risk (of sth), cross the river, build a road (sw), cross a road, extend a road, hit the main road, fire a rocket, extend a room, follow a route, beat the rugs (to remove dust), apply a rule, break a rule, enforce a rule, establish a rule, follow a rule, bend the rules, break the rules, beat the rush, dress a salad, collect a sample, address a question to sb, ask a favour of sb, bring a legal action against sb, bring a note from sb, create an impression on

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sb, discuss a contract with sb, discuss a problem with sb, drink a toast to sb, enlist the help of sb, exert a strong influence on sb, expect a call from sb, expect a letter from sb, expect a visit from sb, explain the problem to sb, explain the situation to sb, face a challenge from sb, file a suit/lawsuit against sb, fix the blame on sb, aim a blow at sb/sth, aim a kick at sb/sth, assume the mantle of sb/sth, bear a close resemblance to sb/sth, bear a (passing/striking) resemblance to sb/sth, bear little/no relation to sth, bear a similarity to sb/sth, cast a spell on sb/sth, catch a glimpse of sb/sth, clear a space for sb/sth, focus the camera on sb/sth, cause a scene, describe a scene, film a scene, develop a scheme, gain a scholarship, build a school, enter a school, find a suitable school, hit the screen, cross the sea, conduct a search, create a sense of reality, develop a sense of humour, experience a sense of relief, attend a service, change the sheets.

The thing to doThe thing for you to do now is to read what I’ve said so far in this Book — not once, but several times.

The aim should not be to learn anything by heart. No. The aim should be to understand the principles. yes, to understand them. Get to know the “why”s — get to know the reasons behind the principles. Then your progress would be faster. But don’t get too worried over the principles. you’ll get to know them gradually — as you go through the various Books in this series. What is more important now is to read everything this Book says. And to let your mind remain with those things. your mind will then start working, consciously and unconsciously, and ultimately everything will sink in, and you’ll understand them fully.

Actually, there’s only one major point you should understand from all that I’ve said so far. Only one major point: you should produce speech, idea unit by idea unit — and not word by word or sentence by sentence. All else are matters of detail, and they’re

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only meant to make you understand this one major point.Have you understood this one point thoroughly? Not just

verbally, but deeply — in your blood? If you have, you’ve crossed a major barrier that stands between you and the fluency skill. And from now on, this understanding itself will check your tendency to construct complicated sentences orally. So pay all your attention to this one major point.

That’s it. Bye for now.

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