PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION_NOTES

READING, WRITING & ANALOGY

 READING
READING TECHNIQUES:

1. Skimming: Also called skim reading, this is essentially a preview of the given text. One
has to read quickly, without pausing to study the details of the text. Skimming
determines (i) audience of text, (ii) type of text, (iii) general context of text, and (iv)
purpose of author.
2. Scanning: This is the next step after skimming. One has to study the text in detail, slowly
and carefully, looking for specific information.
3. Intensive Reading: This is to read with great mental effort and focus, with the goal of
absorbing as much meaning from it as possible. This is done by taking a text, and
systematically looking up every word, phrase, or collocation that you do not
understand.
4. Extensive Reading: This is to read as much as possible, outside our restricted field of
study, exposing ourselves to more language, allowing us to increase our passive
knowledge of vocabulary.
 PARAGRAPH
PARAGRAPH COMPONENTS:

1. Topic Sentence/ Key Sentence: The opening or the closing sentence of the paragraph,
which consists of its central theme. It is considered the backbone of the paragraph.
2. Re-statement of Topic Sentence: This is a statement made for repetition or emphasis of
the Topic Sentence, or the idea behind the Topic Sentence, within the same paragraph.
3. Cohesium/ Cohesion: This is the direct grammatical relationship between the sentences.
4. Coherence: This refers to the logical development of ideas within a text. This is the
indirect sense of relationship between sentences, where the meaning comes from the
utterance of the speaker.
5. Connectives/ Linkers: These are the transitional elements which help the ideas flow
from one sentence to another e.g. so, therefore, thus.
6. Clincher: This is the conclusion i.e. the sentence which summarizes the matter of the
paragraph.
 ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE WRITING
Elements
Use of Familiar Words
Concrete & Specific Words
Preferable to Abstract Words
Limited use of Acronyms
&Abbreviations
Avoidance of Cliches
Avoidance of Jargon
Avoidance of Foreign Words
Avoidance of Redundancy
& Circumlocution
Avoidance of Discriminatory
Writing
Effective Ineffective
Old Antiquated
The company suffered a 70% loss The company suffered a
in profits tremendous loss
IBM, WHO, IIT, AIDS ROFLMAO, BRB, gr8, u, thx
(Using normal language) Last but not the least
Unpaid insurance Accrued interest
See above Vide supra
Fundamentals, back, fact, May Basic fundamentals, return back,
true fact, month of May
Chairperson, speech and hearing Chairman, deaf and dumb
impaired
 ANALOGY
ANALOGY
• It is a comparison between one set of words and another set, typically for the purpose of
explanation or clarification.
• It may be a correspondence or partial similarity or something which is comparable to
something else in significant respects.

Types of Analogy:
• Part to Whole battery : flashlight : : hard drive : computer
• Cause & Effect fatigue : yawning : : itching : scratching
• Function shovel : dig : : fork : eat
• Degree bad : terrible : : funny : hilarious
• Lack ugly : beauty : : serious : humour
• Characteristic candy : sweet : : fire : hot
• Definition boy : man : : lamb : sheep
• Type wrench : tool : : rose : flower