Course title:

Functional
English

Semester:
1st
Course code:
GE-143
Instructor:
Amna Adil
OBE Mapping

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• CLO-1: Apply enhanced English communication skills through effective use of

word choices, grammar and sentence structure.

• CLO-2: Comprehend a variety of literary / non-literary written and spoken texts in

English.

• CLO-3: Effectively express information, ideas and opinions in written and spoken
English.

• CLO-4: Recognize and demonstrate inter-cultural variations in the use of English

language and to effectively adapt their communication style and content based on
diverse cultural and social contexts.
OBE Mapping

This course is designed in conjunction with the following PLOs.

• PLO-9 Communication: Communicate effectively and inclusively on complex
engineering activities with the engineering community and with society at large, such
as being able to comprehend and write effective reports and design documentation,
and make effective presentations, taking into account cultural, language, and learning
differences
OBE Mapping
• Course Learning Outcome (CLO)

Learning Domain Program Learning Outcome (PLO)

CLO1 C3 PLO9
CLO2 C2 PLO9
CLO3 A3 PLO9
CLO4 A2 PLO9
Revision

• Parts of speech (Noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb,

preposition[ used to show the relationship between the different
parts of a sentence], conjunction[a word used to connect
different parts of a sentence], and interjection[a word or phrase
used to express a feeling, give a command, or greet someone])
articles (The definite article the, The indefinite
articles a and an).
• Form of Verbs (First, second, and third) [Jump – Jumped, Skip –
Skipped, Iron – Ironed]
• Tenses (Past, present, and future)
1. I _____ (go) to school everyday.
2. Teena ______ (love) ice cream.
3. Did you ________ (find) the pink dress I _____ (ask) for?
4. I will _______ (come) to the party tomorrow.
5. My mom ________ (clean) the house yesterday
evening.
6. My name ______ (to be) Sheena D’Souza.
7. That bottle _______ (belong) to me.
8. My son, Sid can _________ (count) up to fifty.
9. Freddy will be _______ (go) to work tomorrow.
10. Joshua ______ (play) football.
Vocabulary
Building

• Contextual usage

• Synonyms

• Antonyms and

• Idiomatic expressions
 Vocabulary building:
Vocabulary (the knowledge of words
and word meanings) is one of the
key building blocks in learning a
new language.

Vocabulary building is a process of

learning, acquiring, and expanding
one’s knowledge of words,
expressions, and phrases in a
language.

The more words a learner knows

the more they will be able to
understand what they hear and
read and the better they will
become at communicating in
speech or writing.
 What does it include?
I T I N C LU D E S :

LEARNING NEW UNDERSTANDING RECOGNIZING WORD

WORDS AND THEIR WORD RELATIONSHIPS FAMILIES (PREFIXES,
MEANINGS (SYNONYMS, SUFFIXES, ROOTS)
ANTONYMS, AND
HOMONYMS)

MASTERING IDIOMATIC DEVELOPING AN IMPROVING WORD

EXPRESSIONS AND AWARENESS OF USAGE AND
PHRASAL VERBS CONNOTATIONS AND APPLICATION IN
CONTEXT-DEPENDENT VARIOUS CONTEXTS
MEANINGS
Vocabulary Building Strategies

• Reading extensively and often

• Keeping a Vocabulary journal or notebook
• Engaging in discussion/conversation
• Repetition of words you want to learn
• Playing word games like Scrabble
• Learning from context
• Using Mnemonics and connecting it with something general to aid memory
 Contextual usage

This can include words, phrases,

An important strategy to help or sentences that appear
students build their vocabulary before, after, or close to the
is use of context – i.e., using the word. It can also include visuals
clues or hints provided in the or headings embedded in the
text that surround an unfamiliar text – basically anything that
word to help guess the meaning helps a reader understand the
without depending on a meaning of an unfamiliar word.
dictionary.
Types of context clues
•Defi nition Clue: The word is defined directly in the text.

• Example: The nation was undergoing urbanization – the movement of people into cities.

• Example: One result of this motion is diff usion, the net movement of the particles of a substance from
where they are more concentrated to where they are less concentrated.

•Description Clue: The word is described by information in the context so that the reader can figure out the
meaning.

• Example: Pollination occurs when a pollen grain from a male plant lands on the stigma of a female plant.

• Example: Cities were filling with immigrants and newcomers from American farms and small towns. Too
poor to rent their own apartments, they shared rooms and crammed together in tenements.

•Synonym Clue (comparison clue): A word that is similar to the word is provided.

• Example: Water soaks into the ground pores, or spaces, among the fragments of soil.

• Example: It was a triptych (trip-(ˌ)tik ), or three-paneled, painting.

• Antonym Clues (contrast clue): These clues provide a contrast to the unfamiliar word, indirectly indicating
its meaning. For example, “Unlike the arduous (ar-jo-ws ) journey yesterday, today’s was quite easy.
Types of context clues
•Comparison Clue (synonyms clue): The word is compared with other examples that are
similar.

• Example: Light enters your eye through a pupil (pu-pl), which is like a small hole.

• Example: Cumulus (kyü-mu-Ls) clouds look like a pile of cotton balls.

•Contrast Clue (Antonym clue): The word is contrasted with another word, usually an
antonym.

• Example: Unlike a compound, an element cannot be broken down into simpler

materials.

•Example Clue: A word or words that are examples are provided.

• Example: An example of mutualism is the pea crab and the mussel. Tiny pea crabs live
inside mussel shells. The crabs eat the young of organisms that would harm the mussels
if they grew to adults inside the shell. In return, the mussels provide protection for the
little crabs.

• Example: The children could tell, from Phil’s statement about everything and everybody
having a good side, that he was an optimist.
 Synonyms

• A synonym is a word, or in some cases a phrase that has

the same meaning as another word with regards to the
same language. If the meaning is not exactly the same,
the words have very similar meanings in the context.
• When two words are synonyms of one another, we call
them synonymous words. Let us take the example of the
word “jump”. The words leap, bounce, hop are all
synonymous to jump, i.e. they have the same (or very
similar) meanings.
 Antonyms
• Now as opposed to a synonym, an antonym is a word whose meaning is
exactly opposite to another word, in the same language. It originates from
the Greek word “anti” which stands for opposite and “onym” which stands
for “name”. For example the antonym for hot is cold, and the antonym for up
is down.

• Antonyms are actually quite useful in the English language. At times it is

easy to understand the meaning and the context of a difficult word, by
knowing what the opposite of the word means. Take for example the word
“mundane” whose synonym is “humdrum”. The antonym for mundane is
“extraordinary” or “imaginative”. Now the word mundane has much better
clarity.
 English has always been a
funny language! English is the
most widely spoken language
in the world. But at times can
be so very confusing that it
truly defies all logic. If you are
not careful you can end up in
the desert, instead of eating a
delicious dessert! One such
confusing aspect of English are
homonyms. Let us learn more
about them.
Homonyms

• Homonyms are words in the English language that have the same spelling, and even
the same (or very similar) pronunciation, but have two distinctly different meanings.
The origin and the syntax of the words will also differ, while the spelling remains the
same. You can see how this can be confusing, right?

Homographs and Homophones

There are two types of homonyms:
• When the words have the same spelling, and yet have different meanings we call them
homographs. here the pronunciations may also differ. Take for example the word
“lead”. It can mean to guide or pilot someone or something. It can also be the noun
form, lead as in the metal.
• Then we have the Homophones. These words have the same sound (pronunciation)
but their spellings are slightly different. And they obviously have different meanings.
Take for example the word desert and dessert. “Desert” is the barren land or to
abandon something. And “dessert” is the sweets we eat at the end of a meal
 Word Family
A word family is a group of words that may share
a common root word with different Prefixes (A
prefix is a small group or string of letters that can
be attached to the start of a root word (or stem
word) and Suffixes (A suffix is an ending. It is
added to the end of a word to make a new word.
Unlike root words, suffixes cannot stand on their
own as a complete word) in morphology (means
the study of word parts). They are used for
teaching spelling.
Mnemonics
Mnemonics are strategies or techniques for effective memorization. They are used to improve
memory and are often taught in school to help students learn and recall information.

What Is the Mnemonic for the Planets?

The eight planets in order in the solar system—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune—can be remembered with a few different mnemonics:

•My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles

•My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nachos

Before 2006, Pluto was the ninth planet in the solar system. (It has since been downgraded to a
dwarf planet.) A common mnemonic used to remember the solar system was:

•My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

There are other options/techniques to explore when it comes to mnemonics

Idiomatic Expressions (Understanding English Idioms and Expressions (2024) - EnglishCentral Blog)

An idiom (also called idiomatic expression) is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative
meaning conventionally understood by native speakers. This meaning is different from the literal
meaning of the idiom’s individual elements. In other words, idioms don’t mean exactly what the
words say. They have, however, hidden meaning.
Idiom Meaning Usage
Break a leg Good luck By itself
Call it a day Stop working on something As part of a sentence
Cut somebody some slack Don't be so critical As part of a sentence
Get out of hand Get out of control As part of a sentence
Get your act together Work better or leave By itself
Give someone the benefit of the Trust what someone says As part of a sentence
doubt
Hang in there Don't give up By itself
He has bigger fish to fry He has bigger things to take By itself
care of than what we are talking
about now
Idiomatic Expressions
Idiom Meaning Usage
It's not rocket science It's not complicated By itself
No pain, no gain You have to work for what you want By itself
Pull someone's leg To joke with someone As part of a
sentence
Pull yourself together Calm down By itself
So far so good Things are going well so far By itself
Speak of the devil The person we were just talking about By itself
showed up!
Add insult to injury To make a bad situation worse As part of a
sentence
A picture is worth 1000 words Better to show than tell By itself
Break the ice Make people feel more comfortable As part of a
sentence
Costs an arm and a leg Very expensive As part of a
sentence
Get a taste of your own Get treated the way you've been As part of a
Phrasal Verbs
Phrasal Verbs Meanings Example

Back up To support or reinforce. The research findings were

backed up by multiple
credible sources.
Bump into To meet someone I didn't expect to see my old
unexpectedly. friend at the grocery store,
but I bumped into her in the
produce aisle.
Burnout To exhaust or lose energy. After months of working
overtime, she finally
experienced burnout and
needed a break.
Call for To demand/request. The workers decided to go on
strike to call for better wages
and improved working
conditions.
Call off To cancel. The outdoor concert was
called off due to the sudden
rainstorm.
Assignment
1) Use any English content (Read/listen/watch) you like and write up to 20 words with
meanings/synonyms, Antonyms, and Homonyms, and highlight the contextual use
of vocabulary/words you picked.
2) Considering the last question, implement the knowledge of Idioms, phrasal verbs,
and word family in the content you read/watched.
3) What do you do to improve your vocabulary in daily life? Carry out a plan to
improve your vocabulary.

Note:
-Mention the details of the content you watched in 3-4 lines at your
assignment’s beginning.
-Assignment due on 15 th Oct 2024.
 Thank you

Amna Adil

[email protected]