Queries relating to language skillsDo you find grammar confusing? Do you get stuck with words when writing a letter, an essay or ablog? Do you have a fear of public speaking? Or do you simply want to improve your communica-tion skills? Times NIE is here to help you to master the intricacies of the English language. Justshoot us your queries on toinie175 @gmail.com

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You have to be a ‘bornspeaker’Being a great public speaker requires muchmore than a strong will and loud voice.Like any other skill, the only way to looklike a true “natural” on stage is throughdisciplined practice. And don’t believe thatany impediment– a speech concern, heavyaccent, social anxiety – needs to hold youback. For instance, the 2015 ToastmastersInternational World Champion of PublicSpeaking, Mohammed Qahtani, has dealtwith a stutter all his life, but he practisedto mask it in his speeches. He told Busi-ness Insider recently that he knew someof his competitors had a stronger voice ormore impressive stage presence than hedid, but his gift was comic timing. Every-one has their strengths, and can compen-sate for your weaknesses.

Experienced speakersdon’t get nervous As Stanford psychologist Kelly Mc-Gonigal explained in a 2013 TEDTalk, the rush of adrenaline youfeel before a performanceis a natural reaction thatshould not be anxiety-in-ducing, but

rather empowering. As you develop asa speaker, your pre-speech jitters willdiminish, but that flare of your nerveswill never go away if you’re about togive a presentation you genuinely careabout.

Former New York Toastmasterspresident Joshua Rinaldi told BusinessInsider that anyone from a novice toprofessional can benefit from avoidingcaffeine an hour before their presen-tation and 30 seconds of controlled,deep breaths before stepping in frontof your audience, in order to best man-age your nervous energy.

During presenta-tion, you need a brilliant startYou may be jittery at the be-ginning of your presenta-tion. Putting pressure onyourself to have an atten-tion-grabbing begin is nothelpful. Instead, think ofbuilding on the attention youalready have to create en-gagement. If you’re moreof an introvert, youmight not be that

comfortable making a big splash atthe beginning of a presentation.

You have to start thespeech with a jokeOf course you can begin your speechwith a joke, but sometimes it may bevery inappropriate. Therefore, keep inmind what type of event it is and whatkind of speech you are making. What-ever you do, don’t start a speech with ajoke just for the sake of ‘making a state-ment’. Your joke has to be relevant tothe speech and your topic, otherwiseyour joke may boomerang in a way younever expected.

You have tobe more educated thanyour audienceYour listeners may have an M.D. or Ph.D.but if it does not have anything to dowith the topic you are delivering today,then who is the expert in this room atthis point? Of course, it is you.

Introverts can neverbecome good speakersSusan Cain, author of the bestseller“Quiet: The Power of Introverts in aWorld That Can’t Stop Talking,” explainsin her book that introverts are not nec-essarily shy, but gain energy from low-key environments. Continuing on theearlier point about playing to strengths,introverts don’t need to mimic a high-energy extrovert like Tony Robbins whenthey speak to an audience, but can go attheir own pace in a thoughtful way.

The best presentersmemorise their speechesMany beginners think that giving aspeech is similar to giving a monologuein a play, memorising carefully con-structed lines word for word. In a pres-entation, however, you need to work offof your audience to best impart valueto them. Performance coach Tony Rob-bins said the only way a presentationworks is if it’s in some way tailored tothe people in front of him. “So if you’rejust giving some frickin’ talk you’vememorised over and over again, you’regoing to have a flat affect,” he said. “Ifyou’ve just got a bunch of visuals onthe screen that are leading your talk,hang up your shoes and get the hell outof there.” “You need to be in the mo-ment and flexible to make it real andraw,” Robbins said. Remember, a mem-orised presentation sound rigid andfeels disconnected.

You have to please everyone in the audienceKeep in mind that it is impossible toplease everyone in the audience, and ifyou’re trying to please everyone in theaudience then you’re not going to besuccessful, and you’re bound to fail

Look over the heads ofthe audience Look directly at key individuals. Weconnect with each other through oureyes. Effective speakers look at a fewpeople, one at a time. This creates arelationship, and it’s less scary giv-ing your message to each personthan to a large crowd. Also, you don’thave to stand in one place. Pur-poseful movement can be dynamic.Watch some of the top motivationalspeakers, like Zig Ziglar, Tony Rob-bins, and Les Brown. They work the

crowd. They move across the platform.By doing this, you’ll increase the en-

ergy in the audience.

Your speech has tobe perfectKeep in mind that you

won’t start off being good (orperfect). You start and

develop into be-

ing good – with practice. The thingmost people do not realise is that thereis no such thing as a “perfect speech”– at least not for the speaker him/her-self. Every time you finish a speech,you know precisely what went wrongand what you need to improve uponnext time. Lastly, stop comparing your-self to others!

“Do not believe what your teacher tells youmerely out of respect for the teacher”

Gautama Buddha MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

10 PUBLIC SPEAKINGMYTHS DEBUNKED

Hi friends. We are

Glossophobia, or a fear of public speaking,affects majority of us. Unfortunately, itstems from a series of misconceptions

which can easily be dispelled

Photo: Getty images

Photo: Getty images

BIBLIOKLEPTMEANING: one who steals books

ACNESTISMEANING: The part of the back (orbackbone) between the shoulderblades and the loins which an animalcannot reach to scratch

AGELASTICMEANING: Derived from a Greekword meaning “laughter”, someonewho is agelastic literally neverlaughs. Or, put another way, they’reextremely miserable

MELDROPMEANING: A drop of mucus at thenose, whether produced by cold orotherwise

OCTOTHORPEMEANING: the symbol #

ARGUS-EYEDMEANING: vigilant, referringto Argos, a Greek mytholog-ical watchman with a hun-dred eyes

BOBSY-DIEMEANING: a great deal offuss or trouble

BROBDINGNAGIANMEANING: gigantic, fromBrobdingnag, a country inJonathan Swift’s Gulliver’sTravels

CHILIADMEANING: a thousand thingsor a thousand years

FIPPLEMEANING: the mouthpiece of arecorder or similar wind instrument

BRACHYLOGICALMEANING: Brachylogy is brevity ofspeech, which makes someone who is

brachylogical a succinct, terse,straight-to-the-point speaker

BUCCULAMEANING: Instead of saying“double chin,” say buccula. Itsounds a lot more compli-mentary and literally means“little cheek”

FACINOROUS MEANING: The adjective fa-cinorous dates from the mid16th century in English andrefers to anything or anyoneatrociously, heinously evilor bad

MALVERSATIONMEANING: To malverse is to

act corruptly in an elected of-fice or position of trust, and

malversation—originally aScottish legal term—is the act

of doing precisely that

PRODITORIOUSMEANING: A proditor is a traitor,

which makes someone who is prodi-torious untrustworthy or disloyal

FREQUENTLYMISSPELLED WORDSBELLWETHER: Often misspelled “bellweath-er.” It means one that serves as a leader or asa leading indicator of future trends.

SEPARATE: Separate has two “a’s” and justtwo “e’s.”

PLATEAU: The “eau” go together and say “o.”

JUDGMENT: Judge has an “e” after the “dg,”but judgment doesn’t.

CONSCIENCE: Three “c’s” and one “s.”

HARASS: This word is too small for two doubleletters but don’t let it harass you, just keep the(r)s down to one.

GUARANTEE: Thisword is not spelledlike “warranty” eventhough they are syn-onyms.

INDISPENSABLE:Know that this word ends on-able is indispensable to goodwriting.

MAINTENANCE: The main tenants of this wordare “main” and “tenance” even though itcomes from the verb “maintain.”

IGNORANCE: Don’t show your ignorance byspelling this word -ence!

1. Which one is correct? a) arguement, b) argumentc) arguemant, d) arguemint

2. Which one is correct? a) comitment, b) comitmment c) commitment, d) comitmant

3. Which one is correct? a) deductible, b) deductable c) deductuble, d) deductabel

4. Which of the follow-ing spellings is correctfor a page in a book? a) foreward, b) forword c) forworde, d) foreword

5. Which one is correct? a) harass, b) haras c) harrass, d) herrass

6. Which is used for pens, papers,envelopes etc? a) stationery, b) stationary c) stationerry, d) stationnery

7. Which one is correct? a) liason, b) liasson c) liasone, d) liaison

8. Which one of the following wordis correctly spelt?

a) Asociate b) intigrate c) appropriate d) exhilerate

CORRECTTHE

SPELLING

ANSWERS 1. b,2. c,3. a, 4. d,5. a6. a,7. d,8. c

SMART WORDS that you’re not using (yet)

COMMONLY-CONFUSED WORDS1. Years experience / years’ experience“Years experience” is always incorrect.“Years’ experience” is the correctform. It’s the possessive formmeaning “years of experience” or“experience belonging to years”.E.g. He has five years’ experienceas an airline pilot.

2. Awhile / a while“Awhile” is an adverb meaning “fora short time” and is used to modi-fy verbs. E.g. She played the piano awhile.

“A while” is a Noun phrase consist-ing of the article “a” and the noun“while” and means “a period orinterval of time”. It is often usedwith a preposition. E.g. I’ll be coming in a while.

3. Each others / each other’s“Each others” is the plural form ofeach other, however it’s not appro-priate to use it. You likely meant“each other”, e.g. Pete and Marylove each other very much.“Each other’s” is the possessiveform which indicates belonging tosomeone or something. E.g. We tried on each other’s dresses.

4. Everyday / every day“Everyday” is an adjective meaning“commonplace, ordinary or daily”.E.g. I don’t like these everydaydresses they sell in that shop.“Every day” is an adjective (every)modifying a noun meaning “each day”. E.g. I cycle to school every day.

5. All ready / alreadyAll ready means preparedE.g. Dinner was all ready when theguests arrived.Already means by this timeE.g. Fifteen minutes after the playhad started we were already bored.