Antecedent and Anaphor

 An antecedent is a linguistic expression which provides the interpretation for a second expression (anaphor) which has little meaning of its own.

An antecedent is usually a noun phrase.

An antecedent usually comes before its anaphor.

·        If you see Ram, give him your shirt. (Antecedent – Ram; anaphor – him)

·        He went to his shop. (Antecedent – he; anaphor – his)

·        Ravi injured himself playing Volleyball. (Antecedent – Ravi; anaphor – himself)

An antecedent occasionally follows its anaphor.

An anaphor that precedes its antecedent is sometimes called a cataphor.

·        If you see him, give Ram your shirt.

Antecedent and its anaphor can be in different sentences.

·        Palaniappan is my brother. He is a merchant. (Antecedent – Palaniappan; anaphor – he)

An antecedent can be a verb phrase, an adjective phrase or a prepositional phrase.

·        My father asked me to open the door and I did it. (The antecedent ‘open the door’ is the verb phrase)

·        John thought Devi was in hospital, but he didn’t find her there. (The antecedent ‘in hospital’ is the prepositional phrase)

Antecedent can be a complete sentence.

·        Sita: Arun is teaching English.

·        Ragu: Who told you that?

The anaphor ‘that’ refers to the complete sentence ‘Arun is teaching English’.

Acrostics

 An acrostic is a poem written where the first letter of each line put together spells a word. The poem also tells something about the word thus made out.

An example:

In the grass or underground

Now and then they fly around

Slugs and worms and butterflies.

Each has its own shape and size.

Caterpillar, gnats, a bee

Take them all away from me!

English the funniest language

 We will begin with BOX and the plural is BOXES.

But the plural OX should be OXEN and not OXES.

Then one fowl is GOOSE but two are GEESE.

Yet the plural of MOUSE should never be MEESE.

You may find a lone MOUSE or a whole set of MICE.

But the plural of HOUSE is HOUSES not HICE.

If plural of MAN be always MEN

Why shouldn’t the plural for PAN be PEN?

If I speak of a FOOT and then you show me your FEET.

And I give a BOOT, would a pair be called BEET?

If one is TOOTH and a whole set are TEETH,

Why shouldn’t the plural of BOOTH be BEETH?

The one may be THAT and three may be THOSE.

Yet HAT in the plural would never be HOSE.

And the plural CAT is CATS not COSE.

We speak of BROTHER and also BRETHEREN.

But though we say MOTHER we never say MOTHEREN.

Then the masculine pronouns are HE, HIS and HIM

But imagine the feminine SHE, SHIS and SHIM!!

So English, I fancy, you will agree

Is the

FUNNIEST LANGUAGE you ever did see!

                              - Leo Angela Rupert

Telephone Language and Phrases

Answering the phone

·       Good morning/afternoon/evening, Geetha Stores, Rani speaking.

·       Who's calling, please?

Introducing yourself

·       This is Ram speaking.

·       Hello, this is Murugan from PR Transports.

Asking for someone

·       Could I speak to Dr. Raju, please?

·       I'd like to speak to Dr. Raju, please.

·       Could you put me through to Dr. Raju, please?

Explaining

·       I'm afraid Dr. Raju isn't in at the moment.

·       I'm sorry; he's in a meeting at the moment.

·       I'm afraid he's on another line at the moment.

Putting someone on hold

·       Just a moment, please.

·       Could you hold the line, please?

·       Hold the line, please.

Problems

·       I'm sorry, I don't understand. Could you repeat that, please?

·       I'm sorry; I can't hear you very well. Could you speak up a little, please?

·       I'm afraid you've got the wrong number.

·       I've tried to get through several times but it's always engaged.

·       Could you spell that, please?

Putting someone through

·       One moment, please. I'll see if Dr. Raju is available.

·       I'll put you through.

·       I'll connect you.

·       I'm connecting you now.

Taking a message

·       Can I take a message?

·       Would you like to leave a message?

·       Can I give him/her a message?

·       I'll tell Dr. Raju that you called.

·       I'll ask him/her to call you as soon as possible.

·       Could you please leave your number? I shall ask him to get back to you.