The document discusses language and punctuation. It begins by explaining how humans communicate through developed language, with sentences typically having a subject and predicate. It then discusses some key differences and similarities between English, Hindi, and Tamil regarding parts of speech, grammar rules, and punctuation. Specifically, it notes that while languages all convey information in sentences, they may differ in things like whether they have adjectives. It also explains how English uses punctuation more frequently than some other languages to show pauses and changes in meaning.

1. Language and Punctuation
How do interacting living creatures communicate?
They do so through LANGUAGE.
Even animals, birds, and insects have their methods
of communication.
In the human animal, it is developed to a very fine
extent.
Only humans have developed a language, which is more
than a set of prearranged signals.
The section of the brain that organizes sound and
meaning on a rational basis is unique to humans.

2. The ongoing clash between languages
is a process very similar to evolution.
A word, like a gene, will travel and
prevail according to its usefulness.
ENGLISH survived by absorbing elements
from other languages, mainly Latin.
English is like white paint: it takes on the
colours of other languages, and produces
lighter colours and more shades.
So simply think of English as being
related to your own language.
What’s So Special About ENGLISH???

3. English has absorbed Indian words like
cummerbund, catamaran, mulligatawny,
jungle, and ,of all things, chuddy! Yes,
This word has been inducted into the OED!
There are many varieties of English in use. The pidgin
English flourishing in New Guinea has evolved its own
rich character. In the same way, English-speaking
communities in the West Indies and in India
developed local words, phrases, and idioms.
Indo-European languages grew from just
one tongue 5000 years ago.
Is ENGLISH So Tough ???

4. English Versus a North-Indian
and a South-Indian Tongue
What are the similarities in these 3 tongues?
Any language is uniquely identified with a set of values by its
use of idioms and proverbs. Some interesting idioms:
To have the cake and eat it too.
Koozhukkum aasai, meesaikkum aasai.
(Tamil: I want to eat porridge as well as to
keep my moustache.)
Meaning: Wanting 2 contradictory things.

5. Making a mountain out of a molehill.
Raayi ka pahaad banana.
(Hindi: Making a mountain out of a mustard seed.)
Meaning: Making a small matter huge.
ARE YOU SEEING THE SIMILARITIES???
FUN, ISN’T IT?
As you sow, so shall you reap.
Jaise boya, waise paaya (Hindi:you get what you sow).
Meaning: We get the fruits of our good or bad actions.

6. The mills of God grind slowly, but
they grind exceeding(ly) well.
Bhagwan ke ghar mein dher hai, andher nahin.
(Hindi: There is delay in God's house, not darkness.)
Meaning: Good things might take time
to happen, but they inevitably do.
SOME MORE GEMS OF WISDOM!!!!!
You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.
Ghee nikalnay ke liye ungli taydi karni padthi hai.

7. (Hindi: To take out the ghee, you have
to make your finger crooked.)
Meaning: Sometimes messy things have to be done
to get started on some work.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Ghar ki murgi daal barabar (Hindi:Eating home-
cooked chicken is only as good as eating lentils).
Meaning: When we get used to something, we do not
realize its value.
Commonsense Has a Common Idiom

8. All languages have grammar
rules, although these might differ.
By comparing the similarities and
differences, we can understand
English better.
Most languages express
ideas in sentences.
Language – A Vehicle for
Communication

9. ‘Birds fly’. ‘Birds’ is the subject and
‘fly’ is the predicate.
‘Chidiyaan udthi hain’. ‘Chidiyaan’ subject;
‘udthi hain’ predicate.
Sentences usually talk about a ‘subject’
and add some information about it. A
‘subject’ is the doer of an action.
This additional information about a ‘subject ‘is
called a ‘predicate’. It can be just one word (verb)
or a group of words. For example,
WHO or WHAT do we talk about?
WHAT do we say about them?

10. Predicates Can Say Lots of Things
Predicates can have more than just
that verb or doing word, but if there
is no verb, the predicate ceases to exist.
He flies a kite. He:subject; flies…predicate
‘I am teaching you English’. There
are 3 items here. Which is the subject?
All languages convey information about something;
they do have sentences with these two main parts.
Without a verb, the predicate, and
hence the sentence, ceases to exist.

11. Does a Subject Always Have
To DO Something?
- MOST CERTAINLY NOT!
Main Hoon Na? I think; therefore I AM.
What actions do ‘hoon’ or ‘am’ show?
Just the act of BEING or EXISTING (not always
living, breathing, or performing some action) can
be considered an action. A word that expresses
even this kind of ‘inactive action’ is a verb.
And not just in English, but also in Hindi,
Tamil, to name just a few.
So you see, all human beings think alike,
and string together words in the same way.

12. Most languages have 8 parts of
speech, defined as follows:
Noun: A noun is a person, place, thing, quality, or act.
Examples: pencil, girl, supermarket, happiness
Verb: Verbs are action or existence words that tell
what nouns do: fly, lived, forms of ‘to be’.
Adjective: An adjective describes a noun.
Examples: hairy, crazy, wonderful
Adverb: An adverb describes a verb, adjective, or
adverb. Examples: carefully, easily, later that evening
Interjection:This is an outcry or sudden utterance.
Wow! Gosh! Darn!
The EIGHT parts of speech
BRRRR! It’s
Cold!

13. Preposition: A preposition shows the relationship
between a noun and another noun, verb, or adverb.
Examples: to, under, for, at, by, from
Conjunction: A conjunction joins together words,
phrases, or clauses. Examples: and, or, but
Pronoun: A pronoun replaces a noun or noun phrase
that has gone before. Examples: he, it, they
Do you know that Hindi has no neuter gender and,
therefore, has no ‘it’? ‘Voh’ can mean ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’!
Mujhe ‘it’ de do. Mujhe ‘voh cheez’ de do. AMAZING
DO ALL LANGUAGES HAVE
ALL 8 PARTS OF SPEECH??
No! For instance, not all
Languages have adjectives.

14. Here’s where the differences
come in
The definite article is ‘the’; indefinite, ‘a’ and ‘an’.
Is this a part of speech? NO!
The article ‘the’ comes from an old demonstrative adjective (thēo, that),
which was also an article in Old English. In Middle English, the became an
article, and that remained a demonstrative adjective.
‘An’ or ‘a’ came from the old numeral ān, meaning one.
Indian languages use the demonstrative adjective: (Hindi: voh).
‘The movie was good’ becomes ‘that movie was good’. Try it !!
Indian languages have case-endings. Hindi: ‘kaa, kay, ki’; Tamil: ‘udaiya’;
English uses the apostrophe: ‘Mary’s lamb’.
Case-endings show possession: who owns that? Or whose? Kiska.
The apostrophe shows this too. Unfortunately, the apostrophe has other
roles as well, and hence its use is not always understood.

15. JISKI TOPI, USKA SAR!
The man’s topi and the man’s sar. The same
apostrophe serves both. But in Hindi, the
apostrophe ‘ki’ changes to ‘ka’, depending on the
gender of the object being referred to!
At least we do not have that complication in English.
Actually, things are less complicated: English: He comes;
she comes; Hindi: Voh aata hai; voh aati hai; Tamil: Avan
varugiran; aval varugiral. The verbs are ‘comes’, ‘aata hai’,
‘aati hai’, ‘varugiran’, and ‘varugiral’, respectively. Note that
the verb form does not change with gender in English.
DOESN’T THAT MAKE ENGLISH MUCH SIMPLER?
One more BIG difference is the way English uses
punctuations, to show pauses and changes in meaning.

16. The earliest writing had no capitalization, no
spaces, and no punctuation marks.
The oldest known document that uses punctuation is the
Mesha Stele (9 BC, Jordan), which used points between words.
The use of punctuation was not standardized until the invention of printing.
Until the eighteenth century, punctuation was an aid to reading aloud.
Arabic — written from right to left — uses a
reversed question mark: .
Originally Sanskrit had no punctuation. In the 1600s, Sanskrit
and Marathi started using a single vertical bar (|) to end a line
of prose and double (||) to end verse.
Punctuation evolved with the modern world, not just with the
English language.The English should find it mystifying too.
niaga taht s’tahW

17. PUNCTUATIONS ARE UNIVERSALLY USED
Only, some languages (like English) use
them more often.
Like emoticons, as any SMS user would tell you, these
marks can be used to express emotions.
So let your punctuation match the emotion.
You will instinctively use the correct punctuation.
Let’s see how our instincts serve us:
Choose the correct sentence in the following exercises.
A) I am asking you if you would like to go swimming tomorrow?
B) I am asking you "if you would like to go swimming tomorrow"?
C) I am asking you if you would like to go swimming tomorrow.

18. A) Yes, Jean, you were right about that boy.
B) Yes Jean, you were right about that boy.
C) Yes Jean you were right about that boy.
D) Yes, Jean, you were right, about that boy.
HOW WOULD YOU SAY THIS??
A) Wherever we go, "people" recognize us.
B) Wherever we go people recognize us.
C) Wherever we go; people recognize us.
D) Wherever we go, people recognize us.
A) Whenever, Cheryl, is in town she visits her sister.
B) Whenever Cheryl, is in town she visits her sister.
C) Whenever Cheryl is in town she visits her sister.
D) Whenever Cheryl is in town, she visits her sister.

19. A) I asked Ella, "Did he ask for his ring back"?
B) I asked Ella? "did he ask for his ring back?“
C) I asked Ella, "Did he ask for his ring back?“
D) I asked Ella, "Did he ask for his ring back?"?
A) Please contact me, if you have any questions.
B) Please contact me if you have any questions.
C) If you have any questions please contact me.
D) If you have any questions; please contact me.
A) When I noticed that our dog cut it's paw, I called the vet.
B) When I noticed that our dog cut it's paw; I called the vet.
C) When I noticed that our dog cut its paw, I called the vet.
D) When I noticed that our dog cut its paw; I called the vet.

20. A) Many people dread the 15 of April.
B) Many people dread the 15st of April.
C) Many people dread the 15th of April.
D) Many people dread the 15 day of April.
A) A liberally sprinkled dose of humour was welcome.
B) A liberally-sprinkled dose of humour was welcome.
C) A liberally-sprinkled-dose of humour was welcome.
D) A liberally sprinkled dose-of-humour was welcome.
A) The dog has fully re-covered although I panicked then.
B) The dog has fully recovered although I panicked then.
C) The dog has fully recovered, although I panicked then.
D) The dog has fully re-covered, although I panicked then.
Obviously, punctuation is not as simple as we think.
So the rules – these will be our food for thought next.
HAPPY CHEWING !!!