Features of Naturalness in Conversation

Features of Naturalness in Conversation

Author: Martin Warren

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 9027253951

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The study describes a detailed and original piece of research work, investigating a very important genre of human communication, and that is conversation. It provides a definition of the genre of conversation by describing nine features of conversation, namely multiple sources, discourse coherence, language as doing, co-operation, unfolding, open-endedness, artifacts, inexplicitness and shared responsibility. These nine features of naturalness in conversation serve to distinguish conversation from specialized discourse types. The study illustrates the nine defining features of conversation with authentic conversational data collected surreptitiously in England. While this study is of native speakers of English, the nine defining features of naturalness of English conversation are applicable to conversations conducted in other languages.


Perfect Phrases for ESL Conversation Skills

Perfect Phrases for ESL Conversation Skills

Author: Diane Engelhardt

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2012-09-14

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0071774076

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Use just the right phrases and master the art of conversation like a native speaker of English How do you share an experience from your home country? What should you say to start a conversation? How do you offer someone your advice? This handy reference will help you navigate social and business situations, with hundreds of ready-to-use English phrases that will help you converse with friends, collaborate with co-workers, and engage those around you. Inside find examples of Perfect Phrases for . . . Introductions - Let me introduce myself. Invitations - How about going to dinner on Friday? Decisions - What are our options? Disbelief - You're pulling my leg! Gifts - That's very thoughtful of you.


Practice Makes Perfect: English Conversation, Premium Third Edition

Practice Makes Perfect: English Conversation, Premium Third Edition

Author: Jean Yates

Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional

Published: 2020-04-03

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 126046217X

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Gain the skills needed to converse in English with confidence! Conversing comfortably in a new language can seem like a daunting task. This accessible guide will help you build the skills to communicate in English with confidence. The book is packed with crystal-clear explanations, numerous realistic examples, and dozens of engaging exercises to help you hone your conversation skills. You’ll learn how to introduce yourself, make appointments, strike up conversations, and much more. Practice Makes Perfect: English Conversation is organized around 12 units that present specific conversational situations and common, everyday scenarios. Each unit offers helpful instructions on correct pronunciation, grammar, syntax, and word usage. The exclusive McGraw-Hill Language app features streaming audio recordings of all dialogues in the book plus the answers to more than 100 exercises. Practice Makes Perfect: English Conversation will help you: • Engage in dialogues that illustrate practical conversations • Expand your English vocabulary • Get clarification of new concepts with numerous realistic examples • Reinforce your new conversational skills through extensive exercises • Test your understanding of key themes in the book • Improve your pronunciation through audio dialogs and exercises, online and via the McGraw-Hill Language app


Making Conversation

Making Conversation

Author: Fred Dust

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2020-12-01

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 0062933914

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A former Senior Partner and Global Managing Director at the legendary design firm IDEO shows how to design conversations and meetings that are creative and impactful. Conversations are one of the most fundamental means of communicating we have as humans. At their best, conversations are unconstrained, authentic and open—two or more people sharing thoughts and ideas in a way that bridges our individual experiences, achieves a common goal. At their worst, they foster misunderstanding, frustration and obscure our real intentions. How often do you walk away from a conversation feeling really heard? That it moved the people in it forward in some important way? You’re not alone. In his practice as a designer, Fred Dust began to approach conversations differently. After years of trying to broker communication between colleagues and clients, he came to believe there had to a way to design the art of conversation itself with intention and purpose, but still artful and playful. Making Conversation codifies what he learned and outlines the seven elements essential to successful exchanges: Commitment, Creative Listening, Clarity, Context, Constraints, Change, and Create. Taken together, these seven elements form a set of resources anyone can use to be more deliberate and purposeful in making conversations work.


Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics

Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics

Author: Eric H. Roth

Publisher: Chimayo Press

Published: 2010-10-29

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0982617801

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This innovative ESL/EFL textbook helps advanced English language learners develop conversation skills and improve fluency by sharing experiences, reflecting on their lives, and discussing proverbs and quotations. The oral skills English textbook includes 45 thematic chapters, over 1,350 questions, 500 vocabulary words, 250 proverbs and American idioms, and 500 quotations. Designed for both adult education and intensive English language students, the conversations and activities deepen critical thinking skills and develop speaking skills essential to success in community college and university programs. Compelling Conversations has been used in classrooms in over 40 countries, recommended by English Teaching Professional magazine, adopted by conversation clubs and private English tutors, and enjoyed by thousands of English students.


Point of View and Grammar

Point of View and Grammar

Author: Joanne Scheibman

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 9789027226211

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This book proposes that subjective expression shapes grammatical and lexical patterning in American English conversation. Analyses of structural and functional properties of English conversational utterances indicate that the most frequent combinations of subject, tense, and verb type are those that are used by speakers to personalize their contributions, not to present unmediated descriptions of the world. These findings are informed by current research and practices in linguistics which argue that the emergence, or conventionalization, of linguistic structure is related to the frequency with which speakers use expressions in discourse. The use of conversational data in grammatical analysis illustrates the local and contingent nature of grammar in use and also raises theoretical questions concerning the coherence of linguistic categories, the viability of maintaining a distinction between semantic and pragmatic meaning in analytical practice, and the structural and social interplay of speaker point of view and participant interaction in discourse.