 Lecture 38, As-Salamu Alaikum. Welcome to the virtual university's course on Business and Technical Communication. In today's lecture, we will continue our review of language and we will look at words and punctuation. In this lecture, you will learn about the difference between abstract and general language. We will look at vague language and ornate language and how that affects the credibility and the effectiveness of your work. We will also look at the use of technical terms and biased language. Specifically, we will talk about avoiding sexist, ageist language and language biased against people with disabilities and ethnically and racially biased language. We will look at punctuation, particularly the use of periods and commas. We will look at commas where they are used with introductory elements, with coordinating conjunctions, joining independent clauses, with the use of commas within elements of a series, with coordinate modifiers, with non-restrictive modifiers, with parenthetic elements in a sentence, with electrical constructions and we will also look at specialized use of commas and superfluous commas and the placement of commas with other punctuation. Let us have a look first at the use of abstract and general language within our sentences and how that affects the credibility and the essence of the sentence. Clear writing consists of specific carefully chosen words, not abstract and general language. So, if you want your writing to be clear and concise, then you need to use specifically chosen words. Pros also, pros that is cluttered with language that is overly abstract or overly ornate or vague becomes unreadable either because it is too dense, there are too many ornate words or because it is too vague and the words are too general and therefore, not understandable enough. The meaning does not come across clearly because of the vagueness of the language that is used or the meaning becomes difficult to understand because of the heaviness of the words that has been used. Let us look at vague language first and see why that is not effective in writing specifically in business and technical writing. Although the amount of detail in your writing will depend on your audience, you will use specific facts wherever possible. You have to look at the audience and decide how much detail you have to include in your writing but you will have to use less detail or use more detail. Do not generalise the specific facts because it is these facts which will make the difference between vague assertions and accurate scientific reporting. Let us have a look at an example where instead of saying the team detected above normal radioactivity level at station 6, if you say the team detected above normal radioactivity levels of 2.4 by 106 dm beta gamma at station 6, the centres becomes much more solid and it gives much more detailed facts rather than the generalisation of the previous one. Also, the use of heavy ornate words makes your writing difficult to understand. You should try to use the simplest, most direct words possible. And because used for their own sake, onate words can end up confusing the reader. If you will only use difficult words in your writing because they seem to be impressive or you just have to put them in your writing for the sake of using them, then you will not be able to understand what you are writing. Let us have a look at a few examples. Instead of saying this peak is theorised to be resultant from two competing effects, driving force and velocity, you can say much clearly this peak is believed to result from two competing effects, driving force and velocity. Theorised to be resultant, we have said this peak is believed to result from. This is a very clear and very direct thing. The reader will be able to understand it very easily. If you are writing 8-10 sentences together, then the reader will be very disappointed. So, you can use simple, direct language. Another example would be there were several known facts about fungus growth that had a bearing on my interpretation of results. The improved version would be several facts about fungus growth influenced by interpretation of results. Now, coming to the use of technical terms. Technical terms are an essential part of all technical and scientific writing. Each field and speciality typically uses a vocabulary that relays a variety of specialized concepts by means of technical language. Every field, every speciality has its own vocabulary which is for that same field and for that same speciality. And it can explain a lot of specialized concepts. And these special terms convey concentrated meanings that have built up over specific periods of study of a field. So, it is not like you suddenly introduce a new technical alphas. After a lot of years of study, after a lot of years of use, technical alphas are included in a field. The value of technical terms lies in the way each term condenses mass of information into a single word. Whatever your technical term is, it conveys a very close meaning to it. Many times, there are very big concepts and they can convey technical terms in one or two alphas. Technical terminology is often thought of as shorthand. We think of it as a short route to explaining long concepts. It is a way of gaining great depth and accuracy with economy of words. With the use of technical words, we are able to express a wide range of things. We are able to express great depth in things. And the good thing is that we can do this by using very few words because those words focus on specific concepts or specific processes. Technical terms often blend readily into formulae and mathematical manipulation. A term such as force being folded into a formula such as F is equal to MA is one such illustration. Like formulae, you can easily describe a technical term. And this way, you can actually manipulate the quantification in a mathematical way. Technical terms can also lead to a great density of prose that is difficult to understand even for the specialized audience. You need to observe four principles when using specialized terminology. One, you need to match terminology to the ability of the audience. You may use a term with great accuracy and not actually reach your audience if the level of technicality is not according to the level of audience understanding. It is important that you are aware of your audience's level of understanding. If they are not experts in your field, you will need to substitute more general terms for your specialized terms. That means that you may not be able to write with great accuracy about your topic. If you need to do this, but you need to keep in mind their level of understanding. Another point to be kept in mind when using technical terms is that you need to use technical terms with consistency. Be sure that you use the same term for a given item each time. If you are talking about the same item again and again, then you need to use the same term to give reference to it. If you shift from using mass to weight in referring to the quantity of an object, if at first you call a tool a spanner and later call it a wrench, if you shift from the Kelvin scale to centigrade for measuring temperature, you may confuse the reader. Even though they may mean similar things or they may mean the same thing, but you are using different terminology for the same thing, the reader will get confused and they will think that you are talking about two different things. Also, the third point to be kept in mind is that you should provide clear definitions and explanations for unfamiliar items. If you are using a specialized term that is not widely used in your audience, even if the audience is an expert one, be sure that you provide a clear definition of your term. Also finally, you need to use a terminology list when you are introducing a variety of technical terms and in your discussion. The use of this list is a great aid to your readers because they can then refer to the list. This list is usually placed before your introduction or in an appendix. If you are using a lot of technical terms and using a variety of technical terms, then give them a list before your introduction or in an appendix so that the readers can refer to it and cross check whether they understand the meaning of those terms or not. Now coming to another aspect of language and the words that we use in language and that is the use of biased language. You need to avoid language that could be interpreted as biased on the basis of sex, age, physical ability or ethnic or racial identity. Instead try to use language that is inclusive and avoids unintended stereotypes and also refers to people and groups using labels that they prefer. Let's have a look at what we mean when we talk about agist language where we say the use of language which is biased against age. We have already talked about the gender bias language in a lecture. Today we will talk about the agist language. Senior citizens for example has become a catch-all term for the country's older population but many find it off-putting because it has political connotations. Similarly elderly implies that people are feeble or weak. This is a terminology that we use but people also get offended or they have some connotations which are different. Senior citizens feel that maybe they politically feel that maybe people can take seniority in a different way. They can get privileges because they are senior. Elderly feels that maybe they are weaker and some of the senior citizens can get offended. So when referring to members of this group try to find a label that describes more specifically the population or person that you have in mind. Let's have a look at an example. It would be unacceptable to say Dr. Frank Martinez a senior citizen continues to maintain a vigorous practice despite his age. It would be better to say Dr. Frank Martinez now 70 years old continues to maintain a vigorous practice. By this sentence you are mentioning that what his age is it is obvious to the reader that obviously 70 years old is a senior citizen and he is a senior citizen. So it would be better to say Dr. Frank Martinez now 70 years old continues to maintain a vigorous practice. By this sentence you are mentioning that what his age is it's obvious to the reader that obviously 70 years old is a senior citizen but you are not highlighting it and you are not using it in a negative sense. Also you need to be careful with language that is biased against people with disabilities. The term disability and disabled are generally preferred over handicapped or crippled. When you mention people with disabilities, people with disabilities or people with disabilities then you use term disability or disabled not crippled or handicapped because these terms are biased. Also more positive labels such as physically challenged and differently abled may be appropriate occasionally. But sometimes some people who belong to these groups think that they are using it more than biased or these categories are being made if you are physically challenged or differently abled. Generally the acceptable term is disabled. Also when you are referring to individuals with specific disabilities make sure that the disability that you are pointing out is actually necessary to point out. It is not necessary that if someone has a disability it is necessary to point out that reference in which you are talking. If it is necessary to point it out then you need to refer to it in a way that does not define the person by the disability. And if it is not necessary then don't mention it at all. If there is a thing or work that you are talking about and it does not matter that the person who has done this or was disabled or not involved in it then you should not mention it. If it matters then it is necessary to point out that disability because it matters to the person who is studying. So then you should definitely mention it but in a way that the person who is talking is not offended. For example it would be unacceptable to say Debbie Stephens a blind seventh grader at Riverview Junior High one third prize in the county public speaking competition. Because Debbie Stephens who is talking she wins a public speaking competition. It would be more acceptable to say Debbie Stephens a seventh grader at Riverview Junior High school one third prize in the county public speaking competition. You don't need to mention that Debbie Stephens is blind. Similarly instead of saying paraplegic James Alton competes in marathons with other crippled racers who train in wheelchairs. It would be more acceptable to say James Alton an attorney whose legs were paralyzed in automobile accident competes in marathons with other disabled racers who train in wheelchairs. Here it was necessary to mention disability because whatever was given to the person who was in charge of that disability and it was necessary to say that they are competing with disabled people. But in a way that you should mention that disability it is also necessary that it is appropriate. Instead of saying that you are paraplegic you should say whatever you want to say or tell them that James Alton who was injured in automobile accident and who paralyzed his legs in automobile accident or crippled people instead of saying that disabled racers. In general use terminology that treats a disability or an illness neutrally rather than negatively. Disabled people should not think that you are talking about their disability in a neutral way or they are talking with respect or they are victimizing or accusing them. But in a way that you are neutral. It is a fact that is accepted and you are mentioning it. It would be more acceptable to say cancer victim or AIDS victim rather than cancer patient or a person with AIDS. Similarly if somebody has diabetes then you will say this person suffers from diabetes rather than saying he is diabetic or if a person is in a wheelchair then you say he is confined to or bound to a wheelchair rather than saying uses a wheelchair. Let us also look at ethnically and racially biased language and how we need to avoid using that. Clearly ethnic and racial insults are unacceptable in any type of writing or any type of speech particularly in professional writing. Less clear cut however are the labels that are most acceptable for identifying specific ethnic and racial groups. Which are the labels that we use for different ethnic and racial groups that are acceptable. This issue gets confusing and sensitive. We are going to have a look at some general guidelines. Both black and African American are generally acceptable when we are talking of black people. Although some members of the community may prefer either black and some members may prefer African American but both are acceptable. The phrase people of color is sometimes used to include other racial groups particularly for political purposes. But the label Negro and colored are generally not acceptable. If we are talking about blacks then we will not say Negro or colored because this is politically incorrect or unacceptable. We will say African American or black or people of color if we are also adding racism to it. Also when we talk of people from Latin America then depending on to some extent on regional preference people from Latin America refer to themselves as Hispanic or Latino, Latina or Chicano, Chicane. Or by the place of their origin for example if they are Cuban from Cuba then they call themselves Cuban American or Puerto Rican or Brazilian. But whatever their origin is we will use whatever they prefer. And generally Latino is acceptable. Similarly when we are talking of Asians specifically of East Asians then Asian or Asian American if you are in a computer company in America then you will call Asian American rather than Oriental. If we are referring to people from Japan or China then you will call them Asian American if they are a machine. You will not call them Oriental. Again specific groups may prefer specific titles for example they might prefer to be called Japanese, Korean or Japanese American or Korean depending on where they are from. Native American has gained favor over the use of the word Indian or red Indian. You call them Native American depending on the context you might more accurately prefer to a specific tribe if you want to refer to a specific tribe. If you are in Canada then the official term for local native people is Inuit rather than Eskimo. Canadians who are local don't call them Eskimo they call them Inuit. Many people who live in Alaska prefer to call themselves Inuit. If you are mentioning Indians or Pakistanis and you are living in America then you will call them either ethnic region or you will refer to them as South Asian. If you use any other terminology then it will be unacceptable. Increasingly people of mixed racial heritage are lobbying to be recognized as such rather than being identified by a specific racial designation. There is a lot of space where people from different cultures want to have a broad title that covers all of them and specifically be called as their country because especially if people who live in America consider themselves Americans and who have been living there for a long time then they don't think it's good to respect their country. So you need to respect such concerns where appropriate and when you are in a work situation then you need to keep all these things in mind and see how people wish to be referred to. Another concern is language that may suggest ethnic or racial stereotypes. There are a lot of stereotypes in our minds and when we talk we only talk about stereotypes or we put people in generalizations. We think that because we know one or two people of the same community whether they are used to it or not then everyone will be like that. You need to avoid unsupported generalizations about racial or ethnic groups as well as racially based assumptions about individuals. For example, it would be unacceptable to say with the simple nobility that characterizes his people Anandraga, Indian leader, Leon acted as a spiritual and political advocate for the Confederacy until his death in 1996. Now because you have already given with the simple nobility that characterizes his people you don't need to say this you simply say with directness and integrity the leader acted as a spiritual and political advocate because you don't need to refer to the whole tribe refer to their race refer to the people you are talking to. This is a different type of language and what kind of words we should use in our writing. Now let's have a look at punctuation. How do we use punctuation in our writing to make it more effective to make it more clear. Today we are specifically going to look at the use of full stop in period and the use of comma. You need to punctuate your prose in order to help clarify how words, clauses and sentences fit together. We all know that punctuation we will use at some point. Many scientific and technical organizations have detailed style guides outlining appropriate and inappropriate uses of punctuation for technical documents in their respective disciplines. We need to follow the appropriate style in our particular field. Aspects of punctuation that we need to be concerned with are the use of periods, commas, colons, semicolons, question marks, exclamation points, apostrophes, quotation marks, hyphens, dashes, parentheses and brackets. Today we are specifically going to look at periods and commas. We use periods of full stops where we want to show a definite stop in a thought, where we want to complete a sentence and we all know that we start a new sentence after a full stop with a capital letter. Let us have a look at commas. Where and when do we use commas? You use commas to set off transitional words and phrases, introductory clauses or introductory phrases to signal where the introductory element finishes and the main part starts. Koi bhi introductory element hao transitional words phrases hoon unke aur main sentence ke hiise ke darmean aap comma istimaal karenge. If you are using a comma with transitional words and phrases, then you will place a comma after a transitional word or phrase that begins a sentence. For example, agar aap transitional word istimaal karenge more over, to pehar aap likhenge more over, comma the opening on a fin export market would help expand the market for key escrow encryption. Ishi taran aage aap likhenge in addition, comma, ye bhi transitional word hai, phrase hai, in additional, comma, several companies and individuals have proposed commercial key escrow approaches. Also you will place a comma after an introductory dependent clause. For example, we will say, although key escrow is voluntary comma, ab ye deke ye dependent clause tha, introductory dependent clause tha, iske baat comma aaya aur iske baat continue hoga. Critics say that the introduction of clipper points national policy in a disturbing direction. Also you need to remember that you cannot place a comma after an introductory participle or gerund phrase, if the phrase forms part of the subject or verb of the sentence. Dekte hain ek example ke tha hai, ke iska kya matlab hai. If you say combining surface area with depth was a principle method for calculating the volume of the pond. Ab isme aap pehla jo section hai, pehla jo gerund phrase hai, combining surface area with depth, iske baat aap comma nahi lagainge. Ye bohot se log lagaate hai iske kisamke phrase ke baat comma, lekin wo incorrect hai. If you are using coordinating conjunctions and you are joining independent clauses through coordinating conjunctions, then you will place a comma before a coordinating conjunction that is joining two independent clauses. However, if the clauses are very short and closely related, then you may omit the comma. Let us consider the following example. It would be unacceptable to say in almost all illicit markets only the tip of the iceberg is visible and there is no reason why the nuclear materials black market should be an exception. Ab isme aap dekhhe in almost all illicit markets only the tip of the iceberg is visible ek independent clause hai. There is no reason why the nuclear materials black market should be an exception. Dhusra clause hai aur inme and lagaaha hai, lekin koi comma nahi hai. Ye gala tarika hai. Sahi tarika hoga ke aapke hai in almost illicit markets comma. Only the tip of the iceberg is visible comma and there is no reason why the nuclear materials black market should be an exception. Here as you see you have a comma before the coordinating conjunction and also when you have elements in a series then you will use a comma to separate the different items within the series. Although placing a final comma before the coordinating conjunction is often considered optional omitting it can sometimes cause confusion. Jabke ek series ho bohat si cheez hain ek saath list ki gayi ho, tab aap comma istimal karenge. Kabhi lokh sabhachate hai, sochte hai agar ek coordinating conjunction hai, ek series ke andar aur usme bohat si cheez hain kaya rahe aakheer jo cheez hain, usko aap and laga aakhe batara hain. So, waha comma ki zirut nahi hai. Ke kaya bahar zirut nahi hoti. Lekin agar aap likh ne, laga comma laga aadige to confusion khatam ho jaati hai and consequently most scientific and technical writing routinely use a final comma in a series to prevent ambiguity. We are going to have a look at an example where we are we are talking of a series of things and how the use and the non use of comma can be effective in or ineffective in the meaning. Contemporary physics is still exploring neutron stars comma black holes and the penetration of electrons through potential barriers. Now here the omission of the final comma before and causes ambiguity. aajise kya aapne dekhah and se pehle koi comma nahi hai. Ambiguity ye hai are black holes and the penetration of electrons through potential barriers connected to the general subject of neutron stars or aade separate items. Inko aap ek cheese leke dekh rahe hain ya aap inko alag alag items ke torpe dekh rahe hain. Isli agar aap comma and se pehle comma laga inga toh ye cheese clear ho jayegi is tahan. Contemporary physics is still exploring neutron stars comma black holes comma and the penetration of electrons through potential barriers. Ab yahan ye pata chalta hain ke contemporary physics mokh talif cheezan ko explore kar rahe hain. You will also use a comma between coordinate modifiers. Modifiers are coordinate if they modify the same word. You can test to see if the modifiers are coordinate by inserting AND between them. If the description still makes sense, then the modifiers are coordinate and then you will use a comma between them. You will also use commas to set off non-restrictive modifiers. A non-restrictive modifier is usually introduced by which and contains information that is not essential to establishing the meaning of what it modifies. A non-restrictive modifier ho gah jo which ke loves ke saath introduce kya jayega or generally the modifiers which ke saath introduce kya jayega. They are not that essential if they are not included in the sentence, then the meaning of the sentence will be completed. For example, infectious diseases which antibiotics and vaccines once promised to banish from our shores have returned with a vengeance. Abhi dekhiye, ke yeh je modifier hain non-restrictive modifier jo commas ke darmean likkha gah hain isko agar hum nikal bhi dein to sentence wo mukamal ho gah iss tara infectious diseases have returned with a vengeance. Jo commas ke darmean cheez hain wo non-restrictive modifier hain kyu ke additional information deera hain lakin iss ke baghaar bhi sentence ka meaning mukamal rahta hain. Also, you will use commas to set off parenthetic elements. For example, Oppenheimer became known comma, of course, comma for leading the physicists who built the atomic bomb Los Alamos Laboratory. Ab yaha, of course, wo parenthetic, ek element hain wo aisa hain ke wo aap iss tara agar ab bolne mein ke hain to shahid ab bahut aashta sa bolne apne alfaas ke andar hi ke hain wo shahid sunne wala itne clearly usko sunne bhi na wo ek aside hain. To usko agar ab commas mein ke hain to wo ek parenthetic element manjata hain beshak naa bhi ho to tab bhi deek ho ga. We also use a comma to indicate the omission of a word or words that are readily understood from the context. Let us have a look at this example jis mein semicolons bhi istamal ke hain hain aur commas bhi istamal ke hain hain. In the United States, there are 92 scanners semicolon in Europe comma 85 semicolon in all of Africa comma 6 commas istamal ke hain hain yeh indicate karne ke liye humne yaha love scanner tha there are. In the United States, there are 92 scanners in Europe there are 85 in all of Africa there are 6 humne comma laga diya. In numbers with 5 or more digits Anglo-American usage dictates that there be commas before groups of 3 and it is counting from the right. You will start counting from the right side and if your numbers are more than 5 then after 3 groups you will put a comma. Except for the first group of 3 at the beginning not after the first 3 numbers but after that. For example, customers reported a total of 212 comma 413 hardware malfunctions or in 1994 2 cases had been diagnosed. Also, you need to be careful that you are not using too many commas. If you use too many commas in your writing then the flow of writing breaks up and creates confusion for the readers. Except after an introductory dependent clause, do not use a comma to separate a dependent clause from a main clause unless the dependent clause provides non-essential information. Let's have a look at an example. It would be unacceptable to say ever since the atomistic view of matter came to be accepted it has been a burning question how to see into the micro world of molecular chemistry. Ever since the atomistic view of matter came to be accepted after comma it has been a burning question, comma how to see into the micro world of molecular chemistry. Ever since the atomistic view of matter came to be accepted, comma it has been a burning question how to see into the micro world of molecular chemistry. Similarly, it would be unacceptable to say systematic surveys of the ocean flow have revealed, comma that there were submarine mountain ranges, comma that extended for thousands of kilometers. You will not use any commas because the words that are providing the break for you and the word that is also providing the connections for you. Similarly, saying a biosensor that produces a changing electrical signal in response to levels of glucose, it has been a burning question how to see into the micro world of the ocean. Similarly, the positive signal in response to levels of glucose in the bloodstream of the diabetics, comma could be used to control the release of insulin so as to maintain the concentration of blood sugar at a steady, safe level is unacceptable because you don't need the comma after the word diabetics. All you need to say is a biosensor that produces a changing electrical signal Now what about the placement of the comma with other punctuation elements? You will place commas inside quotation marks but outside parenthesis. For example, if you are saying the university classified the study as an experiment or experiment you have put in inverted commas or quotation marks then the comma will come inside them. Which doubled the time needed for approval by the committee on research. The manual contains a lengthy though incomplete or brackets and somewhat obscure. So this additional information is in brackets but the comma will come after it and then you will continue description of the compiler. In this lecture we have learnt about the use of abstract and general language, how to use more concrete language to make our writing effective. We have also talked of ordinate language and how the overuse of ordinate language can make things confusing for the reader. We have looked at the use of technical terms and how we need to keep the audience in mind when we are using technical terminology. We have also talked about the use of bias language especially with reference to age disability and ethnic and racial background. With reference to punctuation we looked specifically at the use of the period and more specifically at the use of the comma. We looked at the use of the comma with reference to introductory elements, coordinating conjunctions, joining independent clauses, elements in a series, coordinate modifiers, non-restrictive modifiers, parenthetic elements, elliptical constructions, we looked at specialized uses of comma, superfluous commas and the placement of commas with other punctuation. In the next lecture we will continue our discussion of the language review with reference to punctuation until then Allah Hafiz.