Eureka!: Discover and Enjoy the Hidden Power of the English Language

288 Pages·2011·3.57 MB·English

by  Walker Royce

WALKER ROYCE
DISCOVER AND ENJOY THE HIDDEN POWER OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
eureka!
eureka!
Copyright © 2011 Walker Royce
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ISBN: 978-1-60037-944-4 (Paperback)
978-1-60037-945-1 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011922094
Published by:
M J P
ORGAN AMES UBLISHING
1225 Franklin Ave Ste 32
Garden City, NY 11530-1693
Toll Free 800-485-4943
www.MorganJamesPublishing.com
Cover/Interior Design by:
Rachel Lopez
[email protected]
DEDICATION
Dedicated to an angelic conifer.
Or is she a coniferous angel?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1. The ABCs of English
Parts of Speech
Punctuation
Words
Sentences
Paragraphs
Composition and Style
2. The Beauty of the Beast
Words Within Words and Words Among Words
Synonyms
Antonyms
Homonyms, Homophones, and Heteronyms
Anagrams
Mnemonics
Jargon
Acronyms
Palindromes
Oxymorons
Puns and Malapropisms
3. Abuse, Misuse, and Obtuse Use of English
Verbosity
Impotent Adverbs
Punctuation Abuse
Misusing or Misspelling Words
Abusing Me, Myself, and I
Using Words that are Not Words
Mispronouncing Words
The Department of Redundancy Department
Relative Absolutes
Double Negatives
4. Synchronize With Your Audience
Adjust to Your Context
Assertiveness and Responsiveness
Diversity and Versatility
One-on-One Communications
Trusted Advisors
5. Presentations: Accuracy and Precision
Avoid Information Overload
Prevent Oral Tedium
6. Selling an Idea
Value-Based Selling
Selling Is Not About Winning
A Self-Assessment
7. Interviews
Resumes
Some Ideas for Interviewers
Some Ideas for Interviewees
8. Is English a Romance Language?
A Tale of Two Poems
Conclusions
My 10 Favorite Words
My 10 Un-Favorite Words
Appendix A. A Team Dynamics Workshop
Preparation
Workshop Agenda, Material, and Results
Team Principles
Appendix B. A Working-Out-Values Camp
Goals
Motivation
Course Syllabus
Prerequisites
Camp Infrastructure
Appendix C. Exercising Observation Skills
Eureka Puzzles
Sequence Puzzles
Relative-Antonym-Synonym-Homophone (RASH) Puzzles
Games and Other Mental Exercises
Puzzle Hints
Bibliography
PREFACE
E
nglish is a wonderfully diverse language. If you ask fifty different people to
describe an object, an event, or an idea, you will get fifty different perspectives,
each articulated with distinct words and style. There are no absolutes—no best
writer, best speaker, best style—and no best words. However, there are patterns
and principles of English usage that are generally persuasive and misusage
patterns that are generally ineffective.
Diversity of thought and communications is critical to teamwork, to achievement
in the workplace, to teaching, learning, and parenting, and to growing our
networks of friends and family. The perspective from which you attack a
problem, tell a story, listen to someone else’s position, or write a message is
important to understanding the solution, the moral, or the point. If you are
capable of looking, reasoning, and hearing different perspectives, you can be far
more effective at communicating and achieving progress in most endeavors.
I have gained this insight after 50 years on earth—learning, working, partnering,
parenting, supervising, and surviving tough circumstances. I don’t remember
anyone coaching me to look outside my norms, to examine problems from
different points of view, or to communicate differently based on the situation or
the audience. Yet over my lifetime, this sort of thinking has struck me as one of
the key lessons that should be taught earlier and reinforced throughout our
educational years. Finding the right perspective is when breakthroughs occur.
One of my retirement dreams is to build an adolescent leadership camp where
kids can learn some of the things they don’t learn in school. Key elements will
include working out personal values, practicing teamwork, and problem solving
through a variety of puzzles, games, and workshops. After fleshing out a
blueprint for this camp and discussing it with friends, I realized that many of the
camp elements relate to lessons learned in communicating more effectively.
This book captures material that represents one step en route to my camp vision.
It synthesizes some provocative perspectives on the English language into a
loosely connected set of lessons on communicating effectively and observing
your communications and those of others.
Communications are the foundation for humans to live together in harmony.
Most of us would benefit from improving our communications skills. This
should come as no surprise: Millions of teachers, parents, and supervisors
emphasize this every day. Yet it seems like our communications skills are not
improving. School-age children and young adults, aspiring workers, and even
mature professionals seem disinterested in their communications skills. Plenty of
good stuff is available to teach people who are motivated to learn. Therein lies
the problem: lack of motivation. My contention is that people who really enjoy
the English language are much more motivated to improve.
How do we motivate more people to enjoy English? With carrots and sticks. The
carrots are the attractive elements, styles, and usage patterns that this book will
dangle in front of you to improve your effectiveness and enjoyment in listening,
reading, speaking, and writing. Our language can be surprisingly entertaining,
and the amusement possible (and probable) with English is a big, juicy carrot.
The sticks are the repulsive, ugly complexities and misusage patterns that some
readers need to be beaten over the head with until they realize just how
ineffective and annoying some communications styles can be.
Observing the diverse ways in which other people use our language is a critical
prerequisite for observing and judging our own communications effectiveness.
This can be both eye-opening and painful. Observe the breadth and depth of
English usage. Notice successful usage, misusage, and amusing usage. Reflect
on why a communication was effective or ineffective. The time you spend can
result in significant personal returns.
Now get ready for a strange collection of topics, puzzles, lists, anecdotes, and
practical lessons. What they don’t teach you in school is how to enjoy English!
If you enjoy it more, you will pay more attention.