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Functional English
One of the chief reasons why people want
to learn a foreign language is this: They want to be able
to “do things” in that language. That is, they want to “agree
or disagree with someone”, “accept or reject an offer”, “deny
something”, “express likes/dislikes”, “offer food and drink”,
“compliment someone” and do a lot of things like these. In
other words, they want to use that language and perform a
number of “everyday communicative functions”.
Functions like these are everyday
functions, because you’ll have to perform these functions
whenever you deal with people. In fact, you’ll have to perform
each of these functions not once, but several times, every
day.
If you want to become good at performing
these everyday functions in a particular language, keep this
in mind: Every modern language has a certain set of word groups
that would help a speaker perform a certain set of functions.
And when you want to perform a particular function in that
language, you’ll have to utter one or more of the word groups
that are normally used in that language to perform that function.
For example, if you want to “express your
gratitude” in English, you’ll have to use an expression like
“Thank you”, “That’s very kind of you”, “I can’t thank you
enough” etc.
Through this Supplement and the next, I’m
going to introduce you to all the important functions you’ll
have to perform every day in English. Under each function-heading,
I’ll also give you a collection of word groups that would
help you perform that function.
What you must do is this:
You must utter each of the word groups several
times — ALOUD. In that way, you must get your ears and organs
of speech used to these word groups.
While uttering each word group, take a look
at the function-heading (under which it comes) and remind
yourself what function it helps you to perform. This is very
important. While doing your practice with each word group,
keep reminding yourself (silently) that it helps you perform
a particular function. For example, while uttering the word
group “I do wish you’ll be more careful” during your practice
sessions, remind yourself that it helps you perform the function
“Forgiving someone”. In that way, that particular function
and that particular word group would get associated in your
mind. And your mind gets conditioned to recalling that word
group automatically, whenever you use English to perform that
function.
Now remember this: It’s not as though one
particular word group can be used only to perform one particular
function. No. That’s not so. Often, you can use a particular
word group to perform more than one function. For example,
take the word group “Thank you very much”. You can use this
word group to perform the function “Expressing gratitude”
as well as the function “Accepting an invitation”.
So there’s no strict one-to-one correspondence
between word groups and functions. That is, we can’t say that
a particular word group is used only to express a particular
function or that a particular function can only be expressed
by a particular word group. At the same time, bear in mind
that certain word groups are used more often to express certain
functions than to express certain other functions.
In fact, most word groups can normally be
used only to express one or two functions. I’ve classified
the word groups you’re going to get by taking these realities
into account.
And remember this: When you say something
to a person, he’s aware of the conversational situation in
which you say it. And this awareness of the conversational
situation would easily help him understand what function you
intend a particular word group to perform when you utter it.
So when you practice uttering the word groups
aloud, don’t let your aim be to reproduce by heart a list
of word groups that would help you perform a particular function.
That is, you don’t have to learn to list the word groups by
heart and to say that such-and-such a word group listed under
such-and-such a function-heading would help you perform such-and-such
a function. No, that’s not necessary at all and won’t be of
much help. All you need to do is to associate in your mind
each of the word groups listed under a function-heading with
that function — because nobody ever says anything in real
life by first recalling the names of the functions they want
to perform from moment to moment and then by recalling
word groups that’d be appropriate to fulfill those functions.
No — nobody does that! In fact, once you complete your practice
with the functional word groups, you can safely forget about
the names of the functions that those word groups perform.
Actually, the function-names are not important outside the
practice sessions.
So let me stress one thing: When you practice
uttering each word group aloud, you must keep reminding yourself
what specific function that particular word group helps you
to perform. I want you to do this, because the name of a particular
function-heading would form a common basis for relating in
your mind a set of word groups together (that is, to one another)
as well as to a particular function. Of course, this exercise
may also help you to easily and readily recall appropriate
word groups — function-wise at the right time — when you have
a real conversation. But the point is, that’s not the
reason why I want you to do this exercise.
Let’s now move on to the functions themselves.
You’ll find these functions covered by two
Supplements in this course: Supplement 1 and Supplement 2.
You should first take a look at the tables of contents on
pages 3 and 4 of these Supplements. Each table gives a list
of the functions covered by each of the Supplements. These
tables give you a bird’s eye view of the communicative functions
that you’ll have to perform every day, and of the word groups
and patterns of word groups that English-speaking people often
use in order to perform those functions.
But when you have to locate a negative
function-heading like “Expressing inability”, “Expressing
disagreement”, “Expressing disapproval”, “Expressing uncertainty”
etc, don’t look for them in the places for “inability”,
“disagreement”, “disapproval”, “uncertainty”, etc. Instead,
look for them in the places for the positive words “ability”,
“agreement”, “approval”, “certainty”, etc.
And to make it still easier for you to locate
a particular function, the key-word in the name of each function
has been printed in italics.
Here we go for the word groups that help
you express each function.
1. Expressing ability
• He can drive. • I can drive a car, but
not a lorry. • The door was stuck, but he was able to open
it. • When I was your age, I could run a mile in 5 minutes.
• He’s better able to do it than her. • He’s quite an expert
at this sort of work. • She knows how to swim. • He finished
the work on his own without help from anyone else. • He
has ability, but he is lazy. • She’s capable of passing
the exam if she tries harder. • He’s a good painter. • He’s
a good carpenter. • Will you be able to come to the meeting
tomorrow? • She’s good at guessing things. • I wouldn’t
put it past him to do a thing like that. • You can do much
better, I’m sure. • He has the ability to make decisions.
• She can speak Spanish fluently. • You’re capable of doing
better, you know.
2. Expressing inability
• He cannot do it without help. • She can’t
speak Telugu very well. • He couldn’t understand a thing
she said. • I’m sorry, I won’t be able to come. • I couldn’t
answer her questions. • He won’t be able to type so fast.
• She’s incapable of behaving rudely to anyone. • I wasn’t
able to pass the driving test the first time. • He’s incapable
of hard work. • He’s incapable of telling a lie. • He’s
unable to help her. • I can’t swim as far as you. • I tried
to move it, but I couldn’t. • I want to come, but I’m unable
to. • I’ve never been any good at repairing things.
3. Asking about ability or
inability
• Can you swim across the river? • Can
you drive a car? • Can you ride a bike? • Can you type?
• Is she able to understand the instructions? • Were you
able to solve the problem? • Can’t you explain it more simply?
• Isn’t he able to read or write? • Is he unable to walk
without crutches?
4. Accepting sth (= something)
[See Function (Fn). no.18 Accepting
an apology, Fn.no.67 Accepting help, Fn.no.85
Accepting an invitation, Fn.no.100 Accepting an
offer of food or drink, and Fn.no.149 Agreeing to/Accepting
a request. See also Fn.no.10 Expressing agreement].
5. Expressing admiration
(See also Fn.no.21 Expressing appreciation,
Fn.no.22 Expressing approval, and Fn.no.41 Complimenting
sb).
• That’s the most magnificent performance
I’ve ever seen! • You don’t say! You mean you made it? •
Look at the building. Isn’t it beautiful? • I just adore
this colour. • I’ve never seen anything like it! • You’re
the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen! • Oh, that’s marvellous!
• Ah, really wonderful! • It’s really wonderful! • It’s
really something! • Isn’t that fantastic! • It’s quite extraordinary,
really! • Oh, that’s lovely! • What a grand view! • Well,
I never! That’s incredible! • Really fantastic! • It’s absolutely
splendid! • That’s quite fantastic! • This dress looks really
stunning on you. • Terrific! • What glorious roses! • Ah,
super! • Oh, smashing! • Oh, lovely! • My! • Oh, it’s the
most impressive speech I’ve ever heard! • I’ve never met
anyone so attractive.
6. Admitting sth
• Yes, it’s possible. • I’m sorry. It was
a mistake on my part. • Well, perhaps I should have handled
it with some more care. • I’ve been wrong about that. •
It was my mistake entirely. • I think it was wrong of us
not to invite them. • Well, perhaps I may have been a little
careless about it. • I guess I didn’t have the nerve. •
Well, it could be true. • No one is to blame but myself.
• Yes, OK, it looks as though I’ve slipped up. • Look, I’m
not able to do this — I find it too difficult. • I’ve made
a mistake in inviting them. • I don’t know much Tamil. •
Yes, all right. • I admit that I was absent-minded. • He
may be able to do it. Yes. • So what if I broke the vase?
It wasn’t intentional, you know. • I’m sorry. You’re quite
right about it. • It was my fault entirely. • This was all
my own fault, really. • What I said was quite wrong. I know.
• Well, perhaps we ought to have been a bit more careful.
• I’m entirely to blame for it. • Oh dear, I seem to have
made a mistake. • There’s something in what he says. • I
made the mistake of trusting him with money. • I had a part
in that decision, too. I admit that.
7. Admonishing sb (= somebody)
(See also Fn.no.168 Warning sb).
• Don’t repeat the same mistake again.
• Don’t try to harass me — I’m warning you. • You’ll be
more careful in future, won’t you? • Don’t give me any more
cause for complaint. • There’ll be serious consequences
if you try to cheat us again. • I think you’re making a
mistake. • I don’t think that was very wise. • Let me warn
you: Don’t interfere in my affairs in future. • Be more
careful in future. • Next time, I won’t forgive this kind
of behaviour. • You had better watch out! • You had better
not make another mistake. • Don’t all talk together. • I
wouldn’t do such a thing again, if I were you. • Just be
more considerate in future. • If you do this again, I’ll
come down hard on you.
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