Register at Work, Visualising Settings, Irregular Plurals, Substitution and Revealing Character

1. Occupational Register

Jargon: Special words used by people in a particular job or field.

Doctors, lawyers, farmers, teachers and traders all use special vocabulary that makes their work faster and more exact. Among themselves, this language is useful. With outsiders, it can confuse, so a good professional explains in plain words.

2. Examples of Occupational Vocabulary

3. A Conversation in a Clinic

Nurse: "Good morning. What is the problem?" Patient: "My head aches and I feel hot." Nurse: "I will check your temperature. Thirty-nine degrees; you have a fever. The doctor will examine you and may prescribe an antimalarial. Take the full dosage even after you feel better." The nurse uses clinic words but explains them simply, because the patient is not a health worker.

4. Using Occupational Register Well

Use the correct terms when writing a report or speaking about a subject: say "referee", not "the man with the whistle". When speaking to people outside the field, explain any difficult term. Some examination passages test whether you know the register of a given field, so read widely and note such words.

5. Register in Ghanaian Workplaces

In a Ghanaian market, a trader may talk of "last price" and "dash"; on a building site, masons speak of "mortar", "lintel" and "plumb line". Knowing these words helps you understand people at work and choose a career. When you write a report, use the correct terms from the field you are describing, and define any word your reader may not know.

1. How Writers Show Setting

Writers rarely say "the setting is a village at night". Instead, they give clues: the light, the sounds, the weather, the buildings, the clothing and even the smells. As you read, gather these clues and build a picture in your mind.

2. Reading Passage: Night at the Lorry Park

By nine o'clock the rain had stopped, but the lorry park at Kejetia still shone under its few electric bulbs. Puddles reflected the red tail lights of waiting buses. Women selling fried yam fanned their coal pots, and the smell of hot oil and pepper drifted across the wet tarmac. Somewhere a preacher's loudspeaker crackled and went silent.

Yaw sat on his bag, hugging it to his chest. Every few minutes a bus conductor shouted, "Tamale! Tamale! Last seats!" The boy counted his money again. He had never left Kumasi alone before, and the dark road north suddenly seemed very long.

3. Clues in the Passage

4. Setting and Mood

Setting also creates mood. The wet, dark park with its few lights makes the scene feel lonely, which matches Yaw's fear. If the same story happened on a sunny market morning, the mood would be quite different. When you answer questions, explain how the setting supports the feelings of the characters.

1. Irregular Plurals

2. Plurals from Other Languages

Some English words come from Latin and Greek and keep their original plurals, especially in science and formal writing.

Remember: "criteria" and "phenomena" are plural, so write "these criteria", not "this criteria".

3. Compound Noun Plurals

With compound nouns, the main word usually takes the plural ending: sister-in-law, sisters-in-law; passer-by, passers-by; headteacher, headteachers; bus stop, bus stops. Note "mouthful, mouthfuls" and "spoonful, spoonfuls".

4. Nouns That Look Plural

Some nouns exist only in plural form: scissors, trousers, spectacles, pliers, tongs. They take a plural verb: "The scissors are sharp". To count them, say "a pair of scissors". Others end in -s but are singular: news, mathematics, physics. So we say "The news is good" and "Mathematics is my favourite subject".

5. Checking a Dictionary

When you are unsure of a plural, look in a dictionary. Good dictionaries show irregular plurals beside the word, for example "child (pl. children)" and "crisis (pl. crises)". Getting into the habit of checking helps you avoid common errors such as "childrens", "peoples" (when you mean "people") and "sheeps".

1. Substitution

Substitution: Replacing a word or phrase with another, such as one, do or so, to avoid repetition.

2. Ellipsis

Ellipsis: Leaving out words that the reader can understand from what came before.

Example: "Kofi can swim, but Yaw cannot." The words "swim" are left out after "cannot". Example: "Who broke the window?" "Kojo." The full answer, "Kojo broke the window", is shortened. Ellipsis is common in speech and in short answers.

3. A Paragraph Using Both

Read: "Some learners prefer printed books; others, digital ones. Ama reads every night, and so does her brother. Will their school get a new library? They hope so." Here "digital ones" replaces "digital books", "others" leaves out "prefer", "so does" replaces "reads every night" and "so" replaces "their school will get a new library".

4. Using Them Correctly

Substitution and ellipsis work only when the reader can find the missing meaning. Do not use them if the meaning may become unclear. In formal examination answers, write complete sentences unless told otherwise. Used well, these devices make your writing smooth and mature, but overusing them can confuse readers.

1. Direct and Indirect Characterisation

Characterisation: The ways a writer shows what a character is like.

In direct characterisation, the writer tells us: "Nana Yaa was a stingy old woman." In indirect characterisation, the writer shows us: "Nana Yaa counted the groundnuts twice before giving her grandson exactly three." Indirect characterisation lets the reader draw conclusions, and it is usually more interesting.

2. Five Ways to Show Character

3. Reading Passage: Mr Ofori

Mr Ofori arrived at school at six every morning, before the cleaners. His shoes were old but always polished. When a learner forgot her lunch, he silently pushed his own bowl of kenkey across the desk. "Eat," he said, "and next time, remember." Learners who feared his quiet voice in class came to him first when they had troubles at home.

4. Analysing Mr Ofori

Notice that the writer never says "Mr Ofori was kind". We conclude this from the evidence. When you describe a character in an examination, state the quality and support it with evidence from the text.