a) Greetings

• Greetings can be either formal or informal depending on setting and relationship.
• When friends meet, they make use of informal greetings.
• Children can also use such greeting when greeting their parents after a school term away from home.
• Informal greetings are characterised by the following words hi, hello, what's up, how is it? for example read the dialogue below:

Nigel:               Hi William, how is it?
William ;          Hello Nigel. I am good and you.

• Formal greetings are used when strangers meet or in a classroom where pupils greet their teacher or a secretary greeting her boss.
• When greeting formally, we use words like Sir, Mr., Mrs., Dr. Pastor  and many more as shown by the dialogue below:

Secretary:        Good morning Sir, how are you?
Boss:                Good morning I am fine how about you?"

b) Invitations

• When one is invited, he or she can accept the invitation or decline it.
• Accepting and declining must be done politely and tactfully so as not to offend the person inviting you.
• Below is a list of words used for polite or tactical ways of declining an invitation:

• I am very sorry, but I have other plans today.
• I would really like to but…
• Well that is very kind of you, but I am afraid I cannot manage.

c) Requests

• This is when you want someone to do something for you or to stop doing it.
• They can be either commanding or polite.
• Requests usually depend on how big the request is and how close you are to a person.
• This means that the bigger the request the more formal the language becomes.
• The closer the person is to you, the less formal the request will be.
• Requests are at times questions therefore they use grammar of questions that is use of modal verbs of ability for example :

                                                             "Can I borrow your pen please?"
                                                              "May I use your pen please?"

• Requests can at times be instructions for example:

                                                            "Can I see you in my office, Ruth?"
                                                            "Why don't you pay up?"

• "Please" is often used with requests to make them more polite for example:

                                                            "Please help me with my homework Valery."

d) Apologies

• To apologise is to acknowledge the hurt that your actions have caused to someone else.
• It is also a way of asking for forgiveness as a way of showing remorse over your actions.
• Every apology needs to start with "I am sorry" or "I apologise ".These phrases are important because they express remorse over your actions for example;

                                                 "I am sorry that I answered you rudely in the meeting. I feel ashamed."

e) Condolences

• This is sharing comforting words with a person who has suffered the loss of a dear one or expressing deepest sympathy or sorrow towards a loss of a loved one using the following phrases;

                                    "My deepest condolences-----"
                                     "With heartfelt sympathy I say ---"
                                     "Please accept our heartfelt sympathies on the loss of ----"
                                     "I am sorry for your loss----"
                                    "Sincere condolences------"

• There are statements which must never be said when consoling someone and these are:

                                                        "I know how you are feeling …"
                                                        "She or he is in a better place…"
                                                         "Now you can start moving on with your life."
                                                          "Don't worry you will feel better soon."
                                                         "At least the death was quick so there was no pain."
                                                        "At least the death was slow so you had a chance to say goodbye."

f) Expressions of appreciation and regret

• Appreciation is showing gratitude for a good act done to you or returning kindness.
• Below is a list of some of the words that can be used to show appreciation:

                                                     "Many thanks for your assistance"
                                                      "Thank you very much "
                                                       "I am grateful for your support"
                                                    "You are so helpful thank you"
                                                     "Thanks"

• Regret is self-condemnation after wronging someone or a feeling of remorse after failing to do something well.
•  Below is a list of words used to express regret:

                                                    "I am sorry…"
                                                     "My sincere apologies..."
                                                       "Excuse me…"
                                                     "Pardon me…"

• Language register is the level of formality with which one can speak.
• Different situations and different people call for different register for example, you cannot speak to your headmaster the same way you would talk to your brothers and sisters.

1. Formal register

• This style is impersonal meaning that it is not for a specific person and it is without emotion.
• The speaker uses complete sentences without slang or colloquial language and use of academic vocabulary is advisable.
• Formal register is more appropriate for professional writing and letters to a boss, teacher, lawyer or a stranger.
• This is the register used for :

• Business letters
• Letters of complaint
• Reports
• Official speeches
• Announcements

2. Informal or Casual Register

• This register is conversation in tone and is appropriate when writing to friends and people you know very well.
• Words used in casual register are general and may include slang and colloquialism.

3. Intimate Register

• This is language used by lovers and at times used in sexual harassment.
• It is the most intimate form of language.
• It is not suitable for public and professional situations.

Frozen or static register

• Literal language is used and this type of language is often learned and repeated and it usually does not change for example:
• Biblical verses
• Prayers
• The pledge of allegiance for example, the National pledge

. Consultative register

• This is language used when consulting an expert such as a doctor, speaker likely to address using title like Doctor, Mr. or Mrs.
• Language used is formal.

1. Tone

• It is the pitch or quality and strength of a person's voice when talking.
• The tone of a voice and the voice tells whether the person is happy, sad, hostile, excited or irritated.
• A person's voice is usually packed with emotions such as sadness or anger depending with the situation and it is the tone that creates the mood in exchange for example:

A lecturer walks out of the lecture theatre with a serious look and approaches the medical student who has been waiting anxiously for her results and says, "I am sorry that after all the effort, you did not make it. You are required to repeat."
When describing his tone, we can say it is serious and the resulting mood can be that of sadness to the student who receives the news.

• Therefore, tone and mood work hand in hand.
• There are many words that can be used to describe tone including the following:

2. Mood

• It is the prevailing atmosphere.
• Tone usually creates the mood of the speakers.
• The mood can be depending on the situation for example:

After the father forgot to pick his grade seven child from school, the child was mad at him and she said, "So your work is far more important to the extent of forgetting me."

• The cause of this child's angry mood is the fact that she was the detention at school.

The father can reply, "Don't pick that tone with me young lady; you know it's because of that job that you manage to go to school."

• The child's initial angry tone has created a retaliatory mood in the father hence tone has determined the mood.

3. Attitude

• An attitude refers to the way one thinks or feels towards something.
• It can also mean a way of thinking usually born out of one's own past experiences and pre-conceived ideas about something. For example, we can talk of different attitudes towards different subjects in class, towards the poor or towards people of the opposite sex.
• Attitudes can be either negative or positive and there are many words to describe these two types of attitudes. These include the following ;                  
                                
  

  
                        Positive and negative attitude                                                      
                                                                                                 


• For example

At school, the headmaster accused some parents of neglecting their children's school homework. Two parents make the following comments below:

1. "I couldn't care less."
2. "I think that's a very personal issue."

Question:  What does each comment show about the attitude of the parents to the headmaster in each case?
Answer: 

• Care free, arrogant,  indifferent
• Unsupportive, Uncooperative

4. Character

• Refers to the way a person behaves, his manners, general behaviour, his nature and personality.
• One's character is revealed when you have related with him or her for some time then you will get the general behaviour.
• Some people can be described as fearless, others as selfish, weird, mischievous, stubborn, boastful, pessimistic, optimistic, fearful, hostile, truthful, decent, frank, dubious, tolerant, generous, mature, wicked, brave, courageous carefree and many more.
• There are bad and good characters but you are supposed to describe how the character is bad or good and not merely stating  good or bad as character traits.
• For example

Two girls discuss the qualities of their club leader. They say,

1. "She has got winds. Making all those restrictions and demands who does she think she is?"
2. "I don't know sometimes I fail to understand her, though we have to admit she's doing a good job."

Question: What does each statement show about what the girls think of the club leader's character?
Answer:

• Serious, strict, oppressive
• Responsible, business minded, serious

5. Manner

• It is the way a person speaks or responds to an utterance.
• It involves one's attitude towards others as well as a person's style or approach.
• A person's response or reply can show that they are being rude, gentle, courteous, civil, insincere, hostile, uncultured, crude, ungracious, cultured, impulsive, discourteous, polished, refined, disgusting, suspicious, respectful and unfriendly for example:

A father makes the following comments to his older daughter who has roughly treated her little sister who stepped on her by mistake he says

1. "You must not be so rough with your sister, I know she can be a bother but she's too young to reason."
2. "If you dare touch her again I'll tell your mother to deal with you. Stop that behaviour can't you see she's a child."

Question: What does each comment tell us about the father's manner towards the older daughter's actions?
Answer:

• Advising, counseling, explaining,
• Threatening, reprimanding, rebuking, reproaching

6. Emotions or feelings

• A feeling is an emotional state derived from one's circumstances, mood or relationship with others.
•  A set of physiological changes such as change in heartbeat when scared or alarmed; the breathing rate accelerates when one is angry.
• Whenever two or more people communicate, the conversation stirs various feelings or emotions. For example, one can get angry thereby evoking the same feeling in the other person they are talking with.
• Feelings are an emotional experience

Note: Feelings or emotions in a speaker's voice have great effect on the other speaker.

For example:

                  Anne:   "I'm so sorry I stepped on your foot, I did not mean to."
                  Adam: "You clumsy girl! Pay attention to what you do. Now you just spoiled my leather shoes which you cannot even afford."
                 Anne:   "Mister I said I was sorry, now you are provoking me. You do not have to treat me so poorly just because you feel superior."

Comment: Due to Adam's rude response, Anne ended up retaliating instead of sticking to her apologetic tone.

• Below are some of the words that describe emotion.

Example:
Four girls are in a shop seeing the latest style of shoes. They make the following comments:

1. "Oh gosh that's too bright, where would one go wearing such eye sores?"
2. "Well I cannot make any comment yet, I guess they are not bad."
3. "Wow that's a great style can't wait till I have a pair of my own."

Question:  Match the above statements with the following emotion that they convey

1. Indifference
2. Distaste
3. Ecstatic

Answers:

1. B
2. A
3. C

7. Personality

• It is one's disposition or nature.
• It also refers to the unique combination of patterns that influence behaviour, thought, motivation and emotions in a human being.
• It drives individuals to behave the way they do.
• Words that describe personality include the following:

8. Reaction

• It is something done, felt or thought in response to a situation or event.
• For example, when you step on a thorn the reaction can be that of screaming in pain or sitting down in pain.
• Below is the list of words used to describe reaction: