Unit III · Speaking skills notes

To ask for information: greet; name the need; use a question-word or a polite modal (Could you tell me…? / May I know…? / Excuse me, which gate…?); thank. To give information: answer the thing asked first; add only what helps (a time, a place, a next step); if you do not know, say so and point to someone who might. Completeness and correctness from the 7 Cs apply to the spoken answer: a wrong platform is worse than a slow one.

Do not begin with your life-story. Do not give three extra facts before the platform number. Do not use an order (“Tell me the time”) where a request belongs. The models are short enough to say aloud in a class role-play.

An offer is a spoken willingness to do something or to give something. Denny’s win-talk and Hasson’s connecting-talk both treat an offer as consideration made audible: you have seen a need. Kumar’s pattern: Shall I…? / Would you like me to…? / I can… if you want. A good offer is specific (a file, a seat, a lift to the gate), not a vague “any help.” Courtesy keeps the other person’s power to refuse.

Accepting: thank; take only what was offered; add a limit if you need one (“Yes please — just the notes for Tuesday”). Refusing: thank; refuse the thing, not the person; give a short reason if it is true and useful; you may offer a smaller yes (“I can manage the bag, thank you”). A rude refuse is Unit I’s missing courtesy. A fake yes you cannot keep is missing correctness.

Keep the scene to two or three turns. The job is the offer and the reply, not a biography.

To congratulate is to mark another person’s success without stealing it. Purpose (Unit I): to build a relation. Hasson: the feeling must match the face (non-verbal congruence). Denny: in professional life a short, specific praise is worth more than a speech. Hargie: congratulation is a supportive statement — name the success, not a vague “well done” that could fit anyone.

Pattern: greet or open; name the success (the prize, the selection, the marks, the job); add one true detail if you have it; wish the next step if there is one; stop. Formal: Please accept my congratulations on… Informal: Congratulations — that’s wonderful about the scholarship. The reply is thanks, and sometimes a share of credit, not a twenty-minute story unless the friend asks.

Do not mix envy into the line (“You got it, lucky”). Do not immediately ask for a favour. Do not congratulate a failure. If the news was private, keep it private — consideration. A handshake or a message on the group can be the digital-non-verbal wrap; the spoken line is still this lesson.

A polite question is still a question: you need information or permission. Politeness is the dress (courtesy, consideration), not a fog that hides the need. Hargie distinguishes open questions (what, how, why) that invite a longer answer from closed questions (yes/no, a fact) that pin a detail. Both can be polite. Kumar–Pushpalata’s modals: could, would, may, might. Softeners: Excuse me; sorry to interrupt; I wonder if… Indirect questions: Could you tell me where gate 6 is? (not “Where gate 6 is?” as a bark).

Match the room. A clerk in a queue needs a closed, complete question: “Is the 15:30 Jaipur bus at gate 6?” A teacher can take an open one: “How should we cite Hasson in the project?” A stranger needs Excuse me first. Volume and distance are non-verbal (proxemics, paralanguage). Interrupting a sentence is a listening barrier from Unit II; wait, then ask.

Rude forms to drop: a snapped What?; a question that is an accusation (“Why didn’t you…?”) when you only need a time; a question asked while looking at a phone. Crystal would note that English politeness often sits in extra grammar, not in a longer story. Keep the extra grammar; cut the story.

A polite response answers the question that was asked, in a usable tone. Yes/no plus the fact: “Yes — gate 6.” If the answer is no, give a door: “No, that bus has left. The next is at 16:00 from gate 2.” If you need time: “Let me check the board.” If the question is none of your work: “I don’t know — the clerk at window 2 will know.” Hasson: keep the body open. Denny: do not hide a no in a fog; a clear no plus a next step is still courtesy.

A role-play on this paper is a short spoken scene with a situation, two (sometimes three) parts, and a job to finish. The official PDF names role-plays next to polite questions. Prepare: who you are, where you stand, what success looks like (information exchanged, offer settled, congratulations said). Play: short turns, audible courtesy, one check-question if you did not hear (Unit II). Stop when the job is done. It is not a skit for laughs unless the college video-project asks for a skit — and even then the four skills must sit inside it.

Assessment link. College may ask a Google Form about these patterns, or a live turn in class, or a recorded dialogue. The same four jobs — ask/give, offer, congratulate, polite Q&A — are the speaking half of a 500–800 word interview project: you must ask, listen, and thank. Write the lines as you would say them. Do not paste a Unit V report into a spoken turn.