Modes of Communication and Writing Skills Practice Flashcards

These vocabulary flashcards cover the fundamental concepts of communication, including verbal and non-verbal methods, the communication cycle, barriers to effective communication, and basic English writing skills such as sentence types and parts of speech.

Communication

A meaningful exchange of information, ideas, and feelings between a sender and a receiver involves listening, speaking, observing, and understanding.

Communis

The Latin word meaning 'common' from which the term communication is derived.

Verbal Communication

A method of conveying thoughts using spoken words in any language, making the process easier and faster.

Oral Communication

A form of verbal communication that involves speaking either face-to-face or through mediums like phone, voice chat, and video conferencing.

Written Communication

Information exchange in written form, such as letters, reports, emails, or texts, often used for formal business or legal instructions.

Grapevine

A form of informal oral communication typically consisting of gossip or rumors.

KISS

An acronym that stands for 'Keep It Short and Simple,' used to remind communicators to maintain clarity.

Non-verbal Communication

A form of communication comprising gestures, body language, symbols, facial expressions, eye contact, and posture.

Paralanguage

Elements of non-verbal communication related to the voice, including quality, intonation, pitch, stress, and emotion.

Mirroring

A non-verbal technique that allows a person to build rapport, develop trust, and engage in deeper conversations by mimicking the other person's behavior.

Visual Communication

Communication that relies on signs, typography, drawings, illustrations, and electronic resources like charts or graphs.

Sender

The person who initiates the communication process by sending information or a message.

Receiver

The person or group who receives and interprets the message sent by the communicator.

Message

The specific information, points, or ideas that the sender intends to give to the receiver.

Encoding

The process by which the sender converts the message into a specific form, such as words, pictures, or gestures.

Communication Channel

The medium or manner in which an encoded message is transmitted from the sender to the receiver.

Decoding

The process where the receiver interprets and converts the encoded message back into an understandable form.

Feedback

The verbal or non-verbal reaction or response from the receiver that indicates whether the message was understood successfully.

Context

The situation or setting for an event, statement, or idea in which a message is delivered.

Perspective

An individual's point of view through which they interpret and understand messages based on their knowledge, beliefs, and intentions.

Prejudice

A fixed, preconceived opinion involving ignorance of facts that leads to bias, discrimination, or unfavorable treatment of others.

Belief

An idea that a person holds as being true, which can stem from personal experiences or cultural and religious norms.

The $3$ Ps

A set of simple steps for public speaking that includes Prepare, which involves picking a topic and planning ideas.

Linguistic Barriers

Challenges to communication arising from unfamiliar accents, specialized vocabulary (jargon), or poor language skills.

Psychological Barriers

Communication obstacles related to mental issues like stage fright, phobias, depression, or speech difficulties.

Phrase

A group of related words within a sentence that lacks both a subject and a verb and does not express a complete meaning.

Clause

A group of words forming part of a sentence that contains its own subject and predicate.

Sentence

A group of words that makes complete sense or expresses a complete thought, beginning with a capital letter and ending with a punctuation mark.

Subject

The person or thing in a sentence that performs an action.

Verb

The part of a sentence that describes an action, process, event, or state.

Object

The person or thing in a sentence that receives the action performed by the subject.

Direct Object

The part of a sentence that is directly acted on by the verb.

Indirect Object

The part of a sentence that answers questions such as 'to whom' or 'for whom' the action was performed.

Declarative Sentence

A sentence that states facts, describes things, or reports events, and always ends with a full stop.

Interrogative Sentence

A type of sentence used to ask a question, ending with a question mark.

Imperative Sentence

A sentence expressing an order, request, advice, or command, which may or may not have a subject.

Exclamatory Sentence

A sentence that expresses strong feelings like surprise or anger and ends with an exclamation mark.

Simple Sentence

A sentence consisting of a single independent clause with a subject and a verb.

Compound Sentence

A sentence made of two or more independent clauses connected by a conjunction like 'and', 'but', or 'or'.

Complex Sentence

A sentence consisting of one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.

Noun

A word referring to a person, place, thing, or quality.

Pronoun

A word used in place of a noun, such as 'I', 'he', 'they', or 'which'.

Adjective

A word used to describe or modify a noun or a pronoun.

Adverb

A word that describes or adds meaning to a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a whole sentence.

Conjunction

A word used to join words, phrases, and clauses together.

Preposition

A word placed before a noun or pronoun to show its relation to other words in the sentence.

Interjection

A word expressing sudden or strong feelings, such as 'Hurray!' or 'Alas!'.

Unity

An essential element of paragraph writing where all sentences revolve around one controlling idea introduced by the topic sentence.

Coherence

A paragraph element where sentences connect logically and work together as a whole through consistent verb tense and point of view.

Completeness

The state where a paragraph is well-developed, with all sentences supporting the main idea and ending with a formal concluding sentence.