Participate in workplace communication

Communication is the process of exchanging information and ideas. There are many means of communication. To be an effective and valuable member of your workplace it is important that you become skilled in all of the different methods of communication that are appropriate. This website looks at different types of communication and associated technology, but before that it is important to understand the communication process.

The Communication Process for communication to occur it must pass from a sender to a receiver. This must occur irrespective of the form of communication. For communication to be effective it must be understood by the receiver and be able to be responded to. This means that total communication involves speaking, reading, listening, and reasoning skills. As communications pass from the source to the receiver there is plenty of opportunity for its original meaning to change or alter.

Therefore listening, reasoning and feedback is an important part of the process as it is an opportunity for the sender to make sure the receiver has understood the message. The other consideration is the “noise” associated with the communication – what else is happening, what are the distractions, the baggage etc. Noise can have a big impact on the message the receiver decodes.

Parts of Speech

The words that we use can be divided into these classes:

• noun– A noun is a type of word that represents a person, thing, or place, like mother, apple, or valley.
• verb– A verb is a type of word that describes an action or a state of being, like wiggle, walk, run, jump, be, do, have, or think.
• pronoun– A pronoun is a substitute for a noun. Some pronouns are: I, me, she, hers, he, him, it, you, they, them, etc.
• adjective– An adjective is a word that describes something (a noun). Some adjectives are: big, cold, blue, and silly. One special type of adjective is an article, a word that introduces a noun and also limits or clarifies it; in English, the indefinite articles are a and an, the definite article is the.
• adverb– An adverb is a word that tells “how,” “when,” “where,” or “how much”. Some adverbs are: easily, warmly, quickly, mainly, freely, often, and unfortunately.
• preposition– A preposition shows how something is related to another word. It shows the spatial (space), temporal (time), or logical relationship of an object to the rest of the sentence. The words above, near, at, by, after, with and from are prepositions.
• conjunction– A conjunction is a word that joins other words, phrases, clauses or sentences. Some conjunctions are: and, as, because, but, or, since, so, until, and while.
• interjection– An interjection is a word that expresses emotion. An interjection often starts a sentence but it can be contained within a sentence or can stand alone. Some interjections are oh, wow, ugh, hurrah, eh, and ah.

Sentence Construction

A sentence is a collection of words that convey sense or meaning and is formed according to the logic of grammar.  Clear, short sentences are preferable, and more effective, than long, complex ones.

The simplest sentence consists only of a noun, a naming word, and a verb or action word.  For example, in the sentence “Mary walked”, Mary is the naming noun and walked is the action verb.

Mary is the proper noun in the example sentence above but can be substituted in following sentences by the pronoun she.  A pronoun is a word that can be used instead of a noun when a noun has already been mentioned.  Other pronouns are he, we, they and it.

Most sentences have a subject noun and an object noun.  For example, consider the sentence “Mary walked towards the hotel”.  Mary is the subject noun (a person or thing performing the action of walking), and the hotel is the object noun (a person or thing towards which the action is directed)

Adjectives describe nouns. Adjectives usually come before the noun.

They are sometimes known as ‘describing words’.  When two adjectives are used to describe one noun, they are set apart with the use of a comma.

For example: The lazy dog dozed. The hairy, lazy dog dozed.

Adverbs describe verbs.  The adverb should always follow the verb.

For example: Mary walked slowly. or Peter ran away quickly.