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7
Oral and Written English
We also distinguish between oral and written mode of verbal communication. Each
mode of communication has its own characteristics and certain advantages and
disadvantages.
There are certain characteristics that are uniform to spoken English. These are:
- shorter sentences;
- more exclamatory and imperative sentences;
- vocabulary choices are simpler;
- more interjections and transitions;
- contractions unless they are stressing a point;
- more personal pronouns;
- more frequent repetition of key words and phrases;
- concrete rather than abstract terms since their objective is the immediate
comprehension of their ideas;
- the incorporation of direct and rhetorical questions;
- a closer and more personal relationship with their audience;
- direct use of nonverbal communication signals;
- a larger variety of visuals at their disposal;
- informality;
- immediate feedback.
Nonverbal messages
People convey meaning not only through words. Nonverbal messages are all the
messages we transmit without words or over and above the words we use. They include all
the nonverbal aspects of our behaviour: facial expression, posture, tone of voice, hand
movements, manner of dress, and so on. Intentional nonverbal messages are ones we
want to transmit. Sometimes we rely exclusively on nonverbal messages, or use them to
reinforce verbal messages. At times we deliberately use nonverbal messages to cancel out
a polite verbal response and indicate our true feelings: the verbal message may be
positive, but the tone of voice and facial expression indicate that we mean something
negative.
Much of this behaviour is unintentional. Some writers assert that what we
communicate is what we are. Unintentional nonverbal messages are all those nonverbal
aspects of our behaviour transmitted without our control. Controlling nonverbal messages is
a very difficult task. Body language often gives us away. Ralph Waldo Emerson phrased it
well when he remarked, “What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
Nonverbal aspects of communication are important components of participants’
messages.

Channels
If you are talking on the telephone, the channel that transmits the communicative
stimuli are the telephone wires. The channels of face-to-face communication are the
sensory organs. Although all five senses may receive the stimuli, you rely almost
exclusively on three: hearing, sight, and touch. The channels of organizational
communication include company newsletters, bulletin boards, and memoranda. In mass
communication the primary channels would be newspapers, films, radio, and television. We
rarely think about communication channels and usually become aware of them when one
or more are cut off or when some sort of interference is present. Simultaneously, we