SUGHAR SINGH ACADEMY, BARRA

Note making- Solved Examples, Practice Questions

Read the following passages carefully:
Passage 1: Conversation is indeed the most easily teachable of all arts. All you need to do in order to become a good
conversationalist is to find a subject that interests you and your listeners. There are, for example, numberless
hobbies to talk about. But the important thing is that you must talk about other fellow’s hobby rather than your own.
Therein lies the secret of your popularity. Talk to your friends about the things that interest them, and you will get a
reputation for good fellowship, charming wit, and a brilliant mind. There is nothing that pleases people so much as
your interest in their interest.

It is just as important to know what subjects to avoid and what subjects to select for good conversation. If you don’t
want to be set down as a wet blanket or a bore, be careful to avoid certain unpleasant subjects. Avoid talking about
yourself, unless you are asked to do so. People are interested in their own problems not in yours. Sickness or death
bores everybody. The only one who willingly listens to such talk is the doctor, but he gets paid for it.

To be a good conversationalist you must know not only what to say, but how also to say it. Be mentally quick and
witty. But don’t hurt others with your wit. Finally try to avoid mannerism in your conversation. Don’t bite your lips or
click your tongue, or roll your eyes or use your hands excessively as you speak.

Don’t be like that Frenchman who said, “How can I talk if you hold my hand?”

2.1 Make notes an the contents of above paragraph in any format, using abbreviations. Supply a suitable title also. 5
2.2 Make a summary of the passage. 3
Answers:
2.1 Title: The Art of Conversation
Notes:

1. Conv’n—most easily tch’ble art

(a) Reqd. interest’g subject – hobbies
(b) Talk about other fellow’s int./hobby
(c) Win’g reptn. as good conversationalist
(i) good f’ship
(ii) charm’g wit
(iii) brl. mind
2. Fit subs, for conversationalist
(a) What subs, to avoid/select?
(b) Avoid unpl’nt subs.
(i) sickness
(ii) death
(c) Avoid talk’g about self
3. Qualities of a good conversationalist
(a) What to say & how to say it
(b) ment’y quick & witty
(c) pleasant & unhurt’g
(d) avoid mannerisms.

2.2 Conversation is the easiest and the most effective tool than other arts. To have such attractive quality, you need
to pick a subject that interest your listners more than you. Talk to your friends on topics that can indulge your friends
in the conversation for a longer period of time. Being a good conversationalist, you have to quick and witty. You
should have a pleasant and unhurting quality. Mannerism should be avoided.

Passage 2: A good business letter is one that gets results. The best way to get results is to develop a letter that, in its
appearance, style and content, conveys information efficiently. To perform this function, a business letter should be
concise, clear and courteous.

The business letter must be concise: don’t waste words. Little introduction or preliminary chat is necessary. Get to
the point, make the point, and leave it. It is safe to assume that your letter is being read by a very busy person with
all kinds of papers to deal with. Re-read and revise your message until the words and sentences you have used are
precise. This takes time, but is a necessary part of a good business letter. A short business letter that makes its point
quickly has much more impact on a reader than a long-winded, rambling exercise in creative writing. This does not
mean that there is no place for style and even, on occasion, humour in the business letter. While it conveys a
message in its contents, the letter also provides the reader with an impression of you, its author: the medium is part
of the message.

The business letter must be clear. You should have a very firm idea of what you want to say, and you should let the
reader know it. Use the structure of the letter—the paragraphs, topic sentences, introduction and conclusion—to
guide the reader point by point from your thesis, through your reasoning, to your conclusion. Paragraph often, to
break up the page and to lend an air of organisation to the letter. Use an accepted business-letter format. Re-read
what you have written from the point of view of someone who is seeing it for the first time, and be sure that all
explanations are adequate, all information provided (including reference numbers, dates, and other identification). A
clear message, clearly delivered, is the essence of business communication.

The business letter must be courteous. Sarcasm and insults are ineffective and can often work against you. If you are
sure you are right, point that out as politely as possible, explain why you are right, and outline what the reader is
expected to do about it. Another form of courtesy is taking care in your writing and typing of the business letter.
Grammatical and spelling errors (even if you call them typing errors) tell a reader that you don’t think enough of him
or can lower the reader’s opinion of your personality faster than anything you say, no matter how idiotic. There are
excuses for ignorance; there are no excuses for sloppiness.

The business letter is your custom-made representative. It speaks for you and is a permanent record of your
message. It can pay big dividends on the time you invest in giving it a concise message, a clear structure, and a
courteous tone.

2.1 Make notes on the passage using recognisable abbreviations in any suitable format. Give a title to the passage. 5
2.2 Make a summary of the passage. 3

Answers:
2.1 Title: Writing a Business Letter
Notes:

1. Features of a gd. busns letter

1.1 conveys info efficiently to get results
1.2 is concise
1.3 is clear
1.4 is courteous
2. How to write a gd. busns. letter
2.1 Making letter concise
2.1.1 Intro shd be brief
2.1.2 make your pt in precise words and sent’s
2.1.3 short letr more effective
2.1.4 style is imp.—may ocasnly have hum’r
2.2 Achieving clarity
2.2.1 Have a clear idea of what you wish to say
2.2.2 structr the letter—intro & conclsn.
2.2.3 use accepted format; para, topic, sent’s
2.2.4 check facts, expl’ns, refs.
2.3 Being courteous
2.3.1 Expln. your pt. politely—avoid sarcasm/insults.
2.3.2 careful wrtg & typg.
2.3.3 gram. & spel’g errors to be avoided
3. Importance of busns. letr
3.1 a representative
3.2 permanent rec. message.
2.2 A good business letter is that lends you positive and quality results. To get such results, a business letter should
be effective in appearance, style and content. Apart from this a letter should be concise, clear and courteous. The
business letter should be to the point as the message can be clear to the reader with an impression of you. The
structure of letter should have topic sentence, introduction, paragraphs to conclusion. Reread the points you have
written to avoid sarcasm and insults that can work against your motive. Further more grammar and spelling errors
need to be avoided.

Passage 3: Good decoration reflects the personality of the people who live in the home. It should, first of all, be
distinctive, just as each person is distinctive. A home should have unity
not only within each room but also throughout the house. Rooms should, to some degree, harmonize with each
other. The colour and styling of each room, particularly, should fit into the colour and styling of the rooms which run
out of it.

Attractive home furnishings set the stage for pleasant living. If they are an expression of yourself, you will have a
feeling of satisfaction every time you enter your home, and friends will share your enjoyment.

However, furnishings and surroundings expressive of just the right note of restfulness, gay informality, or elegant
simplicity are not often assembled by accident. Even enthusiasm alone is not enough. For most home decorators, it
takes poring over plans, trying colour schemes, finding ingenious ways to make the best of what you have, and
shopping around to search out just the right purchases at prices you can afford to pay. But there is keen pleasure in
striving for the perfect result, and great satisfaction in achieving it.

A successful house and successful rooms will depend upon the proper relationship of each element in it to the others
and to the whole. Therefore, in selecting each piece it is well to consider the background, the usage, the draperies,
the floor covering, the upholstering materials, the woods, shapes, colour scheme, and the “feeling” you prefer for
the room.

Work and plan to enjoy your house. Limit the expenditures of time, effort and money to the extent of your abilities,
so that just running the house doesn’t dominate your life. Elegance and delicate things may be a drain you can afford
only in a limited way. If you can’t afford outside help, select a house and furnishings that require less care. Plan your
activities so that tumult and upset are limited to a few rooms—an activity room or a bedroom, or a comer of the
dining room.

You’ll get more pleasure out of a house if you have a hobby connected with it—collecting glass or antiques,
gardening or indoor flower growing ceramics, art, cooking, decorating, flower arrangements, etc. And you’ll get more
satisfaction and a great deal of help from studying household activities.
You can select a pleasing combination of colours from a wallpaper, a fabric, an oriental mg, a flower or scene, or
even a picture in a magazine. If you don’t already have the furniture or mgs, it is a good idea to make up a colour
scheme in this way. Let one colour predominate. Limit a colour scheme to two or three colours, with white or gray
tones.

These points will help you:

1- Always choose colours that please you personally— subtle, calm colours if you prefer a restful atmosphere,
intense colours if you like liveliness and cheer.
2- Don’t be afraid of colour. Experimenting on paper will give you confidence. (But remember larger batches of
colour are more intense.) Try out various colour combinations, then live with them—look at them frequently before
you actually start buying.
3- Colours should harmonize with furniture, draperies, carpets.

2.1 Make notes on the passage in any suitable format. Use abbreviations, wherever necessary. Give a suitable title. 5
2.2 Make a summary of the passage. 3

Answers:
2.1 Title: Decorating One’s Home
Notes:
 1. Home reflects personality of home-owner
1.1 unity & harmony bet. rooms
1.2 colour & styling sh’d match
2. Elements of decoration
2.1 colour schemes
2.2 draperies, rugs, upholstery, woods, shape
3. Plan to enjoy the House
3.1 limit time, effort & money
3.2 select fumish’gs which require little care
3.3 confine hectic activities to a few rooms
3.4 hobby connected with house—great pleasure.
4. Choice of Colours
4.1 one colour sh’d predominate
4.2 one can expt with colours
4.3 calm colours for restfulness; intense for liveliness
4.4 colours sh’d harmonise with furniture, draperies, carpets

2.2 The maintenance of the house reflects the personality of the people who live in that. So the distinctive
decoration is as important as one attire in good clothes. A unity in the home can only be seen if the rooms in the
house have a degree of harmony, colour and styling. Furniture is a working strategy for the pleasant living. If there is
an expression of oneself then one will have a mental satisfaction everytime one enter one’s home. To attain such
satisfaction one need to pore over plants, try colour schemes, window shopping to search the best thing for one’s
home.

Passage 4: EXERCISE YOUR WAY TO A HEALTHY HEART

The epidemic of heart attacks has been attaining alarming proportion in recent times causing grave concern specially
to the medical fraternity. To contain and control the increasing death and disability from heart attacks and to focus
on public awareness and their involvement at global level, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World
Heart Federation observed September 24th as the World Heart Day.

What causes heart attacks? Dr H.S. Wasir, Chief Cardiologist and Medical Director, Batra Hospital and Medical
Research Centre lists four main habits which adversely affect the heart health. These are lack of physical exercise,
wrong eating habits, cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, and stressful lifestyle.

The importance of physical exercise in minimising the incidence of heart attacks cannot be underestimated. “Physical
exercise,” says Dr Wasir, “plays a major role in achieving a long and healthy life in general and prevention of heart
attacks in particular.” There are several studies showing that physically active people have higher longevity than
those sedentary or physically inactive.

In fact, the review of modern medical literature sums up the role of physical activity in health as ‘Regular physical
exercise adds not only years to life but also life to years’. It is the experience of many modern day physicians that
some patients of angina (chest pain or discomfort on physical or mental exertion or after meals) do get relief with
regularly done physical exercise.

What type of physical exercise and how much, one may ask. It is the isotonic (dynamic) exercise that is beneficial for
the heart and not the isometric (static) exercise which should be avoided by heart patients. Weight lifting, carrying
heavy suitcases while travelling, pushing a car are some of the examples of isometric exercises. Examples of the
beneficial type of physical activity (dynamic exercise) are brisk walking, swimming, golf without power carts,
badminton and tennis (doubles for those with old heart attacks but fully recovered, to be started only after
physician’s advice).

Walking is the best mode of doing regular physical exercise which requires no equipment, money, material or
membership of a club! 30 to 60 minutes brisk walk even on alternate day has been proven to be beneficial.
Stationary cycling or walking on a treadmill at home are the other alternatives.
Walking up the stairs instead of using a lift if going up to three or four floors or getting off the lift two or three floors
before the destination and walking up the rest through stairs. Going up several floors in a overcrowded lift with
limited fresh air to be shared by so many may also prove unhealthy. Park a little away from the work place and walk
that healthy distance.

Best time for brisk walks would be the early mornings before the traffic flow picks up and walking in the parks with
thick plantation. Jogging on the roads with heavy traffic should be avoided as you will be inhaling air polluted with
the toxins from vehicular exhaust such as dioxides of sulphur and nitrogen.
“Before starting any physical exercise programmes for the first time, one must get fully evaluated by a cardiologist so
as to avoid any harm being done by exercise if there is serious underlying heart disease needing treatment,” warns
Dr Wasir.

Passage 5: Scientists in the USA and Japan are developing a set of smart materials that clean themselves off dirt and
stains besides eliminating foul odours and dangerous bacteria. Exploiting powerful catalytic properties, researchers
succeeded in creating tiles, glass, paint, paper and cloth that can keep themselves sparkling clean.

The first item to reach the market, a self-cleaning wall and counter tile, can not only kill bacteria but also eliminate
odours and staining associated with smoke from cooking oils and cigarettes, reports the journal Technology Review.
The key to the self-cleansing world of the future is the interaction between titanium dioxide and ultraviolet rays from
the sun or fluorescent lights. The special properties of titanium dioxide—a substance used to make paint and tooth-
paste white—were first discovered by Tokyo University chemist Akira Fujishima and Associates in 1969. Their
research showed that when exposed to solar energy, titanium dioxide has the ability to break down water into
hydrogen and oxygen.

After a quarter-century of observation, scientists now understand that the reaction occurs as titanium dioxide
absorbs ergy from the UV band of sunlight and reacts with water vapour in the air to produce oxygen molecules.
These molecules are energetic enough to break down organic matter into carbon dioxide and trace elements.
“When light shines on the white paint pigment, titanium dioxide, it produces an active form of oxygen that can burn
combustible material at room temperature,” says David Ollis, Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina
State University. “It is a fire without a flame.”

Scientists have discovered that titanium dioxide-coated materials can easily remove thin deposits such as bacteria
and fingerprints, though they are unable to break down thick splotches of organic materials—such as blood stains—
because light and oxygen in the air cannot reach the surface where the reaction occurs.

Fujishima says that when titanium-dioxide tiles were used in the operating rooms and bathrooms of Ako Central
Hospital in Ako, Japan, they killed 99.9 per cent of bacteria on their surface. Included among them were penicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus and other germs that can cause secondary infections among patients.

The tiles—marketed by Japan’s Toto Corp under the name NeoClean—remain effective even though they are coated
with a layer of titanium dioxide only one micron thick, about one-fiftieth the diameter of a human hair. Once the fine
layer of compound is permanently affixed—it is commonly sprayed and then baked onto the tile’s surface— the
company says it is resistant to the abrasion of ordinary scrubbing that might be needed for thicker stains. Moreover,
because titanium dioxide acts only as a catalyst for the photochemical reaction, it theoretically never gets used up.
While cleaning time varies with the thickness of the deposit, Adam Heller, a professor of Chemistry at the University
of Texas at Austin, says his experiment shows that titanium dioxide-treated glass removed fingerprints in about two
hours. This glass, versions of which both Heller and Fujishima have developed, could be made reactive on both sides,
making it ideal for everything from sky-scraper windows to car window glass.

The Japanese have tested other titanium dioxide-treated materials as well. Kazuhito Hashimoto, a chemist at Tokyo
University, applied the compound to a porcelain urinal. After a month, the treated urinal looked sparkling clean while
an untreated unit was blotched and yellowed. Elsewhere, researchers are experimenting to see if the tiles can keep
themselves clean on the walls of heavily polluted car and truck tunnels. And a Japanese paper company is developing
windows and partitions for Japanese houses while a camping equipment manufacturer is testing a self-cleaning tent
fabric.

But the most promising self-cleaning product is likely to be a wash-itself paint. Both the Texas and the Tokyo
laboratories have demonstrated the self-cleaning capacities of paints containing titanium dioxide. While they are not
saying exactly how they did it, both claim to have overcome an intrinsic problem in which titanium dioxide breaks
down materials that bind pigments in coloured paints.

Passage 6: It’s headache having a headache. Almost all of us have suffered from a headache at some time or the
other. For some headache is a constant companion and life can be a painful hell of wasted time.
The most important step to cope with headaches is to identify the type of headache one is suffering from. In tension
headaches (two hand headache), a feeling of a tight band around the head exists along with pain in the neck and
shoulders. It usually follows activities such as long stretches of driving, typing or sitting on the desk. They are usually
short-timed, but can last for days or weeks?

A headache is usually caused due to spinal misalignment of the head, due to poor posture. Sleeping on the stomach
with the head turned to one side and bending over positions for a long time make it worse.
In migraine headaches (one handed headaches), the pain is usually on one side of the head and may be accompanied
by nausea, vomiting, irritability and bright spots of flashes of light. This headache is made worse by activity,
especially bending. The throbbing pain in the head gets worse by noise and light. Certain triggers for migraines may
be chocolate, caffeine, smoking or MSU in certain food items. The pain may last from eight to 24 hours and there
may be a hangover for two-three days.

Migraines are often preceded by an aura—changes in sight and sensation. There is usually a family history of
migraine.In a headache the pain originates not from the brain but from irritated nerves of muscles, blood vessels and
bones. These send pain signals to the brain which then judges the degree of distress and relays it at appropriate
sites. The pain may sometimes be referred to sites other than the problem areas. This is known as referred pain and
occurs due to sensation overload. Thus, though most headaches start at the base of the skull the referred pain is felt
typically behind the eyes.

Factors causing headaches are not fully understood but it is known that a shift in the level of body hormones and
chemicals, certain food and drinks and environmental stress can trigger them.
If headaches trouble you often, visit the doctor, who will take a full health history relating to diet, lifestyle stresses,
the type of headache, triggering factors and relief measures. You may be asked to keep a “headache diary” which
tells you to list the time the headache started, when it ended, emotional, environmental and food and drink factors
which may have contributed to it. The type and severity of pain and the medications used which provided most
relief, are also to be listed.

This helps the doctor in determining the exact cause and type of headache and the type of drugs to use. Apart from
this a physical examination is done to rule out any serious underlying cause. The blood pressure is recorded, vision
tested and muscle coordination o; the eyes is checked to rule out these as causes. Blood tests may be done to rule
out anaemia, diabetes and thyroid disease. If any of the above is abnormal or otherwise a CT Scan or MRI may be
done to see tissues and structures around the brain. These will rule out causes such as tumors, haemorrhage and
infection of the brain, this examination gives a clear picture of the problem to the doctor.

Immediate relief can be obtained by certain medications and a few simple self-care techniques. Using ice against the
pain site, covering eyes with dark glasses, drinking plenty of fluids and lying down in a dark and quiet room, provide
relief in a migraine attack. Pain killers like aspirin, ibuprofen (brufen) and crocin can be taken and provide relief in
different proportions. These should be used with caution and under medical supervision, if used for long periods and
large quantities as all of them can cause many side effects. An antiemetic like perinorm can help the nausea
associated with a migraine.