Test Papers / Previous Question Papers of IGNOU EEG3 Communication Skills in English June 2002

BACHELOR’S DEGREE PROGRAMME
Term-End Examination

June, 2002

EEG-3 : COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN ENGLISH

Time: 3 hours
Maximum Marks: 100

1. Read the following passage :

Probably people have always tried to understand and explain their own behaviour. But Auguste Comte (1798 - 1857), a French philosopher, was the first to put into words the need for studying the problem. He suggested that "We need a special science to explain man to himself, just as we already have a science of stars,plants, and rocks.” Comte gave sociology its name by combining the word socius with the Greek word logos, thus forming a word that can be thought of as meaning "science of relationships".

Fredric Le Play (1806 — 82) got people to write down exactly how they spent their time every day of the week. In this way he could tell how different behaviour was connected with different surroundings. In England, Herbert Spencer (1820 — 1903) read reports by travellers and missionaries in all lands. He tried to explain that all human societies developed and grew in the same way, even though their cultures might be very different. In the U.S., William G. Sumner (1840 — 1910) became famous for his explanation of how social customs stared and their influence on people’s actions.

The best Of the early studies were done by Emile Durkheim (1853 — 1917) in France, George Simmel (1858 — 1918) and Max Weber (1864 192O in Germany, and Charles H.Cooley (1864 — 1929) and William I.Thomas (1863 — 1947) in the United States. Durkheim suggested several theories about the causes of suicde and the origins of religion. He then collected all the information available to test each of these theories. He found that suicide victims were lonely people who did not understand the customs of their society very well. Religion began when people developed a strong sense of membership in a new group.

Weber also studied religion, but he was interested in. how different religions created different attitudes toward work and business. Simmel was the first greet student of conflict-- such as wars, labour strikes, race prejudice. Cooley studied children and the way in which they grew up in the family and play group. Thomas studied the problems of immigrants to the United States.

By the 1940s sociology had become an accepted department at most universities and colleges in Europe and the United States.

Prepare a flow diagram, on the topic ‘Rise of Sociology' on the basis of your reading of the passage above. Also, briefly state the-major contributions of the significant figures with boxes. (10+10)

2. Write a letter to your younger brother/sister telling him/her about the advantages of the computer and the Internet. One of you lives in the village and the other in one of the metropolitan cities of India. (20)

3. Mr. Raman is in the car and Hari, the hair-dresser, is watching him. Soon the noise of horns wakes up the former. Then the two have a dialoge.

Write a skit for the two actors. (20)

4. You have been asked to write a notice for the students at the Study Centre to assemble at a specified place and time to meet the Regional Director to acquaint him with your needs and problems. Make use of one full page of the answer sheet you are writing upon. (10)

5. You have to write for and against (in about 75 words each) one of the following motions and then on behalf of the judge (in about 50 words): (30)
(a) A bird in hand is better than two in the bush
(b) Pollution is our number one enemy