Improve Your English – 202 [Archives:2003/670/Education]

Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
I. What to Say
Situations and Expressions (55):
Expressing emotions (XI)

Besides expressing a whole range of human feelings and emotions, poetry sometimes expresses philosophical thoughts and the meaning, as the poets understand it, of the great drama of the universe. So a poet is “a mighty prophet, a seer blest”.
We present below a selection of some poetic expressions capturing such thoughts and ideas of an abstract nature.

– Thus in the stilly night
Ere slumber's chain has bound me,
Sad memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
) T. Moore: The Light of Other Days

– Alas! I have nor hope nor health,
Nor peace within nor calm around,
Nor that Content, surpassing wealth,
The sage in mediation found,
And walk'd with inward glory crown'd )
Nor fame, nor power, nor love, nor leisure;
Others I see whom these surround)
Smiling they live, and call life pleasure;
To me that cup has been dealt in another measure.
) P. B. Shelley: Lines Written in Dejection

– My thoughts are with the Dead; with them
I live in long-past years,
Their virtues love, their faults condemn,
Partake their hopes and fears,
And from their lessons seek and find
Instruction with an humble mind.
) R. Southey: The Scholar

– “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
) P. B Shelley: Ozymandias

– If this belief from heaven be spent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What Man has made of Man?
) W. Wordsworth: Written in Early Spring

– Be through my lips to unawakene'd earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
) P. B. Shelley: Ode to the West Wind

– The World is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
) W. Wordworth

– The Child is father of the Man
) W. Wordworth

– Our birth is but a sleep and forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting
And cometh from afar;
Not in the entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home
. . . . . . . .
To me the meanest flower can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears
) W. Wordsworth: Ode on Intimations of Immortality

II. How to Say it Correctly
Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences:
1. Time is precious, don't let it go waste.
2. He talks as he knows everything.
3. Youngmen dream glory and riches.
4. What is the reason of an eclipse?
5. All the streets are full of men.

Possible answers to last week's questions
1. We walked to the river and back.
2. I was listening to her sweet song.
3. Can you supply me with all I need?
4. We stayed in a very good hotel.
5. The murderer was caught and hanged.

III. Increase Your Word Power
A) How to express it in one word
1. To provide for the payment of.
2. To cause to become unfrozen.
3. Quick, clever and effortlessly skillful.
4. Law which has finished the course of life or existence.
5. To make something less dangerous.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. Attack the good reputation of: defame (vt)
2. Thinking and acting in a way that shows an expectation of being defeated: defeatism (n)
3. The act of deserting a political party to join an opposite one: defection (n)
4. A person in a legal trial against whom a charge is brought: defendant (n)
5. To deceive so as to get something unlawfully: defraud (vt)

B) Foreign phrases
Give the sources of origin and meanings of the following:
1. monograph; 2. morpheme; 3. mot;
4. motto; 5. mycterism

Answers to last week's questions
1. meter (Gk. 'measure') (The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.): In English verse iambic, trochaic, anapaestic, dactylic meters are fairly common.
2. metonymy (Gk. 'name change') (A figure of speech ) the name of an attribute or a thing is substituted for the thing itself.): Ex. 'The Bench' for the judiciary; 'the crown' for 'the monarchy'; 'Shakespeare' for his works.
3. mime (Gk. 'representation'): Imitation which relates to verisimilitude.
5. mnemonic (Gk. 'mneme' meaning 'memory'): A device in verse or prose.
Ex. 'Thirty days have September
April, June and November
All the rest have thirty one
Excepting February alone.”

C) Words Commonly Confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words
1. hard, hardly; 2. most, mostly; 3. scarcely, fairly; 4. late, lately; 5. fairly, rather

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. sometime (adv) (at some uncertain or unstated time in the future or in the past): I shall meet you sometime next week. Our house was built sometime around 1965.
sometimes (adv) (at times; now and then; occasionally): Sometimes I wonder what is the purpose of life.
2. orchard (n) (a field or part of a garden where fruit trees grow): Our farmland includes an orchard.
meadow (n) (field of grassland on which cattle, sheep may feed): The cattle are grazing in the meadow.
3. truism (n) (a statement of something that is so clearly true that there is no need to mention it): It's a truism that teachers are nation builders.
altruism (n) (principle of considering the well-being and happiness of others first): His unselfish service to the mankind is a reflection of his altruism.
4. travail (n) (very hard work): We won our freedom after lots of travail.
travel (n) (the act of travelling): I am very fond of travel.
5. shop (n) (building where goods are shown and sold): I am going to a barber's shop.
soap (n) (substance used for washing and cleaning): Use plenty of soap and water to clean the dirty room.
D) Phrases and Idioms
Use the following phrases in sentences
1. annals of; 2. animosity against;
3. run amok; 4. take something amiss;
5. make amends (to someone) (for something)

Suggested answers to the previous week's questions
1. lay down one's arms (put one's weapons down and stop fighting): The captive soldiers laid down their arms and surrendered to the victorious army.
2. take up arms (to go to war or rise in rebellion): The rebels took up arms against the loyalists.
3. to be armed with (to provide weapons in order to prepare for a war): Both the warring countries are armed with nuclear and biological weapons.
4. with open arms (in a warm and friendly way): We were received by the host with open arms.
5. a babe in arms (not yet able to walk): He is still a babe in arms.

IV. Grammar and Composition
A) Grammar
Complete each sentence with a word connected with 'health' or 'sickness'
1. Fatima is studying )) at university because she is going to be a doctor.
2. Unless you are very )), it is not advisable to run extremely longdistances or lift heavy weights.
3. He needed an )) to remove the bullet from his leg.
4. Nowadays many diseases can be )) if they are diagnosed and treated early enough.
5. I was seriously ))- during the week end and had to go to hospital.

Suggested answers to last week' questions
1. The cost of sending holiday postcards to all our friends was enormous.
2. When you go abroad, make sure you take enough foreign currency with you.
3. Could you give me some change for the telephone, please?
4. A country's wealth is measured not only in financial terms but also in respect of its natural resources.
5. When you travel on business, you are allowed to claim expenses.
6. Teachers' salaries are lower in this country than in many other parts of the world.

B) Composition: Paragraph writing
Expand the idea contained in the saying:
36: A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

Last week's topic:
35: PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE
It is wiser to arrest a disease when it is in its initial stages than to let it worsen and grow more serious. Preventing a disease when it shows early signs is more effective, safe and inexpensive than in its later stages. This holds good in all spheres of human life. Parents should groom their children very carefully from the beginning. They should be firm and not ignore any sign of waywardness when they are observed in the children's behavior. Negligence in the beginning may prove very costly later. In the social sphere public discontent should be controlled by fair means before it snowballs into a revolution. As a matter of fact, most of the ills the society is being afflicted by can be overcome if they are checked in time and early remedial measures are taken. The maxim calls upon all of us to be alert and take action against any harmful phenomenon early.

V. Pearls from the Holy Quran
“Allah will not leave
The Believers in the state
In which ye are now,
Until He separates
What is evil
From what is good.”
S3: A179

VI. Word of Wisdom
“The reward of one duty done is the power to fulfil another.”
)George Eliot
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