Improve Your English – 128 [Archives:2004/702/Education]

Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
I. What to Say
Situations and expressions (60):
Good wishes for success in Exam (II)

The time of exam is no doubt stressful. In order to cross the ordeal, examinees need to be armed with a great deal of patience, perseverance and determination to prove their worth and creative energy. In the fitness of things, we call upon the students, to say to themselves that they have ever been fighters. So one fight more which they should strive to make their best.
Let them, Insha Allah, be endowed with an indomitable will and an inexhaustible reservoir of energy, vigor and vitality at this moment of need. Let them have an irrepressible urge to work and the will to win. The time has arrived and the moment is now.

– Success is achieved by three means: dedication, concentration and strong will If you have all of these, no target is far from your reach. The fourth means is good luck which I wish you to be with so as to acquire success whenever you attempt. Good luck, dear!
– Write a new success story. And be the one to make it happen as you take on your exam and give us all one more reason to be proud of you and your achievements. Best of luck on your exams.
– Your exams are round the corner and I know you're working really hard. You're putting in long hours and studying late nights. But remember that a good result comes only from hard work. So these heartfelt wishes are sent especially to you. Hope you achieve success in your life. Best of luck.
– Now that your exams are approaching, here's wishing you success as you work hard towards attaining your goal. Hope you've studied well the idioms and equations. Hope you do really well in your exam. Best of luck for your exam.
– You're someone dear and it's a special joy to wish and hope that you'll do well in these exams. Wishing that you go for your exams in fine fettle. Hoping that your course through them be with plenty of ease. May you achieve brilliant success in every subject.
– Look to the future and set your sights high: that big world out there can be yours if you try.
– Tomorrow is waiting. It's boundless and new and the future belongs to anyone who has the courage to pull through.
DO TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY

II. How to say it correctly
Correct errors, if any , in the following sentences.
1. The young man refused having stolen the watch.
2. We met yesterday but he never told me about this.
3. This room is too much small for six persons.
4. Why should the rich look down the poor?
5. This house is as bad if not worse than the other.

Suggested answers to last week's questions.
1. Most children remain at school between the age of six and sixteen.
2. He avenged himself on the enemy for the murder.
3. The Yemen Times has the largest circulation of/among all newspapers in English in Yemen.
4. The thief was arrested and his pockets were searched.
5. The patient would have died before the doctor comes.

III Increase Your Word Power.
A. How to express it in one word
1. Allowance due to a wife from her husband on separation.
2. A person who considers the well-being and happiness of others first.
3. The substance in the blood tending to neutralise matter that is harmful.
4. The science of cultivation and maintenance of beehives.
5. Animals living in water.

Suggested answers to last week's questions.
1. Member of a group, tribe etc. that has lived in a place from earliest of times: aborigines (n.pl)
2. The science of sound: acoustics (n)
3. A statement made on oath: affidavit (n)
4. One who is able to use the left hand as well as the right: ambidextrous (adj)
5. The plea that a person charged with a crime was elsewhere when it was committed: alibi (n)

B. Foreign phrases and idioms
Give sources of origin and meaning of the following:
1. ibidem 2. in camera 3. in toto
4. impasse 5. in memoriam

Suggested answers to last week's questions.
1. Exceptio confirmat ( probat ) regulam (Lat.):
The exception proves the rule.
2. fade (Fr.): insipid, colourless
3. fait accompli (Fr.): A thing already done.
4. fenome (Fr.): woman, wife.
5. gens de letters (Fr.): A man of letters.

C. Words commonly confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words.
1) relay, rally 2) sense, sensibility
3) sensible, sensitive 4) slide, skid
5) poach, pouch

Suggested answers to last week's questions.
1. conspectus (n.) (general view of a subject, synopsis): You can get a broad idea about the institute from its conspectus.
prospectus (n.) (printed statement describing the advantages of something): I got a detailed account of the course components from the prospectus.
2. evoke (vt.) (call up, bring out): The photograph of his graduation evoked memories of his college days.
provoke (vt.) (make angry, vex): Please don't provoke the dog.
3. impair (vt.) (weaken): You run the risk of impairing your health if you continue to over-strain yourself.
injure (vt.) (hurt, damage): No one has the right to injure others feelings.
4. attachment (n.) (act of binding by love or affection; fondness): I have an attachment for all my students.
affinity (n.) (close connection; attraction): Indo-European Languages have of a lot of affinity for one another.
5. wrong (adj.) (not correct): You are wrong in your assessment.
wrongful (adj.) (un just, unlawful): He was kept in wrongful confinement.

D. Idioms and phrases:
Illustrate the meanings of the following in sentences
1) to cry over spilt milk 2) to cut a sorry figure
3) to die in harness 4) to end in smoke
5) to go to the dogs

Suggested answers to last week's questions.
1) to blow one's own trumpet (to boast): He loves to blow his own trumpet and in the process makes a fool of himself.
2) a bolt from the blue (an unforeseen disaster): The news of his son's death in Russia came as a bolt from the blue to Dr. Abdullah.
3) to beat black and blue (to beat mercilessly): The miscreant was beaten black and blue.
4) to cast an aspersion (to make an unkind or harmful remark): He was deeply hurt when the boss cast aspersion on his honesty and integrity.
5) to change hands (pass from one person to another): Soon after the millionaire's death his landed property changed hands.

IV. Grammar and Composition
(A) Grammar
Complete the following sentences with by or until
Remember: 'by' means not later than.
'until' means until a certain time
1) My uncle lived in India ___ he was 35, and then came to England.
2) I hope that the meeting will have finished ________ 11.30.
3) I think I'll wait she gets here, but if she hasn't come _______ nine O'clock, I'll get a taxi.
4) In the film, the detective knows who the murderer is ______ about half way through, but he doesn't reveal the killer's identity _______ right at the end.
5) Make sure that this work is completed Monday at the latest.
6) The children are usually home ___ four O'clock.
7) I'm going to the States for a holiday and I'll stay there _______ the end of September.
8) You've been in Yemen for five years! You ought to know how to make simple conversation in Arabic _ now.
9) He won't be able to move into the new house ________the end of March, so he'll be staying with friends _ then.
10) It was such an awful film I'm surprised you stayed the end.

Suggested answers to last week's questions.
1) Could you please do your homework now because you haven't done it yet.
2) Please don't show me the letter because you've already shown me.
3) We've been waiting for the tickets for two weeks but they haven't reached us yet.
4) Could I keep the book for another few days because I haven't read it yet .
5) I've asked him three times to lay the table but he still hasn't done it.
6) I'm not going to write to him again. I've already written to him.
7) Unfortunately, when I reached the station the train had already left.

(B) Composition : Paragraph Writing
Expand the central idea contained in the saying
50. BEGGARS ARE NOT CHOOSERS

Last week's topic
49. BEAUTY LIES IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER
Beauty is a very relative term and its interpretation varies from person to person. What is attractive to one person might not be so for another. That is to say, beauty is a very subjective, very personal experience. It is based on an aesthetic experience, that is appreciation of the beautiful in nature, art, and literature. Each person has his or her own standards or criteria depending on our attitudes and background for forming judgments on what is beautiful. There are no set of standard criteria or rules for this purpose. We see what appeals to our taste, interest and arouses our curiosity. In other words, we see things through our own eyes and not through those of others. So in matters of appreciation of beauty, we are guided by our own perceptions. It is, therefore, said that we see things not as they are but as we are. It would appear, then, that beauty is more or less, a projection of our own mind. That is to say, beauty is a mental construct, something which is rooted in our own imagination. Real beauty lies, not so much, in the object, but in the perception of the perceiver.

V. Pearls from the Holy Quran
” It is better for you
That you practice your self -restraint
And Allah is Oft-forgiving.
Most Merciful.
S. 4A. 25.

VI. Words of wisdom
” Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.”
)Alexander Smith
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