Improve your English (172) [Archives:2003/624/Education]
DR. RAMAKANTA SAHU
I. What to Say
Situations and expressions (42):
Making requests (I)
Request is asking for or being asked for something. As such, request is tantamount to a polite demand. There are several ways of making a request. Knowing how to make a request means knowing different types of requests, the language in which request is clothed and the context in which it is used.
If the speaker knows the listener well, he may choose one of the following strategies to convey his request.
a) Highlight the urgency of need
– I urgently/badly need some help for shifting to my new apartment.
b) Use a yes/no question
– Do you have some money to spare?
– Have you a spare pen?
c) Ask about a possibility /an ability (If the speaker does not know the listener well and is not sure of a positive request).
– Is it possible for you to give me a lift?
– Are you able /will you be able to give me
– Could/can you oblige by moving your car a little bit?
– Would it be difficult for you to lend me
– Would it be extremely inconvenient if I borrowed your car for an hour?
d) Use a more direct expression
– May I borrow your dictionary for a while?
e) Ask for permission
– Would you permit me to use your computer?
– May I please be permitted to borrow your bicycle for an hour or so?
– May I borrow your calculator?
f) Use a hypothetical expression / expression of curiosity
– I was wondering if you could spare your PC for sometime.
– I wonder if you could help me with my assignment.
II. How to Say it Correctly
Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences.
1. His mother kept on to encourage him to study.
2. Is it any use to try to persuade him?
3. He seldom or ever goes to his village home.
4. It is nothing else than pride.
5. Amani is very slower than Isra.
Answers to last week's questions
1. He hung the lamp on the wall.
2. He was hanged for murder.
Note: the word 'hang' has two different meanings:
a) to put a person to death by hanging. The past tense form of 'hang', used in this sense, is 'hanged';
b) to suspend from or attach loosely to some other object. The past tense of 'hang', in this case, is 'hung'.
3. I have not borne and shall not bear this insult.
Note: The present form of a verb cannot be used for both the present perfect tense and to indicate simple future. The present perfect tense takes the past participle form of the verb (ie, bear: bore: borne) and the simple future takes the present form of the verb.
4. He has finished mending the puncture.
Note: Some verbs take an -ing form and not an infinitive.
5. She knows how to sing and dance.
Note: The verb 'know' is never followed directly by an infinitive. We generally use the expression know how to.
III. Increase your Word Power
A) How to express it in one word
1. A terrible fate, unavoidable destruction or death.
2. The last day of the world's existence, when God will judge all men.
3. A person who guards the main door of a large building and lets people in and out.
4. A large room containing a number of beds.
5. A measured amount of medicine given or to be taken at a time.
Answers to last week's questions
1. The study of the skills of house keeping: domestic science (n)
2. Power or right to rule: domination (n)
3. To make a gift of something for a good cause: donation (n)
4. A small engine on a ship: donkey engine
5. The hard uninteresting part of a piece of work: donkey work
B) Foreign phrases and expressions
Use the following foreign phrases in sentences:
1. avant garde; 2. Ave Maria; 3. art moderne;
4. avant courier; 5. beau monde
Answers to last week's questions
1. attache (Fr) (a person whose job is to help the Ambassador): I applied to the Cultural Attache of India for a visitor's visa.
2. Au fait (Fr) (fully familiar): He has newly arrived in Yemen and not yet au fait with the way of life here.
3. au fond (Fr) (in truth): Your problem is, au fond, not poverty of means, but poverty of mind.
4. au pair (Fr) (a young girl who lives with a family in return for doing light work in the house): She managed her accommodation in UK as an au pair girl.
5. au revoir (Fr) (till we meet again): I won't say goodbye, but just au revoir.
C) Words Commonly Confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words
1. annunciation, renunciation
2.aberration, anomaly 3. abatement, abetment
4. abdicate, renounce 5. abject, object
Answers to last week's questions
1. elementary (adj) (simple, in the beginning stage): My daughter goes to an elementary school.
elemental (adj) (relating to the great force of nature): Many people lost their lives in the elemental fury of the storm in Orissa in eastern India.
2. ablutions (n) (the washing of part of the body as part of a religious ceremony): We pray after ablutions.
oblation (n) (offering made to God): The devotee offered oblations to God.
3. problem (n) (a difficult question to be decided or solved): The government has decided to solve the problems of youth on a priority basis.
trouble (n) (something that causes worry, discomfort, anxiety or inconvenience): I'm sorry for giving you this trouble.
4. risk (n) (possibility of meeting danger, suffering, loss or injury): There is great risk involved for astronauts to travel to space.
responsibility (n) (being morally liable or accountable for the carrying out of some duty): The teacher's responsibility is not merely to teach, but to create an environment for learning.
5. annual (adj) (coming or happening every year): I shall go to India during my annual leave.
annular (adj) (ring-like): There is an annular, bright halo round the planet Jupiter.
D) Idioms and phrases
Use the following phrases and idiomatic expressions in sentences so as to illustrate their meanings:
1. bear upon; 2. beard the lion in his den;
3. bear in mind; 4. like a bear with a sore head
5. full of beans
Answers to last week's questions
1. the beauty of (the point that gives satisfaction): Learners' satisfaction is the beauty of the teaching profession.
2. beat down (to persuade someone to reduce the price of): The man was asking $100 for the electronic gadget, but I beat him down to $90.
3. beat about (to search anxiously): The prisoner beat about for a way to escape.
4. off one's beat (different from one's usual activities): Although this piece of work is off my beat, I decided to take the challenge and do it.
5. can you beat it! (have you ever seen or heard as surprising as that): I slept the whole day and night yesterday. Can you beat it!
IV. Grammar and Composition
A) Grammar
Choose the correct words or phrases given in brackets.
1. Green organizations are trying to save rainforests that have been ___ by developers and farmers. (created/ruined/threatened).
2. One way to inform the public about factories that pollute the environment is through ___ programs on TV.
(agricultural/educational/industrial)
3. The ozone layer has been ___ more in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere. (depleted/destroyed/polluted)
4. Agricultural sprays are ___ the soil in many countries. (damaging/acting up/lowering)
5. ___ is an enormous problem in many large cities where whole families can only afford to live in one room. (pollution/poverty/waste)
Answers to last week's questions
(change from active to passive voice)
1. Our drinking water is being supplied by rivers full of dead fish.
2. The taste of our drinking water has been ruined due to additives such as chlorine.
3. Agricultural crops are being contaminated because of traffic pollution.
4. Mysterious new illnesses have been caused by agricultural sprays.
5. Extremely dangerous chemicals are being burnt by factories.
6. People's lives in many large cities have been endangered as a result of smog.
7. Plants and wild life have been damaged through global warming.
8. Bigger and bigger deserts are being created because of reduced rainfall.
B) Composition
Expand the idea contained in the proverb:
ROME WAS NOT BUILT IN A DAY
Answers to last week's question
6. ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD
People are often attracted by the outward brightness of things. The superficial brilliance dazzles their eyes and the eyes deceive their minds. The result is that they are prone to take every shining thing for gold. But appearance is not reality. This deceptiveness of appearances and the proneness of people to be disillusioned by the showy exterior is quite a common phenomenon. We are cheated at every step of our life if we are not constantly on the look out. Every day we are guided more by the impression of our eyes than the critical perception of our minds. The proverb gives us a valuable warning against the folly of being taken in by deceptive appearances.
V. Pearls from the Holy Quran
VI. Word of Wisdom
“Anger is short madness”
)Horace Epistles
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