Improve Your English – 210 [Archives:2003/686/Education]

Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
I. What to Say
Situations and Expressions (57):
Tribute to a teacher (V)

The role of teachers is to guide, to stimulate, train young minds and give the children the courage to question, sometimes even given knowledge. Some teachers cast a magic spell on their students by virtue of their inimitable art of teaching. They make learning an enjoyable experience. They lead the learner to the threshold of knowledge and fill his mind with an unquenchable appetite, and insatiable drive to explore the sea of knowledge. The efforts of the teachers are gracefully acknowledged by the learner who feels gratified to have discovered the spring of joy behind the heavy load of books. He waxes eloquent to express his thankfulness to his teacher.

• When I was small
I had a teacher wise and tall
Lessons she taught were cool
So I never missed a day at school
Thus we ended up setting a trend
Out of everyone at school,
She became my best friend.
Thanks for being the way you are !
• Dear class teacher! Time can never fade away the lessons you gave me in my school days. Being in your class I learnt the A to Z of so many things; from book to behaviors you taught me to perfection, almost everything …. Being in your class I gained very rich experience which is worth cherishing. Warm greetings on Teacher’s Day.
• To a wonderful Teacher! Your classes were so exciting and your lectures inspiring. My love of knowledge grows each day because you sowed the seeds. I’m truly grateful. You make all students happy, you make learning fun… And that makes you Teacher, a very special one!
• All of us love you Teacher ! If every class had a teacher like you to guide them the way you do, the world would be a brighter and happier place. Teacher! you’re wonderful.
• For a special teacher who knows the ART of TEACHING and more. Thanks for being ‘you’.
• you’re the reason I love school. Your classes are fun and enjoyable too.
So thanks for all that you do.
Dear Teacher! I very much appreciate you.
• You’ve made learning exciting. You’ve opened up so many doors of opportunity and broadened my horizons. You’ve revealed to me a fresh insight, a new approach. Thanks for everything you’ve done for all of us.
• If every teacher were as nice as you,
Every student in the world would like school as much as I do.
I’m glad you’re my Teacher.
• Learning with you is an enlivening exercise that helps me grasp everything with interest.
• Teacher! You’re outstanding, you make learning so much fun. ‘Thanks’ is only a part of the heart felt gratitude that I feel for an outstanding teacher like you.
• A bag of books is not heavy,
Pages of homework is not a pain,
For you are always so sweet to me,
That I can do all things, with a huge, cheerful smile.
Thanks for being so nice.
• For my A-1 Teacher
Your classes are never a bore,
Your teachings are more fun than
That I ever felt before ,
That’s why in my books, you are,
Teacher one.
You are really the best.
• Teacher, you make our lessons colorful. You’re a loving teacher who makes our lessons fun. So here comes this note to thank you for all that you’ve done. Teacher, you are the best.

II. How to say it correctly
Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences.
1. I am too glad to see you happy and smiling
2. She is too beautiful to attract the attention of a youngman.
3. I predicted that all will go wrong without her.
4. I respect him as he is my father .
5. Make hay when the sun shines.

Suggested answers to last week’s questions
1. He showed courage worthy of an elderly man.
2. No fewer than thirty persons have died of malaria.
3. He is the kindest and the most generous man I have known.
4. I work more on Saturdays than on other days.
5. Shakespeare is greater than all other dramatists of the world.

III. Increase Your Word Power
(A) How to express it in one word
1. Government by officials.
2. An absolute government.
3. Conferred as an honor, for jobs performed without payment.
4. Of unknown or unadmitted authorship.
5. Allowing the passage of rays of light.

Suggested answers to last week’s questions
1. Compulsory enlistment for military or other services: Conscription (n.)
2. A place where young plants are reared: nursery (n.)
3. The absence of government in a country: anarchy (n.)
4. A state in which the government is carried on by elected representatives without a monarch: Republic (n.)
5. Government carried on by an absolute ruler: dictatorship (n.).

(B) Foreign phrases and expressions
Give the sources of origin and meanings of the following:
1. Che sara’ sara’ 2. Cognito, ergo sum 3. coiffeur 4. coup d'etat 5. crime de la crime

Suggested answers to last week’s questions
1. bonafide (Lat.): Good faith .
2. bon homie (Fr.): Good nature.
3. bon jour (Fr.): Good day ; good morning.
4. bon voyage (Fr.): A happy journey to you.
5. boutique (Fr.): A shop, tradesman’s stock.

(C) Words commonly confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words:
1. cession, session, cessation 2. physic, physique,
3. pair, pare 4. stationary, stationery 5. waist, waste

Suggested answers to last week’s questions
1. deadly (adj.) (causing death): Greed is a deadly sin.
deathly (adj.) (like death) The disease has left him deathly pale.
2. rob (vt) (take somebody’s property): He was robbed of his belongings at gun point.
steal (vt) (take somebody’s property secretly and unlawfully): Someone has stolen my purse.
3 sickness (n.) (illness): He was absent in the class because of his sickness.
sickliness (n.) (falling frequently ill, often being in poor health): His sickliness may cost him his job.
4. womanly (adj.) (suitable or right for a woman): She is liked for her womanly modesty and compassion.
womanish (adj.) (feeling, behavior of a man like a woman): People snob him for his womanish habits.
5. marital (adj.) (associated with military or war) Marital law was enforced in the country to suppress the revolution.
marshal (n.) (office of highest rank in the army) He was ranked Field Marshal in view of his brilliant performance in the war.

(D) Phrases and Idioms
Illustrate the meanings of the following phrases in sentences:
1. hold to 2. intrude upon 3. keep back
4. look upon 5. make over.

Suggested answers to last week’s questions
1. draw over (win over): The candidate is canvassing to draw over the voters.
2. get the better of (gain advantage over): He got the better of his competitor and secured the contract.
3. give out (proclaim): It was given out that the enemies had been defeated.
4. given to (addicted): My friend is given to smoking.
5. go in for (compete for): Hajer is going in for the international poetry competition.

IV. Grammar and Composition
(A) Grammar.
Choose the best answer.
1. My brother has been living in England ___ three years.
A. for B. since C. ago D. during
2. Do you have any idea ___ made this statement ?
A. whose B. that C. who D. which
3. My five-year-old daughter was very ___ when her doll was broken.
A. embarrassed B. insulted S. offended D. upset
4. The policeman asked him if he was sure that it was his car that ___ stolen.
A. been B. had C. had been D. has been
5. I’m afraid I can’t come and see you this evening. I have to stay at home and look ___ my little daughter.
A. after B. at C. in D. for

Suggested answers to last week’s questions
1. I bought a lovely pair of cheap shoes in artificial leather.
2. He said he was a doctor but he was a fake.
3. A lot of material now-a-days consist of man-made fibres.
4. You are wrong. 65 and 75 don’t make 155.
5. He says he’s been working late but I think he’s lying.
6. A false accusation was made against him.
7. One who steals is a dishonest person.
8. If someone is finding difficulty in breathing, artificial respiration can be given.
9. I can no longer tell if what he says is true or untrue.
10. Imitation fur is very popular with animal lovers.

(B) Composition: Paragraph writing
Expand the idea contained in the saying

42: BAD WORKMEN BLAME THE TOOLS

Last week’s topic.
41: A HUNGRY MAN IS AN ANGRY MAN
Hunger is simply irresistible. Seneca aptly remarks: “ A hungry person listens not to reason, nor cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayers.” Love, ethics and principles are thrown to the winds by a man with an empty stomach. In Sanskrit there is a saying that there is no sin which a hungry man finds impossible to commit. Pangs of hunger are truly unbearable. A hungry man fails to see reason. He is prone to be impatient, angry and loses all sense of proportion. At the moment of acute hunger his mental equipoise is badly tilted. Any attempt to make him exercise his balance of mind is most likely to meet with utter failure. He is easily provoked and it is not surprising if he crosses all bounds of civility and decency. Therefore, care should be taken at individual and social levels to prevent men be driven to the edge of insanity owing to hunger.

V. Pearls from the Holy Quran
“ The Night of Power
Is better than
A thousand Months.”
S97:A3

VI. Words of Wisdom
“Love is life. Everything that I understand I understand only because I love.”
— Keiichi Morisata
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