Improve Your English – 223 [Archives:2004/712/Education]

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February 16 2004

Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
I. What to Say
Situations and expressions (62):
Birthday wishes (III)

Birthday wishes have a powerful resuscitating effect. They serve to rejuvenate a person and add color and meaning to life. They remind us that we have miles to go and give us the verve, vitality and energy to confront life's challenges confidently.

– Warm and special congratulations. This comes to wish you all the joy this special day can bring because you deserve a future filled with bright and happy things.
– May Allah, the most Gracious, shower on you every joy and happiness. This comes with love and beautiful thoughts on your special day. May life bring for you happiness, success and great prosperity.
– Wishing you blue skies and a lot of sun, wispy clouds of dream for you to float on. A day that's beautiful right from the start, and lasting memories, to forever warm your heart. Have a memorable Birthday.
– To wish you a wonderful Birthday, one you'll enjoy from the start, and to tell you, you are also wished joy and happiness, to fill your heart, each and every day.
– This comes to hope your Birthday brings all the best of everything – joy and laughter, warmth and cheer – enough to last throughout the year.
– Happy Birthday, darling wife and thanks for the warmth of your love. You give so much joy and strength to our marriage. You bring so much love to the life we share together. You really are everything I ever wanted in a wife.
– Warm wishes for joy to come your way, especially on your Birthday. A Birthday is a time for celebrations galore, when friends and family share the happiness and make it grow manifold, while it becomes special when ever moment of it is lived to the full.
– Hoping you have a wonderful day, one that takes you further along the paths of all your dreams and hoping those paths are the happiest ones for you.
– A Birthday wish that you find kindness returned along your way, and may you find the joy you give to others be yours throughout the day.
– A heartfelt Birthday wish to a sensible and understanding person like you. You are the one who understands me. When I cannot find the right words, hope you'll practice the same again and discover my feelings.
– Faith will bring the sunshine of better days in view. You're a marvelous person, someone truly special. You're an embodiment of so many wonderful qualities, and you truly deserve life's best throughout the year. That's why you're wished, with lots of love, special joys from heaven above. Happy Birthday.

II. How to Say it Correctly
Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences
1. Please open your books on page forty two.
2. The Accountant has signed on the salary bill.
3. It is hoped the Dean may heed our complaints.
4. According to my opinion, Yemen is steadily progressing.
5. I invited Amin, Ahmed etc. to my birthday party.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. You must work hard because your exam is round the corner.
2. He seems to be rich enough to buy a car.
3. My tooth has been aching for the past five days.
4. Afrah secured hundred percent marks and topped the list.
5. It is 8 O'clock by my watch.

III. Increase Your Word Power
(A) How to express it in one word
1. Account of facts relating to formation and meaning of a word.
2. Science of production of healthy offsprings.
3. A personal peculiarity of temperament, an unusual trait.
4. Behavior of a person who wants to be looked at and admired.
5. The doctrine that shares a deep concern for the individual and shows a distrust of philosophical idealism.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. A hackneyed and trite literary phrase or saying: cliche (n)
2. A disease that spreads through actual contact: contagious (adj)
3. Someone who is a sneering critic of everything: cynic (n)
4. An expert who understands the value of art: connoisseur (n)
5. Inability of a person to do without alcoholic drinks: dipsomania (n)

(B) Foreign words and expressions
Give sources of origin and meanings of the following:
1. cacophony 2. calendar 3. carol
4. causerie 5. chorus

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. ultra vires (Lat.): beyond one's powers.
2. via media (Lat.): a middle course.
3. vice versa (Lat.): the terms being exchanged.
4. visa-a-vis (Fr.): opposite, face to face.
5. viva voce (Lat.): a spoken examination.

(C) Words commonly confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words
1. personal, personnel 2. content, contents
3. medium, media 4. heat, temperature
5. rip, rib

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. horrible (adj.) (causing horror): There was a horrible road accident with heavy casualties.
horrific (adj.) (able to or meant to horrify; horrifying): The book gives must horrific account of the battle.
2. manner (n) (way in which a thing is done or happens): He spoke in such a manner that everyone burst laughing.
mannerism (n) (a peculiar way of behaving, speaking, etc.): She is known for her mannerisms.
mannerly (adj) (of good social manners): Everybody likes her for her mannerly disposition.
3. tasteful (adj) (showing good taste): I appreciate the tasteful decor of your drawing room.
tasty (adj) (having a pleasant flavor): Indian cuisine is very tasty.
4. diplomat (a person engaged in diplomacy for his country): Senior diplomats are appointed ambassadors.
politician (n) (n) (a person who follows politics as a career): Most politicians these days sacrifice principles to capture power.
5. celebration (n) (the act of or an occasion for celebrating): The Unification Day celebration was marked with patriotic fervor.
cerebration (n) (working of the brain): The mysteries of cerebration are not yet unravelled.

(D) Idioms and phrases
Bring out the meanings of the following in sentences
1. not worth his salt.
2. to play with edged tools.
3. to put a spoke in one's wheel.
4. to set Thames on fire.
5. To take people by storm.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. to read between the lines (to try to understand the hidden meaning): If you read between the lines, this letter is really a mild threat.
2. to turn over a new leaf (to change for the better): The peace initiative of both the Prime ministers promises to turn over a new leaf in the Indo-Pak relations.
3. to take the bull by the horns (to face difficulty boldly): Bold and brave as he is, he is determined to take the bull by the horns.
4. to win laurels (distinguish oneself): Prince Nassim has won many laurels for Yemen.
5. a storm in a teacup (a great fuss about a trifle): A heated exchange over a meaningless matter is indeed a storm in a teacup.

IV. Grammar and Composition
(A) Grammar
Choose one of the words below in its correct form to complete the sentences

fault, error, mistake, offence

1. 'I think you're )). I'm not Fuad, I'm his brother!'
2. Don't blame me for what happened. It wasn't my ))
3. The telephone bill was sent to you in ))
4. The number of traffic )) committed in the city increases each year.
5. You've made the same )) six times in this homework.
6. Did you know that it is a(n) )) park your car in the 'No Parking Zone'
7. He made a(n) )) of judgement when he decided to leave his present job.
8. He's not perfect, but I love him in spite of his ))

Suggested answers to last week's questions
For thousands of years, smallpox was a terrifying disease which threatened people in every continent, and there were epidemics which killed millions of people. It is believed that the disease began in China and then spread slowly to the other continents. The first known victim was Rameses V, the pharaoh of Egypt, who showed all the main symptoms of the disease including the terrible rash, and who died of it in 1157 BC.

(B) Composition
Expand the idea contained in the maxim
54. Character is destiny

Last week's topic

53. Cowards die many times before their death
Death is an inescapable reality of life. It takes everyone into its fold and makes no distinction between prince or pauper. Yet one shouldn't timidly live in constant fear of death. A coward is utterly incapable of facing danger, pain, or hardship because he lacks courage and fortitude. He is essentially an escapist who runs away from danger and shows fear in a shameful way. Unable to face the challenges he inflicts on himself more agony and pain by imaginary causes of fear. He lacks the power of endurance or the ability to sustain himself before challenging circumstances. Every moment he hears echoes of danger and develops a paranoid personality. As such, he lives in a perpetual state of unreasonable fear psychosis and dies every moment, depriving himself of the joy of life.

IV. Pearls from the Holy Quran
” Allah
Doth purify
Who He pleaseth.”
S4:A49

VI. Words of Wisdom
“All happy families resemble one another: every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
)Tolstoy
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