Improve Your English – 229 [Archives:2004/724/Education]

Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
I. What to Say
Situations and Expressions (64)
Wedding wishes (III)

Marriage is, indeed, a turning point in a young man's life. It's a moment of ecstasy, at the prospect of dynamic togetherness with the life-mate, of making a promise and taking the first step to fullfill it.

– Wedding the start of a life time of love, a bride and a groom, a ring and a promise, a new beginning of many dreams and a long journey of togetherness. And as you both are going to tie the blissful knot, may this be the happiest day you've ever known. It's also a time when you'll be united in heart and mind and in every way that'll make your love grow richer and make your wedding truly wonderful.
– On your wedding may love shine upon you, as you make of your hearts one heart, as you build from your lives one life, as you share in your faith a beautiful promise that lasts a lifetime together. Wishing you all the blessings, a beautiful marriage can bring. Congrats.
– Your wedding brings a loving thought to the heart that there are miles to go in life, milestones to cross, things to discover, dreams to realize. From this day onwards, you are not alone in this journey. Now you have each other all the way, all through life, to share all the ups and downs.
– As you are getting married two hearts are making a beautiful melody with their love, two lives are building a warm nest with their dream and dedication just the two to congratulate and make wishes for on your wedding and always.
– As you tie the knot let happiness too be showered upon the young couple, along with harmony, love and mental bliss. Let a lifetime of love begin. May you love and live happily everafter.
– As the wedding bells ring for both of you, as you begin love's journey, as the two of you recite the vows that make you husband and wife, may it be the bright beginning of a long and happy life.
– Wedding – a union of not just two lives, but two hearts to beat as one.
– May you share every joy, every dream, every care, may you share every wish, every hope, every prayer; may you share a true love that's lasting and sweet and a marriage that's happy, fulfilling and complete.
– It'll be the most blissful moment of your lives, when you both tie the knot of love and harmony and as you do so, may every happiness welcome you, as you walk together on life's pathway.

II. How to Say it Correctly
Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences
1. Reading books gives us at once both profit and pleasure.
2. The old building has been transferred to an old age home.
3. Both India and Pakistan want to have a good play of cricket.
4. No sooner the teacher entered the class, the students greeted her.
5. Take care of your son, lest he may not fall in bad company.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. He is the last boy but one in the class.
2. We doubted whether he would win the case.
3. I have decided to replace the old curtains by new ones.
4. If he tries hard, he may succeed in accomplishing the task.
5. They have been studying in the college since 2001.

III. Increase Your Word Power
(A) How to express it in one word
1. One who has a total rejection of current religious and moral beliefs.
2. The study of coins and medals.
3. System of naming and classifying.
4. Government by a few.
5. Science of the study of birds.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. The theory of heredity tending to reduce to numerical law the recurrence of inherited characters: Mendelism (n)
2. Study of the forms of animals, plants or words: Morphology (n)
3. Place where dead bodies are kept: mortuary (n)
4. Coining of a new word: neologism (n)
5. Showing undue favor to one's relatives: nepotism (n)

(B) Foreign words and expressions
Give the source of origin and meaning of the following
1. hermeneutics 2. heteroglossia
3. heteronym 4. hexameter
5. holograph

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. gazette (Italian 'gazzeta' from Venetian 'gazeta' meaning ' a coin of small value'): govt. periodical with legal notices, news of appointment, etc.
2. genre (Fr.): a term for a literary type or class.
3. ghazel (Arabic: 'making advances in love'): The word denotes a love-song or love poem.
4. grammatology (Fr.): A coinage of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida to denote a 'science' of the written sign.
5. grotesque (Italian 'grotte' meaning 'caves', whose adjective is 'grottesco'): absurd; fantastic; laughable because strange and incongruous.

(C) Words commonly confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words
1. official, officious 2. euphuism, euphemism
3. euphony, cacophony 4. blush, brush
5. past, pest

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. aspire (vi) (be filled with high ambition): He aspires to fame as a writer.
expire (vi) (a period of time coming to an end): I have to renew my driving licence before it expires.
2. avocation (n) (occupation that is not a person's ordinary business but is done for pleasure): Reading is my avocation.
vocation (n) (a job which one does because one has a special ability for it): I make my vocation my avocation.
3. beneficial (adj) (having good effect): Good food and exercise are beneficial for good health.
beneficent (adj) (kind): He is liked for his beneficent disposition.
4. childish (adj) (behaving like a child): He was the butt of ridicule for his childish behavior.
childlike (adj) (simple, innocent): Childlike simplicity is the touchstone of his character.
5. complement (n) (that which makes something complete): An intransitive verb takes a complement.
compliment (n) (expression of admiration): Best compliments of the season to you.

(D) Idioms and phrases
Bring out the meanings of the following in illustrative sentences
1. to while away 2. yearn for
3. yeoman's service 4. to tax one's patience
5. ups and downs

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. nigger in a wood pile (something that spoils an otherwise good thing): His alcoholic habits is like a nigger in a wood pile in his character.
2. to pick a quarrel (to seek a fight): Temperamental as she is, she picks a quarrel at the slightest provocation.
3. penny wise pound foolish (careful in small matters and wasteful in large matters): His habits of being so meticulous over small expenses but of spending lavishly in parties is like penny wise and pound foolish.
4. once in a blue moon (very rarely): I see him once in a blue moon these days.
5. maiden speech (first speech): He earned audience's applause in his maiden speech.

VI. Grammar and Composition
(A) Grammar
Read the following letters and put the verbs into the correct form

My darling,
I miss (1) )) (be) with you so much. I know I ought to enjoy (2) )) (travel) through Europe with my parents, but I just can't help (3) )) (think) about you all the time. I know they want me (4) )) (be) happy, but I just feel like (5) )) (come) home to you. I've considered (6) )) (tell) them what the matter is, but I don't want (7) )) (risk) (8) )) (make) them angry, because they've tried so hard (9) )) (make) me happy.
Tomorrow we have decided (10) )) (go) to Rome and then we're planning (11) )) (visit) Venice for a few days. After that we've arranged (12) )) (stay) in France for a couple of weeks, but I hope (13) )) (get) back before the end of the month.
I promise (14) )) (right) to you every day. I'm looking forward to (15) )) (see) you again so much that you wouldn't believe it.
I miss you.

Love,
J.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. He wants to know what the time is.
2. Monkeys use their tails to help them climb.
3. The teacher gave him a lot of good advice.
4. Most children go to school by bus.
5. This book is Eshrag's, but that one is not hers.

(B) Composition: Paragraph writing
Expand the idea contained in the saying
60: Failure is the pillar of sucCess

Last week's topic
59: Friendship is seldom
lasting but between equals
Aristotle the celebrated Greek philosopher says: “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Yet, as Lord Chesterfield has observed, “Friendship is a slow grower, and never thrives unless engrafted upon a stock of known and reciprocal merit.” Lasting friendship presupposes mutual understanding and adjustment which is possible if friends enjoy equal status, attitudes, interests, values and so forth. The principle of compatibility and equalities lies at the foundation and root of any sustainable and durable relationship. Although there are examples of two individuals of unequal status becoming true friends, such cases are more of an exception than the norm. Thus, the fact remains that those who share common social, economic, cultural and educational backgrounds are more likely to forge a striking friendship than otherwise.

V. Pearls from the Holy Quran
” Seek the forgiveness
Of Allah; for Allah is
Oft-forgiving, Most merciful.”
S4: A106

VI. Words of Wisdom
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
)Thomas Edison
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