Improve Your English – 253 [Archives:2004/772/Education]

Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
I. What to Say
Situations and expressions (70):
Marriage Anniversary (II)

Apart from receiving good-will or good-luck messages from well-wishers, the spouses also wish eachother joy as well as a sense of rejuvenation and fulfilment on the occasion of marriage anniversary.

– To my wife on our Anniversary. In all my most important plans you have the greatest part and all my love is yours because you are first within my heart. The way your loving nature matches a spring in every season the way you catch my eye and smile for no apparent reason the way you listen to me and respond with tenderness the way just being with you is my greatest happiness These special ways you've shared with me throughout our life together and that's why I love you so much and I know I'll forever. Happy Anniversary.
– Anniversary wishes for two special people. 'When two hearts are filled with love, everyday is filled with joy.' Hope you'll find as much joy in your day as the joy you have found with each other.

II. How to Say it Correctly
Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences
1. A number of my friends feels that they are not properly paid for the work they do.
2. He has no issues; therefore, he has adopted an orphan child.
3. How much is half of a bottle of honey at this shop?
4. It is an admitted fact that Bushra is most intelligent than her sister Hanan.
5. He has not sung much songs after his last album was released.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. One should always help one's friends in difficulty.
2. Hana'a should avail herself of this golden opportunity to get success in life.
3. In Bombay he enjoyed himself to his heart's content during his stay at Taj hotel.
4. If I were he, I would go there at any cost.
5. The speed of my new motor cycle is much higher than that of the old one.

III. Increase Your Word Power
(A) How to express it in one word
1. Something that is like or that may be compared with something else.
2. Person who wishes to overthrow all established governments.
3. Something that is detested.
4. Plants that are both male and female.
5. Machine for measuring the strength of wind.

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. The distance between the middle and the top or bottom of a sound wave: amplitude (n)
2. The study of animal behavior: zoosemiotics (n)
3. The study of human bodily communication: kinsemics and proxemics
4. Words or phrase made by changing the order of letters in another word or phrase: anagram (n) [Ex. Plum – lump' silent – listen]
5. The condition of being unable to feel pain even though conscious: analgesia (n)

(B) Some useful terms and their origin
Give the source of origin and meaning of the following
1. spoonerism 2. stanza 3. strophe
4. syllogism 5. symposium

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. slang (old Norse 'slyngva': 'to sling'): Offensive language.
2. slogan (derived from the Gaelic compound 'sluagh' meaning 'host' or 'army' + 'ghairm' meaning 'cry' or shout'): A war-cry; the cry of a political party.
3. solecism (Gk. 'soloikismos': barbarous): A deviation from conventional usage of grammar, syntax or pronunciation. For ex. 'I ain't done nothing': 'I never ought to have come'; 'You didn't ought to do it.'
4. soliloquy (Lat. 'soliloquium', from 'solus': alone' and 'loqui': 'to speak'): A soliloquy is a speech, often of some length, in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his thoughts and feelings.
5. sonnet (It. 'sonetto', a 'little sound' or 'song'): A poem of fourteen lines, usually in iambic pentameters. The three basic sonnet forms are: a) the Petrarchan, which comprises an octave rhyming abbaabba and a sestet rhyming cdecde or cdcdcd, or in any combination except a rhyming couplet; b) the Spenserian, consisting of three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee; c) the Shakespearean, again with three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

(C ) Words commonly confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words
1. vain, vane 2. read, reed
3. form, farm 4. temporal, temporary
5. faction, fiction

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. sanguinary (adj) (with much bloodshed): History is filled with may sanguinary battles.
sanguine (adj) (hopeful): I am still sanguine about my success.
2. shade (n) (comparative darkness caused by the cutting off of direct rays of light): The fatigued traveler took a rest in the shade.
shadow (n) (area of shade): The earth's shadow sometimes falls on the moon.
3. causal (adj) (of cause and effect): There seems to be no causal connection between the two incidents.
casual (adj) (happening by chance): We had a casual meeting.
4. whither (adv) (where is the stated person or thing going?): Whither the human civilization?
wither (vt) (become dry): All the flowers in the garden have withered.
5. abate (vi) (winds, storms, floods, pain, etc. to become less): People returned to their houses after the flood abated.
abet (vt) (help somebody in doing wrong): He aided and abeted in the crime and so was punished.

(D) Idioms and phrases
Use the following idioms in illustrative sentences
1. turn a deaf ear to (something)
2. take sides
3. get carried away
4. upto the mark
5. to make a hash of

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. as fresh as a daisy (very bright and lively): After a good night's rest, I feel as fresh as a daisy.
2. flog a dead horse (to waste time on a subject or action that is no longer likely to produce successful results): Any effort to recover the borrowed money is flogging a dad horse as he has already been declared bankrupt.
3. play one's cards right (to make the most one's chances of success): You have to play your cards right to get success
4. be on the go (to be active or busy): Looking after little children is not an easy task; they're on the go all day.
5. be in a cold sweat (to be in a state of fear and anxiety): The students were in a cold sweat the day results were to be announced.

IV. Grammar and Composition
(A) Grammar
Choose the best answer
1. New York is )) expensive than I had expected.
A. as B. more C. such D. so
2. Several years ago, someone succeeded )) across the Channel in a bicycle-powered aeroplane.
A. to fly B. to flying
C. in flying D. at flying
3. At the end of the meeting, they decided )) a conference in two week's time.
A. to have B. having
C. for having D. with having
4. I was driving along the motorway when I saw a restaurant, so I stopped )) something.
A. eating B. to eating C. to eat D. for eating
5. I'm sorry I'm so late for the party, but I couldn't understand the directions you gave me and I ))
A. lost myself B. got lost
C. lost D. went missing
6. You have to pay more if you have )) baggage.
A. enough B. excess C. several D. many
7. When he came back to England, he )) up the job he had had before.
A. got B. took C. made D. set

Suggested answers to last week's questions
1. It was the success of the musical concert for which all the tickets were sold out
2. Ali told me to drop in and see him the next day.
3. Although he was ill, he carried on working.
4. It's quite a long time since I haven't seen my aunt and uncle.
5. If Henry hadn't worn a seat belt, he would have been hurt.
6. I'll remind you about your appointment.
7. It was just over three days that they crossed the Atlantic.
8. She is too young to play in the championship.
9. The car must have been stolen (by someone) during the night.
10. If he passed his exams, he would have become an accountant.

(B) Composition
Expand the central idea contained in the maxim
79: Life is action,
not contemplation

Last week's topic
78: Liberty cannot exist without discipline
Liberty is not license. That is, it does not give one unlimited freedom to do what one pleases. Liberty, on the other hand, is a social contract. Mutuality and reciprocity constitute the hallmark of liberty and its invaluable component. Personal liberty is the right to act without interference with other people's rights. The best way to safeguard and uphold one's liberty is to respect other people's liberty. That is what discipline precisely means. Discipline does not concern itself with what should not be done but more with what should be done. Unless every individual preserves the canons of personal liberty in a principled and organized way, we cannot enjoy the fruits of the collective or social liberty. Hence, there is little doubt that discipline is an integral part of liberty.

V. Pearls from the Holy Quran
“O mankind! The Messenger
Hath come to you in truth
From Allah: believe in him:
It is best for you.”
S4:A170

VI. Food for Thoughts
“When we trust as far as we can, we often find ourselves able to trust at least a little further.”
)Mark Gibbard
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