Improve Your English – 270 [Archives:2005/836/Education]
Dr. Ramakanta Sahu
I. What to Say
Situations and expressions (76):
Job advertisement (VII)
Advertisements as vehicles of persuasion play with grammar at various levels: lexical, syntactic, stylistic and discoursal. At the lexical or word level, they often manipulate or distort their everyday meanings. The use of the imperative mode, questions without interrogation markers, short sentences without verbs and objects, omission of structure words, unusual punctuation are widely prevalent at the sentence or syntactic level. At the stylistic level, the use of aesthetically pleasing construction, repetition of certain phrases and clauses, marked deviation of style from formal to colloquial are the advertising characteristics.
– We choose our employees carefully, and equally, they choose us very carefully.
– Buy-n-fly offer!
– 'It is not where you want to reach, it is actually how soon and safe you can reach your goal. Join )).
– Abide by the law. Untax your mind. Pay your taxes. Catch up with your taxes before the taxman catches up with you.
II.How to say it correctly
Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences.
1. There are a lot of informations in that book.
2. The oil is a natural resource.
3. Lions are wild animal.
4. I was late because there were too many traffics.
5. I drank two waters.
6. Our teacher gives us too many homeworks.
Suggested answers to the previous week's questions
1. Queen Victoria was the famous empress of the British empire during the nineteenth century.
2. The Earl and the Countess were present at the coronation ceremony.
3. We are about to begin the function.
4. We want each child to develop in his or her own way.
III. Increase Your Word Power
(A) How to express it in one word
1. To improve the character or mind.
2. To prepare from collected material a cinema film, radio performance, or recording.
3. Medicine and medical treatment producing the desired effect.
4. The period or action of the forming and developing of flowers on a plant.
5. Strong stream of bright light, as from the sun.
Suggested answers to the previous week's questions
1. The quality of being full of happiness or excitement: ebullience (n)
2. Not following any one system or set of ideas, but using parts of many different ones: eclectic (adj)
3. The pattern of relations of plants, animals, and people to each other and to their surroundings: ecology (n)
4. Feeling of great joy and spiritual uplift: ecstasy (n)
5. The improvement of character or the mind: edification (n)
(B) Words Commonly Confused
Bring out differences in meaning of the following pairs of words
1. eerie, airy 2. affluent, effluent
3. adduce, educe 4. evolve, involve
5. affective, effective
6. deface, efface
Suggested answers to the previous week's questions
1. upbeat (n) (the beat in music which does not have the force, when the conductor's hand is raised): The repeated upbeats of the orchestra rendered the music dull and uninteresting.
offbeat (adj) (unusual): Offbeat music is the main reason behind the popularity of the film.
2. guts (n) (courage and determination): He is a man with plenty of guts.
grit (n) (lasting courage and cheerful effort made during difficulty): His grit enabled him to overcome the difficulty.
3. minister (n) (a member of the cabinet): The Minister of Education has announced a nice and encouraging package for teachers.
minstrel (n) (One of a company of wandering performers): People were charmed by the brilliant performance of the minstrel.
4. dyspepsia (n) (indigestion): He suffers from chronic dyspepsia.
dyslexia (n) ( inability to read): In the western countries reading clinics treat cases of dyslexia.
5. verbal (adj) (spoken, not written): The officer gave a verbal order to arrest the accused.
oral (adj) (medium of, about, using the mouth): She is going to face an oral exam tomorrow.
(C) Phrases and idioms
Use the following phrases in sentences
1. make a packet 2. a tall order
3. hang fire
4. rub (someone) up the wrong way
5. put the wind up (someone)
Suggested answers to the previous week's questions
1. lead a charmed life (to continuously escape from danger or harm with no ill effect): He leads such a charmed life – he has escaped unhurt from more than one serious accidents.
2. shift one's ground (to change one's opinions): No one will take you seriously if you shift your ground so often.
3. put (someone's) back up (to annoy someone): It put his father's back up when he defied him (his father).
4. set one's sight on (something) (to try to get something): He has set his sight on winning the championship title.
5. go to sleep (of a limb to feel numb): My foot went to sleep during the long bus journey.
IV. Grammar
Complete the sentences. Give the idea of the speaker's words
1. The doctor said to me, “you should lose weight.”
2. The doctor advised me ))
3. The doctor advised ))
4. The doctor suggested ))
5. The doctor recommended ))
6. The doctor recommended that ))
7. The doctor suggested that ))
Suggested answers to the previous week's questions
1. She asked her boss if it would be all right for her to come to work a little late the next day.
2. Bassim asked Abdullah if it was ok for him (Bassim) to borrow his (Abdullah's) motor bike.
3. Ramzy asked his son to turn the music down a little.
4. He asked Mr. Parkinson if it would be okay for him to use the phone to call his parents.
V. Pearls from the Holy Quran
“And He is Allah
in the heavens and in the
earth. He knoweth what ye hide, and what ye reveal.
And He knoweth the (recompense) which ye earn
(by your deeds).
S6: A3
VI. Food for Thought
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
)Winston Churchill
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