Improve Your English -289 [Archives:2006/932/Education]

I. What to Say

Situations and Expressions (87)

The advertisement idiom

This is an age of advertisement. With the adoption of market economy in the wake of globalization, the manufacturers of goods have a wide and highly competitive global market. Moreover, in an age of consumerism, the conscious consumer is extremely selective. In this context, advertisement plays a significantly promotional role for marketing of products.

_ Yemen Soft thinks of the present with the future minds.

_ Real Estate: Safe investment, high returns.

_ With our new scheme, you may not be sure, but you can be secure.

_ ONIDA: The neighbor's envy, the owner's pride.

_ Better buy Usha, you can't buy better.

II. How to Say it Correctly

Correct errors, if any, in the following sentences

1. I heard a bottle smashing.

2. I told where we should meet.

3. She asked me the way how to get to the city center.

4. She debated if to tell her mother about the accident.

5. When I went to the dentist last week I got two teeth taken out.

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

1. I refuse to allow you to go on the trip.

2. He made me do it.

3. Did you remember to buy some milk on your way home?

4. If the stain doesn't come out of your shirt when you wash it, try soaking it first in the bleach.

5. He advised giving up smoking. Or, He advised me to give up smoking.

III. Increase Your Word Power

(A) How to express it in one word

1. Stretch a description beyond the truth.

2. Make or uncover by digging.

3. Passage, extract, from a book.

4. Government department in charge of public money.

5. Government tax on certain goods manufactured, sold, or used within a country.

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

1. Soon going from the memory: evanescent (n)

2. Likely to happen under some circumstances: eventual (adj)

3. Turn out from a house or land by law: evict (vt)

4. Anything that gives reason for believing something: evidence (n)

5. Show that one has a feeling, quality: evince (vt)

(B) Words often confused

Bring out the difference in meaning of the following pairs of words

1. lassitude, latitude

2. coalesce, collate, collect

3. censer, censor, censure

4. immoral, amoral

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

1. stain (vt) (make colored patches or dirty marks): The child has badly stained his clothes.

strain (vt) (stretch tightly): He strained himself to achieve his goal.

2. stager (n) (a person of long experience): He is an old stager. Everyone seeks his advice in crisis.

stagger (vi) (walk or move unsteadily): The old man staggered from side to side of the road.

3. steak (n) (thick slice of meat, fish for frying, grilling, stewing): We are very fond of steak.

stick (n) (thin branch cut from a bush or tree): The poor woman gathered dry sticks to make a fire.

streak (n) (long, thin, irregular line or band): She has a streak of grey hair on her head.

4. entrance (n) (opening, gate, door, passage, etc.): Everyone uses the front entrance to go to the office.

entry (n) (coming or going in): A visa is essential for entry into a foreign country.

5. potable (adj) (fit to drink): This water is not potable as it has not been properly filtered.

portable (adj) (that can be carried about, not fixed): I bought a portable TV.

(C) Synonyms and Antonyms

(i) Synonyms

Choose the word that is closest in meaning to the one given at the top

1. insatiable

a. hungry b. exhausted

c. thirsty d. greedy

2. supercilious

a. foolish b. shallow-minded

c. aggressive d. scornfully superior

3. infringe

a. to encroach b. to surround

c. to decorate d. to limit

4. accrue

a. to keep hold of b. to overcome

c. to obtain secretly d. to accumulate

5. reticence

a. modesty b. caution

c. strength d. tendency to keep silent

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

Word Synonym

1. frugal economical

2. rhetorical designed for showy

oratorical effect

3. sagacious discerning

4. dogmatic excessively opinionated

5. furtive stealthy

(i) Antonyms

Choose the word that is most opposite in meaning to the one given at the top

1. harbinger

a. follower b. forerunner

c. ponder d. decide

2. pathetic

a. diseased b. languid

c. rigid d. healthy

3. pathetic

a. sympathetic b. hale and hearty

c. healthy d. farcical

4. endear

a. cheap b. attach

c. alienate d. help

5. voluminous

a. bulky b. slight

c. compulsory d. voluntary

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

Word Antonym

1. fortitude cowardice

2. transparent opaque

3. fragmented undivided or whole

4. nascent mature

5. yearn loathe

(D) Spelling

Choose the correctly spelled word

1. a. cirtificate b. certificate

c. cartifikate d. certefecate

2. a. condencation b. condensation

c. condensasion d. condensosion

3. a. Cesar b. Caesar

c. Cezar d. Cizar

4. a. dilagent b. diligent

c. deligent d. delegent

5. a. defination b. definason

c. definition d. deffinition

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

1. connoisseur 2. completeness 3. conceive

4. compliment 5. companion

(E) Phrases and idioms

Use the following phrases in sentences

1. get (something) off the ground

2. have a fit 3. shake in one's shoes

4. below par 5. pull strings

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

1. cut one's losses (to decide not to waste any more time, effort, etc. on something): I have spent so much time for learning music. It is high time I cut my losses and gave it up.

2. pay one's way (to pay for one's own expenses): Mansour took up a part time job to pay his way.

3. armed to the teeth (fully armed with the tools, information, etc. required): He went to the interview board armed to the teeth.

4. in one's elements (in a situation that one finds comfortable and pleasant): His active participation in the discussion shows that he is in his elements.

5. tied to (someone's) apron strings (too much under the influence or control of a woman, especially one's mother or wife): At this age also he is tied to the apron strings of his mother.

IV. Grammar and Composition

Arrange these words in five groups of six words each. Each group should contain words which are related to each other.

tube linear motorbike handbag suitcase

track luggage journey harbor line

excursion path station trip airport

hold all outing part docks quay

rucksack lane briefcase drive taxi

jet hovercraft route tour way

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

Passenger: Excuse me! May I have my suitcase here for a moment?

Clerk: I'm afraid not. You should keep your luggage with you at all times.

Passenger: But I can't carry it round all the time. It's far too heavy.

Clerk: You must get a trolley

Passenger: And where may I find one of these trolleys?

Clerk: You will find one just outside the main entrance.

Passenger: I suppose I will have to go and look for one myself.

Clerk: Well, if you wait a moment, I will see if I can call a porter for you.

Passenger: Thank you very much. I should be most grateful. I really must buy myself some wheels for my suitcases. That will be the answer to my problems.

(B) Composition

Expand the central idea contained in the maxim

107: BEAUTY IS TRUTH

AND TRUTH BEAUTY

Suggested answers to the previous lesson's questions

106: READING MAKETH A FULL MAN

Francis Bacon, father of English essay, says: “Reading maketh a full man