Monday, April 30, 2018

Irregular verbs

1. life- lives
2.loaf - loaves
3. louse - lice
4. man- men
5.matrix - metrices
6. means - means
7. medium - media
8. memorandum - memoranda
9. millennium - millenniums/ milennia
10. moose - moose

Irregular nouns

1. genus - genera
2. goose - geese
3. half- halves
4. hero- heroes
5. hippopotamus - hippopotami/hippopotamuses
6. hoof - hoofs/hooves
7. hypothesis - hypotheses
8. index - indices/ indexes
9. knife - knives
10. leaf- leaves

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Vocabulary Practice

arson
dormant
marquee
prole
spatter



1.       In English we have a large number of sp- words pertaining to wetness; spray, splash, spit, sprinkle, splatter, ______, spill, spigot.
2.       That is understandable, because the distance between the _____ and the ridge was about two hundred yards.
3.       His voice was soft and he didn’t speak like a _____.
4.       He was charged with _____ and insurance fraud.
5.       Mount Folpa’oril is a _____ volcano.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Irregular Nouns

1. echo- echoes
2. elf- elves
3. ellipsis - ellipses
4. embargo - embargoes
5. emphasis - emphases
6. erratum  errata
7. fireman- firemen
8. fish - fish/ fishes
9. focus - focuses
10. foot- feet

Irregular Nouns

1. corps - corps
2. corpus - corpora/ corpuses
3. crisis - crises
4. criterion - criteria
5. curriculum - curricula
6. datum - data
7. deer- deer
8. die- dice
9. dwarf - dwarfs/ dwarves
10. diagnosis - diagnoses

"Extra" words

Omit needless words
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short,
or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that he make every word tell.

Many expressions in common use violate this principle:

  the question as to whether

    whether (the question whether)

  there is no doubt but that

    no doubt (doubtless)

  used for fuel purposes

    used for fuel

  he is a man who

    he

  in a hasty manner

    hastily

  this is a subject which

    this subject

  His story is a strange one.

    His story is strange.

In especial the expression the fact that should be revised out of every sentence in which it occurs.

  owing to the fact that

    since (because)

  in spite of the fact that

    though (although)

  call your attention to the fact that

    remind you (notify you)

  I was unaware of the fact that

    I was unaware that (did not know)

  the fact that he had not succeeded

    his failure

  the fact that I had arrived

    my arrival

Who is, which was, and the like are often superfluous.

  His brother, who is a member of the same firm

    His brother, a member of the same firm

  Trafalgar, which was Nelson's last battle

    Trafalgar, Nelson's last battle



Elementary principles of composition

 Use definite, specific, concrete language.

Prefer the specific to the general, the definite to the vague, the concrete to the abstract.
  A period of unfavorable weather set in.
   It rained every day for a week.
  He showed satisfaction as he took possession of his well-earned reward.
  He grinned as he pocketed the coin.

  There is a general agreement among those who have enjoyed the experience that surf-riding is productive of great exhilaration.
    All who have tried surf-riding agree that it is most exhilarating.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Irregular Nouns

  1. addendum - addenda
  2. alga - algae
  3. alumna - alumni
  4. alumnus - alumni
  5. analysis - analyses
  6. antenna - antennas/antennae
  7. apparatus - apparatuses
  8. appendix - appendices/ appendixes
  9. axis - axes
  10. bacillus - bacilli

Vocabulary Practice

complacent
disperse
arresting

pertain
mural
plausible



1.       Words strung together without punctuation recall those murky ______ Rolf Harris used to paint, where you kept tilting your head and wondering what it was.
2.       But we should not be _____ even on behalf of the robust and unambiguous full stop.
3.       There is increasing evidence to suggest that languages widely _____ geographically may be more closely related than once thought.
4.       This is most ______ demonstrated by the three language families of the New World: Eskimo- Aleut, Amerind, and Na-Dene.
5.       No one has come up with a remotely ______ explanation of how a language spoken only in a remote corner of the Pyrenees could have come to influence Indian languages of the New World, but the links between many cognates are too numerous to explain in terms of simple coincidence.
6.       In English we have a large number of sp- words ______ to wetness: spray, splash, spit, sprinkle, splatter, spatter, spill, spigot.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

An Old Japanese Tale

A belligerent samurai, and old Japanese tale goes, once challenged a Zen master to explain the concept of heaven and hell. But the monk replied with scorn, "You're nothing but a lout - I can't waste my time with the likes of you!"
His very honor attacked, the samurai flew into a rage and, pulling his sword from its scabbard, yelled, "I could kill you for your impertinence."
"That," the monk calmly replied, "is hell."
Startled at seeing the truth in what the master pointed out about the fury that had him in its grip, the samurai calmed down, sheathed his sword, and bowed, thanking the monk for the insight.
"And that," said the monk, "is heaven."

Vocabulary
belligerent
scorn
scabbard
Comprehension questions
  1. What is hell and heaven according to the monk?
  2. What did samurai understand at the end? 

Vocabulary Practice

buggy
splotch(splodge)
murky
permeate
pernicious
scope
strangle
trickle


1.       James McAvoy has left his co-star Michael scarred for life after crashing their golf _____.
2.       He didn’t _____ this one – if he didn’t leave Ibiza until the 21st.
3.       She’s in the accounts department, which doesn’t give her much _____ for using English.
4.       There is also a _____ of studies showing how ELT professionalism can serve more appropriate local purpose.
5.       My reluctance has more to do with the fact that I am well aware that the mythology of the native speaker of English has been exported worldwide, to the point where a blind faith in the supposed attributes of the native speaker teacher species _____ much of the ideology of English learning in Asia.
6.       Many Asian scholars have shown how this has had _____ effects.
7.       Words strung together without punctuation recall those _____ murals Rolf Harris used to paint, where you kept tilting your head and wondering what it was.
8.       It looked like just a _____ of colours and all along it was a kangaroo in football boots having a sandwich.