englisphere

idiomatic expressions

2009-03-14T09:47:00.002+08:00

1.jump out of one’s skin – to be surprised or frightened
2. all ears – listening eagerly
3. black and blue – having plenty of bruises as a result of being hit
4. burn the midnight oil – to work hard and late into the night
5. call it a day – to stop doing something
6. come to terms – to agree or to accept
7. dead to the world – fast asleep
8. every inch – completely
9. get even with – to take revenge
10. have ants in one’s pants – to be restless or impatient
11. heart sank – to feel disappointed or depressed
12. inch by inch – to move slowly and carefully
13. keel over – to collapse suddenly
14. lose face – to be humiliated or to lose one’s reputation
15. man in the street – the typical, ordinary person

the 'why' questions

2009-03-14T09:42:00.000+08:00

The WHY question requires a reason for its answer (just as a WHEN question requires information related to time and a WHERE question requires information related to place)

In the English language, there are certain words which show cause-and-effect and hence they will be useful in helping you answer the WHY question.
Examples:

He was late because he missed the bus
as
since
for

He missed the bus so he was late
therefore
hence
thus
as a result

However, cause and effect can be indicated in other ways, as you can easily see from the following examples:

1. Having lost all his money, he had no choice but to seek help from his relatives.
Why did he go to his relatives for help?
Because he had lost all his money.
2. It was an impossibly hot month. The shops selling fans reported brisk sales.
Why were fans selling so well?
Because it was an extremely hot month.
3. The experience, occurring at a time when she was still recovering from the loss of her parents, left her emotionally scarred for life.
Why did the experience have such a lasting effect on her?
Because it happened when she was still recovering from the loss of her parents.

adjectives in action

2009-03-14T09:38:00.001+08:00

I. Modify the following sentences using adjectives.
Example:
Sentence: The tiger is a one of the creatures in the safari.
Modified: The ferocious tiger is one of the wild creatures in the African safari.

Begin:

1. The camp was held in the park and was joined by students.
2. My friend gave her toys to other children.
3. She was able to see the animals in the zoo.
4. His house is being renovated by the carpenters.
5. I have students who like to play sports.
6. The photograph was taken by my uncle during his birthday.
7. These organisms help in fighting diseases that infect people.
8. Rizwan made sure that there was no one inside the building.
9. Her children go to school and attend classes regularly.
10. Your nephew was seen playing together with friends at the arcade the other day.

using direct speech in a composition

2009-03-08T21:46:00.003+08:00

The sentence and the paragraph are the basic tools of composition writing. Using them in different ways, you can turn out letters, factual essays, descriptive essays, argued essays and short stories.
But there may be occasions, especially when you are writing short stories, when you want to use direct speech in compositions. The rules for writing direct speech are rather different from those ordinary sentences and paragraphs, so we shall study them and look at the advantages of using direct speech.

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH
You are writing a DIRECT SPEECH whenever you write down the actual words that someone uses.
You are writing INDIRECT SPEECH or REPORTED SPEECH whenever you report what someone has said without using his exact words.
Examples:
Direct speech:
a. “I can see that you are misbehaving, Dana,” said the teacher. “Don’t be rude.”
b. “Take care!’ shouted the fireman to the crowd. “The building is about to collapse!”

Indirect speech:
a. The teacher said to Dana that she could see that she was misbehaving, and told her not to be rude.
b. The fireman shouted to the crowd to take care, since the building was about to collapse.

WHY USE DIRECT SPEECH?
Direct speech is seldom used in descriptive essays or in argued essays, for very good reason that there are seldom any characters to speak it. But when you are writing a story where there are several characters, writing a conversation between them in direct speech can be very useful:
1. It helps to describe the characters. Everyone speaks differently, and the way you make your characters speak will tell the reader a great deal about them.
2. It can help to provide excitement and tension in your story. Arguments, quarrels and moments of action are given added life by the use of direct speech.

RULES FOR WRITING DIRECT SPEECH
Two things are important when writing direct speech:

a. The direct speech must be separated from the rest of the writing.
b. The reader must know which character is speaking.

Follow these rules and there will be no difficulty:

1. Each separate speech must begin and end with inverted commas. Nothing must come inside the inverted commas which is not either part of the speech or the punctuation which belongs to it.
Examples:
“I think I shall go home to sleep,” he said. “I am tired.”
“I am bored by this film,” she complained. “Let’s go.”
NOT
“I think I shall go home to sleep, he said. I am tired.”
“I am bored by this film, she complained. Let’s go.”

2. All punctuation which belongs to the speech must come inside the inverted commas.
Example:
“How do you know?” he asked.
NOT
“How do you know”? he asked.

3. It must be absolutely clear who is speaking. If there are only two speakers, you do not need to put ‘said X’ or ‘said Y’ after every speech. But you must put ‘said X’ after the first speech that X makes, and ‘said Y’ after the first speech that Y makes.
Example:
“Good morning,” said the doctor.

“It’s not a good morning,” said Mrs Tai. “It’s raining.”

“How may I help you?”

“My feet are very sore again. I can hardly walk.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

4. If there are more than two speakers in the conversation, then it is even more important that the reader knows exactly who is speaking. If there are more than two speakers, you will have to use ‘said X’ and ‘said Y’ more often.
Example:
It was very dark inside the storage room, and the air smelt of rotting cloth. “I don’t like this at all,” said John.

“Neither do I,” said Fusheng.

“It was your idea,” said John. “You wanted to come here to see whether you could find any spiders.”

“It wasn’t my idea.”

“Well, whose idea was it? It wasn’t mine.”

5. In direct speech, you are allowed to use these shortened forms:

I’m You’re He’s/She’s We’re They’re I’ll You’ll
He’ll She’ll We’ll They’ll Shan’t Won’t Don’t
Doesn’t Didn’t Isn’t Wasn’t Hasn’t Hadn’t Haven’t
Mightn’t Mustn’t Wouldn’t Couldn’t Shouldn’t Oughtn’t Can’t
Aren’t I’ve You’ve We’ve They’ve I’d You’d
He’d/She’d We’d They’d

6. Some punctuation points.
A. Note the punctuation in this sentence:

“I don’t like this at all,” said John. “I think we should go.”

The speech is separated from the ‘said John’ by a COMMA. The FULL STOP for the end of the sentence comes after the said ‘said John’. The next sentence, which is the next part of his speech, begins with a capital letter.

B. Suppose the speech is a question:

“Do you like this?” asked John. “I don’t”
Here, the speech is separated from the ‘asked John’ by a question mark. Even so, the question mark still behaves like a comma, and is followed a small letter.

C. You may sometimes find a speech like this:

“I think,” said John, “that I must be very clueless.”

Here, the ‘said John’ does not end the sentence. So it is followed by a comma, NOT a full stop, and the speech continues with a small letter.

ADDING TONE AND MOODS
Humans use their voices to indicate their moods. Unfortunately, we have no way of writing down the tone of a voice. The best we can do is to choose a verb which describes the way in which the speech is spoken.
Most speeches have ‘said X’ or ‘said Y’ after them. But the verb ‘say’ tells us nothing about the tone of the speaker’s voice or its loudness. If you wish to make it clear that a speech was spoken in anger, or was loud, or very soft, then you will have to use a different verb. There are many to choose from:

1. For neutral speech (where the tone of voice does not matter).

Say, ask, enquire, reply, respond, answer.

2. For loud speech.

Shout, yell, bellow, scream, screech, howl, roar, thunder.

3. For soft speech.

Whisper, murmur, mutter, hiss.

4. For angry or commanding speech.

Order, command, complain, demand, announce, retort, interrupt, threaten.

5. For other moods.

Growl, snarl, snort, grunt, groan, wail, stammer, cry, gasp, exclaim, coo, jabber, yelp, whimper.

Reference:
How to Write Compositions Book 1
Andrew Leslie

rules for subject - verb agreement

2009-03-08T21:40:00.003+08:00

1. A verb must agree in number with its subject, whether the subject precedes or follows the verb.
Examples:
The students are sitting outside the building.
There are three students sitting outside the building.

2. A singular linking verb is used with a singular subject.
Example:
Bonzo the clown is here.

3. A plural action verb is used with a plural subject.
Example:
Dr. Watson and Dr. Crick work in this laboratory.

4. A singular action verb is used with a singular subject.
Example:
The president signs bills into laws.

5. Two subjects joined with “and” become plural and require a plural verb.
Example:
Joe and Dan walk to school.

6. Two subjects joined with “or” or “nor” continue to require a singular verb.
Example:
Either Jenny or Sue wins every game.

7. When both singular and plural subjects are joined with “or” or “nor”, the verb must agree in number with the subject nearest to it.
Example:
Neither a steak nor French fries appeal to me.

8. When the modifying words “each”, “any”, or “every” precede the subject or subjects, the whole unit is considered singular and requires a singular verb.
Example:
Every man, woman, and child has a birthday.

9. There are five indefinite pronouns (“some”, “part”, “half”, “most” and “all”) that have no clear number, so the noun in the prepositional phrase following the subject determines whether the subject will require a singular or plural verb.
Examples:
Some of the meat is raw.
Some of the students are late for class.

10. A prepositional phrase following a subject usually has no effect on the number of either subject or verb.
Example: Each of the students works after school.

Source: http://www.asu.edu/duas/wcenter/subject.html

life's quotes

2009-02-10T21:15:00.005+08:00

It has been a hobby of mine to compile jokes, forwarded messages, poems, songs and even quotations. I don't know why, but I just have the feeling that these literary pieces, formal or non-formal they may seem, are actually my guiding thoughts and source of bliss. A month ago I was able to download a video of life's quotes from youtube and I want to share this to you...

As part of our English lesson, I want you to watch the video and pick one quotation that strikes you the most. Then, write a very short explanation of the quotation. Feel free to express your thoughts and opinions.

Enjoy the video!

summary writing.lesson01

2009-02-10T20:54:00.004+08:00

POINTERS:

In summary writing, it is very important to identify the summary objective/s. What is it that you are going to summarise about? If you fail to do this, you will be including irrelevant points in your summary composition.

After that, make sure you have a list of points that answer your summary objective/s. Then, organise the points to compose the summary. Remember to use necessary connectors that can establish the links among points.

As much as possible, you try to use your own words in your summary composition.

SUMMARY WRITING EXERCISE

Read the passage below and answer the question that follows.

We need friends in our lives. We make friends as we move along in our lives. Children and adults make friends because this is a natural part of life in society. When we do not have friends, we are not flowing together with the society. However, making friends can be difficult for those who are very reserved and passive.

Friendships are important to a child. Children must learn to get along with others. Through building friendships, children learn to be tolerant and to give and take besides being respectful of each other.

By making friends, a child is adjusting to be a part of society. The child learns the basic social skills. He learns to greet his friends, bid goodbyes and help his friends in times of trouble. A child also learns to share his things with his friends. Sharing is part and parcel of life. A child who does not know how to share will not be able to make friends. Instead, he will have many enemies and will become lonely. Loneliness can harm one's mental health.

Young children must learn to make friends when they are at school. Mixing around and mingling with friends are important aspects of growing up healthily. When a child makes friends with others, he has playmates and companions to keep him company. He will find life interesting and fun.

Directions:
Summarise on the importance of making friends. Your summary should be in continuous writing and must not be longer than 60 words including the 10 words given below.

Begin with:

It is important for one to make friends as friendship…

compound adjective

2009-02-10T20:28:00.005+08:00

COMPOUND ADJECTIVE

It is an ADJECTIVE which is made up of two parts and is usually written with a hyphen, e.g. well-dressed, never-ending and shocking-pink. Its meaning is usually clear from the words it combines. The second part of the compound adjective is frequently a present participle (verb+ing) or past participle.

Example:

1. Azimah is a long-haired,sun-tanned, brown-eyed, rosy-cheeked, thin-lipped, short-legged, flat-footed young lady. She is wearing an open-necked, brand-new, pink-coloured dress.

LIST OF DESCRIPTIONS

1. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

a. curly-haired, straight-haired, wavy-haired,
long-haired, short-haired,red-haired, black-haired
b. blue-eyed, brown-eyed, black-eyed, red-eyed, crossed-eyed
c. rosy-cheeked, high-cheeked
d. thin-lipped, thick-lipped, hare-lipped
e. broad-shouldered,
f. left-handed, right-handed
g. slim-hipped, broad-hipped
h. long-legged, short-legged
i. flat-footed, bare-footed

2. CLOTHES, GARMENTS AND ACCESSORIES

a. open-necked, round-necked, square-necked (t-shirt)
b. old-fashioned, brand-new
c. tight-fitting, body-fit
d. cast-off, worn-out
e. open-toed
f. well-groomed

3. CHARACTER / ATTITUDE / PERSONALITY

a. absent-minded (forgetful)
b. easy-going (relaxed)
c. good-tempered (cheerful)
d. warm-hearted (kind), cold-hearted (unkind)
e. well-known, well-renowned (famous)
f. green-minded,
g. hard-headed (stubborn)
h. well-behaved
i. good-natured
j. well-off (wealthy),
k. two-faced (hypocritical)
l. self-centered (egotistical)
m. quick-witted (intelligent)

4. TASKS / JOBS

a. mind-bending, brain-smashing, head-pounding
b. part-time, full-time, last-minute, time-consuming
c. hand-made, factory-made, self-made, mass-produced
d. record-breaking
e. duty-free
f. top-secret
g. school-related, job-related

5. LOCATION / PLACES / ENVIRONMENT

a. north-east, south-east, north-west, south-west
b. air-conditioned,
c. bullet-proof, sound-proof, earthquake-proof
d. run-down (in poor condition), built-up (lots of buildings in it)

6. FOOD

a. sugar-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free
b. well-done
c. freshly-baked

REFERENCE:
English Vocabulary in Use
Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell

TRY THIS EXERCISE:
1. Think of a person in a certain place. Describe the person and the place using compound adjectives.

vocabulary in action.lesson 01

2009-02-09T21:28:00.001+08:00

FOCUS:

Read the passage and study the synonyms of the words below:

*Two words that can be interchanged in a context are said to be synonymous relative to that context

There was some important (1) work (2) to be done (3) in the office and Henry had purposely (4) set out early in the morning. He wanted (5) to finish it before more work piled up again. However, here he was caught up in a traffic jam. “Walking would be faster! I could have reached the office by now if I had parked the car somewhere and started walking ten minutes ago,” said Henry.

STUDY:

WORDS AND SYNONYMS

1. important: significant, relevant
2. work: task, job, chore
3. done: finished, accomplished, dealt with, carried out
4. purposely: intentionally, deliberately
5. wanted: needed

PRACTICE:

Expand the following sentences into a paragraph and use the given words above.

Example: She was busy studying for an exam.

It was already late at night, but my friend, Lisa, was still scribbling and reading her notes. She was busy preparing for an important examination and she still had not finished reading four more chapters of her Geography lessons. There was still a lot of task to be dealt with before she could pass her final examination in Geography. She needed to focus because it was her only chance to pass the subject and be promoted to Year 11. That night, she deliberately turned her mobile phone off so that she could lessen distraction while studying.

Begin:

1. Tom asked for help.
2. My sister was in a rush that morning.
3. She ruined my Art project.
4. The house was a mess.
5. There are ways to organise your study area.