English for Today - PHRASAL VERB (2)

11. Hear out- to listen to someone to the end.


12. Buzz off- to go away


13. Make do- to manage what one has; contend with


14. Leave out- to omit


15. Bring round- to revive someone that fainted


16. Round up- to gather, surrender, or hold together.


17. Round off- to end or complete something well.


18. Stand by- to support or help


19. Start back- to begin to return


20. Break in on- to interrupt or disturb


21. Break away- to escape or leave


22. Gloss over- to treat something briefly


23. Glaze over- to show no interest or expression.


24. Go into- to investigate


25. Glory in- to take pleasure or pride in something


26. Get along with- to have a comfortable or friendly relationship with somebody


27. Ginger up- to make somebody or something lively


28. Get hold of- to catch someone


29. Bent on- to be determined to do something.


30. Black out- to lose consciousness or memory temporarily

English for Today - PHRASAL VERB

They are combinations of verbs with prepositions or adverbs to generate meanings that are entirely different from those of the verbs. This lecture series will discuss some phrasal verbs, giving that the list is inexhaustible.

1. Hedge against- to do something to protect oneself.


2. Pep up- to make something or somebody more lively.

3. Catch on- to understand or comprehend.


4. Break even- neither gain nor loss.


5.Fall through- to fail.


6. Stand up for- to defend.


7. Pick on- to blame or punish unfairly.


8. Tackle aback- to shock or surprise somebody.


9. Put off- to postpone.


10. Alight on- to find something by chance.
 
To be continued.

English for Today - Use a word instead (3)

31. Impossible to understand or explain- inexplicable


32. Not capable of making mistakes- infallible


33.That can not be challenged or denied- indisputable


34.Lasting for a very short time- ephemeral


35.Having no harmful effects- innocuous


36. Difficult to believe- incredible


37. That can not be rubbed out or removed- indelible


38. That which can not be conquered- invincible


39. That which can not be seen- invisible


40. A speech or writing containing high praise of a person or thing- eulogy

English for Today - Use a word instead (2)

16.Too great to be estimated- invaluable

17. Able to use both hands well- ambidextrous

18. Not suitable to be eaten- inedible

19. Good to be eaten- edible

20. Done according to law- legitimate/legal

21. Brief and to the point- precise

22. To take word for word- verbatim

23. To compel people to join the army- conscript

24. Those wounded or killed in a war- casualties

25. To release someone from the army- demobilise

26. Occurring once in two years- biennial

27. Occurring twice in one year- biannual

28. Living forever- immortal

29. A song written to mourn the dead- dirge(elegy)

30. Unable to pay one's debt- insolvent

To be continued.

English for Today - Use a word instead

Brevity is a virtue in communication. So, keep it short and simple:

1. That can be easily broken- fragile


2. That can be found everywhere- ubiquitous


3. To dig up a corpse- exhume


4. To die leaving a will- testate


5. To die without leaving a will- intestate


6. To be easily deceived- gullible


7. To destroy completely- vandalize


8. Loss of memory- amnesia


9. That can not be read- illegible


10. That can be read- legible


11. One that hardly spends money- miser


12.  To learn something by heart- memorize


13. To quote something off hand- recite


14. Unable to pay one's debt- insolvent


15. A writer of play or drama- playwright or dramatist


To be continued.

English for Today - WRITING NUMBERS IN NUMERAL (2)

Sometimes, numbers can be written in multiple ways. The following are instances:

4. Decades are either spelled out or written in numeral:  She lived in San Francisco in the eighties(correct). During the 1980s she lived in San Francisco(correct). She lived in San Francisco in the '80s (correct)

5. TIME: We usually spell out time when it is followed by o'clock or when a.m. or p.m. is not mentioned. However, we use numeral(even with o'clock) when we need to emphasize the exact time: We have to get up at six o'clock (correct). She gets home around eight.(Correct). The match started at 8:30 p.m. (Correct). We have to get up at 6 o'clock to be on time for school (this is also correct for the sake of emphasis)

6. We usually spell out noon and midnight instead of writing 12:00p.m and 12:00am: We came home around midnight and slept until noon the next day.

7. Amount of money: This can be written out when there are only a few words: He earned two million dollars last year.

For large numbers we write in numeral form($5, 385, 673)

English for Today - WRITING NUMBERS IN NUMERAL.

WRITING NUMBERS IN NUMERAL

Numbers should be written in numeral in the following cases:

1. Numbers 10 and above should be in numeral (and not in words): She has written 12 books.

2. Dates and years are written in numeral: Schools begin on August 27, 2009.

NOTE: We do not use ordinal numbers (i.e, 1st, 2nd, 3rd with full dates).

The play is on March 23, 2010 (right).

The play is on March 23rd, 2010 (wrong)

3. Percentages are written in numeral: Her performance was 52% last year.

NOTE: If a percentage begins a sentence, it should be spelled out: Sixty percent of students fail English in WAEC yearly.

To be continued

English for Today CLARIFYING PREPOSITIONS (2)

CLARIFYING PREPOSITIONS

PREPOSITIONS OF TIME: AT, ON, IN

AT is used with the exact time: He came at 8 O'clock in the morning.


ON is used with days and time: On Sunday we go to church. 
My sister's birthday is on the third of November.


IN is used with a period of time: In summer, the weather is warm.

English for Today - CLARIFYING PREPOPOSITIONS

CLARIFYING PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions of place:

TO and AT


TO is used for movement from one place to another: I walk to school everyday.


AT is used to denote position or rest: He is waiting at the door.


IN and INTO


IN denotes position or rest inside something: The pencil is in the box.


INTO denotes movement towards the inside of something: They walk into the room.


To be continued.

English for Today - INCORRECT OMISSION OF PREPOSITIONS

INCORRECT OMISSION OF PREPOSITIONS: Sometimes, prepositions are erroneously omitted where they form important parts of the structures. 

Examples are given below:


1. Dispose of a thing, not dispose a thing:
He will dispose of all his property (not, He will dispose all his property)


2. Knock at the door, not knock the door:
Who's knocking at the door? (not, Who is knocking the door?)


3. Reply to a person, not, reply a person: He has not replied to me yet.(not, He has not replied me yet)


4. Supply a person with something, not supply a person something: Can you supply me with all I need? (not, Can you supply me all I need)

English for Today - THE USE OF THE GERUND: -ING VERBS (2)

The gerund(and not the infinitive) should be used:

4. After the adjectives 'busy' and 'worth': He was busy WRITING a book. This date is worth REMEMBERING.

5. After certain phrases, such as 'it's no use', 'I can't help' 'would you mind', look forward to'.: I think it's no use 
TRYING again. I can't help FEELING angry about it.

The gerund or the infintive(infinitives are verbs that are preceded by the preposition 'to'- to do, to dance, etc) can be used after certain verbs, such as: begin, like, dislike, hate, love, prefer: He began TO TALK(right). He began TALKING(right).

English for Today - POSITIONS OF GERUND:- ING VERBS

The gerund should be used:

1. After prepositions: He worked without STOPPING. She played instead of WORKING.

2. After words which regularly take a preposition such as: fond of, insist on, tired of, succeed in:
    I am tired of DOING the work. He succeeded in KILLING the tiger.

3. After certain verbs such as avoid, enjoy, finish, stop, risk, excuse: Boys enjoy PLAYING football. The wind has       stopped BLOWING.

To be continued

English for Today COLLECTIVE NOUNS (3)

41. A pack of rascals
42. A paddling of ducks
43. A hail of fire
44. A team of oxen
45. A fleet of ships
46. A team of players
47. A suite of rooms
48. A flight of doves
49. A bench of magistrates
50. A bouquet of flowers
51. A bench of bishops
52. A fusillade of shots
53. A clutch of eggs
54. A caste of flower-pots
55. A brood of chickens
56. A crate of eggs
57. A coffle of slaves
58. A staff of teachers
59. A bunch of grapes
60. A skein of silk

English for Today COLLECTIVE NOUNS (2)

21. A host of sparrows
22. A punnet of strawberries
23. A choir of singers
24. A gang of thieves/robbers
25. A school of wales
26. A posse of policemen
27. A herd of antelope
28. A skein of wool
29. A fleet of cars
30. A board of directors
31. A suite of furniture
32. An army of soldiers
33. A watch of nightingales
34. A flock of sheep
35. A muster of peacocks
36. A team/stud of horses
37. A smock of jellyfish
38. A gaggle of geese
39. A fall of woodcocks
40. A plague of locust

To be continued

English for Today - COLLECTIVE NOUNS

Collective nouns are names given to collections of items or people. 60 of such collective nouns will be given in this lecture series.

1. A cluster of diamonds
2. A flock of birds
3. A swarm/ plague of insects
4. A herd of buffalo
5. A troupe of dancers
6. A congregation of worshippers
7. A galaxy/cluster/constellation of stars
8. A pride/troop of lions
9. A herd of cattle
10. A bevy of ladies
11. A swarm of bees
12. A host of angels
13. A chowder of cats
14. A troop of monkeys
15. A band of musicians
16. A tuft of grass
17. A bevy of quails
18. A leap of leopards
19. A bunch of keys
20. A bunch of bananas

To be continued.

English for Today - Adverbial Order (2)

When there are many adverbs of time and there are no adverbs of manner and place, the formula will change from MPT to S before B. This means that the smaller adverb of time comes before the bigger adverb of time,

E.g.,

The event will start at 4 0' clock on Saturday next week. 

The president was overthrown on the 12th of July, 1998.

It is important to say that the order of adverbs is not a rigid one. For instance, the adverb of place can exchange position with manner if place is being emphasized. 

Again, the adverb of time can exchange position with that of place if time is to be emphasized and so on: The deceased was buried at 6am (time) in his compounds (place). Here the emphasis is on the time of the burial.


However, the general MPT rule should be followed under examination condition.

English for Today - ADVERBIAL ORDER

Adverbs also follow a particular order. Unlike adjectives, very few adverbs have combinatorial possibility and these are the adverbs of place, time and manner. 

When these three appear in a sentence, the adverb of manner comes first, followed by the adverb of place and time. 

This can be given in formula as MPT.

Examples: The plumbers have been toiling hard(manner) on the job(place) all day(time)


He drove speedily (manner) to Lagos (place) at 9am (time).

To be continued.

English for Today - FEATURES OF ADVERBS

Adverbs have three main features: MOBILITY, MULTIPLICITY, INVERSION

Mobility implies that adverbs are mobile and can move from one position of the sentence to another without affecting the meaning of the sentence: She sang beautifully. Beautifully she sang. She beautifully sang.

Multiplicity means that there can be more than one adverb in a sentence: YESTERDAY, Kunle sat HERE QUIETLY. The three words in capital letters are adverbs.

Inversion means that adverbs can be used to change the form of a sentence, especially from declarative to interrogative: She came. WHEN did she come?

English for Today - ADVERBS

Adverbs are words that modify(I.e., tell more about) verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and possibly a whole sentence. Below are examples for these modifications:

1. I teach ALWAYS- modifying the verb 'teach'.

2. He is SO intelligent- modifying the adjective 'intelligent'.

3.He performed ABSOLUTELY poorly- modifying the adverb 'poorly'

4. The man was RIGHT by my side- modifying the preposition 'by'

5. I did that SIMPLY because I love you- modifying the conjunction 'because'

6. GENERALLY SPEAKING, Nigeria is getting better- modify the whole sentence.

English for Today - ARRANGEMENTS OF ADJECTIVES

Two or more adjectives can occur successively in the English language. When this happens, here is the other of occurrence: QSSACN

Q- Quality (nice, brilliant, dull)

S- Size (tall, long, short)


S- Shape (robust, slim, circular)


A- Age ( old, new, modern, ancient)


C- Colour (white, black, light, fair)


N- Nationality ( Nigerian, British)


I saw the pretty, tall, slim, young, fair Indian lady.


One must not arrange these adjectives arbitrarily as this will only generate ungrammatical sentences.

English for Today- POSITIONS OF ADJECTIVES

Adjectives that are found before nouns are said to be in the ATTRIBUTIVE position: A FAIR man. adjectives that come after the nouns they qualify are in PREDICATIVE positions: The man is FAIR. 

Most adjectives can be found in both positions without changing meaning. However, few adjectives are position restrictive. MAIN, MAJOR, SHEER, CHIEF are only used in the attributive position: A major fault(wrong to say: The fault is major). ALIVE, ASLEEP, AWAKE are only found in the predicative position: My mum is asleep(wrong to say: my asleep mum).

Few adjectives can also change meaning when they move from the attributive to the predicative position: My old friend/My friend is old. Old in the former refers to time while the latter refers to age.
  
To be continued

English for Today INDEPENDENCE/ INDEPENDENT

Independence Day- This is the day a country gains freedom from her colonial rule: Nigeria's Independence Day celebration.

Independent day- A day that is independent of other days. This does not refer to any day or capture today's celebration.

GOD BLESS NIGERIA!