Saturday, October 31, 2015

Abbreviation

What is an abbreviation?

An abbreviation is a shortened word used mainly in writing to represent the complete form.

List of commonly used abbreviations

  • A.D. = anno Domini, "in the year of the Lord"
  • A.M. = Ante Meridiem, "before midday"
  • cf. = confer, "bring together" and hence "compare"
  • B.A. = Bachelor of Arts
  • B.S. - Bachelor of Science
  • M.A. = Magister Artium, Master of Arts
  • e.g. = exempli gratia, 'for example'
  • et al. = et alii, "and others", "and co-workers"
  • etc. = et cetera, "and the others", "and other things", "and the rest"
  • i.a. = inter alia, "among other things".
  • ibid. = ibidem, "in the same place (book, etc.)"
  • i.e. = id est, 'that is'
  • id. = idem, "the same (man)"
  • N.B. = nota bene, "note well"
  • Ph. D. = Philosophiæ Doctor, "Teacher of Philosophy"
  • P.M. = Post Meridiem, "after midday"
  • S.O.S. = si opus sit, "if there is need", "if occasion require", "if necessary"
  • vs. = versus, "against"

Friday, October 30, 2015

Blending

What are blends?

blend, in morphology, is a word formed from parts of two or more words. In this sense blending is a process, among other processes, of creating new words.
Examples:
  • brunch = breakfast + lunch
  • Breathalyzer = breath + analyzer
  • camcorder = camera + recorder
  • emoticon = emote + icon
  • motel = motor car + hotel
  • Globish = global + English
  • sitcom = situation + comedy
  • smog = smoke + fog
  • Spork = spoon + fork
  • workaholic = work + alcoholic

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Clipping

What is clipping?

Clipping refers to the reduction of a polysyllabic word by dropping a syllable or more from it.Clipping is also called truncation or shortening.
Examples:
  • spec = speculation
  • vet = veteran

Types of clipping

There are three types of clipping:

Back clipping

In this type the beginning is retained:
Examples:
  • ad = advertisement
  • cable = cablegram
  • doc = doctor
  • exam = examination
  • fax = facsimile
  • gas = gasoline
  • gym = gymnastics, gymnasium
  • memo = memorandum
  • pub = public house
  • pop = popular music

Fore-clipping

The final part is retained:
Examples:
  • chute = parachute
  • coon = raccoon
  • gator = alligator
  • phone = telephone

Middle clipping

The middle part is retained.
Example:
  • flu = influenza
  • fridge = refrigerator

Complex clipping

Clipping may also occur in compounds. In complex clipping, one part of the original compound most often remains intact. But sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped:

Friday, October 23, 2015

Contraction

What is contraction?

contraction refers to a shortened form of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters which are replaced by an apostrophe.
Examples:
  • I am = I'm
  • He is = He's
Contractions should not be confused with:
  1. Abbreviations which consist of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase as in Dr for Doctor
  2. Clipping which is the word formation process consisting in the reduction of a word to one of its parts as in spec for speculation.
  3. Acronyms which is an abbreviation formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word (example: FBIBeneluxradar)

Saturday, October 17, 2015

There, Their, They're

What is the difference between there, their and they're?

The words there, their and they're are different and shouldn't be confused. The confusion may occur because the three words are homophones, pronounced in very similar ways.

Their

Their indicates possession. It is a third person plural possessive adjective that shows that a particular thing belongs to them.
Examples:
  • This is their house.
  • Have you met their son?
  • Can you give me their phone number?

There

There may function as an adverb, an adjective, a pronoun, a noun or an interjection:
1. As an adverb there refers to a place (as opposed to the word here).
Examples:
  • Please sit over there.
  • I met him there twice.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Negation in English

Negative forms

Negation is the process that turns an affirmative statement into its opposite denial.
Example:
She is a nice girl - She is not a nice girl
Verbs in English are negated by placing the word not after an auxiliary or modal.
Examples:
  • I am not from Germany
  • I do not like playing tennis.
  • She does not listen to classical music.
  • I have not read this book yet.
  • I did not go to Moscow.
  • I had not had dinner when they came in.
  • You should not sleep late.
  • I cannot help you.
  • I will not participate in that competition.

Why do tears taste salty?

Body fluids like sweat and tears are salty to taste and this has physiological, immunological and evolutionary significance. Tears are the secretions of lacrymal glands of eyes. These tears are classified into basal, reflex and psychic tears. The salinity and chemical composition of tears vary from type to type and situation to situation. Basal tears are responsible for keeping the cornea of eye moist. Reflex tears are produced during eye irritation. Psychic tears are produced during weeping. Tears contain greater quantities of water along with other organic and inorganic chemical components like mucin, lipids,lysozyme, lactoferrin, lipocalin,lacritin, sodium and potassium. The salinity of tears is attributed to the presence of salts of sodium and potassium. This salinity of tears along with the presence of enzymes like lysozyme is responsible for their antimicrobial activity. Basal tears have a salt content similar to blood plasma. The salinity of basal tears disturbs the osmotic balance of bacteria and keeps the cornea in a healthy microbial-free environment. The mineral content of tears also nourishes the tissues associated with eyes. Saline nature of tears also indicates our evolutionary descent from marine organisms. G.L.N.PRASAD , Head, Department of Zoology, Govt. UG & PG College, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Genitive Case

Genitive case

Genitive case is is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun; however, it can also indicate various other relationships than possession.
Examples:
  • Janet’s long fingers, Janet’s jacket, Janet’s drink (relationship indicating possession)
  • a wheel of cheese (a relationship indicating composition)
  • the love of music (participation in an action)
  • men of Rome (origin)
  • the capital of the Republic (reference)
  • man of honor(description)

Form of genitive case

Genitive case can be indicated by
  1. adding 's after the noun (John's brother)
  2. adding of before the noun (the end of the movie)

Friday, October 9, 2015

Intensifiers

What are intensifiers?

Words which are used to add force to the meaning of verbs, adjectives or other adverbs are called intensifiers.

Examples of intensifiers

These are examples of intensifiers:
  • strongly disagree.
  • It's extremely hot in Africa.
  • You play soccer very well.
  • Do you really mean it.
  • It's fairly interesting.
  • It's quite calm here.
  • He's pretty intelligent.
  • These students are rather noisy.
  • so wanted to buy the dress.
  • She writes poems too often.
  • It's absolutely amazing.
  • I am a little angry with her.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Too / Enough

Too and Enough

Too and enough indicate degree. They are used with adjectives.
  • Too means more than what is needed.
  • Enough means sufficient.

Examples

He is too old to play football with the kids.
Dave is intelligent enough to do the write thing.
You're not working fast enough
I don't have enough time.
He has too many friends.
She has got too much patience

Use of too and enough

1.Enough precedes adjectives and adverbs:
He isn't old enough to watch this program.
We're not walking quickly enough.
2.Enough may also precede nouns:
We have enough money 
I have not got enough money to buy this computer.
3.Too comes before adjectives and adverbs:
It's too hot to wear that coat.
I was driving too fast.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Used to, be used to, get used to

Used to

Used to shows that:
  • a particular thing always happened or was true in the past.
  • But it no longer happens or is no longer true now:
Examples:
  • David used to live in Madrid.
  • She used to exercise every morning, but since she had that terrible accident she doesn't exercise anymore.
  • Why don't you come and see me like you used to?

Forms of used to

Here are the interrogative, affirmative and negative forms of used to
  • Did you use to exercise regularly?
  • Yes, I used to go jogging nearly everyday.
  • No, I didn't use to exercise on a regular basis.

Used to, be used to, get used to

1.Used to shows that a particular thing always happened or was true in the past (see examples above)
2.Be used to is used to say that something is normal, not unusual.
Examples:
  • I'm used to living alone.
  • Don't worry, John is used to driving for long hours. He has worked as a professional driver for 20 years.