Meaning of English words

Used to mean only….

“Memory” was something you lost with age           

“An Application” was for employment                    

“A program” was a TV show                                                 

“A cursor” used profanity                                             

“A keyboard” was an organ                                          

“A virus” was the flu                                                     

“A CD” was a bank account                                          

“A hard drive” was a long trip on the road           

“A MOUSE” is a pest                                                  

“Hardware” are stuff used by carpenter               

“Port” is a place a ship lands                                 

“Server” is a plate use to serve food or drinks     

“Client” is a human being we provide service to 

“Net” is used to catch fish

“Web” is the house of a spider

What about words like “software”, “joystick”, “plug & play”, “wifi”, “touchscreen” etc etc……….

With the computer age, no wonder there are such situation as “generation gap”. Have fun learning the double meaning of simple English words, whether you are young or old.

Study Hard

COMPARISON OF ADVERBS

Adverbs are compared in the same way as Adjectives. As most adverbs are two-syllable words they generally form the Comparative and Superlative by adding “more” and “most” to the Positive.

Indulge in things you most truly love

Adverbs may be divided, according to their use, into the following classes:-

(a) TIME – before, now, since, then, already, soon, seldom

Example:- We have met before

(b) PLACE – here, there, everywhere, nowhere.

Example:- They came here yesterday.

(c) MANNER – badly, easily, slowly, well.

Example:- The tall boy won easily.

(d) DEGREE – almost, much, only, quite, very, rather

Example:- The old lady walked very slowly.

(e) NUMBER – once, twice.

Example:- They ran twice round the playground.

(f) QUESTIONING – where, when, how.

Example:- When did you see him?

(g) AFFIRMATION and NEGATION – yes, certainly, no, not

Example:- She can certainly swim.

I have not read the book

(Many adverbs are often used as connecting words and therefore become conjunctions.)

NOTE – The majority of Adverbs are formed from corresponding Adjectives by adding –ly, e.g. quickly, bravely, seriously, happily, clearly, slowly, quietly, angrily, fatally, suitably.

Express Yourself Creatively

Examples:

1. Dinner will soon be ready. (time)

2. There lay the object of our search. (place)

3. The man walked slowly across the field. (manner)

4. The apples were quite good. (degree)

5. I once saw an eagle kill a rabbit. (number)

6. Where did you find that knife? (questioning)

7. He can certainly boast about his adventures. (affirmation)

8. We did not go to the concert. (negation)

1. A possessive case form of possessive pronouns using “mine, yours, his, hers, its / ours, yours, theirs” to show ownership without having to use apostrophe.

Example: These books are mine and those are his.

2. A possessive adjective case form of possessive pronouns using “my, your, his, her, its / our, your, their”. This is used as a possessor but this can act as a pronoun or a predicate adjective.

Example: These are my books and those are yours.
(here “my” acts somewhat like an adjective to “books”.)

Possessive Adjectives

Lets take a look at possessive adjective case form of possessive pronoun (my, your, his, her, its / our, your, their). They are actually identical to the possessive adjective but here it is used as an adjective to modify a noun or noun phrase.

Examples:

• We are unable to finish our project due to insufficient time given.
• Where is your daily action list.
• The shop has a wide selection of its famous kids wear.
• After a while, she stopped crying for her lost dog.
• He lost his way going to work.

Notice “project”, “daily action list”, “famous kids wear”, “lost dog”, “way” are nouns or noun phrases and “our”, “your”, “its”, “her”, “his” act as possessive adjectives to the nouns and noun phrases.

Hold on to your good friends, they are few and far between

A demonstrative pronoun identifies a noun or a pronoun.

• this, that - will identify noun or pronoun in singular form.
• these, those - will identify noun or pronoun in plural form.
• this, these - to refer to objects that are nearby.
• that, those - to refer to objects that are farther away.

e.g. This is good but that is not suitable/These are good but those are not suitable.

2. Interrogative Pronouns

• (who, whom, which, what)
• (whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever) - compounds formed with suffix “ever”
  

An interrogative pronoun is used for asking questions, or to inquire.

• who, whom and sometimes which are used to refer to people

e.g.

• Whom did you speak to about our problems?
• Which boy did you give the chocolates to?
• Who is taking the blame?

3. Relative Pronouns

• (who, whom, that, which)
• (whoever, whomever, whichever) - compounds
  

A relative pronoun is used to link one phrase/clause to another.

e.g.

• There are 25 children in the class of which one will be awarded for best student.
• Of the 25 children who do you think will win?

4. Indefinite Pronouns

• all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody, someone.

An indefinite pronoun refers to a person or thing which is identifiable but not specific. They conveys the idea of all, any, none, some.

e.g.

• Some of them will be going home.
• All of us are astounded by the news.
• None did it because everyone thought someone will and at the end nobody did.

Let’s take a break and enjoy the following knowledge. Whether they are true or not let’s not worry about them too much…. have fun!!!

This one will really make people
think….

Stewardesses’

is the
longest word typed with only the left hand ..

And
‘lollipop’ is the
longest word typed with your right hand. (Bet you tried this out
mentally, didn’t you?)

No word in
the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

‘Dreamt’ is the only English word that
 ends in the letters ‘mt’. (?Are you doubting
this?)

 
Our eyes
  are
always the same size from birth, but our
nose and ears
never stop
growing.

The sentence: ‘The quick brown fox
jumps over the lazy dog’ uses every letter of the alphabet.
(Now, you KNOW you’re going to try
this out for accuracy, right?)

The words
‘racecar,’ ‘kayak’ and ‘level’ are the same whether they are read left to
right or right to left (palindromes). (Yep, I knew you
were going to ‘do’ this one.)

There are only four words
in the English language which end in ‘dous’: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous,
and hazardous. (You’re not doubting this, are
you?)

There are
two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order:
‘abstemious’ and ‘facetious.’ (Yes, admit it, you are going to say, a e i o u)

TYPEWRITER
is the
longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
(All you typists are going to
test this out)

A cat has 32
muscles in each ear.

A goldfish
has a memory span of three
seconds. (Some days that’s about what my memory
span is.)

A ‘jiffy’ is an actual unit of time for
1/100th of a second.

A shark
 is the only fish that can
blink with both eyes.

A snail
can
sleep for three years. (I know some people that could
do this too.!)

Almonds are a
member of the peach family.

An ostrich’s
eye is bigger than its
brain. (I know some people like
that also)

Babies are born without kneecaps. They
don’t appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

February 1865 is the only month in
recorded history not to have a full moon.

In the last
4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

If the
population of China walked past you, 8 abreast,
the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

Leonardo
Da Vinci
invented the scissors

Peanuts
are one
of the ingredients of dynamite!



Rubber
bands last longer
when refrigerated.

The average person’s left
hand does 56% of the typing.

The cruise
liner, QE 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of
diesel that it burns.

The
microwave was invented after a researcher
walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket
. (Good thing he did
that.)

The winter of
1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely
solid.

There are
more chickens than people in the
world.

Winston
Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.

Women
blink nearly twice as much
as men.

Now you know more
than you did before!!

The
Rain-Thomas Kinkade

This is a Thomas Kinkade painting It’s rumored to carry a miracle!
They
say if you pass this on, you will receive a miracle. I am passing this on
because I thought it was really pretty, and besides, who couldn’t use a
miracle?!

1. Positive, Comparative & Superlative

The Positive is used when speaking of or describing an object, eg. short, big.

The Comparative is used when comparing two objects and is formed by adding “-er” to the Positive, e.g. shorter, bigger.

The Superlative is used when speaking of more than two objects and is formed by adding “-est” to the Positive e.g. shortest, biggest.

The following are exceptions to the rule which you will have to learn by heart.    

Examples:

• Peter is shorter than his brother by almost a head.
• He is the least surprised over the news compared to the others.
• I am older than you by 5 years.
• Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.

2. Using “More” & “Most” for adjectives with two or more syllables

Generally for adjectives of two or more syllables “more” is used comparatively, and “most” is used superlatively, e.g. careful, more careful, most careful.

Examples:

• This sofa is the most comfortable among all displayed in the showroom.
• Sally is more beautiful now compared to herself before the makeover.
• Kelly is the most brilliant kid in the whole classroom.
• Uncle Sam is the most generous among the members of this big family.

Another important function of an adjective is to modify the meaning of a noun; e.g. “a man” gives you a mental vision of just a male human being, however, if you add one or a few adjectives to the noun “man” you will get a clearer picture of what the man looks like e.g. “a fat, old and bald man”.

Adjectives usually appear before a noun or after certain verbs and pronouns e.g.

• The mischievous boys threw stones at the poor dog.
• The boys (They) are mischievous.

Adjectives may be divided into three main classes.

1. Descriptive Adjective

good, bad, hard, soft, old, young, pale, red.

Example: - The bad guy was caught by the efficient cop.

2 Adjectives of Quantity

(a) Definite (including numerals)

one, seven, twenty, second, fifth, both, double.

Example: - Both boys scored three As in their second term examination.

(b) Indefinite

all, any, few, many, much, several, some.

Example:- We saw several girls who had bought some dresses.

3. Adjectives of Distinction

(a) Demonstrative

this, that, these, those.

Example:- Those discarded stuff were found on this avenue.

(b) Interrogative.

which, what, whose.

Example:- Whose clothes do you need?

(c) Distributive

Each, every, either, neither.

Example:- Diane could rent an apartment in either cities.

“Sentence modifiers are the black sheep of English syntax. Unlike nominals, verbs, and auxiliaries, they do not fill standard sentence slots. Furthermore, although we call them “modifiers,” sentence modifiers are not like adjectiveals and adverbials in that they are not intimately tied to any particular element of the sentence. Instead, sentence modifiers introduce ideas into sentences without bearing clear grammatical relationships to them. In fact, sentence modifiers can seem a little “tacked on”–at least in terms of grammar.”

There are numerous forms taken by sentence modifiers and some common ones are listed here:-

1. Appositive: is usually used to modify a noun or a noun phrase and can be restrictive or non restrictive.

a. Restrictive appositive: Footballer David Beckham continues to compete in football matches even after his 30’s.

b. Non Restrictive appositive: David Beckham, the famous footballer, continues to compete in football matches even after his 30’s

(a. “David Beckham” restrict the noun “footballer” to just David Beckham and not any other footballers while in b. “the famous footballer” is not essential to identify who David Beckham is so is set off by commas to separate them)

2. Vocative: is also a noun or noun phrase that is used to directly address a person liken to giving instruction or order to a specific person and can come in the beginning, middle or end of the sentence.

a. Ian, make sure you take great care on the road this festive season.

b. It may rain later, ladies, do bring along your umbrellas.

c. You need to pay more attention, Dylan.

3. Adverb: Understandably, they did not have good grades this season.

4. Interjection: Hello, all of you are supposed to clean up before you leave.

5. Subordinate Clause: The girl continued to paint by using her mouth, even after losing the use of her hands and legs.

6. Relative Clause: He was upset on such trivial matter, which was not normal.

7. Absolute Phrase: Head shaking, Dad showed his impatience when we arrived.

Sentence modifiers may seem not important in learning English but it helps the writer or speaker to emphasise on what he is going to say, kind of like a “zoom in” in a movie.

Feel the difference in these 2 sentences:-

• I want to play with your toys.
• Please, Ian, can I play with your toys?

This shows that sentence modifier can help soften certain request thus providing us hopefully with a positive action, however this may not be so when parents (myself included) uses their children full name to emphasis their anger when they are upset with their kids.

You may not need to learn or remember all the above 7 sentence modifiers by heart to be able to use them. Usually, you use them daily to clarify or emphasis on the message you want to get across without realising their categories. It is fine. This post is just to highlight that there is such a thing as “Sentence Modifiers” which plays an important role in our life even without us realising it.