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My Notes(Up to Oct '03) My Notes(From Oct '03) |
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English is really very wonderful and fantastic language. If we learn the alphabets, we know half the language.
In
English, some words are spelled in a certain way and pronounced in a different
way, such as tough, laugh etc. In these words there is no "F" or
"PH" but in pronunciation they have the sound "F". In
colonel there is no "R" in the spelling but there is a sound
"R" in pronunciation. In some words, some letters are mute, such as
KNIFE, PNEUMONIA, PALM, CALM, WHOLE, etc. These silent vowels, are also
pronounced differently in different words, for example AT, PUT, DO AND SO.
There are some words which have different spellings but the same pronunciation
such as BEAN and BEEN, KNIGHT and NIGHT, KNOW and NO. There is a joke based on
this.
In some words, the meaning changes according to its usage such as, in the following cases. A teacher told his students, "Last year, out of 400 students 210 passed away. Can I except better result this year?"
A teacher was teaching about the lives of great men. Some pictures of Guru Nanak, Gautam Buddha, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, were hanging on the wall. Pointing to the pictures the teacher said, " These great men are hanging on the walls of your classroom and you should also try to hang yourselves."
A man went to his boss in a factory to ask for a promotion, "Please, give me a promotion so that I can survive my family."
One can see from the above examples how the meaning of sentences change completely by improper usage of words.
English language is known as one of the most important and widely spoken languages in the world. It is also known as the most confusing language of the world. One has to be very cautions and careful, both while writing and speaking English.
The
dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
The
word 'set' has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
English
is a language where,
There is no egg in the eggplant.
No ham in the hamburger,
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple!
English muffins were not invented in England.
French fries were not invented in France.
We sometimes take English for granted.
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that,
Quicksand takes you down slowly,
Boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
If the plural of tooth is teeth,
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth!
If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.
If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!
English was invented by people, not computers,
And it reflects the creativity of the human race.
(Which of course isn't a race at all)
That is why
When the stars are out they are visible,
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch,
It starts.
But when I wind up this observation,
It ends.
Grammar!
I don't know about you, but in my student days, mastering English grammar seemed
about as easy as learning the art of black magic. Well I was apparently onto
something.
The word "grammar" entered medieval English as "gramarye,"
via Scotland. The Scots got it from the French word, "grimoire," which
meant a collection of magic spells.
The connection was made between grammar and magic because most people then were
illiterate, so any linguistic smarty-pants was metaphorically seen as dabbling
in sorcery.
I wish they had retained grimoire. It sounds more like the way I felt about the
subject.
Longest word: ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’, a factitious word alleged to mean ‘a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust’ (but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word!)
Is there
another word for synonym?
Acknowledgements: