English Lesson

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English Lesson

As I mentioned in the introductory post yesterday that now we are going to do the study of words, idioms and combination of words, so today will be our first lesson.

But, before we could begin, I must tell that these English lessons would be divided in three parts: the first one will deal with words, the second with idioms and the third with combination of words. So are you ready?

Words of the day

1. Crosshairs: n. A centre of attention. Abhinav Bindra’s gold meddle in Olympics put him in the crosshairs. As there is an urgent need of fine speakers and writers, learning English is on the crosshairs of everybody.

2. Spoilsport: n. One who spoils the enjoyment of others. For smokers, our health minister Mr A Ramadoss is a real spoilsport - he has banned smoking in public places.

3. Tantalise: v. To excite someone by showing anything desirable while keeping it away from his reach. The key of taking work from a selfishly greedy person lies in tantalising him.

Idioms of the day

1. Bury the hatchet: To forget the memories of enmity and reestablish friendship. It is always wise for parents to bury the hatchet for the sake of their children’s wellbeing.

2. Spell trouble: to be the cause of a possible problem in the future. They say that excessive work can spell trouble for me, but my positive attitude will prove them wrong.

3. A low ebb: A poor condition. When my boyfriend deserted me, I found myself at a very low ebb - but you don’t get time to mourn - as the life goes by!

Combination of words

Before beginning with this relatively new portion, I must make it clear that if you learnt these combinations by heart, and acquired the art of perfectly fitting them, your sentences will leave a totally different impression on your listeners and readers. To tell a secret, when I read anything, I keenly look for these combinations and pick them up from there. I use them when I feel it necessary because it adds a new flavour and maturity in the sentences.

1. Dubious success (dubious = adj. Doubtful, uncertain, questionable): John’s success seems to be dubious, because he started his business only before a year, and now, besides having a wonderful house, he owns three cars.

2. Causelessly frightened: Allis, it is only a lizard, you are causelessly frightened.

3. Angelic softness: George says that he isn’t marrying because not even a single woman has the angelic softness he craves for.

This was today’s English class. Now, I will take the liberty of advising you to make a separate file of the words used above, and, at any occasion, use them. Practicing them by making your own sentences would be very good for writing.

Your speaking will improve very fast if you would take the trouble of recapitulating the aforementioned words aloud. I will explore the topic of speaking well in a separate note in the near future.

I hope that you all are practicing well. Remember, one can just show the way, success only comes when the seer walks on it.