English Class

English Class

I said that in order to communicate creative in a language which isn’t your mother tongue, sensing the spirit of it is very crucial. If you fail to bring the spirit of the language you communicate in, your readers won’t get the real taste of that language.

But, I venture to add that, English is a very adoptive language. I see that it welcomes various cultures and tempers and charmingly jells with them. So, if you are successful in simply expressing yourself - this alien language will look very familiar in your hands.

Words of the day

Blitzkrieg: n. A quick, sudden military offensive, usually by combined air and mobile land forces. Journalists are opining that at such a sensitive time a blitzkrieg against Pakistan would be premature.

Cahoots: n. A secret, questionable partnership. It is being speculated that retired army officers of Pakistan worked in cahoots with the terrorists who engineered the Mumbai attacks.

Inter alia: adv. Among other things. The Black Cat Commandos were brave, daring, inter alia, humble.

Idioms of the day

Sabre-rattling: Threatening behaviour intended to make someone afraid. Zardari’s u-turn on sending the ISI chief to India might have been resulted from saber-rattling from Pakistani army.

Connect the dots: To understand the relationship between different ideas or experiences. Connecting the dots between the terrorists and Pakistani government is crucial before taking any military action.

The bane of your life: Someone or something that is always causing problems for you and upsetting you. My servant often comes up with an excuse to be away from work - he has become the bane of my life. My computer has become the bane of my life as it crashes at regular intervals.

Combinations of words

Constrained politeness: Her constrained politeness really moved me beyond control.

Immoderate grief (immoderate = adj. Excessive): Losing a young son fills up the parents with immoderate grief.

Creative and inventive: A creative and inventive mind is enough to spin money.

The class is over. Let’s run!