Saya belajar Bahasa Inggeris

Belong is a verb and this is how you use it

2011-11-07T14:46:00.002+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Belong is a verb which is used to indicate possession or belonging to someone or something.

For example, you have a pen. You say: That pen belongs to me.

Just to be clear, it's wrong to say: That pen is belong to me.

Please, I plead you, don't do that.

Allah knows best.

Deadline

2011-04-08T15:11:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Deadline refers to a particular time or date which something should be completed. [1]

Example: "The deadline is tomorrow and you are telling me this now?"

It is not to be confused with dateline, which is a line of text, usually at the beginning of an article or a news report, which shows the date and origin of an article.

Allah knows best.

[1] Taken from definition of deadline from Oxford Dictionaries Online.

SHAH ALAM, Selangor, Dec 12

2010-12-12T22:27:00.004+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

See the title? SHAH ALAM, Selangor, Dec 12.

That is what you call a dateline.

It is a line of text, usually at the beginning of an article or a news report, which shows the date and origin of an article.

So if you tell me that you have a dateline to adhere to, I would assume that whatever you are doing now must have taken place from the dateline that you are mentioning.

Allah knows best.

It's and its.

2010-03-21T23:25:00.004+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

It's a good day for the cat today. It has managed to get out of its cage.

It's is used when the phrase 'it is' is shortened to one word.

Its is used to show possession for the pronoun it. Like 'his' for a he and 'her' for a she, 'its' is for it.

This is grammar and I'm sorry if this entry slowed your learning process.

Allah knows best.

I need to learn grammar

2010-03-07T01:53:00.005+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Recently, Wan Asmuri posted this comment on my blog:

"we should learn english without concentrating a lot on grammar.Grammar make us learn very slow."

I respect his opinion, but I do not share his view on this.

For me, grammar is fundamental in the process of learning a language. If I may quote Karen Armstrong from her autobiography of the bible:

Language is a complex code, ruled by deep laws that combine to form a coherent system that is imperceptible to the speaker, unless he or she is a trained linguist.

The rules of grammar are the laws of the language. An impressive vocabulary would mean nothing if the rules of grammar are not applied to it.

Take this collection of words as an example:

pretentious relucent be? indie artists must why

Is this English? The words look English. Spellchecker doesn't complain. So it should be English, right?

For someone who knows nothing about grammar, they might think that its perfect English(except 'relucent' though, I don't think anyone would use that word).

But even for someone like me, a struggling English learner with minimal knowledge of the English grammar, I would say that this is not English.

These words do not make sense at all. The words might seem pretty but without grammar, it lacks meaning.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experience of learning the English language and I intend to do it by learning grammar. It might be slow, but hey, I'm a slow learner.

Allah knows best.

Of things that happened in the past

2009-08-02T21:44:00.003+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Don't you think there are just way too many tenses in the English language? You have the past tense, the perfect past, the present tense and more other tenses that I think I will ever use. Be that as it may, tenses are part and parcel of the English language therefore it is vital that a learner of the language properly understands the different tenses and their usage.

As a start, when do I use the simple past tense?

The simple past tense should be used for describing things that happened in the past.

For example, yesterday I attended my friend's wedding reception. So for verbs that we want to use to describe what happened at the reception should be used with the past tense.

I had Nasi Minyak at the wedding.
The Nasi Minyak was delicious.

Simple is it not? For things that happened in the past, we should use the past tense.

Allah knows best.

Common

2009-03-29T09:27:00.005+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

When do we use the adjective common? Here are several cases in which I would use the word common:

1) When we share something.

Example:

In these darkest hours, let us forget our differences and unite to face the common enemy!

2) When something is widespread.

Examples:

That is a common mistake.
Mat Rempits in Shah Alam? Sadly, that is a common sight.

3) Normal, nothing special.

Example:

I am but a common man.

So those are the cases in which I would use the word common. Interestingly, I have also seen the word common prevalently used in such phrases:

Common Manchester United!
Common Ahmad!

This is actually a common mistake. In cases like this, the word common should be replaced with the proper phrase: come on.

"Come on" is used when you want to urge someone to perform better.

For example, during a match, you would say "Come on Manchester United!". In this case, you are urging the football club to play better.

Hopefully this has helped my readers to understand the difference between common and come on.

Allah knows best.

An history? Seriously, why?

2009-03-06T08:50:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Everyone who knows even a little bit of English should know that the article 'a' is used before words that do not start with a vowel.

For example: a loaf of bread.
However, when the word starts with a vowel (a, e, i, o or u), the article 'a' becomes 'an'.

For example: an apple.

Simple, is it not?

Well, no. English can never be this simple. There are always exceptions to the rules. Always.

So for words that do start with a vowel but somehow pronounced like they start with a consonant(letters which are not vowels) , the article used is 'a'.

For example: a uniform

Because uniform is pronounced you-nee-form.

How about words that start with a consonant, but the consonant is silent? Like that of the word 'hour'.

In this case, we use 'an' instead of 'a'.

For example: an hour.

So these are the rules and exceptions that determine the usage of a and an in English.

If I were to ask you, which article would you use for the word 'history'?

According to what we just learnt, it should be 'a', right? As in, 'a history'.

But why, oh why do we still see people use 'an history' in writings?

I am aware of the fact that people used to write it that way. The keywords here are 'used to'. Not 'we still do' but 'used to'. When old people write 'an history', I am probably okay with that but when people who are just as young as I am write 'an history', that is just being pretentious.

Allah knows best.

Atrocious

2009-01-16T08:45:00.003+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

atrocious adjective - extremely or shockingly wicked, cruel, or brutal

Atrocious. That is how you describe the massacre of the Palestinian people by the Israeli army.

So far, the merciless bombardments and assaults by the Israeli army that began 27 December 2008 have reportedly killed 1010 Palestinians, amongst them 315 children.*

Can we afford not to care about it? Would it be just if we do nothing about it?

Although we may be powerless to stop the butchering of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, God willing, we can help them get through this.

Please, donate to the Palestine Relief Fund.

PALESTINE RELIEF FUND

Cheque payable to MERCY MALAYSIA
CIMB Account No : 1424-000-6561053

Futher information can be found here.

Allah knows best.

* Source: Palestinian Ministry of Health/ Ocha

Heartless

2008-12-19T03:15:00.003+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

What is heartless? Would it be heartless if our government suddenly decides to privatise its one and only institution dedicated to the well being of our heart?

heartless - adjective Devoid of compassion or feeling; pitiless

Allah knows best.

Flower for baking?

2008-12-10T04:42:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Living with a family that is involved in the Kek Lapis business, the house smells deliciously of Kek Lapis all the time. Sounds good eh?

Not so if you are trying to cut down your sugar consumption. The sugary smell can be too tempting for my weak soul.

One fine day, while my sister was busy preparing Kek Lapis in the kitchen and the house was unsurprisingly filled with the fruity fragrance of the Kuih, I decided that I needed to go out to get away from the delicious aroma lest my hope of cutting down my sugar consumption be not more than that of a new year's resolution.

As I took the car keys that were hanging on the wall, my sister spotted me and approached me with a RM50 bill, (Do take note that all this is made up because my family doesn't speak English at home.)

"Can you get me something while you are out?"

Being the helpful brother that I am, I happily obliged.

"Sure. What do you need, kak?"

"I need 5 kilograms of flower. I received a new order for more Kak Lapis and we are running short on flower. The usual type would do. Be sure to get a receipt."

Flower? Flower for baking? My sister wants me to buy flowers? By the kilo? She is kidding me right?

Well since we were in the mood for jesting, it seemed that there was no harm in seeing how much funnier this joke could get.

"Usual eh Kak? Is that hibiscus or sunflower? I seem to forget." I said that with a wry smile.

To my amazement, my sister stared blankly at my face as I said that.

"Huh? What?"

Judging by the expression on her face, maybe my sister was not joking after all.

"You said you wanted flowers right? So that's why I asked hibiscus or sunflower? I don't know why you would need them for the Kek Lapis, though. For the scent perhaps?"

I asked her, hopefully seeking explanation for the need of flowers.

"Oi, I meant tepung lah. Thats how the word flour is pronounced. Go look it up in a dictionary."

Ah... Flour! My sister wants me to buy flour, not flower! Oh, to be a fool.

"Oh, tepung ke? My mistake! Sorry eh kak." I apologised to my sister before I went out the house in shame, thinking that my sister needed flowers for baking.

Later that day, I did look up the word flour in the dictionary and it is indeed pronounced in a way similar to the word flower.

Allah knows best.

Flour pronounciation at www.howjsay.com

Second last?

2008-12-01T05:41:00.001+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Second last.

'Second last' is a phrase which is used to describe something that comes before the last thing.

For example:

".... the second last thing we did at the event was to have him come up to the podium to give a speech. "

Alternatively, we could use the word 'penultimate' in place of 'second last'.

According to Dictionary.com

penultimate - adjective: next to last

So, instead of using "second to last" we could rephrase it like this:

" ... the penultimate thing we did at the event was to have him come up to the podium to give a speech. "

Allah knows best.

On why you should learn English

2008-11-20T14:19:00.002+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

I first read about it here. Thanks barkylarky.

Seriously people, this is why you should learn English.

Other links:

NST, The Star

Allah knows best.

One of many

2008-10-31T17:59:00.003+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

When using the expression "one of ... ", the verb used is singular because it refers to a single object from a group of objects.

Examples:

One of the things that I learnt in school was there are just some people you can't stand.

One of the students insisted that I was wrong. It was funny because if I was* really wrong, why would only one student realise it? What about the others?

Observe the underlined verbs. The verbs used are singular while the subjects are plural subjects. As mentioned earlier, the verb is singular because when we use "one of ...", we are actually referring to a single subject and hence the singular verb.

See? I do update my blog.

Allah knows best.

*edited after comment by H

Do or do not. Or don't.

2008-10-07T22:50:00.002+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Don't = do not

When do not is shortened into don't, the o in the not is substituted with an '.

Allah knows best.

Break fast

2008-09-04T00:44:00.003+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

In this holy month of Ramadhan we get to have a few more minutes to ourselves in the morning because since we are fasting, we don't have breakfast. Instead, we break fast at the end of the day.

Break fast and breakfast?

Funny how those two seem alike. Come to think of it, breakfast is similar to break fast if you consider the hours in the night, in which we sleep and do not eat for I do not know of anyone that can eat while he or she is asleep, as fasting.

Curious with this revelation, I googled the internet to see whether the word 'breakfast' really originated from the phrase 'to break fast'.

And it seems that it does. At least, according to Oxford it does. Click here for link.

Enjoy Ramadhan everyone. I'm off to break fast now.

Allah knows best.

Fast

2008-09-01T03:19:00.004+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

I would like to wish my readers a pleasant Ramadhan.

Word of the day: fast

Meaning 1; adjective: at a high speed

Example:
Sorry, what was that? You spoke too fast.

Meaning 2; verb: to abstain oneself from eating and drinking

Example:
I won't be going for lunch today, I am fasting.

Allah knows best.

I won one won!

2008-08-27T17:18:00.004+08:00

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful,

Do you know how the word "won" is pronounced?

If pronounced in a way similar to that of the word "one", it becomes the past tense of the verb win.

If pronounced in a way similar to that of the word "worn" but without the "r", it becomes the currency for South Korea.

Now try saying "I won one won!". That should help you to remember the pronounciations of the word "won".

External links:

Pronounciation for won (past tense of win) at www.howjsay.com

Pronounciation for worn at www.howjsay.com

Allah knows best.

Key to the house near the quay

2008-06-25T04:28:00.003+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

If Bahasa Malaysia is the national language of Malaysia, why do developers still use English names for their projects?

Behold, Sunway South Quay.

Word of the day:

Quay

According to dictionary.com:
Noun - a landing place, esp. one of solid masonry, constructed along the edge of a body of water; wharf.

Quay is pronounced the same as key.

Allah knows best.

Never

2008-05-17T04:26:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Sometime ago (This is a lie. This never happened. I'm making this up for this entry), during one of the trips to a factory of a prominent company over here, as a sign of goodwill from the host, they served us ham sandwiches and beer for lunch.

Me, being a Muslim, in no ways lamenting the fact that I could not indulge myself in those ham sandwiches, decided to go outside and enjoy the wonderful spring.

It was then, my colleague came up to me and asked me,

"You are not eating? We are having sandwich inside."
(This is another lie because they don't speak English over here)

"No, thank you. I am full." I spoke untruthfully to him.

"You are always full. Are you really full? Or are you just saying that because you don't like the food over here?"

I am always full? I didn't know how he came up with that conclusion since this was the first time I even talked to him. I never have had the chance to do it before.

"No seriously, I am full. The food here is actually interesting but seriously, there is not an inch left in here for that sandwich." Another untruth being told as I rubbed my tummy, attempting to indicate to him that I was full.

"Just a little bite wouldn't hurt, would it now? It's free after all. Here, I have an extra sandwich here." And he took the unappetisingly ham-filled sandwich from his plate and offered it to me.

I didn't want to offend him but it's ham! I don't eat ham. Well even if it was turkey ham I still would't eat it. Unlike some people who believe that when you are away from home it is permissible to eat meat which are not slaughtered in accordance to Islamic guidelines, I don't eat such meat. So I politely said to him,

"Thank you for the gesture but sorry, I don't eat pork. My religion forbids it." as I said that, I realised that I should have really told him straight away that I don't eat pork. Feigning that I was full wasn't really a good idea.

"Oh, really? So thats why you are not eating this sandwich?"

"Yes. Thanks for the offer though."

"Oh, interesting. So you have never had any pork in your life?"

"'No, I haven't."

Which is the grammatically proper reply as opposed to the more popular reply of 'No, I did not.'

The question asked for an action which started in the past and is still happening in the present so we use the perfect present tense (have + perfect form of verb) instead of the simple past tense.

For actions that happened in the past (started and ended in the past) , we use the simple past tense instead.

So if my colleague had asked me "You had pork yesterday?". I would answer "No, I did not." because the action being discussed was in the past (in this case: yesterday). In contrast, the question "Have you had pork in your life?" asked about an action which is referring to our life. We haven't ended our life yet, so we use the perfect present tense.

Summary:

1. The simple past tense is used to describe an action which was done in the past.
2. The perfect present tense is used to describe an action which began in the past but is still happening in the present.
3. When dealing with cultural differences in our lives, explaining is better than lying.

Allah knows best

Flowers in a vase

2008-05-02T12:41:00.005+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Ahh... spring. The time when the days are finally longer, the weather is getting warmer, joggers are back on their tracks, friends gather to grill (though summer would be a better time for grilling because it often rains in spring), and most importantly, the flowers, the natural crowns of mother nature, are blooming majestically.

Now is the time when SLR connoisseurs, well-abled and even the less well-abled photographers amongst them, take out their macro lenses to take pictures of flowers with which they would later upload it on their flickr pages, with sense of pride and satisfaction, expecting people to drop comments, praising their ability to take great pictures.

One fine day in this lovely spring, accompanied by a friend who is an SLR connoisseur like the one described above, we were on our way to the halal butcher when my friend pointed to the bed of colourful flowers by the roadside. Another trivial conversation ensued.

"Those flowers would really look great in my room.", my friend started the conversation ominously.

"Flowers? In your room? You being metro?"

"What do you think? They would fit perfectly well in my room, wouldn't it?"

"Don't you already have enough photos of flowers in your room? Thank God there are no bees in your room."

"Those are pictures. Not real flowers. These are flowers, real flowers! Perfect in my room I tell you!"

"Oh eh? So should we go the florist next?"

"Why should we? We could just take these ones here."

"Maybe you could, but I wouldn't. Is it right to take these flowers?"

"Eh, why not? These are flowers. Gift of nature."

"Subhannallah. But these are planted by the city council. Surely the flowers are planted to beautify the city. We should leave it as it is."

"But taking a flower or two wouldn't hurt."

"Are you certain? If you take these flowers, you would be taking what is not rightfully yours. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) forbade taking away what belongs to others without their permission.* Just like using the tram without a valid ticket, you are burdening others for the convenience that you are benefiting from. If is it not rightfully yours, should you take it?"

My friend paused for a while. Would he say that I was being pedantic? Or would he think that I was being uncool for not doing what is the norm but is essentially wrong?

But, all praise to Allah SWT, he concurred with me,

"Well, you got a point there. I never thought about it that way. Let us go the florist then. I could buy myself a vase as well. By the way, how do you pronounce vase?"

The conversation actually went on with me explaining the two different ways of pronouncing the word vase. Seeing that it is difficult for me to write here how I pronounced the word vase, here is a link where you can listen to the two different pronunciations of vase.

Summary:

1. Vase can be pronounced in two different ways. Blame the Americans for the second pronunciation.
2. You can listen to the pronunciation here.
3. www.howjsay.com is a great site to learn the proper pronunciation of words.
4. People like to take macro pictures of flowers.

Allah knows best.

*Sahih Bukhari Volume 3, Book 43, Number 654:

Narrated 'Abdullah bin Yazid Al-Ansari:

The Prophet forbade robbery (taking away what belongs to others without their permission), and also forbade mutilation (or maiming) of bodies.

Pensive Keegan

2008-04-13T05:09:00.004+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

In the live updates from BBC Sports today, Caroline Cheese described Keegan as looking pensive.

Pensive? Is it not an object that is used to keep memories? Or is that only in the world of Harry Potter?

Whenever in doubt, google.

From googling, I found out that pensive is an adjective and the object used to keep memories in the world of Harry Potter is not a pensive but rather, a pensieve.

According to dictionary.com:

Pensive - adjective: expressing or revealing thoughtfulness, usually marked by some sadness

Allah knows best.

Doughnuts

2008-03-21T16:21:00.006+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Seriously, this came out of nowhere. There was this one time, during a 5-minute break in our lecture, my friend asked me this,

"Where are the nuts in doughnuts?"

Where indeed, I asked myself. Being happy that I have a friend who was willing to share this mystery of life with me, I decided to humour her,

"Are they really not made out of grounded nuts? That's why they are called doughnuts."

"Really? That doesn't explain the dough part though. Or is the dough in the word doughnut is actually a 'though' rather than a 'dough'? Then it would be 'though-nuts' and it still wouldn't make any sense. Surely there is an explanation to this."

"Surely there is and it ranks high up in my to-do list: Investigate the origin of the word doughnut."

And I thought that was the end of it. But the mystery of doughnuts shall not go unanswered to my friend.

"Wait wait wait. How do you spell doughnuts? D-O-U-G-H-N-U-T-S or D-O-N-U-T-S? It's the latter right? Thats how doughnuts is spelt right?"

"Dunkin Donuts perhaps. But there are two variations of spelling for doughnuts, one would be the one used by the Americans which is D-O-N-U-T-S and the other one is mostly used by the British and the commonwealth countries. Here in Malaysia, I think it is acceptable to use either one."

"But that still doesn't explain the nuts."

By then, I could not think of anything else to say to her and thank God, the break was over. The doughnut enigma was left unanswered.

Allah knows best.

Affectionate

2008-03-16T23:33:00.006+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Recent decisions by the sultans of Malaysia have won the affection of the rakyat and it serves as a reminder to us that the sultans of Malaysia are still important in the Malaysian political system.

Though you might think the that word affection, because it looks like affect + ion, is the noun form for the verb affect (which was covered in the previous entry), it is actually not. A quick check in a dictionary reveals that affection has a different meaning altogether from the verb affect.

affection - dictionary.com noun: fond attachment, devotion, or love:
abd's definition: a word used to describe a sense of liking to someone or something

God willing, may this discovery be beneficial (benefit + tial = benefiCial) to the betterment of our vocabulary.

Allah knows best.

It's quite effective

2008-03-11T02:36:00.003+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

How do you cure the common cold?

You don't. There is no cure for common cold. You might have come upon medications that claim to cure the common cold but meh, I don't think such medications would really have any effect on curing the cold. It might affect your wallet though. You might as well wait for your antibody to kick off and cure yourself.

Effect - Dictionary.com: Noun: a result or consequence
abd's definition: This is the noun to describe a result of an action

affect - Dictionary.com: Verb: to act on; produce an effect or change in
abd's definition: this is the word that you use when an effect is taking place. Affect is the verb form of effect.

So, let's take a look at this example:

How do you think the new government will affect our lives?
I don't think it will have any effect on me. I'm just being ignorant.

Compare:

How do you think the new government will affect our lives?
I don't think it would affect me in anyway. I'm just being ignorant.

From these 2 answers to the same question, we could see that effect and affect are used to say the same thing but they are presented in two different styles. As to which one is better? Being an avid but incapable learner of the English language myself I think it's up to you to decide. Your writing, your style.

Allah knows best.

ps: Affection is a noun which has quite a different meaning from affect and effect. Affection shall be covered in the next entry which will be published hopefully sooner than later.

Invi

2007-12-03T14:24:00.001+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Being an avid albeit untalented learner of the English language, I have a bad habit of asking people the grammatical validity of their sentences. This habit may be annoying to others but I see it necessary for me to improve my poor command of the language.

One day, there was a shout-out on an instant messaging software that piqued my curiosity.

"I am invicible!"

Is invicible a valid word? Feeling small that I do not know the word , I mustered all the strength in my cold body to ask him about the word.

Me: assalamualaikum
The other guy: Salamzzzzzzzzzzz. yo yo yo whats up?
Me: Hey, I have a question.
The other guy: k, k, sk wy?
(I assumed he said: Okay, okay, ask away)
Me: What's invicible?
The other guy: La dude........... Go google lah. Don't waste my time.
Me: Heheh, okay. Sorry.

So I did just that. I googled the word. You can learn so much from Google nowadays.

For example, I learned that invicible is not a valid word. Invisible, on the other hand, is a valid word and according to answers.com:

invisible - adjective
1. Impossible to see; not visible
2. Not accessible to view; hidden.

So maybe my acquaintance misspelt the word invisible. Hoping that others would do the same to me, in the sense that others would correct me when I'm wrong, I decided to message my aforementioned acquaintance.

Me: Eh, I think you spelt the word wrongly. Maybe you wanted to write invisible instead?
The other guy: Eh lah, what lah you? Please no try be super clever and be rite all the time. I got this from a song lah! It must be rite. Go shove this word up your nose lah!
(Please no try be? I apologise to my readers for the poor grammar used by the other guy.)
Me: But, I googled it. It is wrong. It should be invisible.
The other guy: Hey you cottage boy! (Maybe he wanted to say budak kampung?) This invicible is not meaning cannot see. This meaning i am super. Cannot be beat. Now go away!
Me: Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

Before I even got the chance to press enter, the other guy decided to go offline. (Did he really? Maybe he just appeared offline to me.)

That was an egg on my face. I didn't know that he took the word from a song. How was I to know?

With my face still red, I googled the term "song invicible". The first result is a YouTube link to a video clip of a song by Muse, which according to the video description, is entitled 'Invicible'.

So this was the song that The Other Guy was referring to. Silly me for wanting to correct him.

After 3 minutes of listening to the song, I found the lyrics to be quite interesting and maybe I could improve my English if I knew the lyrics to the song.

Again, I googled. This time I googled "Muse lyrics".

To my surprise, I couldn't find the lyrics to the song 'Invicible'. Instead I found lyrics for the song 'Invincible'.

I was really dumbfounded. Is 'Invicible' a valid word? Or should it have been 'Invincible' instead?

I looked up the definition for these two words and came to a conclusion:

Invicible is invincible spelt wrongly but deemed to be proper by those who think that people on the internet do not misspell words.

Summary:

1. invicible is wrong.
2. Invisible is a proper word.
3. Invincible is also a word, which according to dictionary.com, is defined as an adjective which brings the meaning of incapable of being overcome or defeated.
4. When someone corrects you, be nice to him or her.
5. Your collection of illegal media is not the definitive source for proper spelling.

Allah knows best.

Incident and accident

2007-11-12T04:17:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

According to answers.com:

incident noun an event or occurrence

accident noun an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally

So what is the difference between incident and accident?
From the way I see it, every accident is an incident but not every incident is an accident.

Allah knows best.

Singular plural - Every

2007-11-08T04:19:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

One of the most painful rules in English for Malay speakers (at least I found it hard) is the usage of 's' for verbs used with singular nouns.

We Malay speakers tend to swallow the 's' because the aforementioned rule is not practised in our language which for now will remain to be called Bahasa Malaysia even after attempts by certain groups to change it to Bahasa Melayu instead.

Even after attending hours and hours of grueling extra private classes, for so is the norm of the Malaysian students, parents tend to send them to such classes after school, hoping that it would improve their beloved children's academic performances, I still have difficulties deciding whether I should put an 's' on the verbs in my sentences.

Okay, the previous sentence is needlessly too long. A better sentence would be:

Even after attending hours and hours of grueling extra private classes, I still have difficulties deciding whether I should put an 's' on the verbs in my sentences.

For example, I would want to put an 's' for the verb that follows the pronoun 'every*' (everyone, everything, etc.) because, after all, 'every*' is translated into 'semua' in Malay and I consider that to be plural.

But poor alas, every form of 'every*' is actually considered singular in English and therefore verbs used with 'every*' are in the singular form, which more often than not, are verbs with an extra 's' at the end of it.

Summary:

Every is considered singular in English.

For example:

Everyone likes ice-cream.
Everything on the table is up for grabs.

Allah knows best.

xoxo

Dissuade <> Persuade

2007-10-31T13:45:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Dissuade is the opposite of persuade.

Allah knows best.

I am a 24-year-old student.

2007-10-30T03:40:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

A 24-year-old student? An undergraduate even? How pathetic is that!

The first sentence sounds grammatically improper but is it really wrong?

No, the sentence (as absurd as it might sound because a 24-year-old should already be working) is actually grammatically correct.

When a numerical quantity is used as an adjective, the letter 's' which accompanies the plural form of a noun is omitted.

So, a student who is 24 years old is also a 24-year-old student. A lecture which takes 3 hours to finish is a 3-hour-lecture and a pass, which grants you access for 3 days is called a 3-day-pass and not a 3 days pass.

Allah knows best.

Guinea, Ginny

2007-10-24T06:26:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Guinea is pronounced with a hard g. Like that of a gun.

Ginny Weasley, from the world of Harry Potter, is pronounced with a soft g. Like a genie in a bottle.

Allah knows best.

I didn't do nothing!

2007-10-20T04:57:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Observe:

Thug 1: You can't do nothing to me man! You can go to hell!
Policeman: What is it that I can't do? Nothing?
Thug 1: You heard me right! You can't do nothing to me!
Policeman: So I can do anything to you?

End observation.

Obviously Thug 1 doesn't frequent this site often. His sentence doesn't make any sense at all.

Can't do nothing? Huh? What? Let us dissect this sentence and find the true meaning behind it!

Can + not + do + nothing = Modal Verb + Negative + Verb + Negative

In this case, the not is used to indicate the negative state of the modal verb can to indicate an inability of someone or something to do something.

Do is an intransitive verb which according to dictionary.com means to perform or execute something. The usage of do in conjuction with nothing (do nothing) indicates that nothing is being performed or executed.

So when we combine can not + do nothing, we get =

Inability of someone or something to perform or execute nothing.

Which doesn't make sense at all. What he probably wanted to say is:

You can't do anything to me.

Which means:

Inability of someone or something to perform anything.

Aaaah, which makes more sense because maybe the policeman is powerless to do anything. Why is he powerless? Who knows, maybe the thug has political immunity like many of those working at the United Nations who park their cars anywhere they like because they don't have to pay parking tickets.

So the moral of this entry is: Instead of saying I didn't do nothing, say I didn't do anything. It makes more sense.

Allah knows best.

Loosen up! If you lose, try again.

2007-07-18T16:52:00.001+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Here are some words for today:

Loosen - Verb
1. To release from restraint
2. To cause or permit or become less strict

Loose - Adjective
1. Not rigidly fastened or securely attached

Lose - Verb
1. Not winning
Present: lose
Past: lost
Perfect: lost

Loosen up - Phrasal verb
1. To become less tense, to relax.

I am writing this entry to loosen up myself before an exam.

Allah knows best.

Verbs as adjectives. Case study: Included

2007-07-11T16:44:00.001+08:00

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Case study: included

Included is the past participle of the verb include.

Taken from Dictionary.com:

include verb - to contain as a secondary or subordinate element

In some cases, included is used as an adjective, describing an object which has been subjected to the verb include.

Examples:

1. Included as an adjective:

The taxi fee is included in the ticket.

2. Included as a verb:

Two new ministers have been included into the new cabinet.

Further case study.

What is the difference between is included and was included?

In this case, the difference is the tense of the verb to be in the sentences. The first one is in present tense while the latter in the past tense.

Is included is used when you are describing something which is, as of the moment, included.

Example: The taxi fee is included in the ticket. Meaning: The ticket covers the taxi fee as well.

Was included is used when you are describing something which at first, you included it but at a later date you decided to exclude it.

Example:

Customer: I would like to buy a ticket to Rosenheim please.
Accountant: Eh? Excuse me? I'm sorry sir, this is finance, please hold on while I connect you to sales.
Customer: Oh, I'm terribly sorry. The girl before connected me here. I had no idea. Sorry to take up your time.
Accountant: No problem sir. This happens all the time. It seems that people nowadays are terribly useless at what they are supposed to do.
Customer: Tell me about it. The other day I had to fire 5 people because they didnt seem to like working. Yes, they wanted money but no, they did not want to work. How was that ever going to work?
Accountant: I'm terribly sorry to hear that.
Customer: Eh, thats finance right?
Accountant: Yes, sir.
Customer: I was wondering, whether the taxi fee is still included in the ticket?
Accountant: (What does that got to do with finance?) Oh sir, I'm sorry to tell you it is no more included. It was included last year but it has been excluded since January this year. I'm sorry to inform you that.
Customer: Oh, thats too bad. But hey, thanks for the info.
Accountant: Welcome.

From this lengthy example, we can learn that:

1. Good help is hard to get nowadays.
2. Was included is used for something which happened in the past.

Allah knows best.

Prevaricate

2007-06-19T23:30:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

According to Reuters, China is encouraging its pilots to improve their English. But some pilots have the wrong attitude and are prevaricating.

Example taken from this article.

Word for the day:
prevaricate - verb(intransitive): to stray from or evade the truth, to make untrue declarations.

Allah knows best.

Did you know?

2007-06-18T02:19:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Did you know that a verb that follows a did or a do is always in its root form?

So do verbs that follow a does.

Examples:

Did you do that? -> The root form of does is do.

He does not know how to answer that question. -> Know is used here for a third person pronoun(he) instead of knows.

Yes, she was here but she did not eat the pie. -> Eat is used in its root form even though the event was in the past.

Allah knows best.

Phlegmatic

2007-05-13T05:56:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Word for the day: Phlegmatic.

phlegmatic - adjective: Having or suggesting a calm, sluggish temperament; unemotional.

Example:

Everyone seems to be annoyed and some even angered by his decision. His phlegmatic manner in announcing the decision might have also contributed to the resentment against him.

Allah knows best.

Incredible

2007-04-18T00:20:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

I have to admit, Mathematics is sometimes simpler than English.

Mathematics is logical. For example, if you subtract a number with a number bigger than it is, it becomes negative and gains a minus sign to indicate that it is a negative number.

English would be easier if it had such a rule. To form an opposite of a word, add a minus sign before the word.

For example the opposites of efficient, sufficient and sane would be -efficient, -sufficient and -sane.

But since, English, like all languages, is not at all logical, the opposites of efficient, sufficient and sane are actually inefficient, insufficient and insane.

We seem to have a pattern here no? It seems that the opposites are formed using the in- prefix. It is like Mathematics, but with in- instead of a minus sign. Can English really be this simple?

Sadly, no.

Because when you plagiarise the work of another and you lose credibility by doing it, you do not become incredible.

Allah knows best.

ps: Plagiarise is pronounced 'play' (like playing football) + je (like jerk but without the rk) + rice (the food).

Simple present tense

2007-04-13T00:09:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

After a long period (longer than even most medic student blogs) of no updates, it is only proper that I update this blog with something simple which is, the present tense.

The present tense is the simplest of all tenses in English because verbs retain their infinitive form in present tense. Since most verbs are learnt in their infinitive form, it is easier (at least for me) to construct sentences in the present tense.

Infinitive form of a verb is also referred to as the root word of a verb in most English classes that I have attended.

Examples:

Infinitive form of slept is sleep!*
Infinitive form of ate is eat!*
Infinitive form of read is read!*

When do we use the present tense?
I don't know about other people but I use present tense to describe habits, common facts and current non-continuous occurrences.

Examples for habits:

He plays badminton every day.
He never washes his hand. Ever.

Example for factual statements:

The earth is spherical.

Examples for current occurrences:

I am here.
He is here.

Frequently asked questions on present tense:

Why do we say 'I am eating' instead of 'I eat' when we are describing that we are currently eating? Shouldn't we use the present tense instead?

abd: Because it doesn't sound right. I'm sure most grammar books would explain it better but my explanation would be is that eating is a continuous action and therefore both the verb 'to be' in its proper tense and the -ing suffix is required.

But in most anime subtitles, the verb 'to be' and the -ing suffix are usually omitted when describing a continuous action. Are you wrong?

abd: I might be wrong but I think I'm not. I don't think anime subtitles are the best material for you to be learning proper English grammar. Try BBC Learning English instead.

So, there you have it. The simple present tense. Simple is it not?

Sentences with * should be read in a very cheerful and enthusiastic manner.

Allah knows best.

Indefiniteness

2006-12-27T02:55:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Articles a and an. When do we use them? When do we use articles in English?

When do we use the? When don't we use the?

A , just like an, is an indefinite article. The, however, is a definite article.

To help us determine whether we use a definite or an indefinite article, we need to look up the meaning of the word indefinite.

Indefinite adj - not clearly expressed or defined.
definite adj - clearly expressed or defined.

So now it is clear that we should use definite articles when we are defining nouns that are clearly expressed while indefinite articles are used when we are defining nouns that are not clearly expressed or defined.

Example:

I would like an apple please.
Which apple? The apple on the table or the apple in the basket?
I would like the apple which tastes best.

In the first sentence, an is used because the sayer didn't care nor did he clearly express which apple he wanted.
In the third sentence, the is used because it is clearly mentioned which apple the sayer was referring to.
And in the last sentence, it is clearly expressed that the apple mentioned is the apple that tastes best.

Allah knows best.

Much and many.

2006-12-18T03:45:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

When do you use much and when do you use many?

Much is used for uncountable nouns while many is used for countables.

Examples:

How much water did you drink last night?
How many glasses of water did you drink last night?

How much of an effort will it take for you to finally do it?
How many times have you attempted and failed?

How much money do you have?

You can't count money eh? Money is considered uncountable in English.

Allah knows best.

Gaunt

2006-12-13T05:20:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Gaunt - adj. Pale and exhausted, as because of worry or sleeplessness.

Example:

Ahmad: Salam Abd, you're looking rather gaunt today.
Abd: Salam. I do? Oh, I couldn't sleep last night.
Ahmad: What seems to be the problem?
Abd: You don't want to know.

Allah knows best.
wassalam.

Its Wednesday.

2006-12-07T06:54:00.000+08:00

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Do you know that Wednesday is pronounced wens-day instead of wed-nes-day?

Go look up in a dictionary.

Allah knows best.
wassalam.

He and him.

2006-11-18T05:19:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Have you ever wondered whats the difference between the words ‘him’ and ‘he’?

They both have the same meaning right?

He and him are both pronouns that are used when referring to a male person in the third person.

So when do we use he and when do we use him?

Observe:

Ali is a 13-year old student. He likes mathematics. His mathematics teacher thinks very highly of him. But his friends, being the malays that they are, are uneasy about this and they systematically bully Ali every day after school. They kick him. They punch him. They even spit on him. Oh Ali, how sad of you to be bullied everyday.

He likes mathematics.

Why is he used here and not him?

They kick him.

Why is him used here and not he?

IF you observed the sentences above, you will realise that in the first case, he is used because we are describing Ali in a so called nominative case, meaning Ali is not the object of a verb,

In the second case, him is used because Ali is the object of the verb kick. Therefore we use the word him instead of he.

So when describing a male in 3^rd person without him being the subject to any verb, we use he and whenever that person is on the receiving end of a verb, we use him instead.

Now that we know the difference of he and him, we should also know the difference between who and whom where in this case, whom is used when the person is on the receiving end of a verb.

Allah knows best.

Penitent

2006-10-31T05:27:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Word for the day is: Penitent

adjective feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong

e.g. Korea and China share the same position that a summit meeting of the three countries is meaningless unless Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi shows more penitent attitudes toward Japan’s past atrocities.

Allah SWT knows best.

Yam bean.

2006-10-27T02:08:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Yam bean is sengkuang.

Allah SWT knows best.

Be that as it may

2006-10-25T01:54:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Zidane plays football. Zidane can play football.

Notice that when can is used in the sentence, the verb play loses it s? Can is a verb which I think is called a modal verb.

Other verbs, when used in conjuction with a modal verb, retain its original form. Hence the absence of s in this sentence: He can play football.

Other modal verbs are shall, will, must and may.

Examples:

Shall we go visit them today?
Will they be having rendang?
Must we help?
May it be then.

Allah SWT knows best.

Have a pleasant Eidulfitri and may Allah accept(worship and good deeds) from you and us.

wassalam.

Close, but no cigar.

2006-10-05T22:15:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

One of the many usages of the word close is to convey the sense of distance between two objects. Another meaning would be to bring two things together to close an opening. ie. Please close the door.

When you close a door, would you say the door is closed or the door is close?

I would say the door is closed. The door may be close to the window but here I would like to emphasise on the fact that you closed the door hence I would say the door is closed.

If you look up in a dictionary, you would find close to be listed as both a verb and an adjective.

Close as a verb is defined as an act of bringing two things together to close an opening while close as an adjective is defined as a short distance between two objects.
(These are my definitions. To get proper definitions go look up in a dictionary.)

So close as an adjective can happily(and properly) be used with the verb 'to be'.
Example: The door is close to the window.

But how do you use the verb as an adjective?

Whenever a verb, when used as an adjective, is used in conjuction with the verb 'to be' it has to be used in its perfect form.

Example:

Close(present), closed(past), closed(perfect)
Present: Please close the door.
Past: He closed the door.
Perfect: He hasn't closed the door yet.
Verb as an adjective: The door is closed.

graduate, graduated, graduated.
Present: (I can't think of an example.)
Past: I graduated from a school here. I think that will be my only graduation in my life.
Perfect: Unlike my peers, I haven't graduated.
Verb as an adjective: (Not used. 'I is/graduated' is not proper English. Use 'I graduated' instead.)

open, opened, opened
Present: Open the door please.
Past: He opened the door.
Perfect: He hasn't opened the door.
Verb as an adjective: (Not used because open is an adjective. 'The door is open' is correct because open is an adjective.)

Confusing? Well as a summary,

'The door is close' is wrong. 'The door is closed' is correct.
'The door is open' is correct. 'The door is opened' is not used.

Have a pleasant Ramadhan.

Allah SWT knows best.

On abbreviations

2006-10-04T00:35:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful,

This is not an entry about English but rather an entry about the usage of abbreviations in writing.

Abbreviations are used in writing because everyone, truth be told, is lazy. Hence we like to shorten things up.

Be aware that I am not entirely against the usage of abbreviations in writing but they are times when I wish people would stop using it. At least until everyone knows how to use it properly.

It really saddens me whenever a writer uses abbreviations without even trying to mention what the seemingly unpronounceable word actually means.

For example:

The NBA is trying to implement a new transfer system. NBA spokesman, John Every, declined to comment further on the new transfer system rumoured to be favouring teams that suck.

So what is NBA? I do not have a clue. It could be lots of things. It could be National Bakers Association or even Nudist Basking Aphrodites.

That is the problem with abbreviations. If the writer did not write what it actually stands for, people would never know what it is.

The writer could have always written it like this:

The National Basketball Association(NBA) is trying to implement a new transfer system. NBA spokesman, John Every, ....

See how clear it turned out this time? Now we know it is the National Basketball Association and not some National Bakers Association.

So the next time you want to use abbreviations, write a little bit extra to inform the readers what it actually stands for.

Allah knows best.

We specialise in...

2006-09-23T15:45:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

We do not say we are specialise. Yes you may be specialists, but specialise you are not.

SIMPLE RULE:

'We are' + description.

Example:

We are big.
We are funny.

And not:

We are specialise.
We are rock.

Allah SWT knows best.

Spelling number.

2006-09-16T13:20:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Number is spelled with an N, a U, an M, a B, an E and an R yet it is abbreviated to ‘No.’ Why eh?

Allah SWT knows best.

Vocab Recap

2006-07-19T03:25:00.000+08:00

Just a recap on the vocabulary covered by this blog so far:

Sapodilla, julienne, inauspicious, apathetic, grasp the nettle, culpable, curmudgeon, nascent, xenophobia, supercilious, harangue, fawn, destitute, remorse, contrite, decrepit, ominous, assuage, wan, dissemble, sunny, allay, repudiate, cold, purview, tortuous, curdle, assiduous, loquacious, bereavement, portent, venerate, pliant, egalitarian, enmity, selembu, temerity, complaisant and congratulation.

Not bad for a 9-month effort eh?

Congratulations!

2006-07-18T03:58:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Congratulation

noun - the expression of praise for an achievement or good wishes on a special occasion

Congratulation is a noun, therefore it is used just like any other nouns.

Example: Do we need to buy a congratulation gift for him?

But if you add an s to congratulation it becomes congratulations. Congratulations, however, is an interjection and is used to express congratulation. So whenever you want to congratulate someone, you say 'congratulations' instead of 'congratulation'.

Example:

1. Congratulations!
2. Congratulatons on your graduation!

Allah SWT knows best.

Fish School

2006-07-13T01:42:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

What is the plural of fish?

Fish or fishes?

Both terms are correct but are used differently.

Fish is used when describing a multiple number of fish of the same type.

Example:
I caught 300 fish today.

Fishes is used when we want to indicate different type of fishes.

Example:
The fishes you can buy here are salmon and tuna. We rarely have mackerel.

Other nouns(that I know of) that follow this rule are deer and food.

Allah SWT knows best.

Complaisant

2006-07-04T04:02:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Word of the day: Complaisant

adjective willing to please others or to accept what they do or say without protest

Example from this article:
Bush has been abetted in this power grab by a complaisant GOP Congress and federal courts.

Not word of the day: Complacent

adjective showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements

Example:
Never ever be complacent. See what happened to Brazil last Saturday?

Word definitions are from Oxford New Dictionary of English.

Allah SWT knows best.

Moratorium

2006-06-22T00:31:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful,

Word of the day: Moratorium

noun (PL. moratoriums or moratoria ) a temporary prohibition of an activity.

Example:
Norway lodged an objection against the moratorium at its inception, and is allowed to catch minke whales commercially.

Taken from this article.

Allah SWT knows best.

The forgotten S.

2006-05-22T12:04:00.000+08:00

Cow eats grass.

Cows eat grass.

In English, the verb that follows a singular noun must have an s at the end of the verb. Its that simple. Well not as simple as Bahasa Melayu though.

In Malay, the verb never changes. Be it singular or plural, the verb stays as it is.

Lembu makan rumput.

Lembu-lembu makan rumput.

See how simple Malay is?

Dodo

2006-03-31T01:59:00.000+08:00

noun (pl. -os or -oes) a large extinct flightless bird with a stout body, stumpy wings, a large head, and a heavy hooked bill. It was found on Mauritius until the end of the 17th century.

Phrases:

(as) dead as a dodo
informal - used to emphasize that a person or animal is no longer alive.
- no longer effective, valid, or interesting.

To learn more about Dodo, visit this link.

Temerity

2006-02-22T05:24:00.000+08:00

noun[mass noun] - excessive confidence or boldness

Taken from BBC Sport:
e.g. Paulo Ferreira levels the scores after League One Colchester had the temerity to take the lead against Chelsea.

Noun, pronoun or verb?

2006-02-04T21:38:00.000+08:00

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful,

noun - a word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things.
Example: Book, Cat.

pronoun - a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g. I, you) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g. she, it, this)
verb - a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g. I, you) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g. she, it, this).

Wallahualam.

Selembu.

2006-02-02T18:26:00.000+08:00

Taken from The Star Online:

SEREMBAN: A general worker with the Negri Sembilan Veterinary Services Department lost his right leg after being gored by a selembu, at the department’s facility in Jelebu Road here on Jan 19.

Due to the severity of the injuries inflicted by the animal (a cross between a gaur and cow), doctors had to amputate the victim’s leg below his thigh.

Baharudin Hassan, 51, narrated the incident when met at his house in Kampung Jiboi Baru here yesterday.

He said the incident occurred while he was replacing the damaged fence at the animal’s pen.

There were two female and a male selembu in the pen and Roslan Mansor, an assistant veterinary officer, was trying to lure the animals to the adjacent pen.

Baharudin said the facility also housed other animals like deer, camels, Balinese cows, squirrels and birds. – Bernama

Selembu.

noun - Selembu is a cross between a gaur (Bos gaurus hubbacki) and a cow.

To know more about selembu, go here.

Can or may?

2006-01-29T18:00:00.000+08:00

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English:

Is there any difference between may and can when used to request or express permission, as in may/can I ask you a few questions?

It is still widely held that using can for permission is somehow incorrect, and that it should be reserved for expressions denoting capability, as in can you swim? Although this use of can is not regarded as incorrect in standard English, there is a clear difference in formality between the two verbs: may is, generally speaking, a more polite way of asking for something and is the better choice in more formal contexts.

Do you speak English?

2006-01-21T05:25:00.000+08:00

Funny video. A bit cruel though.

Basic Grammar - Pronouns

2006-01-13T05:46:00.000+08:00

Pronoun

noun a word that can function as a noun phrase used by itself and that refers either to the participants in the discourse (e.g. I, you) or to someone or something mentioned elsewhere in the discourse (e.g. she, it, this).

Cold or cool?

2006-01-08T03:38:00.000+08:00

Cold

adjective of or at a low or relatively low temperature, especially when compared with the human body

Cool

adjective of or at a low or relatively low temperature

Enmity

2006-01-04T15:18:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Enmity

noun (pl. -ies) [mass noun] the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something

Egalitarian

2005-12-23T03:49:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Egalitarian

adjective of, relating to, or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities

Taken from this article:
The egalitarian nature of the internet is under threat, argues internet law professor Michael Geist.

Pliant

2005-12-21T21:00:00.000+08:00

Words for the day are: Pliant and pliable.

Pliant

adjective pliable

Taken from this article:
The gel allows the battery to be extremely pliant, with a thickness of 300 microns.

Pliable

adjective easily bent; flexible

Venerate

2005-12-20T16:35:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Venerate

verb [with obj.] (often be venerated) regard with great respect

Taken from this article:
We should not dismiss Wikipedia, but we should not venerate it either.

Portent

2005-12-20T01:48:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Portent

noun a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen

Taken from this article:
Parker's effort was merely a portent of what was to come two minutes before the interval when Owen struck again to re-establish their lead.

Bereavement

2005-12-18T14:44:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Bereavement

Derivation from the verb bereave.

verb (be bereaved) be deprived of a close relation or friend through their death

Taken from this article:
Benitez to stay in Japan despite bereavement.

Loquacious

2005-12-17T20:40:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Loquacious

adjective talkative.

Taken from this article:
Mr Durkan has been characterised by his political enemies as lacking charisma in a political environment dominated by more than its fair share of media personalities.

But he can hold his own in any political debate and despite being rather loquacious is also widely regarded for his one-liners. As finance minister, he would quip: "Does my budget look big in this?"

Assiduous

2005-12-16T14:34:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Assiduous

adjective showing great care and perseverance

Taken from this article:
Mr Grieve was praised for his "skilled and assiduous performances in the House of Commons where he has continued all year to harass the government and call ministers to account".

Curdle

2005-12-15T14:35:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Curdle

verb separate or cause to separate into curds or lumps

e.g. The sauce may curdle if you add too much lemon juice.

Tortuous

2005-12-14T14:23:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Tortuous

adjective full of twists and turns

Taken from this article:
Liverpool fans endured a tortuous route to the final, with only a late goal from Gerrard against Olympiakos in the group stages keeping them in the tournament with Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea all seen off along the way.

Purview

2005-12-13T13:22:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Purview

noun [in sing.] the scope of the influence or concerns of something

Taken from this article:
e.g. It said it should be able to implement the justice system as it involved religious matters which come under state purview.

Cold

2005-12-12T14:27:00.000+08:00

Today is: COLD

adjective - of or at a low or relatively low temperature, especially when compared with the human body

Example:
It is a very cold day today.

Repudiate

2005-12-11T09:14:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Repudiate

verb [with obj.] refuse to accept or be associated with

Taken from this article.
e.g. Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel on Thursday called the remarks "an outrageous gaffe, which I want to repudiate in the sharpest manner", while in Washington for a meeting with George W. Bush.

Week 3

2005-12-10T14:40:00.000+08:00

Words learnt last week:

contrite, decrepit, ominous, assuage, wan , dissemble, sunny

Allay

2005-12-10T14:38:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Allay

verb [with obj.] diminish or put at rest (fear, suspicion, or worry)

e.g. Experts are trying to allay fears that salmon and fish in the South are under threat from a foreign fish species.

Sunny

2005-12-09T14:13:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Sunny

adjective (of a person or their temperament) cheery and bright
adjective (sunnier, sunniest) bright with sunlight
adjective (of a place) receiving much sunlight

e.g. (of a person or their temperament) He seems to be quite sunny today.

Dissemble

2005-12-08T14:28:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Dissemble

verb [no obj.] conceal one's true motives, feelings, or beliefs

dissemblance noun
dissembler noun

e.g. In my experience, Cameron never gave a straight answer when dissemblance was a plausible alternative.

verb [with obj.] disguise or conceal (a feeling or intention)

e.g. He smiled, dissembling his true emotion.

Wan

2005-12-07T09:53:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Wan

adjective (of a person's complexion or appearance) pale and giving the impression of illness or exhaustion

e.g. I would do anything to bring a smile to her wan face.

Assuage

2005-12-06T14:28:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Assuage

verb [with obj.] make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense

e.g. Home Affairs Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid and his 14-member delegation arrived yesterday morning on a goodwill tour to assuage China’s concern of the recent spate of incidents involving Chinese nationals in Malaysia.

Ominous

2005-12-05T14:40:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Ominous

adjective giving the worrying impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threateningly inauspicious

e.g. Celtic charged back to the top of the Premier League and went 17 points clear of arch rivals Rangers after staging an ominous second-half comeback to win 3-1 at Aberdeen.

Decrepit

2005-12-04T07:30:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Decrepit

1. adjective (of a person) elderly and infirm
2. adjective worn out or ruined because of age or neglect

e.g. Business chiefs and Nigerian political leaders have rescued a landmark deal aimed at replacing the country's scarce and decrepit phone line coverage.

Contrite

2005-12-03T14:06:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Contrite

adjective feeling or expressing remorse at the recognition that one has done wrong

e.g. "It was out of frustration, a folly that he is deeply contrite about. He has never tried to escape the consequences."

Week 2

2005-12-03T14:04:00.000+08:00

Words learnt last week:

nascent, xenophobia, supercilious, harangue, fawn, destitute, remorse

Remorse

2005-12-02T13:09:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Remorse

noun [mass noun] deep regret or guilt for a wrong committed

e.g. A former US church leader who confessed to the notorious "Bind, Torture, Kill" (BTK) serial murders in Kansas has expressed remorse at the deaths.

Destitute

2005-12-01T11:00:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Destitute

adjective without the basic necessities of life

e.g. The fighting caused several million people to become destitute refugees.

Fawn

2005-11-30T13:08:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Fawn

verb [no obj.] (of a person) give a servile display of exaggerated flattery or affection, typically in order to gain favour or advantage.

e.g. As soon as they realised that Wahab is a Dato', they began to fawn over him unashamedly.

Author's note: I think 'to fawn' is 'bodek' in Malay. I am not sure though.

Harangue

2005-11-29T14:16:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Harangue

noun a lengthy and aggressive speech.
e.g. His long harangue was punctuated with emotions that were meant to tug at the voters’ heartstrings.

verb [with obj.] lecture (someone) at length in an aggressive and critical manner
e.g. I was harangued by my lecturer for being too stupid for his class.

Supercilious

2005-11-28T13:34:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: supercilious

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English

adjective behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others

Example:
Malaysians are not racists, they just do not like supercilious people.

Xenophobia

2005-11-27T14:01:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Xenophobia

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English

noun - intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.

Example:
A british columnist living in Malaysia claims that there is a wide and ugly sense of racism and xenophobia amongst Malaysians. If he actually stops looking down on them maybe he would see things differently.

Derivatives:
xenophobe
noun- someone who is suffering from xenophobia
xenophobic
adjective

Nascent

2005-11-26T14:39:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Nascent

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary of English:

adjective - (especially of a process or organization) just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential.

Example:
Mr Cohen has reportedly raised $8.75m in financing to turn the BitTorrent technology and the associated website into a commercial download service. The deal is widely seen as giving that nascent service official approval.

Week 1

2005-11-26T14:35:00.000+08:00

Words learnt last week:

sapodilla, julienne, inauspicious, apathetic, grasp the nettle, culpable, curmudgeon

Curmudgeon

2005-11-25T16:10:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Curmudgeon

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary

noun a bad-tempered or surly person

Even the greatest curmudgeon can't deny the brief thrill on opening the bedroom curtains and seeing the drabness of a British winter transformed into a pearly whiteness.

Culpable

2005-11-24T12:18:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: Culpable

Taken from The New Oxford Dictionary:

adjective - deserving blame

Example:
Liverpool missed a catalogue of chances with both strikers Peter Crouch and Fernando Morientes culpable.

Grasp the nettle

2005-11-23T13:46:00.000+08:00

Idiom for the day: Grasp the nettle

Taken from The Oxford New English Dictionary:

idiom to tackle a difficulty boldly.

Explanation:
A nettle stings when touched lightly, but not when grasped firmly.

Example:
The government must grasp the nettle and make some tough decisions.

Apathetic

2005-11-22T11:24:00.000+08:00

Word for the day is: apathetic

adjective - showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern

Originated from the noun apathy; lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern

Example:
Pompey's apathetic display lent weight to the adage that a team always loses after its boss is named manager of the month.