Vocab Recap

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!

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?

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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

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.

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

Example:
I caught 300 fish today.

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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.

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

Allah SWT knows best.

Complaisant

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.

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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

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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

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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?

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?

Funny video. A bit cruel though.

Basic Grammar - Pronouns

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?

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

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

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

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.

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Pliable

adjective easily bent; flexible

Venerate

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

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

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.