Spoonerisms

Thursday, July 4, 2013

William Archibald Spooner used to make funny verbal slips which later came to be known as ‘Spoonerisms.’

Spooner's Spoonerisms

Fighting a liar                          Lighting a fire

Tons of soil                            Sons of toil

Our queer old Dean               Our dear old Queen

You've tasted two worms      You've wasted two terms

Our shoving leopard              Our loving shepherd

Is the bean dizzy?                   Is the Dean busy?

Some of my friends have already given good examples. Here are some more for you to enjoy.

·       It is pouring with rain. (It is roaring with pain.)

·       Tease my ears (Ease my tears)

·       Go and shake a tower ( Go and take a shower)

·       Chipping the flannel ( Flipping the channels)

·       Chewing the doors (Doing the chores)

·       Trim your snow tail (Trim your toe nails)

·       Plaster man (Master plan)

While talking about spoonerisms, I am reminded of the question my daughter asked me when she was three or four. ‘Why is a ‘butterfly’ called so? Is it made of butter?’ I couldn’t give her aconvincing reply and drew her attention to something more interesting.  However, after many years, I got a convincing though not an authentic explanation for this. These insects flutter by. When the tongue slips and the consonants are interchanged, ‘flutter by’ becomes ‘butter fly’. If any of you have a more logical explanation, please let me know.

Srikanth Tamraparni wanted me to explain the difference in the use of ‘Until’ and ‘till.’

Common Errors in English-3

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Common Errors in English-3
29th June

Common Errors in English-3

Use of singular nouns after 'One of'

Expressions such as 

'He is one of my best friend' is quite common. 
Actually, it should have been 'one of my best friends'.

The error occurs because the speaker is misled by the word 'one'.

But, if we have to take 'one' of something, there should be at least two. If there are two fruits, you may take one. If there is only one, how can you take one of it?

It is wrong to say: She is one of the greatest singer.
The correct expression is ‘She is one of the greatest singers’.

That reminds me of another common error usually found in leave letters ( especially, those written by school going children). If you are submitting the leave letter after availing leave, you should not write, ‘Please grant me leave for ….. days.’ How can anyone grant leave after you have already taken it?

It is always better to submit the leave letter before going on leave. In that case, the expression, ‘Please grant me leave for ….. days.’, is correct. If by any chance, due to some reason, it is not possible, then the letter should contain the request, ‘Please treat my absenceas leave.’ ( i.e., please pretend as if I have got permission from you earlier, though I have not actually done so.’

* What is spoonerism?

Common Errors in English -2

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Common Errors in English -2

28th June
Common Errors in English -2

‘A few’ and ‘A little’

I have seen advertisements that say, ‘Few seats available; rush’. What the advertiser means is , ‘A few seats’. When ‘A’ is added before ‘few’, it gets a positive meaning- 'ஒரு சில'/'कुछ '. But without 'A', 'few' means almost nil.

We can say, 
'He is an introvert; he has few friends.'
What we mean is, he has hardly any friends.

When we make a positive statement, we can say,
'He has a few good friends; he need not worry.

In the same way, 'A little' has a positive meaning.

'I will make tea for you. There is a little milk.'

But when the milk is so little that one cannot make tea, one can say,
'Sorry. I can't make tea. There is little milk left.

P.S. I am very glad to receive many correct answers for , ‘Who is a lollipop lady?’

Question for today: ‘What are Kangaroo words?’

Reflexive and Emphatic pronouns

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Reflexive pronouns and emphatic pronouns look alike. They either end in –self, as in the singular form, or –selves as in theplural form.

The singular reflexive/ emphatic pronouns are:

Myself

Yourself

Himself, herself, itself

Plural reflexive pronouns include:

Ourselves

Yourselves

Themselves

Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause.

E.g.,

He fell down and hurt himself.

I e-mailed myself a copy of the article.

Kumar blames himself .

If we write without ‘self’, the pronouns will not refer back to the doer of the action. They will refer to somebody else.

E.g.,

He hurt me.

I e-mailed you a copy of the article.

Kumar blames her.

Emphatic pronouns

When reflexive pronouns are used to put emphasis on a particular noun they are called emphatic pronouns.

E.g.,

She herself told me this.

I finished the job myself.

We ourselves cooked dinner.

* The emphatic pronouns cannot be used as subjects. It is therefore wrong to say:

Shekhar and myself went there.

I invited herself to tea.

The correct form will be:

Shekhar and I went there.

I invited her to tea.

Difference between reflective and emphatic pronouns:

A pronoun is a reflexive one if the action of the subject reflectsupon the doer.

E.g.,

He cut himself. (Reflexive: here the subject and object refer to the same person.)

Emphatic pronouns, on the other hand, are used to just emphasize the action of the subject.

E.g.,

He himself cut the cake. ( He cut the cake-not anybody else.)

I spoke to the principal myself. (Emphatic)

But,

You must blame yourself for the loss. (Reflexive – the subject and the object are the same).

* An emphatic pronoun can be removed from the sentence and the core meaning would not be affected.

E.g.,

I myself opened the door.

I opened the door.

A reflexive pronoun, on the other hand, is indispensable. The sentence wouldn’t make complete sense if you remove the reflexive pronoun.

E.g.,

She cut herself.

If you remove herself, what remains, will not make sense.

She cut…… what?

·       Some use ‘itself’ along with the pronouns in order to give emphasis.

E.g.,

You  itself teach me.

He itself wants to go there.

But that is not the way. It should be:

You yourself teach me.

He himself wants to go there.

                                                          ***

It is high time…. / It is time….

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

There is a confusion in the use of ‘It is high time’ and ‘It is time’The former is used when we wish to state that  something should have been done long back. It is already a bit late.

So, ‘high time’ is always followed by the past tense form of the verb.

E.g.,

It is high time you started preparing for the examinations. ( You should have started long back; start at least now.)

It is high time Anu took her responsibilities seriously.

On the other hand,

‘It is time to’  is used to indicate that it is the right time to do something.

E.g.,

It is time to wind up the meeting.

It is time to pack our things.

It is time to start cooking. 

Possible and probable

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Possibility:

·       Possible – means-it has the potential or the power. It refers to what can be done, what can occur or what can be true.

E.g.,

Will it be possible for you to come and see me tomorrow? ( Can you come and see me tomorrow?)

·       Probable refers to what is likely to be done, to occur, or to be true.

*When we say something is probable, we are more confident about its happening, than when we say something is possible.

·       We also use could, might and may to show that something is possible in the future, but not certain.

E.g.,

We may go to a movie tomorrow.

They might buy that house.

If we don’t hurry, we could miss the train.

Probability:

·       We use must / should  to show that we are sure that something is true and we have reasons for our belief:

E.g.,

It must be a good movie. The reviews are good.

He should know. He was there when the accident occurred.

·       We use must have/ should have  for the past:

E.g.,

She must have passed the examination. She looks quite happy.

It's nearly eleven o'clock. They should have arrived  by now.

Could have, will have, would have, should have +past participle

·       Could have  is used when we want to indicate that there was apossibility for something to happen, but it did not happen.

E.g.,

I could have studied better. ( But I did not.)

You could have attended the wedding. ( But you did not.)

·       Will have is used when we are looking back from a point in time,  when something will have happened.

E.g.,

Suresh will have reached home by now.

The over-bridge work will have been completed by 2014.

·       Would have  is used as the past tense of  will have.

E.g.,

I knew that my sister would have finished cooking by 1 p.m.

I did not want to go to my brother’s house at this time. He would have gone to sleep.

·       Would have  is also used for past conditionals.

E.g.,

If you had studied better, you would have scored higher marks.( You did not study; you did not get the marks).

If she had started earlier, she would not have missed the train. ( She started late and missed the train.)

Note:

Some people wrongly use would have instead of had.

If you would have asked me, I would have given you the money.

It should be…..

If you had asked me, I would have given you the money.

·       Should is used to indicate that doing something is a good idea.

E.g.,

You should buy this book. It is very useful.

Imagine that you did not buy the book. When you went to the shop the next day to buy it, it had been sold out. What do you say, then?

I should have bought the book yesterday.

More examples:

You should have listened to my advice.

We should have booked the tickets earlier.

( *Some more will follow. I don’t want to give too much in one go.)