Confusing Words

PERISHABLE / PERISHING

Perishable: liable to die or perish quickly.

e.g. Fresh vegetables are perishable if you don't put them in the refrigerator.

Perishing: causing suffering.

e.g. Negative thinking may cause perishing emotions and thoughts.

SEDATIVE / SEDENTARY

Sedative: calming or soothing.

e.g. Without her sedative medicine, she could not go to sleep.

Sedentary: accustomed to sitting; physically inactive.

e.g His sedentary work -- sitting in front of the computer -- took a toll on his health.

e.g. Most seniors have a sedentary lifestyle as they continue to age.

FRAGILE / FRAIL

Fragile: delicate, easily broken.

e.g. This piece of antique is fragile; please handle with care.

Frail: weak in health; without strong support.

e.g. He looks pale and frail.

e.g. The Senator received frail support from his party.

PERIODIC / PERIODICAL

Periodic: occurring again and again.

e.g. The singer has never really retired with periodic appearance on TV.

Periodical: published at regular intervals.

e.g. This is a periodical magazine -- published once a month.

   

REMOVABLE / REMOVED

Removable: can be dismissed or removed.

e.g. This is a removable position, not a permanent one.

Removed: distant, remote, separate.

 e.g. He is my removed relative.

IMPAIR / REPAIR

Impair: weaken or repair.

e.g. Spending too much time on the computer may impair your vision.

Repair: fix

e.g. Eye exercises can repair your vision

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Some Common Colloquial Expressions

Bone idle: very lazy.

e.g. She's bone idle: she never does any household chore.

Are you with me?: understand or agree with me.

e.g. I've been explaining this for an hour. Are you with me?

Hook on to: attach oneself to.

e.g. Don't hook on to your computer all day.

.

Bang out: reveal.

e.g. If you go into politics, you must be prepared to let all your secrets bang out.

Not on your life!: definitely not.

e.g. "Do you think I should call the police?" "With your past records, not on your life!"

Hook it: depart immediately.

e.g. Come on, hook it; our parents will be back soon.

Walk: disappear.

e.g. I don't know how and where those documents had walked

Go under: fail.

e.g. I am sorry to say that all your proposals have gone under.

Fork out: pay

e.g. Well, everybody has to fork out $50 for the farewell present to the boss.

Look here: emphasizing a point.

e.g. "Look here, I can't help you right now; I'm cooking our dinner."

e.g. "Look here, it was impolite to talk to your parents like that."

Better than a slap in the eye: okay, acceptable.

e.g. Not all the goals were accomplished. Well, at least the project was completed on time; it's better than a slap in the eye.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

American Idioms

Act one’s age: behave maturely

e.g. Stop behaving like a teenager! Act your age.

Play the field: date many different people at the same time

e.g. He wanted to play the field while he was still young.

Plead/take the Fifth (the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution): not to incriminate oneself

e.g. After consulting with his lawyer, he decided to take the Fifth.

Call someone on the carpet: scold or reprimand

e.g. If you late for work one more time, the manager will call you on the carpet.

Full of crap: talking nonsense all the time

e.g. I don’t like your friend; he’s full of crap.

Lead someone astray: cause someone to do something wrong or illegal

e.g. If you are always in the company of lawbreakers, you  may be easily be led astray.

Pass the hat: collect money for

e.g. He is always passing the hat for something.

Pop the question: propose to marry

e.g. Now that you’ve got the ring; when are you going to pop the question?

No can do: impossible

e.g. He asked me for more money. I told him no can do.

Bag your face: shut up!

e.g. You and your loud mouth! Go and bag your face!

One’s days are numbered: about to die or to be dismissed

e.g. The manager doesn’t like her.  I would say her days are numbered.

Occur to someone: come to mind

e.g. It never occurred to me that I would fail my driving test.

Live beyond one’s means: spend more than one can earn

e.g. You are in debt because you are living beyond your means.

Pain in the neck: annoyance

e.g. You are pain in the neck, always complaining about this and that.

Over the hump: overcome the most difficult part

e.g. We are now over the hump; the rest may not be that difficult.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Learn Some Colloquial Expressions

Dead from the neck upwards: stupid.

e.g. Don’t follow his example; he’s dead from the neck upwards.

In for it: likely to have trouble.

e.g. If you don't listen to my advice, you're in for it.

Easy on the eye: good looking.

e.g. I say, your girlfriend is easy on the eye.

Act your age: behave yourself according to your age.

e.g. You’re almost an adult. Come on, act your age, and stop behaving like a spoiled brat!

Go: attempt.

e.g. Have a go at doing this on your own.

Easy mark: a likely victim.

e.g. If you are so unsuspecting, you may become an easy mark for swindlers.

Bazillion: a great number of.

e.g. The national debt is now in bazillion dollars, and the Congress needs to do something about that.

No way: not at all.

e.g. “Are you going to give him a hand?” “No way; he’ll be on his own.”

Are you with me?: understand or agree with me.

e.g. I've been explaining this to you for an hour. Are you with me?

Beat: broke, no money.

e.g. Without a job, we are beat, no copper and no bread.

Chip on one’s shoulder: a grudge against.

e.g. She still has a chip on her shoulder: your infidelity some years ago. 

Ace someone out: win out over someone.

e.g. I plan to ace him out in the first round of the competition.

Ask me another: I don't know.

e.g. "Does your daughter want a baby?" "Ask me another!"

No two ways about it: no other alternative.

e.g. The man had to file for bankruptcy; no two ways about it. 

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Learn Some American Idioms

Trump up: make up something untrue

e.g. The witness trumped up an excuse why he lied previously.

After all: in spite of everything

e.g. She didn’t get a good score; after all, it was her first attempt

Late in life: in old age

e.g. It was only late in life that he became a famous writer.

Poke one’s nose into something: interfere with

e.g. I don’t like the way you poke your nose into my affairs.

Run in the family: a characteristic in all members of a family

e.g. Longevity runs in the family: they all live to a ripe old age.

Above all: most importantly

e.g. Above all, you must have a valid visa if you wish to continue to stay in the United States.

Have it coming: deserve what one gets

e.g. Failure was unavoidable. What you did had it coming.

A little bird told me: somehow I knew

e.g. “How did you know what I did?” “Well, a little bird told me.”

Tie up: engage or occupy in doing something

e.g. He was tied up at the meeting, and could not come to the phone.

All at sea: confused

e.g. The lawyer was all at sea when he read the two conflicting reports of the incident.

As flat as a pancake: very flat

e.g. You left front wheel tires is as flat as a pancake.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Confusing Words

PUNDIT / PUNT

Pundit: a scholar; a learned person.

e.g. My neighbor is a pundit he seems to know everything.

Punt: a flat-bottomed boar, moved by a long pole.

e.g. In Venice, people move around in punts.

LIGHT / LIGHTEN

Light: (as a verb) come across; happen to find.

e.g. I lighted upon a very interesting book in the library.

Lighten (as a verb) brighten up; make something less heavy.

e.g. Can you lighten the dark corridor?

e.g. Your financial support lightened my burden.

 NEURAL / NEUTRAL

Neural: having to do with brain cells or nervous system.

e.g. My brother is a neural scientist.

Neutral: not helping or taking any side.

e.g. He remained neutral in this controversial issue.

CONTRARY / CONTRAST

Contrary: the exact opposite

e.g. You think I did not help him. On the contrary, I did everything I could to help him.

Contrast: comparison.

e.g. Contrast may make you see things very differently

PORTEND / PORTENT

Portend: foretell.

e.g. These minor quakes might portend a big earthquake in the near future.

Portent: a sign or warning; a marvelous thing in the future.

e.g. A bright future is your portent.

CONTRIBUTION / CONTRITION

Contribution: donation; an act of helping and supporting.

e.g. Thank you for your contribution to the project.

Contrition: sincere sorrow for sin.

e.g. The convicted criminal showed contrition when he apologized to the family of the victim.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Rules of Grammar

Learning a new language is never easy, especially if you want to master it. In some languages, there is no grammar; the written language is simply a reflection of the spoken language; in others, there are grammar rules to follow, and the English language is one of them.

Knowing the rules of grammar does not mean that you will become a good writer, but it will certainly help you avoid bad writing. In addition, knowing the essentials of grammar may give you the following advantages:

• Avoiding grammatical errors

• Providing clarity to your writing

• Giving credibility to your readers

Knowing grammatical terms is essential for effective writing because these grammatical terms provide a common language for discussing and talking about what is good and effective writing.

Knowing grammar basics means knowing the eight parts of speech in English words and writing:

Nouns

A noun names a person, place, or thing.

A noun can be singular (referring to only one) or plural (referring to more than one). Generally, you make a singular noun plural by adding an “s”; however, some nouns do not follow this general rule:

e.g. enemy becomes enemies

e.g. goose becomes geese

e.g. hero becomes heroes

e.g. sheep remains sheep

Some nouns are countable, e.g. books, while some are not, e.g. hunger.

A noun can be possessive (indicating ownership).

e.g. Tom and Jerry’s house (NOT Tom’s and Jerry’s house)

e.g. Jesus’ sayings (NOT Jesus’s sayings)

e.g. the bottom of the page (NOT the page’s bottom)

e.g. the characters of Star Wars (NOT Star Wars’ characters)

From the above, a possessive noun is applicable only to a person, and not a thing.

A noun MUST AGREE with a verb in a sentence, that is, a singular noun requiring a singular verb, and a plural noun requiring a plural verb. A singular verb in the present tense generally needs an “s”; of course, there are exceptions, such as the following:

e.g. The data indicate (NOT indicates) that there is a strong demand for this type of goods. (data is the plural form of datum.)

e.g. The criteria for selection are based (NOT is) on the recommendations of the trustees. (criteria is plural)

e.g. Human rights is an important issue in this country. (singular: human rights treated as a single unit and thus requiring a singular verb)

e.g. Human rights are ignored in many parts of the world. (plural: human rights considered individual rights of people)

e.g. Four thousand dollars is a lot of money to me. (singular: a monetary unit)

A proper noun names a specific person, place, or event, e.g. Tom Cruise, Chicago, and World War I.

A proper noun is always capitalized, e.g. The Great Depression (BUT an economic depression).

EFFECTIVE WRITING MADE SIMPLE

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau