Some basics

I made this cheat sheet up, for a recent student who needed some help with the basics, even though she is a native English speaker!
It is likely to be a bit too simple for many of my readers, but it may nevertheless be useful. I hope so!
The first section, the rhyme about parts of speech comes from the book, 'I before e, except after c', a book of mnemonics, by Judy Parkinson.
Parts of speech - a way to remember...

Three little words you often see
Are articles: a, an and the

A noun's the name of anything,
As school or garden, toy or swing.

Adjectives tell the type of noun,
As: great, small, pretty, white or brown.

Verbs tell of something being done,
To read, write, count, sing, jump or run

How things are done, the adverbs tell
As: slowly, quickly, badly, well

Conjunctions join the words together
As: men or women, wind and weather.

The preposition stands before
a noun, as in or through a door.

The interjection shows surprise
As: “Oh how pretty!” “Ah, how wise!”

The whole are called the parts of speech
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.

What is a conjunction?
Conjunctions are words used to join together two independent clauses (parts of a sentence.) This FANBOYS memory hint helps if you want to remember them, the most important of which are 'and', 'or' and 'but':
FAN BOYS
For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
Commonly confused words with examples.
Part 1.
A. Aloud/Allowed.
Sarah decided that she would read the poem aloud so that she could hear the rhythm.
No skate-boarding allowed here!
Accept/except
“I can't accept that necklace as a gift! It's lovely but it's too expensive.
No skate-boarding allowed here except between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m.
Affect/effect
“His loud humming was affecting my ability to concentrate.”
“The sound of the falling rain had a calming effect, nearly putting me to sleep.”
B. Bought/brought.
Leon went to the supermarket today after work, and he bought eggs and butter so that he could make a chocolate cake.
When Sarah went to her sister's house-warming party, she brought a bottle of wine.
C.Cite/Site
When you write an essay you have to cite the books you have used for information.
This is the site where the new offices will be built.
Council/Councillor/Counsel/Counsellor
Sarah pays rates to the Auckland City Council.
Mrs Abernathy won the election, and is now a city councillor
When I counsel a student, I give her advice about her exams.
Fiona wanted to work as a therapist, a sex abuse counsellor.
E. Elicit/Illicit
To elicit, means to draw out information from someone. "Nora elicited examples of peoples' revolutions from her history atudents".
Illicit, means something is unlawful. "Mr Dawes was convicted of the illicit use of financial documents, by which he had stolen $60 0000".
F. Few/Less
Few is an adjective that means a small number, and is used about countable things: “This department has few employees”.
Less is used about uncountable objects. “If you eat less butter, and instead put hummus on your sandwiches, you will probably lose weight."
I. It's/its
“It's a shame that we cannot talk about its size”.
It's is short for it is, and its means something that belongs to it!
L.Lightening/lightning.
The storm was very loud and very close, I could tell because the lightning was folllowed almost immediately by a clap of thunder.
After the storm passed, the sky was lightening and I welcomed the sun.

There is of course, a Part 2 of the easily confused words list, as there are so many of these.

The Language of Weather

The language of weather.
“Everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it”
This is a quote that Americans attribute to Mark Twain, although of course he was not the person who said it and I cannot discover who did. However that is less important than a few other idioms and sayings that English uses about weather.
For instance, right now outside my house, “It's raining cats and dogs”. (Meanwhile any actual cats and dogs who live in the neighbourhood, are inside given half a chance!)
“Nice weather for ducks” people often say, although I am not really sure that real ducks like rain. I have never asked one, (who has?) but they never seem very happy to me.
We have various ways of expressing that we are (or that the weather is) cold, and here are some of them:
“It's brass monkeys out there!” (that expression originated from “it would freeze the balls off a brass monkey”, which may or not actually refer in turn, to a rack used to hold cannonballs on a sailing ship.)
“It's 'colder than a witch's tit”, or simply “it's freezing” show that we say 'it is' to refer to the weather.
What is the 'it' we mean? It's just the climate in which we are at the time. “it” can be sunny, cold, wet or cool.
We say “ the heavens open ” to talk about sudden, heavy rain - and my English cousin used to say “it's raining stair-rods” to say the same thing. There are those “cats and dogs' again!
Then there are the expressions that use different types of weather as metaphors or similes. Some
examples are:
(There is a ) cloud on the horizon - although at the moment, all is well, a problem or difficulty lies ahead and is becoming evident.
Face like thunder - someone with a 'face like thunder' looks extremely angry.
(To) keep one's head above water - means to have just enough money to live.
The lull before the storm - a period of calm before an expected flurry of activity or danger.
Rainy day - If you save something, especially money, for a rainy day, you save it for some possible problem or trouble in the future.
To be under the weather - means that someone is ill.
A storm is brewing - this refers to tensions between people or nations, and the belief of the speaker that something unpleasant is about to happen.
A storm in a teacup - someone is making much more of a situation than is necessary.
Make hay while the sun shines - take advantage of a favourable situation while you can.
I am snowed under - I have too much to do!
Sunny - someone who is sunny, has a very happy and pleasant manner.
(To) weather the storm - to survive a difficult situation.
There's more of course. Please ask about any weather-related idioms you come across, and as
always, add them to your vocabulary notebook.

Word building

Learning vocabulary and building words

You need to have a vocabulary notebook, in which you write all the new words you discover. These could be words that you read, or hear or that someone tells you. Rule up your notebook like this...
(Note these are examples.)
New word Part of speech Meaning Use in a sentence
Jellyfish Noun A small sea animal that
usually or often has a
dangerous sting.
When Peter went
diving in Australia he
thought that the
jellyfish were beautiful
but he avoided them
anyway
Beautify Verb To make something
(usually a house or
garden) look better
When Sarah and David
bought their new
house, Sarah bought
lots of new plants to
beautify her garden
Trustworthy Adjective Having the quality of
being worth trusting
Sarah has faith in her
accountant, she knows he
is trustworthy
Word building
Root word = trust (noun)
+
suffix
=
trustworthy (adjective)
+
prefix
=
untrustworthy (adjective)
+ another suffix
=
untrustworthiness (noun)
Now, add either a suffix or a prefix to the following words, to make a new word.
1 point for 1 new word, 2 points if you can think of another...
Question: can you add a prefix to a verb? Yes/No/Sometimes
1. __spoil_
2. peace___
3. danger___
4. risk_
5. __sure__

Infelicities revisited

The Queens English
Infelicities Revisited and Mistaken Meanings

03.09.2011

Yes, there are as always, more infelicities that I have had the displeasure of encountering on radio, television and in print of late. Today, I will also include words used by mistake - words that don't mean what the users evidently think they mean.
Obviously these mistaken meanings are innocent - no one uses the wrong word intentionally, do they? Sometimes though the result can be, ironically, apt.
The first mistaken meaning that springs to mind, was used by Ahmed Chalabi, in 2003. he was speaking on the BBC about his being installed as ruler of Iraq, following the ousting and death of Saddam Hussein.
“I shall be” he said “the nominal leader of the Iraqi people.” *
Almost certainly, he did not mean to say what he was in fact saying - that he would be the ruler in name only, and yet that is precisely what he became. He had lived in America for long enough to have known the English language very well - indeed, he spoke well, with the fluency of a native speaker. Interestingly he may well have known exactly what what he was saying... presciently or cynically.
The second mistaken meaning, is one I came across in an interesting and rather bad tempered book, about the mores of contemporary society, by an American professor of English literature. His mistake is a common American one - when he refers to a passage from the novel Jane Eyre, he calls Jane the titular character. The Collins Dictionary, first published 1902, but my edition 1985, defines titular as: “pertaining to title, in name only”. So we see that the word 'titular' has the same meaning as nominal! Jane is not the titular character of the novel Jane Eyre, she is the title character!
The most common infelicity I have heard recently is one I may have mentioned before, and it involves articles. As we all know, the definite article is 'the', and we say 'the' regardless of whether the noun following the article starts with a consonant or a vowel (a,e i o or u.) however the indefinite article, 'a' or 'an' differs depending on whether the following noun starts with a consonant or a vowel. We say 'a book' but we say 'an apple'. Recently, though I have heard people say “a apple” or the like - using 'a' before a word starting with a vowel. Try it and you'll see - it's neither natural nor easy! So why do people do it? I heard a radio reporter say in a news bulletin 'a extraordinary' (I didn't note what it was she was referring to). But what a tongue twister! The same reporter then mentioned, probably a statistic to do with unemployment or inflation - and she said “this leaped”. It ought to have been leapt! That brings me to the vexed question of irregular verbs - but that's for next time...
* I believe he might have meant "the nominated ruler", unless as I have said, he was more cynical and prescient than he seemed.

Studying in New Zealand

Queens English
Studying in New Zealand

This is something some of my readers will want to do, so here's some advice from me (as a teacher who has worked at half a dozen schools in Auckland).

First, get online and find out what city to go to. There are a number of things to take into account - not least, the cost of living. Auckland is pretty expensive, but the good thing about Auckland is that it's the biggest city in New Zealand, and as there are many overseas students here, the population is well used to seeing you all here.

Then choose your school. That's where my advice could come in handy for you. Choose one close to the city, and ideally, you will find accommodation in the city or nearby, which will save on travel costs. Many schools can organise a home stay for you, and one that I know of has a residence (dormitory) for students.

You will probably have to fight off recruiters for various schools who want to sign you up - but don't make a hasty decision. Look for a school which takes your pastoral needs as seriously as it does getting fees from you. Look for one which has a lot of students from your country, as it will no doubt surprise you how homesick you are. Look for a school which will be firm about putting you in at the right level - sometimes you're not ready for IELTS, and will only be wasting your money if you're in an IELTS class too soon.

Here are the names of some schools, and some comments:

Auckland English Academy
I have worked there, and it is with sadness that I recommend you avoid this school. Students have been put in classes at the wrong level, because the school is more interested in your fees than your future. Many (perhaps most) of the teachers are good, and care about your future, but management doesn't seem to, and that applies to the senior teacher as well.

F.I.S
The same remarks as for Auckland English Academy apply, as they do to Goldstar.

Whitireia International
Highly recommended. The staff are strict, but that is a good thing, and they really care about your future.
www.whitireia.ac.nz


AIS St Helens
Also recommended. AIS St Helens is in a suburb out from the city (although not far) and it has a dormitory for students, also it can organise home stays, so that's a worry off your mind. The local community is a friendly one, which is another advantage.
Www.ais.ac.nz

And to finish, a bonus - a remark about an idiom. How many meanings has the word stir? Many! As a noun, it has the figurative meaning of 'prison'... as a verb, it can mean to foment trouble, or to hasten progress in an endeavour.

That is the question

The Queens English
That is the Question
24th June 2011

“To be or not to be/That is the question” or so said Shakespeare's Hamlet. This quotation shows one of the uses of the word 'that' - as a determiner.
The question I will answer here, is: “When is the word 'that' used? When are 'which', 'who', 'whose' and 'this' used?
That is a pronoun, and here is a guide to using it.

1. That as a determiner .
The baby sits in his high chair. He is learning to talk, but he isn't there yet. He is ,looking at an open cupboard, and he wants something he can see on the bottom shelf. His mother asks him a question.
“What do you want? Do you want a biscuit? Which kind?”
“That!” he answers triumphantly. He's pointing. Unfortunately his mother still has to guess, as he could be pointing at any one of two or three different kinds...
So, “that” is being used as an answer to the question “which one?”. What Hamlet meant was, that his question was whether it was better to be (alive) or to not be (to be dead.)
However sometimes the answer to the question is not 'that one', but 'this one'. That is the word used
when we're talking about something distant, even if only by a metre, as far as an open kitchen cupboard is from a 10 month old baby in a high chair.
Another child is 5 years old. She's upset, and she's crying with frustration. Her mother comes into the living room, where the child was colouring in a picture her teacher had given her, of a farm yard.
The mother asks “What's the problem, Susan?”
“The dog took my pencil and she chewed it, and slobbered all over it!”
“Which pen?”
Susan holds up an orange colouring pencil. The end of it resembles a paintbrush.
“This one!”
That as a determiner (also this, who and which) are also used in relative clauses. Again, they answer the question - which woman, which house, which job are you talking about?
• The woman, who lives across the road from the school, is the principal.
• The house, which had been on the market since 2007, has finally been sold for $900,000!
• I left my job, in which I was a supermarket check out operator, when I decided to move to Wellington.
• One of my coffee cups, this red one here, got broken when I was out last night. Can any of you explain how that happened?

That, and which are never used to refer to people, but instead, to things and people, and usually animals (except sometimes pets). For people and for domestic animals as can be seen in the first example, 'who' must be
used.
• The sheep, which had been grazing on swampy land, were found to have foot rot, and could not be cured.
• The doctor, who had immigrated from Sri Lanka, had been working as a taxi driver until his qualifications were recognised and he joined the staff of our laboratory.
• I took my cat, who was coughing all day and all night, to see the vet.
You can see that the relative clause (the one between commas) can be removed, and still leave a complete sentence. Its only purpose is to clarify to the listener exactly what is being discussed.
There are rules about when to use 'that' and when to use 'which', but as these rules are somewhat
old-fashioned, I don't think they're important for you to know. But in case you do, visit this site:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/which.htm
which says...
“In the first one, the clause “that is painted pink” is a restrictive clause, because it limits the scope of the word “house”, indicating that the writer doesn’t mean any house, only the one that has been painted in that particular colour; if he takes that clause out, all that’s left is "The house has just been
sold": the reader no longer knows which house is being referred to and the sentence loses some crucial information. In the second example the clause is non-restrictive: the writer is giving additional information about a house he’s describing; the clause "which is painted pink" is here parenthetical — the writer is saying “by the way, the house is painted pink” as an additional bit of
information that’s not essential to the meaning and could be taken out”
and further,
“Older grammar books make two firm points about the difference between the two types of clause:
• Restrictive clauses are introduced by that and are not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.
• Non-restrictive clauses are introduced by which and must be separated by commas from the rest of the sentence to indicate parenthesis”

2. That as an intensifier.
This use is pretty informal, but it does exist. For instance, I used it this morning, when listening to the radio, and hearing an interview with a singer. Something she said made me exclaim
“Is she really that arrogant?”
You probably won't find that usage in grammar books, but you will hear people using it.

3. That used to introduce quoted speech.
"Lisa Algurri from Wellington Zoo, said that the penguin would be operated on tomorrow to see whether it had an obstruction in its stomach".
(This usage is not acceptable in American English, but then this blog is not about American English, so that's not a problem is it?)

Wordle is a great thing! Through a series of links sent by a friend, I discovered this tool, which creates 'Word Clouds', and I decided to see what they told me about my blog. So, here is one of them...


And for a bonus, the other -

So, what do we learn from that?
Well, the most prominent words in both of them are Use/Used, Example, Verb and know. Check it out!