A little and a few

1. He has little chance of getting the train.
2. There is little water in the pot.
3. Few people attended the meeting.

What do we understand from these statements?
Many of us wrongly understand the usage of “little” and “few”.
We feel that:
(1) He has a chance of getting the train if he goes fast.
(2)You can get some water in the pot.
(3) Some people attended the meeting.
But these are incorrect. The first sentence means:
He does not have a chance to get the train
The second one means
There is no water in the pot.
The third one means
Nobody attended the meeting.

To get the meaning what we presume, we must say “a little” and “a few”.
Little and few when put alone give us negative meaning.

The little, very little, the few, very few etc. also are used for positive meaning depending on the situation.

Look at the following worked-out sentences to get it clear:


1. A little learning is a dangerous thing.
2. I've had a few drinks but I'm not drunk.
3. You won't change her mind so there is little use in trying (No use).
4. Michael Cane was born in South London, not the East End. Few people know that (Nobody knows).
5. I need a little help. I'm a bit stuck.
6. There weren't many people there. Just a few
7. Will you have a few strawberries? They're very good.
8. Will you have a little more ice-cream? We might as well finish it.
9. There's little point in continuing. We're all too tired (No point).
10. Could you spare me a few minutes?
11. I don't know if we can fit the cupboard into our house. There's little space as it is (No space).
12. All this kitten needs is a little love and attention.
13. There's little I can do about this. It's outside my control (Nothing).
14. Martin is a good student. He has few problems with English (No problems).
15. Generally Peter is good but sometimes he has a few problems.
16. I need to borrow a few dollars. Can you help me out?
17. We made good time because there was little traffic on the road so early in the morning (No traffic).
18. I think Coventry will win the match but few people agree with me (No one).
19. I can only speak a few words of Chinese.
20. I'm going to give you a little advice. Study harder!

Untenable double standards

Look at the statements below:
The experiment was conducted during three seasons viz., summer, rainy and winter.
Mr. Smith was allowed to use the living space, table, chair etc.
He reported to his office, i.e., Meteorological station.
It was a discovery by Darwin et al.
He is overtly superstitious. E.g., he doesn’t see towards west in first 10 minutes after getting up in the morning.

There is an interesting point to note in the above statements. If some one wants to read these sentences, many would read:
viz. as namely
etc. as et cetera,
i.e., as that is,
et al as et al,
e.g, as example or at the most for example.

Why is this double standard? Some expressions are read as written while some others are read in altogether different way probably their meanings
Can we write a word and read it in a different way?
Let us examine.
1. When viz is written why do some of us read it as namely? Of course, this abbreviation means namely. But viz. stands for videlicet and it means namely. It is better we read it videlicet.
2. Etc. stands for et cetera and it means and so on, and so forth, and that, and all that, and the like and and the rest. We read it as et cetera.
3. i.e. stands for id est and it means that is. (id = that; est= is). Better we read it as id est.
4. et al means and others or and the rest. We read it as et al.
5. E.g., is usually mis-read as example or for example. E.g actually stands for exempli gratia and it means for example.

Full proof technique and full scape paper

We have been working hard to come out with a full proof technique to check the oil spill.
I was wondering what the usage full proof means. Why do many people use it this way instead of the correct foolproof? Probably there is an impression that people go for fully proof technique without really understanding the meaning.

A technique or technology or a machine can be foolproof and not full proof.
Fool proof is proof against human misuse or error or impervious to human incompetence.
Example: a foolproof detonator, a foolproof safety lock, a foolproof scheme.
This is just as in bullet proof vehicle which means the vehicle is proof against bullets.
We can also use this word as a verb.
Example: Foolproof this appliance.

Similar is the usage “Full scape paper”
I fail to understand the source of such a usage.
Many refer to writing paper which is a little longer than A4 sheet as full scape.
It is better if this is corrected as foolscap.
A foolscap paper is a full sheet of 13.5 in × 17 inches (342.9 mm × 431.8 mm).
The reason of such usage may be that this size is enough to make a clown’s (fool’s) cap.
Better we go with foolscap paper and foolproof techniques.

If I would have left early, I would have ……..

You must be wondering what the sentence is all about.
What could the sentence “If I would have left early, I would have reached the party in time” mean?
The meaning is clear, I believe.
A situation which did not really happen or a condition which would have been better if happened is expressed here.
But the meaning alone does not make the sentence correct.
We understand the meaning quite clearly when someone says “I does not know” though we realize, it is wrong to say so.
The usage we are talking about is quite useful in our language and we use it often.
They are conditional clauses and it is improper to repeat “would have” in the same sentence. It can be expressed either by using the connecting conjunction “if” or without that.
So, the sentence needs to be corrected as:
Had I left early, I would have reached the party.
Or
If I had left early, I would have reached the party.

Let us look at another example:

Had I not seen with my own eyes, I would not have believed it.
Or
If I had not seen with my own eyes, I would not have believed it.

I would love to have the readers’ feed back on this.

I have read that book yesterday

Is there anything wrong in this sentence?
This is a simple sentence and tense used is present perfect.
In fact, I asked a few of my friends who are fairly good in English conversation and writing. They found nothing wrong in the usage.
But there’s something wrong here.
While using present perfect tense (have read), the sentence could be
I have already read that book or
I have read that book
It can never be “I have read that book yesterday.”
The past time adverb (yesterday, last week etc.) cannot be placed along with present perfect tense.
If the time needs to be specified, past simple is the option.
Example:
I read that book yesterday.
I met him last week.
I have already seen him. (I have seen him last week –incorrect)
We haven’t seen Tom for a long time - Correct (for a long time is not a past time adverb)
Past simple and present perfect are two different ways in English to talk about an event in the past.
The past simple suggests “then” or “at that time”.
The present perfect suggests “up to now” or “before now”
Hope these two usages are clear.

Does @ mean at the rate of?

We have heard many people reading out the email address. aksharrif@yahoo.com is read as akshariff at the rate of yahoo.com.
It is very peculiar to expand the symbol@ as at the rate of.
We hear this mainly in this part of the world.
@ needs to be read as at. It is meaningful because the unique email id akshariff is located at the server yahoo.com
Remember one thing: @ symbol IS NOT exclusively for email addresses. Long time before all of us were born, in fact, even way before our fathers started having wet dreams, the @ symbol was used in commerce and yes, it already meant "at" back then.It was used to give the price of goods in relation to the quantity of that particular good.
For example:
1 Washer Machine @ $53.00 ea. = $53.00(one washer machine at $53.00 each)
3 Hamburgers @ 5¢ = 15¢(three burgers at five cents each)
4 oranges @ 3¢ each = 12¢(four oranges at three cents each)

A clarification was sought when an author wrote in his research paper that silkworms were fed with mulberry leaves @ 15 kg per 400 worms whether @ meant at or something else.
Globally, @ is read as at, not at the rate of.
Let us follow this.

The antenna of cockroach is longer than silk moth

Today let us examine the error of comparison.
Someone who knows English well or a native English speaking student will never say “The antenna of cockroach is longer than silk moth.”
Don’t you find anything funny in this? There is a big error in this sentence. The error is due to wrong comparison. The speaker wanted to compare the antenna of cockroach with the antenna of silk moth but compared the antenna of the cockroach with the silk moth.
I see a lot of similar comparisons in research papers and essays.
The sentence needs a correction. “The antenna of cockroach is longer than that of silk moth.”
The idea is clear, the meaning is clear and the sentence is grammatically correct.
When we try comparisons, we must bear the following in mind:
1. The comparison must sound right.
2. We can compare only things that are logically correct.
3. We can compare only things that are grammatically correct.

Look at the following sentences:
"The population of Tokyo is more than Seoul."
This may look alright. Read and reread, you can spot the error.
The population of Tokyo is more than that of Seoul. The comparison is between the populations of two cities.
The roads of new Delhi is better than Bangalore – incorrect.
In this sentence the roads of New Delhi is compared with Bangalore and not with the roads of Bangalore.
It must be rewritten as “The roads of new Delhi is better than that of Bangalore”
“William’s story is much better than Stuart” must be corrected as “William’s story is much better than Stuart’s”

Next time, when you venture a comparison, check whether you did it right.

I request you kindly to look into …

An officer enters the Director’s room.
Before the officer could wish the director,
The Director: How do you do
The officer: I am fine, thank you sir.
Dir: Have you finished the weighment?
Off: Yes sir. Sir, I request you kindly to look into my leave application.
Dir: Sure, in a day or two.

This is a brief but funny dialogue.
We can spot three most common and ubiquitous errors in this dialogue.
1. When someone look at us and say “hello, how do you do”, the spontaneous answer is “I am fine, how about you?” as done by the officer to the Director.
This is really a pity.
“How do you do” is not a sentence equivalent to “How are you?”
This is only a greeting just like “good morning”.
So, when somebody says “how do you do” we must reciprocate by saying “how do you do” not “I am fine”.
2.Have you finished the weighment?
What is this weighment? You don’t see this word anywhere but still people use it.
“Have you finished taking weight?” would be a better usage.
3.I request you kindly to look into
What a big difference a misplaced to can make. The officer needs to understand who he expects to be kind.
If the Director needs to be kind he should say/write, “I request you to kindly” Otherwise, the officer will become kind to the Director.
God’s grace, the dialogue ended quickly.

An unique user and a honest boy

A American gave an unique pen and a umbrella to an European who was studying in an University.
A hour later, he gave it to a honest friend.
Are you not feeling uncomfortable? You are bound to but many do not.
It is natural to feel uncomfortable because the articles a and an are mindlessly placed.
Some of us are not sure where to use or not to use a and an.
A and an are indefinite articles and they signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group.
I will discuss the use of articles in detail in one of the future posts.
Here, the intention is only the removal of doubts on using a and an.
The title of a book I recently saw was “An useful compendium……..”
This resulted from a blind learning that the article used must be an when the next noun/adjective begins with a vowel.
It is wrong to follow this blindly.
This following guideline will be a more reliable one to follow.
1.a + singular noun beginning with a consonant:
Examples: a boy; a car; a bike; a zoo; a dog
2.an + singular noun beginning with a vowel:
Examples: an elephant; an egg; an apple; an idiot; an orphan
3.a + singular noun beginning with a vowel but consonant sound:
Examples: a user (sounds like 'yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a consonant 'y' sound although started with a vowel u, so 'a' is used); a university; a unique idea, a European player.
4.an + singular noun beginning with a consonant but vowel sound:
Examples: an honest boy (sounds like onest,' i.e. begins with a vowel 'o' sound although started with a consonant h, so 'an' is used), an hour.
So, the choice of articles a or an is decided by the sound of the succeeding noun/adjective rather than based on whether the first alphabet is a vowel or a consonant.
Let us rewrite the introductory sentences now.
An American gave a unique pen and an umbrella to a European who was studying in a University.
An hour later, he gave it to an honest friend.

On the eve of Independence day……

“Our office will remain closed on 15th August 2007 on the eve of Independence day”
This holiday notice appeared in the local English newspaper on 14th August 2007 prompted me to discuss it here.
It has become a style for quite a few to use ‘on the eve of’ but wrongly with a different meaning attached to it.
It looks as if ‘on the eve of’ also means ‘on account of’, but it doesn’t.
'On the eve of' is an idiomatic expression and any idiom carries a meaning.
It is dangerous to use such expression if we are not sure about the meaning.
'On the eve of' any special/specific day or event means the evening before, the night before, the day before, the period before the special day or event
Generally speaking 'the eve of' means just prior to and never refers to the special day itself.
On the eve of the conference the main speaker backed out means the speaker backed out the night before the conference.
We usually refer to New Year eve and Christmas Eve as the day/night before New Year and Christmas, respectively.
On the contrary, when eve is written alone in general it means the evening.
A summer eve can thus mean a summer evening and a pleasant eve, a pleasant evening.
Now, imagine what impression the holiday notice would have created in many a mind.

H for Hetch, Honour and Hour

A for apple, b for ball…..
What do we place for H in this sequence?
H for hat or h for honey?
Well, to me that sounds quite normal.
Can I teach my child h for honour (with a ho in the beginning instead of o )?
If hearing is believing I believe I can.
Why do some of us pronounce H as hetch, honour as honor instead of onour and hour as hour instead of our?
Does H contain ‘he’ in it?
English says 'No'.
H, the eighth letter in English alphabet is pronounced worldwide as āch or aitch or eitch.
But I hear a geographical twist in the pronunciation and people belonging to certain areas pronouncing it as hetch. This may probably be to pack H with a punch and show the world “this is how our H is”. Wikipedia describes the pronunciation Haitch as typical Irish and Indian.

The older folks learned it that way. It may be hard for them to abruptly change. Let the younger lots go for the global one.

Please click on the link below and hear the standard pronunciation of H.

http://www.answers.com/topic/h-1

Your comment is my inspiration. Please click on comments to leave yours.

With reference to the subject cited above……

Many of us are adequately experienced officials. We have been working for years. We changed according to time. Nobody would have thought a few years ago that you would be today’s you.
But we have not changed a bit in the way we write. Official letters are materials of concern.
A colonial shade is seen although.
Please look at the way we write.
Respected sir,
Written by a select few to show that they are filled with respect and the respect would earn them a big fortune. 'Sir' is more than enough in an official letter.
Sub: Purchase of fertilizer -regarding
I never understood the relevance of 'regarding' in the subject ilne . We write only regarding the purchase in the text. "Purchase of fertilizer" on its own forms a decent subject.
With reference to the subject cited above………
Ninety-nine per cent is obsessed with this nauseating jargon which means nothing. We don’t write anything in the text of the letter which has no reference or relevance to the subject. We need to find a creative way to start our letter.
Kindly find enclosed herewith
Where else can we enclose?
"Please find enclosed" appears much better.
Have you not observed these tiny wonders?
Come on, please don’t turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to your surroundings.
The above views are purely personal.

I will be grateful if you would give me an early reply -What do you feel?

One of my most ardent and frequent readers, Dr. A.M Babu posted a query in the comment box. Which of the following usages is correct?
a) I will be grateful if you would give me an early reply.
b) I will be grateful if you will give me an early reply.
I am afraid, both these usages are incorrect. Let’s discuss it:
Sometimes we talk about things which are not facts, situations which are true in certain circumstances or under certain conditions. Usually these sentences contain if or a similar word. There are likely conditions, unlikely conditions, impossible conditions and general conditions.
1. Likely conditions: Things which are very likely to happen fall into this category. In this, two portions of the sentences are connected by if. While the tense of the first half is simple future the second half needs to be in present simple.
Examples:
a) The doctor will see you if you come at nine
b) We will miss the bus if we don’t hurry
c) They won’t come if the weather is bad.
So, Dr. Babu’s sentence must be “I willl be grateful if you give me an early reply” since this is a likely condition.
2. Unlikely condition: Things might happen, but probably not. Here the first half of the sentence will have would and the send half, past simple.
Examples:
a) She would pass if she worked harder
b) He wouldn’t be happy if he lived on his own
3. Impossible condition: Things might not happen at all. The first half of the sentence is formed with a conditional clause and the second half with past perfect.
Examples:
a) I would have told you if I had known myself.
b) We would have been there on time if we had caught the earlier bus.
4. General conditions: Both the half with present simple tense.
Examples:
a) Sara never apologizes if she is late
b) He gets angry if you argue with him
c) How long does milk keep if you don’t have a refrigerator?
(Courtesy: Blisset and Halgarten. UBSPD, London)

What do you feel about this post? Please post your comment by clicking on comments.

Welcome all the dignitaries on the dais……………….

If you attended any high or low profile formal meetings or functions recently you would have heard this from the mouth of the master of ceremony (MC) or the anchor or the compere.
Be it the MC or the president or any other speakers, majority of them pronounce dais as dayaas (da as cu in cup and yaa as ca in car). It is indeed a peculiar pronunciation and difficult to show here, but I am sure the readers would recognize it fairly easily. If someone who hears the word for the first time needs to scribble it down, he may spell it either dayas or at the most dias.
I often wonder how the word dais transformed to dayaas or dias by mispronunciation.
When I pointed out this to a few speakers this is the way they responded.
“The pronunciation may not be correct. But if I change, others my feel that I do not know how to pronounce it”
This is because, the mispronunciation of dais as dayaas has become so infamous that it would misguide people to believe that the original pronunciation is wrong.
This is how the phonetic symbol of the dais is shown:
da·is - dā'ĭs, dī'-
The pronunciation may most closely be written as dayes.
Dais is raised a platform, as in a lecture hall, for speakers or honored guests
Please hear the correct pronunciation of dais by clicking on the link below: http://www.answers.com/topic/dais

One of my friend or friends?

Many people with whom I converse with are in a dilemma.
Have we not heard people saying “One of my friend come to office by train”?
We have.
Is it correct to use “one of my friend come”?
Mmm, no. We may use “One of my friends comes to office by train.”
One of my friends because, the friend in question is one among many of my friends.
Comes because, one of my friends is singular.
Examples:
One of the buses has got very stylish seating arrangements.
One of the rooms has more ventilation than the others.
One of those gentlemen goes straight to the café from the office.
One of you can join me for the lunch.
One of our family members is flying to the USA today.

Alas! Could you able to?

Is it proper to ask/say,

"Could you able to get the information?"

"We could not able to get similar results."

To me, the above interrogation and the statement are absurd.

"I cannot able to help you in this mission."

"Ram can able to come with you."

These two sentences are absurd as well.

“Could” and “able to” cannot stand together.
Can and able to can also not stand together.

“Could you get the information?”
Or
“Were you able to get the information?” are fine.

Can you come with me?
Or
Are you able to come with me? are fine too.

Could equals was able to/were able to
Can equals am able/is able to/are able to.

So, when could/can is used, no more able to.

Please leave your comments after going through this.

Can we “prepone” a meeting?

Look at the confusion below:

The meeting was originally scheduled for Saturday but Saturday happens to be the birthday of the grand daughter of the President. The president has to leave for the World tour starting on Sunday. What could be done?

The meeting cannot be postponed at any cost.
Can it be preponed?
Many say it can be.
But I say it cannot be preponed, because there is no such word in English yet.
Many speakers and news readers prepone things on a regular basis.
Why can’t we prepone a program(me)?

All right, Let us examine a few such words which automatically form by adding the prefix, pre and the suffix, post.

Test: pretest, posttest
Mortem: premortem, postmortem
Paid : prepaid, post paid

Can we use similarly

Pone: prepone, postpone ?

We cannot. There is no verb by the word pone and so it is not correct to use prepone. Postpone is a single word and it is not derived by adding post to the preexisting verb pone.


So, we better advance the meeting instead of preponing it.

Please avoid using the word prepone.

Advance your program(me).

How do we pronounce Dengue?

I was literally baffled hearing people pronouncing dengue fever the different ways they liked it.
There were reasons why I heard it many a time in the last few days.
I came across people cutting across doctors, nurses, scientists, news readers, friends et al.
Dengue was heard as Dengoo, dingo, deng, dengu but very few pronounced it correctly. The correct one seemed dengi. Almost all english news channels pronouced it correctly over the past 2 years. Try the link and hear it.
www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/pron/D0130900.wav

Is there a Universal tag question?

For Indian English speakers, there seems to be one.
The following are striking erroneous examples.

He is very weak, isn’t it?
I have to attend to today’s work at any cost, isn’t it?
She may come here today, isn’t it?

Speakers tend to use ‘isn’t it’ for anything and everything making it a faulty universal tag question.

In fact, tag questions are wonderful tools to support the sentences, be it affirmative or negative. The tag questions don’t exist on their own but exist as a part of the sentences.


When using tag questions, watch for 4 points:

What tense is the verb?
What kind of verb is it? (to be/other verbs)
Is the sentence affirmative or negative?
Does the pronoun need to be changed?

Affirmative becomes Negative in the tag question

Jack's happy, isn't he? (he is -> isn't he?)
Susan's tired, isn't she? (she is -> isn't she?)
It's warm today, isn't it? (it is -> isn't it?)
They're busy, aren't they? (they are -> aren't they?)
You and I are fun people, aren't we? (we are -> aren't we?)
You're quiet, aren't you? (you are -> aren't you?)
I'm intelligent, aren't I? (I am -> aren't I?)

am I not ? (I am -> am I not?)

Choose the correct tag to finish the sentence.

1. Teresa is an accountant,___? aren't she?/ doesn't she? /isn't she?/ She isn't?

2. I am a good worker,___? I am?/ do I?/ amn't I? /aren't I?

3. Peirre is a grandfather,___? he isn't? /isn't he? /he is? /doesn't he?
4. Kate is a doctor, ___? she is? /she? /doesn't she? /isn't she?

5. Jacq and Ali are students, ___? aren't they?/ are they?/ isn't he? /isn't they?

6. Mario is at work right now, ___? aren't they?/ isn't he? /is he? /isn't she?

7. I'm here, ___? am I not? /am not I?/ amn't I? /aren't you?
8. You and I are busy now, ___? aren't I? /aren't we? /we aren't? /aren't you?
9. It's windy today, ___? am I? /aren't they?/ isn't it? /isn't he?

10. I am ready for the exercise, __?

isn't it?/don't I?/aren't you?/aren't I?

What do you feel about this? Please post your comments for interaction and further improvement.

Let's see the previous one

Sorry for not attending to the blog in time as promised. Nonetheless, we do make a discussion here on the previous post.

As mentioned, the tense in “This has been happening since last six months with greater frequency” is present perfect continuous tense.


In this sentence, the word ‘since’ should have been replaced with ‘for’. If ‘since’ is a must, then the sentence should read as “This has been happening since February this year with greater frequency” or so. Whenever we use ‘since’ in present perfect continuous tense, the time should represent the starting point and not the duration. If it is representing the duration then we can’t use since and in its place should ‘for’ should be used.

Let me quote three examples from Wren and Martin:

He has been sleeping for five hours.
They have been building the bridge for several months.
They have been playing since four O’ clock.

Any standard English grammar would clarify this.

Trivial errors of age

In my place, we have an overwhelmingly popular evening daily. This daily at times makes trivial language errors. In the group of people with whom I work, I often encounter the same errors and I realize that these are in fact geographical linguistic errors. These errors are not mountainous and it never paints the speaker ignorant. But a correction would surely make them much better. Look at the following sentence as appeared in the daily recently:

“This has been happening since last six months with greater frequency”.

As you are aware, the tense used is present perfect continuous. Don’t you find any error in this usage? A humble letter by the yours truly was duely acknowledged by the editor of the daily promising not to repeat the error. I would like to get the readers’ response first. I would post my explanations and corrections on 18th of July.

Hope to meet a lot of people in this page in a few days’ time.

SHARING ENGLISH TIPS

Dear friends, colleagues and students,

We are aware that Indians are not borne English speakers or writers. Many of us would like to excel in the English usage but many do not. Is there anything wrong if we try to improve our language? Not at all. Grammar and rich vocabulary alone don't make people good in English. Continuous usage and conversation ofcourse can make a sea change. This is a humble beginning. I invite all my friends to contribute to this blog. It could be anything in English language. The questions asked may be answered by someone. Let us try to be rich together.

I sometimes try to make catchy phrases that attract people. One such expression was "Let us fight amongst us but grow together". Let us hope this would work here.

In a group of people who work for the same cause, "collective growing is better than selective growing"

Though the colonial shadow haunts us even today, we can try to make a difference on our own.

Come on, Join me.

Pink Horizon