ABOOTTY OVINNAGATH's Posts (47)

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THRICE

Even today you will see people who use THRICE in their English. You should avoid using THRICE because it is an old-fashioned word now. The English now use THREE TIMES instead of THRICE.At the same time you can use TWICE.
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CONFLICTING PROVERBS

• A close friend can become a close enemy. / A friend's eye is a good mirror.• Actions speak louder than words. / The pen is mightier than the sword.• Knowledge is power. / Ignorance is bliss.• A silent man is a wise one. / A man without words is a man without thoughts.• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. / Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.• Clothes make the man. / Don't judge a book by its cover.• Many hands make light work. / Toomany cooks spoil the broth.• Absence makes the heart grow fonder. / Out of sight, out of mind.• What is good for the goose is good for the gander. / One man's meat is another man's poison.• Patience is a virtue. / Opportunity knocks but once.• Silence is golden. / The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
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PHILE WORDS

ACROPHILE: a lover of mountainsAEROPHILATELIST: one who collects airmail stampsANGLOPHILE: a lover of England and/or the EnglishBIBLIOPHILE: a lover of booksCARTOPHILY: the collecting of cigarette cardsCUMYXAPHILY: the collecting ofmatchboxesDISCOPHILY: the collecting of gramophone recordsHIPPOPHILE: a lover of horsesPERIDROMOPHILY: the collecting of bus and railway ticketsPHILANTHROPE: a lover of mankindSTEGOPHILY: a lover of climbing buildingsZOOPHILIST: a lover of animals
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LAKH and CRORE

The people outside India and Pakistan are unfamiliar with the words LAKH and CRORE.In India, LAKH is used in place of 'one hundred thousand' and CRORE in place of 'ten million'.In India, one lakh is written as 1,00,000 and one crore as 1,00,00,000.In other countries, one lakh is written as 100,000 and one CRORE as 10,000,000.
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BIODATA

The people of India use such words, and grammar that are unfamiliar to the people of Britain and America. The particular English used by Indians is known as Indian English.The Oxford University Press has already published a dictionary named COMMON INDIAN WORDS IN ENGLISH. But even this dictionary does not contain the word BIODATA, which is a very common word used by Indians. At the same time the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary records the word BIODATA , labelling it as Indian English.We, Indians, use BIODATA in place of the British CV (curriculum vitae) and the American RESUME.
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What will you call the teacher who teaches you English - English teacher or teacher of English?

You may say that both are correct. When you say so, I definitely side with you. But while teacher of English creates no ambiguity, English teacher is ambiguous. An English teacher may either be a teacher who teaches English or a teacher who is an Englishman or woman.

You should always try to avoid the uses of ambiguous words.

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In India, especially in the Indian State of Kerala, students of Malayalam medium schools address their male teachers with SIR and their female teachers with TEACHER. SIR contains respect while TEACHER does not contain any respect. Students ofEnglish medium schools usually address their female teachers with MISS. This is the vocative used by the English to address the female teachers.In our country a TEACHER is a woman and SIR is a man. They do not bother to think that 'a person who teaches is a teacher'. The person may be male or female. TEACHER is a non-sexist word like DOCTOR, ENGINEER, STUDENT.
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RESPECTED SIR

In India, a great number of people use RESPECTED SIR in their letters and applications on the popular misconception that RESPECTED adds strength to the word SIR.The word SIR is used only to show respect. Then the addition of RESPECTED is superfluous. The English never uses RESPECTED SIR.But you can use RESPECTED TEACHER because the word TEACHER contains no respect.
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BLACK MONEY

In India the phrases black money and white money are widely used to mean 'illegally earned money' and 'legally earned money' respectively. If you look up these phrases in dictionaries, you will not see them in any of them because such phrases do not exist in real English. The word black and white collocate with tea and coffee (we can say black tea or white tea) but they do not collocate with money

Likewisewise, Indians drink strong tea and light teaStrong tea is used in real English as strong collocates with tea but light tea is not used in real English as light does not collocate with tea. What Indians call light tea is known as weak tea in Britain and America. 

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BIBLICAL SENSE

The word biblical means 'relating to the Bible' or 'in the Bible'. But if you know a girl or a woman in the biblical sense, it means that you have had sex with her. Remember that the idiom know someone in the biblical sense means 'to have had sex with someone'. You can also use way in place of sense.

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SHOTGUN MARRIAGE

There are several types of marriage, one of them being a shotgun marriage. Have you heard of such a word?

A wedding into which one or both partners are coerced, usually because the woman is pregnant is called a shotgun marriage or shotgun wedding.

This is an informal word. 

The father of the girl who became pregnant out of wedlock might threaten the man who was responsible for her pregnancy into marrying her by saying that he (father) would shoot him (the man responsible) to death unless he married her. From this the word might have originated.

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SUICIDE

Years back when I was walking along a road in Kannur Town (Kannur is a district in Kerala State, India), I heard a roadside seller of books say "All of you know that the act of self-killing is called suicide, but do you know what a self-killer is caller? I am sure you dunno. Never mind. Here's a book that teaches you such words."

Yes, every one of you know that killing oneself is called suicide, but what is the word for a killer who kills himself or herself?

It is also suicide. Yes, this word has two meanings. One is the common 'self-killing' and the other is the not so common 'self-killer'.

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HEADWEIGHT

In India, especially in Kerala (a state of India), people use the word headweight to mean 'arrogance'. But in real English, (in British English or American English) you will not hear or see such a word. Even in dictionaries you will not see this word. This word was coined by some Keralite by word-for-word translation of the Malayalam word (Malayalam is the native tongue of Kerala) thalakanam. In Malayalam thalakanam means 'arrogance'. Thala means 'head' and kanam means 'weight'.

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COLLOCATIONS DICTIONARY

You know what STRONG TEA is. The tea that is not strong is called LIGHT TEA in India, especially in Kerala. But they do not know that the word LIGHT does not collocate with TEA. You know that WEAK is the opposite of STRONG. The same WEAK actually collocates with TEA. Yes, you can say WEAK TEA, not LIGHT TEA.

From ordinary dictionaries you will not get information about collocations. To learn which word should be used with which word, you must depend on collocations dictionary. The best one of this genre is OXFORD COLLOCATIONS DICTIONARY.

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LET ME

Recently I read in a book written by a Professor of English that the question tag for Let me read the letter is shall I? I would like to know whether any Englishman agrees with this. What I have learnt is that will you? should be used with the above sentence.

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ON PLATFORM

In India trains come to a stop on the platform. You can hear the announcement like this: Train No. ...... Parasuram Express from Mangalore to Trivandrum will shortly arrive on platform number one. But in England and America trains arrive at the platform. What about your country?

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