ABOUT FAST NOT FAST FOOD

AMAZING VOCABULARY---ABOUT FAST, NOT FAST FOOD


In my last post, I explained how newspapers can be useful in improving our vocabulary. Now I am going to take up something different. Every person has a family. The blood ties unite a person to the members of his/her family. Similarly words have also their family depending upon the criterion which we take to put them in a particular category. To me, it appears that the simplest criterion would be to group them on the basis of their meaning. I hope that it is clear.
Muslims all over the world are observing Ramadan. The most essential thing during this period is the observance of FAST. In this post, we can find out all words and phrases relating to fast. This word has another meaning. Fast bowling, running fast, drive fast etc.We are not concerned with that meaning. Nor are we interested in FAST FOOD. We are interested only in the act in which one does not take any food. Not eating food for a specified period of time for reasons of health or religion is a FAST. Rahim is observing a fast.  Note the usage carefully. We say,” one observes a fast" After the specified period is over, Rahim breaks his fast. What happens when one observes a fast?  Surely he becomes hungry. . The pangs of hunger would  torment him. When one is fasting, he abstains from food. Religious people and people conscious of their health abstain from  alcohol and drugs. Poor people have to face starvation.  When you have nothing to eat, necessarily, you have to starve.  There is famine  in Ethiopia and many people die of starvation.. My hostel management is very stingy and we practically survive on starvation diet..
Young girls obsessed with having a slim figure nearly starve and this condition is known as  anorexia nervosa. There is another condition where people keep on eating. That condition is known as bulimia nervosa. . For health reasons, peoplego on a diet.  My friend weighs 90kg.At present he is on a diet.  His diet regimen is very strict. I would not be able to observe such a regimen . While dieting , one has to be very careful. A body deprived of food develops craving . If you have no will power, you will end up with binge eating.. Many a time, I had indulged in binge eating. Thankfully  it was not binge drinking.  Going on a binge   is a great danger. All our efforts to reduce will be nullified.
Friends, the words/phrases in bold letters  are to be learnt by usual methods.Make these words and phrase a part of your active vocabulary.See you next time Wish you happy learning.

Sayee

NEWSPAPER as a tool for improving your vocabulary.

Between my last post and the present one, there is a lot of time gap.The reason is due to my preoccupation with all sorts of things.Better late than never.

Those who want to acquire an amazing vocabulary can use the daily newspaper effectively.Those in India can pick up one of the following newspapers.
1.The Hindu
2.The Times of India.
3.The Indian Express
4.The Hindustan Times

There are several other newspapers.I have not enumerated all of them.Any good paper will do.Glance the headlines of each news item.This will not take much of your time.It is quite possible that& you may find some words whose meanings you do not know.Let me illustrate it for the benefit of learners.I get "The Times of India,Bangalore Edition.Now I have with me the paper dated 25th July 2011.
I am going through the headlines.Let me pick up a few for learning the meanings of tricky words.
1.BJP MULLS EASING BSY OUT.
2,TONGUES WAG AND TAILS TOO.
3.CENTRE,STATE SQUABBLE AS SR.JEAN PACKS HER BAGS.
4.RUSH OF STUDENTS FROM NORTH ABATES.
5.MYSORE CHOSEN FOR LPG SUBSIDY TRIAL.
From the above five headlines, I am picking up the following words.MULL,WAG,SQUABBLE,ABATE,SUBSIDY.
After picking up the tricky words, I take out my Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. This dictionary,in my view is the best one for all learners and to me it is also indispensable.
MULL This word is a verb.It means spending time thinking carefully about a plan or proposal before taking a decision.This verb is used with the preposition "over".I need some time to mull over your proposal to invest money in real estate.The synonym for mull over is CONSIDER.
WAG; The dictionary has given three entries against this word uses as verb.This word can be used as a noun also.There is also a mention about an idiom with words TAIL,TONGUE and WAG.What is that idiom? I refer to the entry TAIL.I find a nice idiom,"The tail is wagging the dog."; The idiom with the word TONGUE IS "set tongues wagging".The usual meaning of the word WAG is the movement of the tail of a dog.Any dog has the habit of moving its tail from side to side.The dog wags the tail.The tail can not wag the dog.But idiomatically the expression "the tail is wagging the dog" is used to mean that something unimportant influences or controls something important.Suppose a junior minister makes an important statement ignoring the prime minister,we say that the tail is wagging the dog.Hope it is clear.If something makes people talk or gossip about somebody, we say tongues wag.When we speak, there is surely a movement of tongue.The word wag is idiomatically used here.
As a noun, wag means a person who enjoys making jokes.But it is an old fashioned usage.
ABATE; this is a verb.It means to become less strong or to make something less strong.The storm showed no signs of abating.Steps are to be taken to abate pollution.The above two sentences are given in the dictionary.The word,  "ABATEMENT' is used as noun.
SUBSIDY This is word used in economics. The actual cost of one LPG cylinder is Rs800.But the same is supplied to consumers at Rs400.The difference of Rs 400 is the subsidy which is paid by the government.The dictionary explains this well.

SQUABBLE; Arguing about something noisily is the meaning of SQUABBLE.

I have just illustrated one method of improving your vocabulary in a conscious manner.Please keep a notebook and note all such difficult words.The number of new words which you acquire depends on your thirst for knowledge.There is no hard and fast rule.If you feel that this is utterly boring, then just don't bother.You may do something else which interests you.

I shall continue the tips in my next post.
HAPPY LEARNING!

SAYEE
BANGALORE








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FRIENDLY SUGGESTIONS

My intention in creating this blog is to help the learners of English by giving them useful tips to develop their vocabulary to an amazing level.A good vocabulary is a veritable asset.With a fairly large vocabulary,one has a better choice of words to express thoughts accurately.

Suppose you know the word"ANIMAL" and do not know the word "LEOPARD",you can describe a leopard as an animal only.To that extent,your expression suffers from inaccuracy.Hope you got my point.

English has a very rich vocabulary.Due to historical reasons,it has assimilated words from several languages.With a stock of 1000 basic words, one can manage normal life and even carry on some conversation.But if your ambition is to reach higher levels of success in your profession,a very good vocabulary is a must.I am saying all these from my own experience of thirty three years of civil service in India.As a member of the customs,excise and service tax appellate tribunal, I authored more than 4000 judgements .Surely, my vocabulary facilitated my task.

As a member of a language learning site,"livemocha",I helped very many learners in improving their English language skills.They are from various parts of the world.Quite a lot of them work very hard to master English.Their enthusiasm for learning  impressed me greatly.Hence I decided that I would utilize my spare time in giving useful tips.
This is just an introduction.My next post will deal with the subject.

HAPPY LEARNING ,MY FRIENDS.