Thursday, July 31, 2014

Disinterested vs. Uninterested


Disinterested means impartial; free of bias and self-interest; without a stake in; not influenced by considerations of personal advantage.
  • Sam as a banker offered his disinterested advise to his client.
  • A judge is always under an obligation to give a disinterested judgement.
Uninterested means not interested; indifferent.
  • Since she discovered skating, she is uninterested in her schoolwork.
  • Sarah was always uninterested in the gossips involving the famous stars.
Usage Note: In traditional english usage, disinterested cannot be used in the same way as uninterested. But despite critical disapproval, disinterested has come to be widely used by many educated writers to mean uninterested. Despite its resuscitation, this usage is widely considered an error.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Imply vs. Infer


Imply means to suggest; to indicate indirectly; to involve by logical necessity; to hint at.


When a speaker or sentence implies something, it means that it is conveyed or suggested without being stated outright: When the minister said that he would not rule out a tax increase, he implied (not inferred) that some taxes might be raised.
  • Shania did not actually say that there was going to be a delay but she implied it
  • The size of Sam's house implies he is doing all right.
Infer is sometimes confused with imply

Infer means to deduce; to figure out; to conclude from evidence or premises; surmise; to lead to as a consequence; to reason from circumstance.

Inference is the activity performed by a reader or a interpreter in drawing conclusions that are not explicit in what is said: When the minister said that he would not rule out a tax increase, we inferred that he had been consulting with his new advisers, since his old advisers were in favour of tax reductions.
  • I inferred from Sam's terse reply that I had offended him.
  • From the annual financial reports economists inferred the company was about to go bankrupt.


Thursday, July 17, 2014

What is a Noun?


A noun is a word used as a name.

It tells about what you are talking about.

Everything around us including me and you have a name. There are names for persons, places, things, animals, qualities, actions, and measures of time or quantity. 

A noun is a word that names something.

Examples:

  • Persons:         student-friend-Neol-Phil-Englishman
  • Animals:        cat-dog-rat-rabbit-lion
  • Places:           England-home-office-hotel-camp
  • Things:          laptop-purse-table-pen-book
  • Substances:   wood-air-food-water-diamond
  • Qualities:       honesty-kindness-beauty-cleanliness-simplicity
  • Actions:         reading-singing-playing-cooking-climbing
  • Measures:      year-pound-second-inch-month
Underlined words in the sentences below are nouns.
  • Diamond is an expensive metal.  (Diamond is the name of a metal. Metal is the name of a substance)
  • The student is wearing his new uniform. (Student is the name given to the person who goes to school. Uniform is the name given to the clothes a student wears.)
  • Mango grows in India. (Mango is the name of a fruit. India is the name of a country located in Asia)
  • Honesty is the best policy. (Honesty is the name given to a quality. Policy is the guiding principle) Note: Honesty is not an adjective here.  
  • Swimming is a good exercise. (Swimming is the name of an action considered as an exercise. Exercise is name of an activity that requires physical exertion) Note: Swimming is not a verb here

Noun is a word used as a name of a person, place, thing, idea, or action.




Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Around vs. About


Around means encircling; in such a position as to encircle or surround.
About means approximately; nearly.

Do not use around when you mean approximately.
  • The chicken weighed around four pounds. (incorrect)
  • The chicken weighed about four pounds. (correct)
  • She tied a scarf about her neck. (incorrect)
  • She tied a scarf around her neck. (correct)


Idiom: Break Bread


Meaning and usage