Boo(n/m) or Bane?

Taken from: <http://www.philippinecollegian.org/9gag-reflex/>

Last week, I picked up an issue of the "Philippine Collegian", also known as "Kule". An article about 9gag, a comedy website, caught my attention. The article was discussing the pros and cons of the website, and eventually led to this sentence, "It is still too early to tell whether the social implications of the website are truly a boom or a bane." I was pretty sure "boom" should have been "boon". In my lexicon, "boom" is the sound of an explosion while "boon" means "blessing". ("Bane", by the way, informally means "a curse" or something bad in general.) When I got home, I searched the internet to see which of the two words was correct. It got me even more confused. Whenever I searched "boom or bane", the search engine showed results of "boon or bane". I was right; "boon or bane" is being used, but that doesn't necessarily mean that using "boom" is incorrect. I'm not sure whether the search engine is correcting me or that both "boom" and "boon" are accepted. My googling skills have failed me. Maybe Ma'am or you, my classmates, could help me with this.

PS. Sorry for the long post; this is really bothering me. :P

APIR!

I was watching a noon time show (Happy Yipee Yehey) with a friend and during that segment, they were playing a word game where the contestants were given clues about the word and they were to identify the correct word being described. The word was first described as being a word used only in the Filipino language, which means that it has no English counterpart. Another clue was that is it usually done by friends and acquaintances. The last clue said that it involves clapping of hands.

APIR! It has no English counterpart. APPEAR does not mean the same thing though they both sound the same. Apir actually comes from the phrase "up here" which is said with the gesture of giving someone a high five. :)

-ANA MINELLE LAXAMANA

Study Effectively

Our exam is on Monday. We are certain that this exam will not be a piece of a cake, so we will surely have a hard time reviewing our lessons in English. I want to share with you a very helpful link that may help us to study effectively.
http://studenthacks.org/2007/10/12/study-effectively/

The 27th Letter

The ampersand represents the conjunction and. Before, I am fond of using this logogram (smallest meaningful unit of language) without knowing that there are rules on how to use it properly. I thought that it's just for the sake of writing and in shortcut form. In our thesis class, I finally learned that ampersand is used in the following cases:

• formal names of businesses
• addressing a couple in writing
• book and movie titles
• In APA style, the ampersand is used when citing sources

 

 Source

DO well and MAKE it work

Do and Make are two different words that seem to have the same meaning .This leads to misusage of the said words. There are cases where these verbs cannot be interchangeable. To learn more about this topic and for us to use them properly, both in speaking and writing, I decided to post a video link instead of an article. I hope we can comprehend more with this kind of learning tool.

http://www.engvid.com/english-grammar-do-make/

Another Signage

The first sentence in this signage has an error in the usage of linking verbs. It must be written in these ways:

* Unauthorized person is not allowed inside.
* Unauthorized people are not allowed inside.

Always remember to put a punctuation mark after the sentence.

The second sentence sounds awkward to hear; moreover, it should be rephrased.

* Always keep the door closed!

Avoid using the exclamation marks so much.

Anagrams

An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of the word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; for example orchestra can be rearranged into carthorse. Here are the links which contain some examples of anagrams.


http://www.anagramsite.com/

http://www.english-for-students.com/Complete-List-of-Anagrams.html

HYPHENS IN ADJECTIVES

The use of hyphens in compound adjectives is often confusing. A simple mistake of not remembering to put a hyphen between two adjectives can alter the message of the sentence. It is easy to determine a compound adjective if one of the adjectives is a number (four-bedroom house). However, it becomes difficult when numbers aren't involved. To learn when or when not to put hyphen between adjectives, visit this site.http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/hyphens_in_compound_adjectives.htm

   

ISN'T ENGLISH A FUNNY LANGUAGE ?

Hello. I saw this post somewhere before. I decided to share it with you. It shows some irony of the English Language. Hope you'll enjoy it.

ISN'T ENGLISH A FUNNY LANGUAGE ?

There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple...
Is cheese the plural of choose?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital?
Ship by truck, and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So, one moose, 2 meese?
One index, two indices?
How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?
When a house burns up, it burns down.
You fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm clock goes off by going on.
When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in France.

How can 'slim chance and a fat chance' be the same, while ' wise man and a wise guy' are opposites?

Now i know why i failed in english.

It's not my fault but the silly language doesn't quite know whether it's coming or going.

Credits to: John_jeni

A Short Review

I want to share this link that tells about the basic grammatical terms that we should have leaned in school. This is just a short review for the upcoming exam that we are going to take on January 23,2012 at 9am. I would be glad if you take a peek on the link below for it discusses defined English terms with examples quoted from different novels and stories. Hope this helps on our review. Good luck and God bless!

Click here:
http://grammar.about.com/od/terms/a/topgramterms.htm

Speaking a Language

Spoken language is a wonderfully complex mystery. Human’s can’t seem to live without it, yet the majority of us cannot speak to each other with 100% accuracy. Even within a language and even within a dialect, people are so lazy and sloppy with their words that misunderstandings are more the rule than the exception.

Pangrams

Good day classmates! I am searching of something to post a while ago. Luckily, I came across with this weird word called pangrams. According to rinkwords.com, pangram is a sentence that contains all letters of the alphabet. Amazing, right?

Here are some examples:

1. The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.

2. The public was amazed to view the quickness and dexterity of the juggler.

3. A mad boxer shot a quick, gloved jab to the jaw of his dizzy opponent.

More examples and explanations about pangrams:

http://www.rinkworks.com/words/pangrams.shtml

Marriage :)

Marriage, also known as the Sacrament of Matrimony, is a very crucial stage in our life. A person should be stable, willing, faithful, and ready for all sorts of responsibilities, so that he or she could be qualified to get married. Yes, it is a fact that anybody can get married to whoever they want to, but they should be aware of the consequences of their decisions. Married life is not as simple as it may look like. It is like riding a roller coaster for the rest of your life.

Let us not hurry ourselves to be committed. Let us all enjoy life and just go with the flow. Let us be faithful to God that He will not let us fall into the wrong place.

Bouillabaisse--What the heck, right?

Sitting on a chair, you're reading and suddenly you wonder, "What in the world does that word mean?" Bouillabaisse: I got this word from a novel, and the author used context clues (“Lots of shrimp and crab legs…”) to help readers understand it. What would you use to identify bouillabaisse?

gong hee fot choy!

Since Chinese New Year is near, I want to share a site that contains a lot of Chinese traditions and beliefs like Chinese zodiac, etc. (on side links). When did Chinese New Year started? There is a folklore about the monster Nian that was associated with the celebration of Chinese New Year. 

The Western Zhou Dynasty, Han Dynasty and Song Dynasty had different forms of celebrating Chinese New Year.

Reference:

When is Chinese New Year 2012?. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.123chinesenewyear.com/2012.html

Clause vs Phrase

Phrase and clause are quite confusing because they are somehow related to each other. Phrase is group of words that has either no subject or no predicate while clause is group of words that has subject and predicate.

To have more knowledge about phrase and clause, you can visit this link:
http://www.sonnerct.com/English_Rules/LR06_Clauses.htm
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/phrases.htm

KYLE PASCUAL

If versus Whether

I found these entertaining pictures on a social networking site about if and whether. They have their differences and similarities. I hope you will enjoy reading.

"If" is used in conditional constructions.

Example: Tell me if you're going to use the laptop tomorrow.

"Whether" is used in expressing an alternative or possibility.

Example" Tell me whether you're going to use the laptop tomorrow.

3. Whether is preferred when a question-word clause is a subject or complement.

Example: Whether we can eat this cake is another option. (Subject)

The question is whether he will do his homework. (Complement)

"Whether" and "if" can be used to introduce indirect questions and yes/no questions.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/if-versus-whether.aspx