Exceptional vs. Exceptionable
Exceptional = extraordinary, remarkable, unusual.
- Shaun is an exceptionally intelligent student.
- Such loans will be granted only in exceptional cases.
- Vaikom Vijayalakshmy is a gifted and exceptionally talented singer.
- He has a garden with exceptional beauty.
- Modifications in the original plan can be sanctioned only in exceptional cases.
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Exceptionable = objectionable, causing disapproval or offence.
- His recent writings on individual freedom are highly unpleasant and exceptionable.
- You should be careful not to seem exceptionable in your language and manners.
- Their exceptionable remarks may arouse religious sentiments and that may disrupt the otherwise calm social atmosphere.
Coma vs. comma
Coma = a prolonged state of deep unconsciousness caused ,especially by severe injury or illness.
- After the accident, she went into a coma.
- The road crash left him in a coma.
- He’s alive, but he’s been in a coma for a week.
- When she woke up from coma , but she couldn’t speak or recognize her own children.
- He was brought to hospital in a comatose state. ( comatose – (adjective)= in an unconscious state.
Comma = a punctuation mark (,).
- Johny, Sreekand, Abdulla , Venu, and Saju participated in the competition.
Prospectus vs. prospects
Prospectus = brochure; a document giving details of a college, school or business and its activities.
- You will find details of all our courses in the prospectus attached.
- A school or company prospectus.
Prospects = possibilities, future, scope.
- You should have better job prospects with a post graduate degree in Commerce.
- The manager held out bright prospects if I would accept the position.
- The accident darkened his prospects of becoming a good football player.
Related words:
Prospective = potential, probable, likely to be, with effect from future.
- You should make advertisements to attract prospective buyers.
- The government informed that benefits would be available with effect from a prospective date, and not from a past date as demanded by employees’ union.
Retrospective = (of laws, payments etc.) applying to the past, not restricted to the future.
- A retrospective wage increase.
- The benefits will be available to the staff with retrospective effect from last financial year.
Useful Idioms – part 3
(1) Make a name for oneself = become famous
- Balabhaskar made a name for himself as a talented violinist.
- By the time she was thirty Lagi Varkey made a name for herself as a successful Headmistress.
- By hard work and determination James made a name for himself and became the best trainer in Engineer’s Driving School.
(2) On one’s way up = rising to better and better position.
- John is definitely on his way up in the financial world.
- He started as a junior officer and worked his way up to become an AGM in the Bank.
- She quickly worked her way up to the position of a senior vice-president.
Pass away vs Pass out
Pass away= die ( a euphemistic or polite expression)
- He passed away by a massive heart attack at his house.
- He amassed a lot of wealth, but unfortunately he passed away even before he could enjoy a bit of it.
- His unexpected passing away last year left the poor family in great shock and tragedy.
- He is afraid he won’t be able to pass away peacefully because of his family problems.
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Pass out = (1) to become unconscious for a short time; faint.
- He was hit down by a bike and he passed out at the spot.
- In Delhi many people passed out from the heat wave.
- Several girls passed out and had to be carried off the field.
- (2) pass out (of) – leave a college etc having passed one’s examinations.
- Neethu Sunny passed out from Sahrdaya Engg College in the year 2010 and presently working as a Software Engineer in Cognizant.
- Tomi passed out from Federal College in the year 1978 and worked in Federal Bank for a couple of years and opted out to work as a Sergeant in Chicago Police.
Passing out ceremony /parade – a function especially for cadets who have completed their training.
Obsequious vs Obsequies
Obsequious = (adjective) polite in an unpleasant and insincere way from the hope of reward or advantage ; servile
- The obsequious servants competed among themselves to please the snobbish rich man.
- The sweeper is embarrassingly obsequious to the manager.
- They were served by obsequious waiters.
Obsequies = ( noun, pl) funeral ceremonies.
- They were ostentatiously solemnizing the obsequies of the departed monarch.
- A large congregation thronged to the Cathedral for the obsequies of the president.
- The murder victim’s father was the chief mourner at the obsequies.
Note the difference in pronunciation, spelling and the stress of the two words.( stress means to pronounce a word with greater energy)
Obsequious (adj) stress comes at the second syllable.
Obsequies (noun) stress comes at the first syllable.
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Useful Idioms – part 2
Make it = (1) Be able to be present at a particular event; to manage to arrive on time.
- We just made it in time for the wedding despite the unexpected harthal.
- I don’t know whether I will be able to make it to Kochi for the cricket match.
- I can’t make it to Chicago for the DCP meet.
- I’m sorry, I can’t make it on Tuesday.
- Can you make it on Wednesday?
- I can’t make it tomorrow.
(2) to succeed in a particular activity.
- Latha Mangeshkar made it in the music world when she was very young.
- Nivin Pauly has been able to make it as a hero in Malayalam films.
- Did he make it as an engineer?
- He did, and he has his uncle to thank for that.
- I’m sure she’ll make it as a nurse; she’s very caring.
How to avoid sexism and feminism in writing?
SEXISM = discrimination against women, especially the oppression of women by men.
FEMINISM = movement for recognition of the claims of women for rights(legal, political etc.) equal to those possessed by men.
In the past, when people referred to a member of a group containing both men and women( boys or girls) they used the pronoun he/him/his.
- A good doctor listens carefully to his patients.
Nowadays, many people feel that this usage is unfair to women. If you want to avoid the danger of seeming sexist, you can use one of the following alternatives.
(1) Use they/them/their to refer back to an indefinite pronoun (anyone, somebody etc).
- Anyone, who wants to join should give THEIR name to the secretary.
- The teacher who wants THEIR pupils to be punctual in all respects should be a good role model.
- Any parent, who wants THEIR children to grow up properly should guide them properly.
Some people object to this usage in formal styles, insisting, ‘they’ (plural) does not agree in number with ‘anyone’ (singular). But, this usage is nevertheless VERY COMMON. And in modern English it is MOST ACCEPTABLE.
(2) Make all the forms plural.
- Good doctors listen carefully to their patients.
- Those who want to join should give their names to the secretary.
(3) Design the sentence in such a way that a personal pronoun is not needed.
- Anyone who wants to go now may do so.
(4) Use ‘he or she’, ‘his or her’ etc.
- A good doctor listens carefully to his or her patients.
- Anyone, who wants to join should give his or her name to the secretary.
NOTE:- However, they are generally felt to produce an AWKWARD and UNNATURAL sentence. A personal advice from my side as a Professional Trainer, for the purpose of competitive examinations you may follow the item No.(4), But for all the practical purposes, you can safely use item No.(1). For years,( say 30 or 40 year) the major English dictionaries such as Oxford, Longman Dictionary, Collins Cobuild, Cambridge Dictionary etc follow the No.(1).
Difference -Mature vs Matured (as adjectives)
Mature(adjective) – fully grown or developed.
(NOTE:- when you are talking about people, the usual word is ‘MATURE’ (NOT matured)
- He’s a mature boy of sixteen ( Not matured).
- She’s a mature woman.
- He took a mature decision about the marriage of his daughter.
- He’s not mature enough to get married.
- Nehru was a mature political leader.
Mature(verb)
- He felt that he had grown up and matured very much.
- Boys mature more slowly than girls both physically and psychologically.
Mature(adjective-2)
- The whisky is kept here until it is matured/mature.
- Only mature/matured apples are collected for sale.
NOTE:- You can use mature OR matured when you are talking about things such as wine, cheese etc OTHER THAN PEOPLE.
Useful ACRONYMs
Some useful ACRONYMs related to educational pursuits and their shortest explanations.
ACRONYM = an abbreviation from the initial letters of the words.
- LPSA = Lower primary School Assistant.( LP teacher)
- UPSA= Upper Primary School Assistant.(UP teacher)
- HSA = High School Assistant.(High School teacher)
- HSST= Higher Secondary School Assistant.(Higher Secondary School teacher)
- CBSE= Central Board of Secondary education.
- GRE= Graduate Record Examinations. This is the gateway to higher studies in the US.
- CAT = Common Admission Test, the most popular examination for MBA admissions.
- CMAT = Common Management Admission Test, conducted by AICTE
- AICTE= All India Council for Technical Education.
- CLAT= Common Law Admission Test, conducted on rotation by 14 National Law Universities (NLUs)
- MAT= Management Aptitude Test.
- SAT= Scholastic Aptitude Test (originally), Scholastic Assessment Test (now).
- GMAT= Graduate Management Admission Test.
- SET= State Eligibility Test , for higher secondary and vocational higher secondary teacher, the applicant must possess a Master’s degree in the appropriate subjects with not less than 50% marks, and B.Ed degree in any relevant discipline.
- NET= National Eligibility Test, conducted on behalf of UGC, CBSE announces NET for the post of Assistant Professor or Junior Resource Fellowship (JRF)
- UGC= University Grant Commission.
- AIIMS= All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
- IELTS= International English Language Testing System, designed to assess the language ability of candidates who need to study or work where English is used as the language of communication.
- TOEFL= Test of English as Foreign Language, the most widely respected English language Test in the world- recognized by more than 9000 colleges, universities in more than 130 countries.