Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Grammar: Grammar 101 -- SVOAC

I have this question about grammar from one of my students asking me what forms a correct sentence.

Now, you might think this is simple but in fact, it is something that even some teachers are confused about.

I will now give a very basic grammatical structure of a sentence for those of you who might also have this question in mind. However, examples will be at the simplest level and it will not cover all the sentence structures.

Are you ready?

Okay. First of all, you have to know what is 'subject', 'verb' and 'object', we call them S-V-O.

eg. I agree.
Subject is 'I', verb is 'agree', object doesn't exist in this sentence.



eg. I have a pen.
S is 'I', V is 'have', O is 'a pen'.

eg. I like lobsters.
Subject is 'I', verb is 'like', object is 'lobsters', pay attention that 'lobsters' is considered as one object only.

So basically, English is a S-V-O language. But there's more! And that is, 'adverbial' and 'complement', A-C.

Adverbial generally tells us more about a sentence or a verb, and complement has a wide definition, generally it is a word or a group of words which is/are necessary to complete the meaning.

And the basic order should be, S-V-O-A-C (with exceptions, of course).

eg. I enjoyed this party very much.
S is 'I', V is 'enjoyed', O is 'this party', A is 'very much', C doesn't exist in this sentence.

And the next example is one of my favourites, from the movie Tropic Thunder,

eg. "You m-m-m-mmm-m-make me hap~py!"
(okay, should be 'you make me happy')

S is 'You', V is 'make', O is 'me',  A doesn't exist in this sentence, C is 'happy'.

Last example is this,

eg. I was washing my dishes in the kitchen at 6pm last night.
S is 'I', V is 'was washing', O is 'my dishes', 1st A is 'in the kitchen', 2nd A is 'last night'.




Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverbial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complement_(linguistics)
Posted by at 18:53 2 comments Labels:

Monday, 13 September 2010

Business Writing: "Please find attached sth..." or "Attached is sth"?

A couple of days ago, I received a very good question from a student asking me about business email writing. After getting permission from them, I am now going to share this with you.

First of all, we need to understand that "Time is money" in the business world and so, we do not need to use big words or long sentences to say what we want, which is why if we can use fewer words in business email, we'll do just that. No one wants to read long and tedious emails, they will just throw them away.

Image from bizzyness.com

Therefore,
"Please find attached my report for your reference" (8 words) 
(find + 2 objects)
can be simplified to
"Attached is my report for your reference." (7 words).

But if your concern is which one is more polite and more suitable for writing to big clients, important partners or bosses, then of course, choose the first one, because it has the word "please".

Now, how about 
"Attached please find my report for your reference." 

Well, you can ask yourself this question, who should find my report in this case?

HW: Do you know who?


Vocabulary:
tedious -- (adj) boring


Resources:
Posted by at 16:12 5 comments Labels: , ,

Friday, 10 September 2010

Event: Lionel Richie - All Night Long In Hong Kong 2010



Hong Kong
Image from No Expectations


Hello everybody, it's Friday again. Time for a little break and have something relaxing to shed those weights from your aching shoulders. How about some classic songs for the ears?

Do you know how is Lionel Richie? He's coming to Hong Kong to hold a concert on the 28th September at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wanchai !!!

Don't know, take a look at his picture might help you recall.

Image from Wolfman Jack Entertainment

What? Still can't recall? He's a world-class love song master, you know? Okay, have you heard of the song?

"All Night Long"

It's impossible you haven't heard of it, right? Listen to his lovely voice in ...
"Ballerina Girl"


How about this classic sad song,
"Hello"


More lovely relaxing listening,
"Truly"

Reading for some concert style? Here's the first one,
Three Times A Lady

There's more! Here comes what I call "excellent" singing technique and "style"!!! Check this out!!!
"Stuck On You"

See, that's a SUPERSTAR!!!!


How about duet? For Lionel Richie an Diana Ross performance:
"Endless Love"



Now, are you tempted to go and watch? What time is it going to be?  It's at 8pm and only one show!!! HKU Alumni has 10% discount for his concert. Click here for details. Don't miss it, guys!!!

Have a nice weekend!!


For your listening practice, I picked "Endless Love" and this video has better sound quality:




Lyrics:

My love,
There's only you in my life
The only thing that's bright

My first love,
You're every breath that I take
You're every step I make

And I
(I-I-I-I-I)
I want to share
All my love with you
No one else will do...

And your eyes
Your eyes, your eyes
They tell me how much you care
Ooh yes, you will always be
My endless love

Two hearts,
Two hearts that beat as one
Our lives have just begun

Forever
(Ohhhhhh)
I'll hold you close in my arms
I can't resist your charms

And love
Oh, love
I'll be a fool
For you,
I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh, you know I don't mind

'Cause you,
You mean the world to me
Oh
I know
I know
I've found in you
My endless love

Oooh-woow


Oooh, and love
Oh, love
I'll be that fool
For you,
I'm sure
You know I don't mind
Oh you know-
I don't mind

And, YES
You'll be the only one
'Cause NO one can deny
This love I have inside
And I'll give it all to you
My love
My love, my love
My endless love







Resources:
Hong Kong Ticketing

Posted by at 14:22 10 comments Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Animal: Prehistoric Sharks, Other Fish and Our Environment

Hi guys, I have been keeping this entry not posted until one day something related is out, and now there is.

Is any one of you interested in a latest movie called Piranha 3D? I watched the trailer and I thought it was stupid, so I decided not to watch it. Is it really stupid? Well, you can watch this video clip review for yourself. If you want to learn some of the terms they used, here is the page.



Here's a real one:
Piranha
Image from destination360.com

Am I promoting the movie? Nope. Then why do I want to talk about it? Actually, I don't want to talk about this movie, except that the piranhas in the movie are prehistoric. I just want to bring up the point on prehistoric fish, in particular, the prehistoric sharks and fish that I am really fascinated by.

Okay, how about a piece of news from DBW, a China web, 500kg Chinese Sturgeon caught in Helongjiang (Thanks to Google Translate, I roughly know what the news is reporting).
Chinese Sturgeon
Image from dbw.cn

Chinese Sturgeon from the front
Image from dbw.cn


Freshly caught!!! Want more? Here's a huge Sturgeon pool!



Let's watch a huge discovery of a live living fossil, a Frilled Shark!!!

The shark eventually died. The question is, what was it doing in the shallow water? According to Wikipedia, "It has been caught as deep as 1,570 m (5,150 ft), whereas in Suruga Bay, Japan it is most common at depths of 50–200 m (160–660 ft)"


Frilled Shark
Image from National Geographic

Here's the next one, also appearing on video camera for the first time in history, a live Goblin shark!!!! 


Goblin Shark
Image from dearjesus.files.wordpress.com

Cool, isn't it? Since we have seen two types of prehistoric sharks, might as well see two more, the Sixgill Shark and the Pacific Sleeper Shark. The latter can live 2,000m (6,600ft) below water surface!!!!


Here are two pictures for you to see a little clearer:
Sixgill Shark
Image by echeng.com

Pacific Sleeper Shark
Image from aneh.thatbest.com

Not old enough? Want the oldest fish on this planet? Check out the following!!

Live baby Coelacanths!!

Nov 17 - Japanese and Indonesian researchers capture on film a newly born Coelacanth - a prehistoric fish experts see as a ''missing link'' between fish and amphibian creatures. Reuters

Coelacanth
Image from thenakedscientists.com

I hope you enjoy watching all these videos, get to practise your listening skills and find these fish interesting. Just a little question / homework for all of you to think about.

HW:

It is really amazing to see these remarkable, prehistoric fish, better swimming in the sea than getting caught and eventually die. But why is it that these fish suddenly become unobscured (not hiding)? The fact that they have been hiding from human for millions and billions of years, what make them want to show their faces to us now? Has their environment changed? If so, how much?

Fruit for thoughts.

Vocabulary:
unobscured -- (adj) not obscured
obscure -- (vb) [T] to make something difficult to discover and understand


Picture resources:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frilled_shark
Posted by at 18:55 2 comments Labels: , , ,

Monday, 6 September 2010

Fruit: Durian (Part 1 -- Flavour and Odour)

D24 on tree
Image from dougfurtek.com

Durian, durian, durian. How many of you like it? *I'm seeing some hands raised* How many of you love it? "I'm seeing more hands raised* Okay, since I don't see any objection, I'm going to talk about this majestic "King of Fruits".
D24

Everybody knows that the fruit has thorns that can kill anyone with one blow (if the person walked below and tree and was hit on the head by a falling fruit), everyone knows that this fruit is either smelly or smell lovely, but what interests me most is how else can we describe the flavour and odour of this fruit, so that we can speak with variety and taste.

So, how do we learn from? As always, someone first on my list of the coolest dining experts in the world,

"Anthony Bourdain, a lover of durian, relates his encounter with the fruit as thus: "Its taste can only be described as...indescribable, something you will either love or despise. ...Your breath will smell as if you'd been French-kissing your dead grandmother." (Wikipedia.org)"

His simile is really lively. What's even cooler is, Wikipedia cited the season and the episode of which Anthony Bourdain said it, and of course, I have it here for you and in the entry I wrote about him:

Anthony Bourdain : No Reservation Season 2 Episode 12 -- (From 5:45)

He also added that the durian has "penetrating and persistant odour" and in fact, earlier on in the show (4:15) of part 1 of the same episode, he also describe Indonesia as durian, "exotic, foul-smelling food, some can stop it, while others can't resist." 

We don't stop here, the same Wikipedia page did homework for me, collecting a number of comments from durian-loving authors:

Writing in 1856, the Britishnaturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, "A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes." and "To those not used to it, it seems at first to smell like rotten onions, but immediately they have tasted it they prefer it to all other food."

British novelist Anthony Burgess writes that eating durian is "like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory."

Image from britishsweets.com.au

 Chef Andrew Zimmerncompares the taste to "completely rotten, mushy onions."

Travel and food writer Richard Sterling says: "... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away."

How would you describe durian now after learning from the experts? It's not that hard, is it? You just need a lot of imaginations and then putting them into words. Hm~~! Thinking about it makes me hungry, care for a Cat Moutain  King, anyone?

Cat Mountain King
Image from DurianMalaysia.com

Gas leaking!!!! Yeah!!! I love that!

Vocabulary:
majestic -- (adj) beautiful, powerful or causing great admiration and respect
indescribable -- (adj) impossible to describe, especially because of being extremely good or bad
despise-- (vb) [T not continuous] to feel a strong dislike for someone or something because you think they are bad or have no value
penetrating -- (adj) moving into or through something
persistent -- (adj) lasting for a long time or difficult to get rid of
exotic  -- (adj) unusual and often exciting because of coming (or seeming to come) from a far, especially tropical country
foul-smelling --(adj) extremely unpleasant
wafts -- (n) [C] literary a smell or smoke which moves through the air
incongruous -- (adj) unusual or different from what is around or from what is generally happening
garnish -- (vb) [T] to decorate food with a small amount of different food


Resources:

Posted by at 15:48 0 comments Labels: , , ,

Friday, 3 September 2010

Learning Method: Revising Your IPA

Image from Wikipedia.org

Had lesson 1 yesterday. It was the entire IPA all in one lesson. Of course, I had no problem doing the class exercises, but I was reminded that I am not perfect at it. Staying very modest is the right attitude, and realising the room for improvement at all time is crucial to success.

Why wasn't I perfect? It was the common words which I thought I could always pronounce correctly that eventually surprised me.

Say, the word "sewer", "salad", "calendar", "element', "lollipop" and "chicken".

I thought "sewer" was /suːə/, but actually it is /sʊə/. I never knew I have always been using the American version.

I thought "salad" was /ˈsɑːl.əd/, but it is actually /ˈsæl.əd/.

I thought "calendar" was /ˈkæl.ən.də/, but in fact it is /ˈkæl.ɪn.də/.

I thought "element" was /ˈel.ə.mənt/, but it should be /ˈel.ɪ.mənt/.

I thought "lollipop" was /ˈlɔː.li.pɒp/, but it ought to be /ˈlɒl.i.pɒp/.

I thought "chicken" was /ˈtʃɪ.kən/, but no, it is /ˈtʃɪ.kɪn/.

So, you see, even I cannot guarantee 100% correct!

But, the most important thing is never give up. I have never stopped reading the IPA while looking up for the meaning of a word, no matter how simple the word is. I understand that here are a lot of words in the English language and it is impossible to cover all of them and thus memorise the pronunciations of all these words, but I never tell myself this, because it will lower my will power.

What I do is, I just keep going and not to think about that. When I read the IPA and finally memorise it, I tell myself that I have defeated one more word and that there is one word less that I do not understand / know how to pronounce.

I look at the cup as half-filled rather than half-empty, in fact, I look at it as 0.001% filled rather than 99.999% empty.

How would you approach the same situation?

Also, the IPA representation of any words from any dictionaries are just for reference. Each dictionary has its own data and the version of pronunciation. There is no reason to be the same, otherwise, who needs to buy more than 1 dictionary? So just take it as a reference, don't get too serious with the accuracy.

Happy Learning!


Resources:

Type IPA online:
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/06/ipa-type-ipa-online.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sewer
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/salad
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/calendar
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/element_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/lollipop
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chicken_1
Posted by at 16:36 2 comments Labels: , ,
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