Rather

MARCH 28, 2011

Rather is an adverb of degree. Its meaning is similar to quite or fairly.

§                     It is rather cold here.

§                     You are rather late.

With adjectives and adverbs

When rather is used with adjectives and adverbs it often suggests ideas such as ‘more than is usual’ or ‘more than was expected’.

§                     ‘How was the program?’ ‘Rather good.’ (I was surprised.)

§                     She speaks English rather well – people often think that she is a native speaker.

Rather can modify nouns or noun phrases, with or without adjectives. When there is no adjective, rather comes before articles.

§                     He is rather an idiot. (NOT He is a rather idiot.)

When there is an adjective, rather can come either before or after the articles.

§                     It was rather a pleasant experience. OR It was a rather pleasant experience.

Rather can modify verbs.

§                     I rather think she is committing a mistake.

§                     He rather enjoys doing nothing.

Rather with comparatives and too

Rather can modify comparatives and too.

§                     You eat rather too much.

§                     It is rather later than I thought.

Rather than

This expression shows preference. It is normally used in parallel structures. For example, with two adjectives, two adverbs, two nouns etc.

§                     I would prefer to have tea rather than coffee.

§                     We ought to invest in education rather than buildings.

1.                              

Wrong	I promise I call you next week.
Right	I promise I’ll call you next week.

2.                              

3.                              

Wrong	Where is post office?
Right	Where is the post office?

4.                              

5.                              

Wrong	Please explain me how improve my English.
Right	Please explain to me how to improve my English.

6.                              

7.                              

Wrong	We studied during four hours.
Right	We studied for four hours.

8.                              

9.                              

Wrong	Is ready my passport?
Right	Is my passport ready?

10.                          

11.                          

Wrong	You cannot buy all what you like!
Right	You cannot buy all that you like!

12.                          

13.                          

Wrong	She is success.
Right	She is successful.

14.                          

15.                          

Wrong	My mother wanted that I be doctor.
Right	My mother wanted me to be a doctor.

16.                          

17.                          

Wrong	The life is hard!
Right	Life is hard.

18.                          

19.                          

Wrong	How many childrens you have?
Right	How many children do you have?

20.                          

21.                          

Wrong	My brother has 10 years.
Right	My brother is 10 (years old).

22.                          

23.                          

Wrong	I want eat now.
Right	I want to eat now.

24.                          

25.                          

Wrong	You are very nice, as your mother.
Right	You are very nice, like your mother.

26.                          

27.                          

Wrong	She said me that she liked you.
Right	She told me that she liked you.

28.                          

29.                          

Wrong	My husband engineer.
Right	My husband is an engineer.

30.                          

31.                          

Wrong	I came Australia to study English.
Right	I came to Australia to study English.

32.                          

33.                          

Wrong	It is more hot now.
Right	It’s hotter now.

34.                          

35.                          

Wrong	You can give me an information?
Right	Can you give me some information?

36.                          

37.                          

Wrong	They cooked the dinner themself.
Right	They cooked the dinner themselves.

38.                          

39.                          

Wrong	Me and Johnny live here.
Right	Johnny and I live here.

40.                          

41.                          

Wrong	I closed very quietly the door.
Right	I closed the door very quietly.

42.                          

43.                          

Wrong	You like dance with me?
Right	Would you like to dance with me?

44.                          

45.                          

Wrong	I go always to school by subway.
Right	I always go to school by subway.

46.                          

47.                          

Wrong	If I will be in London, I will contact to you.
Right	If I am in London, I will contact you.

48.                          

49.                          

Wrong	We drive usually to home.
Right	We usually drive home.

Spelling and Pronunciation

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

Words ending in -ize and -ise

In British English some words can be spelt with either -ize or -ise. In American English, the forms with -ize is more common.

Examples are given below:

British English

§                     Realize / realise

§                     Computerize / computerise

§                     Mechanize / mechanise

§                     Baptize / baptise

American English

§                     Realize

§                     Mechanize

§                     Computerize

§                     Baptize

Most words of two or more syllables have -ise in both British and American English.

Examples are:

§                     Surprise, revise, exercise, advise, comprise, despise, compromise, improvise, supervise, televise, advertise

Notes:

In American English, advertize is also possible.

If in doubt, remember that -ise is almost always correct in British English.

Spelling and pronunciation

In English, spelling words is not easy. In fact, even native English speakers often find it difficult to spell words correctly. This is mainly because the pronunciation of many English words has changed over the last few hundred years. The spelling system, on the other hand, has stayed more or less the same. Here is a list of some common words that often cause difficulty.

In the following words the letters in brackets are not pronounced.

§                     Ev(e)ning

§                     Asp(i)rin

§                     Bus(i)ness

§                     Choc(o)late

§                     Diff(e)rent

§                     Ev(e)ry

§                     Marri(a)ge

§                     Om(e)lette

§                     Rest(au)rant

§                     Sev(e)ral

§                     Med(i)cine

The following four syllable words are usually pronounced like three syllable words. The letters in brackets are usually not pronounced.

§                     Comf(or)table

§                     Int(e)resting

§                     Temp(e)rature

§                     Us(u)ally

§                     Veg(e)table

Silent letters

In the following words b is silent.

§                     Climb, comb, dumb

In the following words d is silent.

§                     Handkerchief, sandwich, Wednesday

The gh is silent in the following words.

§                     Bought, caught,  ought,  thought, daughter, height, high, light, might, neighbour, right, sight, tight, straight, through, weigh

In the following words h is silent

§                     What, when, whip, why, honest, hour, honour

Useful Spelling Rules – Part II

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

‘se’ and ‘ce’; ‘sy’ and ‘cy’

When two words, verb and noun, are spelt alike, ‘se’ and ‘sy’ are verb endings; ‘ce’ and ‘cy’ are noun endings. The following are therefore verbs:license, practise, prophesy, advise.

The following are nouns: licence, practice, prophecy, advice

Promise is an exception to this rule. It is a noun.

This rule does not hold good when verb and noun are not spelt alike, so ‘suspense’ and ‘hypocrisy’ are nouns.

The final ‘e’

1. When followed by ‘ment’

Till recently the final ‘e’ was dropped from words ending in ‘dge’. Example: judgment

Nowadays, it is not necessary to drop the final ‘e’ before ‘ment’. So you can write ‘judgement’, ‘acknowledgement’, ‘arrangement’ and ‘advertisement’.(See The Concise Oxford Dictionary)

2. The final ‘e’ must be dropped before ‘able’.

§                     Move; movable (NOT moveable)

§                     Like; likable (NOT likeable)

The exceptions are words ending in ‘ge’ and ‘ce’. For instance

§                     Change; changeable (NOT changable)

§                     Peace; peaceable (NOT peacable)

3. The final ‘e’ is also dropped before ‘ous’, ‘age’ or ‘ish’.

§                     Virtue; virtuous

§                     Mile; milage (occasionally still: mileage)

§                     Blue; bluish

Courage is an exception to this rule. We write courageous and notcouragous.

4. The final ‘e’ is always dropped before ‘ing’ except when it is preceded by a vowel with which it forms one sound.

§                     Love; loving

§                     Like; liking

§                     See; seeing (Here the final ‘e’ and the preceding vowel forms one sound.)

§                     Dye; Dyeing (Here the final ‘e’ and the preceding y forms one sound.)

Words ending in ‘c’ and ‘ck’

Words ending in ‘c’ take ‘k’ after the ‘c’ before adding ‘ed’or ‘ing’.

Examples:

§                     Frolic; frolicked

§                     Mimic; mimicked

To Do

·                                 to do a favour

·                                 to do a project

·                                 to do a test

·                                 to do an assignment

·                                 to do an exam

·                                 to do badly

·                                 to do business

·                                 to do damage

·                                 to do exercise

·                                 to do good

·                                 to do harm

·                                 to do homework

·                                 to do housework

·                                 to do nothing

·                                 to do research

·                                 to do something

·                                 to do some letter-writing

·                                 to do some reading

·                                 to do some studying

·                                 to do some writing

·                                 to do the accounts

·                                 to do the cleaning

·                                 to do the dishes

·                                 to do the ironing

·                                 to do the laundry

·                                 to do the math

·                                 to do the maximum

·                                 to do the minimum

·                                 to do the paperwork

·                                 to do the shopping

·                                 to do the vacuuming

·                                 to do time

·                                 to do work

·                                 to do your best

·                                 to do your duty

·                                 to do your hair

·                                 to do your nails

·                                 to do your job

·                                 to do your makeup

·                                 to do 50 miles per hour

To Make

·                                 to make a booking

·                                 to make a bundle

·                                 to make a call

·                                 to make a cake

·                                 to make a choice

·                                 to make a comment

·                                 to make a complaint

·                                 to make a compromise

·                                 to make a deal

·                                 to make a decision

·                                 to make a difference

·                                 to make a fire

·                                 to make a fool of yourself

·                                 to make a fortune

·                                 to make a fuss

·                                 to make a habit

·                                 to make a move

·                                 to make a phone call

·                                 to make a point

·                                 to make a presentation

·                                 to make a profit

·                                 to make a promise

·                                 to make a remark

·                                 to make a reservation

·                                 to make a sales call

·                                 to make a sound

·                                 to make a speech

·                                 to make a suggestion

·                                 to make a threat

·                                 to make a visit

·                                 to make amends

·                                 to make an appearance

·                                 to make an appointment

·                                 to make an attempt

·                                 to make an enquiry

·                                 to make an exception

·                                 to make an excuse

·                                 to make an offer

·                                 to make arrangements

·                                 to make believe

·                                 to make friends

·                                 to make fun

·                                 to make changes

·                                 to make corrections

·                                 to make do

·                                 to make love

·                                 to make money

·                                 to make noise

·                                 to make peace

·                                 to make plans

·                                 to make a profit

·                                 to make progress

·                                 to make sense

·                                 to make someone angry

·                                 to make someone happy

·                                 to make (someone) mad

·                                 To make someone sad

·                                 to make someone’s day

·                                 to make sure

·                                 to make time

·                                 to make trouble

·                                 to make dinner

·                                 to make lunch

·                                 to make breakfast

·                                 to make a snack

·                                 to make tea / coffee

·                                 to make a mess

·                                 to make a mistake

·                                 to make the bed

·                                 to make time

·                                 to make war