Category: Notes on English

Posted in Notes on English Hear it, Say it, Write it ! homonyms

homonyms = when words sound the same!

Listen to these:

nyms … like names, (comme “noms”) “homo” like the same.

just a refresher first:

homonyms are words which sound the same.
homonyms are words which sound the same but which mean different things.
homonyms are words which sound the same, have different meanings and are spelled differently.

“I” as in “I am” has the same pronunciation as “eye” as in “The one-eyed man is king among the blind.”

too bad … ? working too much?

If you’re interested in nyms … there are also … antonyms, synonyms, hypernyms, all kinds of nyms!

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Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments Fluency Online Language Resources for English Popular sayings, proverbs & quotes

concluding a speech: at the end of the day …

During a recent conference,  more than one speaker used a very clear and easy to pronounce expression:

At the end of the day …” This expression,  which means … the end result …. is roughly synonomous with

When all is said and done” or “The bottom line

and in French … maybe something like … Tous comptes faits … En fin de compte … and I will say that today, at the end of the day, there was a lot of goodwill, lots of business cards were exchanged and promises made!

The bottom line,” said Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, chief of pulmonology at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital, “is there’s no longterm health effect from volcanic ash.”

(see the article on the vocabulary of green, too)

When all is said and done

This means that when the discussion is over, when everything has been said … the conclusion is …

Try your own recording of these!

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Posted in Notes on English Keywords Online Language Resources for English

Keywords – “light”

How many concepts does “light” bring to mind? Light itself, weight, humor …

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/how-many-concepts1.mp3|titles=

How many concepts does “light” bring to mind? Light itself, weight, humor …

Edith Wharton wrote :

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

When a word has more than one contrary, more than one antonym, this is proof that it’s a strong word. The pronunciation of the word is vital. The accent is important … and the context is the determining factor. Humor plays on words with more than one meaning.

]

Edith Wharton wrote :

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

When a word has more than one contrary, more than one antonym, this is proof that it’s a strong word. The pronunciation of the word is vital. The accent is important … and the context is the determining factor. Humor plays on words with more than one meaning.

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/light1.mp3|titles=The word “light” is especially rich. It functions as a noun. A light, the light; it functions as an adjective: it is light, light blue; it also functions as a verb: to light … not to mention “to lighten” … and words with the root like “lightning” and just at the sound of it, you see the long yet short flash, that oh so powerful LIGHT against the (dark, darkened) sky.]

The word “light” is especially rich. It functions as a noun. A light, the light; it functions as an adjective: it is light, light blue; it also functions as a verb: to light … not to mention “to lighten” … and words with the root like “lightning” and just at the sound of it, you see the long yet short flash, that oh so powerful LIGHT against the (dark, darkened) sky.

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/I-like-to-define.mp3|titles=I like to define words by what they aren’t … first by their polar opposites  (black/white) and then in more nuanced ways (shades of grey) according to their uses, their contexts, their connotations.]

I like to define words by what they aren’t … first by their polar opposites  (black/white) and then in more nuanced ways (shades of grey) according to their uses, their contexts, their connotations.

What’s the opposite of “light” ? …. Well, it could be …. just a moment … what’s the context?… what time is it? Is is still (light) outside?

What is the opposite in this context? If white is light, black is …… dark.

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/and-of-course.mp3|titles=

And of course the other very frequent context using “light” to describe the concept of weight would give us … heavy, of course.

As for the verb “to light,” .. why… if the linking concept is fire, it seems to me that “to put out” is probably the most frequent in everyday speech, though “extinguish” could be very popular among firemen … and officials.

]

And of course the other very frequent context using “light” to describe the concept of weight would give us … heavy, of course.

 

As for the verb “to light,” .. why… if the linking concept is fire, it seems to me that “to put out” is probably the most frequent in everyday speech, though “extinguish” could be very popular among firemen … and officials.

By the way, Edith Wharton also said this:

If only we’d stop trying to be happy we’d have a pretty good time.

If you’re interested in words and concepts … subscribe to the Paris Savannah Connection.

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Posted in Notes on English Hear it, Say it, Write it !

Who can count? Who knows about cause and effect? Maybe we’re not as smart as we think we are …

What students know and can do: student performance in reading, mathematics and science. (around the world)

Did you see the OECD statistics on education? Shanghai’s got everyone beat … I wonder why …

Do you think this could have anything to do with it?  … Listen to this (You’ve got to double-click …)

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex202261.mp3|titles=they never get up before noon…]

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Posted in Notes on English

“lengthy”

the adjective is long – the noun, length – the antonym,  short. Lengthy is an often-used adjective and adverb meaning “quite long” or “very long” or even “tediously long.” It’s a little more descriptive than “long” and takes up 2 syllables rather than one.

In what contexts? written information, meetings, events. All taking longer than we’d like them to … and in any case … time-consuming! Here are just a few recent examples:

lengthy information sessions

a lengthy, secret memo

a lengthy criminal investigation

in a lengthy report

Actually a good contrary would be … “brief!”

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Posted in Notes on English Hear it, Say it, Write it ! Online Language Resources for English

Expression of the day = “Gimme five!”

When you meet a friend … this is one of the things you might say and DO!

“Gi’ m Faiv”  “Gimme five”  or literally:  “Give me 5”

This is what it sounds like : [audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/EX18013A.mp3|titles=Gimme five]

and it means:

=  Tope-là !

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Posted in Notes on English Popular sayings, proverbs & quotes

… making a mountain out of a molehill …

exaggeration > amplification > overstating > creating a catastrophe out of a relatively minor issue.

One of my students is finally getting over a real complex about using “for” and “since” … sound familiar?  She’s very, very fluent and native speakers admire her agility and culture in English.  Right now, we’re doing memory work.

English teachers in France have traumatized millions and millions of their students over the years with this. I’m sure no other element has appeared in French schools’ English grammar tests as much as these three little words: for, since, ago.

(Depuis … le temps …. )

Sure, we say “for ages” and not “since ages” … but as the French say:  “Il n’y a pas mort d’homme.” (No one’s died from it.)

And in English … need we insist on making a mountain out of a molehill ? … Sure try to get it right … but if you don’t … why make a mountain out of a molehill?

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Posted in Newsletters Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments

Newsletter: 21 October 2010

One of the ways I use to discover vocabulary or semantic gaps in someone’s language habits is to see what word associations and particularly which polar opposites my client can recall quickly … which words and ideas are actually active … and which are still “on the tip of the tongue.”

For example, if I ask for the opposite of the English word “hot” … I want to know whether or not you’ll come up with a word like “cold” … rather instantly. If the keyword is “near,” then I’m looking for the presence  or absence of the words “far” or ‘distant.’  If the keyword were to be “nice,” I’d be interested to know just about any negative word that comes to mind.

Proceeding this way, I’m able to identify the gaps that are often the sources of frustration. This occurs when we’re speaking a foreign language … not to mention our own native languages!

What’s interesting is that between languages, the thought patterns are like Venn diagrams. Sometimes the word pairs coincide and are easily transposable from one language to the other … but in other cases they aren’t. One of the most frequently used words in English is the word “good.” If you are a native English speaker, chances are you will instinctively and immediately say that the opposite is … “bad.”  Not because others – evil, for instance – aren’t “right,” but because good and bad are the most frequently used to refer to the same things. A good movie, a bad movie; the good guys, the bad guys … etc. The perfectly valid opposite pair “good/evil” is just slightly less frequent … though I think there was an American president who tended to see the world that way .. -:)

Now if you take the word “right” … what’s the opposite? Is it “wrong” or is it “bad” ?

We think in terms of words and groups of words. In English, we’d say for instance:

“Sorry … you’ve got the wrong number” … But unless they’re CONSCIOUS of this instance, the French might say … “Sorry … You’ve got the bad number.” or … if they’re mentally translating before speaking “You did the false number.” (in this imaginary situation, of course!)

Why? Because in French the opposite pair for a phone number or other factual information like email addresses or flight info, etc.  would be … “bon”  (right, good, correct, accurate) and “faux” (wrong, mistaken, erroneous, false);

Thinking in different languages involves exploring these semantic fields.

A last quiz … “What’s the opposite of “now” ?

The answer is in the title of today’s post … about the French phototographer, Eugène Atget. Enjoy it.

Photography in Paris: Eugène Atget … then and now.

And thanks for reading today’s The Paris Savannah Connection.

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Posted in Newsletters About Learning a Foreign Language Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments

Newsletter: 15 October 2010

How’s your memory doing these days?

What a question! And an easy question it is. “Forgetting is a temporary loss of consciousness.” But what are the sorts of things we forget?

One of the most obvious is the answer to the question … Where?

Where did I put my … keys? glasses? watch? wallet?

The generally accepted solution to this problem is retracing your steps. Where did you have it last? Where did you see it last? Follow your footsteps backward.

How can we improve our memories?

By using them! That sounds so obvious, doesn’t it? Here’s an exercise you can try at any given point in the day. I use it as a technique in language learning and in speech training but its use is effective in our native languages as well: Stop whatever you’re doing and think about where you are, what you’re doing, who you’re with. Now think back to what you were doing just before the “now”… and before that .. and before that … until you get to some point such as waking up in the morning.

Remembering has to do with the past.

Being conscious of the past … is a real memory trainer.

Try reviewing your day before you fall asleep! Backwards. You’ll be amazed at how extraordinarily rich it was. If there was a particular moment you want to recall, think of the environment, the colors, the scents, the details and the overall picture. We perceive SO much!! Unconsciously. Bringing it up front, so to speak, shows us how much we really did observe.

The incredible side effect of this exercise is that, by reviewing events, we put words and images together. And we improve our vocabularies by activating passive, latent knowledge.

There’s another wonderful advantage to being conscious of everything that’s happened: Not only can we learn from … our mistakes, the human mind is perfectly capable of … a selective memory. We can choose to forget! What in computer lingo is called “deleting” … or what used to be called “erasing.”

Have a wonderful weekend … and may it be a happily memorable one!

Maybe with … A glass of wine …

And thanks for reading The Paris Savannah Connection.

Mark

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Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments Fluency French/English Translation

Traitors: Les Faux Amis (in French, False Friends :)

When I first began teaching English in France, I heard an expression I had never encounterd before: False Friends. What in the world could that mean? Only a Frenchman would know … that he meant look-alikes or even worse, imposters or traitors!

There are quite a few words which, in French and in English, have the same or similar spellings, maybe the same roots but which are not used in the same ways in the two languages.  As with wild mushrooms … some look-alikes … are dangerous.

If you hear a Frenchman say “actually” in English … you can be suspicious. The word slips into a sentence easily and isn’t illogical in most cases. If the Frenchman knows that the word means “in fact” and he uses it that way … that’s fine. BUT if he thinks that “actually” is the faithful translation of the French word “actuellement” … we’re mistaken and into … look-alikes: A fair translation of the idea of “actuellement” would be “now, at the present time.”

We are thus facing not just two words but two different concepts.

The French word, actuel, expresses a concept in TIME; the English word actual expresses the concept of fact, of ACCURACY.

 

Misunderstandings are born of … assumptions. Beware of look-alikes!

Fortunately … “false” friends aren’t the only kind … There are thousands of real ones, those you can count on, including the TV series …

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