Notes on English – Page 4 – The Paris Savannah Connection

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

just one letter from the alphabet: “s”

and it make … S all the difference in the world … when we hear it pronounced.

It gives the plural of millions of wordZ … except feet and mice and geese …

AND

It is PRONOUNCED with present tense verbs with subjects like “he” … “she” and “it” …

This is the letter that make…S the difference! Try it … You just might like it …

Listen to this …

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex22019.mp3|titles=s as in snake]

then this;

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/mf22019.mp3|titles=s s ess]

and … in context:

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex18044b1.mp3|titles=Love makes the world go round]

If you’re interested in the English language as it’s spoken today … subscribe to the Paris Savannah Connection.

the opposite of thoughtful?

… how about … thought… less. “Thoughtless.” “Inconsiderate.”

pronunciation & spelling: way … weigh

Just a few sound clips … to show you how easy it is to pronounce and spell these homonyms!

We all know “one way street …” ((sens unique dans tous ses sens)) [audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex18171d1.mp3|titles=one way street] and we know that there’s more than “one way” : Which way? Oh dear … No way! ((impossible!))[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex18064a1.mp3|titles=no way]

Talking pounds and kilos … How much does it weigh?

weigh <pronunciation> way [audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/mf18171.mp3|titles=way]

Oh dear I just realized … the noun form of weigh is … weight. Which is pronounced just like wait. “Heaven can wait” wasn’t that the name of a movie?

weight <pronunciation> wait [audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/mf18165.mp3|titles=wait/weight]

surely there are others … any suggestions?

If you need to practice your pronunciation and spelling … subscribe to the Paris Savannah Connection!

Punctuation. Intonation. Meaning.

Take just about any word or group of words and test them: What does “you” mean? In fact, it all depends on the intonation, doesn’t it? Intonation is in the voice; punctuation is in writing. We “hear” punctuation when we read…don’t we?

I do.

You do?

You!

There are full stops. Also know in the USA as periods.

There are question marks, too, aren’t there?

Exclamation marks, too!

And of course, commas, so that we can breathe easier.

and “quotation marks,” traditonal and modern.

Until words are punctuated, they can’t really mean anything … For instance … what sense can you give these words in this order?

Woman without her man is nothing

?? !! “.” , : ; (and there are more on your keyboard … I wonder where they came from!)

and as for intonation …

Enjoy! More to come …

The vocabulary of “Green”

The “Greening of America: An Opportunity for Europe” conference held on Monday, April 12th was hosted by Microsoft at their new Parisian Campus in Issy les Moulineaux. Discussion centered around one major theme: Public and Private Partnerships, local and trans-Atlantic.

US policy is to export know-how and to welcome job creating innovative green projects.

I think French policy is about the same. So … maybe there’s some business to be done.

Most of the conference was in English and I was struck by the vivacity of the language used. I’d say I could understand upwards of 90% of the speeches. There were a few accents and some unusal pronunciations my ear had to get used to. But they were all informative, rich and intelligent.

Here are a few of the most frequently used terms:

green, sustainable and sustainability, partnerships, cloud (as in cloud computing);

There were lots of comparatives used and especially this one: cleaner. More efficient came out frequently as did the word “new” often as an adjective with both a prefix (re-) and a suffix (able): renewable.

These conferences are always good for scrabble players : renewability was used about every 15 minutes .

The prefix re- and the sound re- was heard in these words: reward … re-energize.. and recovery…. and responsible.

Innovation was a key word as was the subject: energy. And of course: energy efficient…which is, I learnt, what the Empire State Building will soon be!

Self-funding is a neat concept. I don’t recall if that came from a “public” or a “private” institution. Of course, investment was used over and over again but I have no recall of the word ‘cost’ … except in the phrase “low-cost.”

“Paperless” “Paper-free” : Someone in the audience translated these as “sans-papiers.”

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 exchanged and promises made!

I couldn’t help but note that one other word, a word which immigrated into American English from Europe, was used: Chutzpah!

Bravo to all the participants and thanks to the hosts and sponsors. This is a step in the right direction.

“Excuse me!”

Now let’s be polite … preferably sincerely … !

1. Excuse me. [audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex17079e1.mp3|titles=Excuse me.]

2. Will you excuse us, please? [audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex17079c1.mp3|titles=Will you excuse us please?]

3. Would you excuse me? [audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex17079d1.mp3|titles=Would you excuse me?]

If you’re interested in real English … it’s time to subscribe to The Paris Savannah Connection.

“Love – 15”

It’s simply a score! … A tennis score, silly !

The French, who have a reputation, deservedly or not, in these matters: love or tennis, you choose … just do it … and (whisper?) talk about it.

They say, a little upset for one and self-satisfied for the other, “Zéro-quinze” and then after the next ball is served, it can be “quinze-quinze” or “Zéro-trente” … followed by “Zéro-quarante” and if the non-serving player scores the next point it’s …

“Jeu.” Game over. No Love. Just a game. On to the next one … A set. Two sets. Match point. Match.

Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, tend to be much more emotional. We start with “Love” and then the 15s and the thirties and the forties until … someone gallantly says …

“You won!” And then? Well, the next game begins with … “Love”, doesn’t it ? Two winners.

Of course, the British started by playing on … green grass. Lawn tennis. Like love, a little unpredictable as to where the ball bounces.

Fate? Destiny? as in Woody Allen’s masterpiece “Match Point.”

sense – common sense – sensible … & sensitive

Sense and Sensible : something dear to the Cartesian mind: reason.

Not to be confused with Sensitive: Feeling.

Use your sense : Use your brain. Use reason – not passion! In this … sense … (meaning) sense means taking the various factors of a situation into consideration … BEFORE acting … My grandmother’s expression for this was … Use your noggin (contrary = that’s meshuganah!)

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/MF55069.mp3|titles=sense]

“Common sense isn’t so common,” she used to say. Common sense. What we all (should) know by now!

What are the contraries to “sense” ? How about these two?

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/mf42039.mp3|titles=senseless]

and doesn’t senseless lead us to the idea of something … crazy … mad … insane … > a real absence of reason?

and what about this one … which is a little more fun, isn’t it?

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/MF53128.mp3|titles=nonsense!]

Now who hasn’t been guilty of these … at some point?

Be sensible! Do what reason tells you … you ought to do … (even if it is emotional intelligence …)

Not to be confused with sensitive …

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/MF42041.mp3|titles=sensitive]

[audio:http://test.paris-savannah.com/wp-content/uploads/ex420411.mp3|titles=Actors are very sensitive to criticism … ]

as in “touchy” “high strung” or people very easily hurt or offended,

often unintentionally.

I say: If being “sensible” is reasonable, then being “sensitive” is feeling.

Be both! Sensitive and Sensible. Of course, it’s taken me quite a few years to come to that conclusion …

Next week, I promise you something on the plural of this: senses. As in 5 … or maybe , in fact, 6 or more …

PS/ (My thanks to François and Fred L. for this subject … as well as dinner chez Matsuri and an artistic evening the other night!)

American Folk Music

Folk music is all about folk – people, family, friends, you and me and everyone else; individuals coping with life’s everyday cares. Happy ones and sad, hard and sweet.

Folk music provides us with a country’s history because it’s the people’s history … and how can we understand the present without a feeling and grasp of the working people who’ve lived before us, built our railroads, plucked our cotton, suffered the dust storms and prayed for rain? Brought us to where we are? Not only with their successes … but also their failures. Folk is about “everyday” people in touch with their emotions, their strengths, their weaknesses, their environments.

American folk music is so incredibly rich that I’d like to introduce you to a few tunes, stories, people and songs. Far from today’s global political stage, these songs are rooted in everyday experience. Pionners. Immigrants. Roamers.Expressions of work, love, family, discovery.

Without the advent of sound recording, they’d be lost. Fortunately, there are many many recordings and thanks to a fellow whose name was Moses Asch, the Folkways Collection was a lifetime project to guarantee their perennity … and I, at least, am grateful to him and his team for their work. Vanguard Records, too, as well as major and minor labels produced artists whose souls are still very alive.

Folk music is for listening. And here’s one of the classics: Woody Guthrie, of course.

This Land is Your Land:

PS.The Folkways Collection put about 2 dozen podcasts on the net for free downloads on iTunes (and maybe elsewhere!) … and this leads me to one of my father’s, bless his soul, favorite sayings: “A word to the wise is sufficient.”

PSS. If French is your native language … be careful not to mispronounce “folk.” The “o” is like “Oh!”