“In spite of” and “Despite” are interchangeable. Both are followed by nouns or noun clauses. Ex: She went to the park in spite of the rain. She went to the park despite the rain. She submitted the designs in spite of the fact that her team did not approve. “Though”, Read more
What’s with the “extra extra”, “round round” and “red red” adjectives in the English advertisements in India and in our own speech? Some of us are notorious for using duplicate words or two or more superfluous words when we communicate. I think the urge to stress something makes us do Read more
“I can’t able to understand.” Is the above sentence correct? ‘Can’ and ‘Able’ both refer to ability. You don’t need both the words to convey what you want to. You can say “I can’t understand” or “I am not able to understand”. But use of can and able together is Read more
Here’s an incorrect sentence we say or hear often in India: “Be rest assured that the work will be done”. What are the correct versions, then? “Be assured that the work will be done”: someone here is asking you to feel assured or in other words, is assuring you that Read more
“I don’t think so it is a good idea”. Do you think the above sentence is correct? If not, what is the correct form? Correct: I don’t think it is a good idea. They say it is a good idea. I don’t think so. In “I don’t think so”, ‘so’ Read more
This one eluded me for a while: 1. He alludes to hypocrisy in his poem. 2. The criminal managed to elude capture so long. What’s the difference between allude and elude? In my own words (trying to be as exact as possible): Allude (pronounced as ‘uh-lude’) means make a casual Read more
This is about a common pronunciation error:“What’s for dessert today?”. Dessert in this sentence refers to cake, ice cream etc. which is usually something sweet served as the last course of a meal. This is different from ‘Desert’ as in ‘Sahara desert’. Desert should be pronounced as ‘dez-ert’ whereas Dessert Read more
Incorrect:“I have many works to do today”.Correct:“I have much work to do today”. Normally, work is not countable into individual items. For such things that are not normally countable (water, understanding, information, wood etc.), we use singular and not plural for the noun form. If you want to say you Read more
Here’s a quirk found in southern India – ‘that and all’:Ex:1. That and all, I don’t know.2. That and all, you have to ask your other teacher.3. That and all, I don’t like. Better forms:1. I don’t know all that.2. You have to ask your other teacher, such things.3. I Read more
When do we use “less” and when do we use “lesser”? This is a good question. I had to think twice about it. When you are comparing something, use ‘less’. Ex: It costs less than that. You can also use it for comparison implicitly. Ex: I eat less sugar. ‘Lesser’ Read more