The Star Online > Lifefocus

Wednesday March 1, 2006

A foxy problem

A few weeks ago, I read a news item in The Star which reported that a man in Kedah had shot his brother after mistaking him for a fox.  

One week later, I was reading the travel supplement of the New Straits Times and I came across the word “fox” again. There was an article on Pulau Redang which stated that visitors to the island can see wild animals like foxes on it. 

I was stumped because I have always been under the impression that there are no foxes in Malaysia, other than those found in zoos, perhaps. 

In an attempt to clarify things, I recently asked my students whether there were foxes in Malaysia. 

“Yes,” they shouted in unison. 

“And what do you call them in Malay?” I asked. 

“Musang,” they yelled. 

“Who told you that a musang is a fox?” I asked. 

“Our teachers,” they replied. 

The musang, I pointed out to my students, is not a fox. It is a civet cat. 

I wonder if the writers of the two news items published in The Star and the New Straits Times were referring to the humble civet cat as a fox. 

If that is the case, then I think The Star should put its own house in order before looking at other people’s boobs. 

I wonder if Fadzilah Amin can shed some light on the use of the word “fox”. – Pritam, Ipoh 

When I was young, I used to think that the Malay word for “fox” was musang, partly because I was told that the musang was a danger to the chickens we reared, and in English fairy tales, I read that foxes were a danger to chickens. I suspect this was also how other Malaysians came to equate a musang with a “fox”. 

You are indeed right in saying that a musang is a civet cat. The Kamus Inggeris Melayu Dewan records this. The Malay name for a fox, according to this dictionary, is rubah. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines “fox” as a dog-like mammal of the genus Vulpes. 

It’s now ‘storybook' 

a) Which one is correct:
storybook /story book/story-book? b) “I had sewed a scarf last year ago/ this morning.”  

Should I mention the time frame? Can you help me to correct the sentence? 

c) “I already washed those clothes yesterday.” 

Can I put the word “already” in front of “washed”? – Vincent 

a) The term used to be spelt “story book” and hyphenated when used as an adjective before a noun, as in “the story-book ending of their love affair”. (Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1995) 

However, nowadays, the two words are joined together, i.e. “storybook” whether it is used as a noun or an adjective. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005) 

b) If you want to mention when you sewed the scarf, you should use the simple past tense, i.e. “I sewed a scarf last year.” and “I sewed a scarf this morning.” 

If you use a perfect tense, you don’t mention the time when the action was done, i.e. “I have sewn a scarf.” 

c) “Already” is usually used with the present perfect tense between the two parts of the verb as in “I have already washed those clothes.” But if you want to say you washed the clothes yesterday, you do not need to use “already”. You can just say “I washed those clothes yesterday.”  

However, your sentence “I already washed those clothes yesterday.” is acceptable in informal usage, especially in speech.  

Love confession 

Why do we read sentences like “She confessed that she loved him”, meaning “She said/told him that she loved him”? Is it from the Malay word “aku”?  

As far as I know, “confess” is not used in this way elsewhere in the English-speaking world. – John Greig 

I don’t really know how Malaysians came to use the word “confess” when speaking about a declaration of love. It is not from the Malay word “mengaku”, because that word is not used in connection with love in Malay.  

Could it be that some Malaysians find it so hard to declare their love to the object of that love that it comes out like a confession before an interrogator or a priest? Or was somebody influenced by the old Perry Como song ‘I’m Confessing (That I Love You)’? Have any readers got any other ideas? 

In, on and along 

Which is the correct answer: 

The bank is (on/ at / along) Jalan Ali. – Ser Ing 

In British English, you say “The bank is in Jalan Ali.”  

In American English, you say “The bank is on Jalan Ali.”  

If Jalan Ali is a long road or street, you may also say “The bank is along Jalan Ali.” But don’t use “at”.

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Thursday February 23, 2006

What about Irish, Israeli, Thai?

The suggestion that people referred to with the ?ese?suffix are considered inferior to those with the ?an?suffix cannot hold water, unless the writer of the article concerned, in The China Daily, is able to provide proof substantiating that suggestion. 

In what way are the former considered inferior to the latter ?scientifically, technologically, industrially, commercially, intellectually, in sports ?specifically or in general? And was there a research conducted to come to such a conclusion? 

Incidentally, if there was research done on the subject, who are the researchers and on what criteria did they base their findings? And why are only these two groups of people isolated for comparison, when hundreds of other communities exist in this world? 

We have, for instance, English, Irish, Scottish/ Israeli, Pakistani, Punjabi/ Icelander, New Zealander/ Afghan, Dane, Dutch, Thai. 

As you can see, people called English, Irish and Scottish, for example, are identified by words created by the inflection of the names of their respective countries, viz., England, Ireland and Scotland ?with some exceptions like Afghan from Afghanistan, Dutch from Holland, and Thai from Thailand. 

Inflection takes into account phonetics in the creation of new words so that they can be pronounced with the least vocal effort. Just reverse the ?ese?and ?an?groups and you will have Chinans, Congans, Japanans (the so-called inferior group) against Americese, Australiese, Canadese (the so-called superior group). Now, try and pronounce them to find out for yourselves the difference! 

Then again, from the continental, instead of ethnic, perspective, can the Chinese and Japanese as Asians be considered on a par with the Americans, Australians and Canadians? 

I certainly cannot reconcile with what has been suggested in the article. But then, could it have been intended to pull our leg? Or perhaps to provoke a controversy? ?Quah Beng Kee, Petaling Jaya

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Thursday February 16, 2006

Fun with English grammar and style

By OH TEIK THEAM

Look at these little ‘stories’ and see if you can find a mistake in each of them: 

The golfer 

Irregardless of the weather, a keen golfer left home at daybreak every Sunday to play his beloved game. One Sunday, however, the rain and wind were too severe even for him. 

He returned home, undressed, and snuggled up to his wife in bed. “It’s terrible out there,” he muttered. 

The wife said, “Can you believe that my stupid husband is out there playing golf?” 

Irregardless should be regardless. 

“Irregardless” is not a word. “Regardless” already means “without regard”. (If we add the negative prefix “ir”, we create an unacceptable double negative.) 

No vacancy 

A salesman entered a general store and said to the proprietor, “I’d like to speak to Bill.” 

“Bill doesn’t work here any more,” said the proprietor. 

“Then let me speak with the man who filled the vacancy.” 

“Bill didn’t leave no vacancy.” 

Bill didn’t leave no vacancy should be Bill didn’t leave any vacancy./ Bill left no vacancy. 

Double (or multiple) negatives – the use of two or more negatives in the same construction – fall into two categories: 

(i) If the meaning is emphatically negative (“I didn’t lend him no money”/ “I don’t need no advice from no members”), the construction is not part of standard English. 

However, the use of double negatives to convey emphasis is all right when the second negative appears in a separate phrase or clause (separated by a comma): They do not seek fortune, no more than they seek fame = They do not seek fortune any more than they seek fame. 

(ii) If the meaning is positive (“She is not unpopular”), the construction is part of standard English. Here, the double negative conveys a weaker affirmative than would be conveyed by the positive adjective or adverb by itself. Thus, someone who is “not unpopular” does not enjoy as much popularity as another person who is “popular”. 

Double negatives are also unacceptable when the negatives combine with adverbs such as barely, hardly and scarcely. Meaning “almost not” or “almost none at all”, these adverbs severely curtail the effect of the verb. 

The plant scarcely needs no water. (Incorrect) 

The plant scarcely needs any water. (Correct) 

I barely have no time left. (Incorrect) 

I barely have any time left. (Correct) 

Oh Teik Theam is the author of Learning English Idioms – It’s Hilariously Easy! and Learning English Proverbs – It’s Hilariously Easy!, available at bookstores.

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Friday February 10, 2006

Use your voice effectively

By GUY PERRING

UNFORTUNATELY, people make judgments on individuals within a few minutes. Research has shown that this is primarily based on appearance (55%), voice (38%) and finally the actual content of what people say (7%).  

Therefore, the carefully written and researched presentation will have very little effect if the presenter looks unprofessional and delivers the content in a monotone. 

Unless you are a seasoned presenter, it is likely that you will want to use a script or at the very least notes to ensure you cover the points you wish to get across. However, the danger of using a script is that you read aloud and this will tend to lead to a flat delivery and slowly put the audience to sleep. 

There are a variety of techniques you can do to avoid this and still have the necessary support of a script. You should firstly take your script and divide it into “blocks of meaning”. These are not necessarily sentences, but instead are where you naturally pause.  

See below for the opening of a presentation divided into appropriate blocks: 

The need to expand/ into other markets/ is crucial/ to the success of our company./ For too long/ we have relied on domestic sales./ It is clear/ from the drop in growth/ in the fourth quarter/ that we need to look outside/ for potential expansion. Today,/ I’m proposing an increase/ in our overseas workforce/ of 30%/ and a similar cut/ in domestic staff./ Only by this refocusing/ of our organisation/ can we hope to grow/ over the next decade./ 

Once you have divided your presentation, the next step is to mark where the main stress in each block occurs. This is more often than not at the end of a phrase. See below for a stress-marked presentation: 

The need to expand/ into other markets/ is crucial/ to the success of our company./ For too long/ we have relied on domestic sales./ It is clear/ from the drop in growth/ in the fourth quarter/ that we need to look outside/ for potential expansion./ /Today,/ I’m proposing an increase/ in our overseas workforce/ of 30%/ and a similar cut /in domestic staff./ Only by this refocusing/ of our organisation/ can we hope to grow/ over the next decade./ 

There is no absolute correct answer on where to stress and it will depend on which points you wish to emphasise and how you naturally pause. The above is therefore just one possible pattern. However, it is clear that you should avoid stress on prepositions and articles, unless there is a very good reason for doing so. 

Even if you know where to pause and where to stress in each block, you still need to use the full range of your voice to give feeling to what you are saying. You need to show enthusiasm and passion for your topic.  

You may wish to use some of the warm-up techniques professional presenters use such as going up and down the scales like an opera singer before a major performance.  

Do this regularly and you will actually find that your voice’s range expands naturally. At the end of sentences, your voice intonation will naturally drop, although you should avoid any loss of volume. If your voice disappears after each sentence, your audience will turn off from the content of what you are saying. 

You should be aware of the volume and pace of your voice. Try and vary both within reason. Slowing the pace and increasing the volume can add impact and emphasis to your points. Your audience should be on the edge of their seats! 

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Wednesday January 4, 2006

How to treat syntax

I was amused reading Dr Lim Chin Lam’s (Dec 16) assertion that one element – making good sense – seems to be missing in the definition of syntax. 

In my opinion, syntax should be treated as how it is originally defined – the study of the rules that govern how words are combined at sentence level – without too much fuss over “good sense”. In other words, the main concern of syntax is that the words are grammatically sequenced or arranged with all their correct derivations and inflections. 

Syntax in transformational-generative grammar allows infinite grammatical sentence constructions even though some of them are totally senseless, as in “The colourless green ideas sleep furiously”, or ambiguous, such as “The man hit the lady with the umbrella”.  

Therefore, leaving syntax alone, meaning and “sense” should be treated under a different light, or rather two – semantics and pragmatics.  

Semantics, as opposed to syntax which explains the formal structure, pertains to what something means and pragmatics refers to generally the study of language understanding, and specifically the study of how context influences the interpretation of meanings.  

So, even though syntax allows weird comments in people’s heads in the following:  

PENANG: A youth was caught filming a girl bathing with his video camera in Teluk Kumbar near Bayan Lepas here.  

rest assured that with a little help of semantics and context, meaning and sense will definitely come to light. – Mahid bin Masseluang, Labuan

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Wednesday January 4, 2006

Spanking brand new year

By HASMITA CHANDER

There is something about newness that excites us, makes us feel hopeful of better things to come.  

Now that the new year is with us, it’s time to plan what we will do – draw out a set of goals, make resolutions: to work harder, to spend more time with family, to earn more, to be more patient, to give up smoking, to lose 10 kilos. 

We hope that whatever we start anew will be good this time around, or at least nicer than before. When we have a new baby at home, we want to make sure that this child gets the best opportunities. 

Babies give us a phrase connected to newness. A car is proudly shown off as spanking new – from the old tradition of doctors or midwives gently slapping the bottoms of new-born babies that don’t cry on their own, to start them breathing.  

The word “new” is thought to be derived from several possible languages – Old English niwe, Old High German niuwi, Latin novus, or Greek neos.  

These roots, especially Latin, gave rise to many other words as well: “novel” and “novelty” (related to newness), “novice”, the French “nouveau” that came into English with “nouveau riche” (new rich) and “art nouveau” (new art). 

“Novice” used to mean a probationer in a religious order and at a different time or usage, the inexperience of a person, connected to slaves, but the current meaning has been around since the early 1400s. 

With “new” came new thoughts. “Newfangled” meaning “recently come into fashion” finds its roots in new + fangel, where “fangel” came from Old English fon, “to capture”. 

We have “New Age” that the Merriam Webster dictionary defines as: “of, relating to, or being a late 20th century social movement drawing on ancient concepts especially from Eastern and American Indian traditions and incorporating such themes as holism, concern for nature, spirituality, and metaphysics”. 

The “brand” of “brand-new” meant a piece of burning wood, then it came to mean the mark made by a hot iron – used on cattle and slaves – so that brand-new was “fresh from the fire”.  

And then there are the “re-” words of newness: “rebirth”, “renew”, “rekindle”.  

“Revive” is from re- + vive (live, from vivere (to live) in Latin). “Renaissance”, re- + naissance (birth in French), was the great period of the revival of classical-based art and learning in Europe. Now renaissance is used to mean “a revival” in general. 

A clean slate is a new start; the phrase comes from the classroom where students wrote with chalk on slates. By wiping a slate clean, a student could remove any evidence of his mistakes; today we use this to say that we forgive old wrongs. 

Let’s wipe our slates clean, then, and drink a toast to the spanking new year – here’s to 2006!

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Thursday January 5, 2006

Thinking about the future

By GUY PERRING

Many people seem to think that English has a single future tense (will), but in fact there are a variety of ways to talk about the future. The choice of structure is not really about time, but instead reflects the attitude of the speaker. 

Tomorrow is my tenth anniversary with the company. 

(Present simple for a future fact) 

“The line’s busy”.  

“OK, I’ll call back later.” 

(will for decisions taken at the time of speaking) 

I’m going to ask my HR department for a transfer. 

(going to when the decision has been taken before speaking) 

I’m travelling to our Penang branch next week. 

(present continuous for future arrangements) 

In addition, predictions about the future can either use will or going to and they are often interchangeable.  

However, when we have some present evidence we should use going to. As in the following: 

Look at the share prices. It’s going to be a good day for the brokers. 

As well as varying tenses, we also can use different expressions to express our views of the future such as hoping to, aiming to, and intending to: 

I’m hoping to arrive by 6.00. (weak certainty) 

I’m aiming to arrive by 6.00. (medium certainty) 

I’m intending to arrive by 6.00. (strong certainty) 

The only difference here is the degree of certainty. If you plan to travel in K.L. traffic, it may be advisable to only use hoping to arrive when scheduling appointments!

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Friday January 6, 2006

Cinderella issue

By FADZILAH AMIN

Please look at this paragraph from a story in The Guardian online: “... More importantly, we began to do justice to a subject which had, notoriously, been a Cinderella issue for national newspapers – most of whom employ one scientific specialist, if that ...” 

What is a Cinderella issue? – sm 

Just as Cinderella, the character in the fairy tale, is neglected but deserves more attention (by her stepmother and stepsisters), a “Cinderella issue” is an issue that is neglected and deserves more attention.  

In the article from which you drew your quotation, the “Cinderella issue”, or the “subject” mentioned, is science. 

The following quotation may clarify the term a bit more: 

Eric Appleby, chief executive of lobby group Alcohol Concern, said: “While alcohol remains a Cinderella issue – a poor relation to drugs in terms of investment in treatment and education – it is hardly surprising that there are low levels of understanding about how much alcohol is healthy.” 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3229820.stm 

Here, the “Cinderella issue” is alcohol abuse, which is said to be “a poor relation” to drug abuse, in terms of attention paid to it. 

Tachymeter and chronograph 

I have some words that I can't find the meanings of in dictionaries. So I hope you can tell me the meanings of “tachymeter” and “chronograph”? – nly, Sepang 

A “tachymeter” is “a surveying instrument used for the rapid determination of distances, elevations, and bearings.” (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000)  

A “chronograph”, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “an instrument for recording time with extreme exactness; also, a watch or clock to which various mechanical devices are attached for the same purpose. It is used in astronomical and other observations, in the timing of races, etc.” 

Not ‘touchingest' 

1. When my teachers find that they don’t know the spelling of a word, they would ask, “How to spell?” Is it right to say that?  

2. Which is right: 

(a) She likes me, isn’t it? 

(b) She likes me, is it? 

(c) You didn’t tell me the news, is it? 

3. In the dictionary, there is a statement like this: All aircraft must fuel before a long fight. Shouldn’t it be “must be fuelled”?  

4. “The most beautiful girl.” 

“The easiest way.”  

“Beautiful” and “easy” are adjectives. The word “touching” is also an adjective, right? Then, which is correct: “The most touching song” or “The touchingest song”? 

5. Is “e-mail” a noun or a verb? – cyl 

1. We should say: “How is this word spelt?”  

2. They are all incorrect. I have written the correct question tags in bold below: 

(a) She likes me, doesn’t she? 

(c) You didn’t tell me the news, did you? 

3. To answer this question, let me quote you my answer to another reader: 

“To fuel” in relation to vehicles, such as aircraft, usually means “to provide with fuel”. Hence, we usually write the verb “fuel” in the passive form when “aircraft” is the subject, i.e. “All aircraft must be fuelled before a long flight” instead of “All aircraft must fuel before a long flight”.  

This is because it is people who put the fuel into the aircraft fuel tank: the aircraft, being inanimate, cannot do it by itself.  

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), however, has another definition for the verb “fuel”, i.e. “to take in fuel”. If this sense is used, it would not be wrong to say “All aircraft must fuel ...” (although it is seldom said).  

After all, we normally say “The plane will land soon.” instead of “The plane will be landed soon.”! Logically, the latter sentence is the correct one, because it is the pilot who lands the plane: the plane cannot land itself. 

4. Yes, “touching” is an adjective from “touch”, and we say “the most touching song”, NOT “the touchingest song”. 

5. The word “e-mail” is both a verb and a noun. You can “e-mail” a friend or receive an “e-mail” from her.

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Wednesday January 11, 2006

It’s conditional

By GUY PERRING

THE BUSINESS OF ENGLISH 

In negotiations, it is often common to use if-clauses when we are discussing the terms of an agreement. For example, 

The Star Online > Lifefocus

Wednesday January 11, 2006

Don’t use ‘I’ when it’s ‘me’

By RALPH BERRY

If you want to impress people with your command of English, here’s a useful tip. Learn the difference between “I” and “me”, then use “me” correctly. People will think you got it wrong. They will then discover that you were perfectly right. Your standing will grow. 

Here, from The Times of London (3 October 2005) are two instances on the same page. The first is by Ken Russell, the famous film director: 

My father was a distant figure who took delight in scaring my mother and I in a weird way. 

The second is from a lady novelist: 

They sent Stephen and I back to Poland. 

How to get it right? Easy. Just blank off the two words before “I”. And then the sentences would read “? took delight in scaring ? I” and “They sent ? I back to Poland.” At which it’s plain that “I” is wrong.  

Yet people write in The Times – and are handsomely paid for it – words that would be condemned in a village, back-country school.  

What goes wrong? I think it’s a feeling, an instinct – you cannot call it a thought – that if in doubt you should go for “I”. “Me” feels a somehow lower kind of word.  

It is in fact neither lower nor higher than “I”. “Me” is object, “I” is subject. Stay with reason. If “me” is correct, it’s correct. 

It really is a puzzle, though. What on earth is so hard about writing “who took delight in scaring my mother and me” or “They sent Stephen and me back to Poland”?  

Again, the expression “between you and me” is perfectly correct. But people often say “between you and I”, which is not.  

Burchfield is scornful about the phrase: “Anyone who uses it now lives in a grammarless cavern in which no distinction is recognized between a grammatical object and a subject.”  

As for that age-old conflict between “It is I” and “It is me”, I support Gowers’ line: “most people would think ‘it is I’ pedantic in talk, and ‘it is me’ improper in writing.”  

It’s a grey area, contested territory, but speech is different from writing. Writing should stay on the side of correctness.  

The past is no guide. It is true that Jane Austen has “Mrs Forster and me are such friends.” (Pride and Prejudice) which is wrong. But that is the character, Lydia Bennet, speaking.  

Shakespeare, of course, is weak on grammar: when Polonius asks Hamlet, “What is the matter, my Lord?” Hamlet responds “between who?” when it should be “whom” (again, object).  

And that’s from a graduate of Wittenberg University, at that time just about the top university in Northern Europe.  

In The Merchant of Venice (3.2.316), Antonio is reported as saying, “All debts are cleared between you and I.” I suspect that usage on this one has always been, well, wobbly.  

What is there about I? I’ve just received an e-mail from a friend: “Charlotte and I’s new address is ?” This is horrible beyond words.  

All he had to do was to write “Charlotte’s and my new address is ?” And yet, like Hamlet, he went to a good school.  

I can only conclude that there is something about I/me that gets into perfectly sound brains, and scrambles them. People feel that there is something tricky and dangerous about I/me, and a brief attack of vertigo follows.