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RELAX REFRESH YOUR ENGLISH KNOWLEDGE - 17

66, What is the difference between ‘give up' and ‘give in'?

People usually ‘give in' to someone or something. If you are having an argument with a friend, and you ‘give in', it means you concede. In other words, you ‘cave in'. You accept your friend's point of view, though you really don't want to. When a person ‘gives in', he usually does so reluctantly.

*When Ganguly saw Namratha crying, he gave in.

*The CEO refused to give in to the demands of the workers.

In some contexts, the phrase has the same meaning as ‘hand in'.

*You must give in your assignment by Monday.

When you ‘give up' doing something, you quit or stop doing it; especially something that you have been doing regularly. In this case, the quitting may be voluntary or forced.

*If I wish to complete the project on time, I have to give up tennis.

*My doctor has told me to give up smoking.

67. What is the meaning and origin of ‘wild card' in tennis?

During the recent U.S Open, several promising American players were given a wild card so that they could participate in the tournament. A ‘wild card' is usually given to someone who has failed to qualify for the event: the player's ranking is so low that he doesn't make the main draw automatically. Tournament organisers usually give a wild card to an up-and-coming player from their own country or to someone who has performed well in the past. In 2001, Goran Ivanisevic was given a wild card by the Wimbledon authorities, and he went on to win the title. He is the only wild card to have won a Grand Slam event.

The expression comes from the world of cards. A wild card is like a joker; you can assign it any value that you want to. In other words, the person who has the wild card can use it to represent any card that he wishes to. In the case of tennis, it is the tournament organizers who are assigning the player a value – that he is good enough to be part of the main draw. The word can also be spelt ‘wildcard'.

68. What is the difference between ‘scoot down' and ‘scoot over'?

Both expressions are used in informal contexts. When you ask someone to ‘scoot down' to some place, you are telling him to go there quickly.

*Why don't you scoot down to the supermarket and get a loaf of bread?

*I'll scoot down to the library and pick up a couple of books.

When you ask someone who is sitting to ‘scoot over', you are requesting him to move over so that you can sit down as well. This happens quite frequently when we are travelling by train.

*Sheba was too scared to ask Vikram to scoot over.

*I'm sorry. I'm not going to scoot over. I need my space.

69. How is the word ‘lacunae' pronounced?

‘Lacunae' is the plural form of ‘lacuna'. The ‘a' in the first and third syllable of ‘lacuna' sounds like the ‘a' in ‘china', while the ‘cu' in the second syllable is pronounced like the word ‘cue'. The word is pronounced ‘le-CUE-ne' with the stress on the second syllable. The final ‘nae' in ‘lacunae' sounds like the word ‘knee': the plural form is pronounced ‘le-CUE-knee'. The word comes from the Latin ‘lacuna' meaning ‘hole' or ‘pit'. In English, ‘lacuna' is mostly used in formal contexts to mean ‘gap' or ‘deficiency'. When you say that there is a lacuna in a report, you mean there is something missing.

*The lawyer argued there was a lacuna in the witness' version of the events.

*In most political parties, there is a lacuna of leadership at the top.

70. Is it okay to say, ‘The lawyers demanded the judge to take action against the police'?

No, it isn't. One can ‘demand something', but one cannot ‘demand someone to do something'. Careful users of the language would say, ‘The lawyers demanded that the judge take action against the police'. Similarly, we can say, ‘The students demanded that the Vice Chancellor postpone the exams', and not, ‘The students demanded the Vice Chancellor to postpone the exams'.

A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper

Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above


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