MCQ No.1 of PO Guide I

 Relax, Refresh your English knowledge 48

236. When ‘leave’ is used to mean vacation, is it okay to say ‘number of leave/leaves taken’?
No, it isn’t. When ‘leave’ is used to mean ‘vacation’, it is used as an uncountable noun; you cannot say ‘leaves’. The expression ‘a number of’ is always followed by a countable noun. For example, “A number of students were present at the meeting”, and “A number of children took ill after eating the ice cream.” You cannot say, “a number of leaves/leave”. If you wish to use “number of” with “leave”, then you’ll have to say, “Number of days taken as leave”.
*I plan to be on leave all of next week.

237. Why is money referred to as ‘bucks’?
There was a time when the term bucks was only used to refer to the American dollar. Nowadays, the word is used to refer to money in general. Even the Indian rupee, in informal contexts, is being called a buck. *Who is making the big bucks in your family? The invention of paper money is a recent phenomenon. In the old days, when people wanted to buy something, they usually traded or bartered what they had. When a hunter wanted grain from a farmer, he usually traded animal skin or dried meat for it. The term ‘buck’ is actually the short form of ‘buckskin’. A buck, as you know is a male deer; ‘buckskin’, therefore, is the skin of this deer. Hunters, when they did business made use of ‘buckskins’. Later on, with the passage of time, the word ‘buckskin’ in everyday conversation was shortened to ‘buck’. When paper money was introduced much later, people began to call it ‘buck’. 

238. How is the word `manoeuvre' pronounced?
 The `a' in the first syllable and the `re' in the final syllable are like the `a' in `china'. The `oeu' sounds like the `oo' in `cool', `pool', and `fool'. The word is pronounced `me- NOO-ve' with the stress on the second syllable. It can be used both as a noun and a verb. A manoeuvre is a movement or a set of movements needing a certain amount of skill to be carried out. These are the manoeuvres you have to do to be part of this dancing troupe. When used as a verb, the word means to manipulate a situation in order to achieve a particular goal. In other words, you cleverly plan everything so that you get what you want. The word at times has a negative connotation. The students manoeuvred the Vice Chancellor into dropping the charges.

239. What is the meaning of `demarche'?
 First, let's deal with the pronunciation of the word. The first syllable `de' is pronounced like the word `day'. The following `ar' is like the `a' in `path', `ask', and `bath'; the final `che' sounds like the `sh' in `ship', `sheet', and `shin'. The word is pronounced `DAY-maash' with the stress on the first syllable. Some people put the stress on the second. In the world of diplomacy, the word is used to mean a formal appeal or protest by a diplomat. A demarche is a formal diplomatic representation which one country makes to another. In this representation, a country states its official position on a particular subject. The word can also be used to refer to the written statements or protests presented to the public officials by private citizens.

240. What is the difference between `talk to' and `talk with'?
The expression `talk to' has several different meanings. When you talk to someone, you speak to him. You may spend a short time or a long time speaking to the in dividual. I'll talk to my wife and let you know what she thinks. The expression can also be used to mean to scold or lecture someone. In this case, it's more of a monologue than a dialogue. I think you should give your daughter a good talking to. She's hasn't been doing her assignments. When you talk with someone, you discuss something with him. The amount of time that you spend with the individual is usually long: in this case, there is a conversation. Ananya spent an hour talking with her father about her new bat.

A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper 
Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above