Relax, Refresh your English knowledge 109
490. Is the following sentence grammatically correct? "What I wish to know is that whether the government is aware of the problem."
No, it is not. In this case, you do not need "that". Avoid using "that" and "whether" together. *What I want to know is whether you can come to the party. *Ayesha wanted to know whether she had been admitted to the programme.
491. What is the meaning of "blogging"?
One of the meanings of "log" is to write an official account of an event. In ships for example, captains keep an official written account of what happens each day — this is called the captain's log. In the old days, logs were maintained in ledgers; nowadays, they are saved on computers. "Blogging" is actually the short form of "web logging". Like a diary, a blog may include anything — personal opinion, comments and experiences. Unlike a diary, however, a blog is written for others to read and comment on. You upload whatever material you have written onto the web, and you keep updating it on a regular basis. A person who writes blogs is called a "blogger". "There are well-dressed foolish ideas just as there are well-dressed fools." — Nicholas Chamfort
492. What is the difference between "drop out" and "dropout"?
Parents nowadays want their kids to learn a lot of things. They want them to excel not only in their studies, but also in sports. Very often they sign up their kids for tennis lessons, karate lessons, etc. After some time, the poor child finds it difficult to cope with both his studies and his extracurricular activities. What does he do? He stops attending the karate and tennis classes. That's what the expression "drop out" means - to discontinue. When a person who has been attending college decides to "drop out", he takes the decision to stop going to college. This person does not graduate. In villages, parents often force their children to drop out of school. An individual who has dropped out of school or college is called a "dropout". We have many high school dropouts in our family.
A collection from the Open Page Supplement of The Hindu Newspaper
Courtesy: Sri Upendra, the writer of the above
Post a Comment