Friday, April 11, 2008

Well…improve our english meaning so improve our vocabulary.
Expecially the SAT or MUET exam which are mainly in English.
So in order to face these exams, we need to brush up our English language.
Here we go to improve our vocabulary.

1) A discerning publishing agent can ——- promising material from a mass of submissions, separating the good from the bad.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

To “winnow” is to sort through and select the desirable part of something or to get rid of the unwanted or undesirable part. If the publishing agent goes through the submissions, “separating the good from the bad,” then he or she can be said to be winnowing “promising material from a mass of submissions.”

2)Ramona had never visited Niagara Falls, but she could appreciate their splendor ——- through the descriptions of others.

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:
Ramona hadn’t visited Niagara Falls but “could appreciate their splendor,” so the word that fills the blank must be an adverb whose definition has to do with appreciating something indirectly, “through the descriptions of others” (based on their experiences). Choice (A) is correct because to experience something “vicariously” is to experience it through imaginative participation in the actual experience of someone else.

3)Members of the research team were initially so adversarial that ———- seemed impossible; the project’s inauspicious start made its final success all the more ———- .

Correct Answer: E

Explanation:
Choice (E) is the only pair of words that logically completes this sentence. The “adversarial” attitude of the team members would suggest that working together would be quite difficult, or that “cooperation” would be “impossible”; given the project’s bad start, its ultimate success would be “remarkable” because nobody would have expected it.

4)Joshua’s radical ideas were frowned on by most of his coworkers, who found them too ——- for their conservative tastes.

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:
Joshua’s colleagues are described as having “conservative tastes” and frowning on his “radical ideas.” Such colleagues are likely to find Joshua’s ideas too “heretical,” or too divergent or different from conventional beliefs and standards. Choice (A), then, is the best answer.

Posted by rays at 04:49:47 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Improve our English!
~PART Of Speech

THE eight parts of speech are the verb, the noun, the adjective, the adverb, the pronoun, the conjunction, the preposition, and the interjection.

The function of a word in a sentence determines what part of speech it is in that sentence. The same word may be used as different parts of speech.

Can you identify the part of speech of each of the bold words in the story below?

The Wolf and the Lamb

A hungry Wolf who was wandering in the countryside saw a Lamb quenching her thirst by a brook with clear running (1a) water. He did not wish to be castigated as a vicious animal, so (2a) he sat down to think of an excuse to justify the impending violence.

He watched the Lamb from a narrow path that zigzagged up a small hill, and then trotted closer to the brook until he was overlooking her.

“Hello, Lamb,” the Wolf said in his gruff voice (3a). “I hope you are well (4a). You are the only (5a) animal I’ve seen today. Why are you all (6a) alone? Come and join me up here – we can while (7a) away the afternoon by having a conversation. I think I like (8a) you.”

The Lamb thought, “There is something about (9a) him that makes me uneasy.” And she replied, “Please don’t talk like (8b) that, Wolf. We are not animals of like (8c) temperance and disposition. I have to decline your invitation – a little (10a) knoll ledge is a dangerous thing.”

“Since (11a) you are afraid to come up,” said the Wolf, “I shall go down.”

After a while (7b), the lupine creature reached the brook and drank from it. “Ugh! This water tastes awful!” he exclaimed. “Why did you dirty it?”

“An animal needs much (12a) patience to listen to you,” said the Lamb. “I drink very little (10b), and I am drinking downstream from you.”

“You talk too much (12b),” said the Wolf, who was bent on quarrelling with his agnine adversary. “Well (4b), let me voice (3b) a genuine complaint against you. Do you always have to bleat 140 times at night? I slept badly three nights running (1b).”

“That is a gross lie,” said the Lamb. “I sleep inside my master’s barn, which is on the other side of the hill.”

“Ah, now I remember,” said the Wolf, and he could see tears well (4c) in her eyes. “You called me many terrible names behind my tail about (9b) two years ago. One name that I particularly hated was Baaaad Wolf.”

“I am only (5b) six months old,” said the Lamb, “and I have not bad-mouthed a single animal since (11b) my birth. You see, I respect all (6b) creatures.”

“You are so (2b) clever,” said the Wolf, “but I am still going to devour you.” And he jumped on the Lamb while (7c) she tried unsuccessfully to get away.

(Adapted from a fable by Aesop)


Answers

1. Running (a) adjective (b) adverb

2. So (a) conjunction (b) adverb

3. Voice (a) noun (b) verb

4. Well (a) adjective (b) interjection (c) verb

5. Only (a) adjective (b) adverb

6. All (a) adverb (b) adjective

7. While (a) verb (b) noun (c) conjunction

8. Like (a) verb (b) preposition (c) adjective

9. About (a) preposition (b) adverb

10. Little (a) adjective (b) adverb

11. Since (a) conjunction (b) preposition

12. Much (a) adjective (b) adverb

Well….hopes all of u will get the clearer part of speech!

Posted by rays at 09:15:24 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Since that we student may often face difficulties inwritting a good essays.
This articles will indeed provide you with common mistakes made by most students when writting an essay.
Besides that ,we will understand more on our country , Malaysia!

TITLE:A unique Malaysia
    Malaysia is a multiracial country. Malaysia has a population of 23.27 million consisting of 61 percent Malays, 30 percent Chinese, 8 percent Indians and 1 percent of other ethnic groups. Malaysia is unique because of its diversity of races, religions and cultures, the stability of the country and many places of interests. Besides, there are many international achievements which are the pride of our nation.

    Diversity of races, religions and cultures is a significant characteristic of our nation. Malaysia is a multiracial country with a rich cultural heritage. Unique to Malaysia is the ‘Open House’ concept where during the various cultural and religious festival like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Gawai Day and others, friends and families and even strangers would visit the homes of those who are celebrating the festival, to wish them well and enjoy the feast prepared by the hosts. Although the visitors may be from different races, they still can tolerate with each other and live under the same roof where they celebrate the festival together. This will help to strengthen the ties among themselves.

   Moreover, the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is also a uniqueness of us. We live harmoniously in a country where there are no wars and conflicts among Malaysians. War is dreadful and it may deteriorate humans’ lives. We are fortunate that our country is safe and runs off the war. So, people can live safely here. Somehow, Malaysia is a paradise for those Iraqis or Pakistanis. Besides, our country is freed from natural disasters such as earthquakes. Earthquakes may bring death and destroy many buildings. Therefore, Malaysia is unique because of the stability and peaceful environment.

   On top of that, there are many places of interests in country such as beaches, islands and rain forest. Malaysia’s rain forest is considered as the oldest in the world. The diverse species of animals and plant life continue to excite a great deal of scientific research. Many believe that some undiscovered plant may hold cures to many currently incurable human diseases. There are many islands in our country such as Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Redang, Pulau Ketam and many others. Pulau Langkawi has a lot of historitical informations. Those who are in favour of history can go there to explore the history of that place. All the beaches in those islands are beautiful. The sand is soft and white. The accommodation is well-established and that makes those islands ideal places to visit.

   Following this, there are also international achievements of our country. Those achievements include the existence of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Formula One (F1) racing circuit and the Petronas Twin Towers. KLIA is unique because it has all that is needed for business, entertainment and relaxation within its boundaries. The airport is part and parcel of the Multimedia Super Corridor where high technology industries are being actively developed. Nevertheless, there is a Formula One Race Track near the airport, so foreign car racing enthusiasts from all over the world can come for a visit to gather here. Besides that, Petronas Twin Towers which is a building that soars 452 metres into the sky is once upon a time, the tallest building in the world and yet it is a national pride to the people of Malaysia.

   In short, Malaysia is unique that it has diversity of races, religions and cultures, a stable and peaceful environment, places of interest and some internal achievements. Those are important characteristic of our nation. It is rich of cultural heritage; it would be worth to play a visit here.

Corrections made in the essay above:
Do not put an extra hyphen - multiracial is correct, multi-racial and multi racial are wrong
Use noun instead of adjective - diversity of races, religious and cultures is wrong; it should be diversity of races, religions and cultures; a unique of us is wrong, a uniqueness of us is correct
This sentence is wrong because there should be two phrases in the sentence where you use the conjunction although - Although the visitors may be from different races. However… It should be ‘Although the visitors may be from different races, they…’
Article – an unique is wrong, a unique is correct
Subject-verb agreement - the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia is should be the stability and peacefulness of Malaysia are – Wrong: there is no wars and conflicts. Correct: there are no wars and conflicts
Use adverb instead of noun – we live in a harmony country should be we live harmoniously in a country or we live in harmony.
Singular or plural - humans’ life is wrong, humans’ lives is correct, human beings is more appropriate
No plural form – Wrong: historitical informations. Correct: historical information
Avoid using informal word - has lots of is informal, has a lot of is formal

Essay Rating: 3.5
Good points and examples are discussed in the essay. However, there are some gross and minor grammatical and spelling errors. Gross errors include subject-verb agreement errors and wrong use of nouns and adjectives. All in all, there is still room for improvement. Keep up your writing effort!

Posted by rays at 08:46:39 | Permalink | Comments (1) »