Vusumuzi Dube
Adapt, Adopt: Adapt means “change in some way to suit a new situation. For example: The refugees quickly adapted to life in a new country. Adopt means “take and use an idea as one’s own” or, “accept willingly.” His parents adopted Rudo’s clever way of cooking. The members of the rugby board adopted the treasurer’s report.
Adverb: Adverbs usually modify verbs, but they may also modify adjectives and other adverbs. Verb: The choir sang loudly. (Loudly modifies sang.) Rats ran amazingly quickly. Adjective: The man was very angry. (Very modifies angry.) Adverbs answer the questions How? When? or How much? Examples: She quickly ran home. How did they run? Quickly.
She will leave tomorrow. (When will she leave? Tomorrow.) Sam stepped forward. (Where did he step? Forward) The house was completely destroyed. (How much of the house was destroyed? (All of it.)
Agreement; In terms of language usage agreement refers to the correct use of words in relation to number, person, case and gender. Many questions in language examinations involve agreement. A verb and its subject must have agreement in person and number. For example, it is wrong to say: They was playing. (They – plural, was- singular.) Right: They were playing. (They and were are both plural.
It is wrong to say: It were a cold day. (It – singular, were – plural.) Right: It was a cold day. (It and was are both singular.).
A pronoun must have agreement in number, person and gender with the word it refers to. For example it is wrong to say: There were six birds and he caught it. (Birds – plural, it –singular.) Right: There were six birds and he caught them. Birds and them are both plural. Wrong: I saw her, but did not speak to me. (Her –third person, me – first person. Right: I saw her, but I did not speak to her. (Her and her are both third person.
Wrong: The lion killed the man and ate her. (Man – masculine, her – feminine.) Right: The lion killed the man and ate him. (Man and him are both masculine.)
The rules of pronoun agreement are often broken to avoid sexist language.
Anyone who comes must bring his own food. (Correct language but with a masculine emphasis. Non-sexist: Anyone who comes must bring their own food. (Incorrect. Anyone – singular, their – plural.)
Non-sexist; correct language usage: Those who come must bring their own food. (Non-sexist. Those and their are both plural.)
Among, amongst, between. Among is a shorter form of amongst. Among or amongst are used when more than two people or things are involved. Between is used when only two things are concerned. The sweets were shared among the five children. The sweets were shared between Bruce and Ryan. Amount, number: Amount is used with nouns of mass. These can usually be weighed or measured, but not counted.
Example: The amount of water in the dam is increasing alarmingly because of the incessant rains.
Number refers quantity in the sense of “more than one thing” Such things can be counted. Example: A number of children were selected for the trip. Angry, Annoyed: Angry expresses: a much greater degree of emotion than annoyed does. A person can be annoyed without being angry.
Angry at, angry about and annoyed at are used when emotion concerns things and other than people.
Example: He was angry at/about the theft of his beast. He was annoyed by the lack of attention he received. When the anger or annoyance concerns people angry with, annoyed by or annoyed with are appropriate. She was angry with/annoyed by/ annoyed with her naughty brother.
Answer, Reply. The nouns answer and reply are usually interchangeable. This is not so when they are used as verbs. This is because reply must usually be followed by the preposition to. It is wrong to say,
“Please reply my letter as soon as possible. Right: Please reply to my letter as soon as possible. Right: Please answer my letter as soon as possible.
Ante- Anti- Ante- means “before in time or place.” For example, antenatal means before birth. Ant- means against. Antidote means against poison. Anxious: In formal English anxious is often used to mean eager. Example: He was anxious to write the final examination. However, a critical writer will only use anxious to mean “worried”.
Word-doubles: The word bread is often linked with the word butter. Write down the words that often go with the following: Pros and -. Alpha and -.
Nouns and adjectives: Change the adjectives before each sentence into a noun, and use it to fill the space in the sentence: Strong – The boxer was renowned for his -. Sympathetic. I am sure that you will have – for me. Victorious. Finally, he was proclaimed the -. Gigantic.. The Flying Fortress was a – amongst bombers.
Adverbs: Rewrite the sentences below, filling each space with the correct adverb from this list: soundly, attentively, bitterly, distinctly, stealthily. He listened – to the discussion. The thief went to work -. He slept – the whole night through. He complained – about his misfortune. So that the crowd might hear, he spoke -.
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