TIPS for English (55): Words(II) (V)

·  We double a single consonant letter at the end of any base where the preceding vowel is spelled with a single letter and stressed, e.g., bar – barred, beg – begged, occur – occurred, permit – permitted, patrol – patrolled; refer – referring/ referred; omit – omitting/ omitted; equip – equipping/ equipped

·  Usually there is no doubling when the preceding vowel is unstressed (e.g., enter –  entering/entered; visit – visiting/visited; prohibit – prohibiting/ prohibited) or when the preceding vowel is written with two letters (e.g., dread – dreading/dreaded); cool – cooling/ cooled; require – requiring/ required; squeal – squealing/ squealed (e.g., A pig squealing).

·     ‘Benefit’ follows the standard rules and becomes ‘benefiting/benefited,’ because there is usually no doubling when the preceding vowel is unstressed.

·     For ‘Tie’ we have: tied in past simple and p.p., and tying in present continuous.

·  Words that change their spelling to cope (they add a letter ‘k’): panic – panicking/ panicked; traffic – trafficking/ trafficked; frolic (= a playful action or movement) –  frolicking/frolicked; bivouac (= a temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers) – bivouacking/ bivouacked.

·  Difference between the US and UK English: parallel –parallelling/ parallelled (UK English)// paralleling/ paralleled (US English); travel –travelling/ travelled (UK English)// traveling/ traveled (US English).

·     In spite of = despite (without ‘of’) e.g., He remains a great leader despite age and infirmity.// In spite of his injury, Ronaldo will play in Sunday’s match (^^ for the last example).

·   Ageing (however, you may also find it in US English as ‘aging’ that is more common).

·      Extent (vs) Extend

·    Extent = (noun) e.g., e.g. ‘To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?’ // e.g., To a certain extent.

·     Extend = (verb) e.g., ‘I have plans to extend my house’ (= make it bigger) (^^^ for this example) // e.g., ‘He extended her hand as a greeting.’

·   Reprimand (e.g., He was reprimanded by his teacher for biting another boy) = rebuke (e.g., I was rebuked by my manager for being late) = reprehend ( e.g., Once she had upset Helen because Helen was playing with her dolls and making much noise and Sophie tried to reprehend her) = reproach (e.g., Her mother reproached her for not eating all her dinner) = admonish (e.g., Her mother admonished her for eating too quickly) (^^^ for all the examples except for ‘reprehend’).

·     For specific planets we also use ‘the’ e.g., The planet Earth/ Venus (^^^) e.g., The planet Mars is an uninhabitable place (i.e., unsuitable for living in) /// But we don’t use ‘the’ when we generally refer to planets e.g., Might there be intelligent life on other planets?  (^^ for this example).

·   Catherine Deneuve defends men’s right to ‘hit on women.’ She, along with 100 French women, signed against the ‘witch hunt’ referred to sexual harassment/ misconduct/ non-consensual sex allegations. Signatories include writers, performers, and academics (from the media).

·   Hit on somebody = (slang) (phrasal verb) to show someone that you are sexually attracted to them e.g., Some guy hit on me while I was standing at the bar (^^).

·     The situation changes in the blink of an eye (= extremely quickly)

·   At least 15 people die after a ferocious storm in Santa Barbara County. The rescue service/ team heard (hear – heard –  heard) a muffled sound (= a sound that is quite or not clear) in the debris (pronounced ˈdeb.riː or ˈdeɪ.briː in UK English and dəˈbriː in US English). It was from a 14-years old girl that they eventually saved. They still search for those unaccounted for (from the media).

·   Ferocious = (adjective) frightening and violent e.g., A ferocious dog.// e.g., A ferocious battle.// e.g., The PM came in for some ferocious criticism.// e.g., He’s got a ferocious (= very bad) temper (^^)// e.g., At least 15 people die after a ferocious storm in Santa Barbara County (from the media).

·   On no account/ not on any account = if something must on no account/ not on any account be done, it must not be done at any time or for any reason e.g., These records mustn’t on any account be changed.// e.g., Employees must on no account make personal phone calls from the office (^^).

·  Unaccounted for = (adjective) not included in an account or calculation through being lost or disregarded e.g., A substantial amount of money is unaccounted for.// e.g., However, three Britons people were among those still unaccounted for.

·    Compared to/ with e.g., This road is quite busy compared to/with ours.// e.g., Compare some recent work with your older stuff and you will see how much you’ve improved (^^).

·     In comparison to/with somebody/ something//// By/in comparison with (e.g., By/in comparison with the French, the British eat far less fish)./// A comparison between/with somebody/something (^^)

· Collective responsibility = responsibility of organizations, groups, and societies. Part of it is the concept known as collective guilt by which individuals who are part of such collectives to be responsible for other people's actions and occurrences by tolerating, ignoring, or harboring them, without actively engaging (*****).

·     Adjectives (vs) Adverbs:

·   Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun (^^) (usually they go before a noun) e.g., A boring man// e.g. A dramatic change.

·     Adverbs describe or give more information about a verb, adjective, adverb, or phrase (My comment: usually they end to -ly and follow a verb) e.g., She smiled (verb) cheerfully (adverb)// e.g., The house was spotlessly (adverb) clean (^^).

·     The shopping Mall offers everything (not ‘anything’), and it is also a meeting point

·      Hard-working person

·      He lives on the outskirts of the city

·    On the internet/ the web/ my social media/ TV (without ‘the’ e.g., ‘I saw it on TV’)

·     Various –  pronounced ˈveə.ri.əs

·      Variable – pronounced ˈveə.ri.ə.bəl

·      Children – pronounced ˈtʃɪl.drən

·      Obesity – pronounced əʊˈbiː.sə.ti

·      Globalization – pronounced ɡləʊ.bəl.aɪˈzeɪ.ʃən

·   The use of technology in modest/ The prudent/ wise use of technology.

·   Gadgets appeal to young people// Gadgets attract/ lure young people 

·    BBC journalists always champion the truth

·   Civilians flee as fights in Mosul (a city in Iraq) intensify/ as the battle for Mosul rages.

·    The US withdrew from the Paris accord (referring to the climate deal)

·     New Delhi

·     Forum – plural = fora (or forums)

·    The Turkish state rebuffed (rebuff = reject someone or something in an abrupt or ungracious manner) the Kurdish delegates of the HDP party (from the media).

·     The ship set a course for London

·     Curriculum vitae (CV)

·  Sort (= type, person, order, deal with) (e.g., If only you knew the sort of people she was mixing with) (vs) Short (= small in length, distance or height) (vs) Shorts (clothe – in US English it means men’s underpants!)

· A Sikh (pronounced siːk) man (from India) wears his turban (pronounced ˈtɜːbən).

·     Pound sterling (not ‘pound sterlings’) – Plural: pounds sterling

·  The photographers looked at the poaching (poach; pronounced pəʊtʃ; = to catch and kill animals without permission on someone else's land)) route (not to be confused with ‘root’) of the animals.

·  Textile dumped on the streets are an ugly nuisance (= person or thing causing inconvenience or annoyance; pronounced ˈnjuːs(ə)ns).

·    Soldiers fought with tenacity (pronounced tɪˈnasɪti; = the quality or fact of being very determined; determination) against the Nazi (pronounced nɑːt.si).

·    Ballistic missile threat in Hawaii was eventually proven to be a false alarm/ alert that was issued ‘in error’ (from the media).

·      Thousand

·       Husband

·      Tomorrow

·      Saturday/ Sunday (mnemonic trick: sun + day)

·      Holiday 

·      Acid is pronounced ‘ˈæs.ɪd

·      Smile – smiled – smiling

·      Welcome

·      Chatting

·      Serviette (table napkin)

·      The tapestry shows the battle of Hastings.

·       Power cuts because of the storm.

·       Accordingly (adverb – ‘according to’ is a preposition)

·       Fast (adjective or adverb – ‘fastly’ does not exist as an adjective!).

·       An expert on national security.

·       Latest gadgets unveiled in ‘Eureka park’ (from the media).

·       Global economy is laden with risks.

·   Quarantine (pronounced ˈkwɒr.(ə)n.tiːn) of pigs in Poland after deadly African swan fever incidents.

·       A nice jovial (= cheerful and friendly) guy

·       Murder on a large/ grand scale (=  serious crime); mass murder

·       Thuggish (= adjective of thug)-looking men

·     Be careful: pay –  paid (not payed!) – paid (not payed!)./// read – read (past simple; pronounced red)) – read (p.p.; pronounced red) e.g. I have read (pronounced red) this book.//// hear – heard (not ‘heared’) –  heard (not ‘heared’)./// mean – meant (not ‘ment’) – meant (not ‘ment’)./// choose – chose -chosen.

·       Asylum (pronounced əˈsaɪ.ləm) seekers

·       To my advantage

·       Pollster = (noun) A person who does opinion polls (^^).

·    An effect on somebody/ something e.g., The effect on society.// e.g., The radiation leak has had a disastrous effect on/upon the environment (^^^ for this example). 

·    The effect of something./// To remain in effect./// Have/produce an effect./// The desired effect./// An adverse/ profound/ beneficial/ significant effect./// To/ with devastating/ little/ no effect (^^).

·      Tunisia.

·      Saudi kingdom will lift the ban on women driving (from the media).

·     For decades, physicians have known about so-called factitious (= artificially created or developed) disorder, better known in its severe form as Munchhausen syndrome.

·   Consider + question (e.g., ‘Have you considered what you will do if you don’t get the job?’) or gerund (e.g., ‘We are considering selling the house’). Other examples:  e.g., He is being considered for the job.// e.g., ‘I consider myself lucky that I only hurt my arm in the accident.’

·     People hide in basements from the artillery shells.

·  The parlor (= a room in a private house used for relaxing and kept tidy for entertaining guests (^^)) has an imposing ceiling fresco.

·     Bucharest (capital of Romania)

·     Used clothes vendor (= someone who is selling something).

·     Slide is an irregular verb (slide – slid – slid; sliding).

·   Splendor (= magnificent and splendid appearance; grandeur) and misery

·      Energy conservation

·   Arab Spring uprising anniversary amid protests in Tunisia. The government promises reforms after a week of unrest (from the media).

·    Many migrants from Southern Europe are sleeping on the streets of Berlin (from the media).

·     SMS (mobile phone) (UK English) = text message (cell phone) (US English)/// Top up card for a mobile phone.

·      Committed

·      Goodbye

·  Three pilots have filed grievances (= official statement of a complaint about something believed to be wrong or unfair) against the company.

·  The obstinate (= (of an unwelcome situation) very difficult to change or overcome) problem of unemployment.

·     Kangaroo and antelopes

·     Argue – argument

·      Revenue department (in a tax office)

·      Tyre (tires in US English) of a car

·      Inevitably

·      Altogether

·      The English language

·      Femininity/ Masculinity

·   Professor of Economics/ in the Department of Neurology, at the University of Harvard

·  Brent Crude (= in a natural or raw state; not yet processed or refined) oil: increase by 0.22% (data delayed by 15 min) (from the media).

·   At least 15 people were killed in Taliban attack on Kabul hotel in Afghanistan (from the media).

·    The vice president of the US was heckled (heckle = interrupt a public speaker with derisive or aggressive comments or abuse) by Arab lawmakers (= legislators) when he stated in the Israel Parliament that the US would move its embassy to Jerusalem by 2020 (from the media).

·     Amusement (amuse – amusement) park

·  Hopeful of a new era (= a long and distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic) of peace talks in Israel (from the media).

·    At night; at dawn; at noon; at midnight. But we say: in the morning, in the afternoon; in the evening

· Amazon (company) opens in downtown Seattle the first supermarket with no checkouts (from the media). Note: ‘Downtown’ is an adjective and goes before noun e.g. Downtown LA (Los Angeles).// e.g. A downtown address./// In American English ‘downtown’ is an adverb and follows a verb e.g., ‘I work downtown (not ‘in the downtown’), but I live in the suburbs’ (^^).

·    Canberra (capital of Australia; My comment: No, Sydney is not the capital! – By the way, no Auckland is not the capital of New Zealand, but Wellington is!)

·     Literally (adverb; = in a literal manner or sense; exactly)

·     Dessert (= the sweet course eaten at the end of a meal; pronounced dɪˈzɜːt) (vs) Desert (= a dry, barren area of land, especially one covered with sand, that is characteristically desolate, waterless, and without vegetation; pronounced ˈdez.ət).

·      Siren is pronounced ˈsaɪə.rən.

·      A gallant (= brave, heroic) gentleman 

·      Kangaroo

·      Irreplaceable

·      Goddess

·      Despite

·    A divorce will not prevent the prince of Wales’s succession (= a process in which someone automatically takes an official position or job after someone else) to the throne (^^) (from the media).

·    A succession (= a number of similar events or people that happen, exist, etc. after each other) of scandals and revelations has undermined (not ‘underminded) the government last year (^^).

·    When he came back his hat was at a jaunty (= having or expressing a lively, cheerful, and self-confident manner) angle and he was smiling (^^^).

·     Smile – smiling – smiled (e.g., ‘She smiled at me’)

·   ‘If you’re an ostrich (hiding yourself) about your debts, you are only going to make matters worse’ (^^^).

·   Hundreds of old trees were blown down in the gales (gale = a very strong wind).

·     Regularly

·     Pronounce – pronunciation

·   Mercenaries (mercenary is pronounced ˈməːsɪn(ə)ri ;= a soldier who fights for any country or group that pays them (^^)) fighting terrorists.

·      A continuous story

·      The Dark Ages

·  She was stopped from dispensing prescriptions (dispense = (of a chemist) makeup and give out medicine according to a doctor's prescription)

·    Superstitious (= based on or believing in superstitions)

·  For ‘Tie’ we have: tied in past simple and p.p., and tying in present continuous

·    The Beetles were probably the most famous band in the world (^^).

·     Portsmouth (pronounced ˈpɔːtsməθ) (port in the UK)

·     Dissatisfaction

·     Disapprove of (mnemonic trick: dis + approve)

·     We went back to Ireland for my uncle’s burial (^^)

·  Reconcile means to find a way in which 2 situations or beliefs that are opposed to each other (2 separate words) can agree and exist together (^^).

·     Abbreviation

·    Harass (pronounced ˈhær.əs or həˈræs in UK English and  ​həˈræs or ˈher.əs in US English) – harassment (pronounced ˈhær.əs.mənt or həˈræs.mənt in UK English and  ​həˈræs.mənt in US English)

·     Surveillance camera

·     Barista (pronounced bɑːrˈiːs.tə) who prepares a coffee at a café.

·     Luxury – Luxurious

·     Libya (country)

·     Helsinki (capital of Finland)

·    Drown is not an irregular verb. The past simple is drowned e.g., He drowned in the pond.

·    Ties (tie = a draw; a result in a game or other competitive situation in which two or more competitors or teams have the same score or ranking) (on the game) to be played on the 17^th February.

·     Destruction

·    ‘Do you like going to school?’

·     Big plans for the coming year.

·     ‘There are no choices whatsoever (= at all)’

·     Cockroach (insect) (mnemonic trick: cock + roach)

·    The UN should concentrate on the main issue of poverty.

·    Budget committee

·   The German painter Georg Baselitz paints his pictures upside down from the outset (= the start or beginning of something). His style was to imitate. With him, painting is getting a new impetus (= the force or energy with which a body moves) adding his own style of art. In 1980 he presented his amazing art at the German pavilion (pronounced pəˈvɪljən; = a building or similar structure used for a specific purpose, in particular) (from the media).

·   Government shutdown (of public services) was averted (avert = prevent or ward off an undesirable occurrence) in the US (from the media).

· The FBI probe (probe = enquire into someone or something closely) into Russia’s meddling in the US presidential elections caused frustration to the US president. The FBI deputy sustained scrutiny from the president, and eventually, he resigned under the political pressure (from the media) 

·    India issues a 7.5% growth forecast (from the media) (My comment: as global production has moved in India and China, western counties offer nothing else than services!).

· Fears that coalition government in Germany will bolster (= support or strengthen; prop up) AfD far-right party (from the media).

·   She collects the clutter (= a collection of things lying about in an untidy state) from the street and takes the plastic for recycling.

·  Heavy showers (= rain) are expected for the Philippines (from the weather forecast)

·   The UK has deeply divided on the deal with the EU/ over EU/ UK relations as the UK is due to leave the EU in 2019 (from the media)

·    The UN envoy (= a messenger or representative, especially one on a diplomatic mission) tried to solve the issue

·    ‘Benevolence (= the quality of being well-meaning; kindness) Well’ of the HNA group initiative has facilitated the construction of hundreds of wells to provide clean drinking water to 300,000 people in Hainan Province (from the web)

·      Forty (= 40). Beware of the typo ‘fourty.’

·      Obese (pronounced əʊˈbiːs) – Obesity (pronounced əʊˈbiː.sə.ti)

·      Pattern

·      Hamburger (mnemonic trick: ham + burger)

·      Plateau (apart from a noun, it is also a verb!) 

·      Illegally  

·      Dense (adjective) – density (noun) – densely (adverb)

·      Aggressively 

·      As it is written

·      Definitely

·      Distinguish

·      Adequately

·      Admittedly

·      Welfare

·      Beginning

·   Delineate (= to describe or mark the edge of something e.g., The boundary of the car par is delineated by a low brick wall (^^). 

·      Unintended

·  The Taliban were savages (= extremely violent, wild, or frightening). The football field was in the past an execution place during the reign (pronounced reɪn ;= the period of time when a king or queen rules a country – here it means rulers) of the Taliban in Afghanistan (from the media).

·    Tears (pronounced teə(r), a hole) (vs) Tear (pronounced tɪe(r); eye tear)

·     ‘Someone was grabbing me by my collar.’

·      Accommodation

·      Astronaut

·      Fair hair: blond on males and blonde on females

·      Wheat (a cereal plant)

·      Garment (= an item of clothing) is pronounced ˈɡɑː.mənt

·      Travel by air

·      Description – descriptive

·      e-commerce (internet trading)

·    Access (pronounced ˈæk.ses) – Inaccessible

·    In addition to

·   Versailles (= a palace built for Louis XIV near the town of Versailles, southwest of Paris; pronounced vɛːˈsʌɪ)

·   Bill gates (the founder of the Microsoft Corporation) is helping (with his charity) so many people all around the world (from the media).

·  ‘There is no one else I would rather turn to you just having a shoulder to lean on.’

·   More than 1,500 species exhibit homosexual behavior, including mammals, birds, fish, and insects. The catalog is continuously increasing. So, the belief that homosexuality is something not natural is just a bias, as reproduction isn’t an end in itself! (obviously, my own example! You may watch my relevant YouTube playlist on https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkabqKbOJMGdOZbB3CsQxUzeJw7b-A7zh )

·   Bleed – bled – bled (it’s irregular)

·  Throughout 1943 the allied leaders meet in a series of conferences to plan the route to victory.

·  Winston Churchill

·  An attack (of the allies) on occupied France (refers to WWII) 

·    Dream – dreamed (or dreamt) – dreamed (or dreamt)

·    Agree – agreed

·    Sue (pronounced suː)(sues, suing, sued) (= institute legal proceedings against a person or institution, typically for redress).

·   Military

·   Deal –  dealt –  dealt

·   Double decked bus/ double-decker (= a bus with 2 levels) crashed in Hong Kong (from the media).

·     UK trade deficiency widens (from the media).

·    Russian scientists were arrested for Bitcoin (= internet currency) mining plot (from the media).

·    Iranian drone intercepted (intercept = obstruct someone or something so as to prevent them from continuing to a destination) in Israel (from the media).

·     The offenders should be tried at Hague (international court of justice)

·    The actor was unassuming [= modest; not pretentious (= attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed) or arrogant] but brilliant

·  The Democrats blamed the White House for lack of transparency (= openness, communication, and accountability *****) (from the media).

·   A new livery (pronounced ˈlɪv(ə)ri) ;= a special pattern or design that is put on things that a company owns and sells) design for Lufthansa commercial aircrafts (from the media).

·    The disinfectants and sanitizers she used let her skin of her hands chapped (chap = become cracked, rough, or sore, typically through exposure to cold weather e.g., chapped lips) and with tears (pronounced teə(r), a hole – here means cracks). Scrupulous (= careful, thorough, and extremely attentive to details) hygiene (pronounced ˈhaɪ.dʒiːn) for preventing infections with the prudent use of disinfectants is important, but we should not exaggerate.

·    Aid (vs) Aide

·    Aid = (noun/ verb) help or support

·  Aide (pronounced eɪd) =  (noun) a person whose job is to help someone important, such as a member of a government or a military officer of a high rank e.g., A senior government aide.// e.g., An aide to the prime minister (^^).// e.g., He is the 2^nd aide of president’s Trump administration (= period of government) to quit over abuse claims (from the media).