A Poem a Day: Winter Trees - William Carlos Williams

A Poem a Day: Winter Trees - William Carlos Williams: All the complicated details of the attiring and the disattiring are completed! A liquid moon moves gently among the long branches. Thu...

USE OF “Turn, become, get, grow, go”

USE OF “Turn, become, get, grow, go”

The words become, go, grow, turn, come and get can all be used to talk about change. They have similar meanings. There are differences too.

Complete the following sentences using an appropriate word indicating change.

1. You are ……………….. younger and younger.

a) staying
b) becoming
c) changing

2. Please ………………… ready now.

a) become
b) get
c) turn

3. It was ………………….. very dark.

a) becoming
b) getting
c) turning

4. What do you have to do to ………………….. an astronaut?

a) become
b) get

5. They ………………… married in 1986.

a) got
b) became
c) turned

6. Leaves …………………. brown in autumn.

a) turn
b) go
c) get

7. She ………………… red with embarrassment.

a) went
b) got
c) came

8. It will all ………………… right in the end.

a) go
b) come
c) get

9. Jealousy ………………… her into a monster.

a) became
b) got
c) turned

Answers

1. You are becoming younger and younger.

2. Please get ready now.

3. It was becoming / getting very dark.

4. What do you have to do to become an astronaut?

5. They got married in 1986.

6. Leaves turn / go brown in autumn.

7. She went red with embarrassment.

8. It will all come right in the end.

9. Jealousy turned her into a monster.

COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

COMPARATIVES AND SUPERLATIVES

Complete the following sentences using an appropriate comparative or superlative form.

1. He is ………………. his father than his mother.

a) more like
b) liker
c) Either could be used here

2. He is ………………….. than stupid.

a) more lazy
b) lazier
c) Either could be used here

3. That is ……………….. of you.

a) kindest
b) most kind
c) Either could be used here

4. Could you talk …………………..?

a) quietlier
b) more quietly
c) Either could be used here

5. Can’t you drive any ………………….?

a) fast
b) faster
c) more fast

6. Susie is ……………….. than her sisters.

a) taller
b) tallest

7. Susie is the ……………………. of the four girls.

a) taller
b) tallest

8. He works ………………… than anybody else in the team.

a) hard
b) harder
c) hardest

9. We offer ………………….. expensive clothes for the fuller figure.

a) less
b) lesser

Answers

1. He is more like his father than his mother.

2. He is more lazy than stupid.

3. That is most kind of you.

4. Could you talk more quietly?

5. Can’t you drive any faster?

6. Susie is taller than her sisters.

7. Susie is the tallest of the four girls.

8. He works harder than anybody else in the team.

9. We offer less expensive clothes for the fuller figure.

DEFINITIONS – ALGORITHM & LEMMA

DEFINITIONS – ALGORITHM & LEMMA

ALGORITHM

An algorithm is a series of well defined steps which gives a procedure for solving a type of problem. The word algorithm comes from the name of the 9th century Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi. In fact, even the word ‘algebra’ is derived from a book, he wrote, called Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala.

LEMMA

A lemma is a proven statement used for proving another statement.

GAP FILLS

Complete the following sentences using an appropriate verb form.

1. If you knew the answer, why …………………… you tell me?

a) don’t
b) didn’t
c) hadn’t

2. If it ……………….. Jeena why didn’t she stop and say Hi?

a) is
b) was
c) has

3. If you had listened to him, you ………………….. in trouble.

a) wouldn’t have landed
b) won’t have landed
c) won’t land

4. If I know his name, I ……………….. you.

a) will tell
b) would tell
c) had told

5. If she applied for that job, she …………………. it.

a) will get
b) would get
c) would have got

6. If she asked more politely, I ………………… her a few pounds.

a) will lend
b) would lend
c) would have lent

7. If you …………………. you will get cancer.

a) smoke
b) smoked
c) had smoked

8. If she …………………… now, we would be in trouble.

a) arrive
b) arrives
c) arrived

9. Feel free to call me if you ……………….. any help.

a) need
b) needed
c) would need

10. I ……………….. them if I had more time.

a) would visit
b) will visit
c) would have visited

Answers

1. If you knew the answer, why didn’t you tell me?

2. If it was Jeena why didn’t she stop and say Hi?

3. If you had listened to him, you wouldn’t have landed in trouble.

4. If I know his name, I will tell you.

5. If she applied for that job, she would get it.

6. If she asked more politely, I would lend her a few pounds.

7. If you smoke you will get cancer.

8. If she arrived now, we would be in trouble.

9. Feel free to call me if you need any help.

10. I would visit them if I had more time.

TYPES OF POEMS

TYPES OF POEMS

 There are many different types of poems.

ABC

A poem that has five lines that create a mood, picture, or feeling. Lines 1 through 4 are made up of words, phrases or clauses while the first word of each line is in alphabetical order. Line 5 is one sentence long and begins with any letter.

Acrostic

Poetry that contain letters, usually the first in each line form a word or message when read in a sequence.

Ballad

A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tail or legend which often has a repeated refrain.

Blank verse

A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter and is often unobtrusive. The iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of speech.

Bio

A poem written about one self's life, personality traits, and ambitions.

Burlesque

Poetry that treats a serious subject as humor.

Canzone

Medieval Italian lyric style poetry with five or six stanzas and a shorter ending stanza.

Cinquain

Poetry with five lines. Line 1 has one word (the title). Line 2 has two words that describe the title. Line 3 has three words that tell the action. Line 4 has four words that express the feeling, and line 5 has one word which recalls the title.

Classicism

Poetry which holds the principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art, architecture, and literature.

Couplet

A couplet has rhyming stanzas made up of two lines.

Dramatic monologue type of poem which is spoken to a listener. The speaker addresses a specific topic while the listener unwittingly reveals details about him/herself.

Elegy

A sad and thoughtful poem about the death of an individual.

Epic

An extensive, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure.

Epigram

A very short, ironic and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain. The term is derived from the Greek epigramma meaning inscription.

Epitaph

A commemorative inscription on a tomb or mortuary monument written to praise the deceased.

Epithalamium (Epithalamion)

A poem written in honour of the bride and groom.

Free verse

Poetry written in either rhyme or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern.

Haiku

A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five more, usually containing a season word.

Iambic pentameter

One short syllable followed by one long one five sets in a row. Example: la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH la-LAH

Italian sonnet

A sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba followed by six lines with a rhyme pattern of cdecde or cdcdcd.

Limerick

A short sometimes vulgar, humorous poem consisting of five anapestic lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables, rhyme and have the same verbal rhythm. The 3rd and 4th lines have five to seven syllables, rhyme and have the same rhythm.

List

A poem that is made up of a list of items or events. It can be any length and rhymed or unrhymed.

Lyric

A poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet.

Memoriam stanza

A quatrain in iambic tetrameter with a rhyme scheme of abba -- named after the pattern used by Lord Tennyson.

Name

            Poetry that tells about the word. It uses the letters of the word for the first letter of each line.

Narrative

A poem that tells a story.

Ode

A poem written in praise of someone or something

Pastoral

A poem that depicts rural life in a peaceful, romanticized way.

Petrarch an

A 14-line sonnet consisting of an octave rhyming abbaabba followed by a sestet of cddcee or cdecde

Rhyme

A rhyming poem has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of two or more words, often at the end of the line.

Rhyme royal

A type of poetry consisting of stanzas having seven lines in iambic pentameter.

Romanticism

A poem about nature and love while having emphasis on the personal experience.

Rondeau

A lyrical poem of French origin having 10 or 13 lines with two rhymes and with the opening phrase repeated twice as the refrain.

Senryu

A short Japanese style poem, similar to haiku in structure that treats human beings rather than nature: Often in a humorous or satiric way.

Sestina

A poem consisting of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in varied order as end words in the other stanzas and also recur in the envoy.

Shakespearean

A 14-line sonnet consisting of three quatrains of abab cdcd efef followed by a couplet, gg. Shakespearean sonnets generally use iambic pentameter.

Shape

Poetry written in the shape or form of an object.

Sonnet

A lyric poem that consists of 14 lines which usually have one or more conventional rhyme schemes.

Tanka

A Japanese poem of five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the other seven.

Definition of a Stanza

          A Stanza consists of two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme and are used like paragraphs in a story. Some different types of stanzas are as follows:

Couplets - Couplets are stanzas of only two lines which usually rhyme

Tercets - Tercets are stanzas of three lines. The three lines may or may not have the same end rhyme. If all three lines rhyme, this type of tercet is called a triplet.

Quatrains - Quatrains are stanzas of four lines which can be written in any rhyme scheme

GENERAL GRAMMAR WORKSHEET

 

GENERAL GRAMMAR WORKSHEET

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

1. I …………………………. yesterday.

a) went for a walk
b) had been going for a walk
c) went for walk

2. He got angry before I ……………………….. a word.

a) have said
b) had said
c) said

3. If I ……………………. this I shall be wrong.

a) do
b) did
c) will do

4. He said that he ………………… him the day before.

a) saw
b) had seen
c) was seeing

5. Rita asked ………………….. she could go home.

a) weather
b) whether

6. When I ………………… to Mumbai I will see him.

a) go
b) went
c) will go

7. He …………………… smoking.

a) has left
b) has given up

8. We …………………. playing when it started raining.

a) left
b) stopped

9. He went to America to ……………… English.

a) learn
b) know

10. She knows …………………..

a) to swim
b) how to swim

Answers

1. I went for a walk yesterday.

2. He got angry before I had said a word.

3. If I do this I shall be wrong.

4. He said that he had seen him the day before.

5. Rita asked whether she could go home.

6. When I go to Mumbai I will see him.

7. He has given up smoking.

8. We stopped playing when it started raining.

9. He went to America to learn English.

10. She knows how to swim.

AVOID MISTAKES IN THE USE OF NOUNS

Adjectives are words used to modify nouns. It is, therefore, wrong to omit nouns after adjectives.

• Incorrect: He lives with his elder.
• Correct: He lives with his elder brother.
• Incorrect: Please give me some blotting.
• Correct: Please give me some blotting paper.
• Incorrect: They sent him to a boarding.
• Correct: They sent him to a boarding school.

Notes

The expressions the elder and the eldest are used as nouns.

• He is the elder of the two.

Nouns that do not have a plural form

The following nouns do not have a plural form: rice, corn, food, cattle, furniture, mischief, filth, dirt, needlework, woodwork, machinery, hair, advice, poetry, abuse, scenery, clergy and fuel.

• Incorrect: Switzerland is famous for its beautiful sceneries.
• Correct: Switzerland is famous for its beautiful scenery.
• Incorrect: Indians have black hairs.
• Correct: Indians have black hair.
• Incorrect: I don’t need your advices.
• Correct: I don’t need your advice.

Notes

The nouns rice, corn, food etc., have a plural form as well. The plural forms are used only when different varieties of rice, corn or foodare mentioned.

The nouns brick and stone are usually used in the singular form to talk about the material used to build a home.

• This house is built of stone. (NOT This house is built of stones.)

The nouns cattle, clergy and people are already plural in sense. They don’t have any plural form. For example, you can’t say cattles.

SOME COMMON IDIOMS

Here are some common idioms in English.

Rise to the occasion

When you rise to the occasion, you are able to cope with the circumstances.

See eye to eye

When you do not see eye to eye with someone, you do not agree with them.

Fair and square

If a deal is fair and square, it is just and honest.

Flog a dead horse

To flog a dead horse is to waste your time and energy on a cause that will not yield any results.

Face the music

To face the music is to face criticism.

Fan the flame

To fan the flame is to make a bad situation worse.

Feather one’s own nest

To feather your own nest is to make yourself rich in ways that are unfair or dishonest.

From hand to mouth

To live from hand to mouth is to live on very little money.

For good

If someone leaves a country for good, they leave for ever.

To fish in troubled waters

To fish in troubled waters is to take undue advantage of others’ problems.

The gift of gab

The gift of gab is the power of speech

Grope in the dark

To grope in the dark is to search in vain.

Grease the palm

To grease the palm is to give someone money to persuade them to do something for you.

Gird up one’s loins

To gird up one’s loins is to prepare oneself for difficult or dangerous actions.

English verb forget conjugated in all tenses.

English verb forget conjugated in all tenses.