Friday, 26 February 2016

Words from The Same Family - Feeble v Feebly



Feeble (adjective)
1.   weak; without energy, strength or power
Ø     The feeble, old lady rarely/seldom leaves the house, except to see the doctor.

2.   not effective/good
Ø     When Randy invited Kate to his party, she responded with a feeble excuse. So, 



Feebly (adverb)

Ø     When asked about her health, Mrs Johnson simply smiled and answered feebly.

Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Idiomatic Pairs of Words - High and Mighty



Meaning – proud, arrogant

Ø     We would have helped him had he not acted all high and mighty.

Ø     Because Heather’s always acting so high and mighty, no one at the office likes her. In fact, most people try to avoid her at all costs.

Friday, 19 February 2016

Grammar - Sentence Structure (Joining Sentences With And, But, Or)



Compiled from Grammar Builder Book 3



The rules are:
1.   a) And is used to join sentences when their meanings go well       together.
Eg. Frank owns a motorcycle. His sister owns a car.
     Frank owns a motorcycle and his sister owns a car. (Both are vehicles.)

   b) But is used to join sentences when there is a contrast in              meanings.
Eg. Robin is shy. His cousin is sociable.
     Robin is shy but his cousin is sociable. (Shy contrasts          with sociable.)

   c) Or is used to join sentences to show that only one of the              choices will take place.
       Eg. We can travel on our own. We can join a tour.
     We can travel on our own or we can join a tour.


2.   And/or is used to join at least three sentences.
    Sentence + comma + sentence (+comma + sentence + …) +        and/or + sentence.
Ø     I’m an entrepreneur. She’s an engineer. He’s a lawyer.
I’m an entrepreneur, she’s an engineer and he’s a lawyer.

Ø     I will pay first. Sally will pay first. We will pay together.
I will pay first, Sally will pay first or we will pay                     together.










Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Similes with Like - Shake/Tremble Like a Leaf



Meaning – shake/tremble with fear or cold

Ø    The poor lady was shaking/trembling like a leaf after the robbery. In fact, she could hardly/barely speak.

Ø     Lenny was shaking/trembling like a leaf when she walked in through the front door. She was drenched to the skin         (= extremely wet) when she got caught in the rain.

Friday, 12 February 2016

12 Tips for Better Business Writing By Dustin Wax



1. Less is more.

In business writing as in virtually every other kind of writing, concision matters. Ironically, as written information becomes more and more important to the smooth functioning of businesses, people are less and less willing to read. Increasingly, magazines and other outlets that used to run 2,000-word features are cutting back to 500-word sketches. Use words  sparingly, cut out the florid prose, and avoid long, meandering sentences. As Zorro taught his son, “Get in, make your Z, and get out!” – get straight to the point, say what you want to say, and be done  with it.

2. Avoid jargon.

Everyone in business hates business writing, all that “blue-sky solutioneering” and those “strategical synergies” that ultimately, mean nothing; “brainstorming” and “opportunities to work together” are more meaningful without sounding ridiculous. While sometimes jargon is unavoidable – in a business requirement document or technical specification, for example – try using plainer language. Even for people in the same field as you, jargon is often inefficient – the eye slides right past it without really catching the meaning. There’s a reason that jargon is so often used when a writer wants to not say anything.

3. Write once, check twice.

Proofread immediately after you write, and then again hours or, better yet, days later. Nothing is more embarrassing than a stupid typo in an otherwise fine document. It’s hardly fair – typos happen! – but people judge you for those mistakes anyway, and harshly. Except in the direct emergency, always give yourself time to set your writing aside and come back to it later. The brain is tricky and will ignore errors that  it’s just made; some time working on something else will give you the detachment you need to catch those errors before anyone else reads them.

4. Write once, check twice.

I know, I just said this, but I mean something else here. In addition to catching typos and other errors, putting some time between writing and re-reading your work can help you catch errors of tone that might otherwise escape you and cause trouble. For instance, when we’re upset or angry, we often write things we don’t actually want anyone else to read. Make sure your work says what you want it to say, how you want it to say it, before letting it reach its audience.

5. Pay special attention to names, titles, and genders.

OK, there is one thing more embarrassing than a typo: calling Mr. Smith “Ms. Smith” consistently throughout a document. If you’re not positive about the spelling of someone’s name, their job title (and what it means), or their gender, either a) check with someone who does know (like their assistant), or b) in the case of gender, use gender-neutral language. “They” and “their” are rapidly becoming perfectly acceptable gender-neutral singular pronouns, despite what your grammar teacher and the self-righteous grammar nazi down the hall might say.

6. Save templates.

Whenever you write an especially good letter, email, memo, or other document, if there’s the slightest chance you’ll be writing a similar document in the future, save it as a template for future use. Since rushing through writing is one of the main causes of typos and other errors, saving time by using a pre-written document can save you the  embarrassment of such errors. Just make sure to remove any specific information – names, companies, etc. – before re-using it – you don’t want to send a letter to Mr. Sharif that is addressed to Mrs. O’Toole!

7. Be professional, not necessarily formal.

There’s a tendency to think of all business communication as formal, which isn’t necessary or even very productive. Formal language is fine for legal documents and job applications, but like jargon often becomes invisible, obscuring rather than revealing its meaning. At the same time, remember that informal shouldn’t mean unprofessional – keep the personal comments, off-color jokes, and snarky gossip out of your business communications. Remember that many businesses (possibly yours) are required by law to keep copies of all correspondence – don’t email, mail, or circulate anything that you wouldn’t feel comfortable having read into the record in a public trial.

8. Remember the 5 W’s (and the H)

Just like a journalist’s news story, your communications should answer all the questions relevant to your audience: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? For example, who is this memo relevant to, what should they know, when and where will it apply, why is it important, and how should they use this information? Use the 5W+H formula to try to anticipate any questions your readers might ask, too.

9. Call to action.

The content of documents that are simply informative are rarely retained very well. Most business communication is meant to achieve some purpose, so make sure they include a call to action – something that the reader is expected to do. Even better, something the reader should do right now.Don’t leave it to your readers to decide what to do with whatever information you’ve provided – most won’t even bother, and enough of the ones who do will get it wrong that you’ll have a mess on your hands before too long.

10. Don’t give too many choices.

Ideally, don’t give any. If you’re looking to set a time for a meeting, give a single time and ask them to confirm or present a different time. At most, give two options and ask them to pick one. Too many choices often leads to decision paralysis, which generally isn’t the desired effect.

11. What’s in it for your readers?

A cornerstone of effective writing is describing benefits, not features. Why should a reader care? For example, nobody cares that Windows 7 can run in 64-bit mode – what they care about is that it can handle more memory and thus run faster than the 32-bit operating system. 64-bits is a feature; letting me get my work done more quickly is the benefit. Benefits engage readers, since they’re naturally most concerned with finding out how they can make their lives easier or better.

12. Hire a freelancer.

Not a writing tip per se, I know, but good advice nonetheless. Writing is most likely not your strong suit – if it’s important, hire someone for whom writing is their strong suit. You may think freelancers are only for marketing material, but that’s not true – a good freelance writer can produce memos, training manuals, internal letters, corporate newsletters, blog posts, wiki entries, and just about any other kind of writing you can think of. Depending on your needs, you can farm work out as needed or move a freelancer into a cubicle on-site, or work out whatever other arrangements best fit your needs. Expect to pay at least $30 an hour, and more likely $50 – $125 an hour, for good writing – anyone who charges less is either not very good, or not very business savvy. (These rates are for writers in US metro areas – rates may differ in other parts of the world.)

Friday, 5 February 2016

Happy New Year and See You Again Soon!



Dear readers,

I'd like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to you all for all your support! It's because of you that I continue to blog. I hope you have found my posts helpful. Please feel free to email me at maynaik23@gmail.com if there's anything you'd like help with and I'll see what I can do. Here's wishing all my Chinese readers a very Happy New Year! May the year of the monkey be another amazing year filled with happiness, health and wealth for us all! I'll be back on 12th February 2016:) Till then, take care and hope you all have a great weekend!


Warm regards



May Naik



A Fine Painting Featuring Two Monkeys On a Tree




Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Homophones - Cell v Sell


    Cell (noun)
1.  a small room, usually found in a prison, a monastery or convent
Ø     He was bound (=tied up) and left in a cell for three days.
Ø     Cooped up in a small dark cell, the prisoner hadn’t seen  daylight in weeks.

2.  organism
Ø     John was extremely worried when the doctors informed him that they had discovered some cancerous cells in his liver.


Sell (verb)
Ø     Tim was delighted when he finally managed to sell his old car today.
Ø     Sally has decided to sell her house and move into an apartment as her children are now all grown up and working in the city.