Phrasal Verbs - Stand For

 

1. accept

• I will not stand for bad behaviour in my class.
• John would never stand for bad service. That's why he's very particular about who he does business with.

2. to support or represent.

• This party stands for honesty, integrity and individual freedom.
• Your brand has to be very clear about what it stands for.
  
• This party has always stood for fairness and transparency.
  
  
  
  *With Christmas round the corner and 2020 drawing to a close, I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all readers a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in January 2021!

Homonyms - Frequency (As a Noun)

 1. the number of times sth happens or the fact that sth happens often.
- The increasing frequency of robberies are making the residents worried.
- Complaints about the frequency of water disruptions rose in the last six months.

2. the number of times a wave, especially a light, sound or radio wave is produced in a particular period of time.
- Humans cannot hear high frequency sounds the way dogs can.

3. common occurrence.
- Houses in the Klang Valley are sold with far greater frequency than in other parts of the country.
- It rains with greater frequency during the monsoon season.

Phrasal Verbs - Turn Down

 

1. to refuse. 

• I thanked Mr Smith for the job offer, but turned it down.
• Would you turn down money to do something you don't enjoy?
• I offered to give her a lift to work, but she turned down my offer.
• The bank turned Sally down for a loan.

2. to reduce.

• Could you please turn down the volume of the TV? I'm trying to study.
• Everyone was annoyed with Tim because he kept turning the central heating down.

Homonyms - Arrest (As a Noun and Verb)

 1. (verb) - to catch.

• The police arrested Sam when they found drugs in his car.
• Alexa was arrested for shoplifting at the age of 16.

2. (verb) - to stop.

• The vaccine has failed to arrest the spread of the virus.
• The latest treatment has done little to arrest the spread of the cancer in her body.

3. (noun) - the act of arresting somebody.

• Two arrests were made, but no one has been charged yet.
• He was stopped at the airport and placed under arrest.

Words and Phrases You Can Stop Using

 Hi everyone!

Just thought I'd share this list of redundant words and phrases compiled by Grammarly (in link below). Certain words and phrases make your text unnecessarily long, and sometimes confusing. Lean writing requires knowing which words or phrases to leave out. 

Hope you find the tips in this article useful!

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/more-words-and-phrases-to-avoid/

Words From The Same Family - Explanation v Explanatory

 Explanation (noun) - details or reasons given to   make sth clear or easy to understand.

• Could you please give us a quick explanation of how this machine works?
• What was Randy's explanation for not attending the party?
• William had no explanation for being late today.

Explanatory (adj) - to help make sth clear or understandable.

• The explanatory notes below the diagram definitely helped me understand the lesson better.
• Please include some explanatory words at the bottom of every chart in your report. 

Phrasal Verbs - Look Into Sth

 

Meaning - to study the facts about a situation or problem.

• We're looking into buying a new printer for the office.
• John was looking into hiring another chef, but it was too expensive.
• If you really look into it, you'll probably find that it's not a very good deal.
• We're looking into the possibility of visiting my aunt in Australia during Christmas.

Words From The Same Family (Theft v Thief)

 Theft (noun) - the act of taking sth that doesn't   belong to you and keeping it.

• There's been an increase the number of minor offences such as traffic violations and petty theft in the country.
  
• Unfortunately, we've had several thefts in the neighbourhood recently.
• Two employees were arrested for theft of company information.

Thief (noun) - a person who steals.

• Thieves broke into the art gallery last night and got away with three valuable paintings.
• The police believe he's the thief, but they can't prove it.
  
  

Homonyms - Stable (As a Noun and Adjective)

 

1. (adj) - firmly fixed or unlikely to move or change.

• After several part-time jobs, John finally has a stable job in a hotel.
• Sally's family was relieved to learn that she was in a stable (=unlikely to get worse) condition following her operation. 

2. (noun) - a building where horses or cattle are kept. 

• Randy was busy cleaning the stable when his friends arrived.
• The horses in the stable look well-fed.

Homonyms - Influence (As a Noun and Verb)

1. (noun) - to have an effect on people or things
- Sally was under the influence of her father throughout her teenage life.

- We're relieved to know that Gary's a good influence on my brother. 


2. (verb) - to affect or change the way someone or something develops, thinks or behaves.

- She has a own style, and isn't influenced by current trends.

- What influenced you to choose a career in business?

- His ability to influence people is amazing and frightening at the same time.

Words From The Same Family - Intelligent v Intelligence

Intelligent (adj) - showing the ability to learn and understand things easily. 

• She's clearly very intelligent, but her lectures are hard to follow.
• Wilson, our quiet accountant, surprised us with his intelligent ideas over lunch yesterday.

Intelligence (noun) - the ability to learn, understand and make judgement based on reason.

• I was surprised someone of his intelligence hardly reads.
• William is blessed with good looks and intelligence, and he knows it.

Homonyms - Harm (As a Noun and Verb)

1. (noun) - injury or damage
- Skipping a meal once in a while won't do you any harm.
- You could always ask Jim if you could borrow his car for the day. There's no harm in asking.
- Vigorous exercise combined with lack of sleep can do more harm than good.


2. (verb) - to hurt somebody or damage something.
- Thankfully, no one was harmed in the fire.
- The company's reputation has been severely (=seriously) harmed by a number of scandals. 

Homonyms - Copy (As a Noun and Verb)

1. (verb) - to produce sth that is the same as the original piece of work.

• A lot of people think that Sarah cheated in the test by copying from John.
• All the restaurants Uncle Raymond recommended sound great! I am going to copy all the names and visit them soon.

2. (verb) - to behave in the same way as someone else.

• Tim tends to copy his cousin in the way he dresses and speaks.
• It's amazing how children can copy the things adults say and do from such a young age.

3. (noun) - sth that has been made exactly the same as sth else.

• I always carry a copy of my passport when I'm travelling.
• Could you please make three copies of these notes for tomorrow's class?

20 Practical Grammar Tips (Reader's Digest)

Found this article with a list of practical grammar tips by Reader's Digest. I hope you all find this helpful!


https://www.rd.com/culture/most-confusing-grammar-rules/

Confusing and Misused Words - Access v Assess

Access 

(noun) - getting near to a person or place.

• The only access to the island is by boat.
• The main access to (= entrance to) the museum is at the side.

(noun) - opportunity to use or look at sth.

• The hackers had complete access to the company's confidential files for more than 24 hours. 

(verb) - enter a place.

• It is definitely a challenge for anyone on a wheelchair to access this building.
• You need a card to access the lab.

Assess

(noun) - to judge or decide on the value, quality or importance of sth.

• Insurance companies are assessing the flood damage.
• Exams are not the only means of assessing a student's intellect.

(verb) - to judge

• Our lecturer is going to assess us based on our project grades.
• Insurance companies assessed the flood damage in the millions of dollars.

Homonyms - Group (As a Noun and Verb)

1. (noun) - a number of people of things put together.
- A small group of people were waiting outside the bank when I got there this morning.
- All the house chores were completed quickly because we worked as a group.


2. (verb) -  to put people or things together.
- All the children grouped together around the birthday boy for a photo.
- All the books at the book fair are grouped by price. 

Words From The Same Family - Sudden v Suddenly

Sudden (adj) - occurring or done quickly or without warning. 
- Mrs Lee's sudden death took everyone by surprise.

- Timothy was rushed to hospital when he had a       sudden heart attack at the office this morning.  



Suddenly (adverb) - quickly and unexpectedly.
- John suddenly appeared in the doorway, giving me a fright.

- I was woken up suddenly by a loud knock on my door. 

Homonyms - Mask (As a Noun and Verb)

1. (noun) - an object used to cover all or part of the face.
- No one saw the bank robbers faces as they were wearing masks.
- The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a sudden      surge in demand for face masks.


2. (verb) - to conceal or hide sth from view.
- The thick, creamy gravy masked the tastelessness of the meat.
- I hope having the air freshener in the car will mask the smell of rotten eggs.

Homonyms- Drive (As a Verb and Noun)

(verb) - operate

• Tim drives like a maniac (= mad person)! I am never getting into his car again!

(noun)  
1. trip

• Thankfully, the 3-hour drive to my aunt's house was a pleasant one.  
• The Johnsons went for a drive in the country last Saturday and loved it.

2. desire

• His drive to be successful was so great that he became the CFO of a multinational company by the time he was 35.
• Melissa's boss was so impressed by her drive and focus to succeed that he immediately hired her.

Homonyms - Voice (As a Verb and Noun)

1. (noun) - Sound coming from the mouth.

• Sarah lost her voice again when she caught the flu two days ago.
• John lowered his voice when he spoke to avoid being heard by the others in the room.

2. (verb) - To express feelings, opinion etc. 

• Upon voicing his dissatisfaction for his meal, the restaurant immediately responded by serving John a complimentary dessert.   
• Mr Johnson voiced his concern when his son insisted on travelling despite the recent Coronavirus outbreak.

Homophones - Break v Brake

Break (verb) 

1. to damage something. 

• Ken broke a cup as he was rushing for work this morning.
• Sam fell and nearly broke his wrist in the shower.

2. to destroy or end something.

• After what seemed like ages, Peter finally spoke and that broke the silence in the room.
• The robbers left empty-handed (= with nothing) when they failed to break the security code of the safe. 

Brake 

1. (noun) - a  device that makes a vehicle slow down or stop.

• Sally didn't realise she had no brakes on her bicycle and almost crashed into a tree.
• John suddenly slammed on his brakes when he saw a dog trying to cross the road. 

2. (verb) - to make a vehicle slow down or stop by using its brakes.

• Mark is very fond of braking sharply at the last minute. It's no wonder his family and friends don't trust him behind the wheel.
• Remember to brake gently when it gets icy.