Thursday, April 27, 2017

Cite, Sight, and Site



The words cite, sight, and site are homophones: they sound the same but have different meanings.

The verb cite means to acknowledge, mention, or quote as an authority or example. (Also see citation.) Cite also means to officially order (someone) to appear in a court of law. In addition, cite means to recognize or praise someone, usually for a notable achievement.
The noun sight refers to the power or process of seeing or to something that is seen.
The noun site means a plot of land or a particular place or scene.

Examples
          This style guide explains how to cite sources in a term paper.
          "I complimented his organization on its unusually courteous and efficient service, and cited the saleswoman as an outstanding example of the store's high caliber."
(Jerzy Kosinski, Cockpit, 1975)  
          "When he spoke, I saw that his teeth were white and straight, and the sight of them suddenly made me understand that Grossbart actually did have parents—that once upon a time someone had taken little Sheldon to the dentist.
(Philip Roth, "Defender of the Faith." Goodbye, Columbus, 1959)
          "A group of teachers of foreign languages met in Nashville, Tennessee. The Opryland Hotel was the site of the conference."
(Maya Angelou, Hallelujah! The Welcome Table. Random House, 2007)
Idiom Alerts
          The expression a sight for sore eyes is a way of saying that someone is attractive or that you're very pleased to see some person or thing.
"Mrs. Evans! you are certainly a sight for sore eyes! I don't know how you manage to look so unruffled and cool and young! With all those children."
(Jo Britten in James Baldwin's play Blues for Mister Charlie, 1964)
          The oxymoronic expression sight unseen means to accept or purchase something without first having had an opportunity to look at it.
"I'll tell you something really crazy. I just bought a house on Nob Hill--three and a half stories and forty rooms. It takes up half a block on Sacramento and Clay, right behind Jim Flood's mansion. I bought it sight unseen.”
(John Jakes, California Gold. Random House, 1989)
Practice
(a) "Allanbank was finally demolished, but despite this Jean's ghost has subsequently been seen on the _____ of the house and along the driveway, much to the relief of the local people who have come to love her."
(Allan Scott-Davies, Shadows on the Water: The Haunted Canals and Waterways of Britain. The History Press, 2010)

(b) Authors who work on the same subject tend to _____ the same research papers.

(c) "It was a disgusting _____, that bathroom. All the indecent secrets of our underwear were exposed; the grime, the rents and patches, the bits of string doing duty for buttons, the layers upon layers of fragmentary garments, some of them mere collections of holes held together by dirt."
(George Orwell, "The Spike." The Adelphi, April 1931)

Answers to Practice Exercises: Cite, Sight, and Site
(a) "Allanbank was finally demolished, but despite this Jean's ghost has subsequently been seen on the site of the house and along the driveway, much to the relief of the local people who have come to love her."
(Allan Scott-Davies, Shadows on the Water: The Haunted Canals and Waterways of Britain. The History Press, 2010)

(b) Authors who work on the same subject tend to cite the same research papers.
(c) "It was a disgusting sight, that bathroom. All the indecent secrets of our underwear were exposed; the grime, the rents and patches, the bits of string doing duty for buttons, the layers upon layers of fragmentary garments, some of them mere collections of holes held together by dirt."
(George Orwell, "The Spike." The Adelphi, April 1931)

by Richard Nordquist

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Gonna and Wanna



Wanna and gonna are two examples of informal spoken American English. Wanna means 'want to', and gonna means 'going to'. You can hear these phrases in movies, pop music and other forms of entertainment. However, you will not hear these forms in more formal shows such as the news.

These two expressions are not generally used in written English but in spoken English. 

Wanna and gonna are examples of reductions.

Reductions are short, commonly used phrases that are spoken quickly. These reductions tend to be used for function words such as auxiliary verbs and questions words. It is important to remember that there are important differences in American English and British English pronunciation. British English also has its own exceptions in pronunciation. This page focuses only on American English pronunciation and reductions such as wanna and gonna.

There are different views on whether students should use this type of pronunciation. In my opinion, students who live in North America should at least be familiar with these forms as they will hear them every day. If students decide to use this pronunciation, they should remember that it is appropriate only for informal spoken English and should not be used (except for texting, perhaps) in written English.

Reductions in Questions

The most common reductions are found at the beginning of questions.
Here's a list of important reductions with the pronunciation written out to help you learn to recognize them in everyday American English. To begin with, listen to this reduction pronunciation sound file of the most common questions.

Are you ...? = arya
Can you ...? = kinya
Could you ...? = kudja
Would you ...? = wudja
Did you ...? = didja
Do you ...? = doja
Don't you ...? = doncha
Will you ...? = wilja
Do you want to ...? = doyawanna
Are you going to ...? = aryagonna
Do you have to ...? = dijahafta

Focus on the Main Verb

If you choose to use reductions in your use of American English, it is important to focus on the main verb in the question to correctly pronounce using reductions. In other words, we quickly speak over the reduced forms (are you, could you, etc.) and stress the main verb. Listen to these example reduced questions to hear the how the main verb is stressed.

Are you ...? = arya
Are you enjoying yourself?
Are you going to help me tonight?

Can you ...? = kinya
Can you say that again?
Can you understand me?

Could you ...? = kudja
Could you help me?
Could you visit next month?

Would you ...? = wudja
Would you like to have dinner?
Would you answer my question?

Did you ...? = didja
Did you see him?
Did you buy it?

Do you ...? = dija
Do you play tennis?
Do you eat fish?

Don't you ...? = doncha
Don't you love it?
Don't you understand?

Will you ...? = wilja
Will you come with me?
Will you finish tonight?

Do you want to ...? = diyawanna
Do you want to have fun?
Do you want to eat out?

Are you going to ...? = aryagonna
Are you going to leave?
Are you going to have lunch?
Do you have to ...? = dijahafta
Do you have to stay?
Do you have to work today?

Gotta and Wanna

Two of the most common reductions are gotta and wanna. Gotta is the reduction of got to. It's rather strange because its use means have to.
In other words, in informal American English "I got to get up early." means "I have to get up early."
This is then further reduced to "I gotta get up early."
Wanna means want to and is used to indicate the desire to do something.
For example, "I wanna go home." means "I want to go home." 

A synonymous expression is also "I would like to go home." However, this form is much more formal.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

10 Things You Can Do With the Verb 'Do'



Think of the word do as the utility infielder in the game of grammar: it can be called on to play any one of several different positions in a sentence.

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary offers 36 definitions of the verb do (not counting its uses in countless phrases) and seven definitions of the noun. Both a lexical verb and one of the three primary auxiliaries, do (along with the forms does, did, and done) is the third most frequently used verb in English.

As an auxiliary (or helping verb), do is sometimes called an "empty" verb or a "dummy operator" because it has no meaning of its own. But do have some respect for this dummy. 

As we'll see, do stays busy, and we'd have a tough time communicating without it.
  1. Idioms and Collocations
    As a lexical verb, do indicates action of some kind and often hooks up with nouns denoting more specific activities. Here are some common do and done expressions:
do an about-face, do any good, do as I say, do away with, do blindfolded, do the dishes, do a double take, do homework, do the honors, do in, do a job on, do justice to, do no good, do or die, do out of, do over, do tell, do time, do the trick, do up, do well, do without

done deal, done for, done in, done to death, done to a turn, easier said than done, good as done, over and done with, what's done is done, when all is said and done
  1. Substitutions
    Do also functions as a pro-verb, filling in for any number of other verbs. The expressions do so, do it, and do that commonly refer to actions that have previously been identified:
If you want to fire me, please do so.
I had put off mailing the application and finally decided just to do it.
She thought I'd left without telling anyone, but I would never do that.
All three expressions serve as substitutes for other verbs (in these examples, go, mail, and leave). Do so tends to be a tad more formal than do it and do that
  1. Multiple Dos
    It's not unusual for more than one do to show up in a sentence.
How do you do?
What do you do for a living?
How do you find time to do all that you do?
(Without resorting to doo doo jokes or the chorus to Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side," see if you can outdo that last example.) 
  1. Wh- Questions
    In many questions that begin with a wh- word (who, what, when, where, why, and--oops--how), a form of do comes before the main verb:
What do you want?
Where did Cheeta put the bananas?
When did follows a wh- word, it's often contracted to /d/ in informal speech and written as 'd:
Where'd Cheeta put the bananas?
  1. Yes-No Questions
    We can fashion a yes-no question by placing a form of do in front of the subject:
Do you enjoy listening to lectures?
Does anybody know what time it is?
Did your sister go out this morning?
The use of do in questions is called do-support or do-insertion
  1. Negatives
    By adding not (or the contraction n't) to do, does, or did, we can create a negative sentence:
Many workaholics do not enjoy their jobs.
Casper doesn't believe in ghosts.
Nyla didn't like the cold weather.
In a negative imperative with the copula be, do not (or don't) appears in front of be:
Do not be afraid.
Don't be so self-conscious.
As you can see, present and past endings become part of do and not part of the main verb that follows it. 
  1. Tag Questions
    A question added to a declarative sentence to check or clarify information is called a tag question. Customarily, a negative declarative takes a positive tag question, while a positive declarative takes a negative tag:
You don't trust me, do you?
You do miss me, don't you?
When there's no auxiliary verb in the main clause, a form of the "dummy operator" do is used in the tag:
Your sister loves to play pranks, doesn't she?
  1. Emphasis
    In declarative sentences, do, does, and did can be used for emphasis:
You do need to be honest with your child.
Despite what you think, I did enjoy the play.
In speech, emphatic do is usually stressed
  1. Imperatives
    The emphatic do can show up at the beginning of an imperative sentence, usually to make it sound less abrupt:
Do stop by when you're in the neighborhood.
But notice that this do isn't always so friendly:
Do shut up, Hyacinth.
Truth be told, this version of the emphatic do probably occurs more often in 19th-century novels than in actual conversations.

In some cases, do can also replace the whole imperative:
"I'll see to it this evening," the lawyer said.
"Yes, please do," I said.
  1. Omissions in Comparative Clauses
    In a comparative clause, we can use a form of do to avoid repeating part of the main clause:
The Pritchetts work much harder than we do.
Gloria drives much faster than Jay does.
In these examples, do is considered a stranded operator--an auxiliary that stands alone without a main verb alongside it.

Is this the final word on do? Hardly. For one thing, there's the extraordinarily vague do in the Nike slogan "Just do it." 

For another there's the do in Frank Sinatra's scat line "Do-be do-be do." 

Then there's Fred Flintstone's memorable exclamation, "Yabba Dabba Do!" But before things get too silly, this will simply have to do.



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