“How much is that diamond ring?” asked Tai Tai A. Tai Tai B shrugged, flashed the glistening stone in front of her friends, blinding her friends. “Come on, give me an estimate, agar agar,” Tai Tai A persisted. What Tai Tai A could have also said: “Come on, give me a ballpark figure.” Ballpark refers[…]
We can easily label someone 13-19 years old as a teenager. How do you call someone who is in his 70s or 80s? Do you know there’s a term for every age group? . . . . . . . . 10-19 years old: denarian 20-29: vicenarian 30-39: tricenarian 40-49: quadragenarian 50-59: quinquagenarian 60-69: sexagenarian[…]
I overheard this conversation at the shopping mall just now. A girl was telling her friend this, “My boyfriend is always borrowing money from me. I will literally explode the next time he does that!” Oh my. I wanted to go over to the girl and tell her this: 1. If the boyfriend is a[…]
Do you know there’s a difference between “stay” and “live”? To “stay” in a place is to live in it temporarily, whereas to “live” somewhere is more permanent. For instance: 1) Your friend could be going to New York for a holiday. You can ask him, “Where are you staying in New York?” instead of[…]
“I went to recce that place, it was very suitable for holding the field camp.” In Singapore, we use the slang “recce” during NS to refer to the act of visually observing a location before the actual operation. Do you know the full word is “reconnaissance”? For example: We did a reconnaissance of the enemy’s[…]
“I went to recce that place, it was very suitable for holding the field camp.” In Singapore, we use the slang “recce” during NS to refer to the act of visually observing a location before the actual operation. Do you know the full word is “reconnaissance”? For example: We did a reconnaissance of the enemy’s[…]
We often receive mails that say “Please revert soon.”This is inaccurate. You can say: “Please reply soon.” Revert means reversing to a previous state, condition, practice etc. Example for revert: After the discipline master left the class, the girls reverted to their squabbling.
This is a common spelling mistake that can result in horrendous misunderstandings. Remember: Desert means arid land or to abandon. Dessert is the sweet course at the end of a meal.
Know your hats!
English tip: Regardless of what you have heard, "irregardless" is not a word. Please note dictionaries list it as INACCURATE or NONSTANDARD. Regardless means without regard/despite the prevailing circumstance. The prefix "ir" is negative. So if you add "ir" to a word like "without regard", it means "without without regard". That doesn’t make sense, right?[…]