Quote of the Day

Friday, November 25, 2011

Subject and Predicate


The subject in grammar is the agent (the 'doer') in an active sentence such as: Alan kissed Jane.

However, there is a difficulty. The following two sentences are identical in meaning:
  • Our children planted a tree
  • A tree was planted by our children.

Only in the first sentence is our children the grammatical subject. So there is a difference between the logical subject and the grammatical subject. Also, many sentences have no subject, for instance:
  • Come here!
  • Identifying the thief may take some time.

If a sentence does have a subject, then the rest of the sentence may be called the predicate. These two parts make a sentence complete.

Examples:

The large car stopped outside our house.

The large car = subject

Outside our house = predicate.


source: wikipedia

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Mum's the word

Mum's the word meaning keep quiet or say nothing.

Origin

'Mum's the word' has become a popular name for baby product shops and nursery services, but the 'mum' in this phrase isn't mother. Nor has 'mum' anything to do with Egyptian mummies, despite their prolonged tactiturn disposition. That 'mummy' derives from 'mum' being the name of the bitumen used for embalming.

The 'mum' of 'mum's the word' is 'mmm' - the humming sound made with a closed mouth, indicating an unwillingness or inability to speak. The word is of long standing in the language and first appeared in print in William Langland's Middle English narrative poem Piers Plowman, circa 1376:

Thou mightest beter meten the myst on Malverne hulles
Then geten a mom of heore mouth til moneye weore schewed!

That loosely translates as 'You may as well try to measure the mist on the Malvern Hills as to try and get her to speak without first offering payment'.

As old as Piers Plowman, and as central to English folklore, is the tradition of mumming. Sadly, no complete texts of the mediaeval mummers' plays have been preserved. There was never a definitive version in any case, as the acting, dancing, drinking and alms collecting that made up mumming varied from one parish to another. We can't be sure what mediaeval mumming plays were like, but a raucous mixture of pantomime, morris dancing and carol singing, played out by a group of bizarre characters in stylised fancy dress, is what has come down to us by oral tradition.

What we do know is that 'mumming', or 'miming' as it was sometimes called, derives from the word 'mum'. Early versions of mumming involved a parade of characters entering houses to dance or play games in silence, i.e. 'miming'. More recently, the tradition has evolved to almost always include the character of a quack doctor, who revives the hero (usually Saint George) after his death in a fight with the Turkish Knight (boo, hiss).

Although they mummed for all they were worth, the players didn't use the phrase 'mum's the word'; that usage came later, in the 17th century. The earliest version of the phrase was 'mum is counsel', that is, 'you are advised to say nothing'. That form of the phrase was used in Gulielmus Gnapheus 1540 translation of the Latin text The Comedye of Acolastus:

I dare not to do so moche as put my hande to my mouthe, and saye mum, is counseyle.

Of course, we can't examine a Tudor phrase without Shakespeare getting in on the act, and he used 'mum' inHenry VI, Part 2, 1592:

"Seal up your lips and give no words but mum."

'Mum's the word' later became the standard way of advising a person to keep quiet and the first citation of it in print that I have found is in Of the Seasons, Francis Rabelais, 1653:

I have known the time when Men reckoned the Spring to begin when the Sun enter'd in the first Degree of Aries. If they reckon it otherwise now, I knock under ['concede defeat'], and Mum's the word.

source: phrases.org.uk

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Fish


Fish

Etymology - From Middle English, from Old English fisc. Cognate include Latin piscis.


Noun

Fish (plural: fish or fishes.

1. (Countable) A cold-blooded veterbrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills.
  • Salmon and trout are species of fish.

2. (Uncountable) The flesh of the fish used as food.
  • The seafood pasta had a lots of fish but not enough pasta.

3. (Countable) A period of time spent fishing.
  • The fish didn't prove successful.

4. A card game in which the object is to obtain pairs of cards.

5. (Uncountable) (derogatory slang) Women.

6. (Slang): an easy victim for swindling.


Intransitive verb

to fish (fishes, fished, fishing)

1. To try to catch fish, whether sucessfully or not.
  • She went to the river to fish for trout.

2. (Followed by about, around, though, etc) To attempt to find or get hold of an object by searching among other objects.
  • Why are you fishing around my things?


3. (Followed by around) To attempt to obtain information by talking to people.
  • The detective visited the local pubs fishing around for more information.

4. (Cricket) Of a batsman, to attempt to hit a ball outside off stump and missed it.


Synonyms
  • Angle, drop in a line
  • Rifle, rummage
  • Angle


Transitive verb.

1. (Followed by for) To attempt to get hold of (an object) that is among other objects.
  • He was fishing for the keys in his pocket.

2. (Figurative, followed by for) To attempt to gain (compliments, etc).


Synonyms
  • (Attempt to get hold of (an object) among others): rummage.
  • (Attempt to gain (compliments, etc)): angle


Adjective

1. Of or relating to fish.
  • A fish dinner.

2. Of or relating to fishing
  • A fish hook.

Fishy

Noun

1. Diminutive or childish version of fish.


Adjective

1. Of, from, or similar to fish
  • What is that fishy odor?

2. Suspicious, inspiring doubt
  • I don't trust him, his claims seem fishy to me.



Fish and chips

1. (Uncountable) A meal of fish fried in batter and served with chips (fried potatoes), popular in the United Kingdom.


Fish Finger (plural fish fingers)

1. (British, Australia) A rectangular finger of fish coated in breadcrumbs that is cooked by frying or grilling.


Synoyms
Fish stick (US)


Fish Supper

Noun phrase

Fish supper (plural fish suppers)

1. (British) The dish of fish and chips eaten at supper-time.


Fish tape

Noun

1. A long strip of metal used to 'fish' electrical wiring through a building.


Starfish

Etymology - star + fish


Noun

Starfish (singular and plural)

1. Any of various echinoderms eith usually five arms, many of which eat bivalves or corals by everything their stomach.

source: wiktionary
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