Keep

Pronunciation - kip

Verb - to keep

1. to maintain possession of
I keep a small stock of painkillers for emergencies.

2. to preserve
I keep my specimens under glass to protect them.

3. to continue
I keep taking the tablets, but to no avail.

4. (cricket) to act as wicket-keeper
Godfrey Evans kept for England for many years.


Noun

keep (plural keeps)

1. The main tower of a castle or fortress, located within the castle walls.

2. Support - He works as a cobbler's apprentice for his keep.

Alcohol more harmful than heroin, crack cocaine: study

Alcohol is more harmful than illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine, a new study by British researchers said Monday.

Scientists looked at the dangers to both the individual and to wider society and found that alcohol was the most dangerous substance, according to the study by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD).

The results fly in the face of long-held opinions about which drugs pose the greatest dangers, with the authors claiming they demonstrate "the present drug classification systems have little relation to the evidence of harm."

"They also accord with the conclusions of previous expert reports that aggressively targeting alcohol... is a valid and necessary public health strategy," said the authors.

Drug experts on the committee devised their own system to judge substances and believe their consensus provides a valuable assessment which could guide policymakers.

The research, published in medical journal The Lancet, looked at the how much a drug harms the human body as well as other factors such as what its use costs the health care and prison systems.

Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine -- or crystal meth -- were found to be the most deadly. But when the wider social effects were factored in, alcohol was the most dangerous, followed by heroin and crack cocaine, said the study.

Substances were given a mark from zero to 100 based on certain criteria, with alcohol scoring 72 overall followed by 55 for heroin and 54 for crack.

One of the study's authors was David Nutt, a former British government drugs adviser during the previous Labour administration.

He was sacked after a disagreement with the government over the decision to upgrade the classification of cannabis.

The ISCD says its remit is to investigate and review scientific evidence relating to drugs, free from political concerns.

-MSN News

Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions

Word Classes	Description	Examples
Nouns	these are the names of people, things or ideas	man, cassette, Malaysia, beauty, danger
Verbs	these describe actions or states	actions: go, eat, attack states: relax, like
Adjectives	these describes nouns	an old man, a Malaysian cassette, a dangerous driver
Adverbs	these have several functions, but most of them describe when or in what way the action of a verb happens; most (but not all end in -ly	She sang beautifully. Please come back soon
Prepositions	most of these are short words, used before a noun to show time or place	at school, under the table, before breakfast

Say whether these words are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or prepositions. A few of them belong to two categories - for example, train can be a noun (a railway train) and a verb (Our team trained for a month.)

1. after
2. bread
3. dangerous
4. danger
5. dangerously
6. Malaysia
7. Malaysian
8. with
9. succeed
10. success
11. successful
12. important
13. importance
14. truth
15. true

If you are not sure about the class of a word, look in your dictionary. Most dictionaries show the class of a word and give examples to show how it is used in a typical sentence.

n. in a dictionary means nouns
v.(or v.i. or v.t.) means verb;
adj. means adjective;
adv. means adverb;
prep. means preposition.

Source: Richard Hughes, Carmel Heah (Common Errors in English, Oxford Fajar)

Difference between lessen and lesson

Lessen means to diminish or become less:

My broker says bond funds may lessen investment risk.


Lesson is something to be learned:

The new software helps teacher make detailed lesson plans.

Source: The Wrong Word Dictionary (Dave Dowling, Ar-Risalah, 2009)

Words - pull part 2

Pull off

1. You pull something off when you succeed in it or manage to achieve it:

1. Sometimes I would pull it off and other times nothing when right. 2. They were triumphant at having pulled off the deal.

2. You pull clothes off when you take them off in a hurry:

She helped him pull off his raincoat.

3. A vehicle or its driver pulls off the road when the vehicle leaves the road and parks, or joins another road:

He pulled off the main highway into a side road.


Pull on

You pull clothes on when you put them on in a hurry.


Pull out

1. A vehicle or its driver pulls out when it moves out from the side of the road, or moves to the centre of the road in order to overtake another vehicle going in the same direction.

2. A train pulls out when it leaves a station:

Just as the train pulled out of the station, a lorryload of soldiers drove in.

3. Someone pulls out of an agreement or undertaking when they withdraw from it:

1. The news that Earle had pulled out of the race left everyone aghast. 2. The Company announced its intention to pull out of Ireland.


Pull over

A vehicle or its driver pulls over when it moves closer to the side of the road, usually to park or to let other vehicles overtake:

"Pull over and park," Lorton said.

Words - pull part 1

Pull away

1 A vehicle or its driver pulls away when the vehicle starts moving after being stationary for a while, eg at the side of the road or at traffic lights:

The car pulled away into the wide street.

2 A person pulls away when they move back suddenly in alarm or suprise:

Lily pulled away from him and screamed.


Pull back

You pull back from something when you decide not to do it or not to be involved in it:

Jane disagreed, but pulled back from starting an argument


Pull down

A building or other structured is pulled down when it is deliberately taken down or demolished, eg to clear land or because it is unsafe:

1. People pull down lovely old houses because they're falling to pieces. 2. Most of the ancient city walls were pulled down twenty years ago.


Pull in or pull into

1 A vehicle or its driver pulls in or pulls into a place, when the vehicle leaves the road it has been travelling on and turns off or stops, eg at the side of of the road or at a filling station:

1. She pulled in on the opposite side of the road, and switched off the engine. 2. Pull into the side a minute and let's talk. 3. Eventually they pulled into the lane behind the house.

2 A train pulls into a station when it arrives there:

The train pulled into Woodburn, and Clare stepped out of the carriage.

Words - heyday

heyday / 'heidei / noun:heydays

The heyday of a person, place, organization or activity is the time when they are at their most famous, successful, powerful, important, popular or effective:

In her heyday she was the most popular star on Broadway.