Know your English 15/oct/13

 

Idiom of the day: A bird's eye view

 

Meaning: Over all concept in a concise form.

For example: After finishing the lecture the teacher narrated the whole lesson in a bird's eye view.

Phrasal verb of the day: Result in 

Meaning: To lead to certain outcome or to produce something.

For example: The new advertisement is really effective , it resulted in a big increase in sales.

Proverb of the day: Where there's a will there's a way

Meaning: this saying suggests that one should have a strong will power to reach one's goal. More often success comes to a person  who persevers and toils hard than to the one who is intelligent but does not work hard with single minted devotion. Failures, disappointments and difficulties are bound to come in a way of one's mission or goal. But it is only in such contexts of one's trails and tribulation one's will power is put to test.

Illustration: Once King Robert Bruce was very much depressed. He had lost thrice in the battle. His trusted men had died. He wondered how he was going to raise an army to fight the mighty British army. He was hiding in a cave to escape the notice of his bitter enemies. Suddenly a spider caught his eye. It had fallen from the roof. It tried to climb back to the roof. It used its own web to climb. It fell down often. But every time it fell, it climbed again without taking rest. After several distressing attempts, it made it to the roof. Bruce was amazed to find the perseverance of the spider. He thought if an insect could succeed by perseverance, he could also try. He went back home. He reorganized his army and won the indomitable British army.

Significance: If one does not succeed initially, one need not despair. Repeated honest attempts will crown one with success.  

Conclusion: Perseverance pays.

Common errors in English

Sentence: 

• The number of students are very small (incorrect)
• The number of students is very small (correct)

 Explanation: If the subject is ' the number of ' the singular verb is used.

English Blues

What is the meaning of ' needless to say ' ?

This is an expression mostly used at the beginning of a sentence to suggest to the listener that although what you are going to say is fairly obvious, you are going to say it anyway. 

For example: Needless to say, the police didn't believe a word I said.