VA Madness

Figure of Speech - Simplified!

2009-10-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

Following are most used figure of speech examples. XAT gives enough emphasis on this topic so read it thoroughly. I am sure that you will not face any problem while answering questions on this topic.
Please note: These are not std. definition. I have simplified them in my own words.
simile: Expressing person, object like other person objectSimple rule to identify simile is the word Like & as.
For E.g.

1) He fought like a warrior

2) Tendulkar hit that ball like a bullet

3) He is as cool as cucumber
So, note the use of word Like, and you will note the simile

Metaphor: Expressing person, object as if it is the other object
For e.g.

1) He was the warrior in the war

Oxymoron: Expressing negative view in positive way.
For. e.g.

1) My cruel aunt is very kind

2) He was serious while laughing

Hyperbole: Expressing a thought, feeling, thing in an extravagant statement; the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of emphasis or heightened effect.
For e.g.

1) The ocean is dry, I can fill it with my tears

2) Don't make a storm in tea cup
Synechdoche: a part is used to represent the whole, the whole for a part, the specific for the general, the general for the specific, or the material for the thing made from it.
Now, forget the definition.
For e.g.

1)All hands at deck - This means, every member of the crew is at deck. Every member is expressed as All hands. That means, a part as a whole.
2) Give us this day our daily bread - Here you actually asking for meal that includes roti, sabji et al. But you are asking this part as a whole (whole in this case is bread)

I will post more FOS soon, so practice it guys and make sure that you get those 4-5 question in XAT in your kitti rightway

Widely used Indianism in english usage

2009-06-03T04:48:00.000-07:00

Today I thought to update this blog after so many days. I was thinking upon some more interesting Indianism to write about. Have you ever said or read statement like:

"Today's class is preponed to 4.30 PM instead of 7 PM, kindly make required arrangements."

This word preponed is so much into use that none ponders about it's std. validity in english usage.

Well, this is a word which is currently used in some parts of the Indian subcontinent as an antonym to the word 'postpone'. Most users of this word do not know that this word is not part of the language in many parts of the English speaking world. The word is succinct and has a precise meaning which makes it difficult to replace with any other word and hence the continued usage with its users. The word 'prepone' is found in The New Oxford Dictionary of English, published 1998. It is listed as being Indian (from India) and is defined as "to bring forward to an earlier date or time.

Example: The publication date has been preponed from July to June.

So, from now onwards, if you want to make use of this word, you should say adjusted.

For example: The publication date has been adjusted from July to June.

On similar grounds, there is one more word that is not part of a std. english usage.

The word is Momento

Often we use this word in our daily conversation. However, actual word is Memento

I bet you must have used something like is many times in your statements.

Sentence: Revert back the changes

If you google or find the dictionary meaning of Revert: To return to a former condition, practice, subject, or belief.

So why do we use Back after Revert??

Correct statement should be: Revert the changes

This one is very hard to belive. one of my friend calls me and updates me about his where abouts,

Friend: Ameya, I am shifting to new home this weekend.

Ameya: Great dude, you are moving to new home this weekend!

Now you can spot the difference right?

Yes, Shifting is a word that is used for only Objects. If you are talking in context of a person, people then always use Moving

Randomized English Usage

2009-05-07T03:46:00.000-07:00

Today, instead of writing any concept as such, I have decided to write random and un-categorized post.

We, Indians are very good at making Indianism of what ever we get from the hinterland. For e.g. If you have seen the Chinese hut standing on a brazen, stinky road side, you will get to know the recepies cooked are not Chinese, but Indo-Chinese which are prepared wit hlot of oil, salt and Indina spices.

Who cares of it huh... Well, such things hardly matters as long as your taste buds are satiated. But English is not like they way we perceive. Even though I am not an expert in it, but i love to find what is the std. usage and what is Indianism. There are lot of them actually.

Here we go..
I am writing two sentences which actually took me a minute to recognize whats the difference between them. Even after identifying the difference, I sloshed my brain number of time to think what the heck!! is it really a difference.

Sentence 1: He said, "Bite me."
Sentence 2: He said, "Bite me"

Any thought on this? Which one is following the std. English usage?
Okey, i gotta go for a meeting now and I will keep this post open for editing at later stage. mean while, you guys can post your thoughts on the above mentioned question.

/*****************Addition to the previous post************************
Before I start discussing some other random english usage, let me answer the above question first. From the two statements, as one can correctly see, the difference is only of a full stop. Now the question is, should there be full stop in double quotes or not.

If you could analyse closely, The subject in the statement is talking about the second person & second person has said "Bite me" in his statement, as this is the complete statement, there should be full stop for concluding this statement.

This might seems cliche, but such small things may get lost in oversight when you are actually writing a CAT in stressed out environment.

Std. Usage - II
Let us discuss a sentence here.
I want a hot dog which is deep fried.
Can you notice the error in the sentence?

The correct sentence should look like - I want a hot dog, which is deep fired.

A single comma is necessary here in this statement because "Which" here is a non-restrictive dependant clause that needs to set off with a comma.

If you accustom your eyes for such small and minute errors, you can easily eliminate the wrong answer options in RC questions, EU & grammar questions as well.

Hopw this post has helped you..
*******************************************************************/

Ameya

Despite - In spite of

2009-05-05T21:48:00.001-07:00

Despite & In spite of are the two words that are very similar in meaning. People may think that this is a homonym and have different meanings. If you also think this way, you are wrong!!

Let us see the usage of these two words and are they synonyms or antonyms.

Despite
Despite means "even though," or "regardless of." It's the opposite of "because of/due to," and can be used with a noun or gerund.

For e.g.

#ABC had difficulty communicating in Marathi despite all her years of study.
# The criminal won the elections, despite (make sure you are not using despite of here) the fact that he was in the wanted list of FBI.

Note: Many times people try interchanging in spite of with instead of. Make sure after youy read this post, you are not one among. Both words are world apart in their meaing.

In spite of
In spite of means exactly the same thing and is used exactly the same way as "despite."

For e.g.

#Despite he was a topper, he had difficulty communicating in French in spite of all her years of study.
#The criminal won the elections, in spite of the fact that he was in the wanted list of FBI.
#In spite of not having a journey pass, I travelled home in the train.

The Bottom Line
The English terms despite and in spite of are synonyms. Despite might be a bit more formal way of conversing, but the two terms are interchangeable. Just be careful not to say something like "despite of" or "in despite" - it's always either the three words in spite of, or just the single word despite.

Ameya

Use "The" Precisely

2009-05-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

The definite article is used to indicate the specific noun or nouns that we talk about like The Himalya, The Ganga etc etc..
Reason: The is the article which is used to indicate a noun which is unique or specific. From above examples you can guess correctly. Ganga is a river and is unique. There is no other river named Ganga. So it is The Ganga.

Important: This definite article does not applies to generalized noun or a noun that indicates group. For e.g.

France is a beautiful country
Red skirts are very sexy
Children are very creative

So if you have a difficulty to determine whether to apply "The" or not, try to determine if noun used is a specifc or a general. If its general, do not use "The". Simple, isn't it??
These small small things makes up grammar as a whole. Many times you can eliminate options in the summary/CR type of question just by checking such small errors. The bottom line is, get your eyes used to with such errors. You should not take even a fraction of a second to identify such errors. These basic things lays a foundation of you grammar prowess.

Ameya

Wrong Conditional Perfect Tense

2009-05-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

When talking about something that didn’t happen in the past, many people (including me ;-)) use the conditional perfect (if I would have done) when they should be using the past perfect (if I had done).
For example, you find out that your brother saw a movie yesterday. You would have liked to see it too, but you hadn’t known he was going. To express this, you can use an if - then clause. The correct way to say this is with the past perfect in the “if” clause, and the conditional perfect in the “then” clause:
Correct: If I had known you were going to the movies, [then] I would have gone too.
The conditional perfect can only go in the “then” clause — it is grammatically incorrect to use the conditional perfect in the “if” clause:
Incorrect: If I would have known you were going to the movies, I would have gone too.

More examples:
Correct: If I had gotten paid, we could have traveled together.
Incorrect: If I would have gotten paid, we could have traveled together.
Correct: If you had asked me, I could have helped you.
Incorrect: If you would have asked me, I could have helped you.
The same mistake occurs with the verb “wish.” You can’t use the conditional perfect when wishing something had happened; you again need the past perfect.
Correct: I wish I had known.
Incorrect: I wish I would have known.
Correct: I wish you had told me.
Incorrect: I wish you would have told me.
Correct: We wish they had been honest.
Incorrect: We wish they would have been honest.

Using bi or semi.

2009-04-15T02:39:00.000-07:00

Using bi or semi in front of time periods can cause tremendous confusion.
Biweekly means once every two weeks or twice a week. Bimonthly means once every two months or twice a month.In addition, a biweekly publication is issued every two weeks and a bimonthly publication is issued every two months.

Semiweekly means twice a week.Semimonthly means twice a month.
To avoid confusion, you may want to substitute the actual time frame for these confusing terms.For example, say, “I visit my aunt every two weeks,” not “I visit my aunt bimonthly.” If you mean every two weeks, you may also say, “I visit my aunt semimonthly.”

Action & Linking Verbs

2009-04-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

This post is taken from my another blog Jouney so far..

I never tried to study grammar part seriously. However, cliche may be it seems, you all know if you are good at EU you will end up solving at least 5-6 question 15 min!. So what is ROI on studying grammar? 15 questions + we assume to solve 5 question correctly = 20 marks i.e. more than half way through to clear the VA cutoff !! Anyway, let me start with discussing some of the grammar concepts that I have learnt and used in earlier CATs. I assume peopel are aware of basics such as What is a verb? What is a noun? so let me take you all to discuss what type verbs we mainly have. There are many types of verbs but i will broadly categorise them into only two types and are :

1) Action verb

2) Linking verb

Let us first see what do you mean by linking verb,

A verb that acts as a linking between a subject and direct object would be
termed as linking verb.

Linking verbs are a lot simpler to understand because there are a few verbs that are always identified as a linking verb. The list goes as follows..

is Was been

Am were being

Are be

These are the verbs, whenever they occur, mostly they are linking verbs.

Action verbs are the verbs which indicates action (Verb does the same, then how it is different?) There is a quick trick to identify action verbs from rest of the verbs that I will discuss in the next coming post. Firstly let me discuss how should we identify between Verbs & verb phrase??

Let us discuss this with an example.

The Cake tasted delicious

Any one would think the TESTED is an actiion verb?? let us check. A simple trick out here is,

insert a form of linking verb after the verb you have identified, if after inserting this, sentence still makes sense then verb is linking
verb !!!

Let is insert a from of linking verb WAS. Now the sentence becomes :

The Cake WAS delicious, Makes sense?? YES, So TASTED is not an action verb but is a linking verb. Here I have explained a very simple trick to solve questions based on verb and I think this post will surely make things clear.

Using numbers as an adjective.

2009-04-14T22:09:00.000-07:00

Many a times you will come across a situation where you want to convey a thought involving some number. For e.g. Football field is 110 yards in length. Apparently, there are two types of writing styles that you can observe.
A) Nurses work 12 hours shift
B) Nurses work 12-hours shift
Which one is correct?
The Rule: A simple rule that can be used to avoide a mistake in such types of questions is you have to determine if the number is acting as an adjective. If it is, then hyphenate it!
Following examples will clarify more on this.

a) Nurses work 12-hours shift - Number 12 is acting as an adjective, so hyphenate it.
b) Suzanne won the race by 25 yards - 25 is not acting as an adjective, so don't hypenate.

So simply determine if the number is acting as an adjective. If yes, hypenate.

Ameya

VA madness goes live

2009-04-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday VA Madness on internet!

Ok, can you people think if above written statement is correct in grammatical usage? or should it be "Happy Birthday VA Madness on internet". Seems simple but abstruse right? Well, if you have invented yet another internet then above written statement is correct. So as of now, as there is only one internet, the statement is wrong. It should be written without an exclamation mark.

I think this gives you a brief idea about the purpose of this blog. Inadvertently, I am penchant towards VA and usage. So i would try pouring in some of the nice VA, EU and grammar concepts that I learnt. So Happy Birthday VA Madness on Internet.

Ameya