ENGLISH -15

 ENGLISH -15

ENGLISH- A GOLDMINE OF GAMES

For now, we get into a domain of real confusion, largely from our inept grasp of words for their meanings and association- driven  modification of such meaning under specific conditions. It would be one of bewilder and quite rewarding at the end. The idea behind the day’s assembly is not to frighten but to assure our friends,  that learning and employing English words  are simultaneously pleasant and painful ; it is familiarity –the authentic one at that which makes us feel pleasant while complete lack of familiarity makes the effort painful

All the statements presented are grammatically correct but are awkward looking on the face of it

1 All the faith He had had, had had no effect on the outcome of his life

In this statement, a double use of ‘past perfect ‘ “had had” that performs different  grammatical roles; the first is a modifier and the second is the key verb of the sentence. [Read the statement word by word and assemble the meaning at every juncture, you would realize the statement is all-too powerful].    

2 The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.

A very simple statement as in [2] drives us mad. But, let us decipher it                                        The term ‘complex’ looks to be the adjective of the noun ‘houses’. Interestingly the term ‘complex’ the noun and ‘houses’ is the verb, married is the adjective.

The statement suggests ‘married soldiers / single soldiers and their families reside in the building complex.  [Now read the statement [2] and simply you would notice clear suggestion.

3 The man the Professor- the student has, studies Rome

Each noun corresponds to a verb [The man studies, the student has ] The student has the Professor who knows the man who studies ancient Rome.

4 Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo  buffalo. The word buffalo occurs 8 times in the statement [Don’t lament if it is a statement]. Yes it is, it was coined in 1972 by Prof. William J.  Ropaport  . This is an excellent example of how homonyms [words that share same sound/spelling but differ in meaning] can help us in making bizarre statements.  

Buffalo =Bison, Buffalo =a place in New York buffalo= make fun of and intimidate –are some meanings for the word. A bison from Buffalo New York, intimidated by Bison in the community , also happen to intimidate other Bison in their community.

Another brilliant conundrum
5 “ I  never said they stole my money “  It seems to suggest that a person did not accuse some of having stolen his/her money.  But, while reading  leave a pause after emphasizing ‘I’ AND COMPLETE THE STATEMENT. Now it suggests that I never said, but someone else did it and that money was stolen. 

6 The old man the boat

It reads odd until one tries putting together “man the boat” that tells that the boat is managed by the old or elderly person.

7 Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like bananas

The two parts of the sentence /statement are independent of each other. Time quickly travels; fruit flies [a variety of insects] like bananas. 

Quite intriguing is, the syntax with wide opportunity to conceive and confuse the reader[s] , especially the status of noun , verb, adjective simultaneously enjoyed by some words in English.

Prof. K. Raman