Happy New Year 2012

New Year: idioms of deceit

Phrasal Verbs and Prepositional Verbs

A phrasal verb is a complex verb consisting of a simple verb and an adverb particle. Examples are: make up, turn on, put away, take off, fill up, run over, take in and do up. Note that phrasal verbs are different from prepositional verbs. A prepositional verb consists of a verb and a preposition. Examples are:call on, care for and insist on.

Phrasal verb and prepositional verb: differences

A prepositional verb differs from a phrasal verb in many ways.

1)    The particle in a phrasal verb is always stressed, but the preposition in a prepositional verb is not stressed.

2)    Phrasal verbs are separable. That is the particle in a phrasal verb can be moved to the end. Prepositional verbs, on the other hand, are inseparable.

They called up the teacher OR They called the teacher up. (The particle up in the phrasal verb call up can be moved to the end.)
I picked John up. OR I picked up John.
He filled the glass up. OR He filled up the glass.

She turned the lights on. OR She turned on the lights.

The preposition in a prepositional verb cannot be moved to the end.

We called on the teacher. (BUT NOT We called the teacher on.)
We called on them. BUT NOT We called them on.

3)    You cannot put an adverb between the verb and the particle of a phrasal verb, but you can put an adverb between the verb and the preposition of a prepositional verb.

We called early on the doctor. BUT NOT We called early up the doctor.

The adverb early can come between the verb called and the preposition on in the prepositional verb called on. But it cannot come between called and up.

When to separate a phrasal verb? 
A Phrasal verb can remain together when its object is a noun or noun phrase. Note that phrasal verbs must be separated when the object is a pronoun.

We called them up. BUT NOT We called up them. (Here the object of the phrasal verb is a pronoun.)

reference

Reciprocal altruism

In evolutionary biology, reciprocal altruism is a behaviour whereby an organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its fitness while increasing another organism's fitness, with the expectation that the other organism will act in a similar manner at a later time.

Pronunciation tips

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Pronunciation tips

Talking hungry dog!!

Good morning, good morning!!!

Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography. It offers a comic depiction of Hollywood, and its transition fromsilent films to "talkies."

Although it was not a big hit when first released, it was accorded its legendary status by contemporary critics. It is now frequently described as one of the best musicals ever made,^[2] topping the AFI's 100 Years of Musicals list, and ranking fifth in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007.

Business Language to go

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/talkaboutenglish/2009/02/090211_tae_bltg.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/talkaboutenglish/2009/02/090211_tae_bltg.shtml

Irregular Verbs pain

English native speakers have no problem with irregular verbs but for english learners it's a big pain!

Here are some of the confusing irregular verbs. Couldn't we just use 'ed' postfix for all verbs?

Infinitive	Simple Past	Past Participle
backslide	backslid	backslidden / backslid
bear	bore	born / borne
bleed	bled	bled
creep	crept	crept
grind	ground	ground
shrink	shrank / shrunk	shrunk
split	split	split
strike	struck	struck / stricken
weep	wept	wept

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The Top 50 ‘Pictures of the Day’ for 2011

Importance of having friends!

Evolution!

Gmail magic

You may find following tips very handy for your business! 

• character "." is ignored in your email id. E.g. if your email is first.last@gmail.com, then firstlast@gmail. firstlas.t@gmail.com etc. are also your email account. 
• You can add character "+" at the end and type whatever you wish, still it will be your email account. E.g. first.last+Office@gmail.com is same as first.last@gmail.com 

I think google is working hard to catch Microsoft and IBM!

Sherlock Holmes | Learn English