CRITICALLY YOURS..

Hi Everybody,

The air is buzzing with exam preparation, the CAT and IIFT forms are out and all of you must be busy filling them up. Come 16th November, the exam harvests starts.
So, from now on, I'll definitely get a little bit exam oriented.I mean Questions, Words, Frameworks and above all Critical Reasoning.
Critical Reasoning and Logical Thinking is the denominator for all the numerators, RC's, Coherent Paragraphs, Sentence Correction and so on.
You must be taking AIMCAT's on Saturdays and Sundays and I am sure that on Sunday nights, you must be burning the midnight oil, analyzing AIMCAT's.
Remember, reading is the key. In my previous postings, I have told you how to read. I reiterate that when you read a passage, try to recognize the coherence of sentences, the restatement of words and phrases, thought connects and so on.
This will ensure that you have mapped the passage perfectly. Then start answering the questions. While you are reading, recognize grammatical constructions, figures of speech, idiomatic usage and so on.
This can be called cognitivism. I will be putting small passages, thought processes, philosophical ramblings and so on and put some questions after that.
Answer those questions and check them out after a couple of days when i answer them.
While marking the options, it is very important that for every option you have negated out a reason for negation, or, frame a question that can be answered by that option.
So here is a small poem with a couple of questions

The time is after dinner
Cigarettes glow on the lawn
Glasses begin to tinkle
T.V. sets have been turned on
Like a glass of beer
The moon is brimming above the town
Love keeps her appointments
Cinderella puts on her shoes
A pale stranger
Lying on a furnished bed in a furnished room
Looking at the crack in the ceilings
Watching the paper roses
guessing when will they bloom.

Q1) The poem presents the "pale stranger" as
a) Unloved
b) Perturbed
c) Alienated
d) Isolated

Q2) The figure of speech in the first four lines is
a) Simile
b) Antithesis
c) Personification
d) Metaphor
e) Onomatopoeia

Q3) The paper roses symbolize
a) The gregarious but superficial atmosphere outside the furnished room
b) The hopes and aspirations which the stranger desperately clings to
c) The combined beauty of the night, of the moon and of love.
d) The need for the stranger to make things grow in his life.

Enough for today. I'll be back again with word power, grammasage (grammar+usage) and more critical reasoning.
Remember, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar is not a historical proper noun but, "Vidyasagarism" is an abstract noun which you can imbibe.
Adios Amigo!

AFTER A LONG GAP...

Sorry! and a Big One for having not written anything on the blog for quite some time. There were reasons...
Anyway, resuming my thread about Reading Comprehension...

There are four skills which one needs to have if one wants to be proficient in English.

1)Listening Skills- so that one can understand the lectures, seminars, the news, the chat shows, the movies and so on.
2)Speaking Skills- so that one can take part in seminars,discussions,presentations and even simple conversations.
3)Reading Skills- so that one can comprehend textbooks,journals,newspapers,reading comprehension handouts and so on.
4)Writing Skills- for essays reports and so on.

READING SKILLS--
The written text has a great advantage over the Spoken Text. It is fixed and hence can be read as many times as possible.Much has been talked about Reading Speed.However Speed Reading without Comprehension and Critical evaluation is futile. Slow Reading does not increase Comprehension, in fact it might distract the student and make him lose the sentence and thought connects . So, what's needed is a perfect blend of efficient and effective eye movements, and an active interaction between the reader and the passage.

EYE MOVEMENTS--The eyes are powerful focal points of concentration. In order to read any passage the eye must follow the print line. This however cannot be a smooth even flow, it would be impossible to focus on anything unless the eyes are momentarily fixed on the words.The eyes then must move in a series of pauses and jumps. Each stoppage should not take more than a quarter of a second.
Remember, re-reading a set of words already read would result in anxiety and insecurity.
The pause and jump can only be possible if you read in terms of collocations,taking up to five/six words at each fixation clearly this will increase reading speed dramatically. Collocation reading is reading in terms of 'sense units' and 'visual units' and a higher range of means can be easily extracted. To prevent distraction and improve sentence connects use a card state under a line and keep moving it downwards. If you are stealing glances at the lines already read just reverse the card position.

HOW DO WE READ?

Reading comprehension pieces in the examinations always seem to scare people.

Strange!!!!

Reading is supposed to give us pure enjoyment and undiluted ecstasy. After all we are going through the wonderful thought processes of people who are sensitive and emotional.Come to think of it, why do people write?

Writing is a wonderful way to respond to stimulus.
An artist paints, a singer sings and a writer writes. The stimulus to write could either be internal or external. I see a beautiful flower, a radiant sunset, the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, I am moved and so I write.
It could be internal. I am happy or sad, I maybe moved by strange stirrings of the heart and the soul, and so I write.
I write a sentence. It's an opinion, a view, a thought or a simple description.
I needn't write more because what I have written is the abstraction of what I see or what I feel. Then I realise that others might be reading my line. As they cannot see my stimulus there would be a lot of grey areas in their minds. So, I start a dialogue with an imaginary reader. I describe the stimulus or I support my view point with examples. I write logical coherent sentences and soon I have a paragraph.


So, my dear students...put yourself in the shoes of the "imaginary" reader and walk down the passage with the author.
You are going to enjoy and comprehend the "stimulus" the writer had.

What are the hurdles?
WORDS obviously, COLLOCATIONS, phrases, idioms and so on.
So, we are back to the roots of words.
Thus, my dear students, don't bother about answering questions when you are reading a comprehension piece. If you can comprehend well, you will easily be able to answer the questions and pick out the answer option easily.

Remember, reading fast is really not the issue; if you read too fast, you'll miss the sensuous pleasure of the stimulus and there will be a thought disconnect...which means you have to re-read.
You'll misunderstand the authors stimulus, you'll get irritated and you will want to escape.
enough for today...tomorrow I will bring to you some short writing pieces and tell you how to read them.
"Remember, reading maketh a man."
I would like to talk to you about a word called gambit.
It originates from the Spanish word "gambetto". This means an act of tripping someone in a wrestling bout so that one can get an advantage over someone. Now, in chess, the gambit means "tripping" the opponent by sacrificing a pawn. Thus, it means a smart and well calculated move, so, we can say, the decision to lower taxes before the panchayat elections was a masterly gambit.
It could also mean the opening line of a conversation which could give one an advantage aver the other. The same root also gives rise to another word called 'gambol', which is a kind of dancing or prancing movement.
I am going to reply to the queries tomorrow.
Till then,
Good night and keep dreaming.

I TAKE MY FIRST STEP!

It's impossible to meet all my students physically. I kept thinking how could I reach out to all my students whenever I wanted to share a thought or I could give a hint about words, their usage, grammar pitfalls and so on. So, I thought why not start a blog. It's a blog, my dear students for you, by you and of you, but, through me. I want to bring to you nice things to read, in fact I want to teach you how to read...in short, I want to educate you.

The word educate comes from the Latin root 'educere' which means to draw out.

I want to draw out from within you the wonderful talent of thinking.

I don't want to spoon feed you.

You're not a spastic or a mentally disabled student.

You can think!

The great philosopher Descartes rightly said CogitoEergo Sum ,"I think therefore I am".

I believe that whether you are from an English medium or any other vernacular medium, you can think and you need not have any inferiority complex.

I am going to help you and through this blog I am going to send threads out to you.

Pick them up and sew them into a successful fabric.

I would like you to post your views on my blog and as I look into the heavens I am sure that somewhere down the line history is being created.

Am I being too ambitious or too optimistic?

It's for you to decide.

So lets start talking about words..Words definitely cannot be memorised..they have to be understood by their collocation.

Now what is collocation?

It is the pairing of words. Now lets look at the common collocations: adjective-nouns, adverb-verb, verb-preposition and so on.

So, whenever you come across a new word check out it's roots and also it's part of speech then create a collocation.

The word is yours for LIFE!

Let us take a word called 'foible'. It's a noun. It comes from the Latin root 'flebilis'. Now, link this word to 'feeble'. Now you realise why foible means a minor weakness or failing in character.

The root means the weaker part of the sword between the middle and the pointed end..that's where the sword might break!So, we say these are my follies and foibles. Foible has a very interesting synonym...eccentricity. Now, where is the link?

If you are eccentric you are not concentric. You do not obey what society wants you to and you break away from the fix circle. Thus, you are a fault for society.Got the link???

I'd like you look at the words this way.

So, good night my dearest students and I'll return with many more words and their collocations.