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.
14 comments:
Previously i didn't know that learning or in other word knowing a word will be so interesting but when i started doing cue cards by finding the root of that particular word i find it really interesting.This is the first time m blogging so if there is any mistake plz pardon me. misha
Sir,
I am a bit cofused with the meaning of the word polygamy. Answers.com writes polygamy means: "The condition or practice of having more than one spouse at one time". This means both a man having multiple wives at a time and a woman having multiple husbands at a time are polgamy. But oxford dictionary writes: "the custom of having more than one wife at the same time". This says only the practice of having more than one wife is polygamy. There is another word "polyandry" which means having multiple husbands. What i understand from the root gam (which means marriage) is that polygamy is multiple marriage. So it applies to both the cases. Am i right?
sir,
i have gone thru the latinwords and i even tried to find out the roots but i couldn't find out in wikipedia, is there any other sites which can give us the root behind the latin words.
Dear Sajal sir,
It is nice to see that you are playing catalyst to ignite our potential to self learn English vocabulary. I was trying the linking pattern of words but using synonym. It was boring and tiresome. But the collocation pattern seems interesting.
One question. I am using dictionary.com for root finding. But it gives all language roots …like Russian, Chinese etc. How am I supposed to find out the right root ?
Nice to see you in action !! It is absolute pleasure for all of us to have you as our pedagog, guide and philosopher.
I have a small request. we and in particular I am very interested in the eponyms. Can we have a separate discussion thread on that where we can explore the amazing history behind each of those words ?
Dear Sir,
I just couldn't abstained myself from giving you the palimpsest outlook of your reflection embedded in my mind even after getting another opportunity. At first, I would like to revamp your name as "Mr. Sajal GODSEND Mitra". That means God has sent you (Sajal) to us with the ability of savoir faire to answer all our untouched queries toward life and that’s why you became the boon companion (Mitra) for us. Secondly, I would like to mention that you made me very LUCKY, by showing how to Labour Under Correct Knowledge in Youngistan. Moreover a BIG Thanks for extracting the Butterfly from me, once who was used to be a caterpillar. It’s a promise to you that soon you'll get another Lion for your Pride of Lions.
Please keep moving and keep educating us......:-)
-Dibyajyoti
Dear Sir,
it seems nice tat u hav taken d initiative to b in tuch wid ur students,as seldom v get a chance to refer sum1,when v r in a state of duress.
It's the first time m blogging 2 u...attended ur class,n it was a lot motivating..i try to refer d cue cards,but couldn't memorize all d words...n exactly dont know where to get d roots 4m...as seldom its a bit confusing,as root could b taken from latin,german,even hindi,n dont know where all from....wats d main idea of cracking d correct root...??
Sir,
just would like to share something with you and all T.I.M.E friends.
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_
is a wonderful link to find word meanings with their roots.
indranil@cognizant
sir...
i went thru the writing n what i found out is a masterpiece...my heartfelt thanx to u sir 4 playing the role of a catalyst n threby accelerating our journey towards the ultimate....really this coupled wid our own interest for the subject can ..no will....work wonders n ur dream to see history being created will cum true....
your ideas and strategies helped me to nurture my senses.you have shown me the burning light and i hope that this light would help me to shine like a star.iam going through the roots and promise to do so forever.
sir u told us to remember the words by extracting their roots but this process is more confusing as for ex-in the word Anacoluthon, the root is akalouthos which means following path and the prefix an means not so remembering such a big root is more difficult than the word itself. sir plz suggest some effectual remedy for this problem
sir as u told that writing is also an essence to broadening our horizons...i have written a poem which i want to show u.i dunnno what i have comprehended is right way or nt...but i wud surely lik u to read.the second person i could think of was u
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