Science is interesting

Since young, I have been interested in science. Physics appeals to me more than Chemistry and Biology.

I still remember that a convex lens will make parallel light converge. So I used a magnifying and placed it under the sun to ignite the match stick head and it worked. The study of Physics also satisfies my curiosity as to how rainbows are formed and how other phenomena occur.

In the earlier days, the teacher did all the experiments and we just watched, hoping to be able to do them ourselves. Then came Integrated Science and the pupils had a chance to do all the experiments in the worksheets.

I was trained as an Integrated Science teacher and it made me even more interested in Science because I had the chance to do all the experiments that I would ask my pupils to do. If you have read my earlier post, I did mention I had to teach Integrated Science in English and Malay and sometimes I used the wrong medium of instruction and my class roared with laughter.

Science is interesting in that we are able to understand nature and how things work through studying science.

The former and the latter

In English, we can use 'the former' to refer to an the first thing or person we have mentioned and' the latter' to refer to the second one stated earlier.

The following are some examples of how to use these two.

Azmi likes to play badminton. His brother takes a liking to volleyball. The former is actually my friend and the latter my brother’s.

Monitors consist of two types, the CRT and LCD. The former emits more radiation than the latter.

Susan went with his mother to market today. The former seldom goes there but the latter frequents the place almost every day.

I made him do it

Certain verbs must be in the present tense after specific verbs such as see, make, and let.

The following are examples of the above rules.

1 I see him jog in the morning every day.

2 She saw me buy a book at the bookstore yesterday.

3 The teacher makes us line up outside the classroom before school dismisses.

4 I made him do it himself.

5 The guard usually let me enter the condominium without a pass.

6 I let my younger brother walk by himself.

[Words in italics are in the present tense.]

Sleep early for health's sake

I read an article by a local doctor who specializes in preventive medicine. According to him, we should sleep early, preferably at around 11.00 p.m. because between 11.00 p.m. and 3.00 a.m. our liver will enlarge to two to three times to do detoxification work.

If the liver is overloaded with toxins it will not function properly and this condition will lead to hypertension, diabetes, sinus problems and so on.

Hence, we should try to sleep as early as possible for the body to discharge and do repair work so that we can last or live longer.

Row your boat and don’t pick a row with me

They refuse to throw away the refuse

In English, a word may spell the same but pronounced differently. In the above sentence, the first ‘refuse’ is pronounced as ‘ri fius’ whereas the second one is pronounced as ‘rare fius’.

Here are further examples of this group of words.

1 He wound his watch on his left hand which has an untreated wound.

[The first ‘wound’ is the past tense of ‘wind’ which is pronounced something like ‘wine’ except the end sound. It means to twist the spring in a watch. The second ‘wound’ is pronounced as ‘woo won’t without the t sound]

2 The boy who is sitting in the third row had a row with his best friend.

[The first ‘row’ is pronounced as ‘roe’ but the second one is pronounced as ‘row’ as in ‘brow’.

3 Lead present in water will lead to poisoning if consumed.

[The first ‘lead’ is pronounced as ‘led’ whereas the second one is pronounced as ‘lid’]

4 Those who live near the sea can see live fish swimming here and there in the water.

[The first ‘live’ is pronounced as ‘live’ as in ‘alive’ but the second one is pronounced something like ‘leave’]

How do you do?

There is a difference between 'How are you?' and 'How do you do?'

When you meet someone, you may say 'How are you?' if you have not seen him for a long time. He should then say 'I'm fine. Thank you.'

However, when you are introduced to someone whom you have not met before, you should say 'How do you do?'

What do you think he should answer? Well, he should repeat what you have uttered, that is, 'How do you do?'

How to use 'uninterested' and 'disinterested' correctly

In this post, I will show how to use ‘uninterested’ and ‘disinterested’ in sentences. First, we need to know the meanings of these words. The meaning of ‘uninterested’ is ‘not interested’ whereas ‘disinterested’ means ‘impartial, fair or neutral’

Let’s look at their usage in the following sentences.

1 It is no point asking John who is uninterested in our project to join us.

2 She seemed bored at the meeting because she was uninterested in what was being discussed.

3 A disinterested teacher is asked to act as the judge of the contest because she does not know any of the contestants.

What I like

When I sit down to think of what I like, I realize that I take a liking to too many things. They are:

1 Science – new discoveries

2 Languages – English, Malay, Chinese, Japanese

3 Computer software – those that help me edit audios and videos, convert from one format to others, etc.

4 Religion – Buddhism

5 Health – facts about our bodies and how to remain physically fit.

6 Qigong – Zhineng Qigong

7 Tai Chi – Shibashi

8 Blogging – can’t stop since I started this blog.

9 Listening to talks on Buddhism

10 Surfing the net

11 Travelling – hoping to travel often

How to use 'interested' and 'interesting' correctly

Although ‘interested’ and ‘interesting’ belong to adjectives, they differ in their usage. The following are examples of how to use them correctly.

1 He is interested in history of places he will be visiting.

2 The history of the places he will be visiting is very interesting.

3 I managed to get him interested in my project.

4 She gave me a very interesting account of the event there.

5 Johan is a very interesting person.

Note: ‘interested’ means ‘wanting to give your attention to something and discover more about it.’

‘interesting’ means ‘arresting your attention because something is unusual, exciting, or somebody has a lot of ideas.'

How to use 'despite' and 'although' correctly

In my previous posts, I talked about how to use ‘so that’ and ‘so as’ correctly. In this post, the use of another pair, namely ‘despite’ and ‘although’ will be discussed.

1 ‘despite’ is used in front of a noun phrase.

Example 1:

Despite the heavy rain, the boys continued playing football.

Example 2:

He came to work despite being sick.

Example 3:

She still works there despite the miniscule salary.

2 ‘although’ is used in front of a clause.

Example 1

Although he was sick, he still went to work.

Example 2

Although it was raining, the boys continued to play football.

Example 3

Although he failed in the exam a few times, he still wanted to sit for it.