Oh there you are...Welcome to another Full English Lesson, coming to you from the birthplace of…
Winnie the pooh – Professor Snape – Judi Dench – Hugh Laurie – and of course the English language,
which is why we are all here together now. So without any more dawdling or timewasting…
let's get on with today’s full English lesson right…now!
I don’t know about you but I love hearing gossip. To gossip is to talk freely about
another person’s life. The things you have heard about another person, regardless of
whether you know it to be true or not. The word ‘gossip’ can be used as a noun or a verb.
A person who gossips is a ‘gossip’. They like to gossip about other people.
The things said are the gossip. You can hear gossip from others. Gossip can be described as ‘hearsay’
‘tittle-tattle’ ‘rumour’ ‘scandal’. You will often find that very small towns
and villages will have local gossip. A person who seems to know all about what is happening
in the surrounding area is the ‘local gossip’. ‘’Be careful what you say to her, she
is the local gossip around here.’’ So gossip can be the person spreading the rumours
or the thing that is being said. Some people like to read about ‘celebrity gossip’
on the internet or in magazines. A gossipy person will often be reluctant to tell you
where they got the gossip from. If you ask them where they got the information,
they will often reply with… ‘a little bird told me’.
Have you ever been stuck for words? Have you ever been in a situation where you could not think what to say?
There are many ways of describing this occurrence.
We can say that you are...
tongue-tied. You have been left speechless. You are stuck for words. You cannot find the
words to express yourself. Your mind has gone blank. There are many reasons why you might
find yourself unable to speak. Perhaps you are in a state of shock or surprise.
An unexpected event can leave you speechless.The surprise can be nice thing, or it can be something
not so nice, such as bad news. If you are giving a speech to a group of people, you
might find that your brain suddenly stops working. You become nervous and cannot remember
what to say. ‘’I’m ever so sorry, my mind has gone blank.’’ After a sudden
surprise you might only be able to say… ‘’I’m speechless’’. You have become
tongue-tied and stuck for words. If you try to remember the thing you wanted to mention,
you might say… ‘’It’s on the tip of my tongue’’.
It’s time now to take a look at another buzzword. A buzzword is a word or phrase that
is used often during a certain period of time. Today’s buzzword is… ‘redact’.
The word ‘redact’ means to conceal or hide information which may be unsuitable or sensitive.
To conceal parts of printed text that is deemed private or classified is to ‘redact’.
To edit a report before publication is to redact. ‘’The redacted secret service report was
published yesterday.’’ To censor or obscure something so it cannot be seen is to ‘redact’.
The leaked memo did not reveal much due to it being heavily redacted. The person doing
the redacting is the redactor. ‘’The 20 page report was redacted to just a few paragraphs.’’
To redact is to ‘edit’ ‘censor’ ‘cover’ ‘expurgate’ ‘suppress’.
To hide something, so it cannot be seen, is to redact.
A continuing debate in English usage is the question of when to use 'who' and when to use 'whom'.
According to formal grammar, ‘who’ forms the subjective case and so should be
used in subject position in a sentence, as in ‘who decided this?’ The form whom,
on the other hand, forms the objective case and so should be used in object position in
a sentence, as in ‘whom do you think we should support?’ ‘To whom do you wish
to speak?’ Although there are some speakers who still use who and whom according to the
rules of formal grammar as stated here, there are many more who rarely use whom at all.
its use has retreated steadily and is now largely restricted to formal contexts.
The normal practice in modern English is to use 'who' instead of 'whom' and, where applicable,
to put the preposition at the end of the sentence : 'who do you wish to speak to?' 'who do you think
we should support?' Such uses are today broadly accepted in standard English.
Have you ever seen a prefix in an English word?
Well in fact there are lots of them.
In fact there might be more than you realise.
There are many occurrences of prefixes in English words that serve to dramatically change
the meaning of the original word. For example the prefix ‘pseudo-’ before a word denotes
something as fake or artificial. For example – ‘pseudo-science’ refers to a practice
of science that has not been accredited or qualified. It is seen as untrue and meritless.
Another good example is the prefix ‘Quasi-’, which defines something that appears real,
but is in fact the opposite… for example - ‘quasi-political’. An action appears
to be stating an opinion, but in fact is doing the opposite. You might say that these two
examples have similar meanings. Another example of a prefix is ‘retro-’.
This particular prefix means to go backwards or regress.
For example ‘retro-migration’ which means,
return to your place of origin. Migration back to a place of origin. The prefix ‘un-’
before a word denotes an opposite meaning, such as ‘un-apologetic’.
There are many prefixes in the English language, some of which take the form of ‘combining words’
such as... ‘anti-’ ‘auto-’ and ‘omni-’.
How many prefix words do you know?
Sadly it is time to say ‘goodbye’, but don’t cry because I will be back with you
very soon, with another edition of my ‘Full English’ lesson. If you like what you see,
why not subscribe to my YouTube channel. This is Misterduncan in the birthplace of English,
of course that is England, saying thanks for watching and of course…
ta ta for now.