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DOUBLETS In linguistics, doublets (or etymological twins) are the words having two (or more) phonological forms yet having the same roots. Often these words come into a language through different means (i.e. languages). These words are quite difficult to remember, especially for the learners. They exist in every language, and English is not an exception. Let's take a look: 1️⃣ Secure and sure (from Latin, the latter from Latin via French) 2️⃣ Chief and chef (from French, at different times) 3️⃣ Price, prize, praise, pry, and prix (all from French) 4️⃣ Right, rich, raj, rex, regalia, reign, royal, real (from Germanic, Celtic, Sanskrit, Latin (rex and regalia), French (reign, royal), and Portuguese cognates) 5️⃣ Shadow, shade, shed (from Old English sceadu ("shadow, shade") 6️⃣ Mister, master, meister, maestro, Mistral, magistrate (from Latin magister - "greater") 7️⃣ Wheel, whorl, cyclone, cycle, circle, chakra (from Germanic (wheel, whorl), Greek, Greek via Latin, Latin via French, Sanskrit) 8️⃣ Stand, stay, state, status, static (from native, Middle French, Latin (state, status), Ancient Greek via Latin, - all have the same Indo-European root) 9️⃣ Cave and cavern (from Latin cavus, via French (cave) and Germanic (cavern) 🔟 Carton and cartoon (both from Latin carta) Do you know any doublets in English? What about other languages? ❄️Main source - artandpopularculture.com
BEST ZOMBIE PHRASES 😂 Zombies were at their peak around 5 (or more) years ago. However, some of their phrases (from movies, games and so on) are so famous that they are still used here and there. Let's have some fun and look at ones of the funniest: 1. Zombies hate fast food 2. Dear girls, we like you for your brains, not your body. Sincerely, Zombies 3. My biggest fear about becoming a zombie is all the walking that I'd have to do 4. The zombie apocalypse better not start in Kenya. We'll never be able to outrun those bitched. 5. That awkward moment when a zombie is looking for brains and it walks right past you 6. Zombies eat brains, you are safe 7. Teenager is someone who is ready for a zombie apocalypse at any time but not for the tomorrow's maths test Do you know any other zombie phrases? Share in comments!
Situational Disabilities
critical_english SITUATIONAL DISABILITIES We all know about different kind of disabilities existing. The rise of tolerance movement all aver the world has introduced us to the impairments we probably would never see (or even notice!) in people around us. The whole world right now is being accommodated to the people having some kind of impairments. One may think it is unfair: there are less people having some kind of problem rather than 'normal' ones. But is it so? In English there is a special term - situational disability. It is not hard to guess what it actually means. Everyone has walked in these shoes...
PERSONAL SPACE IN DIFFERENT CULTURES It is not a secret, that personal space is treated differently in different countries. If you are an avid traveller, you must have noticed it. First of all, let's tell apart two terms: SOCIAL DISTANCE refers to the distance between two (or more) unknown people, aka strangers PERSONAL SPACE refers to the distance between acquaintances No point describing why it exists (especially during pandemic 😅), let me just give you the list of social distance and personal space in some countries. TURKEY🇹🇷 SD ~ 120 cm PS ~ 90 cm CHINA🇨🇳 SD ~ 110 cm PS ~ 80 cm INDIA🇮🇳 SD ~ 115 cm PS ~ 90 cm PORTUGAL🇵🇹 SD ~ 100 cm PS ~ 70 cm CANADA🇨🇦 SD ~ 100 cm PS ~ 85 cm NORWAY🇳🇴 SD ~ 105 cm PS ~ 70 cm ENGLAND🇬🇧 SD ~ 100 cm PS ~ 80 cm POLAND🇵🇱 SD ~ 95 cm PS ~ 65 cm USA🇺🇸 SD ~ 95 cm PS ~ 70 cm ITALY🇮🇹 SD ~ 90 cm PS ~ 65 cm GREECE🇬🇷 SD ~ 90 cm PS ~ 70 cm SPAIN🇪🇸 SD ~ 90 cm PS ~ 75 cm RUSSIA🇷🇺 SD ~ 90 cm PS ~ 75 cm Don't forget to take it into account while traveling 😜 so that you don't fell uncomfortable while talking. And make sure you don't create uncomfortable situations yourself! 📜P.S. source📜: Preferred Interpersonal Distances: A Global Comparison, A. Sorokowska et al, Journal of Cross-Cultural Phycology, March 2017
WORDS THAT EVEN NATIVES CONFUSE
In any language there are words that sound or look almost same, but mean totally different things. And English is not an exception. I will tell you even more: in English words with the same roots but different endings NEVER mean the same thing! That's why sometimes this confusion results in ridiculous situations. Let's take a look at some words:
1️⃣SIMPLE vs SIMPLISTIC
🦉Simple - plain and easy, sometimes naïve
🦉Simplistic - overly simplified (rather in a bad way)
🐙It is simple to find our house.
🐙They have simplistic point of view about the war.
2️⃣DUN vs DONE
🦉Dun - horse of a greyish-brown...
WHY WE NEED CQ CQ, or Cultural Intelligence, is the core of modern society. The concept itself has been in research got over 20 years in more than 100 countries! 🦉And right now there are so many societies, cultures, groups in the world that being not Culturally Intelligent is not an option anymore. CQ can be represented by four main capabilities: 1️⃣ DRIVE - that's your curiosity and motivation (to work with representatives of other cultures) 2️⃣ KNOWLEDGE - understanding the differences between cultures, telling apart stereotypes and realities 3️⃣ STRATEGY - planning your actions in light of cultural differences 4️⃣ ACTION - adapting you behavior and actions in general to the situational differences These four capabilities highlight the main paths towards Cultural Intelligence. Once you know HOW to do, you know WHAT to do 🦀 🧚Do you think you are culturally intelligent? Is it important to have CQ, EQ?
ART OF CRITICAL READING Critical reading has become one of the crucial skills. ❓WHY If you read critically, you see more: wider, deeper, brighter. You see details, how they are all connected; you see references, links, connections... So many things are hidden and left unnoticed🧚 ❓WHAT To read critically, you have to be aware of details, author's background, events, and many more. You have to be very attentive and scrutinized everything you see🐬 ❓WHO Critical readers seek for knowledge🦉They are constantly looking for new ideas and meanings.
COMMAS IN ENGLISH
A lot of people have difficulties with putting commas in the sentences. English rules, comparing to other languages (especially Slavic) are not that strict. Yet, there are some that everybody has to know
1️⃣ INDEPENDENT CLAUSES
The rule is easy - FANBOYS. These are coordinating conjunctions before which there had to be a comma. F (for) A (and) N (nor) B (but) O (or) Y (yet) S (so).
🦉It was raining, so I took an umbrella.
2️⃣ INTRODUCTORY CLAUSE OR PHRASE
Introductory clauses or phrases are usually longer than 4 words. They often include such words as AFTER, WHILE, WHEN, ALTHOUGH, AS, IF, SINCE, BECAUSE
🦉If you are sick, you have to see a doctor...
EQ AS BEING INTELLIGENT EQ, or Emotional Quotient, is one of the most important abilities. EQ, or also called Emotional Intelligence, is the ability to understand and manage one's emotions effectively and in a positive way🧚 ❓HOW does it work? EQ has 4 attributes: 1️⃣ SELF-MANAGEMENT: you can control your own emotions, be initiative, adapt to situations 2️⃣ SELF-AWARENESS: you recognize your emotions, you know your strength and weaknesses, you are self-confident 3️⃣ SOCIAL AWARENESS: you are empathic, you understand emotions and needs of those around you, you feel comfortable while socializing 4️⃣ RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: you are able to develop and maintain healthy relationships, you can inspire and influence others, you know how to manage a conflict ❓WHY is it important? If you know what it is, you can work on it, right? That means you can find a way to improve you performance at school/work, your health (both mental and physical), your social skills🦉 Knowing what it is (and even the fact that it exists), you can easily find techniques to work on different attributes. Ones of the most popular right now are mindfulness and meditation🐙
WHY PLURALS ARE WEIRD Most of the plurals in English have -s or -es at the end, even if they are of foreign origin. However, some of them retain their "original" plural forms. Eh... Actually, it's hard to call them "irregular" because there are some patterns. There are 3 main reasons for English nouns to be "irregular": it they come from Latin, Greek, or Old English. (although some people tend just to put -s at the end of plural form, which is also often considered correct) 1️⃣OLD ENGLISH These nouns usually have -EN, -ICE (OUSE in the singular) at the end of the plural form or -EE- (with OO in the singular) in the middle ox - oxen child - children mouse - mice louse - lice goose - geese tooth - teeth 2️⃣LATIN These ones also have a pattern derived from the language of origine: -A at the end is changed to -AE, -UM to -A, -US to -I, -EX to -ICES Antenna - antennae OR antennas Memorandum - memoranda OR memorandums Cactus - cacti OR cactuses index - indices OR indexes 3️⃣GREEK Here we also change endings: -ION to -IA -MA to -MATA criterion - criteria (form criterions is used very rarely) dogma - dogmata OR dogmas 4️⃣GREEK OR LATIN These are the words which came from Greek through Latin to English or vice versa, from Latin through Greek. In this group adding -S to form plurals in not common. So, you know the drill: -ON to -A -IS to -ES phenomenon - phenomena thesis - theses Of course, there are plenty of other patterns got words of other origines, but we'll ta