Language Study

●Word Study

Word list:

Appall / authentic / define / dome / eccentric / smash / stiffen / swallow / vague / whirl / impulsive / indemnity / nonetheless / repress / scoff

1. appall

to grow pale: to (ap- /ad-) + pale(pall)

v. to fill or overcome with horror, fear or apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised

●If you don’t study the whole semester and open your books a night before the exam, then you’ll surely be appalled to look at the syllabus.

●Astound: to overwhelm with amazement and wonder; to astonish and bewilder

●shudder: to shake or tremble suddenly and violently, as from horror, fear or aversion

2. authentic

author, one who acts independently

adj. conforming to fact and worthy of belief; trustworthy; reliable: an authentic account by an eyewitness

adj. of undisputed origin or authorship; genuine: an authentic signature.

3. define

to limit, determine : de- + fīnis, boundary, limit

FIN & FINIS: root-words, meaning end

●final 最终，决赛，期末考试

●finale 终曲

●finish 结束

●finite 有限的

●confine 限制，监禁

●infinity无穷

●financial：When you pay your bill the financial matter is ended

4. dome

n. a concave shape whose distinguishing characteristic is that the concavity faces downward

●Under the Dome is a science fiction novel by Stephen King published in November 2009.

●(Slang) the human head.

5. eccentric

out of centre, from(-ec) + centre

●a person with an unusual or odd personality; unconventional; peculiar; odd

●He is getting more eccentric every day; He had an eccentric habit of collecting stray cats.

6. impulsive

●Inclined to act on impulse rather than thought

●Letting him borrow her car was an impulsive act that she immediately regretted.

PEL & PULS, the ROOT-WORDS means DRIVE PUSH & THROS.

1. Impulse / Impulsive:冲动（的）

2. Pulse:脉搏

3. Compel / Compulsive:强迫（的）

4. Compulsory:义务的

5. Expel / Expulsion:驱逐

6. Repel / Repulsive:抵制（的）

7. Propel / Propulsion:驱动

8. Impel:推动

9. Dispel:驱散

7. indemnity

from uninjured, not (in-) + injured (damage)

n. protection or security against damage or loss ; compensation for loss or damage; reimbursement

●Political exiles had not been given indemnity from prosecution.

8. nonetheless

despite that; however; nevertheless; in spite of the fact that has just been mentioned

●The region was extremely beautiful. Nonetheless he could not imagine spending the rest of his life there.

9. repress

re- + press

v. to keep under control, check, or suppress (desires, feelings, actions, tears, etc.)

●It is anger that is repressed that leads to violence and loss of control.

v. to put down by force, usually before total control has been lost; quell

●To repress a rebellion / dissidents

10. scoff

from mockery, probably of Scandinavian origin;

akin to Danish skof, jest, teasing

v. to express scorn; laugh at with contempt and derision

●She scoffed at my poem.

●However, of course the scoffer didn't laugh — I mean the boy. No, he scoffed; there wasn't anything he wouldn't scoff at.

●From A Connecticut Yankee by Mark Twain

11. smash

v. to break in pieces or be ruined.

●But, unhappy man, the dreadful recoil will smash you to pieces at your starting.

●From The Earth To The Moon by Jules Verne

●This unexpected news had smashed all his hopes.

smashing adj. marvelous; splendid

●What a smashing idea!

●smash hit a song, show etc. that is a great success.

●This play was a smash hit in New York.

12. stiffen

v. to make or become stiff or stiffer; to become suddenly tense or unyielding

●I felt him stiffen in my arms and heard him murmur: "Go on, go on; but don't make any noise.

●From The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux

●He stiffened when he saw his boss enter the room

13. swallow

v. to allow to pass down the throat to the stomach.

● His throat was so painful that he could hardly swallow.

v. to put up with (something unpleasant):

●I swallowed the insults and kept on working.

●v. to take back; retract: to swallow one’s words

●swallow up: to cause to disappear completely.

●She was swallowed up in the crowd

●swallow one‘s pride 忍气吞声

●to behave humbly by making an apology

n. a type of insect-eating bird with long wings and a divided tail燕子 One swallow does not make a spring.

I feel vaguely uneasy.

14. vague

adj. Not clearly expressed; inexplicit; not clear, distinct or definite.

●Through the fog we saw the vague outline of a ship.

●She has only a vague idea of how this machine works.

adj.(of people) imprecise, or impractical and forgetful.

●He is always very vague when making arrangements.

Vaguely: slightly

●She felt vaguely irritated.

15. whirl

v. to move rapidly (round, away etc.).

●She whirled round when I called her name.

●The wind whirled my hat away before I could grab it.

n. a circular current in a river or sea, caused by opposing tides, winds or currents

whirlwind 旋风

n. a violent circular current of wind with a whirling motion.

●Phrases and Expressions

List:

be sealed with / pick up / be locked in place / of all the nerve / make a sound / get involved in / draw back / get worked up over

1. be sealed with

●sealed - closed or secured with or as if with a seal; determined irrevocably

●my lips are sealed

●the package is still sealed

●his fate is sealed

●"Sealed with a Kiss" is a song written by Peter Udell and Gary Geld.

●When you get baptized, you are sealed with the holy spirit.

be fastened to:

●The dog's leash was fastened to a post

be taped to:

●A note was taped to the refrigerator.

●be attached to:

●He is attached to her.

●Jeff is attached to this group.

2. pick up

1) To take up or collect: pick up a book; pick up pebbles.

She picked up the children at the day care center

2) To take on passengers or freight: The bus picks up commuters / hitchhikers on the mountain road.

3) To acquire casually or by accident: picked up a new coat on sale; pick up French quickly; pick up a virus at school.

4) To take into custody: The agents picked up a smuggler.

5) To come upon and follow: The dog picked up the scent.

6) To continue after a break: pick up the discussion / topic after lunch.

pick apart:

To refute or find flaws in: The lawyer picked the testimony apart.

pick at:

To eat sparingly or without appetite: The child just picked at the food.

pick off:

To shoot after singling out: The hunter picked the ducks off one by one.

pick on: To tease or bully.

pick out: To choose or select: picked out a nice watch.

pick over:To sort out or examine item by item: picked over the grapes before buying them.

3. be locked in place

●To fix in place so that movement or escape is impossible; hold fast:

●The ship was locked in the ice through the winter.

●She felt that she had become locked into a binding agreement.

4. of all the nerve

●(informal) How rude!

●What a nerve!

●Bob: Lady, get the devil out of my way!

●Mary: Of all the nerve! (What a nerve!)

●Jane: You can't have that one! I saw it first!

●Sue: Of all the nerve! I can too have it!

5. make a sound

to produce a sound

Synonyms: tap out, let out, pitch, emit, utter, voice

6. get involved in

●connected by participation or association

●I don't want to get involved.

●Everyone involved in the bribery case has been identified.

●Antonym: uninvolved — not involved

●being uninvolved he remained objective

●absorbed in, fascinated by, immersed in, captivated by, enthralled by: She was so involved in her career she had no time for fun.

●Having a sexual relationship: They see a lot of each other but aren't involved.

7. draw back

●pull back or move away or backward

●But he could not draw back from the generous word when it was once uttered, even though he felt now, vaguely foreseeing certain eventualities in his intrigue with Madame Karenina, that this generous word had been spoken thoughtlessly, and that even though he were not married he might need all the hundred thousand of income.

●From Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Idioms:

●draw straws:

●To decide by a lottery with straws of unequal lengths 抽签

●draw the line:

●To decide firmly an arbitrary boundary between two things

8. get worked up over

●worked up (over/about)

●adj. excited and agitated about something. (Typically: be ~; get ~; get oneself ~.)

●Tom is all worked up over the tax increase.

●Don't get so worked up about something that you

●can't do anything about.

●she was worked up about all the noise.

●Word Building

List:

1. Prefix: sub-

2. Suffix: -ish

3. Suffix: -age

●Grammar

Past participle as attributive modifier

●A past participle and participle phrases always function as adjectives, adding description to the sentence, and indicating a past or completed action or time.

●(Note: only transitive verbs can use their past participles as adjectives)

Examples:

●The water drained slowly in the pipe clogged with dog hair. (Clogged with dog hair modifies the noun pipe.)

●Eaten by mosquitoes, we wished that we had made hotel, not campsite, reservations. (Eaten by mosquitoes modifies the pronoun we.)

1. Misplace participle phrases

In clear, logical sentences, modifiers are right next to the words they describe.

X Draped neatly on a hanger, William borrowed Grandpa's old suit to wear to the interview.

The suit, not William, is on the hanger! The modifier must come closer to the word it is meant to describe:

√ For the interview, William borrowed Grandpa's old suit, (which was) draped neatly on a hanger.

2. Dangle participle phrases

If the sentence fails to include a target, the modifier is dangling.

X If properly installed, you shouldn’t be able to open the door without first pressing the safety button.

Whatever item is actually being installed, you certainly aren‘t.

√ If it is properly installed, you shouldn’t be able to open the door without first pressing the safety button.

3. Forms of past participles –t / -ed

●Both forms of ending are acceptable in British English, but the -t form is dominant-burnt, learnt, spelt-whereas American English uses -ed: burned, learned, spelled.

●British English uses -ed for the past participle of certain verbs-quitted, sweated-while American English uses the infinitive spelling-quit, sweat.

●Some verbs have a different form of past tense and past participle, eg, the past tense of dive is dived in British English but dove in American English.