CAPITAL LETTERS

Capitalization is a very important part of grammar in English with very less attention given.

Many people do not know the correct usage of Capital letters. 

Given below are the situations & a few examples when we are required to use Capital letters:

1. When you start a sentence:

The children are playing in the park. She is a beautiful girl.

2. When using personal pronoun - I:

I am a teacher. I will be going to the market tomorrow.

3. Writing Acronyms or Abbreviations:

UNO - United Nations Organisation.

WHO - World Health Organisation.

4. Names of places, countries, nationalities, religion & language:

London, Germany, Indian, Buddhism, Chinese.

5. People's names & titles:

Mr. Smith, Dr. Amina, 

Sr. Lecturer, Mrs. Jenny.

King Henry

6. Days of the week, months of the year, holidays:

Monday, Tuesday
January, February
Christmas
Independence Day

7. Names of companies and organizations:

Pepsi Cola, Sony
Microsoft Corporation, Toyota
the United Nations, the Red Cross

8. For places and monuments:

the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal
Buckingham Palace, the White House
Asia, the Middle East, the North Pole

9. Names of planets and celestial objects:
Jupiter, Mars, Sirius, Moon

10. Names of vehicles like ships, trains and spacecraft

Titanic, Shatabdi Express, Apollo- 3

11. Titles of books, poems, plays, films etc:

Macbeth, Othello, Daffodils, The Last Lear

The Lion King, Gone With The Wind

12. sometimes! for headings, titles of articles, books etc, and newspaper headlines:

HOW TO WIN AT POKER

Chapter 2: CLINTON'S EARLY LIFE
LIFE FOUND ON MARS!

BLACKMAIL

Origin of the word ‘blackmail’

To blackmail somebody is to extort money or something else of value from them by the threat of exposing information that will harm them in many ways. Blackmailing is a punishable offence.

We all know that the word mail is used to talk about materials handled in a postal system. 

Interestingly, the expression ‘blackmail’ has nothing to do with letters or the postal system. So how did the word ‘blackmail’ originate? Well, here is the story!!

The word blackmail comes from the Scottish ‘mail’. In Scottish English this word used to mean ‘tax’ or ‘rent’. 

In the olden days, the law and order situation in Scotland wasn’t very good. It wasn’t good in other countries, too. Because of poor enforcement of law, farmers living along the borders of Scotland suffered at the hands of criminal gangs. 

These gangs would rob them and get away with little punishment. Poor farmers were incapable of fighting these looters. So they chose to pay them off. They would make some payment in exchange for protection and immunity from plunder.

In those days the usual modes of payment were cattle, grains and copper coins. These were considered black. And this system of exhorting money from poor farmers was called ‘blackmail’. It means ‘black tax’ or ‘black rent’. If a farmer chose to pay in silver coins, then it was called ‘white mail’.

Birdy Fun...

Q: Why did the chicken  cross the road?  
A: To get to the other side! 

Q: Why did the monster  cross the road?  
A: To eat the chicken! 

Q: Why did the dinosaur  cross the road?  
A: It was the chicken's  day off! 

Q: If a rooster lays an egg on the middle of a slanted roof, on which side will it fall?  
A: Neither side. Roosters don't lay eggs! 

Q: What did the sick chicken  say? 
A: "I have the people-pox!" 

Q: How does a chicken  mail  a letter  to her friend ? 
A: In a HEN-velope! 

Q: Why can't a rooster  ever get rich? 
A: Because he works for chicken feed! 

Q: What key won't open any door ? 
A: A turkey! 

Forward or Backward???

MOM, DAD, MADAM, EYE, WOW, SIS, .. these are some words that we use in our daily life conversations.  But.. do you know that they have some thing special in them?

These words can be read the same forwards or backwards. Such Magical words are called as Palindromes. 

Here are some more of them.

bib	level	noon
bub	gag	radar
civic	kayak	redder
sees	pop	refer
did	sagas	redivider
eve	peep	rotator
ewe	stats	solos

Not only words but phrases too have Palindromes:

"Don't nod"

"Borrow or rob?"

"A man, a plan, a canal, Panama."

"I did, did I?"

"Drawn inward"

"Madam, I'm Adam."

"Never odd or even"

"No lemon, no melon."

"Now I won."

"Top spot"

"Was it a cat I saw?"

"Race car"

"Nurses run."

Pronunciation Trouble

The New Age Communication - Twisted Texting

SWDYT?........ AYATU?............... DW!.  IWE...........

You might be thinking that the alphabets above might have been a typing error, No they are not . Its the new age of texting. A new way of communication. 

wondering how? Let me give you the meaning. 
SWDYT = So What Do You Thing
AYATU = Are You Able To Understand
DW = Dont Worry
IWE = I Will Explain

I am sure you cannot chat with a teenager these days without being heard that you don't know how to text, you would get a response "YR2ON" (meaning- you are too old now), for the simple reason that you cannot communicate in ACRONYMS or so called as the new age texting.

I am trying to give you an insight into some of the texting lingo that you might have thought with a different meaning.

Alphabetical Acronyms:

1. POTATO= Person Over Thirty Acting Twenty One.
2. PAL = Parents Are Listening
3. EMI = Excuse My Ignorance
4. GI= Google It
5. A3= Anytime, Anywhere, Anyplace.
6. T2G= Time to go
7. WOG=  Wise Old Guy
8. NP = No Problem or Nosy Parents
9. NOA = Not Online Anymore
10. PAW = Parents Are Watching
11. PIR = Parent In Room
12. ACORN = A Completely Obsessive Really Nutty Person
13. SYS = See You Soon


Numbered Acronyms:

1. 9 = Parent is watching
2. 99 = Parent no longer watching
3. 4NR = Foreigner
4. 303 = Mom
5. 182 = I Hate You
6. 411 = Information
7. <3 = Heart
8. 143 = I Love you

There are many more of them which i may have missed out here, the list goes endless. Having seen a varied modes of communication, i am still getting accustomed to this new way of TTP "talking to people".

I am delighted that i have had a chance to learn my English in the age when not everything was twisted into an acronym. Anyways B4N "Bye for Now", TC "take Care", ONO "Over And Out".

If you have some more such interesting Acronyms, the so called Texting lingos, please feel free to share.

Listen = Silent

 ANAGRAMS

Can you find any similarity in the two words here? 

Both the words have the same alphabets but are just re-arranged to bring out a meaningful word. 

Such words are called as Anagrams. 

By just mixing up the letters a new word can be produced, such is the magic of English Language. 

A fun activity, a word play that not only helps in improving the spellings & pronunciation but also builds vocabulary, creativity & Imagination.

Here are some more examples of anagrams:

1. Mother-in-law = Women Hitler

2. Debit Card = Bad credit

3. Dormitory = Dirty room

4. Astronomer = Moon starer

5. A decimal point = I'm a dot in place

6. The Eyes = They See

7. Listen = Silent

8. Garbage Man = Bad manager

9. Hot water = Worth Tea

10. Good Bye = Obey God

11. Vacation time = I am not active

12. A gentleman = Elegant Man

13. Mummy = my mum