MIND OUR ENGLISH
The Star's Mind Our English Campaign
Editor: Kee Thuan Chye
Let's face it. Our English could do with a leg up.
Especially in this fast-paced world of the Internet, when access to
knowledge requires proficiency in the language. That is why The Star
has, since April 2001, embarked on a campaign to promote the correct use of English. As
we are inviting every Malaysian to come in with us on this, we're
calling our campaign Mind Our English. The campaign is being
promoted in our print version but you can also check us out on this
site where we will include useful links and also multi-media clips
when appropriate. To get in touch with the campaign people, email
english@thestar.com.my
July 4: Big Monkey, my foot!
By LYDIA TEH.
July 4: There’s also Cameron Highlands
From Captain P.J. Rivers, Cameron Highlands.
July 3: Are they teaching it right?
FADZILAH AMIN answers your questions on English usage.
July 2: This one's for the birds
Birds have been around since Jurassic times, developing into the majestic hornbill, the tiny hummingbird, the soaring eagle, the flightless penguin, and 10,000 other forms that occupy every continent on the planet. In honour of the popular bird, we take a look at some avian imagery.
July 2: Nothing to do with BBC
Vance Carson explains that BBC English is the style of English we may expect to hear on BBC news reports rather than a particular brand of English devised and licensed by the BBC.
June 27: Why we don’t say ‘beautiful contest’
OH Teik Theam’s article (May 14) has adequately explained that adjectives and adverbs are generally known as modifiers, and that an adjective modifies a noun or noun substitute while an adverb modifies a verb, another modifier, a gerund or a whole sentence.
June 26: Is ‘saloon’ all right, too?
FADZILAH AMIN answers your questions on English usage.
June 25: Would you like some purple water?
This is the second part of a list of new words. Part One ran two weeks ago.
June 25: Common error
Readers spot instances of poor English usage.
June 20: A nose for idioms
Words up, Eh Poh Nim?
June 19: ‘I never knew ...’
FADZILAH AMIN answers questions on English usage.
June 19: Just for laughs
Here are some hilarious notices spotted in China, posted on www.engrish.com.
June 18: Classic baby talk
English idioms frequently centre on infants, but while some images are cute and cuddly, more focus on the noise and fuss they make when unhappy.
June 18: Wordwise
Did you ever wish you had the right word to describe people who had cheated you, used you or taken you for a ride?
June 13:What the dickens is eponym?
Behind eponyms are stories of interest that can bear re-telling. The following are but a very small sampling.
June 12: ‘I am born ...’ is wrong
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED By FADZILAH AMIN
June 11: Brand new words
This is a glossary of words that have recently been used in English and do not yet appear in traditional dictionaries.
June 11: Can game
See how many “can” words you can identify in this puzzle. Fill in the blanks with the missing letters.
June 6: Fun with grammar
Learning English can be lots of fun. No, really.
June 5: Of ‘upstairs’ and ‘AC/DC’
Your Questions Answered by FADZILAH AMIN.
June 4: Silly geese and golden eggs
In honour of the goose, we take a look at some anserine talk.
June 4: Please spell ‘litter’ correctly
Readers spot instances of poor English usage.
May 30: Position matters
SIZE matters – here I’m referring to the poster for the movie Godzilla, about an absurd gigantic lizard wreaking mayhem in New York. Position also matters – but here I’m not talking about the Kama Sutra; rather, I am talking about word-order, the placement of words in an expression or sentence.
May 29: You can’t call your teacher ‘Sir Wong’
Your Questions Answered By FADZILAH AMIN.
May 28: Fun with grammar
Adjectives and adverbs with the same form.
May 23: An eye for words
Mrs Eh was complaining about her neighbour to her daughters.
May 22: About words and sounds
CAN you please help me with the meanings of these terms as well as their differences? I'd appreciate some examples, too. I have to explain them to a group of students in the simplest way possible.
May 21: Is your language appropriate?
YOU are an employer who is awaiting a young man to come to your office for a job interview. There’s a knock on your door and a smartly dressed fellow in a suit presents himself. You immediately have a good impression of him and something tells you that you’ll be hiring him before the day has ended.
May 16: Wordwise
Everyone loves tea-time favourites. They can also be used in interesting English expressions which can add a spark of imagination to impress your listeners.
May 16: Milngavie and ‘mogai’
In this computer age, boffins and computer geeks talk of data compression, i.e. the conversion of pixel-related data into compact mathematical form so that the data occupy less space in a storage medium or storage device. In English, as with many other languages, such “compression” has been going on long before computers were even imagined.
May 15: Are they ball games?
Your Questions Answered By FADZILLAH AMIN
May 14: How to shout about it
Scare quotes are usually found around very short phrases or around single words in order to call attention to those words in a negative way.
May 14: Idiomania
Learning English can be lots of fun. No, really.
Weighty issue
May 14:Has any survey been done on the real reasons why Malaysian men are overweight?
May 9: Ladies from Bountiful to Muck
UNTIL two hundred years ago, “ladies” were female members of the British aristocracy, such as the wives of knights and daughters of earls. Today, the word is used as a polite way to refer to any woman.
May 9: Youth, man, woman
THERE seems to be some confusion over the use of the word “youth” in its singular and plural forms.
May 8: Bear hugs and markets
In honour of the popular bear, we take a look at some ursine imagery.
May 7: Talk about change
'Change' is a very old word, appearing in English in the early 13th century. Its roots are even older, dating back to Celtic languages that developed during the Bronze Age.
May 7: Idiomania
Learning English can be lots of fun. No, really.
May 2: Nouns have many forms
By DR LIM CHIN LAM.
May 2: Doubt about gender?
From Aaron Ng.
May 2: Wordwise
Is improving your English too much like hard work? You can use some of these “hard” expressions to inject life into your language.
May 1: Life in the idioms
Words Up, Eh Poh Nim? by LYDIA TEH.
May 1: Useful for readers
HERE’S something that may come in handy for readers of Mind Our English who can’t live without a computer!
April 30: How to buy a dictionary
Here's a guide, of sorts, to help you distinguish the good English language dictionaries from the bad ones.
April 30: Adverb or preposition?
Learning English can be lots of fun. Really.
April 30: The word is ‘inconvenience’
Readers spot instances of poor English usage.
April 25: Idiomania
CHOOSE the idiom whose meaning is given in the brackets:
April 25: Wordwise
YOU can have a whale of a time using some of these “fish” expressions:
April 24: How to use ‘to’ and ‘for’
Your questions answered by Fadzilah Amin.
April 23: Bric-a-brac
Look at these pairs of proverbs. Each pair seems to say the opposite of the other. So, which do we believe?
Apr 18: Vagaries of pronouns
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines a pronoun succinctly as “a word used instead of a noun or noun phrase to indicate someone or something already mentioned or known, e.g. I, she, this”.
Apr 18: In honour of the Earth
We take a look at some popular phrases featuring the Earth.
Apr 17: The word is ‘jing-bang’
OPEN CHANNEL
Apr 16: Jinx and padiddle
RITUALS and superstitions and the words that go with them are a favourite topic on the radio show I co-host. Our listeners can’t get enough and the e-mail keeps coming in long after we discuss them on the air.
Apr 16: Knowing ‘form’ and ‘function’
MANY thanks to Mr Oh Teik Theam for the good activity on identifying and differentiating the parts of speech (March 27).
Apr 11: You must be joking!
It is an important part of learning a language and understanding a different culture that we come to grips with the jokes, gaffes, pranks and all manner of witty asides which we may encounter.
Apr 10: Best interest or interests?
IS IT grammatically correct to say “I have your best interest at heart” or “I have your best interests at heart”?
Apr 9: Shuffle off this mortal coil
WORD’S UP, EH POH NIM? By LYDIA TEH.
Apr 4: That doesn’t seem right?
In our midst, we occasionally come across words that sound or look right but are not.
Apr 4: Mixed constructions
A mixed construction happens when the writer begins a sentence with one construction and unwittingly finishes the sentence with another.
Apr 3: General elections or election?
Your Questions Answered: By FADZILLAH AMIN.
Apr 2: Saying it wrong on purpose
People incorrectly say words on purpose all the time. Saying a word wrong on purpose is a form of wordplay. It adds variety, colour, and whimsy to our speech. It’s a common characteristic of slang, which is partly built upon fooling around.
Apr 2: Ambiguous pronoun reference
Learning English can be lots of fun.
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