RE-EXAMINE YOUR ENGLISH

 

RE-EXAMINE YOUR  ENGLISH

 

PARANOID.  Used as an adjective, this word indicates a mental disorder called paranoia.  A person affected by it wrongly believes that he is being badly treated by others or that he is an extraordinary person.  Used as a noun, the word means a paranoid person.  Paranoiac and paranoid are synonymous.  The frequent use of paranoid and paranoia to refer to intense suspicion, distrust, anxiety, fear, obsession, etc., is not recommended. 

 

MATRIX.  Used as a noun, this word denotes the substance or environment within which something develops or is contained.  Its plural form is matrixes or matrices. As a technical term, it means (i) a mould into which molten metal, liquid, etc., is poured to form shapes, (ii) mass of rock in which minerals are found in the ground, (iii) arrangement of numbers, symbols, etc., treated as a single quantity in mathematics, (iv) group of circuit elements arranged to look like a lattice or grid.  The use of matrix as a vogue word in general contexts is not appreciated.  Suggested alternatives are: setting, background, framework, environment, etc.  

 

 

MEDIA.  This word is one of the plural forms of the noun medium; the other being mediums.  When referred to many means of mass communication such as newspapers, television, radio, etc., the word media is apt, but it is incorrect to use for a single medium.  So, television is a medium, not media.  Remember, media is not a singular collective noun.  Literally medium is a means by which something is expressed or communicated. As: Mother tongue is a medium of instruction in many schools and colleges.  He used the medium of oils for his paintings.  Sound travels through the medium of air.

 

REPAIRABLE/REPARABLE.  These adjectives mean “able to be repaired”, as: This instrument is repairable/reparable.  However, careful users apply repairable to material objects and reparable to abstract nouns, as: The death of a person is an irreparable loss. Use ‘repairable’ to imply something is possible to mend or restore; reparable to mean, the remedy is possible or the loss can be made good.

 

REPITION/REPETITIOUS.  These two words are synonymous.  Repetitive implies repetition; repetitious implies unnecessary repetition of an idea, argument, emphasis, rhythm, etc.,       

 

THINK LONG AND HARD.  To think long and hard is to think very carefully about something before taking a decision.  She thought long and hard before deciding to give up her present job.  We must think long and hard about how to counter the moves of our enemy.

 

LORD IT OVER.  If you lord over somebody, you want to tell him that you are superior and have the right to tell him how he should act.

 

KEEP A TIGHT REIN ON SOMEBODY/SOMETHING.   To keep a tight reign is to exercise a lot of control on a person or something.  Some parents like to keep a right rein on their children.  Administrators are supposed to keep a tight rein on expenditure.

BE AS CLEAR AS MUD.  If you are clear as mud, it means you are impossible to understand.  The phrase is used humorously.

 

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