Learning Slang

Learning a language takes time and effort due to its complexity. Language is forever changing. What is currently popular may be replaced by something else in years to come, and the use of slang is a strong testament to that. Colloquial expressions are often acceptable in informal writing. The more you learn, the more you will know when to use them or not to use them in your writing or speaking. 

Power of: a great deal of.

e.g. Surely he can do anything: he has power of money.

Hold your horse: delay taking action.

e.g. Come on, hold your horse, and just take it easy!

Right you are: I agree.

e.g. "I think I'm going to accept this job." "Right you are."

All at sea: confused.

e.g. "What do you think of the proposal?" "I'm all at sea; I'm completely clueless."

Give someone a piece of one's mind: scold.

e.g. He was rude, and I would like to give him a piece of my mind.

Pop the question: propose marriage.

e.g. Did he pop the question on Valentine's Day?

All hot and bothered: agitated, confused, or excited.

e.g. She was all hot and bothered when she heard the news of their divorce.

Poorly: sick or unwell.

e.g. What's the matter with you today? I say, you look poorly!

Easy on the eye: good looking.

e.g. I say, your girlfriend is easy on the eye.

Pooped: exhausted.

e.g. I was pooped after working for nine hours in the yard.

Say one's piece: say what one ought to say.

e.g. I must say my piece: that was not a nice thing to say to your parents.

Give someone a break: leave me alone.

e.g. Come on, give me a break; I don't want to hear this from you.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Use of Tenses

Verbs form tenses. Tenses indicate time and sequence of events or actions. To write effectively, you must know how to form tenses and use them correctly. Some of the tenses most commonly used in writing are as follows:

Present tense indicates a present action or a fact.

e.g. The book is on the table. (a present action)

e.g. The sun rises in the east. (a fact)

e.g. They are my children. (a fact)

e.g. She sings like a bird. (a fact)

Present continuous tense indicates an action going on right now.

e.g. I am cooking my dinner.

e.g. You are reading this book right now.

e.g. Now she is singing like a bird. (At this very moment, she is singing beautifully like a bird, but it does not necessarily mean it is a fact that she always sings like a bird.)

The present tense may also indicate an imminent future event.

e.g. I am leaving for New York tomorrow.

e.g. I shall leave for New York next month. (the future more remote)

Present perfect tense indicates an action in the past as well as in the present; a past action with a present result.

e.g. I have been a student in this college for more than five years. (Five years ago I was a student, and now I am still a student in this college.)

e.g. I have spent all my money. (a past action with a present result: I spent my money yesterday, and now I have no more money left.)

Compare the following to have a better understanding of the difference between the present perfect tense and the past tense:

e.g. I have told him. (I told him sometime in the past, and therefore I don’t need to tell him now, or he should know it by now because I already told him some time ago.)

e.g. I told him yesterday. (an action in the past with no present consequence)

Past tense indicates an action in the past.

e.g. We left for San Francisco yesterday.

Past perfect tense indicates an action in the past in relation to another action in past time.

e.g. The student had finished his assignment before the teacher returned. (The student finished his assignment first, and then the teacher returned.)

e.g. When the doctor arrived, the man had breathed his last. (The man died before the doctor arrived.)

e.g. When he came to see us last night, our son had left for New York. (He just missed our son.)

Future tense indicates an action in the future.

e.g. I will see you next week (Compare: I am seeing you tomorrow).

Future perfect tense indicates an action in the future in relation to another action further in the future.

e.g. By noon tomorrow, I will have finished painting my room. (Most probably, I will finish painting my room in the morning. By noon, my room will look clean and fresh.)

e.g. When he arrives tomorrow, I will have completed the project for him to examine. (When he comes tomorrow, my project will be ready for him to examine.)

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Prepositional Phrases

ARGUE

Argue back: answer back.

e.g. I wish he would not argue back so much.

Argue down: defeat someone in a debate.

e.g. He tries to argue down everyone who has opposite views.

Argue for: make a case for someone.

e.g. My lawyer will argue for me in court.

Argue into: convince someone to do something.

e.g. I could not argue myself into helping you in this project.

Argue with: challenge someone or something.

e.g. I won’t argue with what you do; after all, it is your choice.

CLOSE

Close down: close permanently; out of business.

e.g. The factory closed down last month due to the economy.

Close in: encircle and threaten.

e.g. We are now closing in on our enemies.

Close up: close temporarily.

e.g. Come back tomorrow; we're now closing up.

FIND

Find out: discover; learn.

e.g. The police eventually found out the truth of the murder case.

e.g. Sooner or later you will find out all the facts.

ACCOMMODATE

Accommodate to: adapt to.

e.g. I have to accommodate myself to the new routine.

Accommodate with: provide something special for something.

e.g. We will accommodate you with a new car.

FOLLOW

Follow on: die at a date later than someone.

e.g. He followed on after his wife a few months later.

Follow through: continue to supervise.

e.g. I hope someone would follow through on this project until its completion.

Follow something up:  check something out.

e.g. Please follow up this lead.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Know the Differences

MOMENTARY / MOMENTOUS

Momentary: lasting only a moment; momentous: important with great consequence.

e.g. There was a momentary flash in the sky after a heavy thunder.

e.g. The Senator made a momentous decision to run for President of the United States.

FLAIR / FLARE

Flair: talent; flare: fire.

e.g. She has a flair for public speaking.

e.g. There's a flare in the garbage room; we'd better call 911.

POLE / POLL

Pole: a long stick; poll: a survey.

e.g. See if you can push this back with this pole.

e.g. According to the poll, which candidate won in the debate?

MINER / MINOR

Miner: a person who works in the mine underground; minor: a child.

e.g. My grandfather was a miner, and he did not like his occupation.

e.g. He is a minor, and therefore his testimony will not be taken seriously.

COULD / MIGHT

Could denotes potentiality; might suggests possibility.

e.g. Don't play with the knife; you might accidentally hurt yourself.

e.g. Could you close the window, please?

EXHAUSTING / EXHAUSTIVE

Exhausting means making one very tired; exhaustive means very thorough, covering a lot.

e.g. To remove all the books from this room is exhausting work.

e.g. This is an exhaustive inquiry, covering every aspect of what happened.

FEWER / LESS

Fewer: used for items that can be counted; less: for items that cannot be counted.

e.g. Fewer people came to the meeting today than yesterday.

e.g. We have less money to spend on this trip than we used to have.

REAL / REALLY

Real: an adjective; really: an adverb.

e.g. The firefighter was really brave when he saved the child. .

ANXIOUS / EAGER

Anxious: worried; eager: impatiently desirous.

e.g. He was anxious about his future.

e.g. The children are eager to open their Christmas presents.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Colloquial Expressions

Learning a language takes time and effort, especially if it is not your first language. Even if it is your mother tongue, you still need time and effort to master it. Language is forever changing. What is currently popular may be replaced by something else in years to come, and the use of slang is a strong testament to that. Colloquial expressions are often acceptable in informal writing. The more you learn, the more you will know when to use them or not to use them in your writing or speaking. 

Talk nineteen to the dozen: talk incessantly; talk too fast.

e.g. You were talking nineteen to the dozen; I just couldn't make hear or tail of what you were saying.

Gumption: common sense.

e.g. If you've some gumption, you 'll understand the difference between this and that.

Have a load on: very drunk.

e.g. He looked as if he had a load on.

Not born yesterday: not as naive or foolish as you think.

e.g. Don't give me all that nonsense. I was not born yesterday.

Pop the question: propose marriage.

e.g. Did he pop the question on Valentine's Day?

Taken short: in need of urination.

e.g. I was taken short, and I rushed to the bathroom before I could finish the talk..

Stay put: remain in position.

e.g. Don't move! Just stay put! I'll come and get you out of the hole."

Right-down: utterly.

e.g. The man is right-down insane!

Fork out: pay

e.g. Well, everybody has to fork out $30 for the farewell present to the boss.

Walk: disappear.

e.g. I don't know how and where those documents had walked

Go under: fail.

e.g. I am sorry to say that all your proposals have gone under.

Stephen Lau

Colloquial Expressions

Language is forever changing. What is currently acceptable or popular may be replaced by something else in years to come, and the use of slang is a strong testament to that. Slang is just an alternative way of saying something. It is sometimes hard to identify what is slang and what is not. Slang and colloquial expressions are often acceptable in informal writing because they are used in communication in movies, newspapers, radio, television, and other mass media The more you learn, the more you will know when to use or not to use them in your formal writing. No matter what, knowing these common everyday expressions is a plus for all ESL learners.

By a long chalk: by a great amount.

e.g. He lost his re-election by a long chalk.

Get wise to: discover; realize.

e.g. Soon you’ll get wise to what is really happening under the roof.

Go the whole hog: go through thoroughly.

e.g. The prosecutor went the whole hog when he inspected the murder weapon.

Alive and kicking: in good health.

"How is your grandmother doing?" "Very much alive and kicking."

For a song: very cheaply.

e.g. I got that piece of antique for a song.

Head above water: out of debt.

e.g. Nowadays, it is not easy to keep your head above water.

Mean-green: money.

e.g. Can I borrow a little mean-green from you?

All that jazz: all that sort of thing; etcetera.

e.g. He was telling everyone about his success in real estate investment and all that jazz. Well, we all heard that before.

In a jiffy: soon.

e.g. The manager will see you in a jiffy.

Next to nothing: hardly anything.

e.g. “Did she leave you anything at all?” “Well, next to nothing.”

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Choice of Sentences

Writing is made up of sentences. Effective writing consists of different types of sentences put in different paragraphs to bring out the ideas of the writer. There are different types of sentences serving different functions.

The simple sentence

The simple sentence is made up of a subject and a predicate (a verb, or a verb + noun/adjective/adverb/preposition etc. to complete the sentence).

e.g. The woman went to Mexico.

             (subject) (predicate)

e.g. Washington D.C. is the capital of the United States.

               (subject)        (predicate)

Identifying the subject and the predicate helps you in subject-predicate agreement.

e.g. Drinking a glass of warm milk and taking a hot bath help me sleep better. (NOT helps)

e.g. Every house in the neighborhood has been searched. (NOT have)

e.g. Each of the students was given an assignment to do over the weekend. (NOT were)

The simple sentence (usually short) is used to make a statement, or to emphasize an idea.

However, overuse of short simple sentences may result in choppy sentences, showing lack of unity.

e.g. It was a beautiful day. The sun was warm. We wanted to go for a walk. We decided to go to the lake. (choppy)

e.g. It was a warm and beautiful day, and we decided to go to the lake for a walk. (improved)

The compound sentence

The compound sentence is made up two or more simple sentences joined together by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, but, for, so, yet), or a punctuation mark (colon, semicolon).

e.g. The man took the money, and (he) ran away.

e.g. You finish this work, or you don’t get paid!

e.g. I don’t want to go, nor will I.

e.g. He was poor, but he was happy.

e.g. We were thirsty, for the weather was hot.

e.g. He worked hard so he passed his test.

e.g. The boy practiced very hard, yet he did not make the swim team.

The compound sentence is used to show relationship, sequence, or importance of ideas in a sentence.

The complex sentence

The complex sentence is made up two or more simple sentences joined together by a subordinating conjunction (after, before, since, when, although).

e.g. After the man took the money, he ran away.

The emphasis is more on he ran away than on the man took the money; the complex sentence here not only shows the sequence of the action but also focuses on he ran away “after” taking the money.

Compare: “The man took the money, and (he) ran away.” In this compound sentence, the emphasis is on the man took the money as well as (he) ran away.

e.g. Before the postman came, the woman had already finished writing the letter.

e.g. When the postman came, the woman gave him the letter.

It is important that you construct different types of sentences to express your ideas.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau