Food For Thought 6
Scientific research shows that willpower is widely misunderstood. The sooner we understand this, the better equipped we will be to make use of it. Our lives will be so much the better. Willpower is overrated Psychologists increasingly think effortful restraint is not the key to the good life. So what is? By Brian Resnick@B_resnickbrian@vox.com Updated Apr 25, 2018, 9:55am EDT People with a lot of self-control — people who, when they happen upon a delicious food they don’t think they should eat, seemingly grin and bear the temptation until it passes — have it easy. But why? For a long time, the thinking was that these people are good at inhibiting their impulses. That they have a lot of willpower and they know how to use it. People who are bad at resisting temptation, meanwhile, supposedly have insufficient or underexploited willpower, a view with deep cultural and moral roots. (Think [...]
Grammar Tips N’ Tricks: Present Progressive or Continuous
Detailed videos on Tenses can be found here Present Progressive (or Continuous) is formed with the verb to be + -ing form of a verb. is going am working We often use the Present Progressive for actions that are in progress at the moment of speaking. For example: It’s raining. I’m studying. We can also use the Present Progressive to describe temporary situations. I’m staying with my in-laws for a while. My mom is travelling this week. And we can also use it to talk about things that are in the process of changing. Inflation is falling. Education is suffering. However, state or stative verbs don’t use the progressive aspect. That’s because they are states and states don’t change. These verbs describe mental or emotional states, such as believe, like, love, hate, know, prefer, recognise, feel, remember, understand, want, etc.). Are you understanding [...]
Food For Thought 5
Atul Gawande is a surgeon and a highly respected writer. He's a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and I'm putting a wonderful - though painful - article by him for the same magazine. Curiosity and What Equality Really Means Atul Gawande For doctors as much as anyone else, regarding people as having lives of equal worth means recognizing each as having a common core of humanity. Photograph by Media For Medical / Getty The following was delivered as the commencement address at U.C.L.A. Medical School on Friday, June 1st. I want to start with a story. One night, on my surgery rotation, during my third year of medical school, I followed my chief resident into the trauma bay in the emergency department. We’d been summoned to see a prisoner who’d swallowed half a razor blade and slashed his left wrist with the corner of the crimp on a [...]
Confusables 2
There are many words we use incorrectly, and I’ll try to discuss some of the most flagrant ones. Of course I’ll discuss only one or two in each post. although, though, but and however The difference between these words is something I’m asked quite often. So let’s take care of this. All these words show contrast, but there are nuances (minor differences) that we need to be aware of. 1 although and though These two words are usually used as conjunctions, and they are mostly interchangeable. However, though is a little less formal. They show contrast: Although/though I haven’t watched the movie, I know the complete story. I like Sam, although/though I admit he is an idiot. We can use though (not although) as an adverb (often at the end of a sentence), to mean 'however'. Like the movie? Yes, bit long, though The main reason, though, is [...]
Food For Thought 4
This one is long but c'mon, today is Sunday! Also this was one the most read articles in the online world last year. And there's a lot to learn here, especially for students. Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis. One day last summer, around noon, I called Athena, a 13-year-old who lives in Houston, Texas. She answered her phone—she’s had an iPhone since she was 11—sounding as if she’d just woken up. We chatted about her favorite songs and TV shows, and I asked her what she likes to do with her friends. “We go to the mall,” she said. “Do your parents drop you off?,” I asked, recalling my own middle-school days, in the 1980s, when I’d enjoy a few parent-free hours shopping with my friends. [...]
Food For Thought 3
This is a nice one: at once hilarious and educative. Cookies over biscuits By Shashi Tharoor As an Indian schooled in the English language, I have long been fascinated by its different variants in use around the world—from the Singaporean “la” suffixed to every sentence to the Australian “G’day” prefixed to every greeting. But most compelling are the multiple differences between British and American English, the two languages fighting for dominance in the Anglophone world. In my first week on a US university campus, I asked an American where I could post a letter to my parents. “There's a bulletin board at the Student Center,” he replied, “but are you sure you want to post something so personal?” I soon learned that I needed to “mail” letters, not “post” them (even though in the US you mail them at the “post office”). In Britain, one concludes a restaurant meal by [...]
Confusables 1
There are many words we use incorrectly, and I’ll try to discuss some of the most flagrant ones. Of course I’ll discuss only one or two in each post. Borrow vs Lend Borrow: to take and use (something that belongs to someone else) with the intention of returning it. Hey Ram, I really need some money. Could I borrow it from you? Lend: to give to someone to use something on the understanding it shall be later returned. Hey Ram, I really need some money. Could you lendit to me? (For my Hindi-knowing Indian friends: Borrow means udhaar lena, and lend means udhaar dena.)
Food For Thought 2
This one is very old, written somewhere in early 1930s by the unparalleled, and always thought provoking, George Orwell. His 1984 has become a reference point in talks about government surveillance and power. This essay is striking, as the title suggests. So here goes: Why Are Beggars Despised? by George Orwell It is worth saying something about the social position of beggars, for when one has consorted with them, and found that they are ordinary human beings, one cannot help being struck by the curious attitude that society takes towards them. People seem to feel that there is some essential difference between beggars and ordinary "working" men. They are a race apart—outcasts, like criminals and prostitutes. Working men "work," beggars do not "work"; they are parasites, worthless in their very nature. It is taken for granted that a beggar does not "earn" his living, as a bricklayer or a literary [...]
Grammar Tips n’ tricks: Pronoun Errors: Subjective vs Objective
A subjective pronoun(as discussed in this video) is when a pronoun acts as the subject of a sentence; in other words, when the pronoun is doing the verb (action), or it is the main thing in the sentence. Subjective pronouns are : I, we, you, he, she, they, it, and who. An objective pronoun(as discussed in this video) is when a pronoun acts as the object of a verb (receives the action) or of a preposition. Objective pronouns are: me, us, you, him, her, them, it, and whom. If you understand the above properly, you’d rarely have a problem with pronouns. Let’s practice: Which of the following is correct? My boss and I had a fight today. My boss and me had a fight today. My mom gave my sister and me a present. My mom gave my sister and I a present. [...]
Food For Thought 1
Every couple of days we’ll try to give articles from around the web, in the areas of science, literature, current affairs, art, politics, philosophy, and anything else we think would help you provide exercise and nutrition for your brain. The articles will help you in various ways: They will interest you They will illuminate you They will educate you And they will prepare you for Reading Comprehension The articles may be recent, and may not be, but then I believe “recent” is overrated. What’s important is not how new it is, but how lasting it is. Does it give us something which will linger? Something which will teach us something important? Anything which is insubstantial in time is necessarily so in content. Some will be easy, some challenging. Again, that shouldn’t deter us. With a little bit of effort, you will understand. Be patient. And persist. (The same applies to [...]