Sensei Michael

When does one use complacence, and when does one use complacency? Both of them are nouns, so obviously they have different meanings and usage. Complacence  is a calm satisfaction with oneself. A monk is likely to be someone with a sense of complacence, at peace with oneself and with his lot in life. Complacency is a whole lot more dangerous - complacency means a self-satisfaction  but   coupled with a lack of awareness of what is happening around it. It is normally used to describe a person or nation which has become so self-absorbed and satisfied that it does not see looming danger until it is too late. A champion swimmer who has a sense of complacency is unlikely to put in the effort to train, until his young upstart takes the medal from him. So there you are, some tips from your friendly neighbourhood English teacher.

The Americans really have life easy. They can omit letters when they spell, can spell certain words differently, and in today's lesson, we learn that they can even use the same spelling for two forms of the same word. In American English, dependent can be used both as a noun and as an adjective. In British English (which Singaporeans use), the spelling is different. Dependent is used as an adjective, to mean "reliant on something or someone, whether for aid or as a crutch". One can find himself dependent on drugs to kill pain, or dependent on someone because of their lack of emotional strength. Dependant is used as a noun, to mean "a person who is dependent on someone else". This word is used very often by expatriates, as we bring along with us our wife and children as dependants, those who do not generate their own income but depends on us. So here we are, another lesson from your friendly neighbourhood English teacher!

This post was first written back when Sensei Michael was working in China. I am very familiar with the Emergency Ward back in Singapore, having escorted countless numbers of pupils there. I have become very accustomed to washing blood off myself. My superior recently described his experience at the Emergency Ward of a local hospital (he was there to accompany someone). It really reinforced my view of China – that lives here are cheap. So cheap that an abortion is only RMB100 (about USD15, and they do not call it abortion – it’s an “artificial miscarriage”). At the 6th People’s Hospital, when the ambulance first brings in the patient, he is simply left untreated (even if he’s bleeding) until someone pays the admission fee. Only then will a doctor or nurse attend to him. Until then, the puddles of blood on the floor remains uncleaned. The next thing that happens would shock anybody coming from a more civilised part of the world. Right out in the ward, without curtains to form individual