Sensei Michael

Why do military personnel say halt rather than stop? by Thierry Etienne Joseph Rotty https://www.quora.com/Why-do-military-personnel-say-halt-rather-than-stop/answer/Thierry-Etienne-Joseph-Rotty?srid=ibaJ&share=350e4ffe

Something that has stumped me for some time, finally resolved! Answer on @Quora by Frank Dauenhauer to What is the difference between also and too? https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-also-and-too/answer/Frank-Dauenhauer?srid=ibaJ&share=bcd25c6a

A very good piece on how English evolved to the English we know today, using the familiar Lord's Prayer. Answer on @Quora by Scott Mauldin to What happened during the transition between Old English and Modern English? https://www.quora.com/What-happened-during-the-transition-between-Old-English-and-Modern-English/answer/Scott-Mauldin-3?srid=ibaJ&share=a1cfc0cf

Answer by Franklin Veaux: Dinner is the largest meal of the day. It's a term that indicates the size of the meal, not the time of the meal. In some places where I've lived, like Florida and Oregon, it is customary to have the largest meal in the evening, so we talk about having breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When I lived in Nebraska, it was customary to have the largest meal at midday, so we would talk about breakfast, dinner, and supper. Did dinner used to mean lunch?

A descriptive noun is linked with an article "the". A plain proper noun (a name) does not. Answer by Kelly Martin: Do your friends address you as "Shiv" or "The Shiv"? The "name" of the United States is not actually a name.  It is, instead, a description. It describes who we are: we are the "United" "States" of "America": a country comprised of states, all located in America, that have voluntarily united. Because it's a descriptive phrase, not a name, grammatically it needs an article. This is also why we say the United Kingdom: again, the name describes the country (in full, it is the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"). India, however, is a name; the word doesn't describe the country, but simply names it, and thus grammatically does not need, or merit, an article. Why do we say "THE" United States of America but not in the case of India?

Adjectives can be "stacked" into a long string of words that describe the noun that comes after them, but not many users of English are aware that there is an order to stack them. Opinion.  lovely, wonderful Size.  big, humongous Age.  young, old Shape.  square, round Colour.  red, green Origin.  Chinese, American Material. iron, leather Purpose or function.  grilling, measuring I guess you can say that Sensei Michael is a  wonderful tall middle-aged Singaporean teacher . Now to come up with a phrase that uses all 9 for an epitome of the use of the above rule!

Answer on @Quora by Santhosh Chowdary Gonuguntla to What can I learn in the next ten minutes about English vocabular… http://qr.ae/0Qkww

Answer by Joseph Michael Pallante: Turn left! turn right! You use "turn" mostly with directions or something that moves on a pivot point briefly . Spin around, spin in a chair, my head is spinning. These are all fixed on one point and involve a rotation or series of rotations. Think of turning as the process for spinning, but to spin you need to complete a circle. For example I can turn down streets going only left or right and complete one circle, yet I had to turn at 3 pivot points. A turn has pivot points, a spin has 1 central pivot point and rotates in at least 1 circle. What's the difference between "spin" and "turn"?

Answer on @Quora by Jim Gordon to Why is Lieutenant General a higher rank than Major General, while the rank of Majo… http://qr.ae/LZBDN

Answer by Michael Chan: "a" refers to anything of that type, nothing specific. "the" refers to a specific something of that type, nothing else. It is usually used when referring to something that both parties already know of. I am a vice-president in the company. In this case, I am probably one of the two or more vice-presidents in that specific company that we have been talking about previously. I am the vice-president of the bank. In this case, there is no other vice-presidents, there is only one, which makes me a lot more "big-shot" in that particular bank we have been talking about, than any banks which have tons of vice-presidents all over the place. What are some tips to correctly use "the" and "a"?

An essay by my student Sarah Zhang, Grade 6 During the winter holiday, I went to Xiamen. It is a city in Fujian province at the south of China. Xiamen is near both the ocean and Gulangyu Island. When the airplane arrived at Xiamen, it was already 1am midnight. We went to the wharf and waited for the ship to the Gulangyu. It was night, I just saw the dim lights around me, only the moon still in the sky. The sea breeze stroked my face, and brought the special smell from the sea. When we arrived at Glangyu Island, the story started. It was a fantastic adventure. My mom and I must find the inn at a strange place. First we followed mom’s GPS and tried to find the place. But, it was not an easy thing, the result was that we got lost! We circled at the island, but because it was really dark, we could not clearly see the road sign. When we walked to a church, it was really scary. The light was flickering, the cat went “meow”, it was so weird. Finally we turned back to the wharf, it was 2am. At...

This essay was written by a Chinese student of mine, Sarah Zhang, currently in Grade 5. On International Labour Day, my grandma, grandpa, mother and I went to a karst cave. The karst cave was fantastic. It had seven layers, but only four layers were open. The first to fifth layer were dry, the sixth and seventh layer had water on it and we could go boating. The fourth layer was under the ground about 300 metres deep. It was very beautiful. Inside the cave were some stalactites. Provided there were water, these stalactites could be longer, but they grew just one millimeter a year. In the karst cave, there were lots of beautiful artificial lights. And it had some stone waterfalls, which were unimaginable! It had some transparent stalagmites, they looked like crystals. The curtain was called a schistose, the formations looked like harps.It was very beautiful! The best of them all was a kind of rock with some fragile things inside, like flowers, and easily broken. It was called a stone flo...

This is an essay written by one of my Chinese students, Linda Huang, currently in Grade 6. A Visit to an Orphanage It was the May Day holiday, and I was so bored. Then mom asked me, “Would you like to go to the orphanage with me?” “Sure!” I replied heartily. The orphanage was far from the downtown, we needed thirty minutes to get there by car. After thirty minutes, we arrived. That was my first time at the orphanage. The building was a villa, it looked very luxurious. First I saw the playground, there were many things belonging to the orphans on it. The inside of the orphanage was pretty clean, but we also needed to wipe the floor. Mom and I worked hard there, after we wiped the floor, we went upstairs to clean the beds which the orphans slept on. This work used up much of my time. Because I have mysophobia , I could not let the bed go dirty. After we have finished all the work, mom and I played with the orphans. They were so cute, and they were only one or two years old. I liked an or...

This essay was written by a Chinese student of mine, Sarah Zhang, currently in Grade 5. “Great,” my mother told me, “Linda, Jason and I are going to take part in a play!” A few days ago, we went to Beijing by car. We felt happy we had seven days to learn drama. Our drama teachers, Durand and his assistant Alice, came from America. They were nice and ebullient. They were funny and good at drama. Our play’s name was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Linda portrayed Quince, Jason portrayed Flute, and I portrayed Queen Titania. The exciting day finally arrived. The morning of the day we put up our play, we got up, and the first thing we did was to review our dialogue. Everybody did what he had to do. Our teachers were very caring, they wanted us to rest at home that morning. When noon came, everyone’s hearts were jumping fast. After lunch, Ms Alice put on our makeup, one by one, in accordance with our role's character. She was very careful and diligent, our dresses were different too. Time ...

This essay was written by a Chinese student of mine, Jason Shan, currently in Grade 5. An Accident A month ago, I was on the street. I saw a car and another car collide. I was very surprised. The accident happened like this. The first car turned left, the second car went straight. The two cars went along. Then the two cars collided. The policeman saw the accident and came to help them settle the accident. One hour later, the accident was settled. There were many cars on the road, bumper-to-bumper. All the cars could not go. The policeman came and directed these cars. Later, these cars went on their way. I thought to myself: we should think first before we do anything. We should not do anything sloppily.

This is an essay written by one of my Chinese students, Linda Huang, currently in Grade 6. An Exciting Day After our laborious practice, the most exciting day was coming! It was the day that we were performing our play! We were allowed to sleep in that day, so I slept until nine o’clock. In the morning, except the time when I was sleeping, I was practising the lines with Sarah and Jason. I was so nervous about the show in the evening. The time passed by quickly, the afternoon was already coming. Our parents sent us to the place where we always practised. Alice and Durand were there, too. These two were the teachers who taught us to perform our play. A busy afternoon was waving at us. Teacher told us to put on our costumes for the show. After Alice reviewed our performance, we practised again and again, because Alice and Durand wanted us to be perfect. This time everyone did a good job, no one was distracted. Everyone wanted to be the best, too, including me. Soon, it was time for suppe...

This is an essay written by one of my Chinese students Haylin Lu, currently in Grade 9. A Most Exciting Day I could still remember that most exciting day when we were running on the racing track; the early autumn wind wafted across our faces and T-shirts. It was hard to hear what the spectators and cheering teams shouted because my heartbeats were as loud as their voices. My first sports meeting in junior high school gave me the most exciting memory. On September 28 th , 2011, I got up early and packed my things 3 times. I have never taken part in any big sports meeting like this one, so I was very excited, and of course a little nervous. I was asked by my teacher to enroll in the 400m race. The opening of the meeting was grand. Flags were everywhere; every class marched to the field  in good order. Each class had chosen a slogan previously. It told other classes how united and excellent we were. When Class 10 marched by the rostrum, we shouted our slogan together. The cheering team wa...

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 article first appeared in Domain of Experts , a website where selected academic experts write. Introduction One of my students recently asked me if there is a difference between "backward" and "backwards". "Is it another of those American English versus British English thing?" he wondered aloud. I smiled. My students have become very used to my explaining how my American friends use different terms or spell certain words differently, compared to we Singaporeans (who use British English). In fact, it is not just "backward" and "backwards" that many students got in a bind over, but all the various "wards" in English. Forward vs Forwards Forward can be used as an adverb or an adjective, and is used to describe a direction of motion, to the front, or describe a position. Forwards, on the other hand, can only be used as an adverb, and is used interchangeably with "forward" The squad commander took a forward position ...