Happy new grammar day!
As usual, we start our week with a good laugh. Grin like a Cheshire cat: today is the English Humor day!
Our central theme for this post is music.
Music of the English language is the best thing to practice your listening skills.
Here you see the picture, below is the text from it to make sure you read the words clearly, and the vocabulary list at the bottom of the page.
“Sew – we have bean here ring the Pro men hard Cons hurts. Sew? Mew sickle in strew meants? No sum of them? Here ring them is nice. Old and knew – vile in, oh bow, tube her, wreck order, pea anno forty, sacks oh phone, accord lan, trump it, vie oh la, wreck order, chew burr, dub’ll bays. At True Ping of the Cull Her you here men he of them as you will at a mew sick fest evil. Men he sent your ease of his story. Bee inter rested and stud he won!”
Remember, this humor concerns malapropisms, and I won’t tell you the right words so you can train your pronunciation, and be able to discover everything by yourself. (This is the best feeling!)
This time you should listen carefully to the names of the musical instruments.
- Sew – to follow; to pursue; to sue;
- Bean – any of various leguminous plants grown for their edible seeds and pods;
- Ring – a circle: a small hoop, usually of metal, worn on the finger as an ornament;
- Pro – an argument in favor of a proposal;
- Men – pl. of man. A human being; an adult male of the human species; one with manly qualities; humankind;
- Hard – forcibly; laboriously; diligently; tempestuously; closely; near; roughly; to the utmost extent;
- Cons – opposite of pros;
- Hurt – any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture;
- Mew – to cast the feathers; to molt; hence, to change; to put on a new appearance;
- Sickle – a reaping instrument consisting of a steel blade curved into the form of a hook, and having a handle fitted on a tang;
- Strew – to scatter, or let fall loosely;
- Meants – (as Meant) past tense of mean;
- Sum – to collect into a total; present in brief, or as a result;
- Vile – base; mean; worthless; depraved;
- Bow – to bend or incline towards;
- Tube – a hollow cylindrical shape;
- Wreck – to ruin or destroy by dashing on rocks or shoals; to ruin; to suffer ruin;
- Order – method or state of regular arrangement; settled way of doing something;
- Pea – a pod- bearing vine of the bean family; its eatable seed;
- Forty – four times ten;
- Sacks – pl. of a sack. A large bag; loose coat;
- Accord – to make to agree or correspond; to suit one thing to another; to adjust; followed by to;
- Trump – a brass musical instrument with a brilliant tone; has a narrow tube and a flared bell and is played using valves;
- Vie – compete for something; engage in a contest; measure oneself against others;
- Chew – to bite and grind with the teeth; to masticate;
- Burr – a broad iron ring on a tilting lance just below the gripe, to prevent the hand from slipping;
- Dub – to invest with any dignity or new character; to entitle; to call;
- Bays – honorary garland, usually of laurel, bestowed as a prize for any kind of victory; literary fame or distinction;
- True – not synthetic or spurious; of real or natural origin;
- Cull – to select: to pick out;
- Evil – having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious;
- Ease – to render less painful or oppressive; to mitigate; to alleviate;
- Bee – a neighborly gathering of people who engage in united labor for the benefit of an individual or family;
- Inter – to deposit and cover in the earth; to bury; to inhume;
- Rested – not tired; refreshed as by sleeping or relaxing;
- Stud – an ornamental button of various forms, worn in a shirt front, collar, wristband, or the like, not sewed in place, but inserted through a buttonhole or eyelet, and transferable;
- Won – not subject to defeat.
Now the question for you: how many instruments have you found?
