University English # Improve Vocabulary

Every place has its own vocabulary, for instance, there are certain words that are associated with university and are commonly used there. So, if you are planning to go out and study in a University, you must know the following phrases –

  1. Enroll/sign up – When you take admission in University, you enroll or sign up for some classes. Example- Avinash enrolled for a math class. This means Avinash is going to take math class in the university.
  2. Hit the books – If you study hard, it means you hit the books. Example – After Avinash enrolled in the class, he hit the books. This means he studied hard after enrolling in the class.
  3. Hand out assignment – To give assignments. Example – The professor hands out the algebra assignment to Avinash.
  4. Pull an all-nighter- Pull an all-nighter means you stay all night to complete something. Example- Avinash pulled an all-nighter to complete his assignment.
  5. Hands in assignment/paper – This means to submit it. Example- As soon as Avinash reaches the class, he hands in the assignment.
  6. Cut class/skip class – Cut class/skip class means to miss classes. Example – When Avinash got an A+ in the assignment he starts cutting classes.
  7. Fall behind in – When you fall behind in something, it means you are lacking behind. Example- Because of cutting classes, after two weeks, Avinash fell behind in classes.
  8. Get Caught Up – Get caught up means you reach to the position you should be, if you did not missed the classes. Example – Avinash is very worried about the classes and he starts hitting the books again and gets caught up.
  9. Withdraw from the course/drop a course – This means to leave the course. Example- Avinash was not interested in withdrawing from the course.
  10. Plagiarize –  Plagiarize means when you don’t do the work but give it to someone else or copy someone’s else work. Example- Avinash goes out to pub, but plagiarize his assignment.
  11. Expel/kick out- This means, you are thrown out of the university. Example- The professor finds out about Avinash plagiarizing and expels him.


How To Learn A New Word

English is a very broad language consisting of various words that were originally a part of either Persia or Arabian or may be Hindi. Even more, learning a new word often does not means simply to understand its meaning, because a word is often used differently in different context. You need to know the meaning of the word and then more importantly how it is being used.But then, how to learn a new word. When learning a new word make sure you do the following so that you grasp the content of the word correctly –

  1. Knowing the word is not enough. You need to know the words it is usually associated with and whether the word has any grammatical characteristics. And the most important part is to learn its pronunciation.
  2. It is always a good idea to learn a new word in phrases rather than cramming their meanings in isolation.
  3. Write down the nouns and the adjectives the words are generally associated with. For instance – royal family.
  4. Write down the verb with the structure and the nouns the word is often associated with. Example – to express an opinion.
  5. Write down nouns with phrases and words with prepositions. For example – shades of opinion, thanks to your help.
  6. Notice the grammatical structure of the words. As in when is the verb is irregular and when the noun in uncountable.

Learning words is of no use if you don’t know how to use them. So, make sure while learning new words that you can use the word correctly and also pronounce it appropriately.



Doctor Doctor!! # Specific Words

Doctors are everywhere, no matter which part of the world you are. but are all doctors same? Well, no.
Every doctor does specializes in a particular area and they are known by it.
Lets learn how to talk about doctors.

He/she is responsible for treating the female reproductive and sexual organs. Who is he/she?
GYNECOLOGIST is make from two words-
Gyne-: woman
Logy-: science
This specialist is responsible for babies and takes care of the mother and baby during and after pregnancy.
OBSTETRICIAN is made of two words-:
Obstetrix-: midwife
Ician-: expert
Who should you go to when the baby is ill> may be he/she has chicken pox/meals/mumps. This specialist takes care of youngsters, babies after birth, watches their growth and development.
PEDIATRICIAN is made of the three words.
Paidos-: child
Iatreia-: medical healing
Ician-: expert
Are you having pim[ples or rashes? Is your skin itching? Do you find strange changes in the skin? Or is there some major skin disease like impetigo, psoriasis or cancer? But how do you know what it is? who is going to cure it?
Derma-: skin
Logos- science
She/he cares about the disorders in your eyes like myopia or cataracts etc and prescribes glasses, performs surgery give drugs.
Have you had any bones fracture, slipped discs, clubfoot, curvature of the spine or issues in skeletal structure of your body? Where did you went? Bone doctor??
No, you will go to an ORTHOPEDIST
Does your heart go pitter-patter? Well have you had any disorders of heart or circulatory system? Who did you referred to? A heart doctor?
Well, you must go to a CARDIOLOGIST
You go to this physician for creating any disorders of brain, spinal cord or the rest of the nervous system. Who is he/she?

So, from now on, stop saying skin doctor or baby doctor. Use the right words and show the world who you are!

Go Set A Watchman

Exactly 100 pages into Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman, the illusions of Jean Louise Finch and several generations of idealists are shattered when, arranging her father’s pile of reading material on a visit home from New York, Jean Louise discovers a pamphlet called “The Black Plague.” She picks it up, reads it all the way through, then takes it “by one of its corners … like she would hold a dead rat by the tail” and throws it in the garbage.
“Jean Louise,” her aunt says, in response to her indignation. “I don’t think you fully realize what’s been going on down here.”
It’s an awakening that’s not so much rude as cruel: Maycomb County, Alabama, is now a different world from the one she grew up in, and To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch, the paragon of the legal profession, the father figure and steward of the nation’s conscience, is revealed to be frail and flawed. He is, at 72, a rheumatic and unrepentant segregationist who believes with complete conviction that the white race is superior. “Jean Louise, have you ever considered that you can’t have a set of backward people living among people advanced in one civilization and have a social Arcadia?” he asks late in the book, to her horror. “Do you want Negroes by the carload in the our schools and churches and theaters? Do you want them in our world?”
The article has been taken from “The New Yorker ”.


Illusion is something that deceives by producing a false or misleading projection of something. “illusion of … are shattered” means what they thought it to be, it has turned out to be something else.
Idealist here refers to the writers who treat subject imaginatively. So when the illusion of idealist are shattered, it means that the picture they had imagined is not true.
Pamphlet is a complete publication of about 80 pages stitched together and having a cover.
Indignation is a strong displeasure at something considered wrong or offensive. So, herein her aunt responds to her behavior of displeasure.
Paragon refers to someone of exceptional merit. So, “paragon of legal profession” means someone who is excellent in the legal profession.
Steward, here means a person who is in charge of something. “so steward of national conscience is a person responsible for the national conscience”.
Conscience refers to the inner sense of what is right and what is wrong. “the national conscience” means what according to the nation as a whole is right or wrong!
Frail, here means, morally weak and easily tempted. In this context, it means that the person who was responsible for the nation’s conscience was himself morally weak.
Flawed is used to refer to someone who has imperfections.
Rheumatic is a person with the disorder of the extremities or back, causing pain.
Unrepentant is a person who shows no shame about his/ her actions.
Segregationist is a person who supports the separation of the people depending on their caste, gender etc.
Conviction here means strong opinion or belief. Here it means that the person had a strong belief that white race is superior.
Carload refers to the number of people a car is carrying or it can carry. “Do you want Negroes by the carload in the our schools and churches and theaters?” means that do you as many Negros in the school as the car can carry.


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