Tài liệu Cách dùng tiếng Anh P9 ppt

intense / intensive


The meanings of intense and intensive overlap considerably, but the two
adjectives often have distinctive meanings. When you describe human
feeling or activity, intense often suggests a strength or concentration that
arises from inner dispositions and is particularly appropriate for describing
emotional states: intense pleasure, dislike, loyalty, and so forth. But you
use intensive when the strength or concentration of an activity is imposed
from without: intensive bombing, intensive training, intensive marketing.
Thus a reference to Mark’s intense study of German suggests that Mark
himself was responsible for the concentrated activity, whereas Mark’s
intensive study of German suggests that the program in which Mark was
studying was designed to cover a great deal of material in a brief period.
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interface


The noun interface has been around since the 1880s, meaning “a surface
forming a common boundary, as between bodies or regions.” But the word
did not really take off until the 1960s, when it began to be used in the
computer industry to designate the point of interaction between a computer
and another system, such as a printer. The word was applied to other
interactions as well—between departments in an organization, for example,
or between fields of study. Shortly thereafter interface developed a use as
a verb, but it never really caught on outside its niche in the computer world,
where it still thrives. The Usage Panel has been unable to muster much
enthusiasm for the verb. Thirty-seven percent accept it when it designates
the interaction between people in the sentence The managing editor must

interface with a variety of freelance editors and proofreaders. But the
percentage drops to 22 when the interaction is between a corporation and
the public or between various communities in a city. Many panelists
complain of interface being pretentious and jargony. Certainly, there is no
shortage of synonyms. Cooperate, deal, exchange information, interact,
and work present themselves as ready substitutes
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ironic


In its nonliterary uses, irony often refers to a perceived incongruity between
what is expected and what actually occurs, especially if what actually
occurs thwarts human wishes or designs. People sometimes misuse the
words ironic, irony, and ironically, applying them to events and
circumstances that might better be described as simply coincidental or
improbable, in that the events suggest no particular lessons about human
vanity or folly. Thus 78 percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of
ironically in the sentence In 1969 Susan moved from Ithaca to California
where she met her husband-to-be, who, ironically, also came from upstate
New York. Some panelists noted that this particular usage might be
acceptable if Susan had in fact moved to California in order to find a
husband, in which case the story could be taken as exemplifying the folly of
supposing that we can know what fate has in store for us. By contrast, 73
percent accepted the sentence Ironically, even as the government was
fulminating against American policy, American jeans and videocassettes
were the hottest items in the stalls of the market, where the incongruity can
be seen as an example of human inconsistency.
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its / it’s


Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it and is never written with an
apostrophe: The cat licked its paws. The contraction it’s (for it is or it has)
always has an apostrophe: It’s the funniest show I’ve seen in years.
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lack


You normally use the verb lack in the sense of “to be wanting or deficient”
as the present participle with in: You will not be lacking in support from me.
When you use lack in the sense “to be in need of something,” you often use
for with it: “In the terrible, beautiful age of my prime,/I lacked for sweet linen
but never for time” (E.B. White)
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late

If the late director of your glee club did a superb job, don’t say so in public,
for late can mean “having recently left office” or “having recently died.” If
the director is still alive, use former instead; it will ensure that you create no
embarrassing misunderstanding

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lay / lie


People have confused lay (“to put, place; prepare”) and lie (“to recline; be
situated”) for centuries. They will probably continue to do so. Lay has been
used to mean “lie” since the 1300s. Why? First, there are two lay s. One is
the base form of the verb lay, and the other is the past tense of lie. Second,
lay was once used with a reflexive pronoun to mean “lie” and survives in
the familiar line from the child’s prayer Now I lay me down to sleep. It is not
a long leap from lay me down to lay down. Third, lay down, as in She lay
down on the sofa sounds the same as laid down, as in She laid down the
law to the kids
Here’s how to keep them straight. Lay is a transitive verb—it takes an
object. Lay and its principal parts (laid, laid, laying) are correctly used in the
following examples: She lays down her pen and stands up. He laid (not lay)
the newspaper on the table. The table was laid for four. Lie is an
intransitive verb and cannot take an object. Lie and its principal parts (lay,
lain, lying) are correctly used in the following examples: She often lies (not
lays) down after lunch. When I lay (not laid) down, I fell asleep. The rubbish
had lain (not laid) there a week. I was lying (not laying) in bed when he
called.
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leave / let


You can use leave alone as a substitute for let alone in the sense “to refrain

from disturbing or interfering.” A majority of the Usage Panel in an earlier
survey approved the following examples: Leave him alone and he will
produce. Left alone, he was quite productive. Those who do not accept
these examples generally feel that leave alone
should mean simply “to
depart from someone who remains in solitude”: They were left alone in the
wilderness
Remember, however, that in standard usage you cannot use the simple
verb leave as a substitute for let in the sense “to allow or permit.” Thus in
the following examples you can only use let: Let me be. Let him go. Let us
not quarrel. Let it lie
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lifestyle


When lifestyle became popular a generation ago, some people objected to
it as voguish and superficial, perhaps because it appeared to elevate habits
of consumption, dress, and recreation to categories in a system of a social
classification. But the word has stayed with us, if only because such
categories figure importantly in the schemes that Americans commonly
invoke when explaining social values and behavior, as in “an
anticonventional lifestyle is no sure sign of feminist politics, or indeed, of
any politics at all” (Rachel Brownstein). The Usage Panel accepts the word,
but more so when the context requires a term that implies categorization
based on habits of consumption. Thus 53 percent of the Usage Panel
accepts the word in Bohemian attitudes toward conventional society have
been outstripped and outdated by the lifestyles of millions of young people.
But 70 percent accept the word in Salaries in the Bay Area may be higher,
but it may cost employees as much as 30 percent more to maintain their

lifestyles
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ize


The suffix -ize has been and continues to be a productive means of turning
nouns and adjectives into verbs, as in such well-established forms as
formalize, criticize, jeopardize, and hospitalize. In many cases, -ize creates
verbs with more than one meaning. Thus computerize may mean “to
furnish with computers” (as in The entire office has been computerized) or
“to enter on a computer” (as in The records are not yet computerized). In
some cases this can cause ambiguity. For example, the sentence
Earthquake relief requirements must be prioritized may mean that all relief
requirements must be assigned a high priority or that the relative priority
among requirements must be determined. It is important therefore that the
context make clear which sense is intended.
Many words formed with -ize come from bureaucratic and corporate jargon,
and for this reason they often meet with resistance when the general public
first sees them. The verbs Americanize, nationalize, and jeopardize were
all objected to when they were introduced, but they have since become
standard. Although some recent words of this type have been quickly
accepted—for example, computerize, institutionalize, and radicalize—many
others cannot shake their association with bureaucratese. Among these are
accessorize, incentivize, prioritize, privatize, and finalize. You should be
careful with coinages of this sort, especially when writing for a general
audience
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