Common GRE Words – Verbs of ‘Denial’ – Easy ways to memorize.

This week we are going to memorize a few verbs of ‘Denial’…not to mention, they are the words which keep appearing on the GRE Exams. Denial is a refusal to believe in a doctrine, theory, or the like. We will now work exhaustively with just seven high frequency GRE verbs /words of denial.

• Abjure: Abjure is a verb of denial which means to give up, disown, disavow, renounce. Pretty good number of synonyms, aren’t they? A person who abjures is the one who gives up worldly concerns in quest of some nobler pursuit.

Do you remember any philosopher/saint who abjured worldly benefits in order to attain salvation?

Good, if you do remember, link that person to this verb of denial and you will never forget. Both the person and the verb.

• Ostracized: ‘Ostracized’ means to exclude, eliminate from a group, society, conversation or any other such thing by a general consent. When a person is ostracized, he generally is not allowed to participate in any group related activities.

Did you ever see a movie or a documentary dealing with the families of culprits? If you had, then you know that children of culprits are usually ostracized from their community. You can visualize a scene I guess or a situation wherein women from that particular culprit’s community, banging the door against the child’s face. Did you recollect any such scene? If you did, kudos!! For you will never forget this word too!!

• Repudiated: To repudiate is to reject, disclaim, deny, not accept, rebut. Well, that’s interesting. One can repudiate a doctrine, a principle. Last but not least one can also repudiate (disown) one’s son!! Have you come across a thing like that, wherein a father repudiated (disowned) his own child? A visit to a nearby rehabilitation center will get you face to face with addicted children repudiated by their parents.

• Proscribed: ‘Proscribed’ is a high frequency verb of denial which means banned, controlled, restricted. To proscribe is to banish or outlaw (a person)

• Nullified: ‘Nullified’ is not so tough high frequency GRE word. It’s a word that’s more or less familiar to many of us. Even if it is not, it can be committed to memory pretty fast. Null is void. To nullify is to cancel, to invalidate, to abolish, to quash so on and so forth.

• Rescind: ‘Rescind’ is again a verb of denial which means to annul, to cancel, countermand, withdraw etc.

• Confute: to confute something is to show something to be false. One can confute an argument, means; show an argument to be false, invalid or even defective.

Don’t just read these words, jot them down in your notebook and use them at least once or twice in your regular conversation today. Utter the words aloud- each word five times!!

As I always tell you do not just mug up the meaning of a word, instead:

1. Work with the word.

2. Expand its meaning into a suitable context.

3. Relate it to the person or situation you know.

4. Share the word with your friends, colleagues

5. Try to pronounce the word aloud at least five times

Practice the above mentioned words this week and share with us a few more words, verbs of denial. Please do suggest a new verb of denial, in case you know any.

Idioms for Situations

Hi all, let’s learn this week what Idioms are and how they are used. Do you know that Idioms increase the beauty of language, and Idioms are language specific? Yes that’s right; we cannot translate the Idiom of one language into another. Wikipedia defines Idiom as a phrase whose meaning cannot be determined by the literal definition of the phrase itself, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use. Going by the definition we realize that the native speakers of English use Idioms more naturally than the non-native speakers. Let us now read and learn a few commonly used Idioms as mentioned by the Professors of Cambridge University. The meaning of the Idiom is mentioned within the brackets. We shall learn some more Idioms next week.

A. When things go right

If something or things…

1. works like a dream this means a plan succeeded absolutely perfectly
2. went according to plan this means they occurred exactly as intended
3. went/ran like clockwork this means they went smoothly with no difficulty
4. is/are up and running this means it has/ they have begun to work as planned
5. is/are falling into place this means it is/ they are on the point of starting to work well
6. is/are looking up this means they are looking very positive

B. When things go wrong

1. Oh no! That’s all we needed! [in response to news that makes current problems even worse]
2. That’s the last thing we wanted to hear!  [in response to news that fulfills your worst fears]
3. This is like a bad dream! [when one bad thing after other happens in quick succession]
4. It’s a real nightmare. [used very generally for traffic jams]
5. What a pain! [very general…for something that causes difficulty]
6. It’s the calm before the storm. [when things are quiet, but you fear they are about to change]

C. Confusing situations or situations you don’t understand

1. When she said her name was Bloor it threw me completely. [I did not know how to respond]
2. The event he organized was complete shambles. [a totally disorganized event]
3. It’s a mystery to me, how people know my private life. [something that I cannot understand]
4. I am sorry we must have got our wires crossed. [a miscommunication/ a misunderstanding]
5. We can’t see the wood for the trees.[too much detail prevents us to see the overall situation]

D. Resolving difficulty [or failing to do so]

1. It’s nothing it’s just a storm in the teacup. [a lot of fuss]
2. That was a close call/thing. [It was almost a disaster]
3. We solved the problem at the eleventh hour. [at the very last minute]
4. It was all just brushed under the carpet. [never resolved, never mentioned again]

Read and share with us a few Idioms you know! It’s going to be very interesting. We are awaiting your response.

Regards.

Source: LearnWordList.com/blog

The Lunatic

1.
Oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.

2.
I see sounds,
I hear sights,
I taste smells,
I touch not heaven but things from the underworld,
things people do not believe exist,
whose shapes the world does not suspect.
Stones I see as flowers
lying water-smoothed by the water's edge,
rocks of tender forms
in the moonlight
when the heavenly sorceress smiles at me,
putting out leaves, softening, glistening,
throbbing, they rise up like mute maniacs,
like flowers, a kind of moon-bird's flowers.
I talk to them the way they talk to me,
a language, friend,
that can't be written or printed or spoken,
can't be understood, can't be heard.
Their language comes in ripples to the moonlit Ganges banks,
ripple by ripple-
oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.

3.
You're clever, quick with words,
your exact equations are right forever and ever.
But in my arithmetic, take one from one-
and there's still one left.
You get along with five senses,
I with a sixth.
You have a brain, friend,
I have a heart.
A rose is just a rose to you-
to me it's Helen and Padmini.
You are forceful prose
I liquid verse.
When you freeze I melt,
When you're clear I get muddled
and then it works the other way around.
Your world is solid,
mine vapor,
yours coarse, mine subtle.
You think a stone reality;
harsh cruelty is real for you.
I try to catch a dream,
the way you grasp the rounded truth of cold, sweet coin.
I have the sharpness of the thorn,
you of gold and diamonds.
You think the hills are mute-
I call them eloquent.
Oh yes, friend!
I'm free in my inebriation-
that's just the way I am.

4.
In the cold of the month of winter
I sat
warming to the first white heat of the star.
the world called me drifty.
When they saw me staring blankly for seven days
after I came back from the burning ghats
they said I was a spook.
When I saw the first marks of the snows of time
in a beautiful woman's hair
I wept for three days.
When the Buddha touched my soul
they said I was raving.
They called me a lunatic because I danced
when I heard the first spring cuckoo.
One dead-quite moon night
breathless I leapt to my feet,
filled with the pain of destruction.
On that occasion the fools
put me in the stocks,
One day I sang with the storm-
the wise men
sent me off to Ranchi.
Realizing that same day I myself would die
I stretched out on my bed.
A friend came along and pinched me hard
and said, Hey, madman,
your flesh isn't dead yet!

For years these things went on.
I'm crazy, friend-
that's just the way I am.

5.
I called the Navab's wine blood,
the painted whore a corpse,
and the king a pauper.

I attacked Alexander with insults,
and denounced the so-called great souls.
The lowly I have raised on the bridge of praise
to the seventh heaven.
Your learned pandit is my great fool,
your heaven my hell,
your gold my iron,
friend! Your piety my sin.
Where you see yourself as brilliant
I find you a dolt.

Your rise, friend-my decline.
That's the way our values are mixed up, friend!
Your whole world is a hair to me.
Oh yes, friend, I'm moonstruck through and through-
moonstruck!
That's just the way I am.

6.
I see the blind man as the people's guide,
the ascetic in his cave a deserter;
those who act in the theater of lies
I see as dark buffoons.
Those who fail I find successful,
and progress only backsliding.
am I squint-eyed,
Or just crazy?
Friend, I'm crazy.
Look at the withered tongues of shameless leaders,
The dance of the whores
At breaking the backbone on the people's rights.

When the sparrow-headed newsprint spreads its black lies
In a web of falsehood
To challenge Reason-the hero in myself-
My cheeks turn red, friend,
red as molten coal.
When simple people drink dark poison with their ears
Thinking it nectar-
and right before my eyes, friend!-
then every hair on my body stands up stiff
as the Gorgon's serpent hair-
every hair on me maddened!
When I see the tiger daring to eat the deer, friend,
or the big fish the little,
then into my rotten bones there comes
the terrible strength of the soul of Dadhichi
and tries to speak, friend,
like the stormy day crashing down from heaven with the lightning.
When man regards a man
as not a man, friend,
then my teeth grind together, all thirty-two,
top and bottom jaws,
like the teeth of Bhimasena.
And then,
Red with rage my eyeballs rool
round and round, with one sweep
like a lashing flame
taking in this inhuman human world.
My organs leap out of theirs frames-
uproar! Uproar!
my breathing becomes a storm,
my face distorted, my brain on fire, friend!
with a fire like those that burn beneath the sea,
like the fire that devours the forests,
frenzied, friend!
as one who would swallow the wide world raw.
Oh yes, my friend,
the beautiful chakora am I,
destroyer of the ugly,
both tender and cruel,
the bird that steals the heaven's fire,
child of the tempest,
spew of the insane volcano,
terror incarnate.
Oh yes, friend,
my brain is whirling, whirling-
that's just the way I am.


By: Laxmi Prasad Devkota [Nepali Poet]

Casual sex between casual friends !

If you've willingly boycotted the 'Commitments-cum-Expectations' camp long back, 'Friends with Benefits' (FWBs) is probably the thing you're looking for.

Make no haste: Do not hook up with your friend without discussing certain boundaries that need to be maintained.

For your frame of reference, this fad defines mutually beneficial relationship between two friends who indulge in casual sex with no bonds or expectations involved. In an age when all that people think of is adding digits to their bank balance, this trend has become quite a rage. Commitment might have taken a backseat but the desire for pleasure never will.


On being asked reasons as to why this trend has come into being, relationship therapist, Rachna Kothari says "Some reasons would be, the mere known fact that two friends are physically attracted to each other and can benefit each other (most often sexually), the want of pleasure or feeling of loneliness in a person or exes wanting to be in a physical relationship with no label attached. For those who believe they live in a culture that pursues individualism as the highest goal, it makes this relationship more pragmatic. Because there is no commitment or responsibility, one is free from feelings of hurt, pain, etc. and this can be a very honest and practical way of going about in relationships."


It is for sure, considering how comfortable one is with the idea, 'Friends with Benefits' is not a bad way to go about relationships. But then again, it is not all that easy. Here are certain dos and don'ts while being a FWBs.


Most times, in such a relationship, it is difficult to maintain proximity after you're done with your physical needs. Don't hook up with someone you are extremely close to or someone you can't do without on a regular basis. People generally say that women tend to fall in love with their partners after getting physical. But studies break that myth. It is normal that the moment you have had sexual intercourse, the body naturally emits hormones which generate feelings of love and affection. Sometimes, one of the partners agrees to being 'friends with benefits' just because they have feelings for the other and think that having casual sex would actually initiate sparks for the onset of a relationship. This can lead to heartbreak or a break in friendship or, in a worse scenario, both.


If, god willing, you fall in love at some point, this past phase can provoke doubt in your current relationship. FWBs can be a human interference when you're in a real relationship. Your current love can actually be insecure (and we see no fault in that) because of this so-called past-bed-buddy. If the FWB is an acquaintance, it's easy to break ties once you both have satisfied your physical needs.


Remember, it's about having an unspoken agreement between you and your friend to have occasional sex, leaving out the emotional baggage. You both should acknowledge this. Make sure the signal 'We're not lovers' is clear. Don't nestle or cuddle everytime you get an opportunity. Even sympathy sex is a no-no. This paves way to wanting more than just sex.


Rachna Kothari says, "Mutually, if two friends agree that there's no expectations, no commitments, then it's not detrimental because their attitudes are set right for this. But for those who believe that lovemaking and not mechanical sex is what's important, it is obviously detrimental as it violates every bit of their expectations."


Make sure the intimacy of this relationship is just between the two of you, without making it a public deal. Don't brag about what a love muffin you are. The friendship could be gone with the wind.


Comfort is the key word while being FWBs. You need not be worried about concealing that birthmark which you've always disliked, or those flabs you couldn't lose in the gym or whether you will perform well in bed. Just enjoy the moments without fretting much.


Most importantly, play safe. Don't just hook up without taking precautions. A bubbly night or a stressful day should be no excuse to not use protection before sex. Make sure you don't end up panic struck because of this risky relationship.


Maintaining friends with sexual benefits can be quite a hassle unless you stick by the ground rules. There is no harm being offbeat in relationships, but not acting in accordance to the rules would just lead to your life going haywire.