Words are Weariness

Dalliance means short term attraction or ‘passing fancy’.   It is a wrong word to describe my long term fascination for the subject of Economics. It is only there in the title as it rhymes with Dismal Science. So I would request readers to pardon me for a misleading title. It is all for euphony, you know. My interest in “Economics” was jump started by a mere cursory reading of the text book prescribed to us in the Pre-University Course ( Maths-Economics-Commerce Group). The main reason was, when I come to think of it, it was the first subject in my entire 17 years of formal education, that made me “think”.   All textbooks and subjects before Economics was introduced to me were mere collection and presentation of facts that had to be learnt, mugged up or practiced. Of all subjects that were taught to us, most injustice was done to science, with drawing up the figure of “Physical Balance” and marking its parts was a question that carried 10 marks and a very likely question a...

Modifier problems In this edition of English-Vinglish let us see the problems arising from using modifiers wrongly. Many times, you will complete the sentence without even aware   of   them , the immediate exultation of committing to a sentence what   you had   mind will blind you lack of refinement in syntax. However, if you re-read what you have written after some days, it will be clear   to you as daylight. A modifier   in a sentence is   an element that describe or qualifies some other element. It can be an adjective or an adverb or   a phrase that acts as one.   It is important that it is positioned correctly in a sentence to convey the intended meaning.   Let us   see some commonly committed mistakes in their positioning. They are called the Hanging Modifiers Sometimes the entity that   is being modified is not explicity stated but implied in the sentence.   This causes   the modifier to ‘hang...