English Watch

WHEN & IF are two important particles of English grammar. Not as the later which is a functional the former is a content word. However our focus is to off the shadows about them. We've been for a long time making some mistakes in using 'when & if'. And that was perhaps we were not quite taught in them at our schools, and we were not bother to give proper catches about them. So that was possibly we were seeing English language as the transmigration of cultures from 'The Heart of Whiteness to The Heart of Darkness'. 'If' is used to mean uncertain about things and 'when' is used to mean certain about things. Examples.

1. If it rains today I won't go to the party. (I say 'if' because it may or it may not rain, so I'm not 100% sure or certain).

2. When the Sun goes down, I'll leave immediately. ( I say 'when' because I'm 100% sure or certain that the sun must go down). More examples.

3. If it pays me this month I'll be your sponsorship.

4. When the ship docks, I'll go with you.

5. If he arrives late I won't listen to him.

6. When the Sun rises, It may stop receiving the data.

Note. 'when & If' are used for different purposes, and determine the different meaning at different contexts.

Bye!

LITTLE AND A LITTLE:

The are almost the same thing. However not being used in the same way. Both are being used with uncountable nouns, and mean small quantities. If we use 'little' with no article 'a', it's usually means a negative small quantity. And the small quantity a such is a problem, almost can't make anything. Examples

1. There's little money left in my account, I can't buy anything.
2. There's little time left, we need to start now.
3. The water is little, it can't satisfy me.

'A little' with an article 'a' usually means a small quantity, however positive, and at least we've got some. Examples

1. We've got a little money, we should spend it in the shop.
2. Let them have their lunch, there's a little time left.
3. There's a little water in the bucket, you can use it.

Remember 'a little' means a small positive quantity, and not a problem. But 'little' means a small negative quantity, and a problem.

Bye!!!

IF ONLY.

The two words 'if only' could be a simple phrase, possibly an adverbial phrase, a preposition 'if' and a limited adverb 'only'. And the phrase is meant to be used when we want to say that we would like something to be different in the present, in the past as well as in the future. So for that purpose, we use 'if only' with three different tenses of English language.

1. Present tense. For the present tense we use (if only+subject+past simple verb) example.

1. If only I were the best at English language or If only I understood English language.
2. If only he arrived on time.
3. If only we studied in abroad.

2. Past tense. For the past purposes;(if only+subject+had+past participle) examples

1. If only I hadn't left my phone at home.
2. If only you had given her $1k.
3. If only she had called me.

3. Future tense. For this purpose (if only+subject+would+bare verb) examples.

1. If only she would love him forever.
2. If only you would give me your ATM password.
3. If only you would understand this lesson.

Thanks!

What goes around comes around. ASUU had a call off lectures for 8 months against Buhari's intention of crippling the university education. But neither the parents nor the students had backed up the Asuu's struggles. The irony of the matter was that I noticed a member or two who did against the Asuu because they were blind puppies of the former president Buhari. He sees me as Charles Taylor against Buhari and his fruitful intentions to Nigerians. The bitter of it such person is at the last door to the educational titles.

However today the Asuu's strike is the living day lights on the current situation. The true is unveiled and the Universities have risen up their financial manhood against the monthly credit alert of the common man's son. The university skyrockets the registrations beyond wallets of the poor.

Remember all this Tsunami or Hiroshima or Nagasaki or whatever disaster you might think, it is the bad apple of Buhari's womb. And that evil apple is rotting the education of the masses. What the university does is the registration lift up, but not the tuition fees removal. It says that the removal of the tuition fees is around the corner. And when the tuition fees remove the students must pay a Million or two per student.

The negative impact of it, some Faculties and Departments in the Universities might be closed due to lack of students. And no body will pay such huge amount of money for studying Arts courses like English language and Literature or Education courses just to teach in the classroom like I do. Students might go to the capital courses such as Sciences and Technologies as their best alternatives. Eventually some faculties as well as their lecturers must lost their identity.

✍️ SAID BELLO

PART ONE

Encoding and Decoding, after the death of the author, erect the manhood of my presuppositions.

Despite Derrida's believes there's no 'meaning, and 'meaning' has no 'meaning'. And every statement is a subject to 'interpretations'. Don't bother if I colour my message with some sayings from the Western Soil. Such as an apple doesn't fall far from the tree, leopards can't go out of its spot, the grass isn't always greener on the other side, don't get bent out of shape over it etc. All these attempt to find out the living day lights in the world of fictions.

Any way, Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908–1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. The spy novel as well as crime novels like the series of James Hardly Chase are quite different from social or political or economics fictions like A Tale of two cities by Dickens, Forget to Remember by Allen Malley, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Animal Farms George Eliot etc.

By the way, It's Bond, James Bond. It's been a fictional character made by the MI6, London. Bond 007 a royal naval commander, a womanizer who could blow up the cover of every diamond. License to kill and never gets kill. kills first and ask questions later.

Further more Bond is represented by different personalities. And they all meant to bring the United Kingdom as the super natural power ever seen on the Earth. Bond spies and polices the World through his smartness as the agent with 007 number.

Moreover the series of the spy novel 'James Bond' are interpreted in different films with different titles. Dr. No, features by Sean Connery, On Her Majesty Secret Service Agent, by George Lebenzy. Moonraker, by Roger Moore. Living the day lights, by Timothy Delton. GoldenEye, by Pierce Brosnan. Casino Royale, by Daniel Craig.

✍️ SAID BELLO.

FIRST CONDITIONAL page (2)
Examples: 1. I may buy you a new car. 2. I might (might isn't the past of may) buy you a new car. 3. I can buy you a new car. 4. I shall (shall is a bit old passion) buy you a new car. 5. I must buy you a new car.
4. You can also switch the hypothetical clause to result clause. And if you do it that way, you don't need a comma, and the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. However, it gets emphasis to the result more than the hypothetical clause: 1. I'll buy you a new car if I see you tomorrow in the morning. 2. I'll get wet if I go out. 3. I'll help you if you permit me. etc
5. Contractions; in spoken English, native speakers always contract verbs to the subjects. So do they in Conditional sentences to sound fluently and more naturally. So native speakers say: I'll for I will, You'll for You will, I won't for I will not. Although it brings confusion to non natives and other English learners, but they do it that way. In addition the native speakers contract most verbs to the personal pronouns: He'll, She'll, They'll, It'll: 1. If She goes Shop, She'll buy me some chocolates. 2. If it rains, I won't go to the Office. If We wake up early, We'll get there on time. etc
6. Negative; when using negative to both the hypothetical and result clauses, we use 'unless' + positive simple present. And 'unless' means 'if not'. Thus (unless+subject+positive); in the result clause we contract 'not' to the modal: won't, can't etc: 1. Unless I see you tomorrow in the morning, I won't buy you a new car. 2. Unless you go out, you won't get wet. 3. Unless the Weather is fair tomorrow, we can't flight.
7. When; we use 'when' at the beginning of hypothetical clause to give certainty. It shows definite or certainty of happening the actions, and it replaces 'if': 1. When the Sun goes down (the sun definitely goes down), I'll take my leave. 2. When the plane lands (the plane definitely land), I'll come with you.

I LOVE PICTURES.

THE MAN: How many words does the above sentence have?

JANNAH: What a piece of cake! It's a three words sentence.

THE MAN: Absolutely yes. Bravo!

THE MAN: Justify the sentence.

JANNAH: the first is a pronoun, the second is a verb and the last is a noun. The first word is monosyllabic, so the second, unlike the last which is bisyllabic. Both the first and the second got no sick about where their stress should be. However the last got its on the first, because it's a noun.

At the sentence level only the first word shouldn't be stressed because it's a grammar word, not a contain word. And this means that the second word as well as the last should be stressed. And they're content words. The sound of the first word should be reduced to the level of schwa /a/ which is the most quite often sound in English.

The inflectional 's' which is attached to the noun picture(s) is but a plural marker, and it may get two different sounds, sssss or zzzzzz. This depends on which sound does the 's' follow, lenis or fortis. In addition the 's' serves as an article 'a' to blance the semantics or meaning of the sentence.

The sentence should get a falling intonation because it looks rather a statement. However if the first word were not a personal pronoun 'I', the sentence could carry a rising intonation for clarification purposes.

In conclusion I can shift the stress and give more emphasis on the content or grammar word of the sentence in order to get different meanings; (1) I can stress the grammar word 'I' to mean no one loves pictures but I. e.g I love pictures. (2) I can give extra stress on the content word 'love' to mean love not like. e.g i LOVE pictures. (3) I can add emphasis on 'pictures' to mean pictures not the persons on the pictures. e.g i love PICTURES.

THE MAN: Thanks 👍👍👍✔️✔️✔️🌹🌹🌹✍️

4 ROLES OF MIXED CONDITIONALS.
The English have three different types of conditional sentences, the first talks about real present or future situations, the second serves as hypothetical present or future situations and the third stands for the past hypothetical situations.

The mixed conditional sentences is to mixture the 'if clause' of the third conditional with the 'result clause' of the second conditional. Here are the formulas= if+s+pf+pp and s+w+be+p. Example If I had taken those drugs, I would be treating in the hospital.

The mixed conditional plays these roles.
1. The past action affects the present. This means that the past success or failures could affect the present situation. Examples
1. If I had taken programming at the school, I would be working for Google.
2. If she had studied law, she would be a member of the legal practitioners.
3. If you had studied more, you wouldn't be asked to withdraw.

2. The past action affects the future. Examples
1. If I had taken programming at the school, I would be attending the interview at Google next week.
2. If she had studied law, they would be her clients in the next proceeding.
However the colourful difference between the present which is the second conditional and the future is the time expressions.

3. The present action which is the second conditional affects the past which is the third conditional. And this could be done through these formulas= if+s+pv and s+w+h+pf. Examples
1. If I were smarter, I would have invented the Facebook before Zuckerberg.
2. If he were taller, he would have become a basketball player.
3. If Jannah were less interesting, she wouldn't have been asked to speak in public so many times.

4. The present action which is the second conditional but with a future action affects the past. Examples
1. If Diana were not flying to United States next week, she would have accepted that new projects.
2. If she were not getting married next week, I would have asked her to marry my friend.
3. If the College were writing examinations next week, the registra wouldn't have given you an admission.

By the way the only noticeable difference between them is the time expressions.

I thank you.
Bye!
✍️ Said Bello
SBELLO-ENGLISH-LINKS

IF ONLY. The two words 'if only' which could be seen as a simple phrase, and is used when we want to say that we would like something to be different. We use 'if only' with three different tenses of English language. They're 1. Present tense. For the present tense we use formula a such; (if only+subject+past simple verb) example. 1. If only I were the best at English language or If only I understood English language. 2. If only he arrived on time. 3. If only we studied in abroad.
2. Past tense. For the past purposes we do it this way; (if only+subject+had+past participle) examples 1. If only I hadn't left my phone at home. 2. If only you had given her $1k. 3. If only she had called me.
3. Future tense. For this purpose we come on this formula; (if only+subject+would+bare verb) examples. 1. If only she would love me forever. 2. If only you would give me your ATM password. 3. If only you would understand this lesson.
Bye!.