“The disabled” refers to people who are unable to walk or have some physical or mental disabilities. They were previously called the handicapped. I was at a local shopping mall when I came across this signage at a parking space.

The Problem

The word “disabled” is wrongly used. “Disabled” means two things:

• disabled (n. / adj.) = a person who has difficulty moving around
  (e.g.: Facilities for the disabled are available at the airport.
  The disabled child was assisted by a nanny.)
• disabled (v.) = to stop something from being used / accessed
  (e.g.: The alarm was disabled, so the thief stole everything.
  After 30 days, some of the software features will be disabled.)

Therefore, based on the above explanations and examples, “Disabled Parking” is wrong because a parking spot is not human, and it’s not possible to disable the place used for parking a car.

The signage wants to tell shoppers that the parking space is for the disabled (people). Therefore, the signage should be correctly labelled as “Parking for the Disabled“.

If you think that learning about food is only for kids, think again. Watch this 33-minute video and you’ll be amazed at the amount information that you could get. Take note that this is an English lesson but you’ll also  learn a bit of Science and Health. Watch how sentences and words are used as you enjoy the video. You’ll learn some new words too

Note:
There’s an error at 15:44, the word “desert” should be spelt as “dessert”.

As what you already know, adjectives are words that describe (or modify) a noun. It tells you something extra about that noun. In addition to that, more than one adjective could be used before a noun. However, the additional adjectives need to be arranged in order.

Do you know why we say:

“The clear blue sea.” (√), and not “The blue clear sea.” (X)?

That’s because when you want to use more than one adjective preceding a noun, you need to follow the Opshacom rule. Here’s what the opshacom rule means:

Opinion: clear, good, useful
Shape: big, fat, long, round
Age: old, new, young
Colour: blue, black, yellowish
Origin: Italian, ancient, western
Material: wooden, metal, paper, cotton

By looking at the opshacom rule, do you know why “The clear blue sea.” is correct?

The clear (opinion) blue (colour) sea.

In the opshacom rule, opinion comes before colour, so the order of adjectives is correct. This makes the sentence correct, too.

The purpose of the summary essay is to convey to others an understanding of a text you have read without their having to read it themselves. You cannot write a good summary of a text that you do not understand.

An Introduction to Summary

• A summary is a shorter version of a longer piece of writing. The summary captures all the most important parts of the original, but expresses them in a [much] shorter space.
• Summarising exercises are usually set to test your understanding of the original, and your ability to re-state its main purpose.

Some Tips to Remember

• Read the piece for understanding first. Never summarise as you read the article for the first time.
• Keep the relevant details, remove the irrelevant ones.
• You may use a highlighter to underline key ideas if it makes things clearer for you.
• You need to use your own words to re-write a sentence or paragraph without changing its meaning. This is called paraphrasing.

Steps to Follow

1. Read the instructions
2. Read the text to get the general idea.
3. Underline the major points / keywords.
4. Look for specific details.
5. Leave our unnecessary examples, illustrations & repetitions.
6. Include definitions of key terms and concepts (if any).
7. Prepare an outline. List the main points in order.
8. Write a draft of the summary.
9. Paraphrase as you write the draft.
10. Write in one paragraph.
11. Be concise / brief.
12. Don’t add your own opinion.
13. Use transition words.
14. Check the number of words as stated in the instructions.
15. Read through to check for errors.

If you have a printed dictionary, you’ll notice that beside every word, there are weird symbols. Those symbols represent sounds in the English language. The study of speech sounds is called phonetics. By knowing a little about phonetics, you’ll be able to pronounce those symbols correctly, thus pronouncing the words correctly too. In this video, Mr. Duncan, the teacher, will tell you a bit about phonetics. Listen and watch how the teacher in this video pronounces each symbol.