[writetotanveer]

Speed Reading

We live in the age of information, and we must read extensively if we intend to be successful in our studies, or careers. Schools and colleges have discovered that courses in reading skills give enormous aid to students struggling under the heavier loads of today’s scholastic programs. Young men and women trained in speed reading show distinct advantages over those who lack this kind of skill.

How Fast You Can Be?
Reading speed has no known theoretical limit. A speed of between 800 and 1200 words per minute (wpm) can comfortably be reached by permanent speed readers, without any constant practice and drilling. Reading speed varies according to the complexity of the reading material, type, face, print quality, grammar, style etc.

How Much Time It Will Take?
When you participate in a speed reading courses online, or read the book, you will find your reading skills increasing from the very start. With serious application, you will soon be speed reading with ease, and astonished at how much you comprehend in such little time.

Obstacles to Speed Reading
Reading phrases more than once.
Wondering mind and straying thoughts
Anxiety about missing a critical “not” or other conjunctive structure
Outside anxiety or stressors like job, home, family, etc.



General Speed Reading Gyan
Concentration: You can learn anything if you pay attention!
Enjoy Reading: No matter whether you are reading technical material fun is the most important ingredient in a successful reading experience.
Preview the chapter: you will organize your mind before you begin to read, build a structure for the thoughts and details to come, you will be able to sort, understand and remember the information better.
Question: Read each section of the chapter with your questions in mind.Look for the answers, and take note of questions you didn’t think of that were answered in that section
Eye Stops: Read in phrases of three or four words - meaning is easier to pull from groups of words rather than from individual words.
Varying Reading Rates: Vary your reading rate to suit the difficulty and type of writing of the text. An efficient reader speeds up for easier material and slows down for the hard.


Skimming
Skimming is a high speed reading process and involves visually searching the sentences of a page for clues to meaning.
There are many strategies that can be used when skimming. Some of them are
1. Read the first and last paragraphs
2. Read the title, subtitles, subheading, and illustrations.
3. Read the first sentence of each paragraph. This technique is useful when you’re seeking specific information rather than reading for comprehension.

Skimming on computer is slower
The reading speed and comprehension is the same for the computer screen and paper. However, according to a research skimming on a computer is 41% slower than on paper.
So prepare online to get a better edge for CAT 09.
So get up, gear up and fire up so start preparing for CAT’09 today, just log into


Source : FIREUP

[kmaheshkumar18]

Originally Posted by writetotanveer

If you want to improve your Vocab - here is a method ..and it might help you...

Grab a scrapbook... Divide the pages into 2 columns --- One column for Words the other for meanings..

Now ..every day when you read ..ensure that your reading yields 8-10 words which you did not know earlier - look up the meanings of such words and write them up in the meanings column..make sure that you capture the multiple meanings of that word -- also if possible copy down the sentence in which the problem word had occurred..

Every 2-3 days..test yourself.. hide the meanings column and try to remember the meanings of the words..

Sometimes hide the words Column and try to remember the word aginst which the meaning was displayed..

by this continuous repetition ..

these words will get ingrained in your memory...

Sources for reading..

guardian.co.uk

nytims.com

economist.com

online editions of Hindu, Businessworld etc..

Thanks a lot.. for the advice.
And thanks for the correction...
and
Mr. Tanveer,
I am already doing that. In fact I have started that 3 months before...
But as the Mocks are going with full speed, I want to acquire a decent vocab skill as soon as possible..That's why I am studying Norman Lewis "word power" which gives some structured approach...

I was given a tip by one of my friends that Barron also adds, giving the words in an organized pattern.

But i have no idea about that book...In Web there are results about three books, Barron's GRE, GMAT, TOEFL.
And I don't know which one to follow.

That's why I thought it will be good to take your advice before stepping forward..

[writetotanveer]

Originally Posted by kmaheshkumar18

Thanks a lot.. for the advice.
And thanks for the correction...
and
Mr. Tanveer,
I am already doing that. In fact I have started that 3 months before...
But as the Mocks are going with full speed, I want to make a decent vocab skill as soon as possible..That's why I am studying Norman Lewis "word power" which gives some structured approach...

I was given a tip by one of my friends that Barron also adds, giving the words in an organized pattern.

But i have no idea about that book...In Web there are results about three books, Barron's GRE, GMAT, TOEFL.
And I don't know which one to follow.

That's why I thought it will be good to take your advice before stepping forward..

Hey Mahesh,

You sound alittle angry..I hope you did not mind the correction.. No Offence meant..!!

Well ..if you ask me just pure word power in itself will not be of much use for the CAT.. I have seen students mugging up word lists to no avail..since they are not able to use the words in the right context..

in fact I would recommend an additional book to you by NORMAN LEWIS himself ---- BETTER ENGLISH.. it is about English Usage..and I have seen questions from this book cropping up in the CAT in the last 2-3 years..

All the Best!!

[kmaheshkumar18]

Originally Posted by writetotanveer

Hey Mahesh,

You sound alittle angry..I hope you did not mind the correction.. No Offence meant..!!

Mr. Tanveer ,
Please... how can you expect me to be angry with you?
You are my role model./
In fact I am very much happy that you have corrected my mistake...

You are providing us with vital skills, suggestions to crack CAT this year..
So there is no chance that any person might even think of the word 'angry'!

regards,
Mahesh Kumar.

[kumarbe]

Originally Posted by writetotanveer

Subject-Verb Agreement

On the other hand, there is one indefinite pronoun, none, that can be either singular or plural; it often doesn't matter whether you use a singular or a plural verb — unless something else in the sentence determines its number. (Writers generally think of none as meaning not any and will choose a plural verb, as in "None of the engines are working," but when something else makes us regard none as meaning not one, we want a singular verb, as in "None of the food is fresh.")

sir , i could not get the difference between none when used as "not any " and "not one" .Please elucidate with more examples of this kind ...

[writetotanveer]

Originally Posted by kumarbe

sir , i could not get the difference between none when used as "not any " and "not one" .Please elucidate with more examples of this kind ...

SINGULAR OR PLURAL VERB WITH ‘NONE’


People assume that none is a condensed form of no one or not one. As both always take a singular verb, the argument goes, so must none. However, the amateur etymologisers have got it slightly but seriously wrong. Our modern form none comes from the Old English nan. Though this is indeed a contraction of ne an, no one, it was inflected in Old English and had different forms in singular and plural, showing that it was commonly used both ways — King Alfred used it in the plural as far back as the year 888.
The big Oxford English Dictionary has a whole section on the plural form of none, pointing out that it is frequently used to mean “no persons” (with writers preferring no one when they mean the singular) and that historical records show that its use in the plural is actually more common than in the singular. There are examples cited in the entry from many of the best English writers (and there’s also an instance in the Authorised Version of the Bible: “None of these things move me”, from Acts, chapter 20). On modern usage, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage says, “It appears that writers generally make it singular or plural according to whatever their idea is when they write”.
Such writers, me included, follow the sense — we use the plural or singular form according to whether it’s one or many things that we’re writing about. This grammatical construction, which is based on sense rather than form, has the grand name of notional agreement or notional concord, and is very common (so common that we often don’t notice we’re doing it).

Source: World Wide Words: Singular or plural verb with ‘none’

[writetotanveer]

ENGLISH IS DIFFICULT!!!

Even saying it in verse makes it no better.

English is notoriously a difficult language to learn because it is so horribly irregular in its spelling and pronunciation.

Subjection to more than a thousand years of external influences — the forced imposition of French, shifts in pronunciation after spelling became fixed, the linguistic influence of the classical languages, and a huge importation of foreign words as a result of exploration and colonialism — has turned English into a mishmash.

A couple of poetic demonstrations of the fact have come my way, which seemed worth recording with some notes on their origin. The first is widely known today and appears in many English textbooks, under titles such as Why English is So Hard, but is always marked as by Anonymous when any attribution is given.

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes.
Then one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of mouse should never be meese,
You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice,
But the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
The cow in the plural may be cows or kine,
But a bow if repeated is never called bine,
And the plural of vow is vows, never vine.
If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth, and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
If the singular’s this and the plural is these,
Should the plural of kiss ever be nicknamed keese?
Then one may be that and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother, and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren,
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim,
So the English, I think, you all will agree,
Is the queerest language you ever did see.

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.
I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you’ll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.
Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare heart, hear and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word.
Sword and sward, retain and Britain
(Mind the latter how it’s written).
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say — said, pay — paid, laid but plaid.
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say: gush, bush, steak, streak, break, bleak,
Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,
Recipe, pipe, studding-sail, choir;
Woven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.
Say, expecting fraud and trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
Branch, ranch, measles, topsails, aisles,
Missiles, similes, reviles.
Wholly, holly, signal, signing,
Same, examining, but mining,
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far.
From “desire”: desirable — admirable from “admire”,
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier,
Topsham, brougham, renown, but known,
Knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone,
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel.

sOURCE : World Wide Words: English is difficult

[writetotanveer]

There are two boats that start out on opposite sides of a river at the same time. Each one is heading across the river to the other side. They each go a constant speed throughout the entire problem (so ignore having to slow down to turn around, and ignore current, etc.), but they are not necessarily the same speed as each other. When each boat reaches its opposite bank, it immediately turns around and heads back to where it started. The boats thus pass each other twice. The first time they pass, they are 700 m from one of the banks of the river. The second time they pass, they have each turned around after reaching their respective opposite shores and have started back toward where they each began. When they pass the second time, they are 300 m from the other bank of the river. How wide is the river?

Solution:Solving Rate-Time-Distance and Other Rate Problems

[Anubhav.k]

Originally Posted by writetotanveer

SINGULAR OR PLURAL VERB WITH ‘NONE’


People assume that none is a condensed form of no one or not one. As both always take a singular verb, the argument goes, so must none. However, the amateur etymologisers have got it slightly but seriously wrong. Our modern form none comes from the Old English nan. Though this is indeed a contraction of ne an, no one, it was inflected in Old English and had different forms in singular and plural, showing that it was commonly used both ways — King Alfred used it in the plural as far back as the year 888.
The big Oxford English Dictionary has a whole section on the plural form of none, pointing out that it is frequently used to mean “no persons” (with writers preferring no one when they mean the singular) and that historical records show that its use in the plural is actually more common than in the singular. There are examples cited in the entry from many of the best English writers (and there’s also an instance in the Authorised Version of the Bible: “None of these things move me”, from Acts, chapter 20). On modern usage, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage says, “It appears that writers generally make it singular or plural according to whatever their idea is when they write”.
Such writers, me included, follow the sense — we use the plural or singular form according to whether it’s one or many things that we’re writing about. This grammatical construction, which is based on sense rather than form, has the grand name of notional agreement or notional concord, and is very common (so common that we often don’t notice we’re doing it).

Source: World Wide Words: Singular or plural verb with ‘none’

Thanks Tanveer for the explanation!

Can you quote any more examples (with sentences) over and above the usage of 'none' where we prefer following sense more than the form?

I want to work on this skill!!

Thanks again,

[writetotanveer]

Originally Posted by Anubhav.k

Thanks Tanveer for the explanation!

Can you quote any more examples (with sentences) over and above the usage of 'none' where we prefer following sense more than the form?

I want to work on this skill!!

Thanks again,

THE SINGULAR PLURAL

This is a headline from USA Today: "Two days of rain immerses Southern Calif." This is the question the headline raises: Should that verb have been "immerse"?
Yes, Patient Reader, we are back on the bemusing topic of "notional agreement" or "notional concord." Another word for it is "synesis." By any name, the question involves a grammatical construction that owes more to anarchy than to order. Teen-agers love it.

Commentators approve these examples:

"If anyone calls, tell them I'm out."

"The crowd rose to their feet."

"If the group is too large, split them in two."

In the old days, when antecedent and referent pronouns fit as neatly as mortise and tenon, writers would have had no problem. "If anyone calls, tell HIM I'm out." "The crowd rose to ITS feet." We would have treated "group" as a singular noun, and if the group got too large, we would have split IT in two.

Over the past 50 years the old rules gradually have slipped their moorings and sailed off on grammatical seas. What counts today is the sense of the thing. If we are thinking of those rainy days in California as a single deluge, we want a singular verb: "Two days of rain immerses." If we are thinking of two days of rain off and on, we may go plural, "Two days of rain immerse."

Try your editing hand at a few examples.

This is from an advertisement promoting the beauties of Johannesburg and Cape Town: "You'll be amazed how far a few dollars goes in South Africa." Goes or go?

From the National Law Journal: "Three decades of experience has proven that water-quality goals cannot be achieved by focusing on 'end of pipe' controls ..." Have proven, or has proven?
From The New York Times last September: "Now that the months of publicity about Mr. Gore's inability to connect with voters has subsided, Democrats are happy to pronounce Mr. Bush as the one with the problem." Has subsided, or have subsided?

From "A Taste for Death" by P.D. James: "Beyond the clumps of willows on the far bank, a herd of Friesians were peacefully grazing." Were grazing, or was grazing?

From The Washington Post: "A coalition of blacks and Catholics in the Maryland General Assembly are pushing for legislation to halt executions ..." Is pushing, or are pushing?

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "Logistics hamper Ugandan cult probe." How do you handle "logistics"? Hamper, or hampers?

In an article on corporate restructuring, The Wall Street Journal noted that "a growing number of bosses now oversees more people." I would think plural: "a growing number OVERSEE." Columnist George F. Will remarked that "only 9 percent of the hours lived by young Americans is spent in school." I would join my friend: "only 9 percent IS." From the Dear Dr. Donohue column in the Palm Beach Post: "As many as 8 percent of the adult population has frequent nightmares." Here I would go plural: "As many as 8 percent HAVE frequent nightmares."

In the newspaper business we are bound by the Stylebook of The Associated Press. Accordingly, "the vast majority of House Democrats IS backing a higher minimum wage." We have no guidance on "family," so we can write that "the family was a closely knit unit," or "the family are closely knit." Our British cousins dearly love the plural forms. In London the Royal Family ARE in residence." In Washington, the Bush family more likely IS in residence.

Patient Reader, you will get no bright-line rules from me. My general inclination, subject to ambivalent wavers, is to go with the quacking-duck theory of English grammar: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck. Thus, unless restrained by appropriate authority, I am likely to write that the mathematics of the federal budget are puzzling, the president's logistics are amazing, and the fugitive's whereabouts are unknown. (I know that the AP treats "whereabouts" as a singular noun, but New World and Merriam-Webster will let me teach it round or flat.)

Notional agreement is not for purists. Taken to extremes, the doctrine would sanction "that's him" and "the jury are considering," but in commonsensical moderation the idea works just fine. The typical reader will probably appreciate the easy touch, won't they?


Source : uExpress.com: Covering The Courts & The Writer's Art by James J. Kilpatrick -- (04/15/2001) THE SINGULAR PLURAL