Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You Back!

An inspirational story from my inbox...  

 
A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.

Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young
executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you."

 

The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant
the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.

 

Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.

By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however.
He just kept watering and fertilising the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room.

 

When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful --
in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified.

 

He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!"

 

Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it,
and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

* If you plant faith in GOD, you will reap a harvest

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later.



"Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You Back!"

MUET Result

from The Star;

Collect your MUET results from 10am tomorrow

PETALING JAYA: The mid-year Malaysian University English Test (MUET) results will be released tomorrow.

According to a Malaysian Exami­nations Council statement, candidates can collect their results from 10am onwards at their respective schools and institutions.

Private candidates will receive their results by post. Candidates can also check their results via SMS by typing MUETIC number and sending it to 15888 from 12.01 midnight on that day.

Alternatively, they can go to www.mpm.edu.my from 9am on­­wards.

Candidates who wish to retake MUET to improve on their mid-year MUET results can register at state education departments or district education offices.

Registration for the year-end MUET closes on July 22.

A total of 81,731 candidates sat for the 2010 MUET at 872 examination centres nationwide.

Idiom: Get On One's Nerves

get on one's nerves: irritate someone; make someone upset.

"I know you like that song, but it's getting on my nerves. Can you play something else?"

source: http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-g.html

A Chance To Win An iPod Touch

Hey you...let's take part in this contest

English S.O.S

If you’ve spotted some Bad English lately, raise the S.O.S with a photo and send it to us. The best picture selected by the British Council wins MPH vouchers worth RM50 every fortnight and an iPod Touch every three months. Sounds good? Don’t sit on it, snap away and send us an S.O.S!

http://englishrescueteam.com/english-s-o-s/

What Is Verb?

What is a Verb & How are they used?

A verb is a part of speech that describes a state of being or an action. Less formally, it is also known, as an action word. It is often the core of any statement, all sentences need to include at least one verb. Recognizing the verb in a statement is a fundamental part of comprehending the intended meaning of a statement.

Take the following sentence, for instance: The straitjacket restricts most upper body movement. “Restricts” is the word that indicates action in the sentence. Even when the action does not indicate much in terms of activity, “restricts” is the sentence’s action word or verb. Here is another example: They were in a state of shock. In the proceeding example, the action does not exist, although the verb conveys a state of being. Additionally, the word “be” is unlike other typical verbs by definition, however it is still a verb.

Verbs are different to most parts of speech because they change form. Endings are can be added to the verb, wherein the word “yearn” becomes “yearned” to reflect the past tense, “catch” becomes “caught” for the same purpose. Different verb types have different meanings, when related to concepts such as past, present, and future tenses; first, second, and third-person points of view; singular and plural forms for number; and active and passive voices. Modals such as would, could, may, and might; and auxiliaries like have, will and do can accompany verbs for different meanings!

As declared above with verb tenses, a verb’s relation to time is quite significant. Verbs can state whether an event occurred earlier, is occurring currently, or will occur in the future. Events that are currently unfolding will use a verb’s present tense. Events that took place in the past will use a verb’s past tense. Events that have yet to occur will use a verb’s future tense!

Verbs which are changed to make the verb’s past tense form with “d” or “ed” are regular verbs. Irregular verbs are ones that do not follow the formula for regular verbs when changing onto the past tense. The spelling of the various irregular verbs can be hard for people not well-versed in the English language. In these instances, familiarity through exposure to written English is recommended.

The simple tenses of verbs are classically used to teach people who are just learning the language. Many know that there are several, more complex verb tenses, such as present progressive tense, past perfect tense, and etcetera. Progressive verb forms, for example, denote the subject’s action over a period of time. The perfect tense, another type of verb form, states the action’s completion.

Finally, when relating to the subject, verbs and subjects have to agree. A singular verb has to be accompanied by a singular subject, and a plural subject has to have a plural verb. This is called subject-verb agreement.

Find information on Grammar Correction Software and English language resources at EnglishGrammarSoft.com.

MELTA 2010

The Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA) will host its 19th International Conference on the theme Transformations in English Language Education: Vision, Innovation, Implementation at THREE different locations:

The Royale Chulan, Kuala Lumpur : 7- 8 June 2010

M.S. Garden Hotel Kuantan , Pahang : 11-12 June 2010

Four Points Sheraton, Kuching, Sarawak : 17-18 June 2010

I will attend MELTA 19th International Conference this weekend, I missed last year's conference. This year it's going to be my second time attending this conference as a participant. I really hope that in few years to come I will one of the presenters at MELTA conference. God willing.

for more information about MELTA 19th International Conference 

click here

Apple Pie Order

Apple pie order means a perfect order.

No Frills

I was flipping through Giant (the hypermarket) brochure just now and came across 'No Frills'

So, with the help of wikipedia, I've found the meaning and I thought I'd share with you what it means... 

No-frills or no frills is a term used to describe any service or product for which the non-essential features have been removed to keep the price low. The use of the term "frills" refers to a style of fabric decoration. Something offered to customers for no additional charge may be designated as a "frill" - for example, free drinks on airline journeys, or a radio installed in a rental car. No-frills businesses operate on the principle that by removing luxurious additions, customers may be offered lower prices. Frills or tassles on a carpet are not necessary but make the rug look fancy. Frills on any goods are not necessary but are a luxury. No frills means to live without certain luxuries.

What Is Going Bananas?

Going bananas means:

Behaving in a crazy way or becoming extremely angry.

Example:  She is going bananas over Jason Bieber.

New Blog?

I am thinking of creating another blog for this blog... erkk? what am I saying? hahah.. well.. the thing is, the blogspot account that I use for this blog has reached its limit for photo uploads!

It's not fun writing entries without putting any photos right... so I think I am gonna create another blog with this blog's url and this blog will have a new url. erkk.. u got what I mean?

It means, this blog will continue to exist, but with a different url, so to all of my readers out there, take note of this change ok...

I Like..

I found this blog interesting..
http://malaysian-english-for-dummies.blogspot.com/

When Is Father's Day 2010 in Malaysia?

To answer the above question...

Father's Day 2010 in Malaysia will be celebrated on Sunday June 20.

and I found this website

http://www.fathersdaycelebration.com/

very interesting, it has beautiful wishes for Father's Day, so if you are out of ideas what to write in your Father's Day card, you might want to visit that site. It gives great Father's Day gift ideas too..

Beside or Besides?

Beside/besides.

This following excerpt appeared in The Star, April 26, page N39: “…Wan Aishah was resplendent besides her hus­­band….” The wrong word was used. It should have been beside (a preposition meaning “at the side of, next to”) – not besides (an adverb meaning ”in addition to, apart from”).

source

A Confession of an Unhappy Professor: Essay Writing

“Here we go again”, I think every time that a new pile of turned in essay papers falls onto my table. I’ve been teaching English in this university for ten years, and still there are only a few students that surprised me with their essay writings. The rest of them seems to discover new and extremely exiting ways to irritate me and turn essay paper reading into a nightmare.

I take the first paper. Go thought it. No, I’m not reading yet. The reason I’m not doing it is because it’s not labeled. I mean, there is not even a small attempt to tell me who this unknown author is, what class he belongs to, and what his topic is. And I’m sitting here, staring confused at the paper…. I start feeling like that Greek hero trying to solve Sphinx’s puzzle. If you want to get an unsatisfactory grade, this is the perfect beginning for it. I’m not even going to read this paper. It’s not like something is going to pop up to make me understand who the ultimate genius of this eternal writing is.

I take another essay paper and realize that my happy essay checking evening has only just begun. A wonderful mixture of fancy typefaces looks right at me, and there is no way I’m going to understand something (or at least a heading) from all these italics and bolds. I bet that even Picasso’s paintings are easier to comprehend. Whatever this essay paper is about, I don’t feel like pretending to be Sherlock Holmes: “It’s simple, Watson! This essay paper is about monkeys that love bananas. How did I come up with such a smart conclusion? Because I’m one smart guy”. Give me a break.

Even though I gave this paper a chance, it failed on the next stage – plagiarism check. And this is something I’m not able to forgive under any circumstances. Every student has a chance to make several essay drafts. Is it so hard to come up with something that can be called “personal opinion”? Why do so many students prefer to take quotations, but don’t feel like providing references? And here’s one more thing about quotations – an essay paper that is made of them on more than a half can not impress any professor. I’m not an exception.

Next essay paper goes to a trash bin, too. No, not because I’m “cute and cuddly”, but because it is full of slang and contractions. Never, please, never use contractions and slang (the last one especially) in your academic writing. Do I look like a jolly uncle that comes to visit and asks his nephews about their trip to Rollercoaster Park? If I do, than… I don’t know what to say.

And here’s one more thing that makes me want to cross an essay paper over with a red marker. A page-long Introduction that is written to impress me and make an essay paper look bigger is worse than bad breath and republicans. If you don’t know what to write about to fit into my requirements for amount of words, try to use your head for a change.

Similar to long Introductions are vague explanations. You probably wanted to make a point. But after that you felt tired, or had to go and water the flowers, or you work as a Superman and have to save the world at nights instead of writing essays for my class… whatever it is that stopped you from writing good explanations, it doesn’t make me feel happy. Maybe, your intentions were different, but I got it this way, and this is the way I grade it.

Why do students want to use the word “believe” instead of “agree”, or “think”? Believe means to have faith, to hold something true on the basis of feelings, without evidence. You are writing as a scientist, so you think, argue, accept, and hold on the basis of some evidence. The rest concerns your religion and believes.

Another thing that irritates me is using “we” instead of “I”. Did Madonna help you on writing this essay, and you feel like giving credit to her? Unless it is a group activity, please use “I”.

And finally – why do you use “its” as possessive, when you mean “it’s” in the meaning it is (which is a contraction, remember)? Can’t you be just a little more attentive?

With respect,

Your grumpy professor.

Jennifer Burns is the head of customer care center at Custom-Writing.org, help essay. Having completed a number of academic assignments himself, Jennifer uses her knowledge to provide individualized customer support to students, who order academic essay and essays writing

Beauty Contest

Beauty contest/beautiful contest.

The usual expression is beauty contest, where the noun beauty is a modifier (in this example a noun functioning as an adjective).

A beautiful contest is rare – what with contestants jealous of one another and back-stabbing or bad-mouthing or sabotaging one another!


source

Affect or Effect?

Affect/effect.

Affect is a verb, and effect can be a verb or a noun.

As verbs, affect and effect have very different meanings.

To affect is to influence, to “have an effect on, make a difference to” (temperature affects the viscosity of a syrup).

To effect is to “cause to happen, bring about” (to effect a change). Incident­ally, affect has another meaning: to “pretend to have or feel” (he affected a British accent when he returned home after a one-year stay in London).


source

There is Or There are?

Here are some other examples of there is/there are use.

• There’s a lot of reasons to be optimistic. (incorrect)
• There are a lot of reasons…. (correct)

• There’s two sides to every story. (incorrect)
• There are two sides….(correct)

• There’s several storms arriving in the West. (incorrect)
• There are several storms arriving in the West. (correct)

• There’s not options out there that they like at the moment. (I actually heard this one on ESPN.) (incorrect)
• There aren’t options…. (correct)

How To Write An Essay

Essay writing is definitely considered to be a part of academic life and essay writing requires certain skills or the part of the writer. A good written essay exhibits the skills of proper organization of ideas, good vocabulary, systematic argument and collection of relevant ideas. Fare importance should be given to diction and style used for essay writing. Certain important points to be considered while writing an essay are as follows:

1) Formulate a plan :

Get into the habit of writing a plan before starting an essay or project. A plan in hand can help you to formulate ideas and thus allows you to structure your final essay in an appropriate and logical way. Essay plans can be helpful in reminding you of important points that can be used to cover in your essay.

Your plan towards essay writing should involve using of keywords and phrases, making of notes of important references and formulating the essay in a logical order. Your planning should also consist of finding which words you may need to define and find out what you could research to make your case stronger. Try to eliminate anything that is irrelevant. In other words, make note of key things that will be relevant for the essay writing.

2) Work on your title:

It is preferable to choose and write your title with proper heading before you proceed further with the other paragraphs. Keeping the title in mind, you can write your essay in an easier manner. You will be able to write easily, once you have managed to remain focused towards your title.

3) Have a proper structured body :

The body of an essay plays an important role in the over all making of the essay. The body of the essay will consist of points for discussing, elaborating, describing and arguing about the subject. Once you structure your concerned topic for production, you can then put in your ideas within the body paragraphs.

Jack william is a freelance writer who writes about the topic of college students. Mr. william often writes about specific topics used in college such as Buy Essay.

When Is Mother's Day?

When is Mother's Day in Malaysia?

In Malaysia, Mother's day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May every year.

Mother's Day Date

Different countries celebrate Mother's Day on different dates. Check out the exact date for Mother's Day in your country from the list of Mothers Day dates 2010 given below and start preparing for a big surprise of love for her.

Mother's Day 2010
Country	Day	Date
India	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
United States	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Australia	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Belgium	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Brazil	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Canada	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Denmark	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Finland	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Germany	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Greece	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Italy	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Japan	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
New Zealand	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Singapore	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
South Africa	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Turkey	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Sweden	Last Sunday in the month of May	May 30, 2010
Austria	First Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Hong Kong	First Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Netherlands	Second Sunday in the month of May	May 9, 2010
Taiwan	First Sunday in the month of May	May 2, 2010
Hungary	First Sunday in the month of May	May 2, 2010
Portugal	First Sunday in the month of May	May 2, 2010
Spain	First Sunday in the month of May	May 2, 2010
United Kingdom	Fourth Sunday in the month of March	March 14, 2010
Romania	First Sunday in the month of May	May 2, 2010

Why Were After If?

The word ‘were’ after ‘if’

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED by FADZILAH AMIN -THE STAR

I’M A little confused on how and when to use the word “were” after the word “if”. Must “were” be used after “if” in any circumstance? The attachments were taken from newspapers here on the use of ‘if’ and ‘were’. – Marc Ong

No, “were” need not be used after “if” in all circumstances, only in some. There are so many other verbs in the English language that can be used in the past tense in second conditional sentences when we are talking about an unlikely or impossible situation. Here are some examples in which the simple past tense of verbs other than “are” are used in the if-clause with “would” in the main clause:

“If I had wings, I would fly.”

“If you lost 100kg in a week, you would really be slim.”

However, in second conditional sentences beginning with “I”, “were” is usually used instead of “was”, for example in:

“If I were you, I would not buy that car.”

“If I were young again, I would try to be a professional tennis player.”