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	<title>MrGray.id.au &#187; Grammar</title>
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	<description>Mr Gray&#039;s teaching related blog: news, resources and ideas for teachers</description>
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		<title>What&#8217;s another word for Synonym?</title>
		<link>http://mrgray.id.au/2009/04/whats-another-word-for-synonym/</link>
		<comments>http://mrgray.id.au/2009/04/whats-another-word-for-synonym/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:40:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mr Gray</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ES1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[S1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[S2]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Spelling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Writing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grammar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[synonym]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mrgray.id.au/?p=218</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Can you think of one?? I haven&#8217;t been able to. Even a search at Synonym.com brought back the result: Sorry, I could not find synonyms for &#8216;synonym&#8217; I found some websites that deal with Synonyms though: Teacher&#8217;s Clubhouse &#8211; Grammar Skills A lesson on synonyms for Kindergarten EdHelper worksheets on Synonyms I did also find [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://mrgray.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/a_synonym_tshirt.jpg"><img class="alignright" style="float: right;" title="a_synonym_tshirt" src="http://mrgray.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/a_synonym_tshirt-150x150.jpg" alt="a_synonym_tshirt" width="150" height="150" /></a>Can you think of one?? I haven&#8217;t been able to. Even a search at <a href="http://www.synonym.com" target="_blank">Synonym.com</a> brought back the result:</p>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;">Sorry, I could not find synonyms for &#8216;synonym&#8217;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I found some websites that deal with Synonyms though:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.teachersclubhouse.com/grammarskills.htm" target="_blank">Teacher&#8217;s Clubhouse &#8211; Grammar Skills</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/m/synonyml.cfm" target="_blank">A lesson on synonyms for Kindergarten</a></li>
<li><a href="http://edhelper.com/synonyms.htm" target="_blank">EdHelper worksheets on Synonyms</a></li>
</ul>
<p>I did also find the humourous t-shirts too, if you&#8217;re that way inclined. They&#8217;re available over at <a href="http://www.zazzle.com/a_synonym_tshirt-235775402261124180" target="_blank">Zazzle.com</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://mrgray.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/synonym_roll_tshirt.jpg"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-487 aligncenter" title="synonym_roll_tshirt" src="http://mrgray.id.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/synonym_roll_tshirt-150x150.jpg" alt="synonym_roll_tshirt" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
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		<title>You think English is easy?</title>
		<link>http://mrgray.id.au/2008/09/you-think-english-is-easy/</link>
		<comments>http://mrgray.id.au/2008/09/you-think-english-is-easy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:35:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mr Gray</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[English]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Humour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grammar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homographs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homophones]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://mrgray.id.au/?p=165</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was sent this via email today, it does make you wonder&#8230; The bandage was wound around the wound. The farm was used to produce produce. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. We must polish the Polish furniture. He could lead if he would get the lead out. The [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was sent this via email today, it does make you wonder&#8230;</p>
<ol>
<li>The bandage was <span style="color: #ff6600;">wound</span> around the <span style="color: #ff6600;">wound</span>.</li>
<li>The farm was used to <span style="color: #ff6600;">produce produce</span>.</li>
<li>The dump was so full that it had to <span style="color: #ff6600;">refuse</span> more <span style="color: #ff6600;">refuse</span>.</li>
<li>We must <span style="color: #ff6600;">polish</span> the <span style="color: #ff6600;">Polish</span> furniture.</li>
<li>He could <span style="color: #ff6600;">lead</span> if he would get the <span style="color: #ff6600;">lead</span> out.</li>
<li>The soldier decided to <span style="color: #ff6600;">desert</span> his <span style="color: #ff6600;">dessert</span> in the <span style="color: #ff6600;">desert</span>.</li>
<li>Since there is no time like the <span style="color: #ff6600;">present</span>, he thought it was time to <span style="color: #ff6600;">present</span> the <span style="color: #ff6600;">present</span>.</li>
<li>A <span style="color: #ff6600;">bass</span> was painted on the head of the <span style="color: #ff6600;">bass</span> drum.</li>
<li>When shot at, the <span style="color: #ff6600;">dove</span> <span style="color: #ff6600;">dove</span> into the bushes.</li>
<li>I did not <span style="color: #ff6600;">object</span> to the <span style="color: #ff6600;">object</span>.</li>
<li>The insurance was <span style="color: #ff6600;">invalid</span> for the <span style="color: #ff6600;">invalid</span>.</li>
<li>There was a <span style="color: #ff6600;">row</span> among the oarsmen about how to <span style="color: #ff6600;">row</span>.</li>
<li>They were too <span style="color: #ff6600;">close</span> to the door to <span style="color: #ff6600;">close</span> it.</li>
<li>The buck <span style="color: #ff6600;">does</span> funny things when the <span style="color: #ff6600;">does</span> are present.</li>
<li>A seamstress and a <span style="color: #ff6600;">sewer</span> fell down into a <span style="color: #ff6600;">sewer</span> line.</li>
<li>To help with planting, the farmer taught his <span style="color: #ff6600;">sow</span> to <span style="color: #ff6600;">sow</span>.</li>
<li>The <span style="color: #ff6600;">wind</span> was too strong to <span style="color: #ff6600;">wind</span> the sail.</li>
<li>Upon seeing the <span style="color: #ff6600;">tear</span> in the painting, I shed a <span style="color: #ff6600;">tear</span>.</li>
<li>I had to <span style="color: #ff6600;">subject</span> the <span style="color: #ff6600;">subject</span> to a series of tests.</li>
<li>How can I <span style="color: #ff6600;">intimate</span> this to my most <span style="color: #ff6600;">intimate</span> friend?</li>
</ol>
<p>Let&#8217;s face it &#8211; English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren&#8217;t invented in<span> England</span> or French fries in <span>France</span>. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren&#8217;t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from <span>Guinea</span> nor is it a pig.  And why is it that writers write but fingers don&#8217;t fing, grocers don&#8217;t groce and hammers don&#8217;t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn&#8217;t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn&#8217;t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?  If teachers taught, why didn&#8217;t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?  Why do we park on a driveway, but drive on a parkway?  How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.  English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.  PS. &#8211; Why doesn&#8217;t &#8216;Buick&#8217; rhyme with &#8216;quick&#8217;. and why doesn&#8217;t &#8216;dough&#8217; rhyme with &#8216;tough&#8217;?  You lovers of the English language might enjoy this.  There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>.  It&#8217;s easy to understand <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>? At a meeting, why does a topic come <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>? Why do we speak <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> and why are the officers <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> for election and why is it <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> to the secretary to write <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> a report?  We call <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> our friends. And we use it to brighten <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> a room, polish <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> the silver, we warm <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> the leftovers and clean <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> the kitchen. We lock <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> the house and some guys fix <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> the old car.  At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> trouble, line <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> for tickets, work <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> an appetite, and think <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> is special.  And this <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> is confusing: A drain must be opened <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> because it is stopped <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>. We open <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> a store in the morning but we close it <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> at night.  We seem to be pretty mixed <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> about <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> look the word <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> almost a quarter of the page and can add <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> to about thirty definitions. If you are <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> to it, you might try building <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> a list of the many ways <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> is used. It will take <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> a lot of your time, but if you don&#8217;t give <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> you may wind <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span> with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>.  When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>.  When it doesn&#8217;t rain for awhile, things dry <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>.  One could go on and on, but I&#8217;ll wrap it <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>, for now my time is <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>, so&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; it is time to shut <span style="color: #ff0000; font-size: large;">UP</span>&#8230;!  <em>If you&#8217;ve got any more examples of English quirkiness, leave them in the comments&#8230;.</em></p>
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