Grammar Clinic

To prevent yourself or someone else from doing or expressing something Example: I was just about to tell on Abigail when she clamped her hands across my mouth, thus stifling my speech.

To find the meaning of something that is not clear, difficult to read, or understand Example: Timi kept blinking and making several facial expressions at me when his mother came in, but I just couldn’t decipher the meaning!

Not likely to bother or offend anyone; not harmful Example: I still don’t understand why he flared up at such an innocuous question. All I said was “How was your night?”

Angry and aggressive: feeling or showing readiness to fight Example: The market woman suddenly became belligerent when I asked if I could pay less for the wares, and started to rain insults on me.

Too important and respected to be changed or criticised Example: The Law is sacrosanct. This is the reason it cannot be bent to please anyone.

Very stupid and silly Example: One of the rules of shopping in a big market is this: “Pay no attention to those asinine catcalls from traders”. Do this and you will be fine.

Making someone annoyed or irritated Example: The pesky mosquito buzzed around my ears all night. I could hardly get any sleep!

(1) A small piece of food; (2) A small piece of news or interesting information Example: (2) “Did you hear that Chichi won’t be resuming with us?” Her best friend was the one who gave me this tidbit.

(1) Having a sick feeling in the stomach: suffering from nausea; (2) Full of doubt Example: (1) Passing by the broken-down garbage truck on the street left me queasy and wanting to vomit.

(1) To stop being frozen or to cause (something) to stop being frozen; (2) To grow less unfriendly or quiet in manner Example: Get the pot of soup out of the freezer so that by the time the rice is fully cooked, it would have thawed to some degree.