Grammar Clinic

Special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for others to understand. Example: ‘I admire lawyers, but I get lost whenever they start speaking their legal jargon’.  

Old-fashioned or outdated. Example: ‘Hard cases make bad law, but antiquated conventions make bad legal practice’.    

Destroy utterly, wipe out. Example: ‘The memory was so painful that he obliterated it from his mind’.

A small group of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people. Example: ‘I don’t like Shade and her coterie, they are all caustic and mean’.  

A boxer, especially a professional one. Example: ‘We were nine Nigerian Olympic Champion pugilists competing in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games,.    

Mad, Crazy. Example: ‘Please do something about your dog, his loud barking is driving me bonkers’.

Relating to sound or the sense of hearing. Example: ‘Dogs have a much greater acoustic range than humans’.

Scrape or wear away by friction or erosion. Example: ‘She stayed longer than usual in the shower, wishing for the rushing hot needles of water to abrade her skin and erode the annoying pimples on her face’.

Make (someone) very weak and infirm. Example: ‘He was severely debilitated by a stomach upset’.

A lengthy and complicated procedure. Example: ‘ I went through the rigmarole of securing the front door’.