Grammar Clinic

Strange; odd. Example:  Ruth was restless all through the talk, she had a queer feeling that they were being watched.  

To go out of harmony or balance. Example: ‘But when the two banks amalgamated, it threw the whole religious balance out of kilter’.

Bad-tempered, argumentative, and uncooperative. Example: John just likes arguing too much, he can be a cantankerous old fossil at times.

Tearful or given to weeping. Example: ‘When I saw her she was pink-eyed and lachrymose’.

Beauty. Example: ‘Female news readers tend to get sacked when they have passed the stage of pulchritude’.  

Feeling or expressing blissful happiness. Example: ‘The smile that spread across Nicholas’ face was beatific, full of happiness and relief’.

(Especially of weather) dreary; bleak: dull. Examples: (a) a cold, dreich early April day‘. (b) ‘So don’t let your garden become dull just because the weather is dreich’.  

A person who never drinks alcohol. Example: ‘Women would rather have a husband who can hold his drink than a teetotaller’.    

The branch of science concerned with fossil animals and plants. NOTE: Fossils are the preserved remains of animals, plants and life-forms from the past.  

Kept secret, especially because it would not be approved of. Example: “Jane was punished while writing JAMB because she kept casting surreptitious glances at the answer sheet of her seat partner”.