English: A Exercise in Synonyms and Antonyms

Let us have a exercise in antonyms and synonyms.

Remember synonyms are very important when you do summaries. As you cannot re-use most of the words in the text, try to substitute them with the right synonyms.

• Write a synonym for the following words.

1.      above		2.      back
3.      absent		4.      bad
5.      accept		6.      beautiful
7.      admit		8.      better
9.      adult		10.  big
11.  after		12.  bitter
13.  alive		14.  black
15.  always		16.  brave
17.  ancient		18.  bright
19.  answer		20.  broad
21.  arrest		22.  build
23.  arrive		24.  bull
25.  artificial		26.  busy
27.  asleep		28.  buy
29.  attack		30.  cheap

·         Give one antonym for the following words

1.      above		2.      back
3.      absent		4.      bad
5.      accept		6.      beautiful
7.      admit		8.      better
9.      adult		10.  big
11.  after		12.  bitter
13.  alive		14.  black
15.  always		16.  brave
17.  ancient		18.  bright
19.  answer		20.  broad
21.  arrest		22.  build
23.  arrive		24.  bull
25.  artificial		26.  busy
27.  asleep		28.  buy
29.  attack		30.  cheap

For the PMR Student: Writing a Formal Letter

There two types of letters that we write. One is the personal letter that we write to our family members and friends. The other is the formal letter that we write to other people such as those in government, companies as well as those in clubs and social organizations.

Let us look at the format and content of a formal letter.

INFORMAL LETTER	FORMAL  LETTER
·         Sender’s address  on the top  right hand corner	·         Start with Sender’s name on the first line at  the top let hand corner ·         Follow with the address of the sender
·         Date of letter directly below sender’s address	·         Draw a line across below the sender’s address ·         Write the recipient  post followed by the address next ·         At the end of the address, on the right hand side, write the date
·         Friendly salutation,  “ Dear….“	·         Write the salutation-“Dear Sir/ Madam”
·         Friendly introduction	·         Write the title for the subject of the letter. ·         Underline it.
·         Purpose of letter	·         Write purpose of the letter
·         Background information	·         Next is the body of the letter: ·         Purpose should be briefly spelled out ·         Details
·         Conclusion	·         Conclusion      ·         Giving thanks
·         Signing off- “Your loving……”	·         Signing off- “Yours faithfully/Sincerely……”
·         Signature at the bottom right hand corner	·         Signature at bottom of left hand ·         Write designation below signature

Let us look at a sample of a formal letter.

Sender Address of Sender	Tomas Bala, The Football Club Sekolah Menengah Taman Selasih 87000 Klebang Besar Melaka
Recipient Address of Recipient/ Date	The President The Melaka Tengah Municipal Council Jalan Bandar 85000 Melaka                                                                    5 April 2010
Salutation	Dear Sir,
Title of Letter Subject	Seeking Permission to Use Indoor Courts for Annual 5-A-Side Football Tournament
Introduction	On behalf of the Football Club, I wish to request permission for the use of the indoor courts at the Melaka Tengah Municipal Council Indoor sports complex.
Main Body: Purpose	2. We intend to hold our Annual  Kelebang Besar/Tranquerah Area  5- A –side Football Tournament for the students of our school. The purpose of this tournament is to encourage healthy competition among the students of the school, to promote friendship as well as to identify good players for grooming for the All-State School s competition in July 2010.
Date and time	3. We would like to use the courts from 20th to 25th April 2010 from 2.00pm to 6.00pm.
Number of courts	4.  About 20 teams will be involved in this tournament and we would need to use 4 courts per day
Rental and other requests	5. Could you let me know what are your usual rental charges and also if a special rate or exemption from charges be provided to students. In addition, I would appreciate if you could also kindly sponsor the drinks for this tournament.
Conclusion	We hope to receive a favourable reply from you soon.
Signing off	Yours faithfully/sincerely
Name	Tomas Bala
Designation	Secretary, The Football Club

Now you can do an assignment to test your skill in formal letter writing. 

ASSIGNMENT:

As the Secretary of the Sekolah Menengah Taman Mutiara Swimming Club which is organizing the annual Swimming competition for schools in Petaling Jaya,please write to the Petaling Jaya City Council for the use of the Public Swimming Pool in Petaling Jaya for 4 days. Following the format above, mention the details such as purpose of the competition, days that you require the pool, rates of rental and other requests.

The Hulu Selangor Wind-Vane

April 17 is nomination day for the Hulu Selangor Parliamentary by-election.

Where will the wind blow this time around?

While Pakatan Rakyat keeps its card close to its chest who their candidate will likely be, the Barisan Nasional has apparently stuck to their mindset to allocate MIC that seat, inspite of the hullabaloo created by Mohammed Taib's faction to put him up as the candidate.

My reading is Pakatan Rakyat will field a Malay candidate to replace the ex-Malay MP who passed on.

So how are the cards arrayed this time?

Hulu Selangor is basically a Malay majority area with a splattering of Chinese and Indian voters. There are some 2,000 new voters added to the roll.

Let us look at the issues.

This time around the Chinese looks  like they may still be voting for the Pakatan candidate, come fire or high water. It would not be a matter is it is a Malay candidate or even an Indian candidate. I think they are somewhat contented with what Pakatan has done for them despite the troubles faced by Pakatan Rakyat lately. Also, MCA seems to be just as disunited today as before while Gerakan's force and influence is no longer there politically. As for the PPP, they will not be there at most times as they detest MIC.

The Indian votes is now more illusive. In March 2008,we have the Hindraf factor causing an avalanche of votes to fell out from Barisan Nasional especially in areas where the Indian votes could play a 'kingmaker' difference. If the candidate is Palanivel,he may be lucky to secure the same number of pro-Samy voters to his side. The Subra faction will not be with him. They could possibly be voting against him as he is seen as a proxy for their nemesis,Samy Velu. If that is the scenario, and since Hindraf factions are not likely to be involved, Palinevel may not get the full Indian support once more.He has to work double hard as many constituents have complained he has hardly been to their area even when he was their MP.

What could be worse this time is the possible split of the Indian votes when individual Indian politicians rise up to challenge the MIC candidate. So, if Barisan Nasional expects these ex-Hindraf voters to come over to their side, it may not be so; as these votes are  fragmented in this new manner.

Now, let us look at the majority Malay vote. This is really a very difficult poser. Will they vote for Pakatan since their last MP only won by a marginal vote majority? Also, this is a 100% Barisan Nasional area in terms of state assembly seats.

When just as many things has 'downsided' both the Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat since March 2008, how will the Malays vote this time around?

Will Perkasa be coming down on the ground as well? This will possibly eliminate more non-Malay voters.

What about the new 2000 voters? If they are young voters,how will they vote?

We have seen the Barisan Nasional machinery working at full blast with their project giving strategy. This worked well in the past. However, this time around it has been welcomed by the Pakatan Rakyat as it means more development fund is flowing into Selangor which they controlled.

So,is this project doling strategy still effective to secure needed votes for the Barisan Nasional or has it been rendered ineffective as Barisan no longer controls the state government?

These are the issues in this by-election.

I will discuss more on this in my subsequent postings.

Charlie Dies

Remember the voice of Charlie in the hit TV series of the 1970s-Charlie's Angels?

Well, John Forsythe who lends his voice to be the invisible Charlie had passed on 1 April, USA time.

 He lived and died in a grand old fashion-dignified and gracefully.

Enjoying a career that spanned more than five decades , he died of pneumonia at the age of 93.

He was the doyen of the hit series,"  Dynasty' opposite the eye candy of those days, the sexy Joan Collins.and the cheeky Pamela Sue Martin as Fallon.

MRCB: The Sungai Buluh Project

Out of the blues,the MRCB shares shot up some 21 sen in the morning but slided to 13 sen by the noon close. I  think it  should close up 10 sen by the end of  trading day as the market digest the probability of the speculative news.

Some 39 million shares was briskly traded in the morning hours . Speculations is rife that the property developer would benefit from a plan by its biggest shareholder - the Employees Provident Fund  in a  joint venture with the government to develop 3,000 acres of land in Sungei Buloh.

Let's keep our ears on the ground for more positive news.

The Ten Most Expensive Paintings

These are the 10 most expensive paintings in the world. Have a look at them. Do you concur?

1. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Gustave Klint

2. Garcon a la Pipe-Picasso

3. Dora Maar with Cat-Picasso

4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet-Vincent van Gogh

5. Bal Au Moulin Pierre Auguste-Renoir

 

6. The Massacre of the Innocents-Peter Paul Ruben

7. Portrait de Artiste sans Barbe-Van Gogh

8. Rideau Cruncheon  et Compotier-Paul Cezanne

9.Femme Aux Bras Croisses-Picasso

10.Irises - Vincent van Gogh

MCA: Expect a Dog Bite Cat World Out There

"To err is human,to forgive divine?"

After a tumultuous fight for the top posts where barbs and dirty linens were flung into the open through the media,do you think that the winners can forget easily?

Dr. Chua today holds the upper hand. He will decide on the spoils which are the Cabinet positions, the deputy minister-ships, parliamentary secretaries and senatorships.

Whether Dr. Chua becomes a Cabinet minister or not will not become an issue .If he is given, he should not turn it down as PM has faith in him as a BN component party head. If he should turn it down, it would not reflect well on him as it will definitely make him ineffective not being a member of the Cabinet.

My guess is he will accept the Cabinet position if offered. And I think Najib will offer him that since it looks like the VCD issue did not feature at all in the countdown of this MCA election and Dr. Chua taking over as  the MCA president.

Also, there is no way he can allow that limelight in the Cabinet to be given to Liow Tiong Lai,a likely pretender to the throne the next time around.

As for Ong Tee Kiat, I think he can start getting the packers to come by to collect his personal effects. Kong will likely stay on as The Minister of Local Government and Housing in an appointed party post and Dr. Ng Yen Yen will remain  in Tourism. As for Liow Tiong Lai, he will be shunted to the Transport ministry to face the PKFTZ scandal while Dr. Chua reclaim his Health Ministry. With that, all the Cabinet positions available will be nicely filled up.

Let us look at the lower positions available.

Qualitatively, those who supported Dr. Chua in the elections wil be elevated into more important Deputy Minister's posts. Senatorships will be offered to some of them. Chew Mei Fun and Dr. Wee Ka Siong may be in trouble. For Chew Mei Fun, it is best she resigns from the Wanita's top position to save herself the embarrassment as well as Dr. Chua the trouble to remove her as a Deputy Minister and subsequently as a senator as well. As for Wee Ka Siong,it depends on whether he wants to stick to Liow's style of open confrontation or not. If so, he may have to go too especially with the Kuala Dimensi issue still haunting him.

As for the running of the MCA and politics from now on , expect Dato' Liow and his group to pretend to work with the Presidents' men. Behind all the smiling,head nodding  and hand-shaking,the shadow tells.

It will definitely going to be a dog and cat fight all the way until the 13th General election.