If you have some spare time on your hands, would you please lend me a hand? I have a list of words that i'm trying to integrate into my vocabulary and I could use as much help as possible. You could just pick out a word from the list I will provide, and give me a set of instructions and tell me if i'm getting the hang of the word? Thank you very much..
Did I hear someone say "vocabulary"? I'm excited. I agree with Smoke; I'd be able to help better if I could see the list you're talking about.
Oh sorry. Well here are some of the words that I'm still struggling to incorporate into my vocabulary. Arbitrary Exemplify Nebulous Vague Detrimental Sustain Adept Cryptic Ramification Snide Dismissive Parallels Arduous There are many more but those are the ones for now. I have looked up the definitions but I still can't seem to wrap my mind around em. If you're willing to work with me to learn these words i've listed please shoot me a message It would really help me. Thanks guys.
I'll use the workplace to explain a few of these. "Nebulous" and "vague" could be interchangeable, since they both mean "unclear". If you asked someone, "What day's the meeting?" and they said back to you, "Sometime within the month", you could say, "That's a bit too nebulous/vague of a response for me; do you know the exact date?." "Detrimental" means "damaging" or "harmful". If your boss puts you into a group of people, and one of the group members doesn't work well with the rest of you or does little to propel the project forward, you could say to your boss (assuming he/she lets you, of course), "This group member is detrimental to the project, and I suggest they be assigned elsewhere." "Sustain" sometimes means "to maintain". "The janitor mopped the hallway regularly in order to sustain its cleanliness." "Adept" means "skilled". "The secretary was adept at organizing files." "Snide" is "derogatory" or "nasty". If you make a snide remark about someone, you wouldn't readily expect them to be friendly to you! "Arduous" means "laborious; difficult". A construction worker would be used to arduous work: heavy lifting, so on. I hope that helps a little.
mg... if you don't get the help you need here, you can email me a few words at a time, whenever you want, and i'll be glad to give you some examples and explanation... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
Arbitrary Something is arbitrary when it a quality or condition that is assigned in a way that is random out of a set of possible values. For instance the colouring of electrical wires is not arbitrary, there is a convention used to do it. If you choose heads or tails as a coin is spinning in the air then you are choosing arbitrarily. Or to write 2 + 2 =4 or 4=2+2 is arbitrary as they are essentially the same. Exemplify. Something exemplifies something if it is a typical example of it. e.g. A slinky spring exemplifies a simple, appealing, toy Nebulous: like a nebula or cloud, so points of significance about a general origin but not singularly definite. Vague simply not exact or definitive Detrimental giving rise to a “bad outcome” or condition. e.g. smoking is detrimental to health Sustain keep up/alive for time, or nourish. e.g. the plants were sustained by daily watering Adept skilled or, as a noun, one who is skilled Cryptic not obviously deductible but possibly “de-codeable” look up obfuscation for another good related word Ramification Effect, outcome, usually more negative or unexpected than obvious Snide used to describe sneaky, surreptitious, talk or action Dismissive treating summarily as without consequence Parallels when one thing is similar to, or metaphorically runs alongside, another thing it can be said to parallel it Arduous physically taxing HTH
Arbitrary Something is arbitrary when it a quality or condition that is assigned in a way that is random out of a set of possible values. For instance the colouring of electrical wires is not arbitrary, there is a convention used to do it. If you choose heads or tails as a coin is spinning in the air then you are choosing arbitrarily. Or to write 2 + 2 =4 or 4=2+2 is arbitrary as they are essentially the same. Exemplify. Something exemplifies something if it is a typical example of it. e.g. A slinky spring exemplifies a simple, appealing, toy Nebulous: like a nebula or cloud, so points of significance about a general origin but not singularly definite. Vague simply not exact or definitive Detrimental giving rise to a “bad outcome” or condition. e.g. smoking is detrimental to health Sustain keep up/alive for time, or nourish. e.g. the plants were sustained by daily watering Adept skilled or, as a noun, one who is skilled Cryptic not obviously deductible but possibly “de-codeable” look up obfuscation for another good related word Ramification Effect, outcome, usually more negative or unexpected than obvious Snide used to describe sneaky, surreptitious, talk or action Dismissive treating summarily as without consequence Parallels when one thing is similar to, or metaphorically runs alongside, another thing it can be said to parallel it Arduous physically taxing HTH
"That platter is unacceptable." "Why?" "It has ten cupcakes. It should have either six or twelve." "Oh, that's completely arbitrary. Ten is fine." "Don't be so dismissive! I have a good reason for the rule." "Yeah, sure." "Well, if you're going to be snide, I'm not going to tell you." "Fine, fine, I'll listen, as long as it's not some cryptic piece of nonsense." "It's about dozens." "Well, that's a pretty nebulous explanation." "_Dozens_." "Yes, still pretty vague." "A dozen, or a half dozen, or a gross--which is a dozen dozen--is a number with a very strong meaning." "Meaning for who?" "Bakers." "The dinner is for realtors." "Following the traditions of bakers isn't going to be detrimental to the realtors in any way. They'll be fine." "I really don't think that you can sustain this argument much longer." "You're being snide again." "Is this going to lead to a bunch of religious parallels now? Bakers and religion and.... something?" "Look, is it really _that_ arduous a task to remove four cupcakes, or add two, for each platter?" "Are the ramifications that huge if I don't?" "Yes." "OK, now _you're_ being snide." "Oh, no, I'm not. You _exemplify_ snide. Snideness. Whatever. You're more adept at snideness than anyone I've ever met." "Just move the cupcakes yourself." ChickenFreak
The enforcement of the building code was arbitrary, who you are and who your inspector loomed large in with getting approved The Japanese Vampire exemplifies stellar characters development His parting words were nebulous, no one could tell what he really wanted to do with the money. Although sleeping with the gangsters daughter could be detrimental to Ernie's health he could not resist Equally as adept on piano as he was on the kazoo Bishop Murphy was an asset to the cell block symphony As cryptic as father's day in the hood Not willing to face the ramifications of disrespecting Piper, Jake gave up and gave in "One more snide remark and I will kick your teeth in." the frog-eyed nun whispered. With a dismissive wave Xavier said "get the phuck outta here ,Murphy " In some ways Regina Gill's saga parallels Katrina Concepion's Arduous as the task may have been there was a pay off
A good and helpful shot at giving examples, Killian. A couple of issues. Fine up to the comma, which is all you need to give the example of "arbitrary". (Then you have a run-on sentence and a missing verb in "who your inspector"). I've checked in a corpus of written English, and it turns out that almost all of the uses of "arbitrary" are from mathematics and engineering ("arbitrary constant", "arbitrary multiplier"), although you do get mention of arbitrary powers and "The arbitrary inclusion of artworks in the exhibition is further evidence of a curatorial effort to construct a narrative of 'situationism'." "Character", not "characters". All of the examples in the corpus I have come from academic writing. No, not really. His parting words might have been "indistinct", "vague" or "unclear" but not really "nebulous". Nebulous literally means "cloud-like" and seems to be mainly used for abstract nouns such as roles, concepts, specifications (about as concrete as it gets). "Normality is a nebulous concept unless we ask 'whose normality is to be valued and emulated?'" Ok. Needs a comma after "kazoo", but the use of "adept" is fine. Not a good example. "Cryptic" means hidden, and by extension "puzzling to work out". Now, it might be puzzling to work out who is whose father in the hood, but father's day itself is not hidden or puzzling to work out. "The message was short and cryptic and Corbett's worst fears were realised." Ok. Worth noting that "ramification" only ever seems to be used in the plural (as above) in modern English. Ok apart from the punctuation. Ok apart from the spelling, which was presumably deliberate Ok. Ok.
Looking forward, very much, to the next installment in Digtig's, How to win friends and influence people with unsolicited grammar advice.
