Verbs 1

Verbs have various forms:
The base form is the bare verb - 'hear'
The infinitive has the word 'to' in front of the base form- 'to hear'
Then you have the participles-
The Present Participle: 'hearing'
The Past Participle: 'heard'
To add to this you have the conjugation in the various tenses- the present tense is given below:
I hear.
You hear.
He/She hears.
We hear.
You hear.
They hear.
I will talk about regular and irregular verbs later.

Transferred Epithets

A transferred epithet is a figure of speech in which an adjective grammatically qualifies a noun other than the person or thing it is actually describing. An epithet is a name, sometimes descriptive, which one gives to a person, whether complimentary or abusive.
Example:
'Just a few more miles to tote the weary load' 
These are words from a well-known song, in which the load is not 'weary', but it is the bearer who is weary. The adjective is meant to describe the bearer but is placed so it describes the load.

The suffix 'ment'

This suffix makes nouns out of verbs when added to them.
Alignment: The verb align is about setting things into a line. Alignment is the act (noun) of doing so.
Aggrandizement: To aggrandize something means to increase its size, derived from the French adjective 'grand' which means 'big'.
Amendment: The verb form is 'amend', or  'to change'. 'Amendment' is the noun form.
Enforcement: The act of enforcing.
Attainment: The act of attaining.
and so on.

'Realm'

The word 'realm', pronounced "rellm", is derived from the French word 'reaume' which itself was derived from 'roiaume'. It refers to the kingdom of a monarch.  

Verb preposition collocations

The preposition 'at'

The verbs that go along with this are :
Aim: You must aim at the target.
Gaze: Tom gazed at the masterpiece in the Art gallery.
Glance: She shot an angry glance at the offending student.
Hint: The National Budget hinted at a new focus on health.
Jeer: The Opposition jeered at the politician mired in the scandal.
Jump: The businessman jumped at the opportunity to make a profit. 
Laugh: Susan laughed at the ridiculous proposition.
Look: Let's look at your proposal tomorrow.
Peck: The patient, who had no appetite, pecked at his food. 
Smile: He smiled at the joke.
Stare: Bystanders stared at the acrobatics of the young street performer.
Wonder: I wonder at your temerity in bringing up such a ludicrous suggestion.

Suck it up

A dear friend visited me from Auckland, after visiting India. He happened to use this phrase, about  the common man in India getting used to "sucking it up" about the non-governance that successive governments have indulged in so far. I got to thinking about the origins of this phrase. Here it is: when pilots in the World War 2  happened to vomit into their Oxygen masks, they had two options - suck up the vomit and continue breathing or die of the acidic fumes. Naturally, those braves made the sensible choice and lived to fight another day. 

The adopted children of English

Calabash: This was a Turkish word called 'kharabuz', corrupted by Spanish to 'calabaza', the French to 'carbusse' and the English to 'Calabash'

It is a kind of gourd which is dried to form a bottle like vessel to carry liquids.

Gung-ho: Originally from Chinese meaning ' work together' in English this has come to mean 'very enthusiastic about' something.

Plaza: This is borrowed from Spanish, meaning an open public area.

Jodhpurs: These riding pants are from the Indian city of Jodhpur where polo was played.

Bungalow: A corruption of 'Bangla' from Hindi.

Singapore: A corruption of Simhapur from Sanskrit.

Safari:  Stolen word from Arabic