I, The Absolute

Archive for April 5th, 2005

Become; Don’t be.

Posted by itheabsolute on April 5, 2005

• Advice is a noun; Advise is a verb.
• You have command over physics; but have command of English.
• You can laugh with someone and please him; you can laugh at someone and annoy him.
• I am good is correct. I are good is not. ‘Am I not good?’ is incorrect. ‘Aren’t I good?’ is correct.
• The company have is correct; the company has is correct too.
• There is only one God; there are many gods.
• A little is something; little is nothing.

English is a funny language. But I like it. English is tough to master. But it offers immense opportunities for thought and expression. Thinking clearly without language is almost impossible. Rather, language is a precondition for logical thought. Without a rich language, thinking will remain limited. English being the richest language enables the most complex thoughts and expression.

English was not always so rich. It ‘became’ rich. It picked up words from various other languages, vernaculars and cultures. If a good number of people were using a particular word, the English language adopted it and gladly included the word into its lexicon. That is why using ‘prepone’ for ‘advance’ is correct English today. It was not so about a few months ago.

The lesson to learn from English language is that, enrichment is possible only when one tries to ‘become’ and not ‘be’.

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