Learning Prepositions from News Clippings: source NDTV.com

Inflation brings more cheer, dips to 6.61%
NDTV Correspondent
Friday, December 26, 2008 (New Delhi)

Inflation for the week ended December 13 inched lower to 6.61 per cent, from 6.84 per cent a week earlier. The Whole Sale Price Index for all commodities was 0.2 per cent on a week-on-week basis at 230.7.

Among the components, prices of manufacturing commodities were down 0.3 per cent while that of basic metals, alloys and metal products were down 0.4 per cent week on week. Non-metallic mineral products saw a bigger decline at 1.1 per cent. The fuel and power index remained unchanged while prices of primary articles, which include food prices, went up marginally by 0.1 per cent.

Inflation the week ended October 12 was revised to 10.82 per cent.

Economists expect inflation to dip below 3 per cent by March next year, with the benefit of base effect coming into the picture. They also expect significant fall for the week ended December 10 with lower ATF and Nafta prices kicking in.



Please note how 'of' has been used to describe the relation between two words; 'for' to cite the reason as well as the time duration; 'from' to show the beginning and 'to' to show the end;
there are others as well
follow the lead...

mindful of

When you are MINDFUL OF something, you keep in mind a particular fact while making a decision.

Example: Our company is mindful of its social responsibility and will take all possible measures to contain any kind of pollution.

Prepositions

Amazingly, Prepositions is a topic that is very simple to teach yet difficult for students to practically use while framing sentences.

If you are confused and not sure about the IN, ON, OF, FROM, TO, BEHIND, ABOVE, BELOW, OVER, UNDER, and the like, type in your sentences to clarify your doubts.

VARIOUS & MISCELLANEOUS

Various implies that there are several different types of that one thing. Example, the VARIOUS ways to solve a problem.

But,
A miscellaneous set of things or people includes many different things or people who do not seem to be connected with each other i.e they are not of the same type. Example, The speaker discussed miscellaneous topics ranging from Economics and Politics to Culture and Nature.

Then and Than

Unbelievably, people across all age groups and professions, tend to falter and make this mistake.

THEN is used to continue something said earlier, try to remember it as a link to the story...what happens next.

Let's take an example,
He went to the counter, asked for a pen and then simply signed the paper.



The word THAN is used for comparisons and mostly accompanies the Comparative Adjectives.

Example, He sings better than what his brother does.

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in the wake of

if something, especially something bad, happens in the wake of an event, it happens afterwards and usually as a result of it:

Example
The mass killings and arson followed in the wake of the riots held last week.

slang: bazillion meaning innumerable

She's got the capacity to eat a bazillion ice-creams together

bubbling over

she was absolutely bubbling over with excitement when I spoke to her

used mostly in the positive sense, 'bubbling over' suggests an overflow of enthusiasm, excitement and happiness

Retaining Confidence while Speaking

Many students share complain how they sweat, tremble and stammer while talking to others.
I tell them just one thing, " Gain Confidence from your achievements!"
We should try and remember a moment when even just one out of a hundred listeners was happy to listen to our voice, s/he nodded her head and smiled at our justification.

We should concentrate more on the delivery of words and not on what the listeners would think about us, our voice, our clothes or even our personalities

Introduction

Many times,we fear the tune and tone of our own voice. We are conscious of what others would think about us and our speech.

In this blog lets make an attempt to discuss Spoken English to the core... understand every bit and byte of the language...