making someone do something

TO PUSH = to encourage or force someone to do something or to work hard. [= to incite, to urge]

Examples:

Encourage your kids to read more, but try not to push them too hard.

My English teacher, Stewart, as a child, was pushed to do extra hours in Mathematics by his parents.

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TO URGE = to strongly suggest that someone does something [= to push]

urge somebody to do something

Examples:

The best way to learn programming is to program, so I urge you to jump in and try the challenges

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TO COMPEL = to force someone to do something especially using extreme persuasion. [= to force to act]

Examples:

The demons of the ice age are still haunting our 21st century bodies. In the absence of hardship, they are compelling us to behave in ways which are clearly unhealthy. [Douglas Crockford]

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TO FORCE = to make someone do something they do not want to do. [= to obligate to do something]

Examples:

Why is my evil lecturer forcing me to learn statistics?

Can my boss force me to work overtime?

The police arrested a woman on charges of murder of her husband for forcing her into flesh trade.

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TO DICTATE = to tell someone exactly what they must do or how they must behave [= to command, to give instructions].

Examples:

Science is what you do with that not what it is: Science itself doesn't dictate the choices that you make.

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TO OBLIGE (formal, usually in passive) = if you are obliged to do something, you have to do it because the situation, the law, a duty etc makes it necessary.

Examples:

Getting close to books, and spending time by myself, I was obliged to think about things I would never have thought about if I was busy romping around with a brother and sister. [Shelby Foote]

trail vs trial

This post is an entry where is discussed some elementary English. If you have a doubt about the meaning of a word or if you get confused by the sound of two similar words, why not to write a post?

TRAIL /treɪl/
noun
1. a rough path across countryside or through a forest.
2. a long line or a series of marks that have been left by someone or something
3. a stream of dust, smoke, light, people, vehicles, etc., behind something moving.

Examples:
• Condensation trails or vapour trails are long thin artificial clouds that sometimes form behind aircraft.
• The worst-ever floods in Pakistan’s history have left a trail of death and devastation

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TRIAL /ˈtraɪəl/
noun
1. a legal process in which a judge in a court decides whether someone is guilty of a crime
2. a process of testing to find out whether something works effectively and is safe
3. a short period during which you do something or employ someone to find out whether they are satisfactory for a particular purpose [= probation]

Examples:
• New drugs must undergo clinical trials to test safety and effectiveness before being approved for sale.
• Somebody says that the human learning process follows the trials and errors method.
• I have been working in Accenture on a trial period of two weeks.

to grab vs to grasp

These two verbs are too similar. Somethimes I feel confused by them

TO GRAB
1. to take hold of someone or something with a sudden or violent movement.
2. (informal) to get some food or sleep quickly because you are busy.

Grab Examples
• Come on students, grab a computer and create your blog in English [prof. John W.]

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TO GRASP
1. to take and hold something firmly.
2. to completely understand a fact or an idea.

Grasp examples
• The CSS visual formatting model is not something that is simple to explain or grasp in a few words.
• Many people don’t seem to grasp the path that new technologies take.

to state vs to establish

Verbs to state and to establish sound too similar and confuse me, so I am writing this entry to clear my mind.

TO ESTABLISH (transitive)

1. to start a company, organization, system, etc [= found]:
• On 1 January 1942, during the Second World War, representatives of 26 nations established the United Nations pledging their governments to continue fighting the Axis Power.

2. to begin a relationship with someone or a situation that will continue
• In spite of radiactions falcons and eagles have established healthy populations in the Chernobyl exclusion zone
• I hope the examples and explanations so far have helped establish the basis for understanding of regular expressions.

3. to find out facts that will prove that something is true. [= determine]
• Police must establish motive for journalist murder.

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TO STATE (transitive)

1. to formally say or write a piece of information or your opinion. [= express fact, specify details]
• The CSS enhances the HTML page with rules that state how the HTML content is presented.
• I wrote down the software's requirements as they were stated in the last meeting.
• To write a computer program, you need to first state your goal and then list the tasks that need to be completed to achieve it .
• scripts states the events computer programmer wants web pages to respond to.

sore vs ache vs pain

	intensity	when	duration
sore (adj)	a mild suffering	when used or touched	from hours to days
ache (noun)	a dull suffering	continuos	from hours to days, weeks, months
pain (noun)	a sharp suffering	sporadic, or sudden	from a second to years

 SORE Examples
I have a sore throat.
My stomach is sore.

 The Six ACHES
I have a headache.
I have a backache.
I have a toothache.
I have an earache.
I have a stomachache.
I have a bellyache

 PAIN Examples
I have a pain in my chest.
I am in pain for kidney stones.

 Other Meanings Examples
If someone says he has an heartache he means that he has a romantic issue, that it is not a concern for a doctor.
If someone says you are a pain, he means that he doesn't like you.

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click on the link below to take pain language quiz
http://www.usingenglish.com/

Collocations of have

• to have a baby
• to have a discussion on/about something
• to have a shower
• to have a nap, a rest
• to have a party
• to have a wedding
• to have ability to do something
• to have an appointment
• to have an argument
• to have an interview
• to have courage to do
• to have experience
• to have fun, good time
• to have faith in something/someone
• to have influence on someone/something = to affect or change someone or something in an indirect but important way
• to have merit
• to have occasion to do something (formal: = to need to do something)
• to have permission to do something
• to have responsibility for something or to do something
• to have the potential to be/become
• to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, ecc.

Examples
- We had a discussion about a lot of things.
- Applicants for entering English classes at CES school must have an interview with director of studies.
- The investigated person says he has faith in courts
- I had occasion to consult my GP for a sharp pain in my chest
- As a teacher I have authority, but I have never had occasion to use it on my students.

Too much attention is given to headline-grabbing disasters like earthquakes and floods. Governments should concentrate their resource on educating people about the risk they face nearer to their home, which can cost far more lives - IELTS part.3 - Writing

Structure

intro	TV news and broadsheets give too much attention to disasters and wars
reason 1	If we talk too much about disasters and natural catastrophes people become anxious.
reason 2	A second point is that governments should focus their actions on solving issues that involve youths, like drug addiction and alcohol abuse. The best way to solve problems is to prevent them from happening, that is educating the young generations.
reason 3	Governments should concentrate their resource on educating people about the risk they face nearer their homes. In fact in developed countries we have too many deaths among youngsters caused by car accidents, and major causes of deaths among adults caused by an unhealthy lifestyle.
conclusion	To sum up, talking about disasters does not inspire confidence in people. The best way to deal with disasters is to inform people about the causes and possibility a disaster might occur to them.

Implementation

TV news and broadsheets give too much attention to disasters and wars. This happens mainly because newspapers are eager to sell as many copies as possible. Beside news readers and TV editors are more interested in topping the audience index score to earn money from advertising rather then giving the correct information.

If we talk too much about disasters and natural catastrophes people become anxious. In fact people's minds are not able to discern between near or remote threats and distinguish between real or false risks. As a consequence giving general information about natural catastrophes like hurricanes and floods, which usually happen in tropical areas, or like earthquakes, which generally occur along geologic faults, can generate unjustified fears.

A second point is that governments should concentrate their resources on educating people about the risks they face nearer their homes. In fact in developed countries we have too many deaths among youngsters caused by car accidents, and deaths among adults caused by unhealthy lifestyles.

Moreover governments should focus their actions on solving issues that involve youths, like drug addiction and alcohol abuse. The best way to address these problems is preventing them from starting, that is educating the young generations. In my opinion, the best place for educating children about the risks of using drugs are families. Our governments should promote campaign of information over drug addictions that takes flyers and brochures into every house, as the same as our politicians do when they want our vote.

To sum up, talking about disasters does not inspire confidence in people. The best way to deal with disasters is to inform people about the causes that generate a disaster and the possibility that one might occur to them.