English - With or without an "S"

With "S' Without "S"

It is interesting to note that certain English words whereby the meaning is totally different when you add an “s" behind them: 

 Quarter - ¼ Quarters - accommodation A quarter of his salary is spent on entertainment. Living quarters are provided for the workers near the factory. 

 Spectacle - a grand performance Spectacles - glasses The national day procession was a magnificent spectacle. I can’t see anything without my spectacles. 

 Arm - part of the body Arms - weapons His arm was injured in a car accident. Some countries are spending more money on buying arms than on education. 

 Cloth - a piece of material Clothes - garments You use a piece of cloth to wipe the table. When you grow older you don’t wear fancy clothes anymore.

 Beside- next to something or someone Besides - in addition. Don’t’ go anywhere stay beside me. Besides poverty, the people have to endure natural disasters. 

 Sometime - a time in the past or future Sometimes - occasionally I’ll see you sometime next week. I normally stay at home on Sunday but sometimes I do go out and visit my friends.

 Ash- the remain of something which has been burnt Ashes -the remain of a dead person after burning Don’t litter the place with your cigarette ash. His ashes were scattered at sea. 

 Custom – way of life for a particular group of people Customs – the place you go to when you enter or leave a country for tax purposes It is the custom of the Chinese to give Ang Pow during Chinese New Year, After leaving the customs she took a taxi to the hotel. 

 Look - the act of looking Looks -appearance Don’t look at me like that. The girls liked him, he has good looks. 

 Minute - 60 seconds Minutes - records of a meeting Please wait a minute for me. The secretary is taking the minutes of the meeting 

 Account - description Accounts - financial records Can you give me an account of the incident? He works in the accounts department

The Power of English and my Blog

English

My father enrolled me in a Chinese school for my primary education when I was very young. However, when I moved up to my secondary education it was all in English except for one language subject in Chinese and another one in Malay. From Geography to History and from Literature to Mathematics they were all in English. My daily companion was my English-Chinese dictionary. I had a hard time but it was worth it. To master the language, I read English newspapers, I read comics and I listened to pop songs. It was in the ’60s and The Beatles, Cliff Richard, and Elvis were my favourites. To me, English is very important. When stamp collecting was my hobby I had to read stamp-related materials in English. When I started working in the hotel industry English was the vital communication link and most hotel managers then were foreigners. Now that I have started blogging, all the sites that I visited are in English and my bog is in English simply because it is a widely accepted international language. My blog is new. There is not much traffic, but I have visitors from the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, the Middle East, and even Africa and China.

Image source:https://www.translatemedia.com/translation-blog/exploring-worlds-power-languages/

The Malaysian English

The Malaysian English

Here are some of the interesting Malaysian English:

 M- Malaysian English S - Standard English 

 M - Can you send me to the airport? S - Can you take me to the airport? 

 M - I am going to Ipoh, you can follow me if you wish. S - I am going to Ipoh, you can come along if you wish. 

 M - The impatient driver in the BMW horned at me. S - The impatient driver in the BMW sounded his horn at me. 

 M - My son is still schooling. S - My son is still at school. 

 M- My mother has gone marketing. S - My mother has gone to the market. 

 M- My boss fired me for coming to work late. S - My boss told me off for coming to work late. 

 M- My friend is attached to Petronas. S - My friend is working for Petronas. 

 M - When you go to Muar you can put up in my brother's house. S - When you go to Muar you can stay at my brother's house. 

 M - I bought this shirt at a cheap sale. S - I bought this shirt at a sale. 

 M- Last time my father was the manager of this company. S - Previously my father was the manager of this company.

Image source:https://cultureboleh.com/manglish-a-truly-unique-malaysian-language

The Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou

This is a picture taken at The Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou. According to Chinese writing, the English version should be 'POLICE ON DUTY".