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KnowyourEnglishmeaningofsophomoreTheHindu

BooksKnowYourEnglish
Published:December30,201322:26IST|Updated:December30,201322:27IST

KnowyourEnglishmeaningofsophomore
S.UPENDRAN

Whatisthemeaningofshotinthedark?
(Navinesan,Tirupattur)
ThisAmericanexpressionismostlyusedininformalcontextstomeantotakeawildguess.
Whenwewereinschool,theteachersometimesaskedaquestiontowhichwedidntknowtheanswer.Whatdidwedo
insuchasituation?Wetriedtoguesstheanswerwetookashotinthedark.
Whenyoutakeashotinthedark,youattempttodosomethingwithoutreallyknowingmuchaboutit.Justasitis
extremelydifficulttohitatargetwhenitisdark,onecannothopetoansweraparticularquestionorquerywhenone
doesnotknowanythingaboutthesubjectmatter.Thebestthatonecandoisguess.
*WhenheaskedmehowIwouldsolvetheproblem,Itoldhim.Itwasnothingmorethanashotinthedark.
*Thereisnonegativemarkinginthistest.So,youcanaffordtotakeashotinthedark.
Theexpressiontakeashotisfrequentlyusednowadaystomeantogivesomethingatry.
Howistheexpressioncoupdtatpronounced?
(VishalBhagat,Nashik)
Thefirstsyllablecouprhymeswithboo,shoeandtoo,whilethedeispronouncedlikethewordday.Thea
soundslikethearincar,parandfar,andthefinaltissilent.
OnewayofpronouncingthisFrenchexpressioniskoodayTAAwiththemainstressonthefinalsyllable.Itliterally
meansstrokeofthestate.
Thetermisnormallyusedtorefertoanytypeofviolentrevolutionaryuprising.
Forexample,whenademocraticallyelectedgovernmentisoverthrownbythemilitary,itcanbecalledacoupdtat.In
everydaycontexts,theexpressionisreducedtocoup.
*Therewasacoupdtat/coupwhilethePrimeMinisterwasawayonatrip.
Thewordcoupcanalsobeusedtomeananexpectedlysuccessfulachievement.
*BygettingAamirKhantoreleaseherbook,Dharanipulledoffamajorcoup.
Whatisthemeaningofsophomore?
(TMrinali,Bangalore)
First,letusdealwiththepronunciationofthisword.Thesophinthefirstsyllableislikethesofinsoft,andthe
followingoisliketheainchina.Thefinalsyllableispronouncedlikethewordmore.Thewordispronounced
SOFemorewiththestressonthefirstsyllable.
ThewordismostlyusedinAmericanEnglishtorefertostudentswhoareintheirsecondyearofhighschoolorcollege.
Astudentwhoisinthefirstyeariscalledafreshman,andoneinthefinalyearisasenior.
SophomorecomesfromtheLatinsophismmeaningaclever,butfalseargument.Studentswhoareintheirsecond
yearthinkthattheyknowalotalthoughtheyreallydont.
*Whenhebecameasophomore,Adityagrewinconfidence.
Thewordsophomoricisfrequentlyusedineverydaycontextstomeanbehavinglikeasophomoreinotherwords,
displayinglackofmaturityorbehavinginaverysillymanner.
*Ifyouaskme,Niteshhasasophomoricsenseofhumour.
*TheargumentsKusumcameupwithweresophomoric.
******
Hewhobreaksaresolutionisaweaklinghewhomakesoneisafool.FMKnowles
upendrankye@gmail.com
Keywords:sophomore,coupdtat,shotinthedark,Englishlanguage,communicationskills,English
proficiency,KnowyourEnglish

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