Focus on Words

So what differentiates them? Left-handers’ brains are said to be structured
differently. One theory is that they process information via “visual simultaneous’’
methods, where several threads of thoughts can be processed at the same time, making
it easier for them to multitask and solve problems for right handers. The latter,
according to the theory, process information using analysis, breaking problems down
into pieces and analyzing them one at a time. Left handers use synthesis, which means
they solve a problem by looking at it as a whole.
In spite of all their talents and skills, historically, left-handed people have often
faced prejudice and discrimination. The origins of the word left have negative
connotations in many languages.
Schools in many societies forced children to use their right hands ,which seriously
affected their development. In contrast, ’right’ is a synonym for correct and proper,and
can stand for authority and justice in English and in many other European languages.
In the final analysis, however, it may be that left is in fact better than right!
1. Study the combinations with the word hand. Can you guess their
meaning?
1. hold sb’s hand
2. shake hands
3. give a hand
4. close/near at hand
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5. hand-to-mouth
6. hand out
7. hand over
8. hand in
2. Translate into Armenian:
1. He sat by the bed and held her hand. 2. The two men introduced themselves
and shook hands. 3. Would you like a hand with the cleaning up? 4. I always keep
my calculator close at hand. 5. It was a hand-to-mouth existence. 6.Can you give me
a hand with these boxes? 7. She was handing out drinks. 8. Would you hand these
papers out for me. 9. He handed the car keys over to Stella. 10. All essays must be
handed in by Tuesday. 11. She was in safe hands with my parents. 12. The company
is now in safe hands.
3. Hedging and boosting
We often want to avoid making statements that are too strong, for example, when
we present ideas about something that we are still working on. In these situations we
can use a technique called hedging.
this seems to be
this appears to be
this is believed to be
this is thought to be
When we do want to make a more direct statement, we can use a technique called
boosting. Instead of this is we can say this is undoubtedly/defi nitely
The structures are common in written texts.
4. Find cases of hedging and hoosting in the exercise.
1. It can undoubtedly be found in our area.
2. We appear to use them in our everyday life.
3. Seems to help a lot in such cases