Until, Till and ’til

UNTIL, TILL AND ’TIL

The status of ’til versus until and till is often argued about and most style guides have something to say on the matter. The most common belief is that till is a shortened form of until. You can see how this could have grown up, but the truth of the matter is that till is by far the older word, being recorded from about the year 800, while it took another 400 years for until to appear in the language (it’s a compound of till with the archaic Old Norse und, as far as, which also survives in the archaic unto). But the first sense of till was to, as it still can be, for example, in Scots and some dialects.

Though the modern sense of till in standard English is always connected with time, this only appeared about 1300. The current position is that until is the more common of the two words and is generally considered to be slightly more formal, which is why it turns up more often in edited prose. It is also rather more likely to appear at the beginning of a sentence than is till. But till is perfectly good English and the choice of whether to use it or until is often decided by the rhythm of the sentence.

Your father’s version, ’til, has been created within the past century by people who believe that till is an abbreviation of until and want to mark it as such. It has often been said by style guides and dictionaries that it’s a mistake and it arouses passion in some people.

Most recent writers on language prefer to describe it as an informal version of until — it often turns up in newspapers, advertising and song lyrics, for example, and in informal set phrases like “shop ’til you drop”, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over” or “ ’Til we meet again”. But to use the spelling til without the preceding apostrophe is still regarded as wrong.

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Como usar “should”, “ought to” e “must”

Os três verbos do título podem ser traduzidos como “dever” e cada um deles tem usos próprios.

Should e ought to são usados para expressar obrigação moral, conselho, recomendação, dever. Veja alguns exemplos:

You look kind of sick. You should / ought to see a doctor.

Você parece meio doente. Você deveria ir ao médico.

I know I should / ought to study, but I’m so tired…

Sei que deveria estudar, mas estou tão cansado…

Must é usado para expressar obrigação forte, ordem, necessidade. Com esse sentido, também podemos usar have/has to.

I’m too fat. I must / have to lose weight.

Estou gordo demais. Tenho que/Devo perder peso.

O uso de must e should/ought to depende do que queremos expressar. Por exemplo, se formos ao médico e ele vir que estamos quase tendo um ataque cardíaco causado pelo excesso de cigarro ele vai dizer:

You must stop smoking!

Agora se o médico nos der somente um conselho amigável ele vai dizer:

You should stop smoking, it’s not good for your health.

Se quisermos expressar uma obrigação no passado usamos had to em vez de must.

I had to work on the weekend.

Tive que trabalhar no fim de semana.

O uso das formas negativas must not (mustn’t) e do not (don’t) / does not (doesn’t) have to também é diferente. Mustn’t indica uma proibição e don’t/doesn’t have to indica falta de obrigação/necessidade.

You mustn’t talk loud in a library.

Você não pode/deve falar algo numa biblioteca.

You don’t have to buy that book. I’ll lend you mine.

Você não precisa comprar aquele livro. Eu te empresto o meu.

O verbo must também é usado para expressar uma conclusão lógica, dedução, algo que deve ser verdade, em face das evidências:

I told her to be there at 7. It’s 7.10, so she must be there.

Eu lhe disse para estar lá às 7. São 7.10, então ela deve estar lá.

I’ve heard the new secretary used to be a model. She must be beautiful.

Ouvi dizer que a nova secretária era modelo. Ela deve ser bonita.

Nesse caso o sentido contrário de must é can’t.

She used to be a model, she can’t be ugly.

Ela era modelo, ela não pode ser feia. (é improvável)

This is it for today, see you next time!

Os Pronomes Interrogativos em Inglês

Hi, there!

Um assunto bem útil para quem está começando a aprender inglês são as questions words, os pronome interrogativos. Eles são essenciais para fazer perguntas que requerem uma informação como resposta. Vamos aprendê-los?

Who - quem (sujeito)

Who is that pretty girl? – Quem é aquela menina bonita?

Who told you about the accident? – Quem te contou sobre o acidente?

Who was talking to you? - Quem estava falando com você?

Whom - quem (objeto)

Whom did you meet at the party? - Quem você conheceu na festa? (Você conheceu “alguém” na festa.)

With whom did she go? – Com quem ela foi? (Ela foi com “alguém”.)

With whom did Paul play tennis? – Com quem Paul jogou tênis? (Ele jogou tênis com “alguém”.)

O uso de whom se restringe à linguagem formal. Na linguagem coloquial as frases acima ficam assim:

Who did you meet at the party?

Who did she go with?

Who did Paul play tennis with?

Whose - de quem

Whose book is this? – De quem é este livro?

Whose boots are those? – De quem são essas botas?

Whose camera is that? - De quem é aquema câmera?

Which - qual, quais (indica escolha)

Which of those ladies is your mother? – Qual daquelas senhoras é sua mãe?

Which are the easiest lessons? – Quais são as lições mais fáceis?

Which shirt do you prefer: the blue one or the red one? – Qual camisa você prefere: a azul ou a vermelha?

What - o que, que

What did you say? – O que você disse?

What would you like to drink? – O que você gostaria de beber?

What should I do? – O que eu deveria fazer?

Where - onde

Where did you spend your vacation? – Onde você passou suas férias?

Where are we going tonight? - Aonde vamos hoje à noite?

Where is James? – Onde está James?

Why - por que

Why did you do that? – Por que você fez isso?

Why don’t you come with us? – Por que você não vem conosco?

Why did he say that? – Por que ele disse isso?

When - quando

When was this building put up? – Quando este prédio foi construído?

When were you born? – Quando você nasceu?

When did she arrive? – Quando ela chegou?

How - como

How did you manage to do that? – Como você consegiu fazer isso?

How’s your family? – Como está sua família?

How can I forget that? – Como posso esquecer isso?

This is it for today, see you next time!

History of the Poppy

HISTORY OF THE POPPY

Why was the poppy chosen as the symbol of remembrance for Canada's war dead? The poppy, an international symbol for those who died in war, also had international origins.

A writer first made the connection between the poppy and battlefield deaths during the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, remarking that fields that were barren before battle exploded with the blood-red flowers after the fighting ended.

Prior to the First World War few poppies grew in Flanders. During the tremendous bombardments of that war the chalk soils became rich in lime from rubble, allowing 'popaver rhoeas' to thrive. When the war ended the lime was quickly absorbed, and the poppy began to disappear again.

Lieut-Col. John McCrae, the Canadian doctor who wrote the poem IN FLANDERS FIELDS, made the same connection 100 years later, during the First World War, and the scarlet poppy quickly became the symbol for soldiers who died in battle.

Three years later an American, Moina Michael, was working in a New York City YMCA canteen when she started wearing a poppy in memory of the millions who died on the battlefield. During a 1920 visit to the United States a French woman, Madame Guerin, learned of the custom. On her return to France she decided to use handmade poppies to raise money for the destitute children in war-torn areas of the country. In November 1921, the first poppies were distributed in Canada.

Thanks to the millions of Canadians who wear the flowers each November, the little red plant has never died. And neither have Canadian's memories for 117,000 of their countrymen who died in battle.

THE POPPY...THE FLOWER OF REMEMBRANCE

Each November, millions of poppies blossom in Canada. They blossom on the jackets, dresses and hats of nearly half the Canadian population and they have blossomed over 80 years, since 1921. The poppy is the symbol that individuals use to show that they remember those who were killed in the wars and peace keeping operations that Canada has been involved in.

The association of the poppy to those who had been killed in war had existed for at least 110 years prior to being adopted in Canada. There are records of a correspondent who, during the Napoleonic War, wrote of how thickly poppies grew over the graves of soldiers in the area of Flanders, France.

The person, who more than any other, that was responsible for the adoption of the poppy in Canada was a Canadian Medical Officer during the First World War. This person was Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of Guelph, Ontario.

John McCrae was a tall, boyish 43-year-old member of the Canadian Medical Corps. He was an artillery veteran of the Boer War in South Africa and was described as a person with the eye of a gunner, the hand of a surgeon, and the soul of a poet when he went into the line at Ypres on the 22nd of April 1915.

April 22 was the first time that the enemy used poison gas but the first attack failed and so did the next wave and the next. In fact, for 17 days and nights the allies repulsed wave after wave of the attacking enemy. McCrae wrote - "One can see the dead lying there on the front field. And in places where the enemy threw in an attack, they lie very thick on the slopes of the German trenches."

Lieutenant-Colonel McCrae, worked from a dressing station on the bank of the Yser Canal, dressing hundreds of wounded and never removed his clothes for the entire 17 days. At times the dead and wounded actually rolled down the bank from above his dugout. At other times, while awaiting the arrival of batches of wounded, he would watch the men at work in the burial plots which were quickly filling up. In time, McCrae and his unit were relieved and he wrote home " We are weary in body and wearier in mind. The general impression in my mind is one of a nightmare".

Lieutenant-Colonel McCrae came away from Ypres with 13 lines scrawled on a scrap of paper. The lines were a poem which started: "In Flanders fields the poppies blow..."

These were the lines which are enshrined in the innermost thoughts and hearts of all soldiers who hear them. John McCrae was their voice. The poem circulated as a folk song, by word of mouth and all who hear it are deeply touched. In the United States for example, the poem inspired the American Legion to also adopt the poppy as the symbol of Remembrance.

In Canada, the poppy was officially adopted by the Great War Veterans Association in 1921 on the suggestion of a Mrs. E. Guerin, a French citizen. But there is little doubt that the impact of John McCrae's poem influenced this decision.

The poem speaks of Flanders fields, but the subject is universal - the fear of the dead that they will be forgotten, that their death will have been in vain. Remembrance, as symbolized by the poppy, is our eternal answer which belies that fear.

Sadly, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae died of pneumonia at Wimereux near Boulogne, France on the 28th of January 1918 when he was 44 years old.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.