The idiom “change of heart” doesn’t literally mean that you can swap one organ with another. It means that you can change your mind, usually after long consideration.
As you know, you can’t change your heart, you were born with it. But, the English idiom “change of heart” implies that you can.
Mary Had a Change of Heart and Set Her Little Lamb Free
You may know the Nursery Rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. Taking from that, I have an example of the idiom “change of heart” to share:
Mary had a little lamb. Mary loved her little lamb. But, one day she had a change of heart and decided it was time to set the little lamb free. For she knew that to love something is to let it go. If it returns, it loves you.
There are some common color idioms used frequently by native English speakers. Here is a list of the 6 most popular color idioms to make you sound native in English.
6 Popular color idioms: Meaning with examples
1. Red Tape: To do something with excessive formality and rules, before any official action.
Example 1: Immigration and getting a visa to Canada involves a lot of red tapes.
Example 2: The government involves unnecessary red tape in approving official documents when applying for a passport.
2. Black and white: To judge everything as either one way or the other, good or bad.
Example 1: The boss evaluates the performance of the team in black and white, he does not allow space for excuses.
Example 2: She saw everything in black and white when it came to her children’s faults.
3. Golden opportunity: It is an opportunity or chance to succeed in something, without losing an opportunity.
Example 1: The team did not want to miss the golden opportunity of participating in the state football match.
Example 2: She grabbed on to the free pass for the concert considering it to be a golden opportunity to meet her favorite artist.
4. Catch red-handed: To catch someone in an act of deceit or robbery.
Example 1: The thief was caught red-handed when he tried to sneak out through the window.
Example 2: Roy was caught red-handed while stealing office supplies.
5. Once in a blue moon: Very rare, something that does not happen occasionally.
Example 1: Claire attended a live concert once in a blue moon only when she had her favorite artist performing in her city.
Example 2: He visited his parents once in a blue moon, due to the differences they had years ago.
6. Blackout: To Faint, lose consciousness. A period when total lights are put off for temporary reasons.
Example 1: She had a blackout after the car accident.
Example 2: The city underwent a power blackout after the severe cyclone attack.
Meaning and use of Passive voice in a proper sentence
How do I use Passive Voice in a proper sentence?
There’s a format for converting Simple Present Tense Active Voice sentences into the Passive Voice. It’s:
Object + is/are + Past Participle
For Example, “The pottery is made by Gilda.”
“The pottery” is the Object. And then we have “is.” “Made.” “Made” is the Past Participle of the verb make. Finally, we throw the Preposition “by” into the mix and our Subject “Gilda.”
But, this can easily be rewritten in the Active Voice.
“Gilda makes the pottery.”
Sentences like this focus on the subject and the reader’s thoughts are with Gilda.
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As a writer, I’m often told not to use Passive Voice because it’s used to shift blame. Sentences like:
“Mistakes were made by the fire department,” place the focus on “mistakes” rather than the “fire department.” It’s almost like the fire department wants the reader to be aware of the mistakes but only vaguely associate the fire department with them. To rectify the sentence, in regards to placing blame, not grammar, it might be better to write:
“The fire department made mistakes.”
Even style guides suggest using Passive Voice lightly.
However, Passive Voice can be used to highlight a sentence’s Object. Or, as aptly described by Steven Pinker, “Passive [Voice] allows the writer to direct the reader’s gaze, like a cinematographer choosing the right camera angle (The Sense of Style).”
For example:
“The pottery is made by Gilda,” draws attention to “the pottery.” Typically, “the pottery” would be in the sentence’s Object and the sentence would read like this:
Back in the 1900s, the term “green fingers” was popular in the United Kingdom. It came from the green-stained fingers of farmers.
Often, plant extracts are used to dye fabric. Many plants secrete a stain. And so, during the harvest, the fingertips of farmers’ would become green with plant dyes.
The earliest use of “green fingers” came from the novel “The Misses Make-Believe” by Mary Stuart Boyd, a Scottish author.
She wrote:
“What old wives call green fingers: those magic digits that appear to ensure the growth of everything they plant.”
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Later, the phrase “green thumb” came about. It was first used in the Daily Globe, in 1937.
An American journalist wrote:
“Miss Dvorak has what is known as the green thumb. That’s horticultural slang for being a successful gardener.”
Having a green thumb is a blessing. Those who have a green thumb make the plants grow. And, it’s said that “the lady who has a green thumb never lacks beauty, she is surrounded by flowers, nor goes hungry, food springs from the earth for her.”
Of course, having a green thumb can be cultivated and many have found their green thumb during the pandemic.
Structure and Rules of Using Past Continous Passive Voice
There are times you may want to write in both Passive Voice and Past Continuous tense. Simply, the Past Continuous tense can be identified by the past tense form of “be” and Verbs ending in ing.
For example, the sentence:
“Many elephants were being killed by poachers,” suggests that elephants had been killed by poachers, but no longer are. Something stopped the elephants from being killed.
Passive Voice is deployed to highlight a sentence’s Object. In our case, “elephants.” By writing the above example, we want the reader to focus on the “elephants” rather than the poachers. “For example,” the sentence could be rewritten in an Active Voice like so:
“Poachers were killing elephants.”
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Psychologically, we are trained to focus on a sentence’s header. A sentence’s subject is much more significant to the reader or listener.
You may ask, how was this sentence constructed? There’s a simple format to follow. It goes like this:
Object + was/were + being + Past Participle Simple, right?
The idiom, “green-eyed monster,” comes from Shakespeare’s Othello, a play about jealousy. And, jealousy is referred to as the “green-eyed monster,” in this work of fiction. In fact, there’s no actual monster or players with green eyes in Othello, it’s just to represent envy.
Othello’s Green-Eyed Monster
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In the play, Lago, the antagonist, says “O! beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyed monster which doth mocks the meat it feeds on.” Or simply put, jealousy, the “green-eyed monster,” makes a monster of anyone who lets it into their life, hence, it mocks that which it feasts upon.
It’s believed that the idiom “green-eyed monster” alludes to the eyes of cats. Their eyes tease their prey before pouncing on them. But, as is the case with all idioms, its origin is unknown, there’s no telling where Shakespeare heard it before he wrote it in Othello.
Meaning of Green-Eyed in Western Culture
In Western culture, green is associated with 2 things, money, and jealousy. And those who envy are said to have “a green complexion.” So, green is usually associated with greed, envy, jealousy, and money.
My advice to you, while studying English, is don’t let the green-eyed monster get you. It mocks the meat it feeds on. If someone has better grammar or pronunciation than you, that’s fine, practice until you reach your goals. Anything is better than falling to the green-eyed monster.
A euphemism, by definition, is the substitution of an inoffensive phrase for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant. They are figures of speech that can be idioms or milder synonyms.
Euphemism, with its awkwardly placed diphthong, is pronounced \ˈyü-fəˌmi-zəm\, for those who are familiar with the phonetic alphabet. It’s one of the few English words that begin with eu.
Venus is au naturel
Speaking of euphemisms, you may be familiar with Sandro Botticelli’s, “The Birth of Venus”, and you may call the painting “a nude.” If you did so, you wouldn’t be wrong.
Yet, it’s important to recall that Western Civilization has roots in Puritanism, a belief that certain subjects are taboo to speak of and that certain phrases may evoke wanton thoughts. With this in mind, you may want to use the euphemism:
“Botticelli’s Venus is au naturel,”
When referring to the painting, it’s less provocative than using the words “naked” or “nude” in describing it.
The gerund is a noun formed from a verb. Simply put, we create Gerunds by adding ing to the end of a Verb. Some examples of Gerunds are “running, staying,” and “buying.”
Gerunds are used after certain Verbs, like “enjoy, avoid, finish, suggest,” and “keep.” Below are some examples of the Gerund in action.
Gerunds may appear alone or with other words to form a Gerund Phrase. Collectively, this phrase behaves like a single noun.
The simple past (also termed as the past simple tense, past indefinite tense, or preterite tense) is a verb tense to indicate an action that is completed in the past. It is to speak about something that has already happened.
Simple past tense examples
Base Form
Past Tense Form
Example Sentences
Play
Played
She played the piano every morning last month.
Take
Took
He took the bus to school.
Travel
Traveled
Jack traveled to Switzerland last year.
Write
Wrote
She wrote her journal yesterday night.
Go
Went
Jill went to school today morning.
Eat
Ate
She ate salad for lunch.
Work
Worked
She worked as a banker earlier than her current job.
