The Difference between “GOAT” and “Goat” in Sports

This lesson will be illustrative for easy comprehension. The difference between “GOAT” (in capital letters) and “Goat” (in small letters) in sports is one that is not known to many. Thus people, especially football fans, abuse these words on a daily basis. 

If, for example, Messi is the greatest of all time, say: Messi is the GOAT (all in capital letters). This simply means Messi has performed better than anyone else ever. 

GOAT is an acronym for Greatest Of All Time. And it used to describe the person who has performed better than anyone else ever, especially in a sport. 

However, if Messi caused his team’s failure or defeat, refer to him as “goat” (in small letters); e.g., Messi’s error made him the goat (not GOAT) of last night’s game.

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How To Make Your Writing More Formal

While communicating with business people, the language you use must be consistently appropriate in style and tone.

The following are the basic features of formal writing:

1. Write all verbs in full

Do not use contracted forms like don’t or can’t. Do not use abbreviations such as info (for information) and asap (for as soon as possible).

2. Limit the use of passive voice

However, there are some situations where passive verb forms are preferred to active forms. For example, active verb forms used with the first person singular are not considered appropriate in formal or academic writing. 

Write ‘A copy of the document will be mailed to you as soon as possible’ instead of ‘I will mail you a copy of the document asap.’

3. Watch your vocabulary

Certain words are considered informal. Examples are: fix, begin, start, OK, thanks etc. Avoid them in formal writing. Instead use words like repair (for fix), commence (for start/begin), in order/all right (for OK) and thank you (for thanks).

4. Avoid informal intensifiers like really and so

Instead use more sophisticated ones such as extremely, highly, entirely etc.

5. Limit the use of phrasal verbs

As far as possible avoid using them. But if that is not possible, limit their use. It is usually possible to express the same idea using standard verb 

forms.

6. Certain discourse markers are considered informal

Avoid using them. For example, write ‘incidentally’ instead of ‘by the way.’

7. Do not leave out words

Ellipsis is not acceptable in formal writing. Write ‘I hope to see you soon’ instead of ‘Hope to see you soon.’

© Joseph Baidoo

Joseph Baidoo is a Ghanaian and is popularly known on social media as Misty Joe.

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The Difference between PREGNANT FOR, PREGNANT BY and PREGNANT WITH

If your husband gets you pregnant, you are pregnant BY your husband, not FOR your husband.

Use “PREGNANT FOR” to show time frame, e.g., She has been trying to get pregnant FOR a year now.

On the other hand, use “PREGNANT WITH” to tell that you have a child developing in your uterus, e.g., I am pregnant WITH a child.

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How To Answer WOULD YOU MIND and WOULD YOU CARE Questions

Non-native speakers of English find it difficult to give correct answers to WOULD YOU MIND and WOULD YOU CARE questions. They say YES when they are supposed to say NO, and vice versa; thus they lose out on so many profitable things. This article is written to solve such problem as it, in simple terms, explains the difference between “Would you mind?” and “Would you care?”

  

Q1: Would you mind if I brought Tammy to the party?

If you want the person to bring Tammy to the party, say “No, I wouldn't (mind).” If you say YES, it means you don't want Tammy to attend the party.

Q2: Would you care for a drink?

This part is very simple. YES means you want a drink. And NO means you don't want a drink.

In a nutshell, when you use “MIND,” NO means YES. But when you use “CARE,“ YES means YES.

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How To Know You Have a COVENANT with POVERTY

1. When money comes, you think of spending, not investing.

2. The total value of your clothes is more than the total value of your bank account.

3. You take loans to buy consumables, not to make investments.

4. In the last year, you never read a book, but you watched multiple movies.

5. You struggled to buy the latest iPhone, but won’t even think of buying a piece of land of equal price.

6. You know the top 10 goal scores in the EPL, but you don’t know the top 10 gainers in the stock exchange.

7. You know the vital statistics of every beautiful girl/handsome guy in your neighbourhood, but you don’t know the vital areas of growth in the economy.

© Reno Omokri 

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Warning Signs You Should Not Marry Her

1. She requires maintenance (you owe ONLY you wife maintenance).

2. Her phone, clothes and jewellery cost more than your annual pay.

3. She’s good at slaying and bad at praying.

4. She doesn’t encourage you to save.

5. Your bank balance has been steadily reducing since you met her.

6. She encourages/suggests that you eat out regularly.

7. All her friends are just like her-high maintenance, low or no income.

8. She makes demands, but does not make contributions.

© Reno Omokri 

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BIOLOGY: Second Term’s Scheme of Work for SSS 1 – 3

Below is second term's Biology scheme of work for Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) 1 – 3.

SECOND TERM’S SCHEME OF WORK FOR SSS 1

Week 1: Tissue and Supporting System 

I. Definition of supporting and systems

II. Types of skeleton: Hydrostatic skeleton, Exo (ecto) skeleton, Endo Skeleton

III. Skeletal materials:  Chitin, cartilage, and bone

IV. Functions of supporting tissues in plants and animals – protection, support, locomotion, strength, rigidity, resistance to forces of wind and water 

Week 2: Vertebrate Skeleton 

I. Axial skeleton – The Skull and vertebral column

II. Appendicular skeleton – The limbs, sternum and ribs, limb girdle 

Week 3: Supporting Tissue in Plants

I. Types of supporting tissue in plants 

II. Location of supporting tissue in plants

III. Structures and components of supporting tissues in plants, e.g., collenchymas, paranchyma, xylem, phloem, etc.

Week 4: Nutrition in Animals 

I. Food substances – classes with examples

II. Concept of balanced diet and its importance 

III. Food test

B. Mode of Nutrition 

I. Types of heterotrophic nutrition – holozoic, saprophytic and parasite nutrition 

II. Feeding mechanism in holozoic organisms – filter feeding, fluid feeding and deposit feeding 

Week 5: Mammalian Teeth 

I. Forms – milk and permanent teeth

II. Types – Incisors, canines, permolar and molar

III. Structures of a tooth (canine/molar)

IV. Dental formular and adaption – Herbivores,  carnivores and omnivores 

B. Enzymes 

I. Definition of enzymes

II. Characteristics of enzymes

III. Types of digestive enzymes – sources, location, substance acted upon and effect/products 

IV. Importance/Functions of enzymes 

Week 6: Basic Ecological Concepts 

I. Components of an ecosystem 

– Biotic (living) and Abiotic (non-living) component 

– Aquatic and terrestrial component 

II. Definitions of common terms in ecological studies: environment, population, biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, nicher habitat, biotic, community, ecosystem 

III. Local communities (biomes) – Nigeria ecological region (sahel, sudan, guinea savanna, tropical forest, swamp forest)

IV. Major biomes of the world: Tropical forest, savanna, desert, shrub, apro – alphine and swamps 

Week 7: Population Studies by Sampling Method 

I. Population size, population dominance, population density

II. Factors affecting population

III. Ecological factors affecting aquatic and terrestrial habitat

IV. Importance of ecological factors to population of plant and animals 

Week 8: Ecological Factors 

I. Relationship between soil types and water holding effects of soil on vegetation 

II. Simple measurement of ecological factors and measuring instrument, e.g., physical factors and edaphic factors 

Week 9: Functioning Ecosystem 

I. Definitions of autotrophy and heterotrophy 

II. Definition of terms – Producer, consumers, aquatic and terrestrial 

III. Examples of producers and consumers 

Week 10: Trophic Levels 

I. Definition of food chain and food web

II. Non-cycle nature of energy transfer

III. Nutrient movement (energy flow) in aquatic and terrestrial habitat

IV. Pyramid of number and energy 

V. Nature of energy flow in food chain and food web

Week 11 – 12: Revision/Examination 

ALSO SEE: Biology: Third Term's Scheme of Work SSS 1 and 2

SECOND TERM’S SCHEME OF WORK FOR SSS 2

Week 1: Conservation of Natural Resources

I. Definition 

II. Needs or importance of conservation 

III. Methods or ways of consenting natural resources (Legislation Education, Erection of packs, and reserves) 

IV. Agencies responsible for conservation 

V. Problems associated with conservation 

Week 2: Pest and Diseases of Crop

I. Definition of pest

II. Classification of pest by the pest of the plants they attack, e.g., stem borers, root feeders, leaf feeder, plants and seed feeder)

III. The animal types: Invertebrates, e.g., nematodes, anthropode, locust etc.); Vertebrate pests (birds), e.g., gull, weaver bird, mammal (e.g., rodent monkey)

Week 3: Pest and Diseases of Crop 

I. Life cycle and control of pest

II. Disease caused by pest and their agents, e.g., viral disease, bacterial diseases, and fungi disease

III. Methods of pest diseases control – Physical, Biological and Chemical methods 

Week 4: Reproductive System in Fish and Reptiles 

I. Structures of male and female reproductive organs 

II. Parts and functions of male and female reproductive organs of fish and reptiles 

III. Structure of male and female gametes 

IV. Differences between male and female reproductive organs of fish and reptiles 

Week 5: Reproductive System in Bird and Mammals

I. Structures of male and female reproductive system 

II. Parts and functions of male and female reproductive system 

III. Structures and differences of male and female gametes 

IV. Differences between male and female reproductive organs

Week 6: Reproductive System in Bird and Mammals II

I. Structural differences in the egg of vertebrates 

II. Tabulation and comparison of reproduction in fish, reptiles, birds and mammals 

B. Reproductive System in Plants 

I. Structure and function of the floral parts 

II. Arrangement of the major reproductive parts (whorls) 

Week 7: Reproductive System in Plants II 

I. Types of flower

II. Types of ovaries 

III. Important terms often used to study flowers, e.g., bisexuals, mono-sexual, inflorescence, regular incomplete etc.

Week 8: Pollination in Plants 

I. Definition and types

II. Features of self pollinated flowers

III. Features of cross pollinated flowers

IV. Agents of pollination – water, wind, insect, animals

Week 9: Regulation of Internal Environment 

I. Definition of homeostasis 

II. Organs and processes involved in homeostasis 

III. The structure, function and disease of kidney

IV. Effects of kidney diseases and their possible remedies 

Week 10: The Liver 

I. The structure, function and diseases of liver 

II. Effects of liver diseases and remedies 

III. Processes and metabolism of deamination, and metabolism of carbohydrate and lepids 

Week 11: Plant Hormones 

I. Definition and types 

II. Functions of the plant hormones 

III. Effects of axin on lateral development, leaf fall and initiation of adventious roots 

IV. Modern application of axin and other hormones, and with reference to early flowing, crop harvest and weed control etc.

Week 12 – 13: Revision/Examination 

SECOND TERM’S SCHEME OF WORK FOR SSS 3

Week 1: Revision 

I. Revision of all relevant topics in national examination 

II. Revision of past WAEC, NECO and UTME questions 

Week 2: Revision on Practicals 

Revision of past practical questions alternative to practical 

Week 3 – 4: General revision/Examination 

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AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE: Second Term's Scheme of Work for SSS 1 – 3

Below is second term's Agricultural Science scheme of work for Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) 1 – 3.

SECOND TERM’S SCHEME OF WORK FOR SSS 1

Week 1: Anatomy and Physiology

I. Meaning of anatomy and physiology

II. Systems of the body:

– Digestive (monogastric and ruminant)

– Reproductive system 

Week 2: Systems of the Body of Farm Animals

Systems of the body:

– Circulatory system

– Respiratory system 

– Nervous system

Week 3: Reproduction in Farm Animals 

I. Oestrus cycle with emphasis on heat period 

II. Mating in farm animals 

III.Gestation period 

IV. Parturition 

V. Lactation and colostrums 

Week 4: Egg Formation in Poultry 

Processes of egg formation in poultry

Week 5: Role of Hormones in Reproduction 

The role of hormones in reproduction

Week 6: Livestock Management 

Livestock management techniques:

– Good housing 

– Feeding 

Week 7: Livestock Management 

Livestock management techniques:

– Hygiene

– Finishing 

Week 8: Husbandry of Pulses (Groundnut, Cowpea)

– Method of propagation

– Climatic and soil requirements

– Pre-planting and planting operations

– Manuring and fertilizer requirements

– Harvesting, processing and storage 

Week 9: Husbandry of Fibre Crops, e.g.,Cotton 

– Method of propagation

– Climatic and soil requirements

– Pre-planting and planting operations

– Manuring and fertilizer requirements

– Harvesting, processing and storage of fibre

Week 10: Rock Formation

I. Definition of rocks

II. Rock types: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic 

III. Rock formation processes/soil formation 

Week 11: Practical 

Identification of the various rock types

Week 12 – 13: Revision/Examination

ALSO SEE: Agricultural Science: First Term's Scheme of Work for SSS 1 -- 3

SECOND TERM’S SCHEME OF WORK FOR SSS 2

Week 1: Range Management and Improvement 

I. Definition of rangeland

II. Importance of rangeland 

III. Characteristics of rangeland

Week 2: Rangeland Improvement 

Methods of rangeland improvement:

– Controlled stocking 

– Rotational grazing 

– Use Fertilizers 

– Reseeding etc.

Week 3: Animal Nutrition 

I. Definition and meaning of nutrition 

II. Sources and functions of nutrients, e.g., carbohydrates, data, minerals, vitamins, water and proteins

Week 4: Rations

I. Types of ration: balanced ration etc.

II. Malnutrition 

III. Effects of malnutrition 

Week 5: Environmental Factors Affecting Agricultural Production 

Climatic factors: rainfall, temperature, light, and wind 

Week 6: Biotic Factors Affecting Agricultural Production 

Biotic Factors: predator, parasites, soil micro organisms, pests and disease organisms etc.

Week 7: Edaphic Factors Affecting Agricultural Production 

Edaphic Factors: Soil types, soil PH, soil texture etc.

Week 8: Plant Nutrients 

Definition of micro and macro nutrients, functions and deficiency symptoms 

Week 9: Factors Influencing Availability of Nutrients 

Factors: Soil PH, excess of other nutrients, leaching, crop removal, oxidation etc.

Week 10: Methods of Replenishing Plant Nutrients in the Soil 

Methods of replenishing plant nutrients:

– Rotational cropping 

– Organic manuring

– Inorganic manuring 

– Fallowing 

– Liming

– Cover cropping etc.

Week 11: Nutrients Cycles 

I. Nitrogen cycle

II. Carbon cycle

III. Water cycle 

Week 12: Effects of Farming Practices on the Soil

Farming practices and the soil effects:

– Bush burning 

– Over-grazing 

– Clean clearing 

– Stumping 

– Fertilizer application 

– Inorganic manuring etc.

Week 13 – 14: Revision/Examination 

SECOND TERM’S SCHEME OF WORK FOR SSS 3

Week 1: Marketing of Agricultural Produce 

I. Meaning and importance of marketing 

II. Marketing agents:

a. Marketing boards 

Week 2: Marketing of Agricultural Produce II

I. Marketing agents:

b. Cooperative societies 

c. Middlemen– wholesalers, retailers

d. Producers etc.

Week 3: Agricultural Extension 

I. Agricultural extension as a teaching and learning process

II. Agricultural extension programmes, e.g., ADP

III. Diffusion of new ideas and techniques  (innovations) to farmers 

Week 4 – 5: Revision/Examination 

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The Reason Why “NICE” Is the Most Useless Word in the English Dictionary

The most useless word in the English dictionary is NICE. What is NICE? An ambiguous word that makes you want to please people and displease yourself. NICENESS is no virtue. NICE people come last! No one MARRIES, VOTES for, INVESTS in or PROMOTES a NICE guy. More than education, more than connection, more than luck, clarity of purpose is what you need to be successful. And you can't have clarity if you are nice. 

There are 9 fruit of the Spirit and none of them is niceness. Let me give an example. It is nice to be handsome, but it’s more profitable to be successful. The attractiveness of money does not depend on its looks, but on the value it has. The Zimbabwean dollar is beautiful but useless. Have value and you will be attractive.

© Reno Omokri 

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