Author: Alvin

As I was reading the piece “Brave We Are” by Tahira Naqvi, I came across the word “Susceptible” in the fourth sentence of the seventh paragraph in the piece. At first looking at this word I thought it meant being suspicious or anything near that due to the word starting with ‘sus’. But according to the Merriam-Webster, the word ‘Susceptible’ means ‘”open,  subject to, influence”. Based on the definitions given by the Merriam-Webster by a simple google search, I now know what the word means. The word was included in the following quote “I say wisely, with the absolute knowledge that ‘things’ is susceptible to misinterpretation.” At first this I didn’t know it meant, but now that I know what ‘Susceptible’ means, I now understand the context. By this quote, I can interpret that it means things are by default are open to being misinterpreted.

As I was reading “The Turbid Ebb and Flow of Misery” by Margaret Sanger on the train to school, I came across the word “Sentiment” on the third sentence of the first paragraph in which I was not familiar with. It belongs in the line “Sentiment was especially vehement in the matter of having babies.”. At first, I thought the word ‘Sentiment’ and ‘Sentimental Value’ is the same thing, but it is actually very different. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of the word “Sentiment” means a view of or attitude toward a situation or event. Basically it could be more or less of a opinion or a feeling. Now that I know what the context of where the word “Sentiment” belongs in means, as quoted earlier the context would mean that ‘the feeling of importance of having babies’ in the simplest way I could interpret it.

Link of a picture that represents the word Sentiment -https://gyazo.com/fbf94cb39b03065dbb762020b095169b

During class on August 30th, right away when the class and I started reading “Coming to an Awareness of Language Malcolm X” together, the first word that I was not familiar with was the word ‘Inaction’. It was used in the very first sentence of the piece and quote “I’ve never been one for inaction.”. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word ‘Inaction’ means lack of action or activity. At first, when I encountered the word I thought it meant the opposite of what it was supposed to mean, which was being active. Now that I understand the word, the context that followed up with the first sentence now makes a lot of sense. For example, the next sentence that comes up is “Everything I’ve felt strongly about, I’ve done something about.” Which does not contradict what Malcolm stated in the first sentence, because if he was actually an inaction person then he wouldn’t have done anything about whatever he felt strongly about. Also when I was looking up the word, the word “Idleness” came up as a synonym in which it gave me a better understanding of what the word ‘Inaction’ means.

 

Link of a picture that represents the word inaction – https://gyazo.com/4d09c8da89124a17f723659a17661f79