PROVERB & RIDDLE

Hi dear, that's really nice to meet you again.
This time we're going to learn about proverbs and riddles.  People tend to use proverbs to comment on a situation, often at the end of a true story someone told, or in response to some events.
Proverbs may come in:

A.  Warning/Advice/Morals
       Eg.  Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
              Never judge a book by its cover.

B.   Key elements
       Proverbs can also be grouped by some elements, for example, animals and birds.
       Eg.  When the cat's away, the mice will play.
               One swallow doesn't make a summer.

C.   Visualizing
       Proverbs can also visualizes through pictures.
       Eg.   Many hands make light work.
               All that glitters is not gold

Let's take a look for more proverbs in details:

What are proverbs?

Every culture has a collection of wise sayings that offer advice about how to live your life. These sayings are called "proverbs".

How can you use proverbs to learn English?

It's good to know the really common English proverbs because you hear them come up in conversation all the time. Sometimes people say the entire proverb to give advice to a friend. More often, someone will say just part of a proverb like this:

You know what they say: when the going gets tough...

(Read #5 below to learn the rest of this proverb and what it means.)

Learning proverbs can also help you to understand the way that people in English-speaking cultures think about the world.

Proverbs can also give you good example sentences which you can memorize and use as models for building your own sentences.

The most important English Proverbs

This is a list of some of the most important and well-known English proverbs. Below each one, there's a simple explanation.

The meanings of some of these phrases have shifted over the years, so a proverb might have originally had a different meaning than the one I explain.

1.     "Two wrongs don't make a right."

      When someone has done something bad to you, trying to get revenge will only make        things worse.

2.     "The pen is mightier than the sword."

Trying to convince people with ideas and words is more effective than trying to force people to do what you want.

3.     "When in Rome, do as the Romans."

 Act the way that the people around you are acting. This phrase might come in handy when you're traveling abroad notice that people do things differently than you're used to.

4.     "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."

You can get better service if you complain about something. If you wait patiently, no one's going to help you.

5.     "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."

Strong people don't give up when they come across challenges. They just work harder.

6.     "No man is an island."

You can't live completely independently. Everyone needs help from other people.

7.     "Fortune favors the bold."

People who bravely go after what they want are more successful than people who try to live safely.

8.     "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones."

Don't criticize other people if you're not perfect yourself.

9.     "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst."

Bad things might happen, so be prepared.

10. "Better late than never."

It's best to do something on time. But if you can't do it on time, do it late.

11. "Birds of a feather flock together."

People like to spend time with others who are similar to them.

12. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

If you have an enemy, pretend to be friends with them instead of openly fighting with them. That way you can watch them carefully and figure out what they're planning.

13. "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Pictures convey emotions and messages better than written or spoken explanations. That's why PhraseMix has illustrations :)

14. "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

Things that are offered for free always have a hidden cost.

15. "There's no place like home."

Your own home is the most comfortable place to be.

16. "Discretion is the greater part of valor."

Sometimes it's important to know when to give up and run away, instead of always acting brave and maybe getting hurt.

17. "The early bird catches the worm."

You should wake up and start work early if you want to succeed

18. "You can't judge a book by its cover."

Things sometimes look different than they really are. A restaurant that looks old and small  might have amazing food, for example.

 

 19. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch."

Your plans might not work out, so don't start thinking about what you'll do after you succeed. Wait until you've already succeeded, and then you can think about what to do next.

  20. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Have a backup plan. Don't risk all of your money or time in one plan.

         Look at the following pictures of the common proverbs :

 A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved.

Riddles

1. Q: What has a foot but no legs?

          A: A snail

      2. Q: Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it?

          A: Nothing

      3. Q: What comes down but never goes up?
          A: Rain

      4. Q: I’m tall when I’m young and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
          A: A candle

      5. Q: Mary’s father has 5 daughters – Nana, Nene, Nini, Nono. What is the fifth daughters name?
          A: If you answered Nunu, you are wrong. It’s Mary!

      6. Q: How can a pants pocket be empty and still have something in it?
          A: It can have a hole in it.

      7. Q: What goes up when rain comes down?
          A: An umbrella!

      8. Q: What is the longest word in the dictionary?
          A: Smiles, because there is a mile between each ‘s’

      9. Q: If I drink, I die. If i eat, I am fine. What am I?
          A: A fire!

     10. Q: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
           A: Short

     11. Q: What travels around the world but stays in one spot?
           A: A stamp!

     12. Q: What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment and never in one thousand years?
           A: The letter M

     13. Q: What has 4 eyes but can’t see?
           A: Mississippi

     14. Q: If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?
           A: A Secret.

     15. Q: Take away my first letter, and I still sound the same. Take away my last letter, I still sound   the same. Even take away my letter in the middle, I will still sound the same. I am a five letter word. What am I?
          A: EMPTY

    16. Q: What has hands but can not clap?
          A: A clock

     17. Q: What can you catch but not throw?
           A: A cold.

     18. Q: A house has 4 walls. All of the walls are facing south, and a bear is circling the house.    What color is the bear?
           A: The house is on the north pole, so the bear is white.

      19. Q: What is at the end of a rainbow?
            A: The letter W!

      20. Q: What is so delicate that saying its name breaks it?
            A: Silence.

Grammatical structure of English proverb and riddle:

1. imperative - negative
2. imperative - positive
3. Parallel phrase
4. Declarative sentence

That's all about proverb and riddle, we will meet in next session.