Reaching for Records (2)

Pursuit of Records
Breaking a world record requires extraordinary skill. But why spend time developing extraordinary skill at crushing eggs with one's toes or balancing a ladder on one's chin?

Fame: According to two-time world-record breaker Larry Olmsted, "Everyone wants to be famous." Breaking a record is a way to gain some recognition even if you don't become a household name.

Fortune: Alastair Galpin has made a career of breaking records. He gives school presentations about his experiences and offers companies publicity for sponsoring his record-breaking attempts.

Accomplishment: Grete Eliassen broke a record for ski jumping over a 31-foot platform called a hip. Her hip jump was the world's highest. She wanted to show her skill, proving that women could ski as well as men.

A compelling message: Jon Pritkin uses feats of strength during anti-bullying presentations in schools. He's even strong enough to roll a frying pan up like a wrap! Pritikin broke a record for rolling two together tighter than anyone before, hoping this would gain him more speaking opportunities.

Whatever their motivations, people have done some crazy things in pursuit of world records.


Grammar Gym
"But why spend time developing extraordinary skill at crushing eggs with one's toes or balancing a ladder on one's chin? "
why spend time: why should one spend time
- But why should one spend time developing extraordinary skill at crushing eggs with one's toes or balancing a ladder on one's chin?
- Why spend time sitting in your car in traffic jam when you can save time and money riding public transportation?


Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: Suprafixed Verbs

Many of us are familiar with heteronyms, words with the same spelling but different pronunciations and different meanings. But are you familiar with suprafixed heteronyms?

Superfixing simply describes the process of verbs morphing or becoming nouns. And as they do, their stress shifts from the second syllable to the first.

Right. Let's look an example we find through out today's lesson. The noun "record", it comes from the verb "record."

Hmm... Using both noun and the verb in a sentence, we might say, "The official arrived to record the man's attempt at breaking the record."

There are dozens of these kinds of heteronynms names English including present and present, permit and permit, produce and produce, which is a vocabulary word we'll encounter later this month.

OK. So again, If it's the noun, put the stress on the first syllable. If it's the verb, place the stress on the second syllable.

Now, suprafixing doesn't just happen  to verbs morphing iinto nouns.  micro just more into nouns. It happens more into adjective.

That's right. As an example, we could say, it took the man several years to effect his novel. Finally, last month, he decided it was perfect.


Language Lab
pursuit n.
/pɚˈsu:t/
the act of pursuing someone or something: such as a : the act of following or chasing someone or something
an attempt to find, achieve, or get something — + of
- Her pursuit of fame and wealth ended in tragedy.
- The workers went on strike in pursuit of a 5 percent increase in wages.
pursue v.
to follow and try to catch or capture (someone or something) for usually a long distance or time
- Sam wants to pursue a career in acting.

publicity n.
/pəˈblɪsəti/
something that attracts the attention of the public
- This publicity campaign successfully promoted the sales of the album.
- The publicity budget was cut by the committee.

compelling adj.
very interesting or exciting, so that you have to pay attention:
- The compelling evidence proved the suspect's innocence.
- The model's compelling looks attracted everyone's attention.

anti-bullying adj.
- The anti-bullying campaign made a great impact on campuses.



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