Language and Literature, Part 1
Abbreviations, authors who wrote from prison, name-words (eponyms), and the family of "-graphy" words — four very different but very learnable sections.
2.1 Abbreviations
| # | Abbreviation | Full form |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ABC | Audit Bureau of Circulation |
| 2 | ACF | Asian Cricket Foundation |
| 3 | CTBT | Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty |
| 4 | CITES | Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species |
| 5 | DNA | Deoxyribonucleic Acid |
| 6 | E&OE | Errors and Omissions Excepted |
| 7 | FTAA | Free Trade Area of the Americas |
| 8 | GLOBE | Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment |
| 9 | HUDCO | Housing and Urban Development Corporation |
| 10 | IDRC | International Development Research Centre |
| 11 | IGNOU | Indira Gandhi National Open University |
| 12 | INSAT | Indian National Satellite |
| 13 | MODVAT | Modified Value Added Tax |
| 14 | NTPC | National Thermal Power Corporation |
| 15 | PIB | Press Information Bureau |
| 16 | UNSCOM | United Nations Special Commission |
Indian organisations (5): HUDCO, IDRC, IGNOU, INSAT, NTPC, MODVAT, PIB. International bodies (5): CTBT, CITES, FTAA, UNSCOM, GLOBE. Media/sport (2): ABC, ACF. Science/notation (2): DNA, E&OE.
The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations has around 20,000 abbreviations and 36,000 definitions. It even includes texting abbreviations like BTW (by the way), BRB (be right back), GTG (got to go), LOL (laughing out loud), and TTYL (talk to you later).
2.2 Literature from Prison
Ten famous writers who wrote important works while imprisoned. Learn each person as a tiny story — where they were jailed, why, and what they wrote there.
| Author | Wrote where/why |
|---|---|
| Martin Luther King Jr. | "Letter from Birmingham Jail" — civil rights leader, jailed in Alabama, USA. |
| Jawaharlal Nehru | "Letters from a Father to His Daughter" — written to his 10-year-old daughter, teaching natural history. |
| Fyodor Dostoevsky | "A Little Hero" — written awaiting trial in a cell in St. Petersburg, Russia. |
| Oscar Wilde | "De Profundis" — a bitter letter to his lover, written while jailed. |
| Sir Walter Raleigh | "The History of the World" — written imprisoned in the Tower of London. |
| Adolf Hitler | "Mein Kampf" — written in a cell at Landsberg Castle, Germany. |
| Ezra Pound | "Pisan Cantos" — interned by the American army near Pisa, Italy. |
| Sir Thomas Malory | "Le Morte d'Arthur" — written imprisoned for theft in the 1450s. |
| John Bunyan | "Pilgrim's Progress" — 12 years in Bedford jail for preaching without permission. |
| Nelson Mandela | "Long Walk to Freedom" — 26 years imprisoned on Robben Island, South Africa. |
Fighting for civil/political rights (3): King, Mandela, Nehru. Wartime/political imprisonment (3): Hitler, Pound, Raleigh. Religious/moral reasons (1): Bunyan (preaching). Other (3): Dostoevsky (awaiting trial), Wilde (personal offence), Malory (theft).
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" = Martin Luther King Jr. "Letters from a Father to His Daughter" = Jawaharlal Nehru. Both have "letter(s)" in the title but are completely different books, by completely different authors, from completely different countries.
2.3 Eponyms
An eponym is the name of a thing named after a real person. Twelve everyday items, each with a person behind the name.
| Eponym | Named after… |
|---|---|
| Garibaldi (a biscuit with currants) | Italian soldier Giuseppe Garibaldi |
| Levis (a type of jeans) | Levi Strauss, an American immigrant from Bavaria |
| Bloomers (loose trousers to the knee) | American feminist Amelia Jenks Bloomer |
| Mackintosh (a raincoat) | Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh |
| Stetson (a wide-brimmed cowboy hat) | designer John Batterson Stetson |
| Teddy bear | US President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, who once saved a bear cub |
| Benedictine (a liqueur) | Benedictine monks who first made it |
| Pavlova (a meringue-cream dessert) | Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova |
| Leotard (a dancer's garment) | French acrobat Jules Leotard |
| Sandwich | John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich |
| Plimsoll (a canvas shoe) | Samuel Plimsoll |
| Wellington (a rubber boot) | Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington |
The raincoat is spelled "Mackintosh" (with a K), but the chemist it's named after was Charles Macintosh — spelled without the K. A classic spelling trap.
Clothing/wearables (5): Levis, Bloomers, Mackintosh, Stetson, Leotard, Plimsoll, Wellington (that's actually 7!). Food/drink (3): Garibaldi, Benedictine, Pavlova, Sandwich. Toy (1): Teddy bear. Each name traces back to a real historical person — that's the whole idea of an eponym.
The Earl of Sandwich hated leaving the gambling table to eat, so his servant brought him meat between two slices of bread — so he could keep playing and eating at the same time!
2.4 The ‘Graphy’ Words
Words ending in -graphy are almost always a science or art of some kind. Fifteen of them — the first part of the word is always the clue.
| Definition | Word |
|---|---|
| Spelling where every sound = one character, and no other | homography |
| Description of a place's features (rivers, valleys, roads) | topography |
| The art of fine handwriting | calligraphy |
| The description of man as a microcosm | microcosmography |
| Writing words with accepted, correct spelling | orthography |
| The art of writing many books | polygraphy |
| Communicating at a distance via electric wire | telegraphy |
| Capturing moving images on electronic media | videography |
| The scientific study of human populations | demography |
| Printing on a flat, ink-prepared surface | lithography |
| The record of past time; history | chronography |
| The art of writing letters | epistolography |
| Engraving to give an embossed/raised look | anaglyptography |
| The description of baths | balneography |
| The study of mountains | oreography |
tele- = distance (telegraphy, television). video- = to see (videography). demo- = people (demography, democracy). litho- = stone (lithography — printing from a stone/metal plate). chrono- = time (chronography — same root as "chronological").
Homography = one sound, one letter, always (a spelling SYSTEM). Orthography = writing with the ACCEPTED, correct spelling of a language. Similar-sounding words, different exact meanings.
Practice like the real exam
Housing and Urban Development Corporation
Nelson Mandela, written during 26 years on Robben Island.
(a) Theodore Roosevelt
Calligraphy
False — he spelled it "Macintosh," no K; the raincoat added one.
Demography
You did it! 🎉
🏁 GK Chapter 1 · Sections 2.1–2.4 · Prishita, Class 8