The word ‘comment‘ was first used in English over 700 years ago. The original meaning was ‘interpretation.’ Today the meaning is not very different. If we comment on something, we give our opinion. Someone who does it professionally is a ‘commentator.’ So today we have sports commentators and political commentators among others.

Examples: 

• The essay topic asked me to comment on the current state of renewable energy and in particular to consider wind power.
• The teacher commented that my essay structure was strong, but that I hadn’t done much research.
• Live sports commentary looks like it would be very difficult to do.

Collocations: When you learn new vocab, make sure that you note collocations too. For this group of words some collocations are:
alternate between, alternative route, alternative form
circumstances dictate, circumstances require, circumstantial evidence
comment on, comment about, make a comment
victim compensation, compensate for, under-compensate for, over compensate for
components of

Check the meanings of the words if you don’t already know them. Check the meanings of the various forms as sometimes they are different. You can check them at Time4english by clicking the words (http://www.time4english.com/aamain/lounge/awl.asp).

Complete the sentences below with the correct word and the correct form of the word.

1. Do you prefer to watch sport on television or listen to the _______________ on the radio? (comment, component)
2. One route to university is through high school while an ______________ route is through the technical education system. (alternative, circumstance)
3. Should people who are wrongfully imprisoned be awarded _______________ ? (comment, compensate)
4. Lego sets have so many small _______________ . (alternative, component)
5. He was arrested on the basis of _______________ evidence. (compensate, circumstance)

Answers (in the wrong order below)
4. components   1. commentary   5. circumstantial    2. alternate / alternative   3. compensation