Which is correct? `My wife knows well that I can’t sing’ or `My wife knows that I can’t sing well’?

Both sentences are grammatically acceptable, but they don’t have the same meaning.

The first sentence suggests that your wife knows that you cannot sing. There is no doubt in her mind that you are not a singer. The second sentence suggests that your wife knows that you can sing — but not very well. In this case, you are a singer, but not a good one.
* You know well that I don’t play tennis. (You know that I don’t play tennis at all.)
* You know that I don’t play tennis well. (I can play tennis, but I am not very good at it.)

Source: ‘Know Your English’ (The Hindu) – September 18, 2006.

Difference: ‘He cooked a good meal’ and `He cooked up a …..’

The result is the same in both cases — you end up eating a good meal! `Cook up’ suggests that the various dishes were prepared rather quickly, and at short notice. The expression is considered to be informal and has the same meaning as `rustle up’.
* My grandmother managed to cook up a decent meal for the guests who arrived unannounced. * My appointment has been cancelled. Think you’ll be able to rustle up something for lunch?

 Source: ‘Know Your English’ (The Hindu) – September 18, 2006.

MY NOTE: ‘Cooked up’  or ‘cook something up’ or ‘cook up something’ is used in informal context to mean to fabricate something. In other words, to invent something ( often dishonest or illegal) to produce a result you want.
Example:  Mr.X denied the allegations of corruption in the property deal and claimed it’s a cooked up story to malign his image.
Information Courtesy: The Free Dictionary
Idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cooked

Is it okay to say, “Every day they have wada and dosa during the midday?”

We know when we say `midday’, we mean 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Since we are referring to a specific time in the afternoon, we should use `at’ and not `during’.


We should say, “They have wada and dosai” at midday. If you would like to use `during’, then use `middle’ rather than `midday’.


*The clerk told us that the forms would be distributed at midday. *You’d better take a cap. It gets really hot during the middle of the day.


Source: S. Upendran, The Hindu ‘Know Your English’ Series, February 27, 2006

Is it okay to say, `You can contact him in …… (telephone no)’?

No, it isn’t. You usually contact someone `at’ a number. “If it’s an emergency, you can contact me at 22009988″. “I tried to contact him at 22009988, but the line was busy.”

 Source:  ‘Know Your English’ Series – The Hindu Daily, Oct 03, 2005 

Is it okay to say, “The words she uses are unintelligible for me?”

No, it isn’t. Something is intelligible or unintelligible “to” and not “for” someone. When you say that something is unintelligible, what you mean is that it is incomprehensible; it is difficult to understand. The word has nothing to do with intelligence.
*The teacher used a lot of jargon which was unintelligible to the students. *What Chandu said was intelligible to the audience.
Source:  ‘Know Your English’ Series – The Hindu Daily, Sept 19 , 2005.