Posts Tagged ‘English’

One of the basic things that you need to know as a learner of the English language is that you should know the rules of grammar while at the same time improve your vocabulary. Vocabulary refers to the list of words that you should know in order to communicate with others in everyday life in English.

Grammar and vocabulary are therefore the twin major aspects of the language and you can learn them using traditional means or through ordinary easy methods. You need to study the rules, read books on miscellaneous topics in the language and pay attention to the instructions and signs on products of everyday use.

Look Up a Grammar Book: A grammar book will acquaint you with the rules of the language and increase your vocabulary. These books can be purchased online or from stores and explain the basic principles of formulation and construction of sentences, subject-verb agreement and help you with useful words which recur in the language.

By going through the rules continuously, you can use the grammar and vocabulary books for getting a basic understanding of the language and then apply the laws to eve... Read more...

Stay corrected the next time you speak wrong English! Okay, here’s how to proceed. First off, remember the thumb rule – Communication. The person who is keen to learn the nuances of the language should know that their writing should be correct grammatically.

Several word processing tools are equipped with programs for grammar correction, although since the rules governing the language are miscellaneous, there are actually a few programs that identify the grammatical errors. Moreover, if the program identifies the mistake, it cannot suggest solutions as that requires knowing about the intention of the author. Hence, it is best that the tool for grammar correction should not be automatic, but manual.

Practice reading aloud. Remember that the basis of any language is oral. Kids learn to speak before learning to read. This makes some people understand and identify errors in the language when heard, rather than when they are read. Reading makes the mind agile to pick up problems such as misspelled words, typographic errors, and spelling errors, quickly and effortlessly, which the consci... Read more...

The agreement of the verb with the subject happens to be one of the major ingredients in the understanding and learning of English grammar. It is nothing but the following of a few simple rules. The subject as well as verb of each clause should be in agreement with the number. However, despite the apparent simplicity of the rule, you will often come across people who get the subject and verb wrong in so many sentences. It is important to understand the basics of writing and reading English grammar.

If you are to write and speak the language properly, it is important to give the learner lots of options to practice the agreement of the verb with the subject. Make ensure that the activities that are given for practice are interactive and fun to learn. This will help them master the fundamentals and basics of the language.

Practice Interesting Exercises

Make sure about a Newspaper Search: Offer the learner with a newspaper and make sure that they choose a story which is of interest to them. The kids’ section of the newspapers is of interest to the persons or learners and these hav... Read more...

Irrespective of the language that you are trying to pick up, one thing to remember while you are in the learning process is that you should be interactive. Whether it is English, Spanish or French, speaking or writing the language will make sense when you follow the rues of the language. If you follow the rules of grammar, it will make you as a writer or speaker look professional. The best way to learn English is perhaps through worksheets and grammar exercises. This is the best way to pick the language up, something that reading English books or listening to CDs does not give you.

English is an intricate language and hence, its nuances may be a tad tough to get. The matter is perhaps true if you are an English native, but are not aware of the rules of the language. However, you need to understand the little details of the grammar and learn to apply the concrete written and spoken principles to each lesson that you learn. One of the best ways through which this can be done is through the interactive approach.

Communication is the Key

Practice makes Perfect: First of all, you sho... Read more...

If you are bored learning English through grammar, writing and reading, try music. Yes, music and songs are what we are talking about. One of the best ways to learn the basics of English grammar and its appropriate usage is through English songs. You will come across websites that help you learn the language with the help of aids like CDs where the lyrics have been subtitled.

 

Students who have English as their second language learn the language through reading stories and working on grammar exercises. However, as an alternative, you’d be delighted if you knew that the language can be mastered through music! Listening to English music can help enhance your vocabulary, hearing capacity, grammar and pronunciation.

 

Learning English is Fun and Interactive

 

Choose the music that you prefer and can usually understand. You can choose between folk, pop, jazz or rock or recordings by your favored artists. It is best to start with songs which do not challenge your comprehensibility too much. Keep the incomprehensible lyrics for later. If your level of English is l... Read more...

There are lots of subtle intricacies in English grammar and one of them is the problem that people are faced with when they use ‘there’, ‘their’, and ‘they’re’ in a sentence. Although the pronunciations of the three words are the same, it becomes a tad tough to distinguish their usage according to circumstances. Remember that there are different spellings for every word.

‘There’

‘There’ is used while referring to a place, irrespective of whether it is material or immaterial. In the case of the former, it would be “over there next to the building”, and in the latter something like “it is tough to live there”. Common examples indicating the word are:

  • There is a bookshop at Camden Avenue.
  • The textbooks are lying there on the floor.
  • There are several documents required for investigation.

‘There’ is used along with the verb ‘be’ (including ‘is’, ‘are’, ‘were’, ‘was’, ‘am’ etc.) for indicating that something exists, or for mentioning something for the first time. F... Read more...

It might be confusing to many of us between choosing ‘I’ and ‘me’ while using them in a sentence. That is because both the words refer to me. While constructing sentences, you need to remember that both the words are personal pronouns. As a pronoun, the words stand in place of the nouns as they can replace the names of people. ‘I’ and ‘me’ are also used in the first person and this means when they are spoken from the point of view of the person who is speaking. Moreover, ‘I’ and ‘me’ are personal pronouns and refer to a single person.

Sentences Formation

The sentences are made of two parts in general. One of them is the person, place or thing which is being spoken about in the sentence. It is known as the subject of the sentence. The second part talks about the subject, the part which describes what the subject is doing or what its situation or condition is. This part is the predicate, and generally comprises a verb and a few descriptive words or phrases.

A sentence is also made of an object and you should remember that the action that a lot of verbs indicate may not be c... Read more...

It is important to construct sentences which are correct. In order to construct a correct sentence in English, we need to know the different aspects of constructing a sentence. If we know ‘what’, ‘how’ or ‘when’ a particular word should be used, it is easier.

What are determiners?

In English, determiners are words which are mostly used to:

  • Define a noun which can be a thing or a person
  • State the quantity or the amount of things or people
  • State the possessives
  • State specificity to a thing or a person
  • State how things or the person can be distributed
  • State, how one noun is different from the other nouns?
  • State whether something or someone is not specific

There are different types of determiners in English language. Each of those specific determiners is used by following few rules of grammar. The use of determiners mainly depends on the type of noun that we are trying to describe. The standard rule of using determiners is:

  • Singular nouns will need a determinerRead more...

When constructing a sentence for the listener to understand, it has to be proper and also grammatically correct. Grammar is very important for a profound reflection of any thought which is better for a reader or a listener.

In English grammar, you have to know about how you want to put the word into the sentence for a correct construction. In order to construct a sentence correctly you have to know how to use the word and when to use the word. ‘Some’ and ‘Any’ are quantifiers.

When do we use ‘Some’ and ‘Any’?

We use ‘Some’ and ‘Any’ when we do not know the amount or the quantity of something.

Example of Use of ‘Some’ and ‘Any’

  • I saw 7 deer when I moved deep into the jungle with my fellow travelers.

Here we know the number of deer that we saw when we were moving into the jungle. So we do not use ‘Some’ or ‘Any’.

  • I saw some deer when I moved into the jungle with my fellow travelers.

Here we do not know the number of deer that we saw when we moved... Read more...

It is frequently seen that when you try to discuss on the art of spelling you are very often confused as you watch there is the deep confusion with the letters along with sounds. Actually if we dip delve in to the mystery of such confusion we are sure to notice that the identity of English letters fall in the group of orthography, where as the sounds are nothing but a part of he system of phonetics. When there is a clash between the two groups there emerges confusion of them.

Now we are going to discuss with the misuse of two general words that ‘Lie’ and ‘Lay’. We know it for certain that ‘lie’ means to have rest having been inclined. It is an intransitive verb. On the other hand ‘lay’ is a transitive verb, meaning to keep something to somewhere. It seems at the first glance that the two words are extremely similar partially in sound but there is a gulf of difference between the two.

You can use the word ‘lie’ in the following manner. Use ‘ lie’ to denote that you have something in a horizontal manner for rest.’ For example it can be written that “The bouquet lies on ... Read more...