Search results for 'tag:Grammar tag:Speaking English' matching tags 'Grammar' and 'Speaking English'

A dictionary

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:34:17 GMT

ãThis dictionary tells you about English words and how to use them in reading, writing and speaking English. It not only gives the meaning of words, it can also help you with spelling, word building, grammar and pronunciation.

ããTo use your dictionary correctly, you need to understand how the dictionary works. At the front of the book, you will find some exercises to help you make the most use of your dictionary.

ããIf you look up the word âcolourâ, you will find two spellings for this word. âColourâ is used in British English, while âcolorâ is used in American English. When such a thing happens, the dictionary shows it with the word âBrEâ for British English and âAmEâ for American English.

ããThe dictionay also helps you pronounce words correctly. It uses a special alphabet to show pronunciation. If you turn to the inside back face, you will see all the phonetic letters with some words to show you how they are pronounced. Just have a look this page when youâre not sure how to say a word.

ããThe most important reason for using a dictionary is to find out the meaning of a wordâits DEFINITION.

ããIn this dictionary, the definitions have been written using only 2000 words. This means that the definitions of even the most difficult words are simply explained and easy to understand.
ããWhen a word has more than one meaning, read all the meanings until you find the one that correctly tells the use of the word you are looking for

Re: If I'm used only to Standard English, might I have trouble understanding dialects?

Mr Wordy — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:26:35 GMT

There are some differences in vocabulary and idiom across the British Isles, and you might encounter some regional words and expressions that you're not familiar with. But the core vocabulary and grammar are not hugely different, and you might find that a bigger problem is pronunciation. If you're only familiar with the sort of English spoken by middle class people from the south of England, and you go into a pub in a rough part of Glasgow, say, then you might not even realise that the people there are speaking English at all.

The native speakers I (as a native speaker myself) have most difficulty with are young urban working class people. In this case, vocabulary (lots of "yoof slang" I've never heard of) and pronunciation both cause problems. I might overhear, say, a group of youths chatting in a London suburb and only catch about 50% of it.

There's no need to try to speak regional dialects of British English yourself (unless you're particularly interested in doing so, of course). If you speak something approximating to "standard" British English then you should be able to make yourself understood anywhere in the British Isles.

Re: 'Adjective Phrases' can function as subject

Marius Hancu — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:56:03 GMT

>On the paper was all the remarks Joeâs classmates had made about him.

I think were is the correct verb here. See the hits at Google Books by highly educated English book authors:

56 on "were all the remarks"
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22were+all+the+remarks%22&btnG=Search+Books

1 on "was all the remarks"
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22was+all+the+remarks%22&btnG=Search+Books

>In my country too many teacher teach students too much grammer instead of teaching them just good English sentence and telling them to try to use it as many times as they want.

Sorry to say, but you seem to be doing exactly that

Re the above sentence:

teachers, not teacher

grammar, not grammer

good English sentences, not good English sentence

>In my country students don't try to use English sentence because they are afraid of the possibility of using incorrect sentence.

In my country students avoid speaking and/or writing English because they are afraid of the possibility of using incorrect sentenceS.

>Outside the fridge is not a good place to keep milk.

This may be OK, but a more natural one is IMO:

Keeping milk outside the fridge isn't a very good idea.

Re: Please check for me this discursive essay !

redneon — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:55:52 GMT

Thank you Grammar Geek, for your help ! "blue" words are the words that I correct again.However, I still don't know how to correct the the "red" mistakes ? Sorry for my slow understanding, my English isnt very good,so please correct for me one more time, Thank you so much !

Numerous people around the world study English as their foreign language. Many of them attribute a fluent English learner to living in an English-speaking country, whereas others believe that there are many obstacles when they 're studying overseas. Therefore, this essay will discuss about the benefits and negatives of studying English in an English-speaking country.

The first argument in favor of studying English in an English-speaking country is that students can enhance all their English skills with the support of good facilities. Firstly, the surrounding environment speaking English full-time wherever students go may help them improve speaking and listening dramatically. Furthermore, they have enormous oppotunities to approach a new culture and the modern living style in most English speaking countries. Those lead to the deeper understanding in (may be not necessary ?) English and indirectly make students' reading and writing skills better. In brief, English skills will rise up when students live in an English-speaking country.

Although there are some advantages, studying English in an English-speaking country still has some disadvantages.

The primary negative for studying English in an English-speaking country is that there are various obstacles when living alone in the new country. Many students who have not left their home before feel shocked with the new culture and they usually find difficult to live independently because of the lack of family support. --That was a very well-written sentence! (thank you) In addition, most English speaking countries are developed. As a consequence, there are many exotic things for students to discover and some of them may lose their seft-control and plunge themselves into playing without studying This needs a bit of development. Are you saying that will fall into the hedonistic lifestyle of the decadent Americans? What are the real dangers you're talking about? ( I re-writethat sentence already,is that clearer ? )

Another disadvantage of studying English in an English speaking country is the financial problems. Living overseas for many years in order to studying may cost a large amount of money. For example, the aggregate of living cost and tuition fees for one year study in Australia may cost around 30,000 dollars. Moreover, the cost can increase each year as a result of inflation all over the world and that can be a burden for students' family finance.

In conclusion, this essay has identified both positive and negative aspects of studying English in an English speaking country. Despite the advantages to improve all English skills, it still have a pressure for students and their family. Consequently, students should think carefully about studying overseas to make sure that their family can afford the financial aspect and they can adapt easily to new environment . You list only "adapt" but you mention the financial aspect too. I think you should add something about that to your final sentence.

Re: Some grammar questions

Hoa Thai — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:36:27 GMT

Hoa Thai
Hi,

#1. Since accent is a countable noun, we need 'a' for both heavy accent and heavier accent.
#2. I prefer 'hesitancy in responding'.

Besides the above comments, both sentences have a run-on problem. There are more than one way to reword them; and here is my suggestion:

Student1 had a heavy accent. S/he showed much more hesitancy in responding to the question, and expressed with less confidence than student2.
Student1 had a heavier accent than student2. S/he also showed much more hesitancy in responding to the given question, and expressed with less confidence in speaking English.

Re: Some grammar questions

Hoa Thai — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:17:08 GMT

Hi,

#1. Since accent is a countable noun, we need 'a' for both heavy accent and heavier accent.
#2. I prefer 'hesitancy in responding'.

Besides the above comments, both sentences have a run-on problem. There are more than one way to reword them; and here is my suggestion:

Student1 had a heavy accent. S/he showed much more hesitancy in responding to the question, and expressed less confidence than student2.
Student1 had a heavier accent than student2. S/he also showed muchmore hesitancy in responding to the given question, and expressed lessconfidence in speaking English.

Some grammar questions

WANG CHUN — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:11:27 GMT

Hello
I hvae a several questions.
Thank you
I do not know if I should put " a" before heavier accent" ?
"hesitancy doing sth" or hesitancy at doing sth? which one is correct?

1. Student1 had heavy accent, showed much more hesitancy responding to the question, and expressed less confidence than student2.

2. Student1 had a heavier accent, showed much more hesitancy at responding to the given question, and expressed less confidence in speaking English than student2.

Re: He insisted on my/me singing a song.

Cool Breeze — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:31:40 GMT

Grammar Geek wrote:
Singing is a gerund, a noun, so it takes the possessive my.

This is rather peculiar, I think. I have encountered the same thing on these forums many times. Native speakers say: "A gerund is a noun." Do they teach it that way in American schools and universities? Grammatical terminology varies greatly from country to country but I have yet to meet a grammarian who says a noun can have an object:

I insisted on his speaking English.

Furthermore, all nouns can have an adjectival attribute; in other words, we can put an adjective before them:

He likes old books.
Merry old England fascinates me.
Little Mary wanted to go out.
Useful information was given to everybody.

So, if gerunds are full-fledged nouns, the following is correct:

Correct speaking English is easy.

Few consider it correct. A gerund is neither a noun nor a verb; it's a cross between them. It has some qualities characteristic of nouns and some that are characteristic of verbs. It resembles a verb in that it can take an object, for instance.

Therefore, "I insist on him speaking English" and "I insist on his speaking English" are equally grammatical. In the first sentence, him is used due to the influence of the preposition on, which is normal English grammar. In the second sentence his is used because speaking is a noun to an extent, even though it's not a complete noun. It has long been customary to consider possessive forms (my, his, our) of personal pronouns better than the object forms (me, him, us) as subjects of a gerund. It also used to be common to consider the basic or common form of other words better in this position:

I insist on John Smith speaking English. (Also: John Smith's)
I insist on everybody speaking English. (Rarely: everybody's)

In the past 30 or so years I have noticed a tendency in American magazines and newspapers to prefer the genitive even in cases where it sounds and looks ludicrous. I assume this can be ascribed to rising standards in education. Nevertheless, there has never been a grammatical justification to consider one of the alternatives better. The tendency to consider the possessive form the better seems to me to stem from grammatical ignorance rather than a good knowledge of it. There is no grammatical or historical justification for preferring either form.

Cheers
CB

Re: My skin is too thin?

Clive — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:29:33 GMT

Hi,

how ican speak english

Go to a class.

Study a grammar book.

Listen to English on movies, radio, tapes, cds.

Find someone that you can practice speaking English with.

Clive

Re: She don't?

Mike in Japan — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:51:19 GMT

The original question, as posed by Sextus, was; " In several American movies I've heard (perhaps I've misunderstood) expressions like "She don't know", "He don't live here". The contexts were quite familiar or informal. I know this must be speaking English, but I would like to know what you think about this."

Well, frankly, I think it is dreadful! The offending utteres should be lined up and dealt with! By dealt with, I mean taught correctly... or shot. Such divergence from mainstream English does NOT occur as an improvement to the language, instead it is caused by lack of education (or education at the hands of the undereducated). To enshrine such mistakes as being somehow worthy of teaching to students new to English seems, to me, an offence worthy of the aforementioned corrective measures; re-education or the firing squad.

It's a damn pity that with all the money we pay in taxes, our governments still fail us in such simple matters as teaching basic grammar. Never mind; bad English seems to keep certain linguists entertained. It's an ugly cloud that blows no dang silver rose no good dang lining, dang.