Search results for 'tag:Speaking English' matching tag 'Speaking English'

Re: I need English speaking friends

Lovebug — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:46:37 GMT

Hi there! If you are interested in speaking English well, I invite to view my profile, have a look at website I write to help people, or chat with me here on English forums.

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: participle as a subject

Cool Breeze — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:54:02 GMT

Anonymous
You wrote:

To hear is an infinitive, in other words, a verb, not a noun or a pronoun.

Is an infinitive really a verb? Does that mean a gerund is a verb too? I know an infintive like the one you used and a gerund act as a noun.

Please read my reply to CalifJim. Terminology varies. I know - at least I think I know - that in America the gerund is considered a noun. Europe views it differently; it is neither a noun nor a verb, it is a cross between them. All nouns can have an adjectival attribute, gerunds cannot: Correct speaking English is easy. Wrong! A noun cannot have an object, a gerund can: Speaking English is easy.

It's of course fine with me if people consider the gerund a noun, I'm just not used to the idea of a noun taking an object and thus prefer the European view. This is actually quite similar to Europeans' calling words like "my" possessive pronouns, isn't it?

Where I come from infinitives are called verbs, so I call them that. Anyone is free to call them different names if they please.

Spoken English Easy English

anukulkijoy1 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 08:17:07 GMT

Dear friends
I am Milan from India.Being an Indian I am keen on knowing or learning or speaking ENGLISH.
Because it(Spoken English) makes people smarter day by day.And this is also you can say LINGUA FRANK.So if you are not able to speak English,perhaps most of the people will ignore you.
Hay don't worry I will tell you how to speak English.It's as simple as water.

Just you all need to follow my easy instructions...

First of all you need to make a Schedule....like>>>
Every Wednesday I will give 10 modern(International)sentences and their meanings along with some words and their synonymies in this blog.
You need to mug all those things up and apply whenever you are speaking English.
Every last Wednesday i will give a topic.you just write your views and send it to me at <removed by a mod. Please include it in your profile.> ,The best writer's article will be published in my blog for next 30 days.
And make sure that round the clock you will speak English nothing els.
May be you will be speaking wrong English but end of the day it will help you.

That's all for the day(09/07/08).I will start to provide modern sentences from next Wednesday.

Regards
Milan
<URL deleted>

Re: I really don't get it :(

CalifJim — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:01:42 GMT

You don't normally say: I say I don't like cats. You just say: I don't like cats.

But supposing you did say such a thing,

a) My general opinion is that I don't like cats. > Your opinion on cats is that you don't like them.

b) I am hereby informing you, in case you haven't understood it from the words that have just now been coming out of my mouth, that I don't like cats. > Ah! So the words you are just now forming with your mouth mean that you don't like cats.

_____

The paraphrasing of one set of sentences after another is not going to do any good. Each verb and each expression has its own ways of showing a difference between the PS and the PC version. You will have to continue this exercise for the rest of your life before you reach the end of all possible pairs. It's better just to pay attention to the contexts in which these forms are used. If you have been speaking English already for many years, you may have already developed so much ability to communicate, even without always selecting the correct tenses, that it will be very difficult for you to pay attention to as much detail as is necessary to master the tenses.

crappy pronunciation...

akstylish — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:42:22 GMT

After years of speaking English, it's not changed much. No matter how hard I try, I can't control my tongue. My English teacher in Korea once said it's nearly impossible to correct the accent once you become an adult, and I believe it now. Maybe I should give up and just stick with typical Asian accent....

Re: indefinite article before a gerund

Cool Breeze — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:49:43 GMT

I am not sure if the following answers your question but I'll say it anyway. Some grammarians don't distinguish between verbal nouns (= complete nouns formed from verbs with the ing ending) and gerunds (= words that are neither verbs nor nouns but resemble both to some extent). Some apply the term "gerund" to both of them. Perhaps your confusion arises from that?

A verbal noun really is a noun in that it can assume all the characteristics any countable noun has. This means that it can have an article, an adjectival attribute (or more than just one) and it can occur in the plural:

The correct speaking of English is easy.

His old writings don't interest me.

Perhaps some of the "gerunds" that bother you or arouse your interest belong to this category? Mixing in your post certainly does.

Some verbal nouns have become part and parcel of the language and are included in dictionaries, like "beginning" for example. In some cases you have a choice: a happy end/ending.

Gerunds can't be preceded by an article or an adjectival attribute because they are not full-fledged nouns. They bear some resemblance to verbs: they can take an object:

Speaking English correctly is easy.

Re: I Want To Be Fluent English Speaker How Please?

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:02:28 GMT

ok..ello, my name fara.i'm from malaysia.actually i'm really interested to know bout english language.this is because, i'm not fluently in speaking english either in writing..sory.i'm try my best to read books,listening hits fm but nothing change.still cannot improve..so,plez lp me.give me some idea

Re: The plural of genius

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:39:13 GMT

to 418241 (13 Sep 07), it's actually octopuses. The word octopus is derived from greek, not latin, so in the correct greek, the plural would be 'octopodes', But we're speaking english, so that turns into 'octopuses'.

Re: stars in the sky or on the sky?

Grammar Geek — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:50:41 GMT

Just so that I'm clear, are you advising the folks who come here to learn English that they should say "Oh, the stars up through the sky sure look lovely tonight." or perhaps "Now that the rain has cleared, we can see the stars through the sky"? That's what you're suggesting that those speaking English as a second language should use so that they sound natural when convesing with other natives?

I am writing not to prolong an argument but to make sure the people who have come to trust us to give them good advice know that I am 100% oppposed to that use, and that I suggest that they say "the stars up in the sky."

And truly, I will not participate in this thread any longer.