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

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.

speaking english probelm while discussion with friends

ekrmmohan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:54:02 GMT

anybody can help me or give me materials so i will improve my spoken because i am facing more while talking with seniors, friends and so on.

i am unable to express properly way. even speaking english unable to use tense on properly way..

so please help me how to speak english and improve within short period.

Re:

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:34:15 GMT

Please can you post difference between past perfect tense and present perfect tense, parts of speech, present and past words to me ,I want to improve my speaking English, also help me with relevant things.I will be greatful if you send it in to me e-mail

Re:

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:02:40 GMT

Re: Relation vs. relationship

Kathrin — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:37:24 GMT

Here is a sentence from my English magazine: There is no relationship between beeing a good parent and speaking English. At first I was convinced the sentense is wrong but in light of your dispute it makes sense. Relation were my word of choice but no. Last remark: the speaker is from the USA.

Re: The confusing teaacher

nona the brit — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 08:34:37 GMT

Overall points. Don't forget to end all sentences with a full stop/period/question mark. You overuse 'understand' in contexts where 'learn' would be better.

I've made a few corrections for you but otherwise spelling errors in red. Grammatical errors in blue. Parts that need rephrasing/do not make sense/a different word choice in yellow.

I am depressed

I always get problem speaking English.

It is very hard to speak English fluently

I canât express my opinions, ideas, or whatever is inside my head comfortably.

Vocabulary is the greatest problem.

No self confidence

However, Iâll try.

I was typing when the teacher asked what you were doing and wheter you were typing the lecture material or doing something else. I said that I was typing the lecture. Then she asked us not to type. She said that we could copy the material and we were asked to listen to her talk only.

I was confused. How could she prohibit us to make a note. In a classroom, students are encouraged to make a note what the teacher teach. The more diligent the student, the more he gets appreciation, eventhough appreciation is not the target. And I have the same opinion. Our target is understanding. In my opinion, making a note by computer is one step infront of one by ballpoint. Documents in computer can be re-arranged, sorted, freely cut and pasted, deleted or added, so that the contents are built on a specific manner according to our understanding. This process is almost impossible if we make a note on a book.

And she said about copying the material ?

Yes, absolutely. It should not be a question, because it has been traditionally done, every students knows automatically what they should do when a material in Powerpoint is infront of them. And it was also what teachers mean when they made a material in power point. So, the question was not understandable. (It sounds as though she issued an instruction, she didn't ask a question).

Then she said just listening to her in addition to copying the material :

You know that what a teacher said was not exactly the same as the material. Furthermore, the material was not complete. It contained short terms, words and sentences which were points of lecture. In turn, the points would be explained orally.

I couldnât guarantee that everybody could catch the points without listening to their explanation. And understanding the points didnât guarantee that they would remember them in another time. Thatâs why we made a note.

Then she said that typing disturbed consentration ?

I didnât think so. We were students. We were here to (You are mixing up present and past tense in this essay. Decide on one or the other) absorb, understand, and remember the lecture, not to discusse it. We could discuss it in another opportunity, when we were not burdened from system judging right or wrong, bad or good, and pass or fail.

The student atmosphere push us to study on that manner.

Furthermore, we understand better by listening and typing compared with listening only. Remember that the first way involves more senses than the second one. The only obstacle was teaching too fast.

Finally, she was the only teacher prohibited us.

By making a note, we try hard, we practice to express our understanding with our own sentences. We donât like becoming a robot. We are alive.

Motivation letter

Loutzi — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 12:27:41 GMT

Hello,

I've written this motivation letter for a scholarship for a japanese university.

I've used some parts from other motivation letters that I've found on this website and that looked good to me :-)

Could someone check it for me please, and give some comments? I'd be very thankfull.

Dear sir/ Madam

My name is ***. With this letter, I would kindly like to introduce my candidacy for the XYZ scholarship for the ABC University.

I am a third year student Japanology at the Catholic University of Leuven. I've studied my first two years at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and this year I am studying at Paris 7, Denis Diderot, France. I've specialized in the Japanese culture and history.

During my formation I've seen many different aspects of the Japanese culture and I got intrigued by them. Due to big cultural differences in the background of my parents I've come in contact with different cultures my whole life and that has only strengthenth(?) my interest in foreign cultures. Hence my choice for a study about a very different culture. The big cultural differences between my own country and Japan give me chance to see the positive and negative aspects about not only Japan but also my own country. It is a very enriching research because I learn more about both cultures. Studying in Japan would be a unique chance to study and experience these differences at first hand. It would give me a big advantage over other people who didn't get this opportunity to learn about both their own and a foreign culture.

Offcourse culture is closely intertwined with history and history has also always captivated my interest. It is history that made of the world what it is today. The rich Japanese history, from the JÅmon era to the Meiji restoration and the modern Japan, is very fascinating. And there are also many interesting aspects about post-meiji Japan. The decision of the japanese government to adapt the western way of life and trying to abolish all traditional japanese aspects and the problems that came along, but also the speed with which japanese citizens adapted these changes, while still concerving the traditional values is very intriguing. But these changes caused a lot of problems for the japanese citizens, even up till now the difficulties that emerged with it are still visible in the japanese society. The old traditional japanese values are sometimes entirely different from the western points of view, but still got preserved in society. This struggle between traditional japanese values and modern western values makes Japan a very interesting study-object, almost a unique case in the world.
Also the fact that Japan managed to become, on less than 50 years, one of the big powers of the world is fascinating. These historical facts are a good way to captivate the Japanese spirit and to see the devotion japanese people have to their country and lifestyle. Also if you compare Japanese history to the European history it is interesting to see that mankind has always fought, the middle ages in Europe, the Warring State Period in Japan, but not only war is interesting, also the differences in the importance of religion, family, lords, ... is very interesting. By studying the Japanese history I've got a completely different view about some past European era's
But also more recent, the downfall after the war and the courage with which japanese people managed to rebuild their country is a very notable effort. This courageous rebuilding, this devotion to the country have made of Japan what it is today. But it could only be achieved because of the japanese value of family, groups above individuals also make it very different from the individualistic western world. Again the differences and similarities between post-war Europe and post-war Japan are fascinating. In Europe the war silently evolved in the Cold war between east and west, while there was relative peace in Japan. The japanese society got rebuild quickly and Japan managed to become a very important economical power. You can see the devotion of Japanese citizens to their country and company again very clearly.
All these different aspects and the comparison with Western history makes the study of the Japanese history not only interesting from an historical point of view, but also from a sociological point of view.

Beside my specialisation in the Japanese culture and history I've also had a very intense training in the Japanese language during these three years. It's been a hard but very rewarding struggle. By learning a language that differs entirely from your mothertongue, you get a very interesting view on your own language. The use of Kanji and Kana and an entirely new grammar is very difficult, but you make progress every day, which is a very stimulating progress.

I've kept working on improving my knowledge about Japan and the japanese language during these past thee years, but I feel that I've reached everything I can attain here in Europe, therefore it is time to put my knowledge into practice and specialize further in Japanese culture and history and improve my Japanese further. I think the only way to attain that goal is to study the culture and history from eminent professors and learn the language from native speakers.

Also for my thesis I'm planning to write about the post-war Japanese history, the rebuilding of the country and the much discussed 9th pacific article. The feelings from the average Japanese person towards that article and the war, and the seemingly unlimited devotion towards their company, sometimes even despite of their family. I'm convinced that attending classes or research groups about this subject in particular at XYZ University will be most fullfilling and will be of great use for my research project.

After a thorough research of the ABC programme of your University, I became aware that my knowledge of the japanese culture and history will be improved if I have an opportunity to enroll in these courses. This top-level programme will provide me plenty of knowledge in the field of culture and history which can be very useful for my future carrier. In addition, working and attending these courses, I can meet different kind of people and culture and that will give me different points of view, thus, contributing to my flexibility and creativity, besides the cultural and language gains. Moreover, I have come to recognize that I can establish a good working relationship with other scholars from all over the world joining the programme, which can give a benefit to me and my collegues.

As a motivated and ambitious young man, I will do my best to accomplish all tasks given in the ABC programme. Furthermore, with my experience gained during my three year formation in both Belgium and France, I would be able to adapt to a constantly changing work environment, and get along with individuals of different culture backgrounds. In addition, with my good command in writing and speaking English, I will not have to come up against any difficulties in studying cultural or historical subjects taught in English.

I understand that admission to the XYZ Scholarship is competitive, but I think that Iâm qualified, eager and prepared to meet all of the challenges I will be presented with. I, therefore, would be most grateful if you could give my application form in your most favorable consideration.

Yours truly,

***.

Re: How to use i.e. /e.g./ for example /and so on

Jussive — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 17:47:52 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
If a student points to some construction and asks me if it's the subjunctive or not, I can't reply, 'No, it's a monkey!'

Now there you are wrong! You are the teacher and can say any dang thing you want!
In fact a smart retort like that might go a long way toward making your students realize that knowing the correct terminology for this or that word or phrase is not at all the same as gaining competence in the use of English.

It rather depends on whether you want your students to be able to express themselves naturally in the real world, or whether the important thing is for them to pass tests in which they correctly identify word groupings as "noun phrase", "progressive tense", "gerund", "possessive adjective", "pronoun in the nominative case", and other such lingo of no use to them once they walk out the classroom door. It's quite amazing the number of students who know the word "nominative" but draw a blank on "lease a car" or "repair the light fixture". It is as if we were preparing them to live their entire lives in the English classroom.

Of course, if you are making your living in an academic institution where all those things are regarded as marks of competence in English, then you really have to concentrate on the lingo, like it or not, I suppose. If so, my condolences!

CJ

I completely agree with you bar a couple of things, CJ:

These technicalities are good for diagnostic reasons. It doesn't help anyone in the fluid process of speaking English, but if there is something wrong then it's easier if there's a technical understanding of grammar and the termonolgy involved so that the teacher can pinpoint the problem quickly. Also, I think, some particular and detailed aspect of any subject may be unnecessary and seem obsessive to some, however, to others it may play an important role to their overall understanding of that subject. It really does depend on how you've put the pieces together in your own mind as to whether one particular piece holds more or less value for you in your understanding of the subject.

As you indicated, though, the students have to pass exams, and I have been taught and am supposed to teach the language in this way, whether I like it or not. Personally, I'd rather just give the grammar where and when I think it's needed and not base their whole learning experience on it.

One last thing, I appreciate that sometimes and in some sense, termonology is just that, and you may as well call some things 'monkey', however, termonology also categorises important functions, elements and differences. For example, I get the sense that there IS a good reason why grammar books tend not to categorise the non-past and modals used hypothetically as 'the subjunctive'.

...but anyway, that's for:

http://www.englishforums.com/English/CoupleQuestionsAboutSubjunctive-Hypotheticals/bpkbn/Post.htm

Jussive

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

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 17:33:56 GMT

Each person has his/her own way to learn English. You can learn from books, from watching TV, from taking classes...but the bottom line is: you have to be patient. For me, the best way to learn English is to memorize. It sounds funny but that's the truth. Babies learn how to speak by imitating what people around them say. And I have done the same thing during the last few years.

When native English speakers knew that I was in the States for just about 3 years, had not known English before coming to the country, they were all surprise. Even though I have accent speaking English, I use the English language effectively. Don't get me wrong here. I am not trying to show off that I am good at English, but my key to success is MEMORIZING. I started with simple English phrases, sentenses by memorizing them, writing them down frequently, saying them out loud, even to myself. All what I have to do later is to use them, not even thinking about it, when appropriate. I did not even recognize how much I'd improved, not until did my American friend told me that she was impressed.

So, If you have not figured out a good way for you to use the English language effectively yet, TAKE MY ADVICE: MEMORIZING, PRACTICING.... Again, that has been my key to success.

Re: I want to improve my english speaking

EnglishGeek — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 22:41:40 GMT

It's very easy to learn English. If you follow my way, guaranteed you will be fluent speaking English in few months: For every phrase, short sentense in English that you like (but know that you won't be able to speak out if facing someone), write it down and try to memorize it. And learn how to pronounce the words correctly as well. The following website is very helpful for you. You can enter an English word (or sentense) and the tool will say it.

http://www.guidancelist.com/education/dictionaries.aspx

Also use the Cambridge Dictionary to look up any English words, it has great source of examples, just read those examples and you will learn how to use a word and try to say it out loud yourself. That's how you improve your speaking