Friday, November 6, 2009

HOW TO AVOID ERRORS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

When your speech is sloppy, when it seems to reveal that you have never learned or perhaps just don’t care about yr language properly you certainly don’t do yourself any favors.
By using correct grammar will make a difference between appearing professional and educated or uneducated and ignorant. Many people make common grammatical errors when they write and when they speak. Use these steps to avoid the most common errors and sound intelligent and well informed.

Step 1Make sure that verb tenses match. If the subject is present tense, then the verb must be as well. The same principle applies to past tense subjects and verbs.

Step 2Think about whether the subject is single or plural. Words like don't, aren't, were, are and were belong with plural subjects. For example, "It don't work," is incorrect. Instead, write or say, "they don't work."

Step 3Take out the extra words before I or me when deciding which to use. For example, in the phrase, "Robert went with Sheila and me," it helps to say the phrase to yourself. Then repeat it without the words directly before the word me, to determine if it sounds correct; "Robert went with me." The same rule applies to the words, him and he, or her and she.

Step 4Avoid using fragments. A sentence must have a subject and a verb.Do not use double negatives. "I am not listening to nobody in this class," is incorrect. "I am not listening to anyone," is correct.

Step 5Use went and gone correctly. "I should have went to bed earlier," is incorrect. The correct grammar is, "I should have gone to bed earlier."Know the difference between accept and except. Accept is a verb that means to receive something. Except means to exclude something. For example, I will accept all the packages except the large one.Know the difference among there, their and they're. There is a place. It's also and adverb. Bob is over there.There is also and expletive. For example, there are people everywhere. There is coffee on the table. They're always a contraction for they are.

Their is a possessive pronoun. My brothers finally did their laundry. The car belongs to their friends.Understand the difference between every day and everyday. Every day means every single day. Everyday modifies the word that comes after it as in everyday uses, everyday things, everyday items.Remember that a lot is always two words. Never write alot.Know the difference between than and then. Than is a conjunction used in comparisons. Taking this test is more than I can bare. Then is an adverb denoting time. For example, My sister was running, and then I saw her fall.

1-Use simple language. Some beginners try to build very complicated sentences with things like the present perfect tense or conditionals. They make horrible mistakes. Don't do this! If you've just started to speak or write in English, you should say what you can say (simple sentences that you have seen many times) — not what you want to say (complicated sentences). You may feel you're talking like a child or that you are not expressing your thoughts, but don't worry about it. Right now, your task is not to express your thoughts freely; your task is to learn the language.

2-Be slow and careful.In the beginning, you should write very slowly. If you need 2 hours to write an e-mail message with 10 correct sentences, that's okay. That's how long it should take if you're just starting to write. Why should it take so long? Because you should read your sentences many times, looking for mistakes. You should correct your own sentences frequently. You should check if your sentences are correct by using a dictionary and the Web. And you should look for example sentences to imitate.

If you're not sure how to say something, don't say it. If you can't say something correctly, it's almost always better not to say it. You don't want to teach yourself the wrong way to say it. You can try to look for the correct sentence in a dictionary or on the Web (see next point), but when speaking, usually you don't have time for that. So it's a good idea to say something else — something that you know is correct. It can even be something on a different subject. Know where you can screw up. Sometimes learners don't even realize how different English is from their native language. When speaking, they translate word for word from their native language, and they think their sentences are okay. When reading or listening in English, pay close attention to things like word order, articles, prepositions, and tenses. Compare sentences in English with equivalent sentences in your native language. Notice the differences in words and in word order. This will make you more careful when speaking in the foreign language, because you will realize which parts of your sentences can be wrong and should be double-checked.

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