learn vocabulary to be fluent in English and crack any interview

 

common mistakes to avoid for beginners

 Common Mistakes to Avoid for Beginners

English is a confusing language; there is no doubt about that. There are a lot of mistakes even native speakers make.

Focusing on Grammar

This is the most common mistake new learners make. If you focus on correcting your grammar, your English would sound extremely weird to a native speaker. Grammar actually hurts your ability to speak English.

Confusing ‘in time’ and ‘on time’

‘On time’ as in punctual. For example: ‘I am always on time.” Where ‘in time’ means before a deadline. For example: “I submitted by college assignment just in time.”

Practice using these two phrases.

Gender pronouns

It is common to make mistakes with he/she/him/her. In languages where no gender is specified, it can be a problem for people to learn gender specific pronouns. In many cases, people mix up ‘he’ and ‘she’. It does not cause any difference in speech, but would make for very funny incidents.

Fun and funny

A lot of people have been seen to make mistakes with ‘fun’ and ‘funny’. ‘Fun’ is a noun, while ‘funny’ is an adjective. For example: ‘The rides were fun’ and ‘My friend is funny’. Something that causes enjoyment and pleasure is ‘fun’, on the other hand, a person or incident that can make you laugh is ‘funny’.

Singular and plural

This is another common mistake for people learning English. Sometimes, new learners do not place the ‘s’ at the end of a word to make a plural. Problems arise when a word is considered uncountable, or a name that already ends with an ‘s’. For example, if a person's last name is Smiths, you would not say ‘There are a lot of Smithses in our building’, you would say ‘There are a lot of Smiths’ in our building’.

Less and fewer

AvLess and fewer are confusing terms and are often used interchangeably. There are not ‘less’ people, there are ‘fewer’ people.

A and the

Another common mistake is the use of ‘a’ and ‘the’. ‘A’ is used when referring to something for the first time. ‘The’ is used when referring to something specific. Do not use these articles when speaking about things in general such as means, transport or places.

Who and that

‘Who’ is used for a person, while ‘that’ is used for an object? This is a common mistake. ‘Who’ describes a living being? For example: ‘The boy who yelled wolf’ and ‘the cycle that rolled off the hill’

“Do It Right Now”: Steps to Start Improving instantly

Step 1: Go on the Internet and look common mistakes made while learning English for your native language

Step 2: Keep a pen and paper besides you

Step 3: Write down all the mistakes you have been making

Step 4: Understand the correct way to use the words or phrases

Step 5: Make your own sentences using these words and phrase

hidden secrets to learn English in a weekend

 The hidden secrets that will help you learn English in a weekend

Since you can read English, you could strive to perfect it in one weekend. It will not be easy to learn everything there is to learn in a weekend but if you work hard enough, it can be done. However, implement what you learn is probably the hardest part.

Speak English daily

Do not slip up and start using your native language. Even when you are with your own people, speak in English. If you do not have any way to speak English outside, do it at home. Watch T.V. or read a book and repeat out loud. Not speaking English will not help you learn. You have to use it to remember it!

Study it

Everyday, for at least one hour, study the language. Study the words, the history of the words, learn the grammatical rules etc. Even if you spend only half an hour a day, that will work. Think of your English skills as a piece of iron that will rust and break apart if you do not study and oil it.

Goals

Setting goals for yourself is a good way to learn English. Pick common everyday words, and decide to use them regularly by the end of the week or month. You could set any goal you want. This would also turn learning English into a challenge with yourself.

Be confident

Being confident means speaking English when you are outside, even if you are not good at it. Do not apologize for not being able to speak properly, instead ask for help and advise. It is essential to be confident or you will never have the guts to speak out in the open and you will never find out what your level of English is.

Keep a small notebook with you

While you are learning, it would be a good idea to keep a notebook with you at all times. Every time you come across a word that you do not understand, write it down! After that look for its meaning. At the end of your day, go through this list and learn the words on it. Try making sentences in which you can use these new words that you learned. This is a good practice because without writing down the words, chances are that you will forget them.

Learn to listen

Speaking in English outside with other people is not your only problem, you also have to learn to listen. Speaking and listening require two different parts of your body. You have to train your ears to listen to a new language and differential the words. Listen as much as you can. You could also read aloud and this way you would be listening to yourself.

Do not lose confidence

Learning anything new can be emotionally draining, but do not start thinking in a negative way. Instead of thinking “I can’t” think “I will”. Set a date, say a year or two years down the line, when you will be a fluent speaker, reader and writer in English.

Work hard

Everything requires hard work, even learning a language. It is important not to think of it as something that will occur in its own time. You can work hard and reduce your learning time.

Treat yourself

Motivation is the best tool! Treat you and your friends to dinner after you complete a particular goal. Also, ask your friends to test you. This way you will not only look forward to dinner with friends every weekend, but also completing goals on time.

Thesaurus

To develop a vast vocabulary, use a thesaurus. Learn different words with the same meanings, and then use these words in a sentence. Here, you might also see a word that you find fascinating.

Group study

If you know other people trying to learn English, propose a group study. They always work better than trying to study alone. In the group, test each other using flashcards. This will not only be fun, but you will retain more when you are in a group.

Spellings

Do not just learn new words, remember to learn their spellings as well. Spelling as important to learn pronunciations. However, many times in English the words are not always pronounced as they are spelled. I would suggest using an online source to perfect your pronunciations, and then writing each word while pronouncing it aloud. This would develop an association in your brain for the word.

Pay attention to idioms and colloquialisms

To talk as a native speaker talking in English, it is important to pay special attention to idioms and colloquialisms. Make a separate notebook for these and follow the same process as you use for the words.

Revise

Revise every word you have learned during the week on Sunday, or any other day. This way you make sure that the words stay with you. Remember to speak out loud so you hear yourself and your ears are trained to catch the word.

English movies and songs

Whenever you have time on your hands, watch an English movie. This way you will get used to the idea of listening to and speaking English. It will begin to seen like a natural language. Songs can be heard any time, so pick your favorite songs and play them. Pay attention to pronunciations. Do not use subtitles or you will not pay attention to what the person is saying. Books are for readings, when you are watching a movie, listen!

“Do It Right Now”: Steps to Start Improving instantly

Step 1: Pick a topic that is trending

Step 2: Decide on your opinion on the topic

Step 3: Prepare a speech on a pen and paper

Step 4: In a gathering of friends or family, make this speech!

how to improve English writing with tips and tricks

 English Writing - Improvement Tricks and Tips

As I said earlier, a language has four components – Reading, listening, speaking and writing. Each of these components is complementary to each other. Once you know how to listen, read and speak English, it is time to finish the process by writing properly. Writing is probably the easiest to do; however one can make mistakes in spellings. Also, a person thinks and writes at different speeds and that could unintentionally ruin the sentence. Still, writing is not all that easy. Problems arise when it comes to punctuation marks.

Write, write, and write!

Just like reading and expanding your vocabulary, writing properly involves a lot of practice. Pick a topic, and start writing. Do this exercise everyday. Make a portfolio of all your pieces and review them in a month and look for mistakes that you made. Once you are done, ask a friend to edit it for you.

Learn the correct version

Once you have figured out your mistakes, make it a point to learn the correct version. Incorporate the corrected version in your next piece of writing exercise.

Avoid using a guide

While you are practicing your writing skills, do not use a guide or dictionary. Make mistakes and then learn from those mistakes. If you do not make mistakes you will never learn. Once you know the mistakes you made, start writing again and try correcting those same mistakes.

Use new words and phrases

Make it a point to use at least two new words and phrases, as well as idioms, slang and colloquialisms in your article. Make sure you ask somebody to correct these if they are wrong.

Punctuation

The punctuation marks you use at the end of each sentence will set the tone of that particular sentence. Whether it is an exclamation (!) or a question (?) depends on how you frame your sentence.

“Do It Right Now”: Steps to Start Improving instantly

Step 1: Pick a topic that interests you and are passionate about

Step 2: Start a blog based on the topic.

common mistakes to avoid for beginners

 Common Mistakes to Avoid for Beginners

English is a confusing language; there is no doubt about that. There are a lot of mistakes even native speakers make.

Focusing on Grammar

This is the most common mistake new learners make. If you focus on correcting your grammar, your English would sound extremely weird to a native speaker. Grammar actually hurts your ability to speak English.

Confusing ‘in time’ and ‘on time’

‘On time’ as in punctual. For example: ‘I am always on time.” Where ‘in time’ means before a deadline. For example: “I submitted by college assignment just in time.”

Practice using these two phrases.

Gender pronouns

It is common to make mistakes with he/she/him/her. In languages where no gender is specified, it can be a problem for people to learn gender specific pronouns. In many cases, people mix up ‘he’ and ‘she’. It does not cause any difference in speech, but would make for very funny incidents.

Fun and funny

A lot of people have been seen to make mistakes with ‘fun’ and ‘funny’. ‘Fun’ is a noun, while ‘funny’ is an adjective. For example: ‘The rides were fun’ and ‘My friend is funny’. Something that causes enjoyment and pleasure is ‘fun’, on the other hand, a person or incident that can make you laugh is ‘funny’.

Singular and plural

This is another common mistake for people learning English. Sometimes, new learners do not place the ‘s’ at the end of a word to make a plural. Problems arise when a word is considered uncountable, or a name that already ends with an ‘s’. For example, if a person's last name is Smiths, you would not say ‘There are a lot of Smithses in our building’, you would say ‘There are a lot of Smiths’ in our building’.

Less and fewer

AvLess and fewer are confusing terms and are often used interchangeably. There are not ‘less’ people, there are ‘fewer’ people.

A and the

Another common mistake is the use of ‘a’ and ‘the’. ‘A’ is used when referring to something for the first time. ‘The’ is used when referring to something specific. Do not use these articles when speaking about things in general such as means, transport or places.

Who and that

‘Who’ is used for a person, while ‘that’ is used for an object? This is a common mistake. ‘Who’ describes a living being? For example: ‘The boy who yelled wolf’ and ‘the cycle that rolled off the hill’

“Do It Right Now”: Steps to Start Improving instantly

Step 1: Go on the Internet and look common mistakes made while learning English for your native language

Step 2: Keep a pen and paper besides you

Step 3: Write down all the mistakes you have been making

Step 4: Understand the correct way to use the words or phrases

Step 5: Make your own sentences using these words and phrase

EASY AND SIMPLE METHOD FOR IMPROVING ENGLISH READING SKILLS

 Easy Methods for Improving English Reading Skills

Learning how to read is an important part of learning English. It expands your vocabulary and gives you fluency. If you are in a country where English is the main language, you will not get by without learning how to read. Also, reading is substantially easier than speaking and writing, or even listening.

• Remember to always read a book that is of your level. Do not get ambitious and read a book above your level because that would involve words that you will not understand.

Reading English can get downright weird! Why? ‘Read’ and ‘read’ have the same spelling but different meanings as well as pronunciations. ‘Read’ is pronounced as ‘reed’, which is in present tense while ‘read’ is pronounced as ‘red’, which is in the past tense.

A few steps for you to start improving your reading skills are explained below.

Decide what you want to read

Preferably, you should stick to reading a book that is your level. Do not decide to read Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. You can do that when you have successfully mastered the language. That novel will not disappoint! You can read children’s books, newspapers, comics, or anything else. Once you have decided, go pick up the books from the library or bookshop.

Take it slow

Reading takes patience. Do not try rushing through the book or newspaper. Concentrate on every word that you read. If you do not understand a particular word or phrase, look it up in a dictionary or on Google. Do not proceed without understanding it completely.

Reread

Rereading is a good exercise. You know how when you watch a movie for the second time, you pick out all that bits of information that you missed out on the first time you watched it? Rereading does the exact same thing. At times, while reading, a person fazes out. That means he or she is reading but not really concentrating or understanding. A second read makes everything clearer.

A list of unfamiliar words

Make a list of all the new words you come across with their meaning. After you finish reading the text, go through this list and try using the words in your daily life.

Read aloud

Read every few sentences or paragraphs out loud. Concentrate on your pronunciation. This will help in developing fluency while reading. Fluency in speech is not the only thing that is important!

Summarize

Once you are done reading, summarize everything you read by either writing it down, or by speaking out in front of friends and family. You could also do this by yourself in front of the mirror. Remember to do this in English.

“Do it Right Now”: Steps to start improving instantly

Step 1: Pick an English book or topic over the internet of your interest

Step 2: Keep a dictionary, pen and a paper alongside

Step 3: Scan, skim and start reading the text out loud in a subtle speech

Step 4: Break the words that are difficult to pronounce at one go into sounds and speak in a connecting flow. In you don't know how that particular word sounds, refer to an audio dictionary and follow. Eg: Anticipation = An - tee — see — pay — shun.

Step 5: Note down new phrases, words and expressions you come across while reading and simultaneously take meaning from the dictionary.

Step 6: On completion, review the topic in your head.

Step 7: Note the estimated time you took to read the text, number of words read and as a trend, try and speed up with every third time you read.

HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH FLUENTLY

 How to Speak English Fluently

Fluency is the ability to speak a language with ease, without any hiccups! Now, you must be wondering what I mean by ‘without any hiccups’. Do not take that literally! It is an idiom. An idiom is a group of words whose actual meaning is different from the literal meaning. ‘Without any hiccups’ does not mean speaking a language without suffering from a bout of hiccups, what it means is speaking a language without stopping and stuttering, and being unsure of how to use your words. Fluency means knowing how to use your words with ease and comfort.

Fluency comes with practice. You cannot study every “How to speak English” book and expect to be fluent in the language. Practice is a must! Also, if you think you read well and so you must be fluent as well, you are mistaken! Reading and speaking are very different.

The thing with leaning English is that you need not concentrate on the grammar while speaking. Concentrate on conversing. English is a weird language with a lot of loopholes.

Practice

Practicing speaking in English is a must. You cannot learn how to speak fluently otherwise. The reason for this is the slang that has infiltrated the language and also the utter lack of regard for grammatical rules while speaking. However, if one starts using correct grammar, by the book, English would sound extremely weird.

Small talk

Learn how to begin a conversation. This will also grow your confidence. While standing in line, ask the person in front or behind you a simple question such as ‘What time is it?’ Try continuing with the conversation. If you have trouble understanding the person, politely ask them to repeat what they said. Normally, people say “I’m sorry?” but you could also say “Pardon”.

Confidence

Practicing English speech will require confidence. During a social gathering, start small conversations. Do not hesitate to ask the person to repeat him or herself. If you do not understand the meaning of a particular word or phrase, ask them to clarify. Chances are they know you are in the learning process and would gladly help. Do not think that you can go home and open Google translations and type in the word or phrase they used. This does not work! Also, do not feel embarrassed when somebody corrects you. You could also go to a karaoke bar!

Listen

Reading and speaking is not enough. Listen to how people speak, the pronunciations, and the way words are use. Watch T.V., listen to songs etc. This way you are listening to other people speak and observe how they pronounce the words.

Read books

Read novels. Concentrate on the formation of the sentences. Novels have dialogues, a conversation between two people that you can use to your advantage. Notice how people speak. They do not pay attention to the grammar as much as they do to talking. Also, when you are reading, mark every unusual phrase or word and find out what it means. Incorporate new words into your vocabulary.

Do not translate

Avoid translating what you hear, or what you say. Translating a phrase from your mother tongue to English or vice versa will completely ruin the actual meaning of the phrase. It will also most likely be incorrect. Instead, use a dictionary

Study words and phrases

I’ve been using the term ‘phrases’ a lot. You may know a thousand words in the language, but putting them together and making an intelligible sentence could be difficult. This is because you are not concentrating on using the words you are learning. To speak fluently, you need to learn how to put words together into phrases and sentences.

Idioms

Idioms are an essential part of the English language. You will find yourself dumbstruck if you do not understand idioms. You might hear somebody saying ‘break a leg’ to you before your English exam, and you would be baffled at why somebody would want you to break a leg. ‘Break a leg’ is actually an idiom meaning ‘best of luck’ or ‘I hope you do well’. Fluency in English requires the knowledge of idioms.

Do not think of yourself as a student

To become fluent, think of yourself as a person who can speak English. You will make mistakes, but these are the building blocks. As a student, you would probably find yourself studying Grammar books. This is not important. To speak English properly, you do not need to study Grammar books. You would also be wasting a lot of your time by reading these books.

Recruit a friend as a mentor

An English-speaking friend is the perfect person to be with when learning the language. Surrounding yourself with people who can speak English fluently is important. You can ask a friend to help you along the way. Make it a point to talk in English, no matter how scattered it sounds. Ask friends and colleagues to correct you if you are wrong.

Movies and songs

Build a library of English songs and movies. This works better than just reading or listening to others speak. Songs and movies stick to your mind. ‘My Fair Lady’ is a good movie to watch since you are learning English.

Think in English

Make it a point to think in English and not your mother tongue. Whenever you are talking to yourself or thinking, do it in English. This way you will become more comfortable with the idea of speaking and learning the language

Record yourself

Every night before going to bed, record your day’s events in an audio journal in English. You will find that you speak much better when you do not have to worry about embarrassing yourself in front of others. When you realize that you can speak reasonably well without stumbling around, your confidence will grow and you will find yourself initiating conversations

Incorporate these points in your day-to-day life.

“Do It Right Now”: Steps to Start Improving instantly

Step 1: Watch an English movie twice and concentrate on how a person speaks

Step 2: On a piece of paper, note down all idioms and colloquialisms you come across

Step 3: Look up their meanings

Step 4: Make your own sentences and try incorporating them in your everyday life