Speaking - How to Speak English Well

How to Speak English Well: 1 Simple Tips to Extraordinary Fluency Accept That English is a Weird Language Sometimes you can find patterns in English grammar, but other times English doesn’t make sense at all. For example, why are “read” (reed) and “read” (red) the same word, but pronounced differently depending on whether you’re speaking in the past or present tense? Or why is “mice” the plural of “mouse”, but “houses” is the plural of “house”? Unfortunately, there are just as many exceptions as there are rules in English. It’s easy to...

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Speaking - 5 Speaking Rules you need to know

5 Speaking Rules you need to know! 1. Don't study grammar too much This rule might sound strange to many ESL students, but it is one of the most important rules. If you want to pass examinations, then study grammar. However, if you want to become fluent in English, then you should try to learn English without studying the grammar. Studying grammar will only slow you down and confuse you. You will think about the rules when creating sentences instead of naturally saying a sentence like a native. Remember that only a small fraction of English...

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Speaking - Six Types of Oral Communication Activitie

Six Types of Oral Communication Activities There are six broad types of oral communication activities that might be incorporated into curricula in many fields of study. Most are conducive to either formal or informal assignments. Some are realistically possible only in smaller classes or recitation sections, while others are appropriate for large lectures as well. On their own, any of them can help students learn course materials or ways of thinking (speaking to learn). Incorporated more systematically into a broader curriculum or major,...

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Writing - Elements of a Good Writing Style

Elements of a Good Writing Style Style refers to the way we express ourselves in writing. While there is no one standard style that every writer must follow, there are two key elements in an effective writing style. One is readability, meaning the use of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs in such a way as to communicate facts and ideas clearly. The other is elegance, meaning the use of appropriate and interesting words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs to produce graceful, unobtrusive prose that will keep a reader's attention and interest....

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Writing - Elements of Good Writing

Elements of Good Writing Regardless of the type of assignment, good writing has several common elements, shown below in order of importance. Common Elements of Good Writing (adapted from Greenlaw (2005) Chapter 5) Focus - The paper should have a clear point, expressed as a thesis sentence, early in the paper. Organization - The purpose of the paper is to prove its point. To that end, the paper should be organized as a series of major sub-points which lead logically to the thesis as the conclusion. Solid Development - Each of sub-points...

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Writing - Four Types of Writing

Four Types of Writing 4 Types of Writing Styles Narrative: Narrative writing is the type of writing that tells a story. Though it’s most commonly used when your child is asked to write a personal essay (along the lines of  What I Did to Celebrate the Holidays), this type of writing can also be used for fictional stories, plays or even plot summarizations of a story your child has read or intends to write. Narrative writing typically uses the first person (“I). Descriptive: Descriptive writing is used to create a vivid picture of...

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Writing - How to Write a Good Story

How to Write a Good Story Part 1 of 3: Get Inspired 1. Read a book!  Experience helps.Maybe the book will give you some good sentence starters, inspiration,and the type of text you want to write. The next thing you know, you'll have the premise for a short story.         Notice interesting character traits. Maybe you've noticed that your neighbour likes to talk to his plants or that he takes his cat for a walk every morning. Try thinking about the inner life of this kind of person and see if a story...

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Writing - How To Write Well: 10 Essential Self-Editing Tips

How To Write Well: 10 Essential Self-Editing Tips Do you want to write well? The easiest way to write well is to edit your writing. The best person to edit a manuscript, article or blog post is the author herself. Sure, writers can — and should, when necessary — hire a professional copyeditor to correct a manuscript before it is sent off to an agent or book designer for self-publishing. But the writer knows her material better than anyone else, so she’s the best person for the job. Learning to self-edit is a lesson in awareness. It’s all about...

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Grammar - Future Perfect Continuous

The FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE indicates a continuous action that will be completed at some point in the future. This tense is formed with the modal "WILL" plus the modal "HAVE" plus "BEEN" plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending): "Next Thursday, I will have been working on this project for three years." Generally, progressive forms occur only with what are called dynamic verbs and not with stative verbs. If you wish to review that concept now, click HERE. Singular    Plural I will have been walking   ...

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Grammar - Future Perfect Tense

The FUTURE PERFECT TENSE indicates that an action will have been completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in the future. This tense is formed with "will" plus "have" plus the past participle of the verb (which can be either regular or irregular in form): "I will have spent all my money by this time next year. I will have run successfully in three marathons if I can finish this one."Singular    PluralI will have walked    we will have walkedyou will have walked    you will have walkedhe/she/it...

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Grammar - Future Continuous Tense

The FUTURE PROGRESSIVE TENSE indicates continuing action, something that will be happening, going on, at some point in the future. This tense is formed with the modal "will" plus "be," plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending): "I will be running in next year's Boston Marathon. Our campaign plans suggest that the President will be winning the southern vote by November. "Generally, progressive forms occur only with what are called dynamic verbs and not with stative verbs. If you wish to review that concept now, click HERE. Singular   ...

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Grammar - Future Tense

The FUTURE TENSE indicates that an action is in the future relative to the speaker or writer. There are no inflected forms for the future in English (nothing like those -ed or -s endings in the other tenses). Instead, the future tense employs the helping verbs will or shall with the base form of the verb:     She will leave soon.     We shall overcome. The future is also formed with the use of a form of "go" plus the infinitive of the verb:     He is going to faint. English can even use the present...

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Grammar - Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE indicates a continuous action that was completed at some point in the past. This tense is formed with the modal "HAD" plus "BEEN," plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending): "I had been working in the garden all morning. George had been painting his house for weeks, but he finally gave up." Generally, progressive forms occur only with what are called dynamic verbs and not with stative verbs. If you wish to review that concept now, click HERE. Singular    Plural I had been...

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Grammar - Past Perfect Tense

The PAST PERFECT TENSE indicates that an action was completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in the past before something else happened. This tense is formed with the past tense form of "to have" (HAD) plus the past participle of the verb (which can be either regular or irregular in form):     I had walked two miles by lunchtime.     I had run three other marathons before entering the Boston Marathon . Singular    Plural I had walked    we had walked you had walked   ...

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Grammar - Past Continuous Tense

The PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE indicates continuing action, something that was happening, going on, at some point in the past. This tense is formed with the helping "to be" verb, in the past tense, plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing ending):     I was riding my bike all day yesterday.     Joel was being a terrible role model for his younger brother. The past progressive indicates a limited duration of time and is thus a convenient way to indicate that something took place (in the simple past) while...

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English Grammar - Past Tense

The PAST TENSE  indicates that an action is in the past relative to the speaker or writer. when the time period has finished: "We went to Chicago last Christmas." when the time period is definite: "We visited Mom last week." with for, when the action is finished: "I worked with the FBI for two months." Regular verbs use the verb's base form (scream, work) plus the -ed ending (screamed, worked). Irregular verbs alter their form in some other way (slept, drank, drove). Students for whom English is a second language sometimes (quite...

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Grammar - Present Perfect Continuous / Progressive

The PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE indicates a continuous action that has been finished at some point in the past or that was initiated in the past and continues to happen. The action is usually of limited duration and has some current relevance: "She has been running and her heart is still beating fast." The present perfect progressive frequently is used to describe an event of the recent past; it is often accompanied by just in this usage: "It has just been raining." This tense is formed with the modal "HAVE" or "HAS" (for third-person singular...

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