EPTImproving English as a native speaker - Page 2
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FrostOtter
United States537 Posts
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Dagobert
Netherlands1858 Posts
http://www.leagueofreason.co.uk My rather good command of the English language is the direct result of me absorbing grammar rules, reading a lot of English texts over the years, watching hundreds of movies, thousands of TV episodes, talking to native English speakers, listening to English songs, providing English audio commentary on my daily life when nobody is around, doing the same while some people are around who don't know me and are unlikely to hear me, singing English songs, writing papers for university, correcting other people's papers and last but not least: my insatiable thirst for | ||
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Kamille
Monaco1035 Posts
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NukeTheBunnys
United States1004 Posts
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zzaaxxsscd
United States626 Posts
Once you can completely read through an issue before the next one comes in the mail, your English (and knowledge of current events) should be much improved  | ||
Ssin
United States88 Posts
Great thing about this is when you use these words as commonplace in conversations, those around you will also improve their vocabulary as well. Or they might think you are an elitist. Either way it is win-win. | ||
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shaunnn
Ireland1230 Posts
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cz
United States3249 Posts
On November 19 2010 23:04 Slayer91 wrote: Read books with rich language. How can you learn when to use vocabulary without reading it first? Books make a beauty of words, so that's the point where they start to stick with you. I imagine you have to constantly practice writing as well in conjunction. A good example: I just spent like 30 seconds thinking of the word "conjunction" thinking of words like correlation until I got it. You learn the words and then practice using them. It won't be quick or easy. I never was a big fan of english in school but I'd like to think that I'm pretty well acquainted with the language, mostly from reading, and some of it rubs off in writing. This is all there is to it. Read, read, read. And choose books that aren't written for children. | ||
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Scorcher2k
United States802 Posts
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couches
618 Posts
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Mothra
United States1448 Posts
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Jerubaal
United States7684 Posts
Short, sweet, and loaded with concise bullet points of ways to write more clearly and pleasingly. I also thoroughly enjoyed Stephen King's On Writing. Of course, at the end of the day, as so many people have said, read, read, read. | ||
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emythrel
United Kingdom2599 Posts
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T0fuuu
Australia2275 Posts
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emythrel
United Kingdom2599 Posts
On November 20 2010 03:36 T0fuuu wrote: Screw reading. Watch better tv. Im serious. Some people have a natural talent for talking in a colourful and interesting way. You can borrow that and apply it in your writing. i suggest that you have just proven that Tv isn't a good way to improve english since you can't construct a grammatically correct sentence. You used three periods that should be either comma's or not punctuated at all. Reading has been proven to improve vocabulary and grammar, listening to someone speak isn't a great way to improve grammar but you will probably learn new words. You will still need a dictionary to find out what they mean and without having them written down, it's a lot harder to do that unless you have a good understanding of the rules behind how words are spelt. Reading is better for one simple reason, people rarely use idioms when writing. When speaking people use idioms all the time and that can give you a false sense of what the word means. | ||
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XeliN
United Kingdom1755 Posts
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Ruthless
United States492 Posts
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couches
618 Posts
On November 20 2010 03:36 T0fuuu wrote: Screw reading. Watch better tv. Im serious. Some people have a natural talent for talking in a colourful and interesting way. You can borrow that and apply it in your writing. Most TV programs are so dumbed down these days it's not worth your time. It sucks. | ||
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Manit0u
Poland17539 Posts
2. Watch some good movies (if you're from US, it could be a good idea to watch something british, especially some of the BBC shows like their "Pride and Prejudice" - seriously, I hated such stuff until I saw this, and they all speak so beautifully there...), although this advice is more oriented at improving your speech than vocabulary. Some recommended works: Ad. 1. J. R. R. Tolkien - The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings I know it's cheesy, but the language it's written in is nothing short of perfect, they just don't make writers like this any more. If you're into Sci-Fi more than Fantasy you could always check out Dan Abnett's or Graham McNeil's works, not sure how's Lem translations to English... I'll leave it at that, reading Fantasy and Sci-Fi can help your vocabulary and language more than some straight-up things. Ad. 2. Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility - just trust me on this two. They might be "girl" movies, but they're god damn awesome when you get into it. Titus - this is a very bold and very mindblowing interpretation of Shakespeare's work. | ||
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Kickboxer
Slovenia1308 Posts
Try the Dune series by Frank Herbert, it's quite brilliant and very much like SC. In fact it was the basis for the first RTS ever made  | ||
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