 #1 (permalink) Tue May 12, 2009 7:48 am Some steps I would suggest for you... |
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Here are some steps you could take - along with rationales - to improve your mastery of English.
It is important to recognize the distinction between spoken and written English. Yes, some people - even those who ought to know better - might try to persuade you that you only have to write what you would say conversationally, but such advise can be misguided because it does not take circumstances into account. While hearing English with the ear and speaking English with the mouth can be a good way to increase vocabulary, if you wish to write (and speak) well - that is, with good diction and grammar in order to make your ideas understandable - you might not have enough opportunity to converse with those who have the English skills you would like to emulate. (Emulate, in this instance means: to follow after the way someone else writes and speaks English.) Such being the case, a very good way for you to learn both the vocabulary and the grammar (how to form sentences), diction (how to choose and use the words), and syntax (the mechanics of how to interpret and express ideas) of English is by extensive reading. By reading I don't mean just reading conversations that people post on bulletin boards. (Many who can express themselves in speech cannot do so well in writing; but virtually all who can express themselves well in writing can also do so in speech.) I do mean reading better forms of published literature. The more you read, the more your mind will begin to absorb how published writers express thoughts in English. You will gradually come to understand grammar, syntax, and diction (those subtle complexities of the English language everyone talks about) by seeing it (seeing recurring patterns ) again and again in different ways. You will come to find yourself borrowing from what you read until it becomes your own.
The next question would be: what is best - what should I, select to read?
To answer, first let me talk about newspapers. While many people have learn reading and writing from daily newspapers, this is not the best, or even a good, source for learning standard (or educated) English...for learning how to express complex ideas and nuances.This is because English language newspapers are written in a short-hand, and somewhat distorted, form of English called journalese. The idea with journalese is not so much to give meaning as it is to standardize and condense the way something is said; and doing so in a way that every reader (with money to buy a paper) can at least understand the basic points of a story. For the latter reason, daily newspapers are written and edited to about a sixth- or seventh-grade education level.
The better kind of reading for learning English is that to be found in books, academic or trade journals, and "serious" periodicals (magazines such as National Geographic, Scientific American...and so on). These can be non-fiction or fiction; both is best. Academic journals are a good source for learning grammar and expressing thoughts with precision. Fiction is best for learning different ways in which people (characters) express ideas in spoken words. Popular periodicals fall somewhere in between. Reading so called classics, including English and American ficton, is a good choice.
The next step I would suggest for you to look into involves a study "tool" known as sentence diagramming. It is one of the better learning methods, if not the best, for mastering grammar. Sentence diagramming was once used universally in American primary schools but not so much, if at all, in recent years. This is not because sentence diagramming does not work well or because students find it too difficult, but because (more and more) teachers have found it too difficult. (Ironically, many who could not learn the skill as students, turned out to be teachers. So the teachers' guilds began to press for removing the teaching technique from primary school curricula.) With sentence diagramming you would be doing largely what you are already doing - trying to figure how to put words together in coherent sentences - except that it gives a kind of road map, a set of rules for doing so. While you would be exposed to the various "parts of speech" while doing sentence diagramming, remembering the parts of speech is not the important thing. It is the visual "mapping" of sentences according to a small set of rules that will stick in your mind whenever you compose a new sentence...until gradually the maps are forgotten and the grammatically correct way of writing, and speaking, becomes second nature. (Second nature: doing something without needing to think about it.) Once you learn the sentence diagramming technique, you can use it to analyze sentences that you read - to see how others compose writing; or use it to help map out your own sentences - to find a best way to compose your own writing.
I cannot as yet point you to a good reference about sentence diagramming. It is a lot like bicycle riding. Something you learn...but might not easily find instructions written in a book. But, I will let you know if I come up with something.
Hope this was helpful; and see you, later, on the other thread.
Good luck.
Salam
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