Sunday, March 15, 2009

Rules of Writting English

Here is some rules of writing English:

1) To join two independent clauses, use a comma followed by a conjunction, a semicolon alone, or a semicolon followed by a sentence modifier.

Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct



The delivery boy knew he carried strange cargo, but still ventured off unafraid.

The delivery boy knew he carried strange cargo, but he still ventured off unafraid.



My math teacher doesn't know how to lecture, she should have remained a student.

My math teacher doesn't know how to lecture; she should have remained a student.


2) Use commas to enclose subordinate clauses or phrases, which are not essential to the sentence's meaning.

Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct



The bus driver with her ears tuned to the roar decided to take the grumbling bus on a detour across the football field.

The bus driver, her ears tuned to the roar, decided to take the grumbling bus on a detour across the football field.



My window as dirty as it is reveals the beauty of nature on a snowy morning.

My window, as dirty as it is, reveals the beauty of nature on a snowy morning.

3) Do not use commas to bracket phrases that are essential to a sentence's meaning.



Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct



The man, who has too many ties, has too few necks.

The man who has too many ties has too few necks.



The cats, with six toes, are a unique attraction of the tour of Hemingway's house.

The cats with six toes are a unique attraction of the tour of Hemingway's house.



4) When beginning a sentence with an introductory phrase or an introductory (dependent) clause, include a comma.



Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct



After buying the five pound jar of marshmallow spread he set off in search of a bulk portion of peanut butter.

After buying the five pound jar of marshmallow spread, he set off in search of a bulk portion of peanut butter.



With this he bestows the responsibility of his own happiness on his mother and father.

With this, he bestows the responsibility of his own happiness on his mother and father.


5) Make the subject and verb agree with each other, not with a word that comes between them.



Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct



The cart, as well as its contents, were gone.

The cart, as well as its contents, was gone.



The girl, along with her classmates, like the new teacher.

The girl, along with her classmates, likes the new teacher.

6) Use parallel construction to make a strong point and create a smooth flow



Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct



I was glad to be departing for Australia but I was nervous when I left my apartment.

I was glad to be departing for Australia but nervous to be leaving my apartment.



The system excels at tasks such as communicating with other computers, processing records, and mathematical calculations.

The system excels at tasks such as communicating with other computers, processing records, and calculating mathematical equations.


7) Use the active voice unless you specifically need to use the passive voice



Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct



A refund was given to him by the hair regeneration company.

The hair regeneration company gave him a refund.





A good score was achieved by the team.

The team achieved a good score.

8) Omit unnecessary words.



Examples:

Incorrect -- Correct





I would like to assert that the author should be considered to be a buffoon.

The author is a buffoon.





It would be safe to say that Gregor Samsa is not the only character in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis to undergo drastic changes.

Gregor Samsa is not the only character in Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis to undergo drastic change.





Before going to the supermarket, we made a list of the groceries we needed in order to make the food that we intended to eat for dinner.

Before going to the supermarket, we made a list of groceries that we needed to prepare dinner.

Writing English







1) To join two independent clauses, use a comma followed by a conjunction, a semicolon alone, or a semicolon followed by a sentence modifier. 


2) Use commas to enclose subordinate clauses or phrases, which are not essential to the sentence's meaning.

3) Do not use commas to bracket phrases that are essential to a sentence's meaning.



4) When beginning a sentence with an introductory phrase or an introductory (dependent) clause, include a comma. 


5) Make the subject and verb agree with each other, not with a word that comes between them. ;









7) Use the active voice unless you specifically need to use the passive voice

8) Omit unnecessary words. ;



Essay Info. Basics of essay writing, writing tips, essay types, citation styles, and so on.

Careerlab.com - 200 FREE Cover Letters For Job Hunters


Good Essay Topics. A collection of great topics for your college paper or essay, and 10 tips for choosing a thrilling essay Topic.

The Purdue University Writing Lab Handouts. One of the earliest online writing lab. The Handouts section provides excellent guide to academic writing. There is also a section of English as a Second Language.

Online Guide to Writing and Research University of Maryland University College (UMUC) prvides this site, like an online writing textbook.

Technical Writing. An online textbook for technical writing. It's also a good online reference book.

Web Style Guide. Yale online design manual dealing with Web design principles and various Web design issues.

Writing Studio. A free, password-protected writing/learning environment that offers WYSIWYG writing tools.

Writers' Workshop at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

A Guide for Writing Research Papers based on styles recommended by the American Psychological Association in question-and-answer format.

APA Style Official website of the American Psychological Association.

Writing for the Web Research on how users read on the Web and how authors should write.

Essay Writing A step-by-step guide to essay-writing.

Web Frequency Indexer Cut and paste in an article, you will get a list of words used in the article, with their frequencies.

Web Concordancer. You can search an online corpus for a word and display all the sentences in which the word occurs.

Online Writing Collaboration Project is the meeting place on cyberspace for English teachers and learners.

Touch Typing. Free Program that lets you exercise and learn Touch Typing.

Peter's Online Typing Course. A set of free online typing lessons and exercises.

1-Language Chat. A Popular ESL chatroom that does not require any registration to enter.

Writing? How to write English Texts. Punctuation, essays, and business letters.

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant. A lot of information about how to write informal essays, thesis/support essays, argumentative essays, and exploratory essays.

Listening Tips

Does this situation seem familiar to you? Your English is progressing well, the grammar is now familiar, the reading comprehension is no problem, you are communicating quite fluently, but: Listening is STILL a problem!



First of all, remember that you are not alone. Listening comprehension is probably the most difficult task  for almost

all learners of English as a foreign language. So, now you know you are not alone....! OK. The most important thing is to listen, and that means as often as possible. The next step is to find listening resources. This is where the Internet really comes in handy as a tool for English students.


First you need to:



Download The RealPlayer from Real.com

The RealPlayer allows you to listen to RealAudio and use the Internet like a radio station. Many sites now also provide listening using the  Windows Media Player - or even have their own players on the site. Once you have the RealPlayer you can begin to listen to English as it is used in everyday life. The possibilities are almost unlimited.

You can:

Listen to All Things Considered news stories on NPR

Listen to the BBC.

 


Listening Resources


English as a Second Language Podcast

Center for Educational Development,

Los Angeles

Slow speed, with transcripts, vocabulary and cultural explanations.


Randall's Cyber Listening Lab

These self-grading JavaScript listening quizzes will help you check your listening comprehension in English.


Wonderful resource from Randall Davis.


 


Audio English - English Learning, listening and pronunciation course


TOEFL Podcast

Center for Educational Development, Los Angeles

Listen to native speakers talk and discuss topics similar to those that will appear on the TOEFL or IELTS exams


Shortstoryradio.com - Listen to short stories in English


Living on Earth  - Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. You can listen online with text for each topic.


CNN's podcasting service  - News and information files that may be downloaded to your computer and/or transferred to your portable MP3 player


National Public Radio - Where you can read and listen a lot of interesting article daily on diverse topics. - Great!!!


ABC news - Daily news, including Video Podcast


Elllo.org - English listening language lab online - including audio & text


History.com - The history channel - including video. You can listen to some of the most famous and important speeches in history


Mercurytheatre.info - The finest radio drama of the 1930’s was The Mercury Theatre on the Air - Now you can listen these drama on the Internet - advanced level


The Bob and Rob Show Podcast

Weekly English lessons from an American and an Englishman.


ESL PodCards

With accompanying worksheet and transcript.

Clive Hawkins


Englishcaster

A list of podcasts for learning English .


Beginners Dictations

An illustrated series of exercises for real beginners.


Real English Video Dictations

Based on interviews with ordinary people.


Fairy Story Dictations


Telephone Dictation


Hotel Reservations - "Dictation"

A grammar dictation: tenses & time words.


Movie sounds & clips

Michel Barbot


Soundguide

Rodolphe Maurel

Dictations of dozens of authentic British & American sentences - many of them taken from films. (You don't need to understand the French instructions to do the dictations.)


English Dictations

On Nicola Dökel's Kico4U site. (You don't need to understand the German instructions to do the dictations.)


Online dictations . org

Traditional dictations - many from classical texts.


Learn English - Dictations Please

Lynne Hand. Traditional dictations on various subjects. Elementary & Intermediate. You need a fast connection to do these.


 


In-House Listening Quizzes

11 sentences.


On-Line Lessons - Spelling

100 spelling dictations


Dictation Quiz

Video clip with 7 questions by Masatoshi Sugiura


Graded online English language dictations

Traditional "dictation test" format. Mainly classic literary texts.


Learn a Song Podcast

Learn to sing folk songs, campfire songs and group-singing songs that native English speakers sing.


ESL Podcasts

Choose a podcast from the menu at the top of the page


Voice of America news podcasts

News from Voice of America


Breaking News English

Ready-to-use EFL / ESL Lesson Plans & Podcast.


Listening English from Webcast of BBC 


CNN.com features the latest in Free Video News, including breaking news, world news, politics, weather, business, health, law, sports


Theamericaproject.org - At this site, you'll find some very interesting radio stories about American people


Themoonlitroad.com - Do you like scary stories? Here are four traditional ghost stories and folktales from the American South

 

Reading for Content Guide

Normally, when reading a text, people use a strategy that I call "reading for content". The goal of this strategy is to get the main idea of the text as quickly as possible and with as little effort as possible. To accomplish this goal, your brain will try to read as few words as possible and spend only a fraction of a second on each word.


Here are some characteristics of "reading for content":




  1. Not seeing "grammar words" like a, the, in, of, through, that. The eye only stops at content words (main nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs).



  2. Not seeing word forms: Was it look or looked? Has looked or had looked?



  3. Not noticing the exact spelling. It is well known that the brain recognizes whole words - it does not analyze them letter by letter. Native speakers see the word piece all the time, but many of them still misspell it as peice, because the two spellings have similar shapes.



  4. Ignoring difficult words that are not essential to understanding the meaning (here: primeval, constrictor). Who has the time to use a dictionary?




Pause and think



Here's the process that the "pause and think" method recommends for dealing with sentences in texts:




  1. Stop at interesting (not obvious) things: a new word, how a word was used, a grammatical structure, a preposition, an article, a conjunction, the order of words, etc. For example, spend a while to think about the fact that the sentence contains the preposition at, and not on. Perhaps the sentence uses the present perfect tense where you would have expected the past simple. Perhaps the word order is different than in your first language.



  2. If the sentence contains a useful phrase, ask yourself: Could you produce a similar phrase yourself? Would you use the right tenses, articles and prepositions? Would you use the right word order? If you're not sure, practice saying a similar phrase aloud or in your mind. The idea is to move the phrase to your "active vocabulary".



  3. If necessary, or if you feel like it, use your dictionary to find definitions of words in the sentence and get more example sentences. This will help enrich your "feel" of the word.



  4. If you use SuperMemo, consider adding the phrase to your collection (e.g. as a sentence item) to make sure it will stay in your memory. Of course, only useful phrases should be added



Websites for Readings


Normally, when reading a text, people use a strategy that I call "reading for content". The goal of this strategy is to get the main idea of the text as quickly as possible and with as little effort as possible. To accomplish this goal, your brain will try to read as few words as possible and spend only a fraction of a second on each word.


Here are some characteristics of "reading for content":

  1. Not seeing "grammar words" like a, the, in, of, through, that. The eye only stops at content words (main nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs).

  2. Not seeing word forms: Was it look or looked? Has looked or had looked?



  3. Not noticing the exact spelling. It is well known that the brain recognizes whole words - it does not analyze them letter by letter. Native speakers see the word piece all the time, but many of them still misspell it as pieces, because the two spellings have similar shapes.



  4. Ignoring difficult words that are not essential to understanding the meaning (here: primeval, constrictor). Who has the time to use a dictionary?





Try to read a lot of divers books and information. Especially novels. Because while reading novels you will learn a lot of new phrases, the way English speaking people make conversation. Not counting the precious information you acquire when reading interesting books. If you see a new words, try to check them with a electronic or online dictionary. Days after days, you will learn a lot of vocabularies.






All levels





Magda's Reading Links

A well researched list of interesting exercises.





Elementary level


Adult Learning Activities California Distance Learning Project

Short articles on health and social problems (and other topics) with audio and video.

Vocabulary and comprehension exercises (The exercises are less interesting than the texts.)




Intermediate level


Encyclopedia Britannica - trusted sources of information on every topic imaginable - from the origins of the universe to current events and everything in between.





Interactive reading exercises

Based on the Voice of America's Special English programs


Quizzes Based On VOA's Special English Programs

Charles Kelly


BBC Learning English - News English

News stories with vocabulary explanations and comprehension exercises. Also audio and video.


Story Archives from the CNN

A wide range of articles from their archives with exercises and audio and video clips. Highly recommended.


Finest Quotes. A huge collection of inspirational quotes, thoughts of greatest minds of history


National Geographic Kids News

Aimed at teenagers, a wide range of topics are covered in relatively simple English.





flesl.net

Forrest Lunn

A collection of paired news articles - some with exercises.



The Mystery Spot

Access Excellence Mysteries

The reader takes the role of an investigator and has to solve illustrated science/health mysteries.




Enchanted Learning: Inventors and Inventions

Short paragraphs on lots of subjects. Some graphics.




Enchanted learning: Explorers

Short paragraphs with photos, maps, etc.





Using Jokes and Humor to Learn English Joe's Jokes - Read, Listen, and Learn English. A great way to increase your vocabulary!




Aesop's Fables

Texts - no exercises.




Reading from E.L Easton - no exercises.




SOON

A Christian easy-English literature program.




OurTimeLines.com

Create a timeline of your own life or of another period.


Simple English News. All kinds of news in simple English







Advanced level




Public Domain Books. Hundreds of books you can free download or open to read.

Yahoo Daily News. Quickly updated news, classified into different categories.




Story-Building

Michael A. Riccioli

Active reading exercises - fun to do.




Urban Legend Reference Pages

Lots of strange stories: some of them true!



English Grammar - Interjections

An interjection is a word added to a sentence to convey emotion. It is not grammatically related to any other part of the sentence: : Ouch, Hey, Oh, Wow


Examples:

Ouch, that hurt!
Oh no, I forgot that the exam was today.
Hey! Put that down!
I heard one guy say to another guy, "He has a new car, eh?"

English Grammar - Conjunctions

Conjunctions are used to express a connection between words. There are three types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions.

The most familiar coordinating conjunctions are and, but, and or.

Examples:

I and my wife go to the party.

Hot or cold.


Here are examples of correlative conjunctions. They are always come in pairs:
both...and, not only...but, also either...or neither...nor whether...or

Examples:

Both my dad and my mom play the piano.


Subordinating conjunctions, (subordinators) are most important in creating subordinating clauses.

Here are some examples of them:

after
before
when now
while
since
until

because
since
that
as
in order that
so


although
though
even though
whereas
while
in case (that)


if
unless
only if
whether or not
even if

English Grammar - Prepositions

Prepositions are used before nouns to give additional information in a sentence. They links nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. Usually, prepositions are used to show where something is located or when something happened.

Here are some prepositions showing the locations:

above
below
over
under
among
between
beside
in front of
behind
next to
with
in the middle of
on
in
at


Examples:

The book is beside the table.


Here are prepositions showing the time:

at
on
by
before
from
since
for
during
to
until


And here are the prepositions showing the action and movement:

at
by
from
into
on
onto
off
out of
after


Complex prepositions consist of two- or three-word combinations acting as a single unit.

Here are some examples:
according to
along with
apart from
because of
contrary to due to
except for
instead of
prior to
regardless of

More links on Prepositions:



http://137.122.14.100/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/preposit.html

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslprep2.html

English Grammar - Pronouns

A word used to take the place of one or more nouns is called a pronoun.

A pronoun that can replace a person, place, or idea is demonstrative: these, that, this, those

Examples:

We really like this house.

Do you want to buy those cats or these dogs?


An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun referring to an identifiable but not specified person or thing. An indefinite pronoun conveys the idea of all, any, none, or some.
The most common indefinite pronouns are "all," "another," "any," "anybody," "anyone," "anything," "each," "everybody," "everyone," "everything," "few," "many," "nobody," "none," "one," "several," "some," "somebody," and "someone."


A pronoun that forms a question in the sentence is interrogative pronoun: whom, who, which, what, whose

Examples:

Who wrote this letter?

What are your problems?


Possessive pronouns are used to show ownership over something else: my, our, his, her, your, its, their

Examples:

It's my bag.

Your car is stolen?

A pronoun that refers to a subject and directs the verb action back onto the subject is reflexive: myself, itself, yourself, ourselves, themselves, himself, herself.

Example: I've cut myself.


A pronoun is personal if it refers to the person speaking: I, you, he, she, we, they etc...

Example: Do you want to go with me?


Other links on pronouns:



http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/pronouns.html

http://www.geocities.com/pants098/np.html

English Grammar - Adverbs

What is an adverb?
Most adverbs tell you how, where, or when something is done. In other words, they describe the manner, place, or time of an action.

Examples:

She speaks slowly.

It is raining heavily.


Many adverbs end with the suffix -LY. Most of these are created by adding -LY to the end of an adjective.

immediate -> immediately
quick -> quickly
careful -> carefully
bad -> badly

There are some exceptions that the adjectives are the same as the adverbs such as:

fast -> fast
late -> late

hard -> hard
early -> early

Be careful when using "hardly" that doesn't have any meaning related to "hard".

There are also some adjectives also ending with -LY but they are not adverbs such as:

Friendly, lively, elderly, lonely, silly, lovely


You can find more resources on adverbs at the following links:



http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/adverbs/adverbs.htm

http://esl.about.com/library/grammar/blgr_adverbs.htm

English Grammar - Adjectives

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun or pronoun. Every adjective answers one of these three questions: What kind is it? How many are there? Which one is it?

Examples:

warm -> warm weather

strong -> strong boy

slow -> slow train


There are a lot of adjectives ending with -ING and -ED such as boring and bored.

For example:

Ann's job is boring -

Ann is bored with here job.

Here are a list of -ING and -ED ending adjectives:

Interesting - Interested

Exciting - Excited

Amusing - Amused

Shocking - Shocked

Confusing - Confused

Worrying - Worried

Annoying - Annoyed

Exhausting - Exhausted

Satisfying - Satisfied

Amazing - Amazed


Some adjectives can stand together to described a noun such as: a nice sunny day or a beautiful large wooden table.

The order is often : 1) Size -> 2) Age -> 3) Color -> 4) Origin -> 5) Material -> Noun

For examples:

an old French song

a tall thin man

a small black plastic bag

a big red eyes


Here are some more interesting links on adjectives:


http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/adjectve.html

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/adjective.htm

English Grammar - Nouns

A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.

Examples:

This girl is nice.

I like this book.

We will visit Paris next year.

There are 2 types of nouns: Common & Proper Nouns

Common nouns are any person, place, or thing. Common nouns are not capitalized: a policeman, that newspaper

Proper Nouns are the name of a special person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are capitalized: Dallas Officer Walker New York Times.


Most nouns change their form to indicate the plural by adding "-s" or "-es".

For examples:

one book -> ten books

a worker -> many workers

a city -> many cities

There are nouns that change completely the form when indicating the plural such as:

a child -> children

a foot -> feet


Possessive nouns are used to show possession (owning, or having).

Example:

The dog's collar is too large.


The word "dog's" is the possessive noun. It tells you that the noun "collar" belongs to the dog. The dog owns, or possesses the collar. Add 's to the end of a singular noun to make it possessive.
Add only the apostrophe (') to the end of a plural noun that ends with an s.

For example:

My bothers' names are David and Christopher.


Nouns can be countable or uncountable.

A countable noun is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. You can make a countable noun can be made plural and attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns and collective nouns.

for examples:

dog, cat, job, umbrella, notebook, book

Before countable nouns you can use "a" or "an".

A non-countable noun is a noun which does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could not usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Non-countable nouns are similar to collective nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns.

for examples:

music, furniture, water, news etc...



Here are some more resources on nouns:



http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/nouns.html

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns.htm