POPULAR ERRORS IN ENGLISH

Hello there,

In this entry i want to talk about errors! Ya...forming errors in speaking and writing english is very common to us. However, if the errors are too obvious which can easily spotted by others especially in speaking,it is very embarassing!

Amongst the popular errors made by many users/speakers are in the use of :

1. Question Tags

QT is not really a question.It is a way of making conversation by asking the listener to agree with us.

We didn't play very well today,did we?
Daddy went to work this morning,didn't he?
I've got ten fingers,haven't I?
It's a lovely day,isn't it?

These are a few correct form of QT that should be used in speaking. Unfortunately, I always come accross English users especially Malaysians who are very keen on using the QT "isn't it". In fact, 'isn't it' is used in all situation,but the usage is wrong. These are examples of mistakes done :

I think she's very pretty, isn't it?
This lecturer is so boring,isn't it?
She has lovely voice,isn't it?
Those kids are so cute, isn't it?

Ha..ha! Can you spot on the errors? They're very clear, right?

So,watch out! Get rid of making the same errors.It's very annoying and embarassing!

Bye-bye for now, till i write again on more errors in next entry.

LEARNING ENGLISH IS TOO EASY

Learning English is neither difficult nor too easy ! The most important thing to do in mastering the language is never give up and keep on trying... Of similar important is always aware of the rules and regulation of the language particularly grammatical rules. Let's give attention to the first rules here :

1. Forming Plural Nouns

Not all plural Nouns end with ' s '. ( pen - pens , book - books, animal - animals, etc )
There are Plural Nouns end with 'ies', 'ves', 'shes', 'ches', 'ses'. 'xes'. The changes depend on the last letter of the Nouns, for example ;

baby - babies
ferry - ferries
thief - thieves
wife - wives
bush - bushes
dish - dishes
glass - glasses
class - classes
box - boxes
tomato - tomatoes
potato - potatoes
radio - radios
zoo - zoos

Irregular Plural Nouns

The plural form is totally different from the root word. Learners are highly advisable to memorize this pattern of Irregular Form.

Child - Children
foot - Feet
Man - Men
fish - fish
ox - oxen

Remember this rule, till i write again the other important rules on my next entry. Bye-bye... see you again !

THE POSSESSIVE NOUNS

Hello There! The next important matter in learning Nouns is The Possessive Nouns. All know that PN refer to a person possesses something. The person who has the possession can be singular or plural. The rules to note the possessive form lies on Singular Noun or Plural Noun.

For Singular Noun, the Possessive Form must be written as follows :

My mother's friend is Jean.
My friend's house is not far from here.
The girl's shirt is wet.

For Plural Noun, Here are the Possessive Forms :

My friends' houses are far from here.
My parents' cars are not yet washed.
The students' assignments are on my table.

Possessive Form for Irregular Plural Nouns :

The children's toys are on the floor.
Books about people's lives are interesting to read.
This store sells women's clothing only.

Important Reminder :

Don't use apostrophe 's' ('s) to show PN of non-living things.

The book's cover is not attractive. ( Wrong )
The cover of the book is not attractive. ( Correct )

The bus's wheel . (Wrong)
The wheel of the bus. ( Correct )

I vs ME

Throughout years of teaching, the most common mistakes done by most students are wrong usage of pronouns I and Me. The rules for these two pronouns is very simple ; I refers to Subject, whereas Me is the Object. Hence, in constructing sentences which involve these two pronouns, the said rules must be applied.

Look at how I and Me is used in these sentences ;

My brother and I used to go to school by foot when we were young. ( I as Subject )
My brother used to teach me how to ride bicycle when I was young. (Me as Object )
He told Mariam and me to wait for him at the library. (Me as Object)

The usage of I and Me also confusing in comparison types of sentence. Remember ; In comparison sentence, I (Subject ) is used not Me. Look at these examples ;

He is older than I .
You are as tall as I.
Who did it? Not I.

FunnyCrazyStory (FCS) Technique In Improving Vocabs

Having and knowing vocabs is the most essential thing in learning English besides knowledge of English Grammar. Throughout my years of teaching, I find out those students who fail in English or not credit in English is due to having very lack of English vocabularies. They do not even know the meaning of simple English words like comfortable, intelligent, prepare, describe and lots of other easy words. This has caused them to face difficulties in understanding English and even worse they totally lose interest in studying English. No matter how good the teacher is and how hard the teacher tries to teach , it's not easy to gain interest and to motivate students with very limited vocabs

One of the most popular ways taken by teachers and students to improve and to increase the word power is through asking students to read books or magazines or articles and from the reading, students are told to list down the new vocabs that they get and write the meaning in English and also in their mother tongue.Students need to do this consistently and they may need to memorize the words too in order to remember.
It's undeniable that the above way able to help students to increase vocabs as they do lots of reading and writing up the words can help them to remember better and faster. However, this technique could be improvised to a better ,easier and funnier way in order to make it more effective and more joyful. A technique which i named as "FunnyCrazyStory" (FCS) technique is a much more interesting and faster technique in empowering vocabularies, especially amongst students at elementary and intermediate level. You can read the following tips on how to practice the technique.

FunnyCrazyStory (FCS) Technique

1. Get lists of new words either from books/articles/magazines or you can just get words from dictionary. Be consistent with the number of new words per day. You can set your target to learn 20 or 30 words per day or may be lesser. It's better to have less but consistent rather than many but inconsistent.

2. Same as the above way, you still need to list down the words together with the meaning either in English or in your mother tongue or much better to write the meaning in English and put the meaning in mother tongue in bracket. For example the word ; "marvellous - fantastic,great,incredible (hebat). After listed all the words, the next step is the most interesting,fun and challenging !!!

3. Use your creativity and imagination to form short and simple story from the listed words. It's far better if your story is funny and crazy as it stimulates your mind to remember more effectively. Here's one example on how you can work out this technique ;

fable - short story
fabled - famous
fabless - a company which design microchips
fabliau - a French tale
fablon - plastics for covering table tops
fabric - material for cloth
fabricate - invent, with deceitful intent
fabulate - tell invented stories
fabulist - a person who compose fables
fabulous - wonderful , extraordinary

(These are list of words taken from a dictionary)

Story
"A fabulist (a person who composes fables) fabulates(tell invented story) fabulous(wonderful) fabliau (French tale)fable(short story) which is about a fabless (a company which designs microchips)invents fabricated(invent with deceitful intent)fabric (material for cloth)that can be used as fablon (plastics for covering table tops)."

Look... how easy and catchy the story is and the most important thing is FCS technique is very fun and enjoyable to do for its effective and speedy way to empower new vocabularies. But remember, you have to practice this often and consistently.

Good luck & have a try ! You will see the result in a very short period!!!