A while back we had a learn to speak Mandarin thread.  I've noticed some pretty common errors in English and I thought I'd make a "Learn to Speak English" thread.

This could be for anyone, but if I bring stuff up randomly it is probably for people who can converse in English, but still have some gramatical problems.



First off I'm going to just start off with something I notice a lot - incorrect verb tenses.  I'll try to keep it simple.  Mandarin doesn't seem to have verb tenses, so I understand why it's confusing.

I notice often people will say "I arriving in the US."

So - here are a couple simple rules -

If you ARE GOING TO do something (like arrive), you would say, "I'm going to arrive."

However, you could also say "I will be arriving."

Another example....

"I am thinking" - I am currently thinking right now.

"I will be thinking" - I am going to be thinking in the near future.

"I think."

Have you noticed something?  Everytime we say our STATE OF BEING whether it is now or in the future - we use the -ing.

the -ing is part of a state of being which means it's used with a "to be" verb (am, is, are).

She is driving - her state of being
She will be driving - her FUTURE state of being.

She drives - that's just something she does, but it doesn't imply she is doing it now or in the near future.


There you go.... now you have a good idea of when to use -ing.

This is a good thread for me. I need to learn English.

Here's my practice:
I will go shopping.

mm.....
I would like to learn how to speak correct English! Really....

angelic  - okay then, here's one for you.

Adverbs.  Even native speakers often use these incorrectly - but it's a great thing to understand.

The easiest way to recognize an adverb is that they often have -ly at the end.

Now, every now and then we get tricky and instead of a word having an -ly - it is just a whole different word.  Those are not uncommon - but they are the exception, so I think it's easiest just to learn them as different words.

For example.

"He ran quick" is not correct.  It is "He ran quickly."

"He played loud" is not correct.  It is "He played loudly."

in these two cases quick and loud are modifying another verb.  Think of it like this.

"He ran" is the most important thing.  So, "ran" is the verb.   However, you want to explain HOW he ran, so you can say... he ran quickly.  While "quick" is a word, when you use it to describe a verb, it becomes an adverb - quickly.   

"You sing beautifully."
"You lurk strangely."

Someone IS beautiful.
Someone IS strange.

But  if they DO something that way... you add the -ly.

Now here is where it gets tricky.  SOME words don't have the -ly. Instead, they are totally different words.

For example:

"He writes good." is not correct.  "He writes well." is correct.

well is the adverb form of good.

I think it's just easiest to think of it as it's own word.


If you lean this lesson, it will help you to learn to speak English correctly.

(see?  correctly is HOW you want to SPEAK English.)


Ask me anything and when I can I'll respond.

Thank you very much!!
by the way... I just want to say my English name is Angel.
in my user name I put c behind that "c" stand for my last name "Chou" or "Chu"--->one part of my first name

and...I would be interset with how  American talk, too..
I mean not just about proper English and the grammer those kind of things( It's important and I want to learn) but in the same time. I hope to learn something. American will use in there life...when people are MSN message...
or u know ....like ttl=talk to u later  ( right?)

do u know what i am trying to say?( poor Eglish... not sure you can get what i what to say)

am I asking too much? hahaha

salute to My new English teacher !
you are teaching grammar !

I'll teach whatever.

I don't think slang is the best thing to learn because it will change and in 3 years you'll be saying something and it will sound sort of silly - but in your mind it will be how people speak.  That's why I would avoid slang terms.

As for internet speak....

there are many achronyms (which is when you take the first letter of a word sequence to make a new word like Be Back In A Bit is bbiab)

Here are a few others:

AFK - away from keyboard
LMAO - laughing my ass off
GG - good game
KK - ok
BBL - be back later

Is there anything in particular you saw that you didn't understand?

no
questions :
BBS :be back soon ?
CBS: come back soon ? \CBS NEWS ?
THIS IS STUPID , i know
seriously here is Emily Dickinson's parting , what does it mean ?
"aring is all we know of heaven and all we need to know of hell .!"

parting.....

That's not as much a language question as much as an interpretation question.

So it really just matters what it means to you.  She is speaking poetically, so it's up for interpretation.

I think on a simple level she is saying that parting is both good and bad.   

For example, you get a new job and have to go somewhere.  You're excited about your new job and the city you're heading to - so you know what that is.  But just the simple idea of leaving your friends would be very hard.  You might not know everything about where you're heading, but all you need to know is that you are leaving something behind.

Just a quick interpretation.  What is yours?

well explained !
I dont know how to interpritate ,
seems Parting makes Heaven and Hell the same thing ,

interprete

how to avoid Chinglish!
I Chinglsih texts typically contain many of these throat-clearing phrases :
1its is especially necessary to make great efforts to assimilate the achievement of other cultures .
2the principal task at present is to do a good job in disseminating and applying the results of scientific and technological research,
II Redundant modifiers
1 that theory too is a valuable ideological treasure of the party
2 now the government is working hard to improve taxation.

okay , I am writing sth on Chiglish , I pointed out some problems , but I dont know  why they exist , welcome to join in the discussion!



something I am not quite sure about :
a1: we should adopt a series of measures to ensure that ...
b1 : we should adopt measures to ensure that
a2 throughtout this period there was a severe shortage in the supply of a great variety of goods
b:2 throughtout this period there was a severe shortage in the supply of goods .
ai and a2 are not well -expressed in English ? or they are typical of Chingish ?

Those are interesting examples, ZJ, but I don't think they are unique to "chinglish."

When people try to speak officially, they'll often add unnecessary words like this which do not render their sentences incorrect as much as they render them overly verbose.

"make great efforts" is an example of a phrase someone used once and someone else picked up and used and so on and so on until it lost it's meaning.  It's easier to understand if one says simply

It is especially necessary to make an effort to assimilate the achievement of other cultures.

Especially is awkward next to necessary as well, but that's just taste.

"a series of measures" is similar.  Why not just say "measures" as you've  pointed out.  you're right.  Now, you might really mean that you want to adopt a series of measures - meaning a sequential set of multiple measures; however, I suspect that most people who use this are using it in the cliche form.  

Additionally, why  use extra words when they are not necessary?


your redundant modifier examples are also quite common when people try to speak formally.


There is a fantastic book about writing called "Revising Prose" which addresses a lot of this stuff and would be recommended reading for any advanced (even native) English speakers.

First , Thanks for  recommending that book to me !
second ,  we know that its important to write concisely
but when it comes to translation between different languages , I wonder if the shorter the better
here are some examples :
A : chinglish
B improved Version


A1: the target of capturing Chang failed to be achieved .
B1: they failed to capture Chang.
A2 :departments of scientific research should take steps to make a proper readjustment of ...
B2: departments of scientific research should readjust...
A3:the work of clearly stipulating their functions ,organization and personnel should be done well
B3 : their functions ,organization and number of personel should be clearly stipulated ,
did I change the original sentence meaning by shortening them  ?

Yes, you improved them.

The third example, you need a comma "," after "organization."

The first one, there is the possibility that the target (or "goal") of capturing Chan  might actually be okay depending on the context.  That's when you get into structural arrangement.  But as for making it more concise, it is better.

I hope you could teach some idioms and slangs ,
they would help us to understand the TV dramas better !

I don't watch TV.  I see Lost and BSG online.... but I can't think of any slang they use other than "frack" which is a sillly replacement for another word.

Are there phrases in particular that don't make sense?

There are so many....

jump ship - get out of here
take a hike - get out of here
ship out - get out of here

see what I mean?  they all mean the same thing pretty much.  That's the hard part about slang, it changes so quickly it creates lots of extra language.

A-type - someone who is very controlling
alpha dog - someone who must be the leader.


You can look up slang words here too:  http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Thanks
its a good way of  learning a language by watching TV ,

People gotta be talkin' in ebonics, man!  lol!
fo' shizzle, y'all!