Improve Your English

Steps

1. 1

Read up on your basic grammar structures, recognise where you are going wrong. A lot of the time it is basic things; for example mixing up "your" and "you're", the former refers to someone's possession e.g. "Your dog is in my garden". Whereas the latter refers to the person them self e.g. "You're in my garden" (the ' refers to a missing letter).

2. 2

Get a friend that has good English skills to teach you pronunciation (to get you started here are the phonetics for "pronunciation" 'pRO-nUn-Si-aTIon')

3. 3

Learn some more words. It's good to have a wide vocabulary. When writing or speaking, instead of using small describing words such as; "The building over there is BIG"; use more eloquent words such as: "The building over there is gigantic.". Alternatively, you can make the sentence more complex: "The building over there is said to be one of the largest in Europe.".

4. 4

Stop using Americanisms (this isn't some hatred for Americans but their form of English is different to ours.). Instead of using words like "dude", "diapers", "pacifiers" and "cookies"; use word such as ""fellow", "napkins", "dummies" and "biscuits".

5. 5

Don't use the word "like" in the wrong context.

6. 6

"The other day I got on this like bus and went to like Southampton to meet my like boyfriend" - This is NOT the correct use of the word "like"

7. 7

"I like biscuits but I also like American cookies" - This IS the correct use of the word like.

Avoiding Common Mistakes

1. 1

Observe the way you write and speak. Speaking improperly is one thing; writing improperly, however, is a red flag. You can see how terrible your grammar is by simply writing an essay. The next time you have to write an essay for school or work, take a moment to look over your sentences and structure. If you can pick out a few pieces of improper writing, you're already half-way there.

2. 2

Learn the differences between the following:

• I vs Me. When trying to figure out which to use, remember who or what the subject is. For example, "I" would be the subject in the following sentence:

• "Sofia and I are eating tacos for dinner tonight." ("I" is the subject because if you remove "Sofia and" and replace "are" with "am", you'll see that the sentence will still make sense.) "I am eating tacos for dinner tonight."

• "Me" would be the subject in the following sentence: "Would you like to have dinner with Sofia and me?" (Still not convinced? Remove "Sofia and" from that sentence and re-read it.) "Would you like to have dinner with me?"

• Your vs You're. Your is used as a possessive. You're is the contraction of "you are".

• "Your acne has really cleared up!"

• "Thanks! You're the first person to notice."

• There vs Their vs They're. There is used as a direction. Their is used as a possessive. They're is a contraction of "they are".

• "Bye, Mom. I'm going to the movies with Danny and Logan. They're going to meet me at the front."

• "Do you know how to get there by yourself in case they're late?"

• "Yeah. Their sister showed me how to get there from here."

• "They're going there with their sister too?"

• "No, it's just the three of us."

• It's vs Its. It's is a contraction of "it is" and "it has". Its is used as a possessive.

• "Look, Nate! A frog! It's hiding behind the leaves."

• "Wow, its eyes are huge!"

• Using Apostrophes. Lately, I've been noticing a lot of people have been tossing in apostrophes where they shouldn't be, like in plural nouns. Use apostrophes in contractions such as "you're", "it's", and "there's". Apostrophes are also used to show possession like in "Mark's" and "Dr. Science's". Also, when showing possession, remember this rule of thumb: if one person or thing owns something, the apostrophe goes before the "s". If more than one person or thing owns something, the apostrophe goes after the "s".

• "The childrens' dog likes to bark a lot."

• "Hobart's dog likes to bite a lot."

• Then vs Than. Then is used to show direction. Than is used as a comparison.

• "I walked out of my house and then locked the door."

• "I would rather lock my door than have someone break in while I'm gone."

• Affect vs Effect. This one is simple to remember; affect means to influence and effect means to cause.

• "The disastrous hurricane affected

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