Tips to learn English faster

             

Tips to learn English faster

1. READ EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON

Classic literature, paperbacks, newspapers, websites, emails, your social media feed, cereal boxes: if it’s in English, read it. Why? Well, this content will be full of juicy new vocabulary, as well as a fair amount you already know. This helps you improve quickly, as re-exposure to learned vocabulary gives you new examples in context, therefore reinforcing those words in your mind. On the other hand, learning new words and expressions is essential to building your vocabulary arsenal, particularly in a language like English with so many words! However, don’t just read and move on – next, you’ve got to…

2. ACTIVELY TAKE NOTE OF NEW VOCABULARY

This tip is a classic one for good reason: it works! When learning, we often enjoy a new word of phrase so much that forgetting it seems impossible. But trust us, not everything sticks the first time. To fight this, get into the habit of carrying around a funky notebook or using a tool like Evernote. Whenever you hear or read a new word or expression, write it down in context: that is, in a sentence and with its meaning noted. This saves you time as you won’t return to that word and ask yourself: “What did that word/expression mean again?”

3. TALK WITH REAL LIVE HUMANS

What is a language for if not to communicate? Sure, we humans have become experts at communicating without opening our mouths – thanks Whatsapp! – but when push comes to shove, it’s true that speaking a language helps it stick in your head far better than only reading or writing it. Just think of how many times you’ve heard people say that they “understand, but can’t speak English.” A lot of would-be English speakers have turned talking into a huge insurmountable barrier that only serves to psyche them out. Don’t be like that. Seek out native speakers for an informal language exchange, enroll in a course, or take classes online.

4. SUBSCRIBE TO PODCASTS OR YOUTUBE CHANNELS (IN ENGLISH)

Like humor? Politics? Blogging? Cooking? With topics covering every interest imaginable, there’s an English-speaking podcast or Youtube channel out there for you. Subscribe to a few and listen while driving or watch during the commute to school or work. At first, you might find the native accents difficult, but stick with it and you’ll soon start to understand what you hear (as well as learning lots of new vocab from a native speaker!)

5. GO ABROAD

If there’s a better way to learn English than being immersed in it while living and studying in an English-speaking country, we’d love to know! It’s no secret that English is the most widely-spoken language in the world, and with a long list of countries to choose between, you can select your ideal learning environment based on hemisphere, weather, or favorite city. Think Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US, Canada, and South Africa to name a few!

6. USE YOUR FRIENDS

Have friends who post online in English? Don’t gloss over them in your newsfeed: scan the items they share and commit to exploring one or two each day. They might be news or magazine articles, videos, talks, blog posts, songs, or anything else: if it’s in English and the topic interests you, it’s going to be helpful!

7. ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it also propelled the language learner to fluency! As you learn English, you’ll soon collect a mountain of questions. Don’t sit on your doubts – be curious and resolve them! If you’re enrolled in a course, ask your teacher (it’s what they’re there for, after all). But if you’re learning alone, don’t worry: find answers in blogs or language websites, ask other learners, or read through forums. You’ll be happy you did!

8. TAKE A LEAD FROM THE STARS

Mix up your learning by picking a native English-speaking actor or singer you like. Now, head online, find a bunch of interviews they’ve given – and watch them! Watch once for gist, then again, taking time to note down interesting expressions and words you hear. The slang, stories, humor, and anecdotes that come out of these interview are sure to give you plenty to work with!

9. START WITH WHAT YOU REALLY NEED

Your English studies are likely to go far more quickly if you constantly remind yourself of your motives for learning. Are you going on a study exchange? Then, focus on vocabulary related to your studies. Have an overseas conference? Brush up on conversation starters to use with the other participants. Going on a gap year? Looks like travel and tourism vocabulary will be your guide. If you simply launch into learning English hoping to magically learn anything and everything at once, you’re likely to end up confused and burned out. Which brings us to…

10. DON’T KICK YOURSELF WHILE YOU’RE DOWN

When you start to feel like you’re not making ground – which happens to all learners at some point – don’t say, “I don’t speak English,” or “I’ll never get this.” In fact, ban those phrases from your vocabulary! They only blur your understanding of the progress you’re making and convince you that your dreams of speaking English well are impossible. Instead, say “I’m learning English and making improvements everyday,” “It’s not always easy, but it’s worth it,” “I’m so much better that I was six months ago,” and other phrases to remind yourself of the big picture.

Participles

Participles, Participle constructions

1. Use

1. to shorten relative clauses
2. to make one sentence out of two
3. after verbs of ›perception‹ (e.g. see, watch, hear, listen to, smell, feel)
4. after verbs of ›rest‹ and ›movement‹ (e.g. run, go, come, stay, stand, lie, sit)
5. after the verb have
6. instead of a subordinate clause

2. Form

• Present participle: an exciting race
• Past participle: excited people

3. Examples

1. The cars which are produced in Japan are nice.
   The cars produced in Japan are nice.
2. I saw the man. He came to the shop.
   I saw the man coming to the shop.
3. I saw the car coming round the corner.
4. The girl sat sleeping on the sofa.
5. I have my clothes washed.
6. When they went to Texas they expected a better job.
   Going to Texas they expected a better job.

Present Participle, Past Participle, Perfect Participle

1. Present participle

The present participle is often used when we want to express an active action. In English we add -ing to the infinitive of the verb.

1.1. Use of the present participle

• Progressive Tenses

  He is reading a book.
  He was reading a book.

• Gerund

  Reading books is fun.
  He likes reading books.

• Adjective

  Look at the reading boy.

• Together with other words

  He came reading around the corner.
  He sat reading in the corner.
  I saw him reading.

2. Past participle

The past participle is often used when we want to express a passive action. In English we add -ed to the infinitive of regular verbs. We use the 3rd column of the table of the irregular verbs.

2.1. Use of the past participle

• Perfect Tenses

  He has forgotten the pencil.
  He had forgotten the pencil.

• Passiv voice

  A house is built.
  A house was built.

• Adjective

  Look at the washed car.

• Together with other words

  The car washed yesterday is blue.
  He had his car washed.

3. Compounds with the past participle

This combination is also known as perfect participle. It is used to form an active sentence with the past participle. There is a time gap between the actions.

3.1. Past participle and having

• Having read the book the boy came out of the room.

One action happened after the other.

3.2. Present participle

• The boy came reading out of the room.

Both actions happened at the same time.

Nouns

Countable and uncountable nouns in English

1. Countable nouns

Most of the nouns are countable. You can combine them with numbers, e.g one, two or three. Here is an example:

• one pencil
• two pencils
• three pencils
• four ...

2. Uncountable nouns

These nouns cannot be combined with numbers.

• water
• butter
• coal
• money
• salt
• iron

If you want to express a quantity, you have to use a special phrase e.g. a glass of water.

Note:

Some nouns can be either countable or uncountable. We recommend to use a good dictionary to find out whether a noun is countable or uncountable or both.

Here is an example:

hair – hairs

• You've got some hairs on your T-shirt. (There might be 5 or 6 of them.)
• Your hair looks lovely. (Here you think of the hairstyle.)

Foreign plurals in English

Foreign Plural forms

These nouns have irregular plural forms. They often make their plurals according to the rules of the language they were taken from (e.g. Latin or Greek). Sometimes there is more than one plural form possible or these forms have different meanings. Always use a good dictionary when using foreign plurals. Here are some examples.

Singular	Plural
analysis	analyses
appendix	appendixes/appendices
axis	axes
basis	bases
cactus	cactuses/cacti
criterion	criteria
datum	data
diagnosis	diagnoses
index	indexes/indices
medium	mediums/media
oasis	oases
octopus	octopuses/octopi
phenomenon	phenomena
syllabus	syllabuses/syllabi
thesis	theses

Gender nouns in English

1. Nouns used in their plural forms

In English he or she is used for people and it for things. But there are some exeptions.

male (masculine)	female (feminine)
brother	sister
nephew	niece
boyfriend	girlfriend
actor	actress
waiter	waitress

There are nouns which have the same form for masculine and feminine, e.g. cousin, doctor, singer, student, teacher. An extra word identifies the gender – boyfriend/girlfriend. The ending -ess indicates a female person – waiter/waitress.

2. Exceptions – Animals

If you know the gender of an animal, you can use he/she for it.

• Where is the cat? She is in the garden.

3. Exceptions – Ships, cars, countries

For ships, cars and countries (when referred to by name) the feminine form is sometimes used, but this is rather obsolete. There is a tendency to use it instead of she.

• The Titanic was a great ship, but she hit an iceberg and sank.

The plural of nouns in English

1. Regular Plural Forms

1.1. How to form the plural

We form the plural by adding -s to the singular of the noun.

Singular	Plural
a car	two cars
a cassette	two cassettes
a lamp	two lamps
a hat	two hats
a cup	two cups

1.2. Nouns ending in sibilants

Add -es. Add -s if the noun ends in one -e.

Singular	Plural
a box	two boxes
a sandwich	two sandwiches
a suitcase	two suitcases
a rose	two roses
a garage	two garages

1.3. Nouns ending in -y

1.3.1. y after consonant

Change -y to -i, then add -es.

Singular	Plural
a city	two cities
a lady	two ladies

There are two forms of the plural of the word penny:

• pennies → You refer to the single coins.
• pence →You refer to the price (how much sth. is).

1.3.2. y after vowel

Add -s after a vowel.

Singular	Plural
a boy	two boys
a day	two days

1.4. Nouns ending in -f or -fe

1.4.1. Add -s

Singular	Plural
a roof	two roofs
a cliff	two cliffs
a sheriff	two sheriffs

1.4.2. Substitute with -ves

Singular	Plural
a thief	two thieves
a wife	two wives
a shelf	two shelves

Both forms are possible with the following nous:

• scarf → scarfs/scarves
• hoof → hoofs/hooves

Add -s for words ending in -ff.

1.5. Nouns ending in -o

1.5.1. Add -s

Singular	Plural
a disco	two discos
a piano	two pianos
a photo	two photos

1.5.2. Add -s

Singular	Plural
a tomato	two tomatoes
a potato	two potatoes
a hero	two heroes

Both forms are possible with the following nous:

• buffalo → buffalos/buffaloes
• mosquito → mosquitos/mosquitoes
• tornado → tornados/tornadoes

2. Irregular Plural Forms

Singular	Plural
a man	two men
a woman	two women
a child	two children
a mouse	two mice
a tooth	two teeth
a goose	two geese
a foot	two feet
an ox	two oxen

Plural nouns in English

Nouns used in their plural forms

In English there are nouns that are used only in the plural.

1. Pair nouns

Noun	Sentence
jeans	Where are my jeans?
glasses	She has lost her glasses.
scissors	These scissors don't cut well.

If you want to refer to an exact number, use a/one pair of, like in the following example.

• I have bought a pair of jeans.
• I have bought two pairs of jeans.

There are more nouns: binoculars, headphones, pyjamas, scales, shorts, tights, trousers.

2. Nouns not used in the singular (headwords)

Noun	Sentence
cattle	Male cattle are called bulls.
clothes	He bought some new clothes yesterday.
stairs	The children ran down the stairs.
wages	The wages are paid on the last day of the month.
people *	Three people were killed in the car crash last Friday evening.
police	Look! The police are coming.

* The word people can be used in the singular with another meaning:

• They are a friendly people.
• The native peoples of Africa often have black skins.

3. Nationalities

The following nationalities (no -s) are used in the pural:

• the Dutch
• the British
• the English
• the French
• the Spanish
• the Welsh

The singular of the English would be the Englishman.

Proper names/nouns in English

Spelling of proper names in English

Proper names (or nouns) are capitalized in English. Here are some examples:

days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

months: January, February, March

names of companies: Amazon, Coca Cola, Google

countries, towns: England, Canada, San Francisco

sights: The Grand Canyon, The Empire State Buildung, The Underground

books, films, prizes: the Bible, the Oscar, the Nobel Prize

names of people: Tim Smith, Jennie Baker, Theodore Roosevelt

famous people: Aristotle, Napoleon, Shakespeare

Singular nouns in English

Nouns used in their singular forms

In English there are nouns that are used only in the singular.

1. Collections

Noun	Sentence
furniture	She bought new furniture last week.
fruit	Would you like some fruit?
hair*	Your hair looks lovely.

* see countable and uncountable nouns

other examples: luggage, jewellry

2. Some nouns ending in -s

Noun	Sentence
news	Good evening. Here is the news.
physics	Physics is our first lesson on Monday morning.
progress	Progress was made in developing new technologies.
The United States	The United States is a country with 50 federal states.

other examples: athletics, billards, crossroads, darts, economics, gymnastics, maths, mumps, politics, series

3. Special nouns

Noun	Sentence
homework	My maths homework was not easy.
information	For further information on the hotel, phone us at ....
knowledge	His knowledge of English is excellent.

other examples: advice, damage, work

Singular and plural for groups of people

Nouns used in singular and plural

Which phrase is correct - the class was or the class were? Is the word class a singular noun or a plural noun? This question cannot be answered with Yes or No. Use the singular if you see the class as a group of students. Use the plural if you see the class as single students.

In British English the plural is used more often than in American English.

Sentence	Explanation
The family is on holiday.	I see the family as a group.
The family are packing their suitcases.	I see the single members of the family packing their suitcases.

Sentence	Explanation
Team B was very successful today.	I see Team B as a group.
Team B were very successful today.	I see the single members of Team B. Each member of the team was successful. I could also say: All members of Team B were very successful.

There are more words which can be singular or plural nouns:

• army
• band
• choir
• class
• club
• crew
• company
• firm
• gang
• government
• orchestra
• party
• staff.

Substitute word one/ones in English

The use of one/ones

We use one/ones instead of repeating a countable noun.

• Singular: one
• Plural: ones

John has three cars – a red car and two blue cars.
John has three cars – a red one and two blue ones.

Jack has five pens – two green pens and three yellow pens.
Jack has five pens – two green ones and three yellow ones

If you buy two bottles of water, you get a third bottle free.
If you buy two bottles of water, you get a third one free.

Funny jokes

The Other Woman

Doctors are used to getting calls at any hour. One night a man phoned, waking me up. "I'm sorry to bother you so late," he said, "but I think my wife has appendicitis."

Still half asleep, I reminded him that I had taken his wife's inflamed appendix out a couple of years before. "Whoever heard of a second appendix?" I asked.

"You may not have heard of a second appendix," he replied, "but surely you've heard of a second wife."

Math Problems

When a patient was wheeled into our emergency room, I was the nurse on duty. "On a scale of zero to ten," I asked her, "with zero representing no pain and ten representing excruciating pain, what would you say your pain level is now?"

She shook her head. "Oh, I don't know. I'm not good with math."

Batman and Robin go camping

Batman and Robin go camping in the desert one day. They find a suitable spot, pitch their tent and soon fall asleep. In the middle of the night, Batman wakes his faithful friend saying, "Robin, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."

Robin replies, "Why Batman, I see millions of stars."

Batman then asks him, "And what does that tell you?"

Robin is silent for a while while he thinks about this then he says, "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Chronologically, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. And theologically, it's evidence the Lord is all-powerful and how small and insignificant we are. Meteorologically, it looks as though we're in for a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you, Batman?"

Batman is also silent for a moment, then says, - Robin, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent!?