Dear Subrinali,
I hope you won't mind that I've made your first post into a little lesson for other students here?
I'm glad to welcome you to the forum! :-) I'm sure will continue to enjoy yourself and I'm glad you already have the habit of logging in.
The first thing I would like to suggest to you after seeing your letter under replies to one of my two posts for newcomes, at the top of the opening page, is this: be sure to space each of your words by leaving only one space between each
word. Right now you are leaving two spaces, and that is too much.
The second thing to learn is to write the word "I" with a capital letter. It is
never correctly written with the small i in general writing. Occasionally a
poet, or some person who wants to show that they are unique, or to exhibit or reminds themselves to be humble write the first person pronoun I with a small i, but it is very rare and can look self-centred when used by some.
Some other words, such as the names of all languages or of people should always
be capitalized. You will notice that I wrote our names, Mary and Subrinali, with beginning capitals, also the word "English." I placed a capital letter on the
beginning word of each sentence, too, which is correct. There are some other words that need capitals, but this knowledge is enough for you to work on for now
. I think you will begin to notice the other words yourself, as you read more English written by westerners. Chinese people tend to forget to do these things
because they aren't required in written Chinese languages.
The third thing to learn is how to recognize a sentence, so that you can place a
period at the end of each sentence.
I made only these three little changes in your post to me, and look how much more professional it looks now, below. These are easy changes. If you use capital
letters and one space between each word regularly, these two will become a habit
. You won't even need to think about them any more. All three are very important for proper written English.
I should probably give a simple explanation of what makes a sentence. A sentence is one complete thought. It has a subject and a predicate. The subject is a
noun, (or name word). The predicate is a verb (or action word.) Here is what is
called "a simple sentence": "I ran." What is the subject? It is "I". What is the predicate? It is "ran". What is the action word or verb? It is "ran."
Notice that "I ran." is a complete thought. It can stand alone.
There are also more complicated sentences called "compound sentences." Thesehave additional words or phrases or clauses in them Here is an example: "I was
frightened silly by the sudden scream in the darkening woods, and ran home to my mother as fast as I could in bare feet."
Probably you can use some of the simple grammatical terms I've provided here to
look up more about the kinds of sentences in an available English Grammar book.
Once you recognize a sentence you will know where to place the period at the end
, and where to place commas. Commas separate off parts of sentences in compound
sentences. Look up the words "clauses" and "phrases."
In very simple terms, commas indicate when to make a brief pause when reading.
Periods indicate a longer pause is needed so that the complete thought is taken
in. Paragraphs indicate the need for a much longer pause because you are going
to change the subject somewhat, or else you are going to elaborate on something
you introduced in the sentence. Learning to use each properly will make anyone
's writing much easier to read and understand.
I hope some of the friends who like to sing and dance will reply to you and trade songs. As for me, I like to paint, read, and write. I also like to sing, but
only the songs I already know. I sing them when I'm happy. Right now I'm getting to be pretty happy because it is evident that spring is really here. It seems to be early this year. Here where I live in Canada we have a very long, slow
spring so it is wonderful to enjoy it. Where I used to live, in another part of Canada the spring came much later, but very suddenly. One day it was cold and
grey and four days later the trees were rapidly coming into leaf. I could hardly keep up with the speed of it! I like this long, slow spring much more. :-)
Best wishes to you, Mary
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Dear Mary:
Really nice to see you here. When I found the website and read the notice Mary wrore here, I was very happy. I think I really found the place where I can
improve my spoken and written English.
I am a teacher, teaching technoledge information. I like singing and
dancing very much. In my part-time I record many songs singed by myself with some record software. If you have the same hobby, I would like to share them with
you. You can get the songs through e-mail or QQ:26065135.
This is the first post I write on this website. Like many friends I am a new comer here too. Now if I am free I often login.
Mary, thanks to you ~~ It's you who make me belive that I could
learn English well. If I make some mistakes, I hope you can help me
to correct them if you have time~~
Best wishes to your work and life!!
Yours, Subrinali
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