Dear friends,
There is an important post on the first or second page of the forum. The post
is titled:
Re：The placticality English and grammars!
Read it! You do well to admire this writer's courage using English. His English is enough to allow him to do business. He's satisfied with his English level,
and it works for him, so he has accomplished what he needs. Surely this post will encourage many of you who write such sad little messages, in good English to
apologize that you don't know enough English to take part in the forum! You ask how to improve. You wish there was a magic potion.
Well, there may be some magic for you in this man's post. I hope you look it up
, read it well and print it. Then --
CONSIDER POSTING THIS MAN'S MESSAGE. READ IT WHENEVER YOU FEEL
TOO SHY TO SPEAK OR WRITE YOUR ENGLISH. HE MAKES OUT
WELL WITH HIS FRACTURED ENGLISH, AND SUCCEEDS IN DOING
BUSINES WITH ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLE.
THIS SHOULD BE GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT TO ALL OF YOU, AND HELP TO MAKE YOU
JUST AS BRAVE!
*********
Now I want to change the subject slightly,
I can't stand to see one of the incorrect words in the above
post's title any longer!
The word I mean should be spelled "practicality". Please don't learn
from the title of the post to spell it with an L as the second letter,
instead of an R!
It's clear to me that the writer spelled it incorrectly because he pronounced
it incorrectly. Many Chinese students of English consistently pronounce the
R as an L. They often also pronounce their L as R's! So it isn't that theydon't know how to make the sounds. They just use them in reverse. We still understand you when you do it, but it's definitely not correct and makes ita little harder to understand you.
*********
DON'T FORGET THESE FOUR EASY TIPS THAT WILL
QUICKLY MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SPOKEN OR WRITTEN ENGLISH
1. Learn to make the sound L properly when saying words with L's in them,
and don't substitute an L for an R in words that contain R's.
If this is your error, this correction will instantly change the
quality of your spoken English for the better. It will also improve
your spelling.
New forum members regularly ask how to improve their spoken English.
Here is a way you can do it all by yourself. Learn to clearly and
correctly vocalize letter sounds and use them in the right places.
Consonants are almost always consistently pronounced the same way.
Consonants are any letter except a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.
2. When you say sounds correctly it becomes easy to "sound out" new words
you don't recognize as you read. Often when you hear them you know what
they mean because you've heard them before. Here is an example:
"cha llen ge" "ab strac tly" "phe nom en on" "pur chase"
"in ter act" "par ti ci ple" and so on.
You can see that when you sound a word slowly, and then say the
sounds together quickly you may recognize the word, even if it
sounds slightly odd. By sounding new words out as you look at them you
also imprint their spelling in your mind. This method of teaching
reading and spelling is known as "Phonics." It is a very successful
old method with excellent success in producing good independent readers
and correct spellers.
People who take part in "spelling bees," (contests to see who is
the best speller,) always sound every challenge word out before attempting
to spell it. In doing so they are much more likely to spell it properly.
You may have read about a spelling bee in the popular novel "Anne
of Green Gables."
3. The third quick tip is to put all punctuation marks immediately after
the last letter of the word they follow, and then to leave a space before
the next letter.
4. The last very easy one is to be sure you always use capital letters on
name words that require them. For instance, people's names such as
I, Mary, John, English, French, Mandarin, Canada, Berlin, and so on.
Have fun with English, and the best of success in all your endeavours, :-)
Mary