Language Lab at Home - B5

                Language Lab at home
            Tips to improve English Vocab. and Fluency

                         

If you know how to handle the verbs, you know how to handle the language. Everything else is just vocabulary. - Michel Thomas

I have discussed, how the people in non-native countries acquire English language skill in my Blog post-1, In this post  I am going to provide you with the most important tips to improve your vocab. Vocabulary stock  boosts one's  confidence, improve fluency, add flavour to the language and finally makes the communication effective, interesting and purposeful. One has to improve the vocab. on daily basis if he/she wants to be successful in job or business or profession. Vocabulary is as important as the grammar of a language. Vocabulary may be a standard word/group of words or a newly coined word/group of words. 

Tips to improve Vocabulary, Set-up your own Language Lab at Home

1.Make it a routine to  look at a new word, its meaning and usage in different contexts in a dictionary. Click Oxford Dictionary 

2. Read an English news paper daily for 30 minutes,and try to understand the word's meaning and usage in various contexts, don't refer a dictionary frequently for meaning and usage. Read the news items that interests you. Make a note of  frequently used words and their  usage in a separate diary ( Your personal dictionary). I would recommend, The Hindu or The Guardian or The New York Times.  Click to view New York Times

3. Listen to the VOA Learning English program (News with subtitles )daily for 15 minutes. It will improve you listening and Pronunciation skill.  Click VOA  English Learning to watch live Program

4. In English language, learning the pronunciation is one of the biggest challenge.  If you are familiar with phonetic symbols and their corresponding sounds you can easily understand the pronunciation of words in a dictionary.  Click pronunciation to learn Phonetics
. 
5. Visit conversation sites like English daily or Focus on English and practice the conversation by selecting and pasting the conversations in the site Text to speech Converter

6. Proverbs makes you speech powerful and effective click proverbs

7. Some people are interested in American slangs (informal speech) Click American Slang 

8. Idioms and Phrases are important components of a good speech click Idioms and Phrases

9. Click business idioms to learn business vocab

10. Click TOEFL Skill to Crack TOEFL

11. For Resume preparation guidance Click Resume Guide

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Making sentences with being Verbs (1)

Making sentences with being verb am is are - B4

I am Jack , They are my friends,  She is a teacher                                               

am  is  are, are used to express state of  someone/something (Describing people/things)

Verb

Verb is an important word in a sentence the three important types of verbs are (a)  State of being verb e.g. am, is are, was, were etc. (b) Action verb like, read, walk, see etc. (c) Linking Verb (e.g. The apple looks fresh) appear, taste, smell, feel, look, For more detail please visit http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/verbs/Linking-Verbs.html

Subject                                                      

 When we speak or write, we always speak about  some person or thing.  The person or  thing we speak about  is called subject. Generally the subject comes first in a sentence. 

Subject pronoun

Person	Singular	Plural
First	I	we
Second	you	you
Third	He  She  it	They

He includes all male names  e.g. Robert, Alex, Jim, and common nouns like President , Director, Chairman, Friend, Father, Uncle etc.

She includes all female names e.g. Elizabeth, Mary, and common nouns like President,  Director, Chairman, Friend, Mother, Aunt etc.

It includes all types of nouns and pronouns (Singular form of things, animals etc.) and collective nouns (like team, army, group etc.)

They includes all types of nouns and pronouns (Plural form of things, people, animals etc.) 

Five types of spoken sentences 

1. Type - Statement, message, declaration, declarative question etc.       

Person                        Singular                             Plural

First                               I + am                                  We +     are

Second                          You + are                             You +   are

Third                            He/she/it  +  is                    They + are

Note: 

He includes all males names  e.g. Robert, Alex, Jim, and common nouns like President , Director, Chairman, Friend, Father, Uncle etc.

She includes all female names e.g. Elizabeth, Mary, and common nouns like President,  Director, Chairman, Friend, Mother, aunt etc.

It includes all types of nouns and pronouns (Singular form of things, animals etc.), collective nouns (like team, army, group etc.)

They includes all types of nouns and pronouns (Plural form of things, people, animals etc.)    

                   

Model sentences

I am Shane.

I am 32.

He is  my friend.

We are classmates

She is an Artist.

The  weather is fine.

It’s very playful (it= a puppy) 
            

2. Type - Negative sentences  (Saying no, not etc.)    

Person                        Singular                              Plural

First                         I + am + not                        We + are + not

Second                     You + are + not                  You + are + not

Third                       He/she/it + is + not          They + are + not

Model sentences

He is not Jim. He is Jim's brother

I am not a student . I am a Teacher

They aren’t Indians. They are Germans

The president is not in the Capital. He is in the Parliament

We are in office. We are at the shop

NOTE:  are not = aren’t  and is not = isn’t

3. Type - 'yes/no'  questions  

The answer to this type of question is either 'yes' or 'no

Person                           Singular                              Plural

First                              am + I                                 are + we

Second                         are + you                            are + You

Third                            is + (He/she/it)                are + They

Model sentences

Are you Clara? Yes, I am

Is she busy now? No, she isn't

Am I late today? No, you are on time

Is Joe in the office? Yes he is (or) No, he isn't

Are they ready to work? Yes, they are

4. Type - 'yes/no' negative questions    

Person                        Singular                              Plural

First                          am + I + not                       are + we + not

Second                     are + you + not                  are + You + not

Third                        is + (He/she/it) + not      are + They + not

NOTE:  are we not = aren’t we,  are you not = aren’t you,  is he not = isn’t he, are they not = aren’t they

Model sentences

Aren’t you Lee? or Are you not Lee? (Aren't = Are not)

Isn’t she an American? or Is she not an American? (Isn't = Is not)

Aren’t they busy? Or Are they not busy? (Aren't = Are not)

Isn’t it right? or  Is it not right? (Isn't = is not)

Isn’t he James?

5.Type  - 'wh' questions 

'wh' question expects full answer      

Person                        Singular                              Plural

First                       ‘wh’+ am + I                             ‘wh’ + are + we

Second                  ‘wh’ + are + you                        ‘wh’ + are + You

Third                      ‘wh’ + is + (He/she/it)           ‘wh’ + are + They

‘Wh’ indicates ‘wh’ question words  like when, what, where, why, how etc.

Model sentences

Where is she? She is at home.

How are you? I am fine/OK.

What is he? He is a businessman

Who are they? They are my friends 

Why is she late? She came by bicycle.

  

Moods of a sentence  

Read  the sentence 'She is a singer'. This sentence can be uttered in the following moods by shifting stress on various words and manipulating body language (e.g. Tone), without changing the order of the sentence.

1. She is a singer - An introduction, A message, An information etc.

2. She is singer ? - A declarative question 

3. She is a singer! An exclamatory sentence.

4. She is a singer. A joke statement.

5. She is a singer - A sarcastic remark.  

..................and many more moods

                                                                                         

NOTE: Each of the above 5 types may be uttered in Five or more moods of utterance.

End of the post

Sub-Verb Link - B3

The subject verb agreement  

Subject                                                      

 When we speak or write, we always speak about  some person or thing.  The person or  thing we speak about  is called subject. Generally the subject comes first in a sentence. 

Verb

Verb is an important word in a sentence the three important types of verbs are (a)  State of being verb e.g. am, is are (b) Action verb like, read, walk, see etc. (c) Linking Verb (e.g. The apple looks fresh) appear, taste, smell, feel, look, For more detail please visit http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/verbs/Linking-Verbs.html

1. Bill  is a student . (Bill = subject,  is = verb)

2. Shane and Clara are friends. (Shane and Clara = subject, are = verb)

3. The old building is (a museum. The old building = subject, is = verb)

4. These four books are mine. (These four books = subject, are = verb)

5. The climate of Alaska is very cool. (The climate of Alaska = subject, is = verb)

6. The president of India is coming. (The president of India = subject, is = verb.)

7. The Chinese  team plays well. (The Chinese team = subject, plays = verb)

8. Th Students are busy. (The students = subject, are = verb)

9. Jim and Jack have shower every day. (Jim and Jack = Subject, have  = verb)

10.The crowd has entered the palace. (The crowd = subject, has = verb)

After reading the above sentences you would have found;

1. Some sentences like the first one has one word subject like Bill (simple subject)and some sentences like sixth one has four words subject.(compound subject) 

NOTE: Subjects of a  sentence may be any form of a noun, if it's a single word it's  called just noun e.g. Bill (in the first sentences), if the subject consists of group of words (e.g. The President of India in the 6th sentence) , it's called a noun phrase.

2. Some subjects take  is verb form (e.g. Bill is) some take are verb form (e.g. Shane and Clara) some take has verb form and some take have verb form. In other words every subject should agree with its verb form . Now the question arises there are millions of subjects (that we use daily in our talks), are there millions of verbs too? (Those agree with the subject),  No we have very limited number of verb forms.  Now  another question arises how to use these limited verb forms with the unlimited subjects we speak about?  To avoid this confusion the subject of a sentence is mentally converted into its pronoun form (called Subject-pronoun).

What is a Pronoun?

Pronoun is a word used in the place of a noun.

Jim is a teacher (Jim is a noun) .

e.g. He is a teacher ( he is a pronoun)

Sky is blue.(sky, is a noun).

e.g. It is blue ( It  is a pronoun)

 
Conversion of   subject  to subject-pronoun

SUBJECT Shane Father Mother Teacher President Manager Customer Brother Shop Asst. Driver Friend Students Machine Animal

PRONOUN She He She He/she He/she He/she He/she He He/she He/she He/she They It It

SUBJECT Jack  Pain Thought Crowd Team Nation Herd Audience Water Tea House Shops Chairs meeting

PRONOUN he It It It It It It It It It It They They It

                                                                                   

This way millions of subjects are converted (mentally) into their pronoun forms  he, she, it, they. 

I ,we, you ( Singular) and you (Plural) are also pronouns.It is easier to frame sentences with pronouns. When a pronoun is used as a subject of a sentence it is  called a subject pronoun or simply a subject 

Subject pronoun

Person	Singular	Plural
First	I	we
Second	you	you
Third	He  She  it	They

He includes all male names  e.g. Robert, Alex, Jim, and common nouns like President , Director, Chairman, Friend, Father, Uncle etc.

She includes all female names e.g. Elizabeth, Mary, and common nouns like President,  Director, Chairman, Friend, Mother, Aunt etc.

It includes all types of nouns and pronouns (Singular form of things, animals etc.) and collective nouns (like team, army, group etc.)

They includes all types of nouns and pronouns (Plural form of things, people, animals etc.) 
                         

 CONCEPT OF FIRST SECOND AND  THIRD  PERSON

Concept of the first, second and third person is important in making a sentence.

First  person refers to the person who speaks (to someone) Second person refers to the listener. Third  person refers to the person or  thing, which the first and second person talk about. The term ‘person' includes non-living things, animals etc.

Person	Singular	Plural
First	I	we
Second	you	you
Third	He  She  it	They

Why should we Learn about First, Second and Third Person? 

Read the 10 sentences given at the top of this post, some subjects take  is verb form (e.g. Bill is) some take are verb form (e.g. Shane and Clara) some take has verb form and some take have verb form. In other words every subject should agree with its verb form , in other words  First Second and third person take different verb forms (sometimes first, second and Third Person may make same verb form)

          

End of the post

Sub and Predicate - B2

Making speech in English-1

 Good English, Better jobs, Bright future

When we want to speak a sentence, we should have a some/something (Subject) to speak about and we should also tell something (Predicate) about the subject. In other words we do two things when we make a sentence.

1. When we Speak we say the name of a person or thing. The name of the person or thing is called subject.

Jack is an expert swimmer.

The weather is fine.

2. When We speak we say something about the person of thing. The part of the sentence that says something about the person/thing is called predicate.

Jack is an expert swimmer.

The weather is fine.

Generally the subject comes at the beginning of the sentence (before predicate), but sometimes it may come after predicate.

Here comes shane.

In imperative sentences the subject is left out.

Imperative sentences are command/order  type sentences e.g. don’t shout

Don’t shout (= you don’t shout) the subject you is left out.

Some times tag question is added at the end, ‘don’t shout,  will you?’

These sentences do not  require any subject

Speak these sentences at high pitch (so that you can hear) and repeat them several times and wear appropriate expression on your face, preferably in front of a mirror. After sufficient practice use them in context (real life)

1.When someone does a favor to you, say

Thank you very much

Thanks

That’s very kind of you.

Thanks a lot

Reply to the above statement

It’s O.K

That’s alright/it’s alright

You are welcome

Doesn’t matter

It’s my duty

It’s my pleasure

2.When you require someone’s help, say

Could you please ………

Would you please mind…….

Please help me lift this bag.

3.When you want to interrupt someone’s talk/ privacy say

     Excuse me

4.When you didn’t hear something, say

Pardon me/excuse me / could you please repeat that/sorry

5.When you cause harm to others unintentionally, or when you didn’t hear, ……………say

I am sorry, I am extremely sorry, sorry for……, Sorry I didn’t ……

6 appreciating someone

That’s it,  fantastic,  marvelous, well-done etc.

7.When you are introduced to someone for first time, say

    Hello, glad/pleased/happy, to meet you.

8. When you are unaware of something, say

Sorry, Sorry I don’t know, Sorry I am not aware of this/that

9. Addressing people

Doctor/ Professor as Doctor/professor + last name, friend as Hi+ last name. Address a women as madam, Married women as Mrs. + her husband’s last name, Married or unmarried women as Ms + last name ( used in business environment), unmarried women as Miss + last name (Not common these days). For males use Mr. + last name

NOTE: When the people are well known to you.  You may use first name

10.Wishing/Greeting people                                                      

   12.01 a.m. Up to 11.59.a.m. Good morning

   Exactly at 12.00 noon -  Good noon

   12.00 noon to 4.00 p.m. Good afternoon

   4.00 till 12.00 midnight – good evening

   After 12.00 midnight- good morning

    

11.Parting with someone.

   Day time – say good day, see you/see you soon , bye etc.

   Evening – say goodnight/ bye/see you (up to 11.59 p.m.)

   Good day/night is same as saying bye

12.Congratulating people

   Birth day – Happy grand day, congratulation

   New year  - Wish you a very happy/prosperous new year

   Married   - Wish you a very happy married life/congratulation

   Achievement – Well done/excellent/marvelous/congratulation + firm 

   hand shake.

13 Command/Order

     Come here, Switch off the fans etc.

End of the post