Interpal

Interpal has been a new experience for me. I registered here 4 years ago, but got active in 2017. However, It is disappointing to see many manimals( man + animal) treating women like a product. Interpal should develop some sort of screening so that worthless people are kept at bay.

Inconsistencies

The following corrections will help the English  learner to use the language coherently. Remember 'usage' is more important than grammar, but the learners should never go overboard on English language usage or grammar, while speaking. Proficiency comes with time!



1) He took admission in the university    -      Frequent in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh

He gained admission to the university      -     Correct Usage



2) I cleared my exams                                -      Frequent in Pakistan

I passed my exams......................Correct Usage


3) He has become healthy(overweight)-------Popular usage in Pakistan

He has become overweight           Correct Usage

4) I need informations                    Popular usage in Pakistan

I need information(uncountable)       Correct Usage
I need a piece of information             Correct Usage
I need some information                    Correct Usage

5) I am going to give my exam     -     Frequent in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

I am going to take my exam          -     Correct Usage

6) Make a photo(camera)               -      Frequent in Russia

Take a photo  -    Correct Usage

7) I am student  -  Frequent in Russia and Brazil and other countries

I am a student   -    Correct Usage(Verb be + article + countable noun)

8) I like your dressing(clothes)   - Frequent in Pakistan

    I like your dress                       -  Correct usage

Dressing is a sauce for flavour enhancement

Dressing is a pad to cover the wounds

Test your Prepositions

Prepositions not only baffle the  non-native learners of English, but also the native speakers and the following drill will help you become more conscious of them.




Fill in the blanks with the appropriate prepositions and type your answers in the comment section

1.  Write -------- pencil.
2.  Write -------- a piece of paper.
3.  Write --------- blue ink
4.  I installed the fan ------------ the ceiling.
5.  He went ------------ the room and stood ----------- a corner.
6.  I kept the flower pot ----------the window sill.
7.  I translated the phrase ----------- English.
8.  He was standing -------- the door(near the door)
9.  He was standing -------- the window(near the window)
10.  He was standing ------- the bed(near the bed)
11.  I saw the wedding dress ------------ the shop window(the dress was very close to the window pane)
12. He had a scar ------- his face(It was a long scar)
13. I shouted --------- him to stop.(I raised my voice to grab his attention)
14. I shouted --------- him( I spoke to him angrily)
15. He went ------- car, but I went -------my bike.
16. We can't pay ---- cash, we will pay ------- credit card.

Russian Students

Все мои ученики из России замечательные люди!  Они увлеченные и у них серьезный подход к делу.
     В 2012 на сайте “Livemocha” я познакомился с девушкой из Москвы. Сначала у нас были бесплатные занятия по Skype. Ей понравился мой подход в обучении, и буквально через неделю она предложила заниматься регулярно и оплачивать занятия. Эта встреча была настоящей отправной точкой, и через полгода у меня уже была целая дюжина учеников из России.
   Я благодарен этой стране. Спасибо, Россия!





My Russian students have been simply fantastic and they don't value a free lunch. In 2012, I met a girl from Moscow on Livemocha and taught her for a week via Skype---and I did that free.However, she exhibited confidence in my teaching methodology and wanted to  pay for the  lessons,  and which she did eventually.


There was no turning back and in 6 months, I got a substantial number of students from Russia.



Thank you, Russia

Q & A

What are parts of speech?

A) They are words classified according to their function. Nouns, pronouns, verbs, determiners, adjectives, adverbs, preposition and conjunctions

What is a phrase?

A) Group of words that gives us an incomplete sense are called phrases. For example, in the kitchen, 2 dozen bananas, My friends and I. Phrases may or may not accommodate verbs. 

What is a sentence?
A) A sentence gives us a complete sense. It has  a subject and a verb.For example, I am a man, a child smiles. Imperative sentences—those that make a command or request—are  used with or without a subject because the subject is felt not written. For example: Stand up, Be quiet and so on.

What is a clause

Sometimes the sentence stretches us and If one part of a sentence has a subject and a predicate, it is called a clause. There are different types of clauses, but they all contain a subject and a predicate.

Unlocking the Adjectives

In Pakistan, I have observed that adjectives are not given the importance they truly deserve. The indifference, shown by the teachers, regarding adjectives, is deplorable.


A typical Pakistani student completes his matriculation and enters intermediate level of education. From there he or she progresses to a university and academically evolves into a graduate-- but very seldom intellectually.

During all this time, he lumps verbs and adjectives together and ravishes his sentence structure.

First of all a student must realize that Adjectives describe nouns by pointing towards them. For example:

I am honest because I have honesty (The adjective 'honest' points to my 'honesty')
I am tall because my height reflects my tallness ( The adjective 'tall' indicates the level of tallness)
 

Now, let's move to the common errors that are made consistently:

1. The words that end with 'ed' are commonly considered as verbs, if you ask a student to differentiate between "I am disappointed"  or "I disappointed", most would feel confused.
2.  Most don't know that link verbs such as be, seem, become have to be used with adjectives.
3. Many students do not have any idea that most adjectives can be placed before noun or after a link verb but some come before a noun only (attributive) while others follow a link verb (predicative)

List of adjectives that only come before a noun

 elder, eldest, little, live (meaning living and not dead),  intensifying adjectives like mere, sheer.    


 I  would write some sentences to show their position:

• She is the eldest sister
• Do not touch the live wire

  But you cannot say I am live

List of adjectives that only come after a link verb :

afraid, asleep,ill, well, afloat


And now the examples:

I am afraid but you cannot say the afraid man

The magic of the word called "To"

The word "To" has several functions, as a preposition it shows that  one noun or  pronoun is taking some action in some  direction. This  can be observed  in the subsequent list:

1. I am going to Canada
2. He is talking to you.
3. Let's go to the beach (the verb 'let' is telling the pronoun 'us' to go to the beach)

As a particle of the infinitive verb, it tells us the following:

1. The reason of an action ( I am studying French to work in France)
2. The reason of a reaction (To watch her sing makes me cry)
3. Result  (He was able to complete the report in time)

Infinitives are verb forms that combine with "To" or without it to talk about reasons and reactions in relation to different kind of actions.