Are you afraid of grammar? There are lots of people like you who are ‘blocked’ by grammar when they want to speak English, and then they say nothing, or as little as possible. This post helps you to speak better English by giving you tips to wipe out your wrong concepts about learning English.
No 1: Native Speakers Make Mistakes Too
Who (on earth) is Native Speakers? People whose first language (mother tongue) is English. Yes, when they speak, they make mistakes too. You don’t believe it. Read the following dialogue:
A: How many people are there in the meeting room?
B: There’S only 5.
‘There’S’ is wrong. It should be ‘there are’.
(Watch video 2 at the end to get more examples).
No 2: Don’t Try to Speak in Perfect Grammar
So what is my point? You don’t have to care about grammar?
You have to care about it, but just don’t let grammar ‘block’ you from speaking.
In other words, if you do not speak your own language in perfect grammar, why would you expect yourself to speak English with perfect grammar.
No 3: Grammar is Everywhere in English
Some inexperienced teachers are afraid of grammar too. So when they teach you, they tell you to avoid it. But read the following sentence:
Where is my file?
Say if you want to show you are angry about being unable to find your file, you have two choices to add to your sentence:
on earth
the hell
But where are you going to add them into the sentence? Again you have choices:
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On earth / The hell
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where is my file?
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|
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Where is my file
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on earth / the hell?
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|
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Where
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on earth / the hell
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is my file?
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If you choose the last one ‘Where on earth / the hell is my file’, you are right.
So why do you put ‘on earth / the hell’ in the middle? Grammar.
No 4: How to Learn English (Grammar)
So if grammar is so important, the big question becomes: how to learn it. Well, there are lots of ways, but one of my favorites is watching TV or movies.
When people like you who learn to speak English, they usually drop the article (e.g. a, an, the), and say something like ‘son of bitch’. (It should be: Son of a bitch).
So how to remember it? Watch TV programs that are funny!
Which one to watch? There is a clip from the program, Friends with Better Lives. Watch and listen. When it comes to 0.28 minute, ‘a bitch’ appears twice:
The man: Our marriage is a bitch.
The woman: (I said) you married a bitch.
(Some background information: A man wants to save his marriage, but his friends do not support him. And when her wife arrives ….)
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(The video about mistakes made by native speakers of English)
