Tuesday, 31 March 2015

English Writers

William shakespeare

He  was an English poetplaywright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England'snational poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwrights.


She  was an English religious writer and philanthropist. She can be said to have made three reputations in the course of her long life: as a poet and playwright in the circle of JohnsonReynolds and Garrick, as a writer on moral and religious subjects, and as a practical philanthropist.


She was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary as well as her acclaimed plots have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.


She was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels have become classics of English literature. She first published her works (including her best known novel, Jane Eyre) under the pen name Currer Bell.


He was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is marked by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and commitment todemocratic socialism.


He was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads.

Top Institutes in India offering Degree courses in English

Monday, 30 March 2015

Improve English grammar

                                  There is no shortcut for learning grammatically correct English. It takes time to understand and put to use the rules of English grammar. But, there are ways to remember the grammar to help you speak correctly.
Try to speak English the way you write it. Spoken English is pretty relaxed and you can get away with grammatical errors most of the time, but it pays to speak correctly. Hence, the golden rule would be to talk just the way you would write it.
Tense
Start with working on the tense. Tense dictates the verb. It defines the timeline of action. You have to memorise the verb forms. Truth is we do not use all the tenses in spoken English. Interact with good English speakers to get the hang of which of the tenses are actually used.
Common Pronoun usage He/Him, She/Her, They/Them, We/Us, I/Me
I, He, she, they and we are subject pronouns. When the subject is doing the action you use these pronouns. Example: I spoke to her.
Me, him, her, them and us are object pronouns. These pronouns do not do an action. They simply receive an action. Example: Give it to me.
Never start a sentence with me. If there are two or more people involved, always start with other people’s name and end with referring you as ‘I’. Example: Raj, Sanvi and I went to a movie.
Voice
Active voice is simple to frame and speak. Active voice has a subject as the doer of the action.
Remember that whenever you change a sentence from active to passive voice, the subject and the object swap. And if that involves the pronouns, they will swap to their relative object or subject pronoun form.
Example: Wrong: The movie was gone to by Raj, Sanvi and me.
Right: The movie was watched by Raj, Sanvi and me.
Prepositions
Preposition brings out the relationship of an object to its surroundings. Preposition is always followed by the object of the sentence. So first the P and then the O.
Strictly speaking, you should never end a sentence in preposition. But spoken English is very forgiving in that regard.
Few other miscellaneous tips
Questions tags are always opposite in sense to the question. If the question is positive, the tag will be negative.
Example: You didn’t do it, did you?
He came last night, didn’t he?
‘Does’ is answered by ‘s’ in the verb form. ‘Does’ is used for singular. ‘Do’ is answered by the present tense of the verb and is used for plural.
Examples:
What does he do? He teaches.
What do they do? They dance.
The machine does the drying by spinning.
The machines do the drying by spinning.
These tips are just guidelines and not mathematical formulae where substituting one verb with another gives a new sentence. These rules are purely for understanding. Listening to native English is one of the proven ways to improve your grammar and spoken English.

Why learn English?

  1. English is the most commonly spoken language in the world. One out of five people can speak or at least understand English!
     
  2. English is the language of science, of aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism. Knowing English increases your chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within your home country or of finding work abroad.
     
  3. English is the official language of 53 countries. That is a lot of people to meet and speak to.
     
  4. English is spoken as a first language by around 400 million people around the world.
     
  5. English is the language of the media industry. If you speak English, you won’t need to rely on translations and subtitles anymore to enjoy your favourite books, songs, films and TV shows.
     
  6. English is also the language of the Internet. Many websites are written in English – you will be able to understand them and to take part in forums and discussions.
     
  7. English is based on a simple alphabet and it is fairly quick and easy to learn compared to other languages.
     
  8. English is not only useful — it gives you a lot of satisfaction. Making progress feels great. You will enjoy learning English, if you remember that every hour you spend gets you closer to perfection.
     
  9. Since English is spoken in so many different countries there are thousands of schools around the world that offer programmes in English. If you speak English, there’re lots of opportunities for you to find an appropriate school and course to suit your academic needs.
     
  10. Because it’s fun! By learning English, you will also learn about other cultures. Few experiences will make you grow as a person more than learning the values, habits and way of life in a culture that is different from yours.

Friday, 16 January 2015