learn english 2019

All modifiers should connect clearly and immediately with the words you want them to modify. The reader shouldn't have to guess what you're trying to say. Change: Louisa saw some strange mushrooms playing in the park. to: While playing in the park, Louisa saw some strange mushrooms. Probably it wasn't the mushrooms but Louisa playing in the park. By placing the modifying phrase right next to the word it modifies, we eliminate the confusion. Sometimes careless modifier placement can create several possible meanings. Change: All afternoon I reminisced about friends I had known with my sister. to: All afternoon I reminisced with my sister about friends I had known. or: All afternoon I reminisced about friends my sister and I had known. or: All afternoon my sister and I reminisced about friends we had known. In the first example "with my sister" is confusing because it could modify either "reminisced" or "had known" or both. The writer has a respon...

There's no quick, easy way to overcome spelling problems. This is true partly because our English spelling system is complex and difficult to explain logically. Even computer spell-checkers can cause problems for unwary users. Also, most spelling habits are formed early when we're learning to read. As we grow older, those habits, good or bad, become almost automatic, and often we spell without thinking about whether we're right or wrong. Even computer spell-checkers can cause problems for unwary users. If you have trouble with spelling, then, you need to do more than learn a few words. You need to form new spelling habits, and the most important is to make spelling a conscious activity. This can be frustrating if you interrupt your writing to look up a word, only to find you knew how to spell it all along. Because spelling improvement is as important as it is difficult, however, you can't afford to let it slide. The suggestions that follow are intended to help you devel...

General Conventions 1. Capitalize the first letter of the first word of each sentence you write. Too much ketchup spoils the steak. Why don't you order a hamburger? 2. Capitalize the first letter of proper names and of adjectives derived them. I thought Lennie was driving. I've always wanted to visit Nepal. The English language is like a spaceship. You have to hand it to Mr. Park. Special Conventions 1. Capitalize north, south, east, and west and their compounds only when they designate an actual place, not when they point in a direction. I've always loved the beauty and freedom of the Southwest. The East is heavily industrialized. Go west two blocks and then head north. 2. Capitalize the first word of a title of a book, magazine, story, essay, or play; and capitalize all other important words also. We really enjoyed  The Taming of the Shrew . I want to renew my subscription to  Ebony . Have you ever read "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"? 3. Capitalize the official ti...

Here again, the goal is to be clear and consistent. This time, however, the aim is to establish a steady, reliable point of view. Doing so helps the reader understand where the two of you stand in relation to the subject, and generally helps build a strong writer/reader relationship. Change: Helga is my best friend. She won't let a person down. You can always count on her to be there when you need help. to: Helga is my best friend. She won't let me down. I can always count on her to be there when I need help. ... the aim is to establish a steady, reliable point of view. The writer is probably talking about her own relationship with Helga, not the reader's. Keeping point of view consistent in all three sentences makes that clear. For our purposes, the main points of view from which to choose correspond to the persons on the  Person/Number Chart . Thus, writing based on the first person singular point of view uses "I" and "me" as its foundation, while writ...

The  tense  of your verb tells when events are taking place—whether in the past, the present, or the future. Early in your writing process, establish a "base tense" for your paper, and shift away from it only for good reason. If you're writing about past events, use the past tense as your base tense. If you're writing about the present or the future, build around one of those tenses. Early in your writing process, establish a "base tense" for your paper, and shift away from it only for good reason. Change: We went into Bruno's and ordered a pizza. The waitress comes over and brings us our drinks. I can see she's going to spill one. to: We went into Bruno's and ordered a pizza. As the waitress came back with our drinks, I could see she was going to spill one. The first example, perhaps effective in casual conversation, isn't precise enough for writing. We can't tell what happened when. The second version locates the experience in the past....

Faulty pronoun reference means the antecedent of your pronoun is not totally and immediately clear. There is no single rule for making pronoun reference clear in all cases. Most often a reader will try to connect the pronoun with the subject of a previous clause or sentence: Your reader should connect your pronoun with its antecedent at once. When Andre cut his finger, he screamed out in pain. But not always, sometimes the reader will connect it with the closest noun: When Andre cut his finger, it started to bleed. In both cases the meaning is clear, and so there is no problem. Problems occur, though, when two words compete as antecedents and the meaning blurs: Finally, he wrapped his finger in a bandage, and it stopped bleeding. Or when the antecedent is not named explicitly: The danger of creosote build-up has not been properly publicized by the makers of wood burning stoves. This should be looked into thoroughly. Or when a pronoun seems to refer back to a single word but is intended...

Just as subjects and verbs must agree,  pronouns  must agree with their  antecedents . A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a previously mentioned noun. If that noun (called the antecedent) is plural, the pronoun standing-in for it must also be plural. If the antecedent is singular, so must the pronoun be. Change: My club is having a bake sale. These should help our finances. to: My club is having a bake sale. This should help our finances. In the first example, "these" refers back to the antecedent "bake sale," but because "these" is plural and its antecedent is singular, an agreement problem results. Making both pronoun and antecedent singular solves the problem. The person/number chart below will help you determine whether a pronoun is singular or plural. Person/Number Chart Singular Plural 1st person I, me we, us 2nd person you you 3rd person* he; him; she; her; it; this; that; or any noun representing ONE person, place, or thing, as: a table. they...

This rule comes first because understanding it can help you understand some of the others. In most sentences you follow it naturally, but it can cause trouble. The rule is as follows: The subject and verb of each clause must agree in number. The subject and verb of each clause must agree in number. If you have a  singular  subject, you need a singular verb. If you have a  plural  subject, you need a plural verb. Singular and plural tell how many. Singular means one. Plural means more than one. Both your subject and verb must give the same signal as to how many you are talking about. Read the following sentences and see if you can find any problems with subject/verb agreement. 1. The cat come home tired. 2. The cat comes home tired. 3. The cats come home tired. 4. The cats comes home tired. Can you explain the problem in sentences one and four? If not, consider that with most nouns, our language forms the plural by adding an s, but with verbs, an s is added only in th...

1.  Force yourself to listen for s sounds as you write.  In speaking, we sometimes drop these sounds as we fade one word into another. Because of this, we may forget the sounds are even there. Thus, we fail to make our subjects and verbs agree. Listening for those  s  sounds is the real key to getting rid of most agreement problems. 2.  Don't be misled by false subjects.  Be sure the word you make your verb agree with is actually the subject of the clause, not just another noun. Change: Those tomatoes from my brother looks juicy. to: Those tomatoes from my brother look juicy. The first sentence gives mixed signals because the verb has been made to agree with the false subject "brother" rather than the true subject, "tomatoes." Here's another example of the false subject. Change: Forgetting your tickets cause problems. to: Forgetting your tickets causes problems. At first glance "tickets" may look like the subject, but a moment's reflection tell...

This rule comes first because understanding it can help you understand some of the others. In most sentences you follow it naturally, but it can cause trouble. The rule is as follows: The subject and verb of each clause must agree in number. The subject and verb of each clause must agree in number. If you have a  singular  subject, you need a singular verb. If you have a  plural subject, you need a plural verb. Singular and plural tell how many. Singular means one. Plural means more than one. Both your subject and verb must give the same signal as to how many you are talking about. Read the following sentences and see if you can find any problems with subject/verb agreement. 1. The cat come home tired. 2. The cat comes home tired. 3. The cats come home tired. 4. The cats comes home tired. Can you explain the problem in sentences one and four? If not, consider that with most nouns, our language forms the plural by adding an s, but with verbs, an s is added only in the thir...