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You can easily come off as an intelligent person while talking, but as soon as you have to type the English language, you can come to an unfortunate problem: English grammar can be hard to learn. It’s necessary to learn, and with some practice, you can master the English arts.

The most common of all grammar mistakes in the English language is, without a doubt, the different between “your” and “you are.” When spelled out, it doesn’t seem like it’s hard to distinguish the two. But when you use the contraction “you’re” there can be some confusion. Any time you read “you’re” imagine you are reading “you are” instead to see if it fits. “Your” shows possession, while “you’re” doesn’t.

Now we come to a predicament; the English language has three like-sounding constructive words with “their,” they’re,” and “there.” The contraction is easy: just replace it with “they are” and check to see if it makes sense. “Their” is used to show ownership. “There” is used to point out a location in proper context.

Sometimes even the professionals can get tripped up on the proper usage of some words. “Effect” and “affect” is a pair of words that tend to do this. When you use the two words, always remember that “affect” is going to be a verb, and it will do action in a sentence, such as “Germs affect health.” On the other hand we have “effect,” which is a noun or adjective, and is used in a case such as “The effect of being sick is missing school or work.”

When those who are foreign to the English language start to make their efforts in learning it, the biggest stumbling block is when to use “a” and when to use “an.” The word “an” is used before a word that sounds like a vowel- which seems easy enough to see at first. The problem is that some words such as “hour” don’t appear to require the word “an” until it is pronounced. It takes a lot of practice, but practice does make perfect.

“Good” and “well” are taught incorrectly in common United States slang. It’s common to say “I am feeling good,” but this is actually not correct. “Good” is not a noun, but instead an adjective. “Well” is a noun, and would instead take the place of good in this case. “I am/am not feeling well” should be the proper response if asked how you are feeling.

In Conclusion

The English language is a tough one to master. Don’t give up in your struggle to succeed in English, and in as little as a year it’s safe to say you can have the majority of the language down. Keep up with your practice and you will see results.

Learn more about Online English Tests and Learn English Online.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 12:28 pm and is filed under General, Reference And Education, Self Improvement, Writing And Speaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.