How good is your written English?
By vijayanths
@vijayanths (7877)
India
November 21, 2009 10:29am CST
Are you good at English grammar?
I am also weak in a few areas like preposition. I will have doubts what to use in or on, at or in and so on.(Vandana also said she is having similar problems)
I am trying my best to learn from my mistakes when somebody points out them.
I think many non English speaking persons like me may have such problems.How about you?
6 people like this
29 responses
@eshaan (6188)
• India
21 Nov 09
i dont have much problem..as i have studied in English medium and have studied grammar well...but maybe while speaking there is slip of tongue...but while writing i think and then write..maybe at mylot..i do some mistakes..becoz i know that here we are not going to get marks.....and no teacher is going to deduct ur makrs...so i am careless here..BTW..who is Vandana ???
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
Vaishali is one of my blogger friends for a long time. She has great creative abilities and imaginations skills. Above all she is a good and kind lady. And she is like....
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
21 Nov 09
Eshaan I have seen you committing a lot of mistakes, may be as you said you would have been careless while writing them.
Glad to note you studied English medium- I studied in Tamil medium.
I still think we all need to improve a lot, alooong way to go become a professional writer.
vandana is one of my mylot friends who started a similar thread a few days ago. I sometimes confuse vandana with vathsala-hehehe don't ask me who is vathsala---she is also a mylot friend and she is like..... I better stop it here, hehehe.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
Yes, I used to get full marks in grammar, but it did not help much in real life when I started to blog. I understood that I had to improve a lot to post quality blogs. I now can write articles with out much errors(hopefully, hehehe)
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
I am afraid you need much more than that sagnik. You must know SEO techniques to drive quality traffic to your site. It should be organic traffic.
@ram_cv (16513)
• India
21 Nov 09
I am usually good with my English and my grammar. Credit for it goes to my dad who is very good at his grammar and insisted on us perfecting it during our school days. These days it is very helpful in my professional career as well as I am able to converse very easily in English.
Cheers!
Ram
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
21 Nov 09
You are lucky to have a great dad. I was lucky too in that aspect as My dad was very good at English writing skills. But I did not learn much from him. When I started to blog a year before I realized how poor My English was and since then I have started to learn English writing and the process will continue for ever...
1 person likes this
@clorissa123 (4926)
• United States
21 Nov 09
Practice day by day is the key word, I understand it, and it would be good start from the childhood period. People will gain more knowledge on how to use those grammar in daily life as well as on their writings. So, keep on practice day by day, you will be see the improvement on your writing skills.
1 person likes this
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
21 Nov 09
I have problems with them absolutely. Some grammar rules don't make sense if you'd compare it to most languages.
The English "OR" is "OF" in Dutch. And what is "OF" in English is "VAN" in Dutch. And the English "VAN" is "bestelbus" in Dutch. And also the English word "OVER" gives problems with some nouns.
@clorissa123 (4926)
• United States
21 Nov 09
Well, my mother tongue is Chinese, and there is absolutely no alphabets in my language. From the beginning is hard to adjust it from Non - Alphabet to everything to be ABC.... Imagine how hard was it for me to Dutch?
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
21 Nov 09
I can understand the problems of you both. Let us continue our efforts and improve our English knowledge. Let Mylot be one of our efforts..
@aylim14 (501)
• Philippines
22 Nov 09
well, none of us are perfect. Even grammar itself is evolving depending on who regulates it (i think, but yeah, certain rules have changed). Anyways, am not against anything but even English speaking countries (like America) are not good speakers of grammar themselves. Primarily, probably, because of what they have been used to. Like the words "aint" and using the word "them" in phrases like "i love them books" or something like that. anyways, as long as the other person understands you, it doesn't matter. Especially in conversation, because people can clarify it if not understood. But correct grammar should be used in written conversations because more often than not, the person who wrote the letter/note leaves the message or sends emails or something that cannot be retrieved and changed. So once a word or phrase is not understood, then that would change everything.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
hi, aylim, art of communication is more important. But poor grammar can reduce the quality of your writing a lot.thanks for your response.
@vathsala30 (3732)
• India
22 Nov 09
Hi vijay
I do not think that I am that bad in written english. Grammatically I may be good, but still I want to improve my skill I too have certain doubts about the usage of practice and practise. where to use what. While mylotting, these things I will notice from the others writings and try to learn and correct my mistakes.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
I think you write very good English vathsala. I think practice is noun usage and practise is verb usage. but US English is different, though.(there is no practise for them)
@vathsala30 (3732)
• India
22 Nov 09
Oh! atlast my long time doubt has been cleared now. Thank you very much for giving me such a good info.
@kykidd (6812)
• United States
21 Nov 09
I am really impressed how well people from other countries speak English. I think it is great that some of these people have never been to the United States or Europe, but they have learned this second language.
I think, in today's world, it is almost mandatory to take a second language when you are in school. And in some countries, it is mandatory that they learn English in schools. However, people take it upon themselves to continue speaking the language and it can be really useful.
I myself, do not speak a foreign language, but would love to learn at least Spanish in the near future.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
21 Nov 09
It is very important to learn English, otherwise I would not have posted this thread now...
@cream97 (29087)
• United States
21 Nov 09
Hi, v. My English seems excellent. I still have my moments when I have to spell something difficult. Your English skills seem to be fine.. Just keep trying, you will get there. It is common for people that are non English speaking people to have problems. But that is okay. With a little practice, they will get better.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
21 Nov 09
Thanks to MS word, It takes care of most of my spelling doubts.
@clorissa123 (4926)
• United States
21 Nov 09
I won't say I am perfect at English writing, but I also have many mistakes while writing on English. I would like someone can point it out for me, so I won't commit the same mistake over and over again. I am, and as matter of fact, everyone of us here are constantly learning to be perfect too.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
21 Nov 09
Yes, You are right clorissa, there may be more vijayanths and clorissas here on the process of improving English writing skills. Let us wish them best of luck.
@agv0419 (3022)
• Philippines
22 Nov 09
I also made a mistake in my English grammar. It is difficult for me to write a grammatically correct English all the time. I'm also a non-native speaker of English and sometimes I forgot how to apply what I learned in school in writing a good English. I tried my best to correct my mistakes but I'm still struggling to write and even speak English.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
Yes, you are fully right. We all can improve well with our earnest efforts.thanks for your response.
@getbrowser (1708)
• China
22 Nov 09
Yeah, now, I have such a similar problem as you have said above. In fact, I guess most people whose mother tongues are not English may have the problem.
As far as I know, here are many friends from non-English speaking countries and they often keep active to post responses, which is useful to help them improve their English skills. Of course, I am a member of them too.
I have to say that myLot has provided us a platform that allows us to improve our writing skills while making some money here.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
yes get browser, mylot is a platform to improve your English writing skills, thanks for your response.
@yan_blue8 (1437)
• Philippines
21 Nov 09
I can say mine is not good but Its not bad after all. I'm also not a Native of English so i have my confusion at times especially with the sujject+verb agreement. Yeah that sound funny, but yeah! I can't help it but to make mistakes at times. Often times, without me knowing it, and when i checked, there i saw it was really a mistake.But I'm learning on it. Well, hopefully, I am
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
Definitely you are good, yan blue. You will improve in future, thanks for the response.
@soybeans612 (122)
• United States
21 Nov 09
English is my first language and despite that I still make a few grammatical errors every now and then, but I think even if you're a native speaker of whatever language, usually your grammar is never 100% accurate. I'm learning Japanese now and it makes me realize just how difficult another language is to learn, because when you learn your first language you never stop to think of the rules or why things are the way that they are.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
I agree with you that it is difficult to maintain 100% grammar accuracy even in our own languages. I do commit spelling mistakes sometimes when I write in my native language TAMIL.
@luojuanjuan (39)
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
22 Nov 09
Actually,i am poor at english,so i often couldn't passed my english exam and i worried about the cet-4.if i can not make it,i cannot graduate,too. so what can i do?
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
22 Nov 09
Don't worry luojuajuan, you can definitely improve. Please keep trying hard.thanks for your response.
@grecychunny26 (9483)
• Philippines
24 Nov 09
I am not good in english grammar too. I am trying my best to express my views in english but it depends on how i understand it. I know preposition but is my weakness also. I don't know if I use it right in my statement. I am not sure of my past and present tense also and some participle, some subject verb agreement. I really don't care now, unless the site requires it. But on making articles it is needed. So I am doing my best to study.
@paul_original (72)
• Japan
22 Nov 09
for purpose of good communication, i am generally satisfied with my written english. but i should say, there's more room for improvement. mylot is one way to improve it and reading and reading and blogging, and getting honest feedback from others, and take it positively so that improvement is well on the way.
@hunieby (207)
• Philippines
22 Nov 09
I can say that my written engish is quite good. English is not my native language but it is like a second language to me. I had english subjects since I was a kid so that prepared me a lot. My school has a good standard in english and I have always been intrested in the subject. I think my written english is better than my speaking. I can express my ideas more in writing.
@Lornal (113)
• China
21 Nov 09
Oh, i am not good at English grammar, i ofen doubt which is right to use IN or ON, like you. But now, i think the most important is communion, so sometimes grammar is not very very important.Of course, i am so appreciated if someone can point what is wrong.
@vijayanths (7877)
• India
21 Nov 09
Yes, in a way you are right, but if you write good English that has its own respect. I am good at communication, though.
@ruchimom (280)
• Australia
16 Dec 09
Hi Vijayanths
I think you are doing a good job when people point out your mistakes and you acknowledge them
I have Hindi as my second Language but I have good written and spoken English too.
So keep up the good work and spread the word around
You are doing a good job