Why is the Mastery of English Important?
Being the most commonly used language around the world, English is an essential skill for everyone – from students to professionals. This is particularly important in the workplace where you need to talk to clients, present your work to higher-ups, and communicate well with your colleagues.
If you want to be commended for your efforts and ensure that your point will be delivered across, you must have good communication skills and an excellent command of English. It will definitely boost your confidence if you are able to express yourself in a clear manner.
5 Tips on How to Reduce Your Accent to Sound Like a Native Speaker
Having an accent is not a bad thing; one should not be ashamed of it. A person’s accent represents his or her background and culture. Lots of people take pride in their accent as it reveals their cultural heritage. Even English native speakers have their own accents such as American-English, British-English or Australian-English. However, this sometimes causes difficulty in understanding so some people are embarrassed by their own accent in English Speaking. It turns out that having a residual accent might affect self-confidence in communication and interaction.
There are some techniques that non-native English speakers can use to reduce their accent in speaking.
- Slow down and clearly pronounce words
People tend to speak fast when they are excited or nervous. If you have an accent, try to speak slowly and clearly pronounce words so that everyone can understand what you want to say.
- Feel the rhythm while speaking English
English is considered “stressed language” as every single word have its own stress, differently on verbs, words and adjectives. Same to sentence. People said that sentence stress gives English a rhythm or beat.
- Listen and Talk to native speakers
Listen and repeat to sentences spoken by native speakers until you can naturally speak those sentences. Try to speak to the native speakers as many as possible. You need to overcome your in-confidence and speak to the native speakers. It might make you feel embarrassed at first but failure creates success. People also tend to imitate others whom they frequently interact with. Therefore, the more you talk to the native speakers, the more you could improve.
- Record yourself
Don’t learn from others only, learn from yourself. Take your time to record your speaking and listen again to identify your weaknesses. Recording will also make you proud of yourself in how clarity in your pronunciation has progressed.
- Take a class or tutor
Consider working with an experienced tutor or teacher to help you with pronunciation, intonation and even vocabulary. An ESL teacher will have his/her strategy to quickly help you with your accent. Joining a class might also motivate you as you have partners in your accent reduction journey.
English Pronunciation: Compound Adjectives
A compound adjective is a fixed expression which is made up of more than one word and which has the function of an adjective. Most compound adjectives are written with a hyphen, but a few are written as one word:
skin-deep long-term threadbare
The following types of compound adjective usually have main stress on the first part:
- compound adjectives usually written as one word
- ‘ airtight ‘ carefree ‘ praise , worthy
- Exceptions: , nation ‘ wide, , hand ‘ made
- noun + -ing form
- ‘ hair- , raising ‘ fee- , paying ‘ time-con,suming
- noun + past participle
- ‘ poverty- , stricken ‘ pear-shaped ‘ health-re,lated
- Exceptions: , eagle- ‘ eyed, , home- ‘ grown
The following types of compound adjective usually have main stress on the second part:
- noun + adjective
- , fat- ‘ free , sky- ‘ high , snow- ‘ white
- Exception: ‘ camera-shy
- adjective + noun
- , long – ‘ term , full – ‘ length , high – ‘ profile
- adverb or adjective + past participle
- , fully- ‘ grown , long- ‘ sighted , well – ‘ dressed
- adverb or adjective + -ing form
- , easy- ‘ going , hard – ‘ working , well – ‘ meaning
- Exceptions: ‘ backward – , look ing, ‘ forward- , looking
- self- as the first part
- , self- ‘ confident , self-in ‘ flicted , self- ‘ governing
Most compound adjectives with main stress on the second part can have stress shift. Compare:
- The tiger was fully-GROWN. but: It was a FULly-grown TIger.
- The prices were sky-HIGH. but: They were SKY-high PRIces.
5 Reasons Why Good English is Essential in Business!
English is the language of communication: English is the most widely spoken language in the world with over 1 billion people using it as a foreign language.
English spoken in business is different from English spoken in daily lives, as certain industries have certain vocabulary or jargon. For example, English vocabulary is different in business administration, finance, law or retail.
Mastery of English is beneficial even though you are working in your home country. Many businesses are international in scope and English is official language in the company.
Better job opportunities: if you work in English-speaking countries, English is a must. In non-English-speaking countries, it would be another skill that you can add to your resume and would boost your chances of job promotion.
More confidence in working: Business English with Sydney Language Solutions will improve your confidence in presentation, negotiation, conversation, better comprehension and pronunciation in Business context. All of these will boost your confidence in conducting Business in English.
The Importance of English Grammar
“Grammar; the difference between knowing your s**t and knowing you’re s**t.”
The anonymous quote says it all. Punctuation and the number of letters can make all the difference between what phrases and sentences mean. Are you saying that somebody owns something, or are you saying that someone is something? If you know your grammar, and understand it, it will help people understand what you mean when you write and speak.
- Do the subject and verbs agree?- “I like watch movies”, “I drive to Blue Mountains yesterday”, “I come back to my country”, “He cook well”, and “She fixed car tomorrow.” These are mistakes in simple sentences however if they happen in university essays, work reports, appointment records, and IELTS tests you could face low marks, bad performance feedback, and criticism from your boss.
- Are you using the singular or plural in the right place?- “I have three daughter”, “Only one cats went there”, “Only one car were there”, “Fifty girls was there”. Mistakes that should, and can be avoided. These are not welcome in any professional environments. “I see some flat-screen TV”, “I see a single employees”. The word “some” before a singular word, implies you are being flippant, casual or dismissive. “I have more DVD”, “She has less pill”, “There is not many water in the pool”, “There are not much coins in the piggy bank.”
- Are you using the right article for the word? “I like internet, I like QVB””, “I own car”, “I watch Australian TV show”, “This is capital city of the New South Wales.” People might know what you mean, but when they are paid to penalise you for mistakes they will.
- Are you using the right prepositions? “I like to lie in the sand. I like to walk in the beach”, “I like to watch TV on a friends house.” You know what you mean, make sure everybody else does.
- How is your sentence structure? “Maybe another station it is”. “People need be cautious.”
These are important things to remember and consider. All the examples listed and cases of incorrect grammar.
Grammar is important in other professions besides the tasks in 1. You may work in health, in industry, in retail, in finance, in childcare or hospitality. People’s health, money, food, comfort, and safety are dependent on you.
Needless to say, grammar is a crucial part of the IELTS test. Not all examiners may think it is important, but others might. You don’t know what an examiner is thinking. The safe thing to do is make sure your grammar is sufficient to help you pass the test and also to do your job.
5 steps to improve English Grammar
• Start from basic sentences, move onto compound sentences and then complex sentences.
• Learn grammar rules and make good notes for future revision purposes.
• Double check your English grammar exercise/s every time you finish. You may make careless mistakes without notice.
• Learn from your mistake/s; you will not improve if you keep making the same mistake/s over and over.
• Learn from classmates, friends and the teacher. Some people may have difficulty in a particular skill and expertise in others. So why not learn from each other and together improve.
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