đ I am sharing a poem today that I particularly like: ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ by Irish poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). Yeats’ poem rings a chord in these days when we cannot readily travel but can only dream of places of tranquil beauty. In English, we often speak of such places as ‘oases’ […]
Lesson #157: An Oasis to Dream About: Yeats’ ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ Read More »
đ Miss Tita confided to me that at present her aunt was so motionless that she sometimes feared she was dead; moreover she took hardly any foodâone couldn’t see what she lived on. – Henry James, The Aspern Papers (1888) If you have been studying or reading in English for a while, chances are that you have
This lesson post completes the yesterday’s, so please make sure to read it before this one. The last principle or rule for distinguishing how to use ‘shall’ vs. ‘will’ in English: … đ #5 When describing a future action or decision in a non-interrogative context, should you use ‘shall’ or ‘will’? The best way to
Lesson #150 (Part 2): When Should You Use ‘Shall’ Vs. ‘Will’? Read More »
đ ‘I beg, Catherine, you will always wrap yourself up very warm about the throat, when you come from the rooms at night; and I wish you would try to keep some account of the money you spend; I will give you this little book on purpose.’ – Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (1817) Have you
Lesson #150 (Part 1): When Should You Use ‘Shall’ Vs. ‘Will’? Read More »
đȘ “Yesterday was a quiet day, spent in teaching, sewing, and writing in my little room, which is very cosy, with a light and fire …”– Louisa May Alcott, Good Wives (1869) Here we continue our lesson by reviewing seven sets of key verb tenses and time words that often go together. In Part 1 of this lesson, we reviewed
đȘ “I’m the man of the family now papa is away, and I shall provide the slippers, for he told me to take special care of mother while he was gone.” – Louisa May Alcott, Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (1868) As yet another month comes to an end, I have been thinking about
‘And unrecorded left through many an Age, Worthy t’ have not remain’d so long unsung …’ – John Milton, ‘Paradise Regained’ (1671) These lines come from a poem â âParadise Regainedâ â which I first read as a teenager and whose opening section I copied into the notebook featured in the photograph above. ⊠You may have seen in an English lesson
Lesson #146: Do We Ever Use Double Negatives In English? Read More »
In the first part of this lesson (see previous post), we talked about small changes you can introduce in your writing that make a huge difference in how others read and understand it. After all your effort writing something, the last thing you want is for someone to skim or even ignore all you had
I am dedicating today’s lesson to three important points that I often find missing in work that I proofread. These three points might seem obvious or too minute to make a difference, but trust me, they will help to clarify your writing greatly. Clear writing is always the first step towards great writing. … đ
As I have mentioned in these short lessons before, I am convinced that one of the best ways to improve your standard of English is to memorise vocabulary in context. What better exercise then than to read some English poems, choose a few that you like, and learn them off by heart! I would like
Lesson #142: Improving Your English Expression By A Different Path Read More »
Here we will look at a paragraph from Dombey and Son that illustrates how many âNON-ESSENTIAL CLAUSESâ (defined in the last post) Dickens tended to use. âïž By including such essential or non-essential clauses in your writing, you are discreetly REINFORCING or even INTRODUCING information that would otherwise âclutterâ your writing, and you are doing it in
Have you ever tried to write a sentence only to realise that you cannot seem to fit all the important points you wish to mention? We all understand that very long sentences are counterproductive; I am not recommending that you write those! But I have learnt that it is very effective sometimes to include some