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what is the right attitude towards grammer learning?

FlyingCat

FlyingCat

China

I have been wondering how to deal with grammer learning properly.Have I to master the grammer first and then use it to construct sentences,or just read and listen as much as possible till I can conclude it myself? personally i think the latter one seems more nature,but still uncertain.

07:59 AM Apr 26 2006 |

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N_STAR

N_STAR

United Kingdom

Hi Flying cat how are you?
My name is Najeeb I’m from Libya I’m 22 years old I’m student in the second year English Department in my home but now I’m student in Regency College in Brighton- Britain I’m in upper-intermediate class .
I would like to give you advise from my experience there in UK if you like to learn any language you have to keep it in touch such as by; listening to the English course cassettes or music also radio and by internet , last but not least study and don’t give up .
May I get out from the subject but I think Grammar is the essential part of this language and concentrate about grammar first then every thing will be right with you .
Do every thing to learn this language and don’t afraid from the mistakes because the mistake will learning you and correcting your English .
Your Najeeb

08:05 AM May 03 2006 |

FlyingCat

FlyingCat

China

Hi,nice to meet you,Najeeb!And thanks for your suggestion!
I think you hit the point by telling me “to keep it in touch such as by listening”,what’s more,thanks for your encouragment and i am sure i won’t give it up :) Yeah,my English teacher ever told me something similar as your words,that we have to treat language learning as our friend,by cutivating friendships between us and as time goes by,we will make a fortune on it.
However,i am afraid i can’t take this words:”grammer is the essential part of this language”.In my view,grammer is the way of speaking,but the essence of a language might be the habit of thinking.Anyway,grammer does be importent indeed,and i feel obliged to improve it,thank you!
by the way,i never afraid of making mistake and as a matter of fact,frequently i made lots of mistakes without realizing it!there is a saying that”No mistakes,No improvement”.IF it is ture,then i did get improve :D

09:12 AM May 09 2006 |

ummahzy

ummahzy

United States

Hello Flying Cat & Najeeb. May I add that you should find a grammar book that is easy to understand. There are so many and some are just plain confusing! Find one that has lots of examples. Some will tell you common errors students make. That can be very helpful. Always make sure you have lots of examples of the grammar in context. Hope that is helpful….. :-)

02:07 PM May 09 2006 |

FlyingCat

FlyingCat

China

Hello,ummahzy!Well,the thing is,a grammer book calls for much energy to devote to,and what i want is to make study a bit more interesting so that it won’t turn out to be a tedious thing,that i am trying to avoid.Besides hard working,I guess how to make the procedure of learning interesting is important as well.I can hardly imagine when someday the book failed to fancinate me :( AM I too lazy?
i have got a very old but classic book NEW CONCEPT ENGLISH.It’s not a bad one and some of the sentences in it are extremely beautiful!And i am fond of the pronuciation,too!Appreciative to L.G Alexander!

02:55 PM May 09 2006 |

ummahzy

ummahzy

United States

I didn’t mean to say that a good grammar book is all you need. What i wanted you to know (in addition to what you and flying cat had been saying) was that it’s important to have a good reference book…one you can actually understand. My students often have a coursebook with a reference section in the back that is very hard to understand. Of course you have to learn to see the grammar in the things you read and listen to. Find things of interest to you and immerse yourself in them, but in English. By the way, what is inside the banana leaves?...

03:00 PM May 09 2006 |

xiaomaomusic

United States

Grammar is hard, even for people who are native English speakers.
If you MUST learn grammar (to pass a test, to write for your job), then it comes down to sitting with a book and studying.
BUT, that is not the way humans naturally learn a language.
The best way is to try to surround yourself with examples of good English. Watch TV, listen to tapes, read, and try to speak to people as much as possible.
Don’t worry about making a mistake! Unless someone is mean, they won’t think poorly of you because you make mistakes. They will appreciate you are trying to learn.
English is hard!
Even my students get it wrong all the time. Even I am not 100% sure about “grammar rules” and I am a teacher.
But I have a sense of what is “wrong” and “right” because the examples of sentences are in my brain because I have heard them so often.
Doing the exercises in grammar books will probably help you more than trying to memorize all the rules.
GOOD LUCK!
-Holly

08:23 PM May 09 2006 |

FlyingCat

FlyingCat

China

G’day,xiaomaomusic.Although I don’t like to take part in exams,unfortunately I am compelled to :(.Now I am trapped in school and have to embrace zillions of exams and tests :(.So grammer seems a must-learn-course
I don’t quite know what examples is good,what about BBC world service?
If I meet a mean person,I won’t get angry because he/she just tells me the truth:D because language learning is a long long journey.
Oh,I will try to do some exercises.Thank you.
Besides,what does “xiaomao” mean?feline?

09:43 AM May 11 2006 |

xiaomaomusic

United States

Ha. Irony.
“xiao mao” means little cat, or kitten in Chinese.
In America, the “heavyweight” grammar textbook that is always used is Warriner’s.
In terms of writing style, it might be worth it to invest in a copy of “Elements of Style” by Strunk and White.
Anything by BBC is probably ok. I have only seen their language modules for other languages, like French and Spanish.
Let me see if I can find something online…
-Holly

07:29 PM May 11 2006 |

Manglish

Manglish

China

Hi, Good day everyone:
I just unconsciously kicked a stone, and bent myself into this post.
I guess the right atttude is:
Stay Hungry
Stay Foolish
Stay Humble
Discussions here seemed to be off-tracked from objective “attitude” toward “Method”.
I did not discover any discrepency in English Grammar from the above posts. Did you?
In my opinion, the members here are writen with a higher level of English Grammar.
Please forgive me if my observation is wrong.

10:45 AM May 16 2006 |