English Fluency Blueprint

Hi, sorry im late in english fluency

You’re welcome Jodie. Now go for it.

Thank you so much for your encouragement

Hi Jodie. You have taken a giant step towards your success in English. Continue to get the victory over fear of making mistakes, everyone makes them. I have never read anyone’s comments regarding teasing anyone about their English on this website, therefore don’t be afraid of that. 

My advice is also for everyone reading this message because I think many people have this problem.

Good forum, I believe i must can bebefit a lot from it. I always dare not speak English nor make comments on others’ articles for that i am afraid of making mistakes and being teased by others. this is the first time i post a comment in a forum. Hope there are not too many mistakes :)  Thank you !

Meyban, you’re welcome. I am delighted the explanation on Clauses and Noun Clauses were helpful for you.

Thank you so much 

Meyban, here is your explanation of a clause and noun clause.

First, let’s review what a sentence is.

A sentence is a group of words that contain a subject which is what the sentence is about and a predicate which is what is said about the subject. Within the predicate is a verb that performs the action.

For example, in the sentence “You speak English,” “You” is the subject, “speak” is the verb, and “speak English” is the predicate. 

A clause is the smallest grammatical unit that expresses a complete thought which contains a subject and verb (predicate) which in the above example would be “You speak English.”

A noun is a person, place, thing or idea. A noun clause is a clause that acts as a noun that begins with words such as: how, that, what, whatever, when, where, whether, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, and why.

Clause examples (bolded):

Whichever restaurant you pick is fine with me.

Whoever thought of that idea is a genius.

I wonder how long we should wait here.

Hopefully, this explanation will help you. Clauses have a lot of additional sub-categories that unless you have an academic need to know, it is more beneficial for you to invest the time in conversational English rather than the details of grammar.

Sorry for the delay in answering your post, I was absent for two weeks during that time.

Eduardosouto, thanks for your compliment.

Dear Alston 

Can you explain clause and noun clause?

Welcome Gohar1. Sure you or anyone can join the forum, just start posting comments or ask questions of something you don’t understand about English.

can  I  joun  your group  now? 

Step 7 of the English Fluency Blueprint has been posted.

Step 7 – Engage Frequently with English

Overview/Additional Information/Final Thoughts

This is the final step of the English Fluency Blueprint. Many thoughts, suggestions, and recommendation have been posted not only by me but by some of the readers. Engaging frequently with listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking in English will yield the results you are looking for to become fluent in English.

Below are the previous 6 steps and the forum posted dates:

Step 1 - Preparation   2/19/17

Step 2 - English Overview   3/4/17

Step 3 - Grammar Review and Related Items   3/11/17

Step 4 - How to Train your Ears to Understand English   3/24/17

Step 5 - How to Speak English   4/15/17

Step 6 - The Relationship between English, Culture, and the Basis of Phrases, Idioms, and Slang   5/7/17

A. Overview:

The point has been made of the importance of locating people to practice speaking English. It is also important to receive feedback to be able to make corrections in your speech. It is not impossible to learn English without a speaking partner, however, it does allow you to learn some things that are unique to the society and how they are expressed in the language. Step 6 goes into this aspect. I encourage you to read the previous steps and try to implement them into your English learning.

B. Additional Information:

Analysis

A lot can be learned from taking small portions of speech and analyzing them for pronunciation, emphasis on syllables, and rate of speed of which the word(s) is spoken.

Keep in mind that different people may say the same word in different ways. For example, the singer Michael McDonald has a unique singing style where he doesn’t always fully articulate the words in his songs. Listen to his song “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and compare his pronunciation with those of his background singers. Another one of his songs “I Keep Forgettin (Every time you’re near)” likewise you can hear how he has a tendency to reduce the emphasis on the syllables.

Nevertheless, he is a popular singer of Soul Music despite that fact that he is Caucasian.

The song, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was first sung by the group “Gladys Knight and the Pips.” Additional groups such as “The Miracles” and even by the rock group “Credence Clearwater Revival” also sung this song.

If you listen to these versions, you can compare how they pronounce the lyrics. This is a good strategy to train your ears to listening to English words because some speakers may speak in a way that requires you to discern the words they are speaking, especially if they have a strong regional accent.

C. Final Thoughts

If there is one thing that I can communicate to you of my discovery from interacting with ESL/EFL students that hinders their progression of English would be the fear of making mistakes. The key is to make mistakes and then learn from mistakes. A bigger mistake is to limit you in this fashion.

Another suggestion is to have multiple sources of English information and teachers. Sometimes a certain English topic can be presented in a more understandable way by another person or source.

There is an enormous amount of information on the internet, therefore, make good use of it and take notes.

Well, that’s it for this topic. Please feel free to make comments and add your own suggestions and recommendations for learning English.

At this point, I’ll resume writing on my other forums such as “Do you understand this dialogue?” as well as other topics.

I want to thank everyone who has offered their support, comments, and recommendations for the advancement of learning English.

Hello Claudio!

Welcome back, and I thank you for your expression of appreciation. As I read your comments I must say your assessment of achieving fluency is right on target and focused like a laser beam.

Furthermore, your written English is superb as you expressed your thoughts on the topic of fluency. I appreciate the fact that you made a distinction between fluency and mastering a language.

Most native speakers have not “mastered” English, especially in written English as is evidenced by reading comments on various news topics such as Yahoo News and other news stories.

The main point is ESL/EFL students don’t have to be worried about “making mistakes” in speaking English because they have a lot of native speaking company, myself included,

It was a pleasure to read your writing, thanks for posting it.

To everyone, I’m back now, and for those who have been waiting for Step 7 on the English Fluency Blueprint I intend to post it by this weekend, sorry for my delay.

One final word, I would like to encourage everyone who aspire a level of English fluency to implement the first 6 steps and take this opportunity to write in the forum.

Hi, Mr. Gray.

  I want to thank you for your kindness committing yourself with this project which represents for us all, and I dare to speak on the behalf of everyone who’s joined this forum, a great opportunity to enhance our learning skills. 

  I’m aware of the fact that in order to meet fluency in a foreign language, one will necessarily have to be willing to invest both time and effort. Moreover, probably the highest challenge to accomplish such a big undertaking like this is to keep on motivated, despite all the difficulties one will have to tackle. Paraphrasing our dear Mr. Gray: ‘to keep on keeping on’.

  And of course, I plenty agree with you that no one will be able to understand what he doesn’t know or has never seen or even heard about. Therefore, to learn a language involves much more than simply memorize words and phrases.

It’s about learning the culture, the history, the climate and even the geography of the country or countries where the language is spoken.

   But let’s be straight about something: there’s a level one can reach in speaking a language that’s not his own.

   My mother language, for example, is Portuguese, a language spoken for roughly 270 million people in 7 more countries besides Portugal and Brazil, where I was born and raised. 

It doesn’t necessarily means that someone from Angola, also a former Portuguese colony in Africa, would understand everything a Brazilian would speak.

   I’m the opinion that one can learn how to speak fluently and really get through to everyone, including native Americans, Britons, Aussies, Irish and others. I would say that’s satisfactory, whereas to master a language in all its aspects is an upper level and I think you would agree that this should not be the goal of any English student.

   Bearing this in mind and working hard every day (“use it or lose it”), seize all the opportunities one has to practice and using the amazing help this forum provides, one will surely succeed in learning.

   Thanks again, Mr. Gray. I’m pretty sure we can carry on counting on you.  

    Cheers

Hello Paradizo, you’re welcome, and I’m glad you enjoyed the lessons. I am also a student of English and endeavor to pass along information that I have in combination with Englishbaby’s lessons and information from the readers.

In this fashion, we all benefit and the show goes on!

Dear alston

I just read your step 6 post and i found it

so useful.thanks so much .

keep on posting such posts .👍👍👍👍👌👌👌

Welcome Atash_kerimov, Step 6 has been posted for the English Fluency Blueprint. To join just read the lesson steps and make comments or ask questions if you would like an explanation.

The main thing is to participate and practice writing your English. Don’t worry about making mistakes, we all make them!

Hello, Just want to join your lessons. How can i do?