I'm almost 30 and I still stumble upon the most basic grammar usage. I get really confused with the different parts of speech like when to use the right preposition, how to link sentences and I can't write a grammar-free essay. I do read a lot of novels but they don't seem to improve my English usage at all. I mean, yes, I learn new words, but that's about it. I don't know how to link sentences well to make them flow and my writing is so one dimensional... I don't know how to write a different sort of style other than the one I do. And I want to become a freelance writer and hopefully a book author in the future because I have a lot of ideas but am unable to project them into beautiful flowing sentences.
Will I ever be able to achieve my ambitions and do I really need to know all the rules of grammar because I don't even know how to read phonetics, and I'm just learning the proper rules of grammar... whatever I've learned in the past was more from hearing than understanding. Thanks!
2006-12-10 03:40:50 · 5 answers · asked by xander 5 in Education & Reference ➔ Other - Education
There was a best selling book recently on Grammar, I think it was called something like "Eats Shoots and Leaves" . It's never too late to learn, but you seem to have a good grasp now, at least compared to the barely literate posts on this site. Yikes! Have you read some of the other questions? People cannot write anymore.
2006-12-10 03:48:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, yes and no at the same time. A definite factor is the age you start to learn a new language. It is common sense: the sooner the better. As an adult, your brain uses different cognitive areas to "digest" a new language; rationalization, comparison and contrast processes are being involved in a far greater scale as compared to the same work done by a child, who just "absorbs" the new language. I'm trying to be realistic here. You can dream, think and even count in a different language, but you'll never come to the same level of proficiency you use your native language. However, I think you can live with that. Only people who have been raised in bilingual families could consider themselves as perfectly bilingual. What I think you would like to achieve, is the highest level of functionality in that language (Spanish). As to how to improve the new language, much has already been said: read books, listen to radio programs, watch TV, get involved with people that speaks Spanish, and something that was not mentioned, try to write on different topics in Spanish; that will significantly enhance your vocabulary. Be patient and keep practicing.
2016-03-29 01:59:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is never too late to start anything you want to learn. i know a person of 90 year old who is doing MBA from IGNOU, New Delhi, the most required thing is that you must have an intensive urge to reach at your target and achieve the goal. To get rid of the phobia of grammar here I would like to add that there is no any perfect grammar in the wold of language because language itself is a collection of mutually supposed or accepted group of words. To correct your grammar just keep up reading established authors of English language and literature, and ultimately one day will come that you will also become a good writer. Learning by doing is the best formula to learn any language of the world.
2006-12-10 04:06:45 · answer #3 · answered by mumtaz b 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Get back to basics, and start over. English is very complex "amalgam" language, with a huge number of words, and you can spin your wheels trying to get everything "correct."
Start with great poetry, until you know it and "get" the language skills to start with, especially Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and Edgar Allen Poe. Read these authors over and over, and one poem over and over.
If you have to write simply, just do so. It might work much better than complex writing, anyway, for what you want to say.
2006-12-10 03:56:32 · answer #4 · answered by papyrusbtl 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your standard of English is so poor that you should give up hope.
You stand a better chance learning chinese, because you are almost there.
Better still, try poetry. Because poetry is all about hearing and has nothing to do with understanding
2006-12-10 04:01:41 · answer #5 · answered by Jomtien C 4 · 0⤊ 5⤋