Saturday 7 November 2009

English Grammar Lesson - Learn English Anywhere You Like!

If you think you need to go back to school, or enroll in an informal education and pay expensive tuition fees to learn English, then you are wrong. If you have a computer or laptop and Internet connection at home, then your problem is almost solved.

You now can have your virtual English teacher in your computer. Your personal assistant who helps you writing properly when typing in.

But, do you know that there are plenty of English writing programs around you could choose to teach you write better English?

Also in this case it is just a matter of having the right software or Internet site.

Actually, to decide to learn English using software is a smart decision, because it's less pricey than courses, real or online, and you can do it in the comfort of your home. A quiet atmosphere is important when working with such programs.

You learn in a safe environment. When you choose to learn English grammar lesson online, you are sure to be in a safe environment because you can just study in your own home. Also, there is no much pressure because no is there to judge and criticize you.

You have the luxury of time. Unlike in normal schools, you can study in your own time and pace. You may choose to go as fast or slow as you want, and no one will bother you. This is learning English on your own schedule and at your own convenience.

You have the privilege to learn anywhere you like. As long there is an internet connection or you already have downloaded the English grammar lesson software in your laptop, then you can learn anywhere. You can learn in your school library, at your friend's house, at the coffee shop or anywhere you like as long you are comfortably seated.

Improve your speaking skills while learning better English writing. The best way to practice written English is online because after your lesson, you can have the liberty of instantly practicing by sending emails or posting articles somewhere online. It is very true that while your practice your written English it will also enhance your speaking skills. You are now hitting two birds with just one stone.

Practice using the Internet. Take advantage of being online, you can go to other free English grammar lessons sites and see how much you improved. You will notice that as you take more lessons on varied websites, your understanding of English language grows all the time.

There are more advantages you can get from learning through free English grammar lesson software and Internet sites. Learning English for free is already an opportunity, so take advantage in learning English for free!

Did you know that learning English is as easy as eating peanuts? You might be asking what made it easy, finish reading this article and learn why I said it is easy.

First, you need to know why you need to learn English. At present, many countries have considered English as second language where it is even used as a medium of instruction. If you know the language then it would be easy for you to communicate wherever you are around the globe. If you are a businessperson, then it would be very easy for you to make business anywhere on earth. People who used to speak English are the ones who are considered to be part of the real society. Certainly, learning the language makes your life one step ahead or even more than those who cannot write, speak and understand the English language.

What makes learning English easy? Have you heard about free English grammar lessons on the Internet? You can just download these lessons in so many websites that offers these lessons for free. These free English software is amazing, it can also give you the best English grammar lessons ever!

Here are some great reasons why you can learn English the easy way using the free online English grammar lessons:

* You can learn anytime you want and anywhere you like. As long you have an Internet connection or you have downloaded the software then you can choose any time to suit your own schedule and learn anywhere, where you feel comfortable. It would be much easier if you have your own laptop.

* You can choose what lessons you like. Whatever you felt learning, and then you can learn it anytime you want. You do not need to wait for a teacher when to discuss that certain topic anymore.

* English grammar lessons software uses a Natural Language Processing system. This is a new technology where you can learn how to proofread your text or documents while you are on the process of writing. It is like having direct hands on while learning how to write. This is one great advantage you can get from online English lessons; you can automatically use what you learn from the online lessons.

* You can learn how to speak well while you are learning to write better English.

There are so many advantages you can still get that are not mentioned in this article, and just imagine how it can help you improve your English. Be wise and take advantage of it now!


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About the Author:
Watch how innovative Grammar Software instantly can improve your writings on a daily basis and learn how advanced NLP technology can help you to write better English than your English teacher. Visit: http://www.englishsoftware.org

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - English Grammar Lesson - Learn English Anywhere You Like!

Monday 4 May 2009

Writing Fiction In The Present Tense

Most fiction authors write in the past tense. They tell readers what happened. This is as if the author says, "I see the events in my mind, and I’m writing about what I saw." Very few fictional books are written in the present tense.

One reason for this is that writing in the present tense provides serious challenges to the author: maintaining perspective, introducing prior events, and filtering the stream of consciousness.

Below, we discuss these challenges and provide an example of present-tense writing done well.

1. Maintaining Perspective:
Well-written scenes have only one perspective. As readers, our focus is on one character, and the scene is described through that character’s experiences. Usually, the focus will be on the protagonist. We perceive the scene through that character. However, that scene can be described again from another character’s experience. This is possible because the scene is written in the past tense. We already know that it has happened.

When writing in the present tense, the events have an immediacy that makes this difficult. We read about what is happening at the moment, not about what already happened. This limits the author’s ability to show events from multiple perspectives because when the perspective shifts, the events already occurred. As such, when the perspective changes, the author continues to show what is now happening but through a different perspective. The author keeps the readers in the "now." This can be a powerful tool for keeping the reader engaged in the story, but it is difficult to accomplish.

2. Introducing Prior Events:
Events do happen prior to the current experience, and describing them in a present-tense story requires a shift to the past tense. However, the author may need to include those events to help the reader understand the present experience or to provide the motivation for a character’s actions and thoughts. This is difficult to accomplish. The author must make these time shifts smoothly, without losing the present-tense perspective and without making the reader wonder when the event is taking place. The author has to separate present and past tense without damaging the readers’ engagement in the present tense events.

3. Filtering the Stream of Consciousness:
The human brain is always thinking, which means that the character on whom we are focused is having many thoughts. Some may be repetitions, some may be revisions of prior thoughts, and some may be off topic completely. Some will be new and relevant to the experience the character is having.

The challenge to the author is identifying the thoughts that are relevant and necessary to the story without creating gaps in the character’s consciousness. Shifting between a description of thoughts to description of physical activities and environment will help, but as with introducing prior events, this can be difficult. While we are reading the character’s thoughts and feelings in the present tense, other actions and events are occurring. Thus, when the author "leaves the character’s mind" and returns to the "real world," he cannot go back to describe what has happened in the meantime. So the second part of this challenge is to ensure that the reader doesn’t miss critical events.

An Example of Present Tense Fiction:
Robert Silverberg, winner of multiple Nebula and Hugo awards, uses the present tense very effectively in Starborne. This is the story of 50 people traveling across the universe through "nospace" to find a new planetary home. Obviously, it is science fiction.

Here’s a quip from the book that addresses the second and third challenges:

"The year-captain wonders whether everyone aboard, one by one, is about to undergo some maddening transformation for the worse. Already Noelle is losing the ability to communicate with her sister on Earth; the blunt and straightforward Sieglinde has unsettlingly chosen to challenge the reliability of the theorems that she herself helped to write; and now the easygoing and irreverent Heinz is tiresomely eager to explain the year-captain’s own responsibilities to him. What next? What next, he wonders."

Science fiction may not be your preferred genre, but this novel is worth reading if you intend to write in the present tense and are unsure about how to do it well. Find it in a bookstore, sit in a chair, and read the first couple chapters, at least. Study how Silverberg resolves the three challenges noted above.

We have a variety of editorial services for authors that will help you prepare your manuscript, but reading and studying Starborne will give you a good start.

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About the Author:
David Bowman is the Owner and Chief Editor of Precise Edit, a comprehensive editing, proofreading, and document analysis service for authors, students, and businesses. Precise Edit also offers a variety of other services, such as translation, transcription, and website development.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Writing Fiction In The Present Tense

Thursday 16 April 2009

Grammatical Verb Tense

Grammatical tense is a method used to express the time at which an event took place. In English, this is a property of the verb form, and it is important to understand the meaning and use of tenses. There are three basic tenses: present, past, and future. Each tense has a perfect form indicating a completed action, a progressive form indicating an ongoing action, and a perfect progressive form indicating an ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time.

Here is a list of these tenses with examples:

Present Simple - Present Simple expresses an unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that exists only now. It can also represent a widespread truth ("I go").

Present Progressive - Present Progressive describes an ongoing action that is happening at the same time the statement is written. This tense is formed by using the verb 'be' as am/is/are with the verb form ending in -ing ("I am going").

Present Perfect - Present Perfect describes an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past, or an action that began in the past and continues in the present. This tense is formed by using 'has/have' with the past participle of the verb ("I had gone").

Present Perfect Progressive - Present Perfect Progressive describes an action that began in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future. This tense is formed by using 'has/have been' and the present participle of the verb (verb form ending with -ing) ("I had been going").

Past Simple - Past Simple expresses an action or situation that was started and finished in the past. Most past simple verbs end in -ed. The others have irregular past tense forms and must be learned ("I went").

Past Progressive - Past progressive describes a past action which was happening when another action occurred. This tense is formed by using the verb 'be' as was/were with the verb form ending in -ing ("I was going").

Past Perfect - Past Perfect describes an action that took place in the past before another past action. This tense is formed by using 'had' with the past participle of the verb ("I had gone").

Past Perfect Progressive - Past Perfect Progressive describes a past, ongoing action that was completed before some other past action. This tense is formed by using 'had been' and the present participle of the verb (the verb form ending in -ing). ("I had been going").

Future Simple - Future Simple expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future. This tense is formed by using 'will' with the simple form of the verb ("I will go").

Future Progressive - Future Progressive describes an ongoing or continuous action that will take place in the future. This tense is formed by using 'will be' with the verb ending in -ing ("I will be going").

Future Perfect - Future Perfect describes an action that will occur in the future before some other action. This tense is formed by using 'will have' with the past participle of the verb. ("I will have gone").

Future Perfect Progressive - Future Perfect Progressive describes a future, ongoing action that will occur before some specified future time. This tense is formed by using 'will have been' and the present participle of the verb (the verb form ending in -ing,) ("I will have been going").
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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Grammatical Verb Tense