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HOW TO LEARN ENGLISH
EFFECTIVELY
SITTING AT A TABLE LOOKING AT YOUR NOTEBOOK IS NOT THE
BEST WAY TO STUDY ENGLISH. MOST OF THE TIME, YOUR MIND IS
NOT ACTIVELY USING THE INFORMATION THAT YOU ARE
STUDYING, AND PRACTICAL LEARNING DOES NOT TAKE PLACE.
HERE ARE SOME TECHNIQUES THAT WILL HELP YOU LEARN MORE
EFFECTIVELY.
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WRITE A JOURNAL
• Writing every day lets you see your grammar clearly in
front of you, express your ideas, and use a non-oral
method in communicate in English. Then read the
corrected version out loud.
• It is a good idea to re-copy the corrected journal too, so
that you will have the experience of writing your ideas
down in proper English.
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READ A BOOK
• By Reading A Story, You Create A Picture In Your
Imagination That Will Connected Different Parts Of Your
Brain To English. Find A Book That Is Not Too Difficult.
• Do Not Stop Every Time You Find A New Word.
• Guess What The Word Probably Means, Continue
Reading, And Check In Your Dictionary At The End Of
The Page Or Chapter.
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Re-write your class notes every day.
• Writing your notes a second time will allow you to
remember more strongly what you study.
• It will also make your notebook neater, making it
easier to study.
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WATCH TV AND MOVIES, AND LISTEN TO THE RADIO.
• Even if you don’t understand everything, you will
still be learning.
• It is possible to understand the content even if you
know only 30% of the words that you hear!
• Your listening ability will improve day by day-and
it’s fun!
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KEEP A VOCABULARY NOTEBOOK IN A
SEPARATE NOTEBOOK FROM YOUR CLASS
NOTES
• Take an active approach to learning new vocabulary.
• If you find 5 words a day, 6 days a week, you will learn about 140 new words a month;
10 words a day would bring you over than 280 new words a month.
• Hint – approach new words by subject: things connected to your hobies, to your
interests etc.
• Do it this way:
• Think of a word you know in your language.
• Look it up in your dictionary.
• When you find the English word, write it down on the left side of your vocabulary note
book.
• In the midle of the page, write down if the word is a noun (n), verb (v), adjective (adj),
etc. so that you will know how to use the word.
• Look the word up in an English-English dictionary.
• Write the English definition on the right side of the the page (or on the next page).
• Copy a sentence from the dictionary. This will help you learn how to use the word
correctly.
• Practice reading this sentence untll it becomes natural for you.
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SPEAK LOTS OF ENGLISH WITH
YOUR FRINDS
• You improve your spoken English by speaking
English in different situations with people of all
nationalities.
• If you want to speak English better in the future,
speak it as much as possible now!
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THINK POSITIVELY
• People who say “I can’t speak English well” are corrected.
• People who say “Every day in every way, my English is
getting better and better” are also correct.
• What you think is what you get.
• Practice saying the second sentence every day, and you will
see greater improvement in your English and in your
confidence.
• Remember: the more fun you have with English,the easier it
will be to learn ENJOY
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Grammar
• DEFINITION
The grammar of a language is a complex of systems
that may be analyzed and studied on these three
levels: (Noam Chomsky’s UG)
1. Phonology (set of sounds/ symbols)
2. Morphology (combinations of sounds that
carry single units of meaning)
3. Syntax (how single units of meaning are
combined to form words, phrases and
sentences.
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Parts of speech (Nouns)
• Nouns
1. Definition
2. Proper / common
3. Singular / plural (annex)
4. Count / non-count /abstract
(annex) (how much –
how many)
5. Collectible (group nouns)
6. Units of measurement
(Reference: Schramper Azar, Betty,1996.
Basic English Grammar)
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Definition
(proper and common nouns)
• Nouns – words used to name a
person, place, thing, object,
quality, idea, concept, or an
action.
Ref. (American Heritage Dictionary, 2001)
• Proper Nouns- special or
particular name given to common
nouns to distinguish them from
others of the same kind.
Example: common- woman
proper Martha
a country
Puerto Rico
a pet
Puppy
many
others
a monument
The Statue of
Liberty
a day
Monday
a place
Ryder
Hospital
A person
Carlos
Proper
Nouns
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Proper and common nouns
COMMON PROPER COMMON PROPER
day Saturday associations Members Club
month October movies Titanic
mountain El Yunque planets Neptune
river The Amazon city San Juan
ocean Pacific Ocean historical periods Middle Ages
book Applied
Linguistic
language Spanish
newspaper New York Times nationality Puerto Rican
religion Catholic School course English 101
brand of product Cadillac institutions University of
Puerto Rico
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Nouns (singular and plural)
• Rule No. 1 (Add –s to the end of noun)
cup cups
student students
• Rule No.2 consonants before “y”
change –y to i and add –es
city -cities party- parties lady-ladies
• Rule No.3 vowels before “y”
add –s
boy –boys key –keys day -days
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Singular and plural (cont.)
• Rule No. 4 (–f and –fe endings)
change the –f or –fe to v and –es
life –lives wife –wives thief –thieves
• Rule No. 5 (sh, ch, x, ss endings) add –es
bush –bushes
match –matches
box -boxes
kiss -kisses
• Rule No. 6 (consonant + o) add –es (vowel +o) –s
tomato –tomatoes radio radios
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PRACTICE EXERCISES
USE THE PLURAL FORM TO FILL IN THE
BLANKS. (PROVIDED LIST)
Baby
Boy
City
Country
Lady
Party
Tray
Key
Dictionary
cowboy
• They have one girl and two ______.
• I visited many _______ last year.
• Women give birth to _______.
• She lost the _____ of the car and the house!
• _____ rides horses in Texas.
• Madrid and Paris are beautiful _______.
• We must bring ______ to the English class.
• Good evening _____ and gentleman.
• On Saturday nights, I like to go to _______.
• People carry their food on _____ at the cafeteria.
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Pronunciation of plurals (s /
es)• Group A Final –s is pronounced /z/ after voiced sounds
(taxicabs, beds, dogs, balls, years, days, boys, trees, etc.)
• Group B Final –s is pronounced /s/ after voiceless sounds
(books, cups, groups, cats, students, desks, etc.)
• Group C Final –s, es is pronounced /ez/
after “s” sounds (classes, horses, boxes, faces)
after “z” sounds (sizes, roses, noises)
after “sh” sounds (dishes, bushes)
after “ch” sounds (matches, sandwiches)
after “ge/dge” sounds (pages, ages, bridges, edges)
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Irregular plural forms
(exceptions)
• Child children
• Foot feet
• Man men
• Woman women
• Mouse mice
• Tooth teeth
• Fish fish
• _____ people
(is always plural) (no s)
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Count and noncount. nouns
• Count nouns
a book books
one book two books
some books
a lot of books
many books
a few books
• Non-count nouns
money some money
a lot of money
much money
a little money
• Common non-count nouns
advice, furniture, love, peace,
homework, luck information, food,
mail, music, traffic, weather, work,
bread, cheese, coffee, rice, sand,
meat, milk, water, sugar, money, oil,
liquids materials (paper)
abstracts general
food
gases
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Chair Traffic Music Work
Furniture Cars Coffee Water
Coin Fact Library Jewelry
Money Information Peace Rings
Letters Homework Advice Justice
mail assignment job sugar
ORAL PRACTICE (COUNT VS. NON-COUNT)
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Verb tenses
• Simple future
• Another way to express the
simple future
I am going to work tomorrow.
She is going to work next
week.
They are going to work on
Sunday.
I will work
You will work
He, she, it will work
We will work
You will work
they will work
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Past progressive (continuous)
I was working last night.
You were working yesterday.
He, she, it was working last summer.
We were working a few hours ago.
You were working last week.
They were working last Monday.
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Future progressive (continuous)
I will be working tomorrow.
You will be working this afternoon.
He, she, it will be working next weekend.
We will be working tonight.
You will be working next summer.
They will be working next semester.
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Adjectives
• Definition
• Articles as adjectives
• Order of adjectives in a series (color, size, origin, nationalities,
shape, age, etc..)
• Past participles / gerunds used as adjectives
• Comparatives and superlatives comparisons (annex-practice)