The difficulties I find in writing in university classes. How I come about in resolving them and improve on it.
In writing, the difficulties I face are in vocabulary and expressing the ideas clearly to readers.
First for vocabulary, it is hard for me to find the correct word which well explains the meaning of things. For example, “the music is soft”. For non- engineers, they will know what soft means but for engineers, they want to know the definition of soft so how soft is soft, very soft or extremely soft. For engineers, we are more precise and more accurate on things so on using words we need to choose words that well explain things.
Expressing my idea clearly to others is hard. When people write report or essay, the writer will understand what the report or essay they written means and assume that other will understand it also but to other people it is not understandable to them. In writing report or essays, I may write my ideas in form that only I clearly understand. For example, “Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a well known technology today, which helps to reduce the source like power plants and other big source from emitting carbon dioxide to the atmosphere that causes global warming.” In this sentence the “other big source”, I will know of it but when others read it, what the other big sources are? So I need to give more examples or explain on it.
In writing reports and essays, I normal use a dictionary and a thesaurus in helping me with my vocabulary so to choose word that are more protruding to people and also more precise on things without changing the meaning of my ideas or meaning of my sentence. In expressing my ideas clearly to others, I will let my sister and few of my friend read through my report or essay and ask their opinion on it, so to change place in my report or essay to form others will understand on reading.
In improving on my writing, I need to learn word that I do not know of from the dictionary and use them in speaking and writing. Reading is also very important, from reading I can see how people express their idea in their writing and also to pick up the using form of the words and new words from the essay.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
3 Common Grammar Mistakes
English is Singapore main language, but using it may be challenging. In writing English essay, no matter people with good English or bad English, both still will make mistakes in grammar. Learning English is never ending. I am going to write about 3 grammar mistakes I commonly make.
1st common mistake is the using of comma. For example, “I like ling, she is very hot.” This is wrong because comma cannot connect 2 independent clauses. The correct way of joining 2 independent clauses are to use a conjunction or replace comma with semicolon. The correct writing is “I like ling. She is very hot.” or “I like ling; she is very hot.” or “I like ling, because she is very hot.”
2nd common mistake is the using of ‘I’ and ‘me’. For example, “My sister and me are going home.” This is incorrect. “This phone belongs to my sister and I”. This is incorrect. It is wrong because ‘I’ must be a subject, never the object and ‘me’ must be an object, never the subject. The correct way of writing is: “This phone belongs to my sister and me.’ And ‘My sister and I are going home.”
The 3rd common mistake is using ‘its’ and ‘it’s’. For example, “The mother cat carried it’s kitten in it’s mouth.” This is wrong because ‘it’s’ is a contraction of it is or it has. The correct way of writing is ‘’The mother cat carried its kitten in its mouth.” Another example is “I think its going to rain”. This is wrong because ‘its’ is the pronoun; it modifies a noun. The correct way of writing is “I think it’s going to rain”
Those are just a small part of my common grammar mistake I have made in all my writing. Constant reading, practice and may be speaking English in everyday without using other languages. My means are not to master English but to improve on my English, for one to master English meaning he/she is perfect on it, so there is no room for improvement and no one is perfect in the world. So by saying I want to improve on English means, I will always learn from it and improve on it and always apply it.
1st common mistake is the using of comma. For example, “I like ling, she is very hot.” This is wrong because comma cannot connect 2 independent clauses. The correct way of joining 2 independent clauses are to use a conjunction or replace comma with semicolon. The correct writing is “I like ling. She is very hot.” or “I like ling; she is very hot.” or “I like ling, because she is very hot.”
2nd common mistake is the using of ‘I’ and ‘me’. For example, “My sister and me are going home.” This is incorrect. “This phone belongs to my sister and I”. This is incorrect. It is wrong because ‘I’ must be a subject, never the object and ‘me’ must be an object, never the subject. The correct way of writing is: “This phone belongs to my sister and me.’ And ‘My sister and I are going home.”
The 3rd common mistake is using ‘its’ and ‘it’s’. For example, “The mother cat carried it’s kitten in it’s mouth.” This is wrong because ‘it’s’ is a contraction of it is or it has. The correct way of writing is ‘’The mother cat carried its kitten in its mouth.” Another example is “I think its going to rain”. This is wrong because ‘its’ is the pronoun; it modifies a noun. The correct way of writing is “I think it’s going to rain”
Those are just a small part of my common grammar mistake I have made in all my writing. Constant reading, practice and may be speaking English in everyday without using other languages. My means are not to master English but to improve on my English, for one to master English meaning he/she is perfect on it, so there is no room for improvement and no one is perfect in the world. So by saying I want to improve on English means, I will always learn from it and improve on it and always apply it.
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