DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH? (1)

[liangfuji]

Write to me in English and I will give you some suggestions on how you can improve your English. Here is part a letter from a Twinkle Star. See how it can be rewritten in clear English.

Dear Uncle Leung,
How are you! I am Beautiful Star. I was very glad to Receive your letter last week. if you like, i`d like to talk some about my university life.

Our school is so large that we often go to have a class by foot for about half an hour. … Our English teachers teaches us all in English, and Sometimes i can't follow them. could you give me some advice to choose which book i should read So that i could expand my vocabulary study?...

Happy national day to you!
Best wishes !
Yours
Sincerely
Beautiful Star

Uncle Leung :
1. My corrections are underlined.
2. * = the word/phrase is well used. Do it again.


.


Dear Uncle Leung
How are you! * I am Beautiful Star. I was very glad * to receive your letter last week. If you like, I’d (1) like to talk about (2) my university life.
Our school is so* large that* we often go to class on foot (3) for about half an hour. Our English teachers teach in English only, and sometimes I can't follow* them. Could you give me some advice*, and tell me which book I should read, so that I can expand* my vocabulary?(4)
Happy National Day to you!
Yours sincerely,
Beautiful Star

Comments:
1. It’s better to stick to the rules of using capital letters. You will get low grades in your schoolwork if you get into
the habit of using small letters for proper names or ‘I’.
2. Talk’ is an intransitive verb, which is followed by a preposition or nothing. For example: We need to talk. Or: Let’s talk
about love.
‘Tell’ is a transitive verb, which is followed by an object. For example: I want to tell you something interesting.
3. We go home by bus, but go to class on foot.
4. Answer: You have problem understanding your English teachers partly because you don’t know enough classroom English
and words used in the subject matter, and partly because you are not used to listening to spoken English. There are at
least 3 things that you can do. One, you can read up some books on classroom English. This site may give you some ideas:
http://esl.about.com/library/beginner/b ... hrases.htm
Two, you can study your notes or read up reference materials before the class to get
familiarized with the difficult words. And three, you can listen to spoken English more. Log onto news channels like BBC
or CNN if you can, otherwise, the English Channel in CCTV will also do.) If you have problem following the announcer, read
the news reports before you listen.

Uncle Leung rewrites the letter in clear English.
(The letter is rewritten in block form, which is more commonly used nowadays because it is time-saving and easy to type. Compare it with the earlier letter which is written in indented form which is less popular these days as it is more time-consuming to type.)

Dear Uncle Leung,

How are you! I am Beautiful Star. I was very glad to receive your letter last week. Let me tell you something about my university life. I hope you will find it interesting.

Our school is so large that more often than not we have to walk for half an hour for a lesson. (OR: Our school has a very big campus. It often takes us half an hour to go from one classroom to another on foot. ) Our English teachers teach in English only, and sometimes I can't follow them. Could you give me some advice, and recommend some books to me? I want to enlarge my vocabulary. Thanks a lot.

I wish you a Happy National Day.

Yours truly,
Beautiful Star

[李素媚1]

好像我给甘叔叔写得邮件中也经常犯这种错误，还好这个星星只是在大小写问题上出错，我更是担心星爸读出来的感觉是中国式的英语。请见谅，也很感谢Uncle Leung能够给星星及时纠正，学好英语就要注重细节。希望在不断的交流中提高英语。

[马山09级潘肖玲]

谢谢uncle，我觉得上了大学之后英语一直退步，所以很久都不敢用英文给星爸写信了。

[liangfuji]

Hi 肖玲,
Write to me. Telling me something about yourself, your area of studies, your university life, your hobbies, likes and dislikes, etc. You will make mistakes. But I will help you learn from your mistakes. I await your English letter.
Uncle Leung