PREPLY A

Chief Concerns

• Using proper verb tenses while speaking spontaneously

• Asking for information about the past

• Asking for information about the future

• Learning/using more expressions, ie figures of speech

• Understanding, in real time, articles from The Guardian, The New Yorker or other similar publications
  

What to Work on Improving

1. Question Formation in the Essential Verb Tenses

https://getbetterenglish.wixsite.com/getbetterenglishnow/post/question-formation-in-the-six-6-essential-verb-tenses

2. How to use residence/residents/residency (all are nouns)

3. How to use “so” to join two independent clauses

Vocabulary Meaning and Usage

4. a lot = a great deal

5. pretty much = more or less = kind of

6. tool kit = tool shed = bag of tricks = arsenal

7. like (more informal) = such as (more formal)

8. figures of speech = idioms = expressions = idiomatic expressions

text (anything in writing) versus specific types of text such as articles, sort stories, editorials., poems, plays,

editorials = opinion pieces = op-ed pieces that appear in newspapers and magazines

9. accustomed to = used to

10. fragment = an incomplete sentence = not a sentence

11. many (for count nouns) vs much (for non-count nouns)

12. Knowing the difference between sentence and a fragment and using only sentence when writing.

For example:

Sentence: Speaking and using proper verb tenses at the same time are two things that I find challenging in English.

Fragment: Speaking and using proper verb tenses at the same time

For example:

Sentence: And of course, vocabulary is challenging, too.

Fragment: And of course.

NOTE:

If you are currently accustomed to UK spelling, then stick to that and don’t mix spelling styles.

13. How to form the simple past form of irregular verbs. Irregular verbs and verbs that we don’t just adde ED. Instead of memorizing a table, try this instead: https://quizlet.com/11089017/past-simple-irregular-flash-cards/ For fun incorporate some of these into a short story or a discussion about a past event. You can try this with your voice. Simply choose 4 to 10 verb infinitives. Have them in front of you written as infinities. Choose an image from Unsplash https://unsplash.com/and create a story about the past using the verbs in the simple past affirmative and using the inspiration from the image. Of course you do not need to use Unsplash. You can use any image from any source. Or you can, for example, recount a past scenario involving one or more characters (actual or fictional).

14. How to use periods (.) This impacts your writing, not your speaking.

15. How not to use commas (,) and how to use commas (,) This impacts your writing not your speaking

16. took Lida to vs to put/placed Lida on

17. put milk in = added milk to

18. a walk around the block

19. a walk around the neighborhood

20. to dress vs to dress up Ah! That reminds me of Rober J. Dixson. Essential Idioms in English: Phrasal Verbs and Collocations by Robert J. Dixson Fifth Edition Copyright 2004 This is great for vocabulary review and expansion! https://abiiid.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/essential-idioms-in-english-phrasal-verbs-and-collocations.pdf

(more to come from prompt number one)