3 Ways To Be Good At English

Your is used to mean “something you own. " Saying “Is that your cantaloupe?” or “Where is your pocketknife?” are appropriate uses of “your. " You can always sound it out and try substituting “you are” for “your” in a sentence. If “you are” would make sense, then you should use the other form “you’re. " You’re is a contraction of the words “you” and “are,” and it’s used as a replacement for those words in a sentence. “You are an excellent tennis player” can be written “You’re an excellent tennis player. "

Their means “belongs to them. " Appropriate uses would include “Their balloon popped quickly” or “Have you not seen their baby?” The word is only used in this context and for no other reason than to mean “more than one owner. " They’re is a contraction of the words “they” and “are,” and should be used to replace those words in a sentence. “They are very much in love” could be written “They’re very much in love. " Despite the fact that a contraction is used, this word does not imply ownership. There refers to locations and all other uses. “Place the apple over there” or “There is nothing more boring than math” are appropriate uses of “there. "

Use its when you intend to assign possession to something. Though there is no apostrophe, this means that something owns something else. “Its hair was really dirty” or “I can’t compete with its power!” would be appropriate uses of its. Use it’s when you want to contract “it” and “is. " It would be appropriate to write “It’s not that great” or “When it’s raining, I like to read. "

To is a preposition, which should always precede a noun or a verb and begin a prepositional phrase. “I want to visit France” and “I went to France” are both appropriate uses of “to. " Too is used as a quantity or to agree. “There was too much alcohol the party” or “I ate too many ice cream cones” are appropriate uses. It can also suggest degrees or levels of emotion, and lengths of time: “You’re way too angry” or “I cried for too long. " It’s also used to agree: “I want to go to the party too. " Two is a number and should only be used as a number. “I ate two large pizzas” or “There were two pro wrestlers at the party” are appropriate uses of “two. "

Less refers to amounts and non-count nouns. “There was much less water in the pool than last week” or “Much less applause could be heard at the game” are appropriate uses. If you can’t count individual units of something, “less” is the appropriate word when referring to it. There is less doubt, less oxygen, and less moral. Fewer refers to numbers and count nouns. “Many fewer people applauded” or “One more bike, one fewer car” would be appropriate uses of fewer. If you can give a specific number of an object, like marbles, dollar bills, cantaloupes, or video games, the right word is “fewer. "

Use “lay” when you’re putting something down. “I lay the book on the table” or “Please lay your head on your desk” are appropriate uses of “lay. " Use “lie” when you’re resting or reclining. You would write, “I’m going to lie down now” but the past tense form of the word is “lay,” which accounts for a lot of the confusion. In other words, you would also write, “I lay down yesterday. " Use context clues in the sentence to find the meaning.

Random means a lack of order or coherence in a series or sequence. There should be no pattern in something that’s truly random. Often, people use “random” when they mean “surprising” or “unexpected. " For example, it wasn’t “some random guy” that talked to you after class. You take the same class, go to the same school, and live in the same town, which means there’s nothing random about having a conversation with another person you share space with. It’s actually quite likely. Literally should not be used to imply severity, because “literally” means that something actually happened, and was a literal truth. The only time it would be appropriate to say, “I literally couldn’t get out of bed this morning,” is if you were actually physically unable to move your legs, not because you were unwilling to move your legs. Otherwise, you mean “figuratively. "

We all like to text quickly, but it’s best to avoid texting spelling like “ur” even when you’re actually texting. When you’re writing in textspeak, you’re training yourself to connect those typing muscles with those words, making you more likely to unconsciously use the wrong spelling in a formal setting. When you’re speaking, it’s also good habit to avoid actually saying things out loud like, “OMG” or “lol. " If you’re laughing, just laugh, don’t editorialize it.

Try reading out loud sometimes, especially if you’re uncomfortable doing so in class. The more comfortable you get working your way through words, the better your speech will become and the more confidence you’ll have about pronunciation and speaking. It can also be fun to hear how really great writing sounds. Read Edgar Allan Poe aloud, or other poetry to get the full effect. Read daily and read-aloud books, articles, comic books, magazines, and news on various topics. It will help you to pronounce the words correctly. To improve your reading fluency, take a book or newspaper a little above your reading level and read it. If you do not know the words or concepts, look them up. It is like working out. If you do not do it regularly, you become flabby.

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You cut a piece of pie You hear with your ear Because Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants. Just because. Never believe a lie. An island is land. Eee! A cemetery!

Passive voice: “The city has been scorched by the dragon’s breath. " Here, the verb in the sentence is actually “to be,” because the subject of the sentence–the city–is in the act of being changed by something (the dragon’s breath). Active voice: “The dragon’s breath scorched the city. " Here, the dragon is the subject of the sentence, and the stronger verb–scorch–is used as the verb in the sentence, rather than a vestigial verb phrase.

Use commas when you start sentences with adverbs: “Although I drank the poison Kool-Aid, my Wednesday was mostly boring. " Use commas with “because” sentences only if the clause after the because is complex. For example: “I drank the Kool-Aid because I was thirsty” doesn’t need a comma before the “because. " However, “I drank the Kool-Aid, because my sister left me home alone and there wasn’t anything else to drink” requires a comma. You didn’t drink Kool-Aid because your sister left you, you drank it because there was nothing else to drink. Use commas to set off intro clauses: “Fortunately, I carry a pocketknife” is an appropriate comma use. Likewise, “To begin a novel correctly, forget everything you know” is also correct. Use commas to separate opposing clauses: “The puppies were cute, but smelled disgusting. " Avoid commas when the clauses agree: “I’m happy but I can’t help it. "

Adverbs and adjectives are easy cuts. “The flowing, fiery dragon breath beset the besieged and ragged city dwellers, cowering in their filthy, stinking, scorched rags of clothes, all matted and terrible” would be much better written, “Flowing, the dragon breath scorched the city dwellers, who cowered in their stinking clothes. " Avoid stacked prepositional phrases. To avoid writing run-on sentences, get in the habit of looking for “stacked” prepositional phrases. These are good indicators that you need to restructure sentences to improve the agreement of the subject and verb. A “stacked” sentence is confusing: “In the field, over the cascading weeks, inside a house, like a weeping girl stood Joseph. " Instead, try this: “Like a weeping girl, Joseph stood inside a house in the field. Over the cascading weeks, he…”

If you want to use a more appropriate word, or substitute a word for something that you’re overusing, looking at the suggested synonyms is a perfectly acceptable way to find alternatives, but if you don’t know the word you must look it up before you insert it.

Editing happens when you improve a piece of writing by re-wording sentences to improve them, checking the writing for content, and addressing large concerns about the essay or the assignment. When you revise, you’re “re-visioning” the writing, looking at it with new eyes. When you proofread, you’re specifically looking for mistakes on the sentence-level. So, spelling issues, commas, and other little problems are what you should look for when you proofread. This should happen after you revise. Write a journal. It allows you to write without being judged by others. Practice writing essays. It teaches you to put your ideas into a proper form.