Do you know how to describe your computer in English?

 

Example of product description - TV set.

 

How do you describe your car?

 

Here are the locations of the monuments in the world.

 

Where are the monuments located?

 

Post your comments if there is any monument I forgot to include here.

How can I learn English by myself?

One of the questions that many people ask is: how can I learn English by myself? Before, I talk about the steps you can take to do that, my first response is yes, it is possible. We can learn anything we want today because the internet gives us the possibility to do so. There is a lot of information and materials on the internet which can help you learn English by yourself. But, you need to be careful because the same abundance of materials and teachers can also confuse you on where to start. I know what I am saying because I have more than 30 years’ experience teaching English in companies in Brazil, although I have a Ph.D in Civil Engineering. What I can say from my experience is that learning English is like learning any other subject like mathematics, engineering, medicine, accounting, among others. The steps you can take to learn English by yourself are:

(1) be curious. Curiosity is the engine that makes you know what you didn't know before. Read materials written in English. If you are just beginning, use the Google translator to have idea what the material is all about. Observe how the article or material is written. Identify the most common words used in the article and find out what they mean. Use these words to make sentences about everyday objects or topics.

(2) write down the common expressions you use every day in your native language. Use an English dictionary to see how the same expressions can be used in English. This is important because English language uses expressions to form sentences. Expressions are words that are used together. For example: go to school, go to work, go to church, go to mosque, go to the mall, do homework, do research, do work, check e-mail, check Facebook, check information, etc.

(3) use these common expressions to make sentences or to talk about what you do. First, use them in the present to show what you do every day. Write these sentences down and then, read them. With this, you have already started speaking English although at a basic level. However, this will motivate you to do more. 

(4) Use the same sentences and say the same things in the past. For example, say what you did last year. You will discover that what changes will be the verb. Now, check your English dictionary to see the past of the verb you used in the present. To keep it simple, just talk about yourself in the present and in the past. 

(5) Look up for more expressions you use in your native language and use them in English as you did before. Now, expand your skill by talking about your friends, parents, brothers, and sisters. Use these to cover the pronouns we have in English. These are I, we, you, you, he/she, they. To do it right, always refer to your native language because I am sure no native language will use the same structure to talk about singular and plural. 

(6) You have to practice English language at least 30 minutes every day. Knowledge is not stored in a tank, rather, knowledge is acquired by doing or practicing. That is why you have launching of smartphones, cars, television sets, and other products almost every year. f knowledge is stored, you don't need to launch products every year.

Write your comments and how you have improved with your learning. I will give you more tips on how to proceed with your journey. Thank you for reading this article.  

 

How to identify words that go together

 

How can we determine the words that will go together with following words?

(1) awareness, image

for awareness, we always use the word "create" and have. For image, we can say create image, have image, get image. When we have a list of words, we need to use the one is the most restrictive to select the word combination. For example, the controlling word should be awareness because it forms compound words with only few words. 

(2) plan, trip

We say make a plan, prepare a plan, have a plan, execute a plan.

We say make a trip, prepare for a trip, go on a trip, etc. So, the common word combination for the two is to make a plan or make a trip. 

(3) exchange, market

Exchange occurs when you give one thing and receive something in return for it. Market is where the exchange occurs. Stock exchange market is the market where stocks are exchanged although some call it the stock market. The name NYSE is called the New York Stock Exchange. That means a place or market where people buy and sell stocks. In the past, we used to exchange products for products or services for services (trade by barter). Market is the place where exchange occurs. Today, we pay money instead of exchanging products although it is not a perfect exchange. So, what exchange do we actually do today in the sense of exchanging products for products? The answer is money or what we call currencies. I can buy one currency with another currency. So, which words go together with exchange and market? The answer is currency. We have currency exchange and currency market. Currency exchange is what happens when you buy another currency like the USA dollar, Swiss Franc, etc. and where you buy them are called Exchange Houses. Currency Market is where people trade or speculate on currencies all day.     

(4) leader, share

 We say someone is a leader. If it a company, we say the company is a market leader in its segment. And someone has a share of something means the person has some percentage of that. So, a market leader has more participation in the segment than other companies. so, the common word should be market. That gives market leader and market share.   

(5) coverage, broker

Coverage means area or volume or size under consideration for a specific purpose. For example, we say disease coverage, sanitation coverage, healthplan coverage, insurance coverage, etc. A broker is a middle man or an intermediary of any type of business. But, regulations generally require them for investing in stock market or in the insurance segment. Since broker is obligatory in order to have insurance policy, the common word for the two words is "insurance". So, we say insurance coverage and insurance broker.

     These steps should always be taken to find a word that is common to a list of given words. Write your comments in the comment section if you have any doubts about this topic.

Which words do we use to describe products?

 

Which words do we use together with product?

 

These are the names of the vegetables.

 

In case you have any doubts, write them in the comment section.

Do you know the names of these vegetables?

 

How is your Work?

 

Watch the video so you will know how to answer the question above.

After watching the video, leave your comments in the comment section.