Free online English course

People, these days, prefer to learn English online. This has encouraged many language learning websites to

come up with a number of different English learning courses, both free and paid. Some of the free courses available on the internet are:

• Courses with learning levels:  Most English learning websites has courses according to levels – Basic/Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced that are built in such a way that they cater to the specific requirements and the capabilities of the learners.
• Vocabulary course: This is a popular course that focuses on helping the learners to increase their stock of words, introduce them to new words on a regular basis and also to retain the words previously learnt. This section may include small sub sections or sub topics like Idioms, Proverbs, Collocations, etc.
• Spoken English course: This is probably one of the most sought after courses. In our daily lives, we mostly speak to people before we write to them. People opt for spoken English courses to satiate their affiliation needs or to excel at their work places. Therefore, this course is extremely popular among the learners.
• Grammar course: Almost every English learning site has an inbuilt and integrated grammar course serving solely to simplify the grammatical concepts related to the English. This is also a very popular course as grammar is the base of every language.
• Career course: This course generally focuses on career resources like writing impressive resumes, effective cover letters and the like.

How to write a letter

How to write a letter

The official letters are written concisely with a well define objective. There is a set of rules that need to be followed while writing a “formal letter”. Some of them are given below.

1)     How formal the letter should be depends on the person you are writing to. To write an official letter whom you have professional relationship with, formal English language should be used else semi formal may be used.

2)     Choose the mode of sending the letter i.e. whether it needs to be sent via email or post. The current trend is to send letter by email.

3)     Use blue or black ink to write a letter.

4)     Always use the letterhead of the organization while writing a business letter. In case the letter head is not available, then don’t forget to write your address, contact number and email address. The informal letters should have the return address written on the top right corner or on the cover letter if you are sending it by post.

5)     The letter should have a date. It is advisable to write the month in letters instead of numbers. E.g. instead of writing 01-09-2013, write ‘01 September 2013’

6)     Write the full name, address and contact number of the recipient in separate rows. Do this only with the business letters to be sent by post. It is not required while sending the letter through Email.

7)     Give a line space after it and write the subject of the letter (for formal letters only).

8)     Give a line space and then begin the letter with the salutation. Choose the salutation as per your relationship with the recipient e.g you can start like Dear Sir, Dear Madam etc.  Write “To Whom It May Concern” if you do not know the recipient.

9)     Then leave a line space and write the body of the letter. Remember that in formal letters the content should be concise. It should be according to the purpose you are writing for.

10)  Add the Valediction at the end like “Sincerely Yours”, “Yours Faithfully” etc.

11)  Sign the letter after putting valediction. After signing, write your name below it. There is no need to sign an informal letter. You can only mention your name.

12)  Proofread the letter before sending it. Recall your objective of writing the letter and read out the content. Ensure that the content of the letter should be in accordance to the objective of writing it.

How to use Adverbs in English ?

Manner Adverbs

Adverb is used in sentences to show how an action (verb) is performed. These adverbs are called manner adverbs and they usually end in –ly.

•    She speaks German fluently.
•    He finished the task perfectly.
•    The kids did their work cheerfully.

These adverbs tell us more about the verbs or actions. ‘She speaks German fluently’ tells us more about the verb ‘speak’. It tells us that the girl speaks German ‘fluently’.

Degree Adverbs

Degree adverbs modify the adjectives and verbs.

•    He looked extremely tired.
•    She really likes him.
•    He is fairly good at sketching.

In the above examples, ‘tired’ and ‘good’ are adjectives and they are modified by adding degree adverbs like ‘extremely’ and ‘fairly’.

Adverbs of place, time and manner

These adverbs add more information about place, time and adverbs of manner.

•    Her house is behind the school.
•    He lives nearby the central park.
•    Go backwards.

‘Behind’, ‘nearby’ and ‘backwards’ are adverbs of place.

•    He will come tomorrow.
•    The magazine comes weekly.
•    Now I will work on this project.
‘Tomorrow’, ‘weekly’ and ‘now’ are adverbs of time.

The Rules

Most of the adverbs are formed by adding –ly to the adjective in the end- fondly, happily, foolishly, kindly, quietly.

Those adjectives that end in –ic end in –ally when we form adverbs- tragic-tragically, comic-comically, basic-basically.

English lessons for students

Learning and excelling in English has become very important in today’s world. Intermediate to expert English skills are required in almost every arena these days. As a result, almost every school has included English in their curriculum today. Students are also getting proactive and are making extra efforts to learn the English language. For this, they do not only depend on their school curriculum but also take the help of the online resources that are available to them. 

Usually online English Lessons are different from textbook lessons in their approach. But what every English curriculum must include, irrespective of whether they are being taught in school or in an online medium, are comprehensive grammar chapters, literature section with short stories, poetry and plays and some interactive sections where students can apply their knowledge and measure their improvement. The grammar is perhaps the most important section among these and must be designed in a manner that is user friendly as well as interesting for the students to learn. 

There is also a need to put some emphasis on developing lessons that would enhance spoken and written English. Both speaking and writing English are very important, though people tend to give much more importance to speaking English. There’s a need to develop innovative sections on both with out of the box thinking that would not only put stress on learning but also make learning enjoyable.

Types of Nouns

A noun is a word which is used to name a person, animal, place, thing and idea. They are the names we give to everything around us. Every particular name used to define something is a noun. They are also a part of speech. For example:  Canada, iPhone, Harry, doctor, English, etc. There are many different types of nouns. They are as follows:  

Proper Nouns

They represent the names of specific persons, places, or things and therefore are always written with a capital letter. It is the opposite of a common noun. For example: February, Montreal, Diwali, Peru, etc.

Common Nouns

It refers to a person, place, or thing in a general sense and therefore need not be capitalized. It is written with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. It is the opposite of a proper noun. For example: house, cow, refrigerator, citizen, etc.

Concrete Nouns

It names anything or anyone that can be sensed through physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. It is the opposite of an abstract noun. For example: cat, music, glass, perfume, juice, etc.

Abstract Nouns

It names anything which cannot be sensed through your five physical senses. It is the opposite of a concrete noun.  For example:  adulthood, depression, happiness, justice, admiration, etc.

Countable Nouns

These are those nouns that have both singular and plural forms. They can be counted either relatively or completely, and form plurals to associate with plural verbs in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns and collective nouns. For example: books, pen, trees, etc.

Non-Countable Nouns

These are nouns that cannot be counted and have only a singular form.  Non-countable nouns are similar to collective nouns, and are the opposite of countable nouns. For example: furniture, oxygen, gravel, etc.

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun, and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun. For example: class, crowd, jury, flock, herd, pack, etc.

Use of Effect and Affect in English

Affect or Effect is one pair of homophone that is confused by maximum number of people. The words are pronounced almost similarly and there is only slight difference in their meanings. We often replace ‘e’ with an ‘a’ and vice versa. 

‘Effect’ as a noun and ‘affect’ as a verb

We usually make mistakes while using these words and replace one in place of the other because we simply don’t know or forget that ‘effect’ is mostly used as a noun and ‘affect’ is used as a verb. Let us understand the difference between the two through examples:

• The drought had disastrous effects on paddy fields.
• The sound effects of the movie were excellent.
• Malnutrition affects most of the children in developing countries.
• The poor income of Rita’s father affected his well-being.

In the first example, ‘drought had disastrous effects’. ‘Effect’ word has a negative connotation in the sentence. In the second example, ‘effect’ has a positive connotation and the meaning is also different. But in both the cases, it is used as a noun.

Differences in meanings 

‘Effect’ means ‘the result of something’ and ‘affect’ means ‘to have influence on someone or something’.

What are the effects of rain water harvesting?
The medicine doesn’t have any side effects.
Malaria had affected everyone in the region.
The movie affected me to a great extent. 

In the third example, ‘affect’ verb has a negative connotation. In the fourth one, it has a positive connotation. It means that the movie deeply influenced or moved me.