(I decided to release what I have made so far, so you don't have to wait any further)
>>>LaS3r’s English writing guide<<<
Greetings fellow VU members (and outsiders). The number of recruited members in VU has increased a lot. That brings its pros, but it also brings its cons. One of the cons is that some players don’t know how to speak English properly. This pisses me off a little. So instead of being a grammar-nazi, I made this guide. Btw, the development of v1.0 started from 8th of August to 13th the September (mostly because of lazyness :P) so I hope it’s worth the time.
I have studied in a language high-school (our priority is learning languages) this year (and it’s the first year) and our main studying was English (my primary language is English which I studied this year and my secondary language is Spanish which I’m going to study next year). This means that I know MOST of the grammar rules, word-spelling and other stuff.
Before I start, I want to let some of you know that if I make a mistake in my guide you are free to correct me (as long as you are sure about what you’re going to say). Also, if some of you want to add something to the tutorial just post it and if it’s suitable for the tutorial, I’ll add it. So without further ado, let’s start.
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CONTENT OF THIS MEGA-LONG TOPIC:
1. Basic stuff (#post_basic)
2. Tenses (#post_tenses)
-Present Simple
-Present Continuous
-Past Simple
-Past Simple Continuous
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1) Basic stuff
Here are some basic stuff. No particular order or category. Just stuff that pop out from my mind. Btw, you may come across with these further in the guide too:
-The pronoun “I†is always written with a capital “Iâ€
Example: Correct – “I am busyâ€, Incorrect – “i am busyâ€
-The pronoun “You†can be used for singular and plural (singular = one thing, plural = multiple things).
Example: Singular - “Dude, you were amazing!â€, Plural – “Guys, you were amazing!â€
-After “didâ€, you don’t put an “-ed†as a suffix. Example:
Correct - “Did he clean the car?â€
Incorrect – “Did he cleaned the car?â€
-After “doesâ€, you don’t put the letter “s†as a suffix. Example:
Correct – “He doesn’t own this car.â€
Incorrect – “He doesn’t owns this car.â€
-<Let’s> and <Lets>
Let’s = Let + us (instead of typing “Let usâ€, you can just combine the two words into one by using an “apostrophe†( ‘ ) – “Let’sâ€).
Lets = the present simple form of the verb “letâ€.
Example: Correct - “Let’s duelâ€, Incorrect – “Lets duelâ€
“Lets duel†would mean something like… someone is letting me duel.
Here’s an example with <Lets>:
Correct - “He lets me use his carâ€, Incorrect – “He let’s me use his carâ€
If you turn <let’s> into its full form, the sentence would look like this:
“He let us me use his car†which makes no sense, lol.
-Instead of typing <I am>, you can combine the two words (again – with an apostrophe) – <I’m>. Example – “I am playing†and “I’m playing†are both the same.
-<You’re> and <Your>
You’re = You + are (combining the two words)
Your = Your gun (for example). It’s his gun, not mine.
Example: Correct – “You’re amazingâ€, Incorrect – “Your amazingâ€
Example2: Correct – “Your bag is missingâ€, Incorrect – “You’re bag is missingâ€
If you turn <You’re> into its full form, the sentence would look like this:
“You are bag is missing†which once again – It doesn’t make any sense.
TIP: If you want to avoid such mistakes, always transform these types of words (You’re, He’s) into their full form (You are, He is) in your mind.
-<He’s> and <His>
He’s = He + is
His = his book (the book is not mine, it’s his book)
Example: Correct – “He’s awesomeâ€, Incorrect – “His awesomeâ€
Once again, if you want to avoid mistakes like this, transform these words into their full forms in your mind.
-<It’s> and <Its>
It’s = It + is
Its = Just like <His>, but for the pronoun “Itâ€
Example: Correct – “It’s a monster!†Incorrect – “Its a monster!â€
Example2: “Its legs are hairy!â€
NOTE: <He> refers to males, <She> refers to females and <It> refers to animals and items (mostly anything that isn’t human).
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2) Tenses
-Present Simple
Present Simple is used to describe that something usually/regularly happens. For example:
“I always put cheese on my friesâ€, or “He usually drives to work at 7:00 AMâ€. Noticed how I put the letter “s†after the verb “driveâ€? There are so called “forms†of the verb in tenses. Here are the Present Simple’s Affirmative, Negative and Interrogative forms:
Affirmative:
I eat cheese
You eat cheese
He eats cheese
She eats cheese
It eats cheese
We eat cheese
You eat cheese
They eat cheese
Negative:
I don’t eat cheese
You don’t eat cheese
He doesn’t eat cheese
She doesn’t eat cheese
It doesn’t eat cheese
We don’t eat cheese
You don’t eat cheese
They don’t eat cheese
Interrogative:
Do I eat cheese?
Do you eat cheese?
Does he eat cheese?
Does she eat cheese?
Does it eat cheese?
Do we eat cheese?
Do you eat cheese?
Do they eat cheese?
NOTE: Noticed how in the Affirmative, the verbs after the pronouns He/She/It end up with the letter “s†(“eatsâ€, instead of “eatâ€) but the rest of the verbs don’t end up with a “sâ€? Also, noticed how in the Negative and Interrogative it is “doesn’t†and “doesâ€, but the rest is “don’t†and “doâ€? Yeah, that’s how sh*t works here. lol
-Present Continuous
This tense is used to tell that something is happening now, at the moment. For example: “Charley is working nowâ€, or “VU are fighting the TZ at the momentâ€. Noticed how in this tense, there is the “-ing†thingy (that thingy is called a form, in this case: the -ing form) after the verb (work-ing, fight-ing)? In every continuous tense, the infinitive verb (infinitive verb = the normal verb, without any shit after it like “s†or “-ing†or “-edâ€) ends with an “ingâ€. Ok, here are the forms of the pronouns:
Affirmative:
I am working
You are working
He is working
She is working
It is working
We are working
You are working
They are working
Negative:
I am not working
You are not working
He/She/It is not working
We are not working
You are not working
They are not working
Interrogative:
Am I working?
Are you working?
Is he/she/it working?
Are we working?
Are you working?
Are they working?
-Past Simple
Past Simple is used to describe that something happened in the past. Example:
“I washed the carâ€, “He knocked on the door†or “The dog ate the steakâ€. Notice how the first two sentences’ verbs (wash, knock) end up with “-ed†but the third sentence’s verb is “ate†instead of “eatedâ€. Well first of all, there is no such thing as “eatedâ€. It’s “ateâ€. There are some verbs (called “regular†verbs) that end up with “-ed†if they are used in the past, but there are some verbs (called “irregular†verbs) that don’t end with “-edâ€. They get transformed a little. Some regular verbs:
Wash => washed, knock => knocked, kick => kicked
And here is a table of SOME irregular verbs:
Infinitive Past Simple Past Participle
Throw Threw Thrown
Sell Sold Sold
Swim Swam Swum
Grow Grew Grown
Break Broke Broken
…and many, many more. There are lots of irregular verbs that you just have to check for yourself.
And here are the forms of the pronouns:
Affirmative
I kicked the ball
You kicked the ball
He/She/It kicked the ball
We kicked the ball
You kicked the ball
They kicked the ball
Negative:
I didn’t kick the ball (notice how there is no “-ed†after “didn’tâ€)
You didn’t kick the ball
He/She/It didn’t kick the ball
We didn’t kick the ball
You didn’t kick the ball
They didn’t kick the ball
Interrogative:
Did I kick the ball?
Did you kick the ball?
Did he/she/it kick the ball?
Did we kick the ball?
Did you kick the ball?
Did they kick the ball?
-Past Simple Continuous
This tense is used to describe that something happened in the pass, at a certain time. In this tense, you must use “was†or “were†(depends on which pronouns you use). This tense is a continuous one, which means the verb must end with the suffix “-ingâ€. Example: “I was cleaning the house yesterdayâ€, “They were playing VC-MP 2 hours agoâ€, “He was driving a car a few minutes agoâ€. Forms of the pronouns:
Affirmative:
I was writing
You were writing
He/She/It was writing
We were writing
You were writing
They were writing
Negative:
I wasn’t writing (or was not)
You weren’t writing (or were not)
He/She/It wasn’t writing
We weren’t writing
You weren’t writing
They weren’t writing
Interrogative:
Was I writing?
Were you writing?
Was he/she/it writing?
Were we writing?
Were you writing?
Were they writing?
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>I'll keep developing this guide.
>Current version is 1.0
>Text in Green means that a newer content has been added to this guide.
Update: Since this topic is sticked and that means no bump is made, I felt correct to post some thoughts about this guide in general. In fact, my intention is to give a completely different perspective about language learning and acquisition.
The first thing that I want to say something very important and experienced by every polyglot that you can listen on youtube, spotify or wherever: today, there is no actual barrier between you and a new language in terms of accesibility. You can find material everywhere.
How can I, then, learn a language effectively?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au4CoCLi1Is
It is all about input.
There's been an important amount of investigations about the way that we generally take when we are babies to learn a language. Research has been done over and over about this and have simply concluded at the same point - the fact that we acquire a new language through subconscious processes in our own minds. We don't memorize; we simply get to understand the principal message, then our brain makes connections between words and the ways of reaching to that message and unconsciously we go through little steps taking vocabulary. In most of the cases, you are not even aware of it.
We need to cut off the thought of that we learn a language by reading thousands of times grammatical rules, memorizing vocabulary out of context that we don't apply, that we need an academy, a course or a professor in order to learn. The real and unique way for which humans learn a language is through input and your method has to meet these requirements:
- You have to understand the message, even if you don't completely understand the fully structure of the sentence
- You have to be gradually acquiring new words by having more and more input, not conforming yourself with the ones that you already know
- You should do it preferably daily. If you play an instrument then you know what I'm talking about. Practice makes master. More input, more habit: more language acquisition at shorter time.
- You must listen and read with subtitles in the language that you want to learn. There's this kind of people that watch series on English but puts subtitles in Spanish, or viceversa. There's a scientific research that shows that this does not work at all.
Then, if it's so easy, why people can't speak more than a single language? Why can't even you who are talking to us speak more than English and Spanish?
Because it is not easy. You see, the most problematic part about learning a language is that people want to see results instantly. LEARN ENGLISH IN THREE MONTHS WITH THIS COURSE! LEARN GERMAN IN TWO WEEKS! LEARN JAPANESE IN 3 MONTHS!
Yes. Sure. But try to actually speak. Try to read a debate between two different political sides. Try, I don't know, read a newspaper. Oh what's up? Yeah, you cannot. You trusted in results which are impossible and unable to get and you feel dissappointed. I've been there.
Learning a language takes also these following things:
- Dedication
- Time
- Motivation
- Dedication
- Self-confidence
- Knowing the right method
- Accepting that you will not be perfect, accepting that it will not be easy to speak the first months
The last thing that I want to say before I let you with the MASTERS who can speak about this thing much better than I, is, that together with this goal of 'quick time' language acquisition, people also fail into another mistake: be afraid.
Don't be afraid of practising. Don't be afraid to try in your mind, or by speaking, the new words you know. Don't be afraid of writing. Don't be afraid of trying to give your opinion at a Quora forum. The only goal is that people can understand you well. You don't need anything else. Do not seek perfection, seek the benefits of breaking these barrers and, fundamentally, the fun. You must, above anything, have fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiTsduRreug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_EQDtpYSNM&t=548s