Urgent help needed 4 English language.......

[TheMasterMind]

hi guys......i wanna improve my english vocabulary n writting skills im giving my exam dis may...
please help me out in any way.....attachments downloads n ur valuable suggestions most appreciated.....
thanks in advance!!!

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

Here is my vocabulary collection which may help you further more reading novels and doing crosswords is also a good way to improve your vocabulary !!

 

[TheMasterMind]

thnx salman.....wch level of studies r u at???

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

Well I m at O1 and giving Maths, Pak-studies, Islamiat and Urdu !!

 

[TheMasterMind]

ok...nice....but how can i improve my vocab wid jus dese wrds???

 

[Firebender]

READ. That is the be-all end-all method for improving your english for a written exam. Finish a few books before 9th and try to understand and enjoy them. If you dont want to buy books, just download them and read them on adobe reader with dark grey text on black pages. That will make sure your eyes arent strained and you save power too.

On the back of your english copy, try dedicating the last 5-10 pages under the title 'vocabulary'. Whenever you find a word you dont understand, FIND THE MEANING AND WRITE IT DOWN AS NEATLY AND CONCISELY AS POSSIBLE. On the last days of the exam, go over all the words you've written down and you will have a huge range of words to express yourself in the exam. Try to find good(hard but not too hard) words which are COMMONLY USED that'll impress the examiner and learn their proper use. Try to use them in your written work.

I had a similar difficulty in urdu so i can tell u what I did to overcome it.

I was hopeless at urdu when I gave my CIE last year. My urdu teacher told my parents I was guarrenteed to fail. I'd be lucky to get an E. I didn't hate my urdu teacher but I was really hurt by what she said. I could barely read urdu but I bought and tried to read urdu text in front of my grandmother, who would correct me if I read something wrong. Any word I didn't know, I wrote the meanings in a VOCABULARY section at the end of my book. I focused almost exclusively on reading and improving my language. I read the pre-set urdu phrases and orally used them in my own sentences. I started writing after weeks of this and my nonsensical and baby-ish sentence patterns almost dissappeared because I had a much-improved understanding of urdu usage and much better continuity. I still had a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes but these improved with practice and always having someone tell me the mistakes I made.

There's another great trick that works too, I pre-prepared very good sentences that I would FORCE into my essays and letters to make the examiner think I knew the language. I literally planned my essays so that I would get oppurtunities to insert things I had rehearsed writing/discussing. On the last couple days before urdu, I would go over the 90+ common-use(yet big) words I had written down in my vocab section(whose uses in sentences I knew for sure). Then I would systematically make sure I used a whole lot of those in my paper(dont over do it though).

Sometimes, I didn't know how to say something in urdu so I thought of what I wanted to say in english, then I translated it into urdu and wrote it down.

By the mock, my marks jumped from 17% to 48% and 1 month later I got a 78(B) in CIE. With more time(and some sleep the night of the exam), I probably would have gotten an A*.

Moral: READ.

 

[Firebender]

salman's personal vocab is very good but there are some words in there which you absolutely dont need like picayune, anathema, Verisimilitude or transmogrified. keep it simple with commonplace words and KNOW THEIR USAGE. It'll benefit you alot more if u make your own list.


the meaning of tragic is correct btw, salman.

 

[leosco1995]

Yeah, you don't need to go overboard and learn the more complicated words in that list since it's very unlikely you'll use them. Don't try to make your sentences look better by using fancy words, especially if you're not sure if they'll make sense in that context. You should read a book entitled 'The Cambridge O-level Revision Guide' (or something like that) since I'm sure it'll help you out with this. The way I've improved my English over the years was by reading articles, stories, newspapers (and to a lesser extent, novels and creepypasta) and it is definitely helping me.

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

yeah you guys are right !! Simpler the better !!

 

[scouserlfc]

be simple as well and learn a few proverbs just to add a little spice to ur wrds,but if its difficult no need but i guess everyone knows a few and if u write stories u can easily use up to 2 proverbs everytime by the way gud luck guys dont disappoint us and get an A* INSHAALLAH

 

[TheMasterMind]

thanks guys u all r gr8 help to me......plz also pray for me.....
yeah ill try my level best to achieve an A* in all my subjects....
@firebender kindly tell me which type pf books i should read or dwnload....gimme some kind of example or reference.....
thanks in adv.
@salman yar try to upload more wrds like u did itll b gr8 help for us....can u tell me from whr did u get those wrds????

 

[Firebender]

What type of books you should read? hmmm... read about subject matter you are really interested in. It will increase the amount of language you absorb by 10x. keep book length to around 200-300 pages too. not too long as there's not much time till CIE. As you read, you will encounter new words, write them down. When you see a clever, effective use of words, note it in your head and try to use it when its appropriate. This will help in writing and comprehention.

Metaphors and similes impress examiners alot too. Use 1 metaphor and simile in each essay.

It only takes 2-3 days to get about 30 new words down in your vocab section, which is very good If you try to define those words yourself and use them in sentences YOURSELF(dont write the sentences down), your english will improve. Learning someone else's by heart is a poor alternative.

Dont try to improve your language using newspapers. EVER. They are meant to be opinionless with very simple sentence patterns. Doing that can actually lose you upto 10-12 marks each for language in directed and creative writing.

 

[abcde]

@firebender: Inspirational! Thank you. May Allah help us all. Kindly remember me in your prayers. JazakAllah!

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

thanks guys u all r gr8 help to me......plz also pray for me.....
yeah ill try my level best to achieve an A* in all my subjects....
@firebender kindly tell me which type pf books i should read or dwnload....gimme some kind of example or reference.....
thanks in adv.
@salman yar try to upload more wrds like u did itll b gr8 help for us....can u tell me from whr did u get those wrds????

Ok I will try !!

 

[TheMasterMind]

thnx fire bender......@firebender wat subs r u giving dis may?????
@fire bender how much books i should read as only less than a month is left for cie
plz kindly also tell me how should i prepare fully(all the things) for my cie.....i mean how should i daily prepare my whole english syllabus to get an A* ?????

 

[Nibz]

I STRONGLY disagree with 'Firebender' on the point of not reading newspapers.
Gone are the days when there used to be 'opinionless with very simple sentences' newspapers!
Today, the way newspapers improve your language - be it spelling, grammar or your English style - nothing improves it better.
Plus, not all CIE English Language students can read those lengthy novels/books... (not me at least). Newspaper is the only alternative for that! ( Here, I'm not talking about those BORING news-reports. Rather I'm talking about those articles and stories of Sunday Magazines)
And in the context of the above questioner, READING NEWSPAPERS IS THE ONLY WAY - THE ONE AND ONLY WAY! ( less than a month is left for his exam)

If you people don't agree with me, DON'T. But if you ask for my opinion, the only recommendation I'd give is: Read. Yes, read but newspapers! (this is only for those appearing in this coming session; for others, reading books (if you can) might be a better option!
Hope this helped.

 

[SalmanPakRocks]

yeah reading news paper helps a lot !! I m giving Urdu so reading Urdu new daily so I found words which I never heard before !! this makes my writing like a reporter or journalist !!

 

[Firebender]

This year, I'm giving eng. lang, eng. literature, physics, bio, chem and maths.

If you ever read harry potter, like the 400 million other people, you'll know that a good book goes by in less than a week for a normal reader. Basically, http://www.englishclub.com/esl-articles/200003.htm except the advice about newspapers, cornflakes boxes and poetry. Also, since you're studying for an exam 26 days away,studying 30 mins eng lang each day is enough(tho some ppl wud call reading a leisure activity). When you finally do start practicing writing, (final week or so) always have someone check it who can find and correct most of your mistakes. When you write and no one is correcting you, you are affirming those mistakes to yourself as correct.

The only important factor is that your reading material should interest YOU. Don't waste time trying to decide what to read-- just do it, and do a lot of it. And note the words that are new to you. (also, when you make sentences to learn usage, dont write them down, just speak them to someone who can tell you if you're right or not)

Fact: Most authors write better than you or me. Its not considered cheating if you rip some of their most creative or clever sentences off and use them in your own paper. Absorb their grammar and the choice of words that you like.

I want to tell you a trick I used in the urdu paper. Don't fuss about speed, it takes me 30 minutes to read a comprehention-length passage in urdu. I use a trick for the paper, I read the question beforehand, than I scan the paper for the answer(this takes common sense and an eye to quickly understand the gist of whats being said). I don't try to understand everything the passage says during the paper, i just find the answer to the question. if i read the passage first, i could never have finished the paper. Dont do this outside urdu or e.lang paper 2.

Some books I liked: The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Cracked Classics series, A little Princess, Mass Effect: Revelation. (all children's books except the last with good language and great story arcs)

 

[Firebender]

I STRONGLY disagree with 'Firebender' on the point of not reading newspapers.
Gone are the days when there used to be 'opinionless with very simple sentences' newspapers!
Today, the way newspapers improve your language - be it spelling, grammar or your English style - no other thing improves it better than a newspaper!
Plus, not every CIE English Language student can read those lengthy novels/books... (not me at least). Newspaper is the only alternative for that! ( Here, I'm not talking about those BORING news-reports. Rather I'm talking about those articles and stories of Sunday Magazines)
And in the context of the above questioner, READING NEWSPAPERS IS THE ONLY WAY - THE ONE AND ONLY WAY! ( less than a month is left for his exam)

If you people don't agree with me, DON'T. But if you ask for my opinion, the only recommendation I'l give is: Read. Yes, read but newspapers! (this is only for those appearing in this coming session; for others, reading books (if you can) might be a better option!
Hope this helped.

I agree with nibz, magazines and articles are excellent reading material(even better than books depending on the student and considering time left). What I meant was reading the front page news report of dawn on how electricity rates have gone up for learning about exam writing. Writing like THAT will not gain you marks for essays or letters. Its not even good practice for comprehension or the best way to learn new words.

 

[TheMasterMind]

thanks all esp. nibz n firebender......@nibz im a student like u who dont like to read novels but can u tell me hav u given cie english or u will giv now?..............

@nibz n firebender both: kindly plz tell me ur daily routine of english preparations till cie???....it would b a gr8 help to me......
thnx in adv.