Ask me your English language related questions

Hi, I am new to Alibaba,

I am a Canadian currently living and working in Dubai (2.5 years) as an English teacher but moving to Shanghai November 1.

The purpose of this thread is to keep my grammatical skills sharp and to provide an opportunity for those of you studying English to ask any English-related question you want. I will try my best to draw from my English instructing experience to answer your question, and I encourage other native speakers to join in.

Hope you find this helpful!

Replying to [Professor Carl]:


Thank you for the question, Professor Carl. As you pointed out, many of the challenges associated with learning the English language are unique to the learner's mother tongue. Having taught Arabs, Russians, Koreans and Iranians predominantly here in Dubai, I can say that the most common grammatical issue (aside from properly employing the myriad of rules associated with English verb usage) is proper article usage - a, an, the. Students with problems in this area typically will fall into one of two categories - overusing articles or forgetting to use them at all. Here is a brief synopsis of when and how to use articles:

Articles are used before nouns, unless that noun is a name (i.e. the Russia - incorrect). However, in cases where the name includes a noun (or has traditionally been referred to using an article), an article is used (i.e. The United States, The Philippines, The Nile).

'The' (definite article) is used for things we know:

I am going to the store.

In this example, the speaker is going to a store they know. This is different from:

I am going to a store.

Here, the speaker is going to some store that the listener doesn't know.

Therefore, 'a' / 'an' are used for things that are unknown (indefinite article) or things that are being mentioned for the first time. Take this short story as an example:

Richard ran through the woods and arrived at a river. The police were still chasing him, so he jumped into the water.

Here, Richard is encountering the river for the first time. So, it is described using 'a'. He is being chased and this information is not new to him, so 'police' is referred to using 'the'. When the story describes Richard jumping, it uses 'the' water because this is information that has been already introduced (i.e. a river).

I know this may be extremely basic information for many people, but I can tell you I have taught many business people that still have great difficulty using articles correctly.

Aside from grammatical issues, pronunciation is another area that is mother-tongue sensitive. Arabic and Russian speaking people have tremendous difficulty not rolling their Rs. Korean and other Asian language speaking people have trouble forming the R sound altogether as well as L and Th combinations. The trick is not learning how to make these sounds in isolation but how to make these sounds, without stalling, in the regular flow of a sentence.

One last area is writing. Traditional Arabic writing is very poetic and makes use of long, artistic sentences to deliver a message. This can also prove to be a challenge to the student as English is typically organized into smaller, more concise sentences (this is especially important for essays) linked using words and phrases such as: in addition, therefore, because of this, however, as you can see, from this, add to that, in this regard, etc.

Thanks again for the question! I would be very grateful if you would critique my response drawing from your experience and formal training in the area.

Ryan

Replying to [macs2005]: Wow - that was quite an explanation in response to the Prof! I think that the difficulties vary according to the learner's mother-tongue - Europeans learning ESL do not have the same issues with the definite/indefinite article as, say, the Chinese.

Replying to [EnglishRyan]:
Hi. Really appreciated for your generous. I will sign up for the first one. (Maybe It's Chinglish?)
Will feel free to ask you questions, ok?

Replying to [Fei Wong]:

Thanks Fei. No problem, ask away!

Ryan

Replying to [adseaco]:

Hi adseaco,

Hmmm, I am not familiar with this riddle. However, the title is "The Point is Moot". 'Moot' can be used to refer to something that is not practical or perhaps even useless. So, is it possible that the title of this piece is also the conclusion? In other words, the entire poem is intended to be without meaning?

That's the best I can do!

Ryan

Replying to [EnglishRyan]:

Why is a person who sing a rap song is called rapper and not rapist?

Why is a person who rape somebody is called a rapist and not rapper?

Replying to [David Frencken]:

Hi David,

The word 'rap' has a short 'a' sound.

The word 'rape' has a long 'a' sound.

The word 'rapper' has a short 'a' sound.

The word 'rapist' has a long 'a' sound.

We call someone who sings rap a 'rapper' because both of these words share the same sound when spoken.

However, according to an online dictionary on the Princeton University website, the word 'raper' (one 'p') can be used in the same manner as rapist:
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=raper

Here's a small grammatical clean-up on your question:

-Don't forget your Ss!
-Do not double your verb when referring to the same subject (the second use of 'is' is incorrect in both questions).

Why is a person who sing(s) a rap song [is] called rapper and not rapist?

Why is a person who rape(s) somebody [is] called a rapist and not rapper?

Thanks!

Ryan