Learning English - Ask Minoo #1

Hello and welcome everyone. This is Minoo at Anglo-Link.

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who have posted comments and questions

on YouTube and Facebook for me. I really appreciate them.

Today I have chosen a few of the questions you have posted on Facebook.

I'm going to start answering some of the general questions about learning English.

And then I'll move onto answering some of the specific questions about language usage.

I'd like to start by answering a question from Kurniawan. I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly.

You say: "What is the best way to master English well

and how to increase vocabulary."

It's a very good question.

As I have said in many of my previous videos,

One of the best ways of improving your English and your vocabulary range is through listening.

And that is listening to authentic material.

Thanks to the Internet, these days you have access to YouTube clips,

to TV, radio, DVDs...

And the best way to expand your vocabulary is by just listening and watching.

I would suggest you choose relatively easy clips or programmes or films,

whose subjects really interest you,

things that you like, and just listen to them again and again.

Sometimes, you can even listen in the background,

Because even if your mind is busy working on something

your ears are free and they can continue to pick-up vocabulary and expressions.

Now, the best thing about learning and expanding your vocabulary through listening

is that you're learning the correct pronunciation at the same time,

which brings me to the next three questions that I have chosen.

I will read the questions to you.

Francis says: "I can write good English, but it's hard for me to have a good pronunciation."

Zeenat says: "I want to learn to improve my English accent."

And Rasha says: "How can I hear English well, it is very difficult."

As I have just explained,

if you have started learning English by reading and writing, you have missed the very important element of pronunciation.

Unfortunately, in English, what you see and write

is not necessarily what you hear and say.

So, in order to have a good pronunciation and listening skills from the beginning,

you need to start with listening, not reading or writing.

Listening and speaking. Just listen,

pick-up some phrases, some expressions that you like and repeat them.

Just the same way that you learnt your mother tongue.

What did you do? You just listened to your parents, the people around you.

you just copied what they said.

And that is the most natural and effective way of learning to communicate in a language.

Now, if your purpose of improving your English is to take an exam,

It's of course a little different.

For example, let's look at the question from Ayman,

who says: "Could you talk about IELTS test and how to improve our skills in its four parts?"

Obviously you need to improve your listening, speaking, reading and writing by doing these.

But when it comes to an exam, you do need to use specifically prepared materials.

And for all exams: IELTS, FCE, TOEFL, TOEIC

there are very good preparation materials available on the market.

And you can also go to the websites. For example ielts.org

gives you a lot of information about the test itself, the different skills that are required.

And how to prepare for them, so use these materials.

If you take the practice tests that are available in these specific materials,

and you find that there is one area, let's say for example speaking,

that challenges you more than the other areas,

I would recommend that you just take a few one-to-one lessons with a tutor

and focus on that particular area.

And that will help you pass the exam with a better score.

Right, I'm going to finish answering the general questions

by answering Khaled's question, which is quite interesting.

He says: "Is it true that if I start to learn English after the age of 18?

I will not have the same language as native speakers. Even if I try to change my accent, I can't do that. Because it's too late?"

Well, the answer to this questions for me is that

speaking a language is like learning any other skill.

It's like learning to play an instrument. It's like learning to play a sport,

or learning to paint. It's a skill, it's not a theory.

So if you are really really motivated,

and you put in all the time and the effort that is required, you can learn any skill at any age.

Ok, it's true that the younger you are the easier and quicker it is to learn a skill.

But it's true that with the right level of motivation. If you really really want to do something,

given the right tools and the right teacher,

and if you're prepared to put in the time and the effort, you can learn anything at any age.

So if you're motivated, give it a go! I'm sure you will succeed.

Right then, moving on now to some specific language questions...

The first one I have chosen is from Mihaela.

She says: "I've learnt that after 'when' you are not allowed to use the future tense.

Since in my language I can use the future tense after this word, I would like to know if you have an explanation for this rule and, of course,

I would like to have a list of other words that don't permit the future tense after them. Thanks."

Right. Very good question Mehaela.

There's a very simple rule.

Like 'when' you cannot use the future tense after any expression of time.

That's the rule. So after 'when', 'as soon as', 'after', 'before', 'until' etc...

So, if you have a time expression in your sentence, don't use the 'will' future after it.

Just use the Present Simple Tense.

Ok, I hope I've answered that question for Mehaela. Moving on to Maria Laura's question,

who says: "Hi! could you tell me the difference between the following expressions:

Something was sent vs something has been sent."

Here we are talking about the difference between two tenses,

the Past Simple and the Present Perfect.

Although your examples are in the passive voice, the conceptual difference is exactly the same.

The Past Simple Tense: "Something was sent".

refers to an action that was completed at a specific time in the past.

For example: "Something was sent yesterday".

Whereas your other sentence: "Something has been sent" is in the Present Perfect Tense,

and it refers to a completed action in the past, but without specifying when exactly.

"Something has been sent", "Something has already been sent", we don't know when.

Right then. Moving on to our next question, which is from Samia.

Samia says: "Hi. My question is which tense goes with the expression every once in a while or once in a while?

Is it the Present Simple Tense or the Past Tense or something else?"

Well, this expression 'once in a while' or 'every once in a while'

refers to something that happens regularly. It's a habit.

So, you can either use the Tense that's for a habit in the present,

or an expression that's for a habit in the past.

If we're talking in the present, it would be the Present Simple Tense.

For example: "I go swimming once in a while."

If you're referring to a habit in the past, then you can use either the expression 'used to' or the Modal 'would'.

For example: "When I was younger, I used to go swimming once in a while."

Or: "I would go swimming once in a while."

Right. The next question is from Arunprasad.

Who says: "My dentist always keeps ... me to clean my teeth. I hate that."

And in brackets we have the verb 'tell' - "I know it is 'telling' but what is the rule? (Always means habit, Present Simple)"

You're right! That's why the tense is 'keeps' (Present Simple).

The point here is what to put after 'keep'.

Is it 'keeps to tell', 'keeps tell' or 'keeps telling'?

In other words, infinitive, infinitive with 'to', without 'to' or the gerund?

The answer is that after the verb 'keep' you must always use the gerund form.

So. 'Keep going', 'Keep dancing' and in this case 'keep telling'.

And the final question is from Reshad.

Who says: "I have a very essential question. I don't know how I can ask. Can you lend me money, nearly $1000?"

Very good question Rashad. And it's very important that you use the right Modal Verb,

because if you say, to whoever you are going to ask this question to,

"can you lend me money".

They will probably say "Yes I can. But I won't ;)".

If you are going to make a polite request,

the correct Modal to use is not 'can', it's 'could'.

So. You could try saying to someone: "Could you lend me some money?"

Or: "Could you possibly lend me some money?"

Or: "Is there any way you could lend me some money?"

Good luck with that one!

Right then! Once again, thank you very much for all your questions.

If you have more questions for me that I will be able to answer in our next video,

you can post them in the comment section below or on our Facebook page.

That's all for this video. I hope you've enjoyed it.

If you've found it useful, please remember to click the 'like' button and don't forget to subscribe to our channel.

Thank you for watching. I look forward to seeing you in our next video. Bye now!