4 Tips to Speak ADVANCED English — Grammar Lesson

Have you ever been in a situation like this?

It's quite frustrating, isn't it?

Well, one of the reasons that this happens is because lack of accuracy.

Now, the more accurate that you become, the more

you will be able to effortlessly express exactly what you want to say

without having to go around in circles trying to explain your ideas.

So stick around until the end of this video,

because in this lesson, you are going to learn:

Because here at English, every single week we make lessons like this one

that help you to go from being a lost and insecure English learner

to being a confident, natural English speaker.

So if that sounds like what you want for your English,

then join us by hitting that

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And that way you won't miss a single new lesson

It's when a conversation with you flows, you're able

to understand people, and people are also able to understand you.

Also, remember that there are different levels of fluency.

So, for example, maybe you feel comfortable talking

about your hobbies or ordering a meal at a restaurant

so we can say that you have enough fluency to operate well in those situations.

However, you might not have enough fluency yet to give an effective business

presentation in English or to communicate well in a fast paced situation.

The great thing about fluency is that your focus is on communication,

which is the primary reason why we learn languages, right?

So it's actually okay for you to make mistakes while speaking

as long as you can hold the conversation, understand and be understood.

However, if you want to become a comfortable

and confident English speaker across virtually any situation

then just work on your fluency is not enough.

You also need more accuracy

Accuracy is directly related to the amount of mistakes that you make.

In other words, the more advanced you become,

the fewer mistakes that you should be making.

And I don't mean that mistakes are probably prohibitive.

Of course not.

We all make mistakes. Mistakes are normal.

Even very advanced speakers make mistakes here and there.

But the frequency of mistakes is what matters here.

Having as much accuracy as possible is one of the characteristics

of advanced English.

So listen to these two speakers What do you notice?

So I noticed that.

Speaker one has more fluency.

This means that he's able to communicate more fluently and confidently.

However, he makes a lot of mistakes when it speaks.

On the other hand, Speaker two has more accuracy.

This means that he speaks everything correctly without making any mistakes.

However, he's lacking in the fluency and confidence that.

Speaker one had.

Now you might be wondering

So here at RealLife, we believe

what's really important is the balance between the two of these aspects.

Now you can't neglect fluency.

It's what's going to help you to come across as someone who is confident,

and you always need to be working on improving your processing speed.

But you also can't ignore accuracy.

Accuracy is what's going to help you to think of the right words, to say

and to say them in a way that comes across as competent.

Now, in my own language,

learning, I found it's really important to focus first on fluency

so that I don't get stuck in my head or in a vicious cycle of perfectionism.

Now, once I have a good base, of confidence

in the language, then I can focus more on the accuracy

so that I sound more competent in a variety of different situations.

However, as lifelong learners,

it's really important that we're always working on both of these aspects,

and you can considerably improve both your fluency and accuracy

with the RealLife app.

Just listen to what one of our app users.

Victoria has to say about her experience.

Now there are several ways that you can improve your level of accuracy,

and this could be through studying vocabulary

or working on your pronunciation.

However, in this video, we are just going to focus on one aspect

that will help you to improve your accuracy, and that is grammar.

So if you are an intermediate level English learner, then adding

some deliberate grammar, studying to your routine can be immensely helpful.

Let's take a look at some of the benefits that you can get from studying grammar

So if you've been speaking English for a while,

but you've still filler saying missing or you're feeling kind of stuck, then

studying grammar can help you to start feeling some progress again.

Now, when you first start learning English as a beginner, we believe

that's really important that you start out by immersing yourself in the language

and speaking as soon as possible, even if it's just with really basic sentences.

Now, as you progress on your journey, you reach the intermediate level.

Now, at this stage, we believe that it's really important

that you're getting as much contact with the language as possible

and developing your confidence.

Now, this would be by consuming a lot of media English

and speaking at every opportunity that you get.

Now, at this point, the focus really is on connecting

with others rather than trying to sound perfect when you speak.

And once you've reached this really operational level, you have two choices.

And the one that you choose

is really going to depend on what your goals are for your English.

Now, if getting more advanced English is your goal then

you're really going to need to start studying more deliberately at this point.

That is the only way that you're going to break out of the intermediate plateau.

if this is scaring you a bit, don't worry.

You don't need to study every single aspect of grammar in depth

in order to advance your English considerably.

What's really important is that you focus on what we call the even 80/20 grammar.

These are the most important grammar topics that you need to master

for a confident natural communication in English.

If you're able to master these,

then a lot of the other grammar structures will come really easily to you.

So here they are:

So I would bet that some of these grammar topics are familiar to you,

but maybe some of them are brand new.

Don't worry.

We're going to take a quiz now

that's going to help you to get a grasp on where you stand currently

and what you should focus on with these different grammar topics.

Are you ready?

The grammar topics in this question are the simple present and present continuous

So the grammar topics in this question are the simple past

and past continuous

So the grammar topics in this question are the simple future

and the present continuous being used with future meaning

The grammar talks in this question are gerund versus infinitive.

So the grammar topics in this question are the present perfect and the present

perfect continuous

The grammar topics in this question are the active versus the passive voice.

So how did you do?

Let us know down in the comments below.

And along with your score also share with me which of these

grammar topics do you find the most difficult?

Tell us so that we know what relevant content

that we can make to best help you advance your in English.

So in the last part of video, I'm going to give you a practical three

step process that you can use to improve your grammar skills.

So say that you're choosing the present perfect continuous.

We can see it in examples such as:

So spend some time studying the structure how it's formed, what it's used for.

And there are many great ways to do this with different resources.

For example, if you like doing things a little bit more the old fashioned way,

then you can get a good grammar book like English Grammar

in Use by Raymond Murphy.

But you can also just do a Google search and find tons of resources

for free this way.

But I also recommend that you consider stepping out of the formal structure

of these books and actually creating your own example

sentences with the grammar topic that you're studying.

So for example, you could write a story about your own life

using this grammar structure as much as possible.

And this is absolutely fantastic because it makes this topic more relevant to you,

which ultimately will be very useful for you when you actually get

the chance to use the language to speak or communicate with someone.

So once you've spent some time actually

studying the topic and doing deliberate practice with different exercises,

then try to consume different blogs, podcasts,

watching videos on YouTube, watching your favorite series on Netflix.

And while you're watching or reading,

try to actually identify this grammar structure in use.

Whenever you find the grammar structure that you're studying, pause and take some

notes about it.

Now it's time to really get outside of your comfort zone, actually connecting

with someone and putting all of your hard studying to use.

And you can do this really easily with the RealLife app.

So connect to someone for a four minute conversation

and try to use a few times the present perfect continuous

that you've been studying.

So Thiago, how long have you been learning English for?

Well, I've been learning English for almost my whole life

and been teaching it for over ten years.

To conclude, remember that you need to know

when you should focus on fluency and when you should focus on accuracy.

Now, when you're at home alone studying,

that's the time to be focusing on accuracy.

But when you're in a conversation with someone,

you don't want to be in your head

trying to think if you're making a mistake or not.

That's the moment where you need to just not worry about the mistakes

and really just focus on connecting with that other person as fluently as you can.

So to review in this video, we've looked at:

So aside from studying grammar, another really great way to improve

your accuracy is by learning how to use words more effectively.

So I have this video that teaches you one simple trick

that can help you to learn thousands of new advanced words.

Let's check it out.