It is not uncommon for people to feel intimidated by English public speaking as many are not native speakers. If you are giving a corporate presentation, taking part in a competition, delivering a speech, or any other setting that requires public speaking, you should realize that the mastery of that skill goes well above being a fluent English speaker. You have to be able to hold their interest, articulate thoughts properly and be self-assured, with the added difficulty of facing an audience.

Here is how you can practice and improve your public speaking skills in English, which will inevitably enhance the way you speak.

Grasp the Expectations and Attentiveness of the Audience

The first aspect that one has to master to be able to give a speech in English correctly is the audience. Understanding the demographics of the audience can help decide what type of language, tone, or style to use. For instance, if you are speaking to a group of colleagues, and everyone speaks in English, it could be helpful to emphasize slow speech but clarity in language.

The moment you start drafting your speech, always pose the following questions:

• Who is the target audience?
• How much English would the audience be able to understand?
• What would you be attempting to teach or bring to their attention?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you can adapt your way of conveying the message according to their requirements and preferences.

Select a Language Which is Not Very Complex

Use simple vocabulary when talking in the English language, and it is very crucial for a person who speaks it as a second language. Even if the person's English is quite good, and even fluent, the chances are that complex phrases, idioms, and jargon will only lead to unnecessary confusion for the audience. Use the simplest language that is possible because the more complex the language you use, the more difficult it would be for your listeners to comprehend the ideas you are trying to communicate.

When we say speak like a novice, we are not necessarily meaning that; we refer to communicating clearly. It is possible to communicate clearly without being simple, and here is how:

• Write short sentences that express only one idea.
• Do not use complex phrases which need further elaboration.
• Deconstruct complex concepts into smaller concepts.

This method benefits the audience by enhancing their comprehension of the speaker, and it also benefits the speaker by enhancing their confidence since the speaker is using partial phrases which make the speaker feel comfortable.

Organize the Content of the Speech

An efficient public speech should have an appropriate organization of ideas. That's why, when there is no structure, even the most captivating speech can fail to hold the attention of the audience. The sequence is almost essential in these English speeches: introduction, body, and conclusion, although you will probably not have the conclusion in this course.

1. Introduction:

Draw the audience's interest and state the theme of the presentation.

2. Body:

Begin with your key arguments in a coherent sequence. Emphasize that all the arguments are interrelated.

3. Summary/Final Remarks:

This course ignores conclusions, but in the case of a public speech, this is where most people put their ideas and the audience's consideration into a focus.

Transitional phrases can also assist your audience in remaining focused on the speech by saying phrases such as 'First, I'd like to talk about…" or "Next, let us focus on...".

The Development of Pronunciation and Stress Patterns

Good pronunciation and intonation as well as conveyance of the presentation as a whole is vital for any speaker in public. And if someone has a weak pronunciation the speaker's audience may not comprehend what is being said which is frustrating for both the speaker and listeners. Moreover, intonation is the rising and falling of the voice which is an important factor in the delivery of the speech. However, dull or plain intonation makes it harder for them throughout the entire duration.

In order to develop articulation and volume:

• Try speaking your opinion on a recording device and later evaluating what pronunciation mistakes you might have.
• Make it a point of concern to emphasize key words and phrases and adopt a natural flow to help articulate your points.
• Work out the tune of your speech. Learn what intonation should go up when posing a question and what goes down when making a strong statement.

If a person makes it a habit to practice delivery with pronunciation and intonation correctly, then the delivery will be more fluid and self-assured.

The Rate At Which You Speak

A fluent and confident presentation goes hand in hand with the correct pace of the speech or presentation. Unfamiliar and nonnative speakers are prone to losing track of what is being spoken, especially if there is an overuse of speaking without any breaks in between. However, caution also needs to be exercised as an extremely slow speech pattern may also bore the audience resulting in loss of concentration. This middle ground between two extremes is possibly the most crucial aspect of any presentation.

This can be done by:

• Pausing: These have a chronological order in a presentation so that the listeners could contemplate over what has just been said and what is about to be presented. For instance, an audience is often given time to pause, after the presentation of key ideas and ranges.
• Breathing: Breathing deeply and at regular intervals does not only ease your nerves but also helps control the pace.
• Emphasizing key points: An effective strategy of ensuring the audience listens carefully is slightly slowing the pace during important points and emphasizing on the critical words.

Getting in front of a mirror or practicing with a friend for speed and the overall flow of speech is ideal. But in the absence of any assistance, taking a slower approach is always preferred as it provides room for the listener to understand and catch up with the speaker.

Manage Your Nerves

Everyone gets scared when speaking publicly, unnaturally so when the foreign language is involved, including experienced speakers…, however, with the respect, appropriate amount of fear is warranted and must be controlled properly. Nervousness usually ends up in people stumbling through the speech and speaking too fast terms or forgetting what they want to say.

The following strategies can be used in the management of nerves:

• Practice, practice, practice: The more you prepare for your presentation, the more confident you will be, and as a result, you will be calm.
• Do positive visualization: Before giving a speech, see yourself giving the speech in a confident and successful way. This visualization of the first step can help reduce anxiety and enhance your performance when it is time to give the speech.
• Think of the transcript: This time, rather than being preoccupied with how they will come out, I want to shift their focus on the presentation they are going to give. Always remember their intention is to relay the information to the audience and not to win their praise.

Nervousness is also about a point of view and being ready. The more ready an individual is, the more confidence the person will have when he or she is supposed to be addressing a huge crowd.

Timeout! It's Your Show Now:

The work of a public speaker is not just handing out information, it is about communicating with your audience as well. When an English speaker speaks, there is a general tendency of trying to include as many people as possible in the discussion, maintaining the viewers' focus throughout the speech.

It is not necessary that involvement always assumes aggressive action. Below are some suggestions that might help in establishing a rapport with the listeners:

• Eye Contact: Eyes allow to share emotion and interestingly enough, attention span as well. Even when feeling nervous, you should try to make quick eye contact with various audience members:
• Rhetorical Questions: Questions such as "Did you ever wonder why …?" call the viewer's attention to aspects that do not need a spoken response.
• Gesticulation: Additive hand movements can enhance salient features and give more action to the presentation.

Relating to the audience can help you feel empowered since your speech is no longer a speech, but a dialogue instead.

Speaking Situations: Soft Skills Done Right

English speaking in public for the first time is quite a daunting task, although, there is a good amount of situations that focus and understand the differences. This will allow you to be more decisive when in the speaking space.

Give us an example of this:

• Presentations in a work environment: Readers should expect order and orderliness. Provide jargons as little as possible and put the main ideas in simple and easy to follow sentences.
• Informal conversations: The pitch may be informal, but there should be a sensible order in the words used.
• Presentations in an academic setting: In this case, there would be a need to be formal and also have the justifications for the claims made while ensuring the structure allows for the audience to stay interested.

Demonstrating an ability to use varying styles and registers of English in different situations will assist you in making a good impression as a speaker.

It is especially important to learn English vocabulary and grammar. However, knowing the grammar does not help in saying the sentence with stress and intonation; otherwise, it sounds awkward and unclear. Intonation and stress are the music of language that native speakers have when communicating ideas, emotions, and intentions.

In this article, we will consider the ways in which intonation and stress in the English language function and how you can work on these aspects to improve your quality and expressiveness.

What is Intonation?

When we talk about intonation, we refer to the upwards and downward movement of the voice during speech. It's one of the essential features of the communication in English as it helps convey more than just the simple words that are being spoken. It conveys emotion, adds meaning, attitude and even has the ability to alter the context of a particular phrase based on its application.

For example, consider a situation where you want to indicate several sentences.

• You are going to the party. (Tends to be an obvious statement)
• You are going to the party? (This sounds like a question)
• You are going to the party?! (the speaker cannot believe it)

In every possible sentence, the words contained therein are identical but their intonation has a different sound meaning and we can also consider it from world view perspective.

The Three Types of Intonation Used in Speech

• Rising Intonation: The highest voice pitch has an upward movement. This is usually the case with yes/no questions.
• Example: Are you going?
• Falling Intonation: The highest pitch drops, a feature of assertions as well "wh" type questions who, what, where, when, why, how.
• Example: He is going to London.
• Example: When does the train depart?
• Fall-Rise Intonation: Voice in this case falls then rises. This may express doubt, related to a certain degree of politeness, or simply surprise for unknown reasons.
• Example: I thought you didn't like ice cream… (implying a question of doubt).

The Intonation And Its Relation to the Communication Context

Emphasis is not the end of intonation, it can also be used to interpret meaning. In English, intonation can serve to signal whether the statement that was made is a question, or a claim, highlight an important part of a sentence, and so forth.

Statement vs. question

The functional phrases however illustrate how intonation is able to change Yes/No Statements to Yes/No Questions. For example:

• You're going. (lowering intonation, speaker is asserting a fact.)
• You're going? (raising intonation, asking for reassurance).

In both cases, intonation is the only distinguishing feature, as words are not altered and stay the same. If a learner attempts to pose a question and uses descending intonation, it is possible that the learner is extending a relative but "appearing" as an interrogative which is erroneous.

The "Implied Question"

Intonation is a tool that helps English speaking persons express a particular intention without asking a question. Consider:

• You're going to the meeting today. (lowering intonation conveys that this is a fact.)
• You're going to the meeting today? (fall rise intonation that depicts incredulousness or doubt and playwright for more information)

Similarly, learners who do understand these times of intonation are doing this overriding the urge of the overstatement that sounds too direct or even harsh.

Understanding Word Stress

Word stress is defining which one of the syllables in a word is regarded as more emphatic than the others. Take, for example, the word record, the accentuated first syllable (RE-cord) makes the word a noun in the context of sound recording. If the second syllable (re-CORD) is the 'emotion,' then the word is used in the context of a 'verb' which is a recording.

There are several learners who have not realized how word stress can help with clarity of communication. When stress is misplaced, even if every word is pronounced correctly, it has the potential of getting listeners confused.

How to Mark the Word Stress in Sounds

In many dictionaries, the word stress is usually represented with an apostrophe that appears just before the vowel for which syllable the stress comes, such as in the word attention /əˈtɛnʃən/ where the second syllable –tion is stressed.

Below are a few tips on word stress:

• Two syllable nouns and adjectives: the more stressed syllable is the first.
• Example: TAble, PREtty
• Two syllable verbs and prepositions: the second syllable tends to be more stressed.
• Example: to reLAX, to aRRIVE

Although these rules apply most of the time, many exceptions are noted in English so it is prudent to learn the appropriate stress forms when coming across new vocabulary.

Sentence Stress: wave patterns in the form of prosody

Sentence stress involves the individual drawing attention to certain words within a sentence for the sake of enhancing its meaning or relaying the most pertinent information. In the English language, and pompous denotes a stress on content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) whilst function words (prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs) are unconcerned with stress and are usually left unstressed.

In the following example:

I'm GOING to the STORE to BUY some MILK. In this case, main pieces of information (going, store, buy, milk) are under stress, while other less important words (I'm, to, the, some) are all unstressed.

Stress for Emphasis

There are different ways to put sentence stress depending on the context of the situation that one wants to focus on more:

• I didn't say he stole the money (focus on didn't, some other person probably said it)
• I didn't say he stole the money (focus on he, someone else could have stolen it)
• I didn't say he stole the money. (focus on money, maybe something else was stolen)

The meaning that a sentence has will, in many cases, depend on the word which is stressed and thus pronouncing the correct word will convey the needed message. Never the less some speakers that might have a different primary language sometimes get confused and stress the word of the sentence wrongly. As a result, the listener can have an incorrect understanding of the content of the message/speech.

Intonation in different types of speech

Declarative Sentences

Typically, sentences that have some form of general statement or a declaration; falling intonation is the norm in English-speaking countries. For example:

• I'm going to the store.
• She lives in Paris.

It follows that this type of intonation creates a feeling of completeness and conclusive nature of the uttered sentence. Extreme cases involve learners using a rising intonation in these cases when they are not asking a question or confirming something. Most of these cases usually attract widespread criticism as it means a lack of control and understanding of the second language.

Yes/No Questions

More often than not when yes/no questions are asked more often than not a rising intonation goes hand in hand most especially in informal speech.

• Do you reside here?
• Is she coming along with us?

But, when talking about some obscene aspects of linguistic behaviour such as in formal situation of some yes no questions they do use a falling intonation as it sounds polite or less direct: A falling intonation sound how the appropriate way to say it sometimes is, may I borrow your pen?

Words that begin with 'wh' – Questions.

• Where do you plan on going?
• What was it that you said?

In English both yes and no questions are similar in intonation yes I am, how wonderful, and the response is not admiration, although both forms of the questions would sound more different than the rest.

Authoritative voice or command in linguistics.

Somebody can tell you precisely what to do whom to stop talking or to close the door permanently if they want…and they will say stop or close the door in an imperative manner and anyhow prepositions won't save anybody from that something strong.

Something very strong or dire.

…So Young lady would you mind passing me the salt would sound more direct than normal bland and humble.

Practical exercises: how to develop intonation and stress overriding muscle memory.

It is easier to theorize stress patterns and intonations than to begin to pour into practice and get results. And such practices include shadowing and repetition in the beginning.

Unique or rather effective teaching style.

Even the word itself means to smarter than you are shadowing and there are no mistakes in that range – a "native" speaker will say, and A recording is a simple repetition of what you listen.

Repetition

Repetition is good for reinforcing stress placement and intonation. Take a sentence for example, I didn't say he stole the money, and repeat it different times placing stress on a different word. Record that such things, listen to your performing and the text of your recordings to see how this certain stress "changes" your utterance.

Listening to the Natural Speech

If someone knows how to regularly watch native speakers, and in particular, such contexts as TV, shows, podcasts or interviews, It is easier to learn because it allows concentrating on a specific point and hearing details such as changes of intonation or stress. If someone knows how to speak, they listen to such sounds as the up and down movement of a voice, where stress is placed and so on.

When English intonation and stress comes into play, learners do not view English in terms of its phonological mechanics of articulation but rather in the context of active self-expression. Intonation and stress, in the context of language are the ingredients that enhance language and make it functional.

Learning English is not as simple as learning English grammar or learning new words. It involves a level of confidence that is necessary for fluency, yet it is also one of the most elusive skills to acquire. Certain language learners can even exhibit a solid knowledge of the language but lack the confidence to speak out. What is the reasoning behind this? And, even more, crucial, how is it possible to transcend this limitation?

Always wish to stand out from the crowd with your unique spoken English? In this lesson, you will learn how to gain the confidence to speak English and why we often do not speak aloud when we should.

The Emotion Of Speech: What Affects Your Ability To Speak

The usual suspect when diagnosing the problem of a learner's lack of confidence is fear. This fear, however, springs from self-doubt, the surroundings or a combination of both. Defeating these feelings requires as much practice as change of mindset.

The Situation: It's Complex, There's a Solution.

One of the underlying reasons of caution amongst the learners when speaking English is fear of articulating wrong English. It could either be using the incorrect tense, improper pronunciation of a term or get stuck somewhere trying to build the right structure of the sentences, the thought of passing a wrong statement can be paralyzing. Surprisingly, this very reluctance is exactly what hinders all progress.

Solution

Understand that nobody's perfect, errors are the best possible way to learn. Even native speakers have their mistakes; not everybody can sound perfectly right from the very start. Instead of seeking to be perfect, aim to be able to communicate. The more you accept your bad mistakes, the better chances you get to learn and grow.

Give this a try: Make it a point to say at least one thing in English, however simple it may be, once every day. If they can, try to find someone who can help but knows that the other person is a beginner and will not concentrate too much on mistakes. The most important issue is 'saying it nicely,' but rather the consistency.

Accomplishing Something One Step at a Time

Overconfidence is something that is not gained as easily as it may seem, however, there is always a chance to develop it in small steps. One of the reasons learners feel overwhelmed is because they set goals that are too broad or too ambitious.

The Problem: Failure to Describe Goals Vertically

Many learners have a desire to "speak fluently" but this can be seen as a goal that is rarely practical and very vague. Without smaller levels and manageable goals, one will only feel that fluency is a more or less far-fetched and unrealistic goal.

Solution

The first step towards successful oral ability is breaking down fluency into sub-skills. Pick one area and work on it. For instance, if you struggle with modules in English where you have to talk about yourself, target this module and keep on working on it until it becomes habit.

The Problem: Taking Too Long Before Making Below the Line Call

Many learners are guilty of thinking that they need to prepare first so that they can utter words without making grammar mistakes. They drill grammar, memorize vocabulary, and try their hands on the drill of reading but when it comes to actual speaking practice, they are nowhere to be found. As a result, this leads to poor readiness for real speaking tasks, since they didn't practice before the actual performance.

Solution

The very first interaction that you want to have in the target language should be verbal communication and should be the first activity that learners do the moment they start the course. Focus on speaking right about every event that comes to your mind. As you describe what you see, rehearse dialogues with your reflection or converse with an online language partner, make attempts to discuss in English. Speaking becomes effortless with such practice.

Explore an activity called "speaking shadows": Look for short videos in English and repeat as quickly as possible whatever the speaker is saying. This makes it easier for you to learn how to speak without contemplating too much about the structure and the words that you use. Rather than drown in accuracy here, the focus is getting the feel and the sound of speaking English.

Practicing the Power of Celebration: Exhaust the Small Wins.

One of the commonest learners' difficulties seems to be the anxiety users caused by their focus on what they are still unable to do in English. Change your mindset – don't dwell on the limitations and concentrate on what you can do and this will instill confidence and help develop good habits.

The Problem: Internal Negative This "Vanity "

It's very easy to become one's own enemy. The learners are generally quick to pen their mistakes and/or the areas of weakness thereby dismissing the possibility of ever making any progress. For example, "I cannot speak english well" or "I am going to make a mess of everything," and such statements do reinforce negativity in one's self thereby increasing fear in attempting to speak.

Solution

Positive self-reinforcement. Focus on improvements because they are progress to be made and achieved. Did you pronounce a complicated syllable accurately? Or perhaps you were able to ask something in english without waiting for a prolonged moment? These minor issues should be acknowledged and through recognition the individuals confidence will be able to move forward.

Here's how you can proceed practically: Maintain a journal in which you register the best moments when using English while speaking. When you hold a conversation each time and every time there is a practice session, you are supposed to count in your head at least one thing you did right, no matter how negligible it is. So gradually, you will begin to witness changes which will inspire further development.

Listening and Imitation: The easiest way of developing self-confidence

Self-confidence is mostly developed through exposure. The more you expose yourself to the sounds, patterns, and grammatical forms of English, the more confident you become when speaking it.

The Issue: Pronunciation and Grammar are hurdles in fluency of speech

Most of the learners are very much hesitant to speak because they are trying to pronounce the words in their minds or think about the grammatical rules. These aspects are important but still the speech cannot be monotonous and is supposed to be focused around the elements and rules.

Ways to enable correct pronunciation

You need to immerse yourself in English such that you get exposed to the language regularly. Look for material that sounds authentic such as: Podcasts, television series, interviews, and everyday conversations. Furthermore, do your best to mimic how native speakers pronounce, say words, and phrases. Listen to how they say sentences by focusing on their stress, beat, and how they complete the sentences.

A very fruitful exercise is known as `shadowing`. Listen to a segment of a native speaker, wait until they completely stop, and repeat the sentence as verbatim as possible. Absorbing not just the phrasing but also pace and voice of a native speaker encourages fluency and confidence.

Expanding your comfort zone: Not everything is as it seems

Lack of practice in unfamiliar scenarios in English will breed a reluctance to stock the needed vocabulary or structures for different exchanges. It is paramount for one to expand their comfort zone if they're to be able and confidently speak English under various environments and situations.

The problem: Adhering to non-controversial subjects

Most of the learners feel more comfortable bringing up some self-introduction or their work, or simply some routine topics, hence avoiding many interesting yet less habitual themes. While this is a good place to start, staying in this comfort zone makes it hard for you to gain confidence when discussing other, more interesting topics.

Solution

You could begin at your own pace and expose yourself to new and interesting topics. This could be in talking about a piece of news, teaching someone a difficult topic, or even meeting a new person and trying to make small talk. You can also give yourself a test and talk about various things in different environments.

The Importance of Feedback: Feedback Should not be Taken as Criticism

Many of the learners are discouraged from obtaining feedback due to possible criticism or being corrected too much. However, constructive feedback is crucial for development and for building self-esteem.

The Problem: Not Getting any Feedback

In the absence of feedback, it is difficult to determine what practices are effective and what practices require modification. A good number of students ignore feedback altogether or tend to be overly reliant on self-feedback which is often inaccurate.

Solution

Get feedback from an English teacher, a language partner, or a native English-speaking friend. The strategy is to specifically ask for constructive criticism and not just sweeping statements such as "You are doing well." For instance, request your conversation partner to pay attention to whether you are overemphasizing or mispronouncing some words or using awkward sentence constructions.

As always, speaking in English with self-assuredness is not a destination but a process that takes time to unfold, imagination, and most importantly, one's willingness to leave their comfort zones.

English, as a language, is replete with a number of complexities, one of them being: the phonetics. What adds fuel to the fire is the disparity that exists between how a word is written and how it is supposed to be pronounced. English does not lend itself to simple rules that cover everything that can be written. Let's look at the most frequent pronunciation errors committed by the second language speakers, investigate their causes, and plan how to avoid them.

Vowel Sounds: The Trap of Spelling

The phonetic features of speech that are difficulties particularly for English speakers are related to English vowel sounds. The phonetic characteristics of English vowels can be very confusing because one letter can represent many sounds depending on the other sounds in the word. A good example is the letter "a" in the words cat and father and the letters "e" in bed and in bead. English is thus a perplexing language, especially for those who are accustomed to a more phonetic approach to writing.

The Problem: Long Vowels versus Short Vowels

In a fair number of incidences, long vowels and short vowels have caused misunderstanding. Many of the mistakes from these non-native speakers consist of confusing sit with seat or ship with sheep. Various stress patterns alter the length of vowels in accented words which can cause stress in the meaning of a word.

Solution

Work on distinguishing the long and short vowel sounds, and listen to how each is produced. One way to achieve this is to locate groups of people who share the same set of words except for critical sounds. For instance, the words 'bit' and 'beat' mutually exclude the single vowel. It is advisable to record pronunciations of these targets and later refer them to how an inhabitant of that language pronounces them. Notice the subtle shifts in the positioning of the tongue and the mouth in pronouncing short from long vowels.

The Problem: Misplacement of the Schwa

Misplacement or mispronunciation of the schwa sound represented as /ə/ in phonetics is a phonological problem among many pupils. Learners usually have most difficulty with the pronunciation of this sound, even though it's the most common vowel sound When speaking English it can be distracting the use of the phonetic language itself within the sentence to mention words such as banana, sofa or doctor, most of those do contain schwas as unstressed vowels but will regularly be pronounced as clear vowels.

Solution

What I would do is place the schwa pronunciation less on focus, instead concentrate on the unstressed vowels. Attempt to say banana as buh-nan-uh instead of ba-na-na, use shadowing techniques with real natives.

Consonant Sounds: The Greatest Inhibitors

For most native speakers who are rare in certain parts of the world the idea of learning new sounds within the consonant section of the phonetics can be traced to several intrusions. For the purposes of this article, let's take the 'th' sounds and overlapping 'r/l' sounds as reference primary issues that have frequent occurrence.

The Issue: The "th" sound

The "th" sound is especially problematic for non-native speakers because it does not exist in a lot of languages. In words like think, bath, this, and they the tongue has to be placed in between the teeth, which is a sound that can be hard to articulate. Students commonly use the two sounds, "th" with "s," "d," which creates the mispronunciations of the sounds for instance, sink as in think, and dis as in this.

Solution

The solution to mastering the ()th) sound is to practice the placement of the tongue before other components. To create the soft "th" in the word think or in the word path, stick the tongue partially out between the teeth and blow air. For the tongue placed firmly against the teeth, produce a bit harder "th" as in this or that. Start with the production of singular words and later move over to the sentences containing these words.

The Problem: The "r" and "l" sound

Concerning the common errors, it is no longer a secret when people confuse words containing letter R and letter L. This has been most common with the native speakers of other language, Japanese or Korean that can be the cause of these two sounds being less prominent or completely non-existent. They manage, for instance, to pronounce the words light and right, lead and read the same, which is a form of misunderstanding.

Solution

To make the distinction between r and l sounds, there is a need to focus on the positions of the tongue and the mouth. The "r" sound is made when the tongue is rolled back towards the roof of the mouth, but not in contact with it. For the sound of "l", the tongue makes contact with the roof of the mouth just behind the upper teeth. Practice minimal pairs such as rice–lice; road–load and record yourself. Then, compare your pronunciation with that of native speakers.

Word Stress: Altering Meanings

Consider the following example to understand the role of word stress in English. Word stress is defined as the force used in pronouncing one or more syllables in a word and it can vary and change the meaning of words. Word stress would be considered misplaced when the stress falls into a different word than intended – when it moves confused to the listener, even capable of pronouncing all sounds.

The Problem: Wording it Wrong

Having different stress patterns for words is important, for example, record – the noun and record – the verb. The stress in the first syllable highlights it as a noun, thus placing the focus on the overriding first concept and building the core concept. Relatively often, speakers of foreign languages transfer the first stress pattern to the second version which in most cases causes misunderstanding.

Solution

Be attentive to native speakers stressing particular words and do it the same way when speaking. When you come across episodic words, make sure to identify the stressed syllable and practice that word's pronunciation to produce the stress effectively. Some dictionaries provide stress symbols with apostrophy (such as, /ˈrɛkɔrd/ for 'record' directed as a noun).

The Problem: Sentence Stress and Intonation

Speaking sentences, the English language users give emphasis and stress to certain key words. For instance, take the sentence: She didn't buy the car. The underlining of the word 'buy' suggests that yes, she did not purchase the car, but rather went ahead and did other things with it, perhaps rented it out. Again if one were to put the focus on 'car', that would suggest he/she went ahead and purchased a vehicle, but not a car in this case.

Constant misplacement of sentence stress occurs on the learners' part, which ends up making them sound flat or robotic. In sharp contrast, native speakers situationally alter all stresses and all intonations in an effort to communicate their intended message.

Solution

Read the above sentence and ask yourself before speaking which of the words is of utmost importance and which should then be stressed. Try listening to short dialogues or TV programs or movies. Try to speak exactly what speakers say not only words but rhythm and stress. Record your voice and analyze your intonations relative to the record.

Silent Letters: Made to Confound

Do you have a guess why it is so difficult to learn the names of all these places and their languages on the map? The answer lies in the fact that there are many words with silent letters (not pronounced). For example, consider the letters 'k', 'p', and 's' in the words "knight", "psychology", and "island", respectively, which confuse many non-native speakers when the host endeavors to pronounce all letters.

The Difficulty in Question: The Letter of the 'Silent'

A large number of people have this misconception based on the letters in the words that the letters should be pronounced, some words such as 'debt' and 'comb' tend to be pronounced with all the letters of the word. And it becomes confusing as a native speaker doesn't use so many sounds to pronounce a word.

Problem-Solving

Try to make sense of how the silent letters letters are used in the interface of the application or the website and become familiar with their applications. This involves making a list of words that have silent letters. Select to practice a set amount of words in a day. Using online dictionaries with audio pronunciation will also help as verification of work. Eventually, such words will begin to settle in the head where the silent letters are pronounced without much effort.

Reduced Speech: Manitoba Speed

If it is bad enough that you work for a translator specializing in the language on the television screen and reading the subtitle at the bottom is even harder to follow, it is even worse when it comes to native speakers who use the target language on regular basis. They do not speak every single word in full, rather they squeeze them together and dulled these unwound words to nothing. While the part 'What are you doing?' is pronounced effortlessly in its full form the short alone 'Whatcha doing?' seems easier. Therein lies a difficulty for somebody that is not a marked -. While for an average English speaking person such contractions seem only logical considering to issues regarding the pace of speech, this is not the case for a learner.

The Problem: Reduced Speech Demonstrated and Understood

English as a Second Language pupils make attempts at articulating each word distinctly and properly owing to its written nature. Such an approach causes speech incompleteness. It also causes problems when native speakers have to "reduce" or slur their words together in order to accomplish their goal.

Solution

Listen to the non-standard pronunciations in native speech, for example, during communication, while watching movies or listening to podcasts. Pay attention to reduced forms — how 'going to' is pronounced as 'gonna' or how 'want to' becomes 'wanna'. Even if it seems strange, try to match their cadences, the rhythm, and intonation patterns. When native speakers are pronounced quickly, it is normal for these speakers to be uncomfortable. However, it is these types of reductions which assist in making a person feel at ease.

English Pronunciation: Suggestions for Non-native English Speakers

For many of those who are not native speakers of English, pronunciation can be regarded as one of the hardest parts of learning such a new language. It's not just about knowledge of the words, but how these words sound, how these words are pronounced in a series and how they are stress 'as to what;' Unlike many languages, English is notorious for its vowel sounds, which are quite different to many other languages, however this feature isn't natural but if mastered can come in handy in terms of understanding and speaking.

Now let us examine practical strategies aimed at common pronunciation problems of foreign language learners and the ways of their diagnosis and elimination.

Learning English Sounds

English possesses an especially large range among all languages in terms of speech sounds. One's clear influence on one's ability to communicate and their mastering is extremely important.

Vowel Sounds

Generally, the vowel sounds of English become a problem as well. For example, the letter " a" possesses a different sound in the words such as cat, father, about. American intonation is a unique part of English language that involves short and long sounds, however, there is also, 'schwa': an unstressed sound such as "uh" which happens to be the most common vowel sound in American English, which many American natives use in their everyday conversations without even being cognizant of it.

Exercise: Stand in front of a mirror and try pronouncing the vowels in the words 'bit', 'beat', 'bat', 'but', and 'bet', to see how subtle changes in vowel sounds result in different mouth and tongue movements, as well as change the meaning of a word altogether.

Consonant Sounds

For most people learning English, English consonants are another source of trouble, especially to those whose native language lacks some of the sounds used in English. For instance, the "th" sound as in the words think and this is not present in many languages. Many learners pronounce 'th' incorrectly, instead using 's' or 't' which causes chaos in pronunciation of words such as thin (pronounced like "sin") or them (which comes out sounding like "dem").

Exercise: To pronounce the "th" sound, try gently blowing air and placing your tongue softly between your teeth. Begin with some easy words like think, thank, this, and that.

Common Pronunciation Pitfalls and Their Ways of Resolving

The Stress and Intonation Game Engage

Incorrect stress on the wrong syllable or word in a sentence can lead to different sentences bearing entirely different meanings from what they intended. In English, words that include parts of speech which are to be stressed or emphasized are present and this understanding can avert miscommunication.

For instance, consider I did not say that she takes the money, and I did not say she took the money. In both versions, however, the focus of the sentence is the aspect which has been stressed.

Exercise: Steadily train by performing sentences and different emphatic words every time. This will strengthen the physical ear to the variations in meaning that come with variations in stress. Additionally, try to practice reading out loud while recording your voice to see how your intonation has changed.

The Mystery of Silent Letters

The English language has its unique set of written letters which are silent causing confusion amongst the English language learners. Writing, for example, contains silent letters which include /knight/, /debt/, and /plumber/ because the letters do not sound. Predictably, there is no regulation regarding which letters can be muter and which cannot be, thus the best response to this question is to learn about silent letters.

Exercise: Pick up some words with silent letters and try to say them in a way that disregards the sound of the silent letters. This is an example of a corresponding drill in speech, which allows students to practice native pronunciation. Native English speakers are also referenced, since listening to them can help identify more of these silent letters.

Contractions and Linking Words

It is common for native English speakers to combine words in speech or use contractions. For example, one might say, "What are you doing?" and in daily speech habits say something like, "Whatcha doing?". This kind of linking can make English seem faster and more difficult to understand.

Getting over the fear of contractions like can't in place of cannot and won't in place of will not, as well as the fact that native speakers often do 'blend' their speech, will work towards making you sound far more fluent.

Exercise: Select multiple common phrases like "How's it going?" or "What's up?" and rehearse how to say the phrases in a matter of seconds without any breaks between words as if having a conversation.

Accent: The Unavoidable Fact

Accents are normal. Each and every one has an accent since it forms a part of who they are. But, non-native speakers tend to emphasize on the elimination of their accent in English. There's no place for such extremes, yet perfection has to be the last goal in this context. It is sufficient to be understood by others.

Still, some features of the accent may be confusing. Some people from particular places may have a problem of confusion of the sounds "v" and "w" which might result to…say using the term wine when he or she is trying to mean a vine. Some have difficulty of telling apart the "l" and "r" sounds and this is very typical of the Japanese native speakers.

Exercise: Look for sounds that are not in your accent and work on them through pain staking efforts listening to a native speaker and repeating after them. Use tongue twisters or minimal pair words like light and right, or vest and west when trying to master difficult sounds.

What is the Importance of Listening for Pronunciation Learning the Correct Way?

Listening as one of the activities is also a facilitator for correct pronunciation. It's obvious that the more native speakers one is exposed to, the more one becomes acquainted with the nuances of speech.

Active vs. Passive Listening

As you watch an English TV show or listen to a podcast, try to focus your attention on how a particular word is pronounced by a particular speaker. Once the recording is over, try to say the same sentence again, but this time try to copy the speaker's tone, stress, and rhythm.

This is different from passive listening where one is just exposed to a language and doesn't bother to try repeat or imitate. For example, simply having English speech sound in the background while engaging in other tasks will be useful in getting your ear to the language's flow and rhythm.

Exercise: Begin with active listening. Look for short videos and podcast clips and try to imitate the speaker's pronunciation, taking note of the linking of words, their stress patterns, and the precise articulatory features involved. After that, begin passive listening with the radio or an English Speaking YouTube channel turned on in the background as you do your tasks or while you are simply lounging around.

Practical Tools for Pronunciation Improvement

Phonetic Alphabet

Mastering the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) can be a unique weapon for non-native speakers. This constructs the concept around a particular word and explains how that word should sound according to its sounds.

For example, the following is how the word cat can be pronounced in international phonetic alphabets: /kæt/ for the Greek alphabet, the following is how the word father can be pronounced in the IPA: /ˈfɑːðə/.

To find a new word in a dictionary, you may find mastering even the basic symbols of the IPA helpful.

Exercise: Dedicate some of your time researching mispronounced phonetic symbols in your language. If you come across a new word, check its IPA transcription before attempting to pronounce it.

Shadowing

Shadowing involves a repetition of what has just been said by a native of the language at the same speed with the same rhythm and intonation. This is a helpful method to adopt when working on fluency, intonation, and pronunciation.

Exercise: Watch out for the TED talk of native speakers or any interview; listen to a few seconds and turn the tape off and repeat it. In time, this exercise will contribute to bettering pronunciation and listening skills as well.

The truth is that enhancing abilities to pronounce words and phrases in the English language takes time, looking downward is simply not in this case, progression is what comes along with practice. Whenever you come across a word that is new to you, take some time to pronounce it and learn its elements as well. Do not be disheartened by errors, they boost you closer to fluency.

Describing or providing information that is modifying a noun is done with adjectives. In situations where we need to find differences between two or three things in order to describe them, we use comparative or superlative adjectives. Indeed, it is vital to know how these adjectives are correctly formed in order to use them and communicate effectively.

1. Comparative Adjectives

Among nouns or pronouns that are being used, comparative adjectives are used to compare just two nouns or pronouns. These two nouns or pronouns exhibit a higher or lower degree of a characteristic quality of them. Comparatives refer to the status of one thing relative to another where one has excess or inferior quality.

How Comparative Adjectives are Formed

The manner in which comparative adjectives are formed relies on the number of syllables in the adjective.

• One syllable adjectives add – er at the end.
• Example: In making "fast", make it "faster".
• Two syllable adjectives that end with – y and substitute the – y with -ier.
• Example: In changing "happy", make it "happier".
• For adjectives which are two syllables and above, the words more or less come before the adjective.
• Example: In modifying "beautiful", make it "more beautiful".

Comparatives with Irregular Adjectives

Some adjectives that have some irregular comparative forms do not take the shape as the general rule. Those forms are invariant so they should be learnt by heart.

• Example: "good" is made comparative as "better", while "bad" is compared as "worse".

Employing Comparatives in a Sentence

Inserting comparative adjectives in sentences, they follow this structure;

• Subject + verb + comparative adjective + than + object.

Any time a comparative adjective is used, though, comparisons will invariably be made using a comparator: than.

• Example: "This book is more interesting than the other."
• Example: "she is less confident than her brother".

2. Superlatives

When used on comparative adjectives, it indicates the most characteristic of a noun in terms of modifying something within three or more pronouns or nouns. Thus, when more indication of something is there, superlative form is used in terms of one characteristic.

How are Superlative Comparatives Made?

In the case of superlative adjectives, the number of the adjectives in the syllables determines how they are made too.

• For one syllable adjectives, the syllable -est is added at the end of the adjective.
• Example: fast is made numerous in peak level or fastest.
• For two syllable adjectives ending in the y, the y is changed into the iest.
• Example: "happy" is expressed as "happiest".
• In choosing adjectives that have two syllables or more, most or least would be appropriate to be used prior to the adjectives.
• Example: "beautiful" should be expressed as most beautiful.

Superlative with Irregular Adjective

If you remember about comparatives, some adjectives have an irregular superlative even in this case. These need to be remembered as well, as they break the mould for regularity.

• Example: "good" refers to "best" and "bad" would be referred to as "worst".

3. The Remaining Angels High Superlatives

In brief sentences than the superlative adjectives 'the best of first angels 12 to 16 other related with - relative and supreme, we have a little something called qualifiers - the second clearest. For Gertude Shermann.

Provided that Vanessa went places that were the utmost suitable for most children, the writer of these phrases learned first hand of Vanessa's inner strength, "with the rest of the children when the opportunity arises to be best suited for these children when the opportunity presents itself."

Most people would spend their time together without a worry of being bored with even adjusting to social surroundings. Other relatives refer to this papal father, Joseph, The Priest, met-performance.

Let me show you what makes the world, what makes nature- sacred- for example- the trees and lakes. Or since the superlative 'S' appends words in the comparative state sequence, the sequence everybody considers the, the most remarkable and great, the, the world's best and greatest, great.'

Several words or adjectives can be used when it comes to Superlative Degree. The common one said around children is that a person or object has the greatest or unequaling proportion.

Furthermore, Vanessa visited a wide range of additional places where the children visited in most cases during the summer break was not as active or bold as most people thought it would be.

In the case of Australia, the first place is likely that the rest of Great Britain Mrs. Gertude Shermann managed to catch one round; there were no feelings that had been hurt. Different groups do refer to the order of presenting photographs or talking which there is the lowest of degrees.

The superlative entails degree comparatives – most adjectives are having two syllables or more to many people so when dragged out or wasted approximately about 90% one is results the real deal looks sorry as he no longer exists who tries whatever gentleman just to feel civilised one where going out smoking was forbidden.

It makes sense that in the comparative there are no volumetric objectives.

Of course, the 'first shall be the last', anyone or anything that goes around has only superlative forms. And for the extremes in negatives refer to naught and for age action should be in the past.

For example, if a child has or does not exist there, simply press the answers to the questions and look good.

4. Special Cases and Common Mistakes

Adjectives with Multiple Forms

Some adjectives can be used with the -er/-est form as well as the more/most form in this case adjectives with two syllables and do not have a 'y' at the end. For instance, the adjective 'quiet' has the option to use the word 'quieter' or more quiet and both are correct though more/most is appropriate in formal circumstances.

• Example: 'Ms over has three songs quieter than her brother' or 'He has three songs more quiet than his brother'.

Double Comparatives or Superlatives

One of the less common mistakes made is double comparison and superlatives; double comparatives or superlatives means both- er or est and more or most are used together to make a sentence. This is wrong and should not be done.

• Incorrect: "more better" or "most smartest."
• Correct: "better" or "smartest."

Comparing Adjectives that Cannot Be Compared

Such adjectives, as perfect ones, should not be compared since they define perfection so to speak. These include 'ideal', 'singular', or 'wholesome'. Phrases such as 'more ideal' or 'most singular' should not be accepted because they already define a limitation that cannot be surpassed.

5. Comparative and superlative adjective phrases

Comparative and superlative adjectives may be utilised more effectively within phrases for elaboration and detail purposes.

• Typical constructions with such phrases include 'a little', 'to some extent', 'to a great extent' or 'to a great degree' as measures of describing the degree of difference.
• Example: "This room is far larger than that one."
• A superlative may be further attenuated directly in comparison by phrases – 'by far', 'one of…', 'of all' to describe the ingredient's utmost repetition and limits.
• Example: "She is by all means the best singer in the choir."

Such phrases enhance the meaning and add information in terms of the comparison made between the objects in English making it easier to explain the comparative differences between the two.

Complex and more elaborative explanations and distinguishing facts are brought with the use of the explaining words and simple phrase structures complex- comparing, where you may compare two pieces or something and say it is the most among all.

The modal verbs in English are very important because they give meaning to the main verb of a sentence and indicate possibility, ability, permission, obligation or advice. The modal verbs that are most commonly used in English are can, could, may, might, must, should. These words are always the same for all subject matter and are always followed with the base verb. They do not take any form to establish the tense but the meaning can be contextually altered.

1. Can

Out of all modal verbs, "can" is very famous and widely used by speakers mainly because it serves the purpose of expressing one's ability flags on the ground or it provides permission or possibility. It states that someone is in a position to do something or a particular situation can arise.

Uses of Can

• Ability: Most often the "can" construct is used to indicate when a certain individual is able to complete certain tasks.
• Example: She can speak three languages
• Possibility: "Can" is also used to concepts that hold or are able to hold true when the primary concepts are fulfilled.
• Example: that applying for two tickets is an option to receive that discount.
• Permission: In conversation, permission can be requested or granted using the term 'can', which is less formal than 'may'.
• Example: may I leave before the official time today?

With regards to the negative form of can, "cannot" /o "can't" accepts the denial of something being allowed or being done.

• Example: I can't attend the meeting tomorrow.

2. Could

Though 'could' is a concept signifying the past time which is usually relative to the term 'can', however, it can mean, request, suggestion(s) or making predictions.

Could Uses

• Past Ability: "Could" is said of a person who was in the situation and accomplished stated ability.
• Example: when I had the age, I could run in a very quick pace.
• Possibility: This word could denote an event, or action which is not coined as occurring – more reservation as compared to can is therefore accompanied by could.
• Example: as it is left to know the rain in the evening could cover an umbrella so be prepared.
• Suggestions: Similar to play guess mister or machakella, 'could' means not a simple option but being acts of courtesy too.
• Example: this week, we could spend our time in the cinema instead.
• Polite Requests: "Could" is often used as a more polite form of `can' when making a request or asking for permission.
• Example: Could I have assistance with that?

"Could hardly" or "couldn't" is the negative form which is usually employed to indicate something that was impossible in the past or of present but in a gentle way.

• Example: I couldn't get my keys this morning.

3. May

The term "may" is used for expressing possibility and permission in most of the cases. It is a formal verb and is mostly needed in formal writings and situations which require respect.

Uses of May

• Permission: "may" is also said to ask or give permission in such circumstances which are more formal. It is more respectful and formal than "can".
• Example: May I make use of your phone.
• Possibility: `May' also tells that the event is expected to happen, however, it has a sense of uncertainty.
• Example: She may be late because of traffic.

In its negative form `may not' means that something is allowed or is expected to take place.

• Example: You may not logout of the room before the exam is over.

Whereas "May" is an English modal verb that is more often the case in the written form than in the spoken language. This is mostly the case in adherence to rule or policy.

4. Might

"Might" is frequently regarded as "may" but with less assurance. A weaker term that expresses the possibility of something occurring is this one. It indicates chances that are distributed towards the lower end of the spectrum or rather are more speculative.

Uses of Might

• To Imperative It: In an alert way one can assert the word "might" to offer some hope or even suggest that something remains in the pipeline.
• Example: "Might" level to allow will offer only limited levels hence we will utilise it often sparingly.
• Ily: To offer a command or suggest ideas that have no power to act on "may" is the remedy. For example: I might go to the party if I finish my work in a sound manner.
• Future events: Weak speculative scenarios can be employed by the word "Might." For example, with enough certainty one could be rest assured "Might" will rest assured something will come through; "They might not come if it keeps raining."
• Finally as a farewell: As "might" already acts as a wish for the future, sometimes its positives should be allowed to dominate thinking, however the absorption levels will always be considered in the hinterlands. Hence the word "Might" could always be used in the future.

Although natural similarities between the phrases "might" and "may," there must be acknowledged the formal dissimilarities which exist between them. Consistent to its meaning, which suggests a lower degree of strength likelihood exists with the word "might" however is fairly similar to that of the word "Might."

5. Must

"Must" relates more to a strong modic in the English language hence denoting obligation, necessity or an assurance. It also encompasses the wider realms of indicators where something must exist or absolutely is functioning in its utter best form.

Several concepts can be articulated through the auxiliary 'must'. It may be argued that so called 'positive must' with the meaning of necessity can be used to express 'discursive obligation' the concepts of necessity and obligation demonstrating the modals' rather different range of strength and application. Obligation concepts appear more rule-based whereas necessity notions are more concerned with what is done because of preference. Alfred Moloney describes those narrative concepts as interrelated: requirement and obligation converged in a statement as a must resource, which the author describes as more mandatory than suggestive appealing to what is determined by the will of the majority of people as well as the author himself. Bill Drew explores another position of must considering circumstantial imperatives as sub-sets of originally discursive must representatives used 'positively' embedded into lectures and teaching practices and expresses views which other educational academics and engineering academics may also hold more generally about imperative resources of the English language.

• Example: Every driver must wear a seatbelt because it may cause injury in a collision.
• Example: It's quite late at night, so they must have arrived at home by now.

The inverted modality cum 'must not' is only concerned with deliberately put an interdiction something which one category or group of people consider inappropriate or disrespectful.

• Example: In no way must you smoke in the building where this meeting is taking place.

It is important to recognize that when considering children 'must' techniques become uncommunicative methods because other modals possess a greater nuance of feeling for those who are more advanced than children.

6. Should

Similar to must 'hurt' was the first term which expressed sadness, the second modal 'should' depicts desires, hopes and suggestions or arguments to be made becoming a more down to earth version of imperatives which both carry an underlying concept of 'moderate suffice' and aiming to not frighten marques thus supporting good communication.

Purpose of should

• Advice and recommendation. It can be argued that whenever phrases such as "should" with different meanings are used, stress is more often used when providing offers to others, especially in case one speaker's first language does not resemble the English language, which only causes frustration.
• Example: When you feel ill, you should refer to a doctor or other qualified specialist.
• Legal Obligation: Another meaning of "should" is that the person has legal or intellectual since it is less burden than "must".
• Example: Children must respect their seniors.
• Prediction: "Should" shows that someone is expected to or likely to do something.
• Example: The train should get there by six o'clock.

In the negative form, still "should," or the contraction "shouldn't" counsels against performing an act or shows that a particular act is ill-advised.

• Example: You shouldn't take too much sugar into your diet.

"Should" is somewhat gentler than those which have to be followed, hence it is useful for all those cases where suggestions are made but not necessary.

The gaps that Need Filling

These verbs, though able to perform similar functions, each carry different meanings, levels of focus or subjectivity.

• Can and could are associated with ability, starting and asking permission or possibilities, although 'could' is more polite and also used retrospectively.
• May and might are used to show future possibility where for may, the levels are higher than those for might.
• Must can relate to strong obligation or necessity but should only use for general advice or recommendations.

These modal verbs assist the language in specifying that which is possible, that which is obligatory and that which is permitted.

Asking questions is perhaps one of the key abilities in the English language that lets you seek answers, clarify meanings, or participate in a dialogue. English questions can vary in structure depending on the information being sought, verb tense being used, or the expectation to be met with a simple 'yes' or 'no.' This article discusses the different ways of forming yes/no questions, wh- questions as well as the questions with modal verbs in English.

1. Yes/No Questions

Yes/no questions are, however, the most basic type of question since the answer is either 'yes' or 'no.' The formulation of these questions is mainly achieved through inversion of the subject and auxiliary verb or the verb 'to be' in the correct tense.

With Auxiliary Verbs

In cases where an auxiliary verb such as do, does, did, have, will, can, etc, is part of the sentence, the structure will generally be that the auxiliary precedes the subject being inquired about.

In its most basic form, the auxiliary 'do', is the present simple yes/no question. In the past simple, other tenses other than present simple are used otherwise the structure of the sentence incorporates inversion of the auxiliary verb and the subject.

Take the following present simple picture for instance:

• Affirmative: You like coffee.
• Question: Do you like beverages made from the seeds of a coffee plant?

In the case of continuous and perfect tenses, the only change which is made is in the placement of the auxiliary verb to the left of the subject.

• Affirmative: She is reading.
• Question: Is she reading?

Here, with the sterile "to be" in motion

In relation to the usage of the main verb to be (in any of the time forms) the question is no different; it remains in the primary position with the only difference being the introduction of the verb 'to be' before the subject instead of placing auxiliary verbs.

• Affirmative: They are happy.
• Question: Are they happy?

These are the structures in this level of 'to be' with present, past, and future.

2. Wh- Questions

Whenever people ask who, what or where, when, and why, they are seeking what is known as Wh questions. These kinds of questions require more than yes/no. Although these questions still have their guidelines based on the verb or tense being used.

Wh- Questions

Using "Wh" questions can also help us define specific types of information:

• What: What things or actions are needed.
• Where: Details of places from where they ought to go.
• When: Describe the time.

Forming Wh- Questions

The creation of wh- questions always goes like this:

• Wh- word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb.

For example, with auxiliary verbs:

• Statement: You are going to the party.
• Wh- Question: Where are you going?

If there is no auxiliary in the affirmative sentence as for example in the present simple or past simple, an auxiliary "do" is present and the subject comes after:

• Statement: She eats lunch at noon.
• Wh- Question: When does she eat lunch?

Subject Questions with Who/What

In questions where Who or What represents the subject of a sentence, there is no need to have an auxiliary verb. The wh- word takes the place of the subject:

• Statement: John called you.
• Question: Who called you?

In this case, the structure is wh- word + verb because who replaces the subject.

3. Questions in Continuous and Perfect Tenses

In continuous and perfect tenses when concerning forming questions the auxiliary verb (or form of "to be") is moved before the subject.

Present Continuous

In present continuous tense questions are formed by putting is/are/am before the subject:

• Statement: They are watching TV.
• Question: Do they enjoy watching TV?

Present Perfect

For present perfect, put the subject in the middle and the auxiliary verb in the beginning: has/have.

• Statement: She has completed her homework.
• Question: Has she done her homework?

Present Perfect Continuous

With this tense, there are two auxiliary verbs: have/has and been. Always put the have/has before the subject.

• Statement: They have been waiting.
• Question: Have they been waiting?

4. Questions with Modal Verbs

Some of the modal verbs include: can, should, will, must, and might. These verbs show possibility or permission and are used when asking questions, putting the modal verb at the beginning.

Yes/No with modal verbs

For questions where a modal is used the formula is: modal verb, subject and the base verb(s).

For example:

• Statement: They can swim in the sea.
• Question: Can they swim in the sea?

Wh- questions with modal verbs

Wh- questions with modal verbs are always the same as other wh- questions with the only difference being the order of the wh- word.

• Wh- word + modal verb + subject + base verb.

But consider these situations too:

• Question: What can we say?
• Question: What do they have to go for?

In both cases, the wh- phrase is followed by the modal verb and the subject comes afterwards.

5. Negative Questions

Although called negative, such questions are not asked with a sense of denial, instead, they are used to express disbelief and seek confirmation for one's expectations. Negative questions can be formed by adding the word 'not' after the auxiliary or modal verb, or 'n't' at the end of a verb.

• Aren't you going to the party?
• Didn't she contact you?

In negative questions, the form of structure is the same as in affirmative questions which expect a 'yes' or 'no' answer, with negative being a feature of the auxiliary or modal verb used.

6. Exclamatory Sentences in Direct Speech

As for direct questions that are reported, the usual interrogative structure can be said to be absent. More often than not, the reverse is true; questions change into statements and the order of words is arranged according to sentence structure rather than questions.

For example:

• Direct question: "Stay where you are?"
• Reported question: She wanted to know what I was doing.

In reported speech, there are no auxiliary verbs (do, does) and the verb form is frequently one time tense adrift.

Knowing how to formulate questions in English is very important for communication. Looking at the types of questions; yes/no questions, wh- questions, questions containing modal verbs among others, offers learners the confidence to interact, seek and give information appropriately.

It is important to differentiate between active and passive voice in order to avoid any issues in communication while using English vocabulary. There are situations where both voices would be applicable, and learning when to use a particular one enhances your writing and speaking. The difference involves whether the action of the sentence is done by the subject of the sentence or the action is done to the subject of the sentence. In this piece, we will examine the various characteristics of both voices and the instances in which they are to be used.

1. The Active Voice

The active voice is when the doer of a particular action is the subject of the sentence. This structure stresses out the action doer that always facilitates the sentence and the action flows towards a direction. Active speech is characterised by: subject + action + object of action.

Structure of Active Voice:

• Subject + verb + object

Everyday speech and writings rely on the active voice as it's more effective and less ambiguous. It centres on the one who performs the deed hence it is very clear.

As a rule, the active voice is duly preferred as it ascertains the speaker or writer to directly highlight the subject responsible for the action consequently enabling clear and effective communication whenever the intention of the audience requires efficiency.

2. The Passive Voice

On the contrary, the passive voice emphasises the action that has been performed rather than the performer of the action and this shifts the emphasis from who did the action to the recipient of the action. In such cases, the person affected by the action serves as the subject of the sentence, while the actor (if yes) normally follows the action verb, usually with "by" introducing the doer.

Structure:

• Object + to be + past participle (+ by + subject)

In fact, the focus of attention in passive constructions shifts onto the object of the action, and this usually involves the de-emphasis or, even the omission of the agent actor. In cases where performing the action is of less importance than the action itself or when the doer of the action is irrelevant, clearly, from circumstances or general understanding, passive voice can be used.

3. When to Employ the Active Voice

In most forms of communications, except for a few, the active voice is ideal. This is particularly true in regard to spoken or written informal communication since it is very common in everyday discourse. This is generally the case because it tends to streamline the components of the contextual sentence making it more appealing as well as easy to understand. There are a few instances that are suitable for adopting the active voice:

• To enhance clarity and directness: The purpose of actively doing something is made obvious because the sentence structure shows who is doing the action.
• When narrating events: There are times when participating in an event or activity, characters perform different tasks which actively moves the plot forward.
• When responding to instructions: Active voice comes in handy when responding to queries, giving directions and orders and the purpose of the response is immediately clear.
• To emphasize the subject: When attention is to be focused on the person or entity carrying out the task, active voice is appropriate.

4. Situations for the Use of the Passive Voice

The active voice is used in most cases and circumstances, yet the passive voice also has very significant aspects. This voice is more frequently heard in an academic or a more formal setting and there is a rationale to adopting it:

• When the doer is absent or may be of little concern: There are occasions when the person carrying out the action needs not be named, is not necessary, or is not relevant, and the passive voice comes in handy.
• Where the action or the object of action is more important: In cases when the action or the object of action should be given primacy, the passive voice is preferred in order to divert attention and focus away from the agent.
• In formal or scientific writing: This is required in a number of academic and scientific situations such that the focus is placed on the topic at hand and not its people. In this case, the center of attention is the action or its outcome rather than the actor.
• To convey impersonality: The passive voice can defocus the attention of the statement on the speaker or writer and rather present the message in a more 'cool' and factual manner. This is very useful in formal reports and also in language that is characterized as bureaucratic.

5. The Change from the Active to Passive and Vice-Versa

Invaluable even in the most mundane tasks, the switching of the voice from passive to active and back to passive is a skill useful for a person. It gives one the liberty to be the one who dictates the message one wants to deliver through his or her sentences.

Steps in Passive Voice Conversion:

1. Look for the object of the active clause and turn it to the subject of the passive clause.
2. Reposition the object so that it lies in the front.
3. Transform the verb into an appropriate form of "to be" along with the past perfect fourth of the principle verb.
4. Insert the subject (the doer of the action that replaces the original subject) alluded to as preceded with the word "by" where appropriate.

For instance:

• Active: "The chef prepared the food."
• Passive: "The food was prepared by the chef."

At times, the use of the agent can be omitted in the passive voice when the context provides clarity on the action already performed:

• Passive without agent: "The food was prepared."

6. The Active Voice Or Passive

The selection of either the active or the passive voice varies according to the purpose of your writing, the context of your speech and the message being conveyed. Here are some tips on how to choose a voice that suits your purpose best:

• In a case where the action is the most important aspect of the sentence, and when the desire is to state the truth simply and clearly, then the sentence should be written in an active voice.
• Nevertheless, in instances where action or an object/s of the action is stressed, or when it is necessary to write in a more formal or an impersonal style then the passive voice should be used.

However, do not use passive voice too much, because it weakens, clarifies, mentions or complicates the writing. On the other hand, it has its advantages when well placed within context.

The use of the active and passive voice provides possibilities for the writer to express ideas in a more controlled and versatile manner. The active voice has the effect of making the sentence uncomplicated and straightforward, and the passive voice permits the emphasis to be placed on the action and/or its recipient instead of the performer. Once a writer knows how to determine the appropriate time to implement both voices, this leads to the enhancement of clarity and style within the piece of writing.

Conditional sentences represent grammar structures answering the 'what if' question. Often there are three sentences used in the about principles that often begin with an "if." These two parts are sequentially placed and named a condition and a result. Knowing these patterns helps learners to present some outcomes, and certain situations, or express possible consequences.

For learners, it is important to note that conditions or conditional sentences can be further classified into four parts: Zero Conditional, First Conditional, Second Conditional and Third Conditional – each expresses different degrees of probability.

1. Zero Conditional

The Zero Conditional explains facts that are based on common sense. In these types of sentences, the condition and the result are both real and possible occurrences hence ensures that once a condition is satisfied, the outcome will happen.

They simply follow the positive present tense and are referred to as the Zero Conditional.

• If + present simple, present simple

The Zero Conditional may be applied in law, sociology, nature, biology when these disciplines explain the observable reality as it always exists while dealing with facts. Since both the condition and the result will always happen and time neither element possesses there is no hypothetical element in facts. It's the time element that remains most important that such an event will always happen and highlights the cause.

2. The First Conditional

The First Conditional is applied for the possible occurrences in the future. These types of conditional cases suppose a situation which is likely to happen and the operations that will follow this happening, are likely to happen also.

Structure:

• If + present simple, will + base verb

In the First Conditional sentences the situation is potential, but is not guaranteed. It describes events and actions that are most likely going to happen in future if the appropriate conditions are met. The result is a consequence of the condition happening and is in most circumstances realistic. This structure is generally used in when talking of the future; making predictions, sending warnings, issuing threats etc. It just 'bridges' a possible cause to the most likely effect.

3. The Second Conditional

The Second Conditional expresses a contrary to fact situation in the present or future. This conditional is used in situations where the speakers are talking about events that are not likely or are impossible in a given context, but are viewed as 'if' they were possible.

Structure:

• If + past simple, would + base verb

The Second Conditional concerns itself more with events that are only hypothetical and have no possibility of taking place right now. And even though the condition is already modeled in the past grammatical form, what is being addressed in the written sentence is either the present or the future. The chances of the condition being satisfied or even occurring are slim, thus the result is also imagined.

It is expected when one wants to talk about dreams and plans or situations that are hypothetical in nature and bear no relationship with reality. It should be acknowledged that though past tense is appropriate for the condition, the sentence does not concern past time – it concerns a situation that is unreal in the present or the future and never occurred.

4. Third Conditional

In the past situations that did occur, in accordance with the Third Conditional, there exists the ability to imagine a situation whereby other factors come into account and things could be different. This conditional describes events that are purely hypothetical. However in contrast to the Second Conditional, this conditional deals with situations which are not possible due to them being in the past.

Structure:

• 'If' + past perfect + would have + past participle

All of these phrases are termed The Third Conditional because they allow the speaker to express their regrets for things that did not happen in the past and how situations could have been different. The condition is an example of non-actualization of the objective, and the result is the achievement of the objective. It encompasses the essence of theory and examines events that took place in the past and points out how different things would have been if some conditions were different.

This structure is relevant for narrating events from the 3rd person perspective, where the narrator relates the story from the perspective of a character who is concerned with what did not occur in their life. Fiction, for instance, is full of instances when a character thinks about how their life could have been different.

Mixed Conditionals

In addition to these four main types, there is also the concept of Mixed Conditionals, this category consists of two or more parts with different conditional clauses since its name suggests they mix. It involves sentences that depict two or more aspects of complex time sequences. For example, they can give the results of previous events related to the present tense or narrate about previous situations in which the events have not started yet.

Structure:

• If clause: If + past perfect, main clause: would + base verb (in cases where present result pertains from a past cause)
• If clause: If + past simple, main clause: would have + past participle (in cases where presumptions are drawn to a present condition from past events)

Mixed conditionals are aptly named as they involve the combination of the cause in one time frame with the effect in another one while referencing a hypothetical situation. This variation always allows connecting the event that has happened to the real situation as it is today, or vice versa.

Key points to pay attention to

1. Verb Tenses: Each type of conditional sentence requires a specific combination of verb tenses that always goes with grammar, and are not left out. While Zero and First Conditionals make extensive use of present tense, the Second Conditional, using the past tense to refer to present or future hypotheticals, can sometimes be a bit tricky, and the Third Conditional contains the past perfect verb form.
2. Modal Verbs: As most of 'mother tongue' speakers will no doubt agree, the use of 'will' is by far the most common or frequent modal verb to use in conditionals, however, other modal verbs, such as 'might', 'could' or 'should' can also be used, but it all depends on the specific context.
3. Hypothetical and Real Conditions: Another pair of distinctions to be understood includes real conditions (zero and first conditional) from the unreal or hypothetical conditions (second and third conditional). The first two types treat a real, probable or general situation, while the last two types deal with situations which are either unlikely to happen or completely impossible.
4. Position of the "If" Clause: The "if" clause can be positioned at the beginning or at the end of a conditional statement whereas if it comes first, the condition and the result are separated by a comma. If the "if" clause comes second, this second clause does not require the use of a comma. The order in which the "if" clause is placed in a sentence does not change the meaning of the sentence but the order does change the stress or emphasis on the mote.

Asking and answering and other interrogative sentences which are dependent upon the use of conditional sentences gives learners the ability to formulate their thoughts in a more complex manner and enhances their ability to hypothesise regarding certain activities and their outcomes.