Lesson 116: How to talk about a personal loss or death

Nancy: Hey, what' the matter with you? You are looking so down.

Amanda: I had a death in the family.

Nancy: Oh god, I am so sorry. No one told me.

Amanda: I understand. Not many here know about that because I had to go suddenly. I didn't inform Sid either before leaving. 

Nancy: She was your....

Amanda: Grandmother. I was too close to her. You know just last week she had called me up.

Nancy: I really feel sorry. You never told me much about her.

Amanda: She was old and had some ailments but didn't know that it would be so sudden. I was planning to go and stay with her for the weekend just when...

Nancy: Was she sick?

Amanda: She was suffering from a serious ailment. For the last couple of days her condition had deteriorated.

Nancy: I can see how much you loved her. Hope she didn't suffer much. 

Amanda: Thank you so much for your concern. I am feeling a bit relieved after talking to you.

Lesson 115: Don't worry excessively about improving your English pronunciation

Correct English pronunciation is important for speakers of the language but excessive focus on it can hurt your pace of learning English. In fact, you shouldn't worry much about what the other person may feel if you mis-pronounce a word.

Always remember that pronunciations differ from region and region and there are different pronunciations which are equally acceptable. Often the pronunciation differs if you walk just 10 km.

It's true that you shouldn't speak too weird and be conscious of it. But if you are worried about every word before you speak it, it will become a stumbling block for you. What is important is that you should be confident and you should spell out.

A couple of words even if you mis-pronounce them won't matter. Everybody does it. A friend of youths from North may utter a word differently than you friend from the South West or the Coast.

There are certain words my friends speak differently. A friend to mine from India always pronounces Rose as Ros and not Roz. Tour can be Toor or Too-ar. The pronunciation of some words change every ten to twenty years and after a phase the old pronunciation again gets in vogue.

And then there are words like schedule that can be spokes as shedule or skedule, depending on the country or state you hail from. Both are acceptable universally. So if you are a learner just don't fret over pronunciation.

Consulting a dictionary is good but all the time if you keep getting worried over the pronunciation aspect, it will hurt your confidence and can confuse you, as there is no limit to debate over right or wrong pronunciation.

So no need to get worked up over it. Just get out of it and speak as it comes. Good luck.

Lesson 114: Don't say 'I can't speak English'

This blog has now more than 100 free lessons for different situations guiding you to initiate conversation in English, however, I keep getting queries regularly about the most basic things.

My suggestion is that you first read the tips mentioned in the post in the side bar. After reading the 'Seven steps for communicating effectively', 'How to speak English' and the 'Hesitation or fear before speaking', you should make a resolve and do regular practice.

Identify your weakness and work on them. Take the help of the dictionary, listen to talk shows, see dubbed movies with English sub-titles and make it a one point agenda that you would not give up until you master the language.

You don't need to start with long sentence, words and cluster of words are enough to begin with and once the momentum is built, you can surely move ahead. This blog has 114 posts most of which have mock conversations and there is enough for you to learn from it, if you dig in the archives.

If you want to know the usage of even words like 'get' or 'put', kindly see a dictionary that has usage along with meanings, rather than asking this humber blogger. Please excuse me. Pick up a dictionary and help your self. Best of luck.

Lesson 113: Essential Phrases, Idioms & Sentences for Improving Spoken English Skills

Though English has innumerable phrases and idioms as it is a language that continuously changes and absorbs sentences from cultures across the world, the knowledge of certain phrases is essential for a learner.

For example, when someone says 'It's useless to beat a dead horse' or 'Don't beat a dead horse', it means that you shouldn't do something that will not yield any results. It is just like saying 'pull up socks' which means that you should get ready for a situation.

'Take it with a pinch of salt' is an expression used when someone makes outlandish or bogus claims. Like if a person says something that can't be entirely correct, you tell others to take the person's statement with a pinch of salt.

Similarly, if you don't want someone to tell a secret to others, you can say, 'Don't spill the beans'. About someone who doesn't hesitate in telling truth even in difficult situations when it takes courage or others may feel offended, you can say, 'He calls a spade a spade'.

When you want to say that you will scold someone, you can say 'I will take him to task', or 'I will give him a dressing down'. If you know entire details about a project or you can tell numbers, you can say, 'I have it on my fingertips'.

These are just some examples. Earlier also posts on Idioms and Phrases have been published on this blog. The aim is to give you an understanding about phrases and the fact that you should develop an interest in learning more phrases and retaining them so that you can use them in your conversation.

Find more phrases, learn them through your books and also check in dictionaries. Just be alert when someone uses a phrase. Hopefully you won't get flummoxed and understand the difference between literal and real meaning.