A piece of advice to the learners of English Language
You can learn the language at any age provided you have a passion or desire for it. Unlike literature, functional aspects of English have greater practical utility in our day-to-day communication, either verbal, written or through devices. Though there is no shortcut for language study, there is a specific sequence to be followed in accordance with the step-by-step appropriacy of dealing with the subject which I have christened as SVK – ABC approach where A stands for the items to be considered first in the order of our study and B represents the next items or topics to be considered and C denotes the last items to be considered. This pattern follows the grammar book written by me entitled SVK English Grammar and Usage and hence called SVK – ABC approach!
Here A stands for the most important aspects which include:
- Tenses – Active and passive voice and their sub-divisions.
- Conditional clauses using the word ‘if’.
- Modal verbs and their application
- Other useful structures.
These are the essentials which should be given primacy in the language study.
The second letter B comes next in importance which includes:
- Building of vocabulary
- Idiomatic expressions
The topics included in the item B are supportive to the essentials mentioned in the item A.
The third item is C which includes Phonetics and proverbs. They are ornamental in nature, but useful and important to a serious learner. If you are able to pronounce your words clearly with good diction and clarity, it will attract an international acceptance. if you know some proverbs, you can express a huge mountain of ideas in a few words which will reduce the time required to the minimum to explain an idea and the hearer will have the satisfaction of having understood the whole idea in a clear way. More importantly, that will add to the beauty of your language. Thus the item C covers the beautification aspects of the language study.
To RECAP:
A – Tenses, conditional clauses, modal verbs and other structures
B – Vocabulary and idiomatic expressions
C – Phonetics and proverbs
If you follow this approach of study, you will be able to cover all important areas of the functional aspects of English in a highly systematic and holistic way.
Best of Luck!
Sunny Varkey K