Self-help tips for Indians to improve English language command

“Are you enjoying the movie?”
“Simply”
Translated literally from Tamil, simply means absolutely.
There is nothing wrong with the above conversation if both sides know the intended meaning. Now, move that conversation to somewhere in USA or Canada or England, with someone who does not know the ‘Tamil-English’, the actual meaning is lost in the translations.
English language and English grammar is a bit tricky for those who are not used to it, for those with English as a second language. The basic mistakes we make are when we ‘think’ in our mother-tongue, and then translate in our head (Many of us say ‘translate in my mind), and then speak in ‘translated’ English. Here are some self-help tips on improving English :
1. Knowing and Having – the problem of the progressive tense: many Indians often translate and speak with excessive and often inappropriate use of progressive verb form.
For example, consider this:
“I am having a fever.”
“I am having a small family”
“I am knowing that you are having a party without sending me invitation.”
Of course, the correct way of saying is:
“I have a fever”
“I have a small family”
“I know you are having a party without inviting me.”
2. Isn’t it – The tag question: We tend to use ‘isn’t it’ without any discrimination.. It is a habit, but not a good one – everything is not it.
For example:
“Those are lovely flowers, isn’t it?”
“She is so pretty, isn’t it?”
The correct version, of course, is:
“Those are lovely flowers, aren’t they?” Make sure to refer to plural ‘flowers’ as ‘are’ not ‘is’.
“She is so pretty, isn’t she?” Make sure to refer to her as ‘she’ not ‘it’
3.The Royal treatment – the big word syndrome:
The Indian English dialects have originally evolved during and after the colonial rule of Britain in India. We tend to use the royal and big word in day to day speech; such usage is not common in western day-to-day English, especially in the spoken English.
For example:
That is a magnificent idea!
That is a splendid look!
It is not wrong, but more suitable conversation may be:
That is a great idea!
That is beautiful!
4. ‘But’ or ‘only’ to stress a point: That is another thing. We use ‘but’ and ‘only’ to stress. Consider this Indian way of saying, not correct grammatically:
It was he only who broke the glass.
She was just joking but.
She did not go only.
You could say it better such as:
He broke the glass. Or, It was he who broke the glass. ( the stress is on ‘He’)
She was only joking.
In the end, she did not go.
 Don’t eat up the words:
This happens, especially during early stage when you first go abroad or start using English, when you are not used to spitting out English like you do your mother tongue. Or, in many cases, you may think that incomplete ending is obvious and make sense, but it does not.
For example:
I was planning on going to the bazaar, but then ….
Come one, then what? I am waiting here. Say something complete, something like:
I was thinking about going to the market, but I changed my mind

Enunciation and pronunciation:
And, here is the hard part. Make sure you clearly enunciate your words. Speak clear, even if you have to speak slowly. Know your pronunciation.

Reduce or lose your accent:
Indian accent – often called ‘thick accent’ – is a key hurdle in clear communications. Work on reducing and losing your accent, if you think that is an issue.

Numeric terms:

we sometimes say our phone numbers and zip codes in form of doubles or triples. e.g 333-444 (triple three triple four) instead of ( three three three four four four)

Practice, practice and practice:
Yes, cannot say this enough times. Most of the above ways of speaking are our habits, the way we are used to speaking back in India. You cannot change it overnight. Practice as much as you can. It takes time to get used to the new way of speaking. Listen to others – how they speak – and use feedback from others to improve your spoken language.
And finally, don’t worry too much about it, just make it a conscious effort to improve your spoken language.

Etymology

Etymologies: There are many words in our day to day life, with which we are familiar and we use them simply. But do you know from where they have come from ? What is the origin of that word and how it gained its current meaning ? Etymology gives us the history and development of that word. Find how it works here, with the etymologies of very common words, and its gonna be interesting :

Appendix

In Latin it means "the part that hangs." A human appendix hangs at the end of the large intestine; appendices come at the end of books.

Escape

In Latin, escape means "out of cape." The ancient Romans would often avoid capture by throwing off their capes when fleeing.

Essay

The English noun essay comes from the French verb "essayer," to try. Early intellectuals believed their papers to be only a modest attempt to put their I deas on paper.

Gift

From the Old English "asgift," meaning, "payment for a wife" in the singular and meaning "wedding" in the plural. The Middle Dutch "gift," now written as "gif," meant the same, but today means "poison." The Old High German "gift" also became "poison." From the root "geb-", from which in English we get "give." There is another German word, however, which incorporates the word "gift", but which retains the older meaning of "payment for a wife". The word is "Mitgift", which is the modern German word for "dowry".

Hazard

This term came from the Arabic "al zahr," which means "the dice" and was used by Western Europeans to call each of the various games played with dice that they learned while in the Holy Land during the Crusades. The term eventually took on the connotation of danger because, from very early on, dice games were associated with gambling and with con artists using corrupted dice.

Heresy

Greek for "Choice."

Hierarchy

Originally was a medieval classification of angels into various ranks.

Host, Hospital, Hostel, Hospice, Hospitable, Hospitality

From the Latin "hospes, hospitis," meaning, "someone who receives stangers into his home." In English, "Host" also means "the consecreated bread consumed in Communion"; thus the connection between friendship and bread is once again noteworthy

Husband

Comes from the Old German words hus and bunda, which mean "house" and "owner," respectively. The word originally had nothing to do with marital status, except for the fact that home ownership made husbands extremely desirable marriage partners.

Idea, Ideal, Idol

All from the Greek "idein," for "to see"; cognates with the Sanskrit "vid" (to know) and Latin "videre" (to see) and the English "wise." The W/V sound from the Indo-European root was lost in ancient Greek.

Jeans

Genoa--called "Gene" by sixteenth-century Europeans--was the first city to make denim cloth used for jeans. The pants were named after the city.

Salary; Salt

In the early days of Rome its soldiers were given a handful of salt each day. The salt ration was subsequently replaced by a sum of money allowing each man to buy his own, and relieving the commisariat of the trouble of transporting it. The money received was referred to as their "salt money" (salarium in Latin). Eventually, the term would make its way into medieval France, where a soldier's payment was known as his solde (which is still in use today as the term for a soldier's or sailor's pay), and it was in paid for with a special coin called a sol. By extension, the word also came to refer not only to a soldier's wage, but also to the soldier himself, evidenced by the medieval French term soldat, which itself came from the Old French soudier. For its part, the English word "soldier" comes from the Middle English souder, which also derived from soudier [Footnote: Contrary to popular belief, salt--necessary as it was and unlike other spices--was never very expensive. It only became expensive towards the end of the twelfth century A.D., when it was used as a means of taxation and people often went without it, as a result--a fact not unconnected with the famines and deficiencies that afflicted so many generations of Europeans at the time).].

Sinister

From the Latin "sinister" for "left." Hence, left is evil. [See full article about sinister and dexterous]

Use of prefix be- to denote “excessively” or “to a greater dgree”

Belaud:

Definition:  verb: to praise usually to excess

Example:

“Supporters belauded the idea as a magic bullet for all social problems in the country.”

Etymology:

You may recognize the word "laud" (meaning "to praise or extol") in "belaud." In fact, "belaud" was formed by combining the prefix "be-" and the verb "laud." Since "be-" can denote both "to a greater degree" and "excessively or ostentatiously," it perhaps should come as no surprise that while "laud" may imply praise to a deserved degree, "belaud" often has the connotations of unreasonable or undeserved praise.

Here is the list consisting of the word which uses prefix be- to denote excessively, the words and their meanings are given followed by the root words (without be-), so as to ascertain that readers may fully grasp the idea.

becloud: to obscure or muddle; cloud : to worry

bedaub: to excessively smear with something to spoil ; daub: to apply some semiliquid substance like mud, paint irregularly.

bedazzle: to impress somebody greatly, or astonish by being immediately impressive; dazzle: to amaze somebody with skill or brilliance

bedevil: to be continual source of problems and irritation; devil: an evil spirit

bedim:to make less perceptive, to obscure, or to make indistinct; dim: producing little light

bedizen: to dress somebody showy; dizen: to dress

bedraggle: to drench or to become wet completely; draggle: becoming wet

belaud: to fulsomely praise; laud: to praise

belay: to stop doing something or hold off from; lay: to rest

bethink: to think again

Subjunctive Mood

The subjunctive is a grammatical mood found in many languages. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred – the precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. The subjunctive is an irrealis mood (one that does not refer directly to what is necessarily real) – it is often contrasted with the indicative, which is a real mood.
Subjunctives occur most often, although not exclusively, in subordinate clauses, particularly that-clauses. Examples of subjunctive use can be found in the English sentences "I suggest that you be careful" and "It is important that he stay by your side." (The corresponding indicative forms of the italic verbs would be are and stays.)

Examples:

I was in your position two years ago. (not in the subjunctive mood: indicative mood)
If I were in your position, I would do the same. (subjunctive mood)

The following verbs often attract the subjunctive mood: ask, command, demand, insist, order, recommend, suggest and wish.

Examples:

I wish it were still in use. (subjunctive mood - "it was" becomes "it were")
The board recommended that the motion be passed immediately. (subjunctive mood - "motion is passed" becomes "motion be passed")
She suggests that Mark work full time from Saturday. (subjunctive mood - "Mark works" becomes "Mark work")  
 

The following adjectives often attract the subjunctive mood: crucial, essential, important, imperative and necessary.

Examples:

It is imperative that the game begin at once. (subjunctive mood - "game begins" becomes "game begin")

Are you in a subjunctive mood? Then you should frame sentences in one of the six following forms.
The subjunctive mood is used in cases in which what is expressed is not necessarily real, as opposed to the indicative case, which is applied to factual statements. The key difference is a change in the form of a given verb: Am or was is supplanted by were, be takes the place of are, or singular active verbs lose their -s or -es endings. In conversation, it is common for speakers to fail to distinguish between the moods, but in careful writing, the distinction must be made.

1. Counter factual
In this subjunctive construction, the writer expresses a notion contrary to fact, such as “If I were you, I’d return it to the store.”
2. Imperative
In this class of the subjunctive mood, commands and demands are expressed: “I demanded that she walk away.”
3. Necessity
This subjunctive form refers to requirement: “It is necessary that she fill out the form first.”
4. Proposition
This category applies to proposals and suggestions: “We proposed that they reconsider the offer.”
5. Supposition
In this form, the writer expresses a possibility: “If I were to accept the position, I’d have to relocate.”
6. Wish
This type of subjunctive form deals with expressions of desire: “I wish that I were able to go back and do it over again.”
The subjunctive case also survives in such idiomatic phrases as “as it were,” “be that as it may,” “be they [one thing or another],” and “would that it were.”