* TIP 1 *
Don't be too stubborn as to whether something is 'right' or 'wrong'. A
'wrong' use might be acceptable in certain situations or in certain varieties
of English (e.g. American English, Black people's English). For example, you
might think that "How's things?" is wrong because the plural "things" should
be matched by a plural "are" or "'re". But that sentence is acceptable in
informal conversations.
* TIP 2 *
When learning the use of prepositions, always learn an 'organic whole'.
For example, learn "an emphasis on the topic" as a whole rather than
memorizing "'on' should be used after 'emphasis'".
* TIP 3 *
Watch programmes on the English channels! Read English newspapers! It doesn't
matter if you can't hear or understand many of the words. You can always try
to guess the main ideas WITHOUT bothering with the meanings of those words.
* TIP 4 *
DON'T RELY ON AN ELECTRONIC DICTIONARY!!! It can't teach you the grammatical
structures you need to follow when using a particular word or phrase. Nor can
it give you guidance on usage. And most electronic dictionaries will lure you
into just memorizing a Chinese translation WITHOUT PROBING INTO THE FINE DETAILS
concerning a word's meaning.
* TIP 5 *
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Different target audiences require different strategies
of writing/speaking. For example, when you're speaking to an important person
who you are not familiar with and you want to make a request politely, you'd
say something like "Could you... please?" or "I wonder if it's possible for
you to...".
* TIP 6 *
Don't be afraid of making mistakes. Even university lecturers make a lot of
grammatical errors! It's true! For example, Chinese lecturers often disregard
the need to switch to the past tense when taking about past things. And even
native speakers make mistakes too; they might say 'more simple' instead of
the correct form 'simpler'.
* TIP 7 *
Pay special attention to the use of 'a', 'an' and 'the'. Many Hongkongers
just have this bad habit of omitting 'a', 'an' or 'the' when one of these
should have been used.
* TIP 8 *
If you're not confident about the use of 'question tags', avoid them by simply
using 'right?', 'is that true?', etc. For example: "You'll be leaving tommorrow,
(am I) right?" and "Tom has won the prize, is that true?" instead of "You'll
be leaving tommorrow, won't you?" and "Tom has won the prize, hasn't he?"
(C) Copyright Raymond Yin-loong Tang, 1996.
Last updated: 31 May 1996
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