<p>Here are some tips that should help with English in general.</p>
<p>1.) This is a strategy if you take a foreign language. If you are stuck on a problem, try converting it to the foreign language and seeing if it sounds right. For example, read this. Yesterday Jack asked if I wanted to go see the movie, but I already have seen it. They then ask you if it should be “have seen” or “had seen”. If you are stuck, think in for example Spanish (if that is the language you are taking). Ayer, Jack pregunta si yo queire ir a la pelicula, pero ya habia visto la pelicula. (I don’t know how to do accents on my keyboard). You can then see that habia is the pluperfect and thus it should be “had seen”. Note that this took a long time to write, but I usually can process this in my head in about 5-10 seconds.
Another example: Are you wondering whether to use the word “that”? Think in Spanish. If there is a que, like in creo que, then there is a that.</p>
<p>2.) Know the difference between some common misused words. For example, you should know that who is referring to a subject while whom is referring to an object. Others include all together/altogether, weather/wether, lay/lie, etc…</p>
<p>3.) You do not want any redundancy. You also do not want to lose any meaning. If a statement is redundant and does not add any meaning, then it is safe to OMIT it. For example…“the big, red, grand car”. You can omit grand because it means the same as big in that context. If it removes any meaning however, do not remove it.</p>
<p>4.) Puncuation; know when to use your semi-colons, colons, etc… For example, I made a mistake in this first sentence of number 4 (It should NOT be a semi-colon) and all throughout this response. Can you find all of them?</p>
<p>5.) The structure of a sentence will almost always be: Subject-Verb-Indirect Object (If there is one)-Direct Object (If there is one). This should help you with sentence structure.</p>
<p>I could think of more, but do you have any specific questions. I really think that number 1 can be a real life saver if you are efficient with it or are fluent in two languages.</p>