Easy Ways to Practice Time Frames in English

Unlike many other languages, there is not always an exact pattern to the way English is spoken and written. As an example, in Spanish, and many other languages, the suffixes added to verbs routinely denote tense and who is being discussed or addressed. When it comes to English, these indicators are not standard, and can be attached to almost any word in a sentence. There are still a number of things you can do to improve and speed up your comprehension of the English language.

Break Big Words Into Syllables

In many cases, if you break a word down into syllables, you can quickly unmask any prefixes and suffixes. As an example, the word “predetermine” breaks down into “pre” “de” “ter” “mine”. As you can see, “pre” is immediately isolated. From there, if you put the remaining three syllables back together, you have “determine”.

Interestingly enough, if you practice verbally breaking words down into syllables, you will soon notice that each syllable represents a fairly large change in either your tongue or mouth shape. If you do not have a dictionary on hand, this may help you to break down words more easily than using visual methods.

Experiment With Existing Sentences

One of the best ways to navigate Time frames in English is to change sentences so that they refer, by turns, to past, present, or future events. As an example, if you have a sentence “I went to the store”, you can change it to suit a different time frame. In this case, the present tense might read “I am at the store”, and the future tense can be written as “I am going to the store”. Each time you change the sentence, it is also important to stop and think about the activity in its proper time frame. This will help you connect the words and meanings into your everyday experiences.

Have a List of Alternative Phrases on Hand

In some cases, you may understand the meaning of a sentence, but not know how to respond using a specific set of words. If you know some of the basic rules that apply to verb tenses and pluralization, you can keep a list of words or phrases on hand that follow them. As you come across sentences that you suspect do not follow the basic rules, you can use some of the ones that do in order to compose your response. As you continue to learn English, you will soon remember these words, as well as how to respond to them.

Even though English has far fewer phonemes than many other languages, it is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn. English has many words that have their origin in other languages. In some cases, these languages are derived from language groups spanning entire continents. As a result, the syntax rules for English are very fractured and difficult to follow. That said, if you can learn English, you may find it much easier to learn other many diverse European languages.