Many people more often tend to think of themselves as gurus when it comes to languages that they consider their mother tongue, one of which is English. What they do not know is that just because you have spoken the language since birth does not necessarily imply that you are good at it.

A master tends to not only nurture but also cultivate it to the point that the language becomes a part of you. This theory can be applied to English.Just like art that is constantly changing so is English. There are varied definitions and pronunciations to most of the words. It can be American English and even versions of some native versions like Pidgin that is spoken in some parts of Western Africa. The fact that it is a second language in most countries is an even greater reason for you to have a basic grasp of it.

Learning a language will help in its understanding and efficiency and below are some other ways that you can tap into should you intend to master it properly;

• Be involved in conversations.

This is usually important in events where English is not a primary language. It helps build your oral skills and fluency. All kinds of English have their different variations and accents that are only existent when they are spoken. What this means is that just knowing the theoretical side will not help and therefore by engaging oneself in constant conversation will expose any hidden errors that can only be heard when speaking.

• Writing and reading

The skill of reading should never stop be it curling with a good novel, or even going through an encyclopedia. The advantage is that as long you are constantly digesting new ideas, new languages, and new words then your English is bound to improve.

• Going to English school.

Attending English school helps build your knowledge of the English language. They offer targeted subjects like dissertation editing and proofreading services as courses which are sure faster ways of learning.

Reasons as to why you should learn.

As stated earlier, the fact that English is a second language in most countries will be a source of motivation but below are some other reasons;

-It makes you marketable to the corporate world.

-Makes you have a fluent grip on the language to the point that you can offer proofreading services to interested clients.

-It exposes you to the possibility of learning a completely new culture and experiences when you travel to English speaking countries.

- A majority of the websites that are found on the internet are written in English.

Common mistakes when writing

Every English student knows how frustrating it is when you are trying to avoid some typical grammatical errors, but they end up in your work without you knowing just because you have been used to it for years. They range from misspelling, preposition placement, and verbal errors. Some other annoying mistakes that we tend to make are like;

•Lack of consistency in spelling style.

I believe that most of us have more often than not fallen prey to this mistake; mixing two different writing styles being the US and UK English. The most common instances include; -ise which is the British version of words ending with these letters and — ize that is the American style in words like organise (ze), franchise (ze) etc.

A simple antidote would be to pass your work through a tool like typely.com that has proof reading services to help rectify such errors that have discredited so many people’s works.

•Comma splices

They go hand in hand with the run on sentences. It is seen in circumstances when a writer tends to join two sentences that are independent with a comma instead of differentiating them with a full stop or a coordinating conjunction.

•Apostrophes

What this symbol does is that it shows possession or contraction. Example as a possession; My mother’s house to imply that it is owned by my mother.

As a contraction is whereby one or more letters are left out, and an apostrophe is being used in its part, e.g., have not= haven’t or is not= isn’t.

•Using articles wrongly.

Articles are words like ‘the’ and indefinite article ‘an’ and ‘a.’

A simple way to deal with it is to consider whether it has countable or uncountable noun. Primarily ‘a’ is put before the words that begin with a consonant while ‘an’ before those that begin with a vowel except cases of words that begin with a silent ‘h.’

‘The’ which is a definite article is used in place of plural or singular nouns and adjectives when one is referring to a factor that is known to the speaker.

• Incorrect verb forms

It makes up 51% of mistakes that are made. This is according to people who offer proofreading services to students who seek third party clarification on their essays or projects. Using irregular verb forms will damage your language credibility in a formal setting like the business world. An example is like saying ‘I been working’ instead of saying ‘I have been working.’

•Incorrect capitalization

This is another common problem. It can be rectified by remembering to capitalize;

- The first word in every sentence.

- I.

- Weekdays, months, holidays e.g., Christmas.

- Proper nouns like names of companies, people, and places.

• Unwanted long paragraphs

They only make your work hard to comprehend and more complicated. A more practical approach would be to have 2 to 5 paragraphs per A4 and ensuring each paragraph stands for a different topic or idea.

• Run on sentences

They are the most common grammar mistakes that are usually made. They have two or more independent clauses that are not connected. A most common run on sentence is when you fail to use a comma before a coordinating conjunction like or, but, etc.

• Subject verb disagreement.

It is vital for the verb conjunction to align with the subject of the sentence.

Conclusion

One would be wondering why you put so much importance to just one language. What makes English so important and more valued? Well just speaking it will not cut it. It is vital for everyone to master the art of not only speaking but also writing it efficiently without making the errors discussed above.