Problems with English? Questions? Vocabulary, grammar... Post here :)

brianL · 05-05-2011, 08:17 AM

It might be useful to read English novels, old and new, as well as having a good dictionary handy. Get some knowledge of spoken and written language from them.

SL00b · 05-05-2011, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

It might be useful to read English novels, old and new, as well as having a good dictionary handy. Get some knowledge of spoken and written language from them.

Solid advice, but I'd add that you should be careful what you read. I had a co-worker once with atrocious writing skills, and I offered this advice. A few weeks later she showed me she'd followed my advice and was reading a book... by Maya Angelou. I flipped it open to a random page, and the grammar and syntax were AWFUL.

brianL · 05-05-2011, 09:36 AM

Yeah, that is the problem: choosing what to read. I was hoping Anisha wouldn't ask for examples.

sycamorex · 05-05-2011, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SL00b

Solid advice, but I'd add that you should be careful what you read. I had a co-worker once with atrocious writing skills, and I offered this advice. A few weeks later she showed me she'd followed my advice and was reading a book... by Maya Angelou. I flipped it open to a random page, and the grammar and syntax were AWFUL.

+1

For that reason, Brian was referring to Beowulf and Ulysses

brianL · 05-05-2011, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycamorex

+1

For that reason, Brian was referring to Beowulf and Ulysses

...but avoid Finnegans Wake.

Anisha Kaul · 05-05-2011, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

I was hoping Anisha wouldn't ask for examples.

Thanks for the nice advice, now how about giving some examples?
I was thinking of reading Shakespeare's works, it that a right choice? I'll be using the same English in the LQ posts too, then.
Novels which I won't prefer are the ones which deal ONLY with the subjects like detectives and romance.

brianL · 05-05-2011, 10:41 AM

Shakespeare's plays are great, but you won't learn anything about modern English usage from them. After a quick think, I came up with these few more up-to-date novelists: John Fowles, Ian McEwan, William Golding, Martin Amis, Peter Ackroyd. Those are English English. There are some good American novelists, but I'll let a US member choose a few of them.

SL00b · 05-05-2011, 11:07 AM

I would not recommend Shakespeare. It's not even an accurate representatation of Rennaissance English. It's more poetry than prose, and excessively flowery poetry at that. If you start talking and typing like him, you're going to make people's heads hurt.

Before I could make any recommendations, I'd need to know what it is you like to read. For the most part, any modern prose will do. Maya Angelou is one of the exceptions, she is definitely not the rule.

portia · 05-05-2011, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

Shakespeare's plays are great, but you won't learn anything about modern English usage from them. After a quick think, I came up with these few more up-to-date novelists: John Fowles, Ian McEwan, William Golding, Martin Amis, Peter Ackroyd. Those are English English. There are some good American novelists, but I'll let a US member choose a few of them.

You might also try Nick Hornby (Apart from "Fever Pitch," unless you are a big fan of Arsenal)

DavidMcCann · 05-05-2011, 12:47 PM

For those who enjoy SF, Ursula LeGuin, Lois Bujold, and Jack Vance write excellent English. For detective fiction, see P. D. James. The classic British writers of the last century included Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Powell. Two of the best purely from the point of view of prose style were P. G. Woodhouse and Anais Nin (now, if they'd ever met, I wonder what they'd have talked about?!)

XavierP · 05-05-2011, 03:05 PM

My English teacher always maintained that, although the books themselves were completely dull, Jane Austen's novels are a good example of correctly written English.

Jeebizz · 05-05-2011, 03:18 PM

failenglish.jpg

DavidMcCann · 05-06-2011, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XavierP

My English teacher always maintained that, although the books themselves were completely dull, Jane Austen's novels are a good example of correctly written English.

Excellent prose, but not contemporary. But dull? Henry Green, Virginia Wolfe: that's dull.

XavierP · 05-06-2011, 11:55 AM

I haven't read them myself (although "Pride & Prejudice and Zombies" and "Sense & Sensibility and Sea Monsters" were fun) so I can't say either way.

brianL · 05-06-2011, 12:15 PM

Not to mention "Emma and The Creature From The Bottomless Pit".