How do you use proper English?

1. 48

   herrypaulposted 8 years ago

   We Hubbers are imposed upon using proper English, though you are a non-native speaker. I sometimes find difficulties to use it - it's specially in writing an article. Perhaps you have the same experience with me. If you have, please share with me, how do you use proper English?

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      lobobrandonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Well, you can only "use" proper English if you speak or write in decent English. There's no magic formula to it. You're going to have to improve your English if you want to surpass the basic level required. You do have a few grammatical and/or word choice errors in this forum post as well. Maybe use Microsoft Word which underlines some kind of grammatical or word usage errors. And also use grammarly online it's free I guess. These won't result in the best in terms of language use, but it would help to some extent.

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   2. 87

      theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Believe it or not, even English speakers have trouble with grammar occasionally. I'm British, but I have to submit work in 'American English'... and I don't always get it right. I use a program called Hemmingway to help me clean up my writing.

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         SheilaMilneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         You do? I stick to British English based on the fact that fewer than half, and sometimes as little as a quarter, of my readers are from the USA.

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         1. 87

            theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I write for American sites that require US English. On HP and my own site, I write British. Mostly I have to keep switching dictionaries in Scrivener.

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      2. 0

         promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Did you know that Americans created English? 
         
         I suspect British readers don't mind U.S. English any more than U.S. readers mind British English. But I could be wrong.

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            theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Agreed, but my publishers want US English. That's just the way it is.
            
            Oh yes, I forgot that we didn't speak English here until after we colonised the States

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               promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               LOL. Yep, I forgot about that part of history!

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      3. 76

         Sulabhaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Dear theraggededge,
         I liked what you said and so  checked on Hemmingway. I have also signed up. They have said in their Terms & Policy that they won't use our content without our permission, but I still have some hesitation. I think that will go with time.
         In the mean time, I will try to improve my English.

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         1. 87

            theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I don't save anything in Hemingway, I copy and paste it back into my word processing program (Scrivener) after working on the improvements. It does mess up the formatting somewhat, but that's easily corrected.

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            1. 76

               Sulabhaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               OK. I will ponder over it.
               Thank you.

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   3. 48

      herrypaulposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      You're right friends. In writing my Hubs, I use both British English and American English. I have trouble with grammar occasionally, or word choice errors. I want people( who read my hubs) to understand what I mean. It seems it's not easy to write what comes on my mind.

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      1. 48

         herrypaulposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Hi, Hubbers! Thank you for your comments/ opinions.

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      2. 91

         Sue Adamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         That entry is almost perfect except for:
         "it's not easy to write what comes on my mind." = incorrect.
         translated:
         it's not easy to write what's on my mind.
         Or...
         it's not easy to write what comes into my mind.

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         1. 48

            herrypaulposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you for the correction.

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   4. 86

      Marisa Wrightposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      In order to use proper English, you first need to learn to speak it fluently.
      
      I believe you said you have a degree in English literature - but studying English literature does not teach you how to speak and write modern English fluently.  You still have a lot of further study to do,judging by your current standard.

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   5. 91

      Sue Adamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Translation into proper English:
      
      Hubbers are supposed to use proper English even if they are non-native speakers. I sometimes find it difficult, especially when writing an article. Perhaps you have the same experience. If so, please share with me how you manage to use proper English.
      
      The only way to learn is to be corrected so the mistakes go away.

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   6. 0

      promisemposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Herrypaul, free online programs can help you with proper English grammar. Just do a search on "grammar editor".

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   7. 83

      GA Andersonposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I start with a proper martini.
      
      GA

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2. 62

   ProBeatStudioposted 8 years ago

   Honestly i think it depends entirely on what your writing about, if its British native, write that, if its global use more global English terminology

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      theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Took a look at your first hub. Very impressive, but HubPages won't let you promote your own site.

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      1. 48

         herrypaulposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Deleted
         1. 87

            theraggededgeposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry, not yours - ProBeatStudio's.
            
            If you look to the top right of the page here and click on 'Chronological', you can see who is replying to whom.

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3. 99

   Glenis Rixposted 8 years ago

   I am English and attended what used to be known as a 'grammar school' for 6 years. We studied English Language as part of the curriculum - and my grammar is by no means perfect.The bottom line is that if you are not a native English speaker then it's unlikely that your grammar will ever be perfect. My advice is to get a text book - such as Improve Your Punctation and Grammar by Marion Field.  Or you could try writing your hubs using the Word application and then running a spelling and grammar check before posting them to your hubs.

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4. 0

   johnmariowposted 8 years ago

   I have the Yahoo Book titled 'The Yahoo Style Guide' which I don't use as often as I should.  It is an excellent book on proper English for publishing on the web.

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5. 76

   Sulabhaposted 8 years ago

   Yahoo Style Guide... OK, I'll see it if it's free online.
   But last few days, I have come to know that finally Grammarly and Ginger, etc. can only help you to a certain extent and that finally, we have  to improve.
   Yet, another thing I've discovered is that in India we use more of British English. And there is quite a difference between US English and UK English.
   And so the fact is that I need to improve at both ends!

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   Cindy Kay Shunposted 8 years ago

   good question! i try hard to write english, if you can understand me it good enough for huppages.

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