Ron's ESL Blogs

A great way to improve your English is to read English stories.

This actually helps on several aspects:

1) You improve your vocabulary by learning and repeating new words while reading.
2) You see how this vocabulary is used. How the words combine together, which prepositions are used and when, and other important data that can only be learned when working on entire SENTENCES and reading PASSAGES.
3) You improve your grammar by observation (simply seeing it used IN PRACTICE).
4) One of the great benefits of stories is that if well written, they can actually be fun! Funny stories, or stories with a punch line, can encourage you to read more.

However, for a story to really be an effective learning tool, it must be adjusted to YOUR level. Reading way above your level, or way below your level, would probably do very little for your English.

Find some interesting reading materials that fit you. Check any new words you encounter in a good dictionary. Try to use and practice the things you learn. And you should see your English getting better and better!

You can click here for English short stories for beginners.

Ola Zur is the editor of Really Learn English Vocabulary and Easy English Grammar, an illustrated guide to English.

Interjections are sounds, words or phrases that express the speaker’s emotion.

Here are some examples:
Ouch! It hurts!
Hmm… That’s an interesting question.
Hey! What are you doing?
Wow, that’s wonderful!
My goodness, what happened?

What is special about interjections is that they remain unaffected by the rest of the sentence. They do not change their form. They do not have singular/plural form, different tenses etc. Also, a single interjection can be considered as an Entire sentence!

Example:
Goodbye!
(That’s the whole sentence…)

Sometimes regular words in the language function as interjections.

Examples:
Yes!
Sorry!
Ok.

How to use interjections?
You can use them to express emotions such as surprise (e.g. oh!), annoyance (e.g. damn!), joy (e.g. Hurray!), etc. They are also used to greet (e.g. hi!), pause your speech (e.g. um…) and so forth.

Writing tip: When combining the interjection with the rest of the sentence you should usually use an exclamation mark (!) or a comma (,) depending on the strength of the statement.

Examples:
Wow, this is awesome!
Ah, that’s nice.

Interjection is a part of speech. Click here for more data on the English parts of speech.