Student CornerStudent
English Grammar Tenses
Are you any good at English tenses? Try getting this exercise done and let’s see how well you did it.
1. (Do/Does/Did) anyone object if I switch the TV channel?
2. I (will/have/will have) come to the conclusion that Indonesians are getting ignorant about social issues.
3. No matter what happens next I (will, would, will be) keep in touch with you.
4. They (were/had been/have been) running for a few hours when the problem came up all of a sudden.
5. I assumed you (have been/are/had been) paying for the rent until the end of this semester.
6. (Will/Did/Do) you ever feel bored of doing the same thing every day?
7. She (will be/is/has been) collecting the data by January next year.
8. I (go/went/have gone) to that village once and haven’t visited again since.
9. She (keeps/is keeping/kept) trying to persuade her professor but it never works out.
10. I (am wanting/want/have wanted) everybody to be quiet now as I try this experiment.
Worthy Ideas to Write
I flipped through some books in the department's library today and came across with a nice and informative book about a guide to writing. It's title is "Evergreen with Readings" by Fawcett (1996). This book has a lot to read but I simply glanced through its table of content and read a bunch of pages. Then, I came up with a list of sound ideas worth writing.
Odgon's 850 basic words in English
Learning English on-line and interactive
Please visit the following websites:
1. http://www.manythings.org/
"A fun study site for learners of English as a Second Language. Word games, puzzles, quizzes, exercises, slang, proverbs and much more."
2. http://www.englishclub.com/index.htm
"Lessons, games, quizzes, forums, chat, lesson plans, jobs & more for ESL (English as a second language) learners & teachers."
3. http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
A few bugs in English writing
By Eri Kurniawan *)
A friend of mine, when I was in college back then, asked me, “What 's your score in Writing class?” I plainly replied “A”. What's yours?” My friend cynically responded, “Don’t ask me about that. It’s lame. I know why, though. I’m poor at grammar while the lecturer, you know, gets crazy about it.”
The above dialog is a mere illustration, it’s just fictitious (rarely did English students speak English at campuses in Indonesia, right?). Students oftentimes feel that what bothers them in writing or speaking English is Grammar, which is felt as ‘a bug’. They often claim that grammar always obstructs their fluency. They argue that what is apparently needed in real-life communication is not grammar. Communication is all about getting across ideas. As long as you manage to communicate in English, grammar is not an issue. Is it true?
