Common mistakes I see from students (through the eyes of a teacher)

13 Music Idioms- Learning with Theme

I love music, who doesn’t? Isn’t it? It has a soothing and healing power which helps us relax and free our mind from the worldly negativity. It also has served as a universal language between people, which could not be restricted by the boundaries of a nation or religion. (more…)

11 Sports Idioms – Learning with Theme!

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20 most common ‘Words often confused’ in English

I really liked the ‘desert’ at the party. What? How can someone like a desert at a party? Oops! I made a mistake up there. It should have been ‘dessert’ in the above sentence which is the sweet course eaten at the end of the meal. English pronunciation can be quite weird sometimes, isn’t it? It is for this reason that not only non-natives, but also a native English speaker gets confused with its usage sometimes, and hence they are often referred as  ‘Words Often Confused’ or 'Homophones'. Hey to everyone out there, Welcome back again to English Harmony and I hope you are all doing good. So today we will learn about ‘Homophones’, which are also known as ‘Words often confused’. What are Homophones? Homophones are the words that have exactly the same pronunciation but different meaning. The root of the word ‘Homo’ means ‘same’, while ‘phone’ means sound. Be it a non-native or native, people get confused with these homophones because of the same pronunciation; so you see, you are not alone. There is no doubt ‘practice makes a man perfect’, and the same goes with learning homophones. They are not that easy, but with a regular practice and proper learning, it will be a piece of cake for you. So without further ado, let’s get down to the business and see some of the most common homophones in English: Accept/ Except Accept (verb): consent to receive or undertake. Example: I accepted his proposal for the meeting this weekend. Except (Preposition): not including, other than. Example: Everyone came to my birthday party, except Ben. Advice/ Advise Advice (noun): guidance or recommendation about what someone should do. Example: You should always follow his advice if you want to improve your game. Advise (verb): recommend that someone should do something. Example: He advised his brother not to be in the bad company of rogues. Ate/ Eight Ate (verb): The past form of ‘eat’. Example: I ate my lunch after I came from school. Eight (noun): The number between seven and nine. Example: There are eight rooms in our house. Bear/ bare Bare (adjective):  not clothed or covered. Example: He bared his chest to show his scar. Bear (noun): a large, heavy mammal with thick fur and very soft tail. Example: I saw a black bear in the zoo yesterday. Desert/ dessert Desert (noun): a waterless area of land with little or no vegetation typically covered with sand. Example: Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world. Dessert (noun): the sweet course eaten at the end of the meal. Example: I don’t think a meal is complete without a dessert. Deer/ dear Deer (noun): a hoofed animal, the male of which usually has antlers. Example: I saw a deer on a roadside while dropping Joe to school. Dear (Adjective): regarded with deep affection Example: “God bless you my dear son”, said the church father. Die/ dye Die (verb): to stop living. Example: His uncle died in a car accident. Dye (noun): natural or synthetic substance used to color something. Example: He bought a dye for just 40 cents. Band/ banned Band (noun): a flat, thin strip or loop of material used as a fastener or as decoration. Example: John gave Emma a friendship band on her birthday. Banned (verb): past form of the ban. Example: Alcohol has been banned for some days in some of the cities due to the increasing number of accidents. Haul/ hall Haul (verb): To pull or drag something with effort. Example: He hauled his bike out of the shed. Hall (noun): the room or space just inside the front entrance of a house. Example: The students were ordered to assemble in the hall so admit cards could be distributed. Higher/ hire Higher (adjective): the comparative degree of high. Example: The prices of these products go higher every day. Hire (verb): pay to be allowed to use something for an agreed period. Example: I can't say for sure if they will hire you or not. How many of them did you know? A few? Or all? I hope you would have found this article useful and easy to learn. Make sure you learn their meanings off by heart so you never get confused down the line. Lemme know in the comment section below about your views and suggestions and keep learning and improving. In case you wanna give my personal blog ‘Your English Vocabulary’ a knock, you are always welcome. Till then, take care and? Bye-bye.

5 Hints for Writing a Resume When You’re Just out of College

     What do I write on my resume? What if I have little to no job experience? If these questions are lingering in your mind, you have no cause for worry. We know that stepping right out of college is a challenging time, you may be so unsure of yourself and your abilities and may not even have a clear picture of what you would like to pursue career-wise. You may also be worried about your chances of getting employed. However, statistics show that the rate of employment for young college graduates is 77% higher than that of high school graduates at 69%. Even so, millions of students graduate each year but the rate at which new jobs are being created can’t keep up. This means that there is stiff competition for the available spots. (more…)

How False Expectations Ruin Your Language Learning

Is Learning English grammar not important for speaking?

English grammar is not necessary for speaking fluently; you only need to focus on idioms, phraseology, and slangs in order to communicate like a native. It is for this reason that even after years of learning English grammar at school you can’t speak fluently. Well, that’s somewhat you read when you hit up my personal blog, or be it English Harmony or any other English learning blog. (more…)

Are you making these collocation mistakes?

Hey there everyone, How is your fluency going? What? Good. It's awesome then, but it breaks my heart when I see my dear readers, making mistakes while speaking or writing. And please don’t get me wrong, making a mistake is a part of the learning process, but correcting them is way more important than expanding your vocabulary or scaling up your fluency. Thus, without further fuss, let get down to the job: Pay close attention to the paragraph given below and find the mistakes from the context. Let’s see how many of them you are able to observe. (more…)

Ace it up: Winning job interview tips in a non-native language

For an international job seeker who is wondering how to ace a job interview easily, a limited grasp of the English language can be an additional source of concern. Over the recent past, globalization has seen an increase in the competition for scarce employment opportunities, requiring job seekers to update not only their work skills and abilities but also their job search skills. The dynamics of the labor force are changing, with Forbes reporting that immigrants account for about 17.1 percent of the entire United States’ labor force. In this article, you’ll find tips and ways to ace an interview for non-native interviewees. (more…)

Improve Your English Vocabulary With Context

Hey there, How is your fluency going? Ever since I thought that I want to be a fluent English speaker, I tried every single possible technique to improve my vocabulary and fluency. Admit it or not, most of the non-natives start off on the wrong foot by trying traditional study methods such as learning few words from dictionary daily or be it when you tried a new language book to improve their vocabulary and fluency. The matter of the fact is, vocabulary and fluency go hand in hand while learning. Now you many wanna ask, if they go hand in hand, why do you say learning vocabulary from a dictionary is bad? It’s not bad; I would say it’s even worse. The fact is, dictionary was never made for learning purpose, it is just for ‘referential purpose’, so in case if you get stucked while reading a book, blog or anything, you can refer to it for clear understanding of the topic. (more…)

How To Improve Your Spoken English Without A Speaking Partner?

Can you say with confidence “I speak English fluently”? All students dream about improving their spoken English firstly because such skills can help them enroll into a university of their dreams and perform well there. Of course, there are many other possibilities to score high grades and handle all of the college assignments but the best results can be achieved only if you are fluent in the language of training! If you are reading this article, then you want to find out how to speak English fluently and confidently. Excellent! In this post, we will assist you in training English speaking at home with ease by providing you with a list of effective tips that will come in handy for every student! (more…)

The Most Frequent Speech Errors to Avoid

It’s common knowledge that English is one of the most popular languages in the world. This is both good and bad when it comes to everyday use of the language, no matter if you are a Native or a foreign speaker. English language is both flexible and easy to grasp at first, but it still proves to be too much for many speakers. Some of the most common pitfalls are common in American, English as well as foreign speakers and they can be easily avoided. Using “much” and “many” Depending on the context of your sentence and the message you are trying to communicate, using these two words and mixing them up can be quite common. Using “many” with words that apply to countable objects is the proper way to use the word, while “much” can be applied to uncountable items. “Many apples have fallen from the trees.” / “Much apples have fallen from the trees.” You can easily see that the second sentence makes little sense when you think about it. Using “much” with items such as fuel, water, air and others is the proper way to do it. Knowing this can help you avoid your next speaking mistake without any worries whatsoever. (more…)