MY FEELINGS,MY EMOTIONS ,MY THOUGHTS AND MY WORDS  FEBRUARY  2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Let’s see if you can correct the following sentences

1. As I was busy, so I could not attend your call.

2, You had better to consult an eye specialist.

3. None of his parents liked him to marry that girl..

4. I would help you if I can.

5. He did not know that he is wrong.   with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 1 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Let’s see if you could correct the given sentences :

1. My brother is 5 years elder than me.

2. I asked him where does he live.

3. None of the two sisters is married.

4. How you passed such a difficult test ?

5, He asked his father to please give him some money.

SOLUTION :

1. My brother is 5 years elder to me.
2. I asked him where he lived.
3.Neither of the two sisters is married.
4. How did you pass such a difficult test ?
5. He requested his father to give him some money.   with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 6 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Correct the given sentences :

1. As I was not prepared for the test, I hope I shall fail.

2. Your work is most excellent.

3. The injection made his illness more bad.

4. The teacher said the lesson will be revised next week.

5. “Who has shutted the door ?”, he asked.
———————————————————————-

SOLUTION :
1. As I was not prepared for the test, I am afraid I shall fail.
OR ( when the speaker refers to the past, he can say ).
As I was not prepared for the test, I feared I would fail.
2. Your work is excellent.
3. The injection made his illness worse.
4. The teacher said the lesson would be revised next week.
5, ” Who has shut the door ?” he asked.  with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 7 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Let’s see how you correct these sentences :

1. You need not to worry.

2. Respect those who are senior than you.

3. I wonder how has he done this difficult task.

4. You ought know the manners of the society in which you live.

5 . How do you dare to challenge me.
——————————————————
You can see the solution around 10 pm.
SOLUTION :
1. You need not worry, OR, You don’t need to worry.
2. Respect those who are senior to you.
3. I wonder how he has done this difficult task.
4. You ought to know the manners of the society you live in, OR, You ought to know the manners of the society in which you live.
5. How dare you challenge me ?   with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 8 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Let us look back at the history of our class.
In late 2015 I took my start at the face book by writing a daily post in English. At that initial stage I didn’t know the art of composing in Urdu. It took me some time to learn that art, because in Urdu you first have to write on a page in Hamariweb, then copy and paste it on your timeline. In English you can write directly on your Timeline without going through the hassle of copying and pasting..

I remember that in my first post I welcomed my facebook friends, and promised to teach them English through my posts.

About half a dozen of my friends (out of around 1500 !!!!) responded with LIKE. Knowing how allergic Pakistanis are to English, I didn’t mind the poor response.
Only Zafar Niazi commented on that first post, welcoming my suggestion, and promising to stand by me.

More of this tomorrow, IN SHA ALLAH.  with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 9 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,f

In my early English posts ( 2015-2016) I explained my theory of learning English. I said learners in Pakistan have almost no opportunities to learn English through listening, as the people around them don’t speak English. Regrettably enough, even the English teachers in general don’t speak English in the classrooms.

Reading is, therefore, the only option for learning the language. It is a very good option, indeed. It is the way most of us learnt Urdu –—- by reading books and newspapers etc. Why not try to learn English that way ?

Tomorrow, IN SHA ALLAH, I’ll elaborate this point further. I know the questions you want to ask. But, please wait till I have concluded this lecture. It may take two or three days.  with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 10 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Since reading is the only available option for learners in Pakistan, people want to know what they should read. I prefer to suggest reading English newspapers. My reasons for this suggestion are ::

1. All the English newspapers (The News, Dawn, The Nation, Daily Times etc) are available online.

2. You already know about most of the news items through TV news channels, Urdu newspapers etc. Therefore it should not be difficult for you to understand the English version of those news items. Just try, and you will see how easy it is. Don’t tell me it is too difficult until you first try.

More of this tomorrow, IN SHA ALLAH.   with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 11 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

From my earliest posts till now I have been repeatedly highlighting the importance of reading , since it is the most easily available option for learners in Pakistan. And it surely works, if you keep reading regularly.

If you have nothing else to read, you can at least read my daily English posts. Each of these posts gives you a small dose of nice English to read. I hope you do find these posts helpful. Just keep up with me, and you will be learning English slowly but surely.
More of this tomorrow, IN SHA ALLAH.
with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 13 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Explaining my theory of learning English in one of my early posts, I said ALLAH has blessed our mind with a perfectly automatic language learning system. It only needs feeding through listening or reading. It saves the words, phrases and sentences that we hear or read. When we speak or write, this system edits those words, phrases and sentences, and gives them back to us.

The process is perfectly automatic like downloading and uploading material on facebook. It is with the help of this system that we learn our mother tongue (Urdu, Seraiki or whatever) without using any book of grammar or dictionary.

I hope you understand my explanation. If you can’t, you may ask questions which I shall answer tomorrow. IN SHA ALLAH.  with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 14 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Discussing my theory of learning English in my early posts, I firmly asserted that grammar cannot teach English. Some of my early students protested against my assertion. They said how was it possible to learn English without learning grammar ?

Responding to their protest, I said grammar is like the toolbox / toolkit that comes with a car or bike. You can’t drive a car with the help of toolkit, can you? You must first learn driving. You need the toolkit only when the car stops working due to some fault.
Similarly, you first need to learn the language (words, phrases and sentences) through reading. You need grammar only when you make a mistake in speaking or writing. In other words, first learn diving, and then use the toolkit only when necessary.

I hope you agree with me. If not, let me hear your reasons. with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 15 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Let’s look at the issue of grammar from another angle :

You learnt your mother-tongue without studying its grammar. When you speak, you use Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs etc freely without worrying where to use a Noun, Pronoun, Preposition, Subject, Object etc.

You learnt Urdu mostly by reading. Did you first learn Urdu grammar ? Certainly not. Then why insist on learning grammar before learning English ? You can as well learn English without learning grammar. At school and college you are taught grammar only because it is a part of the syllabus / course.

Now that you know grammar is not an essential requirement in learning English, we’ll see what use it is. Our next lesson, IN SHA ALLAH, will be about the use of grammar.

with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 16 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Grammar is helpful in detecting and correcting the errors of language that we make in speech or writing.

But you need to know the traffic rules only when you get a car and start driving.
Learning a language through reading or listening is like getting a car. Speaking and writing is like driving the car. No need to learn the traffic rules unless you have a car, and start driving. I hope the idea is now clear to you.

For teachers I would like to recommend two of the best books of grammar. These are

1. High School English Grammar by Wren and Martin

2. Practical English Grammar by Thomson and Martinet

Both these books are easily available in Pakistan.

For students and general public interested in learning English, I prefer to recommend the book Living English Structure by W. Stannard Allen. This book should be available in KP where it was introduced as a part of the BA course many years ago. I don;t know if it is still a part of the course, but it should be available in Peshawar, Bannu , Kohat etc.

The best way to benefit from any of the books named above is to read the instructions / guidelines at the start of each chapter, and then do the related exercises for practice. ..

with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 17 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

We in Pakistan overemphasise the importance of grammar in learning English, because here English is generally taught with the help of grammar and translation. The method, known as GTM (grammar-translation method) makes learning a dull and tedious activity. The student has to use two languages (English and Urdu). As the two languages are vastly different in vocabulary and sentence structure, the student gets confused, especially about the Tenses and Prepositions.
Therefore I repeatedly advise you to learn without the help of grammar and translation. Just reading can help you more than grammar and translation.

Grammar, let me warn you is, like medicine, to be used only when needed. As medicine cannot be a substitute for food, grammar cannot be a substitute for language.

with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 18 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

English is developing so fast that grammar can hardly keep pace with it. The Present Simple and Present Continuous Tense are now commonly used in place of the Future Tense taught by grammar. For instance :

1. They arrive here next week.
(arrive = will arrive)

2.We are leaving for Karachi tomorrow.
(are leaving = shall / will leave)

According to grammatical classification, the word BOOK used to be regarded as a Noun. But now this word is frequently used as a Verb and Adjective. For instance

!, I have got a room booked for my stay in Murree.
( booked = reserved = Verb )

2. I visited the book fair last week.
(The word book is used as Adjective with the Noun fair).

So you see, we can keep up with the changes in the language through reading, not through grammar.  with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 19 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Mr Attaullah Niazi of our class has some confusion about the use of What, Where, When , Why etc. He wants to know the difference between
When will he come / When he will come etc.
Answer :
‘When will he come’ is a complete sentence in question form.
‘When he will come’ is not a complete sentence. It is meaningless unless it is a part of a sentence like
I don’t know when he will come
Can you guess when he will come ?

Similarly

‘What do you want ?’ is a complete sentence
‘What you want’ ‘ is meaningless unless it is a part of a sentence like
Tell me what you want.
I cannot give you what you want.
I know what you want.

Speaking grammatically ‘when he will come’ and ‘what you want’ are Dependent Clauses, not sentences.

I hope you understand. For a detailed study of clauses, please read the chapter on Clauses in High School English Grammar by Wren and Martin or any other book of grammar.

with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 21 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

I have been asked to explain the use of ‘to’ and ‘into’ with reference to marriage.

Answer :
While speaking of a man’s marriage we need not use ‘to’./ ‘into’ etc.
For instance
He married his cousin.

In case of a girl / woman we say
She was married to her cousin (or whoever).

Please note that the sentence is in Passive Voice. It also implies that it was an arranged marriage. In the western society a girl / woman can marry on her own, without consulting her family. Therefore they say
She married her cousin / a rich man etc.

In our society women are not allowed to marry on their own free choice.

As for use of ‘into’, it refers to the family, not the individual. For instance
He married into a rich family.  with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 22 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Most of the questions in response to my post last night pertained to the issues of speaking English, particularly pronunciation.

Speaking is a really big problem for Pakistani learners, because they don’t get enough feeding through listening.

Anyway, we have to make the best of a bad bargain.

As for pronunciation, the spellings give out the correct pronunciation of most words, But English pronunciation sometimes defies the spellings. To avoid embarrassment, you can use a speaking dictionary.

A speaking dictionary is a handy device just like a calculator or smartphone. And it is quite affordable, much cheaper than a good smartphone. It is as easy to use as a calculator, You just type the word, and click the speaking key. The device speaks out the word.

Your questions about pronunciation remind me of Prof John Wilder, my American English teacher at Gordon College, Rawalpindi. Once when a student pronounced the word ‘thing’
as تھنگ, Prof Wilder wrote on the blackboard

th = ت, not تھ

Just like our Pakhtun brothers, the British and Americans pronounce تھ as ت.

I have noted down all your questions of last night, and will be answering them in the next two or three days. Please just wait. No question will be left unanswered.

with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 24 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Answers to some more of your questions :

1, In his comment on my post dated February 23, Rooman Khan says he can’t convert his expression into sentences.

Advice : :

Well, I think it is just a sort of fear. Please write a few sentences about yourself or your city, and send them to me via Messenger. If you do that , I’ll see what you need to do.

2. Mr Omer Farooq says he finds it hard to retain vocabulary.

Advice: :

You can;t retain vocabulary by learning words from a dictionary.
If you learn words by reading a book or newspaper, those words stay in your memory. Don;t run after words. Let them come to you through reading.

Other questions about my post of February 23 will be answered tomorrow, IN SHA ALLAH.  with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 25 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Answers to some more questions :

1. Mr Abdul Majid Qureshi wants to know how to learn correct spelling :
Answer :
English spellings are pretty odd. But if you keep reading regularly, your eyes see the spellings of words and your mind records them. It is an automatic process. People mostly make errors of spelling just because they don’t read enough and carefully. For initial stages of learning there are spelling books available at bookshops in Lahore and other big cities.

2. Saqib Khan wants to know the difference between Phrasal Verbs and Idioms.
Answer :
A Phrasal Verb is a combination of a Verb and Preposition or Adverb which gives a specific meaning. For instance
Look into ( investigate )
Take after ( resemble )
An Idiom is a group of words which gives a specific meaning. It is not a combination of a Verb and Preposition / Adverb. It may contain more than two words, but all the words give a combined meaning like
bread and butter ( a living / source of income )
on the horns of a dilemma (in a state of confusion / facing two difficult choices).

More answers tomorrow, IN SHA ALLAH. .   with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 26 Feb 2019

Salaam, Everybody,

Answers to some more questions :

1. Yahya Khan says he is very weak in Prepositions.

Advice :
Yahya Khan, Prepositions are not governed by any rule of grammar. Prepositions depend on usage. And usage is learnt only through extensive reading. There is no shortcut.

2. Shoaib Malik wants to know the meaning of ‘cacophony’

Answer :
Cacophony means unpleasant noise made by many people speaking loudly at the same time.

3.Like a kalashnikov fire, our dear friend Attaullah Niazi has shot a number of questions. I have just around 15 minutes to write my post, read the questions and answer them. So it is not possible for me to answer all the questions simultaneously. Choosing his first 2 questions, my answers are

1. The word cook is used for a professional cook, nowadays known as cheff. Ladies are not professional cooks. They don’t do the cooking in hotels. So the word cook is generally used for males. But it is not specific for males. We can also say : She is a good cook.

2. The difference between This is a car and This is car.

Q,What is this ?
A. This is a car.
Q. Is this a jeep ?
A, No, this is car.   with thanks Professor Munawar Ali Malik – 27 Feb 2019

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