Devoir d'anglais

PUNCTUATION

One of the biggest problems you students have with English is punctuation when you write and intonation when you speak. You should bear in mind that when we speak, we use intonation, it’s that musicality which makes you give meaning to your sentences. With no intonation, you cannot be understood by anyone. Do you remember the game we had in class ? Have a look at it again:

Ready?

No.

Why?

Problems.

Problems?

Yes.

What?

Money.

If you don’t use intonation correctly, the conversation loses its meaning and you cannot be understood. Do never forget that you are speaking , or writing , to convey a message to someone else who has to understand you. If the addressee doesn’t understand you, it doesn’t mean he or she is stupid but simply that you were not able to make them get you idea.

This very intonation which gives meaning to your sentences when speaking , is what we mean by punctuation when we write. I have seen students who write one loooooong sentence in a paragraph. I guess it’s illogical and unconceivable too.

My advice to all of you is to write short sentences first. The easiest way is to start with sb + vb + C. then with time you learn how to stretch your sentences by adding adjectives, ad verbs………the best writers are those who know how write clearly and easily so that they can be understood and therefore have a large audience.

You should first know that:

1- A – B – C : Every sentence begins with a capital letter. Capital letters are also used for personal names, Countries, names of languages, nationalities……

2- , : commas are used in writing at places where , in speaking , we pause.

3- “ ” : quotation marks show the words someone said or when a world is not English such as “Melwi” or “Harira”.

4- ? : question marks are put at the end of all questions.

5- ! : exclamation marks are put at the end of exclamations.

6- ’ : an apostrophe is always used with possessives and with contractions. e.g Ali’s book or Ali’s a student.

THE ENGLISH TENSES

Another problem is tenses. I always wonder why, as I think that English is much easier than Arabic or French which students can speak quite well . There is no “premier,deuxième or troisième groupe” . There is only one infinitive in English and from that infinitive we can have all the forms easily. Eg I play. (the same as the infinitive) I played (infinitive + ed) I am playing (infinitive + ing) ……………………

Remember the chart bellow whenever you are speaking or writing:

Simple present tense:

I play soccer every week-end.

( REPETITION )

To show how often it is repeated, we can use

- always (100% repetition)

- usually

- sometimes

- rarely

- never (0% repetition)

Questions:

Do you understand ? (Do + sb + infinitive)

Negation:

No, I don’t understand. (sb + do not + infinitive)

Simple past tense:

I played tennis yesterday.

(finished) + (time expression :

1- yesterday

2- last……..

3- …….ago

4- In + date

5- When…….(time-clause

Questions:

Did you do it ? ( did + sb + infinitive)

Negation:

No, I didn’t do it. (sb + did not + infinitive)

Present continuous:

1- I am playing now/ at this moment.

2- I am playing tomorrow/ next……

Future tenses:

1- I shall play tomorrow.

2- I will play tomorrow.

3- I’ll play tomorrow.

4- I am playing tomorrow.

5- I will be playing tomorrow.

6- I am going to play tomorrow.

7- I will have played by tomorrow.

Present perfect tense:

1- I have played tennis since 1994.

I have played tennis for ten years.

(not finished: I still play tennis)

2- I have just played tennis.

I have already played tennis.

I have not played tennis yet.

LINKING WORDS

Most students don’t use any linking words when they are writing as they give more importance to their ideas not the way those ideas should be conveyed , supported or opposed ….. In other words, they don’t make

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