Ten Reasons to learn the interesting language- English!

There are many reasons behind learning English. It is one of the most ambitious languages to learn and therefore it is important to focus on exactly why you should learn English. Here, we will look at the ten great reasons to understand why English is very important. This could probably motivate you to keep going even when you are tired of trying to figure out which witch is which!

1. Learn English to be able to communicate with millions of people around the world!

English is the most commonly spoken language around the world. Every one person out of five understands it! Imagine being able to communicate successfully with all those people if you learn English.

2.  Enjoy the Latest Movies, Books, and TV When You Learn English!

Learn English and enjoy the Hollywood Oscar movies or follow TV series and read some bestseller novels. You can get more source of entertainment this way and it will add a language to your resume.

3. You will be able to visit the 45 countries where English is the official language!

English is the official language of United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Sudan, South Africa, Singapore, Mauritius, Canada, Bahamas, and so on. If you are fluent in English, you can visit these countries for job opportunities or simply to spend holiday.

4. Speaking English is a tremendous asset to your professional career!

English is the official language of India. Thus, many companies prefer English-speaking employees to people who do not speak it. Getting a hold of this language can lead to growth in your career.

5. If you learn English, you will be able to visit most websites!

The number of websites available in English is far more than the sites in regional languages. Not only the quantity but also the quality of English websites is far better. The picture and video qualities are very clear. You can enjoy them when you learn English.

6. Learning English will help you make new friends.

Wherever you travel around the world and you are not sure what to talk about when meeting new people abroad, well-known British brands such as The Oxford University and Manchester United are sure to provoke opinions, no matter who you may be talking to!

7. Learning English will not only add a language to your resume but will also give great knowledge to you.

If you learn English, you will be able to interact with more people, read more books, and get more exposure. This will help you be part of the globalized market.

8. English is the international language of business.

If you are a businessperson and think that you do not need to learn English, you are absolutely wrong. If you learn this language, you can market your business worldwide and can interact with more people and deal with international clients.

9. If you are a student, you can think of going abroad for further studies.

Be it a third world country, youngsters always like to travel abroad especially for studies. Getting a hold of the English language makes things easier and convenient at any point of time.

10. English is an easy language.

English is not hard to learn, compared to many other foreign languages! If you are dedicated and really want to learn it, then it will not be very difficult for you.

Besides all these advantages, who would not like to learn English?

Symbiosis (ELTIS) offers you a helping hand in learning English. Join ELTIS to learn international English!

What are you doing?

Notice the headline. Can you spot the verb in the headline? Was your guess ‘doing’ or 'are'? If yes, then you are absolutely right!

Verbs are words that talk about actions or activities. For instance, in the sentence, ‘What are you doing?’ there are 2 verbs, 'are' and ‘doing’.

Like right now, for example! You are reading this blog post. The verb here is- reading! What is interesting realize is that we use verbs in almost every sentence we speak. If you focused a little harder on what you were speaking, you would be able to recognize the presence of verbs in your sentences. In short, there can not be a sentence without a verb.

Verbs can be classified into two main groups: Regular and Irregular Verbs. The main difference between the two is that regular verbs in their past tense end with ‘ed’, and irregular verbs end differently. 

For example:

·         dance – danced

·         work – worked

·         play – played

Now let us take a look at some examples of the past tense of irregular verbs.

·         catch- caught

·        sit - sat

·         do - did

·         eat – ate

·         be – was

·         become – became

·         build – built

If you notice, you will find that irregular verbs in their past tense do not end with ‘ed’. However, this does not disqualify them as verbs.

Here is a paragraph from the famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Try and find verbs here:   

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?' 


Could you pick out the verbs? Good!


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Get fluent!

As you learn more English, it will become apparent to you that there is no limit to how much you can know about a language.

What you start to see after a point is the need to know more, read more and learn more. Now you needn’t always rely on textbooks and study material to get fluent in a language. You can do it the fun way, too!

And that is exactly what we want to talk to you about.

What we find is the most effective is immersing oneself in the culture and cuisine of the country whose language one is trying to learn. Why? Because it is fun!

Think about it, wouldn’t you want to know what the Japanese eat? or how the Italians wed? or interesting traditions people follow in India? Everybody does! Even those who are not learning the language!

So what we’re trying to say is while learning a language, try to see every facet of it. Try to find out where it originated from and its dialects. We are not suggesting you LEARN all of them. We’re simply suggesting you get right INTO it.

Think about it. Why did you want to take up a language anyway? Maybe because you thought it sounded beautiful? Maybe because you thought it might be helpful for when you travel? Maybe you just found it interesting. But most of all, we find that people take up languages because they are intrigued by the culture.

Come, take up a language of YOUR choice at SIFIL! 

Read this carefully

Did you read the headline carefully? That right there is an adverb.

Adverbs, like nouns, adjectives and verbs are part of our everyday speech. We use them in almost every sentence we speak and yet we may not realize it.

If you have just started learning English, you might be a little overwhelmed by everything that is coming your way. So let’s take it slow. Read the next few sentences to get a better understanding of what adverbs are.

Looking at a few examples will make you see in which cases adverbs can be used.

“She drove the car slowly to the end of the road.”

“She sang merrily.”

“It was raining heavily.”

“She smiled at her students happily.”

Now before we ask you to try and identify adverbs in the above sentences, let us explain to you what adverbs are.

Adverbs are words that describe adjectives or verbs with a simple of addition of ‘ly’ at the end of the word. For example: In the above mentioned sentences, we said, “She drove the car slowly to the end of the road.” The adverb in the sentence is ‘slowly’. It is used in answer to the question ‘how’. How did she drive the car? She drove the car slowly to the end of the road. Most adverbs are used as an answer to the question ‘How?’

Please keep in mind, though, that not all words ending with ‘ly’ become adverbs. For example, ‘lovely’, is not an adverb. In a sentence like ‘He ran fast’, the word ‘fast’ is an adverb. It does not have ‘ly’ ending.

We have provided you with a small exercise to help you better grasp the meaning of adverbs.

·         He entered the room ___ since the baby was sleeping. (quiet, quietly)

·         I have ___ any money. (hard, hardly)

·         He lived very ___ with his wife for many years. (happy, happily)

·         Try to speak as ___ as you can. (clear, clearly)

We hope this helped you understand adverbs. To learn adverbs better, enroll for the English language course at ELTIS! 

Prepping up for Prepositions!

So how do you like the English language so far? We sincerely hope that with all the help we provide you, it’s gotten easier.

Learning a new language is never easy but it’s a lot of fun! And while learning a new language, you must know the finer details about the language.

We’ve been talking about nouns, adjectives, articles, verbs etc for quite a while now. So today we’re going to look at prepositions.

What are prepositions?

Prepositions are words which are placed before nouns. They usually express a relation between 2 words. For example: “The book is on the desk.” Here, the 2 nouns are ‘book’ and ‘desk’. The relationship between the 2 is ‘on’.

To make it easier on you, let’s just say that prepositions specify:

•     Direction: left, right, across, around etc
•      Placement: behind, in front of, under, over, on, in, inside, beneath etc
•      Time: during, in (as in, in time for the meeting), for, during, while etc

However, there are other important prepositions which you can understand only if you understand the context in which they are used. Let’s take a look at what we’re saying in detail.

•  At: used in the context of age. For example: She learnt to ride a horse at 45!
• About: used in context of topic. For example: We were just talking about you.
• By/on: used in context of medium or method. For example: He got to the restaurant by train. OR He got to the temple by foot.

Now here is an exercise where you can test how well you understand prepositions:

1.     _______ the picture, I can see a woman. 
2.     The woman is sitting _______ a table.
3.     She is sitting _______ a chair.
4.      _______ the table are a laptop, paper, a calculator, two pens and a muffin.
5.     The woman is looking _______ her laptop.

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Essay 101

Now as you begin to explore the mysterious and (let’s admit), confusing world of the English language, you might be asked to write an essay.

An essay is a short piece of writing usually relating an experience or a point of view to the reader. The nature of the essay might change, for instance, you could be arguing a point or you could be describing an event, place or incident or you could be narrating an experience.

The point is that no matter what the nature of the essay might be, what is important to remember is that there are a few standard rules you must keep in mind while writing them.

Today we’re going to discuss the guidelines you should follow to write an interesting, easy to understand essay.

Right after you decide what the topic of your essay is going to be, you should create an outline of ideas that you want to put into the essay. Meaning, create a rough sheet of ideas that you will be putting into your essay.

Once you have that in order, you must follow the typical structure of essays. That is:

• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion

Your introduction should be gripping. You should be able to hold the attention of the reader from the very first sentence. The introduction itself should be directly connected to the topic so that the reader isn’t confused about what he’s reading.

In the paragraphs that follow, refer to the rough notes you’d made earlier. Keep each paragraph precise and interesting. Don’t make them long and boring. No one wants to read long and boring essays! ;)

With that, we’d like to remind you that ELTIS SIFIL conducts English learning courses that will help you learn better. So, what are you waiting for?!

Make an Enquiry

Now while we’re on the topic of ‘All things English’, and if you’re in a new country, you might be aware that making conversation is not just about exchanging niceties and small talk.

It is about expressing an opinion or a desire, arguing a point of view, debating on a topic you might have strong opinions about, making enquiries etc.

And we are here to help you with just that.

Today, we are going to talk about making enquiries.

The first thing you must keep in mind while making an enquiry is the fact that the person who you are speaking to isn’t necessarily someone you might know. Hence, remember to be polite and soft spoken. You are not making a demand, but asking for information about something that is of interest to you.

As is always true while speaking to someone, you introduce yourself. We aren’t going to help you with that as you already know how! ;)

What follows is talking about the subject of your enquiry. You could say, ‘I read your article in the newspaper.’ Or, ‘Your advertisement has come to my attention. I understand that you offer courses in/hold classes in/ have a scheme on.’ You could say anything along these lines as long as you make it clear what you are talking about.

What follows is your intention behind calling. ‘I intend to buy/ would like to know more/ would be grateful if you could provide me the information etc’.

You then proceed to saying, ‘could you please send me the information via e-mail/ could you mail me the catalogue/ information about your projects and the price list?’

You then thank the person you are making the enquiry from. Again, this is part of the standard rules you should follow while making a conversation with someone.

Come learn more at ELTIS SIFIL!

Hello, how do you do?

If you are new to India, you might want to interact with people here and make new friends. You might worry about how to start and carry on a conversation with someone. Well, don’t worry. We’re going to provide a few guidelines on how to begin a conversation with someone you meet for the first time. You cannot go wrong with this!

When you meet someone for the first time, you usually shake hands with a person. It is an informal situation, for example speaking with friends or family members it is alright to say ‘Hi’. However, when meeting someone for the first time or at a work place, it is preferable to say ‘Hello’.

After greeting someone, you introduce yourself to the person. “Hello, I’m Rajesh.” Remember to smile and maintain eye contact with the person you are speaking to. You should follow this as a general rule while speaking to someone. People like it when they have your absolute attention and you can give them that by never breaking eye contact. Smile and pay attention to what they say to you.

Once the initial introductions take place, you can to say, “Nice to meet you.” or, “It’s a pleasure meeting you.” These are niceties you make while speaking to someone. Often is the case that once you are introduced to someone, you will be asked about yourself. The most general questions asked are, “Where are you from? Where do you study/work? How do you like India? Have you eaten at so-and-so yet? You must visit so-and-so!”

Similarly, the above mentioned questions are questions you can also ask people when you first meet them. It is advisable not to ask personal questions.

You must keep a few things in mind while speaking to people at all times, though. Always be polite. Smile and maintain eye contact. Ask questions and respond to questions asked to you. And most importantly laugh at the jokes they tell you.

Now, don’t you think making friends in a new place is easy?

Come learn the fascinating world of the English language at ELTIS. 

Meet and Greet!

We greet people whenever we meet them. It is our way of acknowledging someone’s presence. It would be rude if we just looked at someone and said nothing! We should know what to say to someone in the right kind of situations.

Now as you all know, there are a few standard every day greetings. Those are:‘Good morning/afternoon/evening/night.’

But those are not the only greetings. As we all know there are greetings for special occasions as well.

What would you tell someone if you met them on Diwali? You’d wish them a, ‘Happy Diwali!’. Similarly, if you met someone on Christmas, you’d say, ‘Merry Christmas!’ These are known as special greetings.

In the category of special greetings comes: wishing someone luck before a task or wishing them a speedy recovery from an illness or congratulating them on a job well desk.

Complete this conversation between 2 people to get a better idea:

Mr. Baker:	Good morning, Mrs. Brendan.
Mrs. Brendan:	­­­Good morning, Mr. Baker. _______?
Mr. Baker:	I'm fine thanks, ______?
Mrs. Brendan:	Not too bad. Mr. Baker, this is my husband Michael, Michael this is Mr. Baker my English teacher.
Mr. Baker:	Pleased to meet you.
Mr. Brendan:	__________. Are you from Germany, Mr. Brendan?
Mr. Baker:	Yes, East Germany, from Dresden. And you? Are you from London?
Mr. Brendan:	No, I'm from Derby, but I live in London now.
Mrs. Baker:	Well, goodbye Mr. Baker, it was _______.
Mr. Brendan:	You too, goodbye.

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A glance at the world of Nouns!

What is your name?

Where are you from?

What is your favourite fruit?

The answers to all these questions will be Nouns. How can you tell? It’s simple, really! Nouns are words to 

name animals, places or things.

There are a few things we must keep in mind while learning nouns, though. You shouldn’t get confused while trying to trying to tell the difference between the genders of the noun. Take a look at this sentence, for instance.

“My English teacher in the tenth grade was my favourite!”

In this sentence, the noun is ‘teacher’ (you guessed that right!) However, the word ‘teacher’ could be 

referring to a male or a female teacher. It is still a noun, nonetheless.

The same is the case in this sentence: “Who is the artist who painted this beautiful picture?” The noun, that is, artist could again either be male or female. We’re just making sure you don’t get confused about it in the future!

Nouns can be broadly categorized into: Common Nouns and Proper Nouns. Let’s take a look at them closely.

Proper nouns are the specific names of a place or a person or a thing.

Look at this sentence: “Romeo took Juliet for a vacation to Rome in January.”

What are the proper nouns in this sentence? Romeo, Juliet, Rome and January. Remember to always keep in mind- specific names of places, people or things.

Now we’ll look at common nouns. These are words naming places, people or things in the general sense. So for instance if we said: “There are many trees in our school’s garden.” We’re sure you can tell what the common nouns in this sentence are!

Now as a fun exercise why don’t you re-read this blog post and try to list all the nouns- proper and common!

And don’t forget to enroll yourself at ELTIS SIFIL’S English learning courses today!  

An Article on Articles!

Let’s take a look at articles used in the English language! We use articles in our day to day life. Articles are present in every sentence we speak. But does everyone know what articles are and when we use them while 

speaking?

The articles in English language are “a, an, the”. They are used before nouns and occasionally adjectives. Articles can be categorized as ‘definite’ and ‘indefinite’ articles. Definite being ‘the’ and indefinite being ‘a, an’.

Let’s take a closer look at indefinite and definite articles.

A definite article identifies a particular noun. For example: “The tree outside my window.” Here, we are talking about a particular tree and giving its location. Hence, we can say that the article “the” can be used 

when we talk about a specific object, person or place.

An indefinite article is used in more general terms. Let’s take a look at two examples of indefinite articles: “I have an apple tree in my backyard.” Here, we are talking about one of the many kinds of trees in the backyard. We use ‘an’ before words that begin with vowels- ‘a, e, i, o, u’. (Note: Sometimes the alphabets ‘h’ and ‘y’ are also considered vowels in their silent form. Examples: An hour.)

Now take a look at this sentence: “We have a swimming pool in my school.” In this sentence, we use the word ‘a’ to indicate a swimming pool in the school. We use ‘a’ before consonants. Consonants are letters excluding a, e, i, o, u.

Here is a fun exercise for practice!

• ·         There is ____ gym on the way back from work. (a, an, the)
• ·          ____ boy on the street was looking for his mother. (a, an, the)
• ·         ____ apple a day, keeps ____doctor away. (a, an, the)
• ·         Can I have ____ slice of pie? (a, an, the)
• ·         It takes me ____ hour to get to work. (a, an, the)

Click here to know more about the English language courses offered at ELTIS SIFIL today!

ELTIS – The English Language Teaching Institute of Symbiosis

Learning a different language is not everyone’s forte. People often choose to learn a new language in an attempt to try and learn the different cultures and embrace all they can learn from it. Languages like French, German, and Spanish are now considered to be part of every layman’s vocabulary. People are now testing the waters with much more exotic languages like Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Portuguese. 

The scope languages like Mandarin and Japanese have now is mind boggling! Business translation is a hot new job up for grabs for those that can handle it. However, learning these languages as a mere hobby is always an asset. You never know when your multi-lingual skills may come in handy. 

ELTIS also offers a short-term and long-term English language course for foreign students. The timings offered are flexible and can suit the needs of working professionals and students. They also offer a "Speakfast" course module which has rapid training sessions that skims through the basics of the English language which enables foreign students to communicate better.