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There's this quote by the famous author Jeffrey Archer I had heard for the first time when he had come to India. He was doing an interview on a popular news channel and to conclude he said, "If you have talent and energy, you're king. If you have only energy and no talent, you're still a prince. But if you have talent and no energy, you're a pauper." This quote inspired me greatly and still continues to do so.

We had this whole book of short stories as a part of our course in school. My favorite one out of those was Dr.Heidegger's experiment by none other than Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's a story about 4 elderly people who have lost their youth in sinful pleasures and go in search of the fountain of youth. A really inspiring story that shows us the human behaviour and how susceptible we are to any kind of sins.

'that' is used when the speaker knows what 'that' is. Example - "John liked the girl that he knew." 'which' is used when the speaker doesn't know what 'which' is. Example - "I don't know which is the better book."

Yeah it's sad to see that hardly any people are greeting in the mother-tongue, we our slowly losing our culture because of this. Here in Pune, I've hardly heard anyone saying Namaste. I guess it will only be reduced to the beginning of Yoga sessions.

One of the most common mistakes I made was the spelling of 'vacuum'. Many students including me would write 'vaccum' because that was how we pronounced it. Another one was 'acknowledgement', I still don't know whether the 'd' is present before the g or not. Sometimes I get it right if I'm lucky.

Haha, usually words which convey some kind of sexual innuendo will sound funny Hmm... the funniest word for me would be 'cunnilingus' which is also a synonym for oral sex.

I don't use subtitles to watch movies if they are in English. Sometimes maybe when the volume is too low or if the accent is totally beyond me. I'd suggest not using subtitles because then you won't be able to listen and understand the conversations and just be left 'reading' the movie. I use subtitles only for Japanese anime or Korean dramas.

I think it's a nice method of checking to see if the students have got a brief overview of the chapter. Multiple Choice Questions(MCQs) have been widely implemented in many colleges including mine. We actually prefer these tests because there isn't much to study usually. But this format falls short if you truly want to understand the syllabus. The good ol' conventional exams where you have to answer in 'detail' are better to master the concept.

I learned about 100 kanji for the JLPT 4th level exam back in 2008 when I was in 8th grade. Kanji was definitely the toughest part of the exam, because its just memorization. You also need to know the different interpretations of the same symbol. I'm not sure if they still follow the same exam pattern. I've forgotten most of them too after such a long time I hope to learn them back soon enough.

Subbed is usually much better. I prefer hearing the Japanese voice actors than the English ones. The dubbed ones are usually timed incorrectly, the lip movement and voice will never match. At least I can feel the emotion when the I hear the original. Plus the subbers are able to interpret the meaning much better. It's impossible for two languages to have the same translation that can be said in the same amount of time.

Being a huge Breaking Bad fan and a lover of Bryan Cranston's acting, I feel that the ending was apt. There was no other way it could have ended, Walter White had to die. It would have been morally wrong if he hadn't but then again watching a show like Breaking Bad and then commenting about morals is blasphemy. He met his end in the very place which kick started his meth empire. It would have been better if they had thrown in an epilogue, like 10 years in the future to show how Flynn and his mother were doing. Hugely disappointed that Bryan didn't win the Emmy for the Best Actor.

I am probably the epitome of stress before an exam. My friend was standing right next to me and shouting my name but I couldn't hear him. I was so tensed that I ended up being oblivious to my surroundings. I remember that being the first exam of engineering college which was the worst one I had ever given. Ever since then I have learned to take exams a little more lightly because I have given so many now it doesn't even matter anymore. It's become like a routine.

Sarcasm is not limited to any language, it's just that English speakers use it most often. It also depends on how sportingly the listener takes it and if it ends up offending them it could be a problem for you. Try to crack sarcastic, witty remarks with your closest friends to ensure you don't end up with a black eye. One of my favorite ways of annoying my friends if they ask me to do something. I reply back "Yeah sure". They don't believe me and and ask "Really?". Then I go "Yeah, you can see me doing it right now." when I'm just sitting there doing nothing.

Hey Amy! It's great to see that you are living in Korea and even married to a Korean! Chukkahamnida! Even I had gone to South Korea earlier this year for an International Summer Program. I'd be glad if you could help me out with the language now that you are living there

People don't care about spelling as long as they can get their point across. Those that use shorthand to type "i lk 2 txt u'. I hate you guys. It's so annoying and is a pain reading. I don't know who told these people that it's "cool" to type that way. People! Please use correct grammar with proper capitalization. This also reflects when writing professional reports and resumes with bad grammar are thrown aside 99% of the times.

Unfortunately, I do and have been doing for quite some time now. Its become so serious that I even use it while speaking when one of my friends cracks a joke instead of laughing. I think it has become somewhat of a standard while texting people, "Omg LOL!". It's really sad and is an insult to the English language, I'll certainly try to reduce using it from now on. Haha! (How's that for a beginning? )

English is definitely a part of my education. It has been the first language since we studied in from the time I've joined school. Since my school is Anglo-Indian, i.e started by the Britishers in the 1800s, English has had a great impact on my life. You could say English is my native tongue rather than Hindi. India being a country with an immeasurable number of regional languages it becomes impossible to know all of them. Hindi used to be the language that binded us all but now for the current generation I'd say that it's English. Almost everyone in India knows English, if not fluently at least they can understand bits and pieces enough to get small work done.

Thanks a lot! It certainly looks like a good book. I'll check if it's available in my country's local online store.

My first book was one in the Hardy Boys series, I don't even remember the title. I had read it back in fourth grade. My main aim at that time, I remember, was just completing the book cover to cover without actually understanding much of the story. I used to keep counting the number of pages remaining to complete the book. Funny me. I can say that was the stepping stone to the many, many books I have read till date.

Hello everyone! People aspiring to do Masters in the States or other countries need to give this exam. I will be giving it early next year. The English Verbal section in this exam is quite tough and has a huge word list of 3000+ words that need to be learned. Any help on books/guides to be referred will be appreciated! Thank you

Google translate is a great way to get a rough idea of what is being said. Although don't use the translation religiously especially if its for a school/college project. The app helped me greatly when I was in Korea because of the text detection tool through images! I remember going to a store and asking for the procedure to get free Wi-fi. Unfortunately the employee couldn't understand me at all, but he had an idea to carry out our whole conversation on Google Translate. So there I was, writing in English which kept getting translated to Korean on the other end. Similarly he wrote the reply in Korean and this way I could understand what he was trying to say. I was truly amazed by the functionality of this app since then! Kudos to Google!

The best way to learn vocabulary has to be reading. And I don't mean sitting with the dictionary next to you searching for the explanation of every word in the novel that you don't understand. Read the sentences and try to understand the context in which the word is being used. This way the word will be embedded in your mind and you can use it in your day to day life. Although you need to have intermediate vocabulary before you can do this. Rote learning new vocabulary is a no-no. You might remember the word and the meaning for a while but if you can't use it in a sentence it becomes pointless. If you have found out a new word, try using it in a conversation atleast 5-6 times in a day. Good luck!

For me the toughest aspect is definitely speaking and listening. Once you learn the alphabet of the respective language, reading and writing becomes easy as its just a test of your memory power. When I got the opportunity to visit Korea and was taught the Hangul script, I tried my best to read every signboard/hoarding on the street. This way I got more familiar with the language. Truly understanding a language involves being able to converse with the local people by understanding their accent. The mastery of this can take quite some time and it helps if your practice with a native speaker.