Firelily99

I try to keep it as correct as possible but that's not to say that I do slip up and throw in a grammatical bomb from time to time. A lot depends upon who I am talking to and what we are talking about. English, even for a native speaker has so many nuances and exceptions that its hard to be a perfect speaker of it, or even a writer.

I try and make learning something I want to do rather than something that I have to do. I hated school when I was a kid so consequently I got poor grades. As I've gotten older I really want to learn as much as I can before I kick the bucket. So many opportunities exist to learn new things and gain exposure to a world that is a fascinating place to live in. Its a crazy quilt of cultures, dialects, and lifestyles that I want to know about, authors I want to read, and places I want to visit.

I have always wanted to learn Italian, mainly because I'm such a big fan of Italian opera. Chinese would be fascinating to learn but there are so many dialects. Really I would want to at least sample a few languages before I could pick one; there are so many languages around the world it would be tough to pick just one.

I don't use it very much anymore, when I do its only on a text - a very funny text. It gets over used and I felt like I was using it too much and short cutting my writing. I would never use it in an email, it seems like lazy writing to do so.

My reading speed depends on what I am reading and whether or not I am trying to learn something. Novels I generally go through fairly quickly although it does depend on the author. At times I have to check myself and my speed because I tend to get going too fast and miss important parts of the material.

I checked out prowritingaid.com and it is an excellent site. I've been feeling that I have been overusing certain words and becoming redundant and I was right! Thanks for the excellent tip on the site!

We had to read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in high school and it was really a slog to get through it. I don't know if it would be easier to read over forty years later and I'm not sure that I would even try.

If we are counting Animal Farm then that's where my vote would go. Terrific book; I haven't read it since high school but I have given some thought to reading it again.

The only other Orwell novel that I read was Animal Farm and I read that in high school. I've thought about reading something else by him but not sure what I should try. Any suggestions anyone?

With so many exceptional writers in America its hard to narrow it down to just a few. Edgar Alan Poe, Hemingway, and Emily Dickinson are good to start with. Mark Twain is always a must read. I have been reading John Updike and the novels of Rebecca Wells and find them both to be excellent and captivating writers.

I don't start many sentences with conjunctions because during my early school years I was taught not to. I do it on occasion now but I always have the voice of my junior high school English teacher yapping in my head telling me I'm wrong. I know that its an okay thing to do but I still hear her voice!

I used to use it more but rarely do now. I'm not sure why it is that I don't, do I not find things humorous anymore or did I simply got out of the habit. I don't even use it that much when I text so the mystery for me of the vanishing LOL continues without an answer.

Online tutorials can be extremely helpful provided that you can find a good one. I've learned a lot taking tutorials and I like going along at my own pace especially when I am struggling with subject matter. Nothing can take the place of a good instructor but a good tutorial is a good learning aid.

If I've studied then I am pretty relaxed about taking an exam although a few butterflies will dance through my stomach from time to time. If I haven't studied then I generally take the route that I'll do the best that I can and if I bomb out, oh well! If by some miracle that I do really well despite a lack of effort in studying then Woo Hoo1

When I am reading for pleasure I generally read fairly fast, especially if its an excellent novel. When I am trying to learn something I go quite a bit slower and will re-read the text as much as possible. Generally it all depends on what it is I am reading and what I am trying to get out of it.