G J Tutorial

Some Commonly Misused Words

I found a very interesting list of 27 commonly misused word at CopyBlogger (Inigo Montoya Guide to the 27 most commonly misused words). Most of us make a mistake while using these words. It is very important to know which word to use in what context.

I hope you will all like the list and remember to use them “correctly” next time you write/say something.

Here are some that I think are most common mistakes:

Complement / Compliment

Farther / Further

Insure / Ensure

Who / Whom

You may read the complete list with examples at:

Inigo Montoya Guide to the 27 most commonly misused words

English Grammar is a very important part of almost all competitive exams, so lets’ learn something about these words. We will try and publish some more here at GJTutorial.com for our reader’s.

Do you remember making any such mistake? Let us know via comment.

Happy Learning!!

Tags: Commonly Misused Words, Improve your English

How to improve your English by Reading

This is the part 2 of our series on 10 Things to do to improve your spoken English. Reading was the first point we mentioned. Today we will give you some tips on how to read English text to improve your English.

Reading is the best way to learn a language, however we need to make sure that we use the correct technique. Normally when we read, we try to go very fast. So the result is that we skip many common words and only pick some words which give a meaning to the sentences. We need to change this approach if we want to improve our English

Lets see what are the challenges.

Challenge 1:

Common Words are ignored.

We do not read the common grammar words like to, a, an, the etc. If you don’t believe me, just visit this link. The result is when we talk or write in English we tend to skip these words. That is the major reason for most of us not using articles like a/an/the in our speech and writing.

Solution 1:

Read slowly when you are learning English. Try to understand how the words are arranged to form a meaningful sentence. You should look for words which are used mos often and try to see if you can use them yourself.

Challenge 2:

Difficult Words are ignored.

When we encounter a difficult while reading we just skip that. Most of the times we can judge the meaning of a sentence by considering the context of the word used even if we do not know the word. This way we seldom learn anything new from what we read.

Solution 2:

Use a dictionary. I think the best way to learn new workds is to find their meaning as and when you encounter them. This way, you have a sentence right in front of you which tells you how to use the word when you need.

A quick tip for people who are online for most part of the day. Just open “www.google.com” and type “define: your-word” to find the meaning of word. Just replace your-word with the word that you want the meaning for. Neat!! Ehh!!

Challenge 3:

Spellings are ignored.

We don’t really care for spellings when we read text. Our eyes can make sense of completely jumbled words as long as the beginning and end letters are same. So how do we improve our sepllings? I mean spellings :).

Solution 3:

Be careful while reading. Read quality books/magazines and newspaper. This will reduce the chances that you are reading something that has not gone through proper proof-reading. You will amazed to find words which are very similar in spellings but have very different meaning.

Challenge 4:

Lack of Interest and Will Power.

I know that its very difficult to maintain your interest when you are reading some text written in a foreign language. The key here is patience and persistence.

Solution 4:

Try and  generate interest in what you are reading. Read about stuff you like. If you are love painting, read about painters and their work. If you love poetry then read about your favourite poet. Just make sure that you don’t feel that you are forced to read something.

Challenge 5:

Learn and Forget.

Some of you must be thinking that you have done all this in past and still see no improvement. It might be true, but remember what we started with, “techniques”. You need to plan and find a way that works for you.

Solution 5:

The toughest challenges sometimes have the easiest solutions. The best way to remmeber things you learn is to repeat and revise the. Keep a small pocket notepad with you. Write down things you learn and go back to them when you have time. You will definitely see a great difference.

Suggested Reading:

How to read English texts if you want to improve your English

Improve your English through Reading

What do you think about this article. Please let us know via comment at the end of the post?

If you like this article, you may want to register for our e-mail updates for more such self improvement articles.

Tags: Improve your English, Reading

10 Things to do to improve your spoken English

So you want to improve your spoken English. It’s very important because you have a very important interview to clear before you get your “Dream Job”. You are confident that you will clear all the rounds, if only you had the confidence to speak in English. You are committed to work for it but you don’t know where to start, how to start.

Sounds familiar!! I bet this has happened to most of us at some point of time. I remember times when I used to think that English was the biggest barrier for my career growth. Not any more, I worked hard and now I am at a comfort level with my English and even teach people how to overcome this challenge.

Today I am going to share what I did to improve my English. You can follow the same steps and beat the fear for “Angrezi”, now the world language.

10 Things that I think are important to improve your spoken English:

1. Read some kind of English material everyday. e. g. you may read a good magazine like “India Today”, Front Line”. You may even start with quality editorials from Newspapers like “The Hindu” and “The Tribune”.

2. Listen, carefully, to English movies or speakers. Take note of the words/terms used. You might use them someday. It would be better if you have a booklet where you could list down the words along with their meaning and usage. Make sure you go back and read these words over and over till you start using them effectively.

3. We know English but our tongue doesn’t, so try to read aloud. It would be best if you have a corresponding cassettes. You should read aloud alongside the recordings.

4. Watch English movies with English subtitles on. This has many advantages. You will be able to compare the written words to the correct pronunciations. You will get a feel of how real English sentences are formed when speaking.

5. Listen to English songs. This will help you a lot. If u can’t understand the accent, take the lyrics which you can get by searching at google (your best teacher online).

6. Note down the phrases you get from different English sources, mug up them and use them.

7. One of the most common mistakes that English learners make is, they think in their mother tongue. When they want to say something in English, they think in their mother tongue, translate it to English and then say it in English. If you want to speak in English fluently you will have to learn to “think” in English.

8. To help you with your English, you could get your self a English learning kit OR English learning software life “Cafe English”.

9. Talk to yourself. You may feel shy, using English, when among your friends, however you should talk to yourself loudly in English to know how well you are doing.

10. The last but the most important thing. Stop thinking that you cannot speak English, “YOU CAN”, believe me.

Other suggested readings:

1. 10 tips to improve the way you speak English

2. How to improve your English

So what are you waiting for, go grab a couple of articles and start reading them to start with (remember point One!!).

Recommended Books for Beginners:

1. Your At-Home guide to Fluent Spoken English

2. 20 Steps to Understanding All English Grammar Secrets

3. Dictionary - Over 1300 Most Frequently Used Words in Spoken English

4. Common Interview Questions and Their Answers.

SET OF FOUR BOOKS TO IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH @ Rs. 150/- + 50/- Postage = Rs. 200

[Call/SMS "ENGLISH" to 9855171046]

Best of Luck!!

Tags: English, Improve your English, recommend, spoken, Things

Sample Questions - English Vocabulary for Entrance Exams

Questions: 100

Suggested Time: 30 Min

Directions (Q 1-10): Pick out the synonym of the lead word in each case.

1. ANODYNE

1. annihilated 2. soothing 3. eidolon 4. not necessary

2. AMBROSIA

1. poison 2. plentiful 3. scarcity 4. elixir

3. AMULET

1. symbol 2. charm 3. hole 4. none of these

4. ASSUAGE

1. scare 2. allay 3. enhance 4. surrender

5. ACCLIVITY

1. declivity 2. proclivity 3. upwards 4. slanting

6. APHASIA

1. garrulity 2. loquacity 3. reticence 4. remembrance

7. ANNUL

1. encourage 2. commiserate 3. mummify 4. rescind

8. APOTHECARY

1. doctor 2. hunter 3. vagabond 4. pharmacist

9. AU REVOIR

1. welcome 2. appellation 3. good-bye 4. superb

10. APLOMB

1. poise 2. diffidence 3. circuitous 4. tumult

Directions (Q 11-20):Pick out the antonym of the lead word in each case.

11. AMELIORATE

1. enervate 2. deteriorate 3. stultify 4. none of these

12. ASININE

1. brilliant 2. vulpine 3. feline 4. leonine

13. APPARITION

1. real 2. unreal 3. joint 4. enhancement

14. SANGUINE

1. red 2. morose 3. suffering 4. approaching

15. SAGGY

1. taut 2. sagacious 3. delinquent 4. developing

16. SURLY

1. curly 2. amazon 3. bilious 4. pugilist

17. SOPHISTRY

1. polemics 2. urbanity 3. pertinence 4. didactics

18. SOBRIQUET

1. snout 2. cognomen 3. genuine 4. bouquet

19. SUFFRAGE

1. suffering 2. celibacy 3. forestry 4. franchise

20. SATED

1. suave 2. inadept 3. contented 4. ruffled up

More »

Tags: English, Entrance Exam, Exam, Paper, Question Paper, Recruitment, Sample Paper, Vocabulary

Idioms and Phrases for Competitive Exams - English Sample Paper

Lets prepare for the English Language Today. Idioms are Phrases are an important part of the English Language test in almost all Entrance Exams like Bank PO, SSC, LIC, NDA, CDS, B Ed, etc. Idioms and phrases are similar to “muhavare” that we have in Hindi. Lets see how you perform.

Directions: In each of the following questions part of sentence is in bold. Four alternative meanings of the highlited part of the sentence are given below the sentence. Mark as your answer that alternative meaning which you think is correct. If none of the first four is correct, mark (5) i.e. none of these as your answer.

1. In the last few years India has advanced by leaps and bounds in the industrial sector.

1. Very rapidly

2. Very competently

3. Very slowly

4. Very pathetically

5. None of these

2. The authorities turned a deaf ear to the demands of the employees.

1. Immediately implemented

2. Agreed to listen to

3. Misrepresented

4. Whole-heartedly agreed to

5. None of these

3. He was in doldrums after the quarrel he had with his brother.

1. He was jubilant

2. He was in low spirits

3. He was in a financial difficulty

4. He left the house

5. None of these

4. If you pass this difficult examination it will be a feather in you cap

1. Your parents will be very happy

2. You will get a scholarship for higher studies

3. You will feel proud of it

4. You will get a very good job

5. None of these

5. Tell me plainly who broke the mirror, do not beat about the bush.

1. Pretend to be unaware of the matter

2. Try to impress me with your arguments

3. Put any blame on others

4. Approach the matter in a round about way

5. None of these

6. Some people have a habit of wearing their heart on their sleeve.

1. saying something which is not to be taken seriously

2. exposing their innermost feelings to others

3. avoiding being friendly with others

4. always trying to gain advantage over others

5. wasting their time on unnecessary details

7. I raked my brains to solve this difficult problem.

1. I read number of books

2. I consulted several people

3. I used my commonsense

4. I subjected my mind to hard thinking

5. I brainwashed several experts

8. He was a king who ruled his subjects with a high hand.

1. sympathetically

2. kindly

3. democratically

4. conveniently

5. oppressively

9. It is a matter of gratification for me that he has turned a new leaf.

1. begun a different mode of life

2. proved to be a worthy person on his job

3. decided to use a different strategy to solve the problem

4. accepted the new job that was offered to him

5. started using his intelligence

10. He is a plain, simple and sincere man, he will always call a spade a spade.

1. be outspoken

2. help needy person

3. stand by his friends and relatives

4. sacrifice his life for others

5. put up a simple dress

11. It was such a strange affair that I could not make head or tail of it.

1. tolerate it

2. face it

3. remember it

4. believe it

5. understand it

12. He is temporarily in charge of the company and is trying to feather his nest.

1. bring order and discipline in the company

2. raise the image of the company

3. act for his own future benefits

4. diversify the product of the company

5. practice his own brand of management philosophy

13. Those who make no bones about such actions face a tough oppostion.

1. do without hesitation

2. make no plan

3. waste no time

4. invite no comments

5. None of these

14. Mrs B is known as a shoplifter in a Mumbai commercial center.

1. smuggler

2. a thief in the guise of a customer

3. buyer of all new things

4. daily visitor

5. None of these

15. The people in north India are known for keeping open house.

1. never locking it

2. not worrying about its security

3. offering hospitality to everyone

4. keeping it well ventilated

5. None of these

Directions (Q 16-20): In each of the following questions an idiomatic expression and its four possible meaning are given. Find out the correct meaning of the idiomatic expression and mark the number of that meanings as your answer on the answer sheet. If you do not find any correct answer, mark ‘5′, i.e. none of these as your answer.

16. To make clean breast of

1. to gain prominence

2. to praise oneself

3. to confess without reserve

4. to destroy before it blooms

5. None of these

17. To end in smoke

1. to make completely understand

2. to ruin oneself

3. to excite great applause

4. to overcome some one

5. None of these

18. To leave someone in the lurch.

1. to come to compromise with someone

2. constant source of annoyance to someone

3. to put someone at ease

4. to desert someone in his difficulties

5. None of these

19. To cry wolf

1. to listen eagerly

2. to give false alarm

3. to turn pale

4. to keep off starvation

5. None of these

20. A man of straw

1. a man of no substance

2. a very active person

3. a worthy fellow

4. an unreasonable person

5. None of these

CLASSIC PHRASE: 01

1-5: 15234

6-10: 24511

11-15: 53323

16-20: 32421

Tags: Bank PO/Clerical, CDS 2009, English, idioms, Notes, phrases, Sample Paper, SSC