My School days Girlfriend Grammar

My School Days Girl-friend Grammar

All of a sudden, Grammy threw her arms around my neck, her head resting on my shoulder. I could feel the warmth of her silent tears rolling down from her eyes

By Mukesh Sharma

A few days ago, I visited US library at K.G. Marg, New Delhi for the renewal of my membership. I was surprised to spot my school days girl-friend Grammar sitting quietly and calmly in the reading hall, engrossed in some book. When I was at school, she was a good friend of mine. She would never indulge in small-talks. She would always preach discipline. All classmates used to respect her a lot. Out of love and respect, I would also call her by a nick name ‘Grammy.’

My School days Girlfriend

The moment ‘Grammy’ caught my sight, she sprang to her feet; she walked up to me and gave me a hug. We sat down for an hour and had warm chit-chat in the light of sweet memories of the past. Here, this blogger shares the excerpts of that interesting talks with his valued readers:

Blogger:

What a great pleasure to see you here Grammy after such a long time! How do you do?

Grammy:

How do I look? You see! A woman is as old as she looks and a man is as old as he feels.

Blogger:

Great! You are an ageless beauty. Even mighty time respects your beauty. And ever yours, I am one of your votaries.

Grammy:

Okay. I am flattered! I am flattered! You writers know how to play with the words. Where and how to use Simile, Metaphor, Hyperbole, Euphemism, Antithesis, Oxymoron, Personification, Apostrophe, Epigram, Irony, Pun and Metonymy.

Blogger:

I have learnt this all from you only. You are my teacher. You are my best friend. I am a writer because of you. To be honest, you are my first love; you are my love-lady.

Grammy:

Frankly speaking, I don’t have very high opinion of men. I have bitter experience with the men. Naked truth is a man loves a woman for sex,  and a woman gives sex for the love of man.  Men are attracted towards women for sheer sexual urge. In the beginning, they make great show of love and affection. They would love to hang out with their girls. After winning her confidence, they use her, they misuse her, they abuse her and at last they disuse her for another body (woman). So is the situation with me (Grammar) also. Once one has good command of the language, Grammar is given good-bye. In US, over 45 per cent women above the age of 50 end up as single. It's a male chauvinist society. I don’t trust man. I enjoy celibacy.

Blogger:

Don’t generalize it. You can’t draw a conclusion on the basis of the behavior of some selfish men. You know, those who understand you, love and respect you the most.

Grammy:

Don’t placate me with your words.

Blogger:

It is not an exaggeration Grammy! It’s truth. You are the epitome of discipline. You teach discipline. You are like nature that teaches nothing but discipline. The sun rises in east; it sets in west. The earth and all the planets revolve around the sun in a synchronized orbit – it is a perfect example of discipline.

You see, Grammar is a crux of life. God has succeeded in creating all planets and stars because He knows the Grammar of universe.

It is the Grammar of the body that brings man and woman close to each other.

Truth is stranger than fiction. Handful of wily netas who are public servants rule over the masters (the public), for, they know the Grammar of Democracy. On the contrary, the public can simply maunder and mumble but can’t do anything, for, it doesn’t understand the Grammar of Politics.

Grammy:

Hold you horses, I am impressed! I am impressed! But, you know, many scholars contend that Grammar is more confusing than comprehensive, and cite reasons:

-          If one studies the grammar from very first chapter to the last, rules are progressively discarded one after the other. There are no hard and fast rules in conventional grammar. It is full of exceptions. So a student remains confused even after studying the whole grammar.

-           It is also silent on the rules of preposition. Why the meaning of a word changes with different preposition e.g. call on, call for, call upon etc.

-          It is also maintained that conventional grammar doesn’t teach sentence making. It teaches one how to correct a sentence, not how to make sentences . . .

Blogger:

These morons know only conventional grammar taught at school level in conformity to colonial education system which is based on rote-learning and it is a corrective grammar only; it teaches to correct the sentence. These so-called scholars have no knowledge of your other parts – Syntactical Grammar that teaches the sentence making and Generative Grammar that teaches to generate the sentences. Those who are acquainted with all the parts, know that Grammar is comprehensive, not confusing.

Further, as far as rule of preposition is concerned, standardized collocations are the answer. English is a language of phrases. Root words/key words pair with other words and produce standardizes collocations and convey different senses. So, no need to go into the rule of preposition.

Grammy:

Well, some find fault even in my eugenics. Scholars cast aspersions and take jibe at me saying English has no grammar of its own. An American Lindley Murray who was  a Latin Scholar and he was of the view that Latin was the most scientific language in the world and it's  grammar could  justify any language. So he just converted the Latin Grammar into English Grammar in 1795. And his book set the precedent for succeeding books on English Grammar.

Blogger:

So what, you know Latin is the direct descendant of Sanskrit. All the European languages are genetically related to Sanskrit only which is looked upon as parent language for all the European languages. So you should take pride in the fact that you are the pampered daughter of Latin, and a great,  great . . . . grand daughter of Sanskrit – a divine language which was fully developed and advanced even 5000 years ago at a time when the world was a savage and even most of the modern languages were non-existent.

Grammy:

Oh my goodness, you know a lot about me. You think a lot about me? Now I can understand your sneaking love for me, right!

Blogger:

I understand only one fact. If you love your children, you must respect their mother. I love English language. So I respect the mother of English language i.e. you Grammy.

Grammy:

So, you have great respect for women!

Blogger:

Of course, like mother-nature, only a woman has power of procreation. Man is a child of woman. His life revolves around woman only. Without woman, this little world of man will cease to exist.

Grammy:

O man, you are a true man. I never knew that you had such warm feelings for me.

Blogger:

That’s not all. I would like to unfold my heart today. You see, I wanted to marry you, but I couldn’t summon the courage to pop the question. I contented myself with the thought: those who can’t be held in arms, can be had in heart. Even today, you live in my heart. You are the queen of my heart.

All of a sudden, Grammy threw her arms around my neck, her head resting on my shoulder. I could feel the warmth of her silent tears rolling down from her eyes. Tears welled in my eyes too. Consoling and comforting her,  I whispered in her ear:

“Worry not honey, the next birth would witness the grand and gala union  of the body and soul. ‘Amen, Amen, Amen’ she blurted out in deep voice echoing from the heart. And with a good-bye kiss, we parted to meet again in the next birth . . .

Generative Grammar

Generative Grammar

'A Generative grammar is a system of analysis usually identified with linguistics. By its means a language can be viewed as a set of rules, finite in numbers that can produce sentences'

By Mukesh Sharma

Broadly speaking, a language is nothing but a group of sentences. If one is able to produce correct sentences, one is said to have learnt the language.

Since the main purpose of studying the Grammar is to learn to understand, write and speak standardized English, and common English grammar fails to teach this in totality, a need of generative grammar is felt.

The Oxford Advance Lerner’s Dictionary describes the term generative grammar as: “a grammar that describes a language by giving a set of rules which can be used to produce all the possible sentences in that language.”

The term generative grammar was first used by linguist Noam Chomsky in United States of America who developed the theory of generative grammar in 1957 – syntactic structures. Throwing light on the subject, Britannica Encyclopedia reveals:

“A generative grammar is a system of analysis usually identified with linguistics. By its means a language can be viewed as a set of rules, finite in number that can produce sentences.”

There was total disagreement among the linguists in accepting any of propagated theories of generative grammar which could be considered “as the best model for the generation of sentences as well as for the description of natural languages.” Moreover, no generative grammar has ever been written which might help the non-native speakers of English language to learn sentence-making without learning the English grammar in detail or doing any translation from mother tongue to English with the help of set rules of commonly used English grammar.

Why should you read this book?

This book of Generative Grammar for English Language is based on the concept of Root Elements. From 0 to 9, there are 10 digits. These 10 digits have given birth to infinite numbers. Seven suras are the basis of all the musical notes ever developed by man. According to Hindu philosophy, all this material world – animate or inanimate, is made up of five Root Elements – Earth, Fire, Air, Water and space. Such parent element can be termed as Root Elements. There can be innumerable superficial and seemingly distinctive probabilities born out of Root Elements. This is applicable to language too. With the help of Root Sentences, one can learn to generate sentences without the hassle of grammar or without doing any translation. One can enjoy the unique experience of sentence-making using root sentences, which are mostly common to all the languages. One can’t think beyond these Root Sentences. The knowledge of Root sentences helps you to generate hundreds of sentences rather playfully on any object or person. The unique features of this book are as follows:

1.     It seeks to help students who wish to learn English as their second language, and want to learn sentence-making without any translation from mother tongue to English or without learning the common English grammar in detail.

2.      It helps you to think directly in English.

3.      It helps you to develop thoughts.

4.      It seeks to help you to write/speak 500 words on any object/person extempore.

5.      It helps you to know traditional grammar without learning it.

Author, sincerely believes that a determined and diligent English language aspirant would find this book worth-reading. Author is confident that the esteemed readers would realize that the book has potential to change the concept of English learning.

The book, a bestseller, is available on Amazon.in. Very soon, it will available as e- book too.

English, as the most Corrupted language in the world

English, as the most Corrupted language in the world

A research work that seeks to unearth the truth about the parentage, birth, development and ensuing natural death of English language which is the most powerful, the most sought-after and the most loved international language today

By Mukesh Sharma

It won’t be wrong to say that English language is analogous to the status of a woman in human society. A woman gets her surname from her husband after marriage. She is known by that surname in the society. Her children carry the surname to the next generation. More or less English has also met the same fate.

People of different tongues have adopted English language. They have moulded it according to their own conveniences and comforts. And that is not all, they have individualized it and have given it their own names.

Consequently, with over 18 variations, scores of dialects, creoles and pidgins, English stands as the most corrupted language in the world. Scholars describe its different ‘varieties’ with portmanteau words such as Hinglish, Singlish, etc.

This blogger and author sincerely believes that the valued readers/students would find the book very interesting  and worth-reading.

 The book, a bestseller, is available on Amazon.in. Very soon, the book would also be available as e-book.

Secrets of Good English

Secrets of Good English

Learn to understand, think, write and speak good English used in English newspaper, Competitive Exams, and in daily life by the English

By Mukesh Sharma

‘English’, says a Hindi medium UPSC aspirant from Bihar (India) sarcastically: “it is not simply a language in India; it is a symbol of status; it is a symbol of class; it is a symbol of intellect; if you don’t know this language, you will be looked upon as a savage.” ”By an estimate, just two per cent people have command over English language, and virtually they call the shots in the country.” he adds further spitefully.

No doubt, the acerbic comments of the student do carry the weight and are not without substance. In fact, it reflects the majority of Hindi medium UPSC aspirants from Hindi heartland with abysmally poor English; they struggle with English like anything at Mukherjee Nagar, north Delhi. “The selection of Hindi medium students is rather negligible in comparison to English medium students in UPSC exams/other administrative services,” reveals a disgruntled student.

True, a mad dash for English-acquisition can be witnessed among government services aspirants. Their number is in legion.

The problem is that the conventional English Grammar doesn’t help in writing/speaking. Translation from mother tongue to English often leads to non-standardized sentences and fractured English Without good vocabulary, one can’t think correctly and write accurately.

Here, this blogger seeks to reveal the secrets of good English through his very well acclaimed and acknowledged book entitled ‘Secrets of Good English’ by Mukesh Sharma, a bestseller and a FIVE STAR rated book on Amazon.in

The salient features of the book are:

1.      How to think in English

The book seeks to help the second language learner of English to think in English that too without translation and hassle of Grammar with the help of 20 ROOT SENTENCES. As all the numbers are born out of 0-9 digits, all sentences also come out of root-sentences. If words are names of things, sentences are actions that occur in time – present, past and future. Based on action, sentences can be divided into four categories – affirmation, interrogation, Negative and Passive. When 20 Root sentence are studied in this way. The total comes out to be 123. It means there are 123 ways to think in English. No English sentence can exist beyond that. If Hindi/Mother tongue is mapped on each English sentence, one is able to make his/her mind to think in English directly- no ongoing mental translation process.

2.      Know grammar without learning

Of 123 sentences, each sentence has a syntactical formula i.e. grammatical arrangement of the words in a sentence. So, while making sentences, one learns grammatical rules without learning it.

3.      English, a language of phrases

The English language, expertise lies in the knowledge that which ‘verb’ pairs with which ‘noun’ e.g. wear belt etc., and which adjective goes with which noun e.g. incessant rain etc. Thus the words make standardized collocations, and it makes the basis of good English or standardized English The book discusses such collocations which are based on root words/key words at length. It, dramatically, augments the vocabulary used in English newspaper, competitive exam and in daily life by the English.

4.      English for life

The problem with the majority of students is that they study English as a subject to pass out 100^th or 12^th that too through rote-learning. They don’t study it as a language which is a part of life – human life, society, politics, nature, religion, God, and universe. Unless one has the knowledge of words related to different aspects of life, one can never acquire the practical knowledge of English language. And the prime purpose of English paper of all the competitive exams is to gauze the practical knowledge of English of the candidates. This book discusses the words related to different aspect of life – right from birth to death. If you don’t have words, you can never have thoughts.

If you are confused, not able to understand, write and speak good English even after BA/MA, and have tried several institutions/books to master English, you must read this book.

This blogger and author of the book sincerely believes that the valued readers/students would find the book very useful. Take it from me, the book has potential to change the world of your English language. The book can be purchased from Amazon.in.

BUY YOUR COPY NOW

https://www.amazon.in/Secrets-Good-English-Mukesh-Sharma/dp/818974500X

Of English Language Comprehension

Of English Language Comprehension

Linguistically speaking, the question asked in exams based on heard or written speech is a test of practical understanding of English language – how quickly one grasps and how correctly one answers

By Mukesh Sharma

Be it academic or competitive exams for various government services in India, the question on comprehension is very common and compulsory. It is a test to assess the understanding of the students regarding English language; it is a test of quick grasping of the subject matter discussed; it is a test of vocabulary; it is a test of syntax; it is a test of knowledge of grammatical rules; it is a test of self-expression.

Of English Language Comprehension

Broadly speaking, comprehension is an exercise that trains students to understand a language, and it also tests the understanding of the students regarding a language. It can be divided into two categories:

1. Listening Comprehension

2. Reading Comprehension 

Listening Comprehension (LC)

It is a test of the ability of the students to grasp the message quickly when it is read out to him/her, and answer the questions set out on the message. Usually, when something is read out in native tongue, one grasps it in no time. For instance, a native speaker of Hindi can understand a Hindi song even with varied pitch, beat or tone. But when it comes to second language (English), he/she faces problem in understanding even the simple words because of unacquainted pronunciation and the problem becomes serious when a native speaker of English speaks. Hindi speaking people are not able to understand English songs completely without the written lyrics – the root cause of the problem is accent. However, English is such a language that has many variations – American English, British English, Canadian English, Australian English, Indian English, etc. It won’t be wrong to say that there is no standardized pronunciation of a particular word in English or there is no standardization accent. What is more, each variation is governed by its own grammar. For instance, American English doesn’t use ‘helping verbs’ like ‘does’, ‘shall’, etc.:

He don’t like it (AE)

He doesn’t like it (BE)

I shall attend party (BE)

I will attend party (AE)

Furthermore, Bill Bryson, an American journalist and the author of The Mother Tongue says:

There are over 4000 words which have common spellings; same pronunciation, but different meanings in both the countries – America and Britain.

For instance, the word ‘fanny’ means buttock (in AE) and Vagina (in BE), ‘knock up’ means get pregnant (in AE) and wake up call (in BE) etc. Surprisingly enough, American English sounds different even to native speaker of English from Britain. A great litterateur G.B. Shaw makes a Ironic comment:

US and UK are the two countries divided by the common language

In fact, the listening comprehension (LC) depends on how one recognizes a word through the sound of its pronunciation as one recognizes one’s near and dear by the distinctive sound of their voice. So a non- native of speaker must listen to native speaker of English to get himself/herself used to the distinctive sound of pronunciation of the words, and that leads to understanding of the accent too. As far as English language is concerned, a non-native speaker of English must watch CNN, BBC, and other English programme including movies. Very recently, a video grab of a 12 year old Haryana (India) girl went viral where she was shown speaking English with American and British accent. When she was asked how she learnt it, she said: “I have picked it up by listening and studying the accent of native speakers of English."

Furthermore, the test of listening comprehension (LC) is also one of the compulsory questions in IELTS (International English language Testing System) and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign language) where the students who wish to study abroad or in some foreign university in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom (England, Welsh, Ireland & Scotland), and USA, are made to listen a recorded speech, and they are asked to answer the questions based on heard speech. In IELTS, the recorded speech may be played in one of different accents e.g. American, British, Canadian, etc., while in TOEFL, it is American accent only.

Reading Comprehension

How one comprehends a written text in English. Linguistically speaking, the question on written text or unseen passage in the exams, is a test of practical understanding of English language- how quickly one grasps and how correctly one answers the question based on that. It depends on one’s ability to recognize the words through their distinctive shape as one is able to recognize his/her very close acquaintances by their body shape and gait even from some distance in the dark. In the mind of well-read man, a discernible shape of each written word is stored in the form of a picture. Just a cursory glance of a particular written word makes the shape of the word complete in the mind. This is how a trained and qualified chemist is able to read even an scribbled prescription of a doctor. Thus such pictorial memory of the mind, makes one read the written text faster than an ordinary reader. So, to pass out the test of reading comprehension one must develop good reading habit. Read as much as one can the different material on variety of subjects. With the practice, one can increase the speed of reading a book up to 60 pages per hour. Of course, it takes time to develop the pictorial memory.

In common parlance, the question on reading comprehension in exams is also known as question on unseen passage. It is common in most of the competitive exams for government services in India, particularly, in Banks Probationary Officers including IELTS and TOEFL. The students with poor English find the question rather challenging. The common complaint is that the passage was very tough; English was very difficult; students were not able to catch even main idea. Majority of students with poor knowledge of English, also find the question time- consuming. Though there is no format, and no rote-learning works, here this blogger seeks to suggest the easiest way to attempt the question successfully even with not-so-good English:

1^st step

Read the passage as quickly as possible so as to grasp the main idea, read for the message not for sentences or words.

2^nd step

Read the questions set on the passage one by one.

3^rd step

Re-read the passage carefully and underline the sentences/words that may be related directly or indirectly to given questions.

4^th step

Read questions once again

5^th step

Re-read the passage and look at the marked/underlined sentences/words, carefully.

6^th step

Start answering the question in your own words based on underlined sentences in the passage; no patch work.

Mind you, only a well-read student would be comfortable  in answering the question on unseen passage. However, good reading-habit and good practice can improve the reading comprehension. Nothing is difficult, if one is determined to do it – an attempt always paves the way to solution of a problem.

English, Great, Great. . . . Grand Daughter of Sanskrit

English, a Great, Great. . . .

Grand Daughter of Sanskrit

We, Indians don’t treat English as a foreign language; it is our language; Hindi and English are two sisters who can’t part from each other.

By Mukesh Sharma

Once Hindi and English were sitting together in the waiting– lounge of Indra Gandhi International Airport, waiting for their flight to Frankfurt (Germany).This blogger was also sitting next to them. All of a sudden, a verbal ‘flight’ broke out between two hon’ble ladies. Here are the excerpts from that interesting and knowledgeable ‘spat’ for the valued readers:

English: Is wearing Sari  comfortable? Doesn't  it look savage in the modern world?

Hindi: Sari is not savage. Covering from head to toe, sari beautifies the woman body; it not only makes her attractive but also respectable in society.

English: what do you mean? Am I not respectable?

Hindi: I am sorry if my words have offended you. I didn’t mean that. Just think, you would realize Sari suits the female body not tight-fit jeans. You see there is scientific reason behind each custom/tradition in India. Ancient India was fully developed and civilized at a time when the rest of the world was rather non-existent or savage.The  Rig-Veda was composed 5000 years ago; Charak Sahimta’s tenets  are still valid; pandit would tell about solar or lunar eclipse just by sheer calculation in ancient India. There are scores of examples of pristine glory of India. Better, you read the book Discovery of India  by Jawahar Lal Nehru, our first PM, very well acknowledged and acclaimed by the  western world.

English:  That’s great! But self praise is no recommendation.

Hindi: These are hard facts authenticated by the research works and findings by Western scholars. Can you believe the most of the European language are genetically related to Sanskrit which is the parent language. In other words, you are also a great, great . . . . grand daughter of Sanskrit. And I am also a daughter of Sanskrit. In this way, you are my sister.

English: Oh my gosh! You Indian are second to none in making tall talks and tall claim. Do you know, we, the Britisher, ruled over India for 200 years; the sun wouldn’t set in, in our British empire as we had humbled the most part of the world from East to West.

Hindi: The Britisher were not a superior race. If you wish to know the truth, read the eye opener book entitled Bharat Me British Raj’ by Sunderlal which was banned when brought out during British regime.

English: You are talking nonsense. I can’t believe your cock and bull story.

Hindi: But truth is truth. You must accept the truth, my dear sister.

English: Ok, tell me the whole story today.

Hindi: It is historical fact that the Britisher were slaves of the Roman for 400 years. They used to speak Celtic. English was not their mother tongue.

English: I can’t believe! But go on, tell me entire story about myself.

Hindi: My darling sister, I don’t mean any disrespect to you. But one must respect the truth.

English: Ok, go ahead!

Hindi: Contrary to common perception, the original native speaker of English were Angles & Saxons; they were Germanic people; they were savage and they belonged to warrior class. In 450 A.D., when the great Roman empire had become weak, Angles & Saxons captured a part of land which was under the subjugation of the Roman; they named that part of land as ‘Anglaland’, just after their name, and their language was known as ‘Anglisc’ or ‘Englisc’; later ‘Anglaland’ became England and ‘Anglisc’ became English. In fact, English was the language of the savage or warrior class.  Angles & Saxons would have never thought even in their wildest dream that one day their mother tongue would become an International language.

Angles & Saxons

English: Unbelievable! But you continue.

Hindi: English is not a language but it is a cocktail of languages. It has borrowed words from almost all the languages of the world as the English were seafarer; they would visit many countries for business reasons and would also adopt the words from the native language of that country. That is why English is also called a  piratical language. With 18 variations of English across the world, it stands as the most corrupted language in the world today e.g. American English, British English, Canadian English, and so on.

English: Interesting!

Hindi: If you get back to 5000 years ago, you would discover that the most of European languages are genetically related to Sanskrit; it is respected as a parent language; even Britannica encyclopaedia endorses this fact depicting the tree of Indo-European family; even western scholars admit this fact. One of Indian scholars has also drawn a diagram showing the origin of different languages from one parent language Sanskrit. You will have fair idea about the origin or birth of English.

English: Grunts!

Hindi: You see, we all Indians get, genetically, attracted towards English; we love English; we respect English; even Art 348 of our Constitution says English shall be the official language in High Court and Supreme Court. To Indians, English is not simply a language but a cohesive force that keeps the multilingual Indian society together from Kanya Kumari to Kashmir. We, Indians don’t treat English as a foreign language; it is our language; Hindi and English are two sisters who can’t part from each other.

English: Thanks for showing me the mirror, my darling sister, Hindi.

Hindi: Come on give me a hug.Here is a  gift of Sari for you  -  from an elder sister to a younger sister. Please accept it.

English:  So nice of you my respected Didi. I have no words to say thanks to you. You also accept the gift of this jeans which I purchased for myself.

Monkey Business of English-teaching

Beyond Smoke Screen

Monkey Business of English-teaching

To Crown all, encashing on the mentality of English hungry students, a few well established English newspapers have also launched online English teaching programme. It sounds like teaching someone driving through correspondence course

By Mukesh Sharma

With turnover thousands of crores, English teaching is evergreen business right from Kanyakumari to Jammu & Kashmir in India. While the majority of English speaking aspirants of such nondescript so-called institutes remain disgruntled, the stream of fresh students continues like the ever increasing population of India. And despite all the confusion and poor result, the monkey business of English teaching goes on and on   -  it is neither affected by lax economy nor low GDP.

Monkey Business of English-teaching

The root of this English learning mania can be traced to 200 years of British subjugation of India. Language of the rulers always affects the psyche of the ruled. Slaves often imitate the masters. The dent was so deep and diverse that it could not be mended even after 72 years of Independence. Some scholars contend that the survival of English is not just because of the British influence but the need of multi-lingual India where English serves as a bridge language among Indians of different tongues.

However, the situation has come to such a pass that English is not just an ordinary language. It has become a symbol of class; a symbol of status; a symbol of intellect in India. The people at lower strata of society struggle to join the elite English speaking class. English aspirants get mesmerized by Queen’s English of people like Shashi Tharoor. They are big fan of a man who, allegedly, has scant regard for Hindi or Hinduism.

To Crown all, encashing the mentality of English hungry students, a few well established English newspapers have also launched online English teaching programme. It sounds like teaching someone driving through correspondence course.

Apart from that, one can come across ‘English-speaking’ institutes in every third street of small towns and big cities in India. Tall claims are made  -  each institute has its own self-certified pedagogy. The majority of institutes assert to teach English in a few months through Grammar, translation and mugged up vocabulary. In fact, English is treated as a subject that has a fixed syllabus/curriculum like other subjects; it is not taught as a language which is a means of communication,  is related to life, religion nature, universe and God. As a result, based on rote-learning, students learn English as a subject to pass out the academic exams or any competitive exams. They never learn English as a language which is, essentially, a part of life. As an accredited Journalist, this writer has been to many countries, and even lived in US too for a long time where he was allotted Social Security Number to perform his duty. So, this author has first-hand experience to observe and study ‘English’ of native speakers in US and UK.

A close study reveals that words are sounds that symbolically represent something material or abstract. Sentences which are action based, are composed to denote what is happening. In other words, a language can be picked up through relative understanding of words and sentences to material life only. This is how a native speaker picks up his or her mother tongue without even the knowledge of so-called grammar or without even learning  to write and read. As one grows up in a particular tongue, the relative words and sentences get settled in the mind with pictorial memory through repetitive use. There may be hundreds of people in US or UK who are not able to write or read but still they speak correct English, of course, as Hindi or any other Indian language is spoken in India.

Obviously, the wanting method for teaching English as a second language has led to wide spread confusion, particularly in lower strata of society. Fake English and Hinglish have become very popular. Elite English or standardized English which is used by English newspapers and professionals, and that also makes the basis of English paper in all the competitive exams, have become rather a problem for a sizable number of English learning aspirants.

In the light of his experience and research work, this writer can vouchsafe that the best way to learn any language is to live among the native speaker of that language. But when one tries to learn it at a place where it is not the language of the common man, the right way to learn it through syntax  –  the Morphology of English sentences, and Semantics – how a ‘verb’ collocates with a  ‘noun’ and how an ‘adjective’ pairs with a ‘noun’, and produce standardized ‘phrase’. The easiest way is to map mother tongue on English syntax, and learn to think, may be, in mother tongue but as per the interpreted equivalent Hindi sentence of English syntax e.g.

“If neta were to resign, he would have resigned.”

“ If she were to marry you, she would have married.”

The above mentioned syntax is one of the standardized syntaxes of English language. Close to such syntax, one can think of scores of sentences in English. And the same can be followed for other syntaxes also.

Mind you, English, predominantly, is a language of phrases and idioms. The meaning of a singled out word in a sentence may be different from its  lexical meaning. The solution to this problem lies in the knowledge of a few hundred  key words/root words. (here, the term ‘root word’( should not be misconstrued with latin/Greek origin). The ‘Root words’ collocate with other words and produce standardized ‘Verb phrases’, ‘Noun phrases’ or ‘Idiomatic phrases’ which are extensively used in English Newspaper, Competitive Exams and by the English in daily life. In the same way,  good knowledge of Root Words helps to build up vocabulary 10-20k. Study reveals that to speak good English one need just 500-1000 words; to be a writer 1000-4000 words, the great English playwright Shakespeare used 8000 words, and average English newspaper uses just 2000 words, and rest is sheer repetition.

Once Lord Macaulay made a statement in the Parliament of England:

“I have drafted such an education system for the Indian subjects that after 70 years, there would be black English who would have little sympathy for vernacular tongues, and would be fit to follow rather unfit to think.”

Evidently enough, Indian examination system which is based on rote-learning, robs students of thinking power  – they eat what there are served; they don’t know how to cook. It is maintained that a slave population is on the rise in India. It has become rather a society of followers than thinkers.

What is more, the plight of thoroughly confused students is like the situation of a blind man who is looking for a black hat in a dark room which is not there.

It is common knowledge that hustling is the staple diet of the most of the business in India. So monkey business of English teaching is flourishing like anything.