It’s a language that’s not easy to learn, especially the written version. Even native speakers of English find it hard to grasp the finer points of the written language.

Let’s take the apostrophe for instance; its use is one of the most debated and argued in the English language. People are confused as to when it should make an appearance and when it should take a hike. The most common confusion is the one that deals with possession, or in simpler terms, the usage of the apostrophe with the word “its”. When should there be an apostrophe between the t and the s?

There’s a simple enough rule that you can follow in order to get your apostrophe in the right position – If the “s” in “its” is a shortened form for the word “is”, then the apostrophe is inserted between the “it” and the “s”. For example, instead of saying, “It is raining”, I could say, “It’s raining”. The apostrophe replaces the “i” in “is”. This rule can be extended to any other combination of words in English – “there are” becomes “there’re”, “they have” becomes “they’ve”, “cannot” becomes “can’t” and “there is” becomes “there’s”. So the next time you’re tempted to use this little punctuation mark, check to see if it’s replacing a letter or a couple of letters in the alphabet.

Another place where the apostrophe finds use is when you’re denoting possession. For example, if you want to emphasize that the book belongs to Harry, you would say, “Harry’s book”. Exceptions to this rule come into play when you’re using the word “it” – you cannot say “The flower opens it’s petals early in the morning”. The right version would be “The flower opens its petals early in the morning”.

One place where you never use the apostrophe is when you’re denoting plurals. You cannot say “two apple’s” or “nine book’s”. But if you’re denoting possession of a plural, the apostrophe comes after the final “s”, like in the sentence “The writers’ books were all scattered”.

It may seem a little confusing at first, but you’ll get the hang of it as you keep writing and reading in English. After that, it’s just a matter of routine!

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This post was contributed by Courtney Phillips, who writes on the subject of the top online college degree. She invites your feedback at CourtneyPhillips80 at gmail.com

Every day more than one hundred visitors enter this blog and I hope that lots of them want to learn English and practice it. I have a suggestion. If you really want to learn English and practice it with other students you are welcome to post your Skype or GoogleVideo contacts in the comments to this post so we can chat and practice English together. Do not forget to state the time when you are online and available for chat.As for me I think that it is really useful to chat online via Skype to improve your English communication skills and it’s great if you manage to find an hour everyday for online voice communication. I have been using this method to learn English for many years and now I can easily talk with foreigners and it’s not difficult for me to communicate even if I do not know special vocabulary. I am always sure that I can explain my companion what I mean.

So let’s do not waste time and help each other to learn English and improve language skills. It’s always better to do something together.

See you next week.

Lots of people love singing songs but not all of them understand that that singing can be an effective way of learning English. As for me I am a fan of singing and I use my hobby to learn the English language. Today I want to give you advice how to organize your learning process with English songs. It is not a secret that more than a half of all songs all over the world are in English and it’s really great for us as we can use them while learning English. I do not know why by it always a pleasure for me to sing songs in English and learn new words and expressions I meet there. I love watching MTV and when I find a new song I love I go to GOOGLE and enter the title of this song and singer’s name. So using GOOGLE I find the scripts for this song. Then I go to YouTUBE and find there a video clip for this song. That’s all, after that I have everything to practice this song, I listen to it and sing it. If I do not know any word meaning I can use my English dictionary and continue my English lessons.

So you can start your day with singing and you will be surprised to understand that there is no sense in lots of songs in English.

This site uses videos form YouTube to help you to learn English as a foreign language. In one of my articles I wrote how you can learn English using YouTube. And I also use YouTube videos in my tips how to learn English in the most effective way. So if you are looking for more video lessons you can find them on this site (find it above). I think that together we can reach the highest results and if you learn more you can speak better. See you soon and do not forget to watch free English video lessons.

Too many learners here are being pushed too quickly up the “Everest” of complex academic English without really mastering the most common 1,500 words and the basic structures of English “plain talk”. Malaysians learning English, especially outside the largest urban areas, need to have loads more easy “comprehensible input” – mainly through lots and lots of voluntary lighter reading and extensive listening for fun, largely outside the classroom. This can also improve writing and speaking. There’s a lot of research to support this (see www.ijflt.com ).

“Easy” means you already know about 98% of all the words you’re reading or listening to.

One great resource for all learners is Voice of America Special English, on shortwave and now online (www.voaspecialenglish.com ), cost-free. Every day, there is 10 minutes of world news,

followed by two feature reports in 14 categories, all kinds of topics – from development and economics to health, exploration, agriculture, science, music, education and a kind of American “mosaic” of culture. Entertaining and informative stuff.

Special English is based on a 1,500 headword basic vocabulary. Sentences are short, averaging 14 words. Lots of repetition. There are few adjectives and almost no idioms. One “idea” per sentence. The speed of delivery is 90 words per minute, about 25% slower than “normal speaking tempo, great for improving listening and pronunciation. For all reports, you can both read the text and listen to the audio.

Shelley Gollust, the director of Special English, recently commented: “It’s almost like Hemingway. You can write something easy and direct, and it’s more powerful that way.” There’s a huge online archive, thousands of articles. Many feature articles are a kind of “English for Science Lite”, adding some technical vocabulary. Though run by the US government, this is not a propaganda channel. Its coverage is very balanced.

For extensive listening of easier material, another superb site is www.eslpod.com . Check it out. Also pretty easy, many average learners will love it. Stick to massive input of “plain talk”. It can work wonders.

Most children and adults learning English in Malaysia should first try to master and “over-learn” a simpler English, through lots and lots of easy reading and listening. The trick is recycling grammar and basic vocabulary. Then, if you like, trek on up the mountain of complex English, your legs (and self-confidence) will be much stronger.