Unseen Passage: Improving English

Reading Comprehension

How you best improve your English depends on where you live, and particularly on, whether or not you live in an English-speaking community. If you hear spoken English every day and mix freely with Englishspeaking people, that is, on the whole, an advantage. On the other hand, it is often confusing to have the whole language poured over you at once. Ideally, a step by step course should accompany or lead up to this experience. It will also help a great deal if you can easily get the sort of English books in which you are interested.

To read a lot is essential. It is stupid not to venture outside the examination ‘set books’ or the text books you have chosen for the intensive study. Read as many books in English as you can, not as study material but for pleasure. Do not choose the more difficult books you find, with the idea of listing and learning as many new words as possible. Choose what is likely to interest you and be sure in advance that it is not too hard. You should not have to be constantly looking up for new words in the dictionary, for that deadens the interest and checks real learning. Look up a word here and there but, as a general policy try to push ahead, guessing what words mean from the context. It is extensive and not intensive reading that normally helps you to get interested in extra reading and thereby improve your English. You should enjoy the feeling, what extensive reading gives, some command of the language. As you read, you will become more familiar with words and sentence patterns you already know; understanding them better as you meet them in more contexts, some of which may differ only slightly from others.

Q. Answer the following questions:

1. When can you learn English faster?
2. What does the author recommend for learning English?
3. What does the author recommend for improving English?
4. How can reading help us in learning English?

Answer

1. English can be best learnt if we hear people speaking it and by mingling freely with such people.
2. English should be learnt step-by-step rather than by pouring over whole English language at once.
3. Extensive rather than intensive reading with interest in extra reading will help in improving English.
4. Reading can help in learning English by making understandable more words and sentence patterns to the reader.

Q. Choose the correct alternatives:

1. Learning and improving English depends on what factors?
   1. reading a lot of English books.
   2. depends on the place where you live.
   3. Both (1) and (2)
   4. constantly looking up new words in dictionary.
2. What is essential when you learn English?
   1. learn different words from dictionary
   2. read a lot of English books
   3. you should enjoy the feeling of reading
   4. Both (2) and (3)
3. What precaution should you take while choosing a book to read?
   1. choose the more difficult books you find
   2. extensive reading
   3. choose the books from outside your examination course
   4. None of the above
4. Which type of reading can help you?
   1. Intensive reading
   2. Reading difficult words
   3. Extensive reading
   4. Reading dictionary words

Answer

1. depends on the place where you live.
2. Both (2) and (3)
3. choose the more difficult books you find
4. Extensive reading