Tuesday, February 12, 2013

of English language

Just a short update. Yesterday I took an English test in a language centre in order to know which class is suitable for my level. Not that I'm interested in taking classes. Actually I went there to accompany E to survey that language centre office. Anyway, they said my level is intermediate level (the highest level available there). After discussing with E, I just realize something. I don't really understand grammar. I can't tell the difference between past continuous tense, simple past tense, or past participle tense. I usually get the grammar right because I'm very familiar with the language, not because I understand it. While this is not a big problem for me (since I'm in medicine field not journalism etc), E thought that I might get confused easily if I don't really understand grammar. Come to think of it, I'm also too confused with US and UK English! While Malaysia use UK English, my professor prefer US English. Ahaha..

So what's the difference between US and UK English? I find it's easier to write using US English. It's quite forgiving unlike UK English. UK English need to be very precise. I don't know how to explain. But it's very precise in describing things. Lemme give u an example:

US - I have a car.
UK - I've got a car.

(Please read this link for explanation)

Anyway, I notice in some US journals they can even start a sentence using the word "because" or "and". Hmm.. Or maybe academic writing is not that strict? I don't know.

*click image for larger version*

No comments: