Have you ever been in a situation like this?
It's quite frustrating, isn't it?
Well, one of the reasons that this happens is because lack of accuracy.
Now, the more accurate that you become, the more
you will be able to effortlessly express exactly what you want to say
without having to go around in circles trying to explain your ideas.
So stick around until the end of this video,
because in this lesson, you are going to learn:
Because here at English, every single week we make lessons like this one
that help you to go from being a lost and insecure English learner
to being a confident, natural English speaker.
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And that way you won't miss a single new lesson
It's when a conversation with you flows, you're able
to understand people, and people are also able to understand you.
Also, remember that there are different levels of fluency.
So, for example, maybe you feel comfortable talking
about your hobbies or ordering a meal at a restaurant
so we can say that you have enough fluency to operate well in those situations.
However, you might not have enough fluency yet to give an effective business
presentation in English or to communicate well in a fast paced situation.
The great thing about fluency is that your focus is on communication,
which is the primary reason why we learn languages, right?
So it's actually okay for you to make mistakes while speaking
as long as you can hold the conversation, understand and be understood.
However, if you want to become a comfortable
and confident English speaker across virtually any situation
then just work on your fluency is not enough.
You also need more accuracy
Accuracy is directly related to the amount of mistakes that you make.
In other words, the more advanced you become,
the fewer mistakes that you should be making.
And I don't mean that mistakes are probably prohibitive.
Of course not.
We all make mistakes. Mistakes are normal.
Even very advanced speakers make mistakes here and there.
But the frequency of mistakes is what matters here.
Having as much accuracy as possible is one of the characteristics
of advanced English.
So listen to these two speakers What do you notice?
So I noticed that.
Speaker one has more fluency.
This means that he's able to communicate more fluently and confidently.
However, he makes a lot of mistakes when it speaks.
On the other hand, Speaker two has more accuracy.
This means that he speaks everything correctly without making any mistakes.
However, he's lacking in the fluency and confidence that.
Speaker one had.
Now you might be wondering
So here at RealLife, we believe
what's really important is the balance between the two of these aspects.
Now you can't neglect fluency.
It's what's going to help you to come across as someone who is confident,
and you always need to be working on improving your processing speed.
But you also can't ignore accuracy.
Accuracy is what's going to help you to think of the right words, to say
and to say them in a way that comes across as competent.
Now, in my own language,
learning, I found it's really important to focus first on fluency
so that I don't get stuck in my head or in a vicious cycle of perfectionism.
Now, once I have a good base, of confidence
in the language, then I can focus more on the accuracy
so that I sound more competent in a variety of different situations.
However, as lifelong learners,
it's really important that we're always working on both of these aspects,
and you can considerably improve both your fluency and accuracy
with the RealLife app.
Just listen to what one of our app users.
Victoria has to say about her experience.
Now there are several ways that you can improve your level of accuracy,
and this could be through studying vocabulary
or working on your pronunciation.
However, in this video, we are just going to focus on one aspect
that will help you to improve your accuracy, and that is grammar.
So if you are an intermediate level English learner, then adding
some deliberate grammar, studying to your routine can be immensely helpful.
Let's take a look at some of the benefits that you can get from studying grammar
So if you've been speaking English for a while,
but you've still filler saying missing or you're feeling kind of stuck, then
studying grammar can help you to start feeling some progress again.
Now, when you first start learning English as a beginner, we believe
that's really important that you start out by immersing yourself in the language
and speaking as soon as possible, even if it's just with really basic sentences.
Now, as you progress on your journey, you reach the intermediate level.
Now, at this stage, we believe that it's really important
that you're getting as much contact with the language as possible
and developing your confidence.
Now, this would be by consuming a lot of media English
and speaking at every opportunity that you get.
Now, at this point, the focus really is on connecting
with others rather than trying to sound perfect when you speak.
And once you've reached this really operational level, you have two choices.
And the one that you choose
is really going to depend on what your goals are for your English.
Now, if getting more advanced English is your goal then
you're really going to need to start studying more deliberately at this point.
That is the only way that you're going to break out of the intermediate plateau.
if this is scaring you a bit, don't worry.
You don't need to study every single aspect of grammar in depth
in order to advance your English considerably.
What's really important is that you focus on what we call the even 80/20 grammar.
These are the most important grammar topics that you need to master
for a confident natural communication in English.
If you're able to master these,
then a lot of the other grammar structures will come really easily to you.
So here they are:
So I would bet that some of these grammar topics are familiar to you,
but maybe some of them are brand new.
Don't worry.
We're going to take a quiz now
that's going to help you to get a grasp on where you stand currently
and what you should focus on with these different grammar topics.
Are you ready?
The grammar topics in this question are the simple present and present continuous
So the grammar topics in this question are the simple past
and past continuous
So the grammar topics in this question are the simple future
and the present continuous being used with future meaning
The grammar talks in this question are gerund versus infinitive.
So the grammar topics in this question are the present perfect and the present
perfect continuous
The grammar topics in this question are the active versus the passive voice.
So how did you do?
Let us know down in the comments below.
And along with your score also share with me which of these
grammar topics do you find the most difficult?
Tell us so that we know what relevant content
that we can make to best help you advance your in English.
So in the last part of video, I'm going to give you a practical three
step process that you can use to improve your grammar skills.
So say that you're choosing the present perfect continuous.
We can see it in examples such as:
So spend some time studying the structure how it's formed, what it's used for.
And there are many great ways to do this with different resources.
For example, if you like doing things a little bit more the old fashioned way,
then you can get a good grammar book like English Grammar
in Use by Raymond Murphy.
But you can also just do a Google search and find tons of resources
for free this way.
But I also recommend that you consider stepping out of the formal structure
of these books and actually creating your own example
sentences with the grammar topic that you're studying.
So for example, you could write a story about your own life
using this grammar structure as much as possible.
And this is absolutely fantastic because it makes this topic more relevant to you,
which ultimately will be very useful for you when you actually get
the chance to use the language to speak or communicate with someone.
So once you've spent some time actually
studying the topic and doing deliberate practice with different exercises,
then try to consume different blogs, podcasts,
watching videos on YouTube, watching your favorite series on Netflix.
And while you're watching or reading,
try to actually identify this grammar structure in use.
Whenever you find the grammar structure that you're studying, pause and take some
notes about it.
Now it's time to really get outside of your comfort zone, actually connecting
with someone and putting all of your hard studying to use.
And you can do this really easily with the RealLife app.
So connect to someone for a four minute conversation
and try to use a few times the present perfect continuous
that you've been studying.
So Thiago, how long have you been learning English for?
Well, I've been learning English for almost my whole life
and been teaching it for over ten years.
To conclude, remember that you need to know
when you should focus on fluency and when you should focus on accuracy.
Now, when you're at home alone studying,
that's the time to be focusing on accuracy.
But when you're in a conversation with someone,
you don't want to be in your head
trying to think if you're making a mistake or not.
That's the moment where you need to just not worry about the mistakes
and really just focus on connecting with that other person as fluently as you can.
So to review in this video, we've looked at:
So aside from studying grammar, another really great way to improve
your accuracy is by learning how to use words more effectively.
So I have this video that teaches you one simple trick
that can help you to learn thousands of new advanced words.
Let's check it out.