A favourite academic area formally studied
Even though I can not say that I am proficient in English, an English class was my favourite. The English has been my favourite since I was in my last year of high school. I found that I enjoyed English. When I was in high school, I explored what were my hobbies. I loved to spend my time reading the book, listening to music and watching movie. I didn't hang out with friends; I loved to enjoy on my own companied. So those which were encouraged me to study in English. I would like to know more about English. An English is very important and useful for me and everyone as well. It helps me to explore and investigate new knowledges what I would like to develop and learn. I like to set my environment relates to English. The English is my ticket to be a professional and getting to know more about this world.
There is plenty more knowledge I would like to learn, mostly using English communicating to an audience.
I am passionate and encourage myself to keep studying English.
A favourite academic area not formally studied
Phon, I also like studying English, although I haven't studied it formally since I was in high school. I like reading books about the history of English, and one of the few paper books I still regularly refer to is Huddleston and Pullum's The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Do not buy this grammar - the one I recommend for students at your level is Michael Swan's Practical English Grammar, now in its 4th edition, which is designed for high level learners such yourselves. In fact, it's usually also the reference grammar I refer to first. It has the advantage of being available online, and I believe also an app now. If you are looking for a good reference grammar, I recommend Swan. I also like Carter and McCarthy's Cambridge Grammar of English, which is larger and more comprehensive than Swan and again aimed more at English majors in an undergraduate degree. (Huddleston and Pullum is the sort of reference that only post graduate students would normally need, but it's fun to browse or to get seriously in depth coverage of an English grammar point. But it's also 18 years old now, so about due for an update.)
ReplyDeleteThank you Phon for giving me an excuse to talk about grammars. I also had a plan to talk about dictionaries, but this is enough for one comment. And since you started talking about English, I wanted to share a little of my experiences studying Latin and Greek, which is why I started pronouncing your name as p+h rather than f as modern English pronounces ph — I blieve modern Greek does the same, but I've only ever studied the ancient version of Greek, now mostly forgotten from disuse I'm ashamed to say.