The best way to improve your English.
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
Read good books
That’s where we learn to string sentences and phrases together so that everything sounds right. Here’s a story from my day yesterday, copyediting away on a document. The subjunctive mood. Who knows about the subjunctive mood?! I am a copy editor and I was just told about it. So I looked it up in my Chicago Manual of Style which has a nice description and great examples to help me to practice and remember.
The thing is that even though I could not give you a definition of it, I knew from the sound of the sentences what it was and that it was correct or at least official in English. Why? I believe it is because I read a lot of good books written by writers who write well. Doing so must be building connections in my brain, and they light up when something is good and correct and go dark when something sounds off.
And maybe improve your life? Obama says he reads, Buffett says he reads. Morrison, Arendt. Austen? Gates? Gandhi? Smart people read for new ideas and for wisdom. Here on Medium, someone has posted an article recently about how to find your dream and improve your life by reading for 416 hours per year. Take a look at the article and give it a try for a year. Your life might improve; your English almost certainly will.
