Best writer to learn English

UltimoAmore   Wednesday, June 18, 2003, 13:22 GMT
I'd like to read a book in English. I'd like a book with a lot of conversatio and not too complicated. Which writer is suitable for learning?
sue   Wednesday, June 18, 2003, 15:03 GMT
Read books for children. You have a large range of books. Go to your local library (if they have English books) or a bookshop and pick up whatever to your liking. I recommend you "the very hungry caterpillar". It's very funny.
UltimoAmore   Wednesday, June 18, 2003, 15:44 GMT
Thank you for your response, but I've already read "The client" by Grisham and I think that books for children are too short. Are Michael Connelly or Grisham good (and easy) writers or I can find a better one?
Fisher   Wednesday, June 18, 2003, 16:50 GMT
I think Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" is one of the greatest ones. Probably, the language is not modern. But there is a lot of play on words, which I personally find very funny and pretty smart.
Jacob   Wednesday, June 18, 2003, 17:12 GMT
Try P.G. Wodehouse, perhaps? His stories are dialogue-rich and have a colorful but not difficult vocabulary. He was an absolute master at knowing exactly which word to use. He's also generous with references to English literature so you can pick up a little bit of culture quite painlessly.
My favorite is probably 'Code of the Woosters.'
Jacob   Wednesday, June 18, 2003, 17:16 GMT
If you want something a little more "serious" (Wodehouse is very humorous), Hemmingway's short stories are great. He's famous for his uncomplicated writing style; and again, you get a lot of dialogue. Often fairly idiomatic, though.
Shoop   Wednesday, June 18, 2003, 17:44 GMT
If you're feeling depressed try Disgrace by J M Coetzee. It'll make you more depressed. But the language isn't that difficult...
chantal   Thursday, June 19, 2003, 14:51 GMT
Try "Harry Potter" if you like witchcraft and wizardry. It's good fun and good for anyone at any age. You won't put it down.
Tremmert   Saturday, June 21, 2003, 13:47 GMT
Um, I'd say try Harry Potter if you like _reading_ fantasy; despite what some fundamentalists say I don't think you have to want to be a witch (and dance around stonehenge naked and whatever else they do) to read it.
Tremmert   Saturday, June 21, 2003, 13:48 GMT
Also with the new Harry Potter about ten times longer than the first one, you WILL put it down unless you don't eat or sleep for a week - especially if you're a second language learner.
shana   Saturday, June 21, 2003, 20:24 GMT
Yes, Harry Potter is great for your English.
Sunshine   Sunday, June 22, 2003, 03:00 GMT
1). Read and watch the news.
- I would prefer BBC. Here in Malaysia, we generally speak British English as we were once colonised by the Brits. But in recent years, with the major influence of 'everything American', the shift has already started which I realised majority in the corporate world where people tend to use American spelling, grammar as to relate to the structure of making sentences, pronunciation and etc. Call me an Anglophile but I was taught with British English and I prefer to stick with it. From a personal experience filled with painstaking I had to endure for a year when I was in college doing CIM (Chartered Insititute of Marketing) which of course an external paper from the UK but my lecturers were getting books for us written by American marketeers and that wasn't enough, everthing from the lessons to notes were all in American English. I must admit I had some tough time adjusting to that and when I finally got there, I almost flunk in my external examinations whereby the papers were sent down from the UK and in which it means 'every single word must be spelled in British English'. Good Lord! Since then on, I've never spelled a single American word.

2). Join, read and respond to this sort of forums.
- I suppose one could learn a lot through this method whereby you read the messages posted here and analyse the structure of sentences as well as the usage of grammar.

3). Speak English 85% of the time.
- Irregardless, one speaks British or American, one can practice verbally in terms of speech and listening skills when communicates in English most of the time.

4). Entertainment in English Language.
- go get some latest flicks in English language. Bet you'll pick up some real nice witty words soon. It's pretty fun.

5). Reading materials (books, journals, magazines, internet based)
- take some time off in the evening and weekends if you're working to read a book but it will be good to read the papers everyday though.

Good luck in your endeavour to learn English language, one the most beautiful language ever invented and it is everytime when I read the Shakespeare.

Cheers.
Jim   Monday, June 23, 2003, 00:32 GMT
Don't you love the fundamentalists, always going on with the wackiest stuff. Don't you love Tremmert too. Not wanting to offend, he comes out with "... despite what some fundamentalists say ..." instead of something closer to the truth like "Never listen to those crazy fundamentalists who think that you have to want to be a witch to read it." Still, whatever whoever says, I can't see anything wrong with a little naked dancing around Stonehenge (or anywhere for that matter), unless the weather is crap.

UltimoAmore,

I was going to suggest Dr. Seuss but it seems you're beyond kid's books, in which case, how about good old Shakespeare? The best advice I could give is to look in the library and find something you like. Like Fisher, I'm a fan of Lewis Carroll. I'd agree that "Alice in Wonderland" is one of the greatest books, "Alice Through The Looking Glass" is another. When he writes "the language is not modern" he's not talking Old English, it's modern enough to read with no problem.

Sunshine,

You write "I've never spelled a single American word." good for you but then you go and ruin that glorious record with "Irregardless, one speaks British or American, one can practice verbally in terms of speech and listening skills when communicates in English most of the time."

In British English "practice" is a noun, the verb is spelt "practise". But probably worse is your "irregardless" which the Cambridge Dictionary calls nonstandard US English. It seems that this "word" evolved from two different words of similar meaning "irrespective" and "regardless". When you think about it, you can see that this hybrid is utter nonsense: the "ir-" from "irrespective" is nothing but a negation, so rightfully "irregardless" should mean the opposite to "regardless". Regardless of this fact there are those who keep using "irregardless" to mean "regardless".

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=93149&dict=CALD
http://www.bartleby.com/61/84/I0238400.html
.   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 02:39 GMT
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chantal   Wednesday, June 25, 2003, 05:42 GMT
Oscar Wild is a great writer and it's not too hard to read. Try 'the importance of Being Earnest' for instance. Wonderful !