Just a letter for a friend

[Etern1ty]

Hello, could you please look at this letter and correct my mistakes? Also I'm not sure about phrasal verbs which I used here, like keep up/catch up and some other things..


Here it is:
Hello John, how it’s going?
I’m writing to you because you’ve asked me to help you with studying English. I appreciate you desire to study this language, and I’m going to give you some pieces of advice.
First of all, you’ve said that you don’t have time for extra lessons or regular study sessions. In case of it I’d suggest you to read books and magazines in English while you’re going to work. In that way you might keep up your level of vocabulary and you won’t forget any words which you’ve already learnt.
Secondly, you might write letters or emails in English as well, because it can help you to activate your vocabulary and grammar.
Another good thing is to watch films in English, especially without subtitles. There aren’t any better ways to improve your listening skills. Besides, you will catch up some slang expressions. And it’s not as dull as listening to books’ CDs.
If you only had more free time, it would be a good idea to take private lessons. Your teacher could has corrected your mistakes in letters or emails and so on… you see what I mean.
You know, there are a lot of ways to study English and improve your skills, like practice with a friend, travel to an English-speaking country, make “flash-cards” for vocabulary, but it all depends on you. I hope these ideas will help.
Yours, Victor.



Thanks in advance

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by Etern1ty

Hello John, how it’s going?
I’m writing to you because you asked me to help you with studying English. I appreciate your desire to study this language, and I’m going to give you some pieces of advice.
First of all, you said that you don’t have time for extra lessons or regular study sessions. In that case, I suggest that you read books and magazines in English on your way to work. In that way you might maintain your level of vocabulary and you won’t forget any words which you’ve already learnt.
Secondly, you might write letters or emails in English as well, because it can help you to practice what you have learned as far as vocabulary and grammar.

[RonBee]

Rather than catch up some slang expressions, say learn some slang expressions.

[Etern1ty]

Ahh... thanks a lot)
I still have problems with present perfect/past simple. "because you asked me" and "because you've asked me" - look, I can say "because you've (recently) asked me", or something like that... no? it looks wrong to use present perfect here?

Next, tell me please, "piece of advice". We put "piece" to make it countable, right? And if I want to say, for example, 2,3,4,10... pieces of advice. I want to give him some number. Why it is wrong here? If so, I can always use "some advice" instead of pieces of advice. Could you show me an example with that expression?)

And with "suggest" what preposition we should use? None of them? I looked at dictionary and found that with "suggest" we use noun or gerund after it, like "suggest reading", "suggest a visit". So can I say: "In that case I suggest you reading books and magazines in English"? And why I should not have used "would" after "I", it's wrong or just looks weird? :)

The last question is "keep up". It's a hard verb for me. I've watched "Twilight" in English, and, here, was a dialog, like:
- It's hard to explain
- I think I can keep up
Could you explain the meaning of keep up or show some examples?

Oh, thanks a looot. Really)

[RonBee]

Unless you can think of some context in which Because you've asked me would make sense, stick with Because you asked me.

I suggest saying some advice rather than pieces of advice. (You can use Google to find examples of pieces of advice.)

You can say suggest that. For example: I suggest that you take his advice.

Perhaps: "It's hard to keep up." (I have trouble doing what he does as fast as he does it.)

You can also say: "It's hard to keep up with him."