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Northpole

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Sep 14, 2010
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English Teacher
I write in English and I am uncomfortable with the use of articles when I write an article. I cannot naturalize it though I know the basics in fact. Can anybody out there help me over come this problem. This is what keeping me from being a good writer. I have read volumes of rules and yet I could not resolve this article issue. Now I feel fed up and am on the verge of giving up on this. This is nauseating! Googling a forum that could help me for a while I came upon this wonderful site and I believe I can get over this soon else I will quit writing in English
 

Raymott

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I write in English and I am uncomfortable with the use of articles when I write an article. I cannot naturalize it though I know the basics in fact. Can anybody out there help me overcome this problem. This is what is keeping me from being a good writer. I have read volumes of rules and yet I could not resolve this article issue. Now I feel fed up and am on the verge of giving up on this. This is nauseating! Googling a forum that could help me for a while I came upon this wonderful site and I believe I can get over this soon else I will quit writing in English
Don't quit writing in English. Everybody whose native language doesn't use articles has problems with them. You might not be able to pass yourself off as a native speaker/writer, but is that so important? Very few English speakers can actually write a short paragraph with no errors in it. (Have a look at some of the "Letters to the Editor" in newspapers - you might be shocked.) You seem to able to express your opinions adequately.

There might not be much you can do about this specific problem apart from gaining more experience from listening and reading. There's a limit to what you can learn from didactic sources.
 

Northpole

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Joined
Sep 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Thank you so much for inspiring me. Since I am from Nepali we do not have to use definite and indefinite articles the way you do in English and since I am from a non English speaking community I have no opportunities to practice it in a natural manner. I learned it just by reading lots of books- both fictional and nonfictional and watching TV. That is why this does not come naturally. I learned, in fact I am learning it now also, to enable my to go across a wider audience than I have by writing in Nepali. This passion has gripped me to read and write in English. Of course I have no problems with understanding English structures and I am learning new words at a good pace. But when it comes to writing good paragraphs, essays, stories I lose confidence. The biggest impediment in my case is putting proper articles in proper places. I do not know exactly wherein definite articles like –the and indefinite articles – a and an fit and where they are omitted. I have read several books of grammar but none of them helped me. Initially I have difficulty with using appropriate prepositions too but now I feel I have overcome them to a greater extent. But it is the definite articles that torment me all the time. Whenever I read novels written in English I read their structures meticulously and note down the use of articles but the English language is a vey complex language and even if I keep on learning at this sluggard pace it will take centuries for me to learn it, not to mention master it.
But there is a ray of hope since I am in contact with internationally repute or expert on this forum who can help me galvanize the speed of learning English
 
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