Effortless English: Learn To Speak English Like a native

The Psychological Benefits
We have discussed the benefits of point-of-view stories to your English. These are
significant. However, the psychological benefits of these stories are perhaps even
more powerful.
For most learners, abstract grammar study is one of the most painful aspects of

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studying English. Most people find grammar study to be boring, confusing and
frustrating. Many dread the idea of trying to memorize yet another grammar rule.
Most English learners have bad memories of grammar lessons and grammar tests.
Grammar study has a way of making intelligent people feel stupid. They study
and memorize countless conjugations. They analyze the use of English articles,
prepositions, countable and uncountable nouns. Yet, when it’s time to actually speak,
they find themselves constantly making mistakes. Even though they “know” the
grammar, they struggle to use it. “What’s wrong with me?” they ask themselves. “I
know this.”
They are not stupid. They have simply confused knowledge with skill. Leave
grammar knowledge to the professional linguists. Your job is to acquire grammar
skill intuitively, and point-of-view stories are the best way to do that.
Practice Exercise
Here’s a fun way to create your own point-of-view stories. Find a simple story about
something that interests you. The story might contain a few words or phrases that
you don’t understand and have to look up in a dictionary. However, it should be
easy. Five new words is the maximum that should appear in the story.
Now, show this story to your English teacher, or an English-speaking friend. Ask
them to rewrite the story from different points of view. They will write different
versions for at least the past, the present and the future. After they write each
version, ask them to read each one and record it. Then, for the next week or two,
listen to all versions of the story every day.
Once you have mastered those stories, repeat the process again with a completely
new story. Simply by listening each day, you will develop your spoken grammar
ability. Just like an athlete, you’ll train yourself in the skill of using correct
grammar automatically.

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CHAPTER 14