Effortless English: Learn To Speak English Like a native

What Real English Sounds Like
Real English conversation is tricky. Real conversation isn’t like what you learned in
school. In fact, it often feels totally different.
One key difference is the fact that real speech very rarely uses full or
“grammatically correct” sentences. Of course, in school, those are the only kinds of
sentences you learned. You learned about Subject-Verb-Object. You learned to avoid
sentence fragments.
Then you hear a real English conversation with real native speakers and you
discover that they MOSTLY use sentence fragments!
This is something I immediately noticed when I read the transcripts for some of
our Effortless English™ lessons. I knew that most of us tend to use a lot of

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fragments in normal speech, but even I was surprised at just how often we do this.
In fact, we constantly speak in partial sentences. We constantly use “run on”
sentences. We constantly interrupt our own sentences and change our thoughts in the
middle of speaking. A transcript of a real conversation – that is, a totally
spontaneous and natural conversation – is completely different than anything you
will find in a textbook.
And that is only one difference – there are many other major differences between
real English conversations and textbook conversations or so-called “dialogues.”
This helps to explain why even “advanced” English students have such trouble
when they come to the United States. While these students may have good individual
vocabulary (usually formal), they have absolutely no exposure to real spoken
English. In school they learned how people “should” speak English – but what they
really needed to learn is how people actually DO speak English.
 
THE TRUTH ABOUT GRAMMAR
Sometimes people will ask me, “A.J., why are you against grammar?” I think
it’s important to clarify that I most definitely am NOT against grammar. I just
think people need to learn it intuitively. As a teacher, I need to teach it indirectly.
What does “intuitive grammar” mean, exactly? Intuitive mastery of spoken
grammar is based on a “feeling for correctness.” This is the method that native
speakers use to learn and master English grammar. By avoiding grammar study,
learning phrases, and using other natural methods, the native speaker learns to
identify what “sounds right.”
You do the same with your own language. As you speak, you do not think about
verb tenses or other grammar. If you hear another person make a mistake, you
know it’s a mistake because it “sounds wrong.”
Intuitive grammar mastery is the only kind of grammar learning that works for
fast English conversations. Your intuition is fast, your conscious analytical mind
is not. You must learn to trust the natural process and let your grammar improve
automatically.
My students usually fall into two categories: those who are excited about rule
two and those who are skeptical. I usually tell this second group to take a leap of

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faith. Be a scientist. You’ve spent many years trying to learn English the
traditional way and look at the result.
So try a little experiment. For the next six months, dedicate yourself completely
to the Effortless English™ method. Use the psychology system. Use all of the
seven rules. Give all of your effort for just six months.
Then check the result. Did your English speaking improve? Compare the
results you got from six months of Effortless English™ to the results you got
with the old school methods. If the Effortless English™ results are better, and for
most people they are, then continue using Effortless English™. If you still feel
that grammar translation is better for you, you can always return to the method.