How to spell Ch in English? Break complex sentences into shorter ones

Writing practice is an unpopular, difficult, but useful way to actively learn English. It forces you to activate everything vocabulary, constantly refer to the dictionary, reference books, and study grammar more deeply. Today I will talk about how to practice writing in English using - on this site you can write essays in foreign languages, which other users will then check for free.

How to Practice Writing

I practiced a lot both in writing and orally, and of the written ones I like this option the most:

• I am writing an essay or letter.
• The text is read by a native speaker and errors are corrected.
• I study the corrections and ask/search on the Internet why this is so and not otherwise, or I simply take notes.

Writing practice is where you really learn from mistakes. When I first sat down to write in English, I immediately realized that I didn’t know a lot of the simplest things that I simply hadn’t thought about. I have to look for suitable verbal means to express thoughts, and in many cases it turns out that these means are not in my arsenal. Like speaking practice, writing practice helps you see gaps in your knowledge, find out what things you have not yet learned to express, and then learn them.

Please note that I do not consider various grammar exercises like “open the brackets” to be writing practice. Writing as a type of speech activity is when we write “out of our heads,” rather than copying from a textbook. In this article I also do not mean by practice oral and written speech, texting English, that is, communication using instant messages (messengers, SMS, social networks) is a special, more simple form speech, which is closer to oral than to written.

Now I’ll tell you how to practice writing on italki. Previously for verification English text could use the site lang-8.com, but, unfortunately, it has closed (it works, but does not accept new users). Aitoki, fortunately, is alive and well, so take advantage of it while you can.

Making notes in Notepad in English

In general, the main function italki is a search for tutors and partners for language practice. Since the site is popular, we have formed a large community that will help you with your letter. Do you need a section "Notebook", it works like this:

• You are writing a text in a foreign language.
• Other users check and correct it.

Click on the “Make a note in notepad” button and add your text. You can add an illustration to it. You can write about anything within reason. It’s better to write something simple: an incident from life, a retelling of a movie, how your day went, what you do at work, what you study at school, and so on. The text is limited in length - up to 2500 characters, which is not so little.

Your text will appear in the general Notepad feed, after which other users can correct it. Corrections are highlighted in color, as in this picture:

Corrected version of my post. I introduce foreigners to our everything.

I wrote a short note about Pushkin’s poem and cited the poem itself translated into English language(I did not translate). To my surprise, an error was found not only in my text, but also in Pushkin’s translation.

Why do foreigners check texts?

Of course, there is a chance that your text will remain unchecked, but there is one interesting factor that reduces it. As I already mentioned, the main function of the site is to search for tutors for video lessons. Tutors, in search of potential students, often visit Notepad to help with texts - for them this is a way to stand out among competitors. Apart from this, the site is very popular in the world and is full of people who just want to help. By the way, I advise you to help someone by correcting student texts in Russian - it’s very interesting to look at native language through the eyes of a foreigner.

Friends! I don't currently tutor, but if you need a teacher, I recommend this wonderful site- there are native (and non-native) language teachers there 👅 for all occasions and for any pocket 🙂 I myself took more than 80 lessons with the teachers I found there! I advise you to try it too!

Correspondence is an old method of communication, which even now, in the age modern technologies, does not lose its relevance.

Do you agree that letters written by hand and sent by mail have their own special magic?

In England today there is a good tradition of exchanging letters. These could be congratulations on important events in life, invitations to a meeting, or just a letter of gratitude. There are no hard and fast rules on how to write such letters. But still, there is a certain etiquette that should be observed when writing personal letters.

From this article you will learn the rules for writing and formatting informal letters in English. Get acquainted with the structure and types of letters in English, and also find live examples and templates with translation.

Types of Informal Letters

Among personal letters, there are several main types, or rather, reasons for writing them:

• Congratulations on your wedding day, birthday, birth of a child, graduation from university, etc.
• Invitation to a wedding, housewarming or other celebration
• Gratitude for an invitation, favor or good advice
• Declining an invitation
• Apology or condolences

Letter structure

The structure of a personal letter is simple and consists of several main parts:

Appeal

You can address the recipient by last name or first name if you have a close relationship with him. The choice of address depends only on the degree of your acquaintance with the addressee and can be anything. The most common options:

• (My) dear... - (My) dear…
• (My) dearest… - (My) dear… / (My) dearest
• Dear Mr. Brown - Dear Mr. Brown
• Dear Kate - Dear Kate

A comma is added after the address or exclamation mark, and the letter itself continues with a new paragraph.

Note: Dear sir / Dear madam are used only in formal or business letters, and also when we do not know the name of the person to whom we are writing.

Remember that, unlike the Russian language, in formal letters it is considered bad form to put an exclamation mark after an address. So, a note to a friend can begin with “Dear John!..”, but in a wedding invitation it is better to write “Dear John,...”.

Opening phrase

This is a short sentence after the address, in which you need to indicate the main purpose of the letter or the reason why you are writing to the addressee.

The introductory phrase could be gratitude for the invitation to a holiday, a request for a meeting, and so on. With this phrase we indicate our intentions towards the recipient of the letter.

Main part

Several paragraphs in which you can reveal the purpose of the letter in more detail. They are drawn up in free form and may contain clarifications, time and place of meeting, or other important information.

Note: In official correspondence, it is not advisable to use abbreviations of auxiliary verbs, such as don"t, it"s, etc. Use full form: do not / it is, etc. The same rule applies to invitations to events, congratulations and other types of formal letters. If you are writing to a close friend or loved one, abbreviations are quite acceptable.

Conclusion

One or two sentences that summarize the letter. In conclusion, you can express your intention to continue correspondence or ask the recipient for a response if you are sending an invitation to a meeting or event.

Farewell and signature

Similar to the address, it is better to choose the signature and final phrase based on the degree of closeness of the relationship with the recipient. The most common and universal phrases:

• Love / With love / With all my love / Lovingly yours / Lovingly / All my love - With love (Loving you, your loving)
• Yours ever / Ever yours / Always yours - Always yours (yours)
• Sincerely yours / Yours sincerely / Sincerely / Yours - Sincerely yours
• Faithfully yours / Faithfully - Best regards
• Best wishes / With best wishes / (Best) regards - Best wishes
• Cordially yours / yours cordially - Cordially yours
• Devotedly yours / Truly yours / Yours truly - Devoted to you
• Your very sincere friend - Your sincere friend
• Lots of love / kisses - With love / Kisses

After any phrase, place a comma, and then the sender’s name on a new line.

Rules for writing letters in English and postal etiquette

• Be polite and not too emotional

Whether you're writing to a friend in London or responding to an invitation to a party, be nice and friendly. Even if you refuse the addressee's request, do it politely. Also, there is no need to put a lot of exclamation marks and emoticons in emails.

• Communicate the purpose of the letter from the beginning and write coherently

Briefly express the main idea and purpose of the letter in the first lines - this will help the recipient better understand what you want from him. In addition, you should not “jump” from thought to thought and write incoherently. Think over the text of the letter in advance and reveal the main ideas briefly and one after another.

• Break the letter into paragraphs and do not overuse long sentences

Large text is much easier to read when it is broken down into short passages with main ideas. You should not overload the letter with long and complex sentences - it is better to break such phrases into several parts. The meaning will not suffer from this, but the structure of the letter will improve significantly.

• Write correctly

Phrases for personal letters for all occasions (in English with translation)

Gratitude in response to the previous letter and continuation of correspondence:

Thank you so much for your warm letter... - Thank you so much for your warm letter...

Many thanks for your kind and warm letter - Thank you very much for your kind and warm letter...

I received your letter yesterday... - Yesterday I received your letter...

I was delighted to receive your letter - I was glad to receive your letter

I appreciate your kind words - I appreciate your kind words

It was nice to have a letter from you after so long and to hear that... - It was nice to receive a letter from you after such a long time and to hear that...

I have just received your letter and... - I just received your letter and...

This morning, to my great astonishment, I received a letter from you - This morning, to my great surprise, I received a letter from you

So much has happened since I wrote you - So much has happened since I wrote to you

What a long time it has been since we last met! - How much time has passed since we last met!

It’s been a long time since I heard from you and I am anxious to know how you are getting on - It’s been a long time since I heard anything from you, and I really want to know how you are doing

As soon as I heard… - As soon as I heard...

How are you these days? - How are you doing now?

You will be wondering why it has taken me so long to reply... - You will ask why I waited so long to answer...

Now that I am finally able to sit down and write you again... - Now that I can finally sit down and write to you again...

By now everyone in the world except me seems to have written to congratulate you, but I have been... - It seems that everyone in the world, except me, has already written to you and congratulated you, but I was...

I have delayed answering this letter because... - I was delayed in responding to this letter because...

I am so pleased that you... - I'm so glad that you...

I am writing you... - I am writing to you...

I have not heard from you... - I haven’t heard from you...

How nice to hear that you... - How nice it is to hear that you...

Gratitude for a gift or meeting:

This is just a brief note to thank you for... - This is just a short note to thank you for...

I don"t know quite how to thank you for… - I don’t even know how to thank you for…

I am sincerely grateful to you for... - I am sincerely grateful to you for...

How very kind of you to remember my birthday and what a lovely present! - How nice of you to remember my birthday, and what a lovely gift!

Now that I am back home I want to write straightaway and thank you for... - Now that I am back home, I want to immediately write and thank you for...

I regret very much that I did not have an opportunity to thank you personally for... - I really regret that I did not have the opportunity to personally thank you for...

What exciting / wonderful / thrilling / happy news! - What exciting/wonderful/exciting/joyful news!

What a pleasant surprise! - What a pleasant surprise! / What a pleasant surprise!

Ask for a favor:

I should be grateful if you would... - I would be grateful if you...

I want to ask you for a very great favor - I want to ask you for a very big favor

Could you do me a favor? - Could you do me a favor?

I hope you will forgive me for troubling you, but it has occurred to me that you are the only person who may be able to help me - I hope you forgive me for disturbing you, but it so happened that you are the only one who could help me

Please forgive me for troubling you but I would be very grateful if you would help me in a very delicate matter - Sorry, please, for disturbing you, but I would be very grateful if you would help me in a very delicate matter

Apologies and condolences:

I am terribly sorry that I could not meet you as planned - I apologize that I could not meet you as planned I was sorry to learn that... - I regretfully learned that...

Please accept my deepest / sincere condolences - Please accept my deepest / sincere condolences

There are no words that can express my great / deep sorrow about... - There are no words that would express my great / deep sadness on the occasion...

I was extremely / terribly sorry to hear of... - I was extremely / terribly sorry to hear about...

We were very sorry to hear about your loss - We were very upset to learn about your loss

I feel I must write to tell you how very sorry I am... - I consider it my duty to write to you how sorry I am...

Letter to a stranger or pen pal:

You don"t know me so let me introduce myself - You don’t know me, so let me introduce myself

I obtained your name and address from... - I received your name and address from...

I am writing because as I understand you would like to have a pen friend in my country - I am writing because, as I understand, you would like to have a pen friend in my country.

Phrases to end a letter:

Please write soon - Please write as soon as possible

I am looking forward very much to hearing from you - I look forward to hearing from you

You have no idea how much I am looking forward to hear anything from you - You have no idea how much I want to hear anything from you

I hope to have a letter from you before long - I hope to receive a letter from you soon

I would be delighted to hear about you - I will be glad to hear something about you

I would appreciate an early reply - I would appreciate an early reply

Please write and tell me all the news of... - Please write to me and tell me all the news about...

I am looking forward to seeing you and will keep all my news until then - I really want to see you and therefore I will not talk about any news until the meeting

Please write to me before long if you have time - Please write to me as soon as possible if you have time

I enclose a stamped, addressed envelope for your reply - I enclose an addressed and stamped envelope for your reply

Wishes and expressions of love:

All the best! - All the best!

Best of luck to you! - Good luck!

With all good wishes! - Best wishes!

With best wishes from all of us on… - Best wishes from all of us on the occasion…

Take care of yourself - Take care of yourself

Give my love to... - Give my heartfelt regards...

I will love you forever - I will always love you

Kiss the children for me - Kiss the children for me

My thoughts are always with you - My thoughts are always with you

All your old friends send their love - All your old friends send their heartfelt regards

I want you to know I am thinking of you - I want you to know that I am thinking about you

Apologies and requests:

Please forgive me for troubling you this way - Sorry for bothering you this way

I do hope you will accept my heartfelt apologies - I hope you accept my sincere apologies

Edward joins me in apologizing for troubling you and we both send you our best wishes - Edward joins me in apologizing for troubling you and we both send you our best wishes

Forgive me for having to write such a letter, but, believe me, I have no alternative - Sorry that I had to write such a letter, but believe me, I have no choice

Please forgive me, but my decision is quite irrevocable - Please forgive me, but my decision is completely final

While I greatly regret the inconvenience, I am sure you will understand it was due to circumstances quite beyond my control - I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you and I hope you will understand that circumstances were stronger than me

If you do not reply within two weeks, I will have to change my mind and... - If you do not answer within two weeks, I will be forced to change my mind and...

Let me know what you decide - Let me know what you decide

I am sorry to bother you with this, but I don"t know what to do - I’m sorry to bother you with this, but I don’t know what to do.

I don"t know what I would do without you - I don’t know what I would do without you

You know you can always count on me - You know that you can always count on me

Please let me know what I can do to help - Please let me know how I can help

Please call on me if there is anything I can do to help - Please contact me if I can help with anything

Love letter: how to write about your love

Do you want to confess your love? We know how difficult it is sometimes to express the depth of your feelings on paper, but there are several beautiful phrases that will help you in writing a romantic letter:

I "m yours - I am yours (yours)

I adore you - I adore you

There is no other like you - There is no one like you anymore

You complete me - You complete me

I love you from the bottom of my heart - I love you with all my heart

I yearn for you - I yearn for you

I"m under your spell - I am fascinated by you

You"ve put a spell on me - You bewitched me

I was smitten with you - You struck with you

You make me feel young again - You make me feel young again

With you, forever won't be too long - With you, forever won't be too long

If you need to hear why I love you, I can go on all night- If you need to hear why I love you, I can talk all night

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I"m with you - I love you not only for who you are, but for who I am next to you

I love you more and more every day- Every day I love you more and more

I cherish you above anything else in my life - I cherish you more than anything else in my life

I’m more in love with you today than I was yesterday - I’m in love with you more today than yesterday

Examples and samples of letters in English with translation *

Letter of invitation:

Dear Kate and Nick,

We are looking forward very much to your visit to our country this summer. We are expecting you at the beginning of July and are hoping that you may stay until the end of the month or longer.

We consider it a privilege for us to receive you as guests in our house. We are very grateful indeed to you for consenting to come and stay with us. We are looking forward to offering you hospitality in return for the hospitality you have kindly given us on many occasions.

We want you to understand that we will see to all your needs while you are with us and to any expenses that may arise.

Yours sincerely,

Dear Kate and Nick!

We look forward to seeing you this summer. We are waiting for you at the beginning of July and hope that you will stay with us until the end of the month or longer.

It is a great honor for us to host you at home. We are very glad that you agreed to come and stay with us. We want to return the same hospitality that you have so kindly extended to us on more than one occasion.

You should know that we will provide you with everything you need during your stay with us, including financial expenses that may arise.

Sincerely yours,

John and Mary

Reply to the invitation:

Dear John!

It is very kind of you and your wife to offer to invite us to stay. I do hope we will not cause you too much trouble. London is a city I have heard so much about, and I am delighted at the chance to see it.

Once more lots of thanks. See you in July!

Yours cordially,

Dear John and Mary!

It was very kind of you and your wife to invite us to visit. I hope we don't cause you too much trouble. London is a city I've heard a lot about and I'm excited to see it.

Again Thanks a lot. See you in July!

Yours cordially,

Letter of gratitude for a good time:

Dear Mark,

Now that I am back in Moscow, I feel that I must write to thank you most warmly for all your kindness and hospitality shown to me in Dallas. It was a great pleasure to meet such nice people as you and your wife.

I hope that before long I shall be receiving you in Moscow.

Let me thank you once again.

Yours sincerely,

Dear Mark!

Now that I am back in Moscow, I feel that I must write to you to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your kindness and hospitality shown to me in Dallas. It was very nice to meet such nice people as you and your wife.

I hope that I will soon be able to host you in Moscow.

Let me thank you again.

Sincerely yours,

Letter to a friend:

Dear Edward

I shall be in London for a couple of days next month, and I was wondering if we could meet together. We haven’t seen each other for ages and I am very anxious to hear how things are with you.

What about Monday, April 7? If this would suit you I suggest we meet at the entrance to my hotel, which is "Armour Inn", at 12.30.

Please let me know if this is convenient for you.

Dear Edward!

I'm going to London for a couple of days next month and thought we could meet. We haven't seen each other for ages, and I'm really worried about how things are going for you.

How about Monday, April 7th? If this suits you, then I suggest meeting at the entrance to my hotel

"Armor Inn" at 12.30.

Please let me know if you are happy with this option.

Yours, Lucy.

Dear Charles,

It was good of you to think of writing to me, and I appreciate it very much.

I am indeed keeping well and enjoying comparative leisure. I try to divide my time about equally between reading and recreation.

The weather here in St. Petersburg has been rather changeable lately. In the morning the sun shines warmly, but by noon the sky clouds over and it usually starts to rain. Sometimes a storm blows up, but it never lasts very long.

It must be very hot now in Europe, so take care of yourself.

Dear Charles!

You are so good for writing to me, I am very grateful to you.

I feel good and enjoy relative idleness. I try to have time to read and have fun at the same time.

The weather here in St. Petersburg has been constantly changing lately. The mornings are warm and the sun is shining, but by midday the sky becomes gloomy and it usually starts to rain. Sometimes there are thunderstorms, but they pass quickly.

It must be very hot in Europe right now, so stay safe.

Best wishes.

Your friend

Congratulations:

Dear Mabel and Kevin,

Best wishes for a merry Christmas! I wish you a happy and healthy New Year.

Yours sincerely,

Dear Mabel and Kevin!

Best wishes for a Merry Christmas! I wish you happiness and health in the New Year.

Sincerely yours,

Dear Isabel,

It seems only yesterday that you told me that you were engaged, and now you are married! I haven’t met George, but from your letters I know that both of you will be happy.

Congratulations to George and my best wishes to the two of you for a marriage filled with all the good things in life.

Dear Isabel!

It seems like just yesterday you were telling me about your engagement, and now you’re already married! I don't know George, but from your letters I understand that you both will be happy.

Congratulate George for me, I wish you all the best in your married life.

With tenderness,

Apologies:

Dear Leonard,

I must apologize for not writing sooner. I have been kept busy lately preparing for my exams. The last of my exams was successful yesterday, and now I am comparatively free again. I will try to keep in closer touch with my friends, and with you in particular.

Dear Leonard!

I apologize for not writing to you earlier. Lately I've been busy preparing for exams. Yesterday I successfully passed my last exam and am now relatively free. I will try to communicate more often with friends and with you, in particular.

Your Lana

Dear Frank,

My behavior at your house was deplorable. I can assure you that it will not happen again. I was wrong. I have no excuses.

I am very sorry.

Yours sincerely,

Dear Frank!

My behavior in your house was bad. I can assure you that this will not happen again. I was wrong. I have no excuses.

I beg your pardon.

Sincerely yours,

Requests:

Dear Henry

How are you these days? I haven"t heard from you for ages. I am writing to you because I really need your help. I am thinking of coming to Britain this summer to improve my English, and I would like to stay for about two months. Naturally I can "t afford a two months" holiday, and I am wondering if you know of any jobs I could apply for.

I am sorry to bother you with this. I have no idea where to make inquiries myself. It would be a great help if you could put me in touch with a firm or agency that I could write to.

Dear Henry!

How are you doing? Haven't heard from you for ages. I am writing to you because I really need your help.

I'm thinking about going to the UK this summer to improve my English and would like to live there for a couple of months. Naturally, I cannot afford a two-month vacation, and I am wondering if you have any place in mind where I could work.

Sorry to bother you, but I have absolutely no idea where to turn. It would help me a lot if you could put me in touch with a company or agency that I could write to.

Your friend

Condolences:

Dear Mr. Hailey,

We are deeply saddened by the news of your father's death. He was one of the best men, a fine citizen, a loyal friend, and a hearty companion. We all knew him well and loved him like a brother. Our family mourns with you.

Yours sincerely,

Dear Mr. Haley!

We are deeply saddened by the news of your father's death. He was good person, an excellent citizen, a loyal friend and a sensitive comrade. We all knew him well and loved him like a brother. Our family mourns with you.

Sincerely yours,

John Lewis

Now you know how to write a personal letter in English for any occasion. Practice more and you will succeed!

Yours sincerely,

*From the manual by L.P. Stupina “Letters in English for all occasions”

In this short lesson we will look at How to write the letter H in English. Actually, there is no separate symbol for it, as in the Cyrillic alphabet. Slavic dialects are rich in hissing and whistling sounds, unlike the classical languages ​​of southern Europe. Therefore, the Greek monks Cyril and Methodius came up with special designations. This made it easier and faster for the Slavs to write down numerous words.

The barbarians of the European northwest also eagerly hissed and whistled. But for them there were no educators of their own in ancient times, which would create a specific alphabet and develop full-fledged written speech. For a long time, only Latin was used in writing, and local barbarian dialects were oral.

Later, northern and western peoples came out of the situation in different ways. The French and Germans put dots or dashes above the letters and added hooks underneath. The British decided to keep the original Latin font unchanged. But to write additional sounds, use combinations of two letters. Any person who studied a foreign language at school knows How to write h in English: ch.

In the future, the absence of unnecessary icons near Latin letters turned out to be useful for reducing the size of the computer keyboard. 26 keys are enough, whereas the French, German or Russian layout requires much more. It's as if the ancient British knew that their American descendants would take leading positions in the computer world.

Writing Features

Let's see how h is written in English at the beginning of a sentence. The first letter (C) is capital, the second (h) is small. This means that although they are used together and denote a single sound, you need to write according to general rules Latin-English tradition. Only the first character is capitalized , then come the capital letters, regardless of whether the sounds are pronounced together or separately. By the way, the same scheme is adopted in Spanish, where Ch is considered a compound “letter”, and in dictionaries it comes after C. Words that begin with it are given in a separate list. The British did not complicate their dictionaries so much; they write down words among those that begin with “C”, when the turn of the second letter "h" comes, like any other.

Letter combination "ch" not always pronounced like "ch" . In some words of Greek origin it is read like the Russian “k”. For example, chrome is pronounced "crome" in English. When learning how to write the letter h in English, you should always keep this in mind. It is probably impossible to give an absolutely precise rule for all cases. Memorizing the transcription separately for each word is one of the basics educational process. But as already mentioned, Mostly these words are of Greek origin. The original letter χ (chi) was written in Latin as “ch” while maintaining the pronunciation. In the British Isles they began to speak with a more sonorous "k". So if a word resembles something Russian with the letter “x” and Greek roots, it should probably be read “k”.

Except for starting a new offer, there is no difference, how to write in english letter h at the beginning, middle or end of a word. A it can be found anywhere.

For example:

• cheese (cheese), cherry (cherry);
• Manchester (Manchester, city in England);
• starch (starch), couch (couch).

Understanding how h is written in English, you inevitably want to know why the letters C and H were chosen for writing. The fact is that H practically never occurs after consonants. A slight aspiration, slightly similar to the Russian “Х”, occurs after vowels or at the beginning of a word. This means that this letter can be safely used as a second letter in various 2-letter combinations. There are many of them, and a certain logic can be traced.

Let's say Sh means “Sh”, Zh means “F”. The unvoiced consonant S and the corresponding voiced consonant Z are close in sound to “Sh” and “Zh”. And in order to indicate how to write h in English, chose C in addition to the standard H.

Pronunciation Features

Any graduate secondary school It is known how the letter h is written in English in the transcription - tʃ. But these are not two separate sounds that follow one another with the usual time delay. They merge into one. The organs of the oral cavity that articulate sounds in humans change position very quickly. Linguists call this “duplicity” - a diphthong.

There are quite a lot of diphthongs in English, using vowels and consonants. One of the general linguistic rules states that a diphthong can contain only voiced or only unvoiced sounds. Thus, a voiceless “T” is combined with a voiceless “Sh” to form “Ch”. Accordingly, the voiced “D” is used together with the voiced “Zh” to form the diphthong dʒ, usually expressed by the letter J. There is no separate symbol for writing dʒ in the Cyrillic alphabet; moreover, Russian speakers do not use such a diphthong, although the related Ukrainian and Belarusian languages ​​have one.

It should be remembered that islanders pronounce the “T” sound slightly differently than continental Europeans. As with the pronunciation of many other consonants, the tip of the tongue is located slightly higher than is customary for the Slavs to hold it. Representatives of the Slavic nations and the peoples of continental Europe in general hold the tip almost between their teeth. But do not push it further, otherwise you will get the transcription sound θ (in the voiced version ð). The British and their linguistic heirs raise the tip above the upper teeth, touching the palate where the dental crowns already end. Because of this, even a simple “T” often sounds similar to the Russian “Ch,” which confuses some beginning students and leads to incorrect conclusions about how ch is written in English.

The greatest difficulty is presented by words in which the letter T is followed by Ch.

For example:

• scratch – brit. Amer. (scratch, scratch);
• latch - British Amer. (constipation, lock);
• snatch - Brit. Amer. (grabbing, grasping).

Perceiving by ear, it is difficult to understand what the letter h is in English, how it is written in this case. Since only “Ch” sounds here, there is no clear “T” before the diphthong. You have to remember the spelling of each word in order to know how h is written in English in such words, which are obsolete in nature. Definitely, English speaking countries language reform is needed to bring written speech closer to oral speech.

Resume

We analyzed the sound in detail h in English - how to spell it and is pronounced. In principle, everything is quite simple. Difficulties arise only in two cases: when ch is read as “K”; and when you need to write the letter combination tch, although you can only hear “CH”. If you pay special attention to these nuances, there will no longer be problems with “Ch” in English, as this common sound is written and is well known even to beginners.

We mainly use the Russian input language and change it to English when we need to enter the mailbox name, password, etc. To perform this operation, a key combination is often used, but sometimes the keyboard does not switch to English; we will discuss what to do with this problem in the lesson.

Reasons for not switching languages:

1. 1 input language is enabled - if , 8 in the tray, it is most likely that one language is set in the settings.
2. Hotkeys are not assigned or disabled - traditionally, the change occurs by pressing the Shift + Alt or Shift + Ctrl keys, but other keyboard buttons can be assigned in the options.
3. The switch keys do not work - the functionality of the buttons is damaged, in this case you will need to set other combinations or switch the input language with the mouse through the language bar.

Before following the instructions, restart your PC. This may be a failure due to a software installation or update. If the problem remains, then go ahead and fix it.

Adding a language

If you see a language bar on the taskbar in the system tray, then feel free to skip following the instructions in this section. Otherwise, follow these steps:

1. . Switch to large or small icons in the viewing area. Among the components, find and select "Region and Language".

2. Go to the “languages ​​and keyboards” tab. Then click the “change keyboard” button.

3. Pay attention to the number of languages. If one is “Russian”, then click the “add” button.

4. In the huge list, find the “English (USA)” language and click the plus sign in front of it. There are 2 items available here.

• Keyboard
• Other

Click on the plus sign of 1 item. Select the US checkbox to assign the classic English layout. If you use manual touch input, expand section 2 and check the handwriting recognition option - Ink Correction. Next, click OK.

5. Now English should appear next to Russian. From the list above, select the default language that will be in effect after Windows starts. Click the “apply” button and check the changes. If even now the keyboard does not switch from Russian to English, then take the steps below.

Setting hotkeys

Go to the “languages ​​and text input services” window, which you will reach by following steps 1 and 2 above. Go to the “keyboard switching” tab. Look at what actions you have and whether keyboard shortcuts are assigned to them. I have “no” everywhere, because of this the keyboard does not switch and the input language does not change.

To assign buttons, click on “switch language”, then “change keyboard shortcut”. In the window, set the input language to change from the 3 available options:

1. Ctrl + Shift
2. Alt (left) + Shift
3. E, accent mark (above Tab)

I chose option 2, it is more convenient for me. Select your combination, click OK in this and the previous window.

You can also set hotkeys for a specific language. Select, for example, English and click “change keyboard shortcut”. The image has the Ctrl + 1 buttons assigned, assign your values ​​and click OK.

If the input language does not change after the steps taken, check the functionality of the buttons. and click the destination buttons in sequence. A change in the color of a key indicates its serviceability.

In the language settings in the language bar tab, make sure the pin to option is checked. This will help you switch the language from Russian to English using your mouse. Click OK.

Now you know why the keyboard does not switch to English, and what to do in this situation. Recommendations work 90% of the time, with the exception of faulty keys and damage to the text service.

We will not give obvious advice to learn grammar and practice more. Even without additional lessons and exercises, our recommendations will help minimize the number of errors and make your texts more correct. Let's get started!

• Break complex sentences into shorter ones

  This will significantly reduce the likelihood of punctuation and grammatical errors, but will not make your writing more sparse. In short sentences, just as in long ones, you can use beautiful turns of language and structure.

• Use Google Translate to primary translation

  If you don’t know how to independently compose the phrase you want to write, use a dictionary or Google Translate service. But don't rely entirely on an online translator. After a draft phrase has appeared, you need to make sure that this is how they really write and say it, and that the proposed words can really be used in this context. The first check could be a reverse translation in the same translator.

  For example:
  We want to translate the sentence:
  “ When I was little, I often heard from friends that they were going to spend the summer with their grandmother.”
  Google Translate offers this translation:
  “ When I was little, I often heard from friends that they were going to spend the summer with my grandmother.”
  We translate this text back into Russian and get:
  "When I was little, I often heard from friends that they were going to spend the summer with my grandmother."
  Even without deep knowledge of the language, it is obvious that the result was not exactly what we wanted :)

• Use Google phrase search to check

  Divide your resulting sentence into shorter chunks and see if other people actually write this way and in what context.

  There are two options. You can enter either the entire phrase in quotes in search bar or a phrase in quotation marks with an asterisk in the middle: “beginning of phrase * end of phrase.” The last option will be useful to you if you don’t know which word/preposition/article is best to use for a connective or can’t remember any phrase.

  Be sure to pay attention to the number of results found and the sites where the found phrases appear. If these are American/English official sites using the phrase in a similar context, you can most likely trust this spelling. If you find examples mainly from forums and reviews, you need to take into account that they may also write with errors. A small number of found options with your phrase either means that you entered too long and specific a piece, or it’s better not to write it that way. Try simplifying or rewriting the phrase and searching again.

• Not sure which way to write a phrase is better?

  Compare two options in the online tool https://textranch.com/sentence-checker/ .
  The operating algorithm of this tool is similar to that described above. He searches the Internet for usage of both phrases and chooses the most common one. But, as with all online tools, be careful about the examples you find and don’t trust the tool 100% to make your choice.

• If you are confused and still don’t know how to write correctly, seek help from a specialized language forum, where native speakers will be happy to help you.
  For example, there is a good forum Wordreference, where they will not only quickly point out errors to you, but will also try to explain why this is so.

• Is it difficult to translate a specific term into English?

  Try finding a multilingual site that uses this term and see how they do it. For example, Wikipedia can be useful as such a site. Enter a word in Russian in the search and change the language of the article to English.

• For a quick check, use online tools

  If you don't have time for extensive research, you can use one of the online tools.
  For example, https://www.grammarly.com/ or http://www.gingersoftware.com/grammarcheck .
  They will do a good job of finding typos or obvious grammatical errors, but they may miss more serious problems.

  
  

  And one last thing.

  Don't forget that there are millions of people around the world who speak English as their first language. And if for us the error-free use of language may seem like a super science, then almost any native speaker will immediately tell you whether you used the language correctly or not and will tell you how to do it better. You can find English-speaking comrades on the language exchange service Italki or similar and consult with him if necessary.