Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A little trick to write in English


For us who speak English (only) as second language, composing sentences in good English would be quite a problem. Yet I believe that there are no reasons to give up since we have actually equipped with a set of sufficient tool. What does the tool consist of?

Today I’d like to talk in the context of Microsoft since Microsoft Office is apparently still the commonest software in Indonesia.

After observing several sources related to thing you are interested in, let's grab some editing help.

1. The Red and Green warning

We should have aware that Microsoft Word performs red zigzag line each time we mistype and green zigzag line each any grammatical mistakes occurs. Make notice to those suggestions, although the final decision is always right in your hands. Before pay attention to any suggestion, please make sure that the language setting has set properly. You can check or reset it by clicking “Tools-language-set language” and choose which English you prefer to.

2. Deciding a precise term

Do you have a word but still feel unsure whether the word does not fit the context or not? Prove your intuition by putting the cursor on the word and right-click it. Spot the “synonym” option, and voila ... unless your term is very specific, some options are available right there. Don’t forget to ensure that your original word is in singular form.

Using thesaurus is yet another reliable way.

3. Dictionary

I know, this point is very much an old strategy, but what else can I say? However we can use some cool dictionaries to assist us. I’d suggest urbandictionary.com and Dreams Dictionary (I have blogged it here) for quick answer. Otherwise, you can use an application like Pocket Oxford Dictionary, which you can download here.

Do you find this article useful? Share me for more questions and show your own trick too. Happy writing!

6 of your comments here:

Aryo Anantoro said...

urban dictionary is so nang :D

my english is THAT bad that i write complete rubbish and had to check it over and over again.

btw, there are some good dictonary software out there. i'm using apple built in dictionary now, it's so nang <-- luv this word, really.

inda_ardani said...

what does so nang mean, aryo? hahaha, now you teach me some. either my english is such a so-so thing, then what ... i decide to keep on moving. come, suceed our proficiency

Anonymous said...

very good tips :)

anyway, minal aidin wal faidzin maaf lahir batin kalo ada salah-salah kata ya :)

inda_ardani said...

mbak yonna ... duw ... gimana inda ngasih taunya mbak yonna, udah sampe bikin blog di wp, tetep aja ngga bisa masuk ke blog mba yonna. help me! hehe seneng kalo tipsnya berguna

Hanson Prihantoro said...

1 trick again. You can use search engine website as a translator. Google can give us dictionary, translation of some phrase, sentence, paragraph even full 1 web page.
(Yahoo and may be another search engine have to)

There are English > Bahasa Indonesia and vice verse and another language. However the result is not perfect, but it is good enough with some correction. You can also "Suggest a better translation."

--
Yow, let's exploit web feature.

inda_ardani said...

nice idea, hanson. yes i take google translator for sentences and whole pages as well for foreign languages such as spanish and german. i enjoy the feature too and you remind me to add a widget for that. thank you