To help you maximize the benefits of ChatGPT, we have compiled a comprehensive list of top-notch prompts. These prompts cover a wide range of topics and applications, ensuring that you can unlock the full potential of this remarkable AI language model in various aspects of your personal and professional life.

Explain X in simple terms

This informative prompt is designed to generate a clear, easy-to-understand explanation of a specific process or concept. By breaking down complex ideas into simple terms, it becomes accessible to a broader audience, making it suitable for students, educators, or anyone looking to grasp a basic understanding of a topic.

Example: “Explain the process of evaporation in simple terms.”

Act as X and ask me questions

This prompt is designed for individuals who want to engage in a conversational role-play with ChatGPT, where the AI takes on the persona of a specific person, character, or profession. The output will generate questions that the chosen persona might ask, helping the user practice their conversational skills, gather insights, or prepare for an upcoming interaction.

Example: “Act as a job interviewer for a marketing position and ask me questions.”

Debate the pros and cons of X

This analytical prompt is designed to generate a balanced discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of a specific subject. It encourages critical thinking and the consideration of multiple perspectives, making it valuable for students, educators, or anyone looking to engage in a thoughtful discussion.

Example: “Debate the pros and cons of working from home.”

Compare and contrast X with Y

This comparative prompt encourages the identification of similarities and differences between two subjects. It promotes analytical thinking and helps to develop a deeper understanding of the subjects being compared, making it suitable for students, researchers, or anyone looking to explore the nuances of related topics.

Example: “Compare and contrast solar energy with wind energy and output as a table.”

Summarize the main ideas of chapter X in [book name] with bullet points

This prompt helps condense information by summarizing the key points of a chapter, making it easier to review and remember important concepts. It’s particularly useful for students who need to study multiple chapters in a short amount of time.

Example: Summarize the main ideas of chapter 4 in “Pride and Prejudice” with bullet points.

Provide a list of common misconceptions about X and explain why they are incorrect

This prompt helps identify, correct, and understand misconceptions, ensuring accurate comprehension of a topic. It’s especially helpful for students who want to avoid pitfalls and misunderstandings while studying.

Example: Provide a list of common misconceptions about evolution and explain why they are incorrect.

Provide real-life examples of X and explain their significance

This prompt helps connect theoretical concepts to real-life situations, facilitating better understanding and retention. It’s particularly useful for students who need to apply their learning to practical scenarios.

Example: Provide real-life examples of game theory and explain their significance.

List important terms and definitions related to X, along with examples

This prompt assists in building a strong foundation of key terms and definitions for a specific topic, along with examples that illustrate their meaning. It’s especially useful for students who need to understand complex concepts and their applications.

Example: List important terms and definitions related to quantum mechanics, along with examples.

Create a study plan for subject X, including goals, resources, and a timeline 

This prompt helps structure your study sessions, ensuring effective time management, and thorough coverage of the subject material. It’s particularly useful for students who need to organize their study routine and stay on track.

Example: Create a study plan for learning calculus, including goals, resources, and a timeline.

Create a quiz on topic X with 10 multiple-choice questions and provide their correct answers

This prompt helps reinforce understanding and retention by testing your knowledge of a topic through a quiz. It’s particularly useful for students who want to self-assess their learning progress and identify areas for improvement.

Example: Create a quiz on photosynthesis with 10 multiple-choice questions and provide their correct answers.

Translate the following paragraph from English to language X

This prompt helps you practice translation skills, improve vocabulary, and understand sentence structures in a foreign language. By translating a paragraph rather than a single sentence, you can work with more complex texts and gain a better understanding of the language.

Example: Translate the following paragraph from English to French: “The weather today is beautiful. The sun is shining, and there’s a gentle breeze. It’s the perfect day for a picnic in the park.”

Provide a list of 20 common idiomatic expressions in language X with their meanings and usage examples

This prompt helps familiarize learners with idiomatic expressions in a foreign language, enhancing fluency and cultural understanding. By including usage examples, learners can see how these expressions are used in context, which can help with memorization and proper application.

Example: Provide a list of 20 common idiomatic expressions in Spanish with their meanings and usage examples.

List 20 common verb conjugations in language X for different tenses and moods

This prompt helps improve grammar and verb conjugation skills in a foreign language by focusing on various tenses and moods. By working with a broader range of conjugations, learners can gain a deeper understanding of the language’s grammatical structures and usage.

Example: List 20 common verb conjugations in German for the verb “gehen,” including present, past, and future tenses, as well as subjunctive and imperative moods.

Create a 10-question quiz in language X to test vocabulary and grammar related to a specific topic

This prompt helps learners test and reinforce their understanding of vocabulary and grammar in a foreign language by creating a quiz focused on a specific topic. By including multiple-choice answers and explanations for the correct answers, learners can assess their knowledge and learn from their mistakes, ultimately improving their language skills.

Example: Create a 10-question quiz in Spanish to test vocabulary and grammar related to food and dining, with multiple-choice answers and an explanation for each correct answer.

Describe a day in the life of X

This imaginative prompt encourages the creation of a detailed narrative about the daily experiences of a specific subject. It fosters empathy, creativity, and understanding, making it appealing to writers, readers, or anyone interested in exploring the perspective of another individual or entity.

Example: “Describe a day in the life of a professional athlete.”

Outline the steps to achieve X

This instructional prompt guides the user through a process or series of actions needed to accomplish a specific goal. It is useful for learners, educators, or anyone looking to better understand the steps involved in a particular task or process.

Example: “Outline the steps to start a small business.”

Write a summary of X in the style of Y

This creative prompt encourages the user to adapt their writing style to mimic a particular format or author (Y) while summarizing a specific subject (X). It challenges the user’s versatility in writing and is suitable for writers, students, or anyone looking to develop their stylistic range.

Example: “Write a summary of the solar system in the style of Ernest Hemingway.”

Describe X from the perspective of Y

This imaginative prompt challenges the user to adopt the point of view of a particular character, object, or entity (Y) when describing a specific subject (X). It fosters empathy, creativity, and perspective-taking, making it suitable for writers, students, or anyone looking to enhance their storytelling skills.

Pitch a new startup idea X in Y industry

This entrepreneurial prompt invites users to develop and present a new startup concept (X) within a specific industry (Y). It is ideal for entrepreneurs, business professionals, or anyone looking to hone their skills in creating and pitching innovative business ideas.

Example: “Pitch a new startup idea for an eco-friendly food delivery service in the restaurant industry.”

Write a marketing plan for promoting X product or service

This strategic prompt targets marketing managers and requires them to create a comprehensive marketing plan for a specific product or service. This exercise is suitable for marketing professionals, business owners, or anyone looking to practice their marketing strategy development skills.

Example: “Write a marketing plan for promoting a new fitness app.”

Create a workflow template for project X

This prompt is beneficial for project managers or team members who want to create a standardized workflow for a specific project. By having a clear and structured plan, the team can work more efficiently and avoid misunderstandings.

Example: “Create a workflow template for a software development project.”

Generate a simple HTML code for a basic webpage 

This prompt is helpful for IT specialists or web developers who need a quick HTML template with specific elements. The output will provide an HTML code snippet that can be used as a starting point for further customization.

Example: “Generate a simple HTML code for a basic webpage with a heading, an image, and a paragraph.”

Write a Python code snippet to accomplish X

This prompt is helpful for programmers or IT specialists who need a quick Python code snippet to accomplish a specific task. The output will provide a functional code snippet that can be used or modified as needed.

Example: “Write a Python code snippet to reverse a string.”

Ask questions to better understand X job position requirements

This prompt is useful for HR professionals, recruiters, or hiring managers who want to ensure they have a thorough understanding of a job position before proceeding with candidate selection. The output will provide a list of questions to gather more information about the position.

Example: “Ask questions to better understand the software developer job position requirements.”

Design an outline for a presentation on X with Y main points

This prompt is beneficial for those preparing a presentation and needing a structured outline. The output will provide a clear and organized outline with the specified number of main points.

Example: “Design an outline for a presentation on renewable energy with 3 main points.”

Inquire about X company’s values and culture before suggesting team-building activities

This prompt is beneficial for team leaders or managers who want to plan team-building activities that align with their company’s values and culture. The output will consist of questions to learn more about the company’s values and culture.

Example: “Inquire about ABC Company’s values and culture before suggesting team-building activities.”

Ask questions to understand X target audience before creating a marketing strategy

This prompt is perfect for marketing managers or entrepreneurs who want to develop a marketing strategy that resonates with their target audience. The output will provide a list of questions that ChatGPT would need to ask to learn more about the target audience.

Example: “Ask questions to understand the target audience for a new fitness app before creating a marketing strategy.”

Create a mind map for X topic

This prompt is useful for visualizing the connections between different ideas or concepts related to a specific topic. The output will provide a text-based mind map that can help with brainstorming or organizing information.

Example: “Create a mind map for project management.”

Create a script for a podcast episode about X, including timestamps

This prompt is useful for podcasters or content creators who need a structured script for their podcast episode. The output will provide a detailed script with timestamps, making it easier to plan and record the episode.

Example: “Create a script for a podcast episode about digital marketing trends, including timestamps.”

Suggest a balanced meal plan for X dietary preference

This prompt is perfect for those seeking meal plan ideas that align with their dietary preferences or needs. The output will provide meal suggestions for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

Example: “Suggest a balanced meal plan for a vegetarian diet.”

Provide a list of essential items to pack for a X type of trip

This prompt is great for travelers who want to ensure they pack all necessary items for a specific type of trip, such as a beach vacation or a business trip. The output will include a list of essential items tailored to the trip type.

Example: “Provide a list of essential items to pack for a winter ski trip.”

Describe a simple and effective exercise routine for X fitness goal

This prompt is beneficial for individuals who want to develop a straightforward exercise routine that targets a specific fitness goal, such as strength, flexibility, or endurance. The output will provide a brief workout plan with exercises and guidelines.

Example: “Describe a simple and effective exercise routine for increasing flexibility.”

Final thoughts

The diverse range of ChatGPT prompts we’ve explored in this article demonstrates the versatility and power of this AI language model. ChatGPT can be a valuable tool to save time, streamline tasks, and gain new insights. Remember that the key to getting the most out of ChatGPT is to experiment with different prompts, adjust your approach, and refine your input to achieve the desired output. 

The post Awesome ChatGPT Prompts appeared first on Linguix Blog.

Marketers now rely on cutting-edge AI paraphrase tools to create original content. Utilising their precious time therefore becomes considerably simpler. 

Today, it can be challenging to pick an appropriate AI tool out of the numerous available online. Despite having the same basic function, these tools are not identical.

Your content needs to be original, regardless of the audience or sector for which you are writing. Google penalises duplicate and copied material, so keep that in mind. If your work isn’t original, it drastically affects its visibility.

Their functionality and design play a role in this. An effective AI paraphrasing tool can provide you with quick results that are of high quality. Again, creating quality content is always valued in the marketing industry nowadays.

Paraphrasing Tools for Effortless Rewriting

All website users and newsletter subscribers seek out useful stuff. However, even a talented writer occasionally has trouble producing high-quality content. The rise in popularity of AI writing aids today is due to this. 

A useful AI writing tool and an AI paraphrase tool are the same. A reliable paraphrase tool plays a crucial role in preventing plagiarism and producing properly prepared textual materials.

Therefore, we have covered the seven best and most effective AI paraphrasing tools in this article.

1. Paraphrasing.io

The most effective paraphrasing tool is paraphrasing.io. It first examines the provided content to determine its context before rewriting it.

The main goal of this paraphrasing tool was to make writing easier. You can rephrase the material at the phrase, sentence, and paragraph levels thanks to it. The diction and syntactic structures are changed, resulting in fully original and error-free content.

Rewriting the information in a way that avoids plagiarism and preserves readability works well. This tool employs cutting-edge AI algorithms to guarantee that the information is paraphrased accurately and quickly.

You can choose from any of the 15 available languages to rewrite the material as necessary.

This paraphrase tool is available to users everywhere without any subscription fees or usage restrictions.

2. GetGenie AI

The most recent and effective paraphrase tool is GetGenie AI. With Genie, you may edit any web material, including sentences, paragraphs, and whole websites. It is now offered as a WordPress plugin.

The tool includes a template for paraphrasing called Content Rewriter. However, all GetGenie templates are intuitive to use and well-organized. 

For a single input, GetGenie can generate several outputs. For the content that is generated, GetGenie provides outstanding SEO services. This material may rank on SERPs and drive new traffic to your website. If you buy the premium package, the templates also include more features.

3. Spin Rewriter

The most capable online paraphrasing tool at users’ disposal was Spin Rewriter.  Spin Writer enables the software to produce text that is on par with that written by a real human. The online tool for paraphrase called Spin Rewriter uses cutting-edge technologies for superior outcomes.

The programme gives the user the freedom to rephrase as many articles as they like. It may simultaneously paraphrase up to 1,000 articles, saving time and effort.

For consumers who are interested in signing up for the yearly plan, the Spin Rewriter tool provides a 5-day free trial. All of the tool’s subscription tiers provide complete access to all of its features. Additionally, it offers a reasonable lifetime subscription plan.

4. QuillBot AI

One of the greatest and most often used paraphrase tools available is Quillbot.

More than 150 million users use Quillbot every day to shorten paragraphs and speed up article creation. Advanced NLP techniques are used by Quillbot AI to paraphrase the content and provide you with an original result.

Anyone may get started using QuillBot with a free account. You have a 125-word paraphrase limit with it, but you can paraphrase as much stuff as you like. This means that you are limited to paraphrasing a few sentences or shorter paragraphs at once.

You can paraphrase an infinite quantity of information each day when using Quillbot Premium. You can reword paragraphs with Quillbot’s free extensions for Microsoft Word and Chrome.

5. Article Rewriter

If you want to paraphrase the text on your site, Article Rewriter Tool is the best online paraphrasing tool. It has the ability to reword full articles as well as single sentences and brief phrases. 

It will enable you to quickly divide up a single blog article into numerous blog posts. You can make the quantity of blog articles available into twice or three times as much material by using the Article Rewriter. This will enable you to produce content for the same or different blogs that is more readable.

In addition to paraphrasing the original text, it also adds some pretty advanced vocabulary. This gives the altered content the appearance of being produced naturally and by a talented writer. It gets rid of the characteristic that most rephrase sentences share: a robotic writing style.

6. Wordtune 

Wordtune is a singularly focused paraphrase tool that excels at what it does. Once more, you may immediately begin using Word Tune for nothing. You can perform up to 20 rewrites each day rather than being restricted to one per world like other tools. Unlimited rewrites are available if you subscribe to a premium plan.

The tool functions a little differently than others because it gives you a variety of options to choose from rather than just replacing the text. 

Outside of the app, you can paraphrase thanks to a Chrome extension. In the commercial version, you can select between informal and formal writing styles and shorten or lengthen the text.

7. Jasper

It is simple to use Jasper’s AI paraphrasing tool. Simply select a template for the kind of content you want to rewrite, and the programme will generate original content for you in a matter of seconds.

Jasper AI rewriter saves you time and produces unique text because it is coupled with a plagiarism detector. The material can be rephrased in more than 25 other languages.

You may write more quickly and the copy is search engine optimised with Surfer SEO integration. Jasper is capable of rewriting text in a variety of formats, such as blogs, emails, social media posts, and more.

Conclusion

In the world of content generation, paraphrasing tools are becoming essential. They speed up the rewriting process while maintaining precision, effectiveness, and high-quality output. You can improve your content creation process and save a lot of time and work by choosing the appropriate paraphrase tool that fits your unique needs. Explore the highlighted paraphrase tools without hesitation and take advantage of what they can do to improve your writing in 2023.

The post Top 7 Paraphrasing Tools for Effortless Rewriting in 2023 appeared first on Linguix Blog.

For these purposes, we used two datasets containing 1515 sentences in English with both grammar mistakes and correct sentences. To be precise, there were several thousands of grammar mistakes to detect in total. 

Below are the performance comparison results of premium versions of both Linguix and Grammarly.

Linguix vs. Grammarly: which one detected more mistakes

When we analyzed performance based on single tokens (i.e. words with mistakes), Linguix found almost as many mistakes (1554) as Grammarly (1571).

When it comes to token spans (i.e. incorrect phrases), Linguix identified 1275 mistakes, while Grammarly found 1361.

We first measured the quality of grammar checking for our custom dataset. In this case, Linguix achieved an overall accuracy of 72%, while Grammarly demonstrated 76% accuracy:

Then we took a publicly available dataset (BEA). This time Linguix showed an accuracy of 61%, while Grammarly’s accuracy level was just about 45%:

Linguix’s progress

We are constantly working on improving our grammar-checking model quality. For the period starting from March 2020 till August 2022, the quality of identifying both words with mistakes and incorrect phrases has significantly increased:

According to our analysis, the difference between grammar-checking quality when using Linguix and Grammarly is almost unnoticeable.

The post Linguix vs. Grammarly: the Results of Grammar Checking Benchmarking Analysis appeared first on Linguix Blog.

For non-native English speakers, superior writing skills and fluency can become a make-or-break factor.

To help those in need, the Cybernews team decided to gather some intel on tools, specifically made to solve tasks via writing – grammar checkers. 

For this reason, we got intact with Alex Lashkov, CEO of Linguix – an AI-based writing assistant with numerous grammar-checking tools – to have a brief chat about how and why their product began and in what ways it can be beneficial to each and every one of us.

How did the idea of Linguix originate? What has your journey been like?

It was about scratching my own itch. Being a non-native English speaker, immigrant, and business owner, I wanted to develop my content marketing agency in the US. However, I felt that my poor writing skills led to lost contracts and opportunities.

This is why I’ve started using Grammarly and understood that their approach just does not work for me. I wanted a tool that would focus on solving my tasks, not just eliminating writing mistakes and firing dozens of alerts for every document no matter if there were actual mistakes or not. 

So, we’ve started building exactly this – a tool that will help you to solve your tasks via writing. We started by building a grammar checker that was tailored to non-natives. Surprisingly, this minimalistic approach of firing only alerts for 100% grammar mistakes and not for “you could say it better things” resonated with native speakers also. 

It turned out that Linguix and its approach are perfect for professionals who write to solve their tasks and earn more money/get new opportunities: marketers, salespeople, customer care reps, managers, business owners, HRs, etc. This is why we’ve started iterating around this: making the best-in-class writing assistant for professionals with a focus on productivity and ROI.

Can you introduce us to your writing assistant? What are its key features?

Key features are: 

Our grammar checker that spots writing mistakes

Rewriting/rephrasing engine that allows you to instantly improve the whole sentence and grammar is fixed by default (no need to click and accept corrections)

Shortcuts for faster typing: you can automate repetitive typing (for emails, LinkedIn intros, etc.) and create shortcuts that then instantly expand on any website you need. This saves up to 90% time on typing – folks in sales and customer service adore this feature!

Why do you think companies sometimes hesitate to try out new and innovative solutions that would enhance their operations?

Every change causes friction as people need to switch from something they are used to or just learn how to work with new software. For companies, there are also regulatory issues, security questions, etc.

We are eliminating this friction by offering a seamless experience: you just install our browser extension and it helps you everywhere or you can use our web editor to prepare your content and paste it elsewhere. We use top-notch and cutting-edge security approaches and technology, rewarding whitehat independent security researchers who test our website and disclose vulnerabilities.

How did the recent global events affect your field of work? Were there any new challenges you had to adapt to?

Covid actually demonstrated that remote work is our future and that text-based communication is here to state as it is more convenient than video conferencing. We’ve got lots of new users who’ve switched to remote work and had to adapt their workflows.

Many of these people were not producing as much text and engaging work communications before. So, they needed help.

Besides grammar-checking solutions, what other technologies do you think would greatly enhance business operations?

Analytics and everything that adds value with an ROI can be calculated.

Recently, maintaining creativity has been a serious struggle for some organizations. How can companies foster creativity and innovation when the majority of employees are working remotely?

A good idea here is to provide employees with useful resources like articles, expert talks, and presentations on these topics. Also, the thing that allows looking at any business problem from another angle is to go and talk to customers.

Many companies have lots of people who never interact with those who use their services and products. I think it is a great technique to offer such folks an opportunity to communicate with customers directly from time to time.

From my experience, this has a huge impact on creativity as employees see whom they work for, and adding this personal touch is great when we talk about fostering creativity.

In this age of ever-evolving technology, what do you think are the key security practices both businesses and individuals should adopt?

Two-factor authentication, frequent password change, regular backups, and testing of these backups.

Where do you expect to see AI-powered solutions be used more often in the near future?

In terms of communication and text, I am a huge believer that in recent years we will see the boost of AI tools that are enhancing humans, not replacing them. The best ideas are stillborn in our heads, not within the computer.

So, any field where AI can expand human capabilities by making them more productive or fast will be booming. Content creation and communication are the most obvious ones.

Tell us, what’s next for Linguix?

We are releasing our biggest grammar-checking engine update soon.

The post Alex Lashkov, Linguix: “I am a huge believer that AI tools will enhance humans, not replace them” appeared first on Linguix Blog.

However, it’s clear that your colleagues and clients deserve a timely response. An out-of-office message can be a great help as your coworkers know you’ll get their message and when they can expect to get a response.

Out-of-office messages are automatic email replies, that let people contacting you know you aren’t at work at the moment. People reaching out to you are aware that you’re unavailable, how much time they need to wait until they get a response or whom to contact in your absence. Employees usually leave these messages when going on vacation or sick leave.

Make sure your automatic reply is clear and complete, so it won’t cause misunderstanding or confusion while you’re out. Read on to find out what an effective out-of-office message should look like.

What Should Be Included in Your Out-of-Office Message?

An informative out-of-office message should consist of the following details:

The dates of your time off and when you’re going to return. If you don’t clearly indicate the dates when you’re out, your colleagues and clients might send you hundreds of emails, thus making it annoying and time-consuming for you to get into a normal routine after you get back.

A brief explanation of why you’re absent. You may think that it’s unnecessary. However, if they know you’re taking vacation time or simply sick, they’re less likely to bother you.

Contacts of teammates who can help in your absence. Don’t miss this information. Otherwise, your vacation time might turn into torture. Write their names, emails, phone numbers and job titles, so that people know who to contact for certain tasks.

Providing this information will give receivers two options: to wait for you or continue without you. It usually takes a few lines, so the automatic email reply should be quite short.

What Information Should Be Avoided in Your Out-of-Office Message?

Automatic replies may seem a great opportunity to express yourself or share some personal information. Remember though that you should keep it professional or you risk tainting your reputation in the eyes of coworkers and clients. Avoid the following:

• Providing unnecessary details. Since it’s a message related to your work, it’d be too informal to tell everyone about your exact plans or the name of the disease. It’s totally enough to mention that you’re on vacation or ill.

• Being too silly and funny. Maybe a new client appears while you’re out. Just imagine what his reaction would be after he reads a harmless joke. It can be misunderstood and give the receiver a bad first impression.

• Getting receivers’ hopes up by telling them you’ll respond as soon as you get back. You’ll probably not be able to hit the ground running on the day you return as there will be too much work to catch up on. Therefore, it’s better not to make a promise about the exact time or date when you’re going to respond.

• Promising your colleagues will help right away. Your teammates will apparently be too busy while you’re gone, so you can’t promise in the out-of-office message that receivers get immediate help. Ask your colleagues if you can mention their names in the first place.

• Grammar, spelling mistakes and typos. Anyone from your colleagues (including top managers) to your clients could get your automatic reply. So make sure to proofread it thoroughly or if you’re in a hurry, try Linguix’s AI-powered writing assistant that edits as you type. 

Examples of Clear and Concise Out-of-Office Messages

Use one of the following templates for your automatic reply if you’re running out of time or just looking for examples:

“Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out. I’m away from the office for [reason], but I’ll be back on [date].

If it’s an urgent matter, feel free to contact Sarah Wesley at [email and phone number].

Best Regards,

[Your Name]”

“Hey,

Thanks for your email. I’ll be out of the office from Nov. 5-13. If you need help while I’m away, please reach out to Tom Brown at [email and phone number] for questions regarding sales or Mary Williams at [email and phone number] for questions about marketing.

Best,

[Your Name]”

“Greetings,

I appreciate your message. I am out of the office until [date] with no email access. If you need immediate help before then, you may call me at [phone number].

Sincerely,

[Your Name]”

In conclusion

Out-of-office messages aren’t just a formality, they’re essential to keeping processes in order when employees are absent. They also remind others on what days you’ll be unavailable and lower their expectations. Therefore, keep it succinct, error-free and informative.

The post How to Write an Effective Out-of-Office Message appeared first on Linguix Blog.

Linguix – a profound writing assistant

Studying is studying, but sometimes you urgently need to write and send an email in English – and preferably, avoid multiple grammatical and lexical mistakes. Fortunately, AI writing assistants are here to help – they analyze your text and suggest corrections or improvements. 

For example, I’m very keen on Linguix. It warns you about mistakes, suggests corrections, synonyms, as well as definitions of words and usage examples. In addition, if the assistant sees that you often make certain mistakes (for example, you confuse articles), it will offer you a workout to practice the corresponding rule – like in LinguaLeo or Duolingo. There is a desktop version, a browser plugin and a mobile application (iOS, Android) available. Basically, it’s a very convenient service for automatic checks and improving your texts.

iTalki – study with native speakers

With this service, you can find the English teacher that is perfect for you. There are filters by country, cost, your learning objectives (speaking practice, business English, passing exams), and you can also search by your interests – each tutor has detailed information in the profile. For example, I found a tutor who is also a fan of Doctor Who, and so we discussed new seasons with him.

Also on iTalki, they have a community of English learners where you can ask questions and share your opinions on suggested topics to practice your English. By the way, besides English, you can also learn any other languages – even such rare ones as Balinese or Zulu. The service is available in the browser or in the mobile app.

Linguatrip – find language courses abroad

As you know, it is best to learn a language by completely immersing yourself into the language environment. And if you are not yet (or already not) going to receive higher education abroad, then short-term language courses are what you need to speak English fluently. For example, a few years ago, I studied in Dublin for two weeks and it was very budget-friendly.

Linguatrip helps you choose a course that suits any taste and budget – within an impressive selection of countries. For example, you can study English not only in the UK or the US, but also in Malta, Canada and even New Zealand. Apart from finding a course, the service also allows you to book it, sometimes at a discount, as well as get assistance in obtaining a visa and return money in case of a visa refusal.

Puzzle English – a self-study platform 

If you are determined to learn English on your own, then Puzzle English is a great option. This is a learning platform that has collected a huge amount of materials for different levels of language proficiency. At the same time, all training takes place in a playful way, which contributes to better memorizing and maintains an interest in learning.

For example, to better assimilate the materials you’ve studied, you can solve audio and video puzzles (hence the name of the service), as well as take various tests and grammar exercises. The service also has a cool addition, namely, a video library with films and series with subtitles. 

HelloTalk – language exchange 

The HelloTalk community has over 30 million members from around the world, so you can easily find people there to practice English. In addition to text chats, audio messages and video calls are also available in the app, so you can communicate in any format that’s convenient for you.

HelloTalk also has useful built-in tools such as machine translation, auto-corrections, transliteration, and text-to-speech. You can use the service either in a browser or in a mobile application (iOS, Android). Besides English, there are about 150 other languages available on HelloTalk.

ELSA – a pronunciation training app

Hone your pronunciation with this app – there are over 1000 lessons to choose from on a variety of topics. You speak out the suggested phrases, then the artificial intelligence evaluates how close your pronunciation is to the ideal –and what is worth working on.

Progress tracking and various challenges help you engage in the practice, and an interactive dictionary will give you the correct pronunciation of any word. The service presents one of the most common variants of the English language, which is American neutral. 

The post 6 Useful Tools for Learning English appeared first on Linguix Blog.

When we talk about the skills required for a job; multilingualism is usually considered an important skill for employment in international companies. Around 6500 languages are being spoken around the globe. Out of these 6500 spoken languages; English is considered the most important, as it is the third most widely spoken language. It is being taught in over 118 countries and is considered the most common language for trade and business. Apart from that, English is also the language of science, media, internet, international communication, diplomacy, tourism, computer, and education. Either you have personal or professional reasons; you must learn to speak and understand good English; it will provide you an open door to the world and help you to communicate with people worldwide. 

Therefore, many people focus on how to improve grammar in English speaking. Knowing English increases your chances of securing good job opportunities in overseas multinational companies around the globe. So, learning English is considered vital for socializing, work, and entertainment; as most films, TV shows, books and music are published and produced in English. Therefore, understanding the importance of English will help you out in achieving your goals. 

Learning English can be a little tricky and time-consuming but it is very valuable to open doors of opportunities. It can be a challenge to learn English; here are some great points for you to improve your English. 

1. Motivation: Motivation is the key to success. If you want to achieve something, you’ve to be highly motivated, to begin with. The same is the case for learning English; never stop and work regularly. Even if you learn just 10-15 every week, just learn it properly.
2. Be Fearless: Being confident is very necessary and an interesting thing. Don’t be worried or shy about making mistakes. You’ve to stay confident; if you want to be a good English speaker.
3. Practice: Practice makes a man perfect. Even if you aren’t so good at speaking or understanding English; continue to do it every day. This will help to eliminate the fear factor and help you to be more confident. 
4. Set new goals: Set goals for yourself, decide how many words you want to learn in a week. This will help you to do the extra study to improve your English.
5. Dictionary: Don’t hesitate to take help, if you can’t remember the word or its meaning; simply go and check your dictionary. 
6. Ask people for help: The surrounding people can help a lot in influencing you to do something. Tell your family and friends about your will to improve your English so they can push you to study more.
7. Focus the mains: The main skills in English are; reading, writing, speaking and listening. Make sure to work on all of them to improve.
8. Consistency: Stay consistent even if you’re studying only one hour per day. But stay consistent. 
9. Keep a journal: Keep a journal to determine your improvement.
10. Write a notebook: Keep a notebook to write newly learned words in it. Review your notebook twice a week.
11. Memorization: Try and memorize the words and give them a shot for a vocabulary test. It helps you to sharpen your ability.
12. Sign up for English lectures: Learning new things will never get old. The same is the case for learning English. Go and take lectures from YouTube of other platforms and engage yourself in it to improve.
13. Don’t skip: If you haven’t studied all day; busy in work or anything. study at night before sleeping. 
14. Example sentence: After learning a new word, try to memorize it along with its example sentence. It will help you to remember the word and its use more accurately.
15. Test yourself: Keep on testing yourself, time to time. You’ll get to know if there’s any improvement.
16. Go for Future: Always keep in mind, why are you learning English. What is the bigger picture? How will improving grammar in English speaking is going to help me?
17. Short-term goals: Set easy and short-term goals to learn English. Appreciate yourself after achieving and focus on the next.
18. Long-term goals: Long-term goals help to motivate and continue to strive.
19. Help yourself: Help yourself by creating a good atmosphere in which you want to learn. Study not because you’ve to. You’ll understand things better if you learn because you want to.
20. Get help: If you’re having trouble understanding anything, go for help. Ask your teacher, classmates, or the internet.
21. Review: Keep reviewing your progress report throughout. Repeat the words and review them at the end of the month.
22. Understand yourself: Try and get to know yourself, understand what works best for you. Which method or way is better for you?
23. Figure out your Pattern: Predict and work on your pattern. How you learn things more effectively.
24. Regular breaks: Just like other studies. Learning English can be stressful too. Take regular breaks and boost your will to continue.
25. Don’t hasten: Don’t move quickly to the next levels. Start from the beginning, give time to each section. From word spellings, synonyms, antonyms, and meaning to the grammar section.
26. Go for downloads: Download your favorite English TV shows, and watch them over and over again. It will help you better to catch information you might have missed in the first attempt.
27. Watching TV: You can simply stick with watching TV shows directly on air on TV. But it only allows you to hear and understand at the moment, you can’t repeat it. Therefore, this is for students of improved level in English.
28. Be a reader: If book reading is your taste, then read good English books, novels, magazine or the newspaper. 
29. Start with basic: If you’re having trouble reading high-level books, begin with the basic English books. They will have easier words.
30. Newspapers: Newspaper is a good source of information, but it can also help to improve English. Try and determine passive constructs.
31. Be smart: If there’s a new word, and you don’t know the meaning of it yet. Don’t be confused. Look at the context and other words and try to guess the meaning of the word.
32. Stick with General: Don’t worry about understanding every word in the sentence, look at general meaning first.
33. Dealing with new words: When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms as well as its meaning.
34. Continue learning: After learning new words and improving vocabulary, don’t stop there. Learn prefixes and suffixes as well.
35. Practice English: Don’t hesitate to test your English skill whenever you can.
36. Think in English: With continuous practice of English skills, try and think of statements and thoughts in English. Don’t go with thinking in your language and then translating it into English.
37. Root words: Learn root words. They help a lot in guessing the meaning of words.
38. Be Practical: Just like driving a car, you just can’t learn driving from reading books. You’ve to practice it by actually doing it.
39. Listen and talk: The basic method to engage yourself in improving grammar is simply through talking. 
40. Write blogs: Write a blog for the public, and let people read and understand. Get feedback to determine whether you conveyed your point accurately.
41. Improve your ways: Don’t get stuck in correcting grammar and spelling. If you’ve something in your mind just pour all the ideas and thoughts on paper. Then think of the structure and finally, in the end, write your piece using good grammar.
42. Punctuation: Punctuation is very important, keep a close eye on that. It can change what you’re trying to say.
43. Songs: Listening to English songs can improve your hearing skills, listen along with lyrics and understand the lyrics better.
44. Sing along: Improve your fluency and intonation, listen to English songs and sing along. 
45. Look for Alternatives: If you’re having trouble in face-to-face conversations, go with the text in chat rooms and community sites.
46. Copy the tone: To develop a good sense of English sentences, try and repeat few sentences you heard.
47. Surround yourself with English: Even when you aren’t in the mood to study, play the radio, or stuff in English. Although if you aren’t actively listening to it, you will still be training your ear to understand English.
48. Dictation: Just like childhood, listen to words through the computer, TV, or friends and try to write down what you heard.
49. Record your Voice: Almost most people try to avoid hearing their voice. Be experimental and record yourself. Point out your mistakes in pronunciation and rhythm.
50. Search for stuff: Use the internet to good effect, search English lectures and listen to them. Try reviewing their speed and intonation.
51. Use English/English dictionary: While looking for a word’s meaning, check it out in the English/English dictionary as it will help to keep you in understanding the word in English.
52. Improvise: Predict your level of progress and get help accordingly. 
53. Stay independent: You can get help from the dictionary or the internet, but it shouldn’t be your teacher. First, try yourself and guess the meaning of words rather than being dependent on the dictionary.
54. Stay positive: Being positive helps you a lot in boosting your confidence and will. Don’t give up.
55. Enjoy it: Enjoy learning, look for ways you find learning English more interesting; Movies or games.
56. Relax it’s just words: Take two deep breaths before you say something. You speak better when you’re relaxed.
57. Appreciation: Keep looking at the beginning, it will help you to determine how far you’ve come.
58. Age is just a number: You are never too late to start learning English. Don’t make yourself feel bad. Start it right away.
59. Avoid bad habits: If you’ve bad habits like laziness and procrastinating, cover them up. Don’t allow them to distract you.
60. Be patient: Don’t be disappointed if you haven’t gotten the results, you wanted yet. There may be different reasons behind it.
61. Match your Level: Stay at your level to use different resources. Don’t go with too difficult or too easy exercises.
62. The accent isn’t everything: Don’t worry about having a perfect accent. Keep your cultural identity.
63. Diversity: There are many types of English; British, American, and so on. English is English, none of these are wrong.
64. Expand your Knowledge: Even you’re good at one type of English still look for others, stay aware of the differences in American and British English.
65. Use cards: Writing words down can help a lot in the situation of need. Just like presentations, you can pinpoint the accurate words to remember the topic.
66. Label stuff: Labelling your household items can be a pretty good activity.
67. Sticky notes: Use sticky notes and stick them around your home after writing reminders on them to help yourself.
68. Intuition: Go with your common sense; first guess. Just be confident in guessing the meaning of the words.
69. Gather your thoughts: Before speaking, take a second or two and gather your thoughts. It’ll help you to go with the flow.
70. Meet new people: It happens quite often that we get confused in front of new people. Meet new people and have a conversation with them in English. Make efforts to stick around other English speakers.
71. Debate: Discussing and sharing your point of view helps a lot inactive speaking. When you’re discussing your thoughts with a group of people; a lot of people are going to judge your viewpoint. Debate sessions also help to improve communication skills.
72. Importance of grammar: Grammar has an important role in the understanding of English, only learning and getting the meaning of singular words isn’t enough. Therefore, keep practicing and improving grammar.
73. Verb tenses: Tenses are very important in processing the actual meaning of words and sentences, so continuous drill to improve is necessary.
74. Irregular verbs: English involves a lot of irregular verbs. Practicing and understanding these verbs helps in complex sentences.
75. Keep up the work: Don’t take a long break or pause while learning English, you will decrease your level. So, consistency is the key.
76. Don’t lose hope: There are bad days for everyone, don’t be put off by a bad test score. Sometimes it happens with students that they have the ability and understanding to pass the English test, which still ends up with low scores. So, you’ve to believe yourself and try again.
77. Success story: After completely achieving your goal/target, tell others about your progress; the steps, and ways that helped you more.
78. Have a partner: Learning can be easy when you have a friend involved, it’ll help a lot when you’ve someone to practice with.
79. Pronunciation: Remember the basic stuff of English; the way you write English isn’t the same as how you pronounce it. 
80. High levels: After improving your level from the beginner spot to the upper one, keep in mind that it takes more to improve at high levels to learn English.
81. Don’t be over smart: Understand and decide which situation is appropriate to use the words and phrases you have learned, it’s alright to use slang with friends but you can’t do the same in a business meeting. So, don’t be over smart.
82. Difference: Understand the difference between English in textbooks and movies. The English in the textbook is usually more formal, so to learn casual English watch movies and TV shows.
83. Idioms: Learn idioms, they are fun to use.
84. Don’t get stuck: One of the things which can put you off while learning is plenty of half-finished books/activities waiting to be learned. Simply take care of it and don’t start another one, if you haven’t finished the previous one.
85. Exams: Exams are good to put a little pressure on yourself. So, signup for an English language exam. It’ll help in determining the progress level too.
86. Make use of the internet: The Internet is a very useful source to learn anything you want. So, while learning makes full use of it. Learn new articles on how to improve your English or how to be a good English speaker.
87. Estimate yourself: Give yourself time and think about your weak and strong points. Write down the weak points and work on them to improve those weak areas.
88. Work on mistakes: After English tests, analyze the results and work on the mistakes to improve them. Try and unlearn those mistakes.
89. Article: Using the correct article is considered as the basis of English grammar, start from there.
90. Take short naps: Sleeping is a healthy activity, after short naps you’ll feel a lot fresher and can learn English in a better way.
91. Be prepared: To get more fluent, practice more. Give yourself more time on what you’re going to say. Image the other person and predict his words and actions to help yourself.
92. English courses: Take an English course to improve your flaws and weaknesses.
93. Keep reviewing: When you are on an English Course, give your 100%. Review the classwork after classes, do your homework as soon as possible. Be prepared for the class.
94. Cultural experience: Try mixing with people from different regions and countries, it’ll help you to challenge yourself in understanding different accents and pronunciation techniques.
95. Sentences: Try to find example sentences after learning every new word.
96. Move abroad: Look for a job or internship abroad, it’ll help to improve your English level and communication skills according to different regions.
97. Qualified teacher: Don’t hesitate to take help from qualified teachers. They’re there to help us in getting better, so don’t miss the opportunity.
98. Target shortcuts: Nobody can learn all of the English levels, but don’t worry about that. Keep on trying, look for shortcuts that can certainly help you in improving/learning without wasting much time.
99. Stay Focused: When you’re on your right path and going in the right direction, don’t get distracted. Eventually, one day you’re going to be a good English speaker.
100. Place matters: Look for a comfortable and quiet place to study. You need to be somewhere where no one is coming to bother or distract you.

The post 100 Things You Can Do to Improve Your English appeared first on Linguix Blog.

So, here is all you need to know about using indefinite articles in English.

The difference between ‘a’ and ‘an’

The first thing to establish is exactly what is the difference between ‘a’ and ‘an’ because there are some misconceptions about this.

The first thing to say is that ‘a’ and ‘an’ represent exactly the same thing, meaning that they are used in the same situations.

The decision to use ‘a’ or ‘an’ only comes with what the next word is, be that the noun or adjective that is following the article.

And contrary to popular belief, it is not decided on spelling, but on pronunciation.

‘A’ is used when the following word begins with a consonant sound. ‘An’ is used when the next word begins with a vowel sound. In most cases this is self-evident, except:

A university (not ‘an’). University begins with a ‘y’ sound, which is a consonant.

A European country (not ‘an’. Again, European begins with a ‘y’ sound.

An hour (not ‘a’). Hour begins with a silent ‘h’, so is, therefore, a vowel sound.

An honest person (not ‘a’). Again, the ‘h’ is silent.

A one-legged man (not ‘an’). One begins with a ‘w’ sound, which is a consonant.

It is therefore important to remember that using ‘a’ or ‘an’ depends on sound, not spelling.

It is important to note that, when speaking, it should be easy to identify when to use these articles as the sounds should connect easily, which is exactly why the rule exists. ‘An’ + consonant sound, or ‘a’ + vowel sound will mean gymnastics for your mouth!

Where and when to use indefinite articles

So, when should I use an indefinite article in English?

Indefinite articles are used with singular, countable nouns, when you are only providing an example of that thing, or when you are introducing that thing for the first time.

Here are examples of both of those situations:

I have always wanted a dog. I think it would be fun. (an example of something, not specific)

I have a dog. His name is Benji. (You are introducing your dog into the conversation for the first time).

Contrasting the indefinite articles with the definite article ‘the’

‘The’, as a definite article, is used to introduce something specific, or something unique. Here are examples:

The dog that lives next door to me is very big. (a specific dog that you are referencing)

Paris is the capital of France. (it is unique in that it is the only capital)

The sun is shining today. (there is only one sun)

Substituting ‘a’ or ‘an’ in any of the examples above would mean that you are talking about one of many. Here are some examples:

A dog that lives next door to me is very big. (there is more than one dog that lives next door).

Paris is a capital of France. (if France had more than one capital, which is doesn’t. You could say ‘Paris is a city in France’, which is, of course, true!)

A sun is shining today. (this just sounds ridiculous, as there is only one sun)

Failing to use any article with these single, countable nouns is always a mistake in English.

The post How to Use the Indefinite Articles ‘A’ and ‘An’ appeared first on Linguix Blog.

‘Been’ is the past participle of the verb ‘to be’, and so, as such, is used in perfect tenses. Here are some examples:

‘I have been very tired recently.’

‘My car has been stolen.’

‘Gone’ is the past participle of the verb ‘to go’, and so is used in perfect tenses to represent this common verb. Again, here are some examples:

‘My brother has gone to Europe.’

‘Where have they gone?’

However, there is one situation when these two participles, which appear to be totally different, are linked. That situation is in movement.

Gone

‘Gone’, as the past participle of ‘to go’, represents when a person of thing has moved to another place, such as in the examples above. Here are some more examples:

‘My colleague Simon has gone home early today.’

‘Where have you gone? We need you back here in the office.’ (A cell phone conversation)

The emphasis in these examples is that the subject of the sentence is no longer in the place where the statement is made, or where the subject began.

‘Been’

‘Been’, as the past participle of ‘to be’, is often used to speak about states, such as emotions and feelings, or to describe a passive action (where ‘to be’ is used as an auxiliary).

However, ‘been’ is also used to speak about movement. In this case, the person or thing moved to another place, but has since returned to the original place. Here are some examples:

‘Have you ever been to Mexico?’

‘Yes, I’ve been to Mexico three times.’

In this instance, the conversation is definitely not taking place in Mexico, so represents a journey that was made and then returned from. In this case, three times.

In this way, ‘been’ is typically used in the present perfect tense to talk about experiences of travel or movement, again such as in the example above.

‘Gone’ Vs ‘Been’

There is, therefore, a fundamental difference between using ‘gone’ and ‘been’ to talk about movement. Note the contrast in these examples:

‘Where have you gone?’ (A cell phone conversation between two people who were in the same place at some stage before the conversation)

‘Where have you been?’ (A face-to-face conversation between two people who are now in the same place, but one of whom was absent for a period).

In the second example above, it would also be acceptable to say ‘Where did you go?’, particularly in the United States. In British English, the present perfect tense with ‘been’ (as in the example above) would be more common.

So, in summary, ‘gone’ is movement in one directions, whereas ‘been’ represents a movement or journey that was returned from.

If you have ‘gone to France’, you haven’t come back (you are still in France).

If you have ‘been to France’, you are definitely not in France now.

Example mistakes

These are examples of typical mistakes when using ‘gone’ and ‘been’:

‘Have you ever gone to Mexico? – ‘been’

‘Yes, I’ve gone to Mexico three times.’ – ‘been’

‘I’ve gone there before.’ – ‘been’

‘Where did you go?’ ‘I’ve just gone to the shop to buy this soda.’ – ‘been’

Generally speaking, it is much more common to make a mistake by using ‘gone’ instead of ‘been’ than vice versa.

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Here is all you need to know about when the words should be used, and the difference in meaning.

‘A few’ and ‘a little’

The fundamental difference between the words ‘a few’ and ‘a little’ is that ‘a few’ is used with countable nouns (nouns that can have an ‘s’ added to make the plural) and plural nouns (a noun that always represents more than one of something), whereas ‘a little’ is only used with uncountable nouns (nouns that cannot be counted individually). Here are some examples:

I have a few friends who go to that college. (countable noun)

There are a few people at the party already. (plural noun)

I have a little money left, so we can buy a few more things. (uncountable noun)

But the meaning of ‘a few’ and ‘a little’ is fundamentally the same: some, although not many.

However, it is important to understand that this word also suggests something positive, or at least neutral in nature. That means that as well as giving you numerical information (about how many friends, people or how much money we are speaking about), you can also interpret from the speaker that the situation is something positive, or at least not negative.

The best examples of this concept are in these examples:

There are a few people at the party already.

I have a little money left, so we can buy a few more things.

Here we can understand that the party is starting to come alive (probably a good thing), and in the case of the money, although the amount is not large, it is enough to do something with, which can be interpreted as a small positive.

‘Few’ and ‘little’

Regarding countable, plural and uncountable nouns, the rules for ‘few’ and ‘little’ are exactly the same.

I have few friends who go to that college. (countable noun)

There are few people at the party. (plural noun)

I have little money left, so we can’t buy any more things. (uncountable noun)

As you can see by the way the two last examples have been changed, the connotation (interpretation of the words used) is not different. That is because there is now a negative feeling to what has been said.

So, in the case of the party, it suggests a disappointing party (because not many people have attended). And in the case of the money, the amount is now too small to do anything with.

In the first example, relating to friends, it is the feeling of the speaker that has now changed from something positive (‘a few friends’) to something disappointing (‘few friends’).

So, there you have it, just that tiny indefinite article makes a big difference to the connotation of the speech. Tread carefully with such language to avoid misunderstandings.

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