The Student Room Group

I just see no light

Hi guys,

I'm so frustrated about the fact that I'm so bad in English:frown: i don't know how to improve and have began to believe that you just have to be natural at it to get brilliant grades. Please someone out there, TSR is my last hope. Are there any revision websites I can use or how can I analyse words effectively. Is there like a step by step procedure to follow?

Thanks in advance everyone. Also anyone who is in the same state as me, your comments are welcome:smile:
There's nothing really 'natural' about it. In most cases, aptitude for English is a result of reading a lot for pleasure. Don't beat yourself up - everyone's good at different things.

As for how to improve, I assume by 'analyse words effectively' you're referring to close reading, yes? I don't know of any websites, but there's an excellent book by John Peck & Martin Coyle called Practical Criticism, which deals with this in detail. They analyse many poems and passages of prose, modelling a particular approach and taking the reader through it step by step. The book's aimed more towards uni students, but the method it outlines is applicable at A level & GCSE, too.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Sabz152
Hi guys,

I'm so frustrated about the fact that I'm so bad in English:frown: i don't know how to improve and have began to believe that you just have to be natural at it to get brilliant grades. Please someone out there, TSR is my last hope. Are there any revision websites I can use or how can I analyse words effectively. Is there like a step by step procedure to follow?

Don't give up hope yet. One sure way is to watch plenty of English films/movies. It is much easier to learn a language when you're having fun as well, since you're engaging more than one sense and can also easily use context to make out words and phrases.
And in the case that you need some English writing help, you can check Maven Writers. They offer excellent Academic Writing help
Reply 3
Hi thanks for the reply. I've probably not made this clear but I was asking for help in English literature. Like how to analyse pieces of text. Thanks though for the English writing help 😊
Original post by NerdStudent
Don't give up hope yet. One sure way is to watch plenty of English films/movies. It is much easier to learn a language when you're having fun as well, since you're engaging more than one sense and can also easily use context to make out words and phrases.
And in the case that you need some English writing help, you can check Maven Writers. They offer excellent Academic Writing help
Don't panic! It is all about practise. In terms of essay approach, just really attack the question and use linguistic analysis to back up your points...it's pretty easy to manipulate these to suit your purposes. Are there any specific lines from a poem you're struggling with?

If i were you, i'd find a nice big list of language techniques like sibillance, consonance, caesura, chiasmus, enjambment....etc...think about the effect these have and try to apply this to some poems... Equally useful is looking at the rhythm and structure of the poem...If you ever become stuck, you really needn't overcomplicate...you can pick single words to pieces...look at the tenses of verbs, what impact does this have on the meaning of the poem?.... Soon, you'll just look at poem and everything will pop out to you.

Good luck :smile:

(is this for GCSE or A level?)
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 5
Hi thanks for the advice. See I've been studying Jane eyre and I see a quote that looks 'judicious' but then I dont know what to say about it,other then rephrasing the quote. Any advice on how to overcome this issue? I'm doing GCSE.

Original post by Ellipses
Don't panic! It is all about practise. In terms of essay approach, just really attack the question and use linguistic analysis to back up your points...it's pretty easy to manipulate these to suit your purposes. Are there any specific lines from a poem you're struggling with?

If i were you, i'd find a nice big list of language techniques like sibillance, consonance, caesura, chiasmus, enjambment....etc...think about the effect these have and try to apply this to some poems... Equally useful is looking at the rhythm and structure of the poem...If you ever become stuck, you really needn't overcomplicate...you can pick single words to pieces...look at the tenses of verbs, what impact does this have on the meaning of the poem?.... Soon, you'll just look at poem and everything will pop out to you.

Good luck :smile:

(is this for GCSE or A level?)
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Sabz152
Hi thanks for the advice. See I've been studying Jane eyre and I see a quote that looks 'judicious' but then I dont know what to say about it,other then rephrasing the quote. Any advice on how to overcome this issue? I'm doing GCSE.


Let's have a look at the quote and see what can be drawn out. What do you mean by judicious?
listen i sucked as well but you just need to take that attitude and use it to push urself to become much better. you just gotta practise a loaaaad of essays. make sure to look at examples to see how they analysed certain things. don't be worried if you get it wrong, just try n stretch the interpretation of it and don't think of it in its literal state

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending