Paint word pictures

     One goal of good descriptive and narrative writing is to use words to create scenes, characters, and feelings. Good novelists know how to create powerful word pictures in the reader's mind that allow him to visualize whatever the author is writing about. That's why many good novels are turned into movies. But the book is always better than the movie. The movie doesn't engage your imagination the same way a book does.  Watching a movie is passive, while reading a book is active. You can't put on the screen what the mind can imagine. Get into a book!

Reading and speaking

     Yesterday I wrote about the many benefits of reading.  Today, I'm going to describe another benefit.  Reading can help your speaking and pronunciation in English.  How?  Most popular books published these days have an audio book version that you can listen to.  You can get a copy of  the book (print or ebook) and audio book at a bookstore or library.  Listen to the audio book while you follow along in the print or ebook. Try reading along with the voice on the audio book, and you might be surprised how this will help your pronunciation, especially in the important areas of intonation, stress, rhythm and timing. This is called "reading out loud" instead of silently, which is the way we usually read. Reading along out loud while you listen to the voice is also called "shadow reading."   It will make your English sound more American. If you like the book and want to take this a step further, check to see if there is a movie version of the book. Many popular books are made into movies. Rent the DVD and watch it. You will understand the movie much better after reading the book, and you will probably find that the book is better than the movie! Why's that? Because it is not possible to put on the screen in a one and a half or two hour movie what you can imagine in your mind as you read a book. Give it a try!