some useful link for ur english

Reference Tools

Dictionaries & Thesauri

Cambridge Dictionaries Online - follow this link to access 5 Cambridge dictionaries
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Cobuild Concordance and Collocations Sampler
http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/form.html

Dictionary.com
http://www.dictionary.com/

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

Online Computing Dictionary
http://www.instantweb.com/foldoc/index.html

Oxford English Dictionary Online
http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus
http://www.m-w.com/thesaurus.htm

Roget's Thesaurus
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/ROGET.html

Thesaurus.com
http://www.thesaurus.com/


Writing & Reading


Grammar

Big Dog’s Grammar – explanatory notes with quizzes
http://aliscot.com/bigdog

ELC Study Zone - 330 Grammar topics
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/
Grammar Help – rules, examples and interactive exercises on English grammar points
http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/help/grammar_help/

Houghton Mifflin English – sentence and sentence problems (quizzes)
http://college.hmco.com/english/elibrary/sentence.html

On-line English Grammar - explains English grammar according to parts of speech
http://www.edunet.com/english/grammar/toc.cfm

The Blue Book of Grammar & Punctuation - an online resource by Jane Straus
http://www.grammarbook.com/


WebPages on Specific Grammatical Areas

Ambiguous Reference
http://www.yale.edu/bass/wp/ref.html

Mixed Constructions
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/niu/niu11.htm – explanatory notes and quizzes
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/course/sentence/2_6e.htm guidelines to avoid
mixed constructions

Modal Auxiliary
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/auxiliary.htm
http://webster.commnet.edu/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/modal_quiz.htm quizzes

Modifier Placement
http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/modifiers.htm explanatory notes with two quizzes

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns.htm explanatory notes
http://www.parkland.cc.il.us/h/wc/proagree.html short explanatory notes

Punctuation
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/punct/col-semi.html semi-colon and colon
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm rules for comma usage

Sentence Fragments, Run-on Sentences
http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/fragments.htm
http://www.ualr.edu/~owl/sentencesense.htm

Subject Verb Agreement
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/js/kf/mc-svad.html quiz
http://www.agricola.umn.edu/owc/handouts/agreement.html subject verb agreement with
mass nouns, explanatory notes with examples
http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/sv_agr.htm with PowerPoint presentation on Subject verb
agreement

Verb Tenses
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html tutorial on all verb tenses in English




Online Writing Labs

A+ Research and Writing Step by Step
http://www.ipl.org/teen/aplus/stepfirst.htm

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Initiative – helps you create an e-thesis
http://etd.vt.edu/

Plagiarism and How To Avoid It - visit this site before writing your essay/dissertation/thesis!
http://ec.hku.hk/plagiarism/

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab - contains useful resources for writers
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Sweetland Writing Center (The University of Michigan) – resources for graduate student writers
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/swc/grad/resources.html

Writing Centers Online - online writing labs set up by American universities
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/faculty/dinchak/wrcenter.html


Specific Writing Skills

Paragraph Development
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/parag.html developing coherent paragraphs
http://www.wuacc.edu/services/zzcwwctr/org-comp.wm.txt building paragraphs
http://www.wuacc.edu/services/zzcwwctr/org-cause.wm.txt development by cause and
effect
http://www.wuacc.edu/services/zzcwwctr/org-comp.wm.txt development by comparison
and contrast

The Use of Transitional Words and Phrases
http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/wrtstr6.htm transitional words and phrases
http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/transitions.htm coherence: transitions between ideas
http://uwc.tamu.edu/handouts/transition.html a list of categorized transitions

Writing a Report
http://home.clara.net/teriwatson/study/report.html essential study guide--report writing
http://www.arts.nie.edu.sg/ell/student/tcs/trw1.html technical report writing for
engineering students

Writing a Summary
http://virtual.parkland.cc.il.us/studyskills/SummaryWriting/StepsinWriting.htm steps in
writing a summary
http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/writing/on-line/summary.html guidelines for writing a
summary
http://home1.t-online.de/home/kfmaas/summary1.html useful sentences for summaries




Reading Skills

Learning Skills Program-reading to comprehend and learn
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/program/hndouts/psq5r.html

Learning Skills Program – Concept Mapping
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/program/hndouts/map_ho.html

Learning Skills Program – How to Read University Texts or Journal Articles
http://www.coun.uvic.ca/program/hndouts/Readtxt.html

Reading toward Writing
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/readingwriting.html


Speaking & Listening

Pronunciation

English Sounds - compare your English pronunciation to native speakers
http://www.fonetiks.org/

Sounds of English - uses diagrams and audio files to help you learn about American English
http://www.soundsofenglish.org/


Oral Presentation

Creating Online Presentations - guides you through the basic steps of creating presentations with PowerPoint 2002
http://www.microsoft.com/education/DOWNLOADS/Tutorials/online/PowerPoint2002.ppt

ITM Online Help Collection: PowerPoint 2000/01 – an excellent online tutorial prepared by the University of Wisconsin
http://www.uwec.edu/help/ppoint00.htm

Overcoming Speaking Anxiety - overcoming nervousness in presentations by L. Laskowski
http://www.ljlseminars.com/anxiety.htm

Technical Presentations – with Chemical Engineering examples
http://home.olemiss.edu/~cmprice/lectures/badpres.html

Ten Tips for Successful Public Speaking – learn how to control nervousness
http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.htm

Using Overhead Transparencies
http://www.ljlseminars.com/transp.htm

NUS Toastmasters’ Club
http://www.nustm.cjb.net

Listening Comprehension

Randall’s ESL Cyber Listening Lab - includes listening quizzes for a variety of levels
http://www.esl-lab.com/

The English Listening Lounge - American/ International English listening passages
http://www.EnglishListening.com


News

Newspapers

The Daily Telegraph - a British electronic newspaper
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

The Guardian - another British newspaper
http://www.guardian.co.uk/

The Electric New Paper - a local newspaper
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/

The Straits Times - the online edition of this local newspaper includes breaking news
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/

USA Today - an American electronic newspaper
http://www.usatoday.com/

The Washington Post - another American newspaper
http://washingtonpost.com/


Video/ Audio News

BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk

CNN News
http://www.cnn.com/

MediaCorp News
http://cna.mediacorpnews.com/index_w.htm

VOA News - news in “Special English” on the Voice of America
http://www.voa.gov/stream/voa/english/spec/specengla.ram

NUSCast - live broadcast of news and NUS events. Available on the Intranet only
http://nuscast.nus.edu.sg/


Magazines

Asiaweek
http://www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/

Reader’s Digest
http://www.readersdigest.com

Time
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/current

Miscellaneous

Language Games

CNN’s News Quiz - answer questions about daily news and compete for prize drawings!
http://cnn.com/SEARCH/quiz/

Tongue Twister Database - tongue twisters for people who want to get rid of an accent
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8136/tonguetwisters.html


Online Chat Room/ Discussion Forum

Dave's ESL Cafe Chat Central - a chat room supported by California State University, Northridge
http://www.eslcafe.com/chat/chatpro.cgi

ESL Discussion Center - online discussion forums for English learners
http://eslcafe.com/discussion/