Linguistic Study

English presents numerous problems to non-native speakers. It is grammatically unlike other languages, even those from which it has borrowed large vocabulary groups, and possesses a number of irregularities. Understanding these idiosyncrasies of learning English Language may help the non-native speaker grasp the language and help native speakers see why learning English can be so difficult.

Following are few main problem areas for non native speakers;

Verb Tenses

The students face more difficulties in learning of verb forms, narration, conjunctions, prepositions, articles, sentence arrangements and reading comprehension. 

English has a relatively large number of verb tenses, the correct mastering of which is important for communicating shades of meaning in English. To complicate the difficulty, English uses many auxiliary words, instead of verbal inflection, to create its tenses.

Irregular Verbs

English has many irregular verbs. Some English verbs are altered radically in conjugation (drink/drank/drunk, grow/grew/grown), while others do not change at all, such as burst/burst/burst and cast/cast/cast.

The learner’s errors revealed that most participants had difficulty in preposition and lack of collocational competence in using prepositions. The non native speakers of English tend to have three kinds of errors with prepositions: choosing the wrong preposition, omitting a required preposition and using an extra preposition where one is not suitable.

Tense, aspect, and mood

English has a relatively large number of tense–aspect–mood forms with some quite subtle differences, such as the difference between the simple past "I ate" and the present perfect "I have eaten." Progressive and perfect progressive forms add complexity.

Functions of auxiliaries - Learners of English tend to find it difficult to manipulate the various ways in which English uses auxiliary verbs. These include negation

e.g. He hasn't been drinking.

Inversion with the subject to form a...