CHAPTER 9
The First Rule – Learn Phrases Not Words
If you’ve taken English classes, chances are you’ve had plenty of
experience memorizing lists of vocabulary words.
With Effortless English™ you are not going to do that anymore. Why?
Because vocabulary lists are a waste of time. Yes, you heard me right. Trying
to memorize a bunch of random individual words is not an effective way to
learn. Instead, you’re going to use the first rule of the Effortless English™
method and learn phrases not words.
What do I mean by “phrases?” Phrases are groups of words that are
related, and focus on an idea. Another way to describe phrases is as “natural
chunks of language.” In any language, certain words naturally go together in
a certain way. For example, in English we say “I am on an island.” We don’t
say, “I am at an island.” Why? There is no logical reason. One is simply a
common and acceptable phrase and the other is not.
Here’s another example. Let’s say that hate is one of the new words you
want to learn. In a traditional class, you’d write down the word hate and then
go look it up in the dictionary to find its meaning. You’d see that it means to
have a strong and intense dislike for something; to loathe or detest. Then
you’d memorize it – hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.
That’s the old way – kind of the textbook way, right? In school, you
probably used this strategy to remember a lot of individual words. You had
those big vocabulary lists, and you tried to memorize all of them for the test.
For verbs, you also tried to memorize conjugation charts.
Even worse, you probably learned these words by memorizing translations
in your own language. Because of this, you often find yourself translating in
your head when trying to speak English. First you think of the word in your
