much, but in fact this is a huge improvement for memory. By learning
phrases, you will learn more vocabulary, you’ll learn it faster and you’ll
remember it longer.
There’s also another bonus. When you learn phrases, you are not just
learning the individual word, you’re learning grammar, too. You’re learning
how to use that word correctly with other words. You don’t need to think
about the grammar. You don’t need to know the rules or worry about word
order or verb tenses. It’s automatic. You’ll use the word correctly in a phrase
because that’s how you remembered it.
In the Effortless English™ system, this is one way that you learn grammar
intuitively and unconsciously, without thinking about grammar rules. Phrases
teach you natural spoken English grammar. By learning phrases, you are
automatically learning both grammar and vocabulary at the same time. Two
for one!
Learning the Natural Way
This is actually how native speakers first learn English grammar. It’s how
you learned your own language. When we’re children, we learn in phrases.
We learn in groups of words. Give it to me. Walk across the street. He fell
down. (Note: in some cases the phrases I’ll refer to could be full sentences,
since they contain both a subject and a verb like the previous example: He
fell down. In other cases, a phrase could be just a few words within a
sentence. In this book I am using the word phrase to describe any natural
word group).
The point is: we learn groups of words, not just one word. Word by word
is slow and it doesn’t help with grammar. But when you learn a whole
phrase, you are getting extra information. Maybe you don’t know it, but you
are.
Let’s return to our example: John hates ice cream. Remember, our initial
word was hate. But now you see there’s an “s” at the end – hates, right?
John hates. You know from grammar study that you’re making the subject
and verb agree, but you don’t need to think about that. You learn the
