Whether you are looking to write a job application, start a blog, handwrite a thank you note or impress at work, English language instructor Lucy Bella Earl’s top tips for speaking beautiful English are:
- Don’t agonise over your accent – everybody has an accent. If you are looking to speak more clearly, you should focus on improving pronunciation rather than reducing your accent. Accents are beautiful and add to our cultural identity and heritage.
- The minute you have a doubt – find it out! Lucy personally went years without knowing how to properly use apostrophes. One day she decided ‘enough is enough’ and finally researched their proper use. If she’d done that sooner though she would have avoided years of umming and ahhing! Now, Lucy keeps a little list on her phone of all the random things she want to find out that pop into her head throughout the day (not just grammar related!). It has included everything from ‘research Oxford comma’ to ‘learn how to oil a hinge’. With the internet, most solutions to our ongoing problems are just a google search away.
- Avoid the word ‘very’. According to Lucy it’s the most boring word in the English language. Why say ‘very big’ if we can say ‘enormous’? If we have wonderful words like ‘tedious’ and ‘exquisite’, why do we need to say ‘very boring’ or very good’?
- Practise your best stories and anecdotes. It’s all about the delivery! If you’ve got a couple of stories that you think are particularly good icebreakers, nail them!
View a selection of Lucy’s tutorials below:
1. Top 10 Mispronounced English Words
2. 12 Brands YOU pronounce INCORRECTLY
3. 10 Grammar Errors that Drive British People CRAZY | British English Grammar Lesson
4. 7 Tips for Presenting & Public Speaking | Presentation and Speech Skills in English
5. American VS British English Words
About English with Lucy:
Lucy Bella Earl is an English language instructor with an extremely successful YouTube channel. She offers advice on how to speak beautiful British English including tutorials on how to use apostrophes correctly and how to speak English confidently. She was born and raised in Milton Keynes, studied at the University of Westminster and has taught English around the globe, including Madrid. Her channel enables anyone from all over the world to learn how to speak English and grow in their English language confidence. English with Lucy recently hit 1 million subscribers on April 5th and her videos have received over 38 million views.
