Whenever I hear the word “Grammar”, a quote comes into my mind which can roughly be put as “Usage commands Grammar, but not vice-versa”. It’s true that grammatical rules were framed and employed to make sure that we can understand the language easily and stick to the plan. But this is also to be noted that Grammar is not rigid and it changes over time in proportion to the latest speaking trends among the educated masses. So while young children are still cramming the prepositions and nouns, the adults are busy cracking new phrasal verbs that are like “short cuts” to modern understanding. If they don’t fall into the boundaries confined by the grammatical rules, what’s wrong in that? But if you’re just blabbering out these phrases like a new-born child, they’re useless. You must pronounce them as they are. So is your English ready to get a makeover!
I am talking about the latest iOS app called Polly Verbs that has been developed by ThinkMyApp. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad and requires iOS 7.0 or any later version of the OS. This app has also been optimized for iPhone 5.
Polly Verbs doesn’t only improve your command over such modern phrases that you mostly ignore in a normal world, but it also helps you improve your spoken English with the right accent and articulation of words. So from day 1, you’re being given some phrases daily that you can read, learn and remember. If you find some phrases difficult to learn, mark them to review later. But this is not the end of the session. You also have to speak these words correctly. Nuance voice recognition system makes sure you don’t get passed easily and neither is you being unnecessarily put behind the line when you’re eligible to cross it forward.
What’s best is that now you don’t have to ask your friends or teachers if you’re speaking a word correctly or not. You have your listener in your hand that’ll guide you on each and every single word in a phrase that comes out of your slippery tongue! So now you can actually trace back your footsteps and rectify all your mistakes once and for all! But if you’d like to play a game with your friends and enjoy a laugh, ask them for a challenge and find out, who scores it better!
The app has been beautifully and intuitively designed being divided into 5 different themes starting from the modest rounds and going up to climb the rocks “hardest-on-your-feet”. You’ll be progressing phrase by phrase. So as soon as you get a phrase right, you move on to the next one. But if you’re in a hurry and take a look at them altogether, you can unlock this feature via in-app purchases.
All in all, this is not your usual English class but takes a 4th-dimensional approach to solve your language problems. In my opinion, you must attend it!
This app is available for free in the App Store.
Pros: intuitive UI; daily 125 phrases for practice; Nuance voice recognition system; challenge your friends or practise alone; free.
Cons: none.
I will give this app 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Worth Having App – Download the App
