How to be a Good Native Speaker

1.Use standard English.
Avoid nonstandard (i.e., ungrammatical) forms such as “ain’t”, “can’t hardly”, “can’t seem to”, “irregardless”, and “anyways”. See the list below (“Nonstandard and Questionable Usage”) and How to Use Commonly Misused Words. Consult a dictionary for proper usage and a style manual, such as Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.

2. Keep proper pronunciation in mind.
For most words that can be pronounced more than one way (such as "either"), all the different pronunciations are correct. For a few, such as "mischievous", one pronunciation is preferred.

3. Expose yourself to writing to pick up structures, tones, and ideas.
Not everything in print is perfect, but the vast majority of printed works, such as books and magazines, have been thoroughly edited. Look at what makes good writing good. As you read more, mistakes and problems will start to "look" or "sound" wrong to you. Correctness will start to feel natural.

4.Listen to talk radio, podcasts, and audio books.

5. Read Aloud with intonation. You can read to your children or even your pets. Reading passages aloud is one way to interpret their structures, and it will make you more conscious of their details. It will improve your speech, especially if you are hesitant when you speak or say "uh" and "um". If you practice reading aloud, you will be less likely to stammer or pause when you speak. You will find yourself saying words carefully instead of slurring them together.

6. Build your vocabulary. Reading will expose you to a far wider range of words than conversation or spoken media, such as radio or television. Collect words that you do not know. Also browse the dictionary, play word games (such as Hangman, Fictionary, and Free Rice), and subscribe to a word of the day.

7. Play with the language to explore it.
Start a pun war. Dust off your Scrabble game. Invent your own word. Try your hand at a garden path sentence, write your own aprosdoketon, or enter the Bulwer-Lytton contest for bad prose or one of its imitators.