English in Comics: Ppuwa Jjajja’s Stories

Blogs are less central now than they used to be. In the 2000s and 2010s, many people spent a good part of their reading time on them.

Images and video have since taken up more of that attention. During the blogging years, a popular writer could collect their posts and turn them into a book.

An English Lesson in Comic Form

A Tistory blogger writing as Ppuwa Jjajja became known for explaining English expressions and grammar through comics.

Most bloggers around that time worked with text and photographs. The comics felt fresh, and the author’s own experiences made grammar and usage easier to follow.

From Blog to Book

The blog’s popularity led to a book in 2010. It collected the kind of lessons that had appeared online.

The book keeps the comics format. Points that could feel dry in a textbook become more concrete when they arise from something that happened to the author in the United States.

The lessons are selective and follow the author’s experiences. If you want a systematic course in grammar, a textbook such as Grammar in Use is better suited to that purpose.

For readers who find English intimidating, the personal stories and drawings make this an easy place to start.

What You Can Do with -ish

The book also introduces useful expressions. One example is -ish, a suffix that can suggest resemblance or approximation.

With colors, reddish means somewhat red and bluish means somewhat blue.

With a time, six-ish means around six, and seven-ish means around seven.

Expressions like these are practical in conversation, and the author gives them a setting through a comic drawn from experience.

It is a book to pick up when you want to learn a little usable English without setting aside time for a formal lesson.

Book Information

Ppuwa Jjajja’s English Stories

Author

Ppuwa Jjajja

Publication date

5 January 2010

ISBN13

9788991995727

View book on YES24

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