Never tell yourself that you "know" an English word or phrase.

Here's one secret of great language learners:

Never tell yourself that you "know" something. 

When you first started learning English, one of the first words you probably learned was "Hello". But stop to think about how well you know a word like "Hello":

• You probably still pronounce it with a bit of a foreign accent.
• You probably use it in situations where "Hi", "Hey", or "Good evening" might be better choices.
• People sometimes use "Hello" with special meanings that you probably don't know about.

It's hard for you to improve on your skill with using the word "hello" because some time, a long time ago, you started to feel like you "knew" it already. Now you don't pay much attention to "hello" when you hear or read it. It's less interesting than a lot of other new words which you could be learning instead.

Deciding that you "know" something stops new information from coming in. Instead of thinking that you "know" an English word or phrase, imagine that you just have a "theory" about it. Continue to listen carefully and test your theory. 

You'll discover a lot of English that doesn't fit into your theories at all. That's OK. That just means that you're learning something new and interesting! The more you listen and read, the more interesting uses an combinations of simple words you'll find. The more you listen and read, the more interesting uses an combinations of simple words you'll find.