The key to good communication is good grammar; that applies to any language, not just English. If you want to expresses yourself clearly and limit the chances of anyone misunderstanding your intentions, you need to have good grammar.
“Great,” you say. “I understand that. But how can I learn English grammar?”
The task of learning English grammar might seem daunting, especially since the language has so many rules and just as many exceptions.
A few simple tips can help you learn English grammar in the course of your daily routine.
The answer to the question “How can I learn English grammar?”
Communication has four key elements: reading, writing, talking, and listening. If you take a little time every day to concentrate on each of these elements, you will quickly improve your grammar.
How can I learn English grammar through reading?
Reading is a great way to learn more about a language. Try to read as much English text as possible in as many different forms as possible. Look at how recipe instructions differ from sentences in a sales brochure, or how the language in a news item differs from that of a gossip column.
Often when we read, we skim over text looking for specific information. You might look over a leaflet from a museum, for example, to find the opening times, or scan a newspaper weather forecast looking for specific words, such as “sunny” and “warm.”
The next time you pick up a magazine, newspaper, or other piece of printed text, slow down and take a few minutes to look at how the sentences are constructed. Look for commas and see where and how they are used. Try to find the more unusual punctuation marks too, such as exclamation points (!) or semicolons (;), and work out where they occur in the sentence and the kind of information these sentences try to convey. Ask yourself whether the meaning of the sentence changes if the semicolon is replaced by a comma or if a period is used instead of an exclamation point.
How can I learn English grammar through writing?
Next, try to apply the patterns you saw when reading to your own writing. You can find complex or difficult sentences and use the same structure to write a sentence of your own.
If you find any specific grammatical topics difficult to grasp, look for sentences in your text where those tricky constructions might appear. Has one sentence been written in the passive voice, for example? Look at ways you can turn the sentence around and make it active.
How can I learn English grammar through talking?
One of the best ways to test if your writing is clear and understandable is to read it out loud.
You can put a lot of thought and effort into writing a difficult sentence. Your main focus is often to make sure the sentence contains the information you need to get across. But is it grammatically correct?
Read the sentence out loud a few times. Did you stumble over the same words each time or run out of breath before you reached the end? If so, your sentence probably contains bad grammar. Take a closer look and try to rewrite your sentence until it flows smoothly and fluently.
How can I learn English grammar through listening?
It is important to pay attention to detail when learning English grammar.
A great way to learn is from other people’s mistakes.
Spoken English is often very different from written English. Even native speakers make grammatical errors, especially in casual conversation.
Take a few moments each day to listen to people talking and try to pick out their mistakes. Did that sentence end in a preposition? Did the pronoun agree with the antecedent? Perhaps it wasn’t even a complete sentence, but it was just a fragment instead.
You don’t need to correct the speaker; you only need to listen and remind yourself of the rules.
If you’re still asking yourself, “How can I learn English grammar?”, one other easy answer is to take an online course.