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Learning English Grammar

English is a tricky language, full of complex rules and contradictions, and learning English grammar can seem overwhelming. Despite this, English is a global language used by politicians, business leaders, and entertainers worldwide. With the growing importance of English has come an increase in the number of people wanting to learn the language, many of whom struggle with English grammar.

Learning any language involves four main aspects: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. Some of these things are easy to practice on your own, but others require at least one other person for the practice to be useful. The following are some easy ways to improve your English grammar skills and increase your confidence.

Reading

You may find that working on your reading skills is the easiest way to begin learning English grammar. Newspapers, novels, and the Internet provide endless sources of material written in English, and reading practice can be done practically anywhere. Reading provides learners with a great starting point from which to build a working vocabulary and become familiar with the structure of English grammar. If you are not a native English speaker, be sure to have a bilingual dictionary handy to help in your reading practice. This resource will be invaluable.

Many web sites suggest that you begin with reading newspapers and other similar material. The drawback to this is that the text is often filled with difficult words that may cause frustration. Instead, try starting with children’s books that feature repetition of ideas, words, and phrases.

As you progress and encounter new words, try to use context clues—the words or sentences surrounding the unknown word—to determine what meaning would make most sense. Then use your dictionary to confirm your translation of those words. Keep notes to help you remember words and phrases.

Listening

Listening to native English speakers is another way to build your vocabulary and help you learn English grammar. English TV shows and movies can expose you to the cadence, pitch, and pronunciation of native speakers. Watch videos or DVDs over and over. The first time, simply try to determine the overall ideas. Then, work on picking up details and noting any new vocabulary words. Something else that can help when you’re learning English grammar, in addition to listening to recorded material, is to meet with and listen to native speakers in person. Find a regular conversation partner with whom you can practice on a weekly or biweekly basis.

Speaking

One of the best ways to learn proper English grammar is to converse with other English speakers. If possible, take a class that allows you to interact with others who are either learning English or are native speakers. Conversations with others will allow you to practice both your speaking and listening skills, substantially improving your fluency. In addition to speaking with others, learn to think in English rather than translating from your native language. This skill will increase the speed of your responses and will allow you to fully immerse yourself in conversation. You may also find it helpful to record yourself speaking in English.

Writing

Finally, writing practice will help you improve your English grammar skills. In the beginning, you may find writing to be tedious and challenging, but being able to look back on your written text is invaluable. Write something every day, no matter how simple or short. You could keep a journal, or you may prefer visiting chat rooms, forums, or blogs—or even exchanging messages with a pen pal. Reviewing or editing your previous writings can also be helpful. As you progress, search your earlier work for mistakes. This will help reinforce your progress and help you learn to revise your own work.

Mistakes

Learning a new language is difficult, and you will undoubtedly make mistakes. Don’t be embarrassed, but rather view these mistakes for what they are—learning opportunities. Embrace these mistakes and learn from them. Before you know it, you will have mastered the skills that are currently causing you problems. Then you can move on to more complex English grammar issues.

Proper Preposition Phrases

On a daily basis, we see improper preposition usage. In fact, it drives us crazy when we hear supposedly well-educated people on national radio and TV misuse common prepositions in their reporting of the news and current events.

Just to be clear as to what we’re talking about here: a “preposition” is a word that is placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase by modifying another word in the sentence. The dictionary defines a preposition as: “…a word governing a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element…” In less technical terms, prepositions are those little connector words that join words and/or phrases to other words and/or phrases.

Examples of common prepositions are: about, above, after, as, at, before, behind, between, beyond, but, by, down, during, in, into, of, off, on, under, until, up, upon, with, within, to name a few. These words almost always function as an adjective or adverb.

Below are about a dozen typical preposition phrases misused in the news media and on popular TV shows.

agree (on), agree (to), agree (with)
We now agree on the terms of the contract.
I intend to agree to his proposal after the modifications.
His observations agree with my findings.

answer (for), answer (to)
He will have to answer for what he did last night.
She will have to answer to her boss on that matter.

begin (by), begin (from), begin (with)
I will begin by taking the oath of allegiance.
The race will begin from the parking lot behind the car dealership.
The project will begin with an environmental assessment.

bored (by), bored (with); NOT “bored of”
She was really bored by last night’s concert.
Over time, I became bored with the whole thing.

capable (of); NOT “capable to”
I knew that they were capable of much more.
The coach told me I was capable of playing at a much higher level.

correspond (to), correspond (with)
Once it is repainted it will correspond to mine.
While away on course I made it a habit to correspond with my parents by e-mail.

impressed (by), impressed (with); NOT “impressed of”
Jason was impressed by their new approach to the issue.
Julia was quite impressed with Susan’s behavior.

graduate (from), graduate (to); NOT “graduated college”
When do you expect to graduate from college?
After the initial phase you will graduate to the next level.

invest (in), invest (with)
Once I receive the funds I will invest in a mix of stocks and bonds.
He decided to invest his savings with the bank.

live (off), live (on)
Once they move to the farm they plan to live off the land.
When I turn 65 I will start to live on a pension.

proceed (to), proceed (with)
After that is done, I will proceed to the next step.
Please proceed with what you were doing when we arrived.

report (on), report (to)
After his assessment he will report on the situation.
He will report to the recruitment center next Monday.

suited (to), suited (for)
They seem very suited to each other.
Brad is well suited for that accounting position.

The above are just a few examples of proper preposition usage in some of the more common preposition phrases.  So, here’s a word of warning: if you are trying to improve your English by watching television or listening to the radio, don’t assume that everything you hear is correct. Often it isn’t. Really! So, if you read or hear something that doesn’t seem quite right, look it up.

Be Very Careful How You Post Online

These days, with social media being a major part of our everyday lives, how you present yourself in writing is increasingly important. If you don’t pay careful attention to the quality of the posts you make online you could be hurting yourself in ways you haven’t even thought of, or can’t even imagine.

A Good Example of This on Facebook

A post appeared recently wherein the author had decided to go into some sort of rant about how they were very upset with people who used animal and cartoon images as their Facebook profile picture. This person wanted only photos of the actual person to be used, and they were therefore going to “unfriend” anyone on  who used an image other than their own photo. In this case that the person’s little rant also made numerous disparaging remarks about the characters and motives of the people who don’t use their own photo on Facebook.

The real kicker was that the individual’s rant was absolutely riddled with errors in basic English spelling and grammar.

What would your reaction to this post be? Exactly.

When a post seems to be bordering on illiterate, it loses all credibility. Whatever point they were trying to make about the FB profile photos suddenly became meaningless at best, and hypocritical at worst. And you wouldn’t be the only one to dismiss this person based on the poor quality of that post.

But here’s the most important part: whether you intend for it or not, your post may well be seen by thousands of people worldwide.

Yes, thousands. Even if you have your settings updated to maximum privacy. Anyone within your approved circle of friends can screenshot what you say and post it anywhere else.

Employers are Watching

Prospective employers routinely check out the Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin profiles of job applicants. If you have a habit of making posts with spelling and grammar errors (because it’s only social media, right?), chances are that this will be noticed and taken into account by hiring managers. Any job that requires at least high school graduation will require good writing skills.

College Admission Staff Are Watching

Admissions staff at universities and colleges also check out the online posts of applicants. Do you want to present yourself as semi-illiterate to a college or university? The worst thing about this is that if you get “screened out” by applications staff for your poor social media posts, you’ll never even know that this was the main reason you didn’t make the cut!

Prospective Dates Are Watching (Really!)

In Aziz Ansari’s book “Modern Romance” (Penguin Press, 2015), he states that poorly written text messages are a turn-off and sometimes a deal-breaker for many people during the initial phases of dating.

Why?

First, you would be surprised as to how many people claim to have college-level education and then post a profile that is rife with errors in spelling or grammar. So it makes the prospective date wonder: are you telling the truth about your education? If not, what else are you lying about?

Second, if you’re not willing to put your best foot forward when you’re actively trying to impress a date – whether it be for a short-term relationship or a spouse for life – it indicates you’re unlikely to put any effort into the relationship. And who wants to waste time on that?

Always, always have a grammar and spell checker program installed and running whenever you compose any type of social media post or text. Also, after drafting even the shortest of messages, STOP and read it over BEFORE you send it. Correct any errors and edit it for clarity if necessary.

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