How to Learn English Grammar
In today’s world learning English is no longer a possibility, but an essential part of being a world citizen. However, we must face the fact- for some people- to learn English grammar is not so easy and fun, they hate grammar and even think it is the most boring part of learning a new language. On the other hand, others are extremely interested in learning grammar rules and practice it as much as they can.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Glaucia S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Whoever wants to become an effective language learner cannot run from grammar lessons; it is a crucial part of the learning process besides reading, writing, speaking, and hearing.
Grammar is a simple definition word for the rules that people must follow while using a language. We need to use these rules in the same way we need it to play a game. English grammar is a useful tool in which meanings are encoded into words. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, and sentences, right up to the structure of whole texts.
There are hundreds of grammar rules, but the basics refer to sentence structure and parts of speech, including nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions.
What would be then the best way to face the inevitable fact that grammar is necessary to whoever wants to learn a new language?
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There are Eight Practical Steps to Learn Grammar Easily.
Here are eight supporting points that can help you to improve your grammar level.
- Learn as many words as you can. If you want to become fluent in English, you must have a particularly good vocabulary. The basic element of any language is words.
- Talk to people. Essentially, speaking a language helps to develop your knowledge of grammar.
- Watch and learn. Movies have been considered a major source of entertainment
- Ask for Correction. We can learn a lot from our mistakes.
- Know the parts of speech. You can do this by putting together all the words you know into parts of speech.
- Look for patterns. the English language has many patterns.
- Practice verb forms. English speakers use to talk about the past, present, and future in their language.
- Use technology in your favor.
Learn as many words as you can
One way to develop your English level is by learning unfamiliar words every day. One of the best ways to do it is by reading good children’s books in which you can learn easy and simple words, then a good tip would be writing these new words in a notebook, look for their meaning in different contexts and finally memorize it.
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Talk to people
Talking to strangers in a foreign language can be incredibly challenging at first, but once you overcome it, it can be a powerful aiding tool to improve your English-speaking fluency and develop your skill to structure your sentences grammatically correctly. Nevertheless, it demands a breakthrough on the students who have a shy personality. Those who are shy need to cross the barriers to improving their English ability.
Watch, Listen and Learn
Watching movies can be one of the best tools to significantly improve your English. Movies can be extremely helpful, especially when you enable the subtitles tool in which you can listen and read at the same time how native speakers place their arguments naturally. Listening to famous songs will not only stimulate you to learn, but it will help you to memorize and practice English in a very entertaining way too.
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Ask for Correction
Committing mistakes are a normal part of learning English and it happens to everyone. You must take a risk and make mistakes so in that way you can learn. By asking for the correction you can help yourself improve faster and you will avoid repeating the same mistakes. Another thing is to keep a diary to make notes whenever some helper corrects you. When you ask for the correction you are showing how interested you are in your new journey of learning a new language.
Know the parts of speech
Parts of speech are categories that you can use to describe each word’s function in a sentence. The best way to find a word’s part of speech is to think about what role the word plays in the sentence. You must identify naming words as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and many others. These few clues that can help you to figure out the part of speech.
Look for patterns
You can also improve your English by looking for patterns. Sentence patterns are made up of phrases and clauses. A phrase is a group of connected words. The basic pattern that are used when putting together a sentence: Subject + Verb (S + V) Subject + Verb + Direct Object (S + V + DO) Subject + Verb + indirect Object + Direct Object (S + V + IO + DO) Subject + Verb + Subject complement (S + V + SC) These are the four types of sentence patterns.
Also Read: Comparing English Language to Chinese Language
Practice verb forms
A verb is a word that shows action. It is important to choose the verb that fits the subject and object in a sentence otherwise your English will not sound natural or you may not be able to make yourself understood. Verb tenses are verb forms that English speakers use to talk about the past, present, and future in their language. There are twelve verb forms. It is quite a challenge to know all the tenses (forms), but there are a few things you can do to help you to learn and practice. Read the verb forms that you want to learn. Do the verb tense exercises as much you can, there are plenty of websites with free online quizzes from which you can learn. Use the verb form as you are learning.
Use Technology in your favor
Regardless of being comfortable with technology, if you want to enhance your English grammar skills, another great tip would be to use a language application on the go. There plenty of free online language applications that you can take advantage of while on the move. Especially if you are a busy person who has no fixed time to learn or you are disciplined as you would like to be. Language applications, paid or not, can offer you a bunch of features you could make use of to benefit from it.
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In conclusion, grammar is the backbone of any language. Learning grammar is essential to use the language appropriately in any context, either being in a business environment or informally interacting with others. Therefore, make the most to dig into grammar to successfully use it for your future career and social life.
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