“Only in grammar can you be more than perfect.” – William Safire
One of the most difficult things about learning a new language is learning the grammar rules. And while English grammar can seem quite easy compared to some languages, a small mistake can easily change the meaning of what you want to say.
First I should mention I am not including in this blog the basic rules of a) using capital letters for beginning of sentences and for proper nouns and proper adjectives; b) basic positive word order – subject -verb- object (if needed); c) or punctuation rules.
I am also going to add that there are myths in English language learning.
Some we even teach our own children.
For example there is a spelling rule primary children are taught in schools that ‘I before E except after C’ which can be seen in words such as receive, piece, thief, ceiling.
YET there are many words that do not follow this rule such as height, weight, seize, weird, neighbour…
Or the myth that prepositions can’t go at the end of sentences. This is another myth as with phrasal verbs we see the preposition at the end of sentences :
Who can I depend on?
That is something I cannot agree with.
Another myth from Victorian times is not being able to split infinitives yet this is not a rule at all. An infinitive (to go, to win, to sing) is split when a word or a phrase (usually an adverb ) appears between to and the verb.
Examples of common split infinitive sentences are:
- – John wants to never worry about the future again.
- – I would like to better understand your needs.
- – We ask everyone to kindly turn off their mobile phones.
- – It’s OK to sometimes break rules, especially if they don’t make sense.
In this video on our Friday Ask Us Anything Live I covered these myths in English.
So let’s look at some of the really important rules that you should keep in mind when you speak and write English.
1) Adjectives and adverbs
Make sure you use adjectives and adverbs correctly. Adjectives describe, identify and quantify people or things and usually go in front of a noun. They don’t change if the noun is plural. Adverbs, on the other hand, modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs and usually come after the verb.
For example:
- – He’s a slow driver. (This is an adjective)
- – He drives slowly. (This is an adverb)
Please see this post about the order of adjectives in more detail.
Most adverbs are created by adding -ly to an adjective as in the example, but a few adverbs are irregular, such as:
fast (adjective) – fast (adverb)
hard (adjective) – hard (adverb)
good (adjective) – well (adverb)
For example, Your English is good. You speak English well.
2) Pay attention to homophones
Homophonic words are words that are pronounced in the same way as other words but have different meanings, even if they are spelt differently.
This can obviously create confusion and unfortunately there are many of these words in English.
For example:
- – they’re – their – there
- – you’re – your
- – it’s – its
- – I – eye
- – here – hear
- – break – brake
- – flower – flour
So when you’re writing, be careful to choose the right spelling. And when you listen, remember that a word you think you understood may have another meaning. Try to understand that meaning from the context.
Have a read of this post to see more homophonic words.
There is also this video where I explain the importance of choosing correctly between you’re and your!
3) Use the correct conjugation of the verb as the subject and verb must agree in number
Remember to change the verb to agree with the subject.
The main subjects you need to be careful with are he, she and it because they often have a different form to the others.
- For example:
- – She has two cats. THIS IS RIGHT
- – She have two cats. THIS IS WRONG
This seems like a small mistake to make but unfortunately it’s a very noticeable one. So if you can avoid it, it’ll make a big difference to how accurate you are in English.
Remember also that when you describe something using ‘There is/are’, the verb must agree with the first item you mention.
- For example:
- – There is a sofa, some chairs and a table.
- – There are some chairs, a table and a sofa.
When two singular subjects are connected by or, use a singular verb. The same is true for either/or and neither/nor.
- – John or Mary is coming tonight.
- – Either coffee or tea is fine.
- – Neither John nor Mary was late.
To practice more with subject + verb agreement, Intrepid English members can start this course now.
Treat collective nouns (e.g. committee, company, family, team) as singular OR plural. In British English a collective noun is usually treated as plural, needing a plural verb and pronoun. In American English a collective noun is often treated as singular, needing a singular verb and pronoun.
- – The committee are having sandwiches for lunch. Then they will go to London. (typically BrE)
- – The BBC have changed their logo. (typically BrE)
- – My family likes going to the zoo. (typically AmE)
- – CNN has changed its logo. (typically AmE)
4) Connect your ideas with conjunctions
If you want to connect two ideas or short phrases, you can do so by using a conjunction.
For example:
– I’m studying English. English is important.
becomes:
– I’m studying English because it’s important.
The most common conjunctions are:
- – and – addition
- – because – to give the reason
- – but – to express contrast
- – so – to describe a consequence
- – or – to describe an alternative
Here are some examples:
- – He likes football and he plays in a team.
- – We’re going out because we’re bored.
- – She wants to study more but she doesn’t have time.
- – Kim is coming round so I’m cleaning my flat.
- – Would you like a tea or coffee?
Here is the video on these rules in English grammar.
5) Sentence construction
Generally speaking, sentences in written English are not particularly long. This is good news for English learners because it means you don’t need to worry about writing long, complex sentences.
A sentence usually has two, or possibly three, clauses (subject + verb + object), linked by a conjunction.
A good way to make your sentences even clearer is to add commas. Commas help the reader understand where one phrase finishes and another begins.
The most common occasions where it’s recommended to put a comma are:
- – between two clauses. For example: If the weather is nice tomorrow, we’re going to the park.
- – to separate items in a list. For example: Our kids like swimming, skiing, ice-skating and cycling.
- – after some conjunctions. For example: Our holiday was great and the hotel was wonderful. However, the weather was awful.
- – for extra information in the middle of a sentence (a non-defining clause). For example: My neighbor, who’s from Brazil, is really good at cooking.
6) Remember the word order for question
In English, the structure of questions is different to the affirmative form. So make sure you remember to change the order of the words or add the auxiliary ‘do’.
There are four ways to make questions in English:
- 1) ‘to be’ – for questions using the verb ‘to be’, invert the subject and verb. For example: Are you a student?
- 2) all other verbs – to make questions for all other verbs, add the auxiliary ‘do’. For example: Do they work here?
- 3) modal verbs – to make questions with modal verbs, invert the modal verb and the subject. For example: Can he play the piano?
- 4) auxiliary verbs – for sentences containing an auxiliary verb, like ‘have’ in the present perfect, invert the auxiliary verb and the subject. For example: Have you seen Bob?
These rules still apply when you add a question word like what, how, why, where, when, which:
- Where are you from?
- When can we meet?
- Why have they left?
7) Use the right past form of verbs
Speaking about the past in English is not particularly difficult.
Every subject uses the same word to express the past, so you don’t have to worry about learning six different words as in some languages.
However, many verbs are irregular and don’t follow the regular form of adding -ed. You don’t need to know all of these, but try to learn the most common ones (approximately 20).
For example:
Go – went
Have – had
Make – made
For example:
- – We went to the cinema last Saturday.
- – They had a party to celebrate Tom’s birthday.
- – I made a cake this morning.
To learn more on how to pronounce the regular -ed endings in the past, check out this video.
Want to test yourself on your past simple? Intrepid English members can take the quiz below!
8) Get familiar with the main English verb tenses
If you’re just starting to learn English, you won’t know all the tenses yet. And that’s fine.
Just focus on learning them one at a time.
To help you learn the different tense, why not try our English Verb Tenses course?
Or watch these three videos where I cover all the tense in English: the present tenses, the past tenses & the future tenses.
And finally…
9) Never use a double negative
In English there are often two ways to express a negative concept.
For example, if you want to say the room is empty, you can say:
There is nothing in the room.
OR
There isn’t anything in the room.
The words ‘nothing’ and ‘anything’ have the same meaning, but ‘nothing’ is used with an affirmative verb, and ‘anything’ is used with a negative verb.
This rule applies to other words like:
nobody – anybody
none – any
This is also true of the word ‘never’ when you talk about experience. You can say:
He’s never been to the U.S.
OR
He hasn’t ever been to the U.S.
The meaning is the same but in the second sentence the use of ‘ever’ means you need to make the verb negative.
Be sure to watch the part 3 video on these final important grammar rules.
Well, that’s all from me today! I hope you found this blog post and the accompanying videos useful. Remember, I go live every Friday on YouTube and LinkedIn. If you have an English language question you want me to answer in my next Friday live, let me know in the comments below!
You can also watch the full playlist of past Ask Us Anything live videos right here.