5 Ways to Boost Your Grammar Skills

Learning English relies on mastering a complex series of definitions, principles, and rules about how everything fits together. As is the case in other languages; grammar represents the rules used to craft meaningful passages. Teachers use a variety of approaches to drive home grammatical rules, including repetitious exercises designed to cement students' understanding of English grammar. Some English language educators, on the other hand, maintain a more passive position regarding grammar, believing that other principles are more important to learning the language.

Whether you are a stickler for grammatical details, or an English language student committed to mastering words and phrases ahead of the grammar that guides them, it is important to recognize the importance of syntax, semantics and other grammatical features of the language. Use these proven approaches to guide your grammar skills to the next level:

Read English Language Books

Depending on your current level of understanding, reading books written in English may furnish your most comprehensive exposure to grammar. Even when you're not focused specifically on grammar, reading brings proper structure and other grammatical rules to the surface, as you read. And when language lessons relate to certain aspects of grammar, written material provides references, where you can see how authors applied grammar correctly.

Practice Creating Sentences and Paragraphs using Grammar Rules

While grammar plays a role in conveying your intended meaning, it is not the only force at play getting your message across. Early-on learning the language, English language students struggle to use the right words and phrases, rather than striving to join their ideas in grammatically correct ways. To boost grammar skills, successful English language students flip their approaches, at times, in order to consciously think about grammar as they express themselves.

To better understand relationships between words, phrases and grammar, think of learning language as learning to type, for example. In most cases, without any keyboarding skills, you'll still be able to get your message across. But with a concerted effort, you'll eventually learn to use the keyboard as intended, without looking at the keys. In much the same way, vocabulary and a cursory understanding of how words and phrases work within a language provide enough tools for you to communicate. However, when you consciously apply grammar to your approach, it refines your expression, allowing you to share ideas more effectively.

Study Punctuation

Grammar is a general term, encompassing several aspects of how various nuances operate within the language. Punctuation yields clues for those learning English, adding formal reinforcement to principles at play in spoken and written language.

Exceptions to Grammar Rules

While some grammatical concepts remain consistent throughout the English language, others are subject to exceptions, which can be daunting for those learning grammar. The best approach is to apply rules you learn along the way, without holding yourself accountable for all of the grammatical exceptions within the language. Mastering English is an ongoing pursuit of perfection - even for native speakers, so exceptions need not be committed to memory in the early stages of learning the language.

Set Realistic Goals

In some cases, learning English is tied to specific needs and responsibilities requiring you to use the language. Setting realistic goals helps you learn the language efficiently, in order to accommodate the ways you'll frequently use it. Specialized jargon and technical terms, for example, would not generally be included in your language lessons. If special vocabulary is required in your employment setting or in other parts of your life, account for them as you learn the language, setting realistic benchmarks for mastering the grammatical rules your situation requires.

Learning grammar is only one aspect of mastering English, so it shouldn't consume your effort to become proficient using the language. Setting goals and exposing yourself to diverse examples are sure-fire ways to boost your understanding of English Grammar.

This is a guest post by Sarah Brooks from Freepeoplesearch.org. She is a Houston based freelance writer and blogger. Questions and comments can be sent to brooks.sarah23 @ gmail.com.

Don't Have Time to Learn English? No Problem!

Does this sound familiar?

Your English is...OK. As a non-native English speaker, you are able to communicate pretty well. You can go shopping or talk to someone about your favourite film. But be honest, your English isn't as good as you want it to be, is it?

You know what you have to do; you have to study more, right? Learning a language takes hours and hours of study every single week. The only way to speak a language fluently is to sit down and start studying.

So every January 1st, you pledge to finally get started and study every day. And for a few days you do it; you read English books, do free online English grammar exercises, and watch TV in English. But one day you are just too busy, and so you skip a day of studying. And the next week you skip another one. And soon all of your English things are lying under the bed, untouched for six months, and your English is worse than it was before.

That exact situation happens to far too many language learners. And unfortunately you probably blame yourself, it's just because you are too lazy or unmotivated, right? Wrong!

It simply means that you are a regular person, just like everyone else. As an adult, you have too many things to take care of already. Your job, your family, your life can't stop for an hour or two each day just because you want to learn to speak English better.

Let's dispel the biggest myth about learning English right now: You do not have to spend hours and hours each week in order to learn English.

In fact, trying to learn too much at once can actually be the worst thing that you can do. It's been shown that people can only learn about seven new things at one time. So any time spent trying to learn more than that is just a waste of time. Linguists even recommend that you only spend about 10 minutes a day studying a language[1].

Yes, that's right, you can learn a language in just 10 minutes a day. All you have to do is dedicate yourself to doing 10 minutes of free English online grammar exercises or vocabulary work each day, and you really will see your English improve.

No one is so busy that they don't have 10 minutes every day. You could do your English studying while riding public transportation, eating your lunch, or even while sitting on the toilet. Whenever you have a few spare minutes, do a little studying. You should live your normal life and then do your studying in your free time, not the other way around.

Doing it for such a short time each day prevents studying English from becoming a chore. When it doesn't feel like work and you are having fun, that is when your brain is able to learn the best. That means that it isn't only important to study for short periods of time, but also to make that studying time interesting and fun.

Do something different each day to keep it interesting. One day you can practice your English using the great free English online grammar exercises at grammati.com. This tool can also help you find out what you don’t know, so you can focus on exactly what to study and make your 10 minutes a day even more effective.

The following day you can learn new vocabulary words at vocabulary.com. And at the weekend you can watch a short video or read a news article at BBC Learning English and put your studying to good use.

While you can certainly study more than 10 minutes a day if you have a little time and are feeling good, make sure not to do too much too quickly. Studying for long periods of time won't really help you very much, and it will start to make English feel like work again, instead of like a fun break each day.

Lastly, remember that learning English takes time. For normal people with families, jobs, and social lives, it just isn't possible to become fluent in English overnight. But if you stick to a plan of 10 minutes a day, you will find that your English improves faster than you ever expected.

[1] www.mezzoguild.com/2012/03/02/short-and-sweet-study-periods

Studying Made Easier With Varsity Learning Tools

The recently launched Varsity Learning Tools is a massive and completely free EdTech resource full of options to help students learn and provide teachers with convenient classroom assessment solutions. The resource offers a comprehensive suite of free practice tests, digital flashcards, and questions-of-the-day for academic subjects and standardized tests of all levels. It is one of the best resources on the Internet to significantly aid students’ studying of English or any other subject/test they choose.

All visitors to the site have easy access to the thousands of free practice questions professionally created by the Varsity Tutors team; thousands of more questions are to be added every month. Additionally, visitors have the option of creating a free account that allows them to save their results and keep track of progress over time, as well as create their own tests and invite others to use them. It is an excellent classroom management tool in that it allows teachers to create customized tests for their various classes and invite students via email to take them.

When users complete a test, they receive incredibly detailed results and performance statistics. These impressive analytics include percentile rankings, score vs. time distribution, recorded time spent per question, and individual answer explanations. Students who have an account are able to see their analytics change over time, reflecting the progress they have made. Teachers can use this analytical data to easily evaluate how well their students are doing and where individual students are strongest vs. weakest.

Varsity Learning Tools can be used on any device, desktop or mobile, so you can take it with you anywhere you go. The various practice options available within the resource make it convenient for you to be flexible in your study methods – sit and take a few tests, peruse a few flashcards, or simply check the Question-of-the-Day each morning before class.

Not only are there a vast amount of questions across 95+ academic subjects and all standardized tests, you can find questions for varying levels of specific subjects. Varsity Learning Tools makes it easy for students to work on any area of English they may be studying, whether it be AP English Language and Composition, ACT English, SSAT Verbal, etc.

Visit Varsity Learning Tools today and get started!

A brief introduction to compound and complex sentence construction in English

You can dramatically improve your English writing skills by revising paragraphs written in short, simple sentences so that they reflect a deeper understanding of your subject. You can do this by combining and connecting previously written simple sentences into longer complex sentences which communicate more information and display a firm grasp on written English. A few compound and complex sentences express a more nuanced thought than a whole paragraph of shorter sentences with limited meaning. I’ll give brief examples of how you can incorporate compound and complex sentences into your everyday writing.

Compound sentences

The easier of these two structural styles to grasp is the compound sentence. Compound sentences essentially link together two independent simple sentences, often by adding a coordinating conjunction such as “but,” “and,” “so,” “yet,” or “for”. Though grammatically correct, it looks strange when two short sentences that address the same idea follow each other in a paragraph. Compound sentences work to unite short sentences into a coherent long thought that addresses several aspects of the same main idea. Below are a few examples of simple sentences transformed into compound sentences. I’ve underlined the coordinating conjunction in each compound sentence.

Simple sentence: I won tickets by calling the radio station. The DJ told me to invite along all my friends to the show!

Compound sentence: I won tickets by calling the radio station, and the DJ told me to invite along all my friends to the show!

Simple sentence: Mary said she could come to the show. She got sick the day before.

Compound sentence: Mary said she could come to the show, but she got sick the day before.

Complex Sentences

Complex sentences link together an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses and contain multiple verbs, thus explaining much more information in one sentence than a string of related simple sentences. The independent clause and dependent clause are typically linked by a relative pronoun (that, which, who, whose, etc.) or a subordinate conjunction (when, because, since, although, so, etc.).

The best way to think about the difference between independent and dependent clauses is that independent clauses make grammatical sense on their own, independent of anything else in the sentence. Dependent clauses, on the other hand, depend on the independent clause to make grammatical sense -they can’t stand by themselves. The following are examples of complex sentences with the conjunction underlined and the dependent clause in bold.

Complex sentence: We sold our quota faster than the team that walked because we biked.

Complex sentence: I ate the cookies that you left out.

Complex sentence: Jeff said he thought he compiled more data than I did.

Complex-Compound Sentence

A little more difficult than the previous two sentence types, the complex-compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses, usually linked by a dependent clause. These sentences can communicate several big ideas about the same subject without breaking the thought for a new sentence. Below are a few examples of complex-compound sentences with the linking dependent clause underlined.

Complex-Compound sentence: Although Frank enjoyed cooking, he always forgot to buy groceries ahead of time, so he usually went out to eat for dinner.

Complex-Compound sentence: I started eating an apple every day at lunch, but George, who loves his junk food, continues to eat chips.

Complex-Compound sentence: Jessie didn’t care about the weather before, but since the storm, he’s made a point to bring his umbrella everywhere.

This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for BestCollegesOnline.com. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 @gmail.com.

Subjective vs. Objective - Dennis and I? Or Dennis and Me?

Proper grammar is important no matter what you’re writing. Whether you are writing fun fiction stories and informal communications or a paper for a course you are taking at an online school, correct grammar shows a good grasp of the English language. Although most people believe they have a good handle on the basics, as they likely learned them in elementary school, the reality is most people don’t know how to use parts of speech properly. In fact, one of the most common grammatical errors is misuse of subjective and objective pronouns.

Subjective vs. Objective

Understanding the subjective and objective cases is the first step in learning which pronouns to use in your writing. Whether a noun or pronoun is subjective or objective depends on where the action of the verb is directed. A subject is the person or thing performing the action of a verb, while an object is the person or thing that the action is being performed upon. For example, in the sentence, “Robert bought a newspaper,”

• Robert is doing the buying, and is therefore the subject, and
• the newspaper is the thing being bought, making it the object.

An illustration of subjective and objective pronoun use is found in sentences like, “I gave the newspaper to him,” in which

• “I” is the subject, the person doing the giving, and
• “him” is the object, being the person receiving the newspaper.

Keep these examples in mind as you consider subjective and objective pronouns.

Subjective and Objective Pronouns

Before you can use the proper pronouns, you have to know which ones are subjective and which are objective. You’ll probably find that you already know some of these pronouns and their uses, whether or not you already think of them in terms of subject and object. However, becoming familiar with which pronouns are which will aid a great deal in choosing the correct words for your writing.

The subjective pronouns of the English language are:

• I
• you (singular and plural)
• he/she/it
• we
• they

The objective pronouns are:

• me
• you (singular and plural)
• him/her/it
• us
• them

I and Me

One of the most common errors in both writing and everyday speech is the misuse of the pronouns “I” and “me.” Such mistakes can be understandable if you’re speaking in a hurry, but you should always use the correct pronoun forms when writing. The more you understand proper pronoun usage, the fewer mistakes you will make.

Although “I” may sound more formal than “me” in a sentence, there are times when it is incorrect. Since “I” is a subjective pronoun, it should only be used in the subjective case. “Me” is objective and is therefore used in the objective case. If this seems confusing, there is an easy way to check for proper usage.

To figure out which pronoun is correct, take apart the sentence and look at each subject or object at a time. For example, the sentence “Bob went to the store with Dennis and I” is incorrect. Take Dennis out and you’ll see why this is the case. You wouldn't say, “Bob went to the store with I;” but rather, “Bob went to the store with me.” Therefore, the use of “me” is correct in this case. Remember that this is because Dennis and “me” are objects in this sentence, and “me” is an objective pronoun.

The opposite is true in this sentence: “Dennis and me ran around the yard.” “Me ran around the yard,” is incorrect grammar, so in this case you must use “Dennis and I.” This is because these are the subjects, two people performing the action of running. Since “I” is subjective, it is the correct pronoun to use.

Who and Whom

Another frequently confused set of pronouns are “who” and “whom.” The first thing to keep in mind when deciding which to use is that “who” is the subjective form while “whom” is objective. Thus the same rules apply as when you’re choosing between “I” and “me.” For example, asking, “Who went to the store?” is correct, because the person “who” refers to is the one who has performed the action of the verb “went.” In contrast, “Bob went the store with whom?” correctly uses the objective form, showing someone that is the recipient, or object, of the action.

A simpler way to remember this is to use “who” when you would use “he” and “whom” when you would use “him.” The previous examples illustrate this well:

• Who went to the store? He went to the store.
• Bob went to the store with whom? Bob went to the store with him.

In the first pair of sentences, “who” and “he” are both subjects, whereas in the second pair, “whom” and “him” are objects.

Understanding the difference between subjective and objective pronoun use is a crucial part of English grammar. Subjective and objective pronouns are just one aspect of proper grammar, but are quite commonly misused. Whatever you may be writing, correct grammar will make a good impression on the recipient, which is an especially important when it comes to formal messages such as cover letters and resumes. Choosing the right pronouns when writing and speaking gives your communications credibility and ensures that they flow smoothly.

Guest post by Lindsey Wright. Lindsey is fascinated with the potential of emerging educational technologies, particularly online schools, to transform the landscape of learning. She writes about web-based learning, electronic and mobile learning, and the possible future of education.