January 3, 2009

How to learn English grammar?

Once you have started to learn a foreign language you want to use it, speak it, write it and above all communicate with others. But as we say, you have to learn to walk before you can run. You have to learn something about the way words work together, the way you can express different times or tenses, the way you use adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and so on. But if you are determined to get control of the language, understand it and use it properly, you must not let the things I have listed stop you. One thing at a time. Gradually bit by bit if you work hard, you will find success. The one word that sometimes makes people frightened when they start to learn a new language is "grammar". But don't worry about that word because it's only a very general title used to cover the workings of the language. The danger comes when you let grammar get in the way while you are learning. Remember that it was people who created the language in the first place. The "grammar people" or the grammarians came later.
On www.english-test.net , you can find a wealth of different multiple choice tests, texts and stories which show grammar in context. Those are the words I want to stress – in context. It's no good learning just the meaning of a new word, or the function of a tense or the use of a particular preposition because you also have to see how they behave in a sentence or in a paragraph. At the same time we want to make this information as enjoyable as possible and that's why we like to introduce an element of humour and lightness into our materials. The American songwriter, Robert B Sherman among his many lyrics wrote a song in a musical about teaching children how to deal with unpleasant tasks. The most famous line is: A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. The medicine in our case is "grammar" and we add the "sugar" to make it more pleasant for you.

Present Simple Tense
Present Continuous
Future Tense
Articles in English
Progressive Forms
Passive Voice
Relative Pronoun
Relative Pronoun (2)
Relative Pronoun (3)
Prepositions
Spot the preposition
English Adverbs
Types of Adverbs
Usage of Adverbs
Indirect Speech
Conjunctions
Conditionals
Subjunctive
Reflections
Make or Do?
Make or Do? (2)
Phrasal verb break
Phrasal verb bring
Phrasal verb bring (2)
Phrasal verb bring (3)
Phrasal verb hold
Phrasal verb hold (2)
Phrasal verb take
Phrasal verb take (2)
Phrasal verb take (3)
Phrasal verb look
Phrasal verb look (2)
Phrasal verb go
Phrasal verb go (2)
Phrasal verb run
Phrasal verb fall
Phrasal verb get
Word Story: Health
Word Story: Jokes
Word Story: Dictionary
Word Story: Search Engines
Word Story: Weather
One thing or another
Saying It Twice
Colour Idioms
Cool Expressions
Book Expressions
Expressions: In Order/Disorder
Conversations about English
The Articles (1)
The Articles (2)
The Articles (3)
The Articles (4)

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