Good afternoon, English Learners!!
In this post I will talk about one of the most essential parts which form a language: grammar. First of all, you have to bear in mind that grammar is not a skill, but it helps us to improve our knowledge and communication. Grammar is simply the rules of a language and it governs the relationship between words. Grammar also means organizing a sentence: from a chaotic list of words to a complete statement.
Grammar helps you to learn faster when studying a foreign language. So, time plays an important role when learning grammar. We adults, as opposed to children, can concentrate for long periods and can use our time in a more efficient way. Grammar means a shortcut to learning a language.
Besides, you will learn grammar faster if you already know the grammar of your mother tongue.
Most of us tend to focus on a prescriptive grammar, saying who speaks correctly and who makes a lot of mistakes. However, theory is one thing and practice is another. Because of this, we have to change our point of view and talk about a descriptive grammar. Experts have to describe the grammatical processes people use and do not use.
But, how can I learn grammar? Which strategies can be useful for me?
You can look for patterns. This strategy, though, is not always useful. Don't expect a language to follow the pattern of another. All languages are different. Although they may have similarities in common, they are structured in different ways.
You can make deductions and use your predictive skills as well. When there is a sentence you do not completely understand, you can imagine the part of speech the words are depending on the word order.
When doing a gap fill exercise, words that come before or after the gap can guide you to decide which part of speech you have to use.
Grammar requires a natural order of acquisition . This means that you have to start learning the easiest rules and once you have more ability, try to learn the difficult ones.
Books are a good source to learn grammar. If you find a book which contains not only grammar explanations but also exercises and examples taken from real-life English, that will be perfect!
You have to pay attention to punctuation! It is more important than we think. A punctuation mark in the wrong place can change the whole meaning of a sentence.
If you want to, you can create a table to get an overview of grammar rules and therefore to have your knowledge well structured.
That's all I wanted to explain you today!
Now it's your turn to start learning grammar and using all these strategies!
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