5 Practical Tips to Improve Your Knowledge of English Grammar

When we study English, we run into a lot of confusing things when it comes to grammar. Often we don’t understand certain things because they simply don’t exist in our native language.

But don’t despair!

In this article, you’ll find ten tips that can help you improve your knowledge of English grammar and feel more confident in the future.

So then…

Tip 1: Pay attention to apostrophes

Don’t ignore this important punctuation mark, because the apostrophe is used to form contractions as well as the possessive case (for example, sister’s book, John’s son). If you omit the apostrophe, you can easily change the meaning of words: its – it’s, their – they’re. Be careful!

Tip 2: Always use a comma after introductory phrases or prepositional phrases.

It sounds like it makes no sense, but in fact, it is extremely simple. The prepositional phrase is a word combination, the main element of which is a preposition. Usually, the prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun.

Here are some examples:

Under the pile of clothes, we found his wallet.

After a hard day at work, Jean loves to relax in the backyard.

Tip 3: Memorize as many heteronyms (homophones) and suffixes as possible.

Words such as too – two, your – you’re, accept – except are homophones, words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently. It is very important to know how to form new words in English and which suffixes to use. For example, the suffix –able can be added to the root word fashionable; the word can exist without a suffix. The suffix –ible is used when a certain word has no meaning without it: divisible.

Tip 4: Understand the articles

In English, there are two kinds of articles, definite (the) and indefinite (a/an). Remember that a/an is used when referring to something in general, and the when referring to something specific.

Examples:

Someone called a doctor.

Someone called the doctor living the next door.

Tip 5: Understand the concept of “appositive.”

In essence, an appositive is a noun or pronoun set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.

It’s a convenient way to add details to a sentence. The term “appositive” is derived from a Latin word that means “placing near,” and an appositive usually appears immediately after the word or phrase that it identifies.

You can take help from English Language Tutoring to improve your English grammar as well as speaking and writing skills.