About 20 percent of the worldwide population speaks English. Most of those speakers are actually learning English as a second or third language, just like you are.
You’ve noticed how much rests on having good grammar. That’s why you’re focused on improving your grammar.
These five grammar tips will take your English to the next level.
Learn these helpful grammar tips to become an expert native speaker!
1. Checking for Agreement is One of the Tried and True Grammar Tips
Checking for subject-verb agreement is important if you want to speak English fluently. Not every language changes verbs based on subjects, but English does.
You’ll need to be familiar with how to determine the subject of a sentence. Even native speakers sometimes make mistakes with this.
The subject “Ann and I” is a plural subject. You would conjugate the verb as though using “we,” so you would say “Ann and I are.”
2. Watch out for Collective Nouns
This next grammar tip builds on subject-verb agreement and understanding your subject. A collective noun refers to more than one person or thing. Good examples are “family” and “the staff.”
How you treat collective nouns will depend on whether you’re speaking British or American English. In American English, the noun “family” is singular. You would say, “My family is visiting.”
In British English, though, “family” is plural, so you’d say, “My family are visiting.”
3. Remember the Case System
When you’re working at understanding English grammar, you may not be told there’s a case system. Many languages use case systems. English has one, but native speakers rarely discuss it.
You can see English cases at work in the example of “I” and “me.” “I” is the subjective case, which you use when you complete the action of the sentence. You would say, “I met with the shareholders today.”
“Me” is the objective case, which you use when someone else is acting. You could say, “The shareholders met with me today.”
4. Learn How to Use Less and Few
Something even native English speakers struggle with is when to use “more” and “much,” and “less” and “few.”
If you can count the noun, you want to use “more” and “few.” One can say you have a few dollars or that more people came to class.
If you can’t count the noun, you’ll use “less” and “much.” For example, you can have less water. If you’re in a hurry, you may not have much time.
5. Watch out for Dangling Participles
This next grammar tip builds on basic English grammar rules. When you’re structuring a sentence, you want to identify your subject. With dangling participles, you run the risk of confusing the subject of the sentence.
This is demonstrated in the following sentence: “Flying around the trees, we saw some birds.” This implies you were flying!
If you place a participle at the beginning of a sentence, be sure the action is performed by the next noun.
You Can Master English
These five grammar tips are relatively advanced. Even native English speakers get them confused sometimes.
Keep practicing basic grammar rules, as they’re the foundations of good grammar. As you practice, forming even the most complex sentence will become easier.
