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Ways to Improve Your Grammar

July 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Many people struggle with writing. Despite the fact that many of us are writing each and every day, whether an email, Facebook status update, or a blog post, many don’t know the basic rules of grammar. Although for the most part this isn’t a big deal, for some it can important to impress your boss, look professional to clients, and come across as intelligent to those you do business with.

So how can you go about improving your grammar? One of the best ways is to take a college course on writing. Whether you’re working on an online college degree or not, taking an online college writing class is a great way to brush up your writing skills including reminding yourself of the grammar rules.

If you don’t have time to take a class on writing, there are a lot of grammar books that are used for such classes that you could read to remind yourself of these rules. If you’re looking for something more in-depth, check out Webster’s English Usage. Just like the dictionary, a book of how words are used in English is republished every few years. It includes things like when to use if and when to use whether and includes history of the item and why the usage is what it is.

The important thing when it comes to writing is to not slack just because what you’re writing is “unimportant.” Whether it’s an email to a friend or an entry in your personal blog, be sure to practice good grammar so it becomes habit.

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Teaching Grammar and Mechanics

March 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Some teachers feel that they have to spend a considerable amount of time teaching their students proper grammar usage and mechanics. However, studies have shown that you can actually spend too much time and focus on grammar, which in turn can have a negative effect on a child’s understanding of proper grammar. Rather, short focused lessons may be more effective.

Students tend to see grammar, punctuation, and writing lessons as confusing, overwhelming, or just plain boring. It may be beneficial to find more interesting ways to incorporate grammar lessons into other subjects and/or use games and interactive lessons to help teach grammar and mechanics lessons. Allow students to correct their own work with a checklist. This allows the student to see where the mistakes are and find ways to improve their writing skills.

There are many student websites and teacher help sites that can provide you with great interactive lessons, worksheets, and games to make learning grammar and proper mechanics more interesting and easier to understand. For example, you could use a common game such as Scattegories to teach the proper use of nouns. Choose a letter and have each child in turn come up with a noun that starts with that letter for each category of nouns (people, places, visible things, qualities, ideas, actions, and conditions). Each word can only used once. This keeps children thinking and finding new words that fit into the categories they are given. Before they know it, your students will be learning what nouns are and how they fit into specific categories!

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Teaching Your Child Proper Grammar

February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Teaching your child proper English grammar can sometimes seem like an overwhelming task. With all of the language slangs and improper usages that children can be bombarded with through peer interactions, television, and even reading materials it is no wonder the English language becomes so confusing. Although teaching the specifics of grammar structure falls to the school teachers, giving your child a strong base at home before he even enters the educational world can ensure your child’s overall success.

Begin by ensuring that you are using proper grammar all of the time in speaking and writing. Children learn best by example and will internally develop many grammar rules through continued exposure to the proper use of the language. When your child is young, read to him daily. Teach your children to read early and encourage him to read often. Children who read a lot and read well will also write and speak well.

Engage your child in fun learning activities while they are young. There are many great activities, worksheets, and games available online to help you teach your preschooler proper grammar and word usage. Teaching and encouraging your child when he is young will ensure that he retains this information when he is older.

In fact, it is important that you do not talk down to your child or use “baby phrases” while your child is developing his speech. If you have engaged in the proper use of the English language throughout your child’s speech development years, your child will learn to speak and use proper grammar much quicker than if he has to re-learn from previous improper “lessons.” As your child matures continue to encourage proper use of grammar in your child’s speech and writing.

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Grammar Tips to Improve the SAT Tests

December 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In the English language, noun phrases and nouns are considered as important parts in a sentence. There are four forms that ESL students and native speakers need to know. To write and speak English correctly, students are required to master the four forms that work as the main subject and they are as follows

Noun phrases
Verb phrases
Prepositional phrases

Noun clauses
Noun Clauses
Preceded by subordinating conjunction, noun clauses can be defined as subordinate classes, containing a clause. A clause normally contains a subject and a predicate. The functions of noun clauses are similar to those of noun phrases. Few examples are
What the maid said confused me
What you previously assumed about Noun clauses was incorrect
Noun Phrases
A noun phrase is considered as a grammatical form capable of functioning as grammatical in a subject. These kinds of phrases normally comprise of a noun or a pronoun, with modifiers that include adverbs, nouns, adjectives, prepositional phrases and so on. The noun phrase is considered as a grammatical form of subject that is used quite often.
Dogs primarily like bones
My dog also likes to eat homemade food
Verb Phrases
Another grammatical form is the verb phrase. It performs the subject function in the form of infinitives and present participles. Verb phrases contain a verb and in addition, any form of complements, modifiers, infinitive markers, particles etc. For instance, see the below examples

Drinking fresh juice is healthy

Writing is fun

Prepositional phrases
Some phrases that contain preposition are followed by prepositional complements, like a noun phrase. These kinds of phrases generally refer to locations.
Behind the garage is a dog kennel
After seven is the best time to meet the doctor

Knowing these basics about grammar can dramatically improve the scores of the SAT and help the student get into a good college.

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