Here is a simple summary of grammar rules to help you avoid making grammar mistakes in English.

𝟭) Sentences start with a capital letter. Full stops (aka period) indicate the end of a sentence.

➜ E.g. James went to the shop.

𝟮) Sentences end with a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark depending on the type of sentence.  

➜ E.g. Kim went to school. (Declarative sentence)

➜ E.g. Where did Kim go? (Interrogative sentence)

➜ E.g. We won the football game! (Exclamatory sentence) 

➜ E.g. Listen to me now! (Imperative sentence)

Click here to learn all about types of sentences. 

𝟯) Sentence structure.

A basic sentence consists of a subject (noun or pronoun + modifying words) and a predicate (verb + modifying words).

➜ E.g. She runs. – This sentence contains a subject (she) and a verb (runs).

➜ E.g. The tall girl runs fast. – This sentence contains a subject, predicate, and modifying words.

𝟰) Articles a, an, and the.

The indefinite article a is used before a word beginning with a consonant. E.g. There is a book on the desk. 📕  ➜ The letter b is a consonant. 

The definite article an is used before a word beginning with a vowel. E.g. There is an apple in the bowl. 🍎  ➜ The letter a is a vowel. 

The definite article the is used when we already know the noun being referred to. It can also be used when talking about something that there is only one of e.g. the earth. 🌍

Click here to learn about articles. 

𝟱) Subject-verb agreement.

Subjects and verbs must agree with one another in a sentence. 

A singular subject needs a singular verb, and a plural subject needs a plural verb.

➜ E.g. She is a teacher.

➜ E.g. They are teachers. 

𝟲)  Eight parts of speech. 

It is important to learn and understand the different parts of speech in English. The 8 parts of speech include nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, prepositions, adverbs, interjections, and conjunctions.

Click here to learn about the 8 parts of speech. 

𝟳) Countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable nouns are nouns that we can count. They have singular and plural forms. We can make the plural form by adding the letter ‘s’ or ‘es’. 

Uncountable nouns are nouns that we can’t count. They are always singular. 

There are rules we need to follow when using countable and uncountable nouns. Click here to learn the rules.

𝟴) Regular and irregular verbs.

A regular verb is a type of verb that follows the rule of adding ‘d’ or ‘ed’ when making the past tense forms.

An irregular verb is a type of verb that doesn’t follow any rule when making the past tense forms. 

𝟵) Confused words.

Many words in English are used incorrectly because they look or sound the same. Homonyms are words with the same sounds and spellings, but different meanings. Homophones are words with the same sounds but different spellings and meanings.  

➜ E.g. Your and you’re.

➜ E.g. Its and it’s.

➜ E.g. There, their, and they’re.

Click here to learn the differences between commonly confused words. 

𝟭𝟬) Word order in questions. 

The correct question format is the question word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb.

➜ E.g. Where can I buy a wedding dress?

‘Where’ is the question word, ‘can’ is the auxiliary verb, ‘I’ is the subject, and ‘buy’ is the main verb.