How is English Grammar best learned?

Answer 1

I think Ben W put it just about perfectly. Learning grammar is like trying to learn baking without actually cooking anything or looking at any recipes. I could tell you what pans are (verbs) and what ingredients are (nouns) and how they should go together but unless you actually get out the crockery and start baking (or speaking/reading/writing), it really won't mean anything.

Incidentally, learning Latin to help learn the grammar of English is, well, daft. The grammar of Latin is, quite simply, different to the grammar of English, so you may as well learn how to fix a car in order to learn how to cook. Learning any language (and therefore its grammar) besides our own native tongue should help make a speaker more conceptually aware of grammar in general, but there is no special reason why Latin would cast any particular and illuminating insights into English specifically. And why would being able to indentify a passive periphrastic construction be useful to anyone other than a specialist?

Finally, the language of the legal systems (legalese) is riddled with Latin and archaic constructions no longer in day-to-day use. The things you hear are usually texts that legal experts have spent hours drafting and re-drafting, which are then read out loud. Ordinary, untrained people simply cannot talk, or even write like this. The language is often massively complex, with a multitude of embedded clauses, and this is deliberate; one of its aims is to throw 'the other guy' off. Hardly ideal for someone aiming to learn grammar. Also, it isn't 'perfect grammar', it is a style that incorporates specific grammar-, word- and even accent-choices, but it has no more place in everyday interaction than a theatrical Shakespearian style or a football commentator's style.

Answer 2

I have mostly heard two contradicting opinions on this. While it would be hard for me to say as I am a native speaker of English, it seems it can be very easy and sometimes quite difficult. The main thing to notice about English is that you can't read/hear English and know the other side. English isn't phonetic, so it's hard to know how to pronounce words at times. The actual grammar of English for the most part isn't that difficult however. Our verbs can be easy yet a huge pain. I have a friend from Ecuador who told me this. Sometimes using the verbs was very easy, as verb conjugation in Spanish has many more rules. However, English is so irregular, he would sometimes struggle to remember how to use certain verbs in various cases. It seems overall though when you first begin learning English, it's quite easy, but then later becomes much more difficult. English can get ridiculously complex for those past 3-4 years of study.

Answer 3

The grammar structures in English are generally not very complicated. The complicated part is the correct usage. There is very little point in learning how to form a correct sentence if you don't know when and how you should use it. So you should learn it contextually: knowing when and where you have to use a specific structure. Otherwise it's a waste of time and very boring.

Answer 4

There are very good books available to help you. Check the website for books published by Cambridge University Press, and look for workbooks such as the "English in Mind" series. As a teacher, my favourite text is by Raymond Murphy - there are grammar books for beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Answer 5

Do you have any Harry Potter Novels? Read all of them thoroughly. Make sure that while reading you picture it in your head. It's like turning words into real beings. If you don't understand a certain word or phrase, look it up a dictionary or if you want to find the synonyms use a thesaurus. Jot down words that are rearely used and apply them in your daily life. You won't realize anything, but you are already used in speaking those difficult words.

Answer 6

You should say 'what is the best way to learn English grammar'.

Answer 7

Read "selective historical" texts of the records of parliamentary speeches made by MPs. Read law reports in the Times newspaper, choose texts that describe events where a set of complex actions are detailed. Go to a few court hearings and listen carefully to the judges' summing up, when you're surrounded by perfect grammar to the extent that this definition is accurate, you can apply it to written work and refer back at a later date.

Answer 8

By learning Latin. They don't teach good English grammar in the schools anymore. This is a major complaint of mine. Try to ask a high school graduate what a passive periphrastic construction is and they'll be all like "PSHAEW??"

Answer 9

1. Good Book
2. Good English Teacher
3. Good Student

Answer 10

Avoid the company of teenagers, especially American teenagers. Avoid American television programmes and English soap operas.