‘Sorry, honey, I’ve changed the locks.’ Getting rid of Bad Grammar

As boring as it sounds, there's no improving your writing or speaking without improving your grammar. Obviously, it's not the only thing you can do, but it certainly is just as important as increasing your vocabulary. Or almost as important :)

Recognizing and admitting your problem

So, how do you let Good Grammar into your life? First of all, you've got to make yourself aware of the typical mistakes that non-native speakers of English make. Here are some of them along with a few guidelines on how to overcome these problems:

1. Difficulties with getting the word order right.

There are two main issues here. Firstly, English sentences have a set word order and we are not allowed just to put words anywhere we want. Secondly, a typical declarative English sentence should have a subject (the thing or person you are talking about) and a verb (a word or group of words that describes an action). Now, let’s see what the word order of a typical English sentence should be.

2. Difficulties with subject-verb agreement.
As in any good family the husband and wife should agree with each other, in English sentences the subject should agree with the verb to create a perfect harmony. The agreement should be reached on two points: person (I – first person; you, we – second person; he, she, it – third person) and number (singular or plural). I know I’m stating the obvious and you must have learnt these things a long time ago, but the statistics doesn’t lie: wrong subject-verb agreement is one of the most common mistakes that non-native speakers of English make. So, why don’t we take a look at the correct subject-verb agreement below.

3. Wrong usage of articles.

English articles spell trouble for the vast majority of English learners. If it makes you feel any better, future teachers and translators may spend months studying this subject at university and still make a lot of mistakes, but there are a few simple things you should know.

The indefinite article a/an is used before a singular noun when we’re talking about something/someone for the first time and when we want to say that this thing/person is one of the many, not specific or unique. We use the definite article before singular, plural and uncountable nouns (so, before any type of nouns) when we mention something/someone for the second time and if this thing/person is specific or unique. Below you will find an easy algorithm that will help you pick the right article.

4. Using wrong word forms.

Depending on how you treat them, word forms can be either a great friend or a big headache. On the one hand, if, when learning a word, you memorize its word forms as well, you will learn a few more words without making any extra efforts. On the other hand, one more common error is using adjectives instead of adverbs, nouns instead of verbs and so on. What might help you in this matter is knowing typical word endings for different parts of speech. This way you are much more likely to make the right choice when selecting a word form, which is something you have to do every time you open your mouth to say something.

Start the healing process

If you set your mind to say goodbye to Bad Grammar, you firstly need to be aware of the typical mistakes that you make. In most cases English learners know their weak points, but if you don't know yours yet, you should start with figuring them out. You're most likely to be making the same mistakes in both writing and speaking with minor differences between the two skills. You can use one of your essays, preferably at least 250 words, to analyze the mistakes you've made against the list above. To find out what mistakes you make when speaking, you can record a 2-minute speech, for example, using www.vocaroo.com. If it's difficult to check your speaking sample for errors, you could transcribe your talk; most students find it easier to look for Bad Grammar examples in written texts. Also, it would be great if you could consult your teacher at this point.
After that you need to make a personalized list of the most common mistakes that you make. From then on, whenever you write or speak, you should try to simultaneously check your language for your typical errors and correct them on the go. If you're persistent in this practice, all your language skills will show a significant progress.