Swick - Practice Makes Perfect English Grammar for ESL Learners

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Practice Makes Perfect: English Pronouns and Prepositions
Practice Makes Perfect: English Sentence Builder
Practice Makes Perfect: English Problem Solver
English Verb Drills
Writing Better English for ESL LearnersTERMS OF USE This is a copyrighted work and McGraw-Hill Education and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work. Also by Ed Swick:
Practice Makes Perfect: English Pronouns and Prepositions
Practice Makes Perfect: English Sentence Builder
Practice Makes Perfect: English Problem Solver
English Verb Drills
Writing Better English for ESL LearnersTERMS OF USE This is a copyrighted work and McGraw-Hill Education and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work.

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And at times, it can be. But understanding the grammar of any language is essential for becoming a skilled and accurate user of that language. English is certainly no exception. The rules of grammar for a language learner are like the rules of the road for a driver. In order to be able to drive properly and maneuver with other drivers, you have to know the rules that everyone goes by. Naturally, some people break the rules and make driving difficult for other drivers.

This is true of language, too. If you follow the rules of grammar, you can express yourself clearly. But if you fail to observe those rules, people may find it difficult to understand you or they may even misunderstand you entirely. So its really very important to understand and use correct grammar. But what is grammar? Funk and Wagnallss New College Standard Dictionary describes grammar as a type of science that explains the various principles of oral or written usage of a particular language. It is also said to be the developed art of speaking or writing accurately in a particular language.

Whether science or art, grammar is made up of the descriptions that tell you how to use a language correctly. For example: Description: Begin a sentence with do to change a statement to a question. Usage: Statement = You understand the problem. Question = Do you understand the problem? Or: Description: Use he as the subject of a sentence; use him as the direct object. Usage: Subject = He is a good friend of mine. Direct Object = I visit him very often.

There are many such grammatical descriptions, and each one is a building block in the structure of your knowledge of how to form and use English correctly. The greater the number of building blocks that you master, the greater your accuracy with the spoken and written language will be. Standard grammar is composed of the traditional rules for English. It is what grammarians and English professors want everyone to use when they speak and write. But a language evolves over time, and the traditional rules sometimes seem out of step with what is going on in the English-speaking world. The more current or popular usages can be called casual language.

Thats what people really say in their everyday lives and is often in direct contradiction with standard grammar. As an illustration, in standard grammar you should use who as the subject of a sentence and use whom when it is used as an object. But thats not always the case in casual language. For example: Standard grammar:Whom did you visit in New York? Casual language:Who did you visit in New York? Although the first example is considered better grammatically, the second example sentence is the most commonly used. Another kind of example involves the verb to dive. Its past tense is either regular (dived) or irregular (dove).

What is the difference? Essentially, none. Both forms are used correctly as the past tense. But English is evolving. Things are changing. And the English-speaking world is deciding whether it wants the past tense of the verb