11 Rules of Grammar

You can reach more bravely into the scary world of sentence construction and accurate communication if you are armed with grammar guidelines. These 11 rules of grammar will help you become a champ at selecting words and punctuation.

Key Rules

1. Use Active Voice

Every human language starts an active sentence with the subject, or the "doer." In English, the verb (what's being done) follows the subject. If there is an object (the receiver of the action), it comes after the verb. The formula looks like this:


S+V+O. This rule is the foundation of the English language.

Here are some examples:

• Mary walked the dog.
• The dog liked Mary.
• I did not like the dog.

2. Link Ideas with a Conjunction

Eight Grammar Survival Tricks

Eight Grammar Survival Tricks

We are pleased to present these grammar tips shared by Tom Clements, an experienced instructor who has spent over 20 years tutoring for the SATs as well as calculus, physics and chemistry. He is a former Silicon Valley freelance writer for tech magazines, corporate trainer for international bankers, and college English teacher. Clements' new book, How to Write a KILLER SAT Essay...in 25 Minutes or Less! is available for purchase at Amazon.com

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In American education, particularly at the high school level, grammar is a lost art. The closest most high school students get to any real appreciation of syntax is by studying a foreign language like Spanish, where the subjunctive, for example, is used extensively. Mark Twain famously said, "Damn the subjunctive. It brings all our writers to shame."

Facetious or not, Twain has had a lot of company over the years as a grammar-hater. This is true not only of the man on the street -- or the typical high school student -- but also English teachers, most of whom avoid the topic like the plague. High school kids are pretty much left to their own devices when it comes to parsing parts of speech. As a consequence, most don't know a diphthong from a dangling participle.

The ONLY 3 English Grammar Rules You Need to Know to Speak Fluent English

The ONLY 3 English Grammar Rules You Need to Know to Speak Fluent English

Personally I stopped studying English Grammar the traditional way years ago.

By now I’ve actually forgotten most of the grammar terms and rules I had hammered into my brain, and just as well – they only prevented me from speaking English fluently.

Why?

Simple enough – I used to spend way too much time analyzing my thoughts, applying Grammar rules and preparing my speech in my head.

It was killing my English fluency, and it took me quite a while to figure out the simple truth – English collocations (phrases, idiomatic expressions, most commonly used sentences) already contain all necessary grammar in them!

When I speak English now, I don’t think about grammar anywhere near as much as I used to. I just rely on my “gut feeling” and get fully involved in conversations. My intuition takes care of English Grammar!

For instance, English preposition usage rules determine that you have to say “ON this occasion” but the word ‘situation’ goes with a preposition ‘in’ – “IN this situation”. Personally I don’t look at it as something that has to be constantly recalled during English conversations. I mean – once you learn the relevant collocations – “in this situation” and “on this occasion” – it sticks with you and you don’t have to consciously think which preposition to use every time you speak.