
It seems like English grammar has about a million rules to learn. Between subject-verb agreement, Oxford commas, and active vs. passive voice, it’s easy to get lost in the grammar shuffle. But there aren’t actually a million grammar rules — in fact, if you master just these few, you can avoid common grammar mistakes.
1. Write in Complete Sentences
Every sentence needs two parts to be complete.
- a subject (Katie plays the violin.)
- a verb (Katie plays the violin.)
Depending on the verb, a complete sentence — also known as an independent clause — might also have a direct object (Katie plays the violin). If your sentence is missing a subject or a verb, it’s a sentence fragment.
2. Make Sure Your Subjects and Verbs Agree
You may not expect to find disagreement in a sentence about kittens, but the sentence “My kittens wants food” is definitely having an argument with itself. The subject (kittens) is plural, but the verb (wants) is singular.
For subject-verb agreement, match singular subjects to singular verbs and plural subjects to plural verbs.
- My kitten wants food. (singular subject, singular verb)
- My kittens want food. (plural subject, plural verb)
3. Link Ideas With a Conjunction or Semicolon
Although writing in simple sentences is grammatically correct, it’s not very interesting. Combine your simple sentences with coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to make compound sentences.
- Delia found a cat, and she named it Purdy.
- Our team won the championship, so we got a trophy.
You can also mix it up by using a semicolon instead of a conjunction.
- Delia found a cat; she named it Purdy.
- Our team won the championship; we got a trophy.
4. Use Commas Correctly
While you can use a comma with a coordinating conjunction, you can’t use a comma alone to combine independent clauses. That’s an error known as a comma splice, and it creates run-on sentences. Use a comma only if you’re also using a coordinating conjunction.
- Delia found a cat, she named it Purdy. (Incorrect - comma splice)
- Our team won the championship, and we got a trophy. (Correct - with coordinating conjunction)
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5. Use a Serial Comma When Necessary
When listing items in a sentence, you separate them with commas. The last comma in the series is called the Oxford comma, and not everyone likes it.
- We bought some goats, cows, and horses for our farm. (Oxford comma)
- We bought some goats, cowsand horsesfor our farm. (No Oxford comma)
Whether you regularly use an Oxford comma is up to you and your style guide. However, you should always use an Oxford comma when the sentence could be confusing without it.
- The farmer saw the goats, Gil, and Pierre. (Oxford comma clarifies that there are goats and two people named Gil and Pierre)
- The farmer saw the goats, Gil and Pierre. (No Oxford comma makes it sound like the goats are named Gil and Pierre)
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6. Use Active Voice
Sentences in active voice put the subject before the verb. For example, in the active sentence “The duck ate the bread,” the duck is the subject. It performs the action in the verb (ate) to the object in the sentence (the bread).
In these examples, the subjects are bold, the verbs are underlined, and the objects are italicized.
- Shelby dried the dishes. (Active — Shelby is the subject)
- Mary walked the dog. (Active — Mary is the subject)
Passive voice sentences place the subject after the verb — or they leave the subject out completely. “The bread was eaten by the duck” is a passive sentence because the subject (the duck) comes after the verb (was eaten). The object of the sentence (the bread) somehow ends up at the beginning of the sentence, which makes it confusing to read.
- The dishes were dried by Shelby. (Passive — the subject is after the verb)
- The dog was walked by Mary. (Passive - the subject is missing)
Writing in passive voice makes your sentences confusing and your meaning unclear. Luckily, it’s easy to turn passive voice into active voice.
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7. Use the Correct Verb Tense
Using a verb tense that doesn’t match your time period is like stepping into a broken time machine. When did the action happen — today, tomorrow, or one hundred years ago? Is it still happening?
Make sure that you’ve got the correct tense for the time period you’re describing.
- Present tense - something that happens all the time, or is happening right now (Mary and I eat lunch every Tuesday.)
- Past tense - something that happened before now (Mary and I ate lunch.)
- Future tense - something that will happen in the future (Mary and I will eat lunch.)
When talking about a continuous action, you can use present, past, or future progressive tense (with -ing verb endings). If you’re talking about something that happened across a span of time, use perfect verb tenses (with the modal verb have or had).
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8. Keep Your Verb Tense Consistent
Another part of using the correct verb tense concerns consistency. If you start your sentence (or paragraph, or page, or book) in one tense, you need to make sure the rest of your writing is also in that tense. You can go back and forth if you’re talking about different time periods, but be careful not to mix them up.
- Incorrect - Stuart lost his wallet. He goes to the bank and gets some cash, then he went to the restaurant. (The tense goes from past to present, back to past again)
- Correct - Stuart lost his wallet. He went to the bank and got some cash, then he went to the restaurant. (Tense stays in the past)
- Correct - Stuart loses his wallet. He goes to the bank and gets some cash, then he goes to the restaurant. (Tense stays in the present)
9. Only Use Apostrophes for Possessive Nouns and Contractions
Many people use apostrophes in plural nouns because — well, we’re not sure why. Apostrophes note when letters are missing in a contraction and they indicate a singular or plural noun’s possession. Those are the only jobs of an apostrophe.
- Correct - Xander can’t wait until summer vacation. (can’t is a contraction of cannot)
- Correct - Did you borrow the neighbor’s car? (neighbor’s is a possessive noun)
- Correct - This is the writers' room. (writers’ is a plural possessive noun)
- Incorrect - Merry Christmas from the Henderson’s! (Hendersons is plural, not possessive)
The rare time you’d use an apostrophe to show plurals is for plural lowercase letters (as in “Mind your p’s and q’s”). Otherwise, keep them away from your plural nouns.
10. Keep Your Homophones Straight
Using too when you mean to is a common — and avoidable — mistake. Make sure you know the difference between common homophones to keep your meaning clear.
- two vs. to vs too
- your vs. you’re
- there vs. their vs. they’re
- except vs. accept
- then vs. than
These aren’t the only commonly confused words in English. Find the ones that confuse you the most and learn how to tell them apart.
11. Use End Punctuation Correctly
All good things must come to an end, and that includes your sentence. Be sure that you’re using the correct end punctuation mark for your sentence for the tone you want.
- Period - Paul asked Sadie to the dance. (Serious or neutral tone)
- Question mark - Paul asked Sadie to the dance? (Confused tone)
- Exclamation point - Paul asked Sadie to the dance! (Excited tone)
If your sentence ends in a quote or dialogue, put your end punctuation (also called terminal punctuation) inside the quotation marks as well.
Keep Calm and Grammar On
That’s it — you’ve mastered grammar! Well, pretty much. If you’d like to fine-tune a few more grammar rules, check out:
- 18 Most Common Grammar Mistakes
- Problems Caused by Incorrect Grammar
- 7 Grammar Rules You Can Break
- Is Ain't a Real Word?
FAQs
Why is it important to understand grammar rules? ›
Without proper grammar, one would have no idea how to speak or write in English. It helps us make sense of our words. It also dictates rules regarding how words are used and when they should be used. Without knowing this information, it would be impossible for us to understand anything or say anything at all!
How can I learn to remember English grammar rules? ›- Remember any English grammar principle.
- Use the ancient Art of Memory to recall anything related to learning English.
- Create and use a Memory Palace.
- Teach others the same techiques.
- Experience dramatic boosts in understanding English grammar.
- Word order. As an analytic language, English uses word order to determine the relationship between different words. ...
- Punctuation. In written English, punctuation is used to signify pauses, intonation, and stress words. ...
- Tense and aspect. ...
- Determiners. ...
- Connectors.
What are the basic rules of grammar? Some basic rules of grammar include ensuring all sentences have a subject and a verb; placing adjectives directly before the noun they describe, or after it if separated by a verb; and using a comma to connect two ideas.
What is the most important rule in teaching grammar? ›The Rule of Context:
Teach grammar in context. If you have to take an item out of context in order to draw attention to it, ensure that it is re-contextualized as soon as possible. Similarly, teach grammatical forms in association with their meanings.
- Build up your own subject knowledge. ...
- Give talk a high priority in your classroom. ...
- Remember the purpose of teaching grammar. ...
- Teach grammar in context. ...
- Read aloud and discuss how authors use grammar. ...
- Be systematic. ...
- Make learning grammar fun.
- Teach grammar with authentic writing. ...
- Focus on usage over terminology. ...
- Teach and assess one skill at a time. ...
- Scaffold learning through practice and application. ...
- Engage with high-interest mentor texts. ...
- Model concepts. ...
- Emphasize sentence combining. ...
- Reinforce and reflect on concepts.
- Watch movies in English. ...
- Immerse yourself in English language news. ...
- Start a vocabulary book of useful words. ...
- Have conversations in English. ...
- Practice, practice, practice. ...
- Curiosity doesn't always kill the cat. ...
- Don't forget to have fun while you learn.
Children's grammar will develop as they are exposed to lots of language. The kinds of language we use is also important. To provide rich language learning opportunities, educators can: expand on children's language, model complex language, and talk explicitly about words, phrases, and sentences.
What are the 7 grammar rules? ›- Subject-Verb Agreement. ...
- Nominative and Objective Pronouns and Reflexive Pronouns. ...
- Dangling Participles. ...
- Misplaced Modifiers. ...
- Incomplete Sentences. ...
- Phrase and Clause Lists. ...
- Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Phrases and Clauses.
What is the most important rules in teaching grammar? ›
The Rule of Context:
Teach grammar in context. If you have to take an item out of context in order to draw attention to it, ensure that it is re-contextualized as soon as possible. Similarly, teach grammatical forms in association with their meanings.
- Read: Reading is one of the secret weapons to improve your grammar skills. ...
- Use a grammar manual: It is a very useful idea to have a grammar manual nearby that you can consult when writing. ...
- Write more and quiz yourself: ...
- Re-reading aloud: ...
- 5 Consult others and learn from feedback:
- Show how grammar works in texts. Provide a clear link between a piece of grammatical knowledge and how authors use it to make meaning. ...
- Use examples and make them authentic. Grammar is abstract, so use examples rather than lengthy explanations. ...
- Make room for discussion. ...
- Encourage language play.