What’s the scariest moment as a foreign language learner? Try to speak to the natives for the first time? Get a job interview in a foreign language? Yeah, those are scary too. But, for some of us being pointed out on grammar mistakes by the Grammar Nazis would be scarier, especially if they correcting the grammar too many times with harsh and humiliating words. Therefore, improve grammar should be one of your priorities in language learning.
Imagine, you recently learn Spanish, then you trying to practice it by making some Instagram captions in that foreign language, but then the Grammar Nazis show up in the comment section with:
“Ew, stop writing captions in Spanish! You don’t even know the difference between ser and estar!”
Another example, you recently learn Mandarin then you try to speak Mandarin on your new Youtube video, and unintentionally, you pronounce a word with a false tone which leads to a different meaning. Instead of telling you the right one the Grammar Nazi-Netizens are busy mocking your mistake in the comment section.
Well, it’s fine to make mistakes in learning a language. Don’t let the Grammar Nazis stop you.
Now, let’s read these tips about how to improve grammar so you can use your new language more confidently!
Gather Your Word/Vocabulary Bank
The basic element of any language is words or vocabulary. Write down any new word that you find from books, newspapers, online sites, ads, movies or even video games which use your targeted foreign language and find their meaning on a dictionary. Write as many of them as you can, like you build a word/vocabulary bank, to improve grammar.
Don’t forget to use each new word as often as possible so you will remember it. Don’t fret about grammar until you are comfortable in your ability to use the new words and understand at least half of what you hear and read.
Pay Attention to the Parts of Sentence Structure
Now that you’ve learned several words, you should be able to put them together in a sentence. You can do this by grouping all of the words you know into sentence structure. When learning grammar, you should be aware of the parts in sentence structure that will tell you how to use the word in a sentence.
Below are the different parts of sentence structure and their descriptions.
• Noun — is the name of a person, place, or thing. They can be proper nouns which are specific names such as Anna, Oxford University, and Samsung, or common nouns/general terms such as female, college, or smartphone.
• Pronoun — takes the place of a noun in a sentence. The types of pronouns are personal (he, she, it); possessive (mine, hers, his); reflexive (myself, herself, himself, itself); reciprocal (each other); relative (that, which, whom, whose); demonstrative (this, that); interrogative (who, what, when); and indefinite (anyone, anything, nothing, somebody).
• Adjective — describes a noun or pronoun. Examples: beautiful girl, prestigious college, white smartphone
• Article — a special adjective used to define a noun as definite (the) or indefinite (a/an)
• Verb — an action word. Examples: walk, run, speak, be
• Adverb — describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Examples: walk slowly, run faster, speak loudly, highly prestigious college
• Conjunction — puts together two parts of a sentence (or, and, but)
• Preposition — shows position or direction, used with a noun or pronoun. Examples: She walks to the aisle; Ander came from work.
• Interjection — words that show emotions. Example: Wow!; Ouch!
When you make an effort to recognize words as components of sentence structure regularly, you’ll gain a better understanding of how words fit together in a sentence. It may appear to be hard at first, but if you practice it often and long enough, it will become incredibly easy to improve grammar.
Practice Conjugation or Verb Forms
One of the most difficult aspects of learning grammar is conjugation or verb forms. Conjugating a verb affects it in some way to communicate meaning. It can be time, person, gender, number, aspect, voice, or mood. The present, past and future tenses are probably familiar to you. These are time conjugations.
When it comes to conjugation, there are two types of verbs: regular and irregular. Regular verbs are simple to learn because they have a consistent pattern. The verb “bake” is an example. Simply add “d” to make the present form “bake” into the past tense, thus become “baked.” You add the words “will” or “shall” before the verb in the future tense, as in “will bake” or “shall bake.” This pattern is followed by all regular verbs.
You may have some difficulties with irregular verbs. Because there are no set rules, you must know how to conjugate each word individually. The past tense of “take,” for example, is not “taked,” as you would assume because it looks similar to “bake,” but rather “took”. The past tense of “write” is “wrote,” and the past tense of “buy” is “bought.”
Make sure to remember and practice writing the regular and irregular verbs as well as their conjugations to improve grammar.
Practice in Conversations
Trying to learn a language without talking to other people is difficult. Take any opportunity to speak with people who speak your desired foreign language. Even if you don’t know the rules, you can improve grammar by listening to how other people use the words.
You can choose the less-judgemental one so they won’t irritate you when they correct your mistakes.
Practice, Practice, Practice, and Be Confident
Practices make perfect. Practice all of the tips above on daily basis to improve grammar. And, make sure you practice it with confidence.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes because it is part of learning anything, especially learning a foreign language.
What’s the other way to improve grammar easily?
Learning grammar may be a long and tough process but as long as you have the willingness to improve grammar on regular basis you absolutely can master it. Make sure to apply the tips above so you can use your new language more confidently and get away from the annoying Grammar Nazis!
Besides, you may also need to improve grammar with a tutor.
Let’s take courses on LingoTalk to learn new languages! LingoTalk provides you 10 language options (English, Korean, French, Japanese, Mandarin, German, Spanish, Arabic, Indonesian, and Thai) online with affordable prices, expert tutors, and a flexible schedule.
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