English grammar, in plain English

Grammar is not a list of rules invented to catch you out. It is the pattern that lets other people understand you. Start anywhere below.

Grammar is the set of rules for putting words in an order that makes sense to other people.

Change the order and the meaning changes. "The dog bit the man" and "The man bit the dog" use the same five words and mean completely different things. That is grammar doing its job.

The three things grammar is made of

Almost every grammar rule you will ever meet belongs to one of these three groups. Once you can name the group, the rule stops feeling random.

Word class.: What kind of word it is. A naming word, an action word, a describing word. These are called the parts of speech.

Word form.: How a word changes shape. Walk becomes walked. Child becomes children. Good becomes better.

Word order.: Where each word sits in the sentence, and which words have to agree with each other.

Parts of speech: the eight kinds of word

Every word in English does one of eight jobs. You already use all eight. You just may not have names for them.

Noun, a naming word: dog, city, Sara, happiness
Pronoun, a word that stands in for a noun: he, she, it, they
Verb, an action or a state: run, think, is, become
Adjective, describes a noun: red, tall, noisy
Adverb, describes a verb: quickly, often, very
Preposition, shows position or relation: on, in, before, with
Conjunction, joins things together: and, but, because
Interjection, a short exclamation: oh, wow, ouch

Here is why the names matter. Almost every grammar rule is phrased in terms of these labels. "Add -s to the verb after he, she or it" is impossible to follow if you cannot spot the verb.

Tenses: when it happened

Tense is how a verb shows time. English has three basic times, and each one can be simple or continuing.

Past: I walked to school. I was walking to school.

Present: I walk to school. I am walking to school.

Future: I will walk to school. I will be walking to school.

The most common tense mistake is not choosing the wrong time. It is marking the time twice.

Incorrect: She will went home.

Correct: She will go home.

"Will" already says the future, so the verb goes back to its plain form. Marking the time twice is like writing the date on a letter twice.

Sentence structure: what a sentence needs

A complete sentence needs two things: someone or something, and something they do.

Subject.: who or what the sentence is about.

Verb.: what the subject does or is.

"Birds sing" is a complete sentence with two words. "The very old and rather grumpy cat from next door" is not a sentence at all, however long it is, because nothing happens.

Agreement: the rule that causes the most trouble

The subject and the verb have to match. One thing takes one form, more than one takes another.

Incorrect: She go to school every day.

Correct: She goes to school every day.

One person, so the verb takes an s on the end. Two people go, one person goes.

The trap is a sentence where extra words sit between the subject and the verb.

Incorrect: The box of pens are on the table.

Correct: The box of pens is on the table.

Cover "of pens" with your finger and read what is left: "the box is on the table". The sentence is about the box, not the pens.

Try it

The list of names on my desk.

For a fuller academic description of how English grammar is classified, see the overview of English grammar on Wikipedia.

Good to know

Questions people ask

What is grammar in simple words?

Grammar is the set of rules for putting words in an order that other people will understand. It covers what kind of word you are using, what shape it takes, and where it goes in the sentence.

What are the eight parts of speech?

Noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Every English word does one of those eight jobs.

Do I need to learn grammar terms to write well?

Not to speak well, no. But the terms make rules learnable, because almost every rule is written using them. You cannot follow a rule about verbs if you cannot spot a verb.

What is the fastest way to improve my grammar?

Fix one recurring mistake at a time rather than trying to learn everything. Find which mistake you make most, learn the test for it, and use that test until it becomes automatic.