Basic English Grammar Rules for ESL students

Ahh… grammar. Love it or hate it, if you’re writing a document in English, you’ve got to get the grammar right.

Grammar can be tricky, particularly for ESL students. Correct grammar takes practice and patience. Often, written grammar mistakes don’t stop a document from being understood but they can stop the writer from getting the outcome they want, or in many cases, deserve. When that outcome is a qualification or job, the stakes are high.

There are some particularly common grammar mistakes that ESL students make. Often, they won’t be aware of them. So, it is important for teachers/native English speakers to correct these mistakes early on and stop them from becoming a habit. This means that ESL students should try and spend as much time as possible speaking with, and having their written documents reviewed by, native-English speakers.

Firstly, what exactly is grammar?

Grammar describes how words are put together and relates to the structure of English.

Different languages have different word patterns. Grammar is based on these patterns and these patterns are often described as rules.

There are many English grammar rules but don’t worry, a lot of them are simple.

Here are some examples of basic grammar rules:

Grammar Rule #1:

A sentence must start with a capital letter.

Grammar Rule #2:

A sentence must end with a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark.

Grammar Rule #3:

To be considered complete, a sentence must have a subject and a verb.

• Grass (subject) grows (verb).
• She (subject) spoke (verb).
• Students (subject) listened (verb).

Grammar Rule #4:

In a sentence, the subject usually comes first followed by the verb and then the object. The simple subject-verb-object pattern is the foundation of the English language and forms the basic sentence structure.

• Susie (subject) speaks (verb) English (object).
• The plant (subject) grew (verb) up the wall (object).
• The teacher (subject) stood (verb) in the classroom (object).

Grammar Rule #5:

Add ‘ed’ to a verb to make it the past tense.

• Today I am going to play the piano.
• Yesterday, I played the piano.

One of the challenging things about learning English, however, is that there are exceptions to rules.

Consider the following:

• Today we will eat ice cream. ✓
• Yesterday we eated ice cream. ⨉
• Yesterday we ate ice cream. ✓

Here, if the rule of adding ‘ed’ to a verb to make the past tense is followed, we end up with ‘eated’… which is not a word at all!

So, we need to consider the second part to the ‘ed’ rule which is that it only works for regular verbs. Irregular verbs, such as ‘eat’, have their own sets of rules. Unfortunately, many common English verbs are irregular and memorization and repetition are the best ways to learn their past tense form.

Examples of irregular verbs:

Let’s consider another rule with exceptions.

Grammar Rule #6:

Add an ‘s’ to the end of a singular noun to make it plural.

Examples:

But again, this rule doesn’t always work..

The rule only works for regular nouns and there are additional rules that must be learned for irregular nouns.

For example, if the noun ends in ‘o’, as in potato or hero, ‘es’ is added to make it plural.

Similarly, if the noun ends in ‘s’, as in bus, or ‘x’, as in box, ‘es’ is also added to make it plural.

If the noun ends in ‘y’ and the letter before the ‘y’ is a consonant, such as in city, ‘y’ is removed and ‘ies’ is added.

But if the letter before the ‘y’ is a vowel, ‘s’ is added, as per the original rule.

These are just a few of the rules for pluralizing irregular nouns.

Tips for learning grammar rules

Learning grammar rules and their exceptions is one of the challenges that ESL students face. A native speaker instinctively understands grammar and knows what sounds right and what doesn’t (although few native speakers could tell you why something is the way it is, they just know that it is correct). Unfortunately, non-native speakers don’t have this instinct and must rote learn the rules and their exceptions. This is not an easy task.

To improve your grammar skills, surround yourself with English as much as possible. There are many simple and fun ways to do this, such as:

• Watching English movies and/or TV shows
• Listening to English music and podcasts
• Talking to native English speakers as much as possible
• Changing your phone/computer/tablet language to English
• Downloading English apps on your phone
• Reading in English (blogs, books, magazines… anything you can get hold of)
• Making cue cards
• Sticking notes around your house with English words/phrases on them

The key is to use English every day at every opportunity. Make a commitment and incorporate English into your life. As you revise and practice, your English will improve and you will become more confident. The more you practice, the easier it will become.

If you’re writing an important document in English, reach out to a native English speaker or professional editor/proofreader to give you a hand. Engage with them throughout the editing process so that you understand the changes that have been made and why. That way, you’re not only improving your document but also enhancing your grammar skills at the same time.

Is grammar important?

If you’re writing an essay, report, thesis, resume, cover letter or any other type of document in English, regardless of the subject: grammar is important.

You may be the most knowledgeable person in your subject area; but, if you can’t accurately and effectively communicate your knowledge, you probably won’t get the outcome you want.

A document containing bad grammar makes it look like you didn’t care enough to put in the effort to check the accuracy of your writing, even if this isn’t the case. No one knows how hard you may have worked behind the scenes. The global communication company Communicaid reports that 40% of job applications are rejected due to poor grammar and spelling. So, it’s important to get the grammar right.

How will bad grammar affect you?

• If you’re a student, you may get a lower grade.
• If you’re a jobseeker, your application may be rejected outright if the English is poor.
• If you’re a postgraduate student or academic, your paper is more likely to be rejected from publication.
• If you’re a professional, your credibility may be questioned if you can’t communicate clearly and effectively with English-speaking clients. Furthermore, you don’t want to be misunderstood when it comes to making deals and signing contracts.

Spoken grammar differs from the written grammar in that it is more casual and informal. Some things that are important in written grammar are not important in spoken grammar.

Consider this conversation:

Teacher: Are we all ready for the field trip?
Student: Yes, I packed the equipment into two boxes.

Here, it doesn’t matter whether the student knows that box is an irregular noun (i.e. that the student is aware of the grammar rule that the plural form of the box is spelled with ‘es’, rather than just an ‘s’). It makes no difference to the conversation. In this short exchange, the spoken grammar is correct.

Consider another conversation:

Thomas: What did you do this morning?
Oliver: The professor came and speaked to us.

This time, the conversation uses incorrect grammar. Although what Oliver is saying is comprehensible, the incorrect past tense of ‘speak’ has been used: ‘speaked’ instead of ‘spoke’. In a casual conversation with a friend, this is probably fine as the message is understandable. But in a job interview or a meeting with your supervisor? Not so much.

Just like written grammar, spoken grammar is important. If your spoken grammar is correct, it will make you a more fluent and confident English speaker.

And finally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed with it all, take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone and that the complexities of English grammar are well reported, even in poetic form…