Can you give me advice for improving my grammar when I write?

Grammar is often considered the most boring and frustrating subject we had to endure during our school years. We pushed ourselves to listen to our English teachers explain all of those rules, repeating the same old rules we learned the year before and the year before that, yet we still failed to apply them correctly. Now that we are adults, the last thing we want to do is to revisit those gloomy grammar rules.

However, very often, our businesses require us to compose some quality writing material, and many of us really enjoy expressing ourselves by writing for pleasure. However, since we are not comfortable with the old conventions of good grammar, we run the risk that our readers will lose respect for our writing and disregard the valuable content we worked so hard to convey.
So, here I am to provide a few tips on how to improve your grammar without having to start again from scratch.

Self-Test

My first piece of advice is to analyze where your strengths and weaknesses lie. I’m sure that you know a lot more grammar than you give yourself credit for. There are probably just a few areas where you are weak, and you can easily remedy that by refreshing your memory on those specific topics.

In order to assess your knowledge of grammar, you could give yourself a test. Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides free resources to assist people in improving their writing skills. One section is called the OWL Exercise Pages, where they offer self-testing in a variety of areas: grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, sentence style, and numbering. Give it a try; test yourself and see where your grammar is already great and where you have room for improvement.

Self-Study

Another way to study grammar essentials is to purchase a good workbook and follow its lessons and worksheets. A couple that I would recommend are published by the famous textbook publisher McGraw-Hill: English Grammar and Usage, Third Edition, by Mark Lester, and Developing Proofreading and Editing Skills, by Sue C. Camp. Both of these workbooks explain the rules of grammar in a very user-friendly style, and I’m sure you could run through these books from cover to cover in just a few weeks.

Editorial Review

If you hire an editor to edit your writing, then the best way to improve your grammar is by simply studying your editor’s corrections. What types of mistakes is she catching? Now that you see the correction, do you understand what the mistake was? Ask yourself: How will you write it next time?

Software

Some people might say, “Why should I work so hard at learning that boring grammar stuff when I could use editing software?” Personally, I don’t have any problems with that. We are so busy nowadays with myriad responsibilities that it’s admirable to take a short-cut here and there to get our jobs done more efficiently. So, if that works for you, I say, “Great!”

Which software should you use? Well, Microsoft Word has the basics built in, so that’s fine. However, for more thorough help, the most popular software available is Grammarly. This is how they describe their product: “From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.” Sounds like a dream come true.

Additionally, they offer two versions: the basic one is free, and the premium one has better features but costs $11.66 a month (for an annual plan).

Common Examples

So far, we’ve discussed grammar from a theoretical perspective. Now, let’s take a look at some practical examples of common mistakes people make in their writing so that we can avoid them ourselves.

• Its and It’s: It’s going to take a long time until the medication has its desired effect.

• They’re, Their, and There: They’re going to love it there because their steaks are the best.

• Pronoun for Business: To keep up with its changing audience, the restaurant added spicy food to its menu. (Not their changing audience, not their menu.)

• Who, Which, and They: David is the one who is most qualified for the job. (Always use who to modify a person.) Fifty-five people applied for the job that needs to be filled by next Monday. (Use that for essential clauses.) Fifty-five people applied for the job, which needs to be filled by next Monday. (Use which for nonessential clauses, which are identifiable by being set off by a comma.)

• Subject-Verb Agreement: The two best things about the party were the food and the music. (Not was, because the two best things are being modified, not the party.)

An Alternative Approach

After giving you lots of good, practical advice on how to make your grammar great, I want to share with you another way some writers deal with grammar. At first, it might sound like an extreme approach, but there really is a method to this madness, and you are free to choose to embrace it or criticize it.

The method is very simple: Write and write until you have nothing else left to write. Then, go back and review what you wrote one time. Don’t spend a lot of time, and definitely don’t worry about details. When you’re done, send it to a good editor to correct the mistakes and improve the writing.

What’s going on here? Some writers value their time, money, and energy more than they value the pride they take in being a great writer. For example, it would take Michael three hours of highly focused concentration to rewrite, refine, and polish the article he needs to write for his business. In the end, the article will only be average, nothing very impressive. However, if he hires an editor to correct his mistakes and improve the level of his writing, he will have another three hours to work. With this time, he can earn more than enough money to cover the expense of hiring an editor, and his article will be much more impressive too.

 

So, there are a lot of ways to deal with grammar, ranging from going back to the basics (studying from a workbook) or learning from experience (studying your editor’s work) to hiring an editor to do it for you. You have the freedom to choose the approach that is right for you, and then you can take pride in having great grammar (again).