Look, there is no gainsaying that grammar is very important. You need to know grammar to learn a language.
But do you have to learn the difference between past perfect continuous and present simple? Do we have to learn the 14 different ways of using will? Or the importance of subjunctives?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
In grammar we have a few points to remember. Of course inaccurate grammar makes our English terrible. But that doesn’t mean you learn the high school grammar inside out!
No, there are other ways. You don’t have to learn every grammar element. I’ll reveal a few important ones that you need to work on to improve your fluency and accuracy, and constantly your confidence. These are the really important ones for starters.
A major problem with most of the so-called non-native speakers of English is the use of articles A/AN, and THE. So, you might hear things like
I went to one market.
instead of
I went to the market.
Now, they’ll definitely teach you articles, but not the practical aspect. So, you’ll learn that these exist, but you won’t know just how to use them.
Check out these videos on the subject of articles
These are a set of multi-word combinations of verb + preposition, verb + adverb, or verb + adverb + preposition.
They are important because they are used in everyday spoken word and informal written word as well. So, they are very common in English. In fact, you don’t say
I exited the bus.
You say
I got off the bus.
But that is English. No use trying to find any logic there! What we have to understand is we need to learn them. It is tricky, but not impossible.
The trick is to draw the picture when you learn a phrasal verb.
Let’s say got off.
When you say this, imagine yourself swinging by the handle at the door and stepping on to the ground. So, you GOT OFF the bus. Like
Here, OFF means away from the surface. You are standing ON the footboard of the bus. When you disembarked, you got OFF the footboard. OFF is the opposite of ON. Get this picture, and you get the phrasal verb get off. It’s that simple!
There are complications like splitting phrasal verbs. But this is also very scientific. You need to apply then that’s all.
The moment you start using phrasal verbs, your English will climb new heights. It’s a guarantee! With these phrasal verbs, you sound very natural and comfortable.
BUT BE CAREFUL: Nobody can teach you all the phrasal verbs at school. Naturally. But you need to know that they exist. You need to know what they look like, how to use them, how they sound, and so on.
Idioms are expressions that has a figurative meaning (that is when it s used with all the words in it together) different from the individual words comprising it.
Okay, that’s a mouthful!
I’ll keep it simple.
Your friend had his first fight with his wife. You could say,
Hey, relax! These things happen. They are not as dreadful as you are feeling now. She will calm down. It won’t blow out of proportion. I know it because I’ve been married longer than you!’
Or you could say:
Hey, relax! It’s just a storm in a teacup. You’ll be fine!
So, what you have accomplished is:
But here also we have a warning!
Idioms are very regional. They reflect the culture of the place of origin. So, while you could end up getting good vibes from the native speakers, you could also use thenm wrongly and get the exact opposite result. Also they could be lost in translation.
For instance, if you translate idioms in your mother tongue into English, the results could be disastrous. An example that comes to my mind now is the Indian idiom that translates into
All five fingers are not the same.
Now, a non-Indian will be simply baffled by this. “What’s this guy talking about? Where do fingers come into this?”
If he’s a native English speaker, you could use the its English equivalent:
It takes all kinds to make the world.
This is a very common demand by most of the students. They know they sound ‘cool’ with idiomatic expressions. But we need to remember these points. If you are at the advanced level (a CEFR C1), then you are ready for idioms!