English Grammar
from Linguapress

Grammar, understanding, and communication

In most countries (not all!) people who drive cars know that they can do so in relative safety; that they can go from point A to point B without getting lost, without hitting other cars or getting stuck in a one-way-street.  Chaos is avoided, because people have learned how to drive their vehicles, they know the roads they are using, they understand road signs and the map or satellite navigation system they use, they know the "rules of the road", and finally because someone else (the state, the local authorities) has built the road system, equipped it with signs and markers, and maintains it.  This has not happened spontaneously; chaos is avoided because the planners have built and equipped  the roads that people want or need, and drivers have all learned common rules and have learned to understand the principles of driving.

Mastering a language is like learning to be a good driver. If one wants to communicate effectively in a language - one's own native language or a foreign language - it is essential to understand the rules.

As children we learn our native language without actually learning many rules. We acquire the language by "immersion" and by copying the way that other people around us use words; the result is that we "understand" the rules of grammar even if we have not actually learned them. But that is a very slow process. Children take several years to become proficient in their own language... even though they are using that language all the time!

Learning a foreign language is very different, specially if we are doing so at school or in a language class. ELL's (English language learners) do not have the time to just "acquire" the rules and principles of grammar, simply by listening to all the other people around them.  To learn English as a foreign language or second language, the learner just has to learn the basic rules of grammar – but not just learn them. Learning is one thing; understanding the rules of grammar is far more valuable.

Understanding grammar means knowing how to use it in new situations, knowing how to express our ideas without having to think "Am I saying / writing this correctly?" , and above all it means being able to understand what other people are saying or writing.  It also means being able to write Engish with confidence, which in turn means writing English fluently and without having to use a grammar-checker to make sure that everything you have written is well written. Grammar-checkers are very useful in some places, but they sometimes get things wrong, correct grammar that was not wrong in the first place, and also make the writing process much slower. Besides, you can't use a grammar-checker when you're talking, nor if you're writing something on paper.... which is not as unusual as some people would imagine it to be!
   Grammar is much easier to learn if you understand it, which is why the Linguapress English grammar pays great attention to explaining things clearly and illustrating English grammar rules with plenty of examples. These pages are designed for students in the higher grades of secondary education or high school, and in universities and other forms of higher education. Though originally an EFL / ESOL resource aimed at non-native speakers of English, this is also an invaluable resource for English-speaking students wishing to comprehend the grammar and syntax of their own language.
     Compared to many other languages, English is a language whose grammar is relatively easy – which is certainly one of the reasons why it has been able to become established as a world language. English is a language in which it is fairly easy to communicate, even without understanding much of its grammar; much of the basic grammar of English is intuitive, making it easy to express basic ideas without ever having consciously learned any rules.
     But using a language properly is more than just knowing how to communicate: it is knowing how to communicate with precision, without ambiguity, and in a form that others can understand. Most native English speakers do this fairly easily, without having ever learned the rules. But even for native speakers, communication is easier and more effective once a person has an understanding of the way English grammar works.
  The Linguapress English grammar seeks to explain these rules and principles as clearly and as coherently as possible.