10 English grammar rules for advanced learners

Many learners are faced with the greatest roadblock in learning English, and that is learning advanced English grammar. There are so many challenging grammar concepts that need to be studied to be fluent. But where to start?

One of the many reasons that English grammar can be intimidating to learn is that the rules are nonexistent in the child’s native language. Navigating such a challenge requires further study and help from the parent. There are many things in English grammatical rules that need to be focused on:

• The articles a/an/the and prepositions sound unimportant but they are very essential in English grammar, and when used improperly, your sentences will sound a little awkward. 
• Understanding and remembering verb tenses is also one of the biggest hurdles that a student will face in learning English. Moreover, they also have to remember many irregular verbs!
• Explaining hypothetical situations is challenging enough; how much more in English? Learning conditionals can be hard, especially understanding their different forms and structures.
• In English, it is important to know that verbs should always agree with the subject in ‘Subject Verb Agreement.’ If the noun is singular, so is the verb. The tricky part is remembering the irregular plural nouns and spellings of singular verbs!
• Remembering word order in English is a little tough, too! Although English follows the SVO (subject-verb-object) sentence structure, there are word orders that need to be familiar with, such as the order of adjectives in a sentence.

For example: 

a. at 7 o’clock, at Christmas
b. on Sunday, on 1st December, on my birthday
c. in July, in the summer, in the afternoon, in the 2020s

We also use ‘in, on, at’ to talk about location. They go before nouns. 

We use in to talk about something inside a space, like a box, a room, a house, a city, a country, and other physical locations. 

For example: 

a. My grandmother was born in Italy.
b. I forgot my coat in the house.
c. There’s a new shopping centre in town. 

We use ‘on’ to talk about things touching a surface, whether vertically or horizontally. It can also be used to talk about floors in buildings or public transport.

For example:

a. That clock on the wall stopped working.
b. The dog is sleeping on the sofa.
c. My office is on the third floor. 

We use ‘at’ to talk about a specific place or point for a specific activity. 

For example:

a. Please wait for me at the entrance.
b. My sister is at work.
c. I saw your brother at the party!

3. Verb Tenses – This grammar concept is one of the most complex in the English language. We use tenses to show when an action took place and how long it lasted. Here are the four main tenses:

4. Conditionals – talking about possibilities or hypothetical situations requires special grammar rules. Here are the four main types:

5. Subject Verb Agreement – this rule requires the subject to match its verb in number. 

Have a look at the key rules:

a. A singular noun takes a singular verb
A bird flies to its nest.
She gets up at 7 o’clock.

b. A plural noun takes a plural verb
The birds fly up to their nests.
They get up at 7 o’clock.

c. Compound subjects joined by ‘and’ take plural verbs
My pen and notebook are in my bag.
John and Tom eat their breakfast.

d. Indefinite Pronouns take singular verbs (e.g., everyone, no one, someone, each)
Everyone is happy at the party.

e. Collective Nouns take singular verbs (team, family, committee, group)
My family goes to the cinema every Saturday. 

6. Subject-Verb-Object – this is the standard structure in the English language.

Subject ➡️ who or what does the action
Verb ➡️ the action
Object ➡️ who or what receives the action. 

Examples:

I (S) drink (V) tea (O).
The children (S) played (V) video games (O).
My mum (S) cooks (V) breakfast (O).

7. Adjective before noun – adjectives modify the noun, and in English, they usually come before nouns, except when a verb separates the adjective from the noun.

Examples:

I read an interesting (A) book (N).
My sister gave me a delicious (A) cake (N).

When a verb separates the adjective:
The book (N) was (V) interesting (A).
My grandma (N) became (V) sleepy (A).

8. Order of Adjectives – to sound more natural, it is also important to follow the specific order of adjectives (OSASCOMP). Look at the examples below:

Example sentences:

An old, wooden desk.
A nice, red party dress.
A durable, huge shopping bag. 

9. Capitalisation and Punctuation – an English sentence will not be grammatically correct if it doesn’t follow the right capitalisation and punctuation rules. Proper capitalisation allows readers to understand the beginning of a sentence, and to determine which ones are the common and proper nouns. Correct punctuation allows sentence clarity and the cohesiveness of ideas. 

Here are some of the capitalisation rules:

a. Start of every sentence.
b. Proper Nouns – they are the formal names of people and places, names of days and months, and holidays.
c. Pronoun “I” is always capitalised.
d. Not capitalised: seasons, common names (not the formal names, examples, teacher, sister, animals, city, country)

Look at the example sentence:

My sister’s name is Beth, and her birthday is on August 24. 

The “M” in My is capitalised because it’s the start of the sentence, “s” in sister isn’t capitalised because it’s a common noun, whereas “B” in Beth is capitalised because it’s a proper noun. Also, “A” in August is capitalised because it’s the name of the month.

Here are some of the punctuation rules: 

• Period (.) – signifies the end of a statement or command. 
• Question marks (?) are used in interrogative sentences.
• Exclamation marks (!) – this shows strong emotions.
• Commas (,) are used to separate items or clauses.

Look at the example sentences:

My favourite movie is showing tonight. (Statement)
Is it going to rain? (Interrogative)
That was scary! (Exclamatory)
In this recipe, I only used eggs, flour, water, and a little salt. (List of items)

10. Phrasal verbs – these are combinations of a verb and a preposition or an adverb, which create a totally different meaning from the original verb. Many idiomatic expressions are composed of phrasal verbs and knowing them will take your English skills to a higher level. 

Here are the two types of phrasal verbs:

a. Separable (the verb and particle can be separated) 

‘call off’ – to cancel
‘turn on/off’ – to switch the button on or off
‘take off’ –  to remove

Examples:

‘They called the meeting off.’
‘Please turn the light on.’
‘Take your dirty boots off.’

b. Non-separable (the verb and particle can’t be separated) 

‘call for’ – to require
‘come across’ – to find
‘look after’ – to take care of

Examples:

‘The council calls for a meeting.’
‘I was in an antique shop when I came across this interesting lamp.’
‘Can you look after my dog while I’m gone?’