How to Learn and Memorise English Grammar Rules

Posted on July 29, 2019

By Emily Stallard, owner of Orchid English

What’s the best way to learn grammar? Here are four steps on how to learn and memorise English grammar.

Step 1.

Tell your English teacher that learning grammar is one of your main objectives

If you’re taking classes with Orchid English, you’ll know that your English classes are tailored to your objectives. It doesn’t matter if your objectives change along the way, either. So the first step is to understand and learn the rule with your teacher. Remember it’s not a race, and your teacher will be patient with you!

Step 2.

Practise new grammatical structures in class and for homework.

The important thing about learning grammar is that you can’t just know the theory. It’s equally important to practise. Your English class is where you can practise in a controlled way, being corrected by your teacher, and you should also ask for homework.

If you’d like additional homework that you can mark yourself, have a look at English Club grammar quizzes. Alternatively, if you prefer to sit down with a book, you could invest in the classic English Grammar in Use by Murphy. It has a double page for each grammar point and you can mark it yourself. English teachers love this book because it’s clear and covers so much.

Step 3.

Practise new grammar in real life

Find excuses to use new grammatical structures in your conversations. Say you want to practise the past perfect. You know the theory from your English class but you have never used it spontaneously in real life. You will probably discuss your weekend with colleagues on Monday morning, right? Have a think about when you can use that grammar:

• Your colleague is in Brighton this weekend, so on Monday you can ask her: Had you been there before? 

• You started a great book: I’d never tried that author before. 

• You went to your local gastropub: It was new for me although my partner had been there before. 

If you can create situations where you practise that newly learned grammar, you will soon find yourself using it naturally in conversations.

Step 4.

Review in class and real life

The most important thing about how to learn and memorise English grammar is that you can’t just learn it once. Our brains learn and forget information more than we would hope! It’s totally normal for you to learn and then later forget a rule – your teacher will notice and review it in your English class. Be patient with yourself.

Have a look at your old grammar worksheets and notes regularly. Do you still remember the rules? If you don’t, it’s time to go back to step 2, followed by step 3.

Do you remember the rule but never use that grammar in real life? Then revisit step 3: make a real effort to use the structure in real life. Using the grammatical structure in real life is what will cement your English learning.

Those were our top tips on how to learn and memorise English grammar. Good luck with your English studies and let us know in the comments how you get on.

If you work in London and you really want to give your English a boost, why not get English classes at your company? Get in touch for excellent quality, reasonably priced English language classes.