Yesterday a student asked me to recommend a good grammar book. My answer to this question is that you don't need one. Let me explain my reasons for this view.
When I was at school, language learning meant studying two things: 1) grammar rules and 2) lists of vocabulary. The idea was that we should use the grammar rules to construct sentences, and the vocabulary would fill in the gaps. To me this seemed like a "mathematical" approach, where each grammar rule is like a formula. If you use a grammar book, you're probably following this method.
Nowadays I prefer a different approach, especially when teaching IELTS. Here are five reasons why I've moved away from the "grammar book" method:
- I believe that students can pass the test more quickly if they remember that grammar only accounts for 25% of their score, and they focus instead on the other 75%.
- I believe that the "mathematical formula" approach causes people to create unnatural sentences.
- I think that a better use of your time is to read and listen to as much native-speaker English as possible, so that you pick up the words, phrases and constructions that English speakers really use.
- If you want to improve your grammar for IELTS, I recommend that you ask a teacher to highlight your mistakes. Instead of learning rules from a book, just aim to learn from the mistakes that you make, and therefore gradually "edit" your English.
- You can check any grammar point with a quick search on the Internet. There's no need to slowly work through a book any more!
Thanks Simon for giving such detailed and informative information. It will be so helpful.
Posted by: sami | August 21, 2017 at 16:11
Hi Simon
I'm quite mad because I have this checker from a review centre, who kept saying that there should be a comma before the word respectively. Like 15% and 14%, respectively. I tried to argue with her that a comma isn't needed. Can you please enlighten me? She even wronged me because I used the British spellings while I used while instead of whilst and although instead of albeit. Her scoring to me hinders me to get a grade of 7, just because of this minor mistake ACCORDING TO HER. Her grading of below 7 to me is needed so that I would be sponsored by my agency.
Posted by: kLwT | August 22, 2017 at 16:45
I find your idea very useful. It is difficult for me to learn so much grammar from grammar books. I decided to learn with essays. I tried to write as much as possible. After that, my teacher checked it and tell me why I do have mistakes.
Posted by: huong | August 22, 2017 at 20:43
kLwT
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=%22cent+respectively%22&lr=lang_en&tbs=lr:lang_1en&tbm=bks&ei=w-mcWdvaBomw8wXv4L-YDg&start=10&sa=N
Some style manuals use a comma before respectively and some do not; book usage is split.
Simon said:
"Yes, try to be consistent with British or American spelling. But don't worry too much about this in the listening test. Just make sure each word is spelled correctly."
http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2017/08/ielts-advice-you-dont-need-a-grammar-book.html#comments
Posted by: Oleg57 | August 23, 2017 at 03:52
kLwT
oops!
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=while%2Cwhilst%2Calbeit&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cwhile%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bwhile%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BWhile%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cwhilst%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bwhilst%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BWhilst%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Calbeit%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Balbeit%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BAlbeit%3B%2Cc0
Posted by: Oleg57 | August 23, 2017 at 03:55
Oleg57 thanks so much.
Posted by: kLwT | August 23, 2017 at 04:10
Well, it is honestly much harder to find a teacher who can help correct your mistakes than to find a grammar book. : )
Posted by: ZP | August 23, 2017 at 07:49
huong & ZP
Nowadays it is possible to use the internet to improve one's writing. For example:
Try googling "learn with essays"
and then google "learn by writing essays".
This shows "learn with" is used in other contexts:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=learn+*_ADP%2Clearn+from+*_NOUN%2C+learn+with+*_NOUN&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Clearn%20%2A_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blearn%20from_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20that_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20of_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20about_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20in_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20whether_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20at_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20if_ADP%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2Clearn%20from%20%2A_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20experience_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20Mr._NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20history_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20others_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20St._NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20Dr._NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20books_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20Sir_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20Herodotus_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20Pliny_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2Clearn%20with%20%2A_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20pleasure_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20certainty_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20surprise_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20regret_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20satisfaction_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20astonishment_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20ease_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20regard_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20interest_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20with%20difficulty_NOUN%3B%2Cc0
This shows common phrases with "learn from/by":
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=learn+by+*_NOUN%2Clearn+from+*+mistakes&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Clearn%20by%20%2A_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20experience_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20heart_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20degrees_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20observation_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20trial_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20practice_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20imitation_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20example_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20means_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20by%20experiment_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2Clearn%20from%20%2A%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20their%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20the%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20our%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20his%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20your%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20past%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20my%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20its%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20her%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blearn%20from%20these%20mistakes%3B%2Cc0
Posted by: Oleg57 | August 23, 2017 at 10:20
It's just the way.
Thank you Simon for your helpful website-for your work!
Posted by: Soham | August 23, 2017 at 16:05
Oleg57,
Wow,it is really an amazing thing! It tells us the using frequency of a word or a phrase from two hundred years ago till now.
Google is a great company, very much impressive.
Posted by: ZP | August 25, 2017 at 06:06
Hi Simon
I have been following your website and I found the information there very useful. Thank you a lot for your help.
I took my IELTS test in Germany two weeks ago, and my band scores are 7,5 (listening), 8.5 (Reading), 7 (Writing) and 7 (Speaking). However, I am not very satisfied with what I got in the writing and speaking parts, since I got at least a 7.5 in each session last time I took the exam. So I want to apply for an enquiry on results, but I don't know if I will have a good chance... So please allow me to say a little more about my situation.
During the speaking test, I think I spoke quite fast, which may have left a bad impression on the examiner. Nevertheless, I can generally speak fluently and use a wide range of vocabulary. In addition, my pronunciation is fine as well, according to my American friend. What mystifies me the most is that my boyfriend, who took the exam with me on the same day, got an 8 in the speaking part, although he 'messed up' a question in part three by saying something completely wrong (he then realized what he said did not make sense so he asked the examiner to allow him to re-phrase in the end). I am usually able to answer questions promptly and with the use of more advanced vocabulary, however, my boyfriend's English is better than mine in terms of grammar. But I am still very confused because I really don't understand why my score was so much lower than his... I don't understand anymore what the examiners put more value on.
With regard to the writing test, I actually had the feeling that I finished both tasks quite well. Especially the writing task 2, because I wrote a similar essay before and a former IELTS-examiner gave me an 8 for that essay. So when I saw my score in the writing part I was very surprised and of course disappointed.
Do you think I should have my scores remarked? I really feel like I deserved more, but maybe I just did not do well. So I am really not sure if I will have a good chance.
It would be very nice of you if you could answer me. Thank you very much for your time!
Posted by: Carolina | August 26, 2017 at 16:12
If the point of learning a language is merely to pass an IELTS test, there are maybe priorities other than grammar. But if the aim is to be able to read and write English correctly, not just to be able to "communicate" orally, then the importance of grammar is paramount, and should not be downplayed.
Employers worldwide are increasingly attentive to the way job applicants understand and write English, not just how they can speak it. After all, when speaking English, we all make mistakes all the time ; that is acceptable, as long as the message gets across. But when it comes to reading and writing, incorrect use of grammar can lead to incomprehension, ambiguity, unintentional aggression, lost contracts, and a lot worse.
There's a page about the importance of grammar on http://linguapress.com/grammar/ which is worth looking at.
Posted by: Trev | September 15, 2017 at 11:49
Thanks Trev for making a good point. However, I would still argue that knowledge of vocabulary comes before grammatical accuracy.
Posted by: Simon | September 19, 2017 at 13:18
Hii simon i have not enough money to buy online practice session of ielts. But i want to clear ielts exam with help of you .please help me in writing because i have no teacher who find my mistakes and guide me☺
Posted by: Prabhjot | June 23, 2018 at 12:24