I'll try my best to cover the important aspects of grammar but I can only do so much. There are hundreds of rules in relation to grammar and I probably don't even know them all so I'll cover the basics.
In terms of improving, the best way is to get lessons or just read up online. The only way for improvement is practice. Being that I live in Scotland, in primary we learnt about grammar constantly and had to do these sheets of paper where we corrected grammar mistakes and wrote down the correct grammar. At the time, I hated it, but it certainly paid off since now my grammar is pretty good.
BASIC RULES
I found a photo that gives pretty understandable definitions and I hope this helps.
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Adjective Order Sometimes when you say a sentence that involves a lot of adjectives it might seem wrong. For native english speakers, it's almost natural writing the words in the correct order but for people who haven't learnt english as their first language or just aren't good with grammar it can be harder. Here's the order for adjectives:
1. Number/Quantity 2. Opinion 3. Size 4. Shape 5. Condition 6. Age 7. Colour 8. Pattern/Design 9. Origin (where is it from?) 10. Material (what is it made of?) 11. Purpose (what is it used for?)
Of course you would rarely use this many adjectives in one sentence so don't worry about aiming for all of this.
Note that some of this can be interchangable depending on who you asked but I compared several sources and found this to be the common one.
Capitals The beginning of a sentence must be capitalised. Proper nouns are capitalised - these are names of places, people, organisations, films, books etc...
Punctuation •Every sentence requires a punctuation mark at the end of it - ? ! or . •Colons are used to separate a sentence, this could be to seperate the sentence from a list, or could be between a sentence and another sentence which explains the first one. •Semi-colons separate several sentences and acts as a conjunction for sentences that have the same idea. •Commas have a wide range of rules but generally are placed where there is a pause in the sentence and separates things in a series
Their, There & They're
Their - Possessive, commonly plural but is acceptable in replace of his or her. In other words, 'their' is used when talking about something that belongs to someone. e.g. It was their bicycle. The basketball was theirs. They left their toys upstairs.
There - Adverb, means to be in or at that place. e.g. The table is right there. Can also be used at the beginning of a sentence. e.g. There is still time.
They're - This is basically 'they are' e.g. They're amazing!
Its and It's This is a common mistake and I make it a few times too.
Its - Possesive or 'belonging to' much like his and her. e.g The tree lost all its leaves
It's - Short for 'it is' or informal for 'it has' e.g. It's got four legs. It's hers.
Affect & Effect
Affect - verb, means to make a difference to something. e.g. Their lifestyle will affect their health.
Effect - noun (sometimes verb), means a result (as noun) or to bring something about (verb) As a noun: 'The effect of his actions will be damaging." As a verb: "His new food choices did little to effect change to his diet."
ie or ei 'I before E except after C' a common rule a lot of us would've heard this is generally correct except there are some words that go against this rule so watch out for them.
Your & You're
Your - possessive, second person, basically describing something as belong to you. e.g. This is your pen.
You're - contraction of 'you are' e.g. You're going to jail.
Lose & Loose
Lose - opposite of win, think of 'loser'
Loose - when something isn't tight
We're, Were & Where
We're - contraction of 'we are' e.g. We're going to the park.
Were - past tense form of are. e.g. We were going to the park until it began to rain.
Where - specifies a location e.g. Where are you going?
ANY QUESTIONS? If there is anything you are still unsure about don't be afraid to ask.
