The best way to lock down what you’ll learn in these lessons is analyse the grammar of texts that you read.
The second best way is to create your own little grammar textbook.
We strongly suggest you do the following:
- Set up a paper notebook or a digital doc, and as you go through the lessons write what you learn in your own terms, as if you were trying to explain grammar to someone else.
- Ask yourself the following questions about each word group or phrase:
- Function: What does it do?
- Position: Where can it appear within a sentence, and relative to other word groups?
- Boundaries: How do you recognise the beginning and end of this group or phrase?
- Components: What types of words make up the group? (Plus: What are they called? Where do they appear? Which types are essential? Which are optional?)
- Write your own examples of each group or phrase, or try to find examples in other texts.
- And if you ever get confused, check a dictionary or online grammar reference—though like we said before, you’ll find that terminology varies slightly across sources.
You don't have to take this far to get a benefit
If you’re interested in language, you can go deep. But even if you’re not interested, doing a little bit of this work will help you consolidate and organise what could otherwise become confusing.
It’ll make your life easier, and make you more comfortable learning this content.
So we strongly recommend creating your own grammar text!
