{"id":154145,"date":"2023-09-19T13:29:35","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T17:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/english-grammar-tips\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T05:21:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T10:21:34","slug":"english-grammar-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/english-grammar-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 12 English Grammar Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes in English"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Studying English grammar isn&#8217;t always fun, yet we all keep learning and practicing the English grammar rules because it&#8217;s important for writing, speaking and comprehension.<\/p>\n<p>In these 12 English grammar tips, we covered common errors that English learners encounter and how you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/common-mistakes-in-english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">avoid these mistakes<\/a>. From learning the fundamentals of capitalization to understanding the nuances of pronouns\u2014mastering these can help you come out on top in the trickiest situations.<\/p>\n<p>[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>1.\u00a0Memorize 3 Fundamental Capitalization Rules<\/h2>\n<p>You may think that capitalizing nouns is a trivial (not important) grammar rule. However,\u00a0poorly capitalized words are a quick giveaway that you haven&#8217;t\u00a0quite mastered English writing. Proper capitalization\u00a0helps your writing look professional, tidy\u00a0and correct.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s really just a matter of memorizing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/english-writing-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">key English writing rules<\/a> to apply proper capitalization and there&#8217;s not much to memorize.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the three fundamental rules you can use to remember which words get capitalized in English:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The first word in a sentence.<\/strong> You should always capitalize the first word in a sentence regardless of what type of word it is.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Proper nouns (names). <\/strong>These include\u00a0the names of people, locations, places, days and months, companies, etc. For example: Matthew, Helen, France, Tokyo, Mississippi, Microsoft, Saturday, January&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Honorifics and titles, as well as their abbreviations.<\/strong>\u00a0Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Doctor (Dr.), President, Lord, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more examples, <a href=\"https:\/\/webapps.towson.edu\/ows\/capitalization_rules.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Towson University has a comprehensive list<\/a> of words that get capitalized in English.<\/p>\n<h2>2. &#8220;<em>I&#8221;<\/em> and &#8220;<em>Me&#8221;<\/em>\u00a0Aren&#8217;t\u00a0Interchangeable<\/h2>\n<p>Which one of the sentences below do you think is grammatically correct?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em>Matt and <\/em>I<em> went for a walk.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em>Matt and <\/em>me<em> went for a walk<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>If you guessed the first sentence, you&#8217;re right! However, don&#8217;t\u00a0stress out if you guessed wrong. <strong>Many native English speakers get this rule confused.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>I<\/em> and <em>me<\/em> aren&#8217;t interchangeable and are used in different grammatical constructs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>I<\/em> is a pronoun that serves as a subject of a sentence.<\/strong> In the first example,<em>\u00a0Matt and I went for a walk,\u00a0<\/em>both <em>I<\/em> and <em>Matt<\/em> are subjects of the sentence while <em>went<\/em> is the verb.\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Me<\/em> is a pronoun that serves as an object of a sentence.<\/strong> <em>Me<\/em> is needed when someone else is performing the action. To use the example above, it would be absolutely correct to say:\u00a0<em>Matt took me for a walk. Matt<\/em> is the subject and<em>\u00a0me<\/em> is the object in the sentence<em>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Knowing your subjects and objects will help you use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/what-are-the-english-pronouns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">these types of pronouns<\/a> flawlessly!<\/p>\n<h2>3. Be Careful When Using &#8220;<em>Your<\/em>&#8221; and &#8220;<em>You&#8217;re<\/em>&#8220;<\/h2>\n<p>This is probably <a href=\"http:\/\/cheezburger.com\/6758893056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the most common<\/a> mistake on the internet today! Mistakes happen when possessive pronouns are confused with verb contractions, even among native English speakers.<\/p>\n<p>Often, you may see phrases like <em>your wrong\u00a0<\/em>(instead of<em>\u00a0you&#8217;re wrong)<\/em>, <em>you&#8217;re sister\u00a0<\/em>(instead of<em>\u00a0your sister)<\/em>, etc.<\/p>\n<p><em>Your<\/em> and <em>you&#8217;re<\/em> sound absolutely the same, but they have very different meanings and uses.<\/p>\n<p><em>Your<\/em> is a possessive determiner\u00a0that attributes something to <em>you<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Your<\/strong> dinner is getting cold.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Your<\/strong> friends have reserved a table for the party.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>You&#8217;re<\/em> is a contraction of <em>you are<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>You&#8217;re<\/strong> nice to me. (<strong>You are<\/strong> nice to me.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>You&#8217;re<\/strong> going to a party. (<strong>You are<\/strong> going to a party.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you want even more examples of this tip in action, you can try the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FluentU<\/a> language learning program. <p><strong>FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n<p><\/p> \r\n<p>You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/fluentu-learn-language-videos\/id917892175\">the iOS app<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.fluentflix.fluentu&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=US\">Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><i><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\r\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/4\/SimpleText.jpg\" alt=\"FluentU Ad\" \/>\r\n  <p style=\"text-align: center\">\r\n    <button class=\"btn-blue\" style=\"border: none;font-size: 18px;text-align: center;padding: 0.75rem 1.5rem;cursor: pointer\">\r\n      Try FluentU for FREE!\r\n    <\/button>\r\n  <\/p>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\n<h2>4. Be Careful When Using &#8220;<em>Their<\/em>&#8220;, &#8220;<em>They&#8217;re<\/em>&#8221; and &#8220;<em>There<\/em>&#8220;<\/h2>\n<p>This is another case of confusion between pronouns, contractions and adverbs. Let&#8217;s analyze each of the words in question.<\/p>\n<p><em>Their<\/em> is a possessive determiner. When using <em>their<\/em>, you indicate that something belongs to <em>them:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Their<\/strong> car has broken down.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Their<\/strong> dinner party was a big hit.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>They&#8217;re<\/em> is a contraction of <em>they are<\/em>, very similar to <em>you&#8217;re<\/em> from tip number three:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>If <strong>they&#8217;re<\/strong> not coming, I&#8217;m leaving early. (If <strong>they are<\/strong> not coming, I&#8217;m leaving early.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>They&#8217;re<\/strong> so happy to have been invited! (<strong>They are<\/strong> so happy to have been invited!)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>There<\/em> is an adverb indicating a location of something, whether specific or abstract:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Your keys are\u00a0over <strong>there<\/strong>, on the table.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>When we got <strong>there<\/strong>, the place was\u00a0already closed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This <a href=\"http:\/\/theoatmeal.com\/comics\/misspelling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fun comic by <em>The Oatmeal<\/em><\/a> provides a few more examples of common errors arising from the confusion between contractions and pronouns.<\/p>\n<h2>5. There&#8217;s a Subtle Difference Between &#8220;<em>Must<\/em>&#8221; and &#8220;<em>Have To<\/em>&#8220;<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/learnenglish.britishcouncil.org\/en\/english-grammar\/verbs\/modal-verbs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Modal verbs<\/a> in English serve to indicate likelihood, possibility, obligation and more. The most common examples of modal verbs include <em>can<\/em>, <em>may<\/em>, <em>must<\/em>, <em>will<\/em> and <em>shall<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Must<\/em> is the one indicating an obligation or a necessity to do something:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>I\u00a0<strong>must<\/strong> wake up early to catch a morning train.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>We <strong>must<\/strong> understand the difference between &#8220;there&#8221; and &#8220;their&#8221; to be better English speakers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, we could also say:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>I<strong> have to<\/strong> wake up early to catch a morning train.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>We <strong>have to<\/strong> understand the difference between &#8220;there&#8221; and &#8220;their&#8221; to be better English speakers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Both are grammatically correct and the\u00a0difference between <em>must<\/em> and <em>have to<\/em> is subtle. Both refer to an obligation, but<em> must<\/em> indicates an opinion or suggestion.\u00a0<em>Have to<\/em> is an expression of a more objective obligation coming from an outside force.<\/p>\n<p>So saying that someone <em>must<\/em>\u00a0do her homework is your opinion. Saying that she <em>has to<\/em> do her homework signals that it&#8217;s\u00a0necessary because, for example, her teacher requires it.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Must<\/em> and<em> have to<\/em> are used interchangeably in casual English.<\/strong> In more formal situations, you&#8217;ll stand apart by knowing the difference between them.<\/p>\n<h2>6. &#8220;<em>Make<\/em>&#8221; and &#8220;<em>Do<\/em>&#8221; can be a very tricky couple<\/h2>\n<p>Many English learners struggle when they have to learn the difference between <em>make<\/em> and <em>do<\/em> because there&#8217;s no standard rule to tell them apart (see or identify the differences).<\/p>\n<p>Normally, we use <em>make <\/em>when we mean <strong>to produce<\/strong>, <strong>construct<\/strong> or<strong> create<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>We need to <strong>make <\/strong>breakfast.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>She doesn&#8217;t like <strong>making <\/strong>friends.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, <em>do <\/em>tends to be a more active verb, and it&#8217;s <strong>often followed by an action or activity<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Do<\/strong><\/em> <em>your homework now!<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>I&#8217;d like to <strong>do<\/strong> some exercise this afternoon.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, there are exceptions to these two general rules, and both verbs appear in many collocations you need to learn by heart.<\/p>\n<h2>7. Always Check for Subject and Verb Agreement<\/h2>\n<p>To approach fluency in English, it&#8217;s crucial to understand subject-verb agreement. The subject of a sentence can be either singular or plural, which will determine what form the verb takes.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>She likes<\/strong> pizza.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>They like<\/strong>\u00a0burgers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>These are simple sentences with one clause (subject plus verb). But when there&#8217;s more than one subject\u00a0connected by <em>and<\/em>, it&#8217;s a compound subject that requires a plural:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Lily and Tom want<\/strong> to order pizza. (<strong>They want<\/strong> to order pizza.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Matt and I are<\/strong> going for a walk. (<strong>We are<\/strong> going for a walk.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But here&#8217;s where things get really complicated. Sometimes\u00a0the subject is accompanied by an additional piece of information that follows <em>along with<\/em>, <em>together with<\/em>, <em>as well as<\/em>, <em>such as<\/em> and more.<\/p>\n<p>These <strong>don&#8217;t change the subject<\/strong> into a compound subject and<strong> don&#8217;t require a plural verb<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Lily<\/strong>, just like Tom, <strong>wants<\/strong> to order pizza. (<strong>She<\/strong> <strong>wants<\/strong> to order pizza. So does Tom.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>I, together with Matt, <strong>am going<\/strong> for a walk. (<strong>I am going<\/strong> for a walk. Matt is going with me.) <\/em>Note that this is a slightly awkward sentence, and using a compound subject like <em>Matt and I<\/em>\u00a0would be preferable here.<\/p>\n<p>Notice how these sentence elements provide additional information that can be safely removed. The sentence would be less informative, but still grammatically correct.<\/p>\n<p>A simple way to check for subject and verb agreement is to replace the subject with an appropriate pronoun like we did in the first sentence above:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Lily<\/strong>, just like Tom, wants to order pizza. (<strong>She<\/strong> <strong>wants<\/strong> to order pizza.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Lily and Tom<\/strong> want to order pizza. (<strong>They want<\/strong> to order pizza.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If the sentence still makes sense, your subject and your verb are in agreement.<\/p>\n<h2>8. Mix It Up with Active and Passive Voice<\/h2>\n<p>In many English sentences, the subject is the one performing the action described by the verb of the sentence. This is called &#8220;active voice&#8221;, for example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>While the children played a game in the backyard, their dad\u00a0prepared dinner.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Both clauses of this sentence contain active voice: <em>children\u00a0played <\/em>(a game)\u00a0and <em>their dad\u00a0prepared\u00a0<\/em>(dinner).<\/p>\n<p>In other instances, the subject is being acted upon. Someone else is performing the action. This is &#8220;passive voice&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>While a game was played by the kids, dinner was prepared by their dad.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This sentence also has two clauses, and both of them are written in the\u00a0passive voice: <em>the game was played<\/em>\u00a0(by the kids) while <em>dinner was prepared<\/em> (by their dad).<\/p>\n<p>A good mix of active and passive verbs will make your English, especially written English, varied and colorful.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>9. For Collective Nouns, Context Is Everything<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes, a singular noun represents a group of people or a collection of things. Is <em>family<\/em> singular or plural? Is<em> government<\/em> plural or singular? How about <i>crowd<\/i>\u00a0or <i>flock<\/i>?<\/p>\n<p>These types of nouns are known as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammar-monster.com\/glossary\/collective_nouns.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>collective nouns<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In American English, collective nouns typically take a singular verb.<\/strong> For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>My family<strong> loves<\/strong> me a lot.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>The American government <strong>is<\/strong> <strong>voting<\/strong> on this issue today.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There are two important\u00a0exceptions that you&#8217;re likely to encounter in casual conversation: <em>police<\/em> and <em>people<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Police<\/em> and <em>people<\/em> always take a plural verb.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>The Boston\u00a0Police <strong>make<\/strong> weekly reports on the matter.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>People <strong>are starting<\/strong> to wonder what&#8217;s going on.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>However, in\u00a0British English, collective nouns may take a singular or a plural verb, depending on the rest of the sentence.\u00a0<\/strong>If the collective noun represents a group acting as one unit, it takes a singular verb. If the collective noun stands for several individuals or things acting independently, it takes a plural verb.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>The visiting team <strong>is<\/strong> losing.<\/em> (The team is one unit that&#8217;s on the losing side of the game.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>My family <strong>are<\/strong>\u00a0all coming to the wedding. <\/em>(&#8220;Family&#8221; stands for several different people who&#8217;ll arrive at the wedding, not necessarily together.)<\/p>\n<p>Whether you treat a collective noun as a singular or a plural, make sure that it stays that way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Incorrect:<em> The team <strong>is<\/strong> on a winning streak. <strong>They<\/strong>\u00a0beat every other team so far.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Correct:<em> The team <strong>is<\/strong> on a winning streak. <strong>It<\/strong> beat every other team so far.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>10. Always Use Complete Sentences, Not Sentence Fragments<\/h2>\n<p>The most basic sentence in English has two elements: a subject and a verb, for example:\u00a0 s<em>he sings,\u00a0 <\/em><em>I write, t<\/em><em>hey survived.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Having a subject and a verb is the minimum requirement for English sentences. If either of those is missing, the sentence isn&#8217;t\u00a0complete. It becomes a sentence fragment instead:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Walking past the house<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Survived the ordeal<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Sentence fragments <strong>shouldn&#8217;t be used alone<\/strong>. The examples above can be easily made into full sentences or become part\u00a0of a longer sentence. For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Walking past the house, I noticed the lights were on.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>She is happy to have survived the ordeal.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Make it a rule for yourself to always write in complete sentences.<\/strong> Connecting sentence fragments into more complex sentences will make your English speech and English writing\u00a0correct and varied.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to learn m0re about English abbreviations, check out this blog post:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Wo1FJU8qGP\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/english-abbreviations\/\">English Abbreviations: What They Are, How They Work and Common Examples<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;English Abbreviations: What They Are, How They Work and Common Examples&#8221; &#8212; FluentU\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/english\/english-abbreviations\/embed\/#?secret=zO6NVButx3#?secret=Wo1FJU8qGP\" data-secret=\"Wo1FJU8qGP\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>11. Learn Some Question Tags to Simplify Your Life<\/h2>\n<p>You know those short questions that sometimes get added to the end of a sentence, <em>don&#8217;t you<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>These are called question tags, and they can make your life easier, especially in an English conversation, because they allow you to easily turn statements into yes or no questions.<\/p>\n<p>The rule for forming a question tag is simple: if the main verb of the sentence is positive, the question tag takes its negative form. If the main verb of the sentence is negative (has &#8220;not&#8221; in it), the question tag takes its positive form.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A question tag will always conform to the main verb of the sentence:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>She forgot her lunch, <strong>didn&#8217;t<\/strong> she?<\/em> or <em>She didn&#8217;t\u00a0forget her lunch, <strong>did<\/strong> she?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>He isn&#8217;t going to the party, <strong>is<\/strong> he?<\/em> or<em> He is going to the party, <strong>isn&#8217;t<\/strong> he?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>However, here&#8217;s one\u00a0tricky thing to remember: if the main verb of the sentence is &#8220;I am,&#8221; the question tag that corresponds is &#8220;aren&#8217;t I.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>I <strong>am<\/strong> going to have to change my plans, <strong>aren&#8217;t<\/strong> I?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t\u00a0feel like using a contraction to form a negative question tag, be careful with the placement of &#8220;not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>She forgot her lunch, <strong>did<\/strong> she <strong>not<\/strong>?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>He is going to the party, <strong>is<\/strong> he <strong>not<\/strong>?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Need more examples? The British Council <a href=\"https:\/\/learnenglish.britishcouncil.org\/en\/quick-grammar\/question-tags\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">explains the basics<\/a> of question tags with additional examples provided.<\/p>\n<h2>12. Use Dangling Prepositions and Avoid Dangling Participles\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Whenever a preposition gets separated from its object in the sentence (or when it doesn&#8217;t have an object at all), it becomes a <strong>dangling preposition, <\/strong>for example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Whom<\/strong> are you talking <strong>to<\/strong>?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>You can come downstairs; there&#8217;s nothing to be afraid <strong>of<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There is a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/113187\/grumpy-grammarian-dangling-preposition-myth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">grammar myth<\/a> that dangling prepositions are unacceptable. However, <strong>dangling prepositions aren&#8217;t\u00a0a grammatical error.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Actually, avoiding\u00a0dangling prepositions may result in some awkward sentences! For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>To whom<\/strong> are you talking?<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>You can come downstairs; there&#8217;s nothing <strong>of which<\/strong> to be afraid.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>These sentences are correct, but not very desirable.\u00a0Also, dangling participles can cause problems for English learners; they can make it easier to forget or confuse the subject-participle relationship.<\/p>\n<p>Participles (words formed from verbs) are often used to introduce a subordinate clause in a sentence, for example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em><strong>Doing<\/strong> my homework, I noticed that a few of my notes were missing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>That little girl, <strong>having dropped<\/strong> her ice cream, is crying uncontrollably.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In these cases, participles always relate to the subject of the sentence. They describe the action that the subject performs or the state that the subject is in.<\/p>\n<p>A very common mistake many English learners (and even native speakers!) make is to use a participle that doesn&#8217;t relate to the subject of the sentence (a <strong>dangling participle<\/strong>), for example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Incorrect: <em><strong>Walking<\/strong> to the university, <strong>the rain<\/strong> started to fall, so he opened his umbrella.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Correct: <em><strong>Walking<\/strong> to the university, <strong>he<\/strong> opened his umbrella, because the rain started to\u00a0fall.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Incorrect: <em><strong>Having traveled<\/strong> around the world, few <strong>countries<\/strong> impressed me more than New Zealand.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Correct:<em><strong> Having traveled<\/strong> around the world, <strong>I<\/strong> was impressed by few countries more than New Zealand.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, dangling participles create confusing and grammatically incorrect sentences that reflect poorly on your writing. Unlike dangling prepositions, dangling participles\u00a0should be avoided!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>English grammar may not be your favorite part of English learning, but don&#8217;t be discouraged.<\/p>\n<p>Taking it step by step, one tip at a time is how you become proficient in the language.<\/p>\n<p>Good luck!<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>And One More Thing...<\/h2>\r\n<p>\r\nIf you like learning English through movies and online media, you should also check out FluentU. <a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FluentU lets you learn English from popular talk shows, catchy music videos and funny commercials<\/a>, as you can see here:\r\n<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_1990\" style=\"width: 317px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1990\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1990\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/4\/English-5.png\" alt=\"learn-english-with-videos\" width=\"307\" height=\"546\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1990\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>\r\nThe FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos. There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition, and useful examples.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_1991\" style=\"width: 317px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1991\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1991\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/4\/English-2.png\" alt=\"learn-english-with-subtitled-television-show-clips\" width=\"307\" height=\"546\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1991\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FluentU lets you learn engaging content with world famous celebrities.<\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>\r\nFor example, when you tap on the word \"searching,\" you see this:\r\n<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_1959\" style=\"width: 317px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1959\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1959 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/4\/English-6.png\" alt=\"learn-conversational-english-with-interactive-captioned-dialogue\" width=\"307\" height=\"546\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>\r\nLearn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you\u2019re learning.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<div id=\"attachment_1996\" style=\"width: 317px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1996\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1996 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/4\/English-7.png\" alt=\"practice-english-with-adaptive-quizzes\" width=\"307\" height=\"546\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1996\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. <a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Learn more.<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n<p>\r\nThe best part? FluentU remembers the vocabulary that you\u2019re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words\u2014and reminds you when it\u2019s time to review what you\u2019ve learned. You have a truly personalized experience.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nStart using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. <a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Studying English grammar isn&#8217;t always fun, yet we all keep learning and practicing the English grammar rules because it&#8217;s important for writing, speaking and comprehension. In these 12 English grammar&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"featured_media":249390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Top 12 English Grammar Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes in English | FluentU English Blog","description":"Check out these top 12 English Grammar tips that can help you avoid common mistakes and speak like a natural! Whether you're a learner or a native speaker, these tips will help you navigate the intricacies of the English language. Don't let grammar hold you back; conquer it and shine in any situation."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[685,696],"tags":[],"coauthors":[317],"class_list":["post-154145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-grammar-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154145"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246403,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154145\/revisions\/246403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154145"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=154145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}