Let me quickly admit that grammar is not my favourite topic and I don’t consider myself a good grammarian. I remember struggling with grammar in school and not enjoying the lessons. Nope, no happy memories there.
But to teach is to learn twice and having to discuss grammatical issues with teachers simply means having to learn my grammar. And I did. I armed myself with some good reference grammars, read grammar books and articles and generally paid closer attention to grammatical matters.
Imagine my surprise when I found out what teachers use to teach and learn grammar. I had asked some teachers to bring their reference grammars for a grammar course I was conducting. Without exception, everyone brought copies of the assessment grammar books that one finds in Popular bookstore. Yes, the kind that parents and pupils buy as well. These books are written for students and parents and only deal with the basics of grammar. If one has to teach grammar, one needs to know more than the basics! And judging from some of the questions teachers ask me about grammar, I do think there is a lot more learning that can be done where grammar is concerned.
It is with this in mind that I decided to make a new list of resources for grammar. I have shared some of this information with some teachers but others may find the list useful too. My first source for grammar is always the dictionary. You’d be amazed how many grammatical issues, especially issues regarding usage can be answered by checking the dictionary. And I don’t mean those little matchbox-size dictionaries which I’ve seen some teachers using! Nowadays, of course, we can also check an on-line dictionary, and the second resource all teachers should be in the habit of using is Google or any on- line search engine. Here are some useful websites for grammar that’s on-line and free. Most of these are recommended by webgrammar.com, a useful site for all teachers.
GRAMMARBOOK
http://www.grammarbook.com/
COMMON ERRORS IN ENGLISH: PROFESSOR PAUL BRIANS' SITE http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
DAILY GRAMMAR
Check your grammar knowledge. Quizzes take four minutes.
http://www.dailygrammar.com/archive.shtml
ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Special help in diagramming sentences
http://members.cox.net/teachro/grammar/diagramming.htm
ENGLISH IDIOMS & PROVERBS
All pages have at least one picture each drawn by students.
http://humanities.byu.edu/elc/student/idioms/idiomsmain.html
GRAMMAR CENTRAL
Links to a teacher's notes on grammar lessons as well as copies of the lessons themselves.
http://tinyurl.com/94q5d
GUIDE TO GRAMMAR AND STYLE: JACK LYNCH
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/contents.html
MRS. BLUEZETTE'S GRAMMAR CORNER
"A PBS mind in an MTV world." Delightful, highly educational articles by a wonderful English language wizard (umm...wizette).
http://www.newsblues.com/grammar.htm
PROFESSOR CHARLES DARLING'S GRAMMAR SITE Outstanding as a quick reference for your grammar questions.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
THE ENGLISH MAZE
A web-based learning system for individuals and schools worldwide. Students can improve their pronunciation, speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills.
http://www.englishmaze.com
USINGENGLISH.COM
A large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools and resources for students, teachers, learners, and academics.
http://www.usingenglish.com/
WEB ENGLISH TEACHER
Beginning teachers can find guidance; experienced teachers can find inspiration.
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/
Another useful site is www.grammargirl.com and you can subscribe to her newsletters and her other information sharing platforms. In Singapore, I find the 938Live! English@ Work newsletters very informative. Every issue discusses some grammatical items that teachers will find useful to their teaching. Each newsletter also recommends related books and discusses such topics as the origins of English words and issues related to writing. To subscribe go to: 938Live.sg.
And if you need more than grammar, try this website: http://sentencesleuth.blogspot.com/ for information and entertaining advice on how to write better sentences.
My next entry will deal with grammar books for teachers and kids.
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