Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Allen Wu]

Helloow every bobdy,Ｉam Taiwan's student.There always have a lot of english test in our school.But the teacher always test the english grammer
to us.I really don't know how to face the terrible test.I very love english but very hate the grammer.It　ｉｓ very hard to understand.So did there have somebobdy who can help me to solve the problem.Ｉｆ　ｔｈｅｒ　ｈａｖｅ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｍｉｓｔａｋｅｓ　ｉｎ　ｍｙ　ａｒｔｉｃｌｅ.Ｉ　ａｍ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｓｏｒｒｙ　ａｂｏｕｔ　ｔｈａｔ

[asterix]

The longest journey begins with a single step...that's how you learn
grammar - one step at a time.

[Bob S.]

I am told by people who are fluent in both Chinese dialects and English that the grammer of both languages is very similar. It follows the basic form: Subject - Verb - Object. In that way, you have it easier than, say, Japanese whose native language grammer form is Subject - Object - Verb.
Verb memorization is easy compared to other languages. In English, most verbs have 3 basic forms: present, past, past perfect; sometimes 4 forms: present (1st & 2nd person), present (3rd person). Compare that to Russian which can have 7 or 8 forms, or Romantic languages (Spanish, Italian, etc.) that can have up to 12 forms.

What grammar form is causing you trouble?

[LucentShade]

Spanish verbs can take about 53 forms, not counting perfect or progressive tenses.

[wolfstone]

I had the same problem as Allen when I was at school. I barely learnt English grammar and I had the feeling that it served for nothing. So I decided to live in an English-speaking country for three years and in this way I found a relation between language and grammar.

My advice is that you learn the grammar that you use. Therefore it's absurd to memorize rules in order to pass a test.