Learning a foreign language means not only memorizing a lot of words. Indeed, in any language, words are combined into sentences not randomly, but according to certain rules and principles. These rules are not the same in different languages and constitute the grammar given language. The study of grammar allows you to understand the internal structure of the language, and therefore, take a step towards your own speech activity, to the construction of competent sentences, the creation of oral and written texts. Which is the main purpose of the study foreign language, is not it?
Therefore, when someone wants to master "colloquial speech" without learning grammar, this is impossible. There is, of course, a variant of a phrase book: you can memorize a hundred phrases without understanding the principle on which they are built. But this path has nothing to do with learning a foreign language and will lead you to nothing but disappointment: you will not be able to speak with native speakers. Meanwhile, memorizing sentences is not an easy job. Try to better focus your efforts on learning how to build phrases on your own based on knowledge of the grammar of the language. However, memorizing ready-made sentences is a good exercise in itself. It is widely used in the so-called intensive methods of language learning, but always in combination with the parallel study of grammar.
Knowing grammar means understanding how words are combined into sentences. In Russian and Italian, these principles are not at all the same. So, if in Russian we say “I want to eat” or “I'm hungry”, then the Italians use the verb in this sentence avere ("to have") and say: Ho fame(literally: "I have hunger"). Likewise they will say: "I'm cold" ( Ho freddo, literally: "I have a cold") or "I have a headache" ( Ho mal di testa Literally: "I have a headache"). Another example: in Italian, the linking verb is always preserved. essere(to be), while in Russian in the present tense the verb "to be" is usually omitted. So, we say "I'm a student" or "This is my friend" without using any verb. Meanwhile in Italian in such cases, the verb must be used essere(whereas the personal pronoun, on the contrary, can be omitted): sono students(literally: (I) am a student); Questo e il mio amico(This is my friend).
When studying a foreign language, you should strive to ensure that the grammatical structure of the Russian language does not affect your Italian. Getting familiar with grammar will help you with this.
In conclusion, I would like to say a few words about scientific terminology from the field of grammar, which you will encounter when opening almost any foreign language textbook. The use of these terms is dictated by the desire of the authors to accurately and concisely describe the grammatical structure of the language. Sometimes the author simply cannot do without them. However, most of us forgot grammatical terminology shortly after leaving school. Sometimes this prevents the perception of the text of the textbook and the teacher's explanations.
In fact, many people find themselves in a similar situation, and not just you, so you should not be shy about asking questions at all. An attentive and experienced teacher will not abuse terminology, will try to get by with only the most necessary concepts and, in any case, will explain any term to you. Therefore, soon you will no longer be embarrassed by such words as " indirect addition' or 'transitive verb'.
English Grammar (English Grammar)
I talked a little about this in the very first lesson. When he said that English is generally easy, for those who want it. And he explained why it was easy. Including explained due to this. What did I tell you about English grammar? One of the best in the world. It was? And the following was said. It is really much simpler than Russian, much. Moreover, it is even much more logical, and much lighter in form, because everything is written with formulas. And what is very important. One and the same grammatical law, which we will stake out in these small lessons. On the fifth today. And in the 40th lesson, we will remember the same law on the grammar of a super fancy, high-level grammar, but there this law works the same way as it works here. It is very important.
Well, now the main thing. Why do we need grammar at all? What for? Despite the fact that she is so smart, so fluffy, it’s just a pleasure to sit and stroke her. Well, stroked, stroked ... Even this bothers me. So why are we teaching it? Remember the main thing. There was not, and I doubt that there will ever be at least one person in the world who would speak English fluently without knowing grammar. This does not apply to those born there.
Listen carefully to what I am about to say. There are two ways to come to the English language, to perfect knowledge, mastery of the English language. The first path is instinctive, but for this you need to be born there. And from the first days, or rather, scientists have proved that even in the womb, the child already hears the language and begins to form it in himself. And therefore, by the age of three or four, he speaks excellent English / American.
I'm sorry. But he will look at me like I’m a complete idiot and say: “Uncle, I don’t know what presentperfect". Although he just used this phrase. He works on instinct. Remember. This has already been proven by scientists. And I have assumed this before, although I am not a scientist in this direction. The human brain has two hemispheres, as you know. Each works for itself and each works on its own laws. So, for the first seven years (some say six, some say nine) of a person's life, basically only the left hemisphere works for him. And he perceives everything in the surrounding world through this left hemisphere. And at the same time, this hemisphere works with him on instinct, on images. Up to that on intonations, on color. The child perceives language not analytically, but intuitively. And this, of course, is much easier for him. He unconsciously takes it, this tongue. But, I repeat, at about the age of seven, this hemisphere, or rather the center in it, which works on the language, physiology has proved that it closes, stops working. And everything switches in the same child to the right hemisphere. And for the rest of his life, he comprehends everything new in the world around him only with this half. And it works according to a completely different law, on an analytical level. That is, he must understand why this is so, and not otherwise. Then it becomes clear to him. In the left hemisphere, he did not ask "Why is that?". He said: "Yes, yes, yes." And in the right one he says: "No, I have to understand."
Why did I say this? There is not a single seven-year-old among you sitting here. No one. This means that that first path is closed for all of us. That's why our freaks are freaks, and that's why they can't teach the language, because they mechanically try to instill that level, that way in adults, but we reject it, the body doesn't take it. It's the same as breastfeeding you all day now. You will be carried away, I'm sorry, that's all. And you say, “Here you go. Give me sausages. Understand, this is the truth. We can all get used to, or rather come to a fluency in the language, but we will go the other way. We will go through the understanding of the language, through the laws of the language, which the child does not need, he took them on instinct. He doesn't know them, but he uses them.
Well, I ask you again. Here is a centipede running. Ask a centipede how she rearranges her legs, what will happen to her? She will fall when she starts thinking. Here is a child like a centipede. He runs, but he doesn't think why. We adults can't do that. That is why, by the way, there is a very difficult problem that our freaks do not understand and extol it. This is the principle of bilinguals. I'll tell you sometime if there's a reason.
So what is grammar for? To speak freely. And speak freely, understanding the language from the inside. How to get into the clockwork and say "here everything is spinning like this and I remember it." But then, when we learn it by heart, from the teeth, you will already speak English like a child says, without hesitation. You know what a tricky thing. In three or four years, you will not say to yourself, “Oh, what time to take there? Ah, probably Indefinite, maybe continuous? You won't talk like that. You won't even tell yourself what it is. continuous. You immediately say on it, as a child would say. In short, if you memorize, that's in a good way with malice, you can assume that your passport has a new stamp "born in New York" or "born in Boston" or "born in London." Therefore, you will be reborn. It's true. But, you need to take it with love, respect and with a great desire for grammar. There is no other option. Do not believe any bastard who says: “But why grammar? What kind of nonsense? Don't believe.
English grammar in its entirety is not subject even to most native speakers. As shown, great linguist Nowadays, the key to success in language learning is the continuous and massive study of interesting and meaningful content.
To speak English well, you need to learn how words are used and how they combine to form phrases and sentences. Listen and read only huge amount material can help you understand. While reading and listening, you should constantly try to notice how to use English words. It is necessary to naturally perceive natural phrases in English, which means: slowly, gradually, with a lot of trial and error.
English grammar is quite difficult. However, there are simple things that help us notice patterns in any language. The first is to feel the main components or parts of speech.
Parts of speech
Nouns
Nouns refer to people and things, such as, for example, table, flower or house . Most English nouns are not alone. Usually preceded by a noun ( an, a, the ), or other words like: some, any, both . Only if the noun is a general term such as beauty, love, money or honor, etc., can it stand alone.
Look for nouns. Pay attention to different shapes plural. Note that some of the nouns are never plural.
Fortunately, English grammar (unlike some others) does not separate nouns by gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter). In addition, nouns do not change form depending on their role in the sentence, that is, they do not change by case. English nouns are simple.
Pronouns
Pronouns are words like he, she, it, they, we, his, her or which And that that replace nouns. When you use a pronoun instead of a noun, you need to make sure it's obvious which noun you're referring to. If it's not clear, it's better to use a noun to avoid confusion.
adjectives
Adjectives describe nouns. They can describe the color, size, degree, or any other quality of the noun.
You will notice that many adjectives end in -ate, -able, -ive, -ing or -ed . Nouns are often turned into adjectives by adding a letter -y , for example: anger-angry, thirst-thirsty, fun-funny etc. Sometimes, on the contrary, an adjective can turn into a noun by adding -y how in difficult-difficulty .
You just need to watch the language and save the words and phrases you want to learn. Note that in English, adjectives come before nouns. There is also a natural, as in new, big, red expensive car (new, big, red expensive car). All this is taken from a large number articles you read and listen to.
Do I need to learn English grammar or is it more important to just speak it fluently? Today, there are two opposing camps: some believe that it is necessary to speak correctly, and for this you first need to study grammar, others insist that mastering such subtleties is outdated and not necessary, the main thing is to speak English boldly. Which of them is right? How to find the "golden mean" when learning spoken English? We will give you our arguments and confirm them with a useful video from a native English teacher.
To be or not to be, that is the question. Should I learn English grammar? Increasingly, people who want to learn English turn to teachers with requests in the style: “I don’t need grammar, I want to speak English, and not waste time learning boring rules. I can get by with just three simple tenses. They will understand me, right? Will you undertake to teach me spoken English?” The reluctance to waste time on boring rules is understandable and acceptable, but is it possible to do without knowledge of grammar when talking with foreigners? We propose to consider two diametrically opposed opinions, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each principle of learning English and come to the correct opinion.
Principle #1: You need to learn English grammar before you start speaking it
This principle is classic, it was he who was the basis for learning English in schools: first, children learned the rules and only then (if they were lucky) practiced using them in speech. Moreover, they were engaged in conversational practice very, very little. Perhaps that is why we now have a generation of silent people: a person can understand that he is being spoken in English, but he himself does not dare to say anything, since no one simply taught him to SPEAK.
However, this method of teaching has its advantages: as a rule, “silent people” competently and deftly operate with tenses and constructions in written speech. When writing a sentence, they have time to remember the corresponding rule, write the text and check for possible errors. During a conversation, this lengthy procedure significantly delays speech, makes it uncertain, although literate.
Why do we need English grammar? There is an important plus in studying it: you learn to “feel” the English language, you understand what role a particular word plays in a sentence, even if it is unfamiliar to you. Lyudmila Petrushevskaya has an entertaining collection "Linguistic Tales". In it, all words, except for prepositions, are fictitious. However, thanks to the understanding of grammatical rules and the developed “feeling” of the language, we intuitively understand what in question. You can read these fairy tales in Runet and see for yourself.
Principle #2: Why study English grammar? The main thing is to speak it
The principle is modern and very fashionable. Polyglots are not to blame for its viral spread, as is commonly believed, but those who misinterpret their words. Polyglots - talented people(moreover, working hard on themselves!), they often say: "I did not learn grammar, I just memorized whole phrases, and now I operate them competently." It's great, right? After a couple of such statements, almost every site considered it necessary to write a “scandalous” article opening “ main secret» learning any foreign language. We will reveal this secret a little later. First, let's look at the disadvantages of this principle.
The disadvantage of studying grammar is that misunderstanding of grammatical structures entails misunderstanding of the interlocutor as a whole. Yes, and your own speech becomes quite poor, because of the many aspects of the tenses of the English language (the Simple, Perfect, Continuous, Perfect Continuous groups, as well as the passive voice), you use only three times of the Simple group. Are you cutting back too much, impoverishing your English?
Do I need to learn English grammar or is it more important to speak? Looking for the golden mean
We do not support any of the above opinions for two reasons:
- The “grammar first, then speaking” technique is hopelessly outdated. Modern language courses and online English schools work on communicative methodology. That is, you start speaking from the first lesson. Grammar in this case is studied in the context of the topic under consideration. The teacher does not focus on clear rules, but devotes more time to practicing grammar in the process of speaking practice. This is the best teaching method accepted all over the world.
- The technique of "Speaking first, grammar is not important" is also not useful for English learners, and to put it bluntly, it is a failure. We picked up the idea of polyglots that grammar is not necessary to learn, and now we ask our teachers to simplify speech to the level of a child. However, we can say absolutely unequivocally: absolutely ALL polyglots studied grammar, only their approaches were different. Let's take a look at them:
- Classical. If the polyglot wanted to do more than just learn how to flip simple phrases with foreigners, and applied for the position of a translator, he did not neglect the usual grammatical aids. A striking example- Hungarian polyglot Kato Lomb. This lady mastered 16 languages and did not disdain studying grammar exercises. Do you want to learn languages like her? Then check out our article "".
- Modern. Time does not stand still, and now polyglots have somewhat changed their approach. Many useful information you can read about such people in the article "". And now we recommend you to look interesting video. Its author reveals a little secret of language learning, which is usually used by polyglots. You will not find any special “secrets” in the recording, but the speaker very clearly and clearly explains how not to learn grammar and at the same time ... study it.
As you can see, the "secret" comes down to one of the principles of the communicative technique. When learning English, you do not need to get hung up on the rule itself, on its clear formulation. Listen more, try to perceive the forms of constructing sentences by ear. The author of the video believes that grammar should be taught the way children learn to speak - they perceive everything by ear. This technique is suitable for mother tongue when the child is constantly in the environment of the language being studied. But how effective this approach to learning grammar is for a second foreign language remains a mystery. Therefore, according to the communicative method, students not only listen to the correct grammar, but also use it themselves, inventing their own examples using the learned words.
Do not be surprised when those who ignore the rules of grammar also ignore the law. After all, the law is just so much grammar.
Don't be surprised when someone who has ignored grammar rules will also ignore the law. After all, law is, to some extent, also grammar.
Now let's derive a few principles for learning English grammar "in a modern way":
1. Practice English Grammar
Scribbled wording of the rules without practical application will only hinder your speech. It is much more useful to read the wording once and make 10-15-20 sentences using this rule - this is a practical, not a theoretical application of grammar.
2. Listen to what native speakers say and learn from them
3. Read books
While reading, you use your visual memory: you see how a sentence is built, what time is used in a particular case, and gradually remember when and what tense or grammatical construction to use.
4. Be sure to choose materials that interest you
A captivating book, video or podcast will completely capture your attention, and you will consciously listen to the recording or read the text. With automatic reading or listening “because it’s necessary”, attention quickly dissipates, so there can be no talk of any study of grammar.
5. Use every opportunity to speak English and don't oversimplify your speech.
Try out 1000 useful English phrases and use them with your English-speaking friend, classmates in an English study group, teacher, etc.
6. Do written grammar exercises
In addition to speaking, you also need to learn how to write correctly, and this skill develops only when doing grammar exercises. Also, remember that some people don't speak English because they're afraid to make a mistake. And the written exercise will become your “rehearsal”, so speaking will no longer be so scary.
Competent written language- must-have modern man. As a result, we would like to lead you to the opinion that the question “Is it necessary to learn English grammar?” the answer can only be in the affirmative. And it must be taught correctly: according to modern methods, using various exciting and entertaining materials. The words "grammar" and "literate" are related, so you can become a literate person only by knowing grammar. And help to master it will help interesting articles: « », « ».
If you feel confident in all tenses and constructions, but there are difficulties with speaking, we will be happy to help you “talk” and learn how to use all your knowledge in practice. Try to sign up for, after a few lessons you will see that speaking English is easy.
Grammar is an element of language about which opinions differ radically. Many people believe that without knowledge of grammar rules and repeated exercises, it is impossible to learn a language well. But often English grammar for beginners becomes a real torture. They get confused in numerous tenses, misplace words in sentences, and as a result they come to the conclusion that learning grammar is not necessary, and it is quite possible to do without this boring lesson.
However, it depends on the knowledge of grammatical rules how correctly you can compose a phrase using your vocabulary. In other words, this knowledge determines how competently you can speak and write in English.
Why study grammar
What is meant by this term? Grammar is a set of specific rules that must be followed when using a particular language. These rules are important and necessary just like the rules of any sports game, such as football or basketball. If there are no such rules, it becomes simply impossible to play. The same applies to the language: if there were no rules of communication, people would not be able to understand each other. Therefore, teaching English grammar is one of the most important and significant stages in mastering a foreign speech.
Of course, learning the rules of a language is much more difficult than learning the rules of a game. There is no single approach to the study of the grammatical structure, because each specialist creates his own methodology, different from others. Some suggest memorizing the rules and doing a lot of exercises to reinforce them. Others believe that the easiest way to learn grammar is through various language games and situations. Whatever method you choose, remember some rules and recommendations that will help facilitate and speed up the learning process.
