Grammar 101: insider tips and tricks to instantly improve your writing (part 1)

Hannah Lawrence
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Reading time: 4 minutes

I've always been fascinated by language and writing: as a child, I wrote newsletters for my classmates and books about my imaginary friends' adventures. That love of words eventually led me into a career as a writer, editor and proofreader. Over my career, I've checked thousands of reports, articles and blogs 鈥 and I see the same grammatical mistakes time and time again.

In this blog series, I'll share my favourite tips and tricks to help you remember those tricky grammar rules; whether you're writing for work, to learn or just for fun, these posts will help you improve your English and write with more confidence. Here are the top three grammar rules that people ask me to explain:

1) "Which" or "that"?

2) "Less" or "fewer"?听

3)听"Me" or "I"?

Grammar 101
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"Which" or "that"?

We use "that" to introduce a phrase that is essential for fully understanding a sentence. For example, if a colleague asks you to "Join me in the meeting room that has a red door", then this tells us that there is more than one meeting room, but only one has a red door. Without this piece of information, you won't know where to meet your colleague. Phrases like this that hold essential information are called "restrictive clauses".

In comparison, 鈥渨hich鈥 introduces additional information that isn鈥檛 essential for understanding the sentence鈥檚 meaning. At a different office, if your colleague asks you to "Join me in the meeting room, which has a red door", then this tells us that there is only one meeting room and it happens to have a red door. You don't need to know the colour of the door to understand where to meet. These are called "non-restrictive clauses" and are separated with commas, unlike restrictive clauses.

Also compare:听
"Simon brought his dog that has three legs." (This tells us that Simon has more than one dog and only one of those dogs has three legs.)

"Jada brought her dog, which has three legs." (This tells us that Jada only has one dog. The dog also happens to have three legs.)

"Less" or "fewer"?

"Fewer" is for items that you can count: it means "not as many".听

"Less" is for mass concepts: it means "not as much".听

For example: "I'm trying to have less sugar in my diet. As part of this, I'm going to have fewer spoons of sugar in my coffee."

Another example: "I had less time to work this week, so I did fewer hours on the assignment."

"Time" is uncountable but "hours" are countable.听

"Me" or "I"?

Should you say 鈥淛ane, Carlos and I went to the movies?鈥 or 鈥淛ane, Carlos and me went to the movies?鈥

Use "I" when you're doing something 鈥 when you are the "subject" of the sentence.

Use "me" when something is being done to you 鈥 when you are the "object" of the sentence.听

So, "I" is correct here. Here's the easiest way to know which one to use: remove the other people from the sentence and see if it still makes sense.

Incorrect: 鈥淢e went to the movies.鈥

Correct: 鈥淚 went to the movies.鈥

Therefore, it's correct to say: 鈥淛ane, Carlos and I went to the movies.鈥澨

That's when you're the subject of the sentence, now compare it to a case when you're the object.听

Incorrect: "Jane invited I to the movies."听

Correct: "Jane invited me to the movies."

Bonus tip: remember to always put other people first. So, in our first example, it is always "Jane, Carlos and I", rather than "I, Jane and Carlos".听

Grammar can be tricky, but it gets easier with practice 鈥 and a few insider secrets. Look out for the next post in this series, where we鈥檒l explore more common grammar mistakes and how to avoid them.

Read our blog posts "11 fascinating facts about English"听and "Commonly misspelled English words".

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    GSE Teacher Toolkit: Planning a communicative grammar lesson

    Por Sara Davila
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    Planning grammar lessons with the GSE Teacher Toolkit

    Grammar is one of the core areas of language teaching. Often, new teachers are nervous about teaching it, but sooner or later, all English teachers will have to get to grips with it. Whether you love or hate teaching grammar to your students, the makes planning a successful grammar lesson easier than ever.听

    When it comes to planning a grammar-focused lesson, there are two main strategies to choose from: a communicative approach or a focus-on-form approach. The communicative approach is more commonly used.听

    So, let鈥檚 have a look at how the GSE Teacher Toolkit can help you plan a communicative grammar lesson that is effective and engaging for your students.听

    Teaching communicative grammar

    When you鈥檙e planning a grammar lesson, you want to be sure there is a reason for students to use the grammar point that you鈥檙e going to teach. That way, your students will be more motivated to learn the form and practise using it correctly.听

    Using and applying grammar generally requires producing something. That鈥檚 why grammar, as an enabling skill, is often aligned to speaking and writing, the productive skills. When you want your students to use or produce a particular grammar form, you can begin by looking for the associated skills in speaking and writing.听

    Choosing a skill to teach

    Imagine that you have a class that is learning at an A2 level (35 - 40 on the GSE range). You鈥檒l want to help them work towards A2+/B1. So, it鈥檚 a good idea to plan lessons around skills that are in your target GSE range to push their progress.听

    In order to plan an A2+ range speaking class, you can filter the GSE Teacher Toolkit to look in your target learning range for specific skills to teach:听