A Word, Please: Online help for grammar is available, but you must search wisely

I came across a rather sad post on a message board the other day. “I feel insecure because someone made fun of my less than perfect grammar. What’s the best way to improve it?”

This post led me to even more, some from people who didn’t grow up speaking English, some from people who did. Yet all of them had been ridiculed for their grammar. None of them said what grammar errors they had made or where they felt they needed the most help.

As evidenced in the replies — most of them saying just “read a lot” — asking for nonspecific grammar guidance doesn’t help. Yes, everything you want to know about grammar is on the internet, but you have to ask the right questions.

After years of paying attention to this stuff, I’ve learned where most people are weak in grammar. Here are the specific subjects for web searches to help the grammar insecure improve their skills.

Subject vs. object pronouns. This is an easy lesson: “I” is a subject, “me” is an object. “He” is a subject, “him” is an object. This can probably be mastered with a 10-minute online video.

Verb conjugation. “Conjugation” means how we change the verb based on the subject — that is, who is doing the verb. When you hear about subject-verb agreement, this is what people are talking about: the verb should be in the right form to go with the subject. Regular verbs are conjugated according to simple rules: usually just add an “s” or “es” to the verb for the third-person singular forms. That is, “he walks” and “she walks” get the “s,” whereas “I walk” and “we walk” do not. For verbs that end in “y,” you often use “ies” in place of the “y” for the third person singular: I fly, he flies. But not always: I pay, he pays. For these tricky verbs, just ask Google how to conjugate it.

Verb tense. This takes a long time to master, but a few basic lessons online can go a long way. Tenses are the ways we change the verb form to express time or duration. “Yesterday I walked” shows how “walk” changes to express past tense. “Last week I was walking” shows how “ing” tails indicate ongoing action. Once you understand the most basic tenses, you can look up the correct verb forms in a dictionary. For example, look up an irregular verb like “fly” and you’ll see its past forms are “flew” and “flown.” And if you think you’ll never get English verb tenses exactly right, good news: Grammar scolds don’t know them all either.

Adverbs. This part of speech is complicated. Luckily, your would-be critics don’t know that. Grammar snobs are adamant that only the words that end in “ly” can modify actions. For example, they say that “drive slowly” is grammatical and “drive slow” is an error. A dictionary can prove them wrong in a second. “Slow” is an adverb as well as an adjective. But if your goal is to avoid grammar criticism, be sure to use the “ly” forms to describe actions, and note this very important exception: “Well” is the adverb form of “good.” So you’ll sound better to would-be critics if you say “I’m doing well” rather than “I’m doing good.”

Prepositions. Little words like “at,” “with,” “to,” etc. don’t come with a set of reliable rules you can follow. Immersion is the only way to fully master them. But the internet can be a nice resource. Just search things like “Is it better to say ‘Where are you’ or ‘Where are you at’?’ You’ll learn fast that the “at” is frowned upon by the type of people who judge others’ grammar.

Articles. There’s no grammar rule that dictates Americans should say “I’m in the hospital” and British people should say “I’m in hospital.” These things are idiomatic. Eventually, everyone learns them. Until you do, just ask the internet about your specific phrasing.

— June Casagrande is the author of “The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know.” She can be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.