If you have stopped studying grammar because it is hard, this is the article for you. It gives twelve tips on making grammar practice more manageable and so more motivating and useful.
Start with lower-level grammar materials
Your level check saying Intermediate doesn’t necessarily mean that is the right level of grammar study to start with. Instead, start with a book that is one level lower, e.g. an A2 grammar book if your class is B1 level.
Start with grammar that you already know quite well
Studying grammar that you basically already know like Past Simple can be good revision, help with fluency when you need to produce those forms, and will usually contain at least one new thing or one thing that you’ve forgotten. This is a particularly good tactic when you step up to a higher level of grammar materials. For example, if you finish an Upper Intermediate grammar book and buy an Advanced one, it is worth starting with the point you just studied like relative clauses, as it will include both revision and at least one new point (for example reduced relative clauses).
Stick with one grammar point for longer
Grammar books and English classes often have just one lesson on future predictions, one lesson on gerund and infinitive, etc, then move onto the next point. It is actually easier and better to spend a few days or weeks on different kinds of practise of just one point before moving onto the next one.
Give up and come back to it later
Although some more time before moving on usually helps, your brain also needs some time away from the grammar point for it to sink in and for you to be able to use it naturally. This means that there is no need to try to master each point before you move onto the next one, and that taking a break from grammar points that you are struggling with can be helpful (particularly if you follow the tip below on reading and listening).
Collect key words
One of the quickest and easiest ways of using the correct grammatical form is to think about what particular words it usually goes together with. For example, “right now” almost always goes with Present Continuous, and “rarely” usually goes with Present Simple.
Memorise model sentences
Rather than learning “Present Perfect is used for actions linked to both the past and the present”, it is much easier to learn the model sentence “I’ve worked in four countries so far”. This can be done with gapped sentences that you try to remember how to complete (“I’ve worked in four countries so ___________”), wrong sentences that you try to remember how to correct (“I worked in four countries so far” X), and key words that you try to make into model sentences (“worked/ four/ far”).
Learn grammar along with vocabulary
To stop the amount of grammar becoming overwhelming, model sentences like those above can be added to your vocabulary list, vocabulary flashcards, vocabulary flashcard app, etc. For example, if you have a page with 15 words and expressions with definitions to learn, you can add one grammatically wrong sentence to memorise how to correct.
Watch grammar videos too
Just watching grammar videos is unfortunately too easy, and is unlikely to leave much information in your head. However, mixing up watching videos and doing actual study on the same point is a great way of learning in different ways and of reinforcing what you have learnt.
Do lots of reading and listening too
Studying grammar might seem to be the obvious way of improving your grammar knowledge. However, students who do best at grammar questions in exams like Cambridge First tend to be those who have read lots of English and so have a feeling for what grammar is common in English and therefore what forms are considered correct. As it’s difficult to catch grammar words in natural speech, it is much easier to get a feel for correct grammar by reading than it is by listening, so you might want to watch videos with English subtitles if you don’t often read. Such reading for pleasure should naturally both reinforce grammar that you have studied before and give you an easy introduction to grammar that you might study later. However, if you are really focussed on reading for grammar development, you could underline sentences which have interesting grammar in them, memorise some as model sentences, and/ or collect words that go with particular grammar forms (see above).
Mix in some little grammar points
Especially after spending a long time on grammar points with many parts to study like “a/ an and the” or “different uses of will”, it is worth tackling much smaller ones like “for and to” and “superlative adjectives”. This both works as a break from the big points and makes sure that you don’t forget about such minor but still important points.
Don’t be overambitious/ Be realistic
When people say “grammar is hard”, the often mean things like “not making any grammar mistakes is hard”, “remembering all the grammar that I studied in high school is hard” and “finishing a whole grammar book is hard”. However, these are usually unrealistic, as even native speakers make grammar mistakes (especially when they are communicating quickly and/ or are tired), you wouldn’t expect to remember all the maths and history that you studied at high school, and many pages in each grammar book will not be priorities for you and so should be skipped or saved until after something more important.
Use L1 in grammar study
It can be really useful to study English grammar by only using English, by using grammar books from English publishers, googling grammar points in English, etc. This is because you will also learn other useful English that way (including grammatical terms used in classes, in dictionaries, etc), and it might help you stop translating so much in your head. However, it can be useful to mix that up with English grammar materials that are written using your own language. As well as being easier to understand, such materials tend to contain contrasts with your own language, typical mistakes made by speakers of your language, etc that materials written for speakers of all languages will not include.