1. Make your subjects and verbs agree.

If your subject is singular, your verb needs

to be singular too. And if your subject is
plural, the verb needs to be plural. For
example, 'She walks' is a singular subject
and verb, and 'They walk' is a plural
subject and verb. They always need to
match.
2. Be consistent with your tenses.
Don’t mix tenses in a sentence or a
connected group of sentences. For
example, if you use the past tense at the
start of a sentence, use the past tense
until the end. Mixing and changing tense
mid-sentence will confuse your listeners
and readers.
3. Choose the right articles.
Use 'a' before words that start with a
consonant sound and 'an' before words
that start with a vowel sound. Use 'the'
when you talk about something specific or
something you previously mentioned. For
example, "I saw a cat" versus "I saw the
cat we spoke about yesterday."
4. Use complete sentences.
A full sentence has a subject (who or what
the sentence is about) and a verb (what
the subject is doing). 'He lied' has a
subject and a verb so it can be a full
sentence.
Sentences should also include complete
thoughts. For example, a phrase like
'While running' isn’t a complete thought,
but "While running, I started to feel sick"
is.
5. Capitalize where needed.
Capitalize the first word of a sentence and
proper nouns (names of people and
places).
6. Use the right pronouns.
Make sure your pronouns ('he,' 'she,' 'it,'
'they,' and so on) agree in number and
gender with the nouns they replace. For
example, in the sentence, "Every student
must do his or her homework," instead of
repeating 'every student' again before
'homework' ("Every student must do every
student’s homework") you can use 'his or
her' because it matches 'every student'.
7. Add the right preposition.
Prepositions (such as 'in,' 'on,' 'at,' and
'by,') show the relationships between the
words in your sentences. They indicate
time, place and direction, among other
things. Getting these wrong confuses your
audience. For example, "The book is on
the table" and "The book is in the table"
have very different meanings.
8. Link your ideas with conjunctions.
Conjunctions (like 'and,' 'but,' 'or,' 'yet,'
'so') are linking words that connect words
and phrases. Use them to create complex
sentences.
You might have heard people say, "Never
start a sentence with a conjunction," but
it’s safe to ignore that rule. (If you look
through this article, you’ll find lots of
places where I ignored it). This incorrect
rule comes from some misleading
teaching in schools in the past.
9. Clarify your sentences with commas.
Commas make your sentences easier to
understand. Use them with coordinating
conjunctions (such as 'but' and 'and')
when connecting independent clauses,
after introductory phrases ("After waking
up, she found the house was empty"), to
separate items in a list, and to separate
information that isn’t essential to the
meaning of a sentence ("The man, who’s a
doctor, was arrested last night").
10. Use apostrophes only for
possessive nouns and contractions.
Use apostrophes to show possession
('John’s dog') and to indicate a contraction
(for example, 'isn’t'). For possession, add
apostrophe 's' to the end of a noun. Use
an apostrophe in place of the missing
letter(s) for contractions.
11. Switch word order for questions.
When you ask a question, you need to
switch the order around. The auxiliary
verb (for example, 'do,' 'have,' 'is') comes
before the subject. For example, in a non-
question sentence, the auxiliary verb
comes after the subject ("She is coming to
the party"). But in a question, the auxiliary
verb comes before the subject ("Is she
coming to the party?").
In 'wh' questions, the question word (who,
what, where, when, why, how) goes
before the auxiliary verb. For example,
"When is she coming?"
12.Give clear commands and instructions.
To make a command, you need an
imperative sentence. These start with a
verb and don’t include the subject, like in
the sentences “Get up!” or “Be quiet.”
Want to double-check your English
grammar usage?

1. Make your subjects and verbs agree.

If your subject is singular, your verb needs
to be singular too. And if your subject is
plural, the verb needs to be plural. For
example, 'She walks' is a singular subject
and verb, and 'They walk' is a plural
subject and verb. They always need to
match.
2. Be consistent with your tenses.
Don’t mix tenses in a sentence or a
connected group of sentences. For
example, if you use the past tense at the
start of a sentence, use the past tense
until the end. Mixing and changing tense
mid-sentence will confuse your listeners
and readers.
3. Choose the right articles.
Use 'a' before words that start with a
consonant sound and 'an' before words
that start with a vowel sound. Use 'the'
when you talk about something specific or
something you previously mentioned. For
example, "I saw a cat" versus "I saw the
cat we spoke about yesterday."
4. Use complete sentences.
A full sentence has a subject (who or what
the sentence is about) and a verb (what
the subject is doing). 'He lied' has a
subject and a verb so it can be a full
sentence.
Sentences should also include complete
thoughts. For example, a phrase like
'While running' isn’t a complete thought,
but "While running, I started to feel sick"
is.
5. Capitalize where needed.
Capitalize the first word of a sentence and
proper nouns (names of people and
places).
6. Use the right pronouns.
Make sure your pronouns ('he,' 'she,' 'it,'
'they,' and so on) agree in number and
gender with the nouns they replace. For
example, in the sentence, "Every student
must do his or her homework," instead of
repeating 'every student' again before
'homework' ("Every student must do every
student’s homework") you can use 'his or
her' because it matches 'every student'.
7. Add the right preposition.
Prepositions (such as 'in,' 'on,' 'at,' and
'by,') show the relationships between the
words in your sentences. They indicate
time, place and direction, among other
things. Getting these wrong confuses your
audience. For example, "The book is on
the table" and "The book is in the table"
have very different meanings.
8. Link your ideas with conjunctions.
Conjunctions (like 'and,' 'but,' 'or,' 'yet,'
'so') are linking words that connect words
and phrases. Use them to create complex
sentences.
You might have heard people say, "Never
start a sentence with a conjunction," but
it’s safe to ignore that rule. (If you look
through this article, you’ll find lots of
places where I ignored it). This incorrect
rule comes from some misleading
teaching in schools in the past.
9. Clarify your sentences with commas.
Commas make your sentences easier to
understand. Use them with coordinating
conjunctions (such as 'but' and 'and')
when connecting independent clauses,
after introductory phrases ("After waking
up, she found the house was empty"), to
separate items in a list, and to separate
information that isn’t essential to the
meaning of a sentence ("The man, who’s a
doctor, was arrested last night").
10. Use apostrophes only for
possessive nouns and contractions.
Use apostrophes to show possession
('John’s dog') and to indicate a contraction
(for example, 'isn’t'). For possession, add
apostrophe 's' to the end of a noun. Use
an apostrophe in place of the missing
letter(s) for contractions.
11. Switch word order for questions.
When you ask a question, you need to
switch the order around. The auxiliary
verb (for example, 'do,' 'have,' 'is') comes
before the subject. For example, in a non-
question sentence, the auxiliary verb
comes after the subject ("She is coming to
the party"). But in a question, the auxiliary
verb comes before the subject ("Is she
coming to the party?").
In 'wh' questions, the question word (who,
what, where, when, why, how) goes
before the auxiliary verb. For example,
"When is she coming?"
12.Give clear commands and instructions.
To make a command, you need an
imperative sentence. These start with a
verb and don’t include the subject, like in
the sentences “Get up!” or “Be quiet.”