How to stamp out your common mistakes in English from the top down

For many people, the idea of sitting down and working through a grammar book from start to finish makes them want to do housework instead. But there’s a better way.

Last week we talked about dealing with common mistakes from the bottom-up based on your regular writing and speaking missteps.

This week we look at a top-down approach using a grammar book in a targetted way.

There are many grammar books out there. The appeal of How English Works by Michael Swan and Catherine Walter (Oxford University Press) is that you first do the tests at the beginning of the book covering basic, intermediate and advanced rules.

Then based on your mistakes, you’re directed to specific pages with explanations and exercises to practise your personal problem points – so make sure you get the edition with an answer key.

Working like this means you’re not wasting time doing exercises on structures you’re fine with.

If you’re looking for a handy tool to help you to quickly and easily improve your grammar according to what you need to focus on, try How English Works.

And if you want to to go deeper into something, Michael Swan has also written Practical English Usage (Oxford University Press) which gives more information and examples on grammar and vocabulary.

Do you have any language questions you’d like help with? Please get in touch.

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