Why is grammar so confusing?

Grammar rules have sparked strong debates across different languages and cultures for centuries. While it is clear that people care deeply about using language “correctly,” it is not always obvious why these rules exist or where they come from. Many of them seem arbitrary, raising questions about whether they truly matter or are simply conventions that have developed over time.

In the video, Arika Okrent explores this issue by examining several well-known examples from English that have generated ongoing disagreement among speakers and writers. Through these cases, the video shows how grammar is not fixed, but shaped by history, usage, and changing attitudes, encouraging viewers to rethink what “correct” language really means.

Help Teaching

HelpTeaching is a free online collection of English Language Arts worksheets designed for teachers, students, and parents.

In simple terms, it is a website where you can find ready-to-use materials to teach and practise English skills. These worksheets cover areas such as reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension, and they are organised by grade level, from early education to high school.

The main purpose of this resource is to make teaching easier. Teachers can download or print worksheets to use in class, assign them as homework, or use them for quick assessments. Many of the materials are designed to reinforce what students learn in lessons, helping them practise skills step by step.

The content is very varied. For example, you can find:

• Reading passages with questions
• Grammar and spelling exercises
• Writing prompts and activities
• Worksheets focused on specific skills like prefixes, punctuation, or text analysis

https://www.helpteaching.com/free-english-language-arts-worksheets.htm

ESLfriend.com

ESLfriend.com is an online platform offering free ESL resources, including handouts, lessons, activities, and full lesson-sets for English language teaching and learning. The site describes itself as providing materials ranging from daily conversation and grammar to business English and test preparation. 

One of the major strengths of ESLfriend is its breadth of content: there are materials for a variety of levels, topics and uses — from conversation starters to full lesson packs. For teachers, this means a ready-made resource library to draw on, reducing preparation time. For learners, the materials can offer extra practice outside class. Another plus is the free access to most of the materials, making it accessible for educators and students with limited budget.

The site also includes media-based lessons (reading passages, audio, discussion questions) which are useful for integrating skills (reading, speaking, listening) rather than only grammar.

Find it on:

https://eslfriend.com/

Free English Language Arts Worksheets

Free English Language Arts Worksheets on HelpTeaching provides a collection of downloadable worksheets for various English language skills. These cover topics like grammar, reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary, punctuation, and more. 

Teachers can use them to reinforce lessons, assign practice work, or support students who need extra help.

https://www.helpteaching.com/free-english-language-arts-worksheets.htm

Two Minute English

The YouTube channel Two Minute English offers concise, two-minute lessons designed to help learners improve their English skills efficiently. The channel features everyday American English conversations using simple and clear language, making it suitable for learners at various proficiency levels.

Each video allowes learners to fit lessons into their busy schedules. Lessons cover real-life situations such as shopping, dining, and social interactions, providing practical language use.

This channel is particularly useful for English language learners seeking to enhance their listening and speaking skills through brief, focused lessons.

https://www.youtube.com/user/twominenglish

TalkEnglish.com

TalkEnglish.com is a free online platform designed to help users improve their English speaking, listening, and comprehension skills. It offers a wide range of resources, including:

Speaking lessons: focused on improving conversational skills for various contexts such as business, travel, and daily life.

Listening lessons: helps users improve their listening comprehension by providing audio conversations with transcripts.

Grammar lessons: covers essential English grammar rules and structures.

Vocabulary resources: provides lists of commonly used English words and phrases.

Interactive exercises: offers quizzes and practice exercises to reinforce learning.

The website is aimed at both beginners and advanced learners looking to enhance their English fluency, with structured lessons and practical tools.

https://www.talkenglish.com/

Links for ESL Students

This website offers a collection of links to various language learning and practice sites. You can find websites here for learning and practicing all skills: grammar, reading, writing, listening, idioms, and pronunciation.

https://esl.bowvalleycollege.ca/

Games to learn English

GamestoLearnEnglish.com is a website dedicated to providing educational games and activities to help learners of English improve their language skills in a fun and interactive way. 

The website offers a variety of games covering different aspects of English learning, including grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, listening comprehension, and more. These games are designed to engage learners of all levels, from beginners to advanced, and can be used both in classroom settings and for self-study. 

Find it on:

https://www.gamestolearnenglish.com/

Mad English TV

Mad English TV is a YouTube channel focused on teaching English as a second language in a fun and engaging way. The channel features a variety of educational content, including lessons on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and idiomatic expressions. The material is presented in an energetic and entertaining manner, often incorporating humor and visual aids to keep viewers engaged. 

The channel caters to learners of all levels, from beginners to advanced, and covers a wide range of topics to help improve English language skills. Besides, Mad English TV provides tips and strategies for language learning and offers interactive activities to reinforce learning.

Find this channel on:

https://www.youtube.com/@MadEnglishTV

Past Simple vs. Present Perfect Challenge #Chatbot

Established in 2023, Mizou is an advanced tool created to assist K12 Teachers in their endeavor to personalize learning, ensure engagement, and enhance effectiveness. Smart artificial intelligence (AI) is employed to customize educational chatbots according to the individual needs of each student. 

This interactive quiz created by Laufer Péter tests students on verb tense usage and enhances understanding through immediate feedback.

https://mizou.com/preview-bot?ID=6962

The Purdue Online Writing Lab

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a comprehensive resource for academic writing and research. It provides free writing assistance, instructional material, and resources to help students, educators, and professionals improve their writing skills. 

The OWL offers guidance on various aspects of writing, including grammar, punctuation, style, research and citation, academic writing genres, and job search writing. It is widely used by universities, colleges, and individuals seeking reliable writing support.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/index.html

Daily Grammar

Daily Grammar is a website that provides free grammar lessons and quizzes to help users improve their English grammar skills. The website offers a structured approach to learning grammar rules and usage through daily lessons and exercises.

Users can access lessons on various grammar topics, such as parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, and more. The lessons are designed to be concise and are followed by quizzes to reinforce learning.

https://www.dailygrammar.com/index.html

Englishwsheets.com

This website was created by Mehmet Gül, a Turkish English teacher, for the use of English language learners and teachers from all over the world. 

It offers free ESL printable grammar and vocabulary worksheets, English exercises, EAL handouts, ESOL quizzes, EFL activities, TEFL questions, TESOL materials, English teaching and learning tesources, fun crossword and word search puzzles, tests, picture dictionaries, classroom posters, matching exercises and flashcards...

https://englishwsheets.com/index.html 

English Practice #Worksheets B2

Downloadable PDF grammar and vocabulary worksheets

Grammar Worksheets B2

http://www.english-practice.at/b2/grammar/b2-grammar-index.htm 

Vocabulary B2

http://www.english-practice.at/b2/vocabulary/b2-vocabulary-index.htm 

Listening & comprehension

http://www.english-practice.at/b2/listening/b2-listening-index.htm 

Writing

http://www.english-practice.at/b2/writing/b2-writing-index.htm 

News articles B1/ B2

http://www.english-practice.at/news-articles/news-articles-index.htm 

Learning Chocolate @LCVocab

Learning Chocolate is a website that offers free online language learning games and activities for learners of English and other languages. The site offers a wide variety of interactive games that help learners practice and improve their vocabulary, grammar, and listening skills. 

Some of the popular games on the site include Word Search, Hangman, Crossword, and Memory, among others. These games are designed to make learning new words and phrases more interactive and enjoyable.

Learning Chocolate also offers language learning videos that provide real-world examples of language usage. These videos are designed to help learners improve their listening and comprehension skills, and they cover a range of topics from everyday conversation to academic vocabulary.

The site is easy to navigate, and the games and activities are engaging and effective. Best of all, it is completely free, making it accessible to anyone who wants to improve their language skills.

https://www.learningchocolate.com/ 

esl-lounge

esl-lounge gives free access to hundreds of ESL lesson plans and materials that can be used for communicative English lessons in the classroom. The emphasis on this site is on communication. The majority of resources are geared towards getting students talking.

Alongside the printable grammar worksheets, surveys, flashcards, reading comprehension and communication activities for each level, there are also board games and song lyrics for teachers. There is also a section devoted to phonetics and the improvement of student pronunciation of English. (Source esl-lounge)

Visit:

https://www.esl-lounge.com/ 

Common Errors in English Usage

Website of Professor Paul Brians. 

The site explains some of the most commonly misused and misunderstood aspects of English. You can access an alphabetical list of errors from the following link:

https://brians.wsu.edu/common-errors/

LetThemTalkTV

Regular videos on English grammar, (British) pronunciation and vocabulary. This interesting channel has just surpassed 540,000 subscribers.

Grammar and punctuation

University of Bristol's educational resource for academic writing. 

It includes recommendations on punctuation and grammar to improve the quality of writing.

Visit the following link:

https://www.ole.bris.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/courses/Study_Skills/grammar-and-punctuation/index.html

How many verb tenses are there in English?

Lesson by Anna Ananichuk, directed by Luke Rotzler. 

Anna Ananichuk explains how thanks to something called grammatical aspect, each of these time periods (present, past, and future) actually divides further. 

Full lesson on TEDEd:

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-many-verb-tenses-are-there-in-english-anna-ananichuk