English Grammar Tips: Clear Rules and Common Mistakes to Avoid

When you're trying to sound clear and confident in English, English grammar, the set of rules that govern how words are arranged into sentences. Also known as English syntax, it's not about memorizing endless lists—it's about understanding how ideas connect in a way others can follow easily. Most people struggle not because they're bad at English, but because they've been taught rules without context. You don't need to know what a subjunctive is to write a good email. You just need to know when to use 'they're,' 'their,' and 'there'—and why mixing them up makes you look careless.

Good grammar isn't about sounding smart. It's about being understood. Think about the last time you read a message full of typos and broken structure. Did you trust it? Probably not. That’s why punctuation rules, the signals that tell readers how to pause, stop, or emphasize parts of a sentence matter so much. A comma isn't decoration—it’s a pause button. A period isn't just a dot—it's a full stop. Skip them, and your meaning gets lost. And then there's sentence structure, how subjects, verbs, and objects are ordered to make thoughts clear. Run-on sentences? They tire readers. Fragments? They confuse them. Simple fixes—like making sure every sentence has a subject and a verb—go a long way.

What you’ll find here isn’t theory. It’s what actually trips people up in real life: mixing up 'affect' and 'effect,' forgetting subject-verb agreement in busy sentences, using 'who' instead of 'whom' (and why it still matters), and why passive voice isn’t always wrong—but often is. These aren’t nitpicks. They’re the small things that make your writing feel polished—or sloppy. Whether you're writing an email, a college essay, or a LinkedIn post, getting these right builds trust. And trust? That’s what gets you hired, promoted, or taken seriously.

You don’t need a degree in linguistics to fix your grammar. You just need to know the top five mistakes everyone makes—and how to fix them fast. Below, you’ll find real examples from real writing, broken down without the fluff. No textbooks. No jargon. Just clear, practical fixes that stick.