It might seem strange that an English teacher says that studying grammar is a waste of time but let me elaborate.
The key to this post is the verb 'studying'. When a person studies they focus their attention on something, often believing they have to memorise the information before them. My argument is that you don't need this added pressure.
Take a look at this example below.
"The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present participle of a verb." (Wikipedia).
A lot of words, right?
Now take a look at this text from the BBC
"Following these releases, the spokesman tells reporters that the government is taking action in relation to the smalls boats, saying it's not something that can be solved "overnight"."
You can see two examples of the present continuous. What do you notice about the word endings? Is the text based on the present or the past?
Infinitive Verb | Present Continuous |
take | is taking |
say | is saying |
By noticing patterns in language, you can easily infer the form of the grammar and in what context it is used.
Don't rely on reading endless grammatical explanations to learn. By noticing patterns in a text you can learn and remember more efficiently as well as learning new vocabulary at the same time!
If you would like to understand more, why not watch my YouTube video below? I talk about noticing patterns in more detail.
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