Improving grammar and punctuation through reading, writing, and practice

Successful Writing

How can you improve your understanding of and proper use of grammar and punctuation?

Read, read, and read! Perhaps the best way to improve my understanding of and proper use of grammar and punctuation is to read more books and newspapers that utilize correct grammar and punctuation. This kind of exposure to the language will give me a better intuitive feel for English. Although it is true that not most books are not carefully labeled with nouns, verbs, and semicolons, and that not all great works of literature are written with perfect grammar and punctuation for artistic purposes, still, the best way to understand proper usage is to be exposed on a consistent basis to proper usage. One must know how published authors use the language when they write quality works of literature. So much of modern communication takes the form of email that it is easy to forget proper capitalization and grammar when writing. Also, because there is so much poor usage on the World Wide Web and in advertising, the dominant means we are exposed to written English on a daily basis, it is easy to forget how the language, properly deployed, should look and sound.

However, this alone will not teach me the formal use of proper grammar and punctuation in a technical way. To truly learn how to write well myself, I must practice, practice, practice, as well as read, read, read. I must write compositions and to have an English teacher grade them for correct usage. Also, I must formally study the structure of the language.