Does this exist?

ElizabethW

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I'm a native English speaker, but my grammar is atrocious. As in you could explain a rule to me, but if you use words like adverbs and clauses you might as well be speaking another language. My punctuation is terrible too.

I was wondering if anyone knew of an interactive website that teaches the basics in grammar? I've taken (required) courses on grammar before, but didn't really gain anything from it because they use the technical terms.
 

cornflake

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There are a bunch - look for grammar for kids, grammar games for kids, grammar worksheets for kids, etc.

There are also a few threads with book recommendations floating around, started by people with basically the same issue. Sites discussing whether to use a gerund or an infinitive, asking you to fix the dangling modifier don't help if you didn't get the education needed to identify those things in the first place. Hence, you kind of need to go back to where the gap is, elementary-school level formal grammar, and start there.

Same as if you'd missed some steps in basic math.
 

JulianneQJohnson

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As a place to start, I love this book: It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Crafting Killer Sentences by June Casagrande. While she tells you the names of parts of speech, she also writes in plain language, illustrating examples in a way that is easy to understand, even if you don't remember what everything is called.
 

blacbird

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I'm a native English speaker, but my grammar is atrocious. As in you could explain a rule to me, but if you use words like adverbs and clauses you might as well be speaking another language. My punctuation is terrible too.

I was wondering if anyone knew of an interactive website that teaches the basics in grammar? I've taken (required) courses on grammar before, but didn't really gain anything from it because they use the technical terms.

The grammar in your original post (quoted above) is anything but atrocious. It will help you to invest a bit of time in firming up your understanding of basic grammatical issues, but from the above, I get the sense that you have a decent innate feel for how to construct a clear, direct sentence, and that is about 90% of what you need to write well.

Beyond that, I also recommend the Purdue OWL. For my money (which ain't much) the best free grammar resource on the 'Net.

caw
 

Jamesaritchie

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Honestly, if you don't learn the basic technical terms, you will never learn the grammar you really need as a writer.

You don't need to learn many terms, but you can't learn grammar without knowing what verbs, nouns, adjectives, clauses, etc. are. These are the basics. They're fifth grade level words, and they're very easy to learn.

Purdue Owl can teach them in nothing flat, but one way or another, you must learn them.
 

nyatitied

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I'd recommend Grammar Bytes at chompchomp.com
I used it when I taught Composition to first year college students--it was simple enough to understand but they still had fun with it.