Beginners in English grammar could be children in elementary school or adults in an ESL class. Both should be approached in different ways. The children have usually acquired a measure of English from their caregivers and have consequently generated grammar though they don't know the names for the grammar rules. The adult beginners will already have grammar from their native language and will need to translate that knowledge to English. However, no matter where the beginner starts, the body of knowledge remains the same.

Parts of Speech

Beginners should learn that every word they are using has a purpose and is labeled appropriately as a part of speech. Children should learn about nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. These will give each part of the sentence a role to play and, as more is learned, it will fit into this schema.

Once the beginners have mastered parts of speech, they should learn concepts such as syntax and that every language fits together in a certain way. From the lessons on vocabulary students can be introduced to the parts of a sentence and should be shown how words go together in phrases and clauses. Students can learn how to create simple sentences with just one verb and, once mastering this, they can progress onto complex and compound sentences with more clauses and phrases. This should be followed by exercises in which these are practiced and learned so that the concepts become part of the students' mental schema.

Verb Tenses

People who are new to a language often mix up their tense agreements, and it is no different with English beginners. Students should be taught that the verbs they learn to recognize have many aspects that make up good grammar. For instance, all verbs have four principal parts: a base form, a present participle, a simple past form and a past participle. There are regular and irregular verbs, and each type forms tenses in different ways.

Students can then be taught about verb tenses explicitly with present, past and future tenses. After the students have mastered grammar, they can be taught about the perfect tenses, but beginners do not need this yet.

Voice and Mood

In English grammar the verbs are the most difficult to learn, as they are the moving or active force behind the language. It is important, therefore, that learners be taught about active (performing the action) and passive (action performed) voice. Verbs are also used to express mood and are found in three moods: indicative (making a statement), imperative (giving an order) and subjunctive (state of being).

The subject of English grammar is huge, and learners can proceed as far as they want. Once they have mastered the use of verbs and sentence formation, vocabulary can be added as they encounter it, which will always add to their knowledge of grammar.