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Grammar
Course: Grammar > Unit 1
Lesson 1: Welcome to grammar!Introduction to grammar
Khan Academy Grammarian David Rheinstrom welcomes you to his favorite topic: the study of language, its rules, and its conventions. By understanding English – by speaking it, by writing it, by reading this very sentence – you are a grammarian yourself!
"What's a grammarian?" you might be asking yourself. Courtesy of superuser Trek, here's your answer!
"What's a grammarian?" you might be asking yourself. Courtesy of superuser Trek, here's your answer!
Want to join the conversation?
- what's a grammarian?(211 votes)
- A Grammarian is a person who uses grammar. A vegetarian is a person who eats plants. A contrarian is a person who acts in ways contrary to the perceived way things are going.(621 votes)
- I am a Korean who spent some of my childhood in the states. However English is still my second language, and when I say childhood, it means upper-grade elementary school period. I speak and write understandable English, but details that separate native and not-so-native? That's what I'm really weak at. I don't know when to leave out a/an/the and when not to leave them out, figuring out the correct one between 'He would never ~' and 'He never would ~', etc.
So, make long things short, would this course help me use more natural, fluent type of English? Would this course help me speak and write like an well-educated person? I really wish that your answer would be "yes!"(228 votes)- And the answer is....YES! Use this course wisely, watch the videos, don't miss any exercise and you will understand the correct usage of English.
To improve your English further you should read more English and try to use it in your daily life. Like, every evening you could try to write a few sentences or a page or two describing your day. And then correct your mistakes, or ask someone to do it. Trust me, this will help you make a vast improvement and in some time( Few weeks or months even) you'll be quite fluent.
The most important thing is- keep believing in yourself and don't give up! #YouCanLearnAnything(174 votes)
- Hi my name is Erfan and I a refuge in Australia and I started to learn English a year and half ago. I go to year nine and I want to catch up to other students and I wanted to know how could u help me ?(88 votes)
- Hi. We are here to help you. Just ask us and we will shine the brightest answer we know.(7 votes)
- What is the best way to improve your grammar? In Elementary school, they didn't teach us well.(50 votes)
- Find some more grammar lesson on Khan Academy! Khan is great so find some more! ! !(15 votes)
- what kinds different languages are there?(28 votes)
- There are currently around 6,500 languages in the world at the moment!(4 votes)
- o que é gramatica(23 votes)
- Grammar is like a subject that helps know that what your writing is spelled right. You also learn proverbs and nouns. That is grammar(3 votes)
- what is grammarian(19 votes)
- We all are!
As David says in the intro above, "By understanding English – by speaking it, by writing it, by reading this very sentence – you are a grammarian yourself!"
Here's a link to another definition:
https://www.khanacademy.org/computer-programming/01a-nouns-definition-grammarian/2966229652
I think that this might be the #1 question students have when they start this section. If you scroll down and look through all the other questions, you can find the answers that make the most sense to you.
Hope this helps!(33 votes)
- Hi, I am an 11-year-old, passionate to become a writer and create a story to be known to all. I need help with grammar so I've come to this video to seek more knowledge and came to the conclusion of asking you all for Tips. Any would be appreciated!(22 votes)
- The Best Way To Improve On Grammar Is To Do Khan Academy Grammar Videos Explaining Grammar... Similarly Reading Lots Of Books Can Help Your Vocabulary, Hence Increasing Your Grammar Score AND Help You Get To Know More Terms And Commonly Known Stuff :D Hope That Helped!(13 votes)
- So when I do the will it work out if I don't do normal school and do this instead? I am stuck doing this for the Corona virus, our school is shut down(13 votes)
- So yes, this is supposed to teach you the grade and if you need a bit higher(2 votes)
- why is it important to learn grammar(9 votes)
- Because its a very important form of communication that evolved over time from when humans just pointed and grunted at things and others. Take the example "May I have an apple please? " this is a type of grammar that is a lot more effective way of asking for an apple than grunting and pointing at an apple.(30 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Hi, everyone. My name is David, and
I'm here to introduce you to Grammar on Khan Academy. Welcome. I'm so glad you could join me. So, let's start by asking the question, "What is grammar?" What is this thing, why is
it worthwhile to study it, why would you wanna put
up with listening to me? Well, first of all, grammar
is a set of conventions and rules that govern language. So what's the difference
between a convention and a rule? Well, a rule is kind of
the bare minimum of what it takes to make your
language understandable by other people, right? So in order to make a
car work, for example, in order to make it move
forward as intended, the wheels have to go on the
bottom instead of the roof. That's a rule. The idea that all cars should
be painted teal, for example, is a convention. Now is that true that
all cars should be teal? No, not necessarily, but that
leads me to my second point, that grammar is context dependent. The kind of grammar that you use throughout your day changes. It depends on who you're talking to, what you're trying to say, and
how you're trying to say it. And so we use multiple
kinds of grammar throughout our days and throughout our lives. Another thing you need to
know is that you already know so much grammar. Just from living and
existing in the world and talking to other people. You know how to put a sentence together. If you can understand me, then you know so much about grammar. You know more than I can teach you. What these videos are for is to give names to the things you already know. To give you a greater command of them. And I want to say, too,
that these videos are only about a very specific kind of grammar. It's called Standard American English. But I want you to know that
there are many Englishes. And you know what? They're all great. They are all wonderful and vibrant and important and special. And what I do not want for
you to take away from these videos is that I'm trying
to teach you what is right and what is wrong. If the kind of English you
speak doesn't sound like the kind of English I speak,
that is okay, you know? You are great. What I want to do is give you
the tools to harness language. To harness English and use it any way you want. I mean, I'm saying I don't
care what color your car is. It could be pink, it could
be green, it could be purple, it could be paisley, you know. I'm just trying to make sure
your wheels are on straight. You are a grammarian. You have made a study of
grammar throughout your entire speaking and reading life. And I firmly believe that
you can learn anything. Welcome to Grammar on Khan Academy. David out.