Name: A new way to look at English grammar
Uploaded: 2026-03-23T17:19:28.000Z
Duration: 14 min 19 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Present continuous

I'm going to show you a new way to look at English grammar, a new way that will help you speak better English.

To-infinitive

Hi, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy, here to help you become a more confident speaker of English.

Future simple

And in today's video, I'm going to show you a new way of looking at English grammar.

It's an idea that's not often taught in schools,

and yet it can change the way you think about grammar, the way you see grammar,

Also, at the end of this video, I'll show you a very practical way you can put this into practice so that you can speak better English.

All right, schoolboy grammar or schoolgirl grammar, right?

Schoolboy grammar is the grammar that you remember as an adult from your school days.

In England, we learn French at school, lots of grammar,

and then suddenly when you're 30 years old, you go on holiday to France and you have to speak French and you go, "Oh, je je veux..." non, "je voudrais un croissant." And you remember your schoolboy grammar, the little bits of grammar that you can remember.

So typically at school, you learn grammar and it looks something like this, right?

Present simple, subject plus place verb: "I cook, you cook, she cooks, he cooks." Example: "Jack cooks for his wife." Negative: "I don't cook.

She doesn't cook, he doesn't cook." Example: "Jack doesn't cook for his wife." Questions: "Do you cook?" Example: "Does Jack cook?" And so on and so on, okay?

So you study the grammar and you learn the rules, probably.

Rules like: Present simple, third person singular, takes S: "He cooks." Mmm, right?

And probably you'll learn some examples: "Jack cooks.

Maybe in a good classroom, you practise in the class, right?

"Does." "Where does Jack live?" "He lives in America." Remember: Present simple, third person singular, take Oh, thanks.

"He lives in America." And maybe also you test yourself: "Oh, Jack lives in America." He... ooh.

"Loves." "He eats pizza." All well and good, but something's missing, right?

Present simple, examples, it's all information.

There is no communication, no real communication.

Sometimes the communication happens at the end of the class or years later, like when maybe you travel to England on holiday, when you're 30 years old and you meet an English person and you speak to them and go, "Oh, hello.

And my brother lives in Spain too." And then the English guy goes, "Present simple, third person singular, takes Oh, yes.

Thank you." Of course, English people are not going to do that.

But the practise, some practise has happened at the very, very end, years later.

It's first information, second communication, if at all, right?

First grammatical information, second communication.

Or at least communication and grammatical information at the same time, but

the focus on communication, not on grammar.

So before I tell you how we focus on communication, let me explain why.

I mean, why should we focus on communication before information?

How long do you think English has been spoken, more or less?

How long have the grammar rules existed, the formal grammar rules?

Of course, grammar exists when you speak,

but the formal books, the first grammar books with the rules were about 500 years ago.

So we were communicating before the grammar was formalised.

Grammar is an analysis of the way we use language when we speak.

So I think when we're learning English, we should put the speaking and the communication first or at the same time as the grammar.

And what that means is, when you learn grammar, you communicate it straight away, real communication.

I call this the personalisation of grammar, right?

Now, despite what maybe your mum and dad told you, they said, "It's not all about you, actually.

It is all about you and it should be all about you and your world." When it comes to learning a language, it's all about you, well, you and your world.

That's what you're communicating to people.

So instead of starting with this, the form, the rule, the examples, let's start with this, let's start with the examples, right?

And maybe negative: "I don't cook Chinese food." Okay?

So now I've got my examples and it's all about me and it's much more interesting.

After this, we can write down the form, subject plus verb, the rule, da da da.

But start with the examples about you because the rules and the form, it's boring.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

A new way to look at English grammar

present

engage

practical

structure