The Internet Grammar of English

Basically, the program offers explanations and exercises on all the common parts of speech: nouns, 'determiners', verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, phrases, and sentences. It also has a glossary of grammatical terms, an index, and a search facility. The introduction reassuringly explains how and why a knowledge of grammar is useful - even for native speakers, for whom such knowledge is instinctive.

The first part of each section is an explanation of the selected topic, with illustrative examples. This is then followed by interactive exercises. You call up a page which poses the questions, and either click on words or type your response in a dialogue box below. The instructions are commendably clear: 'in each of the following sentences a pronoun has been highlighted. What type of pronoun is it?' On then pressing 'Submit', you receive a page which lists your responses against the 'correct' answers, together with an explanation and a link to 'more'.

In theoretical terms, the program takes the sensible and modern view that grammar cannot be learned as a series of abstract 'rules' [to which there are usually many exceptions]. Words need to be seen in context to be understood. The sections are also graded in conceptual difficulty, so anyone following the program in its normal order would first encounter 'nouns', then work through to the more complex issues of syntax and sentence construction.

The Internet Grammar of English is accessible free of charge to users from UK educational institutions - that is, for those who log in from a domain ending in .ac.uk). This makes it a site worth bookmarking for anyone who needs regular practice. For a limited trial period only, it will also be accessible free of charge to all other users.

For those who might wish to avoid long download times, or who need a lot of support, the course is also available on on CD-ROM. Prices start at 25 Pounds Sterling (GBP) + VAT, where applicable. Institutional and network versions are charged at different rates. To use the site, it is essential to have Javascript enabled in your browser.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/

You can also see our own interactive program
English Language: An Introduction to Basics