What are the hardest grammar points for English speakers
The Challenge of Learning Russian: Is It Hard?: What are the hardest grammar points for English speakers
The hardest grammar points for English speakers include:
- Prepositions and their correct usage, which often confuse because of many exceptions and fixed expressions. For example, “depends on” not “depends from” and “different from” not “different than”. 1
- Subject-verb agreement, especially with tricky constructions like sentences starting with “here” and “there” where the verb agrees with the true subject (e.g. “There is a dog” vs “There are dogs”). 1
- The distinction between similar words like “few” vs “a few,” “little” vs “a little,” and correct adjective order (opinion, size, physical quality, shape, age, color, origin, material, type, purpose). 2
- Confusion with relative pronouns “who” vs “that” (people vs objects) and plural vs singular references to collective nouns like companies (e.g. “XYZ is a great company”). 3
- Common native speaker mistakes that learners tend to avoid but native speakers frequently make: misuse of “me” vs “I,” mixing up homophones like “there,” “their,” and “they’re,” and confusion between “fewer” and “less”. 4
- The complexity of advanced concepts such as tense shifts, conditionals, and sentence structures can also be challenging for learners. 5
Overall, English grammar difficulties arise from irregularities, exceptions, and the subtle distinctions between similar forms, which challenge both learners and native speakers alike. 2, 4, 1