“How do they write so well while I struggle to get a sentence right?” – Grammar is not as cryptic as you think. it’s simply the way a language has developed its set of conventions and rules. You actually might know a lot of grammar already. And with the right online courses, grammar can be a piece of cake.

In this Best Courses Guide (BCG), I’ve selected the 10 best English grammar courses for you from our catalog of over 1300 English grammar courses, including offerings from UC Irvine, Khan Academy, Udemy, and YouTube. My colleague, @Fabio, an ESL instructor, helped me with the research.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

• Our Top Picks
• Why are English Grammar Skills Important?
• BCG Stats
• Why You Should Trust Us
• How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

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Why are English Grammar Skills Important?

English is the most popular language today, spoken by a whopping 1.5 billion people worldwide, according to Wikipedia. And any language needs its grammar.

Here are some of the many reasons why English (and so its grammar) skills are important:

• Academic purpose – the majority of scientific papers are published in English nowadays, being prevalent even in non-English speaking countries such as India, Germany, France, and Spain
• English for traveling abroad – most tourist places in the world will have a pamphlet and a tourist guide who speaks English, also it’s really helpful with handling immigration, restaurants and hotels in general, and also communication with foreigners
• English for connecting with people worldwide – the internet is in English and there is no denying that. If you want to connect with people from all over the world you have to communicate well
• English for business – English has become the standard language for doing business and for online learning. So, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of learning good grammar since my work involves writing articles in English with the help of an international team at Class Central.

BCG Stats

• Combined, these courses have accrued over 1.2M enrollments
• 7 courses are free or free-to-audit and 3 courses are paid
• The most-represented course provider in the ranking is Coursera, with 4 specializations and 1 course
• The English grammar subject has been bookmarked over 311.5K times on Class Central.

Best Beginner Grammar Course for All Ages (Khan Academy)

Khan Academy’s free grammar course is my personal favorite. I love the unique teaching style, which features engaging teachers and clear boardwork. While designed for school kids, the course is suitable for learners of all ages. It focuses on strengthening the basics, which is often overlooked elsewhere.

In this course, you will learn about:

• Nouns: types, irregular plurals, and introduction to verbs (including tenses, linking/helping verbs, and verb aspects)
• Pronouns: types (including possessive, reflexive, relative, indefinite, and emphatic) and nuances of usage
• Modifiers: adjectives, articles, adverbs, adjective order, comparative/superlative forms, and intensifiers
• Prepositions & Conjunctions: types, phrases, and starting sentences. Introduction to punctuation.
• Commas & Apostrophes: commas (and their uses in various contexts), apostrophes, contractions, and the difference between “its” and “it’s”
• Colons & Semicolons: formatting styles, hyphens, dashes, ellipses, sentence structures, subjects, predicates, phrases, and clauses
• Standard English Conventions: subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreements, fragments, run-ons, dangling modifiers, and parallel structures
• Usage & Styles: frequently confused words, common expressions, and various styles.

Also Great Beginner’s Grammar Course (UC Irvine)

If you learned English grammar a long time ago and want a refresher, or if you’re learning English grammar for the first time, Grammar and Punctuation by UC Irvine is a great option.

Taught by Tamy Chapman, an experienced ESL teacher, this free-to-audit course covers the basics of English grammar and punctuation that you need for good writing. It also reviews verb tenses, conjunctions, sentence types, commas, parallel structure, and sentence variety.

In this course, you will learn about:

• The basics of grammar and punctuation for good writing
• Review verb tenses
• Conjunctions to write different kinds of sentences
• Four types of sentences to make your writing more interesting
• 95% of the ways commas can be used
• Parallel structure and sentence variety.

Best Intermediate Level Grammar Course (UC Irvine)

Learn English: Intermediate Grammar is a free-to-audit specialization offered by UC Irvine on Coursera. To access the free-to-audit option, visit each course page linked below. For more information, see A Guide on How to Sign up for Coursera Courses for Free.

Taught by Emily Wong, an experienced ESL/EFL teacher, this specialization covers all the common topics of intermediate grammar, including perfect verb tenses and adjective clauses.

This specialization consists of the following four courses:

Perfect Tenses and Modals: Learn about important intermediate verb tenses – present perfect, present perfect progressive, past perfect, and past perfect progressive. You’ll also learn about common modal verbs used in English.

Adjectives and Adjective Clauses: Learn how to use adjective clauses in speaking and writing in upper-level English. Adjectives and adjective clauses are very common in English, so it’s essential for students to understand them in real life.

Tricky English grammar: Get tips on how to understand confusing English grammar rules more easily. You’ll also get lots of practice to help you master the tricky grammar of everyday English.

Intermediate Grammar Project: Create a grammar scrapbook of English grammatical structures that you studied in the preceding courses. Choose a tool of your choice to show the proper use of English grammar.

You can enroll in the final course only after completing courses 1 to 3.

Best Grammar Course for Improving Listening and Speaking (Udemy)

Taught by Anthony Kelleher, a TESOL and linguistics expert, this Udemy course stands out for its emphasis on listening and speaking practice. With this eight-hour course, you can be assured that you’ll get all the practice you need to become confident in your English grammar skills.

This course is focused on the intermediate and upper intermediate level of English grammar structures. Each lesson starts with an explanation of a target structure followed by examples and practice exercises. The structures covered in this course are:

• Had better (for things you should do)
• Enough and too (to modify adjectives, adverbs, and nouns)
• So and much (to intensify adjectives, adverbs and nouns)
• Used to (to be familiar with)
• Present verb tenses (continuous, simple, and perfect)
• Past simple
• Future with going to and will
• Relative clauses (a kind of dependent clause)
• Verb + -ing
• Both, neither and either
• Even
• Phrasal verbs with “in” and “out”
• Must.

Best Short Course on Punctuation (LinkedIn Learning)

Writing with Proper Punctuation is a short course that focuses on the basics of punctuation. Good punctuation makes your writing clear and concise, and helps readers understand your meaning.

The instructor, Mignon Fogarty, better known as the Grammar Girl, is a well-known YouTuber and grammar expert.

In this course, you will learn about:

• Apostrophes: possessives, contractions, and apostrophes for plurals
• Commas: introductory elements, main clauses, Oxford commas, dependent clauses, nonrestrictive clauses, and names
• Hyphens: compound modifiers, prefixes, and suspensive hyphens
• Question marks: wondering sentences and rhetorical questions
• Quotation marks: with periods, commas, question marks, and other punctuation
• Semicolons: joining main clauses and complicated lists
• Others: parentheses, periods with abbreviations, asterisks, colons, and dashes.

Best Grammar Course for Complete Beginners (UC Irvine)

Learn English: Beginning Grammar is a free-to-audit specialization offered by UC Irvine on Coursera. To access the free-to-audit option, visit each course page linked below. For more information, see A Guide on How to Sign up for Coursera Courses for Free.

This one’s also a specialization, apt for complete beginners in English grammar. It covers the fundamentals of English grammar such as word forms, verb tenses, and question and answer formation.

This specialization consists of the following three courses:

Word Forms and Simple Present Tense: Learn about different word forms. You’ll learn about articles, “be” verbs, how to form other verbs in the simple present, including spelling rules, and how to make negative forms.

Questions, Present Progressive and Future Tenses: Learn about question words. You’ll use the present progressive, and look at the differences between the simple present and present progressive. Finally, you’ll use “to be going to”, the present progressive, and also “can”.

Simple Past Tense: Learn how to form and use the simple past. You’ll learn to add “-ed” endings, form negatives and questions in the past, and work with object pronouns and some other forms of adjectives.

Best Grammar Course for Writing Effectively with Complex Sentences (UC Irvine)

Learn English: Writing Effectively with Complex Sentences is a free-to-audit specialization offered by UC Irvine on Coursera. To access the free-to-audit option, visit each course page linked below. For more information, see A Guide on How to Sign up for Coursera Courses for Free.

Continuing with specializations, this one focuses on writing complex sentences. It covers all that you need to know about adverbs, adjectives and noun clauses, so that you can write more sophisticated sentences easily.

This specialization consists of the following three courses:

Enhance your Writing with Adverb Clauses:  Learn the basics of adverb clauses. You’ll then practice using subordinating conjunctions, and finally, end the course by learning how to use different types of sentences in your writing.

Enhance your Writing with Adjective Clauses: Learn the basics of adjective clauses. You’ll also take a look at the specifics of how to identify adjective clauses, and use adjective clauses and the pronouns that begin them.

Enhance your Writing with Noun Clauses: Learn the basic concepts of noun clauses. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to see how much your week 4’s writing has improved compared to week 1.

Best Advanced Grammar Course (UC Irvine)

Learn English: Advanced Grammar and Punctuation is a free-to-audit specialization offered by UC Irvine on Coursera. To access the free-to-audit option, visit each course page linked below. For more information, see A Guide on How to Sign up for Coursera Courses for Free.

This is the final specialization on our list, and the more advanced one at that. It covers concepts such as noun clauses, conditionals, verb tenses, and punctuations. This specialization is helpful for both non-native and native English speakers in improving fluency and accuracy.

This specialization consists of the following four courses:

Verb Tenses and Passives: Review verb tenses. You’ll then cover all 12 of the English verb tenses and passive verb forms, and finish the course by learning how to blend these tenses like native speakers.

Conjunctions, Connectives, and Adverb Clauses: Learn about two types of conjunctions, many types of connectives, and adverb clauses. You’ll also learn how to punctuate these expressions and the types of sentences they create.

Noun Clauses and Conditionals: Learn about the advanced grammar concepts of noun clauses and conditionals. You’ll learn several different types of each and get to practice using them.

Advanced Grammar & Punctuation Project: Create a grammar portfolio of the English grammatical structures that you studied in the preceding courses. Your portfolio will include several items that you create, and show the proper use of grammar.

You can enroll in the final course only after completing courses 1 to 3.

Also Great Short Advanced Grammar Course (LinkedIn Learning)

Another course by Mignon Fogarty (see the Best Short Course on Punctuation above), Advanced Grammar is a short, advanced English grammar course with exercises and additional resources to help you use correct words, locate incorrect grammar, and review parts of speech, punctuation, and sentence structure.

In this course:

• Cover common grammar and punctuation errors with exercises
• Learn correct verb tense usage, irregular and phrasal verbs
• Explore conjunctions, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions
• Identify verbs disguised as nouns
• Address commonly confused word pairs and word errors
• Review punctuation (commas, quotation marks) and sentence structure fixes.

Best YouTube Tutorial Series (English with Alex · engVid English Classes)

Learn English grammar is a free YouTube series offered by English with Alex · engVid English Classes.

Learn intermediate English grammar with Alex from engVid! This playlist is fairly comprehensive for a YouTube course, teaching all the topics in detail. Alex uses the traditional whiteboard-and-pen method of teaching, and makes you feel as if you were in a classroom.

Learn English Grammar with Alex from engVid English Classes is a free YouTube series that covers all the topics in detail, from lower to upper intermediate levels. Alex uses the traditional whiteboard-and-pen method of teaching, which creates a classroom-like atmosphere.

In this course, you will learn:

• Causative verbs and subject-verb agreement with “each,” “every,” “any,” and “some”
• The difference between “bad” and “badly,” “too” and “enough,” “good” and “well,” “now” and “still,” “less” and “fewer,” “either” and “neither,” “should” and “must,” “being” and “been,” “could” and “should,” and more
• Basic structures such as “be” verbs, present simple questions, possessives, adverbs of frequency, demonstratives, articles, when to use “is” or “It’s” and how to answer with “Yes, I do” or “Yes, I have”
• More advanced topics: adjective clauses + quantifiers, irregular plural nouns, adverb clauses, imperatives, modals, active and passive voice, and so on.

Why You Should Trust Us

Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 80 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 250,000 online courses and 250,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

Archisha is a Guided Project Instructor and Beta Tester at Coursera, having tested many courses before they’re officially launched. She has taken over 50 online courses in various subjects. Archisha’s experience as an online learner and teacher has given her some perspective on what to look for in an online course, using her experience to evaluate each course in this list.

Fabio also has experience as an online learner and as a tutor who revised the research and the latest version of this article.

How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid courses.

Second, when choosing courses, I considered the following factors:

• Renowned Institutions: I picked the most recognized institutions in English Grammar.
• Course content: I looked for courses that covered a wide range of topics, from the basics to more advanced techniques.
• Student reviews: I read student reviews (when available) to get a sense of the quality of each course.

To evaluate each course, I watched some of the course videos and read the course syllabus. I also looked at the course’s rating and reviews on Class Central.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will provide you with the knowledge and skills to write perfectly structured sentences in English with flawless grammar.

Pat revised the latest version of this article.