Where to start

[itsallgonetitsup91]

My grammar/punctuation is awful. Spelling is also terrible but I can use spellcheck. I want to improve. This morning me and my dp spent 15 minutes reciting a 3 sentence email I'd written to see if it was 'right', we both just gave up and sent the fucking thing.

I live somewhere that has a strong regional accent/dialect so the way I say things is definitely not the way they should be written, so even when I read things back aloud I can't tell if they're right or not.

I was okay in school - I've got worse as I've got older and out of practice but I need to get better again because it is embarrassing. Where do I start? Please correct me I have 20 minutes, 5 days a week to dedicate to improving.

I'm not an expert by these are my suggestions:

• for pronunciation, try listening to the Today program on Radio 4 each morning. I listen to it in the car as I'm going to work;
• grammar: buy a student revision guide and work through it;
• grammar 2: buy a broadsheet newspaper. The Torygraph Telegraph, Guardian, Times or Independent will do. You'll notice the sentence structure and soon pick it up.

Thank you lovely, these are great ideas!

I think it's even simpler than that. Read a lot of printed material. Using the Internet a lot gives you a lot of exposure to bad spelling and other errors, whereas printed material tends to have been more closely edited.

Showing yourself lots of good examples will help.

Buy yourself a good but easy to read grammar guide like Bill Bryson's Troublesome Words and read an entry a day? Read a key stage 2 or 3 English SPAg guide and do the questions - they explain the topic, give examples and give you test questions. Ones from Rising Stars or Schofield & Sims are good. Hth!

wel your op seems good to me.
they're vs their
aloud vs allowed
what in particular do you think you struggle with?

"my DP and I" rather than "me and my DP"

Well you did ask...