Grammar guides
American-English Grammar Guides from GrammarVista.com USA
Five in-depth guides cover the questions Americans search for most: the core grammar rules, words that sound alike, punctuation, the text slang in your group chat and the differences between American and British English.
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Guide 1 · 10 min read
American-English Grammar Rules: A Practical Guide
Subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, tenses, modifiers, run-ons, and the grammar "rules" you can safely ignore.
- Match verbs and pronouns to the right subject every time
- Fix fragments, run-ons, and dangling modifiers fast
- Know which old grammar rules are really myths
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Guide 2 · 9 min read
Tricky Words: Commonly Confused Words in American English
The most commonly confused words in American English, from affect/effect to fewer/less, with quick rules, examples, and memory tricks.
- Sound-alikes like affect/effect and principal/principle
- Who vs. whom, lay vs. lie, and fewer vs. less
- Memory tricks you can use mid-sentence
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Guide 3 · 8 min read
American Punctuation Rules: Commas, Quotes, Dashes, and More
Commas, apostrophes, semicolons, colons, quotation marks, and dashes, explained the American way with real examples.
- Use the Oxford comma and know which style guides skip it
- Place periods and commas inside quotation marks
- Tell hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes apart
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Guide 4 · 11 min read
Text Slang and Abbreviations: A Plain-English Guide
A practical glossary of American text abbreviations, newer slang, emoji, and texting tone, with examples and advice on when slang is appropriate.
- Meanings of classic abbreviations and newer slang
- How periods, caps, and emoji change tone
- When slang works and when to skip it
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Guide 5 · 9 min read
American vs. British English: Spelling, Words, and Grammar
The key differences between American and British English, from -or/-our spellings to quotation marks and date formats, with tips for staying consistent.
- Spelling patterns: color, center, organize, traveled
- Vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation differences
- Dates, numbers, and spell-check settings
How to Use These Guides
Each guide starts with the short version of the rule, then works through real sentences — the kind you write in emails, essays, captions and texts. Wrong-and-right tables show the fix at a glance, and a quick checklist at the end lets you proofread in a minute.
New to grammar terms? Start with grammar rules for subjects, verbs and pronouns. Fixing a specific mistake? Jump straight to tricky words or punctuation. Trying to decode a message? The text slang guide explains what the abbreviations mean and when they fit. Writing for readers outside the U.S.? See American vs. British English.
For single questions — affect or effect, who or whom, the Oxford comma — browse the GrammarVista blog.
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