幾款有助提高英語語法的免費App

I’M going to be very careful writing this week’s column. I’m trying not to make any grammatical mistakes.

我會非常小心地撰寫本週的專欄文章，儘量不犯任何語法錯誤。

Even though I’ve published millions of words, I’m certain some errors will slip through because we’re all guilty of making grammatical mistakes from time to time. But learning grammar is easier than ever now — with the right apps, of course.

儘管我發表的文章怎麼說也有數百萬字，但我確信自己肯定會出錯，因爲我們每個人都會時不時地犯一些語法錯誤，並對此感到內疚。但現在學習語法比以往任何時候都要容易——這當然得藉助靠譜的應用才行。

And they are not just for people learning English; they’re also good for those of us who already speak it.

它們不只是面向普通的英語學習者；對於我們這些以英語爲母語的人來說，使用這些應用也是有裨益的。

The free app Practice English Grammar from Cleverlize is among the most polished, and is easy to use for improving your grammar skills. It’s available for both iOS and Android and covers the whole gamut of grammatical details from conjunctions through tenses to using the passive voice.

Cleverlize公司推出的免費應用“練習英語語法”(Practice English Grammar)設計精美，易於使用，絕對是一款改善語法技能的利器。iOS和Android用戶均可使用自己的設備下載這款應用。從連詞到時態，再到被動語態，它涵蓋了所有語法細節。

Its main interface is a pleasing graphical display of your progress in each of the various modules. Tapping on one of these modules takes you to a section where you can see the grammar lessons in the form of flashcards, and then a section where you can test your knowledge in an interactive quiz.

它的主界面令人愉悅地顯示你在每個不同模塊的學習進展。點擊其中任意一個模塊，可觀看以卡片形式展示的語法課程，另一部分則會以互動問答的方式測試你對相關知識的掌握情況。

The flashcards are easy to read, with the bare minimum of information you need to know. For example, did you know that the present continuous tense is formed with the help of the auxiliary verb “to be”? Still, while the flashcards are easy to read, sometimes the information feels a little too spartan.

這些卡片易於閱讀，包含你需要知道的最基本的信息。例如，你是否知道現在進行時需要助動詞“to be”的幫助？不過，儘管這些卡片易於閱讀，但其中包含的信息有時候讓人覺得過於精煉。

The app is clean and professional with few frills, and I liked its no-nonsense style. I even learned a thing or two while reviewing it. But it can get costly.

這款應用乾淨且專業，沒有多餘的虛飾，我喜歡它不講廢話的風格。在評估它時，我甚至掌握了一兩個語法知識。但你也許需要花費一筆不菲的費用。

While the core app is free with basic lessons, you have to purchase more content in-app if you want access to every module. Individual modules cost $1, or you can subscribe for around $10 a month.

雖然最基本的核心課程是免費的，但如果你想進入每個模塊，你就必須得花錢購買更多的內容。每個模塊售價1美元，或者你可以每月花費大約10美元訂閱該應用。

Another option is the LearnEnglish Grammar app from the British Council. This app, too, has lessons covering different subjects and has sections to review and test your knowledge. The design is plain, with simple colors, large text and straightforward instructions, so it’s easy to use.

另一個選擇是英國文化協會(British Council)推出的“學英語語法”應用(LearnEnglish Grammar)。這款應用也有涵蓋不同主題的課程，以及評估和測試用戶知識掌握情況的部分。其設計樸實無華，配有簡單的顏色，大字體和明確的說明，所以很容易上手。

Its testing system is a little more fun than Practice English Grammar’s; you play simple games to enter the correct answers to quiz questions. I also liked the linguistic examples it gives when you’re learning about a particular grammatical rule, because they feel more natural for a native English speaker.

它的測試系統要比“練習英語語法”多了一點樂趣；你需要玩一些簡單的遊戲，以獲取問答題的正確答案。我也喜歡你在學習一個特定語法規則時，它爲你提供的鮮活例句，因爲對於一個以英語爲母語的學習者來說，例句給人的感覺更加自然。

This app is free for both iOS and Android, but you must pay for the complete range of content. Packs cover grammatical topics at different levels, from Beginner Pack 1 to Intermediate Pack 2 for more advanced lessons, and each costs $1.

iOS和Android用戶均可免費下載這款應用，但你必須花點錢，才能看到全部內容。各個學習包涵蓋不同層次的語法主題。無論是面向初級學習者的Pack 1，還是面向中級學習者，傳授更高深課程的Pack 2，每個學習包所需的費用均爲1美元。

Interestingly, there’s both a British English edition (free on iOS and Android) and an American English one (free on iOS and Android), which may be handy if you find yourself writing mainly for one audience or the other.

有趣的是，這款應用的iOS和Android版本既包括英式英語版本，也包括美式英語版本，如果你主要面向英國或美國受衆寫文章的話，這種設計可能就會派上用場。

A free alternative to these apps on Android is English Grammar Ultimate from Maxlogic. The app lacks the design polish of the other two mentioned here, but it is still well organized into sections for different grammatical rules and has an easy-to-use interface.

另一個面向Android用戶的免費選擇是Maxlogic公司開發的“英語語法終極指南”(English Grammar Ultimate)。就設計的精美程度而言，它不如上述兩款應用，但它的結構同樣井井有條，由不同的語法規則部分組成，其界面也易於使用。

You may find the way this app explains grammar suits you even more because of the slightly longer explanations and examples it gives.

你可能會發現這款應用解釋語法的方式更適合你，因爲它提供的解釋和例句往往會更長一些。

For testing your grammatical skills on Android devices, you should also check out English Grammar Test by SevenLynx. This app has a clean and attractive look, and feels professional and trustworthy for a free piece of software. It also does a nice job of explaining why your incorrect test answers were wrong.

如果你想在Android設備上測試你的語法技能，你也可以嘗試一下SevenLynx公司開發的“英語語法測試”應用(English Grammar Test)。它的外觀非常整潔，很有吸引力。就一款免費軟件而言，它還是非常專業、值得信賴的。此外，這款應用也能夠很好地解釋你答錯問題的原因所在。

For brushing up on your grammar in a business setting, apps like Grammar and Practice for Business from HarperCollins and Grammar Up from Webrich Software are great options.

對於希望提升語法技能的商務人士來說，哈珀柯林斯出版社(HarperCollins)的“語法和實踐”(Grammar and Practice)，以及Webrich軟件公司開發的Grammar Up，都是非常好的選擇。

The HarperCollins app, which is free for iOS with paid lessons at different levels of learning, is built with the publisher’s traditional quality and is packed with detailed examples and tests. The app hasn’t been updated in quite a while, though, which may mean it manifests some bugs on your device.

哈珀柯林斯的應用可在iOS設備免費下載，其中包含面向不同層次學習者的付費內容。這款應用擁有大量詳盡的例句和測試。這家出版社的傳統聲譽足以保證它的品質，不過這款應用已經很長時間沒有更新了，這或許意味着你在使用時可能會碰到一些程序上的漏洞。

Also, this app isn’t available for Android and is word-centric in design, so you may prefer the more relaxed and graphical style of Grammar Up, free as a sampler on iOS and Android, and $5 for all the tests. Grammar Up offers some neat feedback in the form of graphs showing where your grammatical strengths and weaknesses lie, and this may help you decide where to concentrate your learning efforts.

此外，這款應用目前還沒有推出Android版本，而且它的設計依然以單詞爲中心，所以你可能會青睞用起來更加輕鬆，採用圖像風格的Grammar Up。它可以在iOS和Android設備上免費試用，花費5美元可以進行所有的測試。Grammar Up以圖表形式提供一些整潔的反饋意見，從中你可以清楚地看出，哪些是你的語法強項，哪些是你的弱項，而這可能會幫助你決定應該把學習重點放在什麼地方。

Grammar can be fun. As Winston Churchill joked, “A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.”

學語法或許也是一件很有意思的事情。正如溫斯頓·丘吉爾(Winston Churchill)那句戲言所說，“用介詞結束一句話，是件很可怕的事情(A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with)。”

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