Should I study rules or practise speaking?

Practise first, with a short rule attached, because a rule you cannot apply under time pressure has no value in conversation. The workable order is: notice the error in your own recording, learn the one collocation, then use it deliberately in the next three conversations. Rules without use fade in a week; use without a rule tends to repeat the same mistake.

Learn one collocation at a time attached to a word you already use, then force it into three real conversations that week. A rule you cannot apply while someone is waiting for an answer has no value in speech, however well you know it.

Speaking English Without Grammar Mistakes: Articles, Prepositions and the Two-Second Check →