Sometimes you want to learn about writing but you are all read out. It’s time to switch gears and get your grammar from a flick. A flick, you say? Yes, dear reader, let’s flick the switch or flick your magic wand in the air. ‘Tis the season! Grab some popcorn covered in nutritional yeast and everything bagel seasoning for some movies about grammar. Start with an educational site called Teach With Movies that does just that and then grab a few flick picks to try out for yourself.

Teach With Movies, Go!

The website Teach With Movies—let’s start there. When you get to the site look for English category films. This is where you’ll find those learning flicks geared around the English language but not just grammar and writing. Digging deeper into the site, I found “The Searchers.”

Start With “The Searchers”

This film is on the site’s list of the Best of Teach With Movies English Language Arts Classes. It’s also a John Wayne Western, which had me curious. However, according to the TWM Learning Guide, the film is an “exercise of writing skills and for the analysis of literary devices, such as the expository phase and character development.” Having not yet watched the film, I’m interested in how you develop writing skills from a Western, which is exciting!

Now, before you get the idea that any film can sneak its way into a grammar lesson, let me just say—not everything old is gold. Sometimes, what makes a movie great for grammar is less about the plot and more about the pauses, the script, or the weird bits of dialogue you wish you could edit yourself. Something about watching characters mess up their words on screen gives you a sort of freedom, or maybe just reassurance, that you’re not alone in the war with commas.

Curiously, some educators have started using contemporary films—stuff like “The King’s Speech” (2010) or scenes from “Dead Poets Society”—to jumpstart discussions about syntax and delivery, even if those films aren’t really about grammar per se. The main takeaway seems to be that immersion, even in something imperfect, can help tune your ear to real-life sentences. Of course, not every film is going to be your cup of tea, but honestly, sometimes you learn more from the off moments than you do from a perfectly polished script.

Films to Avoid for Grammar Hounds

As I continued to dig I found some grammar sounding films you actually don’t want to watch:

• “Boys Grammar” from 2005 is full of trigger warnings and not grammar related
• “Intimate Grammar” which is from 2010 and has none of the triggers of “Boys Grammar” but is full of non-grammatical stuff and is not going to teach you English

Also, “Two Weeks Notice” comes up as the most recommended movie to watch on grammar according to Google. Not at all sure that this is accurate. However, I have also never watched “Two Weeks Notice,” so maybe you readers of this blog post can enlighten me.

Grammar Insight by WriterAccess Writers

For more grammar bites and exciting cookies like “Yes, You Are a Special Snowflake,” keep coming back to WriterAccess. We specialize in all things content and grammar with wordsmithing tricks to help you win the word war.

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