English Grammar Checklist for Notion Users (Printable + Template)

Most grammar mistakes are not from rules you do not know — they are from rules you forgot to check. A checklist solves that. It is a fixed list of high-frequency errors you run through before sending anything important, the same way a pilot runs a pre-flight check no matter how many hours they have flown.

This is a proofreading checklist you can print and tape above your desk, or rebuild as a Notion database so you can tick items per document and track which mistakes you make most.

Why a Checklist, Not More Studying

Studying builds knowledge. A checklist deploys it at the moment that matters — right before you send. Even advanced speakers make careless errors when writing fast: a missing article, a tense slip, a confused homophone. The checklist catches those without you needing to remember to look for them.

It is also a feedback loop. When you build the checklist in Notion and tick items per document, the ones you fix most often reveal your real weak spots — and those become your study priorities.

The Core Grammar Checklist

Run through these before sending any important piece of writing. They are ordered roughly by how often they cause real-world errors.

Verbs and Tenses

• Is every verb in the right tense for its time reference?
• Did you use present perfect (not past simple) for unfinished time, and past simple for finished time?
• Are irregular verbs correct? (went, not goed; brought, not bringed)
• Is the third-person singular -s present where needed? ("She works," not "She work")

Subject-Verb Agreement

• Does each verb agree with its real subject, not a noun in between? ("The list of items is")
• Did you handle collective nouns and "everyone / each" as singular?

Articles

• Is there an article (a/an/the) where one is required?
• a vs. an by sound, not spelling? ("an hour," "a university")
• the for specific things, no article for general plurals/uncountables?

Prepositions

• Are dependent prepositions correct? ("depend on," "interested in," "good at")
• Time prepositions right? (in months/years, on days, at times)

Pronouns

• Does every pronoun clearly point to one noun?
• Subject vs. object form correct? ("between you and me," not "you and I")

Word Pairs and Spelling

• its vs. it's, your vs. you're, their/there/they're?
• affect vs. effect, fewer vs. less, then vs. than?
• No autocorrect substitutions that changed your meaning?

Punctuation and Structure

• No comma splices joining two full sentences with just a comma?
• Apostrophes for possession and contraction only — not for plurals?
• Are your sentences complete (subject + verb), with no fragments?

How to Use It on Paper

Print the checklist and keep it visible. For anything that matters — a job application, a client email, an essay — read your text once for each section rather than all at once. Reading specifically for tense, then specifically for articles, catches far more than a single general read-through. Your brain finds what it is looking for.

How to Build the Notion Version

The interactive version turns the checklist into a tool that learns your patterns. Create a database called Proofreading Checklist with:

• Item (title) — each check from the list above
• Category (select) — Verbs, Agreement, Articles, Prepositions, Pronouns, Word Pairs, Punctuation
• Times Caught (number) — increment when this check catches a real error

Then, for each document, duplicate a checklist template (a simple to-do list referencing the items) and tick as you go. Every time a check catches a genuine mistake, bump its Times Caught.

After a few weeks, sort by Times Caught descending. The top items are your personal error profile — the rules to actually study. This is the difference between a generic checklist and one built around you.

Make It a Habit, Not a Chore

The checklist only works if you use it consistently. Two ways to make that automatic:

• Trigger it on send. Tie the check to a specific action — never send an important email without running it. Make it a rule, not a choice.
• Shorten it as you improve. Once a check has caught zero errors in a month, retire it. A shorter checklist of your actual weak points is faster and likelier to be used.

Pair It With a Mistake Log

The checklist and a mistake log are two halves of the same loop. The checklist catches errors at the moment of sending; the mistake log records them so you can study the pattern later. When a check on your list catches a real error, log that specific instance — what you wrote, the correction, and where it happened — in a separate database.

Reviewed together each week, the two surface the same truth from different angles: a small number of rules cause most of your mistakes. The checklist's Times Caught count and the mistake log's category breakdown will point at the same culprits. That convergence is your study list, handed to you by your own data instead of guessed at.

Download and Start

Grab the printable PDF for offline use, or rebuild it as a Notion database for the version that tracks your patterns. Either way, the rule is simple: nothing important gets sent until it has been through the list. Do that consistently and your visible error rate drops immediately — while your Times Caught data quietly tells you what to learn next.