Practise English grammar with your own AI app—and check the answers
“Help me practise English grammar” is easy to type into an AI app. But it leaves two questions unanswered: Which point of grammar are you working on, and how will you know whether the explanation is right? A specific topic, an answer you attempt yourself and a grammar reference make the exercise more useful than an open-ended chat.
With Lingo Phrase Cards, you can start from a grammar card and pass it to an external AI app of your choice. You can also use the same kind of hand-off to revisit vocabulary you answered incorrectly. The learning item gives you a starting point: you do not have to assemble the topic from scattered notes before asking for practice. Lingo does not contain its own AI tutor or verify the external app’s replies.
Start with one grammar question
Suppose you want to choose between the past simple and present perfect. This is an illustrative example, not a claim that a card with that exact title is available in Lingo.
Lingo’s compact grammar tips are organised by area. A topic card explains how a construction is formed, when it is used and common mistakes. You can hand a grammar card over to an LLM app you choose, such as ChatGPT or Gemini. That grounds your next question in a learning item rather than leaving you to build the entire starting context yourself. The exact information passed in the hand-off is not documented, so check what reached the other app and add your specific question if necessary.
The hand-off provides a topic, not a guarantee that the external app will provide a good exercise or a correct explanation.
A four-step practice routine
1. Ask for a small task, not a complete lesson
Choose a grammar tip, hand it to your preferred AI app and ask for one sentence to complete. If the topic is unclear in the external app, name it yourself. Here is an example instruction you could add for the illustrative topic:
Give me one English sentence with a gap. I will choose between the past simple and present perfect. Wait for my answer before giving me the solution. Then explain which time reference and connection to the present matter. If more than one answer is possible without extra context, say so.
This is a suggested learning prompt, not a Lingo screen or a promise that an AI app will follow it correctly. Replace the example with the topic you actually selected.
2. Make your choice before reading the explanation
Ask whether the event is located in a finished past period or whether the speaker is highlighting a result that matters now. Compare “I lost my keys yesterday” with “I have lost my keys, so I can’t open the door.” The first names a finished time; the second stresses the present result. The Cambridge Grammar guide explains the present connection, and the comparison at Englisch-hilfen.de contrasts the two forms. The sentences here are original examples.
Other grammar topics call for other questions. The important step is to choose and justify an answer before you see the AI’s response. Recognising an explanation after the fact is not the same as making the choice yourself.
3. Check the reasoning, not just the verdict
Ask the AI to point to the detail in your sentence that supports its answer. If it only quotes a “signal word”, ask about the wider time frame. If its question is ambiguous, request two clearer versions: one with a finished past time and one with an unmistakable present result.
Then compare the explanation with an independent grammar reference. If they disagree, do not accept the AI’s confident answer by default. Clarify the sentence or consult another reliable source. If the AI names a source, open it yourself instead of trusting the citation as written.
OpenAI’s own help centre notes that ChatGPT can give convincing but incorrect answers, including invented citations. Other external apps have their own limitations and terms; none of their replies should be treated as an automatic grammar check by Lingo.
4. Turn a mistake into a new question
If you chose the wrong form, record what you missed: a finished time, a present result or missing context. Ask for a second sentence that tests that distinction, then answer it before reading feedback. Sometimes the appropriate response is “The exercise needs more context.” Ask the AI to rewrite it unambiguously and check the new example against your grammar reference.
What about vocabulary you got wrong?
Lingo also lets you pass incorrectly answered vocabulary to an external LLM app of your choice for further practice. That specific learning item supplies the starting point, so you need not reconstruct the topic from scratch. Look at what the other app actually received and add any context you still need.
For example, after checking the word and its available card context yourself, you might ask for a contrasting example or a short comprehension question. A plausible AI translation is not a substitute for checking which meaning fits the sentence. The guide to learning vocabulary in context offers a related way to think about meaning and usage. The documented hand-off concerns a grammar card or incorrectly answered vocabulary; the precise card fields passed are not specified.
Keep the starting point, keep the judgement
Start from a grammar tip in Lingo, hand it to your own AI app, attempt a small exercise and verify the explanation with a trustworthy grammar reference. The direct connection to the learning item saves you from collecting a starting topic by hand; it does not remove the need to think critically. Incorrectly answered vocabulary can also be revisited this way.
To try the routine, open Lingo Phrase Cards in your browser and pick a grammar tip. Check the availability and privacy terms of whichever external AI app you decide to use; Lingo does not set them.