English grammar

A0 Starter Lessons: 22

Referring to people and things

• I, you, he, she, we, theyEnglish always says who does something.
• my, your, his, her, our, theirTo say whose something is, English puts one small word in front of the noun and never changes it: my bag, my bags, my…
• this, that, these, thoseEnglish points with four words, and they split two ways at once: near or far, one or many.
• me, you, him, her, us, themEnglish uses a different word when the person is on the RECEIVING end of the verb.

Verbs and time

• am, is, arebe is the first verb you need, because almost everything you say about yourself uses it: your name, where you are from…
• have and hashave says what belongs to you and what is wrong with you: I have two children, I have a headache, I have an appointment.
• What you do every dayFor habits and facts English uses the plain verb: I work, we live, they eat.
• can and cannotcan does three jobs at A0: it says what you are able to do (I can work in a kitchen), it asks politely (Can you help…
• Telling and asking someone to do somethingTo tell someone what to do, English uses the plain verb with no subject at all: Wait here.
• I would like …I want is correct English and sounds blunt to a stranger.
• What is happening nowEnglish has a second present, and A0 needs it for two things only: what is happening at this moment (The baby is…

Nouns and describing

• a, an and theEnglish puts a small word in front of almost every singular noun, where Arabic and many other languages put nothing.
• One and more than oneFor more than one thing English adds -s: one ticket, two tickets.
• Describing a thingAn English describing word goes BEFORE the noun and never changes: a red bag, red bags, two red bags.
• some and anySome things cannot be counted — water, bread, milk, money, help — so English cannot say a water or two breads.

Place and direction

• Where something isA handful of small words carry almost every A0 answer to Where is …?
• at, on, in for timeEnglish uses three different words for time and the choice depends on how big the piece of time is.

Saying no

• Saying noEnglish says no in two different ways depending on the verb, and this is the same split as questions.

Asking questions

• Questions and no with doThis is the biggest surprise in beginner English.
• what, where, when, who, how muchA question that asks for information starts with the question word, and the rest of the question follows exactly as it…

Building the sentence

• there is and there areTo say that something exists somewhere, English begins with there is for one thing and there are for more than one…

Joining sentences

• and, but, orThree small words join what you already know into something that sounds like a sentence rather than a list.

A2 Elementary Lessons: 26

Referring to people and things

• who, which and thatThese join two sentences about the same thing.

Verbs and time

• was and wereThe past of be has two forms and no others: was for I, he, she and it; were for you, we and they.
• The past with -edMost English verbs make the past by adding -ed, and the form does not change for he, she or it: I worked, she worked…
• Past forms you have to learnThe commonest English verbs do not take -ed.
• going to for plansUse be going to for something you have already decided to do, and for something you can see coming: I am going to look…
• will for decisions and offersUse will for something you decide as you speak, for an offer, and for a promise: I will call you tomorrow.
• Arrangements already madeWhen something is arranged — a time is fixed, somebody else knows — English uses the present continuous with a future…
• Have you ever …?To ask whether something has happened at any time in your life, English uses have/has + the third form of the verb…
• for and sinceWhen something started in the past and is still true now, English uses have/has + the third form with for or since.
• have to and musthave to and must both say that something is necessary.
• should for adviceshould gives advice or says what is a good idea: You should see a doctor.
• could for the past and for askingcould is the past of can — what you were able to do: When I was ten I could swim.
• like doing or want to doSome English verbs are followed by the -ing form and some by to + the plain verb, and there is no way to hear which.

Nouns and describing

• bigger, cheaper, more expensiveA short adjective adds -er: cheap → cheaper, big → bigger, easy → easier.
• the cheapest, the most expensiveTo say one thing stands above all the others, a short adjective takes the + -est and a long one takes the most: the…
• as big asWhen two things are equal, English puts the plain adjective between as and as: My flat is as big as yours.
• much, many and a lot ofEnglish divides nouns in two.
• a, the, or nothingUse a/an the first time you mention something, and the once both of you know which one is meant: I bought a coat.

Place and direction

• to, into, through, acrossThese say where something is going, not where it is.

Asking questions

• did and did notQuestions and negatives in the past use did, and the main verb goes back to its plain form.

Building the sentence

• always, usually, never — and where they goWords that say how often go BEFORE an ordinary verb and AFTER the verb be: I always walk to work.
• slowly, carefully, wellTo say HOW something is done, English adds -ly to the adjective: slow → slowly, careful → carefully, quick → quickly.
• too and enoughtoo means more than you want: it is too expensive, the bag is too heavy.

Joining sentences

• because, so, but, althoughbecause gives the reason and so gives the result — the same two facts, in opposite order: I was late because the train…
• Saying why you did itTo give the purpose of an action, the simplest form is to + the plain verb: I called to change the date.
• If it rains, we will stay inFor something that may really happen, English uses if + the PRESENT, then will in the other half: If it rains, we will…

B1 Intermediate Lessons: 33

Referring to people and things

• whose, where, and the comma clauseA2 taught the clause that says WHICH one: the man who lives next door.
• myself, yourself and each otherUse a reflexive — myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves — when the person doing…
• someone, anything, nowhereJoin some-, any-, no- and every- to -one, -body, -thing and -where and you get the words for a person, a thing or a…

Verbs and time

• What was already happeningUse was / were + -ing for an action already in progress at a moment in the past.
• used to: how things were beforeused to + the base verb says that something was true or happened repeatedly in the past and is not true now.
• Finished time or not: went or have goneThe choice is not about how long ago it was.
• already, yet, just and stillThese four words tell the listener where you are between the expectation and the result.
• have been doing: how long it has gone onhave / has been + -ing looks at an activity that started in the past and is still going on, or has only just stopped…
• had done: the earlier pastWhen you are already telling a story in the past and you need to step further back, use had + the past participle.
• Choosing between will, going to and -ingEnglish has no single future tense; it has three ways of looking forward and you choose by what you mean.
• when, as soon as, until: no will after themAfter when, as soon as, after, before, until and by the time, English does not use will, even though the meaning is…
• must be, might be, can’t beThese modals do not talk about permission or obligation here.
• should have, could have, must havePut have + the past participle after a modal and you are looking back at something that is now too late to change.
• The passive: when the doer does not matterUse be + the past participle when the interesting thing is what happened, not who did it — because you do not know…
• stop doing or stop to doA2 taught which verbs take -ing and which take to.
• make, let, allow and ask somebody toThese four verbs all say that one person caused another to do something, and they do not take the same shape.
• Where the object goes in a phrasal verbMany phrasal verbs can be split: turn off the light and turn the light off are both correct.

Nouns and describing

• a few, a little, plenty of, hardly anyBeyond much and many, English has quantifiers that carry an attitude.
• all of them, most of us, none of itWhen you talk about a group in general, use the determiner alone: Most children like sweets.
• bored or boringA great many English adjectives come in pairs.
• much cheaper, a bit later, the sooner the betterA2 taught you to build the comparative.

Place and direction

• depend on, good at, worried aboutMany English adjectives and verbs are followed by one fixed preposition, and there is no rule that predicts which — it…

Saying no

• both, neither and eitherThese three all talk about two things.

Asking questions

• Could you tell me where …A direct question can sound abrupt to a stranger.
• …, isn’t it? Checking what you thinkA tag turns a statement into a check.

Building the sentence

• He said that he was tiredWhen you report what somebody said, the sentence stops being their words and becomes yours, so everything that pointed…
• She asked me where I livedA reported question keeps the tense shift you learned for statements and adds the word order of an indirect question…

Joining sentences

• If I had more time, I would …The first conditional talks about something that may really happen.
• unless, as long as, in caseunless means if not and already contains the negative, so the verb after it stays positive: I will not go unless you…
• although, even though, despite, howeverAll four mark a contrast, but each takes a different thing after it.
• so, therefore, as a resultA2 gave you so for a result and because for a reason.
• besides, in addition, as well asWhen you add a second point, the shape depends on what you are adding.
• so tired that, such a long day thatBoth make something stronger and then give its consequence.

B2 Upper intermediate Lessons: 40

Referring to people and things

• Relative clauses that carry a prepositionB1 teaches who, which, that and the defining/non-defining comma.
• What this, that and such are pointing atA text holds together because each sentence points back at the one before.

Verbs and time

• Telling a longer story: the four past tenses togetherA B2 account uses four past tenses at once, and each one does a different job.
• Looking back from a point in the futureEnglish can stand at a future moment and look back at it.
• The activity or the result: have been doing against have doneBoth forms connect the past to now, and they point at different things.
• A past that did not happenThe third conditional talks about a past that is now impossible to change, and about the consequence that therefore…
• When the cause and the result are in different timesA conditional does not have to keep both halves in one time.
• Working out what happened: must have, can’t have, might haveTo reason about a finished event you keep the modal and put have plus a past participle after it.
• Saying exactly how sure you areEnglish grades certainty finely, and at B2 the grading is the point.
• Four kinds of obligation English keeps apartB1 teaches must, have to and should.
• Saying it carefully: appear, tend, seem, would suggestHedging is not vagueness; it is claiming exactly as much as the evidence supports, so that the claim survives being…
• The passive across every tenseThe passive exists so that the sentence can start with what matters.
• It is said that: reporting without owning the claimNews, reports and cautious writing need a way to pass on a claim without saying who made it or standing behind it.
• Having something done by somebody elseI painted the kitchen and I had the kitchen painted are two different lives.
• Reporting verbs and the patterns they takeSay and tell carry no attitude.
• Reporting: when to shift the tense and when not toB1 teaches that a reported verb steps back one tense.
• When -ing and to mean different thingsSome verbs take both forms and the two mean different things.
• Make, do, take, give and the nouns they go withCollocation is the reason a sentence can be grammatically perfect and still wrong.
• Talking about a future that was still ahead thenWhen you tell a story you often need the future as it looked from inside the past.
• Verbs that change meaning in the continuousA group of verbs has two lives.

Nouns and describing

• Articles when you are generalisingA0 and A2 teach a/an/the for things in a room.
• How much, how many, and how littleThe pairs that matter at B2 are the ones where the article changes the meaning.
• Comparison beyond bigger and biggestB2 comparison is about DEGREE.
• Turning a verb into a nounFormal English packs actions into nouns.
• Long noun phrases and the order inside themEnglish builds long noun phrases and the order inside them is fixed.
• Making one word into fourMost B2 vocabulary is not new roots but new forms of roots you already have.

Place and direction

• The preposition a word insists onMany English words carry a preposition that is not negotiable and is not predictable from the meaning.

Asking questions

• Asking carefully: indirect and embedded questionsAn embedded question loses its inversion and its do.

Building the sentence

• Participle clauses: two ideas in one sentenceA participle clause compresses a second clause into a phrase.
• Inversion after a negative openingWhen a negative or restrictive expression opens the sentence, English inverts the subject and the auxiliary as if it…
• Cleft sentences: putting one part in the spotlightA cleft sentence splits one idea into two clauses so that one part is emphasised.
• Phrasal verbs: what can be split and what cannotPhrasal verbs come in three kinds and the difference is about word order.
• Relative clauses with the middle taken outA relative clause can lose its pronoun and its be without losing anything else.
• Emphasis with do, auxiliaries and frontingEnglish has quiet ways of insisting.
• Leaving words out without losing the meaningFluent English leaves out what the listener can supply.
• The grammar of a formal documentFormal written English is not just longer words.

Joining sentences

• Conditions without if: unless, provided that, otherwiseIf is only one of several ways to attach a condition, and the others are more precise.
• Conceding: however, whatever, no matter howA concessive clause admits something and then says it changes nothing.
• Joining paragraphs, not just clausesB1 joins clauses with however, therefore and despite.
• Saying why you did it and what came of itPurpose and result look alike and behave differently.

C1 Advanced Lessons: 50

Referring to people and things

• Generic you, one, we and singular theyTo talk about people in general, English uses you (the most common, informal: You never know), one (formal and somewhat…
• Very tired, utterly exhausted: gradable and extreme adjectivesGradable adjectives (tired, cold, good, interesting) take very, extremely, fairly, rather, a bit, slightly.
• Arguably, admittedly, supposedly: adverbs that show a stanceStance adverbs comment on a whole statement and show the speaker’s attitude to it.
• Vague language: or so, -ish and give or takePrecision is not always natural.
• Not so much X as Y: comparisons that correctAt C1 many comparisons refine or correct a description rather than rank two things.

Verbs and time

• Past forms for politeness and distanceEnglish uses past forms and the continuous to make a request or suggestion less direct, even when the time is now.
• Continuous forms that show an attitudeThe continuous is not only about time.
• Futures of duty, timetable and imminence: be to, be due to, be about toBeyond will and going to, English has a family of be + to futures, each with its own meaning.
• The subjunctive and should after demands and recommendationsAfter verbs and adjectives of demanding, recommending or importance — insist, demand, recommend, suggest, propose…
• Wishes, preferences and it’s time: the unreal pastSeveral expressions move the verb one step into the past to show that something is not real.
• Conditionals of politeness, insistence and remote chanceB2 taught the four conditional types and inversion for the third.
• Modals that carry feeling: you might have told meModal verbs often carry an attitude rather than a fact.
• Things that did not need to happen, or were meant to and didn’tEnglish keeps apart two kinds of unnecessary past action.
• Get-passives and things that happen to youAlongside be + past participle, spoken English often uses get + past participle, especially for things that happen…
• Infinitives and -ing forms that carry time and voiceInfinitives and -ing forms can carry tense and voice of their own.
• Seeing, hearing, finding: verbs of perception and judgementAfter see, hear, watch, notice, feel and smell, an object can be followed by a bare infinitive or an -ing form, and the…
• Verbs without a doer: the door opened, the book sells wellSome verbs can be used with an object (I opened the door) or without one, with the thing affected as the subject (The…
• Passives that keep their prepositionWhen a verb comes with a fixed preposition or particle — look after, deal with, refer to, laugh at, rely on, look into…
• Need, dare, had better and be bound toneed and dare can be ordinary verbs (You don’t need to come, She didn’t dare to ask) or modals in negatives and…
• Phrasal verb or single verb: choosing by registerMost phrasal verbs have a one-word equivalent, usually of Latin origin: find out → discover, establish; put off →…
• Headline English: how the news compresses a sentenceHeadlines have a grammar of their own, and a C1 reader has to restore what they leave out.
• Reporting verbs that judge the claimThe verb you use to report a claim shows what you think of it.

Nouns and describing

• After the noun: the people concerned, a problem to be solvedIn formal English much of the information in a noun phrase comes after the noun.
• Clauses that act as nouns: that, whether and wh-A whole clause can be the subject, object or complement of a sentence.
• When uncountable nouns become countableMany English nouns are uncountable in one sense and countable in another.
• Possession: ’s, of, and a friend of mine’s is normal for people, animals, organisations, places and time: the company’s profits, Europe’s future, a week’s…
• Agreement in awkward casesSubject and verb usually agree by form, but in several cases English follows meaning.

Place and direction

• With regard to, in the wake of: complex prepositionsFormal English uses multi-word prepositions with precise meanings: with regard to / with respect to / regarding / with…
• At risk, under way, beyond repair: phrases that work as adjectivesA preposition + noun often works like an adjective describing a state: at risk, at stake, at a loss, at odds with, in…

Saying no

• Negation that softens: I don’t think, not bad, not unlikeEnglish prefers to put the negative on the verb of thinking rather than on the idea: I don’t think it will rain is more…
• Not in the least, by no means, whatsoever: emphatic negationEnglish strengthens a negative with fixed phrases.

Asking questions

• Negative, echo and rhetorical questionsQuestions do more than ask for information.
• Tags that do more than checkB1 taught tags that check a fact (It’s cold, isn’t it?).
• Softening requests, refusals and criticismC1 speakers soften requests, refusals and criticism by combining several devices, and match the amount of softening to…

Building the sentence

• Much as I admire her, try as he might: fronting to concedeA concession can be packed into a fronted phrase with as or though for a more emphatic, usually written effect.
• So great was the demand: inversion with so, such, as and placeB2 taught inversion after a negative opening (Never have I…).
• Beyond it and what: all, the thing and the reasonB2 taught the it-cleft and the what-cleft.
• Moving the heavy part to the end: it is worth noting thatEnglish avoids long subjects at the start of a sentence.
• There seems to have been: there with modals, reporting and -ingDummy there does much more than there is / are.
• Where only and even go, and what they changeFocusing adverbs — only, even, just, also, especially — attach to the part of the sentence they focus on, so moving…
• Spoken grammar: heads, tails and dropped wordsConversation has a grammar that written English lacks.

Joining sentences

• The moment, once, by the time: time clauses and their tensesBeyond when and after, English has time conjunctions with precise meanings.
• Weather permitting, the meeting over: absolute clausesAn absolute clause has its own subject but no finite verb, and it attaches to the main clause to give the…
• Participle clauses: perfect, passive, negative — and the dangling trapB2 introduced participle clauses.
• Which for the whole idea, whereby and at which pointA relative clause can comment on a whole clause, not just a noun: He arrived late, which annoyed everyone — it was the…
• In that, given that, albeit, insofar as: subordinators with exact meaningsC1 writing needs linking words whose meaning is exact.
• Even if, even though, for all and admittedlyConceding a point precisely is a C1 skill.
• Cause and effect beyond becausePrecise writing names causes and effects with more than because and so.
• Not only … but also: paired conjunctions and parallel structurePaired conjunctions — both … and, either … or, neither … nor, not only … but also, whether … or, not … but, rather than…
• Comment clauses: as it happens, as far as I can tellComment clauses let a speaker step outside the sentence to signal source, certainty, relevance or tone: as far as I…