Basic English Grammar

Start here if you’re a beginner, or if you need to refresh your knowledge of English. These pages
give you the basic grammar rules, with explanations and exercises.

Learn how to use the verb “to be” and make sure you can use it in positive, negative and question
forms. Go to Verb “to be”: grammar and exercises. Then move on to Pronouns and possessives
so you can start building sentences. The Present simple tense shows you how to talk about facts
and your everyday life. Learn how to form positive, negative and question forms.

Now move on to nouns. The first page to look at is English nouns. On this page you’ll learn
about singular, plural, countable and uncountable nouns – plus some important spelling rules.
Learn how to use a, an, the (or no article) on the page Indefinite and definite articles. The page
There is, there are; some and any shows you how to talk about things you can see and things
which can exist. On this page you also learn how to use “some” and “any”. Finally, go to
Demonstratives and Determiners to learn about using “this”, “that”, “much”, “many”, “few”, etc.

Now you’re ready to improve your speaking and communiction! Go to Can for permission and
requests so you know how to ask people for things. Learn to compare things with Basic
comparatives. Move on to The Past Simple tense where you learn how to form the positive,
negative and question forms, the spelling and pronunciation – as well as common irregular past
forms. This page helps you to talk about events in the past! You can also look at Basic time
reference words to learn how to use words like in, ago, an

Elementary English Grammar

This section completes the essential English grammar you need to speak in most, everyday
situations. It takes you up to a high elementary level, equivalent to A2 level.

Start with Giving instructions to learn how to use the imperative form in English. Then go to
Have, have got, ‘s to make sure you can talk about possession, using the verbs have and have
got, and the ‘s form. You’ll learn how to make sentences in the positive, negative and question
forms, and how to talk about possession in the past. Take a look at Question words where you
learn the most important question words in English – and how to use them. (Make sure you pay
attention to the word order of questions, which is where many people make mistakes.) Then
build on your knowledge of comparatives and go to Superlatives.

At this stage, you’ll also increase your knowledge of modal auxiliaries and new tenses. Start with
the page Ability (can / could, etc) where you learn how to talk about ability using can and could
(in the present and the past) and the correct pronunciation. Then move on to Modals of
obligation where you learn how to use must, have to, need to, ought to and should. You don’t
need to learn all of these, but must and have to are essential. Remember to check how to use the
negatives of these modals.
Go to Present Continuous to learn when to use the Present Continuous tense, and how to form
the positive, negative and question forms. After, go on to Future intentions to learn different
ways to talk about the future. There’s more information about how to talk about future
predictions on the page Will, might, going to. Then go to The Present Perfect to learn when and
how to use it – and how it’s different from the Past Simple. This is an area that many people find
difficult. Finally, check out the Irregular past participles page. You need to know these to form
the Present Perfect tense.

Pre-intermediate English Grammar

At this level, you need to really consolidate your knowledge of English grammar, by revising
what you already know. There are also some new areas of grammar to learn. There is a lot to do
at this level, but when you have studied these areas of grammar, there isn’t much else to study!
When you finish this level, you’ll be at a B1 (or PET) level.

Review how to make comparisons and learn some new qualifying expressions like “much”, “a
little”, “far” to make what you say sound more precise. Go to the page How to make
comparisons in English.

Review your knowledge of the English articles a, an and the on the page English Articles. Then
go to Some and Any to learn how to use some, any and their compound forms (somewhere,
anywhere, etc.) Also check out few, little, lots of (and their comparative forms) on the page
Quantifiers: few, little, lots of. Review the imperative form on the page Using the Imperative
Form in English and find out other ways to give warnings and advice – and how to make polite
requests in writing and speaking situations.

Now check that you have a good understanding of the major tenses in English. First, go to
Present tenses in English to make sure you know the difference between the Present Simple and
the Present Continuous. Next, go to Past tenses in English for the differences between the Past
Simple and the Past Continuous. The page Present perfect tenses made easy gives you
information on the Present Perfect Simple and the Present Perfect Continuous. Finally, if you
only ever use “will” or “going to” to talk about the future, you should check out Using future
forms. This page shows you ways to talk about the future (although the two final ways are more
suitable for an intermediate level of grammar.)

What’s the difference between “look like”, “be like”, “like” and “as”? Make sure you can use all
these accurately on this page: Like and As. Go to Modal auxiliary verbs in English to learn about
the grammar and use of this essential area of English. Then, you can start to learn conditional
forms (also known as “if sentences”). At pre-intermediate level you should aim to study and use
the Zero, First and Second conditional. (You’ll need to learn the third conditional at intermediate
level, as well.) Go to Conditional sentences for this.

Most students have problems with English prepositions, and we have an entire section for you!
Start with the page Prepositions list which gives you a complete list of English prepositions with
their main uses and examples. Then learn which prepositions to use with common adjectives on
the page Prepositions and adjectives. Go to Prepositions of time to learn prepositions of time
(for, ago, etc) as well as prepositions to talk about location (place) and transport. Learn which
prepositions to use with verbs on the page Learn English Prepositions and Verbs. Finally, learn
how to talk about where things are in relation to each other, and how to give directions with
common prepositions on the page Prepositions of location and direction.

Another difficult area of English grammar is how to make questions. The page English
Questions shows you the grammar rules for yes/no, “wh” questions – and also indirect questions.

There are two, final areas of grammar which are often introduced at the end of the pre-
intermediate level. Go to the Reported Speech in English page to learn how tenses change; plus
how to report questions and modals. The other more complicated area of grammar to start
studying at this level is passives. The page How to use the passive voice in English shows you
when – and how – to form a passive sentence.

Intermediate English Grammar

This level takes you up to a B2 level (or FCE).

Learn how to use adjectives and adverbs correctly – especially adverbs with double meanings.
Review the word order of adjectives, too. Go to English Adjectives and Adverbs for this. If
you’re interested in the vocabulary, grammar, spelling and punctuation differences between
British and American English, go to the page British or American English?

At this level you need to know when to use gerunds and when to use infinitives. Check out the
two pages How to use gerunds and English grammar rules for using the infinitive. This page also
shows you the different types of infinitives and which verbs are followed by them.

Learn the verb patterns (including passive form) of make and let – and other verbs which follow
the infinitive without “to” on the page Make and let. What’s the difference between “used to”
and “be used to doing”? Check out the page How to use “used to” in English, also to learn when
to use “used to” and when to use “would”.

At this level, you also need to learn the difference between defining and non-defining relative
clauses, and how to use relative pronouns correctly. Go to the page Relative Clauses for this.
Then try the page English Question Tags. This is a common part of British English speech, but
quite hard to get right!

The only tense left to learn is the Past Perfect. Go to Using “had done” in English for an
explanation on where – and how – to use it. By the way, if you’re still having difficulty choosing
between your tenses, check out the page How to choose your English tenses
which gives you some simple rules on “aspect” to help you decide which tense to use.

An area of grammar that is often tested at the FCE (B2) level is how to use “wish”. The page
Using Wish explains how to use wish for present and past situations, and which modal verbs to
use.
Finally, two pages that can help you with writing narrative and longer texts is Time expressions
in English (with some expressions you might not know) and Linking words (one of our most
popular pages!) for ways to connect your sentences and ideas.

Intermediate to Advanced
You’ll be pleased to hear that there isn’t much more grammar to learn! What you need to do is
keep reviewing problem areas – and reflect on the mistakes you make.

One area of grammar to look at is how we use Subjunctive forms in English. Check out the page
Using the subjunctive form in English for explanations.

Finally, most of the pages above have quizzes to test your knowledge. Also try these two pages:

English grammar exercises