English Grammar

Welcome to English Club English Grammar for ESL

learners. Many of these grammar lessons also have quizzes Hot Links
to check your understanding. If you still don't understand Verbs
something, feel free to ask a question at the Passive voice
Grammar Help Desk. Modal verbs
Conditionals
grammar (noun): the structure and system of a language, or Questions
of languages in general, usually considered to consist of Irregular verbs
syntax and morphology. Going to
Gerunds
Phrasal Verbs
Study in the USA - get free information here Tenses
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Nouns
What is Grammar?
(Un)Countable nouns
English Grammar Terms
Adjectives
Articles
The 8 English Parts of Speech
These are the words that you use to make a sentence. There
Preposition List
are only 8 types of word - and the most important is the
Verb!

• Verbs be, have, do, work

• Nouns man, town, music
• Adjectives a, the, 69, big
• Adverbs loudly, well, often
• Pronouns you, ours, some
• Prepositions at, in, on, from
• Conjunctions and, but, though
• Interjections ah, dear, er, um
 What is Grammar?
Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe
grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules*. If we use the
word "rules", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the
language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by
people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No
commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call
"grammar" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time.

Do we need to study grammar to learn a language? The short answer is "no". Very
many people in the world speak their own, native language without having studied its
grammar. Children start to speak before they even know the word "grammar". But if
you are serious about learning a foreign language, the long answer is "yes, grammar
can help you to learn a language more quickly and more efficiently." It's important to
think of grammar as something that can help you, like a friend. When you understand
the grammar (or system) of a language, you can understand many things yourself,
without having to ask a teacher or look in a book.

So think of grammar as something good, something positive, something that you can
use to find your way - like a signpost or a map.

* Except invented languages like Esperanto. And if Esperanto were widely spoken, its
rules would soon be very different.

Glossary of English Grammar Terms

Active Voice
In the active voice, the subject of the verb does the action (eg They killed the
President). See also Passive Voice.

Adjective
A word like big, red, easy, French etc. An adjective describes a noun or pronoun.

Adverb
A word like slowly, quietly, well, often etc. An adverb modifies a verb.

Article
The "indefinite" articles are a and an. The "definite article" is the.

Auxiliary Verb
A verb that is used with a main verb. Be, do and have are auxiliary verbs. Can, may,
must etc are modal auxiliary verbs.
Clause
A group of words containing a subject and its verb (for example: It was late when he
arrived).

Conjunction
A word used to connect words, phrases and clauses (for example: and, but, if).

Infinitive
The basic form of a verb as in to work or work.

Interjection
An exclamation inserted into an utterance without grammatical connection (for
example: oh!, ah!, ouch!, well!).

Modal Verb
An auxiliary verb like can, may, must etc that modifies the main verb and expresses
possibility, probability etc. It is also called "modal auxiliary verb".

Noun
A word like table, dog, teacher, America etc. A noun is the name of an object,
concept, person or place. A "concrete noun" is something you can see or touch like a
person or car. An "abstract noun" is something that you cannot see or touch like a
decision or happiness. A "countable noun" is something that you can count (for
example: bottle, song, dollar). An "uncountable noun" is something that you cannot
count (for example: water, music, money).

Object
In the active voice, a noun or its equivalent that receives the action of the verb. In the
passive voice, a noun or its equivalent that does the action of the verb.

Participle
The -ing and -ed forms of verbs. The -ing form is called the "present participle". The
-ed form is called the "past participle" (for irregular verbs, this is column 3).

Part Of Speech
One of the eight classes of word in English - noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun,
preposition, conjunction and interjection.

Passive Voice
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action of the verb (eg The President was
killed). See also Active Voice.

Phrase
A group of words not containing a subject and its verb (eg on the table, the girl in a
red dress).

Predicate
Each sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The predicate
is what is said about the subject.
Preposition
A word like at, to, in, over etc. Prepositions usually come before a noun and give
information about things like time, place and direction.

Pronoun
A word like I, me, you, he, him, it etc. A pronoun replaces a noun.

Sentence
A group of words that express a thought. A sentence conveys a statement, question,
exclamation or command. A sentence contains or implies a subject and a predicate. In
simple terms, a sentence must contain a verb and (usually) a subject. A sentence starts
with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or exclamation
mark (!).

Subject
Every sentence contains (or implies) two parts: a subject and a predicate. The subject
is the main noun (or equivalent) in a sentence about which something is said.

Tense
The form of a verb that shows us when the action or state happens (past, present or
future). Note that the name of a tense is not always a guide to when the action
happens. The "present continuous tense", for example, can be used to talk about the
present or the future.

Verb
A word like (to) work, (to) love, (to) begin. A verb describes an action or state.

English Parts of Speech

There are thousands of words in any language. But not all words have the same job.
For example, some words express
"action". Other words express a
Some grammar books categorize English into
"thing". Other words "join" one
9 or 10 parts of speech. At English Club, we
word to another word. These are the
use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of
"building blocks" of the language.
speech (see Table for more details).
Think of them like the parts of a
house. When we want to build a
house, we use concrete to make the foundations or base. We use bricks to make the
walls. We use window frames to make the windows, and door frames to make the
doorways. And we use cement to join them all together. Each part of the house has its
own job. And when we want to build a sentence, we use the different types of word.
Each type of word has its own job.

We can categorize English words into 8 basic types or classes. These classes are
called "parts of speech".

It's quite important to recognize parts of speech. This helps you to analyze sentences
and understand them. It also helps you to construct good sentences.
In this lesson, we have an overview of the eight parts of speech, followed by a quiz to
check your understanding:

• Parts of Speech Table

• Parts of Speech Examples
• Words with More than One Job
• Parts of Speech Quiz

Parts of Speech Table

This is a summary of the 8 parts of speech*. You can find more detail if you click on
each part of speech.

part of speech function or "job" example words example sentences

Verb action or state (to) be, have, do, EnglishClub.com is a

like, work, sing, web site. I like
can, must EnglishClub.com.

Noun thing or person pen, dog, work, This is my dog. He lives

music, town, in my house. We live in
London, teacher, London.
John

Adjective describes a noun a/an, the, 69, My dog is big. I like big
some, good, big, dogs.
red, well,
interesting

Adverb describes a verb, quickly, silently, My dog eats quickly.

adjective or adverb well, badly, very, When he is very
really hungry, he eats really
quickly.

Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, Tara is Indian. She is

some beautiful.

Preposition links a noun to to, at, after, on, but We went to school on
another word Monday.

Conjunction joins clauses or and, but, when I like dogs and I like
sentences or words cats. I like cats and
dogs. I like dogs but I
don't like cats.

Interjection short exclamation, oh!, ouch!, hi!, Ouch! That hurts! Hi!
sometimes inserted well How are you? Well, I
into a sentence don't know.
* Some grammar sources categorize English into 9 or 10 parts of speech. At
EnglishClub.com, we use the traditional categorization of 8 parts of speech. Examples
of other categorizations are:

• Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech:

o Lexical Verbs (work, like, run)
o Auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)
• Determiners may be treated as a separate part of speech, instead of
being categorized under Adjectives

Parts of Speech Examples »

Parts of Speech Examples

Here are some sentences made with different English parts of speech:

verb noun verb noun verb verb

Stop! John works. John is working.

pronoun verb noun noun verb adjective noun

She loves animals. Animals like kind people.

noun verb noun adverb noun verb adjective noun

Tara speaks English well. Tara speaks good English.

pronoun verb preposition adjective noun adverb

She ran to the station quickly.

pron. verb adj. noun conjunction pron. verb pron.

She likes big snakes but I hate them.

Here is a sentence that contains every part of speech:

interjection pron. conj. adj. noun verb prep. noun adverb

Well, she and young John walk to school slowly.

Words with More than One Job »

Words with More than One Job
Many words in English can have more than one job, or be more than one part of
speech. For example, "work" can be a verb and a noun; "but" can be a conjunction and
a preposition; "well" can be an adjective, an adverb and an interjection. In addition,
many nouns can act as adjectives.

To analyze the part of speech, ask yourself: "What job is this word doing in this
sentence?"

In the table below you can see a few examples. Of course, there are more, even for
some of the words in the table. In fact, if you look in a good dictionary you will see
that the word but has six jobs to do:

• verb, noun, adverb, pronoun, preposition and conjuction!

word part of speech example

work noun My work is easy.
verb I work in London.
but conjunction John came but Mary didn't come.
preposition Everyone came but Mary.
well adjective Are you well?
adverb She speaks well.
interjection Well! That's expensive!
afternoon noun We ate in the afternoon.
noun acting as adjective We had afternoon tea.

Now check your understanding »

Parts of Speech Quiz

1
I bought a beautiful dress at the
mall.

2
What did she ask you to do?

3
I left my shoes under the kitchen
 table.

4
If we finish our work quickly we
can go to the movies.

5
On Saturdays I work from nine to
five.

6
I want to go to a university in the
United States.

7
I'm sure I have met your girlfriend
before.

8
Well, I don't think I will be here to
answer the phone.

9
Andy knocked on the door but
nobody answered.

10
After lunch let's go out for a coffee.

Reset

There are more quizzes at EnglishClub.com ESL Quizzes

Verbs
What Are Verbs?

• Verb Classification | Quiz

helping verbs: primary/modal
main verbs: transitive/intransitive, linking, dynamic/stative, regular/irregular

Verb Forms | Quiz

to sing, sing, sings, sang, sung, singing

Tenses
I sing, I am singing, I have sung, I have been singing, I sang, I was singing

• English Tense System

• What is Tense?
• Tense & Time
• Basic Tenses
• Regular Verbs
 • Irregular Verbs
• Be

• Present tenses Simple, Continuous, Perfect Simple, Perfect Continuous

• Past tenses Simple, Continuous, Perfect Simple, Perfect Continuous
• Future tenses Simple, Continuous, Perfect Simple, Perfect Continuous

Phrasal Verbs | Quiz

put out, look after, get on with

Conditionals | Quiz
if I win, if I won, if I had won

Modal Verbs
can, shall, must...

Gerunds (-ing) | Quiz

fishing is fun, I hate working

Questions | Quiz
Do you like me?, Why do you like me?, Do you like me or him?

Tag Questions | Quiz

You like me, don't you?

Subjunctive | Quiz
She insists that he come

Active Voice, Passive Voice | Quiz

Cats eat mice, Mice are eaten by cats

Infinitive or -ing? | Quiz

I like to do, I like doing

Plural Verbs with Singular Subjects

the company do, the company does

Verb Meanings with Continuous Tenses | Quiz

Am I being silly?

Used to do / Be used to | Quiz

I used to do it, I am not used to it

Going to
I am going to do it

Future Time | Quiz

I will do it, I am going to do it, I am doing it, I do it
For & Since for Time | Quiz
for two days, since 1st April

Nouns
It's not easy to describe a noun. In simple terms, nouns are "things" (and verbs are
"actions"). Like food. Food (noun) is something you eat (verb). Or happiness.
Happiness (noun) is something you want (verb). Or human being. A human being
(noun) is something you are (verb).

What are Nouns?

The simple definition is: a person, place or thing
teacher, school, book

Countable Nouns, Uncountable Nouns

Why is this important? Why do some nouns have no plural?
dog/dogs, rice, hair(s)

Proper Nouns (Names)

Do we say "Atlantic Ocean" or "the Atlantic Ocean"? Should I write "february" or
"February"?
Shirley, Mr Jeckyll, Thailand, April, Sony

Possessive 's
Adding 's or ' to show possession.
John's car, my parents' house

Noun as Adjective
Sometimes we use a noun to describe another noun. In that case, the first noun is
"acting as" an adjective.
love story, tooth-brush, bathroom

Adjectives
An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. (By "noun" we include
pronouns and noun phrases.)

An adjective "qualifies" or "modifies" a noun (a big dog).

Adjectives can be used before a noun (I like Chinese food) or after certain verbs (It is
hard).

We can often use two or more adjectives together (a beautiful young French lady).

Determiners
the, a/an, this, some, any
Adjective Order (with Quiz)
beautiful, long, dark brown

Comparative Adjectives
richer, more exciting

Superlative Adjectives
the richest, the most exciting

It is sometimes said that the adjective is the

enemy of the noun. This is because, very
often, if we use the precise noun we don't
need an adjective. For example, instead of
saying "a large, impressive house" (2
adjectives + 1 noun) we could simply say "a
mansion" (1 noun).

see also:

Noun as Adjective
coffee cup, bus station, research centre

Adverbs
An adverb is a word that tells us more about a verb. An adverb "qualifies" or
"modifies" a verb (The man ranquickly). But adverbs can also modify adjectives
(Tara is really beautiful), or even other adverbs (It works very well).

Many different kinds of word are called adverbs. We can usually recognise an adverb
by its:

1. Function (Job)
2. Form
3. Position

1. Function

The principal job of an adverb is to modify (give more information about) verbs,
adjectives and other adverbs. In the following examples, the adverb is in bold and the
word that it modifies is in italics.

• Modify a verb:
- John speaks loudly. (How does John speak?)
- Mary lives locally. (Where does Mary live?)
- She never smokes. (When does she smoke?)

• Modify an adjective:
- He is reallyhandsome.
 • Modify another adverb:
- She drives incrediblyslowly.

But adverbs have other functions, too. They can:

• Modify a whole sentence:

- Obviously, I can't know everything.

• Modify a prepositional phrase:

- It's immediatelyinside the door.

2. Form

Many adverbs end in -ly. We form such adverbs by adding -ly to the adjective. Here
are some examples:

• quickly, softly, strongly, honestly, interestingly

But not all words that end in -ly are adverbs. "Friendly", for example, is an adjective.

Some adverbs have no particular form, for example:

• well, fast, very, never, always, often, still

3. Position

Adverbs have three main positions in the sentence:

• Front (before the subject):

- Now we will study adverbs.

• Middle (between the subject and the main verb):

- We often study adverbs.

• End (after the verb or object):

- We study adverbs carefully.

Adverbs of Frequency
always, sometimes, never...

Adverbs Quiz

English Pronouns
Pronouns are small words that take the place of a noun. We can use a pronoun instead
of a noun. Pronouns are words like: he, you, ours, themselves, some, each... If we
didn't have pronouns, we would have to repeat a lot of nouns. We would have to say
things like:
 • Do you like the president? I don't like the president. The president is
too pompous.

With pronouns, we can say:

• Do you like the president? I don't like him. He is too pompous.

Personal Pronouns
I, you, he, me, your, his...

Pronoun Case
subjective, objective, possessive

That's Not My Job!

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and
Nobody.

English Prepositions
A preposition is a word governing, and usually coming in front of, a noun or
pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element, as in:

• She left before breakfast.

• What did you come for?

(For what did you come?)

List of Prepositions

A Simple Rule for Prepositions

Prepositions of Place
at the bus stop, in the box, on the wall

Prepositions of Time
at Christmas, in May, on Friday

For a full list of 150 prepositions, including one-word and complex prepositions,
with 370 example sentences, try the English Club ebook English Prepositions
Listed.
Conjunctions
A conjunction is a word that "joins". A conjunction joins two parts of a sentence.

Here are some example conjunctions:

Coordinating Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions

and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so although, because, since, unless

We can consider conjunctions from three aspects.

Form

Conjunctions have three basic forms:

• Single Word
for example: and, but, because, although

• Compound (often ending with as or that)

for example: provided that, as long as, in order that

• Correlative (surrounding an adverb or adjective)

for example: so...that

Function

Conjunctions have two basic functions or "jobs":

• Coordinating conjunctions are used to join two parts of a sentence

that are grammatically equal. The two parts may be single words or clauses,
for example:
- Jack and Jill went up the hill.
- The water was warm, but I didn't go swimming.

• Subordinating conjunctions are used to join a subordinate dependent

clause to a main clause, for example:
- I went swimming although it was cold.

Position

• Coordinating conjunctions always come between the words or

clauses that they join.

• Subordinating conjunctions usually come at the beginning of the

subordinate clause.

In this lesson we will look in more detail at:

 • Coordinating Conjunctions
• Subordinating Conjunctions

Interjections
Hi! That's an interjection. :-)
Interjections like er and um are also known as
Interjection is a big name for a "hesitation devices". They are extremely
little word. Interjections are short common in English. People use them when
exclamations like Oh!, Um or Ah! they don't know what to say, or to indicate that
They have no real grammatical they are thinking about what to say. You
value but we use them quite often, should learn to recognize them when you hear
usually more in speaking than in them and realize that they have no real
writing. When interjections are meaning.
inserted into a sentence, they have no grammatical connection to the sentence. An
interjection is sometimes followed by an exclamation mark (!) when written.

The table below shows some interjections with examples.

interjection meaning example

expressing pleasure
expressing realization
ah
expressing resignation
expressing surprise
alas expressing grief or pity
expressing pity
dear
expressing surprise
asking for repetition
"Ah, that feels good."
"Ah, now I understand."
"Ah well, it can't be heped."
"Ah! I've won!"
"Alas, she's dead now."
"Oh dear! Does it hurt?"
"Dear me! That's a surprise!"
"It's hot today." "Eh?" "I said it's
hot today."

eh expressing enquiry "What do you think of that, eh?"

expressing surprise
inviting agreement
er expressing hesitation
expressing greeting
hello, hullo
expressing surprise
hey calling attention
"Eh! Really?"
"Let's go, eh?"
"Lima is the capital of...er...Peru."
"Hello John. How are you today?"
"Hello! My car's gone!"
"Hey! look at that!"
 expressing surprise, joy etc "Hey! What a good idea!"
hi expressing greeting "Hi! What's new?"
expressing hesitation, doubt or
hmm "Hmm. I'm not so sure."
disagreement
expressing surprise "Oh! You're here!"
oh, o expressing pain "Oh! I've got a toothache."
expressing pleading "Oh, please say 'yes'!"
ouch expressing pain "Ouch! That hurts!"
"Uh...I don't know the answer to
uh expressing hesitation
that."
uh-huh expressing agreement "Shall we go?" "Uh-huh."
um, umm expressing hesitation "85 divided by 5 is...um...17."
expressing surprise "Well I never!"
well
introducing a remark "Well, what did he say?"