The verb be: am, is, are
Use am, is and are to say who people are, where they are and how they feel.
16 questions · 10 min
Grammar Lessons
Short explanations with examples, then two sets of exercises with answer checking.
36 lessons
Present simple for routines
Talk about daily routines, habits and facts with the present simple, including do, does, don't and doesn't.
16 questions · 10 min
There is and there are
Say what is in a room, a street or a town with there is and there are.
16 questions · 10 min
Plural nouns
Make nouns plural with -s, -es and -ies, and learn common irregular plurals.
16 questions · 10 min
Possessives: my, your and 's
Show who things belong to with my, your, his, her, our, their and 's.
16 questions · 10 min
Can and can't for ability
Say what people are able to do, ask about abilities and give short answers.
16 questions · 10 min
Past simple: regular and irregular verbs
Talk about finished actions in the past with regular -ed verbs, common irregular verbs and did.
16 questions · 12 min
Present simple or present continuous
Choose between the present simple for habits and facts and the present continuous for actions happening now.
16 questions · 12 min
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Compare two or more things with forms like cheaper, more interesting, the biggest and the best.
16 questions · 12 min
Countable and uncountable nouns: some, any, much, many
Learn which nouns you can count and when to use some, any, much, many and a lot of.
16 questions · 12 min
Future with going to and will
Talk about plans, predictions, offers, promises and quick decisions with going to and will.
16 questions · 12 min
Present perfect with ever and never
Talk about life experiences with have or has and a past participle, and ask questions with ever.
16 questions · 12 min
Present perfect or past simple?
Learn when to talk about a finished time in the past and when to connect the past with now.
16 questions · 15 min
First and second conditionals
Talk about real possibilities in the future and imaginary situations in the present.
16 questions · 15 min
The passive: present and past
Use the passive when the action or result is more important than the person who does it.
16 questions · 15 min
Relative clauses: who, which, that, where
Join ideas and give more information about people, things and places in one sentence.
16 questions · 15 min
Obligation and advice: must, have to, should
Say what is necessary, what is not necessary, what is not allowed and what is a good idea.
16 questions · 15 min
Verb + -ing or to + infinitive
Learn which verbs are followed by an -ing form and which are followed by to + infinitive.
16 questions · 15 min
Third and mixed conditionals
Imagine a different past, and connect past events with present results.
16 questions · 15 min
Past perfect simple and continuous
Show which past event happened first, and talk about activities in progress before a past moment.
16 questions · 15 min
Reported speech
Report other people's statements, questions and requests, and know when the tense changes.
16 questions · 15 min
Have something done and advanced passives
Talk about jobs other people do for you, and use passives with modals, perfect and continuous tenses.
16 questions · 20 min
Wishes and regrets: wish and if only
Talk about things you would like to be different now, regrets about the past, and habits that annoy you.
16 questions · 15 min
Contrast: although, despite, however, whereas
Connect contrasting ideas accurately, with the right grammar and punctuation for each linker.
16 questions · 15 min
Inversion after negative and restrictive adverbials
Put the auxiliary before the subject after expressions such as hardly, not until and under no circumstances.
16 questions · 22 min
Cleft sentences for emphasis
Use it-clefts and what-clefts to focus on the most important part of a sentence.
16 questions · 20 min
Modal perfects: speculating about the past
Use must have, can't have, might have and should have to judge past events with the right degree of certainty.
16 questions · 22 min
Participle clauses and reduced clauses
Make writing tighter with -ing, -ed and perfect participle clauses, and avoid dangling participles.
16 questions · 22 min
Ellipsis and substitution
Avoid repetition with so, not, do so, one/ones, reduced infinitives and auxiliary-only replies.
16 questions · 20 min
The subjunctive and formal hypothetical forms
Use the base-form subjunctive, were, and past forms for unreal present meaning in formal and elevated English.
16 questions · 22 min
The mandative subjunctive and formulaic subjunctives
Use the bare-form subjunctive after verbs and adjectives of demand, and recognise fixed phrases such as come what may.
16 questions · 25 min
Inversion after negative adverbials, so and such
Put the auxiliary before the subject after negative and restrictive openings and after so and such.
16 questions · 25 min
Fronting for emphasis and concession
Move words to the front for emphasis, and express concession with forms such as Strange as it may seem.
16 questions · 25 min
Nominalisation in academic style
Turn verbs and adjectives into nouns to make writing denser, more abstract and more formal.
16 questions · 25 min
Ellipsis and substitution in discourse
Avoid repetition with so, not, one, do so and reduced clauses, and know which omissions sound natural.
16 questions · 25 min
Unreal past forms and inverted conditionals
Use past forms for present or future unreality and drop if by inverting should, were and had.
16 questions · 25 min
Original lessons by Joy English. Levels are suggestions.