English Grammar

English has seven main subject pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, and they. They tell us who or what the verb is about: She works here; They are ready. Unlike many languages, English normally requires an explicit subject—even in expressions such as It is raining.

The present tense of to be has three forms: am after I, is after he, she, it and singular nouns, and are after you, we, they and plural nouns. Use it to identify or describe someone or something, give a location, and talk about age, time, weather, or a current state: I'm a nurse, The keys are here, It's cold.

Use a or an for one non-specific member of a group: a car, an engineer. Use the when the listener or reader can identify the particular thing you mean: the car outside. Use no article for most plural and uncountable nouns when speaking generally: Dogs are friendly; Water is essential.

A singular noun names one person, thing, place, or idea; a plural noun usually names more than one. Most English plurals add -s (book → books) or -es (box → boxes), but some spellings change (city → cities, knife → knives) and some common nouns are irregular (child → children, person → people).

Use have after I, you, we, and they, but has after he, she, and it: I have time; she has time. For ordinary negatives and questions, modern English usually uses do/does: I don't have time; does she have time? British English also commonly uses have got for possession: She's got time.

Use the present simple for habits, repeated actions, facts, and fixed schedules: I walk to work, Water boils at 100°C, and The train leaves at six. Use the base form of the verb with I, you, we, and they, but normally add -s or -es with he, she, and it: I work but she works.

For most verbs, make the present simple negative with do not (don't) or does not (doesn't) followed by the base verb: I don't drive; She doesn't drive. Use don't with I, you, we, and they, and doesn't with he, she, and it. The main verb never takes -s after doesn't: He doesn't work, not He doesn't works.

For most present simple questions, put do or does before the subject (the person or thing that performs the action): Do you work here? Does Maya live nearby? Use does with he, she, it, and singular noun subjects; use do with I, you, we, they, and plural subjects. After do or does, use the base form of the main verb: Does she like it?, not Does she likes it?

English uses this and these for people or things understood as near, and that and those for people or things understood as farther away. This and that are singular; these and those are plural.

Use my, your, his, her, its, our, or their before a noun to identify who or what it belongs to: my phone, her idea, our room. Choose the form according to the owner, not the thing owned, and do not put a, an, or the before it. Remember that possessive its has no apostrophe; it's means it is or it has.

English object pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. They replace a person or thing that receives an action, and they also appear after prepositions: Maya called me. I spoke to her. This gift is for them. Do not use a subject form such as I or he in these positions.

Use there is to introduce one thing or an uncountable substance: There is a café nearby. There is some coffee left. Use there are to introduce more than one thing: There are two cafés nearby. For questions, reverse the order: Is there ...? Are there ...?

Use in for a place understood as an area or enclosed space, on for a surface, and at for a point or specific location: in the kitchen, on the table, at the station. Use under, behind, in front of, next to, and between to describe one thing's position in relation to another.

Use at for a precise point in time (at 8:00), on for a day or date (on Monday, on 12 May), and in for a month, year, season, or longer period (in July, in 2026). Use no preposition before this, next, last, or every: this morning, next week, last year, every Friday.

Use can + base verb to talk about ability or permission: I can swim and You can sit here. Can has the same form with every subject, and the next verb has no to or -s. Use can't or cannot for negatives, and put can before the subject in questions: Can you help me?

Use what, where, when, who, why, and how when you need information rather than a yes-or-no answer. In most questions, put the question word first, followed by an auxiliary verb (a helping verb), the subject, and the main verb: Where do you live? With be, put the form of be before the subject: Why are you late?

Use which to ask someone to choose from a limited or understood set: Which train should we take? Use how many with things you can count individually (How many tickets?) and how much with substances, ideas, or amounts not normally counted as separate units (How much water?). How much also asks about price: How much is it?

Cardinal numbers tell you how many: zero, one, two, three and so on. From 21 to 99, write a hyphen between the tens and ones when the last digit is not zero: twenty-one, fifty-five, but twenty and fifty. The standard beginner form for 100 is one hundred.

Ordinal numbers show a position in an order: first, second, third, fourth. The first three forms are irregular; most others are made with -th, with a few spelling changes such as fifth, eighth, ninth, and twelfth. In figures, they are written 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and only the final part of a compound number becomes ordinal: twenty-first (21st).

English commonly expresses a time in two ways: read the numbers in digital style (9:30 = nine thirty), or describe the minutes with past and to (9:30 = half past nine). Use o’clock only for an exact hour, and use at before the time of an event: The meeting is at 9:30.

English days and months always begin with a capital letter: Monday, August. Use on with a day or date (on Friday, on 12 August) and in with a month or year (in August, in 2027). British English normally puts the day before the month, while American English normally puts the month before the day.

An adjective describes a noun (a person, place, thing, or idea): a small cat, expensive shoes. English adjectives usually have one unchanged form, even when the noun is plural or refers to a different gender. They most often come before a noun (a fast car) or after be (The car is fast).

Put always, usually, often, rarely, and never before an ordinary main verb: I usually cook at home. Put them after the verb be: She is never late. Expressions such as every day and twice a week normally go at the beginning or end of the clause.

A countable noun can represent separate units and has singular and plural forms: a book, three books. An uncountable noun is normally treated as a mass, substance, activity, or general idea: water, music, advice. Use many with countable plurals, much with uncountable nouns, and do not put a/an directly before an uncountable noun.

Use some mainly in affirmative statements: We have some bread. Use any mainly in negatives and open questions: We don't have any bread. Is there any bread? Questions that offer or request something usually take some: Would you like some bread? Could I have some bread?

Use the base form of a verb, normally without a subject, to give a command or instruction: Open the door. Make it negative with don't + base verb: Don't open the door. Add please for a polite request, and use let's + base verb to suggest doing something together: Let's go.

Use and to add information, but to show contrast, or to offer alternatives, so to introduce a result, and because to introduce a reason. These words can connect words or larger parts of a sentence: tea and coffee; It was late, so we left.

The present continuous uses am, is, or are + the -ing form: I am reading, she is working, they are coming. Use it mainly for an action in progress now, a temporary situation around now, or a planned future arrangement. Compare I work here (a regular or lasting fact) with I’m working here this month (temporary).

Stative verbs describe a state—such as knowledge, preference, possession, or need—rather than an action in progress. They therefore usually take a simple tense: I know the answer, not I am knowing the answer. Some verbs can be stative in one meaning and dynamic (action-like) in another, so meaning matters more than the verb alone.

Add 's to a singular noun or a plural noun that does not end in s: Maya's coat, the children's toys. Add only an apostrophe after a regular plural ending in s: my parents' house. English often uses of instead for things and parts: the end of the movie.

Use the past simple for actions or situations that began and ended in the past. With a regular verb, add -ed to the base form: work → worked, play → played. The form is the same with every subject: I worked, she worked, and they worked.

Many common English verbs have a special past simple form instead of ending in -ed: go → went, see → saw, and take → took. The form stays the same with every subject, but questions and negatives normally use did + base form: Did she go? and She didn't go.

Use didn't + base verb for most past simple negatives: She didn't call. Use Did + subject + base verb? for most questions: Did she call? Because did already marks the past, never put the main verb in the past after did or didn't: say didn't go, not didn't went.

Was and were are the past forms of be. Use was with I, he, she, and it, and use were with you, we, and they: I was tired, but they were ready. In questions, put was/were before the subject; in negatives, add not.

The past continuous uses was/were + verb-ing: I was working; they were waiting. Use it mainly for an action that was in progress at a past time, for background events, or for an ongoing action interrupted by a shorter event: I was sleeping when you called.

The present perfect simple connects the past to the present. Form it with have/has + past participle: I have finished; she has arrived. Use it especially for past experiences without a finished time, recent events that matter now, and situations or time periods that continue up to now.

Use the past simple when an event belongs to a specific, finished past time: I lost my keys yesterday. Use the present perfect when a past event connects to now and no finished past time is given: I've lost my keys suggests that the present result matters—perhaps the keys are still missing. Words such as yesterday and ago point toward the past simple; ever, never, just, already, and yet commonly accompany the present perfect.

Use will + the base form of a verb to make predictions, decide something at the moment of speaking, and make offers or promises: It will rain, I'll call her, I'll help you. Will has the same form with every subject. The negative is will not or won't, and questions begin with will: Will they come?

Use be + going to + base verb for a future plan or intention that already exists (I'm going to study medicine) and for a prediction based on present evidence (Those clouds are dark; it's going to rain). Change be, not going to: I am going to leave; she is going to leave; they are going to leave.

Use a comparative to show that two people, things, places, or situations are different in some quality. Short adjectives usually take -er (taller than), while longer adjectives usually use more (more interesting than). You can also use less for a lower degree, and a few common words have irregular forms such as better and worse.

A superlative identifies one person or thing as having the highest or lowest degree of a quality within a group. Use the + adjective-est with most short adjectives (the tallest) and the most + adjective with most longer adjectives (the most beautiful). Important irregular forms include the best, the worst, and the furthest/farthest.

Use should for advice or a recommendation: You should rest. Use must for a strong obligation or necessity: You must wear a seatbelt. Mustn't means something is prohibited, while don't have to means it is optional: You mustn't leave and You don't have to leave have very different meanings.

Use have to + base verb when a rule, duty, plan, or situation makes something necessary: I have to work tomorrow. In the present, use has to with he, she, it, and make questions and negatives with do/does. Most importantly, don't have to means “it is not necessary”; it does not mean “you must not.”

Adverbs of manner tell us how an action happens: She speaks slowly, He works hard, and They sang beautifully. Many are formed by adding -ly to an adjective: quiet → quietly. Important exceptions include good → well, fast → fast, and hard → hard.

A relative clause describes or identifies a noun: the neighbour who plays the piano or the phone that I bought. Use who for people, which for things, and that for either people or things in an essential, identifying clause. Do not put commas around information that is needed to identify the noun.

Use the present perfect continuous for an activity connected to now: have/has been + verb-ing. It often shows that the activity began in the past and is still continuing (I have been waiting for an hour), or that a recent activity has a visible result now (Your hands are dirty—have you been gardening?). Use for with a length of time and since with a starting point.

Use the past perfect for an event that was already complete before another point or event in the past. Form it with had + past participle: When Maya arrived, the meeting had started. The meeting started first; Maya arrived later.

Use the first conditional for a future situation that you see as real or possible: if + present simple, will + base verb. For example, If it rains, I'll stay home. The condition can come first or second, but English normally does not use will directly after if in this pattern.

Use the second conditional for an unreal, imagined, or unlikely present or future situation: if + past simple, would + base verb. For example, If I had more time, I would learn Arabic. The past form does not usually describe past time here; it shows that the situation is distant from reality.

Use may, might, or could when something is possible but uncertain: The keys might be upstairs. Use must for a conclusion you believe is almost certainly true and can't for one you believe is impossible: She must be home; the lights are on. She can't be asleep; I can hear her talking.

The English passive uses a form of be + past participle: The door was locked. It puts the action or the person or thing affected by it in focus, while the doer can be omitted or added with by: The door was locked by the caretaker. The tense is shown by be; the past participle stays the same.

Reported speech tells someone what another person said without repeating the speaker's exact words. After a past reporting verb such as said or told, English commonly shifts the original tense one step into the past: “I am tired” becomes He said (that) he was tired. Pronouns, place words, and time expressions may also change to fit the new speaker's point of view.

To report a question, normally use ask followed by if/whether for a yes/no question or by the original question word for an information question. The reported clause uses statement word order: She asked where I lived, not where did I live. Because the sentence reports rather than directly asks the question, it normally has no question mark.

Use where to connect a place to what happens there, when to connect a time to an event, and whose to show possession: the café where we met, the year when I graduated, a writer whose books I love. Use commas when the clause only adds extra information; in a defining clause, you may omit an object who, which, or that, but never a subject relative pronoun.

Use used to + base verb for a past habit or state that is no longer true: I used to cycle to work; I used to be shy. Use would + base verb for repeated past actions, usually after the past time has been established: On Fridays, we would eat together. Be used to + noun or -ing form has a different meaning: something is familiar or normal to you.

Use the to-infinitive after verbs such as want, decide, and hope: I want to leave. Use the gerund after verbs such as enjoy, avoid, and suggest, and after prepositions: I enjoy reading; She is interested in learning. Some verbs allow both forms, sometimes with a change in meaning: stop smoking is not the same as stop to smoke.

Use too when a quality or amount goes beyond a useful or acceptable limit: This bag is too heavy. Use enough when the needed level or amount is reached: This bag is light enough to carry. Remember the basic order: too + adjective/adverb, adjective/adverb + enough, but enough + noun.

A phrasal verb combines a verb with a short word such as up, off, out, or in. Together, the words form one unit of meaning: give up means “stop trying,” and run out of means “use all of something.” Some combinations can separate (turn the light off), but others cannot (look after a child); with a separable verb, an object pronoun goes in the middle: turn it off.

The third conditional imagines a past that did not happen and its unreal past result: if + past perfect, would have + past participle. If I had known, I would have told you means that I did not know, so I did not tell you. It is especially useful for regrets, explanations, criticism, and speculation about different past outcomes.

Mixed conditionals connect an unreal condition in one time frame with its imagined result in another. The two central patterns are past condition → present result (If I had taken that job, I would live in Madrid now) and present condition → past result (If I were less shy, I would have spoken to her). Choose each verb form according to the time of its own clause, not according to a numbered “conditional type.”

Use wish or if only when reality is different from what you want. Use a past form for an unreal present (I wish I knew), the past perfect for regret about the past (I wish I had known), and would for a change you want or a complaint (I wish the neighbours would be quieter). If only uses the same patterns but usually expresses stronger emotion.

Use modal + have + past participle to judge, imagine, or evaluate a past situation: She must have forgotten expresses a strong conclusion, She might have forgotten expresses possibility, and She can't have forgotten expresses disbelief or impossibility. Should have usually looks back at an expected or desirable action, often one that did not happen: You should have called.

Use the future perfect to look back from a future point at something that will already be complete: I will have finished by 5 o'clock. Form it with will have + past participle (the verb form used in have finished, has written, and had gone). Words such as by, by the time, and before often identify the future deadline or reference point.

The future continuous has the form will be + verb-ing: At nine, I’ll be working. It presents an activity as already in progress at a future time, but it can also describe an expected event or ask politely about someone’s plans: Will you be using the car tonight?

English has several passive patterns beyond be + past participle. With some two-object verbs, either object can become the passive subject (She was given a refund / A refund was given to her); have/get + object + past participle means arranging a service or experiencing an event; and get + past participle often presents a change or event in a more informal, dynamic way (The window got broken).

A cleft sentence divides one simple message into two clauses so that one part receives special focus. Instead of neutral John broke the window, you can say It was John who broke the window to stress John, or What John broke was the window to stress the window. Common patterns begin with it, what, all, or a phrase such as the reason.

A participle clause uses an -ing form, a past participle such as built or chosen, or a perfect form such as having finished. It can shorten a relative clause or express circumstances such as time, reason, result, or condition. Its understood subject normally has to be the same as the subject of the main clause: Having finished work, I went home means that I finished the work.

When a negative or limiting expression begins a clause, formal English often puts the auxiliary verb before the subject: I have never seen it becomes Never have I seen it. If the ordinary sentence has no auxiliary, use do, does, or did: She rarely complains becomes Rarely does she complain. This marked word order adds emphasis and is especially common in formal writing, speeches, and dramatic storytelling.

The English subjunctive is a verb form used mainly for demands, recommendations, necessities, and unreal situations. Its clearest patterns are the unchanged base verb in They demanded that she leave and were for every person in formal hypotheticals: If I were you. It also survives in expressions such as if need be and come what may.

English often expresses modal meanings without a single modal verb. Be bound to predicts a nearly certain result; be supposed to and be meant to describe expectations or intended purposes; formal be to presents an arrangement or instruction; would rather states a preference; and had better gives strong advice or a warning. Their forms look familiar, but their tense patterns, strength, and register differ.

English reporting passives present information without naming the person or source responsible for it. The two main patterns are It + passive reporting verb + that-clause (It is believed that the plan will work) and subject + passive reporting verb + to-infinitive (The plan is believed to work). The infinitive can change form—to be working, to have worked, or to have been working—to show the timing and development of the reported situation.

Discourse markers show how one statement relates to another: nevertheless signals an unexpected contrast, moreover adds support, and consequently introduces a result. Advanced markers are not interchangeable simply because their dictionary definitions look similar; each has its own grammar, punctuation, and level of formality.

English avoids unnecessary repetition by omitting information that is clear from context or replacing it with a short form. It often keeps an auxiliary verb (a helping verb such as be, have, do, or can): Maya can swim, and I can too. Agreement can also use inversion: So can I and Neither can Ben. Forms such as I hope so, if not, and do so replace whole actions or ideas.

A nominal clause is a clause that fills a position often filled by a noun phrase: What matters is your health; I know what you mean; the problem is that we are late. Common types begin with that, a wh-word, or whether/if. In embedded questions, use statement word order—not direct-question order: I wonder where she is, not I wonder where is she.

Hedging makes a claim appropriately cautious rather than completely certain: The evidence suggests that... is less absolute than The evidence proves that... English speakers hedge with modal verbs, verbs such as seem and tend, degree words such as somewhat, and frames such as It could be argued that... A good hedge shows the actual limits of a claim; it should not simply make every sentence vague.

Advanced phrasal verbs often combine a verb with two short words: come up with, put up with, look forward to, and get away with. Learn each combination as a complete unit, because its meaning and grammar are not reliably predictable from the individual words. Most three-part phrasal verbs are inseparable: say put up with the noise, not put the noise up with.

Literary English uses ordinary tense and aspect forms in unusually deliberate ways: the historical present makes past events feel immediate, while perfect and progressive forms control viewpoint, duration, and sequence. Older texts also contain forms such as thou hast, he doth, and thou shalt. Most archaic forms are essential for recognition but inappropriate in neutral modern prose.

Archaic English belongs mainly to older texts, historical settings, religious language, and deliberate stylistic imitation; legal English remains active in contracts, statutes, and official notices. A C2 learner should be able to decode forms such as hereby, thereof, wherein, thou, and hath without treating them as normal modern conversation. In legal writing, interpret each expression from its exact context rather than assuming that an old-looking word is merely decorative.

English has no single grammar shared identically by every speaker. British and American standards differ in several ordinary constructions, while regional dialects use systematic forms such as ain't, y'all, negative concord, and innit. At C2, the goal is not to erase these differences but to recognise what a form communicates about region, community, formality, and speaker identity—and to choose forms appropriate to your own context.

Rhetorical devices shape how a message sounds and how an audience responds. English speakers may ask a question without expecting an answer, soften praise through a negative, exaggerate for emphasis, or arrange matching and contrasting structures so that an idea becomes memorable. At C2, the main challenge is not identifying a pattern but judging its implied meaning, tone, and suitability for the situation.

Academic and formal English presents claims precisely, shows how strong the evidence is, and makes relationships between ideas explicit. It often uses passive constructions, cautious wording, and nominalization, but good formal writing is not simply longer or more impersonal: clarity, accuracy, and an appropriate register matter more than complexity.

Advanced idioms are largely fixed expressions whose intended meaning cannot always be worked out from the individual words. To use them naturally, learn each idiom as a complete phrase together with its typical grammar, situation, tone, and common word partners: The negotiations are at sixes and sevens means that they are confused or badly organized, not that they involve numbers.

A collocation is a combination of words that English speakers conventionally use together. English says make a decision, heavy rain, pose a threat, and draw a conclusion; a different partner may be grammatically possible but sound unnatural or change the meaning. At C2, mastery means choosing not only a correct combination but also one that fits the topic, tone, and degree of formality.

Register is the variety of language chosen for a particular social situation. Effective speakers and writers do not simply choose between “formal” and “informal”: they adjust vocabulary, grammar, directness, detail, and tone for the audience, purpose, relationship, and medium. At C2, success means sounding appropriately precise and natural—not maximally formal.