All English topics in order. Basic rules of English grammar

We present to you the first article in the “English Grammar for Beginners” series. In this series of materials, we decided to present all the rules briefly and in simple words, so that beginners “from scratch” or those who do not remember the basics of English well can independently figure out the grammar, understand it and apply it in practice.

Plural in English

In English, as in Russian, all words are divided into countable and uncountable. This is important to understand when forming the plural of a word. Countable nouns denote those objects that can be counted, for example: table (table), book (book), apple (apple). Uncountable nouns are abstract concepts, liquids, products, etc., that is, things that cannot be counted. For example: knowledge, water, meat, flour. These words have no plural or singular.

Countable nouns can be used in singular or plural. A singular noun denotes one thing; this is the form of the word that is indicated in the dictionary: apple - apple. A plural noun denotes several objects: apples - apples.

How to form the plural of nouns:

Usually the plural of nouns is formed by adding the ending -s to the word: book – books (book – books). However, there are several spelling features:

• If the word ends in -o, -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, then add the ending -es: hero – heroes (hero – heroes), bus – buses (bus – buses).

  Exceptions: photo - photos (photo - photographs), video - videos (video recording - video recordings), radio - radios (radio - several radios), rhino - rhinos (rhino - rhinoceroses), piano - pianos (piano - several pianos), hippo - hippos (hippopotamus – hippopotamuses).

• If the word ends in -f, -fe, then change the ending to -ves: knife – knives, leaf – leaves, wife – wives.

  Exceptions: roof - roofs (roof - roofs), giraffe - giraffes (giraffe - giraffes), cliff - cliffs (cliff - cliffs).

• If a word ends in -y, preceded by a consonant, then we change -y to -ies: body – bodies (body – bodies).
• If the word ends in -y, preceded by a vowel, then add the ending -s: boy – boys (boy – boys).

In English there is also exception words, which form the plural irregularly. You just need to learn such words by heart; fortunately, there are not very many of them.

Try our test to see how well you have understood the material.

English Plural Noun Test

Articles in English

There are two types of articles in English: definite and indefinite. They are not translated into Russian. In the vast majority of cases, one of these articles must be placed before a singular noun.

The indefinite article a/an is used only with singular countable nouns: a girl, a pen. If a word begins with a consonant sound, we write the article a (a girl), and if the word begins with a vowel sound, we write the article an (an apple).

The indefinite article a/an is used in the following cases:

• We name any indefinite object, and we have only one, which is why we use the article a, which comes from the word one (one):

  It is a book. - This is a book.

• We mention the subject for the first time in speech:

  I see a shop. - I see (some, one of many) store.

• We talk about a person’s profession or indicate his belonging to a certain group:

  He is a teacher. - He is a teacher.
  She is a student. - She is a student.

We use the definite article the when we are talking about a specific object that is familiar to us. This article can appear before a singular or plural noun.

The definite article the is used in the following cases:

• We have already mentioned the subject earlier in our speech:

  I see a shop. The shop is big. - I see a store. (This) store is big.

  It is believed that the definite article came from the word that (that), therefore it is intended to indicate some specific object familiar to the interlocutors.

• We are talking about an object that in this context is one of a kind and cannot be confused with something else:

  Honey, I'm washing the car. - Honey, I'm washing the car. (the family has one car, so we are talking about a specific item)
  Look at the girl in the red dress. - Look at the girl in the red dress. (we point to a specific girl in a specific dress)

• We are talking about a one-of-a-kind object, there is no other like it: the sun, the moon, the world, the President of France, etc.:

  The earth is our home. - Earth is our home.

Verb to be

There is always a verb in an English sentence. And if in Russian we can say “I am a doctor”, “Mary is beautiful”, “We are in the hospital”, then in English this is unacceptable: in all these cases the verb to be must appear after the subject. Therefore, you can remember a simple rule: if there are no ordinary verbs in a sentence, then the verb to be is needed.

The verb to be has three forms:

• Am is added to the pronoun I when we talk about ourselves:

  I am beautiful. - I am beautiful.

• Is is placed after the pronouns he, she, it:

  She is beautiful. - She's beautiful.

• Are is used after you, we, they:

  You are beautiful. - You are handsome.

The verb to be in English is most often used in the following cases:

• We inform you that by whom is a person (name, profession, etc.):

  I am a doctor. - I am doctor.

• We inform you that what a person or thing has a quality:

  Mary is beautiful. - Mary is beautiful.

• We inform you that Where there is a person or object:

  We are at the hospital. - We're in the hospital.

Sentences with the verb to be in the present tense are constructed as follows:

We think you are now ready to take the test and test your knowledge.

Test for the use of the verb to be

Present Continuous Tense - present continuous tense

Present Continuous Tense most often shows that an action is happening at the moment.

Every English sentence has a subject and a predicate. In the Present Continuous, the predicate consists of the auxiliary verb to be in the required form (am, is, are) and the main verb without the particle to, to which we add the ending -ing (playing, reading).

She is playing tennis now. - She is now plays to tennis.
I am reading a novel at the moment. - I'm currently I'm reading novel.

The verb to be in this tense is an auxiliary verb, that is, it is a word that comes before the main verb (playing, reading) and helps to form tense. You will find auxiliary verbs in other tenses; these types of verbs include to be (am, is, are), do/does, have/has, will.

Please note the following tense words Present Continuous: now (now), at the moment (at the moment), today (today), tonight (tonight), these days (these days), currently (these days), at present (currently), still (still).

Affirmative sentences in the Present Continuous are formed as follows:

Usually in this tense you just need to add the ending -ing to the main verb: walk – walking (walk), look – looking (look). But some verbs change like this:

• If the verb ends in -e, we remove the -e and add -ing: write – writing, dance – dancing.

  Exception: see – seeing (to see).

• If the verb ends in -ie, we change -ie to -y and add -ing: lie – lying (lie), die – dying (die).
• If the verb ends with a stressed syllable with a short vowel that occurs between two consonants, the final consonant is doubled by adding -ing: begin – beginning (begin), swim – swimming (swim).

In negative sentences in the Present Continuous, you just need to insert the particle not between to be and the main verb.

She isn't cooking at the moment. - At the moment she doesn't cook.
You are not listening to me now. - You don't listen me now.

In interrogative sentences in the Present Continuous, you need to put the verb to be in the first place, and after it put the subject and the main verb.

Is she cooking at the moment? - She trains At the moment?
Are you listening to me now? - You me now are you listening?

Now we suggest you take a test on the use of Present Continuous tense.

Test for the use of Present Continuous

We have presented you with the first 5 basic topics of the English language. Now your task is to thoroughly understand them and work through them as productively as possible with the help of exercises. In order not to burden you with a large amount of grammar at once, we will release the next article in this series in a few weeks. Subscribe to our newsletter, then you will definitely not miss important information. We wish you success in learning English!

What does English grammar look like by level?

In this post we will discuss in detail what grammar is covered at different levels of learning English - from beginner to advanced. Let's see examples of this grammar and do a little test.

Just in case, let me remind you that grammar is just one aspect of language learning. Necessary, useful, yes. But far from the only one.

How nice it would be if I learned grammar and, consider myself, mastered English))

English grammar by level

You will see that the same grammar is often repeated at different levels. Read more about why this happens. In short:

• not all grammatical structures are learned the first time (repetition is the mother of learning)))
• at low levels phenomena are considered separately from each other, and at higher levels they are compared with each other
• As the level of English improves, it turns out that each grammatical structure has nuances and subtleties, which insidious teachers are silent about for the time being, so as not to create confusion

English grammar by level - in different textbooks - looks approximately the same. Therefore, I will take as a basis one of the most popular textbooks - English File.

By the way, this English grammar by levels can be a kind of test. Look at any section and see if you understand sentences with grammar examples? But - more importantly - do you use such constructions in your speech? If not, it may not be your level yet. If yes, go to the next level and do the same.

English grammar by level - a short way to the desired section:

Beginner/Starter level grammar

The Beginner level covers the basics - the simplest constructions. At the same time, they are also the most important, because all the complex grammar of higher levels will be based on them.

At this level, a lot of attention is paid to forms - again, to achieve a certain automaticity in simple things, like I am, you are, he is. Grammatical constructions at the Beginner level are mainly treated separately from each other to avoid confusion of comparisons and nuances.

Elementary level grammar

The Elementary level is very similar to the previous level. I will say more, often instead of Beginner, my students and I take on Elementary right away, we just go through it a little more carefully.

The Elementary grammar is almost identical to the grammar of the previous level.

Pre-intermediate level grammar

At the Pre-intermediate level they are already beginning to compare different designs with each other and find out the nuances. Why is it better to say somewhere I study economics, and somewhere - I"m studying economics.

Intermediate grammar

At the Intermediate level, they also compare already familiar phenomena with each other and, of course, study new ones.

Upper-intermediate grammar

By the advanced Upper-intermediate level, enlightenment usually sets in; the basics have already been covered. All that remains is to repeat them a little and move on to the interesting and subtleties of grammar.

Advanced Grammar

That's all English grammar by levels.

Does English grammar really end after the Advanced level? No, of course)) If you look at the levels, there is also the Proficiency level, but the line of conversation courses really ends at the Advanced level.

Perhaps this is because:

• even an ambitious user of English rarely needs a level higher than Advanced (not to mention the average learner who stays in the Intermediate area)
• at high levels, people already know how to find the necessary authentic materials on their own and independently organize their training
• at high levels, many people think about a more practical and targeted use of English - for example, preparation for international exams (IELTS, TOEFL and others) or specialized courses in the profession

And there are still a lot of subtleties left even after the Advanced level!

How do you like English grammar by levels?

Did you manage to determine your level with its help? Share in the comments!

Any discipline studied, simple or complex, cannot do without a basic structure, without a core. In a language, this is grammar, and in grammar, the rules are the core. In this article I will try to talk at least a little about such a vast and complex issue as the rules of English grammar, of which there are a lot, as well as exceptions. We will focus on the most important ones.

There is no need to blindly cram the rules, and it is useless, you just need to understand the grammar. Having an idea of ​​the system and structure of the language, understanding its means and mechanisms, the basic rules with which it operates, you will be able to hone your practical skills, and sometimes consult reference books to clarify some points, or when your intuition does not tell you the correct answer.

If you periodically have doubts about the correct use of numbers, choice of words, their order, then take a look at the code of laws of English grammar. This article will help you resolve doubts about mastering difficult or problematic aspects of the English language. I have chosen the most common grammatical problems faced by people who decide to learn a foreign language.

Articles - three special words in English

In English, special words are used - articles. There are only two of them - the definite article the and the indefinite article a (an is placed before nouns starting with a vowel). In most cases, this function word is placed only before nouns. The indefinite article is applied exclusively to singular countable nouns, while the definite article is used when using nouns, both singular and plural, regardless of whether they are countable or not.

There are cases when the article is not used at all. They need to be remembered.

So, the article is not used at all if the noun is preceded by:

cardinal number (one, two, three);

There are ten boys in the team - there are ten boys in the team.

possessive or demonstrative pronoun (this, our, that, my, etc.);

My flat is not big, but modern - My apartment is small, but modern.

another noun in the possessive case (my sister’s, Sam’s etc.);

negation of “no” (not “not”!).

I have no book - I don’t have a book.

Note: if a noun in the possessive case serves as an adjective in a sentence, the use of an article in this case is possible.

It’s a children’s room (children’s room).

The article is not placed before uncountable nouns that denote an abstract concept or an indefinite amount of substance.

I don’t like milk, I prefer juice. — I don’t like milk, I prefer juice (juice, milk - in general)

Kindness is one of the most important things in the world. — Kindness is one of the most important things in the world (kindness is an abstract concept).

The article is not used with the names of sports:

I am fond of box, and my sister prefers sport dancing. — I love boxing, and my sister prefers sports dancing.

The article is not placed before proper names (exceptions include some geographical names).

The order of sentence construction

In Russian, the meaning of what is said does not depend on the sequence of words. The meaning of a phrase or proposition is not affected in any way by the order in which the words are placed. In English, there is its own order of constructing phrases and sentences, compliance with which is mandatory, otherwise the meaning of what was said will be different or the sentence will simply lose its meaning and form.

So, the correct sequence of words is:

The Subject always comes first, followed by the Predicate, then the Object - What? Circumstances - Where and When, and Definition - Which? is placed between the article and the word that it defines: The green room...

The possessive case of the word (Whose?) determines the following noun and is always placed in preposition (in front of) the defined noun. The analogue in Russian is a possessive adjective or genitive case: children’s room - children’s room or children’s room.

But definitions in English are also arranged in a certain order. To remember their sequence, you need to learn the word “OPSHACOM”, which is consonant with the Russian “OBSHCHAK”. The basis of this word is made up of the first letters of the definitions in the required sequence:

• Opinion - opinion
• Shape - form
• Age - age
• COlour - color
• Material - material

Indefinite adverbs and adverbs of frequency are set in preposition with respect to the main verb, but in postposition with respect to “to be”, as well as in postposition of the first auxiliary verbs and the second “have”. Unclear? That's it for now. As soon as you encounter such adverbs, remember this rule.

It is worth remembering the “one-time rule”: in a simple sentence, any grammatical unit can be used once, and the closer to the beginning of the proposition, the more correct and better. Also, negation is used only once. And in complex polyfunctional units after the past tense, only the past and no other is used.

Indefinite present tense

This tense is used to show an action that is constantly being performed in the present or to express generally accepted truths. For example: In the morning I wash my face/Every morning I wash up or The moon shines at night.

The infinitive form agrees with the Present Indefinite, eliminating "to" in all persons except the third person singular, which takes the ending "-s (-es)". In this case, this ending is pronounced differently:

• After vowels and voiced consonants - [z] - writes
• After voiceless consonants - [s] - tells
• After whistling and hissing sounds, as well as letter combinations ss, sh, ch, x - [iz] - washes

The same rule applies to the plural of nouns.

By the way, about nouns. The word “FAMILY” is a collective concept that is combined with the plural if it means “all family members”, as well as with the third person singular form of the verb if it means “Family” as a single whole. All combinations of similar verb forms obey this rule: team, group, etc.

Don't forget that the word "POLICE" is constantly used together with plural verbs. And the words “Advice”, “Information” and “News” are uncountable nouns that are combined exclusively with verbs of 3 l. units

Questions

There are two types of unusual questions in English. So we'll talk about them.

The first type is choice or alternative questions (either/or, or/or). In this case, the word order corresponds to the basic rules: Do you like cold tea or hot? But as an alternative, there are some features:

In infinitive structures, "to" is placed only before the first initial form

The article is retained in definitions for one noun, which is in the singular.

When using the noun that came first, the other one is replaced by “ONE”: Do you like a big apple or little one? Instead of the second word “apple” we use “ONE”

When selecting the entire sentence, “NOT” is applied: Do you want the toy or NOT?/Do you want the toy or not?

The second type is Connection (division) questions. The table shows its structure:

Accent

Well, with monosyllabic words everything is clear. Now let's look at the grammar of disyllabic and complex lexical units. In two-syllable and three-syllable words, the stress is on the first syllable, in most cases. But in complex words, where there are two or more stems, the first word acquires greater intonation, that is, emphasis.

In recent years, learning English has become so popular that some are sometimes even surprised that someone does not know it. This is not surprising, since English can be considered the most “international”, it is spoken in almost all countries of the world (of course, in addition to the native language). Those who want further career prospects for themselves strive to learn it first, and only then can they start learning other languages ​​if they wish. Of course, this is not easy, because the rules of the English language, its grammar, are strikingly different from those inherent in a person’s native language. And, in addition to them, you need to learn many foreign words in order to be able to express yourself in such a way that you are understood. But let’s assume that you have already started studying a long time ago, and you need a list of the most common mistakes made when speaking or writing text. We suggest you take note of the basic rules of the English language, in which mistakes are most often made.

1. Verbs Present Simple (present indefinite tense): they are used when we are talking about any action (I do - I do) that occurs in general. For example: I drive a bus - I drive a bus. That is, this action does not necessarily happen at this moment, it happens in general, constantly. Remember that such verbs are used in their “pure” form only in relation to the pronouns I, we, you, they (I, we, you, they). With the pronouns he, she, it (he, she, it), the ending -s- is added to the verbs, for example: Henry works in a bank - Henry works in a bank.
2. The rules of the English language state that the auxiliary verb will (not translated in this case), which serves to form the future tense, is not used with words such as while, when, after, before, as soon as, till, until - then while, when, after, before, as soon as, while, until.
3. to and must, despite the similarity of meaning, still differ in meaning. Thus, I have to do it means “I must/forced to do this,” and I must to do it should be understood as “I am obliged to do this.”
4. Studying further the rules of the English language, please note that verbs ending in -ing- are used before at, in, of, with, for, instead of, about, in spite of (in, in, from, with, to, a, approximately , despite) and after after, before (after, before). For example: are you interested in reading of this book - are you interested in reading this book?

In addition, you need to remember about the correct construction of sentences. We are accustomed to the fact that the Russian language is so great and powerful that it allows arbitrary rearrangement of words among themselves, and the meaning of the sentence will not change and will be understandable. In English, everything is not like that: if you rearrange it as you please, you will get nothing more than an ordinary set of words that have no connection. It is for this reason that it is important to learn the rules of the English language, in which there are nine types of sentences, each of which is constructed according to its own laws. The classification of species is as follows:

1) narrative (subject - simple predicate - other parts of speech);

2) interrogative (constructed based on the expected answer: general questions, which can be answered “yes, no”; special ones, requiring only a complete answer; questions of choice; divisive ones, consisting of a sentence and the question itself);

3) imperative (the only one that does not have a subject);

4) exclamations (in structure identical to narrative ones, but with greater expression and intonation);

5) negative (have only one negative);

6) answers to questions (based on the question asked);

7) (nominal and verbal, for example: it is cold - cold, or it’s getting warm - it becomes warm);

8) vaguely personal (one can do it easily - it can be done easily);

9) complex sentences (consist of several independent clauses).

Of course, all this is just a brief basics of the English language, because in fact there are much more rules. But, as you know, nothing is impossible. Therefore, if the desire to learn English is very strong, in addition to the rules, do not forget that you need to communicate in this language. The fact is that, having learned a language only on paper, you will hardly be able to understand it in spoken language without practice. If you have no one to communicate in English, the solution is simple: watch films without translation and try to catch intonations, peculiarities of pronunciation of words and other nuances. This way you will begin to think faster and, therefore, speak English as fluently as possible.

“I don’t want to speak intelligently. I want to speak like a lady,” these words belong to Eliza Doolittle, the heroine of Bernard Shaw’s famous play “Pygmalion.”

Eliza may not have wanted to learn to speak correctly, but without grammar she would not have been able to speak at all. We are now talking about grammar as a system of words and syntactic structures inherent in a particular language. Grammar in this sense is “our main asset,” emphasized Eliza’s mentor, Professor Henry Higgins.

But this is not the only definition of grammar. The systematic study and description of a language or group of languages ​​is also grammar, descriptive grammar. Professor Higgins was mainly concerned with just one aspect of it - phonetics, or the study of speech sounds. Henry Higgins recorded the conversation of ordinary people in his notebook - this is a very accurate image of what descriptive grammar is.

And yet, for most, “speaking like a lady” means speaking correctly, as prescribed, speaking in accordance with the linguistic norm. Bernard Shaw spoke about the importance of prescriptive grammar when he wrote in the preface to Pygmalion: “The English do not respect their native language and stubbornly refuse to teach their children to speak it.” It is about the need for a prescriptive approach that Rex Harrison, who played the role of Professor Higgins in the musical “My Fair Lady,” said: “And there are places where our language has already been reduced to nothing. It hasn’t been in use in America for God knows how long!”

Why do we need to learn English grammar?

Grammar is a tool that can be used to describe any language. Grammar gives names to the words and word groups that make up sentences. Already in early childhood we learn to compose sentences - the grammar of our native language is subject to everyone. Studying English at school, university, with a tutor or on the Internet, we are faced with the need to once again independently and consciously go through this path. And here we need to have an idea of ​​the types of words and phrases and how they form sentences.

Literate people are more likely to succeed in relationships with the opposite sex
According to an online survey in which 1,700 people took part, 43% of users on dating sites consider a low level of literacy to be a significant disadvantage to attractiveness.
More than a third (35%) say literacy is sexy. The survey also showed that women are more demanding of their partner’s literacy than men (Michael Sebastian, “43 Percent of Singles Say Bad Grammar Is a Turnoff”).

Parts of speech in English grammar

Depending on their function in a sentence, words are assigned to one or another part of speech. There are 8 parts of speech in English. Just by learning their names, you certainly will not become an English grammar professor. But you will have a basic understanding of the English language and will be ready to start reading other articles on our site - and these articles will help you make significant progress in learning English grammar.

Remember: if a sentence consists of one word, only an interjection can act as this word.

Other parts of speech - nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions - appear in combinations. To understand which part of speech a word belongs to, we must look not only at the word itself, but also at its meaning, place and role in the sentence.

Let's consider three proposals:

1. Jim showed up for work two hours late. (Jim showed up at work two hours late).
   Here work is what Jim came to work for.
2. He will not have to work overtime. (He will have to work overtime).
   And here work is the action that Jim will carry out.
3. His work permit expires in March. (His work permit expires in March.)
   Finally, here work denotes the attribute of the noun permit.

In the first sentence the word work acts as a noun, in the second as a verb, and in the third as an adjective.

We hope you are not confused yet? Let's see what functions the 8 parts of speech perform in English.

NB! Articles (the, a/an) were once considered a separate part of speech. Nowadays they are more often classified as defining words or determiners.

What do we use to make proposals?

TOP 18 grammatical terms with film examples

Brush up on your English grammar with memorable quotes from your favorite movies and show off your knowledge in an interview or exam! We have compiled a “dossier” on 18 of the most common grammatical terms with rather unusual examples:

1. Active voice - Active Voice

A form of a verb that denotes an action performed by the subject (that is, the main character of the sentence, expressed by the subject). In other words, we are talking about how someone does something, produces, accomplishes something, that is, acts actively.

This construction is the opposite of the passive (passive) voice (see below).