English Grammar for IELTS

An auxiliary verb, or "helping verb", is a verb used together with a main verb to form tenses, questions, negatives and passives. English has three primary auxiliaries (be, have, do) and modal auxiliaries (can, will, must, should, and others). They add grammatical meaning such as time, possibility or emphasis rather than describing the main action itself.

An action verb is a word that expresses a physical or mental action performed by a subject, such as run, write, think or decide. Unlike stative verbs, which describe states, feelings or conditions, action verbs show something happening: an activity, movement, process or thought that a person, animal or thing does.

Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs, such as can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will and would, that combine with a main verb to express ideas like ability, permission, possibility, obligation or advice. They do not change form for person or tense and are followed directly by the base form of the verb, without "to".

Transitive and intransitive verbs are two categories that describe whether a verb needs a direct object to complete its meaning. A transitive verb passes its action onto an object, for example "She read the book." An intransitive verb makes complete sense alone, for example "The baby slept," with no object required.

A phrasal verb is a verb combined with one or two particles (a preposition, an adverb, or both) that together create a meaning different from the original verb. For example, "give up" means "to stop trying", not simply "give" plus "up". Phrasal verbs are common in spoken and informal written English.

Linking verbs are verbs that connect the subject of a sentence to a word or phrase describing or renaming it, called the subject complement. Unlike action verbs, they show a state of being rather than an action. Common examples include "be", "seem", "become" and sensory verbs like "look" and "feel", as in "She seems tired."

A gerund is a verb form ending in "-ing" that functions as a noun in a sentence. It can act as a subject, object or complement, for example "swimming", "reading" or "travelling". Although it looks like a verb, a gerund behaves grammatically like a noun, naming an action, activity or state.

A finite verb shows tense, agrees with its subject in person and number, and can stand alone as the main verb of a sentence, for example "she walks". A non-finite verb has no tense and does not agree with a subject; it appears as an infinitive, gerund or participle, for example "to walk", "walking", "walked" used without a subject.

Regular and irregular verbs are two groups of verbs classified by how they form their past tense and past participle. Regular verbs add "-ed" (walk, walked, walked), following a predictable pattern. Irregular verbs change form in unpredictable ways (go, went, gone), so their past tense and participle must be learned individually rather than by a fixed rule.

Kinds of verbs refers to the different categories verbs fall into based on the job they do in a sentence. The main kinds are action verbs, linking verbs, auxiliary (helping) verbs and modal verbs, plus the transitive/intransitive distinction. Each kind shows action, state, or supports another verb to build tense, mood or meaning.

A demonstrative adjective is a word (this, that, these, those) that comes directly before a noun to point out which specific person, thing or group is meant, and to show whether it is near or far in space or time. Unlike demonstrative pronouns, demonstrative adjectives always modify a noun rather than replacing it.

Comparative and superlative adjectives are adjective forms used to compare things. The comparative (e.g. bigger, more useful) compares two people, things or ideas, showing one has more of a quality than the other. The superlative (e.g. biggest, most useful) compares three or more, showing which has the most or least of that quality.

A possessive adjective is a word placed directly before a noun to show who or what it belongs to. English has seven: my, your, his, her, its, our and their. Unlike possessive pronouns, they never stand alone; they must be followed by a noun, as in "my book" or "their house".

An adjective of quantity is a word that describes the amount of something without giving an exact number, such as "some", "much", "little" or "enough". It modifies uncountable nouns (and sometimes countable ones) by showing how much of something exists, is needed or is used, rather than counting individual items.

An interrogative adjective is a question word (what, which or whose) that is placed directly before a noun to ask about it, rather than replacing it. Unlike interrogative pronouns, interrogative adjectives always modify a noun, as in "Which train did you catch?", where "which" describes "train".

A descriptive adjective is a word that describes a noun or pronoun by giving information about its quality, such as size, colour, shape, age, feeling or opinion. For example, "beautiful", "tall" and "ancient" are descriptive adjectives because they tell us more about what a person, place or thing is like.

Degrees of comparison are the forms an adjective or adverb takes to show the level or extent of a quality. There are three degrees: positive (basic quality, e.g. tall), comparative (comparing two things, e.g. taller) and superlative (comparing three or more, showing the highest degree, e.g. tallest).

A proper adjective is an adjective formed from a proper noun, such as the name of a country, region, religion, or person. Like proper nouns, proper adjectives are always capitalised. For example, "France" becomes "French" and "Shakespeare" becomes "Shakespearean", used to describe nouns: "French cheese", "Shakespearean drama".

Types of adjectives refers to the different categories that describing words fall into based on the kind of information they give about a noun, such as quality, quantity, ownership or number. Common types include descriptive, quantitative, demonstrative, possessive and interrogative adjectives, each answering a different question about the noun.

A coordinating conjunction is a word that joins two grammatically equal elements, such as two words, two phrases or two independent clauses. English has seven: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, remembered by the acronym FANBOYS. They show relationships like addition, contrast, choice, reason or result between the joined items.

A subordinating conjunction is a word or phrase that joins a dependent (subordinate) clause to an independent clause, showing how the two ideas relate. Common examples include because, although, if, when and since. It shows relationships such as time, reason, condition or contrast, and the dependent clause it introduces cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

A correlative conjunction is a pair of words that work together to join two balanced grammatical elements, such as words, phrases or clauses, in a sentence. Common pairs include "both...and", "either...or", "neither...nor" and "not only...but also". They show a logical relationship, such as choice, addition or contrast, between the two connected parts.

Conjunctions are words that join words, phrases or clauses together. There are three main types of conjunctions: coordinating conjunctions (join equal elements, like "and"), subordinating conjunctions (link a dependent clause to a main clause, like "because") and correlative conjunctions (paired words, like "either...or") that connect matching sentence parts.

A possessive noun is a noun that shows ownership, belonging or a close relationship between two things or people. It is usually formed by adding an apostrophe and "s" ('s) to a singular noun, or just an apostrophe to a plural noun ending in s, as in "the girl's book" or "the students' books".

A collective noun is a word that refers to a group of people, animals or things treated as a single unit, such as "team", "family", "flock" or "committee". Although it names many members, a collective noun is grammatically singular in most cases, so it usually takes a singular verb: "The team is winning."

A proper noun is a word or group of words that names a specific, unique person, place, organisation or thing, such as "Maria", "London" or "Microsoft". Unlike common nouns, which name general items like "city" or "company", proper nouns are always written with a capital letter, no matter where they appear in a sentence.

Countable and uncountable nouns are two categories of nouns based on whether something can be counted as separate units. Countable nouns (book, chair, idea) have singular and plural forms and can follow numbers. Uncountable nouns (water, advice, furniture) refer to substances, concepts or collections treated as a whole and normally have no plural form.

An abstract noun is a word that names something you cannot see, touch or physically measure, such as a quality, feeling, idea or state. Examples include honesty, freedom, love, courage and happiness. Unlike concrete nouns, which name physical objects, abstract nouns refer to concepts that exist in thought, emotion or experience rather than in the physical world.

A common noun is a word that names a general person, place, thing or idea, rather than a specific one. It does not start with a capital letter unless it begins a sentence. Examples include "city", "teacher", "book" and "happiness", as opposed to specific names like "London" or "Sarah", which are proper nouns.

A concrete noun is a word that names a person, animal, place or thing that can be perceived through the five senses: you can see it, hear it, touch it, taste it or smell it. Examples include "dog", "river", "phone" and "music". It contrasts with an abstract noun, which names an idea, quality or feeling, such as "freedom" or "honesty".

A compound noun is a noun made by joining two or more words together to create one new meaning, for example "toothbrush", "mother-in-law" or "swimming pool". The words can be written as one word, separate words, or joined with a hyphen. Compound nouns often combine noun+noun, adjective+noun, or verb+noun to name a single thing, person, place or idea.

Singular and plural nouns are the two number forms a noun can take. A singular noun refers to one person, place, thing or idea (a book, a child), while a plural noun refers to more than one (books, children). English usually forms plurals by adding -s or -es, though many nouns change irregularly or stay the same in both forms.

Prepositions of time are words such as "in", "on", "at", "since", "for", "during" and "by" that show when something happens or how long it lasts. They connect a noun or noun phrase referring to a time (a year, day, hour, season or period) to the rest of the sentence, showing its position or duration in time.

Kinds of prepositions refer to the different categories that prepositions fall into based on their form and function, such as simple, double, compound, participle and phrase prepositions. Each kind links nouns, pronouns or phrases to other words in a sentence, showing relationships of place, time, direction, cause or manner.

Prepositions of place are words that show where a person, thing or action is located in relation to something else. Common examples include "in", "on", "at", "under", "behind" and "between". They usually come before a noun or pronoun to describe position, location or spatial relationship, for example, "The keys are on the table."

Prepositions of movement are words that show direction or motion from one place to another, such as to, into, through, across, along and towards. They usually follow a verb of motion (walk, run, drive, fly) and are placed before a noun or noun phrase to describe the path or destination of that movement.

A possessive pronoun is a word that shows ownership or belonging without repeating the noun it refers to. The main possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours and theirs. For example, instead of saying "This book is my book," you say "This book is mine," where "mine" replaces "my book" entirely.

A relative pronoun is a word (who, whom, whose, which, that) that introduces a relative clause, linking it to a noun in the main clause. It replaces a noun already mentioned and adds extra information about it, joining two ideas into one sentence without repeating the noun or starting a new sentence.

A demonstrative pronoun is a word, this, that, these or those, that replaces a noun and points to a specific person, thing or idea, showing whether it is near or far and singular or plural. It stands alone in a sentence instead of the noun, for example: "This is my favourite book" or "Those were difficult years."

A personal pronoun is a word that replaces a specific noun to show who or what is performing or receiving an action, such as I, you, he, she, it, we and they. Personal pronouns change form depending on person (first, second, third), number (singular, plural) and grammatical role (subject or object) in a sentence.

An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used to ask a question. The main interrogative pronouns in English are who, whom, whose, which and what. Each one replaces an unknown person, thing or choice that the question is trying to identify, for example: "Who called you?" or "Which do you prefer?"

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that refer to people, things or amounts without naming them specifically. Words like someone, anything, everybody, few and none replace nouns whose identity is unknown, unimportant or general. They help speakers and writers talk about unspecified people or objects clearly and concisely, without needing exact details.

Reflexive pronouns are words such as "myself", "yourself" and "themselves" that refer back to the subject of a sentence when the subject and object are the same person or thing. They end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural) and are used after verbs or prepositions, as in "She hurt herself" or "He talks to himself".

Types of pronouns refers to the different categories of words that replace nouns to avoid repetition, such as personal (he, they), possessive (mine, their), reflexive (myself), demonstrative (this, those), relative (who, which) and indefinite (someone, everything) pronouns. Each type performs a specific grammatical job in a sentence.

Determiners are words placed before nouns to show which or how many people, things or ideas are being referred to. They include articles (a, the), demonstratives (this, those), possessives (my, their), quantifiers (some, many) and numbers. Determiners identify, limit or specify a noun rather than describe its qualities.

Quantifiers are determiners that show the amount or quantity of a noun, answering "how much?" or "how many?". Words like some, any, much, many, a few, a little and all are quantifiers. They combine with countable nouns (many books), uncountable nouns (much water), or both (some money, some apples) depending on the word.

Articles are a type of determiner, a, an and the, placed before a noun to show whether it refers to something specific or general. "A" and "an" are indefinite articles used for non-specific or first-mentioned nouns; "the" is the definite article used for specific, known or previously mentioned nouns.

Active and passive voice describe the relationship between a subject and a verb in a sentence. In active voice, the subject performs the action (The chef cooked the meal). In passive voice, the subject receives the action, formed with a form of "be" plus a past participle (The meal was cooked by the chef).

An interjection is a word or short phrase that expresses sudden emotion, reaction or feeling, such as surprise, joy, pain or hesitation. It stands apart from the main sentence grammatically, usually needs no verb or subject, and is often followed by an exclamation mark or comma, for example "Wow!", "Ouch!" and "Well,".

Parts of speech are the categories English words are grouped into according to their function in a sentence. There are eight main types: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. Knowing a word's part of speech shows how it can be used, where it goes in a sentence, and how it relates to other words.

Subject-verb agreement is the grammar rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person. Singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs. For example, "she runs" (singular) versus "they run" (plural). Getting this match right is essential for grammatically correct sentences.

Direct and indirect speech are two ways of reporting what someone said. Direct speech repeats the exact words in quotation marks, for example: She said, "I am tired." Indirect (reported) speech expresses the same meaning without quotation marks, usually changing tense and pronouns, for example: She said that she was tired.

A simple sentence is a sentence with only one independent clause, meaning it contains a single subject and a single predicate (verb) that together express one complete thought. It has no subordinate (dependent) clauses. For example: "The children played in the park." It stands alone grammatically and makes complete sense.

A compound sentence is a sentence made of two or more independent clauses, each with its own subject and verb, joined together as equals. The clauses are connected using a coordinating conjunction (such as "and", "but", "so"), a semicolon, or a semicolon with a conjunctive adverb (such as "however", "therefore").

A complex sentence is a sentence that contains one independent clause (a complete thought that can stand alone) and at least one dependent clause (an incomplete thought that relies on the independent clause). Dependent clauses often begin with words like because, although, if, when or who, and they add extra detail, reason, time, condition or contrast to the main idea.

An adjective clause (also called a relative clause) is a group of words containing a subject and verb that describes a noun or pronoun in a sentence. It usually begins with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, that) or relative adverb (where, when, why) and answers questions like "which one?" or "what kind?"

A direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb directly, answering "what?" or "whom?". An indirect object is the noun or pronoun that receives the direct object, answering "to whom?" or "for whom?". Example: "She gave him a gift", where "a gift" is direct and "him" is indirect.

An imperative sentence is a sentence that gives a command, instruction, request or piece of advice. It usually begins with the base form of a verb, has no visible subject (the subject "you" is understood), and ends with either a full stop or an exclamation mark, for example: "Close the door."

An exclamatory sentence is a sentence that expresses strong emotion, such as surprise, joy, anger or fear, and ends with an exclamation mark. It often begins with "What" or "How" for emphasis, though it can also be a short statement or command. Example: "What a beautiful view!" or "I can't believe it!"

A declarative sentence is a sentence that makes a statement, gives an opinion or states a fact. It tells the reader or listener something rather than asking a question, giving a command or expressing strong emotion. Declarative sentences end with a full stop and follow a subject plus verb word order, for example: "The library closes at nine o'clock."

A noun phrase is a group of words built around a noun (or pronoun) that together function as a single unit in a sentence, such as a subject, object or complement. It can be just one word ("dogs") or a longer group with modifiers, like "the three loud dogs next door", but it always centres on a head noun.

A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition (such as "in", "on", "at", "by") and ends with a noun, pronoun or gerund, called the object of the preposition. It shows relationships of place, time, direction, manner or reason, and functions as an adjective or adverb in a sentence, for example "in the morning" or "under the table".

A noun clause is a dependent clause that functions as a noun in a sentence. It contains a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone. Noun clauses act as the subject, object or complement of a sentence, often beginning with words such as that, what, who, whether, if, why or how.

An adverbial clause is a dependent clause that functions like an adverb, modifying the verb in the main clause by showing time, place, reason, condition, contrast, purpose or manner. It begins with a subordinating conjunction (such as "because", "although", "if", "when") and cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

An interrogative sentence is a sentence that asks a question and ends with a question mark. It usually reverses normal word order, placing an auxiliary or modal verb, or a "wh" word, before the subject, for example: "Do you live here?" or "Where do you live?" Its purpose is to request information, confirmation or action from the listener or reader.

Types of sentences refers to the four structural categories English sentences fall into, based on the number and kind of clauses they contain: simple, compound, complex and compound-complex. Each type combines independent and, in some cases, dependent clauses differently, allowing writers to express ideas with varying levels of detail and connection.

An adverb of manner is a word that describes how an action is performed, showing the way something happens. It usually modifies a verb and often ends in "-ly", such as "quickly", "carefully" or "quietly". Examples: "She sang beautifully." "He drove carelessly." These adverbs answer the question "how?" about the verb they modify.

An adverb of time is a word or phrase that tells us when an action happens, for how long, or how often. Examples include "yesterday", "soon", "already", "for two hours" and "always". These adverbs modify verbs and usually appear at the beginning or end of a sentence, giving important time context to an action or event.

An adverb of place is a word or phrase that describes where an action happens, showing location, direction or distance. It answers the question "where?" and usually modifies a verb. Common examples include "here", "there", "outside", "upstairs" and "abroad". These adverbs often come after the main verb or object in a sentence.

An adverb of degree is a word that shows the intensity, extent or level of an adjective, verb, another adverb or clause. It answers "to what degree?" or "how much?". Common examples include "very", "extremely", "quite", "too", "enough" and "almost", such as in "She is extremely talented" or "He almost finished."

Kinds of adverbs refers to the different categories of adverbs based on the type of information they add to a sentence. The main kinds are adverbs of manner, time, place, frequency and degree. Each kind answers a different question, such as how, when, where or how often, modifying verbs, adjectives, other adverbs or whole sentences.

The present simple tense is a verb form used to describe habits, routines, facts, permanent states and scheduled events. It uses the base form of the verb (I work, they play), adding "s" or "es" for third-person singular subjects (he works, she watches). It is one of the most common tenses in English speaking and writing.

The present continuous tense (also called present progressive) describes actions happening right now, temporary situations, or fixed future arrangements. It is formed with am/is/are plus the verb's -ing form, for example "I am studying" or "She is working". It shows an action in progress rather than a completed or habitual one.

The present perfect tense is a verb form made with 'have' or 'has' plus a past participle (e.g. 'have finished'). It describes past actions connected to the present: experiences without a stated time, recent actions with present relevance, and situations starting in the past that continue now, such as 'I have lived here for ten years.'

The present perfect continuous tense describes an action that started in the past and has continued up to now, often still ongoing. It is formed with "have/has been" plus a verb ending in "-ing". Example: "I have been studying English for three years." It highlights duration and the ongoing nature of an activity.

The past simple tense is a verb form used to describe actions, events or states that started and finished at a specific time in the past. It is formed with the base verb plus "-ed" for regular verbs (walked, played) or an irregular past form (went, ate, saw), and is often paired with time markers like "yesterday" or "last year".

The past continuous tense (also called past progressive) describes actions that were in progress at a specific moment in the past. It is formed with was/were plus the verb's -ing form, for example "I was studying" or "They were talking". It shows an unfinished action happening around a particular past time, often interrupted by another event.

The past perfect tense describes an action that finished before another past action or time. It is formed with "had" plus the past participle, for example "had finished". It shows which of two past events happened first, helping to sequence past events clearly and avoid confusion about their order.

The past perfect continuous tense describes an action that was in progress continuously before another past event or time. It is formed with "had been" plus the verb's -ing form, for example "had been working". It emphasises the duration of an activity leading up to a later past moment, showing cause, result, or how long something had been happening.

The future simple tense is a verb form used to talk about actions, events or states that have not yet happened but are expected to happen after now. It is usually formed with "will" plus the base verb (e.g. "she will arrive") and is used for predictions, promises, offers, decisions made at the moment of speaking, and facts about the future.

The future continuous tense (also called future progressive) describes an action that will be in progress at a specific point or period in the future. It is formed with "will be" plus the verb's -ing form, as in "I will be working at 9pm tomorrow." It also expresses future events already planned or expected to happen.

The future perfect tense describes an action that will be completed before a specific point or another event in the future. It is formed with "will have" plus a past participle, as in "I will have finished the report by Friday." It shows completion from the viewpoint of a future moment, looking back at an action that will already be done.

The future perfect continuous tense describes an action that will continue up until a specific point in the future, emphasising its duration. It is formed with "will have been" plus the present participle (verb + ing). For example, "By 2025, I will have been working here for ten years" shows an ongoing action measured up to a future moment.

A figure of speech is a word or phrase used in a non-literal, imaginative way to create a special effect, comparison or emphasis. Instead of stating facts plainly, it uses techniques such as comparison, exaggeration or substitution, for example "time flies" or "as brave as a lion", to make language more vivid, persuasive and memorable.

Punctuation marks are symbols such as full stops, commas, question marks and apostrophes used in writing to separate sentences and clauses, show pauses, indicate structure and clarify meaning. They tell a reader how to interpret grammar, tone and emphasis, replacing the pauses, stress and intonation used in spoken English.