English Grammar

Welcome to English Club English Grammar for ESL learners

What is Grammar?

grammar (noun): the structure and system of a language, or of languages in general, usually considered to consist of syntax and morphology.

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).
PredicateEach 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.