English grammar reference

English grammar reference

Read clear grammar explanations and example sentences to help you understand how the language is used. Then, put your grammar knowledge into practice by doing the exercises.  

Our English grammar was written especially for LearnEnglish by author and grammarian Dave Willis.

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Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. We often use them to avoid repeating the nouns that they refer to. Pronouns have different forms for the different ways we use them. 

Determiners and quantifiers are words we use in front of nouns. We use determiners to identify things (this book, my sister) and we use quantifiers to say how much or how many (a few people, a lot of problems).

Possessives are forms that we use to talk about possessions and relationships between things and people. They take different forms depending on how they are used.

Adjectives are words that give more information about a noun or pronoun and can go in different positions in a sentence.

Adverbials are words that we use to give more information about a verb. They can be one word (angrily, here) or phrases (at home, in a few hours) and often say how, where, when or how often something happens or is done, though they can also have other uses.

Nouns are words that give a name to people, places or things, though they can also refer to ideas and other abstract objects. 

Verbs are words that describe an action or talk about something that happens. They take many different forms depending on their subjects, the time they refer to and other ideas we want to express