Grammar essentials

English grammar is relatively simple compared to many languages.

Sentence structure

English uses Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order:

• 🔊 "The company launched a new product."
• 🔊 "She manages the engineering team."

Articles

Article	Use	Example
a/an	Indefinite, singular	🔊 "a meeting," 🔊 "an idea"
the	Definite, specific	🔊 "the CEO," 🔊 "the report"
(none)	Plural/uncountable general	🔊 "Meetings are important."

A vs An

Use "an" before vowel sounds:

• 🔊 an hour (/aʊər/)
• 🔊 a university (/juːnɪˈvɜːrsɪti/)

Nouns

Plural forms

Rule	Singular	Plural
Add -s	🔊 report	🔊 reports
-s, -x, -ch, -sh → -es	🔊 box	🔊 boxes
Consonant + y → -ies	🔊 company	🔊 companies
-f/-fe → -ves	🔊 life	🔊 lives
Irregular	🔊 person	🔊 people

Countable vs Uncountable

Countable	Uncountable
🔊 a meeting, 🔊 meetings	🔊 information
🔊 an employee, 🔊 employees	🔊 advice
🔊 a report, 🔊 reports	🔊 equipment

Pronouns

Subject	Object	Possessive adj.	Possessive pronoun
🔊 I	🔊 me	🔊 my	🔊 mine
🔊 you	you	🔊 your	🔊 yours
🔊 he	🔊 him	🔊 his	his
🔊 she	🔊 her	her	🔊 hers
🔊 it	it	🔊 its	—
🔊 we	🔊 us	🔊 our	🔊 ours
🔊 they	🔊 them	🔊 their	🔊 theirs

Adjectives

Adjectives don't change form and come before nouns:

• 🔊 "a successful launch"
• 🔊 "the new strategy"

Order of adjectives

Opinion → Size → Age → Shape → Color → Origin → Material → Purpose

• 🔊 "a beautiful small old rectangular blue French silver serving tray"

In practice, rarely more than 2–3 adjectives are used.

Comparatives and superlatives

Adjective	Comparative	Superlative
🔊 fast	🔊 faster	🔊 fastest
🔊 important	🔊 more important	🔊 most important
🔊 good	🔊 better	🔊 best
🔊 bad	🔊 worse	🔊 worst

Questions

Type	Formation	Example
Yes/No	Aux + Subject + Verb	🔊 "Did you finish?"
Wh-	Wh-word + Aux + Subject + Verb	🔊 "What did you finish?"
Tag	Statement + opposite tag	🔊 "You finished, didn't you?"

Negation

Add "not" after the auxiliary verb:

• 🔊 "I do not understand." / 🔊 "I don't understand."
• 🔊 "She has not finished." / 🔊 "She hasn't finished."

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Next: Verb tenses →