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Grammar Module
“[G]rammar provides you with the structure you need in order to organize and put your
messages and ideas across. It is the railway through which your messages will be
transported. Without it, in the same way as a train cannot move without railways, you
won’t be able to convey your ideas to their full extension.”
~ Julio Foppoli
PRE-COURSE GRAMMAR MODULE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Objectives
• Parts of Speech
o Nouns
o Pronouns
o Verbs
o Articles
o Adjectives
o Adverbs
o Prepositions
• Verb Tense and Aspect
o Present Simple
o Present Continuous
o Past Simple
o Past Continuous
o Present Perfect
o Present Perfect Continuous
o Past Perfect
o Past Perfect Continuous
o Future Simple
o Future Continuous
o Future Perfect
o Future Perfect Continuous
• Review Questions
• Recommended Grammar Books and Online Resources
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“[G]rammar provides you with the structure you need in order to organize and put your messages
and ideas across. It is the railway through which your messages will be transported. Without it,
in the same way as a train cannot move without railways, you won’t be able to convey your ideas
to their full extension.”
~ Julio Foppoli
Objectives
1. Identify and define different parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,
articles, pronouns, and prepositions.
2. Differentiate between countable and uncountable nouns.
3. Summarize the differences between indefinite and definite articles.
4. Demonstrate how to form comparative and superlative adjectives.
5. Demonstrate how to form comparative and superlative adverbs.
6. Define prepositions and explain why they are difficult for ESL learners.
7. Define verbs and different verb forms, including infinitives, gerunds, present participles, past
participles, stative verbs, dynamic verbs, and auxiliary verbs.
8. Name and demonstrate the usage of the twelve tenses of English.
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Parts of Speech
Parts of speech are word categories such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, articles, adverbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. The first part of this chapter discusses different
parts of speech, while the second part of this chapter focuses on English tenses.
Nouns
Nouns denote a person, place, thing, quality, animal, or idea. Nouns can be divided into proper
nouns that refer to particular individuals and are capitalized (e.g. Willis Tower, Chicago,
International TEFL Academy), and into common nouns, which are not capitalized and refer to
objects in general (e.g. tower, city, or academy). In English, nouns are preceded by articles and
adjectives:
a happy student
Countable and Uncountable Nouns: Nouns can also be divided into countable and uncountable
(or “non-count” nouns or “mass” nouns). Countable nouns can be singular or plural (e.g.
animal/animals, cat/cats, man/men, child/children), while uncountable nouns cannot be divided
into separate elements (e.g. money, furniture, coffee, and love). ESL/EFL students need to
memorize which words are countable and which ones are uncountable. Some nouns can be both
depending on their meaning. For example, “Our house has four rooms” contains a countable
version of room. However, “Is there any room for me?” uses an uncountable version of room.
The chart below further illustrates the main differences between countable and uncountable
nouns.
Take final –s/-es in the plural Have no plural form; do not take a final –s/-es
• 2 banknotes • moneys
May be followed by a verb in singular or plural Always followed by a verb in singular form:
form: • Money is important.
• This banknote is green.
• These banknotes are green.
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Regular and Irregular Plurals: All countable nouns have singular and plural forms. To make a
plural form, we usually need to add –s, for example, one apple becomes two apples; however,
some nouns have irregular plurals, for example, man becomes men. The chart below will help
you understand regular and irregular plural forms.
*Note: we do not add –ies to words that end in –y preceded by a vowel, e.g. toy becomes toys; key becomes keys.
**These are just some examples of irregular plural nouns. For a complete list, consult a comprehensive grammar
book.
Pronouns
Pronouns replace nouns in order to avoid repetition. In the sentence below, she is a pronoun that
replaces the proper noun Lizzy.
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This chart shows the other types of pronouns.
Verbs
Most verbs are action words (sing, watch, run, jump). Sometimes, verbs express a state of being
(be, exist) or occurrence (happen, become).
Infinitives: The base form or bare infinitive is the form of the verb that one can find in a
dictionary, e.g. walk, study, or draw. Sometimes teachers write a verb preceded by the particle to
(to walk, to study, to draw) to indicate that it is the infinitive form of the verb.
Regular and Irregular Verbs: Verbs can be divided into regular and irregular depending on
how they form the past tense. See the chart below for examples.
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Gerunds and Present Participles: Other forms of verbs include gerunds and present participles.
A gerund is a verb ending with –ing that functions as a noun. A present participle has the same
form, but it functions as a verb.
walk walking
read reading
swim swimming
Compare:
I like reading. (Here like is a verb and reading is a noun)
Reading is my favorite leisure activity. (Here reading is a noun)
I am reading now. (Here reading functions as a verb)
I have been reading for the past three hours. (Here reading functions as a verb)
Verbs Followed by Gerunds and Infinitives: Certain verbs in English are always followed by
infinitives, while other verbs are followed by gerunds. Look at the examples below.
Some verbs can be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive, such as like, start, or begin.
Stative and Dynamic Verbs: Stative verbs (or non-continuous verbs) are verbs that cannot be
converted to a present participle, i.e. you cannot add an –ing ending. These verbs are things you
cannot see someone doing such as emotion or abstract verbs (e.g. like, love, hate, want, need,
be), opinion verbs (e.g. know, recognize), possession verbs (e.g. possess, own, belong), and
sensory verbs (e.g. taste, smell, see).
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Mixed Verbs: Some verbs can be either dynamic or stative, depending on their meaning in
context (e.g. have). These are called mixed verbs.
Auxiliary Verbs: Auxiliary verbs are helping verbs. They “help” the main verb express the tense
of the sentence. Auxiliary verbs do not carry semantic meaning. Examples of auxiliary verbs
include be, do, have, and will.
She is teaching. (Here the verb is is helping the main verb teaching, so is is an auxiliary
verb)
She is a teacher. (Here the verb is carries semantic meaning, so it is the main verb and
not an auxiliary verb)
Adjectives
Adjectives are descriptive words that modify nouns. Adjectives usually precede nouns:
Adjectives have three forms: the base form, a comparative used to compare two items, and a
superlative used to compare three or more items. The chart below shows how to form
comparatives and superlatives.
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Articles
Articles are types of adjectives that give information about nouns. English has two articles: the
definite article, the, and the indefinite article, a/an. We use the to modify specific or particular
nouns, while we use a/an to refer to non-specific or non-particular nouns. When referencing
nouns in general, we do not commonly use articles (often represented with a Ø symbol).
Membership in a group: When the object is unique: With certain proper names:
a teacher, an American citizen the moon, the Whitehouse Ø Obama, Ø Uncle Mike
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Adverbs
Adverbs are describing words that usually modify verbs. Adverbs may also modify adjectives,
other adverbs, or the whole sentence.
Like adjectives, adverbs have three forms: the base form, a comparative used to compare two
items, and a superlative used to compare three or more items. The chart below shows how to
form comparatives and superlatives.
Prepositions
Prepositions show a relationship between words in a sentence. Prepositions of place, such as on,
in, next to, above, and below, describe the spatial relationship between two or more objects.
Prepositions of place are relatively easy to teach; however, difficulty arises when teaching higher
levels because specific words and phrases are always followed by certain prepositions. Here are
some examples:
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Verb Tense and Aspect
Usually when we think about tenses, we think of three basic categories: the past, the present, and
the future. English also has two aspects: perfect and progressive. Tense and aspect are often
combined to indicate a specific time reference. Tense and aspect are best understood through
examples, which will be presented in the rest of this chapter.
It’s important to remember that some languages do not have tenses as we understand them. For
example, Mandarin Chinese uses time expressions, such as yesterday or last week, to indicate
time reference. A translation from Mandarin Chinese might look like “I eat pizza for lunch
yesterday.” In English, we have to conjugate the verb (change eat to ate) to express the same
thought: “I ate pizza for lunch yesterday.”
Different languages have different numbers of tenses. English has a total of twelve tense and
tense-aspect combinations, summarized in the following table.
*Continuous aspect is also known as progressive. They are used interchangeably. Thus, present
continuous = present progressive. Similarly, present perfect continuous = present perfect
progressive.
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Present Simple
The present simple uses the bare infinitive of the verb, except for the third person singular where
an -s/-es ending is required:
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Present Continuous
The present continuous uses the conjugated form of the verb to be + present participle (bare
infinitive + -ing):
Present Continuous
Description Explanation Examples
At present To describe events happening right now. • I am listening to the radio
now.
• He is having breakfast.
• They are running.
• I am cleaning the kitchen
now.
• What are you doing?
Actions in To describe actions that are temporary. • I am living in Chicago for the
progress duration of this course.
• I am taking a biology class
this semester.
• She is not reading any books
right now.
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Past Simple
The past simple uses the bare infinitive of the verb + -ed or irregular verb form:
Past Simple
Description Explanation Examples
Past actions To describe an event that happened in the past. • I watched a good
movie yesterday.
• She went shopping last
Sunday.
• They moved here from
Boston 3 years ago.
• Where did you go last
night?
Past habits To describe personal habits that are no longer • I studied Spanish in
true. high school.
• She played the guitar
when she was a
teenager.
• What sports did you
play when you were a
child?
Longer actions To describe actions that took some time to • She talked to her
in the past complete. friend for two hours
yesterday.
• It took me two years to
learn how to play the
guitar.
• Did you really spend
seven years in Tibet?
Sequence of To describe past actions that happened in • When I got home I had
past events order. dinner and went to
bed.
• After he finished
breakfast, he went for
a walk.
• Did you restart your
laptop after you
scanned it for viruses?
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Past Continuous
The past continuous uses the past form of the conjugated verb to be + present participle (bare
infinitive + -ing):
Past Continuous
Description Explanation Examples
Interrupted To describe a longer event that was interrupted • I was having breakfast
action in the by a shorter action. when Tom called.
past • She was listening to
the radio when the
lights went out.
• They were working in
the garden when the
storm started.
• What were they doing
when the police
arrived?
Specific time as To describe a longer action at a specific time in • At midnight, the kids
an interruption the past. were still playing with
their new toy.
• Yesterday at 8pm, I
was reading a book in
my bed.
• At what time were you
walking your dog
yesterday?
Parallel actions To describe two actions which were happening • The kids were setting
at the same time. the table while I was
making dinner.
• What was he doing
while you were
cleaning?
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Present Perfect
The present perfect uses the conjugated form of the auxiliary verb to have + past participle (bare
infinitive + -ed or irregular form):
Present Perfect
Description Explanation Examples
Unspecified To describe a past action that happened in 1) Experience:
time in the past unspecified or unfinished time* • Have you ever been
to Mexico?
• I have never had
sushi before.
• He has read that
book many times.
2) Change Over Time:
1. Experience • She has grown a lot
since the last time I
2. Change over time saw her.
3) Achievements:
3. Achievements • I have taught ESL
students before.
4. Uncompleted action you are expecting 4) Uncompleted Action:
• I have not done my
5. The same action repeated at different homework yet.
times 5) Same Action:
• They have attacked
this city many times.
Duration of past To describe actions that have started in the past • I have been sick for
action until now the last three days.
(stative verbs) • He has been away
for five years.
• I have owned this car
since 2005.
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Present Perfect Continuous
The present perfect continuous uses the conjugated form of the auxiliary verb to have + been +
present participle (bare infinitive + -ing):
The present perfect continuous can be used to describe the following situations:
Past Perfect
The past perfect uses the past form of the auxiliary verb to have + past participle (bare infinitive
+ -ed or irregular form):
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The past perfect can be used to describe the following situations:
Past Perfect
Description Explanation Examples
Completed past To emphasize that an event happened before • They had lived in
action before another event in the past. Poland before they
another action moved to the U.S.
• She had read the
book before she saw
the screen adaptation.
Duration To emphasize that an action started in the past • Olivia had owned
before and continued until another past action. this car for 5 years
something in before she sold it.
the past (stative • I had had that
verbs) necklace for many
years before it got
stolen.
The past perfect continuous uses the past form of the auxiliary verb to have + been + present
participle (bare infinitive + -ing):
The past perfect continuous can be used to describe the following situations:
Duration before To describe the duration of an event that • He had been driving
another action happened in the past before another past action. this car for many years
in the past before it broke down.
• How long had you
been living in Toronto
before you moved to
Vancouver?
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Reason for To show cause and effect of actions in the past. • I was hungry because I
something in had been working all
the past day long.
• They failed the test
because they had not
been studying.
Future Simple
The future simple uses the auxiliary verb will + the bare infinitive:
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Prediction: To express prediction about the future. • It is going to rain, or
will or It will rain.
be going to • In ten years’ time, the
climate is going to
get much warmer, or
In ten years’ time, the
climate will get much
warmer.
Future Continuous
The future continuous uses the auxiliary verbs will + be + present participle:
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Parallel future To describe two actions that will be happening • My sister will be
actions: at the same time in the future. doing the dishes and
will or I will be making a
be going to dessert.
• While she will be
reading a book, he
will be watching a
game.
• I am going to be
doing homework and
he is going to be
watching TV.
Future Perfect
The future perfect uses the auxiliary verbs will + have + the past participle (bare infinitive +
-ed or irregular form):
Future Perfect
Description Explanation Examples
Completed To describe an event that will have happened in • By the time you are
future action the future before another future action. 50, you will have
before another learned from your
one mistakes.
• You are going to have
saved some money by
the time you buy such
an expensive car.
• By the time I finish my
workout, I will have
burned 500 calories.
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Duration of To highlight that an action will continue until • By Sunday, Tom will
future action another future action. have had my tennis
until another rackets for nearly two
one weeks.
• I am going to have
learned a thousand
words by the time my
French course finishes.
The future perfect continuous uses the auxiliary verbs will + have + been + the present participle
(bare infinitive + -ing):
I will have been learning Spanish for two years by the time I arrive in
Madrid next year.
The future perfect continuous also uses the form be going to:
I am going to have been learning Spanish for two years by the time I
arrive in Madrid next year.
The future perfect continuous can be used to describe the following situations:
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Reason for To highlight the cause and effect of future • Tom will be tired by
something in actions. the time he gets home
the future because he will have
been driving for over
five hours.
• They will win all the
games when they go
to the World Cup
because they are
going to have been
practicing for over
four years.
Review Questions
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19. Articles are one of the hardest grammar points to master for the vast majority of ESL/EFL
students. Consult your grammar book and/or online resources and search for more rules
about definite and indefinite articles.
20. Which tense/aspect is the hardest for you? Consult your grammar book and/or online
resources and search for more explanations and examples of sentences in this tense.
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Recommended Grammar Books and Online Resources:
• Understanding and Using English Grammar (with Answer Key and Audio CDs) by
Betty Azar
• Fundamentals of English Grammar, 4th Edition by Betty Schrampfer Azar
• Grammar Sense: Advanced Grammar and Writing by Susan Kesner Bland
• Focus on Grammar Level 5 by Jay Maurer
Tenses: https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html
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