English Grammar Guide

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Adjectives

Comparative
Order
Possessive
Superlative
Used to
Common Adjectives
Personality Adjectives

Adverbials

Adverbs

Degree
Duration
Frequency
Manner
Place
 Probability
Time
Comparative
Superlative

Articles

Case

Objective/Accusative
Possessive/Genetive
Subjective/Nominative

Clauses

Conditionals

Type I
Type II
Type III
Zero

Conjunctions

Coordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating Conjunctions
Correlatives

Determiners
Some vs Any

Gerunds and Infinitives

Nouns

Abstract Nouns
Collective Nouns
Common Nouns
Compound Nouns
Concrete Nouns
Countable/Uncountable Nouns
Gerunds
Plural Nouns
Predicate Nouns
Proper Nouns

Participles

Past Participle
Perfect Participle
Present Participle

Prepositions

Prepositions of Movement
Prepositions of Place
Prepositions of Time

Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
 Possessive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns

Questions

Closed Questions
Open (Wh ..) Questions
Tag Questions

Reported Speech

Simple Capitalisation Guide

Simple Pluralisation Guide

Simple Prefixes Guide

Simple Punctuation Guide

Simple Question Guide

Simple Sentence Construction Guide

Simple Spelling Guide

Simple Suffixes Guide

Tenses

Simple

Past
Present
Simple Present as Future

Continuous
Past
Present
Present Continuous as Future

Perfect

Past Perfect Simple

Past Perfect Continuous
Present Perfect Simple
Present Perfect Continuous
Present Perfect Simple as Future
Present Perfect Continuous as Future

Future

The Future using going to

The Future using shall/will

Verbs

Action Verbs
Auxiliary Verbs
Finite / Non-finite Verbs
Irregular Verbs
Modal Verbs
Mood
Phrasal Verbs
Regular Verbs
Conjugation and Contraction

Some Very Important Verbs

To be
To do
To have
 Do or make
Used to
List of Irregular Verbs

Voice

Active Voice
Passive Voice

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 Adjectives

Overview | Order | Possessive | Comparative | Superlative

Adjectives describe or give information about nouns or pronouns.

For example:-

The grey dog barked. (The adjective grey describes the noun "dog".)

The good news is that the form of an adjective does not change. It does not matter if the noun being
modified is male or female, singular or plural, subject or object.

Some adjectives give us factual information about the noun - age, size colour etc (fact adjectives -
can't be argued with). Some adjectives show what somebody thinks about something or somebody -
nice, horrid, beautiful etc (opinion adjectives - not everyone may agree).

If you are asked questions with which, whose, what kind, or how many, you need an adjective to be
able to answer.

There are different types of adjectives in the English language:

• Numeric: six, one hundred and one

• Quantitative: more, all, some, half, more than enough
• Qualitative: colour, size, smell etc.
• Possessive: my, his, their, your
• Interrogative: which, whose, what
• Demonstrative: this, that, those, these

!Note - The articles a, an, and the and the possessives my, our, your, and their are also
adjectives.

Opinion
Adjectives can be used to give your opinion about something.

good, pretty, right, wrong, funny, light, happy, sad, full, soft, hard etc.

For example:

He was a silly boy.

Size

Adjectives can be used to describe size.

big, small, little, long, tall, short, same as, etc.

For example:

• "The big man." or "The big woman".

Age

Adjectives can be used to describe age.

For example:

• "He was an old man." or "She was an old woman."

Shape
Adjectives can be used to describe shape.

round, circular, triangular, rectangular, square, oval, etc.

For example:

• "It was a square box." or "They were square boxes."

Colour

Adjectives can be used to describe colour.

blue, red, green, brown, yellow, black, white, etc.

For example:

• "The blue bag." or "The blue bags".

Origin

Adjectives can be used to describe origin.

For example:-

• "It was a German flag." or "They were German flags."

Material

Adjectives can be used to describe material.

• "It was a cotton cushion." or "They were cotton cushions."

Distance

Adjectives can be used to describe distance. l -- o -- n -- g / short

long, short, far, around, start, high, low, etc.

For example:

• "She went for a long walk." or "She went for lots of long walks."

Temperature

Adjectives can be used to describe temperature.

cold, warm, hot, cool, etc.

For example:

• "The day was hot." or "The days were hot."

Time

Adjectives can be used to describe time.

late, early, bed, nap, dinner, lunch, day, morning, night, etc.

For example:
 • "She had an early start."

Purpose

Adjectives can be used to describe purpose. (These adjectives often end with "-ing".)

For example:

• "She gave them a sleeping bag." or "She gave them sleeping bags."

!Note - In each case the adjective stays the same, whether it is describing a masculine, feminine,
singular or plural noun.

When using more than one adjective to modify a noun, the adjectives may be separated by a
conjunction (and) or by commas (,).

For example:

• "Her hair was long and blonde." or "She had long, blonde hair."

More examples:

Adjective Pretty Serious Fast Quiet

She was a pretty He was a serious They were quiet

Example It was a fast car.
girl. boy. children.

!Note - Adjectives that go immediately before the noun are called attributive adjectives.
Adjectives can also be used after some verbs. They do not describe the verb, adverbs do that.
Adjectives after a verb describe the subject of the verb (usually a noun or pronoun). They are called
predicative adjectives.

For example:

• "David looks tired." The subject (in this case David) is being described as tired not the verb to
look.
There is also the adjective used to, which is explained here.

Adjectives

Used to something

The use of used to do is explained here. However, used to has another meaning, it can be used as an
adjective and we use it to talk about things that have become familiar, and are no longer strange or
new.

Used to usually comes after verbs such as be, get or become.

• After a while you get used to the noise.

• She will become used to the smell.
• I was used to the web site.

You can also say that someone is used to doing something.

• I'll never get used to getting up at six o'clock in the morning.

• It took me a while until I was used to driving on the right-hand side of the road.

Adjective Order

Overview | Order | Possessive | Comparative | Superlative

Adjectives can be used to describe lots of things, from physical size, age, shape, colour, material, to
more abstract things like opinion, origin and purpose. We can use adjectives together to give a
detailed description of something. Adjectives that express opinions usually come before all others, but
it can sometimes depend on what exactly you want to emphasise.

For example:

"That nice, big, blue bag." (You like the bag.)

"That big, nice, blue bag." (You like the colour.)

When we group adjectives together there is a general rule for the position of each type adjective, these
are:-

Position 1st* 2nd* 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th

Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Material Origin Purpose
Nice Small Old Square Black Plastic British Racing
 Ugly Big New Circular Blue Cotton American Running

This is just a guide as you wouldn't normally see so many adjectives in one description.

For example:

• "She had a big, ugly, old, baggy, blue, cotton, British, knitting bag." Is grammatically correct
but a bit too long-winded.

* You might swap opinion and fact adjectives depending on what you wish to emphasise:-

For example:

• "She had a long, ugly nose." emphasising the length of her nose.
• "He was a silly, little man." emphasising that the man was silly.

Common Adjectives Table

(A list of English adjectives with dictionary look up - double click on any word for its definition and
pronunciation)

Appearance | Condition | Feeling | Shape | Size | Sound | Speed | Taste | Time | Touch

Appearance Condition

adorable alive
alert brainy
average broken
beautiful busy
blonde careful
bloody cautious
blushing clever
bright crazy
clean damaged
clear dead
cloudy difficult
colourful easy
concerned fake
crowded false
curious famous
cute forward
dark fragile
dirty guilty
drab helpful
distinct helpless
dull important
elegant impossible
fancy infamous
filthy innocent
glamorous inquisitive
gleaming mad
graceful modern
grotesque open
homely outgoing
light outstanding
misty poor
motionless powerful
muddy puzzled
plain real
poised rich
quaint right
scary robust
shiny sane
smoggy scary
sparkling shy
spotless sleepy
stormy stupid
strange super
ugly tame
unsightly thick
unusual tired
wild
wrong

Feelings - negative Feelings - neutral Feelings - positive

afraid alright agreeable

angry calm alert
annoyed different amused
anxious fair brave
arrogant fine bright
ashamed OK charming
awful pleasant cheerful
bad puzzled comfortable
bewildered cooperative
bored courageous
concerned delightful
condemned determined
confused eager
creepy elated
cruel enchanting
dangerous encouraging
defeated energetic
defiant enthusiastic
depressed excited
disgusted exuberant
disturbed faithful
doubtful fantastic
eerie friendly
embarrassed frowning
envious funny
evil gentle
fierce glorious
foolish good
frantic happy
frightened healthy
grieving helpful
guilty hilarious
helpless innocent
hungry jolly
hurt kind
ill lively
jealous lovely
lonely lucky
mad obedient
naughty perfect
nervous proud
obnoxious relaxed
outrageous relieved
panicky silly
repulsive smiling
safe splendid
scared successful
shy thoughtful
sleepy victorious
sore vivacious
strange well
tense witty
terrible wonderful
tired
troubled
unusual
upset
uptight
weary
wicked
worried

Shape Size Sound

broad average cooing

crooked big deafening
curved fat faint
deep gigantic harsh
even huge high-pitched
flat large hissing
hilly little hushed
jagged long husky
round massive loud
shallow medium melodic
square miniature moaning
steep narrow mute
straight petite noisy
thick short purring
thin skinny quiet
triangular small raspy
uneven tall screeching
tiny shrill
wide silent
soft
squeaky
squealing
thundering
voiceless
whispering

Speed Taste Time

fast bitter ancient

quick bland brief.
rapid delicious early
slow different late
swift fresh long
greasy modern
hot new
juicy old
repulsive old-fashioned
revolting quick
ripe short
rotten young
salty
sour
spicy
stale
strong
sweet
tasteless
tasty
terrible
wonderful

Touch

blunt
boiling
breakable
breezy
broken
bumpy
chilly
clean
cold
cool
crooked
cuddly
curly
damaged
damp
different
dirty
dry
dusty
filthy
flaky
fluffy
fuzzy
greasy
grubby
hard
icy
loose
plastic
prickly
ripe
rough
rubbery
scratchy
shaky
shaggy
sharp
silky
slimy
slippery
smooth
soft
 solid
steady
sticky
tight
uneven
unusual
unripe
warm
weak
wet
wooden
wooly

Possesive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

Subject pronoun Possessive adjective

I my
you your
he his
she her
it its
we our
they their

For example:

• I own a laptop. = It is my laptop.

• You own this computer (I presume). = It is your computer.
• My husband owns a car. = It is his car.
• My sister owns a house. = It is her house.
• My dog owns a collar. = It is its collar.
• We use this website. = It is our website.
• Manchester United own a football ground. = It is their football ground.

Comparative form of Adjectives

Overview | Order | Comparison | Possessive | Superlative

When we compare two things or people we look at what makes them different from each other.

For example:

Tall / Short

The man on the left is taller than the man on the right.
The man on the right is shorter than the man on the left.

Fast / Slow

A car is faster than a bicycle.

A bicycle is slower than a car.

Comparative adjectives are used to show what quality one thing has more or less than the other. They
normally come before any other adjectives.

For example:

Big / Small

The red bag is bigger than the blue bag.

The blue bag is smaller than the red bag.

Forming the comparative

Form Rule For example

 Words of one syllable ending in 'e'. Add -r to the end of the word. wide - wider

Words of one syllable, with one vowel and one Double the consonant and add
big - bigger
consonant at the end. -er to the end of the word.

Words of one syllable, with more than one

Add - er to the end of the word. high - higher
vowel or more than one consonant at the end.

Change 'y' to 'i', and add -er to

Words of two syllables, ending in 'y'. happy - happier
the end of the word.

Words of two syllables or more, not ending in Place 'more' before the beautiful - more
'y'. adjective. beautiful

The following adjectives are exceptions to this rule:

• 'good' becomes 'better'

• 'bad' becomes 'worse'
• 'far' becomes 'farther' or 'further'

!Note - When comparing two things like this we put than between the adjective and the thing
being compared.

For example:-

• "Mount Everest is higher than Mount Snowdon."

• "Arguably, Rome is more beautiful than Paris.

Possessive Adjectives

Overview | Order | Possessive | Comparative | Superlative

Possesive adjectives are used to show ownership or possession.

Subject pronoun Possessive adjective

I my
you your
he his
she her
it its
we our
they their
For example:

• I own a laptop. = It is my laptop.

• You own this computer (I presume). = It is your computer.
• My husband owns a car. = It is his car.
• My sister owns a house. = It is her house.
• My dog owns a collar. = It is its collar.
• We use this website. = It is our website.
• Manchester United own a football ground. = It is their football ground.

Superlative Adjectives

Overview | Order | Possessive | Comparative | Superlative

The superlative is used to say what thing or person has the most of a particular quality within a group
or of its kind. Superlative adjectives normally come before any other adjectives.

Snowdon is not
the highest
mountain in
Britain, Ben
Nevis is.
Mount Snowdon is 3,559 Ben Nevis is 4,408 feet
feet high. high.

Forming the superlative

Form Rule For example

Words of one syllable ending in 'e'. Add -st to the end of the word. wide - widest

Words of one syllable, with one vowel and one Double the consonant and add
big - biggest
consonant at the end. -est to the end of the word.

Words of one syllable, with more than one

Add - est to the end of the word. high - highest
vowel or more than one consonant at the end.

Change 'y' to 'i', and add -est to

Words of two syllables, ending in 'y'. happy - happiest
the end of the word.

Words of two syllables or more, not ending in Place 'the most' before the beautiful - the most
'y'. adjective. beautiful
The following adjectives are exceptions:

• 'good' becomes 'the best'

• 'bad' becomes 'the worst'
• 'far' becomes 'the furthest'

For example:

• "Jill is the best student in the class ."

• "Jack is the worst student in the class."
• "In our solar system the planet Pluto is the furthest planet from the Sun."

!Note - superlatives are usually preceded by 'the'.

For example:

• "The Rio de la Plata river, on the southeast coastline of South America, is the widestriver in
the world."
• According to the List of World records Carol Yager (1960-1994), from Michigan,
is thefattest person ever to live, weighing 725 kg (1,600 lb).
• "Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world."
• "I think that Castle Combe is the prettiest village in England."
• "Arguably, Rome is the most beautiful city in the world."

You can find a list of irregular adjectives here.

Irregular Adjectives

Adjective Comparative Superlative Example

Historians say that Hitler was worse than
bad worse the worst Mussolini. He was one of the worst dictators
the world has ever seen.
Mars is further from the Sun than Earth. Pluto
far further the furthest
is the furthest world from the Sun.
Her English was better than the teacher's. She
good better the best
was the best English student in the class.
old (age) elder the eldest My elder sister Karen is the eldest in our family.

Personality Adjectives Table

(A list of English adjectives used to describe people's personalities with dictionary look up - double
click on any word for its definition and pronunciation)

Positive | Negative

Positive
a-e f-p q-z

adaptable fabulous quiet

adorable fair receptive
agreeable faithful reflective
alert fantastic relieved
alluring fearless resolute
ambitious frank responsible
amusing friendly righteous
boundless funny romantic
brave generous sedate
bright gentle selective
calm good self-assured
capable happy sensitive
charming harmonious shrewd
cheerful helpful silly
coherent hilarious sincere
confident honorable skilful
cooperative impartial splendid
courageous industrious steadfast
credible instinctive stimulating
cultured jolly talented
dashing joyous thoughtful
dazzling kind thrifty
debonair kind-hearted tough
decisive knowledgeable trustworthy
decorous likeable unbiased
delightful lively unusual
determined lovely upbeat
diligent loving vigorous
discreet lucky vivacious
dynamic mature warm
eager modern willing
efficient nice wise
enchanting obedient witty
encouraging painstaking wonderful
enduring peaceful zany
energetic perfect zealous
entertaining placid
enthusiastic plausible
excellent pleasant
excitable plucky
exuberant productive
protective
proud
punctual

Negative
a-e f-p q-z

abrasive fanatical quarrelsome

abrupt fierce repulsive
abusive finicky ruthless
aloof flashy sad
ambiguous flippant scary
angry foolish secretive
annoyed forgetful selfish
anxious frantic silly
arrogant fretful slow
awful frightened sneaky
bad furtive snobbish
belligerent greedy spendthrift
boorish grieving squeamish
boring grouchy stingy
callous gruesome strange
careless grumpy sulky
clumsy guarded tacky
combative gullible tense
confused helpless terrible
cowardly hesitant testy
crazy horrible thick-skinned
creepy hurtful thoughtless
cruel ignorant threatening
 cynical irresolute tight
dangerous jealous timid
deceitful jittery tired
defective lacking tiresome
defiant lazy troubled
depressed lonely truculent
deranged malicious typical
disagreeable materialistic uptight
disillusioned mean vague
disturbed mysterious vengeful
domineering naive venomous
draconian nasty volatile
embarrassing naughty voracious
envious nervous vulgar
erratic noisy wary
evasive obnoxious wasteful
evil outrageous weak
over zealous wicked
panicky worthless
pathetic wretched
possessive

More about adjectives

 Adverbials

Adverbials modify or tell us something about the sentence or the verb. It may be a single adverb, a
phrase, or a prepositional phrase, or a clause element.

When an adverbial modifies a verb, it changes the meaning of that verb.

For example:-

The students looked at me.

The students looked at me anxiously. (The verb looked suddenly has a very different meaning).

When an adverbial modifies a sentence, the meaning of the sentence changes.

For example:-

I passed all of my exams.

Surprisingly, I passed all of my exams.

Word groups that are also considered to be adverbials can also modify verbs: a prepositional phrase,
a noun phrase, a finite clause or a non-finite clause.

Multi-word adverbials are sometimes called an adverbial phrases.

For example:-

I ran as quickly as I could, but I missed the bus.

If a whole clause acts as an adverbial, it's called an adverbial clause.

For example:-

I'll go to bed when the film ends.

 Adverbs

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Place | Probability | Time |Comparative | Su

perlative

Adverbs can tell you where, when, how, why and to what extent something happens.

There are several different classes of adverb (see above).

They are often formed from adjectives or nouns be adding the suffix -ly.

For example: Quick becomes quickly, sudden becomes suddenly, intelligent becomes intelligently, . . .

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -y change the y to i before adding the -ly.

For example: angry becomes angrily, busy becomes busily, . . .

To form an adverb from adjectives ending in -e drop the -e before adding the -ly.

For example: feeble becomes feebly, true becomes truly, . . .

Some adjectives ending in -ly need no changes.

For example: heavenly, . . .

However there are exceptions.

For example: sly becomes slyly, shy becomes shyly, . . .

Some adverbs do not end in -ly.

For example: fast, hard, straight, . . .

Adjective Pretty Serious Fast Quiet

She was a pretty He was a serious They were quiet

Example It was a fast car.
girl. boy. children.

Adverb Prettily Seriously Fast Quietly

The bird sang The policeman Schumacher drives The woman spoke
Example
prettily. spoke seriously. fast. quietly.
Adverbs can modify adjectives

An adjective can be modified by an adverb, which precedes the adjective.

For example:-

That's really nice.

Adverbs can modify adverbs

Some adverbs can modify others. As with adjectives, the adverb precedes the one it is modifying.

For example:-

She did it really well.

Adverbs can modify nouns

Adverbs can modify nouns to indicate time or place.

For example:-

The concert tomorrow.

The room upstairs.

Adverbs can modify noun phrases

Some adverbs of degree such as quite, rather, so, such ... can modify noun phrases.

For example:-

We had quite a good time.

They're such good friends.

Adverbs can modify determiners, numerals and pronouns

Adverbs such as almost, nearly, hardly, about, etc., can be used:

For example:-

Nearly everyone, who was invited, came to the party.

Adverbs can modify sentences

Some adverbs modify a whole sentence, not just a part of one.

For example:-

Luckily the car stopped in time. In this sentence luckily modifies the whole sentence, it shows that it
was good luck that the car stopped in time.

Adverbs of Degree

Overview | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Place | Probability | Time

Comparative | Superlative

Adverbs of degree tell us the strength or intensity of something that happens. Many adverbs are
gradable, that is, we can intensify them. Basically they answer the sort of question that asks How
much ...? or How little...?

Adverbs of degree include; adequately, almost, entirely, extremely, greatly, highly, hugely, immensely,
moderately, partially, perfectly, practically, profoundly, strongly, totally, tremendously, very, virtually
etc.

For example:-

The man drove badly. = The man drove really badly. - In this sentence really shows us just how badly
he drove.
They enjoyed the film. = They enjoyed the film immensely. - In this sentence immenselyshows us how
much they enjoyed the film.

These intensifiers are not gradable though, you cannot say The man drove extremely very badly.

Adverbs of Duration

Overview | Degree | Frequency | Manner | Place | Probability | Time | Comparative |Superlative

Adverbs of duration tell us how long something happened.

They include; briefly, forever, long, shortly, permanantly, temporarily . . .

For example:

"They were occupied." = "They were briefly occupied." - In this sentence briefly shows us the duration.

"The phone was out of order." = "The phone was temporarily out of order." - In this
sentence temporarily shows us the duration.

Adverbs of Frequency

Overview | Degree | Duration | Manner | Place | Probability | Time

Comparative | Superlative

Adverbs of frequency tell us how often something is done. These include; always, constantly,
continually, frequently, infrequently, intermittently, normally, occasionally, often, periodically, rarely,
regularly, seldom, sometimes, . . .

For example:

I always do my homework on time. - In this sentence always shows us the frequency.

She goes out occasionally. - In this sentence occasionally shows us the frequency.

Most frequent always

constantly
nearly always
almost always
usually
generally
 normally
regularly
often
frequently
sometimes
periodically
occasionally
now and then
once in a while
rarely
seldom
infrequently
hardly ever
scarcely ever
almost never
Least frequent never

When something happens regularly at a fixed time we can use the following as adverbs:-

Every day = Daily

Every week = Weekly
Ever fortnight (two
= Fortnightly
weeks)
Every month = Monthly
Every year = Yearly/Annually

For example:

I get a newspaper every day. = I get the newspaper daily.

I pay my rent every month. = I pay my rent monthly.

Adverbs of Manner

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Place | Probability | Time | Comparative| Superlative

Some adverbs tell us how an action is or should be performed.

Often these adverbs are formed by adding -ly to the end of an adjective.
Adjectives ending -l add -ly ; careful-carefully.

Adjectives ending -y change to -ily ; lucky-luckily

Adjectives ending -ble change to -bly ; responsible-responsibly

adjective adverb
anxious anxiously
bad badly
beautiful beautifully
capable capably
lucky luckily
quick quickly
weak weakly

For example:

The little girl ran quickly. In this sentence quickly modifies the verb ran (to run).

Adverbs of Place

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Probability | Time |Comparative | Superlativ

e

Adverbs of place indicate where something happens.

These include; abroad, anywhere, here, outside, somewhere, there, underground, upstairs ...

For example:

My passport is here in my bag.

Place Example
Upstairs The children were playing upstairs.
In London The people demonstrated in London.
Outside The children were playing outside.
 English Grammar
Adverbs of Probability

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Place | Time | Comparative |Superlative

Adverbs of probability tell us the likelihood of something happening.

If you imagine playing dice, what's the likelihood (probability) of rolling a six? It's possible, but it's not
certain. You'll certainly throw something between one and six, but your not likely to throw two sixes.

English Grammar
Adverbs of Time

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Place | Probability

Comparative | Superlative

Adverbs of time
Some adverbs tell us when something happened.

These include:afterwards, later, now, soon, yesterday, . . ..

For example:-

Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away. - In this sentence yesterday shows us when.

Other adverbs of time include:-

Time Example
Saturday, Sunday ... I am going to the shops on Monday.
Today I've been to the shops today.
Yesterday I went yesterday.
Next week/month/year I am going next week.
Last week/month/year I went last year.
Finally I finally went.
Eventually I eventually went to the shops.
Already I've already been to the shops.
Soon I'm going to the shops soon.
 Just I'm just going to the shops.
Still I'm still at the shops.

Adverbs of Comparison

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Place | Probability | Time |Superlative

When we compare what two things or people do we look at what makes one different from the other.

Adverbs of comparison are used to show what one thing does better or worse than the other.

When an adverb ends in -ly, more is put in front of the adverb.

For example:-

• "Jill did her homework more frequently."

The rule for forming the comparative of an adverb is if it has the same form as an adjective add the
suffix -er to the end.

For example:-

• "Jill did her homework faster."

The following irregular adverbs are exceptions to this rule:

• 'well' becomes 'better'

• 'badly' becomes 'worse'
• 'little' becomes 'less'

For example:

• "Jill was better."

• "Jack was worse."
• "To lose weight you need to eat less."

When comparing two things you need to put than between the adverb and what is being compared.

For example:-

• "Jill did her homework faster than Jack."

 • "Jill did her homework more frequently than Jack."

Superlative form of Adverbs

Overview | Degree | Duration | Frequency | Manner | Place | Probability | Time

Comparative

The superlative form of an adverb is used to say what thing or person does something to the greater
degree within a group or of its kind. Superlatives can be preceded by 'the'. In general the superlative
forms of adverbs are the same as for superlative forms of adjectives.

The rule for forming the superlative of an adverb is if it has the same form as an adjective add the
suffix -est to the end.

For example:-

• fast - "Jill ran the fastest."

When an adverb ends in -ly, most is put in front of the adverb.

For example:-

• Frequently - "Jill did her homework most frequently."

The following irregular adverbs are exceptions:-

• 'well' becomes 'the best'

• 'badly' becomes 'the worst'

For example:

• "Jill did the best in the test."

• "Jack did the worst in the test."

Picture This - Adverbs of Manner - Comparative/Superlative

Greedy

He ate his dinner greedily.

Comparative He ate more greedily than usual.
Superlative He ate the most greedily.

Loud

She played the radio loudly.

Comparative She played her radio more loudly than usual.

Superlative She played the radio the most loudly.

Fast / Slow

Cheetahs run fast. .

Hedgehogs
walkslowly

Snails crawl
veryslowly.

Hedgehogs Snails crawl more

Cheetahs runfaster
Comparative walk more slowly slowly
thanhedgehogs.
than cheetahs. thanhedgehogs.
Cheetahs movethe Snails move most
Superlative
fastest. slowly.
 Articles
General | A/an | The | No article

Articles

First the good news:There are only three articles in English: a, an and the.

There are two types of articles indefinite 'a' and 'an' or definite 'the'. You also need to know when not
to use an article.

The bad news is that their proper use is complex, especially when you get into the advanced use of
English. Quite often you have to work it out by what sounds right, which can be frustrating for a
learner.

Indefinite articles - a and an (determiners)

A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you
are communicating with.

A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned
before:-

For "I saw an elephant this morning."

example: "I ate a banana for lunch."

A and an are also used when talking about your profession:-

For "I am an English teacher."

example: "I am a builder."

Note! You use a when the noun you are referring to begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l,
m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for example, "a city", "a factory", and "a hotel".

You use an when the noun you are referring to begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)

Pronunciation changes this rule. It's the sound that matters, not the spelling.
 If the next word begins with a consonant sound when we say it, for example, "university"
then we use a. If the next word begins with a vowel sound when we say it, for example
"hour" then we use an.

We say "university" with a "y" sound at the beginning as though it were spelt "youniversity".
So, "a university" IS correct.

We say "hour" with a silent h as though it were spelt "our".

So, "an hour" IS correct.

(Lots of people get this wrong - including native speakers.)

Definite Article - the (determiners)

There are two ways to pronounce "the". One "thuh" and the other "thee". To learn when we use them
see the pronunciation files: How to pronounce "the".

Strong pronunciation Weak pronunciation

You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you
are talking about.

For "The apple you ate was rotten."

example: "Did you lock the car?"

You should also use the when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about.

For
"She's got two children; a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen."
example:

We use the to talk about geographical points on the globe.

For
the North Pole, the equator
example:

We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and seas

For
the Nile, the Pacific, the English channel
example:

We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing.

For
the rain, the sun, the wind, the world, the earth, the White House etc..
example:

However if you want to describe a particular instance of these you should use a/an.

"I could hear the wind." / "There's a cold wind blowing."

For
example:
"What are your plans for the future?" / "She has a promising future ahead of her."

The is also used to say that a particular person or thing being mentioned is the best, most famous, etc.
In this use, 'the' is usually given strong pronunciation:

"Harry's Bar is the place to go."

For
example:
"You don't mean you met the Tony Blair, do you?"

!Note - The doesn't mean all:-

"The books are expensive." = (Not all books are expensive, just the ones I'm talking about.)
For
example:
"Books are expensive." = (All books are expensive.)

No article

We usually use no article to talk about things in general:-

Inflation is rising.

People are worried about rising crime. (Note! People generally, so no article)

You do not use an article when talking about sports.

 My son plays football.
For
example:
Tennis is expensive.

You do not use an article before uncountable nouns when talking about them generally.

Information is important to any organisation.

For
example:
Coffee is bad for you.

You do not use an article before the names of countries except where they indicate multiple areas or
contain the words (state(s), kindom, republic, union). Kingdom, state, republic and union are nouns, so
they need an article.

No article - Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, England

For
Use the - the UK (United Kingdom), the USA (United States of America), theIrish Republic
example:

Multiple areas! the Netherlands, the Philippines, the British Isles