The Linguapress English Grammar Course

Simple but serious - a learner's guide to English grammar and usage. A topic-by-topic expert guide to English Grammar, with clear rules and richly illustrated with examples. Each chapter and section starts with the fundamental concepts that need to be understood by all learners, and finishes with the more detailed rules and principles that are important for advanced-level learners.

Verbs

• 1.1. An introduction to Verbs
  • Verbs in the sentence
  • Different types of verb
  • Tense, aspect, voice
  • Modality and Moods
  • The subjunctive
• 1.2. Irregular Verbs
  • General principles and verb tables
• 1.3. Present Tenses
  • The simple and progressive aspects
• 1.4. Expressing the Future
  • Different ways of expressing the future
  • Using will, going to, and shall
  • Negative and other future forms
• 1.5. Expressing the Past
  • The Simple past tense
  • The present perfect
  • The past perfect and future perfect
  • The past of habit - using would and used to
• 1.6. Conditional Structures
  • Conditional clauses: if and unless
  • Open and unfulfilled hypotheses
  • Omission of if, and use of whether
• 1.7. The Infinitive
  • Short, full, and past infinitives
  • Passive and past infinitives
  • Split infinitives
  • Chain verbs - Infinitive or gerund?
• 1.8. The Imperative
  • Forms and uses of the imperative
• 1.9. Active and Passive
  • When and why do we need to use a passive?
  • Forms of the passive
  • Using the passive in questions
• 1.10. Gerunds and other -ing forms
  • Gerunds and Verbal nouns
  • Present participles and passive structures
• 1.11. To Be: Forms and Functions
  • Main and auxiliary functions
  • Passive forms with be and get
  • To be as a modal verb
• 1.12. To Have
  • Have as a main verb; Have vs Have got
  • Have as an auxiliary verb
• 1.13. Do and Make
  • Uses and differences
• 1.14. Get and Got
  • Phrasal, prepositional, and passive uses
• 1.15. Modal verbs of Obligation
  • Must, have to, and need to
  • Should and ought to
• 1.16. Modal verbs of Ability
  • Can, be able to, may, and might
• 1.17. Verbs of Enabling & Obligation
  • Allow, let, prevent, and causative verbs
• 1.18. Phrasal & Prepositional Verbs
  • Transitive verbs - distinguishing between phrasal and prepositional verbs
  • Intransitive verbs  are always inseparable

Noun Phrase

• 2.1. Nouns
  • Classification, gender, and formation of nouns
  • Nouns in the plural 
  • Collective nouns
• 2.2. Noun Phrases
  • Composition and modifiers
• 2.3. Count and Non-count Nouns
  • How to distinguish between them
• 2.4. Pronouns
  • Personal and reflexive pronouns
  • Relative pronouns and adjectives
  • Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives
• 2.5. Articles
  • The, a, an - the definite and Indefinite articles
• 2.6. Quantifiers
  • Some, any, and no
  • Large, small, and relative quantities
• 2.7. Numbers and Counting
  • Cardinals numbers
  • Ordinals
  • Fractions and decimals
• 2.8. Possession
  • Using of or ’s
• 2.9. Adjectives
  • Determining and descriptive adjectives
  • Comparison and gradation of adjectives
  • Putting adjectives in the right order

Other parts of speech

• 3.1. Adverbs
  • Categories and use of adverbs 
  • Adverbs of degree, such as quite, rather, too 
  • Sentence adverbs
  • Conjunctive Adverbs - However, therefore, etc., and how they are used
• 3.2. Prepositions
  • Types of preposition, and distinguishing them from adverbs
• 3.3. Conjunctions and Connectors
  • Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions - and, but, because, etc.
  • Correlating coordinators - either... or etc.

Structure

• 4.1. Word order in statements
  • Subject, verb, and object structures
• 4.2. Word order in questions
  • Wh-words and single word verbs
• 4.3. Indirect questions
  • Reporting the present and the past
• 4.4. Tag questions
  • Structure and formation
• 4.5. Negative structures
  • Verbs, quantifiers, and negative adverbs
• 4.6. Relative clauses
  • Simple defining and non-defining clauses
  • More complex relative clauses
• 4.7. Punctuation
  • Punctuation is not an optional extra! Rules for clarity
• 4.8. Language and style
  • Formal and informal styles of English and their defining features

More about the English language

• Five fundamental principles of English grammar
• A very short English Grammar
• The importance of grammar
• The short story of English with AUDIO
• Spoken English - accents with AUDIO
• Spoken English - phonetics with AUDIO
• Word stress in English  with  AUDIO
• Glossary of English slang