English grammar tables and examples

Use these tables to understand English grammar visually. The tables show the structures and word order and make it easier to remember them.

To be - present, past, future

To be - present (am, are, is)

To be - past (was, were)

To be - future (will be)

English tenses:

Active verb tenses summary

Simple Present Tense

Present Continuous Tense

Present Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Past Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Tense

Causative verbs

Pronouns, noun and prepositional phrases, determiners, etc.

Personal Pronouns

Other Pronouns

Demonstratives: this, that, these, those

Existence and listing – countable and uncountable nouns

Articles - definite and indefinite

Specific and general - article usage

Determiners in noun phrases

Noun phrase

Prepositional phrase

Prepositional phrase as an adjunct

Active verb, passive verb and adjective form

Syntactic units: words, phrases, clauses, sentences, sentence chains:

Syntactic units

Word level

Phrase level

Clause level

Sentence level

Sentence chain level

Tags, short remarks, auxiliary repetition, agreement, disagreement

Agreements and disagreements with remarks

Question tags

Comment tags

Additions to remarks

Others

What's the time?

Irregular verbs

Countries, nationalities, people, languages

To be - present, past, future

English tenses 表

Time words for Simple Present Tense: never, always, every day, normally, often, seldom, rarely, sometimes, usually

Time words for Present Continuous Tense: now, at the moment, just, just now, Listen!, Look!, right now, (or a future time for future plan).

Time words for Present Perfect Tense: already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now, this morning, for two years, since 2012.

Time words for Present Perfect Continuous Tense: all day, for six years, since April, how long?, the whole week.

Time words for Simple Past Tense: yesterday, 4 minutes ago, in 2000, the other day, last Friday, the day before yesterday, in October.

Time words for Past Continuous Tense: at that moment, at 5 o'clock, a clause with simple past tense, a clause with another simple continuous tense

Time words for Past Perfect Tense: before, when

Causative verbs

Causatives are main verbs that cause people or objects to do something or cause things to change.

The most common causatives are:

make + base form of the verb,
to be made (passive causative) + infinitive,
get + infinitive (after a person),
get + past participle (after an object),
have + base form of the verb (after a person),
have + past participle (after an object),
let + base form of the verb,
help + base form of the verb or infinitive; the base form of the verb is more common.
allow + infinitive,
Other causative verbs are: authorise, cause, enable, force, give someone permission, give someone the right, hold, keep, permit, and require.

A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase

This is how to use this, that, these, those:

1. We use this, that, these, those to identify and refer to things that the listener(s) can see, hear, smell, touch or taste now. At the same time, when we say these words we point to those things with our hands or refer to them in other ways (eye movement, body language) so that our conversation partner knows what we are talking about.
   
   You do not need to do this reference gesture if something is obvious for both of you. For instance, if a black cat runs in front of you and both of you can see it and there is no other cat there.
   
   Typically, it is enough to use this, that, these, those just once and then people in the rest of the conversation use pronouns (it, they or them), although they can use demonstratives again, too.
   • Look at that car. It's a BMW. It's very expensive. I want to steal it.
   • Peter: What's this?
     Julia: It's a web cam. It's mine. I bought it yesterday.
   • Emily: Do you know these people?
     Art: Yes, they are my relatives. I like them.
   • Questions: What's that? or What's this?
     The typical, standard answer: It's a cat.
     Other possible answers: That's a cat. This is a cat.
   • Questions: What are those? or What are these?
     The typical, standard answer: They're cars.
     Other possible answers: Those are cars. These are cars.
   
   When you use demonstratives and pronouns make sure that the other person knows what you are talking about. That is their functions.
   
   
2. We use this and these to talk about people or things near us and we may add the words here or over here. We use that and those to talk about people or things that are farther away and we may add the words there or over there.
   • This is my bag here. And that is her bag over there.
   • I can see these people in the first row but I cannot see those people in the back row.
   
   However, this and that, these and those can refer to things and people at the same distance. In this case "that" means "the other one" and "those" means "the other ones". In the examples below everything is in the same distance, next to each other.
   • Salesman: Do you want this one?
     Customer: No, I want that one.
   • I like these but I don't like those.
3. Demonstratives can be used to express emotions. This and these express positive feelings while that and those negative feelings. They express metaphorical distance or closeness.
   • Are you going to meet that female friend of yours again? (dislike, jealousy)
   • Those beggars are here again. I do not like them.
   • I love this new teacher.
   • These (hats) are wonderful.
4. Use "that" and "those" to refer back to something that somebody said or did or obvious from the context of the conversation but cannot be sensed now (intangibles):
   • A: Can I buy you a drink?
     B: That's a great idea.
   • A: I am very angry with my boss.
     B: Why is that?
   
   However, when you quote someone use this or these.
   • This is what she said to me, "I don't like you. Never did!"
   • These are his exact words, "You're fired!"
5. Demonstratives can be used when we talk about time related things.
   We can use demonstratives in time phrases; sometimes without prepositions:
   • A: I saw you this morning.
     B: Yes, I saw you in the morning, too.
   • this afternoon - in the afternoon.
   • This week, this month, this year.
   • Those were the days my friend. We thought they'd never end.
   • That fatal night changed my whole life.
   
   If something is near in time, we tend to use this or these while if we refer to the past or the future, we use that or those.
   • This wine is great but that wine we had yesterday was terrible.
   • Those courses at the university were useless.
   • That'll be the day when I die.
6. When we introduce people personally, we use demonstratives first, instead of the pronouns he, she or they. After the first reference we use personal pronouns. It is not rude to use this or that to refer to someone at introduction.
   • This is Oscar. (Don't say, "He is Oscar.")
   • This is Mr Peterson. He is my boss. I have worked for him for two years.
   • This is Eddy and this is Katie. (Do not say, "These are Eddy and Katie.")
   • These are my colleagues, Édouard Manet and Claude Monet. (Do not say, "These are Édouard Manet and Claude Monet.")
   • That's my father out there in the garden.
7. On the telephone, on the door phone or when someone knocks on the door, when we introduce ourselves at the beginning of a conversation or ask the other person's name we use this, that instead of I and you. The answer for this type of question uses "it" and not "I".
   • This is Ludwig van Beethoven from Germany. May I speak to the music producer, please?
   • Hi, this is James Greedy. I'm calling from ABC Insurance.
   • (At the two sides of the door) Old lady: Who's that?
     Robber: It's the postman. I've brought money for you.
   • A: Who's this?
     B: It's me, Tom.
8. This, that, these, those can function as "determiners" or "pronouns".
   They function as "determiners" when they come before nouns in noun phrases.
   • This pen is red.
   • Those big melons are mine.
   • Whose are these old books?
   
   They function as "pronouns" when they are a single demonstrative word. A demonstrative pronoun takes the place of a noun, a noun phrase, a set of noun phrases, an activity, an event, or a situation. This and that function as "it" and these and those function as "they" or "them".
   • A: I bought this hat.
     B: I like that hat. = I like that. = I like it.
   • A: Look at my flowers.
     B: Your flowers are beautiful. = These are beautiful. = They are beautiful.
     C: I like those. = I like them.
   • Joe: I love when she smiles.
     Mary: I love that, too.
9. We can use demonstratives and pronouns for style and dramatic effects to get attention. We know that the other person does not know what we are talking about. We force them to get involved.
   • A: Now, this is great!
     B: What's great?
   • A: I don't like that! (I don't like it!)
     B: What? What are you talking about? What don't you like?
   • A: I met this guy in the park ...
10. We can use demonstratives to refer to shared, common knowledge or new information.
    
    You can use "that" or "those" instead of "the" to refer to shared or common knowledge in a story or explanation.
    • Do you remember that stupid guy from the party last week?
    • Those union workers are just monsters.
    
    
    You can use "this" instead of "a" or "an" to refer to something important or recent, or to introduce a new element in a story:
    • This car just came out of nowhere.
    • He suddenly pulled out this big, sharp knife.
11. Use this and that with singular and uncountable nouns. Use these and those with plural nouns.
    
    However, use singular demonstratives if the first word in a list of words requires singular demonstrative, even if the second, third etc. words are plural.
    • This is my pen and books.
    • These are my books and pen.
    • That is my phone, wallet, bag and shoes.
    • Those are my shoes, phone, wallet and bag.

The table above shows general rules. However, there are exceptions. For example, with a lot of institutions we use "the" even if the other person does not know which specific one I am talking about: I am going to the theatre / to the swimming pool / to the cinema / to the market, etc.

A determiner is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and expresses the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context.

A noun phrase is a phrase which has a noun, an indefinite pronoun or an adjective as its head word and zero or more other words. The whole noun phrase can be replaced by a pronoun.

Modifiers are usually optional. They give extra information about the noun. But sometimes a post-modifier is required to complete the meaning of a noun and in this case it is called a complement. e.g. 'the claim' needs a complement 'the claim that he stole her money'

Noun phrases can be embedded inside each other or attached to one another to form a chain.

Prepositional phrases are groups of words containing prepositions.

A prepositional phrase usually starts with a preposition. However, some prepositions, called postpositions, stand behind the object. For example, 'a week ago', 'her weaknesses notwithstanding'.
There is a third category called circumposition where two prepositions are used together before and after a word. For example, the 'from ... on' pair in 'from now on'.
The general term for preposition, postposition and circumposition is adposition but in everyday usage preposition is used for all the three.

A prepositional phrases can function as an adverb or an adjective.

The referred word is the word to which the prepositional phrase is an adjunct.

Syntactic units: words, phrases, clauses, sentences, sentence chains

English grammar rules can be grouped and studied at five levels:
words < phrases < clauses < sentences < sentence chains.

The < symbol indicates that there is usually a natural progression in size of the syntactic units in spoken and written messages. However, it is not always the case. For example, a phrase can contain a clause and a sentence can be just one word.

There are specific grammar rules at each level, starting from the phrase level, that tell us how to form longer message elements by combining shorter ones from the same or other syntactic levels. For instance, how to combine words, phrases and even clauses into a longer phrase.

1, Word level - word classes

Words can be sorted into word classes depending on what roles they play in the sentence. The word classes are noun, verb, adverb, adjective, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection, etc.

A word class can have sub-classes. For example, there are subject pronouns, object pronouns and possessive pronouns.

2, Phrase level

A phrase is two or more words that do not contain the subject-predicate pair to form a clause but are connected together by grammar rules, meaning or logic and they function as a unit.

Phrase types: noun phrase, adjective phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, infinitive phrase, present and past participle phrase, gerund phrase, and exclamation / interjection phrase.

A phrase has a main part called head and other parts that are referred to by different names: specifier, modifier, dependent, object or complement. Sometimes one word is also considered a phrase for analytical purpose.

3, Clause level

A clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete thought. A standard, complete clause has a subject and a predicate. The predicate includes a verb. Clauses can be embedded inside phrases and vice versa. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence.

4, Sentence level

A standard, complete English sentence has at least one independent clause.

An independent clause is the clause that can stand alone as a sentence.
A dependent clause is a clause that provides an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence.
Dependent clauses include noun clauses, relative (adjectival) clauses, and adverbial clauses.

A simple sentence consists of a single independent clause with no dependent clauses.
A compound sentence consists of multiple independent clauses with no dependent clauses. These clauses are joined together using conjunctions, punctuation, or both.
A complex sentence consists of one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.
A compound–complex sentence consists of multiple independent clauses, at least one of which has at least one dependent clause.
An incomplete sentence does not have a subject and/or a predicate.

5, Sentence chain level

A sentence can influence the grammar and words we use in other related sentences. The related sentences do not need to be adjacent sentences and don't need to be said by the same person.

Look at this example.
Jane: Have you ever been to Japan? It is a beautiful country.
Mary: Yes, I have.

The word "it" in Jane's second sentence is related to the word "Japan" in her first sentence. The words "I" and "have" in Mary's answer are related to the "you" and the present perfect tense, respectively, in Jane's question.

Agreements and disagreements with remarks

Use 'Yes', 'Of course', Yes, of course', 'So', 'Oh, so' + affirmative auxiliary to agree with positive (affirmative) remarks.

'Need' is mainly used in negative form (needn't) and not in affirmative (positive sentence). In affirmative there is almost always a negative word before 'need', for example, nothing, no one, nobody. For instance, "Nobody need know that."

Use 'No', 'Oh, no' + negative auxiliary to disagree with positive (affirmative) remarks.

"Must" is obligation and its opposite is lack of obligation (needn't).

Use 'no' + negative auxiliary to agree with negative remarks.

Use 'Yes', 'Oh, yes' + positive auxiliary to disagree with negative remarks. The auxiliary is stressed so do not contract.

"Mustn't" is obligation and its opposite is an option or choice (can).

"Needn't" expresses the lack of obligation and its opposite is obligation (must, have to).

Question tags

Question tags are short additions to sentences for asking for agreement or confirmation. After affirmative statements use negative interrogative (+,-). After negative statements use ordinary interrogative (-,+).

Don't confuse question tags with comment tags, which are (+,+) or (-,-). Question tags are used for asking for a response. Comment tags are used for giving a response.

The grammar rules to answering to questions with question tags are the same as the rules for Agreements and disagreements with remarks.

Special cases of question tags

Statements containing: no (as adjective), no one, nobody, nothing, none, neither, scarcely, hardly, hardly ever, barely, seldom are regarded as negative sentences so ordinary interrogative tag is used after them.

When the subject is anybody, anyone, no one, none, neither, everyone, everybody, somebody, someone the pronoun 'they' is used.

Comment tags

Comment tags are short additions to sentences. After affirmative statements use ordinary interrogative (+,+). After negative statements use negative interrogative (-,-).

Don't confuse comment tags with question tags, which are (+,-) or (-,+). Question tags are used for asking for a response. Comment tags are used for giving a response.

The meaning of a comment tag depends on the tone of voice used by the speaker. They look like questions syntactically but they are not semantically. They are comments, not questions and they do not require an answer.

Comment tags can be used in two ways:

1, Comment tags can express that the speaker understands the situation or the story or the related facts. It is more of a logical, intellectual response rather than emotional. The response does not need to match grammatically with the previous sentence.

2, Comment tags are mainly used to express the speaker's reaction to a statement. The comment tag must grammatically correspond to the syntax of the sentence it refers to. Sometimes this type of comment tag means the same as 'Really!', 'Indeed!'.

Comment tags often express the speaker's emotions like anger, amusement, admiration, surprise, interest, disinterest, suspicion, disbelief etc. and the listener creates the meaning based of the tone of voice. The 'auxiliary - pronoun' section can be 'doubled' to express stronger emotions.

Additions to remarks

Addition can be spoken by the same person who said the remark or by another person.

Affirmative additions to affirmative remarks

There are two types:

1, Subject + auxiliary + too

2, So + auxiliary + subject

Affirmative additions to negative remarks

But + subject + auxiliary

Negative additions to affirmative remarks

But + subject + negative auxiliary

Negative additions to negative remarks

There are 4 types:

1, Neither + auxiliary + subject

2, Nor + auxiliary + subject

3, Subject + negative auxiliary + either

4, Subject + whole verb in negative + object (if there is one) + either

The neither and the nor types are exactly the same. So nor = neither.