Grammar for ESL

Lesson 1

Introduction

No matter what the language, grammar is often viewed as a difficult thing to grasp. Most people don't really know what grammar is. You'll find out here in the first lesson. You'll be surprised to learn how simple grammar can be. Once you discover this, you'll want to read and learn more.

Verb Tenses and the Three Major Verbs in English

Unlike some languages, English grammar follows a very logical structure. In this lesson, you'll discover how the language functions and grasp the main verbs of English. In addition, you'll explore some of the language structures that can be confusing and learn that once you discover a simple trick, they really aren't confusing at all.

Tenses and Forms of Verbs

This lesson will talk about past and present tenses. You'll examine how you can manipulate verbs to give specific meanings and find out how to construct effective sentences in standard academic English.

The Future Perfect Tense, Gerunds and Infinitives

In this lesson, you'll see how an action is reported as complete in future time. A lot of people, including native speakers, avoid this future perfect form, but you won't. You'll discover why it's important to understand and use the future perfect. Then you'll explore the difference between the infinitive (to go) and the gerund (going) forms. You will learn when and how to use them appropriately.

Making Sense of the Modals

Native speakers know how to use most of the modals correctly. But it's common to make errors in using the right modal for the right tense (time). In this lesson, you'll make sense of these unique words that are used to help verbs give a specific meaning.

The Passive Voice

The core of this lesson is identifying the active and passive voice or, who did what to whom. This is essential because it reflects one's ability to think clearly and logically. Understanding the active and passive voice is also important because it will help you detect deceitful statements others may make in an effort to persuade you to do something.

Noun Clauses

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a clause and a phrase? In this lesson, you'll find out. You'll also learn how questions are formed in English. This is particularly important because English can be a little different from other languages. For example, Spanish generally depends on the music of the language to create a question. English depends on the word order—the verb must always come before the subject in order to form a question.

Reported Speech

To report means to say what you saw or heard—to retell what someone has already said, or what you have already experienced. Communication would be very difficult if it weren't for the reported speech form. Can you imagine yourself talking in quotes all the time? In this lesson, you'll examine what English speakers do to change a quoted speech to reported speech. You'll find out how easy it is to do this and also learn about the common errors that even native speakers make.

Adjective and Adverb Clauses

In this lesson, you'll look at practical applications of adjective and adverb clauses. These terms can be confusing, but the lesson will make them as clear as possible. You'll discover that the challenge of learning them can actually be fun!

Real and Unreal Conditional, 'Wish' and 'If'

Real and unreal conditionals create a problem for many people. A speaker can easily make errors if they are unaware of what's real and what's unreal. In this lesson, you'll grasp the difference and find out what's considered acceptable English. You'll be surprised to see how often mistakes are made and how easy it is to avoid making them.

Count and Non-Count Nouns, Subject/Verb Agreement

There are many nouns in English that can't be counted. You need to know what they are so that you can use the proper verb form with them. This lesson will address those nouns. You'll learn how to make the verb agree with the subject of a sentence and how to determine what verb form to use if the subject is singular, third person, plural, or non-count.

English as Second/Foreign Language Problem Spots

The final lesson will discuss your newly developed confidence in understanding how English grammar works. It will talk about how the content that's been covered contributes to an appreciation for languages in general and English in particular.