Choosing the correct future tense
One of the things that makes English a rich language is the variety and flexibility of the tenses. This is covered in huge detail in my book, The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide, but this post will give you a quick introduction! The future tense is possibly the...Brighton Fringe and Brighton Festival: Reading and Vocab
A brief description of the Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe. For general information or as reading practice for learners of English. I’ve included some descriptions of the language in use below to help develop vocabulary skills. For anyone lucky enough to...When, if and expressing future time with adverb clauses
My post about using the perfect forms for future tenses briefly explains the idea of using present tenses to express a future meaning. This post specifically addresses using present tenses for time clauses. We often use when, if and certain prepositions to express a...Reflexive pronouns – uses and exercises
Reflexive pronouns are used in English to refer to a noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun when the subject is the same as the object in a clause. Here’s an example: Bob dresses himself. The subject, Bob does the action to him, also the subject, but the pronoun...Countable and uncountable nouns and plurals (exercises)
The following exercises are designed to test your knowledge of countable and uncountable nouns and plurals. The ability to count a noun will change the verb conjugation and the type of quantifier you use for it (for example, fewer/less). The first exercise tests the...Police: an uncountable plural noun
Police is a rather unique uncountable plural noun in the English language. It should be treated like people for grammatical purposes, for instance The people were standing in a crowd. The police were standing around them. Essentially, police is an irregular plural of...Correct use of ‘fewer’ and ‘less’
Choosing to say fewer or less in English is a grammar point that native speakers get wrong as well as foreign learners. This is not because it is complicated, but because less often sounds simpler or more natural than fewer. And (as with much in English language) not...Adjectives and Adverbs: a brief guide
Adjectives and adverbs are describing words. They add details to other components of a sentence. They can be used in a variety of ways, and some uses have regional variations. Generally, however, the simplest way to think of them is that adjectives describe nouns...Best English grammar book for learning and practice
Whenever I recommend just one English grammar book, I suggest Raymond Murphy’s English Grammar in Use. The English Grammar in Use series covers all areas, Basic, Intermediate and Advanced, though the one I find most useful is Intermediate. The large selection of...Want to Master English?
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