English Grammar: Basic grammar rules and explanations

English grammar. Why learn it?

Compared to other languages, English doesn’t have a lot of grammatical rules. However, English grammar often poses difficulties due to its many exceptions. This is why many consider that English learning would be a piece of cake without the grammar. So why learn it after all?

Correct grammar opens doors. Surveys in recent years showed that English-speaking job recruiters are more likely to dislike an application due to poor spelling and grammar. In addition, people on dating apps are less likely to continue chatting with someone who uses bad grammar.

Grammar acts as an organizing tool; it determines the word order and the sentence structure. Without grammar, the words are spoken at random and they don’t carry any meaning.

The more grammar rules you learn, the more you appreciate the richness of the language. By knowing the English grammar rules, you will discover new and better ways to express yourself in any given situation. In turn, this will make you a stronger communicator.

Grammar broadens your horizons. As the US National Council of Teachers of English says: “Grammar is important because it is the language that makes it possible for us to talk about language. Grammar names the types of words and word groups that make up sentences not only in English but in any language."


Do you want to master English grammar? If so, we have English grammar tips for you, just like the secret sauce in your meal.

Learning English grammar

English grammar exercises can be fun

English grammar exercises

Have you ever thought you can love learning grammar? Learning the English grammar doesn’t have to be neither boring nor hard. That’s exactly why our world class linguists have created fun and friendly English grammar exercises so you can enjoy learning English.
Inside the app, you will find 3 different sections dedicated to learning the English grammar online. Each section consists of 7 or 8 grammar lessons that take around 5 minutes each to complete. Every lesson introduces English grammar exercises where you read, listen to natives, write and speak. Rooted in science, our exercises are specifically created to keep you engaged and make learning English as easy and fun as possible.

English grammar exercises

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English grammar exercises for real-life situations

English grammar online

The right English grammar rules will get you ready for real-life conversations. Master the basics and you’ll deliver the message as intended every single time.

  • Use adjectives to spice up your discourse. Adjectives describe, identify and quantify people or things, while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.

  • ● Link your ideas with conjunctions. Try to say “I like I am learning English as I want to live in England” instead of “I want to live in England. I am learning English.”

  • ● Use the correct conjugation of the verb. Don’t forget that the verb must agree with the first item you mention.

  • ● Arrange everything according to the rules. The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject-Verb-Object.

  • ● Choose the correct word order for a correct sentence type: declarative to state the facts and opinions, interrogative to ask a question, exclamatory to express a strong emotion like anger or joy, imperative to issue a command or instruction, make a request, or offer advice.

  • Put a comma between two clauses after conjunctions like ‘however’ and ‘for example’. Use these words to give a piece of extra information in the middle of the sentence and to separate items.

English grammar online

Practical English Grammar Examples

English landmark


Will vs Would: ‘Will’ is used for actions that will take place in the future, for spontaneous decisions, for promises and predictions. ‘Would’ is the past tense form of ‘will’ and it is used in type 2 and type 3 conditional sentences. Additionally, ‘would’ is more polite than will.

Who and Whom: ‘Who’ refers to the subject of a sentence and ‘whom’ refers to the object of a sentence. To make sure you are making the right choice, simply rewrite the sentence. If you can replace ‘who’/‘whom’ with ‘he’ or ‘she’, use ‘who’; however, if you can replace it with ‘him’ or ‘her’, use ‘whom’.

Which and That: ‘That’ refers to specific objects, items, or people and ‘which’ adds information about objects, items, or people. Additionally, ‘that’ can only introduce a restrictive clause, but ‘which’ can apply to both restrictive and unrestrictive clauses.

Do and Make: Although both verbs imply activity, they have different roles. Generally speaking, ‘do’ refers to a vague or indefinite action, while ‘make’ refers to a specific outcome or object created by that activity. For example, you can ‘do right or wrong’, but will ‘make money’.
● Incorrect use of der, die and das. In German, it’s quite challenging to associate different genders and their respective article with what you might think should be neutral objects. For example, der Löffel (‘a spoon’) is masculine, die Gabel (‘the fork’) is feminine and das Messer (‘the knife’) is neutral.
● Misuse ich and mich. The incorrect use of ‘I’ and ‘me’ can also happen in German. It’s wrong to say Du liebst ich (‘You love I’). Instead, you should say Du liebst mich (‘You love me’).
● Confuse Sie with Du and viceversa. Unlike English, German has two forms for ‘you’: formal Sie when addressing strangers or coworkers and informal Du when addressing friends and family. It’s advisable not to mix them up.
● Mix up verb endings. German has more verb endings than English and it’s easy to mix things up. Make sure to memorize verb conjugation endings and which pronoun correlates to each individual verb ending.
● Wrongly use ‘in’ when talking about a date. In German, it is possible to say something happened in a certain year in two ways, neither containing the word ‘in’. To make sure you’re using the correct grammatical form, you can either use the expression im Jahr which means “in the year of” or you can just say the year like in the following example: Ich bin 1994 geboren (‘I was born in 1994’).

English landmark

Learning the English grammar with Mondly by Pearson has real benefits

The English grammar will seem easy and fun

Our linguists have created English exercises that will feel like playing a game. The catch: you absorb the English grammar effortlessly. In no time, you’ll be getting compliments from natives for your English skills.

Learn English the smart way

Use the right past form of verbs by adding ‘-ed’ at the end but pay attention to the irregular verbs as well. Become familiar with the most used English verb tenses which are: present simple for habitual actions, present continuous for current actions, past simple for the past actions, present perfect for the unfinished past, and future tense for future actions.

Learn English with friends

Learning English can sometimes feel overwhelming. That’s why we created language leaderboards to keep you motivated along the way. Play your way to English by competing with friends and the entire world.

Get ready for real conversations in English

Every English exercise created by our world class linguists is meant to bring you one step closer to having real conversations. That’s why we created speaking exercises for you to practice the English grammar you learn.

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