Unit 2 - Grammar Foundations
Grammar Foundations, Parts of Speech, and Age-Sensitive Grammar Teaching
Understanding the building blocks of English - and how to teach them with confidence across different learner types.
In this unit, you'll learn the basics about verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions.
Grammar is a word that can induce boredom or fear in both students and teachers alike. This has much to do with the way it's approached as much as what it represents. Native language learners often have little experience with explicit grammar instruction. Therefore, when an EFL teacher is forced to confront the reality of teaching a given grammar point, it can be problematic.
What if we told you that some European English learners have a much firmer grasp of English grammar than many English first-language speakers? It's not that native speakers can't speak properly - it's really that explicit grammar rules are rarely taught anymore. Fear not, this introduction to grammar starts slowly.
There's nothing to be anxious about with grammar. These are all rules that you know implicitly, and this course will allow you to uncover them explicitly. The key point here is that to make informed decisions about whether and how to teach grammar, you must have the facts in place.
A grammar rule on its own - a label, a structural description, a paradigm in a textbook - is rarely enough to help a learner use language with any real confidence. A far more effective framework analyses grammar through three interconnected lenses: form, meaning, and use. Form addresses the structural question - how is this grammar point constructed, and how does it look or sound? Meaning addresses the semantic question - what does this structure communicate? Use addresses the pragmatic question - when and why would a speaker choose this structure over another? Understanding all three separates a learner who can state a rule from one who can deploy it in real communication. When planning a grammar lesson, it is worth asking which of these three dimensions your students are actually struggling with. A learner who produces "I am agree" is making a form error. A learner who uses past simple where present perfect is more appropriate is making a use error. A learner who confuses "borrow" with "lend" is making a meaning error. These are different problems that require different types of attention, and treating them all as identical "grammar mistakes" consistently misses the practical point.
As veteran ESL teacher Maria Rodriguez notes: "You don't need to be a walking grammar encyclopedia, but you do need enough confidence to guide your students through the basics without hesitation. When students sense uncertainty, they lose trust in the learning process."
You will first learn the basic grammar terms through examples, before gradually building up to more complex structures. One of the most critical points to note is that rather than approaching grammar teaching from the perspective of textbook lessons, you will discover new perspectives on methodology, primarily based on real-life contexts.
Consider This
Two broad approaches exist for presenting grammar to learners: deductive teaching, where the rule is presented first and then practised through examples, and inductive teaching, where learners encounter examples first and are guided to notice and work out the pattern themselves. Neither is universally superior. Deductive teaching is efficient and works well for complex or abstract structures that learners are unlikely to discover on their own. Inductive teaching builds deeper processing and stronger retention when the pattern is regular enough to notice and the learner has the cognitive readiness to analyse it. As you work through this unit encountering rules explicitly, it is worth asking yourself which grammar points you might present deductively in a classroom and which you might allow learners to discover inductively. The answer will differ depending on the age of the learner, their previous grammar instruction, and how transparent the pattern actually is when several examples are placed side by side. Teachers should choose between these approaches strategically, because some grammar points are easier to discover while others are better explained directly.
To cater to all needs, we assume our learners have no prior knowledge. This is to ensure that all bases are covered and to increase your level of confidence. If you already have a firm grasp of basic grammar, please feel free to navigate this section faster.
Noam Chomsky calls it "the computational system," which allows sound and meaning to be related. Those with less knowledge call it "grammar." Not to be confused with "glamour," though the two terms spawned from the same root, since those in the know-how of grammar were considered glamorous.
Languages have regular patterns used to convey meaning, and some of these make up grammar. The ordering of words is significant in grammar, as are word endings in many languages. Grammar can be split up into several types: prescriptive, which prescribes what people should say; traditional, which labels parts of speech; and structural grammar, which examines how words are placed into phrases and phrases into sentences.
We will begin by diving into traditional grammar with a few splashes of structural grammar. Hopefully, you will recognize that each of the following terms represents a nightmare for most foreign language students. Not only must they remember each word as a new vocabulary term, but they must also understand precisely what it represents.
Consider for a moment something that a native English speaker deems simple, such as the concept of singular and plural. Now, place yourself in the mind of a native Japanese speaker whose language has no instances of pluralization. Expecting that person to grasp the concept of pluralization without hours upon hours of practice is naive.
Then spare a moment to consider how you would attempt to teach "be" verbs, such as is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been, to Korean students, considering their language has a similar concept but as an adjective. Welcome to the joy of grammar teaching!
Beyond the Basics
The challenges illustrated in the Japanese and Korean examples above point to something deeper than vocabulary gaps or missing grammatical categories. They reflect the role of cognitive readiness and first-language interference in grammar acquisition, and they make a compelling case for adjusting teaching approach to the learner in front of you rather than following a fixed method. Younger learners typically benefit more from pattern-rich exposure than from formal rule explanation - their cognitive architecture is better tuned to acquiring language through repeated, meaningful contact with examples than through abstract description. The more times a young learner encounters correct plural marking in context, the more naturally it begins to feel like the only option. Adult learners, by contrast, often benefit from compact analytical tools that help them inspect patterns and self-edit without relying entirely on teacher correction - a well-constructed contrast table showing countable and uncountable noun behaviour can save an adult learner hours of confusion that example exposure alone might not resolve. A practical rule of thumb: if a grammar point can be made visible through examples, show the examples first. If the underlying concept requires abstract explanation that examples alone are unlikely to surface, explain first and then demonstrate. Adjusting this balance according to the actual learners in the room - their age, schooling history, and tolerance for metalinguistic analysis - is one of the clearest markers of a reflective and skilled teacher.
Review Question 1
Which type of grammar focuses on how words are placed into phrases and phrases into sentences?
- Prescriptive grammar.
- Structural grammar.
- Traditional grammar.
- Universal grammar.
Parts of Speech
A sentence consists of at least a subject and a verb, traditionally, though in colloquial usage, the subject noun may be omitted. For example: "Like that a lot!" or even the subject and verb: "Nice!" But sentences will usually feature more words than this. Every word in a sentence may be classified according to its purpose and the meaning it contains, its part of speech.
Let's look at an example: "A small fountain flowed in the park" can be broken down into smaller parts of speech.
- A is an indefinite article.
- Small is an adjective.
- Fountain is a noun.
- Flowed is a verb.
- In is a preposition.
- The is a definite article.
- Park is a noun.
As a heads-up, this is a summary of the parts of speech: we could go way more in-depth, but you really don't want or need that extra depth: trust us! Arguments abound regarding how many parts of speech there actually are; some argue eight, while others argue ten. We will cover only the essential parts in this unit.
Here's a comprehensive overview:
Verbs indicate action or state. Examples include: to be, have, do, like, work, sing, can, and must. Sample sentences: "It is lovely outside. I just made some bread."
Nouns refer to a thing, a place, or a person. Examples include: pen, laptop, work, film, city, museum, teacher, Sam. Sample sentences: "This is my city. It has better museums than London."
Adjectives describe a noun. Examples include: good, giant, serious, athletic, tall, creative. Sample sentences: "My dogs are athletic. I am tall."
Determiners limit or "determine" a noun. Examples include: a, an, the, two, some, many, much. Sample sentences: "I have so many students. Some of my students really love English."
Adverbs describe a verb, adjective, or adverb. Examples include: swiftly, noisily, well, fast, very, and really. Sample sentences: "My dog snores noisily. When he is really tired, he falls asleep quickly."
Pronouns replace a noun. Examples include: I, you, he, she, they. Sample sentences: "Tamil is Indian. She looks beautiful."
Prepositions link a noun to another word. Examples include: to, at, after, on, and above. Sample sentences: "We went to the movies on Sunday."
Conjunctions join clauses, sentences, or words. Examples include: and, but, when, and which. Sample sentences: "I like dogs, and I like cats. I like dogs, but I don't like cats."
Interjections are very short exclamations, sometimes inserted into a sentence. Examples include: ah!, ow!, hey!, well, okay. Sample sentences: "Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How are you?"
Some people argue that a distinction should be drawn between two types of verbs, lexical and auxiliary, whereas others classify determiners as a type of adjective.
For simplicity, this unit counts determiners as semi-adjectives, though if we wanted to be pedantic, they really aren't!
From the Field
Visuals, timelines, contrast tables, and demonstrations make grammar significantly clearer in practice, because they connect form to meaning without relying entirely on abstract explanation. For parts of speech in particular, colour-coded sentence diagrams - where verbs are highlighted in one colour, nouns in another, and adjectives in a third - give learners an immediate visual pattern to hold onto rather than a list of definitions to memorise. A simple technique that works well at multiple levels is to write a target sentence on the board, assign a colour code to each part of speech, and then ask learners to apply the same colours to a new sentence independently. This demands active categorisation rather than passive recognition. Contrast tables are equally effective: placing "I am tired" (adjective) next to "I am sleeping" (participle) and asking learners to identify what changes and why produces far more durable understanding than reading a rule. Demonstrations - asking learners to physically hand objects to one another to illustrate transitive verbs, or to mime solo actions to illustrate intransitive ones - anchor abstract grammatical categories in concrete experience. Grammar activities are consistently stronger when they require learners to notice, choose, compare, retrieve, or use language meaningfully rather than simply copy examples from the board.
Review Question 2
Which part of speech describes how an action is performed?
- Adjective.
- Adverb.
- Conjunction.
- Preposition.
Verbs
Along with a subject, verbs are the crucial part of almost all meaningful sentences. The standard description of verbs is "doing words," though this oversimplifies them, omitting states and mental processes.
Verbs may either be transitive or intransitive. To further this explanation, we must first establish what an object of a sentence is. In the sentence "I admire her," we have the subject, which is I, the verb, which is admire, and the object, which is her. This is a standard format. The object is whatever is "acted upon" in the sentence.
There may be a direct object or both direct and indirect objects in a sentence or clause. There cannot be an indirect object unless a direct object is present. For example: "Danny gave the letter to her already." In this sentence, "the letter" is the direct object, and "her" is the indirect object.
Transitive verbs are followed directly by an object, which we call a direct object. A transitive verb, such as "enjoy," must be followed by the thing or activity that the sentence's subject enjoys. Example: "Luke enjoys ice cream."
"Love" is another example of a transitive verb, as an object must always follow it. You can't just "love," you always need to love someone or something!
Intransitive verbs are not followed immediately by a direct object. They are instead followed by another part of speech, such as a preposition. "Cry" is an intransitive verb. You can't say "I cried it," for example. Instead, you may say: "I cried about it." Another intransitive verb would be "sleep." You can't say "sleep" plus a noun except for describing it further with an adverb, including potentially adding a preposition first.
Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. For example: "The choir sings carols well" is transitive, while "Pete always sings in the bath" is intransitive. Similarly, "She left Paris on July tenth" is transitive, while "I left early today" is intransitive.
ESL expert David Crystal advises: "When teaching transitive versus intransitive verbs, use physical demonstrations. Have students literally hand objects to each other for transitive verbs, and perform solo actions like sleeping or laughing for intransitive verbs. Movement anchors the grammar in memory."
We can make two other main distinctions of verbs: action verbs, such as go, watch, play, eat, walk, which are mostly transitive, and state verbs, such as be, seem, appear, and feel, which are usually intransitive.
Verbs in English have four principal forms. These will be further explained in much more detail later in the course. The four forms are: base form, simple past, past participle, and present participle.
For example: walk, walked, walked, walking. Or: talk, talked, talked, talking. Or: play, played, played, playing.
This list could go on and on, but there are also irregular verbs. Unfortunately, many common verbs are irregular, so students must learn each one through extensive practice. Here are just a few examples: beat, become, buy, come, do, drink, eat, fly, get, have, keep, lie, make, read, say, sit, stand, swim.
Beyond the Basics
Grammar should be taught as a usable skill - which means the goal is not for learners to recite that "transitive verbs take a direct object" but to correctly choose and deploy transitive and intransitive verbs in real communication, including recognising when something sounds wrong and being able to identify why. This distinction matters enormously for activity design. Asking learners to label verbs in a list as transitive or intransitive is a categorisation task - it has some value for metalinguistic awareness but does not build communicative ability. Asking learners instead to complete sentences that require them to choose between a transitive and intransitive reading of the same verb, explain the difference in meaning, and then use both versions in their own sentences is a noticing, choosing, and retrieval task that builds far more durable knowledge. The same principle applies to irregular verbs: drills have their place in early exposure, but retention improves substantially when irregular forms are retrieved in context - through storytelling tasks, question-and-answer sequences, or gap-fill activities embedded in real meaning - rather than recited from a list. Grammar teaching that regularly requires learners to interpret meaning, choose forms in context, and apply patterns purposefully tends to produce learners who can actually use what they have been taught.
Review Question 3
What type of verb must be followed directly by an object?
- Auxiliary verb.
- Intransitive verb.
- State verb.
- Transitive verb.
Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs help form a specific tense or expression through their combination with present or past participles or different verbs' infinitives. Auxiliary verbs do not carry the primary meaning of the sentence but help with its structure.
For example: "I had asked about the breakfast deal." The auxiliary verb, which is "had," indicates the specific tense, while the main verb, which is "asked," carries the meaning.
The principal auxiliary verbs are be, do, and have. We will look at this group of verbs in much more detail later on in the course, including modal verbs such as must, can, could, and others.
Gerunds
A verb ending with -ing is either a present participle or a gerund. The two look identical, but gerunds work like nouns, while present participles use the -ing form functionally like verbs. Gerunds can be used as subjects or objects. So, what we should say is that a gerund is a noun that represents the general activity of a verb, if that makes sense?
Example: "Swimming is a great exercise!" Swimming is a gerund used as the subject of the sentence, following the pattern: subject, verb, adjective, object.
Example: "I find swimming amazing!" Swimming is now the object of the verb "find," following the pattern: subject, verb, object, adverb.
Example: "She is ecstatic about swimming today." Swimming is used as the object of the preposition "about." Note that you haven't learned some of these terms yet: subject, linking verb, predicate adjective, preposition, object of the preposition, and adverb.
Some verbs, such as admit, consider, delay, remember, and like, are often followed by a gerund when another verb is used. Example: "He admitted being in the building at the time of her death."
A gerund sometimes follows prepositions if action is indicated. Example: "Colin always goes to the bathroom before attending the staff meeting."
Teacher tip from Jennifer Thompson: "For young learners, create a 'gerund wall' in your classroom. Every time students use a gerund correctly, write it on a sticky note and add it to the wall. Make it a game to see how many different gerunds they can collect in a week."
Infinitives
Infinitives are the simplest form of a verb with "to" placed directly in front. Examples include: to eat, to know, to go, to play, to encourage, to unravel, to learn.
It is common for verbs to be followed immediately by an infinitive. Examples: "I promised to make fresh pasta if I had the time. I promise to make fresh pasta if I have the time."
Notice that the infinitive remains the same regardless of tense? The negative form requires attention to be paid to which part needs to be negated: the main verb or the infinitive. When forming the negative of the main verb, we generally use don't or didn't. Example: "I didn't promise to make fresh pasta if I had the time."
However, if making the infinitive negative, place "not" before the infinitive. Example: "I promised not to make fresh pasta even if I had the time." Note that "even" has been inserted to allow the sentence to carry meaning.
"Splitting the infinitive" refers to inserting a word, such as not or an adverb, between the "to" and the verb of the infinitive. Many people, especially older teachers, despise it. Example: "I promised to not make fresh pasta even if I had the time."
As with prepositions and many other archaic rules, this rule that infinitives must not be split comes from Latin comparisons. The most apparent reason for splitting an infinitive is for emphasis purposes, but it may also sound clumsy not to split the "to" and the verb.
It is common to see verbs followed by a pronoun or noun and then an infinitive. Example: "Mary told Brian to meet her at eleven in the morning."
Verbs such as ask, expect, demand, want, and need are frequently followed by a noun, pronoun, or object. Examples: "I demand to be freed immediately. I demand Mike to answer my question!"
Review Question 4
Which form of the verb is used after the word "to" in its simplest form?
- Gerund.
- Present participle.
- Past participle.
- Infinitive.
Nouns
A noun refers to people, places, things, qualities, and states, such as states of mind.
Main Types
Common nouns are mainly physical, touchable things, such as color, house, dog. These take no capital letter.
Proper nouns include Mary, London, Asia, Amazon. These always take a capital letter.
Compound nouns include headmaster, raincoat, tracksuit, bookcase, dishwasher. These are two nouns joined together to make a new noun.
Abstract nouns include happiness, democracy, rights, thoughts. These are ideas, concepts, or experiences that cannot be touched.
Collective nouns include children, pack, herd, band, troop. These are individuals of one type united into one group.
Plurals
Plurals are usually created by adding -s directly to the end. Examples: dog becomes dogs, house becomes houses.
However, if the noun ends in x, s, ch, or sh, we typically add -es to pluralize. Examples: watch becomes watches, patch becomes patches, fox becomes foxes, bus becomes buses.
When a noun ends with a consonant plus y, the y usually changes to i, followed by -es. Example: ferry becomes ferries.
When a noun ends with an f, the f is usually replaced by v followed by -es. Example: grief becomes grieves. Exceptions exist: brief becomes briefs.
Exceptions: English is an old language with many contributors, so exceptions abound. Tooth becomes teeth. Child becomes children. Woman becomes women. Cactus becomes cacti if using traditional Latin like some choose to. Others use regular grammar rules, calling the plural of cactus, cactuses. Both forms are valid.
Some nouns, such as sheep or fish, do not change from singular to plural form. Exception: in some English speaking countries they say "fishes." Example: "There is one sheep over there. No, actually, there are two sheep over there."
As ESL methodology expert Scott Thornbury says: "Don't overwhelm beginners with irregular plurals all at once. Introduce them organically as they appear in context. Make irregular plural flashcards a recurring game element rather than a single intimidating lesson."
If you're wondering how you actually go about teaching these ideas (as opposed to what each part of speech is), hang tight - we go over things in stages. By the time you've finished the course, you'll have a very good understanding.
From the Field
Awareness of word formation - how prefixes, suffixes, and word families work - can support learner independence in ways that direct vocabulary instruction alone cannot. A learner who notices that "happiness" and "unhappiness" share the root "happy," and that adding "un-" signals negation while "-ness" creates an abstract noun from an adjective, can begin to infer the meaning and category of unfamiliar words rather than stopping to look up every new item. This kind of structural awareness is particularly valuable when learners encounter compound nouns, since English builds new compounds productively and no list can anticipate every combination a learner will encounter. At the same time, grammar teaching should balance clear teachable forms with at least some awareness of how language actually operates in use. For noun pluralisation, this means teaching the regular -s rule efficiently and firmly before introducing exceptions, rather than presenting all forms simultaneously - but it also means acknowledging that some nouns behave differently in informal speech, in different regional varieties, or across different registers. Grounding learners in the most reliable patterns first, and then building outward toward complexity, gives them something sturdy to hold onto while they develop broader linguistic awareness over time.
Review Question 5
How do you form the plural of most nouns ending in consonant plus y?
- Add -es only.
- Add -s only.
- Change y to i and add -es.
- Keep the same form.
Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Countable nouns are things that can be counted. They can be preceded by articles a, an, the and used in the plural. Examples: a sofa, an emu, an orange, the birds.
Uncountable nouns are things that cannot be counted. They do not have "a" or "an" in front of them and may not be used in the plural form. These are usually abstract ideas, liquids, and other things that must be quantified to be correctly understood. Examples: happiness, information, water, milk, air.
Interestingly, and annoyingly, for the EFL teacher as it turns out, some nouns can be countable and uncountable depending on the context of use. Example: "There's a chicken in the oven," referring to a whole chicken, so we will have "chicken for dinner tonight," where we cannot say exactly how much chicken, so it is uncountable and requires quantifiers to dictate precisely how much will be offered or consumed.
Whether a noun is countable or uncountable can affect other parts of the sentence. Example: "I don't have much money in my wallet" is perfectly fine, but "I don't have many money" is poor grammar. This is because "much" should be used with uncountable nouns while "many" indicates countable noun usage. Other similar expressions include "a little" and "a few."
Being English, there are exceptions. In modern language, certain non-count words are associated with their frequent literal form. Rather than wasting time saying "a can of Coke," it is more efficient to simply say "Coke" and allow the listener to infer you are a person and you would like a person-sized portion, as opposed to a tanker full. This is confused in circumstances when there is more than one option available, perhaps glass bottles, small plastic bottles, and large plastic bottles of Coca Cola. In this case, it is better to specify the quantity and bottle type. It is wise to teach students to be more detailed with language use than being ambiguous and work out context rules through real-life exposure.
Consider This
The countable/uncountable distinction is an ideal moment to practise concept checking - the process of verifying whether a learner has understood the meaning of a grammar point, rather than simply asking "do you understand?" which rarely produces useful information. A well-constructed concept check question for countable nouns might be: "Can I say two of this?" or "Can I use 'a' before this word?" For uncountable nouns: "Can this be counted?" or "Can I make this plural?" These short, direct questions test whether the learner has grasped the underlying distinction rather than merely repeated the rule. For the context-dependent cases - where a noun can be either countable or uncountable depending on use - concept checking becomes even more important, because the learner must understand that the noun's category shifts with meaning: "Is this a whole thing or an amount of a substance?" Designing clear, precise concept questions before you teach a grammar point is a habit that pays off quickly - it prevents false assumption about what learners have understood and reveals misunderstandings early enough to address them efficiently.
Pronouns
Pronouns are used instead of previously named nouns or corresponding noun phrases.
Types of Pronouns
Personal pronouns include: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, we, it, us, they, them.
As a subject: I, he, she, it, we, you, they. These are subject pronouns. As an object: me, him, her, it, us, you, them. These are object pronouns.
Example: "Jill and I love healthy food. We love it so much that we sell it! If you want some, then place an order with Jill and me."
Possessive pronouns include: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, its. Note that "its" does not contain an apostrophe except when meaning "it is." They have no article and are not followed by a noun. Example: "That dog is yours?"
Reflexive pronouns include: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. These are used when the subject and object nouns are the same. Example: "I burned myself with the hot glue gun."
Relative pronouns include: who, which, that, whose. These are used to insert a relative clause into a sentence. Example: "The woman who is standing over there is famous."
Teacher Rachel Miller shares: "For young learners, I use a pronoun puppet show. Each puppet represents a different pronoun, and students have to identify which puppet should 'act' in various sentence scenarios. It makes abstract concepts concrete and memorable."
Students worldwide tend to confuse subject pronouns with object pronouns and find possessive pronouns tough to master. For example, saying "mine ball" instead of "my ball" or just "mine."
The use of my, our, your, their, its, his, or her requires the noun to be placed soon after it, with the exceptions of "its" and "his," which can both be used as possessive pronouns or possessive adjectives without error. The latter are known as "possessive adjectives" since they add more detail about the noun in terms of who or what possesses it. Possessive pronouns, of course, replace the noun.
In English, it is not uncommon to use the personal pronouns he and she to refer to an animal. This is unusual in some other languages. This is more likely with pets, who or which become familiar as a family member. Ships, countries, and other inanimate objects often take the personal pronoun "she."
Relative pronouns are more complicated - worry about these later. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves so early into the course!
Eliciting - drawing answers from learners through questions rather than presenting information directly - is one of the most widely used techniques in communicative language teaching, and pronouns are a natural candidate for it. A teacher presenting personal pronouns might ask "What word can replace 'Maria'?" and wait for learners to offer "she" before confirming the answer. This approach activates existing knowledge efficiently and builds the habit of retrieving language independently rather than waiting for it to be given. However, eliciting has a clear boundary condition: it is useful when it activates knowledge the learner actually has, and it becomes counterproductive when it turns into prolonged guessing on material the learner has not yet encountered. Asking a learner to guess a reflexive pronoun form they have never seen is likely to produce only confusion and embarrassment. A practical guideline is to elicit whenever you have reasonable confidence that the learner has encountered the form before, either in this lesson or in prior learning - and to explain directly when you do not. For pronouns specifically, subject pronouns are typically elicitable from intermediate learners upward, while reflexive and relative pronouns, which involve more abstract grammatical relationships, are usually better explained first and then consolidated through guided practice.
Review Question 6
Which type of pronoun is used when the subject and object of a sentence are the same?
- Personal pronoun.
- Possessive pronoun.
- Reflexive pronoun.
- Relative pronoun.
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