TEFL

FULLCIRCLE

GRAMMAR
GUIDE
FOR
TEACHING ENGLISH
AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

WWW.TEFLFULLCIRCLE.COM
Table of
Contents
• Grammar Basics • Verb Tenses
Part of Speech Numbers 8
• Adjectives 1 Conditioners 8
• Adverbs 2 Infinitive 9
• Conjunctions 2 Auxiliary Verbs 9
• Determiners 3 Present Tenses 10
• Interjections 3 Past Tenses 12
• Nouns 3 Future Tenses 13
• Prepositions 5 Other Verb Structures
• Pronouns 5 • Modal Verbs 14
• Verbs 6 • Phrasal Verbs 15
Subject and Object 7
Gerunds 7
Comparatives and Superlatives 7
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Grammar
Basics
Traditionally, words can be categorized into parts of speech or word groups. In this guide,
we will find out about parts of speech or word groups, which are the main components
of the English Language.

Let’s have a look at these grammar structures one by one. By the end of this,
you should be familiar with all the main grammar structures.

Just one tip, don't expect to know all the structures by heart. You will have your technology,
the course book and the Internet to help you remember.

Part of Speech
In English Grammar, a part of speech (sometimes called lexical categories or grammatical categories or
word classes) is a class of words based on a word's function and the way it works in a sentence.
We will look at 9 parts of speech:

• Adjective • Determiners • Preposition

• Adverb • Interjection • Pronoun
• Conjunction • Noun • Verb

1. Adjectives
Adjectives are used to describe nouns. Adjectives are descriptive words, which are used to add detail to
a sentence. They can give important or necessary information. Asking the question can usually identify
adjectives: what?

EXAMPLE
• The girl is pretty?
• What is the girl?
• She is pretty.
• A black Mercedes or a wonderful book.
• Once upon a time, there lived a young girl called Jane. She lived in a crowded city called
Mumbai. Mumbai was seen by some people as a big and busy city but by others a varied and
exciting city.

If an adjective is used in a sentence with the verb "to be”, then the adjective describes the subject
of the sentence.
EXAMPLE
• Jack is unhappy. / Jane is angry.
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2. Adverbs
Adverbs describe verbs. They are descriptive words, which are used to add detail to a sentence. Adverbs
add more important information to a sentence and also they can make a sentence more interesting.

Most of the time adverbs are made from adjectives by adding "ly”. There are exceptions.
Adverbs can be identified by how or where or when:

EXAMPLE
• Please stop talking now.
• The typhoon, which hit the Philippines, violently wrecked many homes.
• The dog ran quickly.
• How did the dog run? It ran quickly.

ADJECTIVES ADVERBS

slow slowly

sad sadly

soft softly

EXCEPTIONS

good well

fast fast

late late

An adverb of time and space is normally put at the end of the sentence.

EXAMPLE
• James is going on holiday tomorrow.

3. Conjunctions
A conjunction is a way to connect 2 shorter sentences together. We can also call them connectives. We
like to use conjunctions to give a sentence a smooth flow and this makes it easier for the reader.
Examples of conjunctions are: and, but, or.

If the writer uses too many conjunctions in a sentence then it becomes too difficult for the reader.
Let’s have a look at the examples below.

• I am Jack. I live in Thailand. I am 25 years old. I like Thai food.

As you can see the sentences are short and a little robotic. To make the sentence flow better we can
add some conjunctions.

EXAMPLE
• I am Jack and I live in Thailand. I am 25 years old and I like Thai food.
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Conjunctions connect thoughts, ideas, actions, nouns, clauses, etc.

EXAMPLE
• Jack went to Thailand to enjoy the wonderful scenery and local food.

The conjunction to connects two sentences: Jack went to Thailand / Jack enjoyed the wonderful scenery.

4. Determiners
Determiners come before nouns. The most common determiners are the definite article (the) and the
indefinite article (a, an).

5. Interjections
These words express feelings and convey extreme emotions like Wow, Hey, and Whoa. Although they
are technically meaningless, they do add context to writing.

6. Nouns
Nouns refer to a person, place or thing. They can convey an idea or a thought.

• An example of a person is David Beckam.

• An example of a place is London.
• An example of a thing is a spoon.
• An example of an idea is curiosity.

A noun will be either:

Proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective
We now need to do some practice so that we know how to tell the difference.

Proper Noun vs Common Noun

• Proper nouns are the names of specific people or places. They should always begin with a capital.

EXAMPLE
• Jack is going to Thailand.
• London is the capital city of the United Kingdom.
• My daughter’s name is Emily.

• Common nouns are words for people, places or things that aren't specific (as opposed to a proper
noun which refers to only one person, place or thing). Common nouns can be countable or
uncountable, singular or plural

EXAMPLE
• There are many horses in the field today.

The reason these are common nouns is because we don't know which horses these are and we don't
know the name of the field.
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We can see from the two sentences below how we tell the difference between a proper and a common
noun.

EXAMPLE
• Have you seen the book I was reading?
• Did you see where I left Romeo and Juliet?

In the first sentence, book is a common noun because it is not specific. In the second sentence, Romeo
and Juliet relates to an actual book, a specific book, and will be in capital letters as it refers to a proper
noun.
Abstract Noun vs Concrete Noun
• An abstract noun is a noun, which cannot be identified using one of the five senses (taste, touch,
sight, hearing, smelling).

EXAMPLE
• It took a great of courage to dive into the swimming pool and save the boy.
• Mr Smith had always wanted to follow his dream of becoming a great novelist one day.

Courage and dream are good examples of abstract nouns.

• A concrete noun is a noun, which can be identified through one of the five senses (taste, touch, sight,
hearing, smell).

EXAMPLE
• Could someone please answer the phone?

In this sentence, phone is a concrete noun because it can be identified using the five senses. A person
can touch it, see it, hear it and maybe taste and smell it.

Countable Noun vs Uncountable Noun

• Countable nouns are nouns which can be counted, even if the number might be extraordinarily high
(like counting all the people in the world). Countable nouns can be used with a/an, the, some, any, a
few and many.

EXAMPLE
• Here is a crocodile.

A crocodile is a countable noun as would be cars, flowers and pots.

• Uncountable nouns are nouns which come in a state or quantity which is impossible to count; liquids
are uncountable, as are things which act like liquids like sand and air. They're always considered to be
singular, and can be used with a, some, any, a little and much.

A great way to remember an uncountable noun is love and dust. And a group noun
A good example of group nouns are a flock of sheep, or a herd of cows, or the army, or gaggle of
geese, or a school of fish, or a troop of monkeys.
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7. Prepositions
Prepositions are little words that tell where or when something is.

EXAMPLE
• The key is on the table next to the door.
• The toilet is down that corridor.

• Prepositions of manner: by, via

• Prepositions of amount: about, over
• Prepositions of time: before, after
• Prepositions of direction: into, towards
• Prepositions of place: next to, in front of
• Prepositions of cause: because, due to

8. Pronouns
Pronouns are used to replace nouns.

EXAMPLE
• Jack went to Vietnam on holiday last year and loved the country.
Can be rewritten to:
• He went to Vietnam on holiday last year and loved it.

There are several subclasses of pronouns, but for now we will consider three main subclasses.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
REFLECTIVE POSSESSIVE
PRONOUNS PRONOUNS
SUBJECT OBJECT

I Me Myself Mine

You You Yourself Yours

He Him Himself His

She Her Herself Hers

It It Itself Its

We Us Ourselves Ours

You You Yourselves Yours

They Them Themselves Theirs

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9. Verbs
Verbs are the second-most important words in English, next to nouns. (A sentence must have both a
noun and a verb in order to be a proper sentence). Verbs are vital to creating a sentence in English.
They can describe a physical movement like walking or running or how a person thinks or feels.
Verbs like "to be” can be used to describe who we are and define a state of being.

EXAMPLE
• He had travelled all over the world before he had a family in the USA.
• He slept through the thunderstorm.
• She is going to have twins next months.
• I think therefore I am.
• I am running through the rice paddies thinking about being here.

Verbs can be separated by adverbs.

EXAMPLE
• I have always liked the way you travelled around the world.

A verb can also be contracted.

EXAMPLE
• I've always enjoyed travelling as much as possible and living in different countries.

Uses of Verbs
Verbs will tell us what is actually happening in a sentence, what the subject is doing or going to do.
Therefore subjects can do just about anything and its potentially amazing what an action verb can do.
We can use a verb to start and also change motion.

EXAMPLE
• Jack ran to the swimming pool then swam 30 lengths. After he stopped his exercise, he went
home to relax.

In this example, the verb gave Jack motion and made him motionless at home.

The second use of a verb is to describe a noun.

EXAMPLE
• I am tired.
• I am sleepy
• Jack is funny.

Understanding auxiliary verbs or helping verbs

We can divide verbs in the main verbs (lexical verbs) and auxiliary verbs (helping verbs).
• The main verb shows the action of the subject...
• ...whereas the auxiliary verb helps the main verb. Helping verbs help us decide which tense the
sentence is in.

EXAMPLE
• Jack used to like driving his motorbike until he bought his new car.

So in this example, like is the main verb and used to is the auxiliary verb.
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Subject And Object

A basic sentence has a Subject , a Verb and an Object. Normally, the subject comes first followed by
the verb and then the object.

EXAMPLE
• Jack went to bed.

Jack is the subject, the verb is went and the object is the bed.
Nouns can also function as Objects. However, instead of performing actions they receive the action
and normally they follow the verb.

EXAMPLE
• Jack drank some coffee before bed so he couldn't sleep.

The Subject is Jack. The Verb is drank. The Object is coffee.

When you teach sentences its important that you explain Subject, Verb and Object to your students
because in many of their own languages they do not use this construction.

EXAMPLE

Gerunds
A Gerund is derived from a verb but functions as a noun. Therefore a Gerund is a noun made from a
verb by adding "ing".

EXAMPLE
• the Gerund of to read is reading.

A Gerund is often confused with the Present Participle. A Present Participle is most commonly used as
part of the continuous form of the verb, after verbs of perception, after verbs of movement or as an
adjective. A Gerund always has the same function of a noun, although it looks like a verb.

EXAMPLE
• Driving too fast is dangerous.

Comparatives And Superlatives

We also need to understand the comparative and superlative forms of the adjective as well.
Comparatives and superlatives are used when we want to compare two or more things.
• Comparatives are formed by adding -er.
• Superlatives are formed by adding -est.

EXAMPLE
• big: bigger and the biggest
• small: smaller and the smallest
• fast: faster and the fastest
• slow: slower and the slowest
• bad: worse and the worst
 08

Some examples are:

EXAMPLE
• My father is older than me.
• My sister is much younger than me.
• I am the youngest member of my family.
• The smallest mammal is a bumblebee bat from Thailand!

There are also some irregular comparatives and superlatives forms that you need to know as well.
Let’s have a look:

ADJECTIVES COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

Good Better Best

Bad Worse Worst

Far Farther Farthest

Little Less Least

Many More Most

Numbers
There are 2 types of number in English, cardinal and ordinal.
• Cardinal numbers are one, two, three, four, etc.
• Ordinal numbers are first, second, third, etc.

Conditionals
When a sentence begins with "if" it’s a conditional. It’s also important to know that a conditional has
two clauses with one sentence depending on the other one. For example, if you forget to turn the oven
on, your food will not cook. It happens!

• Zero Conditional
The Zero Conditional is used to convey fact, truth or principle.
For example, if you go to a Thai Temple you take your shoes off and cover your arms and legs.
With this sentence, the tense is the present simple. You can also start the sentence with "when"
instead of "if".
Rule: "If or when" followed by the two clauses, which are both in the present simple, then it’s Zero
Conditional.

• First Conditional
The First Conditional is used when a situation or outcome is possible but it's depend on something else
happening.
Rule: "if or when" followed by a clause in the present simple followed by a clause in the future simple.
For example, if you train hard for the run, you will win.
 09

Second Conditional
The Second Conditional conveys a message which is hypothetical, imaginary or unlikely.
Rule: "If" followed by the past simple in the first clause followed by "would" in the second clause.
For example, if I found gold on my land, I would look for more.

Third Conditional
The Third Conditional is used to convey regret or for things that happened in the past.
Rule: "If" followed by a clause in the past perfect followed by a clause with "would have+ and a past
participle. Wow!
For example, If I had departed a little early that day, I would have avoided seeing the accident.

Infinitive
This is the verb form before it changes tense. For example, to run, to speak.

Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary Verbs are helping verbs because they help the main verb. The main Auxiliary Verbs are "to be" ,
"to have" and "to do".
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Verb Tenses

Summary Table Of Verb Tenses

In English Grammar, a part of speech (sometimes called lexical categories or grammatical categories or
word classes) is a class of words based on a word's function and the way it works in a sentence.
We will look at 9 parts of speech:

PRESENT PAST FUTURE

Present Simple Past Simple Future Simple

Present Continuous Past Continuous Future Continuous

Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect

Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous Future Perfect Continuous

P RES EN T
TENSE FORM USE EXAMPLES

Facts, Generalizations and Water boils at 100

Universal Truths degrees Celsius.

Habits and Routines He leaves for school every

Subject morning at 6am.
+
Present Form of the Verb Events that are certain I live in Chiang Mai.

Arrangement like The train leaves at 3pm.

timetables
Present
Simple
NEGATIVE • I don't live in London.
Don't / Doesn't + • The train doesn't leave at
Verb 3pm.

• Does the train leave at

QUESTION 3pm?
Do/Does • Do you live in Chiang Mai?
 11

TENSE FORM USE EXAMPLES

Present Actions Jack is talking with friends.

Subject Temporary Actions Jack is working as a waiter

in the summer holidays.
+
Present of "to be” Future arrangements We are going to Vietnam
+ and plans next week.
Present Participle of
Verb or "ing" Trends Thailand is getting wealthier
each year.
Present Jack is always speaking
Continuous Irritations negatively.

NEGATIVE
Thailand isn't getting
Is not / Isn't wealthier each year.
and Are not /Aren't

QUESTION
Are you going away next week?
Is / Are

Actions which happened at I have eaten my Dinner.

Subject an unknown time
+
Present of "to have” Actions in the past which have
an effect on the present He has finished his shift.
+
Past Participle of Verb Actions that begin in the past He has worked as a Teacher
and continue into the present for 10 years.
Present
Perfect
NEGATIVE
He hasn't worked for 2 years.
Has not / Hasn't

QUESTION
Have you eaten dinner yet?
Has / Have

Actions that started in the

Subject pastand continue tothe He has been writing a book
present for 2 years.
+
Present form "to have”
+ I have been waiting for you
Actions that have recently for about an hour. I thought
been stopped
+ you said 3 pm.
Present Participle of
Verb or "ing" We have been living in
Present Temporary situations Penang for a month.
Perfect
Continuous
NEGATIVE He hasn't been waiting for an
hour, he only got there a
Has not / Hasn't minute ago.
and Have not / Haven't

QUESTION Have you been living here

long?
Have / Has
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PA S T
TENSE FORM USE EXAMPLES

Events in the past which are We ate dinner about an

now finished hour ago.
Subject
+ Something that happened We lived in Penang last
Past form of the Verb in the past year.
A series of events that He boarded the plane and
happened inthe past sat in Business Class.
Past Simple
NEGATIVE He didn't learn any Thai in the
Did not / Didn't first few months.

QUESTION
Did you work there long?
Did

Duration in the Past I was having a sleep when

the telephone rang.
Subject
+ Actions in progress at the I was cleaning the Kitchen while
Past form of "to be” same time in the past my wife was washing the car.
+ She was always talking
Present Participle of Irritation
negatively about people.
Verb or "ing"
Past I was wondering whether
Continuous Polite Question you could help me.

NEGATIVE
The teacher asked when he
Was not / Wasn't wasn't working on his project.
and Were not / Weren't

QUESTION Were you always good at

Was / Were running?

Completed action before I had finished my work

another action in the past before I went running.
Subject He asked me whether I had
+ Reported speech ran the Marathon last year.
Past form of "to have”
+ I wished I had eaten more
Unhappy about the past. before the Test.
Past Participle of Verb
Past Perfect If Jack had worked harder he
Third Conditionals would have passed the exam.

NEGATIVE I hadn't read anything before

Had not / Hadn't the test.

QUESTION Had she ever swam before the

competition?
Had

Duration of a past action up They had been waiting for

Subject to a certain point in the past nearly an hour before the bus
arrived.
+
Past form of "to have” Looking at the cause of an The road was slippery because it
action had been raining and it was hot.
+
been If I had been waiting in the right
+ Third conditional Sentences place I would have caught the
right bus.
Present Participle
He said that he had been waiting
Past Perfect or "ing" Reported Speech for ages before she arrived for the
Continuous date.

NEGATIVE They hadn't been waiting

Had not / Hadn't long for the bus.

QUESTION How many years had you

been waiting to get her into
Had that school?
 13

F U TU RE
TENSE FORM USE EXAMPLES

Promises I promise I will cook you

lunch tomorrow.
Subject I will close the door, it’s
+ Unplanned Actions getting cold.
will
+ Predictions It will rain later if it stays
Present form of the this hot.
Future Simple Verb
Habits He will always move his eyebrow
if he has something to hide.

NEGATIVE He will not run if he

Will not / Won’t hasn't trained.

QUESTION
Will he run today?
Will

Subject In one hour I will be

+ Future actions in progress running through the rice
will paddies.
+
be
+
Present Participle Making a guess about the I bet she will be having a
Future future baby very soon.
or "ing"
Continuous

NEGATIVE I bet she won't be getting up

early tomorrow, she went to
Will not / Won’t bed very late last night.

QUESTION Will she be coming to the

Will party next week?

Subject Completion of an action Jack will have finished all the

+ before a specified point in food by the time everyone has
time in the future arrived.
will have
+
Past Participle Actions that will last in the Jack will have lived in Chiang
future Mai for 5 years in 2015.
Future Perfect
NEGATIVE Jack will not have learnt
anything if he doesn't go to
Will not class.

QUESTION Will he have eaten all the pizza

before everyone else?
Will

Subject By next year, Bob and Kathy

Duration of a specific will have been living together
+ moment of time in the future
will have been for 50 years.
+
Present Participle of In ten minutes you will have
Future verb or "ing" Cause of a future situation been driving for 12 hours, your
eyes are looking tired.
Perfect
Continuous
NEGATIVE
He won't have been driving
Will not / Won't + have for that long.
been + present partici-

QUESTION Will he have been writing for

that many years?
Will
 14

Other Verb Structures

Let’s have a look at the remaining Grammar Structures which you will come across. Just like the 12
main tenses we have looked at the following structures can be taught with ease using the right activi-
ties. Let’s have a go.

• Modal Verbs
Here is a list of Modal Verbs:
Can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, ought to, will, would.
The modal verb fits in between the subject (I, he, you, they) and the main verb (go, run).

• Degree of Probability
Can't / Must / May / Might / Could can be used to represent degrees of probability.
Let’s look at the word guilty and a courtroom.

EXAMPLE
• He was caught with the gun in his hand, he must be guilty.

This sentence gives a sense of certainty, perhaps 95% certain that he is guilty.

EXAMPLE
• He might be guilty.

This sentence gives us the sense of less certainty, perhaps 60% certain, but not sure.

EXAMPLE
• He might be guilty. / He may be guilty.

This sentence gives us the sense of less certainty, perhaps 60% certain, but not sure.

EXAMPLE
• He could be guilty.

This sentence gives us the sense of even less certainty, perhaps 40% certain.

EXAMPLE
• He can't be guilty.

This is the opposite of must and it gives a sense of 95% certain that he is not guilty. He had a very
strong alibi, he can't be guilty.

• Will
Will expresses a future event. It can also be used to express a habit.

• Giving permission and asking for permission

You can use Could and May to ask and give permission.

EXAMPLE
• May I use your bathroom?
• Could I use your bathroom, please?

• When you want to offer something to someone

EXAMPLE
• Would you like tea or coffee?
 15

• Ability
Expressing your ability at something.

EXAMPLE
• I could play golf better if I practised more.

• Obligation
Obligation gives a sense of whether a person has a choice or not. You can use must and its negative
form of mustn't to express and obligation.

EXAMPLE
• You must get to the bus station at 3pm or you'll miss the bus.

• Would
The modal verb would is used to express an imaginary or hypothetical situation that has not happened.

EXAMPLE
• I would like to go on holiday next year to Japan.

• Phrasal Verbs
A phrasal verb is a verb + a preposition. They are quite informal and should not be used in written work.

EXAMPLE
• call up / drop out / hold on.

Phrasal verbs can also be transitive / intransitive and separable / inseparable

Let’s look at each of these words:

• Transitive
A transitive verb always has an object.

EXAMPLE
• The son fell out with his father.

• Intransitive
EXAMPLE
• The machine broke down.

• Separable
The object is between the verb and the preposition.

EXAMPLE
• I looked the number up in the directory.

• Inseparable
The object is placed after the preposition.

EXAMPLE
• I will look into the matter tomorrow.
GRAMMAR
GUIDE
FOR
TEACHING ENGLISH
AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

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