Learn English Grammar Step by Step

Learn how adjectives describe nouns by showing what they look like, feel like, or taste like, with examples such as blue, brown, huge, rickety, and orange.

Learn to distinguish adjectives and adverbs by identifying what you describe; use adjectives for nouns and adverbs for verbs, with examples such as beautifully and loudly.

Explore prepositions and how they link nouns and pronouns, indicate direction or place, and form phrasal propositions such as according to tradition and by way of.

Learn how interjections express emotion as a key part of speech, after reviewing conjunctions and transitions, with examples like wow, oh, really, yikes, and guidance on punctuation.

Learn point of view and master subject verb agreement by making subjects and verbs agree, avoiding mistakes with clauses, prepositional phrases, and the simple present, simple past, and past participle.

Explore point of view by identifying first, second, and third person and their pronouns. Recognize how I, me, my, you, your, he, she, it, they appear in examples.

Learn to make subjects and verbs agree across persons and numbers. See the present tense change for third person singular (eats) and that past and future stay the same.

Identify and correct subject-verb agreement errors caused by confusing clauses by removing the clause to reveal the true subject, with examples from present tense and third person singular usage.

Explore how prepositional phrases and clauses can cause subject-verb agreement mistakes, and learn that the verb agrees with the subject, not nouns in clauses or phrases.

Learn when to use don't versus doesn't in everyday speech and writing, and master subject-verb agreement by visualizing and decoding prepositional phrases and contractions.

Learn to use the comma to separate items in a series, for three or more items with commas after each item, and two-item lists without a comma.

Learn how to use the comma with dates and geographical names, review commas between independent clauses and nonessential clauses, and apply examples like March 23, 2018 and Columbus, Ohio.

Learn to use the comma with direct address by placing commas after addressee names, including in middle or end of sentences, and review rules for dates and city and state.

Learn to use the semicolon to separate items in a series that contains internal commas, with examples like an architect; a professor of art, literature, and drama; and a nurse.

Master the semicolon rule: place a semicolon before transitions like however, in fact, and therefore, between independent clauses, then insert a comma after the transition.

Learn how to use the hyphen to form hyphenated adjectives, such as blue-green water and two-year-old child, and when not to hyphenate, such as open ended conversation.

Master quotation marks for direct quotations and proper attributions. Learn comma and period placement in American English, and how to position the word said before or after quoted text.

Learn the difference between direct speech and indirect speech, and when to use quotation marks and reported speech.

Discover when to use quotation marks or italics for titles, distinguishing shorter works like articles or songs from longer works such as books or movies, with examples.

Learn how to use quotation marks with words in a special sense, including irony, slang, and uncommon technical terms, with examples like "long shot," "improvements," and "cold rolled."

Explore capitalization rules to capitalize required words and avoid unnecessary ones, including proper names and titles, places, languages, religions, historical works, and acronyms like NASA.

Learn how to capitalize proper names for buildings and streets, using major words in names like Empire State Building, while articles and prepositions stay lowercase unless first word.

Capitalize proper names, including cities, states, countries, and continents. Apply capitalization to people's names with titles, as well as buildings and streets, using formal names and articles where appropriate.

Learn when to capitalize proper names by language and religion, including programming languages and religious denominations, with examples like English, Python, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Methodist, and Catholicism.

Capitalize the names of political parties and historical documents, such as the Democratic Party and the US Constitution, and capitalize major words in the titles of documents.

Master capitalization rules for proper names, languages, religions, political parties, and historical documents, and apply day and month capitalization with examples like Magna Carta, US Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

Master capitalizing proper names for wars and historical periods, including World War Two, Axis powers, Civil War, Age of Enlightenment, and Western Europe, with rules for major words and directions.

Learn to use that versus who by identifying human versus nonhuman subjects, with examples like James who always follows through and the house that I really liked.

Learn how to correctly use their, there, and they're in English by distinguishing possession, location, and contraction meanings, pronounced the same, with examples of third person plural ownership and directions.

Learn to distinguish your from you're, master their, there, and they're, and apply who versus that usage with sentences showing possession and contractions in practical English grammar.

Master when to use its versus it's and study related contractions. Review possessive pronouns like your, you're, whose, and who's, with examples showing ownership and meaning.

Distinguish countable and uncountable nouns to choose fewer with countables and less with uncountables, using clear examples like towels, water, apples, and paint.

Learn when to use accept versus except: accept means to agree with something, while except means to exclude from a group; review countable versus uncountable nouns with fewer and less.

Learn to distinguish affect as a verb from effect as a noun, with examples like the effect on his chances for a job and side effects, tips on article usage.

Learn to distinguish lose and loose: lose as a verb meaning to no longer possess or to lose a game, and loose as an adjective meaning not tight, with pronunciation.

Distinguish to, two, and too with pronunciation, infinitive forms, and spelling variants t-w and t-o, and use examples for movement, the number two, and in addition.

Improve English spelling by applying rules and tips, including i before e exceptions after c, plural vs possessive forms, and o endings. Use the course companion book for practice.

Explore the i before e except after c rule with examples like shield, receive, achieve, chief, perceive, notice, and note exceptions after c and long a sounds in freight.

Learn how to form plurals and possessives for words ending in -y, using -ies after a consonant, or -s after a vowel, and adding apostrophe s for possession.

Learn how to form plurals of words ending in o, with some adding s and others es, and memorize exceptions like echoes and vetoes.

Improve spelling by reading more to see words repeatedly, and practice one or two new words daily using the misspelled words list on page 81 in the course companion book.

Thank learners for completing the course and encourage them to revisit lessons as needed. Download the course companion book for extra practice and detailed explanations.