English Grammar Rules: Plurals, Tenses, and Modals
English Grammar Essentials
Plural Noun Formation
Regular Plurals: Most nouns form plurals by adding ‘-s’: dog → dogs. Nouns ending in vowel + ‘o’ and new words also add ‘-s’: pianos, photos, kimonos, videos, kilos, studios.
Exceptions: Nouns ending in ‘-sh’, ‘-ch’, ‘-s’, ‘-x’, ‘-z’ add ‘-es’: buses, kisses, brushes, watches, boxes. Some nouns ending in ‘-o’ also add ‘-es’: tomatoes, potatoes, heroes.
Consonant + ‘y’: Change ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘-es’: baby → babies, lady → ladies, fly → flies. Exception: donkeys, boys, days (vowel + ‘y’).
Irregular Plurals: Words ending in ‘-f(e)’ change to ‘-ves’: wife → wives, knife → knives, wolf → wolves, shelf → shelves, leaf → leaves, thief → thieves.
Other Irregular Plurals: Man → men, Woman → women, Tooth → teeth, Mouse → mice, Louse → lice, Foot → feet, Ox → oxen, Child → children.
Latin/Greek Plurals: hypothesis → hypotheses, analysis → analyses, criterion → criteria, phenomenon → phenomena, stimulus → stimuli.
After Link Verbs: (be, seem, look, become, get) use predicative adjectives: V-value, S-size, A-age, T-temperature, SH-shape, C-colour, O-origin, M-material; the blind, the old, the poor, the rich, the young, the unemployed.
Comparative and Superlative: long → longer → longest, big → bigger → biggest, late → later → latest, thin → thinner → thinnest, dry → drier → driest, lucky → luckier → luckiest, early → earlier → earliest, pretty → prettier → prettiest. Exceptions: Proper and eager (use more/most).
Verb Tenses
Present Simple
Used for general facts and repeated events (habits/routines). Use DO, DOESN’T + base verb.
Present Continuous
(Present Progressive) Used for temporary actions and events happening now. Use verb TO BE + -ING. Cry → cries, Hurry → hurries, Study → studies. Exceptions: Buy → buys, Lay → lays; Miss → misses, Push → pushes, Fix → fixes. have → has / go → goes / do → does.
Past Simple
Used for finished states, events, and actions in the past. Also describes habitual past actions. Use -ED or irregular forms, DID.
Past Continuous
Used to describe an action in progress in the past. Use WAS/WERE + -ING.
Present Perfect
Used to connect a past action with the present. Expresses achievement and number of things. Use HAVE/HAS + past participle ( -ED or 3rd form). Use SINCE/FOR.
Future with WILL
Used for predictions and spontaneous decisions. Often used with ‘probably’, ‘expect’, ‘think’.
Future with BE GOING TO
Used for plans and predictions based on present evidence.
Future Perfect
Used to say something will be completed by a certain time. Use WILL HAVE + past participle (-ED or 3rd form).
Adverbs of Time
JUST: Describes a very recent event. ALREADY: Describes something that happened sooner than expected.
Modal Verbs
MUST
Expresses deduction or certainty.
CANNOT/CAN’T
Expresses certainty in negative sentences, indicating something is improbable.
DON’T HAVE TO
Indicates something is unnecessary.
MUSTN’T
Indicates something is prohibited.
SHOULD/OUGHT TO
Used to give advice or opinions.