It is one of the most difficult questions in teaching. Any learner of English, naturally, tries to master its grammar, relying on knowledge of the grammar of his language. And often the difficulties are caused by those grammatical structures, which have no analogues in the Russian language. For example, it is difficult for a Russian-speaking student to understand why there are more than a dozen different tenses in English, although in Russian we get along just fine with three.

This is where grammar comes in handy. in English in tables where you can clearly see common features and differences between different grammatical forms. Teachers note that English grammar in tables and diagrams is much easier to store in memory and subsequently turns out to be easier to apply in practice.

So, let's make a table of the nine basic tenses of the English language. Before going directly to the table, you need to know a few basic rules that apply to any English tense.

• At any time of the English language there is auxiliary in addition to main verb (predicate).
• In a negative sentence of any tense, the particle not is added to auxiliary verb and put before main verb - predicate.
• In any question of any tense of the English language, it is necessary to use auxiliary, which is placed before the subject.

There are three main groups of English tenses:

1. Simple (or Indefinite) - simple,
2. Continuous (or Progressive) - long,
3. Perfect - completed.

Each of these groups has its own
Present - Present,
Past - Past and
Future - Future .

Thus, in our table we get nine times of the English language - three times in three groups. Consider first the three times of the Simple group, then Continuous and, finally, Perfect. In the process of studying the tables, pay attention to the common features of each group of tenses, as well as the form of the main verb in the tenses of each group.

English grammar in tables

Thus, from these tables it can be understood that each group has common feature both in meaning and in the form of the times included in it.

• Simple group times are indeterminate actions not associated with any moment.
• The times of the Continuous group are prolonged action, process. In form, all tenses of this group use the verb be in the present, past or future, and the ending -ing of the main verb.
• Perfect band times are completed activities implying a result. All tenses of this group use the verb have in the present, past or future, and the third form of the semantic verb.

Also note that the auxiliary verb will is common to all groups in the future tense.

Present Perfect Continuous, Past Perfect Continuous, Future in the Past Continuous

Long times are not something easy, however, one can delve into their structure if one understands how they are formed and what functionality they perform.

We present to your attention a detailed table that reveals in detail the essence of these difficult grammatical phenomena. This is a kind of “memo for dummies”, helping out when you urgently need to remember this grammatical rule.

Tables of tenses of the English language help to easily understand the logic of building various grammatical structures of the English language and are a good help in doing exercises.

You can apply the acquired knowledge in practice and continue learning on our website. Here you will find all the basic rules, practice applying them in unique exercises, get real pleasure from professionally voiced texts of various levels and be able to choose the training material that is right for you.

English grammar exercises

After you have studied the English grammar tables, try the exercises to consolidate your knowledge.

Complete the sentence with the missing word

Fill in the gaps with the right words

Put the words in the correct order

Summer go every we usuallyevery camping usually ... summer go every we usuallyevery camping usually ... summer go every we usuallyevery camping usually ... summer go every we usuallyevery camping usually ... summer go every we usuallyevery camping usually ... summer go every we usually every camping usually .

Uncle to year Spain last went my ... uncle to year Spain last went my ... uncle to year Spain last went my ... uncle to year Spain last went my ... uncle to year Spain last went my ... uncle to year Spain last went my ... uncle to year Spain last went my .

English is significantly different from Russian. In general, there are no languages ​​in the world that are very similar to each other, just as there are no similar people. Even close linguistic relatives differ from each other. Every language is unique, and especially it is unique in its grammar. This should be taken into account when translating phrases and texts.

English has its own grammar. It may seem simple to some, complex to others. But in general, if we take the Russian language as a comparison, then the grammar of the English language is quite simple.

What is the simplicity of English grammar?

Let's look for solid arguments.

1. In practice, we can say that nouns in English have no gender, no case, no differential endings. This naturally simplifies the language. Let's take, for example, the word son and its equivalent in English son. Russian language: “I am going to my son”, “My son is a student”, “I love my son”. English: "I'm going to my son", "My son is a student", "I love my son". Look, in Russian a noun has so many different endings, but in English we always deal with one unchanging word son. No need to memorize unnecessary endings for each person, declension, number, case.

2. There are fewer words in English. And all this happens because in English one word can be both a noun, and an adjective, and a verb. There are many, many such words. For example, the word drink can be translated as the noun "drink" or the verb "drink". The word like can be translated as the verb "like", as the adjective "similar", as the noun "taste", not to mention that this word can act as a preposition.

3. In English, there is a fixed and rather simple order of word formation. Remember the verb to differ (distinguish) and the adjective suffix -ent, and when you meet the word different, it will not be difficult to guess that this is an adjective “different”. A little analytical thinking, and it is not at all necessary to know all the English words!

However, one can still talk about the simplicity of grammar. However, this does not mean that grammar can be mastered in an hour. To write and speak English without errors, you need to do more than one exercise, to consolidate the learned rules. Learning any foreign language requires a lot of work.

Sentence structure

Grammar in English is strict. If English speakers did not follow grammar, they would not understand each other. English is analytical. This means that word order is important in English. The Russian language is synthetic, in it we can change the order of words as we please. In English, this cannot be done. Therefore, we will begin to study grammar with word order. Word order in different sentences can be different. In a normal declarative sentence, the word order is:

1. Circumstance of place or time. When? Where?

2. Subject. Who? What?

3. Predicate. What is he doing? What did you do? etc.

4. Addition. To whom? What? etc.

5. Circumstances. Where? etc.

With a subject or object, there may also be a definition that is placed before the word. For clarity, let's give an example: "Max writes interesting stories father." In this sentence, we can change some words in places, we will be understood, and there will be no mistake. In English, there is only one translation option: "Maks is writing the interesting stories to his father." We cannot change the word order.

The order of words in interrogative sentences is built differently. First comes the auxiliary verb, then the subject, followed by the predicate, and then the object and circumstance. "Have you seen this report?" - "Have you seen this report?"

Verbs in English

What is the hardest thing about English grammar? Maybe it's a verb. It has plenty of times. If in Russian there are only 3 tenses, then in English there are more. Verbs can be main (drink, sing) or auxiliary (with the help of which questions and tenses are formed, be, have, do, will, shall). Verbs can be transitive or intransitive. The peculiarity of the transitive verb is that it requires a direct object. Also, verbs can be regular or irregular. The table of irregular verbs must be learned by heart. To form the past tense and the past participle, the ending -ed is added to regular verbs. For example, the word "play": play - played - played. Irregular verbs can have different endings. Example: write - wrote - written (write). Another feature of the English language is the presence of modal verbs. This is a special type of verbs. Such verbs can express ability, necessity, obligation, advice, etc. Basically, they do not require the to particle after themselves. Also, they do not change their shape at different times. Example: He must call. There is no ending -s, which must be, because the pronoun he (he) is the pronoun of the 3rd person.

Tenses in English

Now let's talk about English tenses.

1. Present tense. There are four present tenses in total.

present simple. This is easy time. We should use it when talking about some regular action in the present tense or about some fact. For example: "He likes to swim" - "He likes to swim." "I usually drink coffee" - "I usually drink coffee." This time is formed simply - an ordinary verb is used, and in the 3rd person singular (he, she, it) the ending -s is added to the verb.

Present Continuous. This is a long tense created to express an action that is happening at a given moment in time. "He is writing an article now" - "He is writing an article now." Time is formed by adding the ending –ing to the stem of the verb and using the auxiliary verb to be (I am, you are, he is, we are, they are).

Present Perfect. This is an action that has already taken place. It would be more correct to call it the past. "He has just written" - "He has just written." This tense is formed with the help of the auxiliary verb to have (which in the 3rd person singular has the form has) and the past participle. If this is a regular verb, the ending -ed is added, and if it is incorrect, then the form of the verb must be remembered. In the above example, we are dealing with just an irregular verb.

Present Perfect Continuous. This tense is used to express an action that has lasted until now. "I have been working for 3 months" - "I have been working for three months."

2. Past tense. Three times have passed.

past simple. This tense is ordinary, simple, indicating an action that occurred in the past. "He arrived 2 hours ago" - "He arrived 2 hours ago." Education - the ending -ed is simply added to the verb (if the verb is irregular, then the past tense form is used).

Past continuous. Time elapsed is long. "I wrote for 3 hours" - "I was writing for 3 hours."

past perfect. It is a past action that has already taken place in the past. She had written the article by 9 a.m. yesterday. yesterday".

3. Future tenses. There are two future tenses.

future simple. Future simple tense. The usual future tense, formed with the help of the auxiliary words shall (for 1 person) and will. "I will write tomorrow" - "I shall write tomorrow." Recently, the form shall is rarely used.

Future continuous. Future time is continuous. Used when we want to say that an action will continue sometime in the future. "She will be writing a letter at 2 tomorrow" - "She will be writing a letter at 2 tomorrow".

Active and passive voice

The tenses of the active voice are listed above. But in English there is also a passive voice. This is such a pledge when you need to show that the action is performed by someone. Examples: “He has not yet published his article” (active), “His article has not yet been published” (passive). – “He hasn’t published his article yet” (active), “His article hasn’t been published yet” (passive). This is an overview of the verb system in English. In general, it requires more careful study.

English articles

It is also worth noting the existence of articles in the English language. These are the indefinite article a and the definite the. They are used with nouns. The article is one of the complex phenomena in the English language. Although, in fact, there is nothing complicated about them, we just don’t encounter them in Russian, so the articles seem foreign to us. The definite article is used when we are talking about a certain subject: “Give me a glass” (it is clear which glass, it is on the table). But let's take a similar example: "Give me a glass of water" (it is not clear which glass, the person just wanted to drink). In this case, the indefinite article is used.

We briefly got acquainted with some features of the grammar of the English language. Knowing the grammar of any language is very important. There can be no language without grammar, understanding of what is said is impossible, which is why so much time is devoted to grammar when studying foreign languages!

Imagine that you need to start something completely new for you right now. For example, get behind the wheel of a car, bake pies for the first time, bathe a newborn in a bath. What will you start with? Options:

1. I'll take it and do it, what's the problem.
2. I read first on the Internet or in books how this is done.
3. Call a friend experienced in this matter.
4. Help from the hall (I will ask another).
5. Learn from a professional.
6. I won't do it.

The option you choose characterizes you very clearly. If it's about English grammar, then depending on which method you preferred above, the following is expected:

1. Bugaga (the teachers and the English laugh, who heard you speak in English).
2. Adding patience and time to this, you yourself will learn all the rules.
3. Add to this the patience of a friend and his time, you will learn all the rules under his guidance.
4. You will not learn anything, but you will listen to how others do it.
5. Adding money to this, you will learn all the rules.
6. You can go skiing, meet friends in a cafe, sleep, eat - in general, life is good.

As you can see, in order to understand English grammar, in theory, you need only three things: a source of rules, time and patience. The first one is offered to you in these articles, but you will have to cope with the other two components on your own.

Thus, we give you a fishing rod, and you will catch the fish yourself. What is the beauty of our fishing rod? It is lightweight, comfortable and easy to use. We will not load you with terrible grammar terms, torment you with long lists, flickering arrows, diagrams on an A4 spread and other tricks that some English teachers scare.

There is nothing particularly difficult in English grammar, unlike many other European languages ​​​​(not to mention Oriental and African). You can simply read these articles like a fiction book. Even if you master the minimum, at the finish line you will find that you own most of the rules that previously seemed unbearable.

As an example, let's do something already in the introductory part. What does speech consist of? From phrases. What is a phrase? From suggestions. What does the offer consist of? Stop! Let's clarify: what does the ENGLISH sentence consist of? Subject and predicate. Usually this is a noun and a verb (just don't say that you don't remember these words anymore): the dog is running, the passerby is screaming, the dog is barking, the owner is yelling. True, a noun can be successfully replaced by a pronoun: she runs, you scream, she barks, I yell.

You have just listened to a roundup lecture on parts of speech. What do you remember? At least the words "noun" and "verb" for you are already associated with grammar, and not cooking or construction work. And more is not needed. Are you ready to continue in the same rhythm?

Follow me (follow me).

Parts of speech:

1. Numerals(The Numeral)
1.1 Cardinal and ordinal numbers
2. Pronouns(The Pronoun)
2.1 Personal and possessive pronouns
2.2 Demonstrative and negative pronouns
2.3 Indefinite and reflexive pronouns

5. Adjective(The Adjective)
5.1 Comparisons of adjectives

7. Noun(The noun)
7.1 Noun in English. Noun classification

8. Verb(The verb)
8.1 Verbs in English. General information about verbs
8.2 Regular and irregular English verbs
8.3 Semantic and auxiliary verbs
8.4 Modal and linking verbs

V last years learning English has become so popular that some are sometimes even surprised that someone does not know it. This is not surprising, since English can be considered the most “international”, it is spoken in almost all countries of the world (of course, in addition to the native language). Those who want further career prospects for themselves strive to learn it in the very first place, and only then can they start learning other languages ​​if they wish. Of course, this is not easy, because the rules of the English language, its grammar, are strikingly different from those inherent in mother tongue person. And besides them, you need to learn a lot foreign words in order to be able to express yourself in a way that you are understood. But, let's say that you have already begun to study a long time ago, and you need a list of the most common mistakes made when speaking or writing a text. We suggest taking into account the basic rules of the English language, in which mistakes are most often made.

1. Verbs Present Simple (present indefinite tense): they are used when it comes to any action (I do - I do) that takes place at all. For example: I drive a bus - I drive a bus. That is, this action does not necessarily occur at this moment, it occurs in general, constantly. Remember that such verbs are used in a "pure" form only in relation to the pronouns I, we, you, they (I, we, you, they). With the pronouns he, she, it (he, she, it), the ending -s- is added to the verbs, for example: Henry works in a bank - Henry works in a bank.
2. The rules of the English language state that the auxiliary verb will (not translated in this case), which serves to form the future tense, is not used with words such as while, when, after, before, as soon as, till, until - while time as, when, after, before, as soon as, while, until then.
3. to and must, despite the similarity of meaning, still differ in meaning. Thus, I have to do it means "I must / have to do this", and I must to do it should be understood as "I must do this."
4. Studying further the rules of the English language, note that verbs with the ending -ing- are used before at, in, of, with, for, instead of, about, in spite of (in, in, from, with, to, a, approximately , despite) and after after, before (after, before). For example: are you interested in reading of this book - are you interested in reading this book?

In addition, it is necessary to remember about the correct construction of sentences. We are used to the fact that the Russian language is so great and powerful that it allows an arbitrary rearrangement of words among themselves, and the meaning of the sentence will not change from this and will be clear. In English, everything is different: if you rearrange it as you like, you get nothing more than an ordinary set of words that have no connection. It is for this reason that it is important to learn the rules of the English language, in which there are nine types of sentences, each of which is built according to its own laws. The classification of species is as follows:

1) narrative (subject - simple predicate - other parts of speech);

2) interrogative (built based on the expected answer: general questions that can be answered “yes, no”; special, requiring only a full answer; choice questions; dividing, consisting of a sentence and the question itself);

3) imperative (the only one that does not have a subject);

4) exclamatory (they are identical in structure to narrative ones, but with greater expression and intonation);

5) negative (have only one negation);

6) answers to questions (are built depending on question asked);

7) (nominal and verbal, for example: it is cold - cold, or it's getting warm - it becomes warm);

8) indefinitely personal (one can do it easily);

9) complex sentences (consist of several independent sentences).

Of course, all this is just a brief basics of the English language, because there are, in fact, much more rules. But nothing is impossible, as you know, nothing happens. Therefore, if the desire to learn English is very strong, in addition to the rules, do not forget that you need to communicate in this language. The fact is that, having learned a language only on paper, you will hardly be able to understand it in colloquial speech without practice. If there is no one to communicate in English with, the solution is simple: watch films without translation and try to catch intonations, peculiarities of pronunciation of words and other nuances. So you will quickly begin to think, and, consequently, speak English as freely as possible.