What is Grammar?
English Grammar Terms

The 8 English Parts of Speech
These are the words that you use to make a sentence. There are only 8 types of word - and the most important is the Verb!

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Verbs
Passive voice
Modal verbs
Conditionals
Questions
Irregular verbs
Going to
Gerunds
Phrasal Verbs
Tenses
Nouns
(Un) Countable nouns
Adjectives
Articles
Pronouns
Preposition List

 Grammar Quizzes
Parts of Speech Quiz
Verb Classification Quiz
Main Verb Forms Quiz
Active or Passive Quiz
Subjunctive Quiz
Future Time Quiz
Continuous Tense Verb Quiz
Used to do or Be used to Quiz
Have to, Must, Must not Quiz
Can, Could, Be able to Quiz
Questions Quiz
Tag Questions Quiz
Infinitive or -ing Quiz
Gerunds Quiz
Phrasal Verbs Quiz
Conditionals Quiz
For or Since Quiz
Present Simple
Present Continuous
Present Perfect Simple
Present Perfect Continuous
Past Simple
Questions
Comparative Adjectives
Superlative Adjectives

Helping Verbs

Helping verbs have no meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with main verbs. They "help" the main verb (which has the real meaning). There are only about 15 helping verbs in English, and we divide them into two basic groups:

Primary helping verbs (3 verbs)

These are the verbs be, do, and have. Note that we can use these three verbs as helping verbs or as main verbs. On this page we talk about them as helping verbs. We use them in the following cases:

• be
  • to make continuous tenses (He is watching TV.)
  • to make the passive (Small fish are eaten by big fish.)
  
  
  
• have
  • to make perfect tenses (I have finished my homework.)
  
  
  
• do
  • to make negatives (I do not like you.)
  • to ask questions (Do you want some coffee?)
  • to show emphasis (I do want you to pass your exam.)
  • to stand for a main verb in some constructions (He speaks faster than she does.)

Modal helping verbs (10 verbs)

We use modal helping verbs to "modify" the meaning of the main verb in some way. A modal helping verb expresses necessity or possibility, and changes the main verb in that sense. These are the modal verbs:

• can, could
• may, might
• will, would,
• shall, should
• must
• ought to

Here are examples using modal verbs:

• I can't speak Chinese.
• John may arrive late.
• Would you like a cup of coffee?
• You should see a doctor.
• I really must go now.

Main Verbs >>