English Grammar

This page is to help you understand basic English grammar structures.

Plurals of countable nouns

1)  Countable nouns usually take "s" in the plural:
dog - dogs; cat - cats; teacher - teachers; cake - cakes; toy - toys

2)  Countable nouns ending in -s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -o take "-es" in the plural:
bus - buses; glass - glasses; bush - bushes; speech - speeches; box - boxes; tomato - tomatoes
But remember: radio -radios; piano - pianos; studio - studios; photo - photos; video - videos ; kilo - kilos; rhino - rhinos; hippo - hippos;
stomach - stomachs; monarch - monarch - monarchs

3)  Countable nouns ending in a consanant + y change "-y" to "-ies":
 baby - babies; body - bodies

4)  Countable nouns ending in -f, -fe change them to "-ves":
elf - elves; wife - wives; half - halves; scarf - scarves; life - lives
But remember: roof - roofs; chief - chiefs; handkerchief - handkerchiefs; proof - proofs; giraffe -giraffes; cliff - cliffs

Now play the game Plurals to check that you can form plural nouns.
Plurals

Past Simple

The Past Simple is used for actions which finished in a stated time in the past.

Time expressions used with the Past Simple

then, when, yesterday, the day before yesterday, yesterday morning / afternoon
last night / week / month / year; last Monday / Tuesday
How long ago ...?
three days / weeks / months / years ago
in 1945

Regular verbs

We form the Past Simple of regular verbs by adding -ed.

Spelling

=>-ed	=>double consonant + ed	-e=>-d	consonant +y => -ied	vowel + y=>-ed
help – helped want – wanted laugh – laughed visit – visited open – opened add – added	stop – stopped plan – planned rob – robbed rub – rubbed travel – travelled quarrel – quarrelled	close – closed change – changed love – loved die – died like – liked live – lived	study – studied hurry – hurried cry – cried carry – carried tidy – tidied fry – fried	play – played enjoy – enjoyed stay – stayed pray – prayed destroy – destroyed

Now play the game Regular Verbs (Past forms) to check that you can spell past forms of regular verbs correctly.
Regular Verbs (Past forms)