Grammar

Part I. Foundations

Parts of speech 

1. Intro to parts of speech and word order

2. Nouns

1. Noun classification

2. Noun countability

3. Noun number 

4. Countable nouns used as uncountable nouns

5. Uncountable nouns used as countable nouns

3. Determiners

1. Determiner classification

2. Indefinite determiners

3. Definite article, the

4. Determiner order

4. Pronouns

1. Pronoun classification

2. Pronoun number, gender and case

5. Verbs

1. Verb classification

1. Non-modal auxiliary verbs: do/have/be

2. Modal auxiliary verbs

3. Non-finite verbs (Verbals)

4. Phrasal verbs

2. Verb tense

3. Verb mood 

4. Verb voice

6. Adjectives

1. Adjective classification

2. Degree of comparison

7. Adverbs

1. Adverb classification

2. Degree of comparison

8. Prepositions

1. Preposition classification

2. Preposition use

9. Conjunctions

1. Conjunction classification

10. Phrases and clauses

1. Phrase types by leading words

2. Phrase types by functions in sentences

3. Clause types by leading words

4. Clause types by functions in sentences

Word order

11. English as an Analytic Language: Most Languages Are Synthetic

12. Verb complement order

Perfect intransitive verbs

Imperfect intransitive verbs

Perfect transitive verbs

Di-transitive verbs

Imperfect transitive verbs

Flexibility of verb types

13. Verb-mood and word order

14. Clause order

Part II. Agreement Principles

1. Noun-determiner agreement

1. Noun countability, number and specificity

2. Unspecific things

1. Indefinite article with singular countable nouns

2. Zero article with plural nouns

3. Zero article with uncountable nouns

4. Indefinite quantifiers’ number/countability

5. Indefinite article with proper nouns

6. Zero article with singular countable nouns

7. Countable nouns used as uncountable nouns

8. Uncountable nouns used as countable nouns

3. Specific things

1. When to use the definite article

2. Previously introduced things

3. Unique things in context

4. Restrictively qualified nouns

5. Definite articles with proper noun

6. Idiomatic use of the definite article

2. Agreement between nominals

1. Nominal agreement in number, gender and case

2. Agreement in identity relationship

3. Subjective vs objective case

4. Possessive case

3. Subject-Verb Agreement in Number

1. Identifying the subject

1. Inverted sentence

2. Compound Subject and intervening modifier

2. Tricky nouns and pronouns

1. Irregular nouns

2. Indefinite pronouns

3. Interrogative/relative pronouns

4. Collective nouns

5. Number indicating words/phrases

4. Verb tense agreement 

1. 12 Tense expressions

2. Simple vs Simple Progressive

1. Present simple vs present progressive

2. Past simple vs past progressive

3. Future simple vs future progressive

3. Perfect & Perfect Progressive

1. Present perfect vs present perfect progressive

2. Past perfect vs past perfect progressive

3. Future perfect vs future perfect progressive 

4. Verb tense and time marker agreement

5. Tense consistency and tense shift

6. Backshifting in indirect speech

7. Verbal tense

8. Past tense expressions with modal verbs

5. Subjunctive verb mood agreement

1. Real hypotheticals vs. unreal hypotheticals

2. Subjunctive present

3. Subjunctive past

4. Subjunctive past perfect

6. Modifier agreement

1. Adjective position

2. Adverb placement

3. Agreement in degree of comparison 
4. Logical comparison

5. Misplaced modifiers

Part III. Style

1. Style of formal English

2. No commas v. comma necessary

3. Comma rules: Restrictive vs. nonrestrictive modifiers

4. Semicolon, colon, dash rules

5. Parallelism

6. No run-ons, fragments

7. No choppy, no wordy sentences

8. Wrong word choice

9. Mixed construction

10. Faulty Shift