The grammar of the English language causes horror and fear in almost every language learner. It seems confusing and difficult, especially when translated into spontaneous speech. But is everything so unclear and vague in reality? In this article, you will see that the language is more like a visual map of knowledge, and there are topics for each level, patterns and structures that you can deal with and use in real life.
Grammar for Beginner level (A1)
At the initial stage of learning English, the main goal is the ability to build everyday dialogue and briefly communicate on such popular topics as:
- Work,
- hobby,
- shopping,
- countries and nationalities
- food,
- seasons,
- clothes.
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An important aspect is the formation of a habit of a new word order in a sentence. In other words, understanding that English works according to a certain system:
- For negative and affirmative sentences.
Subject + predicate + object + circumstance.
I often see her at school.
- For closed questions (where the answers are yes or no).
Auxiliary verb + subject + semantic verb + circumstance.
Do you go to school every day?
- For open-ended questions (implies a detailed answer).
Interrogative word + auxiliary verb + subject + semantic verb + circumstance (or object).
What do you usually have for breakfast?
Basic grammar topics needed at the initial stage:
- Verb to be.
- Singular and plural. The concept of "article".
- Pronouns.
- present simple.
- Adverbs of frequency.
- Prepositions of time.
- Open and closed questions, difference from be and do.
- Can and can't.
- Like, love, hate with a gerund.
- present continuous.
- There is / There are.
- Prepositions of place.
Grammar for Elementary level (A1)
To study English grammar at this stage, a thorough repetition of topics from Beginner is implied, as well as the introduction of new topics and tenses for discussing topics such as: travel, character and appearance of a person, a story about the past and the future.
Grammar topics that you will meet in addition to the previous ones from the initial:
- Imperative mood.
- past simple.
- Irregular verbs.
- There was/There were.
- Some/any.
- Many/much and little/few, a lot of.
- Countable/uncountable nouns.
- How much/How many.
- Comparative adjectives.
- Superlative adjectives.
- Future Simple.
- To be going to.
- Present Perfect.
Grammar for Pre-Intermediate level (A2)
At the Pre-Intermediate learners begin to build longer sentences using more conjunctions and causal relationships. New nuances appear in tenses, and the student learns to use the studied basic constructions in spontaneous speech, bringing them to automatism.
Here, the previous grammar from Elementary, but according to a different algorithm and changed topics.
Grammar topics at the Pre-Intermediate:
- Unions.
- Articles.
- Present Continuous for future arrangements.
- Past Continuous.
- Past Simple and Past Continious in a compound sentence.
- Present Perfect.
- Present Perfect (for,since).
- Difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple.
- Something/anything/nothing.
- Too/enough.
- Will / wont (spontaneous promises, decisions).
- The use of the infinitive.
- The use of the gerund.
- Modal verbs ( must, mustn't, have to, don't have to ).
- Relative clause.
- Modal verbs ( should, may, might ).
- Could/Couldn't.
- Would like.
- Adverbs.
Grammar for Intermediate level (B1)
The intermediate level of the language involves communication on a variety of topics in which the student can express his point of view and support it with some facts, weigh the pros and cons of various situations, participate in debates and even draw conclusions based on what has been said. All this requires the calm use of basic grammar in automatic speech, an extensive vocabulary and the beginning of acquaintance with phrasal verbs, understanding 70% of information from different sources, regardless of the accent.
In addition to repeating the material already covered, the coordination of times falls here. That is, all previously studied constructions are used in speech according to their compatibility with each other. Coordination of present and past tense, past and future, etc.
For example:
- She knew that he would come. is a mismatch.
- She knew that he would come. is the correct agreement.
At the intermediate level, the following grammatical topics are relevant:
- Conditional sentences of the first and second types.
- Static and dynamic verbs.
- The used to/ didn't use to, the difference from would.
- T o be used to/ to get used to.
- Indirect speech, the difference between say and tell.
- Modal verbs ( might, must, can('t) ) for suggestions.
- Can, could, be able to.
- Question tags.
- past perfect.
- Time coordination.
- Present Perfect Continuous.
- Passive voice.
Grammar for Upper Intermediate (B2)
Upper-Intermediate is knowledge of the language at a level above the average. This level is manifested in the speaker's ability to speak on almost all topics, with the exception of narrow areas such as ( IT, medicine, biology, physics, etc.), the use of relevant reactions, phrases and interjections in certain situations, the ability to smoothly move from topic to topic, to express agreement and disagreement, understanding of formal and informal speech.
In grammar, at this stage, some subtleties appear, since the main tenses have already been brought to free practice.
- Zero article.
- Set pointers a little/little, a few/few, plenty of/ a lot of, all, every, both, no, none, every, most.
- Third conditional and Mixed conditional.
- the... the...comparatives.
- Difference between Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous.
- Narrative tensions.
- future time clauses.
- Designs with wish.
- Modal verbs and the perfect infinitive.
- Verbs of the senses.
- Passive voice.
- Whatever, whenever, whoever.
- Past Perfect Continuous, Future Continuous, Future Perfect.
Topics for Advanced level (C1)
At the level of fluency in English, you will not encounter many new topics, but they all require a full understanding of what is being said, since it is the context that determines the grammar, and not vice versa.
In addition, the tenses of all previous levels must be used calmly and unmistakably in speech.
At a high level, you will encounter such new grammatical topics:
- Mixed type of conditional sentences.
- Inversion.
- Turnovers with get and have.
- Punctuation.
- Ellipsis.
- Future Perfect Continuous.
- Future in the Past.
- Clef sentences.
- Wishes and regrets.
Topics for the Proficiency Level (C2)
Proficiency is called the pinnacle of the English language, and is close in terms of proficiency to "native speakers" . You may be surprised, but at this stage you will almost never come across a new grammar. You will have to work on the subtleties and nuances of the context, which directly leads us to a rich vocabulary, namely: knowledge of collocations, idioms, phrasal verbs.
So what can you do at this stage? And what are the fundamental differences from Advanced?
- Talk about any topic, including professional or narrowly focused topics, discuss art, literature and politics, using expressions that correspond to the register of conversation and a variety of grammatical structures.
- Read serious works and articles, classical literature in the original.
- Understand "native speakers" as well as non-native speakers with ease.
Conquering Proficiency is great for preparing for the Cambridge Exam, such as CPE ( Certificate of Proficiency in English).
To master such a volume of knowledge is very difficult. Therefore, students striving for this level have specific and specific goals:
- Passing a master's degree abroad.
- Work in a large international company.
- Desire to do science.
- The desire to communicate without limits on serious topics and negotiate.
Conclusion
We hope that these topics by levels have clarified your understanding of your future plans for learning English. If we summarize all of the above, then the system for conquering the grammar of the English language and the opportunities that it gives will look like this:
- Beginner - to get acquainted, tell about yourself, everyday affairs.
- Elementary - ask questions, answer about your preferences, talk about the past, present and future.
- Pre-Intermediate - to conduct a dialogue indicating personal opinion and cause-and-effect relationships (how, why, why).
- Intermediate - weigh the pros and cons of situations, talk about possible hypothetical situations and outcomes.
- Upper-Intermediate - to discuss any general topic, but with lexical and grammatical restrictions.
- Advanced - conduct a dialogue on any topic without a specific focus, defend your position, logically convey your thoughts.
- Proficiency - to communicate on any topic, without restrictions in vocabulary.
Whatever your learning goals and level of English, we wish you progress and visible results in mastering grammar. We hope you found this article helpful, and we welcome your feedback in the comments.
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