Verb

• walk → walk / walks / walked / walked / walking (5 forms, regular)
• go → go / goes / went / gone / going (5 forms, irregular)
• be → am/is/are/was/were/be/being/been (8 forms)
• can → can / could (modal: only 2 forms, no -s, no -ing)

A verb is the one word class every English sentence requires. Carries tense (when), aspect (duration), mood (attitude), and voice (active/passive). Regular verbs add -ed; ~200 irregular verbs have unpredictable past forms.

Key insight: fix your verbs and most grammar problems disappear. Wrong tense, wrong agreement, wrong form — verb errors account for the majority of grammatical mistakes.

Phrase

• the red car — noun phrase (functions as one noun unit)
• on the table — prepositional phrase
• has been running — verb phrase
• very quickly — adverb phrase

A phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit WITHOUT a subject + verb pair. Types: noun phrase, verb phrase, prepositional phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase.

Key distinction: a phrase lacks a subject-verb pair. If it has subject + verb → it's a clause, not a phrase. Phrases are the building blocks clauses are made of.

Collocations

• ✅ make a decision — ❌ do a decision
• ✅ strong coffee — ❌ powerful coffee
• ✅ heavy rain — ❌ strong rain
• ✅ highly unlikely — ❌ very unlikely (grammatical, but less natural)

Collocations are word pairs that English habitually puts together. Both options may be grammatically valid, but one sounds native and the other doesn't.

Pattern: there's no logic to predict them — you make decisions but do homework, you have strong coffee but heavy rain. They must be learned as chunks, not deduced from rules.

Vocabulary

• A1: ~500–800 words (survival: family, food, numbers)
• A2: ~1,500–2,500 (routine: work, leisure, basic phrasal verbs)
• B1: ~2,500–4,000 (opinions, news, abstract topics)
• B2: ~4,000–6,000 (register precision, hedging, idioms)
• C1: ~6,000–10,000 (academic, register sensitivity)
• C2: 10,000+ (literary, rare, full style range)

Vocabulary covers word-level practice: individual words, collocations, phrasal verbs, idioms. Organised by CEFR level. Grammar tells you HOW to build sentences; vocabulary gives you WHAT to put in them.

A2 | Elementary | Pre-intermediate

• ✅ I went to the cinema yesterday. — past simple
• ✅ I have visited Paris twice. — present perfect (life experience)
• ✅ If it rains, I'll take an umbrella. — first conditional
• ✅ You should see a doctor. — modal for advice

These patterns are A2 — the second CEFR level. At A2 you move past survival phrases into real grammar: past tenses, the present perfect, basic conditionals, and modals for advice/obligation.

Marker: if you can describe yesterday and give simple advice, but struggle with abstractions or nuance, you're at A2.

Easy

• She is a teacher. — one verb form, one rule
• I have two cats. — basic possession, short sentence
• He doesn't like coffee. — simple negation with do-support
• Only one answer is clearly correct; distractors are obviously wrong.

Easy marks beginner-level challenges: A1–early A2, one rule at a time, everyday vocabulary, no trick questions.

Use "Easy" when you want to build confidence on a specific rule without interference from other grammar or tricky contexts.