Table of Contents of this Blog Edit

Table of contents

Everything this blog covers in English grammar, composition and literature: 33 sections in 7 parts, from the first lesson to exam practice.

Part I: Foundations & getting started

1Introduction to English grammar

  • Core concepts: what grammar is, accidence and inflection, and word functions in sentences.
  • Terminology: glossary of grammatical terms and definitions.
  • Parts of speech overview: identification, classification, and how the same word works as different parts of speech.
  • Study guides and fluency: step-by-step reading paths (tenses and verbs), the 30-day grammar mastery plan, spoken English notions and functions, and tips for non-native learners.

2Bilingual grammar guides (Bangla & Hindi)

  • Bangla resources: Bangla-to-English grammar rules, tense charts in Bangla, countable and uncountable nouns, the definite article (the) usage and omission, distributive pronouns, basic sentence patterns, completing sentences, and paragraph writing in Bangla.
  • Hindi resources: a comprehensive tense chart in Hindi.

Part II: Parts of speech (morphology & word classes)

3Nouns

  • Classification: proper, common, collective, abstract, concrete and compound nouns (nominal compounds).
  • Countability: countable vs. uncountable nouns, and uncountable nouns used as countable.
  • Number (singular and plural): standard pluralization rules, plurals of compound nouns, foreign plurals (Latin, Greek and others), plurals with no singular form, and fractional expressions (one and a half).
  • Gender: masculine, feminine, common and neuter gender rules.
  • Case and function: nominative (subjective) case, objective (accusative) case, dative function and forms, genitive (possessive) case in formation and usage, and case in apposition (appositives).
  • Noun conversions: interchange of different kinds of nouns; noun-adjectives vs. proper adjectives.

4Pronouns

  • Classification: personal, demonstrative, interrogative, indefinite, distributive, reflexive, emphatic and reciprocal pronouns (each other vs. one another).
  • Relative pronouns: usage of who, which, that, what, whom, whose.
  • Special usages: the dummy or impersonal pronoun it; possessive pronouns vs. possessive adjectives.
  • Agreement and reference: pronoun-antecedent agreement rules and fixing unclear pronoun references.

5Adjectives & degrees of comparison

  • Types and formation: classification of adjectives, formation of adjectives, hyphenated adjectives, and adjectives followed by infinitives (to + verb).
  • Degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative forms.
  • Interchange of degrees:
    • Positive ↔ comparative
    • Positive ↔ superlative
    • Comparative ↔ superlative

6Articles & determiners

  • Articles: indefinite (a, an) and definite (the) rules, special usages, and omission of articles (zero article).
  • Determiners vs. adjectives: the core structural differences.
  • Quantifiers and distributives:
    • Few, a few, the few, not a few vs. little, a little, the little.
    • Much, many, a lot of, lots of, plenty of, enough, some, another, more, most, most of, rest of.

7Verbs & auxiliaries

  • Classification of verbs: finite vs. non-finite, transitive vs. intransitive, principal vs. auxiliary.
  • Conjugation: regular vs. irregular verbs; strong vs. weak verbs.
  • Causative verbs: rules and examples (make, have, get, let, help).
  • Multi-word verbs: phrasal verbs, group verbs, prepositional verbs, and inseparable two-word verbs (group verbs vs. single verbs).

8Adverbs & adverbials

  • Classification and forms: adverbials of time, place, manner, frequency, degree, purpose and cause.
  • Comparison: positive, comparative and superlative degrees of adverbs.
  • Syntax: positions of adverbs in a sentence and common misapplications.

9Prepositions

  • Core mechanics: functions of prepositions, prepositional phrases, collocations, and zero prepositions.
  • Visual and shortcut guides: prepositions in pictures and the six-part shortcut rules to prepositions.
  • Commonly confused prepositions:
    • At vs. in (time and place)
    • Between vs. among
    • Since, for, from, ago
    • After, in, within, at, by
    • Into, with vs. by, and to after the verb bid

10Conjunctions, linkers & interjections

  • Coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
  • Subordinating and correlative conjunctions: rules, charts and structural usage.
  • Linkers and transitions: sentence linkers, transition words and connective devices.
  • Interjections: definition and expressive examples.

Part III: Verbs at work (syntax & operations)

11Tenses

  • The 12 tense structures: present, past and future, each in simple (indefinite), continuous (progressive), perfect and perfect continuous forms.
  • Indicators: tense markers, signal words and time clauses.
  • Exceptions: stative verbs (verbs not used in continuous or progressive forms).

12Modals, conditionals & grammatical mood

  • Auxiliaries: primary vs. modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to).
  • Conditionals: zero, first, second, third and mixed conditional sentences (if-clauses).
  • Grammatical mood: indicative, imperative, infinitive and subjunctive moods.

13Subject-verb agreement (concord)

  • Foundational rules: number and person agreement.
  • Comprehensive rule sets: 30 basic rules, 44 advanced rules, special cases of agreement, and challenging exceptions.

14Non-finite verbs (verbals) & right forms of verbs

  • Infinitives: full, bare and split infinitives.
  • Gerunds: gerunds vs. verbal nouns; verbs always followed by gerunds.
  • Participles: present, past and perfect participles; participles and adjectives used as nouns.
  • Comparative analysis: gerund vs. participle vs. infinitive.
  • Right forms of verbs: rules, contextual gap-filling and solved exercises.

15Voice (active & passive)

  • Core rules: tense-by-tense active-to-passive and passive-to-active conversion.
  • Special structures: imperative sentences (Do the work / Switch on the light / Never tell a lie), interrogative sentences, quasi-passives, verbs with prepositions (I know him), and indefinite subjects (Everybody hates a liar).
  • Pragmatics: when and where to use the passive voice.

16Narration (direct & indirect speech)

  • Reporting mechanics: reporting verb and reported speech rules.
  • Transformations: tense shifts, pronoun shifts, time and place marker changes, and rules for assertive, interrogative, imperative, optative and exclamatory sentences.

Part IV: Building & transforming sentences

17Sentence structure & patterns

  • Components: subject, predicate, direct and indirect objects, complements (subjective and objective), premodifiers and postmodifiers.
  • Sentence types by function: assertive (declarative), interrogative, imperative, optative, exclamatory and one-word sentences.
  • Structural mechanics: basic sentence patterns, parallelism, ellipsis (nominal, verbal, clausal) and diction.
  • Common sentence faults: sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

18Clauses & phrases

  • Distinction: how phrases differ from clauses and sentences.
  • Types of clauses: principal (independent), subordinate (dependent) and coordinate clauses.
  • Subordinate clauses:
    • Noun clauses: functions and noun clause markers.
    • Adjective (relative) clauses: defining vs. non-defining relative clauses.
    • Adverbial clauses: time, place, manner, cause, purpose, result and comparison.
    • Comparative clause analysis: noun clause vs. adjective clause; adjective vs. adjective phrase; adverb vs. adverbial phrase; different clauses introduced by the same linker.

19Transformation, synthesis & splitting of sentences

  • Structural conversions:
    • Simple ↔ complex
    • Simple ↔ compound
    • Complex ↔ compound
  • Functional conversions:
    • Affirmative ↔ negative
    • Assertive ↔ interrogative
    • Assertive ↔ exclamatory
  • Synthesis and splitting: joining several simple sentences into a single simple, complex or compound sentence; splitting long sentences into simpler units.

20Completing sentences & gap filling

  • Completing sentences: rules, idiomatic structures, conditional completions and HSC or academic exercises.
  • Cloze tests: rules for filling gaps with clues, without clues, and with appropriate prepositions.

21Questions (wh-questions & tag questions)

  • Wh-questions: rules for forming questions with who, whom, whose, what, which, when, where, why, how.
  • Tag questions: rules, contracted forms in tags, affirmative and negative polarity, and exception rules.

22Word order, modifiers & misplaced words

  • Syntax and focusing structures: standard verb patterns and word orders.
  • Modifier errors: stacked, misplaced and dangling modifiers.
  • Correcting misplaced elements (35+ specific cases): proper placement of subjects (including embedded questions), objects (direct and indirect), objective complements, persons, pronouns (relative and reflexive), determiners, numerals, adjectives (attributive, predicative, participle, noun-adjectives), auxiliary verbs, non-finite verbs, transitive phrasal verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, adverbials (definite and indefinite time, place, manner, purpose, order of adverbials), participle phrases, and subordinate clauses.

23Punctuation, capitalization & spelling

  • Punctuation marks: full stop (period), comma, semicolon, colon, apostrophe, quotation marks, dash, brackets, asterisk and three-dot ellipsis (...).
  • Mechanics: contractions and rules of capital letters.
  • Orthography: rules of English spelling and lists of commonly misspelt words.

Part V: Vocabulary, usage & error correction

24Vocabulary building & word formation

  • Affixation and formation: rules of word formation, prefixes, suffixes, and words ending in -ly.
  • Lexical relations: synonyms (200+ core words), antonyms (200+ core words), homonyms, homographs, heteronyms and homophones.
  • Phrases and substitution: one-word substitutions, everyday idioms and phrases, collocations, clichés and Latin maxims.
  • Stylistic precision: avoiding “very” (using specific words), plain words vs. fancy words, and concise vs. wordy phrases.
  • Structured courses: 200-day vocabulary study materials (in 20-day modules) and verbal analogy tests.

25Confusing words & usage distinctions (197 word pairs)

  • Dialectal differences: American English vs. British English.
  • Grammar and function words: affect/effect, its/it’s, fewer/less, amount/number, between/among, beside/besides/except, due to/owing to, can/may, ought/should, used to/be used to/would, whether/if, which/that, what/which, each other/one another, everyone/every one, anyone/any one, none/no one, so/very/too/much/enough.
  • Time and sequence markers: ago/before, at present/presently, at first/firstly, last/latter/latest/later, sometime/some time/sometimes, continual/continuous, to/till/until.
  • Commonly confused verbs: say/tell, speak/talk, hear/listen, see/look at/watch, do/make, bring/fetch, borrow/lend, hire/rent, deny/refuse, avenge/revenge, drown/sink, hanged/hung, bear/endure/tolerate, gain/earn, expect/hope, imply/infer, insure/ensure, invent/discover, lose/loose, teach/train/coach, wear/put on, wash/clean, wound/injure.
  • Commonly confused nouns and adjectives: able/capable, admission/admittance, alone/lonely, all together/altogether, already/all ready, audience/spectators, aural/oral, bath/bathe, beautiful/handsome, big/large/great, classic/classical, cloth/clothes/clothing, conscious/conscientious/aware, cost/price/charge, custom/habit, damp/moist/humid, disease/illness, disinterested/uninterested, distinct/distinctive, eager/anxious, eatable/edible, economic/economical, elder/older, electric/electrical, emigration/immigration, famous/eminent, farther/further, flammable/inflammable, graceful/gracious, historic/historical, house/flat, illusion/delusion, sensible/insensible, sensual/sensuous, sociable/social, street/road, valuable/invaluable, warranty/guarantee.

26Common errors & tricky grammar questions

  • Categorized error analysis:
    • Errors in conditional sentences and degrees of comparison.
    • Erroneous use of auxiliary verbs, intransitive verbs and non-finite verbs.
    • Omission and unnecessary use of articles and determiners.
    • Wrong use of pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and parts of speech.
  • Practice sets: sentence correction exercises and six sets of tricky questions on English grammar.

Part VI: Composition & writing practice

27Paragraph, précis & composition skills

  • Paragraph mechanics: topic sentences, paragraph structure and types of paragraphs.
  • Summarization and expansion: techniques of précis writing, writing summaries, and amplification (expansion of ideas).
  • Extended writing: short compositions, story writing, comprehension tests, speed writing, and objective vs. essay tests.

28Letters, applications, e-mails & CVs

  • Formal and institutional applications (35+ templates): applications to principals and headmasters for transfer certificates (TC), testimonials, full-free studentship, financial help, hostel seats, canteens, common rooms, libraries, computer, literary and debating clubs, relief camps, cultural functions, study tours, and subject changes.
  • Civic and public petitions: complaint letters and applications for establishing a post office or public facilities.
  • Personal and informal letters: letters to parents and friends about exam preparation, achievements, condolences, invitations, hospitality and road accidents.
  • Professional correspondence: how to write e-mails, job applications, cover letters, curriculum vitae (CV) and resumes, plus the dos and don’ts of job interviews.

29Essays, paragraphs & amplifications by topic (300+ topics)

  • Proverbs and moral sayings (amplifications): Honesty is the Best Policy, Health is Wealth, Knowledge is Power, Unity is Strength, Time and Tide Wait for None, A Stitch in Time Saves Nine, All That Glitters is Not Gold, Failure is the Pillar of Success, The Pen is Mightier than the Sword, Make Hay While the Sun Shines, Where There is a Will There is a Way, Rome Was Not Built in a Day, Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity, and more.
  • Education and student life: Student Life, Duties of a Student, Students and Social Service/Politics, A Book Fair, The School/College Library, College Common Room, School Magazine, Hostel Life, Examination Hall Scenes, Copying in Examinations, Technical Education, Stages of Bangladesh Education System, Importance of Learning English.
  • Science, media and environment: Science in Everyday Life (Blessing or Curse), Computer, Internet, Television, Radio, Newspapers, Space Exploration, Tree Plantation, Environmental Pollution (Air, Water, Arsenic), Energy Crisis, Load Shedding, Wildlife Conservation.
  • Society, nation and current affairs: Patriotism, Discipline, Dignity of Labour, Courtesy, Punctuality, Unemployment, Population Explosion, Price Spiral, Dowry System, Acid Throwing, Drug Addiction, Traffic Jam, Road Accidents in Bangladesh, Padma Bridge, Asrayan Project, Rural Life vs. Town Life, Cottage Industries, Floods, Famine, Coronavirus (COVID-19).
  • Scenes, festivals and personal experiences: A Rainy Day, A Winter Morning, A Moonlit Night, A Stormy Night, Seasons in Bengal, Baishakhi Mela, Eid Festival, Durga Puja, Victory Day, International Mother Language Day, A Village Fair, A Railway Station, A Bus Stand, A Tea Stall, A Street Hawker/Beggar, A Journey by Boat/Train/Bus, My Native Village, My Aim in Life, Childhood Memories.

Part VII: Literature, standardized exams & downloads

30Style, rhetoric & literary terms

  • Figures of speech: anaphora (epanaphora), antithesis, chiasmus, climax and anticlimax, epistrophe, hyperbaton, oxymoron, polysyndeton, downtoning and emphasizing.
  • Literary forms: literary devices, genres, short story vs. novel, and novel vs. drama.

31Poetry analysis (line-by-line explanations)

  • 50 classic verse studies: line-by-line analysis of famous English poems indexed by their opening lines, including works by William Shakespeare, John Donne, Edmund Spenser, Thomas Gray, William Wordsworth, P. B. Shelley, John Keats, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, Robert Frost and Adrienne Rich, such as Ozymandias, Ulysses, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Daffodils, To Autumn, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers and Sonnet 18.

32Standardized test preparation (IELTS & TOEFL)

  • IELTS modules: overview, listening, reading, writing and speaking guides.
  • TOEFL modules: overview and downloadable PDF guides for listening, reading, writing and speaking.

33Printable PDF library

  • Reference e-books: basic and general English grammar books, Bangla grammar PDFs, and the top 19 downloaded grammar guides.
  • Topic-specific worksheets: printable PDFs and exercise sheets on tenses, verbs, right forms of verbs, subject-verb agreement, active/passive voice, gerunds/infinitives, phrasal verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms and collocations.