1Parts of Speechأقسام الكلام

Type	Job	Examples
Noun	person, place, thing	Cairo, team, information
Pronoun	replaces a noun	she, them, himself
Verb	action or state	write, decide, is
Adjective	describes a noun	careful, monthly, huge
Adverb	describes a verb/adj.	carefully, very, well
Preposition	links to a noun	on, during, despite
Conjunction	joins clauses	and, although, whereas
Interjection	sudden feeling	Well!, Oops!

2Nouns & Pluralsالأسماء والجمع

Most nouns: + s: book → books
After -s, -x, -ch, -sh: + es: box → boxes, watch → watches
Consonant + y: → -ies: city → cities (day → days)
Ending -f / -fe: → -ves: leaf → leaves, knife → knives
Common irregulars: man → men, child → children, foot → feet, tooth → teeth, person → people, mouse → mice
Unchangeable: sheep → sheep, fish → fish, series → series

Uncountable nouns never take -s: information, advice, homework, news, furniture. Say “a piece of advice / some information”, not “advices”.

3Pronouns & Agreementالضمائر والتوافق

Subject	Object	Possessive	Reflexive
I	me	my / mine	myself
you	you	your / yours	yourself
he / she / it	him / her / it	his / her / its	himself / herself / itself
we	us	our / ours	ourselves
they	them	their / theirs	themselves

Agreement: everyone · each · nobody · either take a singular verb — Everyone is ready. A relative clause takes its verb from the noun before it: the students who study… / the student who studies…

4Articles — a / an / theأدوات التعريف

a	before a consonant SOUND — a book, a university (/juː/), a one-way ticket
an	before a vowel SOUND — an apple, an hour (silent h), an honest man
the	specific, already-known or second mention — the exam, the Nile, the book I lent you
no article	general plurals (Cats are pets), languages (English), meals (lunch), most countries (Egypt), school subjects

5The 5 Principal Verb Formsأشكال الفعل الخمسة

V1 base	V1-s (3rd person)	V2 past	V3 participle	V-ing
write	writes	wrote	written	writing
choose	chooses	chose	chosen	choosing
go	goes	went	gone	going
take	takes	took	taken	taking
make	makes	made	made	making
lie	lies	lay	lain	lying

6Irregular Traps (Arab-student focus)الأفعال الشاذة الشائعة

Verb trio	Meaning	In use
lie / lay / lain	recline (no object)	He lay on the bed all morning.
lay / laid / laid	put something (needs object)	She laid the papers on the desk.
rise / rose / risen	go up by itself	Prices have risen sharply.
raise / raised / raised	lift something	They raised the minimum wage.
bear / bore / borne	carry, endure	The cost is borne by parents.
lead / led / led	guide (spelling trap: not 'leaded')	He led the team to victory.
fly / flew / flown	move through air	She has flown to London twice.

7Auxiliary Formulasقواعد الأفعال المساعدة

Modal + V1 (bare infinitive)	can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would	She must arrive on time. (never: must to / musts)
have / has / had + V3	perfect tenses	They have chosen a topic. She had finished before noon.
be + V-ing	continuous tenses	He is writing the essay now.
be + V3	passive voice	The essay was written last week.

8The 12 Tenses at a Glanceالأزمنة الاثنا عشر

Time	Simple	Continuous	Perfect	Perfect Continuous
Past	V2 She wrote the report.	was / were + V-ing She was writing at 9 pm.	had + V3 She had written it before dinner.	had been + V-ing She had been writing for two hours.
Present	V1 / V1-s She writes every week.	am / is / are + V-ing She is writing now.	have / has + V3 She has written three drafts.	have / has been + V-ing She has been writing since 5 pm.
Future	will + V1 She will write it tonight.	will be + V-ing She will be writing at 9 pm.	will have + V3 She will have written it by Friday.	will have been + V-ing She will have been writing for hours.

9Modals — quick rulesالأفعال الناقصة

must	strong obligation or logical certainty	You must bring your ID. He must be tired.
have to	external obligation	I have to submit it today.
should / ought to	advice	You should revise section 3.
can / could	ability; polite request; possibility	She can speak fluently. Could you repeat that?
may / might	possibility (might = less certain)	It may rain. It might be late.
needn't / don't have to	no necessity	You needn't rewrite it.

Modals never take -s and are followed by the bare infinitive (no “to”): She can swim — not “cans” or “can to swim”.

10Adjectives — order & comparisonالصفات

Order: opinion → size → age → shape → colour → origin → material → purpose (a beautiful little old round brown Italian wooden dining table → shorten in exams: a lovely old wooden table)

Type	Rule	Example
Short (1 syllable)	-er / -est	cheap → cheaper → the cheapest
Ends in -y	-ier / -iest	easy → easier → the easiest
Long (2+ syllables)	more / most	expensive → more expensive → the most expensive
Irregular	memorise	good → better → best · bad → worse → worst · far → farther → farthest

11Adverbsالظروف

Formation: quick → quickly; happy → happily. Irregular: fast → fast, hard → hard, good → well.
Position: before the verb or after the object — He quickly finished / He finished the exam quickly.
Watch out: hardly = almost not (He hardly studies); “hardly hard” does not mean “with effort”.

12Prepositionsحروف الجر

Time

in	months, years, seasons, parts of the day — in May, in 2026, in the morning
on	days, dates, specific mornings — on Sunday, on 5 June, on Friday morning
at	clock times, night, weekends (BrE) — at 7 pm, at night, at the weekend

Place

in	enclosed spaces, cities, countries — in the room, in Cairo, in Egypt
on	surfaces, lines, transport — on the desk, on the wall, on the bus
at	points, events, addresses — at the door, at school, at the party

arrive IN a city / AT a place — We arrived in Alexandria at noon.
interested IN · good AT · depend ON · married TO · apologise FOR · consist OF

13Conjunctions & Linkingأدوات الربط

Coordinating (FANBOYS)	for · and · nor · but · or · yet · so	equal clauses: The test was long, but it was fair.
Subordinating	although · because · since · while · if · unless · whereas · when	creates a dependent clause: Although it rained, we continued.
Conjunctive adverbs	however · therefore · moreover · otherwise · consequently	need a semicolon: It was late; however, we continued.

Full list of academic transitions continues on the companion sheet: Academic Transitions, Strong Verbs & Vocabulary.

1410 Golden Rules for Examsعشر قواعد ذهبية

Third person singular + s: she writes, he goes (never in present with I / you / we / they).
Everyone, each, nobody, either take a SINGULAR verb: Everyone is here.
since + point in time · for + duration: since 2020, for two years.
One past marker is enough: yesterday + past simple — not 'yesterday I have gone'.
Adjectives never take a plural -s: two big books (not bigs).
fewer + countable · less + uncountable: fewer mistakes, less time.
its = possessive · it's = it is / it has.
then = time · than = comparison: better than before; after that, then we left.
After prepositions use the object form: between you and me (not I).
Passive = be + V3 (+ by agent): The rules were changed by the board.

15Tips to Rememberنصائح سريعة

Read the WHOLE sentence before choosing the tense — the time word decides the form.
Match subject–verb number first; most grammar marks are lost there.
In passive check the -ed / -en ending: written, chosen, taken.
Keep tenses consistent inside one paragraph unless the meaning changes.
In exams, rewrite the corrected word clearly — no ambiguous arrows.

Complete English Grammar & Verb Forms