Every STEP grammar point that gets asked, in short tables, with the signal words that give the answer away. Learn the signal words first: they are the…
Every STEP grammar point that gets asked, in short tables, with the signal words that give the answer away. Learn the signal words first: they are the fastest way to the answer.
| Tense | Form | Signal words |
|---|
| Present simple | V / V-s | always, usually, often, every day, never |
| Present continuous | am / is / are + V-ing | now, at the moment, Look!, Listen!, these days |
| Present perfect | have / has + V3 | already, yet, just, ever, never, since, for, so far, recently |
| Present perfect continuous | have / has been + V-ing | for two hours, since morning, How long …? |
| Past simple | V2 | yesterday, ago, last week, in 2010, when I was young |
| Past continuous | was / were + V-ing | while, when, at 8 pm yesterday |
| Past perfect | had + V3 | before, after, by the time, already (in the past) |
| Future | will + V / am-is-are going to + V | tomorrow, next week, soon, in 2030 |
| Future perfect | will have + V3 | by next year, by the time you arrive |
| Followed by | Verbs |
|---|
| V-ing | enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, keep, practise, deny, consider, miss, admit, can’t help, look forward to, be used to |
| to + V | want, decide, hope, plan, agree, refuse, promise, learn, need, would like, afford, manage, expect, offer, seem |
| Bare V | can, could, must, should, will, would, may, might, let, make, had better, would rather |
| After a preposition | always V-ing: interested in learning, good at drawing, before leaving. |
| used to | used to + V = a past habit; be / get used to + V-ing = accustomed to. |
| Topic | What to know |
|---|
| Relative pronouns | who people, which things, that both, whose possession, where place, when time, whom people as object. |
| Comparison | short: -er than / the -est. Long: more … than / the most. Irregular: good better best, bad worse worst, far farther/further, little less least, many/much more most. Equal: as + adj + as. |
| a / an / the | a before a consonant sound, an before a vowel sound: an hour, a university, an honest man. the for something specific or unique (the sun). |
| Countable and uncountable | many / few / a few countable, much / little / a little uncountable, a lot of / some / any both. Always uncountable: information, advice, news, furniture, luggage, money, equipment, homework, knowledge. |
| Prepositions of time | at clock times (at 5, at noon, at night), on days and dates (on Monday, on 5 May), in months, years, seasons, parts of the day (in May, in 2020, in summer, in the morning). |
| Prepositions of place | at a point (at the door), on a surface (on the table), in inside (in the box, in Riyadh). |
| Modals | must strong duty or a sure guess, should advice, may / might possibility, can / could ability, mustn’t not allowed, don’t have to not necessary. Past: must have V3 surely happened, can’t have V3 surely did not. |
| Linking words | contrast: but, however, although / though / even though + clause, despite / in spite of + noun or V-ing. Result: so, therefore, as a result, consequently. Reason: because + clause, because of / due to + noun. Adding: and, also, moreover, furthermore, in addition. Purpose: to, in order to, so that. |
| Subject–verb agreement | everyone / each / every + singular, one of the + plural noun + singular verb, neither … nor / either … or: the verb agrees with the nearer subject, the number of + singular but a number of + plural. |
| Question tags | positive sentence → negative tag and back: You are tired, aren’t you? Exceptions: I am → aren’t I?, Let’s → shall we?. |
| so / such / too / enough | so + adj (so hot), such + (a) + adj + noun (such a hot day), too + adj = more than is good, adj + enough (old enough). |
| -ed or -ing? | -ed is how a person feels (I am bored); -ing is what causes it (The film is boring). |
| Group | Verbs (V1 – V2 – V3) |
|---|
| All three the same | cut cut cut, put put put, let let let, hit hit hit, cost cost cost, set set set, shut shut shut, read read read |
| V2 = V3 | buy bought bought, bring brought brought, think thought thought, teach taught taught, catch caught caught, fight fought fought, make made made, have had had, say said said, pay paid paid, keep kept kept, sleep slept slept, feel felt felt, leave left left, meet met met, send sent sent, spend spent spent, build built built, lose lost lost, find found found, sit sat sat, stand stood stood, understand understood understood, sell sold sold, tell told told, hear heard heard, win won won |
| i – a – u | begin began begun, drink drank drunk, sing sang sung, swim swam swum, ring rang rung, sink sank sunk |
| V3 ends in -n | break broke broken, choose chose chosen, speak spoke spoken, steal stole stolen, wake woke woken, forget forgot forgotten, get got gotten, eat ate eaten, fall fell fallen, give gave given, take took taken, see saw seen, write wrote written, drive drove driven, ride rode ridden, know knew known, grow grew grown, throw threw thrown, fly flew flown, wear wore worn, do did done, go went gone, be was/were been |
| V1 = V3 | come came come, become became become, run ran run |
| Kind | Endings and beginnings |
|---|
| Nouns | -tion, -sion, -ment, -ness, -ity, -ance, -ence, -er, -or, -ist |
| Adjectives | -ful, -less, -ous, -able, -ible, -ive, -al, -ic, -y |
| Verbs and adverbs | verbs: -ize, -ify, -en, adverbs: -ly. |
| Negative prefixes | un-, dis-, in-; im- before m and p (impossible), il- before l (illegal), ir- before r (irregular). |
| Where the word goes | after a / the / an adjective → noun. Before a noun or after be → adjective. Describing a verb → adverb (-ly). |
