When using articles, there are a number of ways to communicate specific shades of meanings with articles. Related rules for proper names don't make things easier. To complicate things even further, there are other determiners occasionally taking the place of articles. For instance, some and no function like articles, but behave somewhat differently with uncountable nouns.

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Articles are ubiquitous; the is the most common word in English, accounting for 7% of all words.

The concept of definiteness is hard to grasp even for advanced learners who don’t have articles in their first language. A spectacular example of such confusion is the occasion with Ivana Trump. She explained, “Yes, you know the outcome — ‘The Donald’ just slipped off the tongue, and now it seems to be making its ways to the political history books.”

Take the challenge to find out if articles are easy for you!

Verb forms show tense, voice, mood, or other grammatical features, with regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs follow a pattern by adding -ed for past simple and past participle forms. Irregular verbs have unique forms, including essential auxiliary verbs "be," "have," and "do." Examples of common irregular verbs are "go," "write," "sing," and "swim."

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The challenge is about common questions in English: simple present and past questions, "why + negative" questions, questions with "who" as the subject, and questions with "who" and "whom" as the object.

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The Future Simple, Future Continuous, and Future Perfect tenses express actions or events in the future. Future simple describes an action's occurrence, future continuous highlights its ongoing nature, and future perfect emphasizes its completion by a specific time. These tenses are formed using different auxiliary verbs: "will/shall" for future simple, "will be/shall be" for future continuous, and "will have/shall have" for future perfect. Negative sentences and questions involve placing "not" after the auxiliary or inverting the auxiliary and subject, respectively.

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The Past Simple tense describes completed actions in the past, using regular (-ed) or irregular verb forms. The Past Continuous tense expresses ongoing actions in the past, using "was/were" and the -ing form of the main verb. Negative sentences use "didn't" or "not" with the verb, while questions involve inverting the subject and auxiliary verb.

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Master more complex common question types, such as "Who...? / What...? / Where...? / Which...?" with prepositions at the end, "What + noun" and "Which + noun" questions, questions about duration, and complex sentence questions.

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Any idea what Present Perfect is? The Present Perfect tense describes actions with a connection to the present, formed using "have" or "has" and the past participle of the main verb. It differs from Past Simple and Present Simple tenses. To identify Present Perfect, look for "have" or "has" followed by a past participle. Negative sentences add "not" after the auxiliary verb, and questions invert the subject and auxiliary verb.

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Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that convey necessity, possibility, permission, or ability. They include "might," "may," "can," "could," "must," "should," and "have to." Modals have various uses, such as expressing possibility, knowing how to do something, asking for help, or indicating necessity. To negate a sentence with a modal verb, simply add "not" after the modal verb.

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Modals and imperatives can express preferences, requests, and suggestions. "Would you like...?" can replace "Do you want?" or invite someone. "I'd like..." is a polite way to say "I want." "I'd rather..." expresses preferences. Positive imperatives give orders, make polite requests, or offer encouragement. Negative imperatives forbid actions or emphasize points. "Let's..." is used for asking people to do things or suggesting not to do something.

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Collocations are natural-sounding word combinations used frequently by native speakers, such as "good morning," "cold weather," and "fast food." Understanding collocations helps language learners sound more fluent in speaking and writing. They're common in everyday expressions like "happy birthday" and describing places, such as "city center" and "living room."

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There are some verbs in English that need different type of objects: either gerunds or infinitives. In order not to make a mistake students usually learn these verbs by heart. Besides, there are also such verbs that may be followed by both gerunds and infinitives, and the choice of the object type directly influences the meaning of a sentence.

Of course there are not so many verbs such as “forget” in English, but the reason for the choice of the infinitive or the gerund object each time will be different and will strongly influence the meaning of a sentence. And it’s a real challenge for advanced students.

Speaking about the challenge, did you forget... ehm... nervermind...

This English grammar quiz is designed to help learners check if their English proficiency level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as A2/Pre-intermediate.

The test covers a range of grammar and vocabulary concepts that are typically associated with learners at this level. These concepts include more advanced verb tenses, more complex sentence structures, and a wider range of vocabulary related to various topics such as work, travel, and current events.

After taking the quiz, learners would be able to see where they stand in terms of their English proficiency and if they are ready to move to the next level. Passing the challenge indicates the control of English grammar enough to move to the next level.

All English verbs are divided into three big groups of transitive, intransitive and linking verbs. The belonging to one of these groups influences the choice of the object the verb may be followed by: direct, indirect, indirect without a preposition, prepositional object or the complex object. Another reason to know about "transitivity/intransitivity" of a verb is to be able to use the verb in the passive voice. In addition, some verbs such as get, grow, keep, look, and alike, can be also link verbs that will strongly influence the meaning of a sentence.