Today's flight was delayed by three terrifying hours! I spent the whole time staring at the back of the seat in front of me.
Time expressions are an exception to the "no 's for things" rule! We say today's flight, tomorrow's weather, or yesterday's news.
For standard inanimate objects and their parts, we use of (the back of the seat, the top of the page).
Possessive
- ✅ its tail — ❌ it's tail (it's = it is, not possessive)
- ✅ the students' essays — plural possessive (apostrophe after the s)
- ✅ Sarah's book — singular possessive ('s)
- ✅ a friend of mine — possessive pronoun (not my)
Possessives show ownership: nouns use 's (singular) or s' (plural ending in s). Pronouns have special forms: my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, their/theirs.
Trap: its (possessive) vs it's (= it is). Possessive pronouns NEVER use apostrophes — that's the opposite of nouns.
English Grammar Basics
- She is a teacher. — verb be + noun complement
- He runs every day. — present simple, third-person -s
- They don't like coffee. — negation with do-support
- I have two cats. — possession, countable noun, no article before plurals
These sentences demonstrate English Grammar Basics — the foundational patterns every other topic builds on: parts of speech, basic tenses, articles, and simple sentence structure.
If you can identify the verb, the subject, and count the noun correctly, you've nailed the basics that make everything else click.
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.