Determines and Pronouns
this/that/these/those
This group of words refers to specific items or people, with their usage depending on the distance from the speaker and the number of items:
- "this" refers to a singular item close to the speaker.
- Example: This book is interesting.
- Example: This cake tastes good.
- "these" refers to multiple items close to the speaker.
- Example: These shoes are new.
- Example: These apples are fresh.
- "that" refers to a singular item farther from the speaker.
- Example: That house is big.
- Example: That shirt looks great.
- "those" refers to multiple items farther from the speaker.
- Example: Those birds are noisy.
- Example: Those cars are fast.
every and all
"every" and "all" are used to refer to the whole group or all members of a group:
- "every" refers to each member of a group individually.
- Example: Every student passed the test.
- Example: Every morning, I go for a walk.
- "all" refers to the entire group collectively.
- Example: All students passed the test.
- Example: All the books on the shelf are mine.
all, most, some, any, no/none
These words express different quantities or proportions of a group:
- "all" refers to the entire group.
- Example: All children like to play.
- Example: All the cookies were eaten.
- "most" refers to the majority of a group.
- Example: Most people enjoy watching movies.
- Example: Most of the work is done.
- "some" refers to an unspecified number or portion of a group.
- Example: Some students didn't finish the assignment.
- Example: Some apples are rotten.
- "any" is used in negative sentences or questions to indicate the possibility or presence of something.
- Example: I don't have any money.
- Example: Do you have any siblings?
- "no/none" indicates the absence of something.
- Example: No one came to the party.
- Example: None of the students failed the exam.
(a) little, (a) few
These words express small quantities:
- "(a) little" is used with uncountable nouns to indicate a small amount.
- Example: I have little time to finish this task.
- Example: She drinks a little coffee in the morning.
- "(a) few" is used with countable nouns to indicate a small number.
- Example: I have a few friends in this city.
- Example: He reads a few pages every day.
Try the quiz to figure out if you are comfortable with these!
Correct Answers
The correct answer uses "All," "Most," "Some," "any," and "none" to describe the preferences of children when it comes to playing games.
The correct answer is "I had little rest lately, so I'm going home for a few days", which uses "a little" to indicate a small amount of rest and "a few" to express a small number of days.
The correct answer is "Sam: Hello, Judy. This is Sam", which uses the singular demonstrative pronoun "this" to introduce Sam. Go right|left|up|down
B: No. I have _________________________ idea.
The correct answer is "B: No. I have no idea", which uses "no" to indicate a complete lack of knowledge about the accident.
The correct answer is "Which car is yours? This one or that one?", which uses the singular pronouns "this one" and "that one" to refer to the cars.
The correct answer is "Anna said that somebody lost something somewhere", which uses the indefinite pronouns "somebody," "something," and "somewhere" to indicate that someone lost something at some place.
B: No, I don't have _________________________ books and don't read _________________________.
The correct answer is
A: Do you read a lot?
B: No, I don't have many books and don't read much.",
which uses "a lot" to describe the amount of reading, "many" to refer to the number of books, and "much" to indicate the extent of reading.
The correct answer is "It rained every day last week, all day", which uses "every" to indicate all days last week, and "all" to emphasize the whole day.
The correct answer is "Do you like these mittens?", which uses the plural demonstrative pronoun "these" to refer to the shoes.
B: _________________________ on the table.
The correct answer is "These on the table", which uses the plural determiner "these" to refer to the books on the table.
The correct answer is "Do you like these shoes?", which uses the plural determiner "these" to refer to the shoes.
The correct answer uses "both" to indicate the two pictures and "either" to show that neither of them was liked.
The correct answer is "I have no one to help me. There isn't anybody to help me", which uses "no one" and "isn't anybody" to indicate that there is no one available to help.
B: No, _________________________.
The correct answers are anybody and nobody, which uses "anybody" in the question and "nobody" in the negative answer.
The correct answer is "Do you speak any foreign languages? Yes, I speak some.", which uses "any" in a question and "some" in an affirmative answer.
The correct answer is "There aren't any pictures on the wall", which uses "any" in a negative sentence to indicate that there are no pictures on the wall.
The correct answer is "There aren't any pictures on the wall", which uses "any" in a negative sentence to indicate that there are no pictures on the wall.
B: _________________________ on the table.
The correct answer is "B: The ones on the table.", which uses the plural pronoun "the ones" to refer to the books on the table.
The correct answer is "I bought some cheese, but I didn't buy any bread", which uses "some" in an affirmative sentence and "any" in a negative sentence.
Noun and pronoun
The Noun and pronoun tag groups topics that span both nouns (words naming people, places, things, ideas) and pronouns (small set of words that stand in for nouns: I, you, he, they, it, this, who). Together they're the largest open class and the smallest closed class in English — and they sit in exactly the same syntactic slots.
Topics here include plurals, possessives, articles, agreement, grammatical case, and the interaction of pronouns with their antecedents. The most common writing problems — vague reference, agreement errors, who/whom confusion — all live here.
Pronoun
A pronoun is a small, closed class of words that stands in for a noun or noun phrase. The main types: personal (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) plus their object (me, him) and possessive (my, mine) forms; demonstrative (this, that); relative (who, which, that); interrogative (who, what); and reflexive (myself, yourself).
Pronouns are how English avoids endlessly repeating names. The catch: their meaning depends entirely on context, so unclear pronoun reference (Tom told Mike that he was wrong — who's he?) is one of the most common writing problems.
Determinative
A determinative is a part of speech that includes articles (a, the), demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your), and quantifiers (some, many, each). The Cambridge Grammar treats determinatives as a distinct word class — separate from adjectives, which they were historically grouped with.
The technical distinction: determinative is a lexical category (the type of word), while determiner is a syntactic function (the role it plays before a noun). The same determinative word can function as a determiner (three books) or as a modifier (three more books).
Demonstrative
Demonstratives are pointing words: this, that, these, those. They tell the listener which one you mean — this and these point to things near you; that and those point to things further away (in space, time, or recent attention). They can sit before a noun (Put that coat on) or stand alone as a pronoun (Put that on).
Singular vs plural matches the noun: this book / these books. Mixing them up (these book) is one of the most-corrected slips for learners — small, but immediately noticeable.
Determiner
A determiner is a word that comes before a noun to clarify what it refers to: which one, how many, whose. The English determiners include articles (a, the), demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your), quantifiers (some, many, few), and distributives (each, every).
Most singular countable nouns in English require a determiner — I bought book is wrong; you need I bought a book or I bought the book. Determiner choice signals how much information you assume the listener already has, so getting it right shapes how natural your speech and writing sound.
Quantifier
A quantifier is a word or phrase that indicates how much or how many of a noun you mean — without giving a precise number. The English quantifiers include all, some, any, no, many, few, much, little, several, each, every, both, either, neither, plus phrases like a lot of, plenty of, a few, a little.
Quantifiers split between count (countable nouns: many, few, several) and mass (uncountable nouns: much, little) — the wrong one (much chairs, many information) is one of the most common slip-ups for learners.
Negation
Negation in English usually places not after the auxiliary or modal verb: I am not going, She does not know, You must not go. When there's no auxiliary, you add do-support: I go → I do not go. Most combinations contract: don't, can't, won't, isn't.
The trickiest rule for many learners: double negatives are not standard English. I didn't see nothing is non-standard; the standard forms are I saw nothing or I didn't see anything. Negative words like never, nobody, nothing already carry the negation — adding not on top doubles up.
English Grammar Basics
The English Grammar Basics tag marks quizzes and explainers covering the foundations of English grammar — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, tenses, voice, mood, and basic sentence structure.
If you're starting out or rebuilding from scratch, this is the tag to follow: every challenge under it is designed to land the core rules without burying you in exceptions. Get the basics solid here and the more advanced topics — conditionals, reported speech, inversion — stop looking like a wall of new rules and start looking like extensions of what you already know.
A1 | Elementary | Beginners
A1 is the starting level of the CEFR framework — the entry point into English. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, recognise common signs and instructions, and have short slow-paced conversations on very familiar topics.
Grammatically, A1 covers the building blocks: present-tense forms of be, have, and do; basic word order; simple questions; and the most common determiners, pronouns, and prepositions. Knowing your level matters — A1 material teaches the foundations every later level builds on, while a B1 textbook will overwhelm you. Start here and progress is fast.
Difficulty: Easy
The Easy difficulty tag marks questions and challenges aimed at beginners — typically A1 or early A2 level. Expect single-rule focus, short sentences, common everyday vocabulary, and one clear correct answer. Distractors usually rule themselves out quickly.
Filter by Easy when you're rebuilding fundamentals, warming up before harder material, or testing whether you've truly internalised a basic rule before moving on. Easy doesn't mean trivial — it means the rule itself is unambiguous and the context doesn't pile on extra complications.