Grammar & Punctuation

Good grammar and punctuation are essential for the GL 11+ English exam. You may be tested directly through grammar questions, and your own writing will be judged on how accurately you use grammar and punctuation. This lesson covers the key rules you need to know.

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Parts of Speech

Every word in English belongs to a word class (also called a part of speech). Knowing these helps you understand how sentences work.

Word class	What it does	Examples
Noun	Names a person, place, thing, or idea	dog, London, happiness
Verb	Describes an action or state	run, think, is
Adjective	Describes a noun	tall, beautiful, enormous
Adverb	Describes a verb, adjective, or other adverb	quickly, very, silently
Pronoun	Replaces a noun	he, she, it, they, we
Preposition	Shows position or relationship	on, under, between, after
Conjunction	Joins words, phrases, or clauses	and, but, because, although
Determiner	Goes before a noun to identify it	the, a, this, some, every

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Types of Nouns

Type	What it is	Examples
Common noun	A general name	city, dog, teacher
Proper noun	A specific name (always capitalised)	London, Rover, Mrs Smith
Abstract noun	A feeling, idea, or quality you cannot touch	courage, freedom, anger
Collective noun	A group	flock, team, herd

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Verb Tenses

Tense tells you when an action happens.

Tense	When	Example
Past	Already happened	She walked to school.
Present	Happening now	She walks to school.
Future	Will happen	She will walk to school.
Past progressive	Was happening over time	She was walking to school.
Present progressive	Is happening right now	She is walking to school.
Present perfect	Happened and links to now	She has walked to school.
Past perfect	Happened before another past event	She had walked to school before it rained.

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Subject-Verb Agreement

The subject and verb must match in number:

Correct	Incorrect
The dog runs fast.	The dog run fast.
The children are playing.	The children is playing.
Everyone has arrived.	Everyone have arrived.

Tricky rule: Words like "everyone," "nobody," "each," and "every" are singular — even though they seem to refer to many people.

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Clauses and Sentences

What is a clause?

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.

Type	What it is	Example
Main clause	Makes sense on its own	The cat sat on the mat.
Subordinate clause	Does not make sense on its own; depends on the main clause	Although it was raining, ...

Sentence types

Type	What it does	Example
Simple	One main clause	The sun was shining.
Compound	Two main clauses joined by a conjunction (and, but, or, so)	The sun was shining and the birds were singing.
Complex	A main clause + one or more subordinate clauses	Although it was cold, the children played outside.

In the 11+ exam, using a variety of sentence types in your writing shows skill.

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Punctuation Guide

Full stops, question marks, and exclamation marks

Punctuation	When to use it	Example
Full stop (.)	At the end of a statement	The train arrived on time.
Question mark (?)	At the end of a question	Where is the library?
Exclamation mark (!)	To show strong emotion or surprise	What a beautiful day!

Commas

Commas are one of the trickiest punctuation marks. Here are the main rules: