A selection of English ESL writing rules printables

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

A worksheet contrasting the present perfect and the past simple, with grammar rules, examples and exercises to practice and understand. The keys are included on the last page. The worksheet is completely editable / correctable. Hope it’s useful. Thanks for downloading and have a nice day!

Present Perfect vs. Past Simple – grammar rules, examples & exercises ((2 pages)) KEYS INCLUDED ***editable

I prepared this ws to practice and introduce the grammar topic (before explaining the rules, they had oral practice for a week). I included a listening and written task in the ws. I’ll also use this song to promote a conversation class, teaching them how to give suggestions and express opinions. It’s editable, hope you can use it. Thanks for downloading and have a nice day!

Songs4Class: Should I stay or should I go? – should (affirmative, negative, interrogative) • 2 tasks • conversation • listening • editable

In order to create and write accurate paragraphs, you need to know conjuctions , linking words and transitions well. Essays require rules to be organized.

I hope it will be useful.

Linking words for essays

This WS aims to consolidate grammar rule - Present Simple 3d person singular in affirmative sentences based on the topic Daily and Free Time Activities. I created it to go along with Super Minds 2 Unit 1.

Daily and Free Time Activities - Present Simple 3d person singular - Writing activity

Create a Hogwarts Class, change the Quidditch game and create a new magic potion. What does the class teach? What tools do the students need? What are the rules and equipment for the new game? All from our favorite books of Harry Potter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

In this activity you have to solve a crossword puzzle, writing the sentences correctly with the comparative adjectives, which are the ones that will help you fill it out, in order to understand the formation of sentences with comparative adjectives, and that we must add corresponding to each rule.

ADJETIVES COMPARATIVES

I made this worksheet for Academy Stars 3 unit 9 to practise have to and to repeat sport terms. IIn the first task they have to choose correct answer and in the second part they have to choose one kind of sport and write the rules using words and phrases in the table

have to modal verb sport rules

I prepared this activity before winter holidays to practice vocabulary and language related to Can and Have to. (Rules for sport).

First of all, as a warm up, I performed a vocabulary driling to make them remember what we have learnt the previous class. (clothes + sports uniforms). My pupils really liked it. Hope yours too.

Wordsearch + Writing Activities (Can,/Can't, Have to)

Writing a letter may seem easy but there are many elements to bear in mind while putting it down. I hope this worksheet will help many to acquire the proper letter writing. It doesn't have absolutely all the elements, but as a start it is handy. You can tell your students to put the numbers of the elements next to the parts of the given sample letter. Hopefully, this will help them learn the rules which they can practise in the box below.

Writing a letter

This worksheet teaches all the rules of capitalization in a fun holiday/fall/autumn-themed worksheet. Students will learn all the rules of when to capitalize with examples. 



They will have to capitalize a series of sentences without capitalization. Finally, there is a fun exercise where they need to write a synopsis for their own holiday movie or film. 



They need to use correct capitalization in their titles and draw a picture to accompany their holiday movie summary.



This lesson directly accompanies my YouTube video on capitalization here: https://youtu.be/KdJL9qJ8t0A



Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving/Fall-Themed Capitalization Rules and Movie Trailer Writing Exercise with Answer Key

Analyze the parts of a good introduction, define them and place them in the right order. Practice in three introductions before you write your own. Follow the rule of hook-background info-thesis statement. Choose your topic

Writing an Introduction to an Essay

This worksheet inclusdes few tasks: reading, writing, learning new vocabulary. It will help students to differenciate between regular and irregular verbs and use them when they speak about their past. But teachers should give grammar rules and explanations on Past Simple in advance. Have fun!

18 Writing rules English ESL worksheets pdf & doc