Grammar topic
Verb patterns: gerunds, infinitives and phrasal verbs
Many verbs come with a fixed pattern that you learn together with the verb. Some change their form in the past, some need -ing or to after them, and some join a small word to make a new meaning. Start with irregular verbs, then the gerund and infinitive, then the phrasal verbs one particle at a time.
Lessons in learning order
Each lesson explains one rule and ends with a 20-question drill.
Irregular verbs
The three forms (go, went, gone) grouped by pattern, with the mistakes to avoid.
Irregular verbs that stay the same
One group of irregular verbs never adds -ed: cut, put, hit, let, set, shut, cost, hurt and read.
Irregular verbs: the past participle
The third form of an irregular verb, the jobs it does after have, has, had and be, and the mistakes it causes.
Gerund vs infinitive
Verb plus -ing or verb plus to: the pattern lists, and the verbs where meaning flips.
Verbs followed by a gerund: enjoy, avoid, suggest
A group of common verbs takes an -ing form after them: enjoy, avoid, suggest, finish, practise and mind. Learn the group as a fixed pattern.
Verbs followed by an infinitive: decide, hope, promise
Many common verbs take to plus the base verb after them: decide, hope, promise, want, need and plan. Some also need a person before the infinitive.
Gerund after prepositions
Every verb after a preposition becomes an -ing form, including after two-word prepositions and the tricky to in look forward to.
Remember, stop, try: gerund or infinitive
With these six verbs, the -ing form looks at the action itself, and to plus the verb looks at the purpose or the task still to do.
Phrasal verbs
Verb plus particle, three types, and the pronoun rule that learners break most often.
Separable or inseparable phrasal verbs
A noun object can often move, but a pronoun cannot. It must sit between the verb and the particle in a separable phrasal verb.
Phrasal verbs with up: finish, increase, arrive
The particle up often means completely, higher or appearing. Learn the verbs in meaning groups instead of one long list.
Phrasal verbs with get
One small verb, a score of meanings: the get phrasal verbs learners meet every day.
Phrasal verbs with take: off, up, after and over
The particle decides whether take means removing clothes, leaving the ground, starting a hobby, resembling a parent or gaining control.
Phrasal verbs with put
The everyday meanings of put on, put off, put up, put out, put down and put away, with the separable word order.
Phrasal verbs with look: after, for, forward to and more
Look keeps its basic idea of attention or eyes, and the particle decides what happens next: caring, searching, waiting, investigating or resembling.
Phrasal verbs with turn
The main meanings of turn on, off, up, down, into, out and around, with the pronoun rule for separable verbs.