TOEIC · Grammar

18 high-frequency TOEIC grammar patterns: tenses, agreement, voice, relative clauses, conditionals, connectors, participles. Learn through curiosity, intuition, visualization, essence — with timeline and sentence-structure visuals. Lv.1-Lv.3.

Tenses

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had + p.p.Lv.3Subject + had + past participle: an action completed before another past action or time (the past before the past).V-ed vs have + p.p.Lv.2Use the simple past for finished time (yesterday, ago, in 2019); use the present perfect for time connected to now (today, already, so far).have / has + p.p.Lv.2Subject + have/has + past participle: an action that began in the past and continues now, or a past action with present relevance.

Agreement & voice

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be + p.p. (passive)Lv.2be + past participle: focus on the receiver of the action; the doer is optional (by + agent).subject + verb agreementLv.1The verb agrees in number with the true subject (its head noun), even when other words come between subject and verb.

Verb patterns

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make / have / let + VLv.2make, have, let + object + base verb (no to); get + object + to-infinitive.V-ing vs to-VLv.2Some verbs take a gerund (V-ing), others take a to-infinitive; the main verb decides which form follows.suggest that + VLv.3After verbs of demand or suggestion (suggest, require, recommend, insist), the that-clause uses the base verb (no -s, no tense).

Nouns & articles

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a / an / theLv.1a/an introduces a singular countable noun for the first time or non-specifically; the points to a noun already known or specific.much / many / fewLv.1Countable nouns take many and (a) few; uncountable nouns take much and (a) little.

Modifiers

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-er than / the -estLv.1The comparative (-er / more) compares two; the superlative (the -est / the most) picks one out of three or more.V-ing / V-ed (participle)Lv.3A participle describes a noun: the present participle (V-ing) is active/ongoing; the past participle (V-ed) is passive/completed.

Clauses & connectors

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if-clauses (types 0–3)Lv.3An if-clause sets a condition; the main clause states the result. The verb forms show how real the condition is.because vs because ofLv.2A conjunction joins two clauses (subject + verb); a preposition is followed by a noun phrase. Same meaning, different grammar.who / which / thatLv.2A relative pronoun (who/which/that) introduces a clause that describes a noun (the antecedent). who = people, which = things, that = both.

Special structures

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It was … that …Lv.3The it-cleft (It is/was + X + that/who …) spotlights X by splitting the sentence.tell me where it isLv.2A question embedded in another sentence uses statement word order (subject + verb), not question order.Never have I …Lv.3When a negative or limiting adverb (never, rarely, not only, seldom, hardly) begins the sentence, the subject and auxiliary invert, as in a question.

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