Philo and Sophia: Grammar
A year of grammar in thirty-five lessons, told as stories in the Great Library of Alexandria: Sophia, Philo, Marcos and Demetria, from the verb “to be” to the art of the speech. Each lesson shows its grammar point and level.
FreeThe free chapters
The prequel and the first six lessons of the year, in prose instead of pictures.
Prequel A1–B1 · FREEThe One Who Is
The verb to be; there is / there areIn which Philo asks a question older than any grammar lesson, Sophia takes the verb “to be” apart at the foot of the burning bush, and Aristotle finds the one answer he cannot sort.Read →
Lesson 1 A1–B1 · FREEThe Instant and the Standing Rule
Present simple and present continuous; stative verbsIn which Marcos is caught drifting off mid-argument, and Sophia turns the catching of him into a lesson about two different kinds of “now.”Read →
Lesson 2 A2–B1 · FREEAn Incident with a Shelf
Past simple, past continuous, used to and wouldIn which a basket falls, a shelf takes the blame, and Sophia proves that the past has more than one way of happening.Read →
Lesson 3 B1–B2 · FREETwo Points Joined
The perfect aspect: present and past perfect, simple and continuousIn which a swept aisle is not as swept as claimed, and Sophia shows that a verb can tie two moments together with a single rope — and that the rope itself can show a result, or the pulling.Read →
Lesson 4 B1–C1 · FREEA Wager
Future forms: will, going to, present tenses, future continuous and perfect; be bound / likely to; be about to, on the verge ofIn which Marcos bets against the harbour, loses before he knows it, and Sophia counts out six different ways of meaning “later.”Read →
Lesson 5 A2–B1 · FREEA Verb That Doesn't Verb
Linking verbs: be, seem, look, become…In which Philo looks tired without doing anything at all, and Sophia shows that some verbs only join — they never act.Read →
Lesson 6 B1–B2 · FREEHow Sure, How Allowed, How Obliged
Modal verbs: deduction, permission, ability, obligation and adviceIn which an ink jar shatters, Marcos stands accused, and the library discovers that a handful of small verbs are doing four entirely different jobs at once.Read →
PremiumThe parts of speech
Lessons 7–13: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions and phrasal verbs.
Lesson 7 A2–B2 · PREMIUMA Name for Everything
Nouns: common and proper, countable and uncountable, pluralsIn which a shipment of spice turns out to be a whole grammar lesson, and Sophia sorts nouns by what they actually are.Read →
Lesson 8 A2–B1 · PREMIUMIn Her Place
Pronouns: personal, possessive, reflexive, relative, indefiniteIn which the library gets tired of saying “Cassia” and Sophia introduces the word that stands in for a name once everyone already knows it.Read →
Lesson 9 A2–B2 · PREMIUMA Beautiful Small Old Round Black Box
Adjectives: position, order, comparison, -ed / -ingIn which an uncatalogued box turns out to be the perfect specimen for every rule an adjective obeys.Read →
Lesson 10 A2–B2 · PREMIUMCarefully, Rarely, Almost Never
Adverbs: manner, position, frequency, degree, good / wellIn which the old box turns out to hide a mechanism, and Sophia lets it wind up a lesson on everything an adverb can touch.Read →
Lesson 11 B1–B2 · PREMIUMJoining the Pieces
Conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, correlative, conjunctive adverbsIn which a torn letter turns out to be missing nothing but its joints, and Sophia shows what holds a sentence together when the pieces themselves are already sound.Read →
Lesson 12 A2–B2 · PREMIUMThe Space Between Things
Prepositions of place, movement and time; dependent prepositionsIn which the torn letter turns out to be a map, and every small word in it turns out to be load-bearing.Read →
Lesson 13 B1–C1 · PREMIUMUp, Off, and Away
Phrasal verbs: separable and inseparable, three-part verbsIn which soot proves an unexpectedly good teacher, and one small word after a verb turns out to change everything about it.Read →
Sentences and clauses
Lessons 14–25: conditionals, reported speech, the passive, inversion, relative and noun clauses.
Lesson 14 B1–C1 · PREMIUMIf We Open It
Conditionals: zero, first, second, third and mixedIn which a locked chest turns four friends into hypothesists, and every shade of “maybe” finally gets a grammar of its own.Read →
Lesson 15 B1–B2 · PREMIUMOnce Removed
Reported speech: say / tell, reporting verbs, tense and time shifts, questionsIn which a two-thousand-year-old diary teaches everyone that repeating someone's words is never quite the same as keeping them.Read →
Lesson 16 B1–C1 · PREMIUMTo Go, or Going
Gerunds and infinitivesIn which a diary's fate hangs on a decision that turns out to be, grammatically, a choice between two disguises for the same verb.Read →
Lesson 17 B2–C1 · PREMIUMDangling by a Participle
Participle clauses; dangling participlesIn which Marcos crosses a scaffold plank over a stairwell, and learns that a misplaced participle can be just as unsteady as the plank itself.Read →
Lesson 18 A2–B2 · PREMIUMA Question of Order
Questions: yes / no, wh-, tag, embedded and negative questionsIn which the scholar demands answers, and the group discovers that even being interrogated is, quietly, a grammar lesson.Read →
Lesson 19 C1–C2 · PREMIUMNever Had She Expected
Inversion: never, only, so / such, locativeIn which the evening's verdict finally arrives, and Sophia reaches for a sentence dramatic enough to match it.Read →
Lesson 20 B1–C1 · PREMIUMNobody Broke It
The passive: all tenses, with modals, the get-passiveIn which the official record gets written, and Marcos discovers that grammar can be a remarkably convenient place to hide.Read →
Lesson 21 A2–B2 · PREMIUMA Box, The Box, No Box At All
Articles and determiners: a / the / zero article, possessives, demonstrativesIn which a catalog entry finally gets written, and the smallest words in the sentence turn out to have been running the whole show.Read →
Lesson 22 B1–B2 · PREMIUMNone of Them Agree
Subject–verb agreementIn which proofreading the library's own report turns up a small army of subjects and verbs that refuse to see eye to eye.Read →
Lesson 23 B1–B2 · PREMIUMOne Idea, or Several
Sentence types: simple, compound, complex; fragmentsIn which a choppy paragraph about a box gets rebuilt, one clause at a time, into something worth reading aloud.Read →
Lesson 24 B1–C1 · PREMIUMWhich Is Essential, and Which Isn't
Relative clauses: defining and non-defining, that / whichIn which a shipping clerk, faced with writing “Cassia” fourteen times, discovers what a relative clause can do for a tired hand.Read →
Lesson 25 B2–C1 · PREMIUMWhat Happened Is the Subject
Noun clauses: as subject, object and complement; whetherIn which Philo names the one clause Sophia's whole discipline had somehow left unnamed, and a set of three finally comes together.Read →
Writing and speaking
Lessons 26–34: from the paragraph to the essay, the letter and the speech.
Lesson 26 B1–B2 · PREMIUMOne Idea, Properly Escorted
Paragraph structure: topic sentences, unity, coherenceIn which correct sentences finally learn to speak to each other, and the scholar hands out a whole year's worth of reasons to keep practicing.Read →
Lesson 27 B1–C1 · PREMIUMWhat Happened, In the Order It Happened
Narrative writing: structure, narrative tenses, showing not tellingIn which the first of eight assignments turns out to need far more than a list of true events in order.Read →
Lesson 28 B2–C1 · PREMIUMA Reason to Keep Reading
Article writing: the hook, addressing the reader, headingsIn which Philo learns that being factually correct and being worth reading are, disappointingly, two separate skills.Read →
Lesson 29 B2–C1 · PREMIUMWorth Finding
Review writing: description, verdict, evaluative languageIn which Marcos discovers that cataloguing a diary and judging one turn out to be entirely different skills.Read →
Lesson 30 B2–C1 · PREMIUMFor the Record, In Full
Report writing: purpose, headings, formal register, recommendationsIn which the clerk finally gets a form of writing built for exactly his temperament — and learns it demands more discipline than he expected.Read →
Lesson 31 B2–C1 · PREMIUMTwo Sides, Weighed on Purpose
Essay writing: thesis, argument, counterargument, conclusionIn which Philo takes on the clerk's own recommendation, and learns that disagreeing well is its own careful discipline.Read →
Lesson 32 B2–C1 · PREMIUMA Plan, Not Yet a Fact
Proposal writing: aims, suggestions, persuasive modalsIn which Demetria settles what Philo's essay only argued about, and discovers a proposal doesn't have to choose a side so much as design a compromise worth approving.Read →
Lesson 33 B1–C1 · PREMIUMThe Same News, Twice Over
Letter writing: formal and informal registerIn which Marcos writes the same true story twice, and learns that a reader shapes a letter every bit as much as the news itself does.Read →
Lesson 34 C1–C2 · PREMIUMSaid Aloud, and Meant
Oratory: the rule of three, repetition, rhetorical questionsIn which Marcos stands before the Council with nothing to cross out and no second draft coming, and a year of lessons finally has to fit inside one spoken sentence.Read →