C a m b r i d g e
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1 V_ 1 VZI v_l 1 V_v_
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Essential
Grammar
in Use A self-study
reference
and practice
book for
elementary
students of
English
T H I R D
EDITION
with answers
Raymond Murphy
Essential 
Grammar
T H I R D
EDITION
Raymond Murphy
A self-study 
reference 
and  practice 
book for 
elementary 
students of 
English
with answers
g g g   C a m b r i d g e
U N I V E R S I T Y   P R E S S  
www.cambridge.org
C A M B R ID G E   U N IV E R SIT Y   PRESS
Cambridge, New York,  Melbourne, Madrid,  Cape Town,
Singapore,  Sao Paulo,  Delhi, Tokyo,  Mexico  City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building,  Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK 
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title:  www.cambridge.org/9780521675802 
© Cambridge University Press 2007
This publication is in copyright.  Subject to statutory exception 
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, 
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written 
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published  1990 
Second edition  1997 
Third edition 2007 
11th printing 2011
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press,  Cambridge
A  catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-521-67580-2 Edition with answers 
ISBN 978-0-521-67581-9 Edition without answers 
ISBN 978-0-521-67543-7 Edition with answers and CD-ROM 
ISBN 978-0-521-67544-4 CD-ROM for Windows (single user)
ISBN 978-0-521-67545-1  Network CD-ROM (30 users)
ISBN 978-3-12-539538-1  Klett edition with CD-ROM 
ISBN 978-3-12-539536-7 Klett Edition
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or 
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this publication,  and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, 
or will remain,  accurate or appropriate.  Information regarding prices,  travel 
timetables and other factual information given in this work is correct at 
the time of first printing but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee 
the accuracy of such information thereafter.
Contents
Thanks  vii 
To  the  student  viii 
To  the  teacher  x
Present
(present  continuous)
1  am /is/are
2  am /is/are  (questions)
3  I  am   doing 
4  are  you  doing?  (present  continuous  questions)
5  I  d o/w ork/like  etc.  (present simple)
6  I  d on ’t  ...  (present simple  negative)
7  D o   you  ...  ?  (present simple  questions)
8 
9 
am   doing 
have  ...  and  I’ve  got  ...
(present  continuous) and I do 
I 
I 
(present simple)
Past
10  w as/w ere
11  w ork ed/got/w en t etc.  (past simple)
12 
13 
14  I  was  doing  (past  continuous)  and  I  did  (past  simple)
I  didn’t  ... 
I  was  doing 
(past continuous)
D id  you  ...  ?  (past simple  negative  and questions)
I’ve just  ... 
Present perfect
15  I  have  done  (present  perfect  1)
I’ve  already  ... 
16 
17  H ave  you  ever  ...  ? (present perfect  3)
18  H ow   long  have  you ...  ?  (present perfect  4)
19 
2 0  
for 
I  have  done  (present perfect)  and I did  (past)
I haven’t 
since 
ago
...  yet  (present perfect 2)
Passive
21 
2 2  
is  d one 
is  being  done 
was  done  (passive  1)
has  been  done  (passive  2 )
Verb form s
23  b e/h a v e/d o   in present and past  tenses
24  Regular and irregular  verbs
Future
25  W hat  are  you  doing  tom orrow?
26 
27  w ill/shall  1
28  w ill/shall  2
I’m   going  to  ...
Modals,  imperative  etc.
29  m ight
30  can  and  could
31  m ust  m ustn’t  don ’t  need  to
IF YOU  ARE  NOT  SURE  W HICH   UNITS  TO  STUDY,  USE  THE  STUDY  G U ID E  ON  PAGE  271
I  have  to  ...
32  should
33 
34  W ould  you  like  ...  ? 
I’d  like  ...
35  D o   this!  D o n ’t  do that!  Let’s 
36  I  used  to  ...
do  this!
There  and  it
37 
38 
39  It  ...
there  is 
there  w as/w ere 
there  are
there  has/have  been 
there  will  be
Auxiliary  verbs
40  I  am , I  d on ’t  etc.
41  Have  you?  Are  you?  D o n ’t  you?  etc.
42  to o/eith er 
43 
isn’t, haven’t, d on ’t  etc.  (negatives)
so  am  I  /   neither  do  I  etc.
is  it  ...  ? 
have  you  ...  ? 
Questions
44 
45  W ho  saw  you?  W ho  did  you  see?  (questions  2)
46  W ho  is  she  talking  to?  W hat is  it like? 
47  W hat  ...  ?  W hich  ...  ?  H ow  ...  ? (questions  4)
48  H ow   lon g  does  it  take  ...  ?
49  D o   you know   where 
...  ? 
I don’t  know   what  ...  etc.
(questions  3)
do  they  ...  ?  etc.  (questions  1)
Reported speech
50  She  said  that  ... 
He  told  m e  that  ...
-ing  and  to  ...
51  w ork/w orking 
52 
53 
54 
to  ...  (I  want  to  do)  and -in g  (I  enjoy doing)
I  want  you  to  ... 
I  w ent  to  the  shop  to  ...
I  told  you  to ...
g o /g o in g  
d o/d oin g
Go, get, do, make  and  have
55  go  to  ... 
56  get
57  do  and m ake
58  have
go  on  ... 
go  for  ... 
go  -ing
th ey/th em   etc.
Pronouns  and possessives
59  I/m e 
h e/h im  
60  m y/h is/th eir  etc.
61  W hose  is  this?  It’s  m in e/you rs/hers  etc.
62  I/m e /m y /m in e
63  m yself/yourself/them selves  etc.
64 
- ’s  (Kate’s  camera  /   m y  brother’s  car etc.)
iv
IF YOU  A R E  NOT SURE  W H IC H   UNITS  TO  STUDY,  USE THE STU D Y  G U ID E   ON  PAGE  271.
train(s)  bus(es) 
(singular and plural)
A   and the
65  a/an  ...
6 6  
67  a  bottle  /   som e  water  (countable/uncountable  1)
6 8   a  cake  /   som e  cake  /   som e  cakes  (countable/uncountable  2 )
69  a/an  and  the
70 
71  go  to  work 
72 
I like  m usic 
the  ... 
73 
go  h om e 
I  hate  exam s
go  to  the  cinem a
(names  of places)
the  ...
no 
th is/that/these/th ose
Determiners  and pronouns
74 
75  on e/on es
76  som e  and  any
77  not  +  any 
78  n ot  +  anybody/anyone/anything 
79  som ebody/anything/now here  etc.
80  every  and  all
81  all  m ost 
82  both 
83  a  lot 
84 
som e 
either neither
m uch 
(a)  little 
(a)  few
m any
none
any 
n o /n o n e
n ob o d y /n o -o n e/n o th in g
Adjectives  and  adverbs
85  old/n ice/interestin g  etc.  (adjectives)
8 6   quickly/badly/suddenly  etc.  (adverbs)
expensive  /   m ore  expensive
87  o ld /o ld er 
88  older  than  ...  m ore  expensive  than  ...
89  not  as  ...  as
90 
91 
92 
the  oldest 
enough
too
the  m ost  expensive
Word  order
93  He  speaks  English very  well,  (word  order  1)
94  alw ays/usually/often  etc.  (word  order 2)
95  still 
already
96  Give  m e  that  book! 
Give  it  to  me!
yet 
or 
but 
Conjunctions  and  clauses
97  and 
98  W hen  ...
99 
100  If I  had  ... 
101 
1 0 2  
a  person  w ho  ... 
the people  we  m et 
If we  go  ... 
so 
because
If you  see  ...  etc.
If we  w ent  ...  etc.
a  thing that/w hich  ... (relative clauses 
1)
the  hotel you  stayed at (relative clauses  2)
IF YOU  ARE  NOT  SURE  W H ICH   UNITS TO  STUDY,  USE  THE  STUDY  G U ID E   ON  PAGE  271.
V
on  M onday 
until 
since 
in April
for
during 
after 
on  (places  1)
on  (places  2 )
at  (places  3)
Prepositions
103  at  8  o ’clock 
104  from   ...  to 
105  before 
in 
106 
in 
107 
108  to 
109  under, behind, opposite  etc.
1 1 0   up, over, through  etc.
111  on 
1 1 2  afraid 
listen 
113 
o f . . .  
to ... 
at 
at 
in 
at 
w hile
about
by 
with 
, good  at  ... etc. 
, look   at  ...  etc.  (verb  + preposition)
o f/a t/fo r  etc. (prepositions)  +  -in g
Phrasal  verbs
114  go  in,  fall  off, run  away  etc.  (phrasal  verbs  1)
115  put  on your shoes 
put your shoes  on  (phrasal  verbs  2 )
Appendices
Appendix  1  Active  and  passive  243
Appendix 2  List  of irregular verbs  244
Appendix  3  Irregular verbs in  groups  245
Appendix  4  Short  forms  (he’s  /   I’d  /  d on ’t  etc.)  246
Appendix  5  Spelling  248
Appendix  6  Phrasal  verbs  (take  o ff /  give  up  etc.)  250
Appendix 7  Phrasal  verbs  +  object  (put  out a  fire  /  give  up your job  etc.)  251
Additional  exercises  252 
Study  guide  271 
Key to  Exercises  283 
Key to  Additional  exercises  310 
Key to  Study  guide  313 
Index  315
vi
IF YOU  ARE  NOT  SURE W H IC H   UNITS TO  STUDY,  USE THE  STUDY  G U ID E  ON  PAGE  271.
Thanks
For  their help  in producing this  third  edition  o f Essential  Grammar in  Use, I  would  like  to 
thank Liz Driscoll, Jessica R oberts and Alison Sharpe.  I  would  also  like  to  thank the  teachers 
and  reviewers  from various  countries  who provided  me  with feedback  on  the previous  edition.
Illustrations  by Kate  Charlesworth, Richard  Deverell, Gillian Martin, R oger Penwill,
Lisa  Smith, Ian West and  Simon Williams
Design by Karnae  Design