ALL Grammar for ADVANCED (C1 Level) English in 12 minutes in 2025

Hello, lovely students, and  welcome back to English with Lucy.

What is the ultimate goal in English?  For most is this—the C1 level!

Why? Well, it's the advanced level of English, but  C1 means having the freedom to express yourself.

It's the level where you can smoothly transition  

from giving an important presentation  to cracking jokes with your friends.

We hear so much about C1 English. But what does C1  

actually mean? And what grammar do you need  to know to reach an advanced level in English?

In this video, I am going to teach you about  all the grammar you need for C1-level English.

I've also created a free PDF guide.

It's got everything we cover in this  lesson, and it's your own guide to  

all of the grammar that you need to  know to pass the C1-level of English.

I've also created a set of exercises  to help you practice and test yourself.

If you'd like to download that, just click on the  

link in the description box  or scan that QR code there.

Enter your name and your email address,

join my mailing list, and the PDF guide  will arrive directly in your inbox.

After that, you've joined my PDF club. You  will automatically receive my free weekly  

PDFs alongside my news, updates and offers. It's a  free service and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Okay, before we get into the grammar,  we need to talk about what C1 means,  

because a lot of people aren't sure. So,  C1 is one of the 6 CEFR levels—that's the  

Common European Framework of Reference—they  go from A1 to C2, with C2 being the highest.

At C1, you have an advanced level  of English. You're comfortable in  

a variety of social and professional situations,

and lots of people who reach  the C1 level use English at work

or plan to in the future.

You can work in English at any level, depending on  the job requirements, but you can pretty much take  

on any job you're qualified for at C1 without  having to worry about your English skills.

If you're specifically aiming to thrive in  a professional setting—leading meetings,  

negotiating deals or giving polished  presentations—my brand-new C1-level  

Business English course is just about to  launch, and it will be just what you need.

It's called the Professional  English Programme (Level 3).

It's opening soon! You can join the wait list  by clicking on the link in the description or  

scanning the QR code here. If you join the  wait list, you'll be the first to know.

Now, at C1, you can speak spontaneously,  

even though you might still  search for expressions sometimes.

You can understand nuance and implicit  meaning, so you can make and understand jokes.

The first time I told a joke in Spanish and people  actually laughed was one of my proudest moments.

And you also have a wide range  of structures at your fingertips!

What structures, I hear you ask? Well,  at C1, you need to use all of the grammar  

you've covered from A1 to B2—which is a  lot—but I have some great news: at C1,  

there aren't actually that many entirely  new grammatical structures to learn.

There are a few, and they're my favourite  to teach, but more on that later.

At C1, you mostly need to add  to the grammar you already know

and you need to employ structures  flexibly in a variety of contexts,  

from chatting with your friends to leading  a meeting at work or writing a report.

So, here is all the grammar you need for C1.

We'll start with something that's  usually new for C1 students:  

Participle Clauses. We use participle  clauses to make sentences more concise.

They are also a great way to add  some variation and complexity to  

your sentence structure, which is important at C1.

Here are a few examples: 'Frustrated by the lack  of progress, the CEO called an emergency meeting.'

A longer version could be: 'Because he was  feeling frustrated by the lack of progress…'

Or: 'Having signed the contract,  we went out to celebrate.'

A slightly longer version here could  be: 'After we had signed the contract…'

You'll also need to look at some of the  more advanced uses of relative clauses  

and how to use apposition at C1. What  is apposition? Well, it looks like this:  

notice the 2 noun clauses next to each  other, referring to the same thing.

'The new training programme, a  vital component of our employee  

development strategy, will launch in April.'

Let's move on to the next  topic—Conditional Structures.

By the time you get to C1, you should be  familiar with the zero to third conditionals.

You probably have already learnt  about mixed conditionals, too,

although using those accurately  usually takes practice!

At C1, you're ready to dive into  more advanced structures like these:  

'Were we to invest in the company,  we would be taking a huge risk.'

C1 students will also know the subtle difference  between 'were we to invest' and 'if we invested'.

Or another example: 'Suppose we were  to expand into the Korean market;  

how would that impact our operations?'

Notice the semicolon between the clauses  when we begin with 'suppose'. Using  

punctuation accurately in more advanced  structures, will help you get to C1.

Moving along, our next topic  is the Passive Voice! Again,  

you should already know about the basic rules,  

but at C1, you'll learn how to use more advanced  structures, like using -ing forms in the passive.

For example: 'The issue lies  in the funds not having been  

allocated correctly.' 'Not having been  allocated' is a passive -ing form.

And you'll be introduced to impersonal  passive structures, for example:

'It is thought that the company will  announce a new product line soon.'

Okay, the next thing we're looking at is hedging.  Nothing to do with gardening. Hedging is when you  

soften your message, making it sound less forceful  or less certain. You might do this in order to be  

polite, or to avoid being seen as arrogant or to  express ideas that you're not sure are accurate.

It's very useful!

In addition to other structures, we  often use modal verbs like 'may',  

'might' and 'could' combined with hedging  adverbs like 'potentially' or 'conceivably'.

This really takes your language to  a C1 level. Like in this sentence:

'Opening an office in that region  could potentially lead to lucrative  

partnerships.' Polite and professional.

At C1, you'll learn about some of  the more advanced uses of modals,

For example, you'll learn the difference between:  

'You might have told me that  the meeting had been cancelled.'

And: 'You might have told me that  the meeting had been cancelled.' So,  

the first one means maybe you did.  I can't remember. And the second  

one means 'you should have told  me'. The sentences are identical!

In speech,

the tone of voice would be  different, but in writing,  

you'd have to work out the  meaning from the context.

Okay, on to the next grammar  points—Cleft sentences and Inversion.

They're my favourites and my students  love learning these structures, too.

Both are used for emphasis. We'll start  with cleft sentences. With this structure,  

we take one message and we split it into 2,

emphasising a certain part by  putting it in a separate clause.

They often begin with 'it'. For example:  'It's effective time management that sets  

top-performing employees apart  from the rest of the team.'

You'll see similar structures  beginning with 'what' and 'all'.

And now on to inversion!

You actually saw an example of this earlier in the  video in the conditional section in the sentence:  

'Were we to invest…'—the normal subject-verb  order in a statement is inverted to 'Were we…'

At C1, you'll learn to use inversion in several  ways. For example, after negative adverbials.

'Rarely does an opportunity like this arise  

in such a saturated market.'  Sounds so fancy, doesn't it?

And after other words and phrases  like 'so' and 'such'. 'So successful  

was the marketing campaign that  sales doubled within a month.'

I think those sentences just  sound so beautiful and advanced!

Okay, we're moving on to the  next point now—linking words.

At C1, you need to be able  to produce extended, detailed  

texts that are well-structured and easy to follow.

One way to do this is by using linking words.

You'll have learnt a lot of the linking words  you need by the time you reach B2 in English,  

words like 'nevertheless' and 'furthermore'.

The key at C1 is revising linking words  and ensuring you're using them effectively.

But there's always time to  pick up some more advanced  

words and phrases like 'much as' and  'notwithstanding'! I've put a couple  

of examples using those words in the  PDF, so don't forget to download that.

Okay, we have 2 more topics to go. The next  is Comparative and Superlative Structures.

You'll already know a lot  by the time you reach C1,  

but at an advanced level,  you'll add in structures.

'The faster we finish, the sooner we can leave.'

We're on our last topic,  

and we haven't talked about tenses yet  and I haven't forgotten about them!

You should already be a fairly confident user  of a variety of tenses by the time you reach C1.

At the advanced level, it's about practice  

and getting truly comfortable employing  the right tense in different situations.

A C1 course will also teach you some  of the more advanced uses of tenses,  

like using the present tense when narrating  a story that happened in the past.

For example:

'So, I'm in the middle of preparing  a big presentation and suddenly,  

my laptop crashes.' It makes  it sound more dramatic!

And you'll learn some expressions  that refer to the near future,  

such as 'be on the verge of'. 'The company is  on the verge of making a big announcement.'

Okay, there you have it! That is all of the  

grammar that you need for  advanced, C1-level English.

Which of those structures do you need to  consolidate to feel more comfortable using?

Are there any that were new  that you'd love to learn?

Let me know in the comments!

And don't forget, if your goal is  to feel completely comfortable,  

natural and confident using advanced  professional English at work, join the  

waiting list for my Professional  English Programme (Level 3).

It launches very soon and I want  you to be the first to know!

The link is in the description.

I will see you in the next video. Bye!