Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of using visual grammar on learning participle adjectives by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners. Design/methodology/approach The study follows an experimental design in which two groups participated in the study. The experimental group used visual grammar tools in learning participle adjectives. The control group was taught the participle adjectives in a traditional way. A pre–post test was designed and presented to the participants in the two groups. Findings The results showed that the experimental group made statistically significant improvements in their performance in using participle adjectives due to the use of visual grammar tools. Research limitations/implications The current study is only limited to the effect of visual images on a particular grammatical issue, that is participle adjectives. Besides, the study does not include the gender variable; there may be variation in the results depending on the variable of gender. Practical implications The present study can provide language instructors with some guidelines on how to incorporate visual grammar applications in teaching grammar aspects. Learners can also be encouraged to have a better understanding of English grammar, using the different connotations of visual images. Social implications Using visual images in teaching grammar will increase the learners' ability to think beyond their classroom environment. They can use this experience whenever they face visual images in different societal activities. Originality/value This paper is one of the initial attempts to investigate the effect of using visual grammar on learning participle adjectives.