With this activity, once children have started using the technique, you can introduce a matrix to look at

the grammatical structures in more detail. So, for noun phrases the following can be used:

Determiner Adjective Noun Embedded clause Verb Adverb

The fierce tiger, with no thought of danger jumped suddenly

Some noisy children who were playing outside laughed hysterically

The Oak tree that had stood for years swayed precariously

To start, part of the matrix can be omitted and then children can go on to create their own versions.

Determiner Adjective Noun Embedded clause Verb Adverb

The tiger with no thought of danger jumped

Some noisy children laughed

The tree swayed

Practise: Sentence structure games and activities

‘The teaching of sentence combining, is one of probably a number of methods, that is effective.’
(p39). Andrews R, et al (2004),

Key concept
If children play with and manipulate sentences their writing, and grammar and punctuation will
improve.

Planning for sentence games

Below is a simplified format that can be adapted when planning sentence games and activities.

Learning intention Y2 Learning intention: Y3/4 Learning intention: Y5/6

●● use both familiar and new ●● extend the range of ●● propose changes to

punctuation correctly including sentences with more than grammar, vocabulary and
full stops, capital letters, one clause by using a wider punctuation to enhance
exclamation marks, question range of conjunctions, e.g. effects and clarify meaning
marks and commas for lists when, if, because, although

Practise: Word level games and activities 45

 Example outcomes

Year 2 Year 3/4 Year 5 Year 6

(PaG age 7 – level 2) (PaG age 8.5 – level 3) (PaG age 10.5 – level 4) (PaG age 11.5 – level 5)
Use sentences with Use a variety of Continue to experiment Variety in sentence
different forms: sentence openings with complex sentences length, structure and
statement, question, to express time and to clarify relationships in subject to help expand
exclamation, cause, using: time and place. ideas, convey key
command. ●● conjunctions (e.g. Variety in subordinating issues/facts or provide
Clauses joined in when, before, after, connectives: because, emphasis, detail and
compound sentences while) if, which (because the description.
using and, but, so, or. ●● adverbs (e.g. then, rain can damage their A range of subordinate
next, soon, so) skin. . . which was connectives (while,
●● prepositions (e.g. strange. . . If she could until, despite) with
before, after, during, . . .). possible use of several
Experiment with the subordinate clauses
in, because of).
position of subordinate to aid economy of
Use some complex expression ( ‘While
clauses to create effect
sentences e.g. After under my roof, you will
running for the bus, I Use relative clauses
obey my rules, which
collapsed on the seat. beginning with who,
are clearly displayed.’).
which, where, why, or
whose.
Possible games
Sentence building game   Sentence combining   Consequences   Complex sentence game  
Model sentences   Free writing   Stolen punctuation   Continue the sentence  
Photo match    The if game  

Differentiation Key questions

Support – Give children frames and model Is the meaning clear for the reader?
sentences. Do I need more information?
Extension – Once children have acquired a skill Have you used a variety of sentence lengths?
let them spend time applying it within their own How can we start this sentence in a different
writing. way?

Sentence building game

Copy the sheets in Appendix 2 (page 91) and then make cards in the various colours indicated by copying
onto coloured card.
Within the 2014 National Curriculum for English and as part of the English grammar, punctuation and
spelling test pupils are expected to identify words based on the eight parts of speech: the verb, noun,
pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and determiner. This game is a great fun way to
get children to recognise each part. It takes a while to set up at first, but once pupils get used to sorting
out the cards it becomes relatively quick. Team points can be given to encourage being first ready, the

46 A creative approach to teaching grammar

quickest sentence, etc. Though there are potentially eight sets of cards, prepositions and pronouns aren’t
always used. So if played in a team of six, each person gets one set of cards. They lay the cards out in
front of them so others can see and discuss the choices made. Then follow the instructions below, the
child with the part of speech referred to e.g. the noun or adjective, will lay down their card to form a joint
sentence with the group:

●● Make a simple sentence using just three cards. You will find you have used a blue card (noun), a
red card (verb) and a determiner (e.g. the, a or an). These are the standard colours used for parts of
speech.
●● Now add an adjective (green card). Can you change the position of the adjective without changing
the meaning? (The answer is no!)
●● Now add an adverb (yellow). Can you change its position? The answer is yes – the adverb can
normally go at the beginning, middle or end of a sentence. Point out adverbs often end in -ly and
they are useful to start sentences with.
●● Keep the sentence you have made and now add another sentence beneath.
●● Can you join the two sentences together using one of the conjunctions (pale yellow).
●● Finally add the punctuation cards. Where might a comma go? You might also investigate adding a
preposition or pronoun.

It is easy to make further sets of your own cards, start with five or six sentences first to mix up, rather than
using random words. Sets for different themes work well, such as ‘The Ancient Greeks’ with nouns like
Heracles (Hercules in Roman).
Once children have become used to the parts of speech and their respective colours a number of
related activities can be introduced. Try putting blank A4 colour sheets up that follow the parts of speech
colours. Children then can be asked to suggest words relating to the text they are writing. So if they are
writing the dilemma to a story they might be asked for nouns for the blue sheet, such as ‘monster’ or
‘dragon’. Powerful verbs are then written on a red sheet such as ‘pounced’ and ‘roared’. On the green
sheet children might suggest adjectives such as ‘frightening’ and ‘armoured’, and on the yellow sheet
adverbs like ‘immediately’ and ‘ferociously’. These then can be used to create sentences. Ask which word
would make the best opening to the sentence e.g. Ferociously the armoured dragon pounced on its
prey.

Sentence combining
When looking at the research in Chapter 2, we saw the potential of sentence combining as an alternative to
traditional formal grammar. It gives children the opportunity to practise, play with, and manipulate sentences,
in a practical way. The aim is not to produce longer sentences but to develop more effective ones. There is
no correct answer but rather a number of possibilities. For example look at these three short sentences:

●● The footballer was not tall.

●● The footballer was not fast.
●● The footballer was rather skilful.

Practise: Word level games and activities 47

 Through cutting out unnecessary repetition and adding appropriate conjunctions, we can combine
these three short sentences into a single, more coherent one, e.g., ‘The footballer was neither tall nor fast,
but was rather skilful’.
Below are a number of short sentences to get you started. For each I have indicated the grammatical
change made:

Short sentences Example answer

●● The dog barked loudly. The dog barked loudly but the cat stood its ground.
●● The cat stood its ground. (Uses a conjunction.)
●● A cat strolled. Onto the football pitch, before the match on Sunday
●● It didn’t have a care. afternoon, a cat without a care strolled.
●● It strolled onto the football pitch. (Starts with a preposition.)
●● This happened before the match on
Sunday afternoon.
●● She was our teacher. In Year 5 our teacher was great. She had bright green,
●● We were in Year 5. sparkling eyes and told the best stories.
●● She was great. (Fronted adverbial.)
●● She had bright green eyes.
●● Her eyes were sparkling.
●● She told the most marvellous stories.
●● The man handed me a parcel. The old battered parcel was handed suspiciously to
●● He did this suspiciously. me, by the man with the long moustache.
●● The man had a long moustache. (Starts with the object to make a passive sentence.)
●● The parcel was old and battered.
●● I took the short cut home. Thinking I could save some time, I took the short cut
●● I went through the fields. home through the fields. (Continuous verb.)
●● I thought I could save some time Through the fields I took a short cut; I thought I could
save some time. (Uses a semi-colon.)
●● It was cold. Although it was cold, Jack went outside in just his
●● Jack wore just his T-shirt. T-shirt.
●● He went outside. (Complex sentence and subordinating connective.)
●● The artist was the best in the city. The artist, who painted the most amazing landscapes,
●● The artist painted. was the best in the city.
●● He painted the most amazing landscapes. (Uses a relative clause to embed a sentence.)

These ideas can be used to get started but after a while you will want to produce your own sets of
short sentences to combine. One easy way of doing this is to use a book at the level the children are
working at. Find a good sentence then simplify into a number of short, repetitive clauses that can

48 A creative approach to teaching grammar

be combined: e.g. ‘Ottoline lived in Apartment 243, of the PW Huffledinck Tower, which everybody
called the Pepperpot Building because it looked like one.’ (from Ottoline Goes to School, Chris Riddell
(Macmillan) p1). This can be simplified into:

●● Ottoline lived in Apartment 243.

●● The apartment was in the Huffledinck Tower.
●● Everybody called the tower the Pepperpot Building.
●● It looked like a pepperpot.

After combining a set of sentences in a variety of ways, take the time to discuss and evaluate combinations
and to make the grammatical language explicit. Children might do this individually or in a group, reading
their sentences out loud.
Basic questions to consider while evaluating their sentences include:

1 Meaning: have you kept the original meaning?

2 Clarity: can the sentence be easily understood?
3 Coherence: does the sentence flow?
4 Emphasis: are key words and phrases in the best order?
5 Concise: are there any words that need to be taken out?

The question game/consequences

These games let children practise a range of punctuation. In the question game, each child writes a
question, folds the paper so that it is hidden and passes it on. On the paper they receive they write the
answer to their own question. The consequences are supposed to be funny, e.g. ‘What is your favourite
food? Answer: Manchester.
Consequences is another popular game:

●● First write a girl’s name, fold the paper so it can’t be seen and pass it on.
●● On the paper you receive, write a boy’s name beneath the fold. Don’t look at what’s written within
the fold. Then pass the paper on.
●● On the paper you next receive write where they met.

The game continues in this way, with the paper being passed after each instruction.

●● Write what they did.

●● Write what he said. Ensure your speech is punctuated correctly.
●● Write what she said.
●● Finally write the consequence or ending.

Practise: Word level games and activities 49

 You might want to discourage using the names of children in the class. Using book or TV characters
works well, e.g. ‘Harry Potter and the Varmint met at a wedding. They played rugby under a silvery moon.
He said, ‘Do you like eating cheesy pizza?’ She said, ‘I like your woolly jumper, did you buy it from a sheep?
They were then asked to leave the party for not singing loudly enough.’

Complex sentence game

This was always my favourite game from Grammar for Writing (DfEE 2000). Make up a set of cards as
shown below. Write a complex sentence on the board, for example: ‘As the boy hauled the heavy sack
through the streets, the thief prepared to strike’.
Ask a child to choose one of the cards:

Change the verb Change the subordinate clause Move the subordinate clause

Replace the connective Change the main clause Change the subject in the main clause

In teams, the children then have to make the change suggested and discuss possible answers. Points can
be given for the first to complete the task correctly or for writing the most exciting version, etc. This is an
ideal game to practise manipulating sentences in preparation for the English grammar, punctuation and
spelling test.

Model sentences
This activity is similar to that described when modelling writing but just one sentence is used as a starting
point. It has the potential to really lift the standard of pupils’ writing. First the children are given a sentence
from a book and they discuss how it is organised and its rhythm. Then they are given a different character
or setting (or let the children choose their own) to write a sentence in a similar style, as shown in the
example below.
Once children have got the hang of this they can find sentences themselves while they are reading to
manipulate and change.

Model sentence Analysis Character and setting Example

The handle began to turn Compound sentence Trees in a forest. The trees began to
but there was no hand joined by a conjunction. sway, yet there was
upon it. no wind to move
(Leon and the Place them.
Between, Graham Baker-
Smith 2008)
Sam walked on, out of the Starts with the main A soldier marching The soldier marched
town, towards the woods. clause followed by two to war on, away from the
(Look What I’ve Got, adverbial phrases for village, towards the
Anthony Browne, 1980) where. gun-fire.

50 A creative approach to teaching grammar

 Model sentence Analysis Character and setting Example

Tall buildings scratched the Starts with a metaphor Fish at a ship wreck. Small fish swept the
sky, where the birds once followed by a relative wreck, where the
sang. subordinate clause, crew once laughed.
(Varmints, Helen Ward 2007) starting with a pronoun.

Inside the house her Starts with an adverbial A boy at the At the seaside the boy
mother coughed, twice. for where, followed seaside. patted the sand, three
(Cloud Tea Monkeys, Mal by an action and a times.
Peet and Elspeth Graham number.
2010)
Silver frost on barbed wire, Noun phrase followed A spider’s web. Silvery dew on
strange tinsel, sparkled and by a metaphor and a spider’s web,
winked. ending with two verbs. sparkling diamonds,
(The Christmas Truce, glistened and
Carol Ann Duffy 2011) twinkled.

Free writing
In this activity, the child writes freely for a set period of time. You might want to start with just five minutes
but challenge them to write for longer as their confidence builds. Children need opportunities to write
about their own interests and a range of topics can be identified early in the year. The writing is like a flow
of consciousness. Children can write about anything, but you might want to give them prompts to get
started, e.g. describe where you are, tell me about your day; write about your family; imagine meeting a
monster. Children should always have an audience in mind, so the piece should be read to a partner once
completed. What they write doesn’t have to be perfect nor complete. At the end of the session the child
counts:

●● the number of lines they wrote

●● the number of full stops
●● the number of capital letters
●● the number of ‘ands’ or ‘thens’.

This is then used as a target to try and improve next time they write. This isn’t always about writing more
but of writing with greater accuracy. Putting numbers on things can help motivate children and it certainly
made a difference with Pam’s writing, as seen in Chapter 8. Once the basics are established, children can
also start to count and improve on the number of connectives, adverbials or adjectives, etc used.

Stolen punctuation
This can be played in two ways. You might want to just give a passage and let the children add the
punctuation. The other way is to actually give them the missing punctuation in the correct order for them
to add. So in the passage below the following punctuation is missing Cap, , . Cap, .

Practise: Word level games and activities 51

 the dwarf with his long red fiery beard led the way while intensely studying an ancient leather scroll like a
nervous rat his eyes darted left to right making sure no one else could see this was no ordinary scroll he
would guard it with his life

Possible answer: The dwarf, with his long red fiery beard, led the way while intensely studying an
ancient leather scroll. Like a nervous rat his eyes darted left to right, making sure no one else could see.

When discussing grammar it is important that children aren’t given the impression there is always a right
or wrong answer. The punctuation is used to aid the reader, so with the above example, the child might
decide there is no need for the pause and comma after the dwarf.

Continue the sentence

This is a simple activity that develops skills pupils will need for the English grammar, punctuation and
spelling test. The pupils are given a sentence to complete using a conjunction.

Sentence Conjunctions

The squirrel jumped from the tree . . . while, as, because

Many people stopped smoking . . . so, consequently, although,

With both the activities above it is easy to create your own versions using sentences from a book as a
starting point.

Photo match

52 A creative approach to teaching grammar

Using visuals helps motivate children as writers and can be used with many of the above activities. In this
game, the children choose from two or three photos and then decide on the genre of writing they want
to use to match the picture. News items make a good source of pictures, like the pillow fight illustrated
opposite or use the Internet to search for photos of the London Pillow Fight. A number of different
questions can be used to scaffold the task.
Possible questions:

●● Think about the style of writing you want to write, e.g. a recount or newspaper report.
●● Write a title for your picture.
●● Consider what you can see, hear and feel. Who are the characters? What is happening? When did it
happen? Why did it happen?
●● Think of words and phrases to match the picture.
●● Create two sentences in the style of writing you have chosen.

The ‘If game’ (conditional sentences)

Children write an ending to a conditional sentence using a modal verb e.g.

●● If my mum wins the lottery we might . . .

●● If we have a heatwave we could . . .

Alternatively, display a list of modal verbs e.g. must, ought, could, may, might, would, should. Give a
number of scenarios for children to write sentences about, e.g.

●● Being a superhero, e.g. If I were a superhero I would . . .

●● If gravity got turned off, e.g. If there was no gravity the cats would . . .

Text structure and cohesion activities and games

’Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.’
Lisa See, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Key concept
Short games and activities can help improve the flow and structure of children’ writing.

Practise: Word level games and activities 53

 Below is a simplified format that can be adapted when planning test level games and activities.

Learning intention Y2 Learning intention Y3/4 Learning intention Y5/6

●● cohesion ●● propose changes to grammar ●● use a wide range of devices to
●● check their writing and vocabulary to improve build cohesion within and across
makes sense and that consistency paragraphs
verbs to indicate time ●● choose nouns or pronouns ●● use further organisational and

are used correctly appropriately for clarity and presentational devices to structure
and consistently cohesion texts and guide the reader

Outcomes

Year 2 Year 3/4 Year 5 Year 6

(PaG age 7.5 – level 2) (PaG age 8.5 – level 3) (PaG age 10 – level 4) (PaG age 11.5 – level 5)
Some attempt to Within paragraphs / Use a wider range of A range of verb forms
sequence ideas or sections, some links sentence connectives develops meaning and
events, e.g. by use of between sentences to develop meaning maintains appropriate
time related words; e.g. use of pronouns e.g. if, when, rather tense choice.
numbered points; or adverbials. than, although, Use of the passive to
headings, line breaks; Appropriate choice however. affect the presentation
use of pictures. of pronoun or noun Features of text type / of information in a
Use of the continuous within a sentence to genre are appropriate sentence .
form of verbs in the avoid ambiguity and to the task, e.g. Content is balanced
present and past repetition. choice of tense / verb and controlled with
tense to mark actions Tense choice generally form; layout; formality. some effective
in progress (e.g. she appropriate to task Link ideas across selection and ordering
is drumming, he was including some use of paragraphs using of text to engage the
shouting). modals (can, will). adverbials of time reader.
(e.g. later), place (e.g.
nearby) and number
(e.g. secondly).
Possible games
Boxing up   Clap the paragraph   Why the paragraph?   The connective game
Change the tense    Pronoun resolution    Overuse of nouns

Differentiation Key questions

Support – Concentrate on imitation and learning basic stories Does the writing flow?
/ structures. Are the words in the best order?
Extension – Move on to invention once children have a good Is it clear who the pronoun refers to?
understanding of text types and story structure. Does the writing make sense?

Verb tense game

Within the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test children are asked to circle the correct verb
within a sentence. A good structure for teaching grammar is: identify, create and change.

54 A creative approach to teaching grammar

1 Identify: Give children a number of sentences and let them identify if they are set in the past, present
or future tense, e.g.
●● John plays cricket at the weekend. (present)
●● I wrote a poem about school. (past)
●● The teacher will read to us. (future)
Remember, strictly speaking there is no future tense in English. The future tense is formed by adding
the auxiliary verb ‘will’.
2 Create: Give children verbs to create a sentence in the past, present and future tense, e.g. swim:
●● Right now, Jack is swimming in a contest.
●● Jack swam for the school team.
●● Jack will swim tomorrow.
3 Change the tense: Give the children a text and ask them to change the tense e.g. change the story
below into the past tense.

On the coach, Mrs Coggins sits with her three children. She takes in the views; the North Yorkshire Moors
are wonderful, even on a grey day. One minute she is on the flat moors, with its bright purple heathers and
steely grey skies and the next, in tree lined valleys with bright blue-green mosses and sparkling streams.
‘I can see the sea,’ Dan shouts. There is always a competition to see who is first to spot their destination
and Dan usually wins.

Verb tense matrix

Learning a foreign language is of great benefit. When learning a foreign language it is usual to spend time
on verb tenses and a similar approach can be used in English. This is of particular benefit for EAL children
but also benefits disadvantaged pupils, who often hear incorrect language patterns at home.
Try a range of activities where children change the tense and subject. Below is an example of a matrix
children can complete.

Present tense Past tense Future tense

I play I played I will play

He will think

They argue

Present perfect game

As part of the New Curriculum, children in Year 3 and 4 are expected to learn the perfect present tense.
This is a tense used to describe an action completed in the present using ‘have’ or ‘has’ e.g. Tom has finised
his homework. This is particularly important for children with English as an additional language who do
not have this form of grammar in their own language. It is often used where one event happens before

Practise: Word level games and activities 55

 another. Draw a timeline with two events such as swim and walk. Then ask children to create a sentence
using have or has e.g. I have been swimming and next I will go for a walk.

Passive voice
Try using the structure ‘identify, change and create’ to practise this skill.

●● Identify which is in the passive tense: John wrote the letter. The letter was written by John.
●● Change the following to the passive tense: John answered all the questions.
●● Create a passive sentence: give children pictures to create a sentence in both the active and passive
voice e.g. a person eating ice cream or a boy kicking a ball.

Boxing up
Within the 2014 National Curriculum the importance of organising information and using paragraphs
can be clearly seen in the PoS. While there is little about paragraphing within the English grammar,
punctuation and spelling test, many of the questions do relate to text cohesion, through the use of verb
tenses, pronouns, connectives, etc. Studying how this is done within and across paragraphs provides an
ideal context to look at such aspects.
In Chapter 3, we looked at how learning to tell a bank of stories orally helps children internalise basic
plots and language patterns which they then can use in their own writing. A useful strategy to develop
this further is boxing up, a technique developed by Pie Corbett.

Max is naughty and so is punished

Introduce character in everyday setting

His room turns into a forest

and then an ocean
M.C. is transported to another world

Max meets the ferocious monsters

M.C. meets monsters

He tames them with a magic trick

and then they party
M.C. controls them with magic

Max sails home

M.C. returns home

(M.C. is a useful abbreviation for

main character.)

This activity relies on the fact that most stories follow a number of basic plots. First the story is broken
down with the pupils, as shown on the top lines of each box above. Each box is discussed, in terms

56 A creative approach to teaching grammar