For Bubbles, the cat with no eyebrows.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
How to use this book
What you need to cover

Part One Making sense

1 Writing words
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

2 Types of noun
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

3 Pronouns and determiners

What you need to know
Teaching ideas

4 Types of verb
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

5 Subject, verb and object

What you need to know
Teaching ideas
6 Adjectives and adverbs
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

7 Plurals, contractions and apostrophes

What you need to know
Teaching ideas

8 Punctuation at the end of a sentence

What you need to know
Teaching ideas

Part Two Extending sentences

9 Main and subordinate clauses
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

10 Types of subordinate clause

What you need to know
Teaching ideas

11 Prepositions and conjunctions

What you need to know
Teaching ideas

12 Types of phrase
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

13 Commas
What you need to know
 Teaching ideas

14 Semi-colons, colons, brackets, dashes and forward

slashes
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

15 Inverted commas
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

Part Three Writing with flair

16 Moods and voices
What you need to know
Teaching ideas

17 Structuring whole texts

What you need to know
Teaching ideas

18 Breaking the ‘rules’

Etymology and made-up words
Changing word classes
Non-sentences
Teaching ideas

Appendices
Appendix 1: Word classes and word families
Appendix 2: Phrasal verbs
Appendix 3: Transitive and intransitive verbs
Appendix 4: Finite verbs, in nitives and participles
Appendix 5: Complements and adjuncts
Appendix 6: Dummy subjects and implied subjects
Appendix 7: Discourse markers

Glossary
FAQs
References
Index
Acknowledgements

Writing a book can be a very isolating endeavour. Even writing as co-

authors requires hours of work alone, at a computer. Luckily, we have some
wonderful people around us who seem to tolerate us rambling on about
grammar, way past the point of them losing interest.

Timothy
I want, rst and foremost, to thank Hannah Marston, our fantastic editor.
I’d also like to thank all those people alongside whom I have battled
grammar issues in schools, including everyone at Chorleywood, Holly Park
and North Harringay, and especially Steve Baptiste, Kathy Noble, Jane
Alexander, Emma Hassan and David Joyce. I also want to thank Joe
Layburn and everyone who has taught English at Bancro’s over the last
two years, especially Alex Adams, Clive Pearson, Nick omas and Sarah
Strong. I need to give a special mention to my sister, Alexandra, whose help
and advice on grammatical matters have been invaluable. Finally, of course,
I need to thank my wife, Zoë. If our love can survive writing a book about
grammar together, it can survive anything.

Zoë
ank you to Hannah for listening politely when we pitched this idea way
back in 2018. It has, once again, been a real pleasure working with you.
ank you for your support and belief in us – and for elding endless
questions. I would also like to thank Caroline Spencer, Vicky Bingham and
Lucy Szemerenyi for their endless support with this project and for
encouraging me to speak out. anks to the staff at South Hampstead –
working with you continues to be a privilege. anks to GMF for providing
the wine. I would also like to thank Kath Shaw for being my fellow
grammar geek for over a decade now and for proofreading and editing my
tweets. And nally, thanks to my husband, Tim. We oen joked that
writing this book was a test of our marriage. If that is true, we have passed
with ying colours, although it will be quite nice to have a summer holiday
where we don’t discuss the conventions of adjuncts. Here’s to our next
adventure.
Introduction

Ms Armstrong doesn’t look worried. She rarely does. She’s several years into
her second successful headship; she’s battled budget cuts and political
change, and her staff are rightly con dent in her. And maybe she isn’t
worried exactly, but she’s certainly feeling a little out of her depth. is
aernoon she’s attending a meeting with her school’s senior and middle
leaders, where the English coordinator will unveil the new grammar
scheme of work. Having had a quick ick through its pages, Ms Armstrong
is aware that she isn’t familiar with many of the words and phrases in the
document, especially those at the top end of Key Stage 2: coordinating
conjunction, subjunctive mood, past progressive tense. Ms Armstrong didn’t
learn about any of this when she was younger. She went to school in the
seventies and eighties and she mostly remembers her English teachers
being brilliant, but they taught her to write by exposing her to examples of
writing, and most of her understanding of grammar, which she rightly
believes to be pretty good, was absorbed by osmosis. She feels where the
commas should go in a sentence and she usually gets it right – but she can’t
necessarily explain how or why using technical linguistic terms. She’s always
been an avid reader and a very competent writer. All the grammar stuff on
the primary curriculum now just seems so… unnecessary. She says nothing
but silently curses Michael Gove.
In a classroom on the oor above, learning support assistant Mr Yildiz
has just been handed next week’s English planning by the Year 6 class
teacher. On Wednesday, he has to take a group of children ‘who are
struggling to identify the subject and object in a sentence’ out of class and
help them. ere’s just one problem and you can probably guess what it is:
Mr Yildiz has no idea how to identify the subject and object in a sentence.
He went to school in the nineties and noughties, when the National
Literacy Strategy reigned supreme. His English lessons were rather more
prescriptive and content-driven than Ms Armstrong’s had been 20 years
before but the content still seemed to be different from what children are
learning now. Mr Yildiz and his family moved to Britain from Turkey when
he was four years old and he can see some logic in teaching grammar
discretely. He oen used to make mistakes with verb tenses that would
never cause problems for native English speakers. His teachers would circle
or underline them but they rarely explained why they were wrong. Even
now, he can still make these mistakes if he’s not careful and it’s really
embarrassing. Mr Yildiz wants to do his PGCE next year and become a
teacher but he’s worried that his colleagues will think he isn’t clever enough.
Down the road, Mrs Patterson is helping her ten-year-old son with his
English homework. A word in a sentence has been underlined and he has
to state whether it’s a determiner, a pronoun or a preposition. Mrs Patterson
has been googling all three words for half an hour to try to come up with
an answer and she thinks she might be getting somewhere. It’s certainly not
the most baffling task he’s come home with this year; a fortnight ago he’d
had this piece of work to do about main and subordinate clauses, and
before half-term there was that bewildering activity on fronted adverbials.
Ironically, Mrs Patterson voted for this. e government said that they were
going to bring ‘rigour’ back to the education system and it had sounded
great. She thought she wanted her children to have a proper, traditional
education, but this isn’t quite what she was expecting.
Ms Armstrong, Mr Yildiz and Mrs Patterson, as you’ve probably guessed,
are ctional characters, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real. Or, at least,
the grammar demons that haunt them are as real as can be and they are
currently on the rampage in school communities across England. e
frustration and irritation felt by Ms Armstrong, the fear and embarrassment
felt by Mr Yildiz and the utter bewilderment felt by Mrs Patterson are all
understandable and reasonable responses to a rapid and radical change of
emphasis in the English curriculum over the course of the last decade.
We’ve faced the grammar demons ourselves and, like most adults of
working age in this country, we weren’t taught grammar formally when we
were at school. But we defeated our grammar demons and we wrote this
book because we want to help you to defeat yours.

What’s changed?
In the time we have been teaching, we have seen dramatic changes to the
English curriculum. We both joined the profession in the shadow of the
‘National Literacy Hour’ – if you look carefully you may still nd the ring
binders at the back of a dusty cupboard in your school. is was an attempt
to break down the English curriculum into teachable chunks. However, a
lot of grammar was oversimpli ed to the point that teachers did not always
fully understand what they were teaching. e term ‘connectives’ is a
hangover from this era (see here for the problems with connectives). It
became clear that this was over-prescriptive and was oen limiting more
experienced teachers, and the ‘National Literacy Hour’ ended up being
phased out in the late noughties.
With less prescription in the curriculum itself, schools and primary
teachers entered a period where what they were expected to teach became
synonymous with what was being assessed. ‘Assessing Pupil Progress’ (APP)
grids were produced, outlining what ‘good writing’ (and sometimes,
confusingly, bad writing) should look like for children working at the
different levels of the old National Curriculum assessment system. is
sometimes made it hard for schools to make effective judgements about
what needed to be taught when in terms of grammar and punctuation. is
was the background to the reforms that created the current system.
e National Curriculum changed radically in 2014 and statutory
assessments changed more gradually in the years before and aer the new
curriculum was introduced. Both now re ect a greater emphasis on the
discrete teaching of grammatical terms as a way to understand and talk
about language. e way in which this has been done is far from perfect
and, throughout this book, we will explore some of the issues that we still
don’t think the Department for Education has got quite right. However, it’s
where we are now, whether we like it or not, and we think that it’s best to
avoid the rose-tinted spectacles. We didn’t live in a utopia as far as English
teaching was concerned before the grammar, punctuation and spelling test
was introduced and, with the right approach, we don’t have to resign
ourselves to living in a dystopia now. We can do all the things we, as
teachers, believe in; we can teach our children to write with air and
individuality and deliver the requirements of the curriculum. In fact, a
genuinely good understanding of the foundations of grammar should
actually help with all of this.

Who are we?

Other than self-confessed grammar geeks and demon defeaters, who are
we and why are we writing this book?
Well, we are Zoë and Timothy Paramour. At present, we are both class
teachers and English coordinators in our respective schools. We have almost
25 years’ combined experience of teaching and leading in primary schools.
We’ve both held a variety of roles, from NQT to SLT, and, between us, we
have worked under 15 different headteachers, three Ofsted frameworks
and several revisions of the National Curriculum – that’s a lot of change!
roughout our careers, we have been interested in educational
research, developing our subject knowledge and pedagogy, and we both
harboured not-so-secret dreams of being writers when we were growing up.
Over the years, we gradually managed to merge our two passions and
started writing about education. Timothy blogs about education at
https://timparamour.com and has written a play about the British
education system, Finding Mr Paramour. Zoë blogs at ‘e Girl on the
Piccadilly Line’ (https://piclinegirl.com) and has also written another book
for Bloomsbury Education about middle leadership in a primary school.
(It’s more entertaining than it sounds, we promise.)
As you have probably clocked from the surnames, we are married, or at
least we are as we start the long process of writing this book. Who knows
where we will be aer 18 months of grappling with the intricacies of
English grammar?

The grammar demons

e grammar demons are not creatures of esh and blood; they exist in our
minds. However, the beings who put them there are very real and
unfortunately you’ll nd them in most schools. ey are the grammar
pedants – those people who think they know all the ‘rules’ and ‘right
answers’ when it comes to grammar and who like nothing more than to
correct others when they believe they are violating these ‘rules’. ey sound
terribly clever and they can make all your irritation, fear and confusion
about grammar immeasurably worse. ey like to tell people when they
should use whom as opposed to who. ey like to tell people that you can’t
end a sentence with a preposition. And they really like to tell people that
you can’t begin a sentence with and or but. But the grammar pedants don’t
know what they’re talking about. When a grammar pedant tells you that
you can’t do this or you must do that, you should always feel entitled to ask
them why or why not. eir response will usually be somewhat circular. ‘It’s
against the rules,’ they might say. is is not a satisfactory response. e
grammar pedant is a fraud. Ms Armstrong, Mr Yildiz and Mrs Patterson
shouldn’t fear him or her. To understand why, we need to talk about rules.
ere are two types of rule. Firstly, there are universal rules that we
observe in the world and that we are powerless to change, like the rules of
mathematics or the laws of physics. Grammar certainly can’t be governed by
these sorts of rules – languages were invented by people and they change
over the years. Secondly, there are man-made rules whereby someone in
authority enforces regulations on those under their jurisdiction. National
laws and school codes of conduct are examples of this type of rule. But who
has authority over the English language? Who is in charge of it and who
has the right to create rules about how it can be used? e answer surely is
no one. So, if there are no natural, universal laws governing grammar and
there is no one in charge of the English language making human rules, we
are le with an inescapable but surprising conclusion: grammar doesn’t
have rules.
So, if grammar doesn’t have rules, what does it have? If a child in your
class uses your when most educated English speakers would use you’re,
what’s your basis for correcting them? e answer is simple. To say that the
spelling choice is ‘wrong’ is merely a shorthand for saying it’s ‘not what most
people do’. Shared norms about how we communicate ensure that we make
ourselves understood. English wasn’t designed. It developed and evolved
over millennia. It wasn’t constructed according to any rules – it just
happened. Grammar is the way that we analyse the big, chaotic, random
thing we call the English language and try to explain how it works. It’s
sometimes clumsy and imperfect – and for almost any generalisation you
can make about English grammar, there will be exceptions. Grammar is not
a means for regulating how people should speak and write. It is a way of
describing how people do, in fact, speak and write. For that reason, you will
notice throughout this book that we avoid the word rule and we avoid
prescriptive verbs such as should, must or can’t when describing the
conventions of grammar. Doctors prescribe medication to patients who
need it and they need to be quali ed to do so. Grammar pedants are the
self-appointed doctors of the English language but they have no
quali cations. Beware their snake oil prescriptions.

Conventions: acceptable and unacceptable grammar

e closest we will come to being prescriptive in this book is when we talk
about acceptable and unacceptable constructions. Consider these two
sentences:
 I like football.
Like I football.

e rst of these is grammatically acceptable and the second is not.

roughout the book, we will strike through all examples of unacceptable
constructions to avoid confusion. What makes it unacceptable? We know
by now that it isn’t breaking a rule. So what’s unacceptable about it? e
issue is one of convention. When saying or writing this sort of sentence,
English speakers tend to put the subject (I) before the verb (like). It’s just
what they do. e rst one is the acceptable version simply because we all
accept that it is. I know it and you know it – it’s acceptable because we
accept it! Almost anyone would think the second one looked odd and
almost anyone would nd it harder to understand. It’s not violating any
regulations and it’s not breaking the laws of physics but it simply doesn’t
conform to our agreed sense of how English works. It just looks wrong.
e example above is an obvious one but there are greyer areas.
Consider these two examples:

Clive has fewer sweets than Alex.

Clive has less sweets than Alex.

Is it true that the second of these sentences looks wrong to all English
speakers? No. However, it does look wrong to enough people that it’s
probably worth avoiding. If you’re not sure about the distinction between
less and fewer, you might want to read the section on countable and
uncountable nouns in Chapter 2, here. Exactly where the line is between
acceptable and unacceptable grammar is not always clear. In this book, for
example, we take the view that using less in place of fewer is generally
unacceptable but using who in place of whom is generally acceptable. Like
so much in grammar, that’s an opinion, not a fact. You will read other books
by other authors who draw their lines between the acceptable and the
unacceptable in different places. It’s not an exact science.
 Wherever we come across these grey areas, we will ag them up and give
you the tools to make informed judgements in your own writing and your
own teaching. What we hope we’ll do in the process is reassure you that the
grammar pedants are deceiving you – there aren’t massive lists of rules out
there about grammar that you don’t know. ere are just conventions and
most of them are completely familiar to you. In many of the cases where
you think you ‘don’t know the rules’ (e.g. when do I use single inverted
commas and when do I use double inverted commas?), it’s because there are
a whole range of acceptable options and it’s entirely down to your own
preference.

The grammar curriculum

Before we get too misty-eyed about the boundless freedom to be enjoyed
by taking a descriptive approach to grammar, we need a reality check. We’ve
talked a lot about irritating grammar pedants making up rules and then
trying to enforce them on other people. e bad news is that, at the time of
writing, quite a few of them still work at the Department for Education and
they’re still producing a national test that all children in maintained schools
in England have to sit at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. ese
tests are all about using ‘correct’ grammar, which sits awkwardly with what
we’ve already told you. is is nothing to worry about and, as we make our
way through the chapters of this book, we’ll make sure that you understand
everything you need to teach your pupils to ensure that they’re ready.
One of the many valid criticisms one hears levelled at the current
approach to grammar in the primary curriculum is that it feels somewhat
divorced from the business of actually learning to write. We’ve provided
examples of teaching ideas and resources you can use in each of the
chapters but we also hope to equip you with the knowledge and con dence
you’ll need to teach grammar within the rest of the English curriculum –
not as a separate inconvenience.
 Here, we’ve included an edited and abridged version of the glossary of
grammar terms from the primary National Curriculum with page references
to where they are discussed in this book. If you need to nd out about a
particular topic, this will enable you to reach the information you need
quickly and easily. We’ve also included a ‘frequently asked questions’
section here. is will tell you where to nd the solutions to some of the
most common puzzles that primary school teachers nd themselves
wrestling with when trying to teach grammar.
We weren’t taught much grammar at school in any formal sense and nor,
in all likelihood, were you. is is one of the reasons why the grammar,
punctuation and spelling aspect of the National Curriculum causes stress
for teachers of primary English up and down the country. We have both
been in the position of having to get our heads around grammatical
concepts (subjunctive mood, anyone?) in order to teach them, and
understand the anxiety that can cause. One aim of this book is to alleviate
that anxiety. We wanted to write a book that would provide clear and
simple explanations of the concepts and jargon you need to know,
alongside practical ideas for teaching it to your pupils. In every chapter, you
will nd a simple, accessible breakdown of key ideas in English grammar,
alongside a selection of activities and lesson ideas you can bring straight
into your classroom to make grammar interesting and meaningful for
young learners.
However, we want this book to do more than that. e truth is that,
while there is so much about the current educational climate that concerns
us, we do believe in teaching grammar and in giving it more attention than
perhaps schools tended to in the past. If we ruled the world then one of the
changes we would make (apart from making cheese a national dish) is that
grammar teaching wouldn’t be centred around a dull and somewhat
arbitrary Year 6 test. It would involve looking creatively at the mechanics of
how our language works, exploring patterns and giving children the
linguistic tools to express themselves with air and conviction. It’s always
easy to say of any educational experience that we never had ourselves, ‘I
never did that and it never did me any harm’, which is pretty much where
we started on this journey. Being honest with ourselves over the last few
years, we’ve started to realise that this is a copout: an easy excuse to turn
our backs on something that will require us to change our habits and
challenge our own thinking. Instead, we have started to alter our habits
and question our preconceptions about grammar.
Understanding how language is used and examining how we generate
meaning when we speak and write is never a waste of time. It goes to the
heart of human interaction and it tells the story of how our language and
culture evolved. Learning about grammar is not a matter of memorising
‘rules’. While there are of course certain conventions that we rmly
encourage you to observe, our primary focus will be on describing how
people use English grammar to convey meaning and in uence their
audience, be it a reader or a listener.
is book is for Ms Armstrong, Mr Yildiz, Mrs Patterson and everyone
else who needs a bit of extra help with primary grammar. is is the book
we wish we’d been given when we rst had to teach the new grammar
curriculum. We hope that it will take away your fear of grammar and give
you the con dence to teach it well. We hope that it will be informative and
give you the answers to all the speci c questions you have. Perhaps most
importantly, we hope that it will make you feel positive about grammar and
see the value in teaching children about it.
How to use this book

is book is divided into 18 chapters arranged in three parts. We’d be

delighted if you felt inclined to read the whole thing from cover to cover,
but you’re probably more likely to focus on particular topics that you’re
slightly confused about or struggling to teach. If you’ve opened up this book
looking for the answer to a speci c grammar question, we suggest you take
a look at the ‘frequently asked questions’ here. A lot of the grammar
confusion that causes teachers unspoken embarrassment is more common
than they think.

What will I find in each part?

Part One of the book is called Making sense. It introduces the basic
building blocks of sentence construction and most of the word classes or
parts of speech. It explores the ideas of subject and object and it tackles
common misconceptions about apostrophes and plurals. ere may be a
temptation to skip or brush over the details in this section, especially if you
are teaching older children. However, the contents of Part One are the
fundamental building blocks of English grammar; without a secure
understanding of all these concepts, children may struggle to grasp the
more abstract ideas introduced later on.
Part Two is called Extending sentences. As you’d imagine from the title,
it deals with the wide variety of ways in which children can move beyond
simple and obvious sentence structures in their writing, employing a wider
range of techniques to get their ideas across with precision. It explores the
different types of clause and phrase, offering clarity on the differences
between them, which is oen lacking in online reference resources. It also
addresses the questions you’ve always been too afraid to ask about commas
and semi-colons, speech punctuation, quotation marks and parenthesis.
Part ree is called Writing with air and this is really about moving
from pro ciency to mastery. It deals with the functions of sentences and
the way in which subtle changes in word order can alter the effect on the
reader. It explores the different grammatical ‘moods’ and the challenges of
incorporating these into one’s writing effectively. It concludes with Chapter
18: Breaking the ‘rules’. Here we explore the ways in which one can defy
the usual conventions of grammar to enhance the effect of one’s writing. We
will tackle puns, poetry, one-word sentences and much more.
At the end of the book, you will nd seven appendices providing a bit of
extra background to some of the conventions we have discussed. ey are
designed to help you, as teacher, to understand the grammar curriculum in
greater depth. e content of these sections goes beyond what children
need to understand by the end of Year 6, but you may nd they will
provide you with an additional level of knowledge that enables you to
answer some of those trickier questions that pupils have a habit of throwing
at you in Years 5 and 6. While there is no statutory requirement to teach
the content in the appendices, you may nd it useful to do so in certain
instances.

What will I find in each chapter?

Each chapter starts with What you need to know, which explains
everything you need to understand in order to teach that particular topic
con dently. e second half of each chapter offers a variety of Teaching
ideas for delivering this content to your class. e best thing you can do for
your class is to understand the concepts really thoroughly yourself, explain
them clearly to your pupils and then give them plenty of opportunities to
practise using and applying their knowledge of grammar. Nonetheless, you
may nd some of the teaching ideas in each chapter a useful
accompaniment to this. Next to each teaching idea, you will see a logo that
tells you whether it is suitable for:
Key Stage 1: Years 1 and 2.
Lower Key Stage 2: Years 3 and 4.
Upper Key Stage 2: Years 5 and 6.

When you see this logo , it means that accompanying resources are
available to download from www.bloomsbury.com/the-grammar-book.
ese include modelled texts, worksheets, templates and much more.
In each chapter overview, we have highlighted the sections that are
relevant to Key Stage 1 (KS1), lower Key Stage 2 (LKS2) and upper Key
Stage 2 (UKS2). You’ll nd most of what you need to cover in Key Stage 1
in Part One (with a few exceptions such as commas). If you are a Key Stage
2 teacher, then everything you need to cover with your class is in Parts One
to ree.
Most of the information you will nd in this book is available elsewhere
but, as teachers, we have always been frustrated with the way in which it
tends to be presented and organised. We’ve thought carefully about the
progression in this book and how and when you should introduce each
concept. is is a book by teachers for teachers and we hope that it will give
you the sort of clarity and honesty you need.

A final thought before you dive in

We want to equip you to discharge your statutory duties and teach your
pupils what they need to know to excel in the grammar, punctuation and
spelling tests in Years 2 and 6. Far more importantly, however, we want to
equip you to explore the weird and wonderful grey areas of grammar – to
celebrate the inconsistencies and debate the uncertainties. We want you to
use an enhanced understanding of grammar to celebrate the English
language with your pupils so that they can take it and make it sing.
What you need to cover

With all the changes that have happened over the last few years, it is
unsurprising that the rst question lots of teachers have is ‘What grammar
do I need to teach my class?’ Every school seems to have its own scheme of
work and its own way of doing things. e content you are statutorily
required to teach is outlined on the Department for Education website.
However, for those who don’t have the time to trawl through dozens of
documents, here is the content you are required to cover in each year
group, from Year 1 to Year 6. You can use the table to help you nd the
chapters in this book that are most relevant to your current year group. e
Department for Education (2013a) is keen to stress that this table shows
‘when concepts should be introduced, not necessarily when they should be
completely understood’. ese concepts should be revisited repeatedly to
consolidate them.
 Key Stage 1
Year 1 Chapter(s)
Word • Regular plural noun suffixes -s or -es (for example, dog, 1 and 4
dogs; wish, wishes) and the effects of these suffixes on
the meaning of the noun.
• Suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is
needed in the spelling of root words (e.g. helping,
helped, helper).
Sentence • How words can combine to make sentences. 5 and 11
• Joining words and clauses using and.
Text • Sequencing sentences to form short narratives. 17
Punctuation • Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks 8 and 2
and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences.
• Capital letters for names and for the personal pronoun I.
Year 2
Word • Formation of nouns using suffixes such as -ness, -er and 1 and 6
by compounding (for example, whiteboard, superman).
• Formation of adjectives using suffixes such as -ful, -less.
• Use of the suffixes -er, -est in adjectives and the use of -
ly to turn adjectives into adverbs.
Sentence • Subordinating conjunctions (when, if, that, because). 11, 12
• Coordinating conjunctions (or, and, but). and 16
• Expanded noun phrases for description and
specification (for example, the blue butterfly, plain flour,
the man in the moon).
• Identifying the purpose of sentences as statements,
questions, exclamations or commands.
Text • Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and 4
past tense throughout writing.
• Use of the progressive form of verbs in the present tense
and past tense to mark actions in progress (for example,
she is drumming, he was shouting).
Punctuation • Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and 8, 13 and 7
exclamation marks to demarcate sentences.
• Commas to separate items in a list.
• Apostrophes to mark where letters are missing in spelling
and to mark singular possession in nouns (for example,
the girl’s name).
 Key Stage 2
Year 3 Chapter(s)
Word • Formation of nouns using a range of prefixes (for 1 and 3
example, super- , anti- , auto-).
• Use of the forms a or an according to whether the next
word begins with a consonant or a vowel (for example, a
rock, an open box).
Sentence • Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions (for 11 and 6
example, when, before, after, while, so, because),
adverbs (for example, then, next, soon, therefore), or
prepositions (for example, before, after, during, in,
because of).
Text • Introduction to paragraphs as a way to group related 17 and 4
material.
• Use of the present perfect form of verbs instead of the
simple past (for example, He has gone out to play
contrasted with He went out to play).
Punctuation • Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct 15
speech.
Year 4
Word • The grammatical difference between plural and 7
possessive -s.
Sentence • Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying 12 and 6
adjectives, nouns and prepositional phrases (e.g. the
teacher expanded to the strict maths teacher with curly
hair).
• Fronted adverbials (e.g. later that day, we went to the
cinema).
Text • Use of paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme. 17
• Appropriate choice of pronoun or noun within and
across sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition.
Punctuation • Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to 15, 7 and
indicate direct speech (for example, a comma after the 13
reporting clause; end punctuation within inverted
commas: The conductor shouted, ‘Sit down!’).
• Apostrophes to mark plural possession (for example, the
girl’s name, the girls’ names).
• Use of commas after fronted adverbials (e.g. after they
had finished eating, they cleared the table).
 Year 5
Word • Converting nouns or adjectives into verbs using suffixes 18 and 1
(for example, -ate, -ise, -ify).
• Verb prefixes (for example, dis-, de-, mis-, over- and
re-).
Sentence • Relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, 10, 6 and 4
when, whose, that, or an omitted relative pronoun.
• Indicating degrees of possibility using adverbs (for
example, perhaps, surely) or modal verbs (for example,
might, should, will, must).
Text • Devices to build cohesion within a paragraph (for 17
example, then, after that, this, firstly).
• Linking ideas across paragraphs using adverbials of time
(for example, later), place (for example, nearby) and
number (for example, secondly) or tense choices (for
example, he had seen her before).
Punctuation • Brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis. 14 and
• Use of commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity. 13
Year 6
Word • The difference between vocabulary typical of informal 17
speech and vocabulary appropriate for formal speech
and writing (for example, find out – discover; ask for –
request; go in – enter).
Sentence • Use of the passive to affect the presentation of 16 and 17
information in a sentence (for example, Tom broke the
window in the greenhouse versus The window in the
greenhouse was broken by Tom).
• The difference between structures typical of informal
speech and structures appropriate for formal speech
and writing (for example, the use of question tags: He’s
your friend, isn’t he?).
• The use of subjunctive forms such as If I were or Were
they to come in some very formal writing and speech.
Text • Linking ideas across paragraphs using a wider range of 17
cohesive devices: repetition of a word or phrase,
grammatical connections (for example, the use of
adverbials such as on the other hand, in contrast, or as a
consequence), and ellipsis.
• Layout devices to structure a text (for example,
headings, subheadings and bullet points).
Punctuation • Use of the semi-colon, colon and dash to mark the 14, 17 and
boundary between independent clauses (for example, 1
It’s raining; I’m fed up).
• Use of the colon to introduce a list and use of semi-
colons within lists.
• Punctuation of bullet points to list information.
• How hyphens can be used to avoid ambiguity (for
example, man eating shark versus man-eating shark, or
recover versus re-cover).

Adapted from Department for Education (2013a).

Part One
Making sense
Chapter 1
Writing words

Chapter overview
Let’s start at the very beginning. In this chapter we will be looking at how we put sounds
together to create meaning. Or, in technical terms:

• How phonemes, graphemes, digraphs and trigraphs are combined to Here

make words.
• How compound words can be divided into their root words, prefixes Here
and suffixes.

• When and how to use hyphens. Here

• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

Most of this book is about how whole words are arranged to create and
modify meaning. However, before we dive into all that, it’s worth taking
some time to look at words themselves, speci cally how they’re made and
how they can change in different circumstances. is is not primarily a
book about spelling, but spelling and grammar cannot be disconnected
entirely. So, let’s start at the very beginning – with the very building blocks
of our language.

What you need to know

Your relationship with grammar began before your earliest memories were
formed. From the moment we discover that we can combine sounds to
modify their effects on another person, we are dealing with grammar. ere
is probably something we could call grammar in a baby’s cries. English
grammar begins when we rst start to make sounds within the context of
the English language. So, we need to start our journey at the same place
that English teaching in primary schools oen begins: with phonics. Some
of the information in this section will be second nature to Early Years
specialists but, if you’ve spent most of your career in Key Stage 2, it’s
important to make yourself aware of these basic ideas.

Letters and sounds: phonemes, graphemes, digraphs

and trigraphs
As most children in Early Years can tell you, there are 26 letters in the
English alphabet: ve vowels and 21 consonants. e vowels (a, e, i, o and
u) correspond roughly to the sounds, also known as phonemes, that we can
make by allowing air to ow freely out of our throats and mouths. e
consonant sounds made by all the other letters of the alphabet require us to
use our teeth, tongue, lips or palate to alter the sound of air escaping from
our throats and mouths. at said, the letter y corresponds to vowel sounds
in some words, such as tiny or rhythm. While there are usually one or more
speci c sounds that we associate with each letter, we can also generate
completely different phonemes using combinations of different letter
sounds. e written representation of a phoneme, whether it’s composed of
one letter or a combination of letters, is known as a grapheme.
When these graphemes are formed of two letters, we call them digraphs,
for example the grapheme made by the letters ph in phone or by the letters
ea in read. Sometimes, a digraph is formed of two vowels split by a
consonant. For example, by adding the letter e to the word hat, it becomes
hate, changing the sound of the a. When we were at school, this was taught
as ‘magic e’. Partly to sound more intellectual, and partly to sound less like
they’ve misspent their summers in the nightclubs of the Balearic Islands,
teachers nowadays are encouraged to use the more technical name: a split
digraph. Some graphemes are formed of three letters, such as the letters tch
in match or the letters igh in high, and these are known as trigraphs.
e representation of speci c sounds by speci c letters or groups of
letters is not consistent in English. In fact, the most common sound in the
English spoken language is the unstressed vowel sound known as a schwa
(which is quite fun to say – SCHWA!). A schwa can be found represented
on the page by any of the ve vowels:

Cellar
Brother
Nastily
London
Saturday

When the words above are read aloud, each of the underlined vowels
sounds exactly the same. is is one reason why learning to spell in English
is so tricky and it also explains why our language contains so many
homophones: words with two different spellings (and meanings) with
exactly the same pronunciation, such as lesson and lessen or stationary and
stationery.
Combining letters and sounds according to the capricious conventions of
the English language gives us words. Words have differing numbers of
syllables – units of speech usually centred around an individual vowel
sound:

Dog Dog one syllable

Chaos Cha | os two syllables
Damaging Dam | ag | ing three syllables
Apostrophe Ap | os | tro | phe four syllables
Morphemes: root words, prefixes and suffixes, and
compound words
So far, we’ve established how letters can be used to create sounds but we
still haven’t got to the point where these sounds start to have meaning. At
what point does that change? Like the moment in our evolutionary history
when amino acids formed into proteins and life was breathed into the rst
ever organisms, there is a magical point where graphemes and phonemes,
and the words and syllables they generate, become more than mere
squiggles and grunts. ere is a point when they start to mean something –
that is where the story of English grammar begins and that is where we
start our own journey into the art of making sense.
e very smallest unit of meaning in our language is a morpheme, and
no, sadly, this isn’t a narcotic for calming the nerves of primary school
teachers. Consider this word:

Cat

ose three squiggles refer to something else. When you see them, you
cannot help but imagine a four-legged mammal with pointy ears and
whiskers. at reference requires the presence of these three letters,
nothing more and nothing less. is word, therefore, is a morpheme: a
single unit of meaning with a single reference. Now consider this word:

Unhelpful

is word is rather more complicated and its meaning is formed from three
parts, or morphemes: a pre x, a root word and a suffix:

Un | help | ful

Just as the roots of a tree form the basis for its trunk, the root of a word
forms the basis for its meaning. A pre x is a separate morpheme that comes
before the root word and a suffix is a separate morpheme that comes aer
the root word. In this case, the root word is help-, which refers to the
concept of offering assistance to someone else. is is followed by the suffix
-ful, one of many suffixes in English that turn a noun into an adjective
(more on this in Chapter 18: Breaking the ‘rules’), so that the word (helpful)
now refers to the quality of being keen to offer assistance to someone else.
e root word is also preceded by the pre x un-, one of several pre xes
that negates, or reverses, the meaning of the word following it. Other
pre xes that do this include de-, non-, in-, im-, ex-, anti-, dis-, mis- and a-.
Aer the negating pre x has been added, the word now refers to the
quality of being unwilling to offer assistance to someone else.
Pre xes and suffixes can have all sorts of meanings. As well as providing
negations, for example, some pre xes indicate how many of something
there are or how widespread it is (mono-, multi-, tri-, uni-, pan-), some
indicate when or where something happens or takes place (pre-, post-,
inter-, extra-, out-) and some deal with size or scale (mini-, micro-, mega-,
super-, hyper-). As well as determining the word class of a root word
(whether it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc. – see later chapters for more on
all of these), suffixes can determine verb tense (-en, -ed, -ing) or indicate
plurals (-s, -es, -es, -ves).
Sometimes, two root words can be combined to make a compound word.
Compounding is a posh grammatical term for putting two things together –
usually two things of equal importance. A compound word is a single word
composed of two or more root words, for example:

Shopkeeper
Backdate
Butter y
Makeover
Bittersweet

Hyphens
Sometimes, two words can be joined by a hyphen (-) so that they stand as a
single word.
People get themselves worked up over hyphens, worrying about speci c
rules that don’t exist. e vast majority of these rules are entirely optional
and, interestingly, the use of hyphens is declining across the English-
speaking world. Worrying about imaginary rules is a common theme of this
book and, as we explore the conventions of grammar, you may nd that
there are several instances where you’ve been worrying needlessly. So let’s
look at some cases where you would usually use hyphens and some where
it really doesn’t matter.
One instance where hyphens really do make your meaning clearer are
what we call compound modi ers: two words used to describe something,
oen adjectives or adverbs or the participle form of a verb. (e later
chapters in this section explain more about these word classes.)

Is he a self-made man or is he from a long-established family?

Without the hyphen, this sentence would be a lot more confusing, so, in
instances like this, we probably want the hyphen to stay. Oen, the
question you should ask yourself when making decisions about grammar is
not ‘Am I obeying the rules?’ but ‘Does this make sense?’ In the sentence
above, for example, the hyphen between long and established makes it
absolutely clear that the writer is enquiring as to whether the family is long-
established, as opposed to whether the established family is long. ‘Good
grammar’ is oen that which eliminates confusion or ambiguity. is oen
applies to compound nouns too:

I bought a Jack-in-the-box for my three-year-old.

In the sentence above, two individual nouns have each been made out of
several separate words. e hyphen makes it much easier to read,
immediately signalling to the reader that, in each case, the three
hyphenated words are intended to be understood as a single entity.
 ere are several other instances in which you might see hyphens being
used. ey are oen used aer pre xes that end with the same letter as the
root word they precede, e.g. co-ordinate or re-energise, to avoid potential
confusion at the sight of a double vowel. ese hyphens are completely
optional. ey’re also used when a pre x or suffix is being added to a root
word to create a phrase that may be new or unfamiliar to the reader, e.g.
ex-army or post-9/11. Hyphens can also separate two parts of a word when
you run out of space at the end of a line. Some teachers discourage this,
preferring that their pupils check that they have enough space for the word
before they put pen to paper but, again, this is entirely up to you.
It’s impossible to list all the stylistic uses of hyphens that you might come
across. You’ll oen see them used in direct speech between every letter of a
word to indicate that a character is spelling it out, or between the
individual syllables of the word to indicate that the pronunciation is
unfamiliar to the character. e long and the short of it is that hyphens are
used to separate parts of a word and you use them when it will aid your
reader to do so.
Hyphens are not to be confused with en dashes (see Chapter 14), even
though they look almost identical. While a hyphen separates parts of a
single word or compound word, dashes separate entire phrases or clauses
within a sentence.

Teaching ideas
e following ideas are suitable for teaching root words, pre xes and
suffixes, compound words and hyphens to Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
pupils.

The suffixes -ful and -less

When introducing your pupils to suffixes, start by explaining what the suffix
means, for example:

• ful means ‘full of ’

• less means ‘without’.

Your pupils can practise adding these suffixes and using the new words in a
sentence by completing the following table. ere is a worksheet to support
this activity online.
 +ful Root word +less

Careful Careless

You have to be careful He was careless and knocked over

Care
when crossing the road. the vase.

Hope

Fear

Doubt

Help

Power

Joy

Compound word match-up

Split these 15 compound words into the root words and write them onto 30
sticky labels. For example, ‘breakfast’ would be written on two labels:
‘break’ and ‘fast’.

Breakfast
Goalkeeper
 Paintbrush
Butter y
Gold sh
Sandpaper
Lipstick
Sun ower
Cupcake
Caretaker
Bookshelf
Raincoat
Football
Moonlight
Fishmonger

Stick one label on each pupil in your class and challenge them to nd their
partner to make a compound word. Once all the pupils have found their
partner, get them to swap labels and repeat the activity.

Root word challenge

is is an activity that you can introduce once your class have a secure
understanding of what a root word is and can use a range of pre xes and
suffixes accurately. To start with, give your pupils a root word, e.g.:

Act

Challenge your pupils to add pre xes and suffixes to create as many words
as they can with the root word, e.g.:
 Action
Acting
Actor
React
Acted
Activate
Active
Actively
Deactivate

Crazy compound words

is is a sequence of activities to consolidate children’s understanding of

compound words. e rst task requires pupils to match pictures that
create compound words, for example ‘book’ and ‘shelf ’ make ‘bookshelf
’.e second task is about identifying compound words in a sentence and
matching words together to create compound words. e resource is
available at:
http://resources.hwb.wales.gov.uk/VTC/crazy_comp_words/eng/Introducti
on/default.htm.

Hyphen hunt
Pupils use the following list of words to generate compound adjectives and
write them out with the hyphen. ere are multiple solutions to this activity
and a worksheet is provided in the online resources to help you facilitate it.

Fire Lit Minded Liked Breathing

Ill Eyed Deep Pocketed Open

Blooded Baked Disposed Hearted Willed

Fitting Warm Well Cold Half

Well Strong Kindly Green

Chapter 2
Types of noun

Chapter overview
If you’ve ever wondered why the Queen is a proper noun but a queen is common, then you are
in the right place. In this chapter we will look at:

• The distinction between proper and common nouns. Here

• The distinction between concrete and abstract nouns. Here
• The distinction between countable and uncountable nouns. Here
• How to use collective nouns. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

is is a topic that teachers think they understand inside out but it contains
more metaphorical banana skins than you might think!
If you’re currently a Key Stage 1 teacher, you may want to turn straight to
the section on concrete nouns, as this is an excellent starting point for
younger children. If you are currently teaching any year group in Key Stage
2, then there is information you may want to share with your class in the
whole of this chapter. If you’re here to nd out more about noun phrases,
then please turn to Chapter 12.

What you need to know

You’re a noun and so am I. All of your friends and relatives, all the towns
and countries you’ve ever visited, all your possessions and all of the
thoughts, feelings and ideas that have ever passed through your head are
nouns.
Nouns are things. ey are the stuff our sentences are about. Table, otter,
event, President Obama, loneliness and Christmas are all usually nouns,
e.g.:

We have bought a new kitchen table.

Christmas is on the 25th of December.
Older people sometimes struggle with loneliness.

A word can change word class depending on how it’s used. e word time,
for example, can be either a noun or a verb.
In this sentence, time is a concept; it is the thing that is ying. erefore
it is a noun:

Time ies when you’re having fun.

In this sentence, time tells you how the boy (a noun) is being asked to act,
so it is a verb:

e girl asked the boy to time her while she ran 100 metres.

ere are different ways of classifying nouns. A noun is either proper or

common, it is either abstract or concrete, and it is either countable or
uncountable. When you’re teaching children about nouns, it’s likely you’ll
want to start with proper and common nouns, so we’ll begin there too.

Proper or common
Proper nouns are names of speci c things. ey could, for example, be the
names of people, places, festivals or months of the year: e Beatles,
London, Ramadan and Charlotte are usually proper nouns. Proper nouns
begin with a capital letter, e.g.:
Rajni lives in Manchester.

When a proper noun is made up of two words, both words would start
with a capital letter, e.g.:

Queen Victoria was married to Prince Albert.

Unlike proper nouns, common nouns are the names of non-speci c things,
e.g. cat, pencils, bravery, festival and cheese. So, whereas London is usually a
proper noun because it refers to one speci c named place, the word city is
usually a common noun because it refers to the idea of a city generally:

It’s always exciting to visit a new city.

A common noun does not usually start with a capital letter unless it begins
a sentence or forms part of a title.
As we said in the introduction, language doesn’t always behave according
to our so-called rules, and whether a noun is proper or common is
sometimes debatable. Consider these two sentences:

My favourite subjects are English and maths.

My favourite subjects are English and Maths.

is is a common dilemma for primary school teachers. We always

capitalise English because it is the name of a speci c language as well as a
subject at school. However, what should we do with maths? Which of these
sentences is correct? In fact, neither of these sentences is more or less
‘correct’ than the other. Whether or not mathematics and maths are treated
as proper nouns is up for grabs – so don’t worry and do whatever feels right
for you!

Concrete or abstract
Concrete nouns refer to things that have a speci c size and/or location.
ey are oen children’s rst words because they refer to things that they
can see or things that they can reach out and touch, e.g. sand, Mum,
Scotland and egg would usually be concrete nouns:

Scotland is to the north of England.

I have got sand in my shoes.

Abstract nouns refer to things without a speci c size or location. ese are
oen, although not always, emotions and ideas that exist in the mind, e.g.
betrayal, honour, compassion and guilt are usually abstract nouns. ese
examples are the sort of abstract noun we oen think of when we’re
teaching children; however, any concepts without a speci c size or location
are usually abstract nouns, for example: question, probability, Hinduism,
Christmas, athletics, challenge.

Athletics was an important part of Ancient Greek culture.

I wish it could be Christmas every day.

Some nouns can be abstract or concrete depending on how they’re used.

ink about these two sentences:

Yusuf likes football.

Yusuf bought a new football.

In the rst of these sentences, football refers to a game played in all sorts of
places by all sorts of people all over the world. It has no speci c size or
location and therefore it is an abstract noun. In the second sentence, the
word football refers to a speci c object Yusuf has bought that has a speci c
size and a speci c location, so it is a concrete noun.
And, once again, there are situations where it is debatable whether a
noun is abstract or concrete. Consider this sentence:
I think my mind is playing tricks on me.

If you interpret the word mind in this sentence to mean exactly the same as
brain, then you are using it as a concrete noun because it refers to a speci c
object with a speci c size and location. However, if you interpret it to mean
a complicated mixture of thoughts and instincts without a speci c size or
location, then you are using it as an abstract noun. Neither of these
interpretations is any more or less ‘right’ than the other. Once again, it is
worth emphasising that these distinctions are not ‘rules’ and the way we use
language doesn’t always t into neat little boxes.

Countable or uncountable
Countable nouns, as the name suggests, are things we can count: sofas,
children, suggestions or animals are usually countable nouns:

We have two sofas.

Craig has three children.
I’d like to make several suggestions.

Uncountable nouns, as you’d imagine, are nouns we don’t count, e.g.

rubbish, equipment and weather are oen uncountable nouns. Notice that
any attempt to count these nouns would look wrong:

ere are at least eight rubbishes in that bin.

As always, whether a noun is countable or uncountable is not xed and

depends entirely on the context of the sentence. For example:

ere are six spaces in the car park.

ere is not enough space in the car park.

In the rst sentence, there are a speci c number of spaces; therefore space
is a countable noun. e second sentence refers to all the space in the car
park, regardless of how it has been divided into individual units.

Is it fewer or less?
ose insufferably smug grammar pedants we met in the introduction oen
can’t help chipping in with something like, ‘I think you mean you have
fewer pupils in today, not less.’ is is something people have a tendency to
take far more seriously than perhaps they need to. However, it is something
you will have to teach Key Stage 2 children and it’s a question that a lot of
adults seek clari cation about.
Whether you use fewer or less is all to do with uncountable and
countable nouns. When quantifying countable nouns we use fewer and
when quantifying uncountable nouns we use less. Have a look at these
examples:

e fewer crimes you commit, the less trouble you will nd yourself in.

In this sentence, crimes is a countable noun and trouble is uncountable.

We may have fewer soldiers, but the opposing army has less spirit.

In this sentence, soldiers is a countable noun and spirit is uncountable.

While we’re here, it’s probably worth pointing out that the distinction
between much and many is largely the same and it won’t just be those
grammar pedants who notice if you get this ‘wrong’. It’s also an error
commonly made by young children, so it is worth teaching in Key Stage 1 if
you have children who are struggling with it.

ere is too much water and there are too many ice cubes in that glass.

In this sentence, water is preceded by much because it is uncountable,

whereas ice cubes is preceded by many because it is countable. Some
children, especially those with English as an additional language, might be
inclined to use ‘much’ in both instances. is will make them stand out far
more obviously than confusing less and fewer will and, for that reason, it is
probably a good idea to correct them straightaway.

Collective nouns
Collective nouns describe a group of that thing, e.g.:

A ock of sheep.
A group of children.

We have a bit of an issue with collective nouns – not so much the fact of
them but the way they are oen taught to primary school children. For
example, the fact that most children seem to be taught about a murder of
crows before they can nd Germany on a map seems a bit of an odd
priority. It probably happens because we think the easiest way to teach
children about collective nouns is to talk about different groups of animals.
It makes sense: children like animals and lots of the books and lms aimed
at them will be about animals. Plus, once you’ve introduced a child to terms
like ‘a ock of sheep’ or ‘a herd of cows’, it’s not long until they’re pestering
you for the collective nouns for everything: crows, owls, dragons, etc.
However, there are more obvious collective nouns you could start with in
Early Years and Key Stage 1. Group, set and pile, for example, are collective
nouns that children are more likely to encounter than herd, ock or
parliament. Indeed, it may be more useful for children to re ect on the
subtle difference in meaning between a pile of papers, a stack of papers and
a heap of papers than to identify the ‘correct’ collective noun for jelly sh
( uther or smuck if you’re interested!).
Although they are oen used to refer to several items (or something
uncountable), collective nouns themselves are usually singular:

I’m looking through this pile of paper.

I saw a gaggle of geese.
Teaching ideas
Key Stage 1 children should have repeated exposure to the different types
of noun, with clear explanations of how they are used. With Key Stage 2
children, you will probably want to explore the distinctions between
different types of noun in more detail and how they impact on the other
grammatical features of the sentence.

Clap when you hear…

Read a story to the class (or use the modelled text) and ask the children to
clap when they hear a noun. You might want to extend this activity so that
they clap a different number of times for different types of noun.
Alternatively, ask a child to explain why they clapped and what type of
noun they think they heard, e.g. ‘Jack, you clapped during that sentence.
What noun did you hear? Do you know what sort of noun that is?’

Sing the noun song

Singing is oen a good way to reinforce words and ideas in one’s memory,
and younger children tend to respond very well to it. So get online and nd
a noun song – there are dozens out there but the one we normally use is by
Grammaropolis: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcJzh6gqGM. Although it
may be mildly irritating to the adult ear, the children love it and you will be
singing along aer a few plays. Your class may even feel inspired to write
their own song!

Paint a noun
Trying to draw or paint them is a great way to draw out the differences
between the various types of noun. is could be particularly interesting
when it comes to the distinction between abstract and concrete nouns. For
example, during a lesson when children are painting or drawing a concrete
object, e.g. life drawing of plants or fruit, discuss how we could create art to
portray more abstract nouns such as sadness, courage or hope. You might
show children pieces of art where the painter or sculptor has tried to
convey an abstract noun such as fear (e Scream by Edvard Munch would
be a good place to start) and explore the relationship between the concrete
nouns depicted (the man on the bridge) and the abstract nouns they evoke.
is will help children to connect the sense in which we use the word
‘abstract’ in grammar with the word’s better-known application in art.

We’re going on a noun hunt!

Once you’ve introduced your class to the different types of noun and you’re
happy they are secure with that knowledge, why not take your class around
the school and its grounds to ‘hunt’ for nouns? ey will no doubt be able
to nd plenty of concrete, common, countable nouns, such as chairs, doors
and children. However, you might also want to encourage them to think
more broadly about abstract and uncountable nouns: you could, for
example, point out that in some corridors there is more noise whereas in
others there is silence. Perhaps they can nd children putting effort into
their work or two people having a conversation. is activity can be
extended or simpli ed in any number of ways, making it just as suitable for
Year 6 (who might be asked to identify that ‘effort’ was visible in a particular
classroom) as for Year 1 (who might simply want to identify that ‘chairs’ are
present!).

Colour them in!

Give the children an age-appropriate text (or use the modelled examples).
Read the text as a class, introducing the new vocabulary as you go. en
challenge your pupils to identify the different types of noun. You could
create a key as a class, e.g. colour all common nouns in blue, proper nouns
in red, etc. Children could complete this activity independently or in pairs.

Science nouns

Perhaps more than any other subject, science is full of nouns that could be
considered abstract or concrete depending on your point of view. Consider
the words gravity, force and Newtons in the sentence, ‘e Earth’s gravity
exerts a force of 9.83 Newtons.’ Are these abstract or concrete nouns? You
can argue the toss to different extents for each of them – and doing so will
be a good way to help pupils to explore their understanding of all three
concepts. is is equally true of many other scienti c words: electricity,
light, sound, offspring, etc.

Noun debate
We shouldn’t be afraid of teaching the grey areas of grammar and what
better way to do it than encouraging children to debate contestable issues?
As you teach children about nouns, you will come across ‘grey areas’:
situations where a noun is neither clearly one type nor the other. For
example, in the sentence, ‘I opened my eyes and I was greeted by a
wondrous sight’, is sight an abstract or a concrete noun?
It’s worth taking the time to discuss and debate which classi cations are
most suitable in such situations. is could be done in pairs or as a whole
class. You should ensure that you encourage children to give good reasons
for their opinions, rather than reaching a single ‘correct answer’.

Venn diagram nouns

Ask your pupils to draw three overlapping circles, labelling one ‘common’,
another ‘concrete’ and the third ‘countable’. Ask them to nd a selection of
nouns (once again, you might want to use the modelled writing of this
chapter to generate them) and place them in the appropriate places on the
Venn diagram. Discuss how some nouns fall into more than one category
depending on the context.

Noun substitution

Using the modelled example, ask pupils to nd a replacement for each

noun by nding an appropriate synonym, e.g.:
is sentence:

Alice felt anxiety rising within her gut as she looked at the strange
collection of signs.
Could become:

Alice felt anxiety rising within her stomach as she looked at the strange
collection of signs.

In addition to reinforcing their understanding of the different types of

noun, this activity will help to develop your pupils’ vocabulary as they
search for a different word. is could lead to a discussion about how some
synonyms are more relevant than others. In the aforementioned example, a
pupil using a thesaurus might have found the word ‘colon’ as a synonym for
gut! Take the opportunity to discuss how this would change the tone of the
sentence.

Abstract nouns in maths

Many children who nd maths difficult can nd it challenging to picture or

conceptualise the scenarios described in worded problems. You may
sometimes nd that it helps to identify the types of noun they can see.
Consider the following problem:

‘Bob is 1.36m tall and Charlotte is 1.27m tall. What is the difference
between Bob’s height and Charlotte’s height?’

If you ask a child to identify the abstract nouns in the problem, they will
pick out the word ‘difference’ and two instances of the word ‘height’. If they
are then able to explain how each of these words is being used in the
sentence, they will be pretty close to solving the problem.
Much of primary maths is about the relationship between the abstract
and the concrete. For example, understanding that halves, quarters,
sevenths and tenths can be abstract or concrete nouns depending on the
context is an essential, though usually unspoken, step in understanding
fractions.
Maths is also a useful context in which to have noun debates. Is whole an
abstract or a concrete noun? What about zero or in nity? Questions like
these will challenge children to combine their understanding of maths and
English in a demanding way.

Abstract or concrete

In RE, a subject about speci c named ideas and traditions, children will
meet a lot of nouns of an unusual sort: those that are proper, abstract and
uncountable. e names of religions and belief systems themselves
(Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Humanism, etc.) are usually used
in this way, as well as many of their festivals and rituals: Christmas,
Eucharist, Haj, Chanukah, etc. e same is arguably true of the word ‘God’
itself, which could lend itself to the mother of all ‘noun debates’ if you’re
brave enough to go down that path!

Modelled texts

e following modelled texts can be used in several of the previous

teaching ideas. ere are downloadable versions of both texts in the online
resources, so you can print them, display them on a whiteboard or integrate
them into worksheets.
 Key Stage 1

One day, Dylan the Dinosaur had an idea. A thought popped into
his head while he sat on the grass and looked up at the Moon.
‘Maybe I could build a rocket and go on a journey to the Moon,’
Dylan said.
Dylan went into the shed at the back of his garden and looked for
the set of tools he got for Christmas. He also found a heap of old
rusty metal, which he poured into a bucket. After that, he walked
down the road to the house of his friend, Myrtle the Mammoth. He
walked up the flight of steps that led to her door and rang the bell.
‘Hi Dylan,’ Myrtle said. ‘What are you doing standing on my
doorstep with all those tools and all that metal?’
‘I want to build a rocket and go on a journey to the Moon,’ Dylan
said, ‘but I need you to give me some help.’
‘The Moon is made of cheese,’ replied Myrtle, swinging her trunk
thoughtfully. ‘I don’t really like cheese. I’m not sure this trip is really
my cup of tea.’
 Key Stage 2

Alice felt anxiety rising within her gut as she looked at the strange
collection of signs.‘They’re all in Latin!’ she exclaimed.
‘This is Ancient Rome!’ Aurelius replied. ‘Latin is the only
language most of these people can understand.’
Time travel, it seemed, entailed challenges that Alice hadn’t
thought about.
‘We’ll have to do something about those clothes as well,’
Aurelius said to her. ‘You can’t go and meet great figures from
history wearing jeans and a t-shirt!’
A wave of dizziness swept over Alice as she watched the crowds
of people all walking in the same direction with a real sense of
purpose. ‘What’s the hurry?’ she asked Aurelius.
‘The election!’ the young Roman replied. ‘They’re casting their
votes for the Consuls: the two men who will rule Rome for the next
year.’
‘Two men,’ Alice muttered under her breath. ‘What a surprise!’
‘The Consuls of Rome are the most powerful people in the
known world,’ Aurelius declared with a note of pride in his voice.
‘My grandfather held the honour some 30 years ago.’
‘I’m no expert on history,’ Alice said, ‘but I thought Rome had an
emperor. I didn’t realise people voted for their leaders.’
‘An emperor?’ Aurelius replied. ‘No, we despise kings and
monarchs of every type here in Rome. Torrents of blood have been
spilt when any politician has sought to grab too much power for
himself. Here in the Roman Republic, we value democracy.’
Alice bit her lip and kept her thoughts to herself. She may already
have said too much to Aurelius about what, from his point of view,
was still the future. Her class had studied Ancient Rome in Year 3
and she knew for a fact that it had been ruled by emperors, some of
whom were brutal tyrants. She must have arrived in the past at a
time before any of those events had happened. She realised she
would have to choose her words with great care. As she pondered
this realisation, she heard a shout.
‘Aurelius!’
A handsome young man in an impressive military uniform was
trying to get the attention of her companion.
‘Who’s that?’ Alice whispered, using her hand to cover her
mouth.
‘That’s a friend of my family. Full of charm and intelligence, that
one. Father thinks he’ll make Consul before his 30th birthday.’
The soldier came over and clasped Aurelius’s shoulder, greeting
his young friend with a firm handshake.
‘Aurelius, my dear boy, it is a joy to see you. And who is this
lovely young lady?’
Alice bristled slightly at his patronising tone. ‘My name is Alice.’
‘It’s a privilege to meet you, Alice,’ the man replied. ‘My name is
Julius Caesar.’
Chapter 3
Pronouns and determiners

Chapter overview
If, as they say, good things come in small packages, then you are in for a real treat with this
chapter. It’s all about small but very useful words. In this chapter we will look at:

• The role of pronouns in replacing nouns. Here

• How to identify different types of pronoun. Here
• The role of determiners in modifying nouns. Here
• How to identify different types of determiner. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

In Chapter 2 we explored the different types of noun. In this chapter we

will be looking at two of the simplest ways in which we can change and
modify nouns: by using pronouns and determiners.

What you need to know

Pronouns and determiners are usually small words but they present a range
of possible traps and misconceptions for children. You can worry yourself
excessively about the different types and subdivisions of pronoun and
determiner, and you’ll see all sorts of different ways of categorising them
offered in different grammar resources, presented as absolutely objective
and indisputable. Try not to worry about these terms – your life is
de nitely too valuable to be spent agonising over whether a particular word
is an inde nite or a distributive pronoun. What matters, both for you and
your pupils, is understanding the role of pronouns and determiners and the
different sorts of situation in which you might nd them.

Replacing nouns with pronouns

Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence. You can see very
clearly why they’re necessary by considering this sentence:

Ayesha realised that the coat Ayesha had taken home wasn’t Ayesha’s.

e sentence obviously looks very odd indeed. Once the subject of the
sentence, Ayesha, has been introduced at the very beginning, her
involvement in the subsequent events is obvious and she doesn’t need to be
personally identi ed by name each time. Of course, this sentence is easily
xed:

Ayesha realised that the coat she had taken home wasn’t hers.

As before, we have introduced Ayesha as the subject at the very beginning

of the sentence. is time, however, we have replaced the other references
to her with pronouns: the personal pronoun she and the possessive
pronoun hers.
Before we dive in and look at types of pronoun in more detail, it’s worth
being aware that children will oen get confused between the terms
pronoun and proper noun. e terms sound very similar and pronouns are
oen used to replace proper nouns. It is worth taking the time to address
this head on and make sure that your pupils understand they are different,
though related, concepts.

Types of pronoun
DISCLAIMER: We absolutely DO NOT believe that making children
memorise the name of every type of pronoun is a good use of their time or
yours. However, when teaching about the concept of pronouns generally, it
is probably worth your being aware of some of the distinctions in the
following table. ere is an overlap between pronouns, adjectives and
determiners, and some of the words in the table can be classed as all three
depending on the situation. We have included them in this chapter as we
think that it can be helpful to teach children about them, alongside the
pronouns with which they have a lot in common – but that’s just our
opinion! As always, this is not an exhaustive list and some grammarians
would debate some of the terms and distinctions we have included.
Type of
Usage Examples
pronoun

Personal Subject personal pronouns I I will help you.

pronouns replace the subject of the clause You
(subject) or sentence – the person or thing She/he/it This is Thomas; he is
doing, being or having the action We my friend.
or state indicated by the main They
verb. For more about subjects,
see Chapter 5.

Personal Object personal pronouns Me I will discuss the

pronouns replace the object of the clause You matter with them.
(object) or sentence – the person or thing Her/him/it
upon which or upon whom the Us I kicked it into the top
main verb is being enacted. For Them corner of the goal.
more about objects, see Chapter
Please give the letter
5.
to me.

Possessive Possessive pronouns replace Mine That ring is hers.

pronouns nouns that belong to somebody, Yours
indicating whom the noun Hers/his My drawing is better
belongs to rather than what the Ours than theirs.
noun actually is. For example, Theirs
rather than writing ‘this is Arda’s Yours is the only
pencil’, I might simply say ‘this is sensible idea I’ve
his’. These are not to be heard all day.
confused with possessive
determiners/adjectives such as
‘my’ and ‘your’, which modify a
noun rather than replacing it (see
‘determiners’).

Demonstrative Demonstrative pronouns replace This Are these yours?

pronouns nouns that are being indicated That
(perhaps by being pointed at, for These No, those are mine.
example) by the person speaking Those
or writing. Some of them can also Them This has peas in it; I
be used as determiners (see don’t like them.
‘determiners’).

Indefinite Indefinite pronouns (also referred All Can everybody hear

pronouns to as distributive pronouns) refer Another me?
(many of these to non-specific people or things, One
can also be e.g. ‘one should take care over Any Some are better than
everything’. They are used to Some others.
used as make general points that don’t Anybody Nobody should have
determiners) only refer to specific nouns. They Everybody to experience
can replace nouns, e.g.‘ Anyone Somebody anything like that.
would find this difficult’, or they Nobody
can modify existing nouns, e.g. Anyone Never has so much
‘Any student would find this Everyone been owed by so
difficult.’ In the latter instance, Someone many to so few.
they can also be considered to No one
be determiners (see Anything
‘determiners’). Everything
Something
Nothing
Each
Either
Much
Many
Most
Neither
One
Both
Few
Many
Other
Others
Several

Interrogative Put simply, interrogative Who Whose dog is that?

pronouns pronouns are used in Whose
(whose, what interrogative sentences. An What Why didn’t you tell me
and which can interrogative sentence is a smug- Which sooner?
also be used grammar-person word for Why
as ‘question’. When, how, what, Where Where and when will
determiners) which, whose and why can all be When the event take place?
used as interrogative pronouns. How
How and why do you
You could tell your class that
propose to do this?
interrogative pronouns are the
words they would use if they
were interrogating somebody for
information.

Relative Relative pronouns are used at Who There’s the boy who
pronouns the start of relative clauses – Whose stole my pencil.
clauses that give more Which
information about a noun or a Why My teacher, whose
pronoun referred to in a Where name is Mrs
sentence. You can find out more When Campbell, helped me
in the chapter about relative Why with my work.
clauses here. You may notice That
 that the range of relative I gave my dad a card
pronouns is very similar to the that plays music
range of interrogative pronouns when you open it for
listed above. The only difference, his birthday.
which leads to a common
grammar error, is that ‘what’ is
not a relative pronoun in
standard English – one of the
words in the list on the right
should be used instead.

Pronoun controversies
ere have been a number of debates over the past few decades about the
way we use pronouns, especially in terms of the gender we attach to them.
In the past, it was very common for the pronoun ‘he’ to be used to refer
generally to all people. You may notice this in famous old-fashioned sayings
such as ‘He who laughs last, laughs longest’ or ‘A bad workman blames his
tools.’ Different writers have tried different techniques to ensure that the
way they use pronouns doesn’t come across as sexist. Sometimes this
involves using ‘she’ and ‘her’ for statements about unspeci ed people, or
using ‘they’ and ‘their’ even when referring to a singular but unspeci ed
person:

A wise person always learns from her mistakes.

e successful candidate must present their quali cation certi cates at
the start of the interview.

Our language has evolved over many centuries, and the existence of
gendered pronouns perhaps re ects the greater importance people used to
place on differentiating between the sexes. We have no rm opinion on the
best way to resolve these controversies but they’re probably an interesting
issue to discuss with older children.

Determiners
While pronouns tend to replace nouns, determiners tend to precede (go
before) nouns. Nouns, as we know, are things. Determiners tell us (or
determine) how many things we are talking about, which particular things
we’re talking about or whom the things belong to. In technical grammar
jargon, we say that they indicate the ‘type of reference’ made by the noun
or noun phrase following them. Apart from the three articles (the, a and
an), most determiners can also be classed as adjectives as they modify
nouns and noun phrases. Consider the following list of noun phrases with
different determiners at the front:

e white duck
Six white ducks
Any white duck
Which white duck?
is white duck
A white duck
All white ducks
Your white duck
Some white ducks

Needless to say, the sense of what you’re saying can change considerably
depending on the determiners you choose to deploy. It is worth noting that
the possessive form of a noun can also be classed as a determiner when it
plays the same role in a noun phrase as the words above, e.g.:

Britain’s white ducks

Farmer Giles’s white ducks
e park’s white ducks

By the end of Year 6, your pupils need to understand the role that
determiners play in a sentence. Currently, the National Curriculum divides
determiners into the following four categories: articles, possessives,
demonstratives and quanti ers. e table below explains how each type of
determiner is used and gives some examples.

Types of determiner
Type of
Usage Examples
determiner

Articles Using an article indicates to the reader or The The cat sat
listener whether you are indicating a An on the mat.
particular example of the item described A
by your noun or noun phrase or whether A dog buried
you are referring to any instance of that a bone.
item. You can find out more about that
distinction here. An emu laid
an egg.

Possessive We use possessive adjectives to show My That is my

adjectives (these ownership of an item, parts of the body Your pizza.
are also classed as or a relationship between people. Her/his
determiners) Possessive adjectives are not to be Our That is their
confused with possessive pronouns. Their coat.
Whereas a possessive pronoun replaces
a noun, for example, ‘That is hers’, Her mum
possessive adjectives modify a noun, e.g. runs a B&B.
‘That is her drink.’
The dog
broke its leg.

Demonstrative Demonstrative adjectives are subtly This Does this cat

adjectives (these different to demonstrative pronouns as That belong to
are also classed as they modify the noun immediately after These you?
determiners) them, rather than replacing the noun Those
altogether. It is a distinction worth I love those
exploring with children who might say, for flowers.
example, ‘pass me them scissors’
instead of ‘pass me those scissors’. Do you want
these books
for your
classroom?

Interrogative Interrogative determiners are subtly Which Which toy

determiners different to interrogative pronouns as they Whose would you
modify the noun immediately after them, What like?
rather than replacing the noun altogether.
I must find
out whose
coat this is.

What fun this

is!
Quantifiers Quantifiers modify the noun to show how One I saw three
many of something there are. They can Two ships come
be numbers, ordinal numbers or more Three sailing in.
general terms such as few and many. Etc.
2,894 people
responded
to our
survey.

I need to
borrow five
quid.

May is the
fifth month
First of the year.
Second
Third Barack
Etc. Obama was
the 44th US
President.

The first rule

of Grammar
1st Club is: ‘You
2nd do not talk
3rd about
Etc. Grammar
Club.’

All All swans

Another are birds but
One most birds
Any are not
Every swans.
Some
Each Every
Either possible
Much solution
Most comes with
Many several
Neither problems.
Both
Few
 Many
Other
Others
Several

Definite and indefinite articles

Articles are the most common type of determiner and they are among the
simplest and most frequently used words in the English language, but they
are notoriously difficult to de ne. Ask someone to give you a de nition of
‘the’ and it’s likely they will struggle to do so. is is because, on their own,
these words don’t really mean anything. ey just subtly modify the
reference of the noun or noun phrase that comes aer them. e is known
as the de nite article. If someone refers to ‘the ostrich’, you know they
mean one speci c ostrich and no other. If they refer to ‘the children’, you
know they mean one speci c group of children and no others. It indicates
that a speci c, de nite item or group of items is being referred to. By
contrast, a and an are inde nite articles. If someone refers to ‘an ostrich’ or
‘a child’, you know that the reference is inde nite: they could be referring to
any ostrich or any child.
If the noun or noun phrase begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o or u) then you
would use the inde nite article an to refer to it. If it begins with a
consonant (all the other letters of the alphabet), then you would use the
inde nite article a to refer to it. ere are a couple of exceptions to this that
you may come across:

• Some acronyms begin with a vowel sound even though the rst letter
is itself a consonant, e.g. SOS. If you tried to write ‘SOS’ phonetically,
you would end up with a strange word beginning with an ‘e’ that you
might spell ‘esoess’. For this reason, we would usually talk about
sending ‘an SOS distress signal’ and not ‘a SOS distress signal’.

• ere are also some words beginning with h where it is acceptable to

use an as the inde nite article, e.g. ‘it was an historic occasion’. In
 general, this is considered appropriate where the stress or emphasis
does not fall on the rst syllable of the word. So, for example, you
could say ‘an hotel’ because the second syllable of hotel is emphasised,
but it would not sound right if you said ‘an hospital’ because the rst
syllable of hospital is emphasised. However, this is exactly the sort of
prescriptive nonsense we discourage people from worrying about. It is
completely acceptable to use the inde nite article a for any countable
noun beginning with h.

Teaching ideas
e Department for Education is very keen for your pupils to be able to
identify pronouns and determiners in sentences, so a lot of these activities
are focused around that. However, we believe that the purpose of grammar
is to make sense, so we have also included modelled writing you can use
with your pupils so that they can see why these elements of grammar are
useful. In the current curriculum, pronouns and determiners are both
introduced in Key Stage 2, so all of the activities are divided up into upper
Key Stage 2 (Years 5 to 6; UKS2) and lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 to 4;
LKS2).

What’s in the picture?

is is a great way to introduce younger pupils to the concept of

determiners. Show them a painting or picture (the busier the better and
ideally nothing too abstract!). Ask them to tell their partner what they can
see. Listen out for them using determiners, e.g. ‘I can see a dog!’ or ‘I can
see three women sitting on the grass.’ Explain that while they have been
discussing the picture, they have been using determiners. Model how
determiners can change the meaning by asking questions about the picture,
e.g. ‘Put your hand up if you spotted the dog. Notice how the meaning of that
sentence changes when I say the dog instead of a dog? It suggests that I have a
speci c dog in mind, doesn’t it?’

The Planet Without Pronouns

e Planet Without Pronouns by Justin Martin (2004) is a fantastic book for

introducing the importance of pronouns to pupils in lower Key Stage 2. It
tells the story of Stanley Sharpleton, who arrives at the planet Krimular.
Krimular is a purple planet lled with friendly, six-armed aliens – but
absolutely no pronouns! Read the book as a class and discuss what it tells
us about the role of pronouns. Your pupils might be inspired to write their
own ‘planet without pronouns’ story!

An or a?

Create a slideshow with a variety of singular nouns or noun phrases, e.g.

animal, egg, class, subject, terrible day, phone call. Show one word per slide.
As each word ashes up on the screen, get your class to shout out ‘a’ or ‘an’
to test their knowledge of articles. Don’t forget to add a few of the
exceptions to this convention (see here) to keep them on their toes!

Just a minute!
Choose a pupil to be the rst contestant. e aim of the game is for them to
speak for one minute about their family without using any personal
pronouns. ey are out if they accidentally say a pronoun. You then choose
a new contestant. is game demonstrates to children how important
pronouns are and how they already use them without thinking! Get the
rest of the class to listen carefully to the child as they speak to try to catch
them out.

Find the pronouns

is activity can be used with both lower Key Stage 2 and upper Key Stage
2 pupils; you just need to ensure that the text is age-appropriate. Give all
pupils the same book or extract. Set a timer and ask them to nd as many
pronouns as they can in two minutes. With lower Key Stage 2, you might
want to focus on personal and possessive pronouns, but you can extend
your upper Key Stage 2 children by challenging them to nd examples of
interrogative or relative pronouns.

Write a recipe

Writing recipes is an excellent way to see the importance of determiners,

from ensuring that the instructions are in the right order, to making sure
that the number of ingredients is correct. Find some examples online
(www.greatbritishchefs.com/collections/childrens-baking-recipes is a good
place to start) and then get writing your own as a class.

Identifying different determiners

Become determiner detectives! Provide your class with a modelled text and
get them to identify the different determiners. To increase the level of
challenge, you could add examples of each type of determiner. You can use
the following modelled example for this activity. ere is a downloadable
version of the text available in the online resources for you to project on a
whiteboard or print out.
 Modelled example

The three witches gathered around the bubbling cauldron. They had
been planning this potion for a long time and tonight they finally had
hold of the last, vital ingredient. ‘BUBBLE, BUBBLE, TOIL AND
TROUBLE!’ they chanted in unison.
Mary, who was the head of the coven, read out the spell as the
others listened carefully. ‘First, we must add the tongue of a toad.
Second, we stir in three boiled snails. Third, we mix in the eye of a
newt.’
The witches added the ingredients and began to stir the mixture,
which bubbled and boiled angrily.
‘Mary, who shall we test the potion on?’ asked one of the
witches, nervously.
‘The boy, of course.’
‘Of course! The boy will make an excellent test case.’

Create a pronoun cloud

Use an online word cloud generator (we use this one quite a lot:
www.wordclouds.com). Have your pupils input as many different pronouns
as they can think of, and create a word cloud. is is a great way to assess
how much they have remembered about the different sorts of pronoun
and, once you have printed their word cloud, you can use it to create a
simple but effective display to remind them.

SHE who laughs last?

As we discussed here, there is currently a debate raging about the use of
personal pronouns and gender. With a mature upper Key Stage 2 class, you
could explore phrases that use ‘he’ as the default personal pronoun, e.g. ‘He
who laughs last, laughs longest.’
Ask your class: ‘Should these phrases be updated to use “she” or “they”? Or
should we accept that they were from a time when it was very common for
the pronoun “he” to be used to refer generally to all people?’
Encourage your class to really justify their answers. You may want to
provide them with sentence starters that model politely agreeing or
disagreeing with someone, e.g.:

• ‘I take your point but have you considered…’

• ‘I have to say I disagree because…’

Determiner table

Test your pupils’ knowledge of the different types of determiner by

challenging them to complete the following table with as many different
determiners of each kind as they can. ere is a worksheet version of this
table available in the online resources. Simply print and hand out copies for
your pupils to complete.

Articles Quantifiers Demonstrative Interrogative Possessive

Add the pronouns

is is a simple activity that makes the need for pronouns clear. Give each
pupil a short extract of text with no pronouns and read it aloud. ey will
immediately spot the problem and hear how strange the text sounds. Set
them the challenge of rewriting the text with pronouns in. See below for a
modelled text you could use for this activity. ere is a downloadable
version of the text available in the online resources for you to project on a
whiteboard or print out. You could adapt this activity for lower Key Stage 2
by giving pupils short, separate sentences without pronouns, rather than a
paragraph of text. No two children will answer in the exact same way, so
choose a couple of pupils to share their work and discuss the decisions they
made, e.g. ‘Why did you replace that phrase with a pronoun, rather than
that one?’
 Modelled text

Jayden left his house and walked into town. Eventually, Jayden
stopped when Jayden arrived at Pizza Express. Jayden looked
inside and saw his friend Eddie waiting for him. Jayden went into
the restaurant, closing the door after Jayden entered. The door shut
with a bang. Jayden sat down and greeted Eddie.
‘Hi, Eddie. Good to see you,’ Jayden said.
‘Nice to see you too, Jayden,’ Eddie replied.
Jayden and Eddie both looked at the menu. Jayden thought
about having spaghetti but, after much deliberation, Jayden decided
to have a margarita pizza. Eddie ordered risotto, dough balls,
calamari AND garlic bread. Eddie was very hungry!
Chapter 4
Types of verb

Chapter overview
In this chapter we will try to convince you that verbs are not ‘doing words’. We will also be
looking at:

• How to introduce verbs to children and why they can be hard to define. Here
• How verbs are used to distinguish between the first, second and third Here
person.
• How verbs can be arranged and rearranged to create different verb Here
tenses.
• How to use primary auxiliary verbs and modal verbs. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

e verb lies right at the heart of grammar. If your pupils truly understand
what verbs are and how they behave in the English language, then half of
your job is already done in terms of grammar teaching. Unfortunately,
children oen don’t understand verbs nearly as well as they may appear to.
Most children in Year 5 can probably identify the verb in a seemingly
mundane sentence like: ‘Jack climbed the tree.’ Most of them will nd it
much harder to identify in a genuinely mundane sentence like: ‘I’m late.’ In
this chapter, we’re going to hunt down this most elusive but most essential
element of English grammar.

What you need to know

It can be helpful to think of nouns and verbs as the matter and energy of
grammar. Nouns, as we discussed in Chapter 2, are the things (the objects,
ideas, people and places) that a sentence is about. Oen, as we discussed in
Chapter 3, nouns can be replaced with pronouns. Verbs are the words that
get those nouns and pronouns acting and interacting with one another. All
the verbs have been underlined in the sentences below:

I stopped.
Ammar and Charlotte should have arrived at school by the time the rain
starts.
Finding something difficult is not always as bad as you might think.

ese sentences use several different types of verb in several different ways.
ey are the words that make the nouns and pronouns in the sentence act
and interact with each other. However, there is a common temptation
when it comes to teaching verbs that we strongly advise against, and that’s
describing verbs as ‘doing words’.

What verbs are not (or why we don’t do ‘doing words’)

When we were at primary school, we were taught that verbs were ‘doing
words’. Earlier on in our teaching careers, we regularly passed this seriously
awed de nition on to our own pupils. We tend to avoid it now, and it’s
worth taking a moment to explain why.
A ‘doing word’ is an inadequate explanation of what a verb is for two
main reasons. Two of the most commonly used verbs in the English
language are to be and to have. To a child, these don’t seem like ‘doing
words’ at all, and relying on that de nition will therefore leave them very
confused very quickly. Ask yourself, ‘Who is doing what?’ in the following
sentence:

My name is Martha and I have a younger brother.

e two verbs in this sentence are ‘is’ (the third person singular, simple
present tense form of the verb ‘to be’) and ‘have’ (the rst person singular,
simple present tense form of the verb ‘to have’). Clearly, however, no one in
this sentence is doing anything!
e other problem is that, aer we tell children a verb is a ‘doing word’,
we generally have to expand this with an even more misleading explanation
along the lines of: ‘A verb tells you what someone or something in a
sentence is doing.’ is is simply not true most of the time. Consider this
sentence, in which the verb form is underlined:

Luke is nishing his homework.

What is Luke doing? e answer, clearly, is his homework. Homework in

this sentence is a noun, not a verb. By telling a child that a verb tells you
what the subject of the sentence is doing, you risk causing a lot of
confusion. Another example would be this sentence, in which the verb is
underlined:

Caiden did the dishes.

What did Caiden do? A child would probably, and quite reasonably, say
that Caiden did the dishes. Again, dishes is a noun in this sentence.
We’re really sorry, but there are no shortcuts here! Verbs are such a
fundamental part of the English language that de ning them to someone
who doesn’t already understand them is no easier than trying to de ne
what numbers are to someone who doesn’t already know. However, just
like with numbers, it’s quite easy to show children what verbs are. For that
reason, this chapter should be read in conjunction with the next chapter:
‘Subject, verb and object’. Trying to teach children what verbs are without
teaching the basics of sentence construction is a bit like trying to teach
them what numbers are without teaching them to count. Take a look at the
‘Teaching ideas’ section of this chapter for some tips and suggestions about
how to show children what we mean when we talk about verbs.
Person
Verbs can have rst, second or third person forms depending on the subject
that accompanies them (the person or thing that is doing, being or having
something). e rst person is used when the individual speaking or
writing is the subject of what is being said, either individually or as part of a
larger group (I, me, we, us). e second person is used when the person
being addressed is the subject of the sentence, either individually or as a
larger group (you). e third person is used when someone else is the
subject of the sentence (she, he, it, they). Here are some examples of how
verbs can change in the present tense depending on the subject of a clause
or sentence.

Singular (one individual) Plural (more than one individual)

First I am happy. We are happy.

person I have a new hat. We have new hats.
I sit on this chair. We sit on these chairs.

Second You are happy. You are all happy.

person You have a new hat. You have new hats.
You sit on that chair. You sit on those chairs.

Third Jane is happy. They are happy.

person Mr Patel has a new hat. My brothers have new hats.
The dog sits on that chair. The children sit on those chairs.

Verb tenses and auxiliary verbs

A lot of children (and adults) think that there are three tenses in the
English language: past, present and future. Would that it were so simple!
(Let’s not even get into what tense that is.) For the moment, consider the
following 12 sentences and the tense they are in:
We wrote a book about grammar. (simple past)
We were writing a book about grammar. (past progressive)
We had written a book about grammar. (past perfect)
We had been writing a book about grammar. (past perfect progressive)
We write a book about grammar. (simple present)
We are writing a book about grammar. (present progressive)
We have written a book about grammar. (present perfect)
We have been writing a book about grammar. (present perfect progressive)
We will write a book about grammar. (simple future)
We will be writing a book about grammar. (future progressive)
We will have written a book about grammar. (future perfect)
We will have been writing a book about grammar. (future perfect progressive)

Each of these tenses alters the meaning of the sentence and each tense has
a name. In fact, some have more than one name (you will oen see
progressive tenses referred to as continuous tenses, for example, but we
have stuck to the language of the National Curriculum here). Children
need to know some of these names when they sit the grammar,
punctuation and spelling assessment in Year 6, but, if you look closely at
the list above, you will see that there is actually a fairly neat system, and
explaining the whole system may be the easiest way to help older primary
pupils remember the terminology.
e rst point to notice is that the same four types of tense (simple,
perfect, progressive and perfect progressive) appear in each of the past,
present and future. If Ebenezer Scrooge had been haunted by grammar
pedants, this is probably how they’d have approached their task! All four of
these tenses can be made using variations of the main verb in the sentence
(in this case ‘to write’) but most are formed using verb phrases (see Chapter
12, here) that combine a version of the main verb (called a participle) with
variations of the verbs ‘to have’ and ‘to be’ (called primary auxiliary verbs).
Auxiliary verbs can sometimes be thought of as ‘helper verbs’ and these
primary auxiliary verbs help to form a tense alongside the main verb.

We have been writing a book about grammar.

‘We’ is the subject of this sentence and ‘a book about grammar’ is the object
(again, see Chapter 5, for more on this). e verb phrase is formed using
two primary auxiliary verbs, have and been, with the present participle form
of ‘to write’, writing.
To indicate that a clause or sentence is written in the future tense, we
add the modal verb ‘will’:

e rabbit will have eaten all the cabbages.

In this sentence, ‘the rabbit’ is the subject and ‘all the cabbages’ is the object.
e verb phrase is formed by the modal verb will, the auxiliary verb have
and the past participle form of ‘to eat’: eaten. ere is more about modal
verbs in the next section here.
First, let’s look at the types of tense in more detail.

Types of tense

Simple tenses are general and non-speci c. ey simply indicate actions or
states of affairs that took place in the past, that take place in the present or
that will take place in the future. ey consist of the main verb in its
present tense form for the simple present, in its past tense form for the
simple past or accompanied by the modal verb ‘will’ for the simple future.

Simple past: I walked to school.

Simple present: I walk to school.
Simple future: I will walk to school.

Progressive tenses indicate actions or states of affairs that were, are or will
be in progress at the time you’re talking or writing about. ey were, are or
will be in the process of happening at that moment. ey are formed using
an auxiliary verb derived from the verb ‘to be’ and the present participle
form of the main verb.
Past progressive: I was walking to school.
Present progressive: I am walking to school.
Future progressive: I will be walking to school.

Perfect tenses indicate actions or states of affairs that had been, have been
or will have been completed at the time you’re talking about. e ‘present
perfect’ can confuse people as it oen appears to be indicating something
that happened in the past. However, it is classed as a present tense because
it communicates the fact that, in the present moment, a particular action or
state of affairs has been completed. Perfect tenses are formed using an
auxiliary verb derived from the verb ‘to have’ and the past participle form of
the main verb.

Past perfect: I had walked to school.

Present perfect: I have walked to school.
Future perfect: I will have walked to school.

Perfect progressive tenses, as the name suggests, are a combination of the

perfect and the progressive tense. ey indicate actions or states of affairs
that had been in progress up until the moment you’re talking about. ey
are formed using an auxiliary verb derived from the verb ‘to have’, an
auxiliary verb derived from the verb ‘to be’ and the present participle form
of the main verb.

Past perfect progressive: I had been walking to school.

Present perfect progressive: I have been walking to school.
Future perfect progressive: I will have been walking to school.

Modal verbs

Modal verbs are a class of auxiliary verb. However, whereas primary

auxiliary verbs tend to affect tense, modal verbs modify the actual meaning
of the main verb in a sentence. ey oen give the reader an idea of how
likely it is that the action or state of affairs indicated by the verb will
actually come to pass. ere are nine modal verbs commonly used in
English, some of which are quite similar in meaning, and all of which have
contracted negations (see Chapter 7), although ‘mayn’t’ is seldom used
these days. ese nine modal verbs are:

Can/can’t
Could/couldn’t
May/mayn’t (may not)
Might/mightn’t
Must/mustn’t
Shall/shan’t
Should/shouldn’t
Will/won’t
Would/wouldn’t

In the last section, we looked at the way ‘will’ is used to indicate something
taking place in the future. Most of these modal verbs can be used to make
verb phrases in several different tenses:

I could have done a better job on this.

She must be wondering where we are.
I probably shouldn’t have any more cake.

Most of this is pretty instinctive and doesn’t tend to cause pupils too many
problems. However, there is one error that children and adults alike oen
make that gets corrected by teachers thousands of times a day right across
the English-speaking world: following a modal verb with the word ‘of ’, e.g.:

I should of told you sooner.

is happens because when we add a modal verb to a present or future
perfect verb phrase, we can contract the modal verb and the word ‘have’.
Could have done becomes could’ve done, should have known becomes
should’ve known, etc. Even when we don’t write the words this way, it’s how
we almost always pronounce them. To children’s ears, the contracted
remnants of the word ‘have’ are indistinguishable from the word ‘of ’.
Teachers nd themselves trying to explain this to children again and again
but, until they’ve understood at least some of the grammar points covered
in the last two sections, they’re likely to keep on making the same mistake.

Teaching ideas
According to the National Curriculum, verbs should be taught from Key
Stage 1 upwards. Keep reading to nd a range of activities for both key
stages.

Clap when you hear

Read a story to the class and ask the children to clap when they hear a verb.
You might want to use the modelled writing for this activity or a quality
picture book that your pupils enjoy.

Balloon verb game

ere are lots of fantastic grammar resources online. Get this game up on
your interactive white-board and have different children come and nd the
verbs to assess whether they have understood what verbs are:
www.soschools.com/language_arts/grammar/verb/balloon_game.
Past or present

is is a quick and easy way to assess whether pupils have understood past
and present tense. Give each table of pupils one of the sets of cards below.
ere is a printable version of each set in the online resources, so simply
print copies of the set you wish to use and cut it up into cards. Explain that
the pupils have to sort the cards into past and present tense. e three sets
of cards vary by level of challenge according to the number of irregular
verbs included.

Level 1

Joke Waited Trim Liked

Jumped Read Coped Like
Talk Sing Cut Hopped
Talked Hope Walked Crop
Swing Stopped Climb Mixed
Shopped Stop Climbed Fix

Level 2
 Believe Made Went Take
Come Ate Felt Got
Gave Find Think Tell
Become Show Leave Question
Bought Begin Kept Hold
Held Keep Began Brought

Level 3

Tried Found Look Break

Sang Had Write Lit
Swam Went Light Extinguish
Drove Did Grew Drank
Taught Scream Lay Stole
Learnt Cried Broke Dug

Verb charades

A twist on the classic game of charades. Instead of miming lm or book

titles, pupils have to mime out different verbs. Initially, you might want to
keep it simple by encouraging the children to choose actions such as to
swim, to run or to eat, but you can make this game more challenging by
giving pupils verbs like to believe or to hope.

Replace the word

e simplest way to introduce children to the concept of verbs is to give
them sentences and point out the verb (without calling it the verb to begin
with), before asking them to think of words they could replace it with. In
most cases, they will be able to think of alternatives that have very similar
meanings (synonyms) and alternatives that completely change the meaning
of the sentence. ey may start to notice that the tense of the sentence can
change depending on the word they choose. It’s important to point out that
there are also plenty of words that cannot be put in place of the verb, as the
sentence would no longer make any sense. If children do this several times
with several different sentences (you may want to use the modelled writing
below to help with this), then they will quickly build up a sense of what sort
of words verbs are and what sort of words they are not. is will be far
more helpful than any de nition you can give them for the concept of a
verb.
 Modelled writing

One cat dozed quietly on the sofa, while the other wandered around
the house. They had gobbled down their lunch and were already
thinking about dinner. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a key
turning in the lock. They both raced into the hallway as I stepped in
through the door. They ran between my legs, tripping me up as I
walked to the kitchen.

Venn diagrams

Ask your pupils to draw three overlapping circles, labelling one ‘verbs’,
another ‘nouns’ and the third ‘adjectives’. Provide them with a selection of
words and ask them to place them in the appropriate places on the Venn
diagram. Discuss how some words fall into more than one category
depending on the context. is activity could be modi ed for Key Stage 1
by just using a Venn diagram with two circles showing, for example, verbs
and nouns.

Switch the verb

Write a simple sentence on the board. Alter the level of challenge by

choosing this carefully. For example:

Jessica won the race.

Challenge pairs of children to nd as many different verbs as they can that
could replace ‘won’ but still make sense in the sentence, even if it changes
the meaning. Discuss how the meaning of the sentence changes with the
verb, e.g.:

Jessica lost the race.

Jessica entered the race.
Jessica nished the race.
Jessica endured the race.
Jessica enjoyed the race.
Jessica relished the race.

Verb kung fu

is will probably be most effective and more fun in pairs and groups. Give
each group a short passage containing lots of verbs of different types (the
modelled writing below might be useful). Agree a martial-arts-style move
that goes with each type of verb, e.g. a high kick for main verbs, a karate
chop for modal verbs and a punch for primary auxiliary verbs. You could
change the move depending on whether the verb has a rst-, second- or
third-person subject. e group then read out their passage, performing the
correct moves at the right times.
 Modelled writing

I should have realised it was never going to be this simple. When I

had first thought about becoming a spy, I had imagined my whole
life would be a series of exciting and glamorous adventures. I
couldn’t have been more wrong. I now found myself imprisoned in
Professor Iorek Van Gambles’ castle and I could see no way to
escape. Just at the moment when I had given up all hope, I realised
that I had been carrying a device that would help me escape the
whole time. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?
‘I must be quick,’ I thought to myself, as I reached into my pocket
and pulled out the laser-cutting yoyo I had been given before I left
HQ.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda

You can use almost any book for this. Choose a character facing a dilemma
and ask pupils:

• What can this character do?

• What must this character do?
• What should this character do?
• What could this character do?
• What would YOU do if you were in this character’s position?

is activity helps pupils to consolidate their knowledge about modal verbs
by using them in context. It will inevitably lead to a discussion about the
subtle differences between verbs like can and could. (Playing the Beverley
Knight song is optional.)
Chapter 5
Subject, verb and object

Chapter overview
If a child’s writing doesn’t ‘sound right’ then it could mean they haven’t understood subject–
verb agreement. Don’t worry though, we’re here to help! In this chapter we will look at:

• How to identify the subject and verb in a sentence. Here

• Understanding subject and verb agreement. Here
• The distinction between direct and indirect objects. Here
• Subject and object pronouns. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

e concept of ‘subject, verb and object’ sounds very complicated and

sophisticated, and we can recall hearing appalled colleagues question why
on Earth the Department for Education had thought it an appropriate topic
for the primary curriculum when the spelling, punctuation and grammar
assessments were rst introduced. However, it’s actually a very basic idea
and it’s one that even very young children understand innately. From the
moment we learn to use ‘I’ and ‘me’ correctly, we have in fact developed an
understanding of the difference between the subject and the object of a
clause or sentence. Being able to identify the subject is particularly useful
and makes it much easier to understand some of the more abstract ideas in
grammar that we’ll be looking at later on.

What you need to know

Making sense in English usually involves saying or writing clauses and
sentences. In this chapter, we are going to look at ‘simple sentences’. Don’t
let the name deceive you: a simple sentence can be very sophisticated and it
can be fairly long. In grammar, a sentence is described as ‘simple’ if it
contains only one clause. We will deal more with clauses and how to create
more complex sentences in Part Two of the book but, for the moment, we
are going to stick with simple sentences. Because of their misleading name,
teachers oen skip over simple sentences and don’t spend as much time on
them as they really should. In fact, some of the ideas and terminology in
this chapter are really quite complex and you probably won’t want to go
into all of it in detail with your pupils, even in Year 6. However, the
distinction between subject and object is part of the primary curriculum
and it can’t hurt to be a few steps ahead so that you can answer the
questions children will inevitably ask.

Subject and verb

To create a simple sentence, you usually need to take a noun or a pronoun
(a person, a place, an item or an idea: the subject of your clause or
sentence) and tell your reader or listener what the subject is doing, having
or being. e very simplest way to do this is to combine your subject with a
verb or a verb phrase:

Justice prevailed.
What prevailed? Justice. erefore ‘justice’ is the subject of this sentence.
What did justice do? It prevailed. erefore ‘prevailed’ is the verb in this
sentence.

You smell!
Who smells? You do! erefore ‘you’ are the subject of the sentence.
What do you do? You smell! erefore ‘smell’ is the verb in this sentence.

e lm hasn’t nished.
 What hasn’t nished? e lm. erefore ‘the lm’ is the subject of the
sentence.
What hasn’t the lm done? It hasn’t nished. erefore ‘hasn’t nished’ is
the verb phrase.

ese very simple sentences communicate very simple ideas. Each is

composed of a subject and a verb phrase and nothing else. e subject and
verb phrase are the fundamental building blocks of sentences. Without
them, a sentence is not a sentence. Sometimes, the subject of a sentence
can be a longer noun phrase, more than one noun or more than one
pronoun. It does not have to be a single word, e.g.:

Justice and common sense prevailed.

You and I smell.
is long, boring lm hasn’t nished.

It is also worth being aware that the verb phrase in a simple sentence can
sometimes be quite long. Consider these examples:

ey hadn’t expected to arrive so soon.

is may not turn out to have been such a good idea.
Leon was hoping he might be able to make some new friends.

It is beyond the scope of this book to go into detail about all these different
constructions and the grammatical terms we would use to describe them.
However, it is important to be aware that there are very many different
types of verb phrase, and examining examples like these is an interesting
way to encourage more able children in Key Stage 2 to re ect on how they
can use different verb forms to give their writing precision and clarity.

Subject–verb agreement
e verb form in a sentence has to ‘agree’ with the subject. at is to say,
the version of the verb that is used must be appropriate to the subject.
Oen the verb will be different depending on whether the subject is
referred to in the rst, second or third person and whether it is singular or
plural. Consider these examples:

I like cheese.
Harry likes cheese.
Harry and Agam like cheese.

You will sometimes hear children (and adults) deviating from the usual
conventions of standard English when it comes to subject–verb agreement.
Two common examples are:

You was talking too loudly.

instead of
You were talking too loudly.

He don’t want it.

instead of
He doesn’t want it.

While it is of course important to respect the fact that spoken English varies
from region to region and dialect to dialect, our aim as teachers is to teach
children to write in standard English. It is therefore probably right that we
ensure that children know the standard verb forms to use in these
instances, even as we understand the fact that they may speak differently at
home.

Direct and indirect objects

As well as a subject and a verb phrase, many clauses and sentences also
include a direct object. e direct object of a clause or sentence is the
person or thing that undergoes the action denoted by the verb. In other
words, the object is the person or thing to which the verb is done, e.g.:

Mrs Dalton painted the fence.

What did Mrs Dalton paint? She painted the fence. erefore ‘the fence’ is
the object.

I like Adam.
Who do I like? I like Adam. erefore ‘Adam’ is the object.

e teacher submitted her letter of resignation.

What did the teacher submit? She submitted her letter of resignation.
erefore ‘her letter of resignation’ is the object.

All of the objects in the examples we’ve seen so far are direct objects. ey
are the people or things upon whom the verb acts. However, some sentences
and some clauses contain both a direct object and an indirect object. e
indirect object is the recipient of the direct object – the person or thing to
whom the direct object is given or applied. Look at these examples:

He gave the ball an almighty kick.

What did he give? He gave an almighty kick. erefore ‘an almighty kick’ is
the direct object.
What was given an almighty kick? e ball. erefore ‘the ball’ is the
indirect object.

My aunt sent me a birthday card.

What did my aunt send? She sent a birthday card. erefore ‘a birthday
card’ is the direct object.
Who was sent a birthday card? I was. erefore ‘me’ is the indirect object.

Laila showed the teacher her work.

 What did Laila show? She showed her work. erefore ‘her work’ is the
direct object.
Who was shown the work? Her teacher. erefore ‘her teacher’ is the
indirect object.

All of these sentences could be rewritten so that the indirect object appears
in a prepositional phrase (or prepositional complement) at the end of the
sentence, i.e. a phrase introduced by a preposition like ‘to’. However, you
will notice that writing them this way sometimes sounds clumsier and less
elegant:

Prepositional
Subject Verb Direct object
phrase

He gave an almighty kick to the ball.

My aunt sent a birthday card to me.

Laila showed her work to the teacher.

You can read more about complements in Appendix 5.

Subject and object pronouns

You have actually had a vague understanding of subject and object for as
long as you could talk, and we can prove it. I and me are personal
pronouns and, obviously, their meaning is pretty much the same. However,
I is used when the speaker or writer is the subject of a sentence and me is
used when the speaker is the object of the sentence. We apply this
convention without thinking about it hundreds of times a day:

He gave me the ball.

I gave him the ball.
I like her.
She likes me.
e only time this ever causes real confusion for native English speakers is
when we combine ‘I’ and another person or item to form the subject or
object of a sentence:

Dhiya and I played football.

e letter was addressed to Andrew and me.

e convention is just the same in these instances but, of course, a lot of

people have never even noticed that it exists because they’ve never thought
about sentences in terms of subjects and objects. If the person speaking is
part of the subject, then they would use ‘I’. If the person speaking is part of
the object, they would use ‘me’. e same logic applies to other personal
pronouns too:

He and his dog saw us.

We saw him and his dog.
ey like her.
She likes them.

e other thorny issue surrounding subject and object pronouns centres on

the distinction between ‘who’ and ‘whom’ when used as relative or
interrogative pronouns. Traditionally, it has been considered acceptable for
‘who’ to be used as the subject of a sentence and ‘whom’ to be used as the
object of the sentence, e.g.:

Who are you?

To whom shall I address my complaint?

To be perfectly honest, this ‘rule’ is not observed by most people anymore, if

it ever was, so it’s far from clear that it is actually a rule at all. As we
explained in the introduction, grammar is an attempt to describe the way
people write and speak in standard English and to re ect on the different
effects our words can have by being presented in different forms. Using who
and whom ‘correctly’ is simply not an important part of that. Don’t worry
about it!

Teaching ideas
Subject, verb and object is not something we would expect to be covered in
Key Stage 1. By all means have a conversation about identifying the verb
and who/what is doing the verb when reading with younger children, but
that is probably as much as they need at this point. For this reason, these
teaching ideas are aimed at Key Stage 2 children. When teaching subject,
verb and object, the main points you will need to get across to your pupils
are:

1. How to identify the subject, verb and object in a sentence.

2. Understanding that the subject may not be one word but could be a
noun phrase, e.g. ‘the oldest dragon’.
3. Which verb form to use for the subject (subject–verb agreement).
4. Not all sentences have an object.

e following activities are a good place to start.

Get arty

is would work particularly well with children in lower Key Stage 2 who
are rst being introduced to subject, verb and object. To begin with, keep it
simple and choose paintings with people as subjects (American Gothic by
Grant Wood is a great one for this, for example). Show the class the
painting and ask them to identify:
 • Who or what does the action in the painting? (Subject)
• What is the action? (Verb)
• Who/what is affected by the action? (Object)

For example:

• Mona Lisa is watching the painter. (Mona Lisa is the subject. ‘Watching’
is the verb. e painter is the object.)
• e man is holding a pitch fork. (e man is the subject. ‘Holding’ is the
verb. e pitch fork is the object.)

Challenge your pupils to write as many sentences as they can about the
paintings and identify the subject, verb and object in each one.

Subject–verb agreement gap fill

Present pupils with the following simple gap- ll questions. Read the
sentences with your class and identify whether the subject of the sentence
is plural or singular. en have the discussion about which form of the verb
should go in the gap. ere is a worksheet version of this task in the online
resources for you to print and hand out.

Gap-fill questions
Ali and Mo is/are sitting on the sofa.
Gary like/likes to eat Mexican food.
Antonia walk/walks to 10 Downing Street.
The boys play/plays together.
The dog chew/chewed/chewing his bone.
The baby sleeps/sleep/slept last night.
 Yasmin are/is going out tonight.
There are/is four crisps left.
Dave was/were disappointed that Arsenal lost the match.

Identifying subject/verb/object

Display a series of simple sentences up on the board. You could use the
following list of sentences or, alternatively, the short extract if you want to
increase the level of challenge. ere are versions of both the list and the
extract in the online resources to save you typing them up. Read the
sentences or extract aloud as a class and introduce the task: to identify the
subject, verb and object. Agree on a key, e.g. colour the object in red, the
subject in blue and the verb in purple, and then let children work
independently, identifying the different parts of the sentence. If you have a
Year 6 class who are ready for it, then they could also identify any
complements and adjuncts. For more information on complements and
adjuncts head over to Appendix 5.

Sentences for identifying the subject, verb and

object
The black, fluffy cat ate the fresh fish.
Ali and Mo saw their friend.
Jack wrote a letter.
The teacher read out the register.
After she finished her coffee, Antonia completed a crossword.
(There are two clauses in
this sentence so have a go at identifying the subject, verb and
object in both.)
 Short extract

Zuzanna ran home excitedly. Today was her birthday! On the way
home, she saw her friend Blake. He gave her a birthday present.
Zuzanna ripped the wrapping paper in excitement. Inside, she found
a new notebook. She thanked Blake and continued her journey. She
saw her mum waiting on the doorstep. She was holding a bunch of
green balloons.

Word sort

Provide your pupils with the following simple table with the headings
‘Subject’, ‘Verb’ and ‘Object’ at the top. (Don’t worry – there is a worksheet
in the online resources you can print out for this.) Read the example at the
top of the grid: ‘I ate a biscuit.’ Explain that when you read across each row
of the grid you create a simple sentence. Provide your pupils with a range
of words and ask them to put them into the subject/verb/object columns to
create simple sentences. e suggested words below are included in the
worksheet online to avoid you typing them up.

Subject–verb–object table

Subject Verb Object

I ate a biscuit
 Suggested words to sort into the table
watched the boy went
ate painted the fish
they a picture the cats
a film the bag Jessica
the children home carried

History

Once your class have a basic understanding of subject, verb and object, you
can consolidate it in other lessons by asking pupils to identify the subject,
verb and object in non- ction books or on websites about your subject. For
example, in history, they might read, ‘Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn.’
You don’t have to labour the point but just a brief pause to ask, ‘Who or
what is the subject of that sentence?’ will reinforce the concept.
Chapter 6
Adjectives and adverbs

Chapter overview
In this chapter we will mainly be ranting about adjectives. We will also concede that they
probably do need to be taught, so we will also look at:

• The role of different types of adjective in modifying nouns. Here

• Absolute, comparative and superlative adjectives. Here
• How we instinctively apply the ‘order of adjectives’. Here
• The role of different types of adverb in modifying verbs and adjectives. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

Before we start, a rant about adjectives

‘Eschew all those beastly adjectives.’ Roald Dahl (1980)

I think we can all agree that children need to learn to identify and use
adjectives. When used effectively, adjectives add detail, create humour and
paint a clear picture in the reader’s mind.
While we understand why we have to teach children about adjectives,
we do not understand why we teach children about adjectives as oen as
we do. Primary school schemes of work appear to be full of endless lessons
on describing settings and characters. is has sent out the message to a
generation of children that adjectives are the hallmark of good writing and
should be used at every opportunity. Oh and not just any old adjectives like
big, small, hot and cold. No, we teach children that they need to be using
longer adjectives or ‘WOW words’ as we call them.
As a result, teachers end up reading about the ancient, decrepit man and
the boiling, scorching sun or writing sentences like: ‘e big, grey elephant
walked through the jungle.’ For most people, the word ‘elephant’
immediately conjures up the image of a big, grey animal that lives in a
jungle. Adjectives change, or modify, the meaning of nouns. e picture the
reader has of an elephant is utterly unchanged by adding ‘big’ and ‘grey’ to
the front of it. ese adjectives are not modifying the noun and they do not
work in the sentence. In fact, unless the elephant in question is small and
red, the most effective way of describing an elephant is simply by using the
word ‘elephant’.
So yes, teach your class about adjectives and how to use them but
emphasise the importance of being sparing with adjectives. When you’re
reading their work, challenge them to justify the adjectives they have
chosen.
OK, rant over. We can now begin.

What you need to know

Adjectives and adverbs are both modi ers: words that alter or affect the
meanings of other words. Adjectives modify nouns or noun phrases
whereas adverbs modify verbs. However, adverbs can also be used to
modify adjectives – how terribly confusing! Let’s take them one at a time.

Adjectives
Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. When you introduce adjectives to
children in Key Stage 1, the examples they will come up with are oen
words to describe colour, size or shape, e.g.:

e sun is yellow.
I saw a big car.
en we start to move on to more detailed descriptive modi cations such
as:

I had a relaxing holiday.

e result was unanimous.
Obsequious behaviour is frowned upon in this organisation.

However, in teaching adjectives, teachers oen neglect to explain that some

far more commonly used words than those mentioned above are also
adjectives. Let’s look at some of these.

Quantifying adjectives
Adjectives can also describe quantity or numerical order, e.g.:

I have three cats.

He was the rst person in the line.

Most children come to learn adjectives as ‘describing words’. Before we

move on, a little suggestion about that.

Modifiers not describing words

It is understandable that we oen introduce adjectives to young children as

‘describing words’. However, it is probably a good idea to start using the
term modi er rather than describing word as soon as possible. A modi er
alters, clari es or quali es the meaning of a word. ink about the
following example:

ere are six cups in the cupboard.

In this sentence, the word six is an adjective. It tells you how many cups
there are in the cupboard but it does not describe the size, shape or colour
of them.
Comparative adjectives
As the name suggests, comparative adjectives are used to draw
comparisons. When using comparative adjectives, we oen use ‘than’ in
between the adjective and the nouns, pronouns or noun phrases that are
being compared, e.g.:

e sun owers are taller than the rose bush.

He seems happier than he used to be.
She is stronger than him.

Most comparative adjectives are formed by adding the -er suffix, as

explained in the table below.

If the adjective… To make the comparative form:

Ends in a vowel and consonant, e.g.: Double the consonant and add -er, e.g.:
Big Big → Bigger
Mad Mad → Madder

Ends in consonant and ‘y’, e.g.: Change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and add -er, e.g.:
Busy Busy → Busier
Happy Happy → Happier

Ends in ‘e’, e.g.: Add - r, e.g.:

Free Free → Freer
Large Large → Larger

For all other adjectives, e.g.: Add - er, e.g.:

Old Old → Older
Rich Rich → Richer

e common exceptions, or irregular forms, are listed out in the table on

the following page.
 Adjective Comparative

Good Better

Bad Worse

Little Less

Much More

Far Further

For example:

She is better at maths than he is.

He is worse than me at football.
I have less time than him.

For some adjectives, including any that are of three syllables or more, we
need to use ‘more’ to create the comparative form, e.g.:

She is more popular than I am.

at book is more interesting than the one we read yesterday.

Superlative adjectives
Superlative adjectives are used to draw comparisons when there are more
than two things being compared. For example:
Regular Comparative Superlative

This cat is small. This cat is smaller. This is the smallest cat.

Other examples include:

She is the tallest in the class.
is is the simplest way of doing it.
Our marrow was the heaviest at the fair.

Most superlative adjectives are formed by adding the -est suffix as follows:

If the adjective… To make the superlative form:

Ends in a vowel and consonant, e.g.: Double the consonant and add -est, e.g.:
Big Big → Biggest
Mad Mad → Maddest

Ends in consonant and ‘y’, e.g.: Change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and add -est, e.g.:
Busy Busy → Busiest
Happy Happy → Happiest

Ends in ‘e’, e.g.: Add -st, e.g.:

Free Free → Freest
Large Large → Largest

For all other adjectives (that are not in the list Add -est, e.g.:
of exceptions), e.g.: Old → Oldest
Old Rich → Richest
Rich

As with comparative adjectives, there are some common irregular forms:

Adjective Superlative

Good Best

Bad Worst

Little Least

Much Most

Far Furthest/Farthest

For example:

I am the best at tennis.

at was the worst lm I’ve seen this year.
I’d had the least practice out of everyone in the class.

Sometimes, to create the superlative form of an adjective, we use most or

least, rather than changing the adjective itself. For example:

e Prime Minister was the most famous person he had ever met.

In this sentence, ‘most famous’ is the superlative adjective but, when

broken down, ‘famous’ is the adjective and ‘most’ is acting as an adverb.
(We will move on to adverbs in a couple of pages’ time but if you really can’t
wait then head over to here now.)

Absolute adjectives
In contrast to comparative and superlative adjectives, absolute adjectives
cannot take the superlative or comparative form. Words such as perfect,
dead, unique, basic and obvious are, in most cases, absolute adjectives.
It is easier to understand the concept of an absolute adjective when you
already know about comparative and superlative adjectives, so it would
make sense to introduce them to children in that order.

Compound adjectives
A compound adjective is an adjective that is made up of more than one
word. High-risk, part-time, ill-equipped and warm-blooded are examples of
compound adjectives.
We oen use a hyphen to link the words in a compound adjective. e
conventions for doing so are fairly complex but, at primary level, children
simply need to understand that the hyphen combines two words to form a
single adjective. Here are some examples:

e beautiful pea-green boat.

e cat let out an ear-piercing screech.

Articles
Oen overlooked, articles, a, the and an, are adjectives because they
modify the nouns that they precede. Have a look at the following
sentences:

A man appeared in the doorway.

e man appeared in the doorway.

In that second sentence, the change of article modi es the noun ‘man’ and
indicates that we know who the man is. Just a little note: the current
National Curriculum refers to articles as determiners, so you will nd
plenty more on articles here.

Adjective pronouns and determiners

ere are several types of adjective that are oen thought of as a type of
pronoun or determiner, such as demonstrative adjectives (this, that, those,
etc.), possessive adjectives (his, her, their, etc.), interrogative adjectives
(what, where, who, etc.) and distributive adjectives (every, either, any, etc.)
All of these words can, in different ways, be used to modify nouns.
However, we had to make a choice, so we have included them in the
chapter on pronouns and determiners. We think that teaching children
about these sorts of adjectives alongside pronouns and determiners will
ultimately be less confusing for primary-aged children, even if that
judgement incurs the wrath of many hardcore adjective fans!

Order of adjectives
Even if you don’t know the order of adjectives, you do. Look at this
sentence:

e green, big dragon was sitting in its cave.

If a child writes this, you will think to yourself, ‘No, it’s the big, green
dragon, not the green, big dragon!’
 Why? Well, this is pretty weird. For those of us who grew up with
English as a rst language, the order of adjectives is almost innate
knowledge. Without realising it, when you use multiple adjectives to
describe a noun, you list them in the following order.

Order Describe For example

1 Opinion magnificent, enthralling, terrible
2 Size tiny, huge, short
3 Physical quality smooth, thick, bristly
4 Shape square, round, hexagonal
5 Age ancient, young, newborn
6 Colour green, black, orange
7 Origin British, Greek, Dutch
8 Material fabric, metal, wooden
9 Purpose cleaning, hammering, cooking

So, I might say:

I have a useful, shiny, blue, Swedish, plastic, shopping bag.

If you start messing about with the order of adjectives, things go pear-
shaped very quickly:

I have a shopping, blue, plastic, useful, shiny, Swedish bag.

While this may be the rst time you have seen that list, it is likely you
already had a sense of it. It is how you know to say ‘the big, red bus’ not
‘the red, big bus’ and why you might describe your handbag as being made
of ‘so, Italian leather’ not ‘Italian, so leather’.
e majority of the pupils you teach will also be able to ‘hear’ which
order sounds right but not all will be able to, particularly if English is not
their rst language. For this reason, it is worth introducing children to the
order of adjectives, and it can be introduced as young as Key Stage 1 – you
could start by singing the song ‘e Little Green Frog’ as a class and
discussing why the words are said in that particular order.

Adverbs
Adverbs modify the verb in the sentence, so it makes sense that you should
make sure your class know about verbs before you try to teach adverbs.
(For more information on verbs and how to teach them, turn to here.)
Adverbs tell us more about how, where, when or how oen an action is
carried out, e.g.:

I quickly ate my food.

He was going somewhere.
I am going to the cinema tomorrow.
I completely failed to answer the question.
She rarely eats meat.

Let’s look at these ve categories in a bit more detail.

Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of manner tell you more about how an action was carried out.
ese are the adverbs we rst introduce to children, and most adverbs of
manner end in the suffix -ly, e.g. soly, clearly, uently, happily, etc.

He whistled happily to himself.

It is important that we don’t tell children that all adverbs end in -ly. In years
gone by, we might have referred to adverbs as ‘-ly words’. Try to avoid this
because there are as many adverbs that don’t end in -ly as there are those
that do.
Adverbs of place
ese adverbs tell us more about where the action took place, e.g. outside,
there, here, somewhere, inside, etc.

Adverbs of time
As you have probably worked out by now, these adverbs tell you more
about when the action took place, e.g. yesterday, tomorrow, later, next, etc.

Adverbs of degree
Adverbs of degree tell us about the intensity of something – the degree to
which it is happening. Any time you comment that someone is moving too
slowly, or that a child in your class isn’t working hard enough in lessons,
you are using adverbs of degree, e.g.:

You are speaking too quietly.

You are running very fast.

Common adverbs of degree are too, enough, very and extremely. ey are
not to be confused with adverbs of frequency. Which is where we’re going
next.

Adverbs of frequency
Adverbs of frequency tell you how oen the verb is happening, e.g.:

I brush my teeth regularly.

I never eat meat.
I usually go to bed at 9.00 pm.

When teaching adverbs of frequency, have the discussion about what these
words mean. So what is the difference between doing something rarely
compared to seldom doing something? Does somebody who frequently eats
out have more meals out than someone who oen eats out? is is almost
entirely subjective but will prompt some interesting discussion and give you
a chance to assess that your pupils really understand what these adverbs
mean. Turn to here for an activity on teaching adverbs of frequency.

Adverbials
is is a word that you need to understand. e fronted adverbial has
become the poster boy of the current English curriculum and people seem
to talk about it a lot! An adverbial is any word, phrase or clause that
‘behaves like’ an adverb in the sentence, i.e. it modi es the verb, describing
how it is carried out, for example:

The chicken crossed the road quickly. Adverb

The chicken crossed the road in a peculiar manner. Adverbial phrase
The chicken crossed the road without looking where it was going. Adverbial clause

All of these adverbials modify the verb crossed by describing how the act of
crossing the road was carried out. Adverbials can follow on from the main
clause, as in all three of the examples above. Alternatively, they can be
‘fronted’ or placed before the main clause, with a comma between the two
parts of the sentence:

Without looking where it was going, the chicken crossed the road.

ey can also be embedded within the main clause, with two commas at
either side:

e chicken, without looking where it was going, crossed the road.

Adverbials can also indicate the time or place when the action denoted by
the verb was carried out:

I played netball with my friends last Saturday. Adverbial of time

In Britain, tea is usually served with milk. Adverbial of place
Teaching ideas
Adjectives and adverbs should be introduced in Key Stage 1 and
consolidated and developed through Key Stage 2. Before you teach
adverbs, make sure that your class have a secure understanding of verbs
(for more on verbs, head to Chapter 4).

How am I doing it?

Get all the children in a circle and mime an action such as running. Say to
the pupils, ‘I am running. But HOW am I running?’ e children have to
respond with an adverb, e.g. slowly, quickly, clumsily, heavily, and then all
children mime running in that style. e child who suggested the adverb
goes to the middle of the circle and chooses a new action.

Do you ever?

is is a simple, easy-to-resource game for teaching adverbs of frequency.

Put a sticky note on each wall of your classroom, each with an adverb of
frequency on it. Choose four that cover a range of frequencies, e.g. ‘Never,
Always, Oen, Rarely.’ Ask the class to stand in the middle of the classroom
and read out a ‘do you ever’ question, e.g.:

‘Do you ever brush your teeth?’

e pupils have to run to the adverb of frequency that best re ects how
oen they do that particular activity. Here’s a list of suggested questions you
might like to use:
 Do you ever brush your teeth?
Do you ever have playdates aer school?
Do you ever eat meat?
Do you ever go on holiday?
Do you ever play in the park?
Do you ever watch TV?
Do you ever go to assembly?
Do you ever do homework?
Do you ever eat vegetables?
Do you ever go to the cinema?

In time you can have the children come up with their own ‘do you ever’
questions.

The interrogation game

I use this with Key Stage 1 to teach interrogative adjectives but you could
de nitely increase the level of challenge and use it with Key Stage 2.
Explain that the school mascot has been stolen and we are going to have to
work out a list of questions to ask every child in the school as part of the
investigation. Agree on six to eight questions and write them out, drawing
attention to the fact that they all begin with an interrogative adjective.
Choose a child to be interrogated and two children to be interrogators. e
interrogators can ONLY ask the same six to eight questions, in any order, as
many times as they want. e aim of the game is for the child being
interrogated to keep their story consistent, e.g.:
Interrogator 1: Where were you yesterday lunchtime?
Child: I was in the playground.
Interrogator 2: Who were you playing with?
Child: Ben and Grace.
Interrogator 1: What class are you in?
Child: 2P
Interrogator 2: Why did you steal the school mascot?
Child: I didn’t.
Interrogator 1: Who did steal the mascot?
Child: I don’t know.
Interrogator 1: Where were you yesterday lunchtime?
Child: I was in the playground.
Interrogator 2: Who were you playing with?
Child: Jack and Grace.

At this point, the child would lose the game because their story is no longer
consistent with their previous answers.
ere is an adult version of this game online if you want to play it to get
an idea of how it runs: www.kongregate.com/games/brandlibel/inde nite-
interrogation-game.

Art critics

is is a good one for art lessons. Introduce the class to a bank of words
that could be used to describe a piece of art. (ere is an example word
bank for you to use on the next page and a printable version of this in the
online resources.) en give each pair a photograph of a famous artwork
(or, even better, use their artwork!). In pairs, ask your pupils to introduce
the piece of art to their class and give a short description of it. Get the rest
of the class to count how many arty adjectives they use. Bonus points for
the most original and effective use!

Arty adjectives
Your class can use this word bank to curate their own art exhibitions!

Absorbing Dynamic Expressive

Original Romantic Abstract

Inspiring Aesthetically pleasing Soft

Delicate Bold Loud

Atmospheric Textured Decorative

Baroque Avant-garde Unusual

Awe-inspiring Conceptual Reactionary

How many adjectives can you find to describe…?

Divide the children into small groups, give each group a noun to modify
and set a timer. Challenge them to nd as many adjectives as they can to
modify that noun. is works well on mini whiteboards. You can add in
extra challenges, e.g. ‘I will give double marks for quantitative adjectives’ or
‘You cannot use adjectives to describe the colour.’ You can modify this game
by choosing more challenging nouns: for Key Stage 1 you might choose a
noun such as ‘cat’, ‘ball’ or ‘bus’, whereas you could challenge your Year 5 or
6 pupils to nd adjectives to describe a noun like ‘peace’.

Sing with Grammarsaurus!

Children of all ages will enjoy this (even if your Year 5 and 6 children will
only sing along ironically). As you know by now, there is nothing like a
song to consolidate an idea to memory. is particular one by
Grammarsaurus uses the tune of ‘All About at Bass’ by Meghan Trainor.
All together now, ‘It’s all about the verb, ’bout the verb…’. Find it at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3hR3BHpeho.

When to use adjectives

Following the rant in the introduction of this chapter, this is a useful

exercise for demonstrating to your pupils how adjectives should be used
sparingly. Ask your class to open their reading book to a random page. It
can be any book and they don’t have to have the same one. en ask them
to count the number of nouns on that page and write it down on a
whiteboard. en ask them to count the number of adjectives and write it
down. Without fail, the number of nouns should be far higher than the
number of adjectives. Use this as a starting point for a discussion about
when and why we use adjectives to maximise their effect.

Reverse simile insults

Similes are used to compare one thing to another, e.g. ‘as hot as the sun’ or
‘as tired as a teacher at the end of term’. is game requires pupils to use
adjectives to create similes where the two things you are comparing are not
the same, e.g. ‘You’ve been about as useful as a chocolate teapot.’ Once you
have established the concept, challenge two pupils to dual using reverse
simile insults. e dual continues until one side runs out of ideas, e.g.:

Child 1: ‘You are about as clever as a headless chicken.’

Child 2: ‘Well, YOU are about as useful as a sunroof in a submarine.’
Child 3: ‘And YOU are about as generous as Scrooge before the three
ghosts visited him.’

Adverbs of frequency percentages

Link your maths with your grammar teaching with this percentages activity.
Print the cards in the online resources (also shown below), and cut them
up so that each table has cards with percentages on and cards with adverbs
of frequency on. Explain that ‘always’ is 100 per cent of the time and ‘never’
is zero per cent of the time. Challenge pupils to match up the other
frequencies with the corresponding percentage. Explain that there is more
than one way to do this, so you will be asking them to explain their
decisions.
Adverbs of frequency percentage cards

Always 100%
Usually 90%
Frequently 80%
Often 70%
Sometimes 50%
Occasionally 40%
Seldom 30%
Rarely 15%
Never 0%

Adverbs and adjectives

is is a challenging game that is probably more suitable for a Year 5 or 6

class. ere are some words that can be both adverbs and adjectives, e.g.
slow, tight, hard, fast, etc. Hand out a set of cards displaying these words (as
shown below) to each table. ere are printable versions of the cards in the
online resources. One child turns over a card at random and then it’s a race
against time to see which child or pair of children can write two sentences
demonstrating how the word can be both an adverb and an adjective.

Adverb and adjective cards

Fast Late Just
Half Clear Straight
Most Clean Low
Chapter 7
Plurals, contractions and apostrophes

Chapter overview

When we asked people to name their most feared grammar demon, apostrophes were named time
and time again. In this chapter we will look at:

• The various reasons why some words end in ‘s’. Here

• The plural forms of words and how to tackle words with irregular plurals. Here

• The conventions for adding possessive apostrophes to words that already Here
end in ‘s’.
• The conventions surrounding apostrophes for contraction. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

Ah, apostrophes. Is there anything closer to the smug grammar pedant’s heart
than the ‘correct’ deployment of apostrophes? Plurals, contractions and
apostrophes, and the various conventions through which the three concepts
interact, can cause children (and adults) considerable amounts of confusion.
Most primary school teachers will be familiar with the pupil who starts attaching
an apostrophe to every word ending in ‘s’ regardless of whether or not it is
appropriate. You only need to look at the below-the-line comments on any news
website or the replies to any high-pro le post on social media to know that if
this misconception is not cleared up at school, it doesn’t go away on its own.
You may be surprised that we have chosen to include plurals and apostrophes
in the same chapter. Aer all, they are completely different things, and the very
mistake that people tend to make is in erroneously associating the two concepts.
Hopefully, as you read on, you will realise that there are good reasons why we
have done so. is chapter will address some of the real clichés of grammar:
you’re and your, its and it’s, and the misuse of apostrophes for pluralised nouns.
However, it will also look beyond those clichés and explore why these mistakes
remain so prevalent and intractable despite the fact that we talk about them all
the time… and how you can cure your pupils of these misconceptions for good.

What you need to know

e letter ‘s’ is something of a menace in English, especially when it appears at
the end of a word. Most misunderstandings about apostrophes originate in a
lack of understanding of the range of purposes an ‘s’ can have.

The five reasons some English words end in ‘s’

e reason why so many children and adults struggle with apostrophes and
plurals is that a simple point is never made clearly to them: that there are ve
different reasons why an English word might end in ‘s’ and different conventions
apply in each of the ve cases. More speci cally, two of them require
apostrophes and the other three don’t. Let’s meet them all before tackling some
of the issues around them in more detail.

1. Possession: Some nouns end in ‘s’ to indicate that they ‘possess’ the word
or words that follow – that, either literally or guratively, what comes
aer the noun belongs to the noun. For example:

Has anyone seen Nandika’s pencil case?

Many of this country’s children and adults misuse apostrophes.
Winter’s grip on the countryside was coming to an end.

Note that a noun that ends in ‘s’ to indicate possession does require an
apostrophe.

2. Contraction: Some nouns and pronouns end in ‘s’ to indicate the

presence of a verb (usually ‘is’ or ‘has’) in its contracted (shortened) form.
For example:
 She’s not talking to me at the moment. ‘She’s’ is a contraction of ‘She is’.
David’s taken leave of his senses. ‘David’s’ is a contraction of ‘David has’.
Where’s she going? ‘Where’s’ is a contraction of ‘Where is’.

Note that a noun that ends in ‘s’ to indicate contraction also does require an
apostrophe.

3. Plurals: Some nouns end in ‘s’ to indicate that more than one of that
noun is being referred to. For example:

e swans were swimming on the lake.

I waited an hour for a bus and then three buses turned up at once.
Do you believe in fairies?

Note that a noun that ends in ‘s’ to indicate a plural does not require an
apostrophe.

4. ird-person verbs: Some verbs end in ‘s’ to indicate that they are in their
third person, singular, simple present tense form. (See Chapter 4, ‘Types
of verb’, for more about verb tense and person.) For example:

Blake plays football at breaktime.

My teacher always says we should aim for the stars.
Tan goes to school with his brother.

Note that a verb that ends in ‘s’ to indicate that it is in its third person,
singular, simple present tense form also does not require an apostrophe.

5. It just does! Some words just end in ‘s’. Oen, but by no means always,
they are words we have borrowed or adapted from Latin or Ancient
Greek. For example:

Pericles was famous for his role in the politics of ancient Athens.
James took the bus to the circus.
Mrs Jones studied mathematics at university in Paris.
 You’ll notice from the examples that words that end in ‘s’ in the singular and
non-possessive form do not require an apostrophe.

It is worth taking the time to explore the ve reasons why a word can end in ‘s’
with primary pupils. e conventions are pretty simple and most children will
be able to get their heads around them eventually. Of course, this approach does
require a solid understanding of what nouns and verbs are, which is one of
several reasons why the chapters on those two terms are found so early in this
book. If you’ve turned to this chapter because apostrophes, plurals or
contractions are the next objective in your English planning, we strongly
recommend ensuring that you have given your pupils a solid grounding in
nouns and verbs rst. Once they have this, understanding the ‘ ve reasons’ and
learning the basic conventions about apostrophe use becomes pretty easy.
However, there are still a number of potential apostrophe catastrophes and
plural perils we need to avert!

Irregular plurals
Not all nouns in English have regular plural endings. at is to say, some words
cannot be put into their plural form (or pluralised) simply by adding ‘s’. ese
exceptions are called irregular plurals and they come in several different shapes
and sizes. e following table shows you some of the most common examples,
but it is not an exhaustive list.
Irregular plural How to pluralise Examples

Nouns that end in a ‘y’ If a noun ends in a ‘y’ in its My family went on
preceded by a consonant in singular form, then you need to holiday with two other
their singular form. look at the letter before the ‘y’ to families.
determine how to pluralise it. If
the letter before the ‘y’ is a People from many other
vowel (a, e, i, o or u), you simply countries have visited
add an ‘s’ as usual (e.g. trays, this country.
toys, guys, keys). However, if the
letter before the ‘y’ is a
consonant, you remove the ‘y’
altogether and add the suffix ‘-
ies’.

Nouns that end in an ‘s’ If a noun ends in an ‘s’ in its London is well-known
preceded by a vowel or another singular form, then you need to for its big red buses.
‘s’ in their singular form. look at the letter before the ‘s’ to
determine how to pluralise it. If The footballer made
the letter before the ‘s’ is a several great passes.
vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or if the
word ends in a double ‘s’, then
you add ‘es’.

Nouns that end in an ‘s’ There aren’t many unpluralised Politics is a dirty
preceded by a consonant in nouns that end in a consonant business.
their singular form. followed by an ‘s’ and, because
they are quite rare, they are Politics are a dirty
often mistaken for plurals. business.
However, we do have a few of
them in English that derive from
Ancient Greek and they include
well-known words such as
mathematics, politics and ethics.
These are all usually
uncountable nouns, not plurals.
This means that the singular
form of a verb would traditionally
accompany them.

Nouns that remain unchanged in There are several words in The staff were
their plural forms. English that remain unchanged attempting to load 400
in their plural forms. They are deer onto three aircraft.
often, but not always, the names
of animals. Examples include
fish, sheep, deer and aircraft.
Nouns that end in an ‘f’ or ‘fe’ If a noun ends in an ‘f’ or ‘fe’ in We should all take the
preceded by a consonant in its singular form, then you need time to reflect on our
their singular form. to look at the letter before the ‘f’
to determine how to pluralise it.
 If the letter before the ‘f’ is a own lives and strive to
vowel or if the word ends in improve ourselves.
double ‘f’ then you usually just
add ‘s’. However, there are
exceptions to this (thief and
thieves, for example). If the letter
before the ‘f’ is a consonant
other than ‘f’, you almost always
remove the ‘f’ and replace it
with the suffix ‘-ves’, e.g.:

calf – calves
knife – knives
wharf – wharves
self – selves
life – lives

Some nouns that contain a Some nouns that contain a Geese do not have
double ‘o’. double ‘o’ are pluralised by teeth.
turning ‘oo’ into ‘ee’, e.g.:

foot – feet
goose – geese
tooth – teeth

Unfortunately, just as many

nouns containing a double ‘o’
don’t conform to this pattern at
all and are pluralised by adding
‘s’ in the usual way:

book – books
hoop – hoops
noose – nooses

We wish that we could say there

was a trick to telling which is
which but children just have to
learn them!

Nouns ending in ‘o’. Some words that end in ‘o’ are The greengrocer sold
pluralised by adding ‘es’, some tomatoes, avocados and
are pluralised by adding ‘s’ as mangoes.
usual, and for some both
options are equally valid. Here Or
are some examples:

tomato – tomatoes The greengrocer sold

radio – radios tomatoes, avocados and
avocado – avocados mangos.
mango – mangos/mangoes
 volcano –
volcanos/volcanoes

The ‘es’ suffix is more likely to

be applied to words where the
‘o’ is preceded by a consonant
and less likely if the ‘o’ is
preceded by a vowel, but these
are by no means universal rules.

Latin plurals. Some words that came to Britain

from the Romans are pluralised A cube has eight
using Latin grammar rules. vertices. Make sure you
There are hundreds of these, label both axes on your
especially in science and graph.
mathematics. Some well-known
examples are:

antenna – antennae
formula – formulae
index – indices
vertex – vertices
criterion – criteria
analysis – analyses
basis – bases
axis – axes appendix –
appendices
bacterium – bacteria
fungus – fungi

Completely irregular exceptions. Some nouns have plural forms The children crept past
that don’t conform to any sort of as quietly as mice.
rule at all. Unfortunately, this
includes some nouns we use
very regularly, e.g.:

man – men
child – children
mouse – mice

How does the possessive apostrophe work if a word

already ends in ‘s’?
Sometimes a noun already ends in ‘s’ and the writer wishes to indicate that
something belongs to it with an apostrophe. If the noun already ends in an ‘s’
because it is a plural, you should simply add an apostrophe aer the ‘s’ but do
not add an additional ‘s’. For example:
e storm was sent by Zeus and Poseidon. It was the gods’ vengeance.
e football boots belong to the ladies. ey are the ladies’ football boots.
Many thieves hid there. It was the thieves’ hide-out.

If adding a possessive apostrophe to an irregular plural that doesn’t end in ‘s’, you
add an ‘s’ aerwards, as you would if the noun was singular. For example:

e geese’s nest was located on a quiet island.

It is inadvisable to dismiss children’s opinions out of hand.

If adding a possessive apostrophe to a singular noun that ends in ‘s’ regardless of

the situation, you have two choices:

1. Add the apostrophe and an additional ‘s’, e.g.:

James’s school uniform was too small.

Charles Dickens’s novel, Oliver Twist, was written in 1837.

2. Add an apostrophe to the end of the word, e.g.:

Louis’ trumpet needs tuning.

e Eiffel Tower is one of Paris’ main tourist attractions.

More about contractions

e important point to make to children about contractions is that the
apostrophe usually replaces the missing letters of the word that has been
shortened. Here are some of the most common examples:

1. e apostrophe sometimes replaces the i from the word is:

He’s not joking.

I think Laura’s regretting her decision.

2. e apostrophe sometimes replaces the h and the a from the word have:
 I’ve forgotten my glasses.
ey’ve been doing this for a long time.

3. e apostrophe sometimes replaces the o from the word not:

I don’t believe it.

We mustn’t talk about this.

4. e apostrophe sometimes replaces the rst four letters of the word

would:

You’d have arrived by now if you’d taken the bus.

ey’d make a different decision if they knew all the facts.

5. e apostrophe sometimes replaces the w and the i from the word will:

We’ll be ne.
ey’ll just have to nd another solution.

6. e apostrophe sometimes replaces the a from the word are:

You’re absolutely right.

We’re bringing dessert.

ere are also a couple of irregular contractions you will need to make your
pupils aware of, most notably won’t (will not) and can’t (cannot). e latter of
these is especially important as when some children, especially those with
particular regional accents, attempt to spell it phonetically, the consequences can
be most unfortunate!

You’re and your, they’re and their, it’s and its

ese three pairs of homophones should always be taught together, as the
distinction between them is exactly the same. You’re, they’re and it’s are all
contractions formed by combining a personal pronoun with a simple present
tense form of the verb to be:
I hope you’re coming to my party – I hope you are coming to my party.
ey’re not listening to me – ey are not listening to me.
It’s getting late – It is getting late.

Your, their and its are all possessive adjectives, indicating whom something
belongs to:

I think this is your pen.

eir house is rather untidy.
is school really cares about its pupils.

Teaching these spelling differences as a set helps to reinforce the pattern and
makes it much easier for children to remember. Obviously, it still leaves you
with a third there to address (and potentially yore if you really want to go
there!). However, it’s particularly helpful for dealing with the understandable
confusion that children have about it’s and its. Consider this sentence:

e robot removed its arm in order to repair it.

A child who has understood everything in this chapter might quite reasonably
look at this sentence, go back to the ‘Five reasons’ and conclude that the arm
belongs to the robot, therefore it is possessive, and place an apostrophe in the
word its. Teaching the its/it’s distinction alongside the your/you’re distinction
and the their/they’re distinction makes it much easier for children to see the
pattern. e point can be reinforced even more effectively by changing the word
its in the above sentence to his:

e robot removed his arm in order to repair it.

It will be obvious to most children that his does not require an apostrophe and
you can explain that its is a possessive adjective equivalent to his (neither
requiring an apostrophe), whereas it’s is a contracted subject and verb equivalent
to he’s (both requiring an apostrophe).

Teaching ideas
Just a little heads-up – some of these Key Stage 1 teaching ideas are better suited
to Year 2 rather than Year 1. e 2014 National Curriculum states that
apostrophes for omission and possession are only to be taught from Year 2
onwards, whereas plural noun suffixes -s and -es are to be taught from Year 1.
As always, you are the expert on your class, so just use your judgement and
adapt things to make them work for the children in your lessons.

Sticky note suffixes

Choose 15 singular words and write them on sticky notes. Make enough to give
one to half of the children in the class. en give the other half of the class a
sticky note with either the -es or the -s suffix written on it. en, in total silence,
the class have to go round nding an appropriate partner to make their word
plural. Once they have found one another, the pairs are allowed to talk and
explain to the class how they knew to choose that person, e.g. ‘My word was fox
so I chose someone with the -es suffix because if the word ends with ch, sh, s, x or
z, you use -es to make it plural.’ For children who are still learning to decode,
you might want to include a picture of the noun. You can increase the challenge
in this activity by including more irregular plural suffixes, e.g. -oes or -ves. If you
want to, you can build in cross-curricular links by choosing words linked to your
science, geography or history topic, e.g. ‘volcano’ (for which the suffix would be
-s or -es).

Put in the apostrophes: Key Stage 1

Use the Key Stage 1 modelled writing below (there is a printable version in the
online resources). Read through the text as a class, then in pairs ask pupils to
put in the ten missing apostrophes for omission and possession. Choose one pair
to come and talk through their answers. e modelled writing in this book is
linked to the Great Fire of London (because there are so many uncertainties in
this world, but the one thing you can be damn sure of is that Year 2 will learn
about the Great Fire of London). You could build cross-curricular links by
creating your own modelled text based on your own topic.
 Key Stage 1 modelled writing

Samuel Pepys Life

Samuel Pepys lived from 1633 to 1703. He is famous because he wrote
a diary that covered two important events in Englands history: the Great
Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666. Pepys diary gives
a fascinating, first-hand account of the fire spreading from the Kings
bakers house and across the city. He even writes about burying his
cheese and wine, as he didnt want them destroyed by the fire! Despite
all the destruction caused by the fire, Pepys house, office and diary
survived in one piece. Pepys didnt write his diary for other people to
read. In fact he wrote it in a sort of secret code called shorthand. It
wasnt published until 1825 and its helped us understand more about
what life was like in London in the 17th century.

Plural catch

Use your PE lessons to reinforce some grammar! Have the class stand in a circle.
Start by throwing a ball to a child and saying, ‘e word is _____.’ e child
then has to say, ‘e plural is spelt ______’ before throwing it back to you. For
example:

Teacher: e word is frog.

(rows ball to pupil.)

Pupil: e plural is spelt: f-r-o-g-s.

(rows ball back to the teacher.)

Repeat the game, differentiating the level of challenge to suit each child’s ability.
What I like about this activity is that all the children will get to hear the correct
spelling said aloud so they are involved, even if it isn’t their turn to throw or
catch the ball. Once your class are more con dent with this game, you can adapt
the rules so they don’t have to throw the ball back to you each time but can
instead choose a new word before throwing it to someone else in the class. It
also helps reinforce spelling – you could choose words linked to the topic you
are studying or words that include the spelling convention you are learning. e
possibilities are endless!

Plural bingo

is activity would be best suited to upper Key Stage 1 or lower Key Stage 2.
Edit and print out copies of the bingo board in the online resources (also shown
below for reference). Give a slightly different version to each pair of pupils.
Instead of calling out numbers or words, in plural bingo you call out a rule, e.g.
‘a word that is identical in both the singular and the plural forms’ or ‘a word that
becomes plural by changing the vowels’. Pupils have to cross off the word they
have that applies to that rule. ree in a row and they can shout, ‘Bingo!’ but
they then have to explain how each word they have crossed off satis es the rule
that was read out. You can increase the level of challenge by asking the children
to draw their own three-by-three grid and choose their own range of singular
nouns to put on the board.

Bingo board

woman sheep potato

orange pencil knife
child watch shrimp
Animal life cycles

Animal life cycles is a topic taught in both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 science.
ere are plenty of opportunities within this topic to consolidate your work on
plurals. Animal names are particularly interesting – have a look at how they
change when they are singular and plural. Most of the words that stay the same
when they are singular and plural are animal names, e.g. sheep, shrimp, deer,
sh, etc. en have a look at the names for the infant animals and discuss how
they change, e.g. puppy becomes puppies and calf becomes calves.

Why is there an apostrophe in o’clock?

O’clock is a common spelling error, so teach it in your maths lesson on time.

Explain that an apostrophe is used in o’clock because it is a contraction of the
phrase ‘of the clock’. As with the other contractions, the apostrophe takes the
place of missing words and letters. ere is no game or speci c activity we are
suggesting for this; just use the opportunity to develop your class’s spelling in
subjects other than English!

Beat the clock: an apostrophes game

In this activity, pupils have to convert words into their contracted forms: 2

Should have
Would have
Must have
Shall not
Should not
Will not

Write them up on the board and set a timer on the board for 20 seconds. You
can vary the level of challenge by increasing or decreasing the time or choosing
simpler contractions, e.g. do not, or more complex ones, e.g. dare not. Challenge
your pupils to write the contracted versions on a mini whiteboard before the
timer runs out. First pair to complete all contractions wins!

Put in the apostrophes: Key Stage 2

Use the Key Stage 2 modelled writing below (there is a printable version in the
online resources). Read through the text as a class and then get pupils to put in
the missing apostrophes for omission and possession. You can adjust the level of
challenge by asking your class to work in pairs or individually. Choose one child
or pair of children to come and talk through the answers. e one that is likely
to catch pupils out is the sentence, ‘Her bedroom door creaked on its hinges.’
When they are rst learning about apostrophes, it is common for children to put
them in ‘its’, so use this activity as a chance to discuss why, in this context, ‘its’
does not need an apostrophe.
 Key Stage 2 modelled writing
‘Rise and shine, sleepy head! Its time to get up!’ called Emilys mum
through the crack in her bedroom door. Emilys eyes felt heavy. She
decided it was best to pretend she hadnt heard her mums wake-up call
and turned over to go back to sleep.
Just as she was drifting off, she heard her brother James footsteps
pattering down the hall. Emily groaned. She wasnt in the mood to see
her annoying little brother. James footsteps got louder and louder and
then suddenly they stopped. Her bedroom door creaked on its hinges as
he gently pushed it open.
‘Emily! Are you awake yet? Mum said its time to get up. Were going
to be late for school if you dont get up now.’
Emily groaned loudly as she slowly sat up. She knew she couldnt put
it off any longer: it was time to get up.

Complete the plurals table

is is a straightforward and simple activity to assess your class’s knowledge of

plurals. Print out and laminate copies of the below table from the online
resources (that way you can use it repeatedly). Give a copy to each pupil and
give them ve minutes to complete it with examples of each plural. Once again,
you can increase the challenge by reducing the time!

+ - + - Change y to i Change f to v Singular same Latin ‘oo’ to Completely

s es + -es + -es as plural plurals ‘ee’ irregular
Chapter 8
Punctuation at the end of a sentence

Chapter overview
This is a very important chapter. Why? It’s about punctuation at the end of the sentence! Read
on to find out more about full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and ellipses… In this
chapter we will look at:

• How to use full stops, question marks, exclamation marks and ellipses Here
to end sentences.
• How to combine question marks, exclamation marks and ellipses Here
where appropriate.
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

All good things must come to an end. Once we’ve written a sentence we
must be able to end it, and this will usually involve one (or possibly more)
of four punctuation marks: the full stop, the question mark, the
exclamation mark and the ellipsis. In this chapter we will explore each of
these options in more detail and consider some of the implications that
these choices can have on our pupils’ writing.

What you need to know

As we have already established, the simplest way to make sense when
writing in English is to express our ideas in sentences that contain, as a
minimum, a subject and a verb phrase. ere are countless types of
sentence that we can write and countless different effects we can generate.
e effect we wish to create informs the choice of punctuation mark we
make at the end.

Full stops
Typically, of course, a sentence ends with a full stop (or a ‘period’ as you
will sometimes hear it called in American English). Sometimes, the
presence of a full stop might indicate a good place for someone reading
aloud to pause, but not always. A lot of teachers have tried to talk about
‘pauses’ in an effort to explain where full stops should go in a child’s writing.
is can be misleading and counterproductive. It is clearer and more
helpful to ensure that your children can identify the subject(s) and verb
phrase(s) in every sentence they write so that it becomes crystal clear where
one sentence ends and another begins (see Chapter 5, ‘Subject, verb and
object’).

Question marks
As well as adorning the costumes of several past incarnations of Doctor
Who, question marks replace full stops at the end of interrogative sentences
– a posh word for ‘questions’. Sometimes, especially in older grammar
reference materials, question marks are called ‘interrogative marks’. Some
children oen need to be reminded to include question marks and they
also need to be reminded that some interrogative sentences can be quite
subtle:

I assume everything is OK?

at’s not a good idea, is it?
Dr Livingstone, I presume?

As these examples show, the boundary between what is and what isn’t a
question isn’t always clear. All of the sentences above could be ended with
different punctuation marks but it would change their meanings in rather
nuanced ways. Consider:

I assume everything is OK…

at’s not a good idea, is it!
Dr Livingstone, I presume.

We can’t say for sure which set of sentences is more ‘correct’ without
knowing the context in which the words are said, or indeed the intonation
with which they are intended to be read aloud. Heightening the pitch of
your voice at the end of a sentence in English tends to indicate that you are
asking a question – unless of course you’re a gap-year student who does it
every time you utter a sentence of any kind. However, whenever the
primary purpose of the sentence is to ask your audience a question, either
literally or rhetorically, a question mark would be the preferable
punctuation mark with which to conclude it.

Exclamation marks
Many children overuse exclamation marks! ey put them at the end of
sentences that are neither funny nor surprising nor emphatic! ey think it
makes their writing more interesting!
Annoying, isn’t it? It’s also quite unsurprising when you look at the way
in which magazines and web content intended for children are oen
presented. Exclamation marks abound. Perhaps, then, the most important
point to make about exclamation marks is that they shouldn’t be overused.
ey tend to indicate statements that are amusing or unexpected or, when
included in direct speech, they may indicate that the manner in which a
character says something is louder or more emphatic than usual. If you use
them too oen then they become usual and their whole purpose is negated.
ere has been a certain amount of heated discussion about the
Department for Education’s de nition of an exclamation sentence, which
forms part of the National Curriculum and appears to have been invented
as a concept in the last few years for the purposes of writing assessment.
e Standards and Testing Agency (2016) explains what is meant by an
exclamation sentence as follows:

‘e national curriculum states that an exclamation is one of the four

forms of sentences. An exclamation must be introduced by a phrase with
“what” or “how” and should be followed by a subject + verb + any other
elements. It is typically demarcated by an exclamation mark, for example:
What big teeth you have, Grandma!
How beautiful Cinderella looks in that dress!
e de nition of an exclamation should not be confused with the uses of
the exclamation mark for punctuation. e exclamation mark can be used
in a variety of sentence forms and not just in exclamations.
Pupils at KS1 who are “working at the expected” and/or “working at
greater depth” standards must use sentences with different forms in their
writing.’

It’s a very strange state of affairs, but Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 writing
assessment guidance requires children to be able to write sentences in a
‘range of forms’ and this is one of the few that is explicitly mentioned.
erefore, for as long as this assessment regime persists, it is probably
something you will want to teach your pupils. We have no opinion on the
extent to which sentences like this constitute ‘good writing’.

Ellipses
Ellipses is the plural of ellipsis. Let’s deal with that straightaway! An ellipsis
is understood by most teachers as what the man or woman in the street
would call ‘dot dot dot’. However, the word ellipsis actually refers to any
situation in which words are omitted that the reader is expected to be able
to understand from contextual clues. For example:
Look out! Tiger!

is utterance consists of an imperative (the command to ‘look out’) and a

single word. Reading it, you will interpret the use of a single noun ‘tiger’ to
stand for a longer and much more urgent statement, such as ‘ere is a
tiger over there.’ e rest of the words have been omitted but are (literally)
taken as read by the reader. Even though there are no triplicated dots to be
seen, this is actually an example of the grammatical concept of ellipsis.
However, the form of ellipsis most of us are more familiar with is that
which occurs at the end of a sentence. When the author wishes to highlight
for the reader that something important has been le unsaid or unresolved
or that there is some extra meaning that the reader is intended to infer, this
might be signposted with a series of (usually three) dots:

Mr Layburn hoped that now, at long last, he would nally have some
peace and quiet…

e ellipsis here is telling us that there is more to be said about the

statement than what is literally written on the page. Most likely, in a case
such as this, we can infer that Mr Layburn did not in fact get to enjoy the
peace and quiet and that something would come along and shatter it.
is sort of ellipsis can also be used to indicate interruptions or
incomplete sentences:

‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today and thank you for…’

is gives us an immediate sense of someone who has stopped speaking

mid-sentence. Perhaps they have forgotten what they were going to say or
noticed someone in their audience whom they’re shocked to see. ere are
many different ways in which ellipsis punctuation can be used and it’s
almost always a stylistic choice. Like the exclamation mark, children should
be encouraged to experiment with it but eventually discouraged from
overusing it.
Combining punctuation marks
Sometimes two or more punctuation marks can be combined to end a
sentence. Consider these examples:

We’re going on holiday tomorrow!!!

But if you didn’t do it and I didn’t do it then who…?
What on Earth are you talking about?!

e basic ideas behind these punctuation choices are clear. e triplicated

exclamation marks in the rst sentence indicate the writer’s extreme level of
excitement at the prospect of going on holiday. In the second sentence, a
question has been posed but some of the words have been le unsaid, thus
the writer has opted to use both an ellipsis and a question mark. In the
third sentence, a rhetorical question has been posed but the question mark
has been combined with an exclamation mark in order to indicate the
writer’s incredulity or amazement at whatever has been said to prompt this
response. is particular combination is sometimes referred to as an
‘interrobang’. ere are no hard and fast rules about these combinations
and they tend to be a matter of stylistic choice, although writing in which
question marks and exclamation marks constantly appear in large clusters
can be profoundly annoying for the reader. Generally speaking, a question
mark and an exclamation mark would follow and not precede an ellipsis
and a full stop wouldn’t usually be combined with any of the other
punctuation marks. Other than that, the writer is free to use and combine
these punctuation marks however they see t. Once you are con dent that
your pupils have understood the different types of punctuation and their
purpose, you can encourage them to play around with these combinations
in their writing.

Teaching ideas
When teaching punctuation at the end of a sentence to Key Stage 1, your
priority should be identifying where the full stops go and understanding
that there are different types of sentence, e.g. statement, question,
command, etc.

Add in the punctuation

is is a very simple activity to consolidate your pupils’ understanding of

different sentence types. Provide them with a range of sentences (you can
use the examples below if you wish – there is a printable worksheet with
these examples in the online resources) and get them to add either a full
stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark. Once they’ve punctuated all
the sentences, encourage them to read them aloud, adjusting their tone to
match the punctuation marks. If you want to build in a cross-curricular
link, you can give your pupils sentences about their geography or history
topic.

Example sentences
Does your mum work in an office
Whose jumper is this
I live on Bellevue Road in Barnet
Stop it
Soon it will be my birthday
Look out
Who else likes chocolate
Has anyone seen my book bag
 We are going on holiday to Thailand
What a mean thing to say
A rhinoceros horn is made of hair
What a beautiful day
We need to buy more butter if we want to bake a cake

Sing the sentence song

is catchy little tune will reinforce your teaching and revises the key facts
about the different types of sentence. Sing it together as a class:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wrv_ZviMEc.

Statement/question/exclamation

is is a good way to highlight how punctuation can change the meaning of
the sentence. Give your pupils a sentence to copy down without any
sentence punctuation, e.g.:

You are in danger

en ask them to write it as a statement, a question and an exclamation, as

follows:

You are in danger. You are in danger? You are in danger!

is will probably lead to a discussion about how punctuation changes the
meaning and purpose of the sentence. You could even get your class to
role-play using the different sentences and come up with scenarios to t
them.
Model it

In case you haven’t already clocked this, we are big fans of modelled
writing. It is particularly effective when teaching sentence punctuation, as
you can model your thought process as a writer, e.g. ‘OK, so I have written:
“e fox is eating out of the bin.” Is this an independent clause? Does it
make sense on its own? Does it have a subject, verb and object? So, we can
agree this is a sentence and it needs some punctuation.’ It’s important for
the pupils to see the writing process, so model as oen as possible.

Add in the punctuation

is is a step up from the Key Stage 1 activity (which you might want to use
with a lower Key Stage 2 class). Give your class an extract of text without
any sentence punctuation (there is one provided below and a printable
version of this in the online resources) and ask them to add it in. Once
they’re happy with it, get them to compare their work with a partner. It is
likely that they will have punctuated the text slightly differently; discuss
how their punctuation choices have changed the text and which they
prefer.
 Extract

Monday was the first day of the summer holidays my mum woke
me up really early because we had to get to the airport we took the
train to Gatwick and checked in our bags then we had breakfast in
a cafe and I had a croissant and some orange juice after what felt
like hours of waiting it was time to board I was so excited there
were TVs in the back of the seats can you believe it I watched two
films Cats & Dogs 2 and Toy Story 4 the flight to Thailand took quite
a long time we got given lunch on a special tray like at school how
are your holidays going are you going anywhere nice I wonder what
we are going to do tomorrow
Part Two
Extending sentences
Chapter 9
Main and subordinate clauses

Chapter overview
In this chapter we will defeat another common grammar demon: clauses (and not the friendly
Mr and Mrs who live in the North Pole kind). In this chapter we will look at:

• The differences between main and subordinate clauses. Here

• The conventions for linking more than one main clause. Here
• The conventions for linking main and subordinate clauses. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

e rst section of this book covered the basics of making sense in English:
writing words and constructing simple sentences. is section deals with
the way in which simple sentences can be combined and modi ed in order
to make more complex grammatical constructions. In this chapter, we will
be exploring clauses. Generally speaking, any attempt to introduce the
concept of a clause to a group of primary children will need to start with
some sort of joke or pun about Santa Claus. If you don’t go there rst, your
pupils will invariably lead you there themselves. With that formality out of
the way, you can dive into the differences between a main clause and a
subordinate clause. What’s a subordinate clause? One of Santa’s elves,
obviously.

What you need to know

Our teachers barely mentioned clauses when we were at primary school –
the likelihood is that your own experience was similar. It’s easy to dismiss
ideas we weren’t taught ourselves as unnecessary or super uous. In this
case, we think that would be a mistake. ere are large parts of the English
curriculum that become much easier to teach once children have a secure
understanding of clauses.

Main clauses
roughout most of the rst part of this book, we explored simple
sentences. ese are sentences that contain only one clause or, more
speci cally, a main clause. A clause is a grammatical construction that
expresses meaning: it describes a relationship, a circumstance or a state of
affairs. It always includes a verb or a verb phrase and it usually includes a
subject too (although it can be an implied subject or a dummy subject – see
Appendix 6). Consider this example:

e boy went to the cinema.

is sentence is made of one clause that tells us what the boy did. is is a
simple sentence (see Chapter 5, ‘Subject, verb and object’, here, for more
about simple sentences). Any sentence containing more than one clause
can be described as a complex sentence.

e boy went to the cinema and the girl went swimming.

is sentence is made of two clauses. It tells us both what the boy did and
what the girl did. In this case, both clauses are of equal importance to the
meaning of the sentence and they are separated by the word and, which is
acting as a coordinating conjunction (see Chapter 11, ‘Prepositions and
conjunctions’). Both clauses have equal importance and both would make
sense on their own (as demonstrated in the rst example: ‘e boy went to
the cinema.’). We would therefore say that this sentence is made of two
main clauses. is type of complex sentence can also be known as a
compound sentence, as it looks like two sentences merged together. e
two main clauses can be connected by a coordinating conjunction (‘and’ in
the example above) or by a semi-colon:

e boy went to the cinema; the girl went swimming.

ere are also some situations in which two main clauses could be
separated by a colon (see Chapter 14, for more on semi-colons and colons).
However, it is not acceptable in English grammar to separate two main
clauses with a comma. is is called ‘comma splicing’ and it’s a common
mistake among both children and adults:

e boy went to the cinema, the girl went swimming.

Here are some more examples of sentences containing two main clauses:

I love her; she loves me.

ere was only one way we could win: we would have to unite and use all
our different abilities.
I want to learn so I work hard at school.

ese examples demonstrate the three most common ways of joining two
main clauses without starting a new sentence: using a semi-colon, using a
colon and using a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions
tend to be those words that you were taught ‘can’t go at the start of a
sentence’ like and or but. is is not always the case, but the set of
coordinating conjunctions is generally accepted as including the following
seven words: and, but, for, nor, or, so and yet.

Subordinate clauses
Now consider this complex sentence:
e boy went to the cinema because he was bored.

is sentence is also made of two clauses. It tells us what the boy did and it
tells us why. Notice, however, that in this example, the two clauses are not
of equal importance to the meaning of the sentence. e second clause is
introduced by the word because, which is acting as a subordinating
conjunction (see Chapter 11, ‘Prepositions and conjunctions’). e rst
clause is grammatically more important and the second only really makes
sense because of the rst. We therefore say that this sentence is composed
of a main clause and a subordinate clause. You will oen nd that
sentences like this can be rearranged so that the subordinate clause appears
before (or even embedded within) the main clause. For example:

Because he was bored, the boy went to the cinema.

Notice that when the subordinate clause is fronted in this way, we tend to
separate it from the main clause with a comma. Here are several other
sentences containing a main and a subordinate clause. e subordinate
clause has been underlined in each one:

e detective searched the office, hoping he’d nd some useful clues.

When she had nished her homework, Selin went to play outside.
e puppy, whose name was Nelly, ran excitedly into the garden.

ere are several different types of subordinate clause included in these

examples and we’ll be exploring some of them in more detail in the next
chapter – ‘Types of subordinate clause’. You will notice that, unlike two
main clauses, a main and a subordinate clause can be separated with a
comma. You will also notice in the examples above that there are three
places you might nd the subordinate clause. It might follow on from the
main clause and appear aer it, it might be fronted and appear before the
main clause, or it might be embedded in the middle of the main clause,
marked out with two commas either side. An embedded clause will usually
be found immediately aer the subject of the main clause but it can
sometimes be found aer the object too.

Greater complexity
Sentences can include any number of main and subordinate clauses, so
long as they are linked together in a grammatically acceptable way.
Consider this very complex sentence:

Despite the pain he felt in his thigh and despite the doubts in his mind,
he kept on running, hoping he could catch up with his opponent; his
calves burned and his muscles ached but Ben, who had never lost a race,
was determined to succeed.

is sentence consists of eight clauses: four main clauses and four
subordinate clauses. We oen talk to children about writing a ‘range of
sentences’, including ‘shorter, simpler sentences’ and ‘longer, more complex
ones’. ere are two points we need to make here. e rst is that,
grammatically speaking, simple sentences are not necessarily short and
complex sentences are not necessarily long. Secondly, if children are
genuinely going to understand what we are asking them to do when we ask
them to vary their sentence structures, we need to be talking to them about
clauses and we need to be doing it fairly early on. If it were up to us,
children would be introduced to clauses in Key Stage 1 as they are very
much the building blocks of sentences.

Dependence and independence

roughout this book, we use the language of the National Curriculum to
talk about clauses and we have therefore stuck to the terms ‘main clause’
and ‘subordinate clause’ in this chapter. However, it is worth being aware
that both these grammatical constructions go by another name: a main
clause is also known as an independent clause and a subordinate clause is
also known as a dependent clause. ese can be quite helpful terms to
share with children, partly because they are terms they may encounter
elsewhere but also because they give them a clearer idea about what the
two concepts actually mean. A main clause is independent – it is
meaningful and relevant even if you take the other clauses away. A
subordinate clause, by contrast, is dependent. It depends on the main
clause for meaning and relevance.

Teaching ideas
ere are just a few suggested activities for teaching in this chapter because
when we think about how we actually teach this topic, we don’t use songs,
art or cross-curricular links but we just give pupils lots of opportunities to
identify and add clauses. If you are looking for more activities on different
types of subordinate clause then head over to Chapter 10. e priority at
this point is making sure that your pupils understand the difference
between a main clause and a subordinate clause. e Department for
Education has put clauses in Year 3, but in Year 2 children need to learn
about subordinating and coordinating conjunctions, which, in our opinion,
you cannot teach without rst teaching children about clauses.

Identify the main clause

We would argue that main clauses can be taught from Year 2 onwards and
an activity like this is a good place to start. Once you have explained the
difference between a main clause and a subordinate clause, give your pupils
a variety of sentences and ask them to identify the main clause. Encourage
them to explain how they know they have found the main clause. ere are
a few sentences you can use for this activity on the next page, which are
also available as a printable worksheet in the online resources. You can do
this activity with older pupils but you might want to increase the challenge
by getting them to identify main clauses in their reading books rather than
in individual sentences. Alternatively, you can use the modelled text, which
is also available as a worksheet online.
 Example sentences
Having finished her coffee, Mrs Paramour left for work.
Feeling tired and cold, the children climbed into bed.
The cat, who had just been fed, was hungry.
Although she knew it was wrong, Rebecca stole her brother’s
snack.
After the heatwave had subsided, the grass in the meadow turned
brown.
Most people drive cars, although they are bad for the environment.
Mr French bought the paper when he was on the train.

Add the main clause

Once you are con dent that your class can identify a main clause in a
sentence, you can move on to getting them to add a main clause. For this
activity, you need to provide your pupils with a subordinate clause and get
them to write their own main clause. For Key Stage 1 pupils, you might
want to just get them to add a main clause to the end of the subordinate
clause, but you could increase the challenge for Key Stage 2 by asking them
to vary where in the sentence they put the subordinate clause. What you
want to focus on here is an understanding that a main clause could form a
sentence on its own AND that the main clause has to link with the
subordinate clause. Once again, you can use the subordinate clauses below,
which are also available as a printable worksheet in the online resources for
this activity.
 Example subordinate clauses
Despite the fact the sign told them not to,
Although he did not want to,
When I grow up,
Because it was cold,
Having finished all her chores,
As the sun went down,
Having eaten her lunch,
Without wishing to seem rude,

Say a sentence

Sit the class in a circle and ask the rst children to say either a main clause
or a subordinate clause, e.g. ‘the cat sat on the mat’. e next child must
then say a subordinate clause (in this case) to complete the sentence, e.g.
‘because he was tired’. e rest of the circle can give a thumbs up or a
thumbs down depending on whether they think the clauses create a
sentence.

Modelled text

Give your class a copy of the following text and get them to identify the
main and subordinate clauses. ere is a printable version of the text
available as a worksheet in the online resources. From there you could
move on to a lesson about the different types of subordinate clause and the
role they play in the sentence. For more information on subordinate clause,
head to Chapter 10. You could also use this modelled text in a creative
writing lesson and challenge your class to continue the story (using their
new and improved knowledge of clauses!).
 Text

As quickly as they could, the children shuffled into the school hall.
The headteacher, who was usually a stern figure, looked
uncharacteristically relaxed. The children glanced at one another,
unsure as to why they were there. Assembly was normally at nine
o’clock but this one had been called at half past two in the
afternoon. What was going on? Whatever it was, something did not
feel right. When everyone was seated, Mrs Li shut the doors. The
teachers were seated on either side of the hall, shuffling nervously in
their seats. The ticking of the clock was deafening. After what felt
like an eternity, the headteacher spoke.
‘Good morning, everyone! I have gathered you into the hall
because I have some marvellous news to share…’
Chapter 10
Types of subordinate clause

Chapter overview
Continuing with the battle of the clauses, this chapter is all about how to use clauses to extend
sentences and add more detail. We will be looking at:

• How to extend sentences using relative clauses. Here

• Identifying and using adverbial and participle clauses. Here
• Exploring other types of subordinate clause such as interrogative and Here
comment clauses.
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

Once your pupils can identify the difference between a main clause and a
subordinate clause, the next step is to understand and use a variety of
different subordinate clauses. Subordinate clauses take many different
forms and serve many different functions in sentences. It’s no bad thing for
children to know the names of different types of subordinate clause, but
even more important is that they understand the effect that different types
of subordinate clause have on the way in which their reader will interpret
their writing.

What you need to know

It would be impossible to list every type of subordinate clause in this
chapter, so we will explore some of the most common variations that you
might want to encourage your pupils to try to include in their own writing.
Relative clauses
is is the only type of subordinate clause that the National Curriculum
and the Year 6 grammar, punctuation and spelling test require children to
be able to name. Relative clauses (also known as adjectival clauses) are a
form of parenthesis: they give the reader more information about the
people or events referred to in the main clause. ey oen begin with, or at
least contain, a relative pronoun such as who, whose, which, that or when.
ey are usually found either following on from the main clause or
embedded within it using two commas. Here are some examples in which
the relative clause has been underlined.

Example 1

Sarah had a little dog, which she adored.

In this sentence, the relative clause follows on aer the main clause. It
starts with the relative pronoun which and gives the reader more
information about the object of the main clause: the little dog.

Example 2

Andy, whose appetite was legendary, always went back for seconds.

In this sentence, the relative clause has been embedded within the main
clause with two commas. It starts with the relative pronoun whose and gives
the reader more information about the subject of the main clause: Andy.

Example 3

She went to see her father, the only person who would be able to help.

Notice that in this example, the relative pronoun who is not actually at the
start of the relative clause but in the middle of it. However, the function of
the clause is to provide the reader with more information about the object
of the main clause: her father.

Examples 4 and 5

Aer staring at his phone nervously for some time, Jack nally decided
to ring the girl he’d met at the party.

In this example, the relative pronoun who has been omitted altogether. It
could be placed between girl and he’d but in this instance it isn’t necessary
for the sentence to be grammatically acceptable. Sometimes, a relative
clause is ‘demoted’ to being a mere phrase by omitting both the relative
pronoun and the verb. In the following example, the relative pronoun
which and the verb was have been omitted:

In 1945, a year of dramatic change all over Europe, Winston Churchill

was replaced as prime minister by Clement Attlee.

In this example, the underlined section serves as a noun phrase. If the

author had chosen to write ‘which was a year of dramatic change all over
Europe’ instead, it would be classed as a relative clause because it would
contain a verb. However, either version is grammatically acceptable. An
example such as this simply shows how subtle these distinctions can be.

Adverbial clauses and participle clauses

Some subordinate clauses, known as adverbial clauses, modify the verb
phrase in the main clause. at is to say, they explain how, when, where or
why the subject in the main clause did whatever they did. Here are some
examples:

Example 1

Florence took her shoes off as soon as she arrived home.

In this example, the action denoted by the verb took in the main clause is
the removal of Florence’s shoes. e adverbial clause following the main
clause modi es this verb by explaining to the reader when it took place,
namely when Florence arrived home.

Example 2

Determined that her next shot would hit its target, the archer aimed
carefully.

In this example, the action denoted by the verb aimed in the main clause is
the careful focus of the archer on her target. We know that the focus is
careful in nature because the verb is accompanied by the adverb, or
modi er, carefully. e adverbial clause before the main clause further
modi es this verb phrase by explaining why the archer aimed carefully.

Example 3

Derek unpacked the components and, ensuring that he followed the

instructions to the letter, he successfully assembled his new wardrobe.

In this example, an adverbial clause has been embedded between two main
clauses. It is modifying the verb in the second of the two main clauses by
explaining how the wardrobe was assembled. is is a speci c type of
adverbial clause called a participle clause because it begins with the
participle form of the verb ensure. In this case, it is a present participle,
which, like most present participles, ends in the -ing suffix.

Example 4
However, some participle clauses begin with the past participle form of a
verb (many, but not all of which end with ed or en), e.g.:

Confused by the signpost, Connor went the wrong way.

is is still an adverbial clause since it modi es the verb went (it tells us why
Connor went the wrong way).

Example 5
Here is another example of a sentence that contains a participle clause:

Faris shook hands with his opponent, disappointed though he was with
the result.

Example 6
Oen, the subject of a subordinate clause is contained within, but
sometimes it is implied. at is to say, the thing or person acting as the
subject in the clause is obvious from the context, e.g.:

Mrs Smith thanked her friend for the biscuit, politely declining a second.

In the example above, the subject is not included in the subordinate clause
itself because it isn’t necessary. It is obvious that the person declining a
second biscuit is Mrs Smith. is is called an implied subject, about which
you can read more in Appendix 6.

Example 7
Here is another example of an implied subject:

e birthday card, sent to him by his aunt, contained a £5 note.

In the example above, the subject and object in the participle clause have
been reversed so that it is written in the passive voice. You can nd out
more about active and passive clauses in Chapter 16, ‘Moods and voices’.

Comment clauses
Comment clauses are probably the most common type of subordinate
clause that people use when they’re talking aloud. ey are added to a
main clause as a means of packaging the information for the reader or
listener. ey are oen somewhat inconsequential but they assist a speaker
or a writer in making their audience more receptive to their words. Here
are some common examples:

To be honest, I don’t think he even wanted the job.

e 5:23 train will be our best bet, I’d have thought.
You must admit, that was an impressive performance.

I have a feeling that it’s going to rain later.

He hasn’t been very well lately as I’m sure you’re aware.

Very oen, clauses like this provide quali cation to what is being said and
they’re especially common alongside utterances that might cause
controversy or disagreement, as a way of soening their impact.

Subordinate interrogative clauses

An interrogative clause is a posh way of saying ‘a question’. A
straightforward question such as ‘What is your name?’ would be a main
interrogative clause or, assuming that it stands on its own, an interrogative
sentence. However, we sometimes add a subordinate clause to a main
clause that turns it into a question. Here are some examples:

Would you mind if I take this chair?

You don’t have any children, do you?
Is it true that you met the Queen?
We’re friends, aren’t we?

Notice that in the absence of the interrogative clause, the main clauses in
all of these sentences would merely be statements. e second and fourth
follow a structure that we all use every day, in which we make a statement
and then effectively invite the reader or listener to deny it by asking about
its reverse. It’s a very strange way to communicate when you stop to think
about it, but then that’s the case with much of English grammar, isn’t it?

Teaching ideas
As complex and compound sentences are rst introduced in Key Stage 2 in
the National Curriculum, all of the suggestions are aimed at Key Stage 2
pupils. For more ideas about how to introduce subordinating and
coordinating conjunctions to Key Stage 1 pupils, head to Chapter 9, ‘Main
and subordinate clauses’.

Hot seat interrogation

You’re probably familiar with hot seating as a tool for exploring characters
in texts. For those who haven’t used it before, a child sits at the front of the
class and takes on the role of a character from a novel or a historical gure.
e rest of the class then ask the child questions, which they answer in
character. You’ll nd that children oen ask questions like ‘How old are
you?’ or ‘Do you have any family?’ In this version, brainstorm your
questions beforehand and challenge your class to use subordinate
interrogative clauses when they write their questions, e.g. ‘Is it true that you
buried your Parmesan cheese during the Great Fire of London, Mr Pepys?’

Match the clauses

Use this as a chance to revise key historical gures with your class while
teaching them about how to embed a clause. Provide them with a set of
simple sentences and a set of subordinate clauses about different people
from history (you can use the following set, which is also provided on a
worksheet in the online resources). Your pupils have to match the sentence
to the relative clause, drawing on their historical knowledge, e.g.:

William Shakespeare, whose plays have been performed all over the
world, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Once pupils have decided which clauses go together, ask them to write out
the sentences, paying close attention to how they punctuate to link the
clauses.

Clauses to match

Main clause Subordinate clause

Henry VIII married six times. Who created beautiful oil paintings
Florence Nightingale was a nurse in the By refusing to give up her seat on the bus
Crimean War.
Mary Jackson became the first African- Whose work included developing the theory
American female engineer at NASA. of radioactivity
Charles Dickens based his characters on Who wrote A Christmas Carol
people in his life.
Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Having overcome extreme prejudice because
Nobel Prize. of the colour of her skin
Van Gogh cut off his own ear. Known as ‘The Lady with the Lamp’
Rosa Parks became known as ‘The First Lady Whose first divorce caused the Protestant
of Civil Rights’. Reformation

Sort the sentences

Look at the sentences below and read them as a class. ere is a
downloadable version of the sentences in the online resources, which you
can either print or display on a whiteboard. Explain that some of them are
simple sentences, some are compound and others are complex. Ask your
pupils to try to sort out the sentences into the three categories.

1. Alice’s parents sold their house.

2. Despite being all-powerful, Voldemort still couldn’t conjure up a
nose.
3. We need to go to the shops because we are out of milk.
4. I would love to come to the cinema but I am busy this aernoon.
5. e frog ate ies and other insects.
6. When I was little, I wanted to be a train driver.
7. e man screamed; his nger was trapped in the car door.
8. e Queen took her corgi to the vet aer realising it was ill.
9. Mrs Trunchbull was big and Matilda was small.
10. Tottenham Hotspur are the best football team in the country.

These sentences are too simple

Read the extract below as a class and explain that it is written entirely in
simple sentences. ere is a downloadable version of the text in the online
resources, which you can either print or display on a whiteboard. Discuss
the effect that repeated simple sentences have on the reader: the writing
becomes repetitive and monotonous. Challenge your pupils to rewrite the
extract using complex, compound and simple sentences. Once they have
nished, choose a few pupils to read their improved extract out to the class,
and discuss the sentence structure choices they have made. You could
simplify this activity for younger pupils by breaking up the text into a series
of separate sentences and asking them to add a subordinate clause to each
one.
 Extract

It was a beautiful day. Clare and Olivia went to the beach. They
wanted to go swimming. They chose the best place on the sand.
They unfolded their towels. Then they started to put on sun cream.
Clare walked down to the water’s edge. She dipped her toe in
apprehensively. Suddenly she screamed. There was something
approaching her in the water. It was big and grey. It had a large,
pointed fin. Clare ran out of the sea as fast as she could.

Spot the subordinate clauses

As we said at the beginning of the chapter, the only type of subordinate

clause that the Department for Education expects children to be able to
name in the Year 6 grammar, punctuation and spelling test is a relative
clause. However, if you think that your class are ready to take on a bit
more, you could explore the modelled text on the following page (also
available as a worksheet in the online resources). Agree on a key and ask
them to highlight the different types of clauses. You could extend this
activity further by getting your class to continue the text.
 Modelled text

Having finished her dinner, Jessica went upstairs to her room. It had
been a long day and she was quite relieved when her mum
suggested she get an early night. Suddenly, there was a knock at
her bedroom door.
‘Do you mind if I come in?’ a muffled voice called through the
door.
Jessica, unsure whom to expect, tentatively opened the door.
Standing in front of her was her friend Nyla.
‘Nyla! What are you doing here?’
‘I wanted to check you were OK, after what happened.’
‘I’m OK or, at least, I will be. It’s only a stupid part in a play after
all.’
‘For what it’s worth, I think you should have got the part.’
‘Thanks, Nyla.’
Before they had a chance to say anything else, Jessica’s younger
brother burst out of his room.
Chapter 11
Prepositions and conjunctions

Chapter overview
In this chapter we’ll make the case for ditching the connectives. (2010 called; they want their
lazy grammar definitions back.) We’ll also look at:

• The role of prepositions in a sentence. Here

• The difference between subordinating and coordinating conjunctions. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

At this point, we need to bring in our nal two word classes. In Part 1, we
looked at nouns, pronouns, determiners, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. In
this chapter, we are going to explore the role of prepositions and
conjunctions in forming sentences. Prepositions and conjunctions are
joining words. ey tend to link the other items in a sentence together and
clarify the connections or relationships between them. Before we dive in, it’s
worth saying a few words about one bad grammatical idea that has been
very hard to kill: the tyranny of the connective.

Cut the connectives

Before the current obsession in this country’s education system with
fronted adverbials, determiners and exclamation sentences, we teachers
sometimes like to imagine that we inhabited a perpetually sunlit paradise
totally free from arbitrary grammar rules. And then we remember
connectives. You won’t nd them in the glossary of grammar terms that
children learn in the National Curriculum anymore and, while there may
be much to criticise in the current regime, this is something to be
celebrated.
‘Connectives’ was a term whose main function was to confuse primary
school teachers and their pupils about writing. It was a term that was used
to cover conjunctions such as and, or and but. It was also used to describe
fronted time adverbs such as rst, next, secondly and nally. Some teachers
would tell their pupils that relative pronouns such as when and which were
connectives. It was also used to describe discourse markers such as
furthermore, alternatively and even entire phrases such as on the other hand
that were dumped in the over owing bin labelled ‘connectives’. ese words
serve very different grammatical functions, and just teaching them to
children as though they are one concept does not simplify things, as is
sometimes suggested. It causes utter confusion. It can’t be stressed oen
enough when it comes to grammar: you can’t simplify something by
teaching it incorrectly. Ditch the connectives. ey won’t help you to teach
grammar and they won’t help your pupils learn to write.

What you need to know

So, if we aren’t teaching children about connectives, what should we be
teaching them instead? Well, many of the roles ascribed to connectives by
teachers in the last 20 years are ful lled by two very useful classes of word:
prepositions and conjunctions. Let’s explore them one at a time.

Prepositions
What are prepositions? Well, the clue is in the name. e simplest place to
start is to break the word in two: pre – position. e pre x pre- is oen
used to mean before. In many sentences, a preposition is the word that is
found before a position. Here are a couple of examples:
e cat is on the mat.

e mat is the cat’s current position – that’s where the cat is. What word
comes before the mat in this sentence? On. So, on is the preposition.

My shoes were under the table.

e table is the shoes’ current position – that’s where the shoes are. e
preposition under clari es this somewhat to explain exactly where in
relation to the table they are. Words like on, in, by, above, below, around,
inside, over, under, beyond, behind, between, towards, beneath, within, etc.
are prepositions when used in this way. However, prepositions don’t only
deal with physical positions or places; they also deal with time. Consider
this example:

Drinks were served during the reception aer the wedding ceremony.

is sentence contains two prepositions that deal with time. ey indicate
not where one object is relative to another, but rather when one event took
place relative to another. Many of the same prepositions that we use to talk
about place can also be used to talk about time (on Tuesday, in 1997, at
night, between Christmas and Easter, etc.), but some (like during and aer)
are fairly unique to matters of chronology.
As well as indicating relationships of space and time, prepositions can
indicate more abstract relationships between the elements in a sentence.
Consider these examples:

is is a gi for my friend.

Hamlet was written by William Shakespeare.
e frog turned into a princess.
e cash machine is out of money.
Notice that, in the nal sentence, a pair of prepositions is used to express
the relationship. It is quite common for prepositions to appear in twos or
sometimes even threes:

e car is parked next to the tree.

February is in between January and March.
at subordinate clause could go in front of the main clause.

Conjunctions
Conjunctions create logical connections between the elements in a
sentence. e simplest and most obvious examples are probably and, but,
or, if and because, all of which are usually used as conjunctions. However,
conjunctions are deceptive little things. ey seem incredibly simple at rst
glance but there is in fact an awful lot of complexity here. For a start, there
are two types of conjunction: coordinating conjunctions and subordinating
conjunctions. Let’s explore these one at a time and unpick some of the
tricky issues that come with them.

Coordinating conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions are used to create a logical link between two
equally important parts of a sentence. ese could be individual words,
phrases or clauses. ere are generally considered to be seven coordinating
conjunctions in the English language: for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so (lots
of teachers use the mnemonic FANBOYS to help their pupils remember
them). In the following examples, the coordinating conjunction creates a
logical link between two individual words or names:

Peter and Paul were going to school.

You must hand this letter to your mother or your father.
I am neither a butcher nor a baker.
In each of the sentences above, the coordinating conjunction separates
individual words that, together, form either the subject or the object of a
simple sentence. Note that, in each case, the two words are of equal
importance to the meaning of the sentence. In some sentences, a
coordinating conjunction is used to join two phrases together:

Swi as an eagle and light as a feather, the dragon y darted over the pond.
e hotel is great for young couples but far from ideal for families with
children.
e weather that morning was wonderfully bright yet strangely chilly.

In the sentences above, the phrases linked by the underlined conjunctions

have been italicised. Once again, you’ll notice that they are equally
important to the meaning of the sentence. ere isn’t one that obviously
matters more in terms of understanding the author’s meaning.
Coordinating conjunctions are also used to link two main clauses. is
happens in instances where it would be perfectly acceptable to place a full
stop and a capital letter but in which the writer prefers to establish a logical
connection between the main clauses by using a conjunction:

I do not have an umbrella so I do not want to go out in the rain.

I will go to the party but I will not stay for long.
You must not climb over this fence for only a fool plays on the railway
line.

Once again, what makes these coordinating conjunctions is the fact that the
two main clauses separated by them are of equal importance to
understanding the meaning of the sentence.

Subordinating conjunctions
While coordinating conjunctions are used to link two equally weighted
elements of a sentence, subordinating conjunctions are used to link two
elements where one is less important than the other – typically by linking a
main clause to a subordinate clause or a phrase. ere are many more
words that can be used as subordinating conjunctions than coordinating
conjunctions and, to complicate matters further, many prepositions and
coordinating conjunctions can also be used as subordinating conjunctions!
Some of the most common subordinating conjunctions are aer, although,
as, because, before, despite, if, since, until, when, whereas and while. Some
subordinating conjunctions consist of more than one word, such as in order
to or given that. Let’s take a look at some examples.

Example 1

Harry is moving to Ireland because his mum has got a new job there.

In this sentence, both clauses matter but one matters more than the other.
e primary purpose of this sentence is to inform the reader that Harry’s
mum is moving to Ireland, not that his mum has got a new job. For this
reason, because is a subordinating conjunction, indicating the start of a
subordinate clause.

Example 2

Even though she tried her best, Molly didn’t win the competition.

In this example, two words are behaving as a subordinating conjunction

and they are found at the front of the sentence. e main piece of
information the author wishes to convey is that Molly didn’t win the
competition. e further information – which assures us that she tried her
best – is subordinate to the main clause. e words even though establish a
logical relationship between the two pieces of information.

Example 3

I’ll go if you do.

is example is perhaps less clear cut than the others. Children are oen
inclined to think of ‘if ’ as a coordinating conjunction because the clauses on
either side can look equally important. However, if you think about the
purpose of this sentence, I am stating the conditions upon which I’ll go to
wherever it is you want me to go. erefore ‘I’ll go’ is the main clause and
‘if you do’ is subordinate to it. is is a bit more obvious if you change the
circumstances slightly:

Arthur was willing to go if his wife was.

Understanding the difference between coordinating and subordinating

conjunctions is useful for children in developing the range of sentence
structures they are able to employ, as well as helping them to use
punctuation appropriately – especially commas. You can read more about
how to use commas to link clauses in Chapter 13.

Teaching ideas
At present, prepositions are part of the Key Stage 2 curriculum, so the
teaching ideas on prepositions are aimed at Year 3 upwards. By the end of
Key Stage 1, children are expected to be using the subordinating
conjunctions when, if, that and because, as well as the coordinating
conjunctions and, or and but. Most of the activities on conjunctions can be
adapted to t the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 curriculum requirements.

Add the conjunctions

Provide your class with a range of different sentences and ask them to
complete the sentence with an appropriate conjunction. Once they have
nished, choose a few pupils to read their sentences to the class and discuss
the conjunctions they chose. Did anyone use a different conjunction? How
does that change the meaning of the sentence? In some cases, there will be
right and wrong answers but, in others, there is a discussion to be had
about how word choices affect meaning. ere are separate resources for
Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to use for this activity on the next page, which
are also provided as printable worksheets in the online resources.

Key Stage 1 resource

The children were not allowed out to play ___________ it was
raining.
__________ the weather is nice, we will go to the beach tomorrow.
You can have jelly babies ___________ a chocolate bar.
The postman delivers letters ___________ packages.
She was so excited ___________ she couldn’t sleep.
Mum said he could play outside ___________ he had finished his
dinner.
I wanted to go to the cinema ___________ the tickets had sold out.
The cat likes to eat tuna ___________ salmon.

Key Stage 2 resource

You can’t watch TV ____________ eating your dinner.
You can have pudding ____________ a starter ____________ not
both.
Jacob has not done his homework ____________ he has tidied his
room.
Fatimah has got ten stickers ____________ Martha only has four.
___________ the film had finished, they went to a restaurant for
dinner.
___________ she was far away, she could hear every word they
were saying.
___________ the tiger approached its prey, it growled softly.
We cannot buy that ____________ it is too expensive.
Remember to brush your teeth ____________ you go to bed.
 ‘It’s a long time ____________ I’ve seen him,’ he said.
I would like to buy three chocolate bars ____________ a bag of
liquorice ____________
I do not have enough money.
He appeared calm ____________ the imminent danger.
___________ you finish your peas, you can have pudding.
We are not going out to play ____________ somebody owns up.
My teacher is strict ____________ kind.

Where is it?

Get yourself a puppet or a cuddly toy and place it on a desk. Ask your class,
‘Where is the cuddly toy?’ and listen to their responses. Write ‘e cuddly
toy is on the table.’ on the board and underline the word ‘on’. Choose
different children to move the cuddly toy to different places, while the rest
of the class write down the sentence explaining where the cuddly toy is
using the appropriate preposition.

Record a preposition rap

ere are a number of examples of preposition songs on YouTube (this is a

good one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=byszemY8Pl8). A preposition rap is
incredibly simple to make. All you need is a repetitive beat and a long list of
prepositions. Record your class chanting the prepositions over the beat and
hey presto – you have a preposition rap. Chanting is an effective way of
committing words to memory, so the process of practising and performing
the rap will help those prepositions stick!
Preposition countdown

Split the class into pairs. Write the preposition(s) to be used on the board.
You might just want to start with one to begin with, e.g. ‘below’. Explain
that the aim is to write as many complete sentences using the preposition as
possible before the time runs out. You’ll know how much time is
challenging for your class but if you’re feeling particularly mean you could
use the Countdown clock.

Change the conjunctions

Use the modelled text below and nd the subordinating and coordinating
conjunctions as a class. Once you have found all of them, challenge your
class to rewrite the text with different conjunctions. Discuss how this could
change the meaning of the extract and how only some conjunctions would
be appropriate. ere is a worksheet available for this activity in the online
resources, which includes a copy of the modelled text.
 Modelled text

The cat curled up in front of the glow of the fire and began to purr
loudly. It had been a long day. She had hoped there would be some
tuna for dinner but it had been sardines. The heat from the fire was
intense yet comforting at the same time. The cat didn’t mind. She
would stay here until somebody moved her. A little while later, her
human wandered into the lounge carrying a book and a cup of tea.
He bent down by the fire and poked it until the flames were large
and moving wildly. Until then, the cat had been quite content. Now
she backed away from the fire and retreated to the sofa. She knew
the fire could be dangerous because of what had happened at
Christmas.

Describe the scene

Put the children in pairs. Explain that one of them is going to have their
eyes closed while the other one watches a short video clip and describes
what is happening. Ask your pupils to focus on using prepositions, e.g. ‘A
man is walking along the corridor.’ If you are not sure where to get such a
clip from, the Literacy Shed has some fantastic videos you can use.
Chapter 12
Types of phrase

Chapter overview

Phrases are the building blocks that make up sentences. Sort of like word LegoTM. And who
doesn’t love Lego? In this chapter we will look at:

• How to use and identify noun phrases. Here

• How to use and identify verb phrases. Here
• How to use and identify adjective and adverbial phrases. Here
• How to use and identify prepositional phrases. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

We use the word ‘phrase’ informally to refer to any short example of

language. ‘What a lovely turn of phrase,’ we might say, or ‘Let me rephrase
this.’ Indeed, a phrase is a very useful unit of language for teaching children
about editing and improving their writing. In a sentence like ‘e cat sat on
the mat’, I have the beginnings of three phrases, which I can expand
in nitely: ‘My grandma’s ginger cat had sat down contentedly on the large,
grey mat.’ By seeing the phrases in their sentences, and editing them one at
a time, your pupils will be able to improve and enhance their own writing –
saving you an awful lot of work!

What you need to know

A phrase is a group of words that has an individual function in a sentence.
For example:

A group of explorers decided to climb an exceptionally large mountain.

is sentence is composed of three phrases: a verb phrase sandwiched

between two noun phrases. e noun phrase A group of explorers serves as
the subject of this sentence. It is composed of four words but it serves a
single function in the sentence: it tells us who is going to be climbing a
mountain. e verb phrase decided to climb tells us what the group of
explorers is doing to the mountain. Once again, it is a group of words
serving a single function. Finally, the noun phrase an exceptionally large
mountain, the object of the sentence, tells us what the group of explorers
decided to climb. Now compare the sentence to the following example:

ey climbed Everest.

Notice that this sentence has the same structure and a similar meaning but
each of the three functions in the sentence is now served by a single word.
Very oen, a phrase is an expanded and modi ed version of a single word
in which that word itself is either included or replaced. is idea might
start to make a little more sense if we begin with perhaps the simplest type
of phrase: the noun phrase.

Noun phrases
A noun phrase is a group of words that serves the same function as a noun
in a sentence (see Chapter 2, for more on nouns). Oen, but not always, a
noun phrase will serve as either the subject or the object of a clause. Here
are some examples:

I love funny, light-hearted lms.

In this noun phrase, two adjectives (funny and light-hearted) have been
used to modify the noun lms to give it a more speci c meaning.

It felt like any other day.

In this noun phrase, two determiners (any and other) have been used to
modify the meaning of the noun day.

We serve the best cake in Britain.

In this noun phrase, the de nite article the, the superlative adjective best,
the preposition in and the proper noun Britain have been used to advertise
and promote the cake that is being served. e entire phrase forms the
object of the sentence.

Verb phrases
Rather than containing a single verb, many clauses contain an entire verb
phrase that conveys a more nuanced meaning or speci es a particular tense:

I wish I could have been a y on the wall in that meeting.

In this sentence, a complex series of modal and auxiliary verbs expresses

the relatively complicated relationship between the writer and the notion of
being a y on the wall in the meeting. It tells us a number of things: that
the meeting has already taken place, that the writer wasn’t present in the
meeting and that they would like to have heard what was said in the
meeting. Selecting the right verb phrase is very important for ensuring
succinct writing. See Chapter 4, ‘Types of verb’, for more on modal verbs
and auxiliary verbs.
In English, we oen end up creating incredibly complicated verb phrases
without really thinking about it and we convey all sort of nuance as a
result. Consider the various effects created by these verb phrases:
I don’t believe I’ve ever spoken to Victoria.
He wouldn’t have expected to receive that sort of welcome.
She had been watching and waiting for quite some time.

In all of these examples, the verb phrase acts as the main verb in the clause
– describing how the subject behaves. However, this is not true of all verb
phrases. De-tensed verb phrases are phrases without a subject and without
a speci c tense, which are understood in relation to the items in the main
clause:

e referee approached the player, brandishing a red card.

Huffing and puffing, the wolf blew the house down.
e company’s new games console, released last month, has enjoyed
great success.

ere is a blurred line between verb phrases like these and subordinate
clauses. In a sense, however, establishing exactly where that line falls isn’t
too important, since the punctuation conventions associated with them are
the same either way. If the verb phrase follows on from the main clause, no
punctuation is usually required. A fronted verb phrase would usually be
separated from the main clause with a comma. An embedded verb phrase
would usually have commas at either end.
e other common type of verb phrase worth mentioning is known as a
gerund. is is a verb phrase (usually involving a present participle ending
in -ing) that functions as a noun and that can form the subject or object of
a sentence. Consider this sentence:

Staying at home beats going to work.

Staying at home is the subject of this sentence and going to work is the
object. Both of these are gerunds; they are verb phrases but they are
‘behaving’ like nouns.
Adjective phrases
An adjective phrase, or adjectival phrase, is a group of words that replaces
and expands an adjective, modifying its meaning. In other words, it is a
phrase that offers a description of a noun. Here is a simple example:

e lm was disappointingly predictable.

e adjective phrase at the end of this sentence describes the lm. In this
case, an adverb has been placed before an adjective to make it into an
adjective phrase. is is extremely common and we use phrases like this all
the time – terribly sorry, totally wrong, surprisingly good, etc.
A lot of similes take the form of adjective phrases – standing in place of a
single adjective:

He was as cunning as a fox.

is writer could have simply chosen to say ‘he was cunning’ but has
instead chosen to expand the adjective into a phrase. e same has
happened in this example:

Amsterdam, famous for its canals and consistently popular with tourists,
is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

In this instance, the two adjectives famous and popular have been
combined and expanded to offer more speci c information about what
Amsterdam is famous for and whom it’s popular with.

Adverbial phrases
An adverbial phrase, quite simply, is a phrase that serves the same function
as an adverb in a clause. at is to say, it describes where, when, how or
why the main verb in the clause was enacted.

She leapt from her seat without a moment’s hesitation.

An adverb like quickly or suddenly would serve the same function as this
phrase, which is to modify the verb leapt. In this instance, the phrase
indicates the speed with which she leapt. Any word or phrase that modi es
the meaning of a verb can be described as adverbial.

Aer dinner, I played a game with my brother.

In this example, we have the famous fronted adverbial: a phrase that

modi es the verb played by explaining when the playing took place. Many
of the adverbial phrases we use are very simple structures of this sort that
establish where and when something happened: on Saturday, at school, last
year, on the way home, etc. Many of these are also classed as prepositional
phrases.
Above, we observed that many similes take the form of adjective phrases.
Many other similes take the form of adverbial phrases:

She dashed down the home straight as fast as a startled gazelle.

is phrase is modifying the verb dashed, which makes it adverbial.

However, you may have noticed that there is a noun phrase (a startled
gazelle) contained within the adverbial phrase. ere are some really grey
areas when it comes to classifying types of phrase and you will oen nd
phrases that can t into more than one category.

Prepositional phrases
To cut a long story short, prepositional phrases are phrases that begin with a
preposition. ey act as complements (for more on complements, see
Appendix 5) and they modify the meaning of a clause. Here are some
examples:

I’m going to build the shed with Alex.

I drew a picture of a cat.
For my birthday, I would like a puppy.
I’m absolutely furious with them.
On the whole, it was a fairly good book.

Once again, you will notice a blurring of the boundaries between these
phrases and some of the other categories of phrase. In particular, some of
these look decidedly adverbial!

Teaching ideas
According to the National Curriculum, phrases should be introduced in
Year 2, starting with noun phrases. e other phrases covered in this
chapter are all part of the current Key Stage 2 curriculum.

Write a noun phrase

Photocopy and cut out two copies of the cards in the online resources and
put them face down on a table. You can preview the cards on the next
page. Each child is to take a card, stick it in their book and come up with as
many different noun phrases as they can for that noun. For example:

Castle

e oldest castle in Britain

e cold and draughty castle
e looming castle
His favourite castle
 e Queen’s castle

Cards

Pigeon Castle Cat Pirate Apple

Bear Girl Teacher Baby Parrot
Cheese Tree Garden Photograph Play

Describe the picture

Show your class a variety of images and ask them to describe them to a
partner. en get them to choose one image to stick in their book to
generate noun phrases about. e website www.onceuponapicture.co.uk
has an excellent collection of images for this activity in their ‘Character
Collection’.

How/when/where did they do it?

is is an activity for teaching adverbial phrases. Give out the following list
of simple sentences and ask your class to add a relevant adverbial phrase to
each one. ey can decide whether to put the phrase at the beginning or at
the end of the sentence. Choose a few children to share their nished work
and discuss the decisions they made. ere is a printable worksheet for this
activity available online.
 Simple sentences
The dog dribbled.
The rocket landed.
I drove my car.
She opened the door.
He jumped over the hurdle.
The llama licked its lips.
They played a board game.
We went out for dinner.

Act it out!

Sit in a circle and choose a child to act out a hobby they enjoy. It could be
anything: playing tennis, swimming, athletics. Ask the rest of the class to
describe HOW they are doing the action, using an adverbial or
prepositional phrase, e.g. ‘He is swimming in a cold pool.’

Find the phrases

Use the modelled text below and agree on a class key for the different types
of phrase. Read it through and give your pupils time to highlight the
different types of phrase. Once pupils have identi ed them, challenge them
to replace the original phrases with their own phrases. How does this
change the meaning of the text? ere is a printable worksheet with this
text available in the online resources.
 Modelled text

Cautiously and carefully, Elizabeth shuffled across the marble floor.

She knew she wasn’t supposed to be in the museum alone; her
grandmother would be furious if she were to find out. Clutching the
precious item and her grandmother’s walking stick, she tiptoed up
the stairs. She had assumed nobody would miss this dull, tarnished
pot. Most of the visitors to the museum hardly gave it a second
glance. Surely, it would be better with somebody who would
actually appreciate it? She continued up the cold, hard staircase,
being careful not to make a sound. Once she reached the top, she
breathed a sigh of relief. The office was just three metres away.
Above the door hung the brass key to the office door. Her grandma
put it up there so it was out of her reach. All she had to do was
creep down the corridor, knock the key off the hook using the
walking stick and her mission would be complete. She put her foot
on the thick, green carpet, stepping as lightly as possible.
‘Elizabeth Alexandra Morris! What on EARTH do you think you
are doing?’

Prepositional phrase walk

Take a walk around the school grounds and document it with photographs.
Back in the classroom, ask the class to recap the walk using prepositional
phrases, e.g. ‘We walked through the classroom door. en we walked down
the corridor.’ Alternatively you could use the book Rosie’s Walk by Pat
Hutchins (2009) and describe Rosie’s walk through the farm. Although this
text is aimed at slightly younger children, it is full of prepositional phrases!

Write your own

Use this process with your class to get them writing their own sentences,
including prepositional phrases:
1. Write a simple sentence:
e swimming pool was cold.
2. Add a prepositional phrase:
e swimming pool was cold in the morning.
3. Add another prepositional phrase to the beginning of the sentence
and add a comma:
In the summer, the swimming pool was cold in the morning.

ere is a template provided below (and there is a printable version in the

online resources) to support children with this activity.

Template
1. Write a simple sentence:
_____________________________________________________
__________
2. Add one prepositional phrase:
_____________________________________________________
__________
3. Add another prepositional phrase to the beginning of the
sentence and add a comma:
 _____________________________________________________
__________

Identify the verb phrases

ere are a number of online quizzes on verb phrases (yes, really). is is a
particularly good one for children in Years 5 and 6:
www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=verb-verb-phrases. Put it up
on the interactive whiteboard and get different pairs of children to come
and identify the verb phrase in the sentence. Make sure you ask them how
they know the answer as well as what the answer is.
Chapter 13
Commas

Chapter overview
One of the title ideas for this book was ‘Where Do the Commas Go?’, as this is an area of
grammar many adults find difficult. (If you have any adults in your life who struggle with
commas, do them and us a favour and buy them a copy of this book.) In this chapter we will
look at:

• How to use commas to separate items in a list. Here

• How to use commas to embed, parenthesise and offset negations, to Here
attribute quotations and direct speech, and to indicate who is being
addressed.
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

You are probably familiar with the famous joke that gave Lynne Truss’s
(2009) equally famous grammar book Eats, Shoots and Leaves its title. If
not, it goes something like this: a panda walks into a bar and orders a
burger. Aer he nishes the burger, the panda draws a pistol and res
several shots, causing the other customers in the bar to cower in terror,
before departing. One of the customers asks the bartender why the panda
behaved in such a way, to which the bartender replies:

He’s a panda. He eats, shoots and leaves.

e basis of this joke, of course, is the comma between the word eats and
the word shoots. Without the comma, we would understand the second
sentence in the punchline as consisting of a subject (he), a single verb (eats)
and an object comprised of two nouns separated by a coordinating
conjunction (shoots and leaves). However, with the comma, the grammar of
the sentence changes completely. We now interpret eats, shoots and leaves
as three separate verbs, the comma indicating that they are items in a list.
Commas matter and they can seriously confuse the reader when used
incorrectly. Most literate adults of working age now, whose formal grammar
education was pretty minimal, have absorbed their understanding of how
to use commas organically, but there are still many lingering
misconceptions and many common mistakes that both teachers and pupils
are prone to making. As a consequence, too many educators still resort to
talking about commas as ‘pauses’ or places to ‘take a short breath’. ey will
say things like ‘a comma is a shorter pause than a full stop’. is is all utter
twaddle: many commas are used in places where no pause at all is required,
while others are used in places where a far longer pause is needed than the
average breath between two sentences. Commas indicate speci c features
of a sentence’s grammar – they have nothing whatsoever to do with
breathing!

What you need to know

So, having established what the role of commas is not, let’s consider what it
is. A comma offsets (separates) one part of a sentence from another and
there are several reasons why we might want to do this.

Separating items in a list

is is the only ‘rule’ that many adults were explicitly taught about using
commas when they were at school and, for many teachers, it is oen the
only one they’re con dent teaching. When listing a series of items, we
typically place a comma in between each item apart from the last two,
between which we place a coordinating conjunction – usually and or or.
e United Kingdom comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland.
I packed three pairs of socks, four pairs of underpants, one pair of
trousers and two shirts.
Please could you hand this to Tom, Dick or Harry?

is convention is fairly straightforward and most children nd it

reasonably easy to understand. e only complication is caused by the
Oxford comma: an entirely optional comma in between the penultimate
item in the list and the coordinating conjunction. For example:

I went to the park with my two dogs, Nick, and Simon.

Proponents of the Oxford comma argue that it eliminates ambiguity in

situations where a sentence can have two very different meanings. In the
above sentence, it seems clear that the writer went to the park with two
dogs and two people called Nick and Simon. However, if you remove the
Oxford comma, this becomes less clear:

I went to the park with my two dogs, Nick and Simon.

In this version of the sentence, it now appears that the comma may be for
parenthesis and that the two dogs are called Nick and Simon. However,
opponents of the Oxford comma point out that there are just as many
situations where it can actually introduce ambiguity. For example, look
what happens if we have only one dog:

I went to the park with my dog, Nick, and Simon.

It’s now impossible to say whether Nick is the name of the dog or a separate
person. ere have been some surprisingly heated debates about the
Oxford comma over the years but the good news is that both approaches
are entirely acceptable. It’s usually possible to eliminate ambiguity
altogether by giving careful thought to the order in which you list items in a
sentence:

I went to the park with Nick, Simon and my two dogs.

or

I went to the park with Simon and my dog, Nick.

Separating fronted adverbials and subordinate clauses

from the main clause
Subordinate clauses, phrases and individual words placed before the main
clause are usually separated off with a comma. Here are some examples:

Regrettably, I shall have to decline your offer. Fronted adverb

Without a doubt, this is the finest restaurant in town. Fronted prepositional phrase
When he’d finished his homework, Oliver went to bed. Fronted adverbial clause

ese commas can be very important in terms of eliminating ambiguity.

Consider this sentence:

Most of the time, travellers in London enjoy their stay.

If you remove the comma between the adverbial phrase and the main
clause in this sentence, you alter it dramatically, turning it into a sentence
about time travellers in London!
It’s usually perfectly acceptable to separate a subordinate clause that
follows on from a main clause with a comma too – but it isn’t quite as
common:

Sophie returned home in order to feed the cat.

Sophie returned home, in order to feed the cat.
Both of these are perfectly acceptable forms but the comma is not as
essential as it would be if the subordinate clause had come rst.

Embedding, parenthesis and offsetting negations

When we embed a word, a phrase or a subordinate clause within a main
clause, we place commas either side of it. Here are some examples:
Amy, who loved cats, drew a picture of a kitten. Embedded relative clause
Paul, hungry and exhausted, finally gave in. Embedded adjective phrase
The shop, sadly, has had to close. Embedded adverb

Embedded words, phrases and clauses are oen a form of parenthesis,

clarifying or elaborating on a person or an object that has just been
mentioned, e.g.:

My brother, William, lives in Scotland.

In this case, a comma for parenthesis has been placed aer the subject my
brother to introduce the extra information (the brother’s name), and
another comma has been included aer William to indicate that the
interruption to the main clause has nished. However, a comma for
parenthesis can also be found at the end of a main clause, oen indicating
that further information is about to be given about the object of the
sentence:

I completed this project with Connor, a boy in my class.

We use commas in a similar way to introduce negations, usually phrases

that begin with the word not:

It is the Queen, not the King, who really wields power in this land.
I decided to go to Spain, not France.

Attributing quotations and direct speech

When we include quotations and direct speech in a piece of writing, we
usually include a clause or a phrase introducing or attributing it to the
person who wrote it or the character who said it. For example:

In the rst scene of Shakespeare’s Twelh Night, Duke Orsino says, ‘Music
is the food of love.’

Notice that a comma has been used to separate the attribution, Duke
Orsino says, from the quotation itself. It’s very common, however, for the
attribution to come aer the quotation. is is particularly true when it
comes to direct speech in works of ction:

‘It’s wonderful to see you,’ Abigail said, ‘and you look so well!’

Notice that there are two commas here. One comes at the end of the rst
part of the quotation but within the inverted commas. e second comes
aer the attribution, Abigail said, and before the quotation resumes. You
can read more about punctuating direct speech in Chapter 15.

Indicating who or what is being addressed

Very oen we use commas to indicate that a clause or a phrase is directed
at a particular person, object or group:

Show me your homework please, Tomasz.

Welcome home, my friends.
Miss, can I go to the toilet?

In all of these examples, the comma is separating the name or a description

of those being addressed from the words that are actually being said to
them. is is another situation where misplaced commas can cause some
very serious ambiguities. Imagine a group of children asked a teacher what
the staff room was for and she gave this response:
e staff room is where the teachers eat, children.

You may notice that the comma in this example is absolutely essential, and
without it the sentence has a very different meaning indeed!

Commas and main clauses

e most common mistake that people make with commas is so widespread
that it has its own name: comma splicing. Comma splicing means sticking a
comma between two main clauses to separate them. It’s the unholy
offspring of an education in which children have been taught to see
commas merely as ‘pauses’. Here are some examples.

Example 1

I walked up to the door, I stepped inside.

ese are both main clauses. If the writer wished, they could place a full
stop aer the rst clause and start a new sentence. Alternatively, they could
separate the clauses with a semicolon or a coordinating conjunction like
and. However, it is not acceptable in standard English to separate two main
clauses with nothing more than a comma. However, it is acceptable to
separate the two clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction:

I walked up to the door, and I stepped inside.

e comma is completely optional in this case but, if the writer opts to

include it, they should ensure that the coordinating conjunction is present
too.

Example 2
You will sometimes see main clauses separated with a comma if there are
more than two of them and they serve as items in a list, e.g.:
He checked his mirrors, he changed gear and he turned the wheel.

ese three main clauses are all of equal importance to the meaning of the
sentence and, if there were only two of them, the usual conventions would
apply when separating them. However, in this example, the three main
clauses are items in a list and they have been arranged according to that set
of conventions. is is just one more reason why talking about ‘grammar
rules’ is oen quite unhelpful.

Teaching ideas
In Key Stage 1, the expectation is that children will know how to use
commas to separate items in a list. Using commas to join clauses is
introduced in Key Stage 2, as is re ected in these teaching suggestions. For
ideas for teaching commas to link subordinate and main clauses, go to
either Chapter 9, ‘Main and subordinate clauses’, or Chapter 10, ‘Types of
subordinate clause’. For more ideas about how to teach punctuating direct
speech, head to Chapter 15, ‘Inverted commas’.

I went to the supermarket…

As a teacher, you’re probably familiar with the game ‘I went to the

supermarket’. e children sit in a circle and the rst child says, ‘I went to
the supermarket and I bought an apple.’ e next child says, ‘I went to the
supermarket and I bought an apple and _____’, and so on. It’s a good test of
children’s listening skills and their short-term memory. But why not up the
ante and use it as a chance to consolidate commas in a list? Instead of just
listing the items, get your pupils to say the punctuation, e.g. ‘I went to the
supermarket and I bought an apple – comma – a book – comma – a pack of
colouring pencils AND a tin of tuna.’ You could even get the rest of the class
to join in with saying ‘comma’ so that it is consolidating it for everyone.

Add in the commas

Provide pupils with a sentence that includes a list of items but no sentence
punctuation. Get them to add in the capital letters, full stop and commas.
As you have probably guessed, there are a few of these sentences ready to
go on the next page and also available as a worksheet in the online
resources!

Sentences
in my suitcase I packed a sunhat pyjamas a t-shirt and a pair of
shorts
my hobbies are playing tennis swimming and gymnastics
we are either going to Tenerife Zante or Nice for our holiday this year
when we go swimming we must remember our goggles a towel
and a swimming costume
the cat likes to eat sleep and play in the garden
in the holidays I went to the cinema played with my friends watched
TV and went to my grandma’s house
she can play the piano the flute the violin the harp and the trombone
you can have chocolate crisps or ice cream but not all three
can you go to the shop and buy some milk three apples a packet of
crisps and a banana
for Christmas I would like a teddy bear a catapult and some Top
Trump cards
at the zoo we saw lions tigers koala bears and meerkats

Add the commas

ere is an extract for this activity provided below and also as a printable
worksheet in the online resources. e extract uses commas for all of the
reasons outlined in this chapter. You could get your class to add the
commas to the extract as an initial assessment to nd out how much they
already know. Alternatively, once you have covered this content with your
class, you could get them to add the commas to the text to test their
knowledge.
 Extract

‘OK we’re leaving in five minutes Priya’ said Mum. Priya sighed.
Why did they have to go to stupid Norfolk? All her friends were
going to exotic places for their holidays like Dubai Thailand and
Canada. Sadly Priya’s parents preferred taking holidays in Britain. It
wasn’t fair. With another heavy sigh she returned to packing her
suitcase. So far she had packed: eight different outfits her iPad
seven books four cuddly toys and all of her drawing things. What
else would she need? Before she’d had a chance to think her mum
called up again.
‘Priya! Are you ready?’
Priya picked up her case groaning under the weight of it and
headed downstairs.
‘Mum do we really have to go to Norfolk? I don’t even like boats’
she pleaded.
‘Oh don’t be silly Priya. You’ll love it once we’re there. Now go
and find your dad and tell him we’re ready to go.’
At that precise moment Priya’s dad who had been making last-
minute changes to the route appeared in the doorway.
‘We’ve got a bit of a problem’ he said gloomily.

Ambiguous sentences

Once you’re con dent that your class are using commas accurately, you can
introduce the idea of the Oxford comma. Show them the sentence we
discussed earlier in the chapter:

I went to the park with my two dogs, Nick, and Simon.

Can they spot what the two interpretations of that sentence are? Do they
understand why the meaning is ambiguous until you add the additional
comma? Challenge your pupils to come up with their own ambiguous
sentences and share them with the class. If you want to take it even further,
you could have a debate about whether, as a class, you are going to adopt
the Oxford comma in your written work.
Chapter 14
Semi-colons, colons, brackets, dashes
and forward slashes

Chapter overview
Knowing when to use a semi-colon is a bit like knowing how to change a tyre: you won’t have
to do it very often but you’ll feel incredibly smug when you do. In this chapter we will look at:

• The conventions surrounding the use of semi-colons and colons. Here

• Using brackets and dashes for parenthesis. Here
• The role of the forward slash. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

In the previous chapter we looked at the conventions surrounding commas.

In this chapter we’re going to explore some of the other punctuation you
might nd in the middle of a sentence.

What you need to know

e conventions around these punctuation marks are shiing all the time.
Children are oen reluctant to use them and teachers are oen reluctant to
teach their pupils to use them because those conventions can be vague and
ambiguous. However, it’s worth getting it right. When your pupils can
punctuate their sentences con dently, they will write with greater air and
accuracy.

Semi-colons
Semi-colons are mainly used to separate two main clauses. In these cases,
they are an alternative to using a coordinating conjunction such as and or
but.

I’m going to check the weather forecast; I’m not sure what to wear today.

Like all main clauses, both parts of this sentence could stand on their own.
Grammatically, it would be perfectly acceptable to put a full-stop aer
forecast and start a new sentence. However, the writer has decided that
these two clauses are so closely related that they should probably form one
sentence. e semi-colon binds the two clauses together without requiring
any additional words to be added.

I don’t want to go on my own; will you come with me?

is sentence also contains two main clauses – one a statement and one a
question – so closely connected that the writer has decided to merge them
into one sentence. Notice that the main clause aer the semi-colon does
not begin with a capital letter unless the rst word is ordinarily capitalised.
e semi-colon in the example above could be replaced by the coordinating
conjunction so but that might feel a little clunky in this relatively short
utterance. When to start a new sentence, when to use a coordinating
conjunction and when to use a semi-colon is a question of style. Children
should be encouraged to experiment with all three techniques and consider
their different effects.
As well as separating two main clauses, semi-colons can also be used to
separate items in a list. While commas are usually preferred for this
purpose, semi-colons can be a useful alternative to avoid confusion when
the items being listed contain commas themselves, e.g.:

We have divided you into three teams: Natalie, Chris and Jason are in
Team 1; Edith, Karen and Manish are in Team 2; and Ewan, Kelly and
Rumaysa are in Team 3.
Essentially, this is a list of lists! To avoid confusion, a semi-colon has been
used to separate each list. ere is no situation in which anyone is
compelled to use a semi-colon. Many respected writers produce entire
books that contain no semi-colons at all. However, teaching children how
to use them correctly adds to the range of tools they have at their disposal
when writing and it will help to eliminate comma splicing from their work.

Colons
Colons serve several functions. Firstly, they can oen be found introducing
a list or a quotation, e.g.:

ree other countries border Finland: Norway, Sweden and Russia.

As Ludwig Wittgenstein once said: ‘If a lion could speak, we would not
understand him.’

In both of these examples, the item or items aer the colon provide a
resolution to what the writer promised before the colon. In a similar way,
colons can be used to separate two parts of a sentence where the second
part explains or elaborates on the rst:

ere are two things I won’t tolerate around here: sel shness and
laziness.

Notice that the abstract nouns aer the colon explain and elaborate the
sentiment expressed in the main clause. ey tell us what the two things
are that the writer won’t tolerate. e rst part of the sentence before the
colon is almost always a main clause but the second part can be a single
word, a phrase, a subordinate clause or another main clause. Here are some
examples:
They now had only one option left: retreat. One word after the colon
He couldn’t believe what he saw: the ghost of his old Noun phrase after the
friend. colon
She knew what she had to do: she must find the key Main clause after the colon
herself.

In all of the examples above, the main clause before the colon sets up an
idea that needs resolving or creates a question in the reader’s mind that
needs answering. e words aer the colon resolve those ideas and answer
those questions. As with semi-colons, the word aer a colon does not need
to start with a capital letter unless it would ordinarily. Sometimes a colon
will be used to explain the word or phrase at the end of the main clause
before it, especially when the writer suspects that the reader might not
understand it. For example:

On 27 April each year, people in the Netherlands celebrate the

Koningsdag: the Dutch king’s official birthday.

Brackets
In the last chapter, we looked at how commas can be used for parenthesis,
clarifying or naming something that has just been said. Brackets provide a
less subtle form of parenthesis, which completely interrupts the
grammatical structure of the sentence:

e BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was founded in 1922.

e words in brackets in this sentence are clearly understood to offer the

full name represented by the abbreviation BBC. It serves no other
grammatical function in the sentence, which would still make perfect sense
if the parenthesised words were removed.
People oen get somewhat confused about punctuation aer brackets. A
good general tip here is to ask yourself: does the punctuation apply to the
whole sentence or just the section in brackets? Consider this example:
ere are two ways to get out of the building: out of the window (not a
good idea!) or down the stairs.

In this example, the exclamation mark is speci c to the remark not a good
idea; therefore, it sits inside the brackets alongside it. Contrast it with this
example:

Giving the ball back to Fred (it was his), I went back inside.

In this example, the comma is separating the entire fronted subordinate

clause, not just the words in brackets, from the main clause; therefore, it
sits outside the brackets. Sometimes you may even nd you need two
punctuation marks, one either side of the closing bracket:

I decided to stop worrying about it; aer all, it was just a dream (wasn’t
it?).

In this example, the question mark applies only to the brief interrogative
clause in brackets, whereas the full stop brings the entire sentence to an
end. erefore the question mark sits inside the brackets but the full stop
sits outside.
When reading newspaper articles with older children, you may nd you
encounter square brackets, as these are becoming increasingly common.
ey are particularly useful for removing ambiguity in quotations. Look at
this sentence:

e Prime Minister criticised the Leader of the Opposition during a

joint press conference with the President of France, saying, ‘He clearly
hasn’t thought this through.’

If this were said at a time when the Leader of the Opposition and the
Prime Minister were both men, there would be room for confusion here.
Does he refer to the Leader of the Opposition or the President? Any
potential confusion can be removed by replacing the ambiguous pronoun
with clearer language, punctuated by square brackets:

e Prime Minister criticised the Leader of the Opposition during a

joint press conference with the President of France, saying, ‘[e Leader
of the Opposition] clearly hasn’t thought this through.’

e square brackets indicate to the reader that its contents do not re ect
the actual words uttered but they refer to the same thing.

Dashes
Dashes, also known as ‘en dashes’, are an extremely versatile and very
useful punctuation mark. In appearance, an en dash is slightly longer than
a hyphen and serves a different purpose. Dashes can be used as an
alternative to semi-colons, colons or the three dots of an ellipsis. Have a
look at these examples:

is is going to be a wonderful holiday; I can’t wait to get going.

is is going to be a wonderful holiday – I can’t wait to get going.
ere are two problems with my new oven: it’s too large and it’s too loud.
ere are two problems with my new oven – it’s too large and it’s too
loud.
ere’s nothing that can possibly go wrong now… I hope.
ere’s nothing that can possibly go wrong now – I hope.

In each of these examples, the dash is merely an optional alternative to

another punctuation mark. No two ways of writing a sentence ever have
exactly the same effect and it would be interesting to discuss with your
pupils how the dash alters their interpretation of each sentence.
e dash is particularly useful when you’ve already used a semi-colon or
a colon in your sentence and you feel that it would look strange to use
another one. For example:

She’d never missed a penalty yet and she wasn’t planning to start now; she
struck the ball cleanly and the goalkeeper went the wrong way – the
crowd was already on their feet as the ball hit the back of the net.

e writer in this example has taken the decision that these clauses narrate
dramatic, actionpacked events that would be slowed down if they were split
into shorter sentences. e coordinating conjunction and has already been
used to separate two main clauses twice, and including two semi-colons in
the same sentence to separate main clauses would look a little odd. In this
instance, the dash is a handy alternative.

The double dash

A pair of en dashes (or a double dash) can be used in the same way that
commas and brackets can be used for parenthesis. Have a look at the
following examples:

Hippos – despite their enormous size – can run at 19 mph.

And yet, when the house had nally sold – nearly ten months aer it
went on the market – the Brown family decided they no longer wanted to
move, leaving the estate agent in a tricky situation.

e staggering cost – up 57 per cent since 2015 – makes this a luxury item
for most families.

ese sentences would still make sense if you removed the words in
between the dashes. e parenthesis provides additional information for
the reader. e use of dashes is considered more intrusive than using
commas; use dashes if you want to draw the reader’s attention to the extra
information.
The forward slash
e forward slash is a common enough sight in modern English to merit a
mention here. It serves as a disjunction – that is to say, it can stand in for
the word ‘or’, e.g.:

Britain held an in/out referendum on its membership of the EU.

Despite its best efforts to prove otherwise over the last 50 years, Britain
cannot be both in and out of the EU. ere is therefore a disjunction
between the two ideas, expressed in this sentence with a forward slash.

Teaching ideas
All of the punctuation marks covered in this chapter are from the Key Stage
2 curriculum (which is why there aren’t any suggested activities for Key
Stage 1!).

Add the semi-colon

Provide your pupils with a variety of compound sentences and ask them to
add the semicolons. To increase the level of challenge, you may want to mix
in a few complex sentences that don’t require a semi-colon to see whether
they can decipher between the two. You can use the examples below, also
provided as a worksheet in the online resources, as a starting point.
Our aim was to score three goals we only scored one goal.
Call me in the morning I will give you my answer then.
The children were exhausted the party had gone on until midnight.
Tim loved history Zoe loved English.
My birthday is in November Frank’s birthday is in May.
 I can highly recommend that restaurant the service and food are
exceptional.
My hair is wet I forgot my umbrella.
The cat went to sleep it had been a long day.

Add the brackets

is is a simple exercise for assessing your class’s understanding of where

brackets go in a sentence. Use the sentences below (also available as a
printable worksheet in the online resources). Read them aloud as a class
and ask your class to nd the part of the sentence that requires brackets.
The thief knew he couldn’t get into this particular safe an
HVSX2019 safe without using his tools.
King Louis XIV sometimes known as the Sun King ruled France in
the 17th century.
Clare couldn’t work out how she a geographer had got lost.
The doctor did an MRI magnetic resonance imaging scan.
We are vegetarian we don’t eat meat.
They went to the zoo with Maya’s mum Meera.
The majority of my class 92 per cent are going to the local
secondary school.
The Year 6 teacher Miss Campbell also teaches Spanish.

Add the punctuation

By this point, your class have covered all of the punctuation in the primary
curriculum (hurrah!). It’s time to see how they use it. Give them a copy of
the modelled text below (also available as a worksheet in the online
resources) and ask them to punctuate it using relevant punctuation. It’s
likely that each of them will choose to punctuate it slightly differently. Once
they have nished, get your pupils to swap their work with a partner and
compare their decisions – what effect has this had on the meaning of the
text?
 Modelled text

It wasnt an ordinary friendship Zog was an alien Sophia was a six-

year-old human Zog had dark blue skin Sophia had pale skin they
had been friends for two years ever since Zogs spaceship had
crashed into Sophias garden without thinking Sophia had rushed
out to find out what was going on there was lots of smoke a
strange buzzing sound and there in the middle of the wreckage was
a little blue alien Zog
Hello said Sophia giving a shy wave what is your name I is Zog
from the planet Jedanton who are you
I am Sophia from Planet Earth this is my home would you like to
come in for tea
Cautiously Zog followed Sophia into the house to the kitchen
What would you like to eat she asked her guest
Zog likes Gloonburgers
Oh I dont think we have any of those what about a cheese
sandwich
Zog thinks that is OK
Sophia made two cheese sandwiches and cut them into triangles
just like her mum had taught her
Zog sat on the floor Sophia sat at the table
Zog you can come and sit with me up here if you would like
They ate their sandwiches in a comfortable silence you would not
necessarily expect between an alien and a small girl and so began a
lifelong friendship full of amazing adventures

The play’s the thing

Play scripts are a fantastic tool for teaching the importance of punctuation.
e punctuation in a play script is essential as it tells the actors how and
when to deliver their lines. Explore a few scripts with your class (why not
do this when you are preparing them for a performance or class assembly so
that you can use the scripts they already have?). en get your pupils to
convert one of their favourite stories into a play script. Encourage them to
think carefully about the punctuation they use. Once they’re happy with
their script, they can get into small groups and have a go at performing one
another’s plays. is will give them a sense of how effective the punctuation
they have included is at helping the actors deliver their lines.

Dash or double dash?

Have a look at the sentences below. Some require a single dash and others
a double dash. Challenge your pupils to complete the sentences with the
dashes. ere is a worksheet available in the online resources for this
activity.
My sister Alisha likes to eat cheese.
There has been a power cut at school and we’ve all been sent
home early what a pity!
We made pie apple and blackberry for dinner.
Finally after months of training the day of the marathon arrived.
‘You you IDIOT!’ she shouted.
My cat Bubbles is a long-haired moggy.
She got home, put the kettle on and sat down then she
remembered.
We were home safe and sound or so we thought!
Chapter 15
Inverted commas

Chapter overview
Here’s the bad news: there are a number of conventions to follow when using inverted
commas. The good news is there aren’t nearly as many conventions as you think there are. In
this chapter we will look at:

• The differences between direct and reported speech. Here

• The conventions for setting out direct speech. Here
• The conventions for using inverted commas to embed quotations or Here
imply ‘air quotes’.
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

Whoever rst started teaching children about ‘speech marks’ and ‘quotation
marks’ was doubtless well intentioned, hoping to give their pupils a simpler
name for inverted commas that would make their purpose clearer. e
effect has been far from simple, causing generations of children and adults
to imagine they were breaking a plethora of strict rules where in fact none
existed. Children will still ask what the difference is between speech marks
and quotation marks (there isn’t one) or when it is ‘correct’ to use one or
two inverted commas to open and close speech (it doesn’t matter).
Inverted commas is a grammatical term used to describe commas turned
upside down at the top of the line (i.e. inverted from the usual position of a
comma). ey are used to indicate that the words within them were said by
someone other than the author. You can use one or two at each end
depending on your preference –different authors and publishers have
different house approaches, none of which is more ‘correct’ than any other.
 However, there are still a few other issues surrounding the use of
inverted commas that can cause problems, so let’s take a closer look.

What you need to know

Any teacher who has ever tried to read a child’s description of a
conversation between two or more characters with no speech punctuation
whatsoever will know exactly how essential inverted commas can be to
aiding the reader’s understanding. ey will also know that endless
dialogue is rarely the most interesting way to tell a story. Let’s consider the
ways in which we can help our pupils to use speech accurately and
sparingly to good effect.

Direct and reported speech

When teaching children to write stories, it’s a good idea to explain the
difference between direct speech and reported speech. Direct speech
involves writing down exactly what a character said using inverted commas.
Reported speech, on the other hand, involves indirectly reporting the
meaning of what was said. Consider these two sentences:

‘To get to the station,’ Margaret said to Wilbur, ‘you must carry on down
Park Road and take the second road on the right.’
Margaret directed Wilbur to the station.

In the rst of these examples, you will notice that the reader is given the
exact words Margaret used. In the second, we simply know that Margaret
gave Wilbur the directions. Once they’ve learnt to punctuate speech, you
will oen nd that primary school children’s stories become leaden with
dull and narratively inconsequential dialogue along the following lines:

‘Hi,’ Daisy said, ‘how are you?’

‘I’m ne, thanks,’ Doris replied. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m good, thanks,’ Daisy answered. ‘Do you want to play tennis?’
‘Yes, that would be lovely. ank you.’

Dialogue like this adds nothing to the plot of any story. e exact words
used in such an exchange don’t matter and won’t have any discernible effect
on the reader other than to bore them. It’s a good idea, therefore, to
encourage children to replace exchanges like this with some succinct
reported speech:

Aer greeting one another warmly, Daisy and Doris decided to play
tennis.

However, sometimes the precise words do matter. e tone and vocabulary

used by a character are one of the ways in which a reader gets to know
them, and sometimes their words have a hidden meaning that becomes
clearer later in the story. Very oen, therefore, direct speech is necessary
and children will need to learn the fairly complex conventions for setting it
out.

Conventions for writing direct speech

We’ve divided the conventions for setting out direct speech into ve
sections. ese are in no particular order.

Convention 1
When writing direct speech, inverted commas are placed at either end of
what is said by the character and nothing else. It doesn’t matter whether
they’re ‘66s and 99s’ or just little dashes. It doesn’t matter whether there are
one or two of them. Many teachers encourage children to use two as they
are less likely to be mistaken for commas on the line above.

‘I’m somewhat disappointed,’ Mr Noakes announced.

“I’m somewhat disappointed,” Mr Noakes announced.
e author or narrator in this example is saying the words Mr Noakes
announced whereas Mr Noakes himself is saying the words I’m somewhat
disappointed.

Convention 2
A clause attributing the speech to a particular character (telling the reader
who is saying it) can be placed before, aer or in the middle of the direct
speech:

Peter asked, ‘Who are you and why are you here?’
‘Who are you and why are you here?’ Peter asked.
‘Who are you?’ Peter asked. ‘And why are you here?’

Notice the capital ‘A’ following the clause that attributes the speech to Peter.
is is because it forms the beginning of a new sentence.
When writing longer sections of dialogue, reporting clauses can be
dropped once it has been made clear to the reader who is saying what.

Convention 3
When adding a clause to direct speech to attribute it to a character, the
subject and verb can be swapped around, but not if the subject is a
pronoun:

‘Good morning, Mrs Briggs,’ the children said.

‘Good morning, Mrs Briggs,’ said the children.
‘Good morning, Mrs Briggs,’ they said.
‘Good morning, Mrs Briggs,’ said they.

e rst three examples above are all acceptable forms, whereas the fourth
is not. In most English clauses, the subject precedes the verb. We have the
option of reversing them when reporting speech. However, to do so would
look very odd indeed if the subject were a pronoun, as in the fourth
example. ere are archaic examples (e.g. ‘I am the Lord of the Dance,’ said
he) but it isn’t generally done in modern English.

Convention 4
Direct speech always ends with a comma, a full stop, an exclamation mark,
a question mark or an ellipsis. is punctuation almost always sits inside
the inverted commas. e clause attributing speech to a particular character
is oen separated from the direct speech by a comma, although you will
also see authors employing variations to this convention. Common
exceptions include cases where the direct speech ends with a question
mark, an exclamation mark or an ellipsis:

‘Where are we going?’ David asked. ‘We’ve been travelling for ages.’
‘Scotland,’ the driver replied. ‘Didn’t anyone tell you?’

Convention 5
You start a new line for a new speaker.

‘Name?’ the officer demanded.

‘Louise Barnes,’ Jill lied, nervously.

You’ll oen nd that authors start a new line not just when the new
speaker starts talking, but as soon as they become the subject of the
sentence:

Karim wandered across the playground and saw Micah on the climbing
frame. ‘Boo!’ he shouted.
Micah almost lost his footing. ‘You scared me!’

Notice that in this case the author has started a new line one sentence
before the new speaker says anything. is is because attention has now
switched to Micah and it makes it obvious, even without an attribution,
that the words You scared me were uttered by him.

Quotations
e grammatical conventions for including quotations in a piece of non-
ction writing are similar to those of setting out direct speech. However, the
ways in which quotations are attributed to the people who wrote or said
them can be quite different to those employed in ction. For a start,
attributing a quotation to its author in the middle or at the end is rare. A
quotation is much more likely to be preceded by a short phrase or clause
ending in a colon, rather than the comma that would be more normal in
ctional dialogue, e.g.:

As J. S. Mill once said: ‘He who knows only his own side of the case
knows little of that.’
According to Lady Gaga: ‘Love is like a brick.’

Another common way of citing quotations is by placing them as the logical

grammatical continuation of a sentence, e.g.:

Winston Churchill, famously, was adamant that Britain would ‘never

surrender’.

Notice that this sentence would still make grammatical sense without the
inverted commas.
e words uttered by Churchill are ‘sewn into the grammatical fabric’ of the
whole sentence.

Air quotes
e other instance in which inverted commas are commonly used is to
draw attention to a word or phrase that may seem strange, unfamiliar or
out of place in a sentence. ese are the occasions when, in conversation,
we might make Dr Evil-style ‘air quotes’ with our ngers as we speak:

I invented this myself. I call it ‘the Mind Machine’.

In this sentence, the speaker is coining a new name for something, and the
hitherto unfamiliar phrase is highlighted with inverted commas.

ings went from bad to worse when we arrived at our ‘hotel’.

In this sentence, we can see that the word hotel has been placed in inverted
commas. e implication is that the hotel was so bad, it’s misleading to even
call it a hotel at all.

Teaching ideas

According to the National Curriculum, inverted commas are introduced in

Year 3 so, for this reason, all of the following activities are aimed at Key
Stage 2 pupils.

Identifying direct speech

e rst step in writing direct speech is being able to identify direct speech.
Read a short extract of a story with your class and provide them with a
blank comic strip template (we’ve supplied one in the online resources).
Ask them to create a comic strip of the extract, using speech bubbles for the
direct speech.
Texts into dialogue

is activity always goes down well with a class and gives you a chance to
assess whether or not they understand the conventions for setting out
direct speech. Provide your class with a screenshot of text messages
between two people. Use https://ifaketextmessage.com to create them
rather than showing messages from your own phone… You might want to
write text messages from characters from the book you are reading in class
or from famous gures in science or history. e following example is an
exchange between Hermione and Harry Potter. e task is to convert the
texts into a dialogue using full speech punctuation. To extend the task, get
your class to imagine the rest of the conversation and continue their
dialogue.
Who said that?

Below, there is a table with two columns: one side is a list of famous people
from throughout history; the other side shows famous quotations. e task
is to match the quotation to the famous person (this might require a bit of
research) and write the answers in full sentences, using inverted commas,
e.g.:

Winnie the Pooh said, ‘You’re braver than you believe and stronger and
smarter than you think.’
ere is a printable worksheet for this activity in the online resources.

Neil God bless us, everyone.

Armstrong
Muhammad One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.
Ali
Rosa Parks We shall fight on the beaches.
Buzz Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Lightyear
Winston That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
Churchill
Malala You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer
Yousafzai yourself any direction you choose.
Tiny Tim To infinity…and beyond!
Dr. Seuss All I was doing was trying to get home from work.
Audrey Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood. Now is the time to
Hepburn understand more, so that we may fear less.
Marie Curie Nothing is impossible; the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!

Convert a play script

We’ve already discussed in Chapter 14, here, how useful play scripts can be
for teaching punctuation. For this activity, start by getting the class to
perform a play script. en set the task of converting a play script into a
dialogue using full speech punctuation. Encourage your class to think about
how to incorporate the stage directions into their work.

Add the dialogue

Watch a short wordless animation, e.g. Pixar’s ‘For the Birds’ at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjoDEQqyTig. Get your class to act out the
story in small groups, adding their own dialogue, and watch each group’s
performance. en get each child to write their own dialogue to go with the
animation. e Literacy Shed is a fantastic place for short videos if you’re
stuck.
Part Three
Writing with flair
Chapter 16
Moods and voices

Chapter overview
In this chapter we’re going to cover four moods that we think are really useful to know about
and one that we think is a bit daft. We will be looking at:

• The five ‘moods’ commonly used in standard English. Here

• The difference between the active and passive voice. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

e National Curriculum requires that we teach children about the

differences between statements, questions and commands, also known as
the indicative, interrogative and imperative moods respectively. at seems
pretty sensible to us. e National Curriculum also requires that we teach
children to use and identify the subjunctive mood. is seems pretty silly to
us. However, since we’re required to teach four of the ve ‘moods’
commonly used in modern standard English, we gured we might as well
throw in the h one, the conditional mood, for free. Exciting, right?
As well as getting moody, this chapter will tackle the difference between
the active and passive voices. Learning and then teaching all these technical
terms can get a bit tedious but hopefully you can use the information and
ideas in this chapter to give your pupils some subtle tricks to make their
writing more sophisticated.

What you need to know

Unfortunately, the word ‘mood’ starts to look really weird when you use it a
lot and that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing. We should probably
explain that a grammatical mood doesn’t really have anything to do with
the everyday de nition of the word, and none of the moods we’ll be
looking at should make you cry – although that may be the effect this stuff
has on some Year 6 teachers when they see it on the syllabus.

The indicative mood, aka statements

e good news is that the indicative mood is nice and easy. Indicative
clauses are statements. ey are clauses that, quite simply, tell us
something. ey inform the reader that a is b or that c does d:

Mary Ann Evans published her books using the pen name ‘George Eliot’.
Bad things happen to good people.
Characters played by Sean Bean in lms and TV shows almost always die.

Each of these sentences is an assertion, a declaration, a proposition. Each

expresses a fact or a belief. It states that a particular state of affairs is the
case.

The interrogative mood, aka questions

We’ve encountered interrogatives a few times already as we’ve woven our
way through the wonders of English grammar. Interrogative clauses ask
questions and they tend to end, reassuringly if somewhat predictably, with
a question mark. Some interrogative clauses are headed by relative
pronouns and these usually pose open questions:

Where is Sarah Connor?

Who stole my cheese?

Some interrogative clauses, meanwhile, pose binary questions or closed

yes/no questions. ese tend to start with a suitable form of the verbs to
have, to do or to be or with a modal verb:

Is this the real life or is this just fantasy?

Do you think this is a good idea?
Should you be eating that?
Have you seen Sarah Connor?

Some indicative clauses can be turned into interrogative clauses simply by

adding a question mark:

is is your idea of fun?

I don’t suppose you’re feeling hungry?

The imperative mood, aka commands

Some teachers like to teach children how to write imperatives by talking
about ‘bossy verbs’ and this is a pretty good way to introduce the idea to
young children:

Mix together 300g of our, 200g of caster sugar and two eggs.
Stop it.
Take your marks, get set – go!

While we’re teaching children about imperatives, it’s also a good

opportunity to talk about manners, if the Department for Education will
allow us a couple of minutes of such woolly, liberal frivolity within their
austere diet of rigorous, undiluted grammar. Imperatives are a big part of a
child’s world. Children nd themselves on the receiving end of them a lot
and, as a result, they tend to use them more than most adults too. It’s
probably a good idea to teach children that, to help everyone in our society
get along, we tend to turn our imperatives into interrogatives or indicatives:

Would you mind coming over here for a moment?

I’d prefer it if you didn’t do that.

The subjunctive mood, aka Mr Gove’s school days

e subjunctive is a formal and somewhat old-fashioned mood used to
describe desired outcomes. Typically, you’ll see a verb early on in the
sentence that deals with someone trying to get someone else to do
something – ask, demand, insist, recommend, require, suggest, etc. is is
then followed by a subjunctive clause explaining what precisely it is that
someone was trying to get someone else to do. e subjunctive clause
contains the base form of its main verb (the in nitive minus the word to –
see Appendix 4, for more on in nitives). Confused? Well, of course you are.
Let’s look at some examples and hopefully you’ll start to understand:

e alderman’s wife insisted that Mrs Parker-Daniels attend supper at

their residence.
I humbly request that Her Majesty grant an audience to a faithful
subject.
I suggested that my mate Chris stop watching Love Island.

Notice that the verb in the main clause in each case is in the base form
regardless of tense and person – not an -s or an -ed ending in sight. e
modern and informal context of the third sentence looks rather
incongruous and quite funny aer the highbrow tone of the rst two
sentences. However, it’s there to make a serious point, which is that the
subjunctive is becoming increasingly obsolete. ese sentences would all be
completely acceptable if their writers had stuck to the indicative mood:

e alderman’s wife insisted that Mrs Parker-Daniels attended supper at

their residence.
I humbly request that Her Majesty grants an audience to a faithful
subject.
I suggested that my mate Chris stopped watching Love Island.

e subjunctive is never mandatory but, if they do learn about it, children

will be able to adopt a more formal register when writing in role as
historical characters, which could result in some interesting work. Apart
from one extra mark on the grammar test (in some years but not others),
that’s about all we can promise!

The conditional mood, aka hypothetical situations

Conditional clauses are used to introduce hypothetical scenarios and
usually begin with the word if. However, they can also be linked to the
main clause with other subordinating conjunctions such as unless or as
soon as. Conditional clauses are somewhat unusual as they will oen
(though not always) use past or present tense verbs to introduce
hypothetical events in the future:

If I won the lottery, I’d give half to charity and spend the rest on myself.
I’m getting a job as soon as I’ve nished my exams.
I think I can do this if I try my best.
Unless you help her, she’s in real trouble.

It’s worth spending a bit of time on conditionals with children as they can
be prone to using unacceptable forms like this:

If I will win the lottery, I will buy a big car.

Whether the poor grammar or the vulgar materialism upsets you more is
your own business, but a mistake like this is completely understandable as
both the hypothetical lottery win and the hypothetical car would be events
in the future.

The active and passive voice

Almost all the sentences we’ve included as illustrative examples in this book
so far have been written in the active voice. at is to say, the subject of the
sentence is the doer of the verb:

J. K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books.

Wrote is the verb in this sentence. J. K. Rowling is the subject of the

sentence, for it was she who did the writing. However, this sentence can be
swapped around:

e Harry Potter books were written by J. K. Rowling.

is is now written in the passive voice. Were written is now the verb phrase
and e Harry Potter books are now the subject, for it is they that were
written. Apologies to our fellow Bloomsbury author: Ms Rowling herself
has now been exiled to a prepositional phrase at the end of the sentence.
Sentences are written in the passive voice when the author wishes to give
prominence to the person or thing upon whom the verb was enacted, rather
than the person or thing who enacted the verb. Consider these two
sentences:

A violent criminal attacked an innocent pensioner. Active

An innocent pensioner was attacked by a violent criminal. Passive

You will oen see the passive voice used in news reports about unpleasant
incidents like this for a very good reason. Using the active in this case
makes the violent criminal the star of the show – the main character in the
story. So, even though it was the violent criminal who attacked, the writer
in the second sentence has switched to the passive and made the innocent
pensioner the subject of the sentence – the person who was attacked. e
pensioner is now the centre of the story – the person around whom the
reader’s interest and sympathy revolves. Here is another example:
We resolved the matter. Active
The matter has been resolved. Passive

Sometimes, switching from active to passive can depersonalise an issue. In

this case, perhaps the writer wishes to be modest and avoid looking like
they’re trying to take all the credit for resolving the matter. Alternatively,
perhaps, the manner in which the matter was resolved was somewhat
controversial, and using the passive voice distances those responsible from
the decision they’ve taken. Perhaps, for whatever reason, the writer simply
feels that the slightly more formal tone of the passive version is more
appropriate.
A clause written in the passive voice always involves some form of the
verb to be alongside the main verb. Precisely which form of the verb to be is
used depends on the person and tense involved. A lot of academic writing,
from history essays to reports of scienti c investigations, sounds
considerably more sophisticated when the passive voice is employed
con dently:

One of the plants was placed in a dark room, with the other being le in
direct sunlight.
Incontrovertible evidence as to the fate of the princes has yet to be
discovered.
A colour change was observed as the beaker was heated.
Caesar’s own accounts of his military campaigns should be treated with
some scepticism.

Teaching ideas
Everything covered in this chapter is in the curriculum for upper Key Stage
2, so all of these activities have been planned with Year 5 and 6 pupils in
mind. ere are further teaching ideas for the different moods in Chapter
4, here – make this your rst port of call.
Write election speeches

Hone your pupils’ understanding of the conditional by getting them to

write election speeches under the title ‘If I were your prime minister…’.
Discuss how the conditional mood lends itself to more formal writing, e.g.
speeches, formal letters, etc. As each child delivers their speech, ask the rest
of the class to listen out for examples of the conditional mood.

Identify the mood

Read through the extract below and explain that it contains a number of
examples of the moods the pupils have learnt about. Agree on a key as a
class, using different colours for the interrogative, subjunctive, etc., and get
your pupils to highlight the different moods they can nd in the text. ere
is a digital version of this text in the online resources to avoid you typing it
out.
 Extract

‘Kirsty Phillips, sit down in your chair,’ said the teacher sternly.
Kirsty rolled her eyes but did as she was told. She caught her friend
Zainab’s eye and smiled at her.
‘OK, 9S, listen carefully as I’m going to explain the summer
project.’ There was a heavy groan from the class.
‘Next year you will start studying for your history GCSE. In
preparation, we would like you to do some research about the
Russian Revolution. Now, it does not have to be extensive – just a
couple of sides of A4 with the key details, events, dates and figures.
Do you understand?’
‘Why do we have to do homework in the holidays, Miss?’ Kirsty
called out.
‘Well Kirsty, we believe it is good to keep your brain ticking over
during the summer. Six weeks is a long time. We wouldn’t want
you to undo your good work from this year, would we?’
Kirsty shrugged. ‘If I were in charge, I would make a rule that
children could NEVER have homework,’ she replied.
‘Well, work hard, do your homework, pass your exams, go to
university and then you CAN be in charge,’ the teacher replied.
‘Ha. As if! I’m getting a job as soon as I’ve finished my exams. I
am out of here.’
‘Stop being silly, Kirsty.’

Convert active into passive

It’s likely your pupils will be more con dent about writing in the active
rather than the passive. Give them the following sentences written in the
active voice and challenge them to rewrite them in the passive. ere is a
worksheet that you can use for this activity in the online resources.

The boy threw the ball.

The children watered the plants.
Boris Johnson made the speech.
The earthquake destroyed the whole city.
The tiger’s roar broke the silence in the jungle.
George drinks four litres of water every day.
David Walliams wrote Gangsta Granny.
The frogs inhabited the pond.
The baby scribbled on the wall.

Simon Says

Get your class practising using the imperative mood with a game of Simon
Says. In this game, the person who is ‘Simon’ uses the imperative mood to
give instructions to the rest of the class, e.g. ‘Put your hands on your head.’
You can play this game as a whole-class activity, with alternating pupils
playing Simon.
Chapter 17
Structuring whole texts

Chapter overview
This book would have been much harder to read if we hadn’t used a number of the structuring
devices covered in this chapter. We will be looking at:

• The conventions for dividing writing into paragraphs. Here

• How to include sub-headings, lists and bullet points. Here
• Using cohesive devices to tie whole texts together. Here
• Using different registers and maintaining a consistent register across a
Here
piece of writing.
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

In the rst chapter of this book, we looked at how individual words are
constructed. Since then, our main focus has been on constructing clauses
and sentences to convey meaning. is chapter is going to zoom out again
and consider some of the grammatical questions that arise when we write
an entire text. We’re going to consider paragraphs and other ways of
breaking up the parts of a text and yes, we will be discussing that old
favourite among grammatical non-issues: how to punctuate bullet points.
We’ll then be exploring how cohesive devices, registers and discourse
markers can enable us to create texts that convey meaning in an
appropriately engaging way.

What you need to know

Most of what you need to know in this chapter is that you don’t need to
know anything! at is to say, the ‘rules’ you think you’re breaking most of
the time probably don’t really exist.

Paragraphs
‘Each paragraph is about a different thing.’ at’s more or less what we say,
right? And, to be honest, it’s about right. A paragraph is a series of
sentences about a particular topic, theme, event, stage, incident or idea. e
only problem is that each sentence, each phrase and sometimes each word
can be about a different thing, so what sort of difference is it that
determines when a new paragraph is needed? e answer, perhaps
somewhat unhelpfully, is that it is up to you, and the decision you make
signals to your reader how you think the content you’re delivering is best
broken down into more manageable chunks.
When writing non- ction, there’s usually a way to divide your text up by
topic. So, for example, the paragraph before this one introduced the topic of
paragraphs generally and this one is speci cally about how to divide up
paragraphs when writing non- ction. When laying out an argument for a
point of view, you might want to start a new paragraph for each of your
reasons or pieces of evidence. When reporting on a football match, you
might want to try to divide the game into rough stages to split up your
paragraphs – the context in which the game was played; how Team A
started dominant and took a two-goal lead; how Team B came back into
the game with two goals of their own either side of half-time; and nally
the drama at the nal whistle aer Team A scored a dodgy penalty to win
the match with the last kick of the game. It’s up to you – the important
thing is that you divide your writing up in such a way that it becomes
clearer and more accessible for your reader.
When writing ction, you have similar decisions to make. Most authors
will start a new paragraph when the action moves to another place or a
later time. If a lengthy conversation between two characters about a
particular issue comes to an end and they turn their attention to something
else, that may also signal the end of a paragraph. Many authors will include
single paragraphs that serve particular purposes, e.g. a description of a
setting. G. R. R. Martin, the author of Game of rones, will oen include
an entire paragraph whenever a feast takes place in his stories that describes
in meticulous detail the various dishes adorning the table. en, of course,
some ction authors don’t use paragraphs at all. Once again, it’s up to the
writer to decide how they want to package their content for the reader.
So, how do we divide up paragraphs? Should we skip a line or simply
move to the next line? Once again, it’s up to you. Do you always have to
indent the start of a new paragraph and by how much? Honest answer:
who cares? Just make sure it’s obvious to the reader where one paragraph
ends and another begins.

Sub-headings, lists and bullet points

e rules about sub-headings, lists and bullet points are as follows:

• Use sub-headings if you think they will help your reader to follow the
text.
• Use lists and bullet points if you think they will help your reader to
follow the text.
• Otherwise, do whatever you want.
Is the full stop compulsory at the end of each bullet point? No. Is the
capital letter at the start of each bullet point compulsory? No. Do differently
shaped bullet points mean different things? No.
Like hyphens and inverted commas, bullet points cause many people to
imagine there is a set of very speci c rules that everyone else in the world
knows but, for some reason, they were never told about. ere isn’t. So
relax. Let’s move on.

Cohesion
Cohesion in everyday English means sticking together, working together,
getting along – that kind of thing. In grammar its meaning is much the
same: it describes the way in which different clauses and phrases are made
to feel as though they are all part of the same text. You could call this a
sense of the text owing. is is achieved through various cohesive devices.

Pronouns and determiners

One common and very simple cohesive device is to use pronouns and
determiners to draw relationships and connections across sentences:

My grandfather served in North Africa during the Second World War.

Most of our families contain extraordinary stories if we dig deep
enough. He didn’t talk about it very much but he must have seen some
extraordinary things.

e nal sentence contains the pronoun he twice and the pronoun it once.
Reading this passage, you immediately know that he refers to my
grandfather and it refers to his service in North Africa, even though neither
has been mentioned since two sentences previously. e pronouns avoid
needless repetition of the same words but subtly draw our understanding
of different sentences together without making it sound unnatural.

Adverbials

Another common way to create cohesion in a text is through our use of

adverbials:

At nine o’clock, the bell rang and we went into class. I immediately sat
down with Serena and started talking to her about my idea for a school
radio station. I didn’t get to hear what she thought of my plan because
Mr Scott called for silence so he could take the register. Two hours later,
I was nally able to speak to her again.

In this passage, we know roughly what time the writer was able to speak to
Serena again – about 11 o’clock – because of the cohesion created by the
two underlined adverbials. Even though they are several sentences apart,
they help us to understand the whole text as one cohesive, owing
narrative. We oen use time or sequential adverbials (to begin with, next,
aer that or rstly, secondly, nally) to achieve the same goal.

Repetition and substitution

Captain Baxter had sailed all over the world and no one knew more
about ships.
‘What about the Barracuda?’ I suggested. ‘I’m sure we’d be allowed to
borrow it.’
‘e Barracuda is a rotting pile of junk,’ the old seafarer replied.

is extract uses two very common cohesive devices to help the lines of
dialogue ow into one another: repetition and substitution. e repetition
of the name Barracuda reassures the reader that the conversation is owing
logically, and authors need to do this a lot to hold the trust and attention of
their audience. is is why most works of ction will continually refer back
to the same characters and objects and, without wishing to sound unkind, a
lack of this sort of cohesion is oen the reason why many stories written by
children can seem a bit disjointed and unengaging. However, it’s also off-
putting for the reader if they keep seeing the same name or phrase used
again and again. at’s why, in the example above, the term the old seafarer
has been used to describe Captain Baxter in the last line. As well as making
the extract more varied and more interesting, it reinforces what we’ve
already learnt about the character in the rst line.

Registers
Register is the grammatical term for the tone of a piece of writing. e most
important point to get across to children is that more formal registers are
needed in some cases than others. e differences in language that
contribute to differences in register are very subtle, and teaching them
explicitly isn’t always easy, but there are some speci cs we can draw our
pupils’ attention to:

He’s annoying and his idea is terrible.

His manner can be somewhat alienating and his proposal could be
signi cantly improved.

As an experienced reader in the English language, you are doubtless able to

identify that these two sentences express similar sentiments in different
registers; the rst is more informal and cavalier while the second is more
formal and cautious. e rst thing children will notice is that formal
registers are more likely to contain ‘big words’ and this is oen true, but
there are more important features of a formal register for them to notice:

1. Less personal. Notice the subtle difference between the word idea
and the word proposal. An idea is in someone’s mind whereas a
proposal is something out in the world. Criticising someone’s idea
therefore sounds a little bit more like a personal dig than criticising
their proposal. When writing formally, we try to nd less personal
ways to talk about personal and potentially sensitive issues. You
might say two people are acquainted rather than saying they know
each other, for example, or you might describe someone’s emotions or
feelings about an issue as their reaction.
2. Greater prevalence of the passive voice. In the rst example above,
both clauses are written in the active voice, whereas both clauses in
the second example are written in the passive voice. is
depersonalises the issues being discussed, making them appear more
measured and objective.
3. Objective rather than subjective terms. Saying that someone is
annoying is subjective and very personal – it sounds like an opinion
rather than a fact. However, describing their manner as alienating
 sounds far less personal and far more objective. It suggests that,
without any personal feelings on the matter, the writer has observed
the effect of the person’s manner on other people.
4. Use of euphemisms. e term could be signi cantly improved is a
euphemism (a more polite way of saying something uncomfortable)
that all teachers will recognise. It means terrible. However, the writer
of the second example has tried to avoid using such a strong and
emotive adjective, while nonetheless making clear their concerns.
5. Qualifying modi ers. Somewhat is a very useful word. If the writer
had said ‘his manner can be a little bit alienating’, it would sound
more polite but it would also lessen the force of the accusation. e
beauty of adding the modi er somewhat to an adjective is that it
sounds more polite and measured but it doesn’t actually reduce the
force of it at all!

As we discussed in the last chapter (here), you can also use the subjunctive
mood to make writing more formal.
Formal and informal are not the only types of register. When we talk
about a piece of writing being sarcastic, romantic, funny, ironic, abusive or
tongue-in-cheek, we are making a remark about register. ere is even a
speci c register for footballers’ post-match interviews in which they use the
present perfect tense to discuss events in the game that are now in the past:

Yeah, so I’ve seen Crouchy early doors. He’s made the run and I’ve
knocked it up to him. He’s seen it, got on the end of it and, fortunately,
it’s gone in.

A grammar book is not the place to learn how to adopt every possible
register we can imagine. It would be good, though, especially with older
children whose understanding of grammar is quite secure, to ask them to
try to identify the features of different registers themselves in their own
reading.
Teaching ideas
All of the content covered in this chapter is from the Key Stage 2
curriculum, so these activities are pitched at children in Year 3 to Year 6.
For teaching ideas on adverbials, head to Chapter 12, here.

Miss Boardmarker’s school trip

is is a fantastic activity for teaching formal and informal register. Miss
Scarlett Boardmarker is a primary school teacher. She has taken her class on
a school trip to a sweet factory, where they have had a rubbish day. Miss
Boardmarker has written two letters about her day. One was to Mr Booker,
a teacher from another school who was also thinking about taking his class
to the sweet factory. He wanted to know what Miss Boardmarker thought
about the trip. e other letter was to her friend Jemma, telling her what a
rubbish day she’d had. Read both the letters with your class (you’ll nd
them below and also as digital versions in the online resources for you to
print or display on a whiteboard). en, using the letters, challenge your
class to answer the following questions. You can add your own questions if
you wish!

1. What is the name of the town Miss Boardmarker’s school is in?

2. List three things that went wrong when Miss Boardmarker’s class
went to the sweet factory.
3. Do you think Mr Booker is a close friend of Miss Boardmarker?
Explain your answer.
 4. Which of the two letters did Miss Boardmarker write rst? How do
you know?
5. Do you think Miss Boardmarker has a well-behaved class? Explain
your answer.
6. Do you think Miss Boardmarker is young or old? Why?
7. How do you think Miss Boardmarker knows her friend Jemma?
Explain your answer.
8. Explain why everyone was disappointed to be given a free bookmark
at the sweet factory.
9. List three features of the letter to Mr Booker that show that it is a
formal letter.
10. List three features of the letter to Jemma that show that it is an
informal letter.

Miss Boardmarker’s formal letter to the teacher asking

whether the trip was worthwhile

Lennon Park Primary School

Dawson Road
Woodgate
WG61 1TH
Dear Mr Booker,
I am writing in response to your letter enquiring about our class
visit to the sweet factory last week. Obviously, the children were
excited to be going to the sweet factory and I expected that they
would learn a great deal about how sweets are made and about
how factories work. I am sorry to say, however, that the day was
neither as enjoyable nor as educational as I might have hoped.
When we first arrived, there was nobody at the entrance to meet
us. As a result, the children and adults in our group were left
waiting for over half an hour with nothing to do. Despite our best
efforts to keep the children entertained, the unexpected wait made it
difficult to keep their behaviour under control.
When we were eventually invited into the factory, we were taken
on a guided tour. The member of staff who led the tour did not
always explain things very clearly and he did not seem particularly
comfortable talking to the children. He attempted to explain the
functions of the different machines but even I could not always
understand what he meant, so I imagine the children found it very
difficult indeed to follow what he was saying.
Despite it being a sweet factory, we did not actually see any
sweets at all. Their leaflet clearly stated that the children would be
given a ‘free gift’ at the end of the day. You can imagine their
disappointment when this turned out to be a bookmark with the
factory logo printed on it.
For these reasons, I am afraid I cannot recommend the sweet
factory for your next school trip. I suggest you look into other
possibilities. I trust that you will find this information helpful.
Yours sincerely,
S Boardmarker
Miss S Boardmarker

Miss Boardmarker’s informal letter to her friend about the trip

Hi Jemma,
Hope you’re OK. How’s things? I’ve had such a rubbish day
today. We went on a school trip to this sweet factory a few miles
away from our school and it was a complete waste of time. We got
there at half past nine and there was nobody to meet us. I had to
stand around for about half an hour trying to stop the snotty little
kids in my class from killing each other out of boredom! Honestly,
we were so BORED!!!
When we finally went in, we were shown round the factory by this
boring old fart who must have been about 100 years old. He waffled
on about heaven knows what for well over an hour and none of us
 could understand a word he said. He was a bit like Mr Griffiths, that
dinosaur who taught us history for GCSE. Do you remember him? It
seemed like this guy had been dead for years! I don’t think he’d ever
met a child before. He didn’t have a clue how to speak to them.
They were bored out of their tiny little minds!
If all that wasn’t bad enough, the ‘free gift’ we’d been promised
turned out to be a bookmark. Can you believe that? A bookmark!
It’s a SWEET FACTORY for crying out loud! Would it kill them to
actually give out some SWEETS?!!
The whole thing was awful. I am never going back there ever
again. I would sooner have my eyeballs chewed out by a diseased
squirrel.
Anyway, I’m rambling on. Let me know how things are with you.
See you soon. Take it easy.
Scarlett

Rewrite the school newsletter

Most schools have a weekly newsletter they send out to parents. It is an

example of formal writing that the children will be familiar with. Once they
understand the difference between informal and formal register, challenge
your class to rewrite a section of the newsletter in an informal tone. ey’ll
have a lot of fun with this. Well, as much fun as you can have with formal
and informal voices.

Model paragraphs
We thought long and hard about ideas for teaching paragraphs. All the
suggestions we have put in the book we have used ourselves with our own
classes over the years. When we think about how we have taught
paragraphs, it hasn’t been with a worksheet, a quiz or a game. It hasn’t even
been by showing pupils paragraphs in books (although that was part of it).
e two things we’ve done that have helped our pupils understand how
and where to use paragraphs are: teaching them to plan their texts and
modelling using paragraphs with the class. Before they write anything, we
usually do some modelled or shared writing on the board. is is the time
to discuss where the paragraphs are going to go and more importantly
WHY. Model your thought process aloud to the class: ‘OK, so the next bit of
the story is going to be in the garden rather than in the kitchen so I think I
will start a new paragraph now. Can anyone suggest an appropriate
adverbial to start the rst sentence of this new paragraph?’

Planning paragraphs

is works better when writing a non- ction text, e.g. if your pupils are
writing about why some women were given the vote in 1918. ey might
start off planning with a simple spider diagram as follows:
 Here you have four main points, each of which will require at least one
paragraph. From this point, you might want to provide your pupils with a
planning sheet like the one below to help them expand the points into
paragraphs. ere is a printable copy of this sheet in the online resources.

Planning sheet
 Paragraph 1
Main point: Supporting ideas/analysis/evidence, etc.
Paragraph 2
Main point: Supporting ideas/analysis/evidence, etc.
Paragraph 3
Main point: Supporting ideas/analysis/evidence, etc.
Paragraph 4
Main point: Supporting ideas/analysis/evidence, etc.

Spot the cohesive devices

Look at the extract below and read it as a class. Give each child a copy of
the text (there is a printable version in the online resources) and ask them
to try to spot some of the cohesive devices they have been learning about.
Discuss what effect these devices have on the text. Why are they necessary?
What would the text be like without them?
 Extract

Poppy was a contented girl. She had wonderful friends, a cosy and
comfortable home and a family who wouldn’t have looked out of
place in The Waltons. Yes, Poppy was a very happy child. However,
there was one thing Poppy didn’t have: a pet. Oh, how she longed
for a fluffy companion, a furry friend. Everywhere she looked, Poppy
saw pets: dogs walking on leads down the street, cats staring out
of living room windows and rabbits chewing grass in the front
garden. It simply wasn’t fair.
Chapter 18
Breaking the ‘rules’

Chapter overview
Now the real fun can start! In this chapter we will look at:

• The origins of words and how etymology affects grammar. Here

• The boundaries between word classes and the way individual words Here
can cut across them.
• How to incorporate non-sentences into a piece of writing. Here
• Ideas and resources to support teaching of these concepts. Here

As you’ll be well aware by now, throughout this book, we’ve avoided talking
about grammar rules. is is because there is no such thing. We have tried
to avoid using words like should and must to describe grammatical
conventions. Rules have to be set and enforced by someone and there is,
thankfully, no such body in the English-speaking world. e conventions
explained in this book are not regulations you are forced to obey. ey
merely provide information about how people do, in fact, tend to write.
You will be able to nd exceptions and counterexamples for almost
everything that we’ve said before – and many of your pupils will too.
Grammar is not maths. To say that multiples of ve must end in a ve or a
zero is to invoke a universal truth and there are no counterexamples. To say
that question marks go at the end of questions simply isn’t that sort of truth
– it’s just a description of most people’s current writing behaviour.
For that reason, we thought it would be worth ending our journey
through the basics of English grammar by celebrating some of the ways the
rules can be broken, and why this is oen no bad thing.
Etymology and made-up words
All words are made up. Every single one. At some point, they didn’t exist,
and then they did. ey weren’t delivered to a great prophet of grammar on
stone tablets in ancient times. ey just happened. People said things, other
people knew what they meant, and those utterances became words. e
words bandit, critic, lonely, dauntless and dwindle were all invented by
Shakespeare. In fact, he invented over 1,700 words used in the English
language.
Sometimes a completely new sound can come to be associated with a
particular thing but, more oen, words have a story. Consider the word
meme. e word was rst coined by evolutionary biologist Richard
Dawkins in the 1970s to describe any idea, behaviour or style that spreads
from person to person within a culture. He took the Ancient Greek word
mimeme, meaning ‘imitated thing’, and shortened it to sound like the word
gene. He used this new word to demonstrate how ideas can spread and
reproduce in a similar manner to the way genes do. At some point more
than 40 years later, someone used this word to describe, very speci cally, a
familiar picture (be it con dent Buzz Lightyear with his arm around an
overwhelmed Woodie, Leonardo DiCaprio brandishing a martini glass or
the distracted boyfriend looking at the girl in the red dress) annotated with
text being widely circulated on social media. is story of a word’s origins is
called its etymology and it’s a fascinating topic. Most words in our language
were formed by a succession of invaders 1,000 to 2,000 years ago: Romans,
Saxons, Vikings and Normans. Ancient Latin, Germanic and Scandinavian
languages were hammered together in a haphazard fashion to form the
rudiments of English. In the global age we now live in, and partly due to
some rather embarrassing and somewhat shameful incidents in the colonial
era, our language has in uences from all over the world. Many
mathematical terms like algebra and algorithm came to us via Arabic, the
word chocolate comes from the Aztecs and, believe it or not, the word
bungalow entered the English language via Hindi.
 However, as we’ve said a number of times now, the purpose of grammar
is to make sense – to make ourselves understood by other people. If we’re
going to make up words or adopt them from other languages, we have to
do it in such a way that other people will understand what we’re talking
about. e Year 6 grammar test isn’t the time for children to make up their
own words but there’s no harm in letting them do it from time to time,
especially if they can nd a creative and meaningful way to do it, such that
their reader is able to understand what they’re saying.

Changing word classes

e word elbow was rst used as a verb by Shakespeare (‘A sovereign shame
so elbows him’ – King Lear). Before that, it had only ever functioned as a
noun. One of the interesting ways in which we can break grammatical
‘rules’ without noticing is to change the class of a word due to the way we
use it. Consider the way Google has become a verb as well as a proper noun
over the last 20 years. Sometimes this might involve simply using the word
in an unusual way:

at is so him.

People say this sort of thing a lot. ey mean that something he (whoever
he is) has done is typical of his behaviour. Alternatively, it may mean that a
particular item of clothing really suits him. What is intriguing is that him
functions not as a pronoun in this sentence as it usually would, but as an
adjective.
Sometimes, we create new words by adding a suffix associated with a
particular word class to the end. You’ll sometimes hear people say
something like:

Don’t go that way; it’s really trafficky.

We know what they mean and they’ve made the noun traffic into an
adjective by adding a -y suffix. We can even make a judgement about how
to spell it by comparing it to similar real words that have an optional -y
suffix (e.g. panic – panicky). Here are some other examples:

I’m worried that our politics is getting Trumpi ed by social media.

(A noun has been turned into a verb.)

My breakfast this morning was not very Instagrammable.

(A noun has been turned into an adjective.)

I Googled the names of Henry VIII’s wives.

(A noun has been turned into a verb.)

Try making up some of your own, or encourage your pupils to. You might
even nd yourselves having an interesting conversation about word classes
and suffixes!

Non-sentences
roughout this book, we’ve concentrated on the grammar of and within
sentences, but much of what we write isn’t composed of sentences at all. We
write shopping lists and take notes; we send text messages and we tweet.
We certainly don’t speak in grammatically coherent sentences most of the
time.
Even when writing more formally, like when writing a story, we may o
en include non-sentences for perfectly good reasons.

Nyinka looked out of the window and listened. Nothing. Silence. She
watched and waited until, all of a sudden, the church bells in the town
started ringing. Every single one.

ere are two sentences in the extract above and three non-sentences:
Nothing.
Silence.
Every single one.

ese don’t contain verbs or subjects – they’re just words or phrases. ey
aren’t sentences. But, if writing them like this helps to build suspense and
tension in the extract, who cares? You may also have noticed that we
started the last sentence with a coordinating conjunction – but. And I
started this one with and. And this one. And do you know what? We can
hear no sirens. No ashing lights. No one is coming to arrest us because
there are no grammar police. ere are self-appointed grammar fascists, of
course – heaven knows, there are plenty of those – but more oen than not
they’re the idiots, not you. ey’re the ones who don’t understand how the
English language works. No one makes the rules, even if the Department
for Education would like to. We just have an untidy patchwork of evolved
and overlapping conventions. Good writers recognise and acknowledge
those conventions but they also know when to do their own thing. Writing
is intended to be read and what matters is the effect of your writing on the
reader.
As for those guys who pick you up for saying who instead of whom ?eir
attitude just doesn’t make sense. We should know. We wrote a book on
making sense – and we hope you’ve enjoyed it.

Teaching ideas
Before you launch into rule-breaking, it is really important that your pupils
are secure in their understanding of grammatical conventions and how to
use them. For this reason, the teaching ideas listed below are for an upper
Key Stage 2 class. However, the best thing you can do for those pupils who
are ready to start breaking the rules is expose them to a wide range of
reading material that provides them with examples of authors breaking the
rules. You could start with the opening line to A Christmas Carol, for
example.

Marley was dead: to begin with

Dickens’s use of a colon is quite eccentric. Read it with your pupils and
discuss why he might have chosen it and what effect it has on the reader.

Make your own rules

Once you’ve introduced your pupils to the idea that new words can be
created by adding a suffix to a noun to change the word class, e.g. Googled,
Trumpi ed and so on, challenge them to come up with their own. Remind
them that the root word has to be familiar enough that everybody
understands what is implied by this new word. Once they have had time to
generate their new words, see whether the rest of the class can work out
what the meaning of their new word is.

Write your own Jabberwocky

Lewis Carroll invented plenty of nonsense words in his time. Have a look at
the opening stanza of his poem, ‘Jabberwocky’:

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
 All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

What’s interesting about this is that although there are a number of

nonsense words, they are used in a way that is grammatically correct – it
makes sense to the reader. To start with, try getting your pupils to write a
translation of this stanza. ey could then come up with their own mythical
creature and use nonsense words to write their own poem.

Non-sentences

Introduce your pupils to the ‘non-sentence’. As we mentioned earlier, it’s

really important that they understand what a sentence is before you get to
this. Give them a few examples (see below if you need some inspiration)
and discuss them as a class. Point out that these sorts of sentences are used
to build tension or suspense and are oen just one or two words. en give
them time to write a few of their own.

Examples of non-sentences
Jemima looked up. Her brother looked different. Completely
different.
Nyinka looked out of the window and listened. Nothing. Silence.
She watched and waited until, all of a sudden, the church bells in
the town started ringing. Every single one.
Something brushed past Jack. He shivered. It wasn’t something. It
was someone. Him.
He didn’t know it at the time but that was the last time he would
see his friend. Alive.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Word classes and word families

Most words in English sentences can be categorised according to eight

broad word classes. Here is a list of the word classes and where you can
nd more information about them:
Nouns – Chapter 2, here
Pronouns – Chapter 3, here
Determiners – Chapter 3, here
Verbs – Chapter 4, here
Adjectives – Chapter 6, here
Adverbs – Chapter 6, here
Prepositions – Chapter 11, here
Conjunctions – Chapter 11, here

It must be emphasised that individual words are not xed within any of
these categories. Most words can have different classes depending on how
they are used in the sentence:

Nina likes cheese. likes is a verb

What are your likes and likes is a noun

dislikes?

That is a good idea. That is a pronoun

That pencil is mine. That is a determiner

Run for the hills. for is a preposition

Have courage for we are many. for is a conjunction

You took that corner too fast. fast is an adverb

Cheetahs are fast. fast is an adjective

 Many words have several different in ections, or versions, that give you
a clue as to the word class within which they are acting in a particular
context. ese are called word families, e.g.:

Education is usually a noun. Defiance is usually a noun.

Educate is usually a verb. Defy is usually a verb.
Educational is usually an adjective. Defiant is usually an adjective.
Educationally is usually an adverb. Defiantly is usually an adverb.

Sometimes there can be different in ections for the same word class within
the same word family with subtly different meanings. For example,
memorial and memory are usually both nouns within the word family that
includes other in ections such as memorable and memorise.
e in ection that indicates the word class is oen determined by the
suffix at the end of a word. For a long time, teachers taught adverbs as -ly
words but, in reality, the words most oen used as adverbs (e.g. well, again,
today, now) don’t end in -ly and many words that aren’t adverbs do:

We can’t rely on our cowardly ally.

In this sentence, rely is a verb, cowardly is an adjective and ally is a noun.

Please don’t teach children that adverbs are -ly words. It isn’t true.
However, if you want to teach children about suffixes that do help them
to guess the word class of a particular word, you have a glorious
grammatical smorgasbord of options, especially when it comes to nouns
and adjectives. A word ending in -ation, for example, is very likely to be a
noun. Where it isn’t a noun, it’s likely to be derived from one (e.g. when
ration is used as a verb). Here are some more suffixes that indicate a word
is likely, but not guaranteed, to be a noun:

-age -ance -ence -dom -hood -ism -ity -ment -ness -ship -sion -tion

You will no doubt be able to think of exceptions for most of them but these
are useful patterns to point out to children. By the same token, there are
several suffixes that are likely, but not guaranteed, to indicate adjectives:

-able -ible -ful -ic -ish -ive -ian -less -ous

In general, however, there are no shortcuts to teaching children to identify

different word classes. ey need to be able to identify the word’s role in
the sentence and work out from there which of the eight categories it ts
into best.
Appendix 2
Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are incredibly common in English and, if you are able to read
this book, it’s safe to assume you use them all the time without noticing.
ey are verb phrases in which a verb is combined with a conjunction to
create a new verb form with a meaning slightly different from either of its
original components. ere are too many to list them all but here are just a
few:

I need to pick up my children.

ese clothes need to be put away.
Muhammad found out the truth.
Let’s carry on.
Don’t give up.
We’ve run out of milk.
Freya caught up with her friends.
Stop showing off.

Once you notice phrasal verbs for the rst time, you wonder how you’ve
never noticed them before. ey are everywhere in English and they are a
nightmare for non-native speakers of our language, since every
combination has a unique meaning. For this reason, it’s a really good idea
to draw children’s attention to them, especially if English isn’t spoken at
home. In all of the examples above, the phrasal verb acts as the main verb
phrase in the sentence. You may have noticed that some of these sentences
have an object (and wouldn’t make sense if they didn’t) whereas some have
no object. at is to say, some of them are transitive whereas some of them
are intransitive (see Appendix 3). Some of them even have one meaning in
their transitive form and a completely different meaning in their
intransitive form! Take a look at these examples:

Saadia made up a story.

Aer their argument, David and Subir made up.

If all of this wasn’t confusing enough for somebody learning English as an

additional language, many of our phrasal verbs can be split up, with the
verb on one side of a noun or noun phrase, and the preposition on the
other:

Don’t mess this up.

Who threw my sandwich away?
Bella turned the lights off.

In all of these examples, the verb acts as the main verb in the sentence
while the preposition acts as an object complement (see Appendix 5).
Phrasal verb, like so much in grammar, is a complicated term for something
very simple – but something we can easily neglect to mention to our pupils.
Appendix 3
Transitive and intransitive verbs

Don’t panic about this one! It’s actually pretty simple. A transitive verb is a
verb that must have an object or a complement to complete it. Consider
these non-sentences:

I bring.
Eleanor takes.
ey send.

ese verbs are incomplete because they lack an object. Grammatically

speaking, you have to bring something to somewhere. You have to take
something (unless you’re deliberately using the verb in an unusual stylistic
manner, e.g. ‘You know your problem? You just take and you take and you
take.’) You have to send something.
Intransitive verbs, by comparison, are those that do not require an object
or a complement to complete them:

Tottenham won.
Did you resign?
Mr Weller died.

In all of these examples, the intransitive verbs complete the sentence on

their own. We’ve included this distinction in this book because it appears in
the National Curriculum for Key Stage 2. We’re not convinced it’s a
particularly important concept to teach primary school children but there
are cases where it might be a helpful way to clarify misconceptions in
children’s writing, especially for children with English as an additional
language.
Appendix 4
Finite verbs, infinitives and
participles

Finite verbs are the main verbs in nite clauses. ey appear alongside a
subject in a sentence and they are written in one speci c simple tense:

I like cheese Simple present tense

Kim spoke to Rob Simple past tense

To understand what makes these verbs nite, we need to take a look at

their opposite, non- nite verbs, of which there are two main sorts:
in nitives and participles.
All verbs apart from modal verbs have an in nitive form, which you
might want to think of as the general or generic form of the verb, beginning
with the word to, e.g. to run, to talk, to nd. In nitive forms are used when
you want to talk about carrying out the action denoted by the verb in a
general sense, without a speci c tense:

I like to walk my dog.

In this example, one infers from the author’s words that they have walked
their dog in the past and will do so again in the future. For all we know,
they may even be walking their dog right now! e verb like is written in
the present tense – it is nite. But the in nitive form to walk is general; it
has no tense. is idea is relatively simple in English, as the in nitive form
is usually just the rst-person, present-tense form of the verb with the word
to in front of it:
I go (first person, simple present) To go (infinitive)
I believe (first person, simple To believe (infinitive)
present)
I defenestrate (first person, simple To defenestrate (infinitive)
present)

ere is one total exception to the above rule and unfortunately it’s
probably the most common verb in our language:

I am(first person, simple present) To be(infinitive)

Children nd it quite hard to understand that to be is the same verb as I

am and all its many other wildly irregular forms (we are, it is, she was, they
were, etc.) but it’s quite an important aspect of English grammar, especially
when it comes to understanding how auxiliary verbs work (see Chapter 4,
here). e more a word is used in a language, perhaps unfortunately, the
more it gets warped and altered by the centuries.
e other type of non- nite verb is the participle, which we touched on a
little bit in Chapter 4, here. ere are two kinds: the present participle and
the past participle.
Present participles are the form of the verb that ends in -ing:

Stop being so silly!

In this command, or imperative, the verb stop is nite. However, the phrase
being so silly refers to the act of being silly generally; it doesn’t have its own
tense. Present participles are oen used to talk about doing things
generally, rather than at a particular time:

Talking to his parents, you realise why he is the way he is.

I will miss having these chats when you go to your new school.
Sitting down for too long is supposed to be bad for your back.
e rules for adding the -ing suffix are relatively simple: in most cases, you
just add it and get on with your life. However, English being English, there
are of course a couple of exceptions:

1. If the in nitive form of the verb ends in a consonant followed by an e

(e.g. have, bake, hope), you take off the e and then add the suffix (e.g.
having, baking, hoping).
2. Furthermore, if the in nitive form of the verb ends in a vowel
followed by any single consonant apart from y (e.g. sit, bet, rot), you
double that nal consonant before adding the suffix (e.g. sitting,
betting, rotting).

Past participles are a little less predictable but they usually end either in -d,
-ed, -n, -ne or -en. You can identify the past participle for any given verb by
working out which form of it would follow the words I have when forming
the present perfect tense:

To do – I have done
To have – I have had
To stop – I have stopped
To try – I have tried
To be – I have been
To go – I have gone/been
Both present and past participles can be used with auxiliary verbs to form
different tenses (see Chapter 4, here) but the tense is determined by the
form of auxiliary verb used, not the choice of participle:

I had done Past perfect

I have done Present perfect
I will have done Future perfect
All three of these tenses uses the past participle of done. However, one is a
type of past tense, one is a type of present tense and the other is a type of
future tense: this is determined by the form of the nite auxiliary verb to
have that has been chosen. Present participles have the same versatility:

I was going Past progressive

I am going Present continuous
I will be going Future continuous
Appendix 5
Complements and adjuncts

Complements
A common mistake for teachers and pupils is confusing objects with
complements. Oen the purpose of a sentence is to give the reader or
listener information about the subject. In these instances, the sentence is
likely to include a subject complement: a word or phrase that completes the
verb and tells you more about the subject. It is not a separate person or
thing, and therefore a complement is different from an object, but it can
oen be found in the same part of the sentence. For example:

Mr Pearson became a teacher.

Ajarni was feeling very bored.
You look wonderful.

Notice that the verbs in these sentences wouldn’t make sense (or would at
least have a completely different meaning) if you took the subject
complements away. A subject complement is different from an object
because it only gives you information about the subject – it doesn’t tell you
about anyone or anything else.
Just as subject complements complete the verb and give us more
information about the subject, object complements complete the verb and
give us more information about (you guessed it) the object. To be precise,
they usually give us more information about the manner in which the
object has been affected by the verb. ey almost always appear at the end
of the sentence or clause. Here are some examples:
e sorcerer turned the prince into a frog.
My friends make me happy.
Defeat in battle made a bad situation even worse.

Notice that, like subject complements, object complements can be

individual words or longer phrases. e verb phrase in each sentence only
makes sense because the object complement is there to complete its
meaning.

Adjuncts
What about the ‘other bits’ of simple sentences? What about those words or
phrases that are neither subject nor object, verb phrase nor complement?
All of these other elements are called adjuncts and they are oen adverbial
in nature. at is to say, they are oen adverbs or adverbial phrases and
they describe the manner, time, place, degree, frequency or intensity with
which the action described in the sentence takes place. Here are a few
examples:

On Sundays, we sometimes visit grandma.

at man oen seems to be staring at something across the road.
In all honesty, I think I may have misjudged the situation completely.

What we can take away from all of this is that there is nothing simple about
simple sentences! A simple sentence may only contain one clause, but that
clause can involve detailed subjects and objects, complex verb phrases,
complements and adjuncts. Here are some examples of simple sentences
that are, well, really quite complicated!

My rst day at the new school surely had to be one of the most difficult
days of my entire life.
Subject: My rst day at the new school
Verb phrase: had to be
 Subject complement: one of the most difficult days of my entire life
Adjunct: surely

e previous Saturday morning, Cynthia’s eldest daughter had decided to

send her a long and detailed email full of hurtful accusations.
Subject: Cynthia’s eldest daughter
Verb phrase: had decided to send
Direct object: a long and detailed email full of hurtful accusations
Indirect object: her (Cynthia)
Adjunct: e previous Saturday morning

Luckily for the vice-chairman of the company, his unscrupulous business

associates had already decided, somewhat reluctantly, to give him his
rightful share of the money back.
Subject: his unscrupulous business associates
Verb phrase: had already decided to give him
Direct object: his rightful share of the money
Indirect object: him (the vice-chairman of the company)
Object complement: back
Adjunct: Luckily for the vice-chairman of the company; somewhat
reluctantly
Appendix 6
Dummy subjects and implied
subjects

Read this sentence and ask yourself where the subject is:

It is easy to get confused by all these grammatical terms.

Stumped? You’re not alone. It’s quite common for sentences to contain
what’s known as a dummy subject, usually either it or there. is might start
to make a little more sense if you ask yourself what or whom the word it
refers to in the above example. e answer is nothing! It has no semantic
content at all – it refers to no one in particular but merely stands in for the
subject in the way that a shop window dummy stands in for a real person
wearing a dress. A similar phenomenon is at work here:

ere was a terrible re.

Once again, the word there has no semantic content of its own; it merely
lls the role of the subject in the sentence. Sentences like this are
remarkably common and, when teaching children to nd the subject of a
sentence, you may be asked about them.
You will also nd that some sentences have an implied subject. is is
particularly common for commands, also known as imperatives (see
Chapter 16, here, for more on these). Consider this sentence:

Give me that!
is sentence contains a verb, an indirect object and a direct object but
there is no subject in sight. However, it is obvious who the subject is from
the context. If someone were to say this to you, you would be in no doubt
that you were the person expected to act and therefore you would be the
subject! Although it is not stated, it is very heavily implied. You will also
nd implied subjects in some subordinate clauses, especially participle
clauses. Here is an example:

Having fully assessed the terrible extent of the ood damage, Ryan
phoned his insurance company.

In the example above, the subject of the fronted participle clause is not
stated outright, but it’s completely obvious from the main clause that the
person who assessed the ood damage was Ryan.
e other place where locating the subject can be tricky is in questions,
otherwise known as interrogative clauses:

Where is my hat?
What are you doing?
Who stole my cheese?

In all the questions above, the underlined interrogative pronoun (or

‘question word’ if you like) is the subject of the sentence. is can be a little
bit counterintuitive but, as with all pronouns, these words are standing in
for particular nouns or noun phrases (it’s just that the person asking these
questions doesn’t yet know which ones!).
Appendix 7
Discourse markers

A lot of resources and sources of information will refer to ‘discourse

markers’. ese are found in almost all types of writing but they are
especially numerous in non- ction texts. ey organise, separate and
introduce segments of spoken or written discourse (points or ideas). ey can
be individual words or longer phrases and they can fall into different word
classes. For example, and when used as a conjunction, equally when used
as an adverb and following when used as a verb can all be deployed as
discourse markers. Some of them would go at the start of a sentence
whereas others would have to go in the middle, supported by other words
or phrases.
In spoken language, discourse markers are those little phrases that link
our remarks together and knit them into coherent conversations, e.g.:

Well, I mean…
Now that you mention it…
But don’t you think…

In written grammar, they link sentences, clauses and paragraphs together

and help to provide cohesion to the whole text (see Chapter 17, here, for
more on cohesive devices). You may nd it useful to provide your pupils
with banks of discourse markers when they’re writing. It’s probably what
those well-meaning teachers were trying to do in the last decade when they
baffled their pupils with incoherent nonsense about ‘connectives’.
Here are ten types of discourse markers that you might want to share
with your pupils. You’ll notice there’s some overlap between the lists of
examples. You’re a primary school teacher so you’ll probably want to make
them into a pretty chart and laminate it or something. Yeah, we see you.

1. Discourse markers to begin your writing

ese words and phrases begin your rst point, event, idea or
argument. e style of discourse marker you go for will depend on
the task in hand.

Examples: rstly, to begin with, at the beginning, in the rst instance,

for one thing, initially, at the start, primarily, originally.

2. Discourse markers for adding to and supporting a previous remark

ese are words or phrases that add information or ideas to previous
comments. ey’re particularly useful for introducing a new point or
piece of argument to build up one side of an argument.

Examples: and, furthermore, moreover, in addition, then, also, besides,

too, again.

3. Discourse markers for sequencing information, events and ideas

ese are what, in the past, you may have called ‘time connectives’ –
an unhelpful word to use for all the reasons outlined in Chapter 11.
ey indicate orders, sequences or chronology.

Examples: rstly, secondly, thirdly, nally, then, next, meanwhile,

before, during, while, whilst, aer, subsequently, eventually.

4. Discourse markers for illustrating and exemplifying

ese introduce examples and clari cations that support a point
you’ve just been making or make it clearer to your reader what you
mean.
 Examples: for example, such as, for instance, as you can see from,
illustrated by, as demonstrated when, in the case of.

5. Discourse markers for comparing

ese link one idea to a similar idea or another example that
demonstrates the same point.

Examples: similarly, likewise, as with, just as, like, equally, in the same
way.

6. Discourse markers for contrasting

ese are the opposite of discourse markers for comparing. ey link
one idea that is not the same or they might link a piece of evidence
for one point of view to another piece of evidence that considers a
different point of view.

Examples: but, yet, whereas, despite, alternatively, on the other hand,

conversely, having said that, nevertheless, however, notwithstanding.
7. Discourse markers for qualifying
ese discourse markers tend to introduce exceptions or limitations
to the point or idea before them, encouraging the reader to treat it
with caution in some way, rather than assuming it is always
applicable.

Examples: except, apart from, unless, providing, as long as, if,

although, albeit, provided that.

8. Discourse markers for establishing cause and effect

ese words and phrases make it clear that one state of affairs is
responsible for another state of affairs. Some (like because) require
the effect to be explained before the discourse marker and the cause
 aerwards. Others (like therefore) work the other way around: they
require the cause to be explained before the discourse marker and
the effect aerwards.

Examples: because, as a result of, consequently, owing to, due to, thus,
therefore, ergo.

9. Discourse markers for emphasising

ese indicate that the point or idea following them is particularly
important compared to other points or ideas that have been stated.

Examples: above all, in particular, primarily, especially, critically,

most importantly, signi cantly, indeed, notably.

10. Discourse markers for concluding and summarising

ese oen introduce the nal point in a piece of writing. ey tend
to indicate that the discourse is coming to an end and they tend to
introduce a recap of its main point.

Examples: nally, to conclude, ultimately, on the whole, overall, in

general, to summarise, basically, in short, in the end, when it comes
down to it.
Glossary

Need a quick, at-a-glance de nition? Here is our edited and abridged

version of the Department for Education (2013b) glossary that shows the
technical grammatical terms used in the National Curriculum. We’ve added
a few of our own and linked every concept to the chapters in this book.
Need more information? Head to the relevant page number for further
information about the concept, as well as teaching ideas and resources.
Term Definition Page
Active voice An active verb has its usual pattern of subject and here
object (in contrast with the passive).
Adjective A word that modifies a noun. The surest way to here
identify adjectives is by the ways they can be used:
• before a noun, to make the noun’s meaning more
specific (i.e. to modify the noun), or
• after the verb be, as its complement.
Adjectives are sometimes called ‘describing words’
because they pick out single characteristics such as
size or colour.
Adverb Adverbs can modify a verb, an adjective, another here
adverb or even a whole clause.
Adverbial An adverbial is a word or phrase that is used, like an here
adverb, to modify a verb or clause. Of course,
adverbs can be used as adverbials, but many other
types of words and phrases can be used this way,
including prepositional phrases and subordinate
clauses.
Apostrophe Apostrophes have two completely different uses: here
1. showing the place of missing letters, e.g. I’m for I
am
2. showing ownership, e.g. Tim’s pen.
Article The articles the (definite) and a or an (indefinite) are here
the most common type of determiner.
Auxiliary verb The auxiliary verbs are: be, have, do and the modal here
verbs. They can be used to make questions and
negative statements. In addition:
• be is used in the progressive and passive
• have is used in the perfect.
Do is used to form questions and negative statements
if no other auxiliary verb is present.
Clause A clause is a type of phrase that contains a verb and here
contains or clearly refers to a subject. Clauses can
sometimes be complete sentences. Clauses may be
main or subordinate.
Complement A verb’s subject complement adds more information here
about its subject, and its object complement does the
 same for its object. Unlike the verb’s object, its
complement may be an adjective. The verb be normally
has a complement.
Conjunction A conjunction links two words or phrases together. here
There are two main types of conjunction:
1. Coordinating conjunctions, e.g. and, link two
words or phrases together as an equal pair.
2. Subordinating conjunctions, e.g. when,
introduce a subordinate clause.
Determiner A determiner specifies a noun as known or unknown, here
and it goes before any modifiers (e.g. adjectives or
other nouns). Some examples of determiners are:

• articles (the, a or an)

• demonstratives (e.g. this, those)
• possessives (e.g. my, your)
• quantifiers (e.g. some, every).
Direct speech Direct speech is the reporting of speech by repeating here
the actual words of a speaker, demarcated with
speech marks or quotation marks. For example: ‘It
has been a privilege to work with you for these last ten
years,’ said the headteacher.
Ellipsis Ellipsis is the omission of a word or phrase that is here
expected and predictable.
Finite verb Every sentence typically has at least one verb that is here
in either the past or the present tense. Such verbs are
called ‘finite’. The imperative verb in a command is
also finite. Verbs that are not finite, such as participles
or infinitives, cannot stand on their own: they are
linked to another verb in the sentence.
Fronted/fronting A word or phrase that normally comes after the verb here
may be moved before the verb: when this happens,
we say it has been ‘fronted’. For example, a fronted
adverbial is an adverbial that has been moved before
the verb. When writing fronted phrases, we often
follow them with a comma.
Infinitive A verb’s infinitive is the basic form used as the head- here
word in a dictionary (e.g. walk, be). Infinitives are often
used:
• after to
• after modal verbs.
Intransitive verb A verb that does not need an object in a sentence to here
complete its meaning is described as intransitive. See
‘transitive verb’.
Main clause A main clause is a grammatical construction that here
expresses meaning: it describes a relationship, a
circumstance or a state of affairs. It always includes a
verb or a verb phrase and it usually includes a subject
too. A main clause can be a sentence without a
subordinate clause.
Modal verb Modal verbs are used to change the meaning of other here
verbs. They can express meanings such as certainty,
ability or obligation. The main modal verbs are will,
would, can, could, may, might, shall, should, must and
ought. A modal verb only has finite forms and has no
suffixes (e.g. I sing – he sings, but not I must – he
musts).
Modifier One word or phrase modifies another by making its here
meaning more specific. Because the two words make
a phrase, the ‘modifier’ is normally close to the
modified word.
Noun The surest way to identify nouns is by the ways they here
can be used after determiners such as the: for
example, most nouns will fit into the frame ‘The __
matters/matter.’ Nouns are sometimes called ‘naming
words’ because they name people, places and
‘things’. Nouns may be classified as common (e.g.
boy, day) or proper (e.g. Ivan, Wednesday), and also
as countable (e.g. thing, boy) or uncountable (e.g.
stuff, money). These classes can be recognised by
the determiners they combine with.
Noun phrase A noun phrase is a phrase with a noun as its head, here
e.g. some foxes, foxes with bushy tails. Some
grammarians recognise one-word phrases, so that
foxes are multiplying would contain the noun foxes
acting as the head of the noun phrase foxes.
Object An object is normally a noun, pronoun or noun phrase here
that comes straight after the verb, and shows what the
verb is acting upon. Objects can be turned into the
subject of a passive verb, and cannot be adjectives
(contrast with complements).
Participle Verbs in English have two participles, called ‘present here
 participle’ (e.g. walking, taking) and ‘past participle’
(e.g. walked, taken). Unfortunately, these terms can be
confusing to learners, because they don’t necessarily
have anything to do with present or past time. That
said, past participles are used as perfects (e.g. has
eaten) and they are also used as passives (e.g. was
eaten).
Passive The sentence It was eaten by our dog is the passive of here
Our dog ate it. A passive is recognisable from:
• the past participle form eaten
• the normal object (it) turned into the subject
• the normal subject (our dog) turned into an
optional prepositional phrase with by as its head
• the verb be (was), or some other verb such as
get.
Contrast this with active. A verb is not ‘passive’ just
because it has a passive meaning: it must be the
passive version of an active verb.
Past tense Verbs in the past tense are commonly used to: here
• talk about the past
• talk about imagined situations
• make a request sound more polite.
Most verbs take the suffix - ed to form their past tense,
but many commonly used verbs are irregular.
Perfect The perfect form of a verb generally calls attention to here
the consequences of a prior event; for example, he
has gone to lunch implies that he is still away, in
contrast with he went to lunch. Had gone to lunch
takes a past time point (e.g. when we arrived) as its
reference point and is another way of establishing
time relations in a text. The perfect tense is formed by:
• turning the verb into its past participle inflection
• adding a form of the verb have before it.
It can also be combined with the progressive (e.g. he
has been going).
Phrase A phrase is a group of words that are grammatically here
connected so that they stay together, and they
expand a single word called the ‘head’. The phrase is
a noun phrase if its head is a noun, a prepositional
phrase if its head is a preposition, and so on; but if the
head is a verb, the phrase is called a clause.
Possessive A possessive can be: here, here
• a noun followed by an apostrophe, with or
without s
• a possessive pronoun.
The relation expressed by a possessive goes well
beyond ordinary ideas of ‘possession’. A possessive
may act as a determiner.
Preposition A preposition links a following noun, pronoun or noun here
phrase to some other word in the sentence.
Prepositions often describe locations or directions,
but can describe other things, such as relations of
time. Words like before or since can act either as
prepositions or as conjunctions.
Prepositional A prepositional phrase has a preposition as its head here
phrase followed by a noun, pronoun or noun phrase.
Present tense Verbs in the present tense are commonly used to: here
• talk about the present
• talk about the future.
They may take a suffix -s (depending on the subject).
Progressive The progressive (also known as the ‘continuous’) form here
of a verb generally describes events in progress. It is
formed by combining the verb’s present participle
(e.g. singing) with a form of the verb be (e.g. he was
singing). The progressive can also be combined with
the perfect (e.g. he has been singing).
Pronoun Pronouns replace nouns in a sentence. They are here
normally used like nouns, except that:
• They are grammatically more specialised.
• It is harder to modify them.
Relative clause A relative clause is a special type of subordinate here
clause that modifies a noun. It often does this by using
a relative pronoun such as who or that to refer back to
that noun, though the relative pronoun that is often
omitted. A relative clause may also be attached to a
clause. In that case, the pronoun refers back to the
whole clause, rather than referring back to a noun.
Reported speech Sometimes called indirect speech, reported speech is here
a speaker’s words reported in third person with the
required changes of person and tense. E.g. The man
 said that he was going to the party is reported speech
based on I am going to the party.
Sentence A sentence contains at least one clause. The form of a here
sentence’s main clause shows whether it is being
used as a statement, a question, a command or an
exclamation. A sentence may consist of a single
clause or it may contain several clauses held together
by subordination or coordination.
Subject The subject of a verb is normally the noun, noun here
phrase or pronoun that names the ‘do-er’ or ‘be-er’.
The subject’s normal position is:

• just before the verb in a statement

• just after the auxiliary verb in a question.
Unlike the verb’s object and complement, the subject
can determine the form of the verb (e.g. I am, you are).
Subjunctive In some languages, the inflections of a verb include a here
large range of special forms that are used typically in
subordinate clauses, and are called ‘subjunctives’.
English has very few such forms and those it has tend
to be used in rather formal styles.
Subordinate clause A clause that is subordinate to some other part of the here
same sentence is a subordinate clause. For example,
in Having eaten her breakfast, the cat went back to
sleep, the clause having eaten her breakfast is
subordinate. It doesn’t work as a sentence on its own;
it is modifying the main clause: the cat went back to
sleep.
Transitive verb A transitive verb takes at least one object in a here
sentence to complete its meaning, in contrast to an
intransitive verb, which does not.
Verb The surest way to identify verbs is by the ways they here
can be used: they can usually have a tense, either
present or past (see also future). Verbs are sometimes
called ‘doing words’ because many verbs name an
action that someone does; while this can be a way of
recognising verbs, it doesn’t distinguish verbs from
nouns (which can also name actions). Moreover, many
verbs name states or feelings rather than actions.
Verbs can be classified as auxiliary or modal; as
transitive or intransitive; and as states or events.
Word class here
 Every word belongs to a word class that summarises
the ways in which it can be used in grammar. The
major word classes for English are: noun, verb,
adjective, adverb, preposition, determiner, pronoun
and conjunction. Word classes are sometimes called
‘parts of speech’.

Adapted from Department for Education (2013b).

FAQs (or, in other words, the most
commonly encountered grammar
demons)

We spoke to primary school staff up and down the country (well, mainly on
Twitter) to nd out the most common grammar demons. Use this page as a
quick crib sheet if you want a short answer, with a page reference to go to if
you want further information and teaching ideas.
1. When should I use hyphens? I just sort of make it up and hope for
the best at the moment.
Hyphens are used to make two words into one. ere are a variety of
situations in which you might need to do this but the rules oen aren’t
as hard or fast as people think. For more information head to here.
2. When do I use apostrophes and why do I sometimes get confused?
Apostrophes are used for two purposes: to indicate possession, e.g. the
boy’s coat, or contraction, e.g. don’t instead of do not. For more on this,
and for more on why this can sometimes seem confusing, please see
here.
3. What is an adverbial? Is it the same as an adverb?
An adverbial is a word phrase or a clause that modi es a verb, whereas
an adverb tends to be a single word. For more information on adverbial
phrases, and for more information about adverbs.
4. How many word classes are there and why do some words seem to t
into different word classes at different times?
 ere are eight word classes you need to know about if you are
teaching primary grammar. Every word in the English language has a
number of different uses and can change word class depending on the
context. For more on this head to here.
5. Its or it’s? Which is it?
is depends on whether you are saying something belongs to it, in
which case you use its, e.g. the dog wagged its tail. If you are using a
contraction of it is then you use it’s, e.g. It’s my birthday tomorrow.
6. What about your and you’re?
You’re is a contracted form of you are, e.g. You’re going to miss breakfast
if you don’t get up soon. Your means it belongs to you, e.g. Don’t forget
your coat. If you are having trouble, write ‘You are’ instead of ‘You’re’
and see whether your sentence still makes sense! For more on this head
to here.
7. How do I use semi-colons?
Semi-colons are used to link main clauses that are closely related and
can be considered one sentence, e.g. ere was a storm last night; the
grass is wet. ey can also be used to separate items in a list in certain
situations. For more on this head to here.
8. Is it fewer or less? When do I use them and does it matter?
Whether you use fewer or less depends on whether the noun you are
referring to is countable or uncountable. For uncountable nouns, e.g.
bread, water, crime, you use less, and for countable nouns, e.g. children,
friends, apples, you use fewer, e.g.:
I have less water than you.
ere are fewer children here than there were yesterday.
For more on this turn to here.
9. What about who and whom?
 Use who when it’s the subject of the sentence and whom when it’s the
object of the sentence. More on this here.
10. Are speech marks the same as quotation marks? I’ve heard that
speech marks are double and quotation marks single but I’m never
really sure what I’m doing.
Most of the supposed rules that you hear about this are made up and it
is almost entirely a matter of personal taste. For more on this head to
here.
11. What’s the difference between a main clause and a subordinate
clause?
Broadly speaking, a main clause would make sense on its own whereas
a subordinate clause would depend on a main clause to make sense.
More on this here.
12. What’s the difference between a phrase and a clause?
is one is a very ne line but, generally speaking, a clause has to have
a verb and clearly refer to a subject whereas a phrase may have one or
the other but doesn’t actually require either.
13. What are commas actually for?
Commas offset one part of a sentence from another. ey serve several
functions, which are all outlined clearly in Chapter 13. None of these
functions are anything to do with breathing or pausing!
14. What is the Oxford comma?
e Oxford comma is an optional comma between the penultimate
item in a list and the coordinating conjunction at the end of the list,
e.g.:
I went to the shop and I bought bananas, peanut butter, our, and eggs.
In this sentence, the Oxford comma is between our and and. For more
on this head to here.
15. Where do ‘connectives’ come into all this?
Hopefully nowhere! ‘Connectives’ have been ying around our schools
a lot during the last 20 years but they lack any real grammatical
de nition. Connectives have been used to refer to adverbs of time,
prepositions and conjunctions to name but a few. ere is an extended
rant about connectives here if that’s the sort of thing you’re aer!
16. What are the ‘rules’ for using bullet points?
Great news! ere aren’t any. See here.
17. How many verb tenses are there?
ere are a multitude of verb tenses but there are 12 that it is probably
worth you knowing about in order to teach primary school grammar.
ey are outlined in Chapter 4, here.
18. What in the name of all that is good and decent is the ‘subjunctive
mood’?
If you want to learn more about the subjunctive, we recommend you
turn to here.
References

Carter, R. and McCarthy, M. (2006), Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dahl, R. (1980), Letter to Jay Williams. 12 February.

Department for Education (2013a), ‘English Appendix 2: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation’,
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ l
e/335190/English_Appendix_2_-_Vocabulary_grammar_and_punctuation.pdf

Department for Education (2013b), ‘Glossary for the programmes of study for English (non-
statutory)’,
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ l
e/244216/English_Glossary.pdf

Hutchins, P. (2009), Rosie’s Walk. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks.

Martin, J. M. (2004), e Planet Without Pronouns. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Standards and Testing Agency (2016), ‘Clari cation: Key stage 1 and 2 teacher assessment and
moderation guidance’,
https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/25684/1/Clari cation_key_stage_1_and_2__teacher_assessment_and_mod
eration_guidance.pdf

Truss, L. (2009), Eats, Shoots and Leaves. London: Fourth Estate.

Index

abstract nouns 25–6

active voice 156–7
adjective phrases 122–3
adjectives 64–9
absolute adjectives 68
adjective pronouns and determiners 68
articles 68
comparative adjectives 65–6
compound adjectives 68
meaning of 63–4
modi ers 65
order of 68–9
quantifying adjectives 64–5
superlative adjectives 66–7
adjuncts 190
adverbial clauses 105–6
adverbial phrases 122
adverbials 71
as cohesive device 163
adverbs 64, 69–71
of degree 70
of frequency 7 1
of manner 70
of place 70
of time 70
air quotes 147
articles 38
de nite articles 39
inde nite articles 39–40
Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) 2
auxiliary verbs 47–9

brackets 137–8
bullet points 162–3
clauses
complexity 99–100
main clauses 98–9
and commas 129, 131–2
subordinate clauses 99, 103
adverbial clauses and participle clauses 105–6
comment clauses 106–7
relative clauses 104–5
subordinate interrogative clauses 107
cohesion 163–4
cohesive devices 163–4
adverbials 163
determiners 163
pronouns 163
repetition 164
substitution 164
collective nouns 27–8
colons 136–7
comma splicing 131–2
commands 154–5
commas 127, 128–31
for attributing quotations and direct speech 130
comma splicing 131–2
for embedding 129–30
for indicating who or what is being addressed 131
and main clauses 131–2
for offsetting negations 129–30
Oxford comma 128–9
for parenthesis 129–30
for separating fronted adverbials and subordinate clauses from main clause 129
for series of items separation 128–9
comment clauses 106–7
common nouns 24–5
complements 189
object complement 189
subject complement 189
compound words 18
concrete nouns 25–6
conditional mood 156
conjunctions 113–15
coordinating conjunctions 113–14
subordinating conjunctions 114–15
connectives 111–12
consonants 16
contractions 82–3
conventions, in grammar 4–5
coordinating conjunctions 113–14, 136
countable nouns 26–7
curriculum, in grammar 5–6

dashes 138–9
de-tensed verb phrases 121
demonstrative adjectives 38
demonstrative pronouns 35
dependent clauses see subordinate clauses
determiners 37–40
articles 38
de nite articles 39
inde nite articles 39–40
as cohesive device 163
demonstrative adjectives 38
interrogative determiners 38
possessive adjectives 38
quanti ers 38–9
digraphs 16
split digraphs 16
direct objects 57–8
direct speech 144
conventions for writing 144–6
discourse markers 193–5
dummy subjects 191

Eats, Shoots and Leaves (Truss) 127

ellipses 91–2
en dashes 138–9
double dash 139
English curriculum, and changes 2–3
etymology 171–2
euphemisms 165
exclamation marks 90–1
exclamation sentences 91

nite verbs 185

forward slashes 139
disjunction 139
full stops 90
games and activities
abstract nouns in maths activity 30
abstract or concrete activity 31
act it out! activity 124
add in the commas activity 132–3
add in the punctuation activity
for Key Stage 1 class 93
for Key Stage 2 class 94
add the brackets activity 140
add the commas activity 133
add the conjunctions activity 115–16
add the dialogue activity 149
add the main clause activity 101
add the pronouns activity 43
add the punctuation activity 141
add the semi-colon activity 140
adverbs and adjectives activity 7 6
adverbs of frequency percentages activity 75
ambiguous sentences activity 134
an or a? activity 41
animal life cycles activity 86
art critics activity 73–4
balloon verb game 51
beat the clock game 87
change the conjunctions activity 117
clap when you hear activity 28, 51
colour them in! activity 29
complete the plurals table activity 88
compound word match-up activity 20–1
convert a play script activity 149
convert active into passive activity 158–9
crazy compound words activity 21
create a pronoun cloud activity 42
dash or double dash? activity 142
describe the picture activity 124
describe the scene activity 117
determiner table activity 42–3
Dickens’s use of a colon activity 174
do you ever? activity 72
nd the phrases activity 125
nd the pronouns activity 41
get arty activity 60
history activity 62
hot seat interrogation activity 107
how am I doing it? activity 72
how many adjectives can you nd to describe...? activity 74
how or when or where did they do it? activity 124
hyphen hunt activity 21–2
I went to the supermarket... activity 132
identify the main clause activity 100–1
identify the mood activity 158
identify the verb phrases activity 126
identifying different determiners activity 41–2
identifying direct speech activity 147
identifying subject or verb or object activity 61
interrogation game 72–3
just a minute! activity 41
make your own rules activity 174
match the clauses activity 108
Miss Boardmarker’s school trip activity 165–7
model it activity 94
model paragraphs activity 168
non-sentences activity 175
noun debate activity 29
noun substitution activity 30
paint a noun activity 28
past or present activity 51–2
planning paragraphs activity 168–9
play scripts activity 141–2
plural bingo activity 86
plural catch activity 85
preposition countdown activity 117
prepositional phrase walk activity 125
put in the apostrophes, Key Stage 1 activity 85
put in the apostrophes, Key Stage 2 activity 87
record a preposition rap activity 117
replace the verb activity 53
reverse simile insults activity 75
rewrite the school newsletter activity 168
root word challenge activity 21
say a sentence activity 101–2
science nouns activity 29
SHE who laughs last activity 42
shoulda, woulda, coulda activity 54
Simon Says activity 159
simple sentences activity 109
 sing the noun song activity 28
sing the sentence song activity 93
sing with Grammarsaurus! activity 74
sort the sentences activity 108–9
spot the cohesive devices activity 169
spot the subordinate clauses activity 109
statement or question or exclamation activity 93–4
sticky note suffixes activity 84
suffixes -ful and -less activity 19–20
switch the verb activity 53–4
texts into dialogue activity 147–8
Venn diagram nouns activity 29–30
Venn diagrams activity 53
verb charades activity 52–3
verb kung fu activity 54
we’re going on a noun hunt activity 29
what’s in the picture? activity 40
when to use adjectives activity 74
where is it? activity 116
who said that? activity 148–9
why is there an apostrophe in o’clock? activity 86
word sort activity 61–2
write a noun phrase activity 123–4
write a recipe activity 41
write election speeches activity 157–8
write your own activity 125–6
write your own Jabberwocky activity 174–5
gerunds 121
grammar pedants 3
grammar rules 4, 171
changing word classes 172–3
etymology (made-up words) 171–2
non-sentences 173–4
graphemes 16
digraphs 16
trigraphs 16

homophones 16
hyphens 18–19
compound modi ers 18
compound nouns 19
hypothetical situations 156
imperative mood 154–5
imperatives 191
implied subjects 191
in subordinate clauses 106
inde nite pronouns 35–6
independent clauses see main clauses
indicative mood 154
indirect objects 57–8
in nitives 185
interrogative determiners 38
interrogative mood 154
interrogative pronouns 36, 192
intransitive verbs 183
inverted commas 143–9
irregular plurals 79–82
it’s and its, homophones 83–4

letters and sounds 16–18

digraphs 16
graphemes 16
phonemes 16
trigraphs 16
lists 162–3

made-up words 171–2

main clauses 98–9
modal verbs 50–1
modelled texts
for main and subordinate clauses identi cation 102
for nouns teaching ideas 31–2
modi ers 18, 64, 165
moods 153–6, 157–8
conditional mood (hypothetical situations) 156
imperative mood (commands) 154–5
indicative mood (statements) 154
interrogative mood (questions) 154
subjunctive mood 155–6
morphemes 17–18
compound words 18
pre xes 17–18
root words 17–18
suffixes 17–18
National Literacy Hour 2
National Literacy Strategy 1
non- nite verbs 185–7
in nitives 185
participles 186–7
non-sentences 173–4
noun phrases 120
nouns 23–7
abstract nouns 25–6
collective nouns 27–8
common nouns 24–5
concrete nouns 25–6
countable and uncountable nouns 26–7
fewer and less 26
much and many 27
proper nouns 24

object complements 189

objective terms 165
objects 57–8
Oxford comma 128–9

paragraphs 162
parenthesis 104
participle clauses 105–6
participles 186–7
passive voice 156–7, 164–5
personal pronouns 35
phonemes 16
phrasal verbs 181–2
phrases 119–23
adjective phrases 122–3
adverbial phrases 122
noun phrases 120
prepositional phrases 123
verb phrases 121
de-tensed verb phrases 121
gerunds 121
e Planet Without Pronouns (Martin) 40
plurals 18
contractions and apostrophes 77–88
possessive adjectives 38
possessive apostrophes 82
possessive pronouns 35
pre xes 17–18
prepositional phrases 123
prepositions 112–13
pronouns 33–7
as cohesive device 163
controversies 36–7
necessity of 34
types of
demonstrative pronouns 35
inde nite pronouns 35–6
interrogative pronouns 36
personal pronouns (object) 35
personal pronouns (subject) 35
possessive pronouns 35
relative pronouns 36
proper nouns 24
punctuation marks 89–94
combining of 92
ellipses 91–2
exclamation marks 90–1
exclamation sentences 91
full stops 90
question marks 90

qualifying modi ers 165

quanti ers 38–9
question marks 90
questions 154
quotations 146–7

registers 164–5
euphemisms 165
less personal ways 164
objective terms 165
passive voice 164–5
qualifying modi ers 165
relative clauses 104–5
relative pronouns 36
repetition, as cohesive device 164
reported speech 144
root words 17–18
‘s’-ending words 78–9
 contraction 78
plurals 79
possession 78
third-person verbs 79
words just end in ‘s’ 79
schwa 16
semi-colons 136
sounds see letters and sounds
split digraphs 16
Standards and Testing Agency 91
statements 154
structuring devices 161–9
bullet points 162–3
cohesion 163–4
cohesive devices 163–4
adverbials 163
determiners 163
pronouns 163
repetition 164
substitution 164
lists 162–3
paragraphs 162
registers 164–5
euphemisms 165
less personal ways 164
objective terms 165
passive voice 164–5
qualifying modi ers 165
sub-headings 162–3
subject 56
and object pronouns 58–9
and verb 56–7
subject complements 189
subject-verb agreement 57, 60–1
subjunctive mood 155–6
subordinate clauses 99, 103
adverbial clauses and participle clauses 105–6
comment clauses 106–7
relative clauses 104–5
subordinate interrogative clauses 107
subordinating conjunctions 114–15
substitution, as cohesive device 164
suffixes 17–18
 and plurals 18
and verb tense 18
and word class 18
syllables 17

they’re and their, homophones 83–4

transitive verbs 183
trigraphs 16

uncountable nouns 26–7

verb phrases 56–7, 121

verb tense 18, 47–9
verbs 45–54, 56
not doing words 46–7
person forms 47
verb tenses and auxiliary verbs 47–9
modal verbs 50–1
tense, types of 49
voices 153, 156–9
active voice 156–7
passive voice 156–7
vowels 16

word classes 18, 179–80

changing of 172–3
word families 180
writing words 15-22

you’re and your, homophones 83–4

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