Free Grammar eBook

8/14/2019 Free Grammar eBook

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AdverbsWhat are adverbs?

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Adverbs are words that tell us more about verbs....they addinformation to

the verb.

(A verb is a 'doing' word or a 'being' word, e.g. 'walk', 'feel')

Using adverbs makes your sentences more interesting.

Any verb you use can have an adverb added.

The girl smiled nervously.

The boy grinned sheepishly.

The light shone feebly.

We use adverbs:

to say how something happens'The family walk(how?)quickly.'

to say where orwhen something happens

'I met him (when?)yesterday.'

to say how often something happens

'She gets the bus (how often?)daily.'

to make the meaning of an adjective, adverb or verb stronger or

weaker

'Dave eats (degree?)more slowly than his wife.'

Adverbs are often created from adjectives (describing words that tell you

more about nouns) by adding 'ly' to the end of the adjective.

e.g. slow becomes slowly

'Joe is a slow person. He walks slowly.'

Certain words change when they become adverbs. If an adjective ends in a

'y' you need to change the 'y' to an 'i' before adding 'ly'.

Happy becomes happily

Heavy becomes heavily

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Position of adverbs

There are three places in the sentence where adverbs can come.

At the beginning of a sentence:

'Suddenly I had earache.''Recently I had earache.'

In the middle of a sentence:

'Isuddenly had earache.'

'Irecently had earache.'

At the end of a sentence:

'I had earachesuddenly.'

'I had earache recently.'

How do you know where the adverb goes?

Most kinds of adverbs can go in 'mid-position' (before the verb) in a

sentence:

'I'm usually working at weekends.'

'Ineversaid I liked you.'

Other adverbs may fit more comfortably at the beginning or end of asentence:

'Yesterday I went to the skate park.'

'I went to the skate parkyesterday.'

The best way to know if the order is right is to say the sentence to yourself.

Does it sound right?

'She often is late.'

'She is often late.' This sounds better.

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Spotting adverbs

Adverbs are quite complicated. You cannot tell by the look of a word that

it is an adverb. You can recognise it as an adverb only by the work it does

in a sentence.

A word may be an adverb in one sentence and a different part of speech inanother sentence.

The job wentwell. Here welldescribes the verb 'went', so it is an

adverb.

The wellwas drained by morning. Here wellnames something, so it

is a noun.

The wellwater tasted disgusting. Here wellis being used to name a

type of 'water', so it is not describing a verb. It is not an adverb here.

'-ly'on the end of a word is a good clue that it's an adverb. Many adverbs

are made by adding '-ly'to the end of adjectives

E.g. 'careful' (adjective) becomes 'carefully' (adverb)

Sunita is very careful with her money. She spends her money carefully.

However, lots of other adverbs are irregular

BEWARE! Some words ending in '-ly'are never used as adverbsE.g. 'friendly', 'lovely', 'lonely'

Also, look out for adverbs that have the same form as adjectives.

'Hard' and 'early' are both adjectives (used to describe people, places and

things) AND adverbs (used to tell us more about the verb):

It's still early. (adjective)

We arrived early. (adverb) He works very hard. (adverb)

He's a hard man to know. (adjective)

Other adverbs with the same form as adjectives are fast, high, low, late

and long.

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More about spotting adverbs

Adverbial phrases

Adverbial phrases are small strings of words that do the same job as

single-word adverbs:

'I'll see him on Saturday.''She's in the kitchen.'

''The thief ran down the road.'

'The mobile phones rangall at once.'

Other places to find adverbs...

An adverb may also be used to describe another adverb or an adjective.

'The weekend passed very quickly.'

quickly describes the verbpassed: quickly is an adverb.

very describes the adverb quickly: very is also an adverb.

'That seemed an extremely interesting plan.'

interestingdescribes the nounplan: interestingis an adjective. extremely describes the adjective interesting: extremely is an adverb.

Adverbs can also qualify (describe) whole sentences:

'Hopefully the shoes will fit.'

'The dress, unfortunately, was ruined.'

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Adverbs - degrees of comparison

Adverbs are often used to make the meaning of a verb or other adverb

stronger or weaker. This is known as 'degrees of comparison'.

What are they?The positive degree is the simple form of the adverb :slowly, early.

e.g. 'He walkedslowly.'

The comparative degree is used to compare two actions :slower, more

slowly, earlier.

e.g. 'Sarah walked more slowly than Ben.'

The superlative comparison is used to compare three or more :slowest,

earliest.

e.g. 'We all take our time, but I walk theslowestof all.'

How do you make them?

Adverbs of one syllable usually form the comparative by adding - er and

form the superlative by adding - est

'hard' (positive) - 'harder' (comparative) - 'hardest' (superlative)

Adverbs of two syllables or more generally form the comparative by

adding more and the superlative by adding most.

'quickly' (positive) - 'more quickly' (comparative) - 'most quickly'

(superlative)

Watch out! Examples of exceptionsbadly: worse (comparative) - worst (superlative).

well: better(comparative) - best (superlative).

far: farther(comparative) - farthest (superlative).

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'Adverbs' tutor notes

The 'Adverbs' topic area aims to help learners to recognise and use

adverbs.

How does this tie in with the curriculums?

England

RS/L1.1 - Learners need to understand the use of adverbs and

adverbial phrases.

Wales

As England.

Northern Ireland

As England. Scotland

See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.

In the Skillswise module you'll find:

Adverbs factsheets

There are five factsheets for this module, each on 'print-out-and-keep'

sheets. You'll find curriculum references on the top, right-hand corner of

the factsheets.

Factsheet 1 - What are adverbs

Factsheet 2 - Position of adverbs

Factsheet 3 - How to spot an adverb

Factsheet 4 - More about spotting adverbs

Factsheet 5 - Degrees of comparison

Adverbs worksheetsSix printable worksheets give the learner opportunities to identify adverbs,

their purpose, degree of comparison and position in a sentence. They also

give the learner the opportunity to select and use appropriate adverbs.

You'll find curriculum references in the top right-hand corner of the

worksheets. They are printable resources to carry on the work learners

have done online.

Worksheet 1 - Find the adverbs

Worksheet 2 - What are these adverbs doing

Worksheet 3 - Using adverbs to compare

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Worksheet 4 - Positioning adverbs

Worksheet 5 - Fill in the gaps

Worksheet 6 - Changing meaning

Technical help:

If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course,

Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from any

computer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use

the web successfully in your teaching.

Find out more about WebWise.

You can find out more about the technical requirements for Skillswise in

ourHelp - Technical Information section.

Taking it further:

With Skillswise

For adverbs practice, don't forget to visit 'Instructions' and 'Types of text'

With the web

Here are a few suggestions of other places where you might find resources

that you can use to help you with adverbs.

English language centre, University of Victoria, Canada

In-depth review of adverbs with an exercise at the end.

Activities for ESL Students

This site offers a good quiz that compares adjectives and adverbs.

Internet Grammar of English

This site was created for university undergraduates, but their adverbs

section is very good and offers a series of exercises at the end of their

factsheet. Words quiz

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Apostrophes

Apostrophes factsheet

Apostrophes have two uses:

1. Apostrophes show you that some letters have been taken out of a

word to shorten it.

Do not becomes don't.

I will becomes I'll.

Could have becomes could've.

The apostrophe goes where the letters have been removed.

You use apostrophes this way in informal writing. You should not

shorten words when you are writing formal letters.NOTE - sometimes words are shortened in an irregular way. The

apostrophe, however, is still used to show where letters are missing.

E.G: Will not becomes won't.

2. Apostrophes show you that something belongs to something else.

To show belonging you add 's

The cat's tail - says that the tail belongs to the cat.

The car's lights - says that the lights belong to the car.

Tony's hair - says that the hair belongs to Tony.

Usually the apostrophe goes before the s.

If the owner already ends in s then the apostrophe goes after the s

that is already there. You just need to add an apostrophe. Eg:

The dogs' bowls - says that the bowls belong to some dogs.

The boys' coats - says that the coats belong to some boys.The cars' wheels - says that the wheels belong to some cars.

Watch out for plurals that don't end in s. Words like men and

children don't end in s, but they are talking about lots of people.

These words use 's to show possession. E.G:

The men's hats - says that the hats belong to the men.

The women's house - says that the house belongs to the women.

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'Apostrophes' tutor notes

The aim of the apostrophes topic area is to help learners revise the use of

apostrophes to show where letters are missing in informal writing and to

demonstrate that one thing belongs to something else.


England

Rs/L1.2 - Understand that grammatical clues can be used to make

sense of individual words and of complete sentences.

Know and use the term 'apostrophe'. Understand the function of the

omissive apostrophe to indicate contracted word style.

WalesAs England.

Northern Ireland

As England.

Scotland



Apostrophes factsheetThe facts about apostrophes, with examples, on one 'print-out-and-keep'

sheet.

Apostrophes games

There are two games in this section, both of which have a similar structure.

Both games require some level of familiarity with a keyboard, as answers

have to be typed in. If you don't get all the answers right, your friend gets

gunged.Please also note that students have to click the cursor into the text box

before they can type the answer. Ideally, the cursor would appear

automatically in the text box, but unfortunately this isn't possible in Flash

version 4 (the software that is the spec for further education).

TOP TIP! To see the game completely full screen, press the F11 key on

the keyboard. This takes away the distraction of the top browser bar. To

bring the browser bar back, just press F11 again!

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Apostrophes activity - 'Cutting a Dash'

We are sorry but we have had to remove the BBC Radio 4 programme

about apostrophes, 'Cutting a dash', from this website. This is because of

changes in copyright. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Apostrophes quizThe learner can choose their level. Level A is the easiest, level C the

hardest.

Students can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz.

This will appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the

certificate will appear in a new window. Once printed students can write

their name on the certificate.

Apostrophes worksheetsThere are two worksheets in this section. They are meant to be printable

resources to carry on the work learners have done online. The two

worksheets are based on sports stories, where students have to decide

where to put the apostrophes.

Technical help:

To get the most out of this topic area you need the following 'plug-ins':

Flash

The game in this topic section uses Flash. This is free to download

and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC

WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.

Find out more.

If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz

and in the worksheets and factsheets.If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course,



the web successfully in your teaching.

Get WebWise.



Taking it further:

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With Skillswise:

Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans and Teaching

inspirations areas for more ideas about teaching apostrophes.

On the web:

Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might finduseful resources that you can adapt for teaching apostrophes.

Live chat

Print out some interviews with celebrities at BBC Live Chat as texts

that you could use to highlight the apostrophes that indicate a letter

(or letters) have been omitted.

BBC News

Print out a news story from BBC News, then ask learners to rewritethe story using apostrophes so it reads less formally.

Home for abused apostrophes

Pictures of real-life examples of cruelly misused apostrophes.

Personal pronouns

What are personal pronouns?

A noun is a word that is person, place or thing.

e.g.Brian, the car, the dog, Sunita, London

A pronoun is a word that can be used in place of a noun.

A personal pronoun is used in place of a noun that is a person or a thing.

Personal pronouns for people = I, you, he, she, we, they

me, you, him, her, us, them

Personal pronouns for things = it, they, them

Why use a personal pronoun?

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Personal pronouns are useful because you don't have to repeat words.

They can be used to talk about something or someone that you have

already talked about.

e.g.Elizabeth put the coat on because Elizabeth was cold.

This would be better written as:Elizabeth put the coat on becauseshe was cold.

The word she is a personal pronoun and means 'Elizabeth' in this sentence.

This makes the sentence shorter and more interesting, as you don't have to

repeat 'Elizabeth'.

There are two types of personal pronouns:

Subject pronouns are the 'who' or 'what' the sentence is about:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they are all subject pronouns Object pronouns are the 'who' or what' acted upon:

me, you, him, her, it, us, them are all object pronouns

e.g. Elizabeth put the coat on.

In this sentence 'Elizabeth' is the subject and 'the coat' is the object.

Elizabeth is doing the action (putting on) and the coat is the thing that is

'done to' (it is the thing that she puts on).

If you wanted to repeat this information later you could say:She putiton.

Problems with personal pronouns

Remember that personal pronouns are small words that you can use to

replace a person or thing, when you have already talked about them.

e.g.Barry loves Nathalie.He (Barry) is always buyingher(Nathalie)

presents.

Singular or plural?

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The singular (talking about 1 thing) personal pronouns are:

I / me . he / him . she / her . it . you

The plural (talking about more than 1) personal pronouns are:

we / us . they / them . you

Singular personal pronouns are used to replace singular nouns (one personor thing).

Plural personal pronouns are used to replace plural nouns (many people or

things).

NOTE - 'You' can be used to replace one person or many people, it is both

singular and plural.

Should it be 'I' or 'me'?

These personal pronouns are often used in the wrong place. Think about

whether the personal pronoun is the subject or the object.

Is it 'I' doing something or 'me' being acted upon?

e.g.John andIare going there.

Please give the money to me.

A good trick for working out which one to use is to say the sentence to

yourself with the other person taken out.

e.g.John and I are going to the cinema.

Take out 'John' and what do you get? You get 'I am going to the cinema' -

which is right. If you said 'Me are going to the cinema' you can hear that it

is wrong.

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'Personal pronouns' tutor notes

The aim of the 'personal pronouns' topic area is to revise the rules and the

uses of the personal pronouns I / me / you / it / he / him / she / her / we /

us / they / them.

N.B. This module deals withpersonalpronouns - notpossessive pronouns.

You may feel that some of the work in this module stretches into Level 2.

The majority of work on pronouns does take place at Level 2 of the

curriculum, but Level 1 specifies that learners should 'understand the term

pronoun'.


England

Rs/L1.1 - 'Use implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge ... to

predict meaning, try out plausible meanings and to read and check

for sense.'

'Understand the term pronoun.'

Ws/L1.2 - 'Use correct grammar - write grammatically correct

sentences...'

Wales

As England.

Northern Ireland

As England.

Scotland



Personal pronouns gameThere are 3 levels of game. At level 1 learners have to identify the personal

pronoun within a given sentence and type it into a text box. At level 2

learners have to choose the best personal pronoun to fill the gap. At level

3, the hardest level, learners are asked to re-type a sentence using personal

pronouns where they make sense.

On each level, if a learner gets the right answer they are given the chance

to dig for treasure on the treasure map, to build up points.

It is possible to play each level of this game over and over again, assentences are randomly pulled in from a large selection and the treasure

map will randomly generate, so that the treasure is always in different

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places. Please note, however, that the treasure map and score start afresh

each time the game is closed or a new level is started.

A note on level 3 of the game -

There is only one right answer for each re-typed sentence. A sentence will

only be marked as correct if it is entirely correct, i.e. the spelling andpunctuation are correct aswell as the use of personal pronouns. Feedback,

however, will give an indication of what the mistake was (use of pronouns

or spelling). Answers can be entered entirely in capital letters (so if caps

lock is accidentally on it's not a problem), but if answers are typed in lower

case then the learner must make the correct use of capital letters.

As with all our games, we recommend that you take a look at the 'How to

play' demonstration on the flash game, before introducing your students tothe game. You can find this on the bottom, black bar when you open the

game.

Please let us know what you think about this game.

Personal pronouns quiz

The learner can choose their level. Level A is the easiest and level C the

hardest. All 3 levels deal with putting the right personal pronoun into the

gap in the sentence.Students can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz.

This will appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the

certificate will appear in a new window. Once printed students can write

their name on the certificate.

Personal pronouns factsheets

The facts about using personal pronouns, with examples. In this case there

are two printable sheets - 'What are personal pronouns' and 'Problems with

personal pronouns'.

Personal pronouns worksheets

There are three worksheets in this section. The first involves filling gaps in

short telephone messages, the second involves filling gaps in a longer

piece of text (a postcard) and the third offers a blank template for learners

to write their own postcard.

If you have a great worksheet for personal pronouns at level 1 - tell us

about it and we might add it to the site!

Technical help:

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Flash

The game in this topic section uses Flash. This is free to download

and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC

WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.Find out more.

If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz

and in the worksheets and factsheets.

If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course,



the web successfully in your teaching.Get WebWise.



Taking it further:

With Skillswise:

Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans and Teachinginspirations areas for more ideas about teaching personal pronouns.

On the web:

Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find

useful resources that you can adapt for teaching personal pronouns.

Object / subject worksheet

This is a free worksheet from the Longman 'Spectrum' series that isavailable in PDF format (so you will need the free Adobe Acrobat

Reader software to be able to access it). It asks learners to pair up

subject and object pronouns and then to re-write sentences that have

been mixed up.

Go down to Unit 7 and click on the 'Object Pronouns' link.

You will need the free Adobe Acrobat software to view this,

British Council game

The British Council has a site with games and activities for peoplewho are learning English as a foreign language. This includes a 'drag

and drop' game for pronouns. The learner has to choose which

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category of pronoun a word comes under - object, subject, possessive

or reflexive ... so it may be a bit high for level 1. It is also very

lacking in feedback, as you don't get a response about whether you

are right or wrong. Might be useful, however, for a student and tutor

to use together. Worksheets galore!

13 worksheets from 'edHelper.com' practising both personal and

possessive pronouns. Might be quite useful for early work, as the

pronouns are broken down into pairs (e.g. choosing 'she' or 'her').

This is an American site and you can subscribe for more worksheets

and lesson plans, but the pronoun ones are available for free.

Teacher Resource Exchange

This is a site set up by the UK government to allow teachers to

exchange lesson ideas, plans and worksheets. This particular resource

is aimed at Key Stage 2, but doesn't feel particularly non-adult. There

are 2 charts showing personal and possessive pronouns and 2

exercises - the first sorting personal and possessive pronouns and the

second identifying pronouns in sentences.

Interesting discussion point?

On the BBC's H2G2 community pages it seems that personal

pronouns have been causing a bit of a stir! The debate seems to

centre on how using the wrong pronoun can be perceived as being

sexist (are builders always 'he'?) and how some people seem to go to

great lengths never to reveal the gender of their partner. Could this be

a good game for raising awareness of pronouns - talk about someone

you know without ever giving away what sex they are?

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Verb subject agreement

How to make verbs agree with their subjects

1. What are verbs and subjects?

Verbs are action words -

e.g. eat, sleep, talk, walk, do, buy are all verbs

Subjects are the person or thing who are doing the action of the verb -

e.g.Ieat; The dogsleeps; George talks a lot; They walk to work.

The subject of a sentence can be singular (one) orplural (many).e.g. The computeris old. (singular)

The computers are old. (plural)

2. What is verb-subject agreement?

The verb form can change depending on whether the subject is singular or

plural.

e.g. The car park(singular subject) was (verb) full.

The car parks (plural subject) were (verb) full.In these sentences each of the verbs agrees with its subject. The correct

verb form has been used.

The verb mustalways agree with its subject. Single subject = single verb,

plural subject = plural verb.

3. How does this work?

In regular verbs:

singular plural

First person I like bananas. We like bananas.

Second person you like bananas. you like bananas.

Third person he / she / it likes bananas. they like bananas.

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She likes to cycle to work.(correct) / She like to cycle to work.(incorrect)

We like swimming.(correct) / We likes swimming.(incorrect)

Helpful hint: 's' is added to the third person singular. This is the way

most regular verbs in the present tense work.

Problems with verb-subject agreement

1. Irregular verbs

Not all verbs work in a regular way (see factsheet 1). Some of the

most common verbs are irregular.

e.g. be, go, do, have

Verbs and subjects must still agree, but you have to learn and

remember the way the irregular ones work.

Note the correct verb form for the third person singular for these

irregular verbs:

'to do' = I do - he / she / it does (NOT do)

'to have' = I have - he / she / it has (NOT have)

'to go' = I go - he / she / it goes (NOT go)

e.g. She does karate on Thursdays. They do lots of sparring.

Ithas soft fur. They have soft hands.

Shegoes sailing every month. Igo every week.

2. Too many words

Sometimes it's difficult to work out the subject, because there are lots

of words between the subject and the verb

e.g.Steve, who has just returned from Australia, does not intend to go

back.

(Singular subject, 'Steve' = singular verb)

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The children, excited about Father Christmas, wentto bed early

without complaining.

(Plural subject, 'children' = plural verb)

The bestthingon television last nightwas EastEnders.(Singular subject, 'thing' = singular verb)

Problems with plurals in verb-subject agreement

Sometimes the subject (the person or thing doing the action of the verb)

may seem to be plural, because it is a 'collective noun'- a singular (one)

noun that groups together many things or people.

e.g. A swarm of bees = 1 swarm, containing many bees

A pack of cards = 1 pack, containing many cards

This is an area of some debate, but as they are treated as a singular unit,

collective nouns usually take thesingularverb form.

e.g. A herdof elephants was charging towards us.

The classis very noisy today.

My football teamis doing really well.

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e.g.My colleague and managerwere both promoted today.

(Two people = plural subject)

RupertandJaneare football fans but Colinprefers shopping.

(Two people = plural subject, takes the plural verb 'are'; one person =

singular subject, takes the singular verb 'prefers')

e.g.The bag of shoppingwas too heavy to carry.

(Bag of shopping = singular subject. Lots of shopping, but there's only one

bag.)

Remember: if you are unsure which verb form to use, look at the

subject carefully. Is the subject singular (one), or plural (many)? A

singular subject requires the singular verb form. A plural subject

requires the plural verb form.

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'Verb subject agreement' tutor notes

The aim of the 'verb subject agreement' topic area is to revise the rules ofmaking verbs agree with their subjects and to offer plenty of opportunities tolearn by practice.


EnglandRs/L1.1 - 'use implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge ... to predict meaning, tryout plausible meanings and to read and check for sense.'Ws/L1.2 - 'understand that, while writing, a writer needs to keep checking thatsingular subjects have a singular verb and that plural subjects have a plural verb'

WalesAs England.

Northern Ireland




Verb subject agreement - gameThere are 3 levels to this game, getting progressively more difficult. At eachlevel, learners are given the chance to hunt for treasure after they successfullycomplete each task.

At level 1 learners are asked to spot the subject of the sentence. At level 2learners have to choose which form of the verb best fills the gap in thesentence (this covers some tense practice as well as verb-subject agreement).At level 3, the hardest level, learners are given a sentence and asked to re-typeit using the new, given, subject. The sentence must be exactly right, withcorrect spelling and punctuation as well as correct verb subject agreement, togain the chance to uncover the treasure.If you have any comments at all on this game, please do get in touch.

Verb subject agreement - quizAs usual, there are 3 levels of quiz, which get harder as you progress from levelA to level C. At level A learners have to answer 'true' or 'false' to a number ofstatements about verbs and subjects. Levels B and C ask learners to decidewhich sentence is correct.You might like to know that all the statements in level A are true. The tutorwriting this material felt that it would be confusing to present students withstatements that weren't true, as verb subject agreement is quite a confusingarea. Let us know if you don't agree!

Students can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz. Thiswill appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the certificate

will appear in a new window. Once printed students can write their name on thecertificate.

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Verb subject agreement - factsheetsThere are 3 factsheets in this section. They all give hints and tips and examplesto help learners learn the rules of verb subject agreement.The first factsheet looks at the basic rules. The second looks at some commonthings that can cause errors and confusion and the last factsheet looks at somespecific problems to do with working out if something is singular or plural.

Verb subject agreement - worksheetsThere are 4 worksheets in this section. The worksheets ask learners to choosewhich are the right forms of verbs within a number of sentences, to spot verb-form errors within an informative piece of text and to change singular verbsand nouns into plurals.If you have a great worksheet for practising verb subject agreement - tell usabout it!

Technical help:


FlashThe game in this topic section uses Flash. This is free to download and should onlytake a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it toyour machine.Find out more.

If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz and inthe worksheets and factsheets.

If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course,Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from anycomputer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use theweb successfully in your teaching.Get WebWise.

You can find out more about the technical requirements for Skillswise in ourHelp - Technical Information section.

Taking it further:

Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find usefulas resources that you can adapt for teaching verb subject agreement.

Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue UniversityThis American university website offers online guidelines for English languagelearning. This particular section of the website gives you several guidelines to helpyour subjects and verbs agree.

Quiz from City University, Hong Kong

This is a 22 question multiple-choice quiz aimed at learners of English as a foreignlanguage. The learner has to choose the right form of the verb from a drop-down.They can then mark their own answers at the end.

Quizzes galore!

Multiple-choice quizzes where learners choose the right form of the verb. Again,

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they can mark their own answers at the end. This is a US site from Chicago publicschools. The font is still small, but these are probably the best quizzes for level.Quiz 1 = overview / quiz 2 = 'I' / quiz 3 = 'you' / quiz 4 = 'he' / quiz 5 = 'we' / quiz 6 ='they' / quiz 7 = various

Wise-up to verb subject agreement

More background information on the ins and outs of making verbs and subjects

agree. Enjoy!

Adjectives

What are adjectives?

Adjectives are describing words - they tell you more about nouns.Nouns are 'naming' words, they are a person, place or thing.Adjectives tell you more about the noun. Using adjectives makes your sentences moreinteresting.

The prettygirls laughed.In this sentence:'girls' is the noun (it says who's laughing).'pretty' is the adjective (it says more about the noun).

Here are some more sentences with nouns and adjectives.

The fatcaptain ate dinner.

Sam is blonde and gorgeous.

OldHani and I drove up the bighill.

Remember that adjectives tell you about the noun, they describe the noun. Don't confuseadjectives with adverbs. Adverbs describe the verb, they tell you more about an action -eg: 'he laughed loudly'.

Remember that adjectives usually come before the noun.You can use more than one adjective if you need to. Eg:The tall, bright, beautiful waitress picked up the dark, dirty coffee.

There are rules about the order that you should put adjectives in when you use more thanone, but the best way to know is to say the sentence to yourself. Does it sound right?

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'Adjectives' tutor notes

The aim of the adjectives topic area is to remind learners what adjectives areand to encourage them to use adjectives to make their sentences moreinteresting. This area also reminds learners that adjectives can be used tomake texts positive or negative.


EnglandRs/L1.1 - Use implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge along with ownknowledge and experience to predict meaning, try out plausible meanings, and toread and check for sense.Rw/L1.2 - Recognise and understand the vocabulary associated with different typesof text.Wt/L1.4, - Use language suitable for purpose and audience.

WalesAs England.

Northern Ireland




Adjectives game

The learner is advised that they've got a new job on a newspaper. The trainingprogramme has three levels - lonely hearts, classifieds and late news editor.The learner has to make the ads more interesting by picking the best adjectivefrom a selection. Not every adjective will work everywhere. Sometimes a wordwill be refused because it doesn't make sense, sometimes it won't workgrammatically in the sentence (eg: where it would need 'an' and not 'a' beforeit).Don't try and get the student to do all 3 levels at once, this is meant to be agame that people can come back to and play again and again.In the 'Lonely hearts' section look out for the secret 'bonus' bit, only availablewhen the student has amended the adverts of all the people.The last section, 'Late news editor', specifically practises positive and negativeadjectives.

TOP TIP! To see the game completely full screen, press the F11 key on thekeyboard. This takes away the distraction of the top browser bar. To bring thebrowser bar back, just press F11 again!

Adjectives quizThe learner can choose their level. Level A asks learners to choose the bestadjective for the job, level B deals with identifying the adjective and level C

asks learners to identify positive and negative adjectives.We have now put in place a system that will allow the student to print out acertificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz. This will appear as a link on

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the results page - click on the link and the certificate will appear in a newwindow. Students can write their name in once the certificate is printed.

Adjectives factsheetThe facts about adjectives, with examples, on one 'print-out-and-keep' sheet.

Adjectives worksheetOnce a student has tried the game, maybe they'd like to write their ownpersonal advert? Or each member of the class could write an advert forsomeone else - then the students have to work out who everyone is. Thisworksheet provides a template, plus some suggested adjectives.

Technical help:



If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz and inthe worksheets and factsheets.If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course,Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from anycomputer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the

web successfully in your teaching.Get WebWise.


Taking it further:

With Skillswise:Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans andTeaching inspirations

areas for more ideas about teaching adjectives.

On the web:Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find usefulresources that you can adapt for teaching adjectives.

UK Adult Basic Skills Resource CentreA complete, FREE, follow-on lesson plan (complete with great printable resources)from this excellent basic skills resources site. Sent in by a tutor everything ismapped to the curriculum, there are links to other resources such as adjectivesgames and suggestions for further activities. It would seem that this is the home ofthe now renowned lemon sherbet game!

The science of adjectives

Did you know that the adjectives you choose to include in your lonely heart advert

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reveal an awful lot about you and that in lonely hearts 'the veneer of civilisation isstripped away and men and women are slaves to their most basic instincts'.Professor Robin Dunbar of Liverpool University has spent a lot of time studyinglonely hearts adverts and this is his conclusion. On the BBC Science site you can fillin your own advert and get the benefit of his insight.The font is small and the language is quite complicated, but it would be a lovely

exercise to adapt. EastEnders

Get your students to write a personal ad for their favourite EastEnders character.Do they think Pauline needs help with her love life? Visit the characters page toprint out summaries of each character.

Loot

The website for the famous classified ads magazine will let you hunt for cars,homes and even musical instruments. Choose your category and then browse by'classification' to find real small ads for use in class. Or if you're feeling adventurous,set the class a set of criteria and let them search!

Commas

When to use commas

We use commas in two main ways:

1. Commas separate the items in a list.

Sometimes these items are real things.E.g. I need some pens, pencils, paper and a calculator before I start my class.I must buy some eggs, milk, sugar and tea.

Sometimes these items are things you do, or places you go.E.g. Yesterday I went to work, played badminton, went to the pub and then went tobed.I'm going to spend my holiday walking on the beach, sleeping in the sun andreading my book.

BEWARE!Always make sure you use and to separate the last two items in your list.Make sure that you don't use a comma before the word and at the end of your list.

Don't use commas where you should use a full-stop. If the words could stand aloneas a proper sentence then you need to put a full-stop or a joining word ('and', 'but'etc) in and not a comma.'Yesterday I went to work, I walked the dog, I went shopping and I washed the car.'This doesn't work as these could all stand alone as proper short sentences. If youwant to write them as a list (for example, to show you were in a hurry, or that youhad a lot to do) take out the 'I'.

'Yesterday I went to work, walked the dog, went shopping and washed the car.'

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2. Commas mark out the less important part of a sentence.This is a useful way to make your sentences more interesting by adding extrainformation.E.g. The car, which was parked by the light, had a dog in the back seat.This sentence is about the car and the dog, it's not about where the car was parked.

Tony, his mum's favourite, was given chocolate cake for tea.This sentence is about Tony eating chocolate cake. We don't need 'his mum'sfavourite' for the sentence to make sense, it's extra information.

Rajinda, the youngest in the family, is about to get married.This sentence is about Rajinda getting married, it's not about her position in thefamily.

HOW CAN I CHECK?A quick way to check this second use of commas is to see if the sentence makessense without the words between the commas.

The first sentence -'The car, which was parked by the light, had a dog in the back seat.'would become'The car ____ had a dog in the back seat.'This sentence makes sense so the commas are in the right places.

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'Commas' tutor notes

The commas topic area aims to help learners revise the use of commas toseparate items in a list and to mark out information in a sentence that is'extra'.Related topic areas on Skillswise are:

Making simple sentencesCompound sentences


England

Rs/L1.1 - Use grammatical knowledge to predict meaning and read and check forsenseRs/L1.2 - Use punctuation to help understanding.Ws/L1.1 - Understand that complete sentences should not be strung together with

commas (comma splicing)Ws/L1.3 - Punctuate sentences correctly and use punctuation so that meaning isclear. Be clear about where not to use commas.

Wales

As England. Northern Ireland



In the Skillswise module you'll find:Commas factsheetThe facts about commas, with examples, on one 'print-out-and-keep' sheet.

Commas gameIn this Flash game learners are told that it's their first day at work. Throughactivities such as getting their colleagues cups of tea, they have to amendsentences deciding whether a comma or 'and' is more appropriate. They arealso asked to match the right picture to the sentence, demonstrating that themeaning of a sentence can be changed by a comma.

After feedback from you we have recently updated this game. When the 'and' iserased the personal pronoun (normally the 'I') is now taken too, so that you areleft with a list and not with separate proper sentences. Many thanks toeveryone who pointed this out to us.

TOP TIP! To see the game completely full screen, press the F11 key on thekeyboard. This takes away the distraction of the top browser bar. To bring thebrowser bar back, just press F11 again!

Commas activity

Unfortunately, because of copyright changes, we have had to take down theBBC Radio 4 programme 'Cutting a dash', which was all about commas. Weapologise for any inconvenience caused.

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Commas quizThe learner can choose their level. Level A is the easiest, level C the hardest. Ateach level the learner has to choose the sentence that has the commas in theright place.Students can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz. Thiswill appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the certificate

will appear in a new window. Once printed students can write their name on thecertificate.

Commas worksheetsThere are 3 worksheets in this section (plus each worksheet has a printableanswer sheet). The worksheets are basically texts (a diary and two informativepieces) which the students have to add commas to.

Technical help:



If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz and inthe worksheets and factsheets.If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course,

Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from anycomputer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use theweb successfully in your teaching.Get WebWise.


Taking it further:

Don't forget to visit Lesson plans andTeaching inspirations for more ideas forteaching commas.

Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find usefulresources that you can adapt for teaching commas.

RecipesAt the BBC Food site tickle your tastebuds by browsing through the recipes. Youcould print out recipes with a small number of ingredients and ask learners to writea shopping list using commas.

Film reviews

Take a look at the latest film reviews on the BBC Films site. You could print out yourfavourite film reviews, create a version without the commas and ask the learners toread and amend them.

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More online exercisesThere's plenty more information about commas on this site AND 5 online exercises(all with printable versions). The background information is clear, but is aimed atuniversity students. The exercises should be accessible to L1 / L2 learners. Thewhole thing is brought to you by the Owl Online Writing Lab at Purdue University inthe US.

Interview with Lynne TrussLynne Truss's book about all things punctuation (especially the misplaced comma)'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' was the surprising best seller of 2003. This Guardianinterview could be usefully adapted for the classroom, or try the BBC Newsarticleand punctuation quiz.

Making sentences

Rules and examples to help you make simplesentences.

To make a sentence you need three things:1. A sentence is a group of words that makes sense on its own.

Cheese, car, house, table on Tuesday.This isn't a sentence - it doesn't make sense.

I parked my car next to my house.This is a sentence. You can understand what it means. It makes sense on its own.

2. When you are writing you need to use the right sentence punctuation.Using punctuation will show the person who is reading your writing where the sentencesbegin and end.

A sentence must begin with a capital letter.

A sentence must end with a full-stop (.), a question mark (?), or an exclamationmark (!).

BEWARE! Sometimes people confuse the punctuation to use at the end of a sentence.You can use commas (,), colons (:) or semicolons (;) in your writing, but they should neverbe used instead of a full-stop.

3. A sentence also needs two kinds of words in it:

A sentence must have a VERB (a doing word).e.g. like, is, cooking, walked, need.

A sentence must also have a SUBJECT. This is the person, or the thing, that is

doing the verb.e.g. I, Beppe, Tuesday, dog, you, table, the weather,.

Here are some examples of sentences that show you the verbs and the subjects:Last week Peggyredecorated the pub.

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Areyou hungry yet?Martin, be quiet.Tuesdaywas very rainy and cold.

Other things to know about sentences:Sentences can be very short, or very long. There is no correct number of words that

should be in a sentence. The length of the sentence depends on what you want to say andthe effect you want to get.BEWARE! If your sentences go on for many lines, make sure that you haven't really putseveral sentences together as one sentence.

It's important to remember that you don't always need to write in sentences. For example,a shopping list doesn't need sentences, but a job application does.

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'Making sentences' tutor notes

The aim of the 'making sentences' topic area is to revise the basics of how tostructure a simple sentence. The section concentrates on how to identify wheresentences should end and begin in texts and what the key grammaticalelements of a sentence are - i.e. the rules.

Once learners are confident making simple sentences, they can progress to the'commas' module and / or the putting sentences together' module thatpractises using conjunctions to put sentences together.


England

Rs/L1.1 - 'Use implicit and explicit grammatical knowledge ... to predict meaning, tryout plausible meanings and to read and check for sense.'

Rs/L1.2 - 'Use of punctuation to help their understanding.''Secure knowledge of end-of-sentence punctuation ... in helping to make sense ofcontinuous text.'Ws/L1.1 - 'Write in complete sentences'.'Learn to recognise sentence boundaries when proof-reading their own writing bylooking for where a new idea or action begins.'Ws/L1.3 - 'Punctuate sentences correctly and use punctuation so that meaning isclear.'Know all the punctuation markers for the beginning and end of sentences, andknow when to use each one.'NB:Skillswise resources are designed for students at level 1. There is some cross-over with this module, however, with level 3 - Rs/E3.3and Ws/E3.3. This arosebecause tutors have advised us that even at level 1 students have some problemswith the basics of sentence construction.

WalesAs England.

Northern IrelandAs England.

Scotland


In the Skillswise module you'll find:Making sentences gamesThere are 3 games in this module. They look and feel the same, but progress incomplexity. In game 1 the learner must identify whether a line of text is asentence or not with a simple 'yes' / 'no' option. In game 2 the learner mustchoose the beginning or ending that will make the text on the page into asentence. In game 3 the learner is offered a choice of 6 punctuation-free textsto work on. Each text has an audio reading available and in each text thelearner must mark out the sentences by clicking the mouse where they believe

a capital letter or full-stop should appear.In each game there is a timer option. Timing is one of the most difficult thingsto work out when building a game. If you feel that the game is too fast (or too

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slow!) then do let us know. You can contact us about this and anything to dowith this module here

Making sentences quizThe learner can choose their level. Level A is the easiest and level C thehardest. All 3 levels deal with identifying the essential parts of a sentence

(verb, subject etc) and testing the learner's knowledge of the rules of simplesentence making.Students can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz. Thiswill appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the certificatewill appear in a new window. Once printed students can write their name on thecertificate.

Making sentences factsheetThe facts about making simple sentences, with examples, on one 'print-out-and-keep' sheet.

Making sentences worksheetsThere are 5 worksheets in this section. These range from adding the correctend-of-sentence punctuation to a number of sentences, to spotting whethersentences are complete or not, to writing sentences for a letter of complaintfrom a selection of given words.If you have more ideas for sentence worksheets tell us about them!

Technical help:



If you don't have Flash the same learning points are covered in the quiz and inthe worksheets and factsheets.If you are new to the web, why not try the BBC WebWise online course,

Becoming WebWise? It's free, you can do it in your own time from anycomputer and it will take you through everything you need to know to use theweb successfully in your teaching.Get WebWise.


Taking it further:

With Skillswise:Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans andTeaching inspirationsareas for more ideas about teaching sentences.

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On the web:Here's a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find usefulresources that you can adapt for teaching the basics of making sentences.

Job requirements game

This is a printable resource available online. There are two sets of cards to print out

- the jobs and the skills needed for those jobs. Students choose one of each tomake a sentence. You could use the resource to make simple sentences, but alsoto extend work into more complex sentences - e.g.'Pilots must be good atlanguages because they travel a lot.'

Scrambled sentencesAs with the link above, there is no information on this site about who has created it,but the game is quite good. The learner has to 'drag and drop' a selection of wordsinto the correct order to make the sentence. The sentences seem to all be aboutauctions (?) so they are definitely aimed at adults rather than children. The site is aUS site.

Putting sentences together

How to put simple sentences together

Constant use of short sentences can be a bit strange to read.To make your writing more interesting, you can use two other sorts of longer sentences.The simplest of these is the compound sentence.

How do I make a compound sentence?

When you have two or more short, independent, simple sentences which are ofequalweight you can join them together using special words called conjunctions.e.g.'I hate curry.'is a simple sentence.'I like Thai food.'is also a simple sentence.You can put these together to make one, longer and more interesting compound sentenceusing a conjunction -'I hate curry' + but+ 'I like Thai food' = 'I hate curry, but I like Thai food.'

Junctions join two or more roads together, so we use conjunctions to join two or

more short sentences together Commas are not conjunctions and they should never be used to join short

sentences together (commas aren't sticky, so you can't use them to stickinformation together!).

These are the most common conjunctions:

and, as, but, or, so

Try to avoid using the same conjunction over and over again. It is much better to

'mix and match'.

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BEWARE!The conjunction that you use may change the meaning of your sentence!Conjunctions don't just stick sentences together, they show the relationship between thepieces of information.

e.g. Note the slightly different meaning in these sentences:

I walked home. I was tired.I walked home andI was tired.I walked home as I was tired.I walked home butI was tired.I walked home so I was tired.I walked home orI was tired.

The final sentence, using ordoesn't really make sense. You can't use every conjunctioneverywhere - so choose wisely!

Complex sentencesConstant use of short sentences can be a bit strange to read.To make your writing more interesting, you can use two other sorts of longer sentences.Factsheet 1 looked at 'compound' sentences. This factsheet looks at 'complex' sentence.

How do I make a complex sentence?

When you make a compound sentence (see factsheet 1) you are joining two or moresimple sentences together with a conjunction. If you took the conjunction away, thesentences would be complete and they would still make sense.

e.g.'I hate curry, but I like Thai food.'= 'I hate curry'+ but + 'I like Thai food'

This isn't the same for complex sentences. Complex sentences don't just divide into neat,complete, simple sentences if you take out the conjunctions. In complex sentences theconjunction is used to join togetherclauses. A clause is a group of words that contains asubject and a verb. Some of these clauses might be complete short sentences, but in acomplex sentence at least one of them will depend on the conjunction for its meaning.In other words, if you take the conjunction away, the sentence won't divide into completeunits that make sense by themselves.

e.g.'The dinner was burned because she had forgotten it.'

= 'The dinner was burned' + 'because' + 'she had forgotten it.'This is a complex sentence:

'The dinner was burned'= complete, short sentence

'because'= conjunction (joining word)

'she had forgotten it'= subordinate clause. This doesn't make sense on its own.What had she forgotten? This is called a 'subordinate clause' because without therest of the sentence it doesn't really make sense.

'Although I'm not very good, I really enjoy playing football.'

= 'Although' + 'I'm not very good' + 'I really enjoy playing football.'Again, this is a complex sentence:

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'Although'= conjunction (joining word). Yes, sometimes conjunctions can appear atthe beginning of a sentence!

'I'm not very good'= subordinate clause. This doesn't make sense on its own. What

are you not very good at? This is called a 'subordinate clause' because without therest of the sentence it doesn't really make sense.

'I enjoy playing football'= complete short sentence

BEWARE!As for compound sentences, commas are not conjunctions and they should never be usedto join short sentences or clauses together (commas aren't sticky, so you can't use them tostick information together!).e.g.'The dinner was burned, she had forgotten it.'= incorrect'The dinner was burnedbecause she had forgotten it.'= correct

The important joining words

Factsheets 1 and 2 told you about making more interesting sentences by usingcompound and complex sentences.For both of these, you need a good selection ofconjunctions, or joining words.

The 'magnificent seven' conjunctions (the most commonly used) are:

and, although, as, because, but, if, or

There are a number of other important conjunctions that you can use.These can be put into categories oftime, place, oragreement.

TIME = before, after, until, since, when, whenever, while

e.g.We all went home before a fight broke out.She went to bedaftershe put the cat out.

There will be no peace untilsomebody says tha

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