Hint

The comma needs to come after the subordinate clause, if you can remember what one of those is.

Hint

A question mark goes at the end of a question. You can always answer ‘I don’t know’ to a question. Which sentence could best be followed by the reply ‘I don’t know’ and for the conversation to make sense?

Example: “What is the time?” “I don’t know.” This makes complete sense. ‘So “What is the time?” has a question mark.

“I’d like to know what the time is.” “I don’t know”. This doesn’t make as much sense.

Hint

In sport, if a match ends in a draw, sometimes there has to be a replay. What does that mean?

Hint

A question is trying to obtain an answer. A command is telling you to do something. A statement is just telling you something.

Hint

Does Ana mean camping holidays, or are camping and holidays two separate things that she likes?

Hint

A verb is an action word. An adverb adds to the verb, to tell you something about how the action is carried out. So start by finding the verb.

Hint

Can you spot the relative clause in this sentence? The commas go either side of it.

Hint

Only one sentence uses tenses correctly. Tenses place the action in time, so the past, present and future aren’t all mixed up.

Example: “We went..” is in the past tense. It’s already happened. “Next week” is a time in the future, so it won’t usually work if the sentence is using the past tense.

Hint

Synonyms are words with the same or very similar meanings.

Hint

A command tells you what to do, without you having to think for yourself.

Example: “It would be a good idea to finish your homework” is not a command even though, if you think about it, you should probably go and do your homework.

“Go and do your homework” is a command because it is very direct and you are being told exactly what to do.

Hint

Hint

The past perfect is made using had + a past participle.

If you had forgotten this, try to remember it!

Hint

Questions on Standard English are usually checking to see if you can spot where the correct form of the verb has been used. In Standard English, the verb will change its form to match the time that the thing happened or the subject of the sentence.

Example: the verb is ‘be’.  If I’m hungry, it isn’t correct to write “I be hungry”. ‘Be’ changes to ‘am’. “I am hungry”.

I am, you are, he is, she is, we are, they are. These are all different forms of the verb ‘be’. These are what you should use if the action happens in the present.

I was, you were, he was, she was. These are also different forms of the verb ‘be’. You’d use these if the action happened in the past.

“Joe is hungry” is correct if Joe is hungry now, because ‘is’ is the correct form of the verb ‘be’.

“I is hungry” is incorrect because it should be “I am hungry” if I’m hungry now, or “I was hungry” if we’re talking about a time gone by.

“I will be hungry” is another option, if we want to talk about the future.

Hint

A dash is very useful – especially between two clauses of a sentence.

Hint

Time to review some terms.

Adverbials are used to explain how, where or when something happened; they are like adverbs made up of more than one word.
Example: I like to relax in the garden.

A main clause is a clause that can form a complete sentence all by itself.
Example: I like shopping, even though I don’t have a lot of money.

A noun phrase can be just a noun (like ‘Iceland’) or several words that identify the subject or object in a sentence (like ‘the man in the blue jacket’). You can always replace a noun phrase with a pronoun (such as ‘it’ or ‘he’ or ‘her’) and the sentence will still make sense, if you choose the right pronoun.

A subordinate clause is a clause in a sentence that depends on the main clause in the same sentence to make sense.
Example: ‘because I haven’t had my lunch’ is a subordinate clause that needs more information. We could add a main clause ‘I am hungry’ and the whole sentence would be ‘I am hungry because I haven’t had my lunch’.

Hint

I hate exclamation marks!

Don’t you?

Hint

A colon can be used at the start of a list.

Hint

A noun is a word that identifies a person (man, girl, fire-fighter), or a thing (dog, shop, mist) but can also identify an idea, quality, or state (truth, fear, midnight).

Hint

A comma adds a short pause. If you were reading these sentences out loud and you paused at every comma, which would sound the best?

Hint

Modal verbs change or affect other verbs in a sentence. They are used:

to show the level of possibility. Example: Will. It will rain this evening.

to indicate ability. Example: Could. We could climb over that wall.

to show obligation: Example: Must. I must visit my aunty.

to give permission. Example: May. You may go to the toilet.

Hint

Let’s quickly review these terms:
adverb: Adds to the verb. Example: if the verb is run, the adverb could be quickly – ‘she runs quickly‘.
adjective: a describing word. Examples: Red, giant, happy. ‘The red ball’.
determiner: Words that come before a noun and tell you a bit more about the noun. Examples: The, my, a. Example: ‘The boy’s kite’.
conjunction: A joining word. There are seven coordinating conjunctions. Examples: For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. The first letters spell FANBOYS. There are other types of conjunctions too, such as these subordinating conjunctions ‘because’, ‘if’ and ‘when’.

Hint

A subordinating conjunction comes at the start of a subordinate clause.

Example: He ran home because he was late for dinner. It would be cold although he ran fast.

Hint

invent is a verb but nouns can often be made from verbs.

Example: Verb: Teach. Noun: Teacher.  Verb: Imagine. Noun: Imagination.

Hint

Jack is a boy. He is not a girl.

Hint

There aren’t any hard and fast rules about formal writing! Try saying the sentences to yourself and the one that sounds the least like something you might actually say in conversation (not in a speech) is likely to be the most formal.

Hint

You are only asked for a question. Also make sure the question is the right question.

Hint

The subject will be a noun or a noun phrase. A noun phrase can be more than a single word.

Hint

The commas are being used to divide up the sentence into separate clauses. What other types of punctuation can be used for the same effect? There’s more than one correct answer, but we just need one.

Hint

Unless you’re giving a formal speech, formal writing isn’t like speaking to your mates. I bet you can spot some words here that only really work when you’re chatting.

Hint

Some words have an ‘s’ added to indicate the plural, such as ‘toys’.

Some words natually end in ‘s’ without it signifying the plural, such as ‘mess’.

Hint

Word forms you are likely to be asked to identify include nouns, noun phrases, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and determiners.

Hint

There aren’t any hard and fast rules about formal writing! Try saying the sentences to yourself and the one that sounds the least like something you might actually say in conversation (not in a speech) is likely to be the most formal.

Hint

Prepositions tell you where a thing is or when something happened. They describe a position or a time.

The word preposition contains ‘position’ which is a useful reminder for you.

Hint

Hyphens are used to join two words that go together into a single phrase. Commas can be used to separate items in a list.

Example: Cave-dwelling bats are small, black, furry insect-eaters.

Hint

An apostrophe can show where a word has been abbreviated, as in the word it’s (short for it is).

It can also show possession, to indicate who something belongs to. Example: My mum’s umbrella.

Hint

Parentheses always go in pairs (like this pair of brackets).

Hint

A relative clause can be used to give additional information about a noun.

They are introduced by a relative pronoun like ‘that’, ‘which’, ‘who’, ‘whose’, ‘when’ and ‘where’.

Example: I want a pencil that doesn’t keep breaking.

Hint

To make the simple past tense from the present tense, change the verb from the form that means something is happening right now to the form you’d use when it’s already happened.

Example: ‘I write my answer’. The verb is ‘write’. In the simple past tense, this would become ‘I wrote my answer’.

Example: ‘The paint is wet’. The verb is ‘be’ and the present tense form of ‘be’ is ‘is’. In the simple past tense, this would become ‘The paint was wet’.

Hint

It isn’t a noun but it’s a lot like one.

Hint

In a sentence written in the active, the subject of sentence performs the action. In a sentence written in the passive, the subject receives the action. So ask yourself if the subject is active (doing something) or passive (having something done to them, or it).

Example: The lumberjack cut down the tree. The lumberjack is the subject, the action is cutting down. The lumberjack did it, so this is in the active.
Example: The tree was cut down by the lumberjack. The tree is the subject, the action is cutting down. This is something that happened to the tree so this is in the passive.

Hint

A sentence containing direct speech includes the actual words of the speaker.

Example: “I’ve won!” exclaimed Janet.

Hint

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun phrase in a sentence, to stop us having to use the same noun phrase again. Some examples of pronouns include I, me, mine, myself, she, her, hers, herself, we, us, ours and ourselves.

Example: ‘This is Sharon. Sharon is a good friend.’

We could shorten this to ‘This is Sharon. She is a good friend.’

A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that shows ownership. Ours, yours, his…

Example: ‘Sharon’s bag’ is a noun phrase. Imagine Sharon is looking for her bag.

You could write, ‘Sharon picked up a bag. It was Sharon’s bag.’

Or you could use a possessive pronoun. ‘Sharon picked up a bag. It was hers.’

Hint

There are the seven coordinating conjunctions. Remember this acronym: FANBOYS. For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

Hint

Adverbials are used to explain how, where or when something happened; they are like adverbs made up of more than one word.
Example: I like to relax in the garden.

Hint

A relative pronoun comes after a noun to help to identify which person or thing we are talking about, or to tell us some more information about a person or thing. There are only a few to remember:

• That
• Which
• Who
• Whom
• Whose

Example: The wasp that stung me has flown away.

Hint

Prefixes go at the start of the root of a word to change its meaning.

Suffixes go at the end of the root of a word to change its meaning.

Hint

Capital letters are used for names of people and places, but don’t forget they go at the start of sentences too.

Hint

Verbs are ‘doing words’.  They tell you what action is being performed. (Running, shouted, ate).

However, just ‘being’ is also an action.

Hint

The present progressive tense is used when something is happening now, and is still going on.

Example: You are answering question 49.

Hint

A subordinate clause is a clause that doesn’t work as a complete sentence because it doesn’t express a complete thought.

Like all clauses, a subordinate clause has a subject and verb.

Example: We couldn’t buy a monkey because the monkey store was shut.