Bolstering Your Child’s Grammar Foundation
Grammar is one of the key building blocks of the English language. Knowing grammar helps children to communicate more effectively when speaking. Understanding the use of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, phrases, or clauses helps them to write better. A strong command of English grammar is essential for your child to do well in school.
To ensure that your child has a strong grammar foundation, these are three important concepts that your child should have a good grasp of:
1. Tackling Tenses
Tenses are a core element of the English language. They reveal the time in which an action occurs. There are three main verb tenses in English: present, past and future.
These tenses are further divided into four aspects:
- Simple Tenses
- Continuous Tenses
- Perfect Tenses
- Perfect Continuous Tenses
Expose your child to learning the tenses in their various forms, meanings, and usage. This will equip him or her with the know-how to form sentences with appropriate tenses.
2. Differentiating Between Nouns and Pronouns
Nouns refer to people, places, things, animals, and ideas.
Pronouns refer to words that can replace these nouns to avoid repetition (e.g. he, she, they, our, etc.).
Being able to identify nouns in sentences can help us determine if the noun is a subject (the one doing the action) or object (the receiver of the action). This helps us choose the right pronoun for subsequent sentences.
There are different types of pronouns:
- Subject Pronouns (e.g. he, she, they, I, our, you)
- Object Pronouns (e.g. his, her, their, me, us, you)
- Reflexive Pronouns (e.g. himself, herself, themselves, myself, ourselves, yourself)
- Possessive Pronouns (e.g. his, hers, theirs, mine, ours, yours)
- Relative Pronouns (e.g. who, whose, whom)
3. Mastering Subject-Verb Agreement
In a sentence, a subject is the noun doing the action. The verb is a word used to describe an action, a state of being, or an occurrence.
A complete sentence requires a subject, as well as a verb.
For example:
-
- Mother bakes cookies and cakes.
- Chocolate cake is delicious.
- I will drink milk with my cookies.
Verbs are often split into three main groups:
Action Verbs | Linking Verbs | Helping Verbs |
E.g. run, fly, bake, swim, read, eat, sing | E.g. am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been | E.g. can, could, shall, should, will, would, does, do, did, have, has, had, etc. |
Subject-Verb Agreement (SVA) means that the subject and verb in a sentence must agree. Some key SVA concepts that are tested in school include:
USE A SINGULAR VERB with these Subjects | USE A PLURAL VERB with these Subjects |
|
|
Test your knowledge of Subject-Verb Agreement here!
Test Yourself!
Pupils are expected to be able to identify if a subject is singular or plural, and when used in a sentence, to make sure that the verb agrees with its subject.
Boost Your Child’s Grammar Skills With LiteracyPlus
At LiteracyPlus, our Enhancing English Language Skills (EELS) programme teaches students that grammar matters. It’s about having the ability to organise words, phrases, and sentences for maximum communication power.
Click here to check out our 2021 class schedule!
Register with us today!
If you have any queries about our programmes, contact us and we will be happy to assist you.
 enquiries@literacyplus.com.sg |  9612 8696 |  6777 2468 |
