How to make a sentence A sentence must have two things: a subject and a verb. It must also make sense. We are going to look at how to make a sentence. First we are going to look at verbs. Then we are going to look at the subject of a sentence and then we are going to look at the object of a sentence.
What are verbs? Verbs are action words. The verb tells us what someone or something is doing. The following words are all verbs. They are all action words: run go walk talk laugh work Activity 1 Find the verb, colour it red Find all the verbs in these sentences and colour them in red. He played with his friends. He played with his dog. He had a haircut.
What s the time? (Present, past or future?) Verbs also tell us the time that the action happened. They tell us if the action is happening now (present) or if the action happened yesterday (past) or if the action will happen tomorrow (future). Examples: Today I walk to school. (Present time) Yesterday I walked to school. (Past time) Tomorrow I will walk to school. (Future time) Activity 2 What time are these sentences written in: present, past or future? He played with his friends. He played with his dog. He had a haircut.
Activity 3 What s the time? Rewrite the sentences in the present time as if the action is happening today. Do this in the middle column. In the third column write the sentences in the future time as if the action is happening tomorrow. Notice what happens to the verb. Past time (Yesterday) Present time (Today) Future time (Tomorrow) He kicked a ball. He kicks a ball. He will kick a ball. He flew a kite. He played with his friends. He played with his dog. He did a puzzle. He made a paper plane. He made a model aeroplane. He cuddled his cat. He read a book. He teased his sister. He had a haircut.
How to make verbs past time Usually you add ed to verbs to make them past time. Examples: walk walked love loved paint painted There are three ways of saying the ed ending. The ed ending either says /d/ as in loved, or /t/ as in walked, or /Id/ as in painted. Activity 4 Regular verbs Put these past time verbs into the correct columns depending on how they sound. walked talked asked cleaned laughed waited brushed filled wanted shouted danced pushed watched opened washed pulled rained whispered acted hopped /d/ /t/ /Id/ loved walked painted
Activity 5 Regular verbs Now find all the verbs that end in ed in these sentences and add them into the columns in Activity 4. He played with his friends. He played with his dog. He had a haircut.
Activity 6 Irregular verbs Some verbs don t add ed in the past time. Instead they change their spelling. Example: Today I go to school. Yesterday I went to school. He has gone to school. Find all the verbs in the sentences that don t add ed in the past time and put them in the table in the correct columns. He played with his friends. He played with his dog. He had a haircut. flies Present (Today he ) flew Past (Yesterday he )
What is the subject of a sentence? The subject is what or who we are talking about. The subject of a sentence is usually a noun or a pronoun. The subject normally does the action. The subject is the doer of the action. The action is the verb. Examples: 1. The boy ran. In this sentence The boy is the subject and ran is the verb. 2. He ran. In this sentence He is a pronoun used instead of The boy. He is the subject and ran is the verb. 3. The girl cooked. The girl is the subject and cooked is the verb 4. She cooked. She is a pronoun used instead of The girl. She is the subject and cooked is the verb. 5. The dog barked. The dog is the subject and barked is the verb. 6. It barked. It is a pronoun used instead of The dog. It is the subject and barked is the verb.
Activity 7 Find the subject Look at these sentences and colour all the subjects in blue. Remember every sentence has a subject. He played with his friends. He played with his dog. He had a haircut.
What is the object of a sentence? The object is a person or thing that receives the action. The object has the action done to it. The subject does the action to the object. The action is the verb. The object is normally a noun. Not every sentence has an object. Remember a sentence has to have a subject and a verb, but it doesn t have to have an object. A sentence normally has subject + verb + object in that order. Activity 8 Find the object Colour the object in the following sentences in green
Activity 9 Pronouns Ricky was looking forward to the school holidays. Ricky kicked a ball. Ricky didn t fall. Ricky flew a kite. Ricky didn t fight. Ricky swam in the sea. Ricky went home for tea. Ricky played with his dog. Ricky slept like a log. Ricky played with his cat. Ricky sat on the mat. Ricky went to bed and bumped his head. And that is all that Ricky did when Ricky was on holiday from school. 1. What is wrong with this story? 2. How can we fix this story? The best way to make this story work better is to find a way to stop using Ricky s name all the time. Instead we can use he. On a sheet of paper or an exercise book, rewrite the story above using he instead of Ricky. Don t use he in the first sentence otherwise we won t know who you are talking about. Remember if he is the first word of the sentence, it must have a capital or big letter because every sentence must start with a capital letter. Every sentence must also have a full stop at the end to show it is finished.
He is called a pronoun. Pronouns A pronoun is a little word that we use instead of a noun especially if we have already used the noun before. We use pronouns instead of nouns so that we don t have to keep repeating ourselves. Let s look at personal pronouns used as the subject of a sentence. Remember that the subject is the person or thing that is doing the action. These are singular personal pronouns. There is only one person. I You He / She / It These are plural personal pronouns. There is more than one person. We You They Personal Pronoun I You He/She/It Notes 1 st person singular. There is only one person. It is the person who is speaking. 2 nd person singular. There is only one person. It is the person who is being spoken to. 3 rd person singular. There is only one person or thing. It is a boy (he) or a girl (she) or a thing or animal (it). This is the person or thing being spoken about. We You They 1 st person plural. There is more than one person. 2 nd person plural. There is more than one person. 3 rd person plural. There is more than one person.
Activity 10 Now test yourself 1. Find the verb first. Colour it in red. 2. Then find the subject. Colour it in blue. 3. Last find the object. Colour it in green. Remember: sentences usually follow a pattern of subject, verb, object.