Go beyond SVO and break down patterns for the main parts of speech in English. Includes a practice page. Follow up with our resource on Word Endings. This resource is part of the Parts of Speech lesson in the Grammar Practice Worksheets section.

English Sentence Patterns

In this lesson, students will learn to identify the words that form English sentences. They will review the function and sentence position of the basic parts of speech. They will also be introduced to word endings that can help them identify the parts of speech.

Parts of Speech

Parts of speech are the building blocks of sentences. This handy chart lists the position, function, and examples of the main parts of speech in English.

Parts of Speech Chart

This lesson covers the past tense of the Be verb, regular verbs, and irregular verbs. Through various individual and group activities, students will practice using the affirmative, negative, and question forms of simple past verbs.

Simple Past

In this lesson, students read three stories that use the simple past in context. They answer comprehension questions and respond to questions about themselves using the simple past.

Simple Past Stories

In this lesson, students read three true stories about Indigenous people in Canada (Tom Longboat, Richard Wagamese, and Thelma Chalifoux). Each story is told in the simple past. Students answer comprehension questions for each. More tasks are available in the digital version, including vocabulary practice, grammar review exercises, and discussion questions.

Indigenous People – Simple Past 

In this lesson, students review words and sentence structure used for describing past experiences in small talk situations. They also practice using and identifying positive and negative adjectives. 

Describing Experiences

In this lesson, students read three stories about friendship that use the simple past in context. They read about new friends, long-lost friends, and unlikely friends. They also answer comprehension questions. This is a blended learning lesson with additional digital-only tasks.


Friendship – Simple Past 

Students learn transportation vocabulary through various writing and speaking activities. They also practice question formation and learn common expressions used to talk about transportation and vehicles.

Transportation

The aim of this lesson is for students to learn to talk about what they used to do and what they do now. 

What Did You Use to Do?

This reference compares these three commonly confused verb forms. Includes a mixed practice exercise.

Used To, Get Used To & Be Used To

In this lesson, students learn how “there is” and “there are” agree with the object noun. They learn how to choose the correct verb form with count and non-count object nouns in the simple present and past tenses. This lesson also covers using “there” with nouns in a series.

Note: This lesson was formerly called Subject–Verb Agreement 1.

There Is / There Are

When followed by more than one noun, sentences that begin with _there is_ and _there are_ don't follow conventional rules. Review the examples in this lesson and try the practice exercises.

There Is/There Are + Nouns in a Series

Do your students know when to use _be_, _do_, and _have_ in questions? These reference charts and suggested practice tasks will help your students form basic questions in English.

Questions with Be, Do & Have

In this lesson, students learn how to form Yes/No questions. They practice asking and answering questions through various writing and speaking activities.

Yes/No Questions

Learn how to form Yes/No and Wh- questions in English by reviewing patterns and examples. Includes notes about the Be verb and other special cases. 

Question Formation

In this lesson, students use the simple present tense to discuss likes. They also learn vocabulary for common movie and music genres.

What Kind Do You Like?

In this lesson, students learn what the different Wh- words mean and practice forming Wh- questions. Through various speaking and writing activities, they learn to appreciate how useful Wh- questions are in English conversations.

Wh- Questions

In this lesson, students use the simple present tense to discuss quantity and possessions. They learn how to ask and answer questions with “how many,” and they also learn vocabulary for common objects (countable nouns) that people have/own.

How Many Does She Have?

This digital assessment goes with <a href="https://ellii.com/packs/grammar-growth-1/materials">Grammar Growth 1</a>. Use this assessment as an exit exam for this course. It can also be used for preview or review.

**Note**: This resource can also be used outside of this course for placement and needs assessment.

Grammar Growth 1

Parts of speech, questions, there is/there are... Introduce your students to the simple past tense and some commonly used targets required for basic communication.