Compilation of Grammar Activities
Compilation of Grammar Activities
Compilation of Grammar Activities
Exercise 3:
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Writing Activity: A future story
Each student adds one stage to the story then folds the paper to cover the information and
passes the paper to the student on the right. At each stage, before folding and passing to the
student on the right, give these instructions.
1. Write the name of a man. It can be a famous man or a man everyone in the class knows.
(Depending on the group, allow them to put the names of classmates.)
2. Write the name of a woman. It can be a famous woman or a woman everyone in the
class knows. (Depending on the group, allow them to put the names of class mates.)
3. Write the name of a place where the two people meet.
4. When they meet, he says something to her. What does he say? Students write what he
says to her.
5. She replies to the man. What does she say?
6. What’s the consequence of this encounter? What happens?
7. What’s the opinion of the whole story? What does the world say as a comment?
The end result is a mixed-up story that can often be amusing. Read yours as an example of how
you want the students to tell the story. Then invite students one by one to unfold their stories
and read them to the group. Depending on the level you can encourage use of connectors,
reported speech etc.
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10. Elizabeth I ruled England until 1603.
a. S + v + do
b. S + lv + c
c. S + v + io + do
Exercise 2:
Writing Activity: Poems for the future
Firstly, you could begin by brainstorming topics related to the future through acrostic
poems or pictures. Ask your students to imagine they're living in the year 2100. What's life like?
What can they see around them? How far has space and technology advanced?
Example poem:
You could use either of the poems below as a model for your students:
On a more personal note, the future could be explored through the senses. You could
use this example as a model to elicit ideas from your students. Play some relaxing background
music and ask them to close their eyes and imagine the sensations as they think of different
words.
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Example:
My / The future is… (yellow)
It tastes like… (pasta)
It smells like… (a lemon)
It sounds like… (a mandolin)
It feels like… (a cat)
It looks like… (the sunrise)
Ask your students to complete the sentences below to generate ideas for a poem about
their own future dreams. Here are two possible structures for their poems:
In my future life
I might …
I could…
I may…..
But I'll definitely…
In my future life
I'd like to be …
I'd like to...
And…
Then…
Please…
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Exercise 1: Read the sentences and then fill in the gaps with a suitable verb.
1. I wrote for an hour non-stop in the exam and now my arm sore.
2. It's a very easy vegetable to cultivate - it anywhere.
3. Wearing trousers like that to be the fashion these days.
4. You have to be careful with meat in this climate- it bad very quickly.
5. That good. Did you make it all by yourself?
6. What's that noise? It like someone needs help.
7. It to be the remains of a dinosaur.
8. It isn't chicken, but it like chicken.
9. Bring a jumper. It very chilly at night.
10. It to be decided who will be the next Prime Minister.
Exercise 2: For each given sentence, you must fill in the blank with a linking verb.
1. We going to the game tonight.
2. You going to buy me a Christmas gift.
3. They a good group of students to take on a field trip.
4. He a good student in my class.
5. You talking too much in the class.
Exercise 3: For each linking verb listed below, write a sentence.
1. I am- 4. He is-
2. You are- 5. She is-
3. It is-
Exercise 4:
Writing Activity: Improving paragraph writing
Procedure
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1. First, ask your students to provide sample paragraphs (introduction, body paragraphs,
or conclusion), or choose paragraphs from their last essay that they wrote for the class.
2. Second, study these samples carefully and try to give comments on two or three
problems within one paragraph.
3. Next, design a handout in which there is a copy of the paragraph with a table including
two columns, comments and examples. Leave the "examples" column blank. Put your
comments for the chosen paragraphs in the comments column. For example, 'Wrong
word - register' or 'use a conjunction here' or 'spelling' or 'poor topic sentence'…
4. In class give out the handouts and ask students to work in pairs to find examples to
support the comments made by the teacher.
This activity aims to help students and trainee teachers to recognise their own problems with
paragraph construction and to identify errors, which improves their own re-drafting skills.
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Students’ Level: Pre-Intermediate
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Exercise 3: Fill in the verbs in brackets in the correct form either Present Continuous or
Present Simple. Do not use contractions in this exercise. (PC e.g. We are going to the
market.) (PS e.g. Stella plays the piano well.)
Exercise 5:
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Writing Activity: Songs and storytelling
Procedure
1. First, choose different types of songs (rock, pop, country music, etc).
2. Divide the class in groups (of 4, for example) and give each group a blank piece of paper.
3. Ask them to make a cross on it dividing the paper into four equal parts. Tell them to number the
parts from 1 to 4 (in this case).
4. Explain that each student in the group will use one part of the paper.
5. Play the CD/tape with the first song and ask student number 1 to draw something on it
according either to what he/she feels or something related to the lyrics.
6. Change the song and follow the same procedure with the others.
7. After they finish drawing, say that they are supposed to make up a story following the sequence
of their drawings. Give them time to prepare it then ask everybody to present their story to the
class. Explain that each student is going to tell his/her part of the story.
This activity can be used at all levels. The skills used are writing, speaking and reading. The grammar
aim can be the present tense, present continuous or simple past. Try it! It will be great!
5. Adjectives: Exercises
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Exercise 1: Rewrite the sentence using the correct order of adjectives.
1. At home there is a (wooden/beautiful/square) table in the dining room.
2. I was offered (a,an/gold/unusual) ring by my husband.
3. My grandmother has knitted (a/woollen/new/nice) pullover for me.
4. I saw (an/American/interesting/old) movie with friends at home.
5. It may rain! There are (black/big) clouds floating in the air.
6. It was such (a/sunny/lovely) day that we decided to go out for a walk.
7. My daughter has (long/beautiful/black) hair.
8. Last week, I visited (a,an/little/lovely/old) village in a remote place.
9. The gallery exhibited mainly (old/strange/French) paintings.
10. John was given (a,an/little/black/adorable) kitten by his sister.
Exercise 2: (Adjectives - ing and ed) Select the correct adjective inside the parenthesis.
1. The instructions in the exam were very complicated and left the students feeling totally
(confused/confusing).
2. I don't think that horror films are (frightened/frightening) - in fact, I find them quite
funny.
3. Would you be (interested/interesting) in coming to the theatre this evening? I have a
spare ticket.
4. Can't you fix that dripping tap? It's getting on my nerves - it's really (irritated/irritating).
5. I didn't expect to see Peter at the party. I was really (surprised/surprising) to see him
there.
6. He's had a lot of bad news recently and is feeling a bit (depressed/depressing). Let's go
and cheer him up.
7. I find it (relaxed/relaxing) to lie on the sofa and listen to music after a hard day's work.
8. I was told the film was really good but I felt utterly (bored/boring) by it.
9. I get really (annoying/annoyed) when people throw rubbish down in the streets. It
makes me furious.
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10. If I said anything as stupid as he did in front of a thousand people, I'd feel really
(embarrassing/embarrassed).
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Exercise 4:
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Students’ Level: Intermediate
6. Adverbials: Exercises
Exercise 1: Underline the adverbial phrase. On the line, write the question it answers.
1. We expect our grandparents to arrive in about an hour.
2. My cousin watches television almost as much as you do.
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Exercise 3:
Writing Activity: A dark stormy night
The activity should work at most levels above elementary, as long as your students have some
knowledge of past tenses, but it works best when they also know past continuous / progressive
too. All you need to get things started is a sheet of plain paper for each pair of students.
The listening part comes first:
1. Ask the students to draw the face of a person in the top right-hand corner of the page.
2. Once they've done this ask them to give the person a name.
3. Then on the top left of the page ask them to write five adjectives to describe the
person's appearance.
4. Next ask them to write five more adjectives to describe the person's character.
5. After they've done this ask the students to write three things that the person likes
doing.
6. Then ask them to write who the person lives with.
In this way they build up a character profile for the person they are going to write
about.
The writing part:
1. Now dictate the following sentence to your students: 'It was a dark and stormy night
and'. Stop at this point and ask them to write in the name of the person they have
drawn and followed by the word 'was'.
2. Then ask the students to complete the sentence from their imagination and add one
more sentence.
3. Once all the students have added a sentence to their stories, get them to stop and pass
the paper to the pair on their right (this means that every pair of students now has a
new character).
4. The students then read through the information and the beginning of the story and
then add one more sentence to it.
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5. Once they've done this you ask them once more to pass the paper to the next pair on
their right. Continue to do this with each pair of students adding a sentence to each
story, gradually building up each story as the papers are passed around the class.
6. Continue with this until you decide that the students are starting to lose interest or
have written enough and then tell them to finish the story.
Follow up:
1. Once all the stories are complete there are a number of follow-up options you can try.
2. Put the stories up around the class and get the students to read them all and decide
which is best.
3. Give each pair of students a story and get them to try to find and correct errors.
4. Get the students to write the stories up on a computer and then ask them to add more
description and detail to the stories.
This activity is fun and creative and has always worked well for me both with adults and
younger students.
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Students’ Level: Intermediate
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1. My dad _______ I are going fishing this afternoon.
2. The old man doesn’t have much money _____ he always seems to have nice things.
3. Either we are going to win ______ they are going to win.
4. I don’t have much time _____ hurry up!
5. He wasn’t a popular king _____ all of his countrymen hated him.
6. I want to get there early ____ we should leave soon.
7. It doesn’t matter whether they get the job ___ not.
8. We don’t like red ____ do I like blue.
9. I ran after the cat _____ could not catch her.
10. We played very well ____ we still lost the game.
Exercise 4:
Writing Activity: Now practice creating your own sentences using the conjunctions list
above.
1. ______________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
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Students’ Level: Intermediate
Exercise 3: Below is a word bank of subordinating conjunctions. Turn the sets of phrases below into
sentences by using a subordinating conjunction from the word bank. Use a subordinating
conjunction only once.
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Exercise 4:
Writing Activity: Role-play writing
Preparation
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Photocopy the role cards (Index A - next page) for the student. You can download the role cards
below.
Procedure
1. Draw three pictures on the board of three people (two women and one man) Sue, Jane and
Paul at a party.
2. Read the situation from the role play to your students to explain how they all met.
3. Divide the class into four groups and tell them that it is now two weeks after the party and
that the people have started to write letters to each other.
4. Give out role cards to each group for them to read, or ask each group to leave the classroom
one by one and show them a role card. Explain to them that they have to write a letter (they
can do this alone, in pairs or in groups). Make sure that the different groups don't talk to
each other.
5. Give the students time to write the letter but be sure to give them a firm time limit. Remind
them that they must finish the letter with the last line provided.
6. When they have finished the letters you can either ask them to read the letters aloud or you
can regroup them (if they have written letters alone) into groups of four. The important
thing is that they must read the letters in the correct order to tell the story. When the
letters have been read you can take them in to mark or you can follow this up by getting a
different partner to respond to the letter so that the students keep exchanging the letters.
Variations
1. You can change the role to suit your learners by perhaps having two men and one woman
at the party or if you follow the same format, you can set the role play in a variety of
situations (e.g. two people applying for a job).
Index A
The Role-card
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9. My Reflection
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I have been a student at La Salle University for 2 semesters, and over the course of my
stay I have learned more than I thought possible. I never really wanted to be an English
teacher; I knew that I was really not ready to become one but something really pushed me to
enrol in this master’s class. Going through this particular subject, Advanced Grammar and
Composition, has taught me a lot. Though sometimes I had a hard time catching up with my
‘advanced classmates,’ I would say, because there were things that they knew already. So that
really pushed me to do my best in any way I can.
When the class started, I was really nervous that how would I keep up with my new
classmates. I was a bit hesitant to participate because most of my classmates were not familiar
to me. But despite the wrong impression I had to myself, I have learned to get through it. Had
not for the knowledge of classmates and professors, I would not have gained this confident to
do my best and to learn more. The information and topics we have delved were very useful to
me and to my teaching skills.
As an English major I have learned Going through the English program has taught me
so much more than stuff about literature and language, it has taught me how to be me. I have
learned here how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the
answers to the things that I don't know. Most importantly I have learned how important
language is, especially when dealing with the grammar in different theory or aspect.
I know that my ability to write and express my ideas, thoughts and knowledge has
grown stronger each semester. I have always struggled to put my thoughts on paper in a
manner that is coherent and correct according to assignments. I hope to learn more about how
teachers share their knowledge to me and to the rest of my classmates.
10. References
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Exercise 3, retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/writing-
consequences
2. Sentence Patterns
Exercise 1, retrieved from: https://www.proprofs.com/quiz
school/story.php?title=sentence-patterns-quiz
Exercise 2, retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/poems-future
3. Copular Verbs
Exercise 1, retrieved from: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-
grammar/link-verbs
Exercises 2-3, retrieved from: http://englishlinx.com/cgi-
bin/pdf_viewer.cgi?script_name=%2Fpdf%2FLinking-Verbs-Fill-In-Writing-P-1-
Advanced.pdf&x=184&y=25
Exercise 4, retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/improving-
paragraph-writing
4. Tense Aspect
Exercises 1-4, retrieved from: http://www.focus.olsztyn.pl/en-exercises-tenses.html
Exercise 5, retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/songs-
storytelling
5. Adjectives
Exercise 1-2, retrieved from: https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-
english-2/exercise-english-42493.php
Exercise 3, retrieved from: https://www.helpteaching.com/tests/724571/attributive-vs-
predicative-adjectives
Exercise 4, retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/freeze-writing-a-
way-make-writing-tasks-a-group-activity
6. Adverbials
Exercise 1, retrieved from: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-
learning/student-assessment/smart-teaching-
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strategies/media/documents2/literacy/language-conventions/adverbial-phrases-
worksheet.pdf
Exercise 2, retrieved from: https://www.englishpractice.com/quiz/adverb-phrases-
exercise/
Exercise 3, retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/a-creative-
writing-activity-a-dark-stormy-night
7. Coordinating Conjunctions
Exercise 1, retrieved from: http://www.focus.olsztyn.pl/en-english-exercises-so-and-
but-because.html
Exercise 2-4, retrieved from:
http://www.englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Coordinating%20
Conjunctions.pdf
8. Subordinating Conjunctions
Exercise 1-2, retrieved from: https://cwidaho.cc/system/files_force/faq_ct/attachment/
subordinating_conjunctions_worksheet.pdf
Exercise 3, retrieved from: https://www.k12reader.com/worksheet/writing-with-
subordinating-conjunctions/view/
Exercise 4, retrieved from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/role-play-writing
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