KS2 grammar terms explained, with examples
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In "After lunch, we played outside", after is a preposition. In "After we ate, we played outside", it is a subordinating conjunction. Same word, different job, and the Year 6 grammar test likes nothing better than asking which one it is.
Most children can write a sentence with a relative clause long before they can name one. The grammar, punctuation and spelling test asks them to name it, and that gap between doing and naming is where marks go. The terms below come from the national curriculum for English (Appendix 2 sets out which terms belong to which year). Two or three a week from January of Year 6 is plenty.
Word classes
A word's class depends on the job it does in this sentence, which is why tests ask about "the underlined word".
| Term | Job | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing or idea | girl, London, bicycle, happiness |
| Verb | An action or a state | run, think, is, became |
| Adjective | Describes a noun | tall, muddy, enormous |
| Adverb | Adds to a verb, adjective or another adverb | quickly, very, soon, outside |
| Pronoun | Stands in for a noun | she, it, they, mine, themselves |
| Preposition | Shows place, direction or time; followed by a noun or pronoun | under, through, after, during |
| Determiner | Comes before a noun to say which one or how many | the, a, an, this, those, some, every, my |
| Conjunction | Joins words or clauses | and, but, or, because, although |
The word that changes class three times:
- "That bag is mine." Determiner.
- "The bag that I lost was red." Relative pronoun.
- "I think that it will rain." Conjunction.
Clauses and phrases
A clause has a verb and usually a subject. A phrase is a group of words without its own verb.
Main clause. Makes sense on its own: The dog barked.
Subordinate clause. Adds information but does not make sense alone. It often begins with a subordinating conjunction such as because, when, if, although, while, since, until, unless, before or after: The dog barked because the doorbell rang.
Relative clause. A subordinate clause that tells you more about a noun. It usually starts with who, which, that, whose, where or when.
- My aunt, who lives in Leeds, is visiting.
- The book that you lent me was brilliant.
Expanded noun phrase. A noun with extra detail packed round it: the cat becomes the scruffy grey cat with one ear.
Fronted adverbial. A word or phrase at the start of a sentence saying when, where or how, followed by a comma.
- Later that evening, the storm arrived.
- Without a sound, she opened the door.
Verb forms
| Term | How it is made | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present perfect | has or have + past participle | She has finished her book. |
| Progressive | a form of be + -ing verb | They were running. I am reading. |
| Modal verb | can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must | You must wear a coat. It might snow. |
| Passive | a form of be + past participle | The window was broken (by the ball). |
| Subjunctive | special formal forms | If I were you … The teacher insisted that he be on time. |
Active and passive trip children up most. In the active, the subject does the action: The ball broke the window. In the passive, the subject has the action done to it: The window was broken by the ball. The passive can leave out who did it altogether: The window was broken.
The subjunctive is rare in everyday speech, so children usually need to learn its few common patterns directly.
Punctuation terms
- Apostrophe: for missing letters (can't, it's) or possession (the girl's coat, the girls' coats).
- Inverted commas: around direct speech. "Come here," said Mum.
- Colon: before a list or an explanation. You will need three things: a pencil, a ruler and a rubber.
- Semicolon: between two closely linked main clauses. It was late; everyone was tired.
- Parenthesis: extra information marked off with brackets, a pair of dashes or a pair of commas. My brother (who is nine) loves football.
- Hyphen: joins words to avoid ambiguity. A man-eating shark and a man eating shark are very different things.
Where marks slip away
Definitions without examples. "A determiner comes before a noun" means little until a child has seen ten of them. Always pair a term with two or three examples.
Forgetting that class depends on the sentence. Practise with words that switch, such as after, before, that and round.
No comma after a fronted adverbial. Small, but common.
Its and it's. It's always means it is or it has. Its shows possession, like his.
Comma splices. It was raining, we stayed in needs a full stop, a semicolon or a conjunction.
A good test of understanding is to ask your child to teach a term to you and give an example of their own. If they can teach it, they know it.
Ten-minute check
- Underline the subordinate clause: Although it was cold, we went to the beach.
- What word class is every in Every child needs a pencil?
- Rewrite in the passive: The chef cooked the meal.
- Add a fronted adverbial to: the train pulled into the station.
- Circle the modal verb: We should leave before it gets dark.
- Add a relative clause to: The house is empty.
Answers: 1) Although it was cold 2) determiner 3) The meal was cooked by the chef. 4) Any sensible answer, such as Slowly and noisily, the train pulled into the station. 5) should 6) For example, The house, which has a red door, is empty.
Spelling is the other half of the same test; our guide to learning weekly spellings has a routine. Grammar knowledge also helps with the reading paper, where a child who can say "this adverb shows how she moved" is better placed to explain an author's choices; see KS2 reading question types. For how grammar practice fits with everything else in Year 6, see our KS2 SATs revision guide.
Sources and further reading
- National curriculum in England: English programmes of study – includes Appendix 2 (vocabulary, grammar and punctuation) and the English glossary.
- Key stage 2: English grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework – what the Year 6 test is designed to assess.
- National curriculum assessments: past test materials – recent grammar, punctuation and spelling papers to try.
