Year 4 · SPaG · Determiners, adverbs and prepositions
Year 4 a or an worksheet and PowerPoint
To use a before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound, including words such as hour and unicorn.
A or an
Use an before a word that starts with a vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u): an apple, an egg. Use a before a consonant sound: a cat, a book. Listen to the sound, not just the letter: an hour (the h is silent), a unicorn (it starts with a y sound). If an adjective comes first, look at the adjective: a big apple.
| an | an apple, an old hat, an hour, an honest boy |
|---|---|
| a | a cat, a big apple, a unicorn, a university |
| check | say the next word aloud: does it start with a vowel sound? |
Examples
- I saw an elephant.
- She has a useful tool.
Key words
- article
- a, an or the
- vowel
- a, e, i, o, u
- consonant
- the other letters
- sound
- what you hear at the start of the word
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Write ten phrases that start with a or an. Include two where the letter and the sound do not match, such as an hour and a unicorn.
Pupil target: I can choose a or an.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the a or an PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 42 of 60 in the Year 4 SPaG scheme, in the block “Determiners, adverbs and prepositions”.
Other lessons in this block
- Using determiners
- Expanding sentences with adverbs
- Choosing adverbs
- Expanding sentences with prepositions
- Prepositional phrases
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