Year 6 SPaG lesson sheets

The scheme and the PowerPoints

Autumn: Sentence basics

• 1. Statements, questions, commands and exclamations: The four sentence types and how to tell them apart. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Capital letters and end punctuation: Marking the start and end of every sentence, and capital letters for names and I. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Autumn: Word classes

• 1. Nouns and verbs: Common, proper, collective, concrete and abstract nouns; action, linking and auxiliary verbs. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Adjectives and adverbs: Telling adjectives and adverbs apart, and turning adjectives into adverbs. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Pronouns: Personal pronouns, possessive pronouns and possessive determiners. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Determiners, conjunctions and prepositions: Articles, demonstratives, possessives and quantifiers; co-ordinating and subordinating conjunctions; prepositions. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Subjects and objects: The noun that does the action (subject) and the noun it is done to (object). · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 6. Word classes together: Finding every kind of word in a sentence: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, determiners, prepositions and conjunctions. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Autumn: Phrases and clauses

• 1. Expanded noun phrases: Noun phrases that give extra detail with adjectives, prepositional phrases and relative clauses. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Main and subordinate clauses: Telling main clauses from subordinate clauses, and simple, compound and complex sentences. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions: And, but, or, so and the subordinating conjunctions that start a subordinate clause. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Relative clauses: Relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, that, where, when), relative clauses, commas, and leaving the pronoun out. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Adverbs of possibility: Perhaps, probably, certainly and other adverbs that show how certain something is. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 6. Modal verbs: Can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must and ought: ability, permission, advice and degrees of possibility. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Autumn: Verbs and tenses

• 1. Present tense: The simple present, present progressive and present perfect. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Past tense: The simple past, past progressive and past perfect, with irregular verbs. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Keeping the tense the same: Spotting and fixing a verb that changes tense by mistake. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Was and were in Standard English: Choosing was or were so that the verb agrees with its subject. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Recognising the subjunctive: The subjunctive form: if I were, I wish it were and it is vital that he be. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 6. Using the subjunctive: Choosing and writing the subjunctive in formal sentences. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Autumn: Active and passive

• 1. Verbs, auxiliary verbs and verb forms: Main verbs, auxiliary verbs and the tense they make together. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Recognising the passive: Active and passive sentences: who does the action, and what happens to the subject. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Using the passive: Changing sentences from active to passive and back, and leaving out the agent. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Autumn: Commas

• 1. Commas to make the meaning clear: How one comma can change the meaning of a sentence. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Commas after fronted adverbials and clauses: A comma after an opening phrase or subordinate clause, and none when it comes second. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Commas in a list: Separating the items of a list with commas, with and before the last item. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Spring: Parenthesis, dashes and hyphens

• 1. Parenthesis: commas, brackets and dashes: Adding extra information to a sentence with a pair of commas, brackets or dashes. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Single dashes and pairs of dashes: A dash for an extra comment at the end, and a pair of dashes for a parenthesis. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Hyphens to avoid confusion: How a hyphen can change meaning: re-cover and recover, man-eating shark and man eating shark. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Using hyphens: Hyphens in compound adjectives, numbers and some prefixes. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Spring: Lists, colons and semi-colons

• 1. Colons and semi-colons: A first look at colons before a list or explanation and semi-colons between related clauses. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Writing in note form: Turning sentences into short notes that keep the important facts. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Punctuating bullet points: Colons before a bullet list, and capital letters and full stops in the list. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Semi-colons: Joining related clauses with a semi-colon, and separating complex list items. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Colons: A colon before a list and before an explanation. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 6. Choosing punctuation to mark boundaries: Choosing between a comma, colon, semi-colon and full stop to mark where parts of a sentence meet. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Spring: Apostrophes and speech

• 1. Apostrophes for missing letters: Contractions such as don’t, can’t and they’re. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Apostrophes for possession: Showing who owns something: the girl’s coat, the girls’ coats, the children’s coats. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Apostrophes: putting it all together: Missing letters or belonging? And its, it’s, their, there, they’re, your, you’re, whose, who’s. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Punctuating direct speech: Inverted commas, commas, question marks and exclamation marks in direct speech. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Direct and reported speech: Changing direct speech into reported speech and back. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Spring: Formal and informal writing

• 1. Formal and informal writing: Telling formal language from informal language, and choosing the right one for the reader. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. The subjunctive in formal writing: Using were and be in formal sentences such as I insist that he be present. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Question tags: Short questions added to the end of a statement: It’s cold, isn’t it? · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Formal vocabulary: Choosing formal words instead of everyday ones: get → obtain, help → assist. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Writing in a formal style: Turning chatty writing into formal writing for a letter, notice or report. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 6. Standard English: Spotting and fixing non-standard grammar such as I done it, them books and double negatives. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Spring: Vocabulary

• 1. Synonyms: Words with a similar meaning, and choosing the one that fits best. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Antonyms: Words with opposite meanings, and prefixes that make the opposite. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Synonyms and antonyms together: Telling synonyms from antonyms, spotting the odd one out and choosing the best word. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Prefixes and suffixes: How prefixes and suffixes change the meaning of a word, and how the spelling changes. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Word families: Words that share a root and have related meanings: sign, signal, signature. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Summer: Consolidation: revising the tested content

• 1. Revision: relative clauses, phrases and clauses: Revising relative clauses, expanded noun phrases, main and subordinate clauses, conjunctions, adverbs of possibility and modal verbs. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Revision: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and tenses: Revising nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, verb forms and the present and past tenses. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Revision: pronouns, determiners, prepositions and sentences: Revising pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, subject and object, sentence types and the passive. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Revision: prefixes, suffixes and word families: Revising how words are built: prefixes, suffixes, word families, and words with related meanings. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Revision: parenthesis, dashes and hyphens: Revising brackets, commas and dashes for parenthesis, single dashes, and hyphens. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 6. Revision: commas, apostrophes and speech: Revising commas, apostrophes for missing letters and possession, and direct speech. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 7. Revision: colons, semi-colons, lists and notes: Revising colons, semi-colons, bullet points, notes and choosing punctuation at a boundary. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 8. Revision: synonyms and antonyms: Revising words with similar and opposite meanings, and choosing the best word. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 9. Revision: verbs, Standard English and formal writing: Revising consistent tense, was and were, the subjunctive, the passive, formal vocabulary, question tags and Standard English. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Summer: After the test: cohesion

• 1. Recognising cohesion: linking ideas: Linking words and phrases that join sentences, and pronouns that refer back. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Paragraphs in fiction: Starting a new paragraph for a new time, place, speaker or event. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 3. Paragraphs in non-fiction: Starting a new paragraph when the topic changes, and giving each paragraph one main idea. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 4. Ordering sentences within a paragraph: Putting sentences in a logical order, and spotting a sentence that does not belong. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 5. Linking paragraphs in a text: Headings for paragraphs, and openings that link one paragraph to the next. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 6. Avoiding repetition: Using pronouns instead of repeating a noun, and knowing when a pronoun is unclear. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 7. Using cohesive devices: Choosing and adding linking words and pronouns to make writing flow. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 8. Ellipsis: Three dots to show a pause, suspense, trailing off or missing words. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 9. Layout and organisation of texts: Headings, subheadings, bullet points, tables, captions and other layout features. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

Summer: After the test: redrafting

• 1. Redrafting sentences: Making sentences more concise, precise and varied. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint
• 2. Redrafting paragraphs: Improving a paragraph: order, relevance, links and repetition. · Make a sheet · PowerPoint

About these sheets

The questions are written by this website. They use the same kinds of question as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, add punctuation, match, join two sentences, explain) but are not real test questions. Every sentence is built from hand-checked word lists, and every answer is worked out by the same code and then checked again by a second program that was written separately. The checker cannot judge whether a sentence is sensible or whether a pupil might find a second answer, so read the answers before marking and use your own judgement. Written answers are marked on meaning where the answer sheet says so.

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