Chapter library

Chapter 1: Act 1: Who's doing it?

• Can find who does the action (the subject) and who receives it (the object) in a sentence

Chapter 2: Act 2: Flip it!

• Can turn an active sentence into the passive, e.g. 'The dog chased the cat' into 'The cat was chased by the dog'

Chapter 3: Act 3: Spot the voice

• Can tell whether a sentence is active or passive, even when the doer isn't named

Chapter 4: Act 4: Flip it back

• Can turn a passive sentence back into an active one, keeping the same tense

Chapter 5: Act 5: Director's choice

• Can choose when the passive works best (unknown doers, formal reports, putting the important thing first) and when active is clearer

Chapter 1: When? The sunflower

• Can use adverbs that say when, like soon, then and later

Chapter 2: Where? Hide and seek

• Can use adverbs that say where, like upstairs, outside and nearby

Chapter 3: Why? Weather Hill

• Can use adverbs that say why, like therefore, and explain causes

Chapter 4: Sort it! Adverb Stall

• Can sort adverbs into ones that say when, where and why

Chapter 1: Contractions: apostrophes for missing letters

• Can put an apostrophe where letters are missing in a contraction, such as don't, can't and I'll

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 2: Spelling contractions: can't, didn't, couldn't, hasn't, it's and I'll

• Can spell contractions such as can't, didn't, couldn't, hasn't, it's and I'll

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 3: The possessive apostrophe: 's to show belonging to one owner (the girl's book)

• Can use an apostrophe and s to show something belongs to one person or thing, such as the girl's book

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 4: Missing letters or belonging? Using apostrophes in sentences

• Can put an apostrophe where letters are missing in a contraction, such as don't, can't and I'll
• Can tell whether an apostrophe shows missing letters or belonging, and use both correctly in sentences
• Can use an apostrophe and s to show something belongs to one person or thing, such as the girl's book

Year 2 english Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 1: Your first sentence

• Can put words in the right order to make a sentence

Chapter 2: Build it yourself

• Can put words in the right order to make a sentence

Chapter 3: Does it make sense?

• Can tell whether a sentence makes sense and choose a sensible ending

Chapter 4: Small and big letters

• Can use a capital letter at the start of a sentence, for names and for I

Chapter 5: Capital partners

• Can use a capital letter at the start of a sentence, for names and for I

Chapter 6: Where capitals go

• Can use a capital letter at the start of a sentence, for names and for I

Chapter 7: Fix the capitals

• Can use a capital letter at the start of a sentence, for names and for I

Chapter 8: Meet Buzzy the bee

• Can put a full stop at the end of a sentence

Chapter 9: Where does Dot go?

• Can put a full stop at the end of a sentence

Chapter 10: Sentence detective

• Can check a sentence and spot a missing capital letter or full stop

Chapter 11: Build the and bridge

• Can join two ideas into one sentence using and

Chapter 12: Join the ideas

• Can join two ideas into one sentence using and

Chapter 13: What comes next?

• Can tell whether a sentence makes sense and choose a sensible ending

Chapter 1: Independent clauses: subject, verb and object

• Can find the subject, verb and object in a clause and tell whether a clause makes sense on its own

Year 6 english Year 6 english

Chapter 2: Semi-colons between independent clauses

• Can use a semi-colon to join two closely related independent clauses, such as It's raining; I'm fed up

Years 5–6 english Year 6 english Year 6 english

Chapter 3: Colons and dashes between independent clauses

• Can join two independent clauses with a colon when the second explains the first, or with a dash in chattier writing

Years 5–6 english Year 6 english Year 6 english

Chapter 4: A colon to introduce a list, and bullet points

• Can use a colon after a complete sentence to introduce a list, including a list of bullet points

Years 5–6 english Year 6 english Year 6 english

Chapter 5: Semi-colons within lists

• Can use semi-colons to separate the items in a list when the items already contain commas

Year 6 english Year 6 english

Chapter 6: Punctuation words: colon, semi-colon, dash, hyphen, ellipsis and bullet points

• Can name and explain a colon, semi-colon, dash, hyphen, ellipsis and bullet points

Year 6 english

Chapter 1: Fronted adverbials: openers for when, where and how

• Can spot a fronted adverbial: an opener at the start of a sentence that tells when, where or how something happens

Years 3–4 english Year 4 english

Chapter 2: Commas after fronted adverbials

• Can put a comma after a fronted adverbial, even after a long opener

Years 3–4 english Year 4 english

Chapter 3: Direct speech: inverted commas around spoken words

• Can put inverted commas around the exact words someone says

Years 3–4 english Year 4 english

Chapter 4: Punctuating direct speech: reporting clause comma and end punctuation inside

• Can punctuate direct speech fully, with a comma after the reporting clause and the end punctuation inside the inverted commas

Years 3–4 english Year 4 english

Chapter 5: Putting it together: fronted adverbials and direct speech

• Can punctuate direct speech fully, with a comma after the reporting clause and the end punctuation inside the inverted commas
• Can put a comma after a fronted adverbial, even after a long opener

Years 3–4 english Years 3–4 english Year 4 english Year 4 english

Chapter 1: Commas clarify meaning: one comma, two meanings

• Can show how adding a comma changes what a sentence means, such as when speaking to someone by name

Years 5–6 english Year 5 english

Chapter 2: Commas in lists: keeping each item clear

• Can use commas in a list so each item is clear and nothing gets squashed together

Years 5–6 english Year 5 english

Chapter 3: Commas after openers: avoiding ambiguity

• Can put a comma after an opening phrase or clause so the words that follow don't get mixed into it

Years 5–6 english Year 5 english

Chapter 4: Using commas to clarify meaning in your own writing

• Can check their own sentences and add commas where they make the meaning clear, and leave them out where they are not needed

Years 5–6 english Year 5 english

Chapter 1: Meet the comma: what a comma looks like

• Can spot a comma and write it on the line with a little tail

Year 2 english

Chapter 2: Commas to separate items in a list

• Can use 'and' before the last item in a list, with commas between the other items
• Can use commas to separate the items in a list

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 3: Commas and 'and': where commas go in a list

• Can use 'and' before the last item in a list, with commas between the other items
• Can use commas to separate the items in a list

Year 2 english

Chapter 4: Punctuate a list sentence: capital letters, commas and full stops

• Can use commas to separate the items in a list
• Can write a list sentence with a capital letter, commas and a full stop

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 1: What is a determiner? The word that comes before a noun

• Can explain what a determiner is and spot one before a noun, even when adjectives come in between

Year 4 english Years 3–4 english

Chapter 2: Articles: choosing a, an and the

• Can choose a, an or the before a noun

Year 4 english

Chapter 3: Possessive determiners: my, your, his, her, its, our, their

• Can use possessive determiners like my, her and their to show who something belongs to

Year 4 english

Chapter 4: Numbers and quantifiers: two, some, many, every, no

• Can use numbers and quantifiers like two, some, many and no to say how many

Year 4 english

Chapter 5: Determiner or pronoun? My and mine, and possessive pronouns

• Can tell a determiner from a pronoun, and use possessive pronouns like mine, hers and theirs

Year 4 english Years 3–4 english

Chapter 6: Grammar words: determiner, pronoun, possessive pronoun and adverbial

• Can use the words determiner, pronoun, possessive pronoun and adverbial to talk about writing

Year 4 english Years 3–4 english

Chapter 1: Noun phrases: finding the head noun

• Can find the main noun (the head noun) in a noun phrase

Year 4 english

Chapter 2: Modifying adjectives: describing the noun

• Can add adjectives before a noun to describe it, such as ‘the tiny, spotty dog’

Year 4 english

Chapter 3: Modifying nouns: a noun describing a noun

• Can use a noun before another noun to describe it, such as ‘maths teacher’ or ‘football boots’

Year 4 english

Chapter 4: Preposition phrases: adding detail after the noun

• Can add a preposition phrase after a noun, such as ‘the cat under the bench’ or ‘the girl with a kite’

Year 4 english

Chapter 5: Longer noun phrases: the strict maths teacher with curly hair

• Can add a preposition phrase after a noun, such as ‘the cat under the bench’ or ‘the girl with a kite’
• Can add adjectives before a noun to describe it, such as ‘the tiny, spotty dog’
• Can build a longer noun phrase in the right order, using adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases, such as ‘the strict maths teacher with curly hair’

Year 4 english

Chapter 1: Noun phrases: finding the noun

• Can explain what a noun phrase is and find the noun inside it, like 'dog' in 'the big dog'

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 2: Describe it: adding adjectives, like the blue butterfly

• Can add describing words (adjectives) before a noun to describe it, like 'the blue butterfly'

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 3: Specify it: plain flour and the man in the moon

• Can add words that say exactly which one, like 'plain flour' or 'the man in the moon'

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 4: Using expanded noun phrases in sentences

• Can spot and use expanded noun phrases in sentences to make writing clearer and more interesting

Year 2 english Year 2 english

Chapter 1: Formal and informal vocabulary: find out or discover, ask for or request, go in or enter

• Can swap informal words for formal ones, such as changing find out to discover, ask for to request and go in to enter

Year 6 english Years 5–6 english

Chapter 2: Question tags in informal speech: He's your friend, isn't he?

• Can spot question tags such as isn't he? as chatty speech, and write sentences formally without tags or short forms like don't

Year 6 english Years 5–6 english

Chapter 3: The subjunctive in very formal writing: If I were and Were they to come

• Can use subjunctive forms such as If I were and Were they to come in very formal writing and speech

Year 6 english Years 5–6 english

Chapter 4: Choosing the right register for speech and writing

• Can choose a formal or informal register to suit who it is for and what it is for, in speech and writing, and keep chatty speech words out of careful writing

Years 1–6 english Years 5–6 english

Chapter 5: Editing formal writing: register and subject and verb agreement

• Can edit writing so it is formal and every subject agrees with its verb, such as we were and the children are

Years 5–6 english Years 1–6 english Years 5–6 english