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Grammar & punctuation

Year 2 · Writing

Find what a sentence does: tell, ask, command or exclaim.

Choose a game

Take your time, try a game and collect stars.

Activities to try together away from the screen

Try it together

Use a short shared task after playing.

  1. Say a short idea aloud, then write a model using the style taught at school.
  2. Invite the child to try their own example and compare it with the intended meaning.
  3. Notice one success and agree on one small next step.

Helping your child with grammar & punctuation

Look beyond the final mark

Year 2 grammar includes statements, questions, commands and exclamations. A statement gives information; a question asks; a command tells someone what to do. The grammatical exclamations used here begin with What or How and include a verb, such as How bright the stars are! A sentence can end in an exclamation mark for emphasis without being an example of that grammatical pattern.

Explain a decision in ordinary words

Read a card aloud and ask what job it is doing. In the sorting game, two groups are available in each round so children compare related examples. Afterwards, take one simple situation, such as finding a lost bag, and write a statement, a question and a command about it. Check capitals and endings while keeping the purpose of each sentence in view.

Try a concrete example

Compare Close the gate. with Can you close the gate? Both may lead to the same action, but their grammatical forms differ. The first is a command; the second is a question. A polite word such as please does not by itself make a question.

Curriculum connection

The reading and writing connections use the Year 2 programme of study. This collection offers selected practice rather than the complete programme. Read the official English programme of study.

Questions families ask

Is every sentence with an exclamation mark an exclamation?

No. The game uses the Year 2 What or How grammatical pattern. Other sentence types can also use an exclamation mark for effect.

How should we choose the next challenge?

Start with a skill the child is learning at school. Use the game as a short practice opportunity, then return to a real book, a useful piece of writing or a conversation. Follow the teacher’s sequence where it differs.