Teaching Strategies, Tactics, and Methods

Story Writing usually follows a format that helps writers to structure their work. This format is recognizable to many stories and typically has five main components. Character, Setting, Plot, Conflict, and Theme.

Read on to find out how each feature is used in the story writing format and how best to use them in your writing.

Character

Without characters, nothing will happen in your story; how characters respond to the plot’s events drives the story forward. Characters, however, don’t have to be human or even alive. You can anthropomorphize objects to have personalities, and they can serve as excellent characters just as much as people.

One crucial thing for character creation is knowing your characters intimately. It’s not enough to have a general understanding of who they are. Instead, you should make friends with your characters and get to know them. Once you can understand them as if they were real, it will be easier to know what they would say and how they would react to the events of your story.

If your character is sensitive and shy, they might not shout their dialogue unless pushed far. So what would they say when they’re pushed? What’s the line crossed that makes them shout?

What about a character who is angry and fierce? What would make them softer and kind?

Setting

The setting is one of the most essential features of the story writing format and can change everything the other features can influence. For example, a horror story written in a graveyard is a typical setting for that genre – it will make a good story, but something that might be predictable. On the other hand, setting a horror story inside a gym or shopping center will throw off what the reader expects. From there, the characters have to act differently as they discover how to act to events that shouldn’t logically be happening in this setting.

If you want to throw a spanner in the works of your story, then consider changing the setting to somewhere the events would never occur.

Plot

The plot, or Narrative, is simply the events of the story. The plot carries your characters through the story; it’s where a writer introduces conflicts and changes in circumstances and allows the characters to develop.

The plot is like a room within which all the other features of the story writing format live. They all interact with one another within the plot, and the plot contains them all. Sometimes the plot will move quickly, and the events will happen in quick succession; sometimes, the plot moves slowly, and tension builds. It’s a writer’s job to understand how to place the plot.

Conflict

It is a part of the story-writing format that can challenge a writer. Conflict means that you introduce a problem or issue to the plot. Characters must solve this problem and restore equilibrium to the plot. These conflicts can be minor, like an argument, or very large, like saving the world. Conflict should be a challenge to what’s been established as usual in the world of your story. It should clash the ideas of two or groups of characters and force them to confront this difference. It is where knowing your feelings come into play – if you don’t know them well enough, you won’t know how they respond to conflict.

Theme

It overarches the entirety of the story you create. A theme is a message you want to embed into your story – the theme could be equality in a story where a specific group of people is under threat. The theme could be environmentalism in a story where something terrible happens to the world.

These shouldn’t be confused with the genre – Genre is a specific style of story with its features and stylistic landmarks; the themes are what an individual story is about.

What is a Fair Test in Science?

A fair test is a test that controls all but one variable when attempting to answer a scientific question. Only changing one variable allows the person conducting the test to know that no other variable has affected the results.

To help remember how to conduct your fair test, learn the mnemonic:

• Cows – Change one thing (independent variable)
• Moo – Measure something (dependent variable)
• Softly – Keep everything else the same (controlled variable)

As students progress through their academic careers, even more importance will be placed on carrying out fair tests. Marks are set aside to provide evidence of an appropriate test in their experiments, particularly on Year 7 and Year 8 science tests. When conducting a science assessment in class, ask your students to consider the variables – what variable are they manipulating to change the result? What variables must not change for the results to be most accurate?
It can vary wildly between experiments, so it is essential that your class is comfortable with conducting their investigations and can identify variables accordingly.

Example of a Fair Test

Let’s look at an example of a simple experiment that could be conducted with a primary class.

• Build a ramp out of four books and a plank of wood.
• Roll a tennis ball down the ramp and measure how far it travels.
• Next, roll a ping pong ball down the ramp and measure how far that travels.
• Compare the results of the two tests and discuss why the differences might have occurred.

This simple test covers all of the bases for a fair examination. Our independent variable is the type of ball used. The dependent variable is how far the ball moves, and the controlled variables are the height of the ramp and the material used to make the ramp.

Why is it essential to do a fair test?

When conducting a scientific experiment, the experiment must be a fair test because if the test is not acceptable, then the results will not be accurate, which will reduce the test’s effectiveness by making the results incorrect.

When conducting experiments, scientists will always ensure that the test is fair; they do this to ensure that no other variables affect the test results, and this ensures that the test results are as accurate as possible.

When gathering the results of an experiment, the same method must be used to measure the results of each test to ensure that it is fair. Scientists will also do multiple repeats of the experiment to ensure no mistakes or unknown factors change the outcome of the investigation.

When children ask what is a fair test in science, the essential part of the answer should be that it is a test in which only one variable is changed, and the results are measured using the same method each time to ensure that the results are correct.

Games are one of the essential tools in an ESL teacher’s belt. Learners struggling with a complex topic? Help them through it with a game. Got some time to kill between lessons? It’s game time. Want to get those minds whirring into gear? You guessed it. Bring on the game!

Fun ESL games for children are excellent for engaging learners with the topic. Playing fun but simple games makes the lesson more exciting and make children more likely to learn. If they’re bored, their minds may wander, and they’re not going to take in any information from the lesson. So it’s essential to have some games in your pocket, ready to pull out whenever needed.

1. All A-board

A simple game- but all the best ones are! Depending on your class size depends on how you want to split up your learners. You could split them down the middle into two teams or smaller groups if that suits your class best. Pick a topic you’ve covered with your class, like animals, food, or anything else, and put it on the board. Split the board into sections depending on how many teams there are. Then learners essentially participate in a relay race within their teams, taking turns passing on the pen and writing a word related to that topic on the board.

1. The Association Game

It is an excellent game to help learners build their vocabulary. You can stick with one topic and use it at the end of a lesson for learners to practice what they’ve learned, or even use it at the end of the year and explore a range of vocabulary you’ve covered. To play, all of your children should stand in a circle. You pick a word, and then the person next to you has to say another word that is somehow linked. For example, if the first person said ‘strawberries,’ the next person might say ‘red,’ and then the next person might say ‘tomatoes.’ Set a time limit for how long children have to pick a word; if they can’t think of one, they’re out. It gets harder the further around the circle you go, as you can’t repeat anything that’s been said before you.

1. What’s Wrong With Me?

A game where everyone gets sick! (Hypothetically). It is an excellent game when practicing vocabulary related to illness. Write out different diseases onto sticky notes and stick them onto learners’ backs. Learners then walk around the classroom, asking for advice for their illness from classmates. Based on this advice, learners should try to determine their conditions.

1. Scrambled words

A fun game that tests vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. A triple threat! Write a sentence on the board with words in the wrong order and include one misspelling. Then, get your learners to work in teams to try and get the sentence back into the correct order again and to find the word that is misspelled. The team that raises their hand first correctly rearranged the sentence and found the misspelled word gets the point.

 

1. What am I?

Split the class into teams. Get learners to take turns to come up to the front of the course, facing away from the board. Pick an item or object to put up on the board that the rest of the class can see but not the learner. Each team has to try and describe the object on the board to the learner without using the word in a set amount of time. Keep playing until at least one team member has come up to the front to try and guess the item.

1. The Mime Game

Get a set of actions. Get a learner to come to the front of the class and act out a different activity from one of these cards, like eating or swimming. A point goes to the first person to guess the action.

1. Hangman

The game where life is in the balance (the life of a fictional stick man, but still, essential all the same). It is a fun game that can break up the day or be used at the end of the day to kill some time (but hopefully no fictional stick men). Pick a word and draw out dashes to represent each letter. Learners then have to try and guess the letters in the word; get it right, fill in one of the spaces, get it wrong, and then start to draw the image of a hanging man. Learners must correctly guess the word before the idea of the dependent man is completed. You can always break it up when dealing with a big group and have learners playing at their tables. It gives more learners a chance to get more involved.

1. Simon Says

A fun game where children develop their vocabulary and follow their teacher’s instructions (don’t they always?). Give instructions to your class, such as ‘hop on one leg, or ‘pat your head.’ But learners should only follow the instruction if first, you say ‘Simon says’ (who is this Simon, and why must everyone do what he says? A mystery for another time perhaps). You could even switch it up and nominate different learners to play the part of Simon.

1. Fly me to the Moon

A test of knowledge and paper airplane strength. Then put them into teams and ask them questions- this could be about any topics you’ve covered. If a team gets a question right, they can nominate one team member to try throwing their paper airplane at a target in the classroom. If it hits it, they get the point.

1. Interactive Games

The benefit of these games is that they’re so simple to use- pop one up on your screen in your class and get started.

1. Sh! It’s a Secret

Give each learner a specific word. Then each learner has to prepare a short speech around the topic, hoping to hide the word they were given. They get the point if no one can guess which word they were given after their speech. On the other hand, if anyone in the class correctly thinks the word they were given to hide, they also get a point.

1. Debate Game

So this is less of a game and more of an activity, but it can still be entertaining and gives your learners to chance to voice their opinions and develop their speaking and communication skills. Divide your class into two halves. Give each half a different side of the debate to argue for. For example, if the question is ‘do you prefer pizza or pasta?’ ask one side of the class to say for pizza and the other for pasta. You could award points for particularly persuasive arguments. Or you could get your class to vote at the end of the lesson for who they thought argued their point the best.

1. Tell me the Truth

It is an excellent game for the start of a year or a new class to help learners get to know each other. First, have each learner write down two things about themselves that are true and one that’s a lie. Then the rest of the class asks them questions about each statement to discover the lie.

1. The Longest List

Split your class into teams. For each round, have each team nominate one learner to participate. Put all the alphabet letters into a hat and pick one out for each round. The nominated learner then has 30 seconds to try and think of as many words starting with that letter as they can, earning a point for each. If someone on their team shouts out, they get the point deducted. See which team manages to make the most points.

1. Team Association Game

This one is similar to the association game already mentioned, but this one is played in teams (hence the creatively named title). Put your class into groups and nominate a pair from each team for each round. From the couple, one learner stays in the classroom while the other either wait outside or puts on a pair of earphones- something to block out the noise in the school. The first learner is then given a list of words, and they have to say the first thing that comes to their mind that they associate with that word. Then the second learner comes back into the classroom/takes off their earphones, and is given the same task. But, if the second learner says the exact words as the first learner, they don’t get the point. Instead, for every unique answer they give, they get the point.

What is the 5 Kingdom Classification System?

The five-kingdom classification system categorizes living things based on their common characteristics and how they differ.

Scientists have developed multiple ways of separating living things into groups or kingdoms, but the most common classification system is dividing living things into five kingdoms. These five kingdoms are:

• Animals
• Plants
• Fungi
• Protists
• Monerans

The 5 Animal Kingdoms

Animals

Living creatures in the Animal Kingdom are multicellular and consume other organic matter for food. Regarding diversity, the animal kingdom is the largest of all the kingdoms, and examples of animals can be found anywhere on the planet.

Animals are usually mobile and can detect things in their environment using various senses such as sight, smell, hearing, and taste. Due to the process of evolution, animals have adapted to live in many settings and eat a wide variety of foods, leading to massive diversity within the kingdom.

Examples of animals include birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, insects, and many more living things. In addition, some living things can be defined as animals, even though they do not look like animals, such as coral.

Plants

Living things in the Plant Kingdom grow in the earth and absorb nutrients from the soil through roots. Plants also use their leaves to absorb energy from the Sun; this is called photosynthesis. Plants need water, carbon dioxide, and nutrients to survive, though some plants have adapted to absorb nutrients from insects, such as the Venus flytrap.

Next to animals, plants are among the most diverse of the kingdoms. Not only that, but many species of plant that still exist today are ancient, such as ferns, which are over 350 million years old and have survived when many species of animals, such as the dinosaurs, have gone extinct.

Fungi

Fungi are living creatures that are very diverse. Some resemble bacteria, while others look more like plants. What defines a fungus is its ability to absorb nutrients from its environment by secreting enzymes. Unlike plants, fungi do not photosynthesize. Examples of Fungi include mushrooms, mold, and yeast.

Fungi reproduce using spores which they disperse into the air or water. Fungi are essential to the broader animal kingdom because they are decomposers, living things that consume the remains of other living things and convert them into their base nutrients.

Protists

Protists are living things that are not animals, plants, fungi, or bacteria. A prominent example of a protist is algae. The difference between protists and monera is that the cell of a protist has a nucleus, whereas the cell of a monera does not.

Protists are among the most primitive forms of life and have existed for millions of years. Initially, the protist kingdom comprised all microscopic organisms, but scientists created a separate empire to differentiate between protists and bacteria.

Monerans

Monerans are single-celled organisms, usually referred to as bacteria. Bacteria can be found everywhere and are considered one of the simplest forms of life. Bacteria are single-celled and can feed almost anywhere, meaning they can also live anywhere.

Bacteria live on and inside many other living creatures, including Humans. For example, the human digestive system depends

Who Created the 5 Animal Kingdom Classification Systems?

Robert Whittaker first created the system of sorting living things in 1969. He built off the work of previous scientists such as Carl Linnaeus, who first suggested classifying living things into plants and animals, and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who first discovered microscopic organisms.

‘Four Corner’ is a children’s game played in many countries elementary school classrooms and playgrounds. It’s used as an ice-breaker, a quick movement break, a way to reinforce vocabulary and numbers, and much more. You can make it as easy or challenging as possible, making it perfect for various teaching needs.

Things You’ll Need

Setting up the four corners game is simple. To play, all you need is a few signs (homemade or printed out) and a way to stick them up on your classroom walls; this could be with pins, tape, or sticky tack.

You might also want a music player with some fun tunes to play.

You might want to laminate your posters to reuse these over and over again with different classes. But, of course, if it’s just a quick exercise, there’s no need.

Step 1. Make space for children to move around in.

Not everyone has a gym hall available, and the weather outside might be too wet or windy to take learning out. If you’re using your classroom, move the desks away from the walls so that children have room to play the game.

The four corners of your classroom should be clear of furniture so that kids can stand there.

You also want to leave as much space in the middle as possible for them to move around; this is essential for preventing any bumps and bruises from walking into a table!

Step 2. Put a sign in each corner of the classroom.

Take your signs and put them in the room’s four corners – hence the name; this could be your classroom, or it could be in the gym hall.

Sticking them on the wall allows children to see them as they run about. It also stops them from getting trampled on. In a pinch, you can put them on the floor.

If you’re making your own, you can either have children decorate them or write the numbers 1 to 4 on four sheets of paper.

A common variation is to use vocabulary words instead. These usually follow a theme like ‘fruit,’ with posters that say ‘apple,’ ‘banana,’ ‘orange,’ etc. It is why printable posters can make things more visually interesting!

Step 3. Turn the music on.

Put the music on to encourage children to dance or move around the classroom. But, they should focus on enjoying the chance to move around and shake out their arms and legs.

To use this in PE lessons or the playground, kids will have a lot more room to move around, so they might be able to jog or run safely!

If you’re using a set of themed posters, like our Halloween ones, you might want to put on some songs that match. It could be spooky music or Christmas tunes!

Step 4. Stop the music, then call out the name of one of the corners.

Children must run to a corner of their choice when the music stops.

Once most children are settled into a spot, call out the name of one of the corners. For example, if you’re using numbers, this could be ‘2’. For fruit, it might be a ‘banana.’

Whoever is standing in that corner is out. They can sit at the side of the room or in the middle. Just ensure they’re out of the way, so nobody gets stepped on.

Step 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have a winner.

Continue to stop the music, then call out the word or number on one of the posters. Eventually, the number of children in the game will dwindle to a few survivors.

The last child standing at the end of the game is the winner!

6 Reasons to Play Corners

Now that you’ve learned how to play corners, here are five reasons to use this game with your learners:

• It encourages physical activity and movement breaks in the classroom. Sitting in one place for hours at a time isn’t healthy for the body or the mind. Depending on their learning style, some children will love the chance to get active for just a few minutes. It can positively affect their engagement with the material and help reduce distractions.
• Making themed signs or posters in your lesson plan can help children engage with the topic they’re learning about. For example, why not make some signs for your history lessons about Greek mythology? They could feature the different gods and goddesses names, helping children remember them before a quiz the next day!
• As we mentioned at the start, it can be a good icebreaker activity, helping children laugh and play with their peers. The game is versatile, so it can also be adapted to new rules like ‘run to your favorite’ or ‘run to your least favorite’ corner.
• You can use it with young children to help build various skills. For example, if you’re using signs with words on them, it can reinforce the shape of words or spelling. It can also help in learning numbers.
• One hidden benefit of this game is that children must use their listening skills. These are essential for knowing when the music has stopped and when the teacher has called out one of the corners. Also, it means it’s good practice for behaving well in class!
• It’s fun! Children will enjoy showing their dance moves to their friends or having a quick run about before settling in for a long lesson. It makes it a brilliant activity to try out at a school disco.

What are some Christianity facts for kids?

1. There are around 2.3 billion followers of Christianity in the world – nearly a third of the world’s population!
2. Christians believe that God is all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), and all-loving (omnibenevolent) and that God is everywhere all the time (omnipresent).
3. Religious leaders of Christianity (like the priest or minister who leads the services in a Church) usually wear unique clothes called vestments. These can be very elaborate, like in a Catholic church, or simple, like in a Baptist church.
4. The story of the birth of Jesus is called ‘the Nativity’ and is celebrated by many Christians every year on Christmas Day, the 25th of December.
5. Jesus is also known as the Messiah, a Greek word taken from the Hebrew word Mashiach/Mashiyach, meaning “the anointed one” or “anointed with oil.” Keep reading for more fun Christianity facts for kids!
6. There are lots of important symbols in Christianity. The lotus flower, for example, can relate to fertility and Mary, the mother of Jesus. It can also be used to represent the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fish symbol comes from the Greek word “fish” and is an acronym for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour.” It was painted on buildings when following Christianity had to be kept a secret!
7. Before a meal, many Christians say a prayer to thank God for providing them with food.
8. Many Christians worship in buildings called churches. These services are led by a church leader, who is given titles such as Bishop or Reverend. Different branches of Christianity have unique customs for worship.
9. Easter is the name for the annual celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and is an extraordinary time of year for many Christians.
10. Another interesting fact about Christianity is that the Bible was the first to be printed! This first printed version was known as the Gutenberg Bible and was finished in 1455. Over 100 million Bibles are still published every year.

We hope you found these Christianity facts for kids attractive!

Forest Animals

What is a deciduous forest?

A forest, also known as the woodlands, is one of the seven important biomes found on our planet. The forest is classified as a large amount of land covered in trees, bushes, and grasses. The trees provide shelter and food for the many animals, insects, and flora (flowers and fungus).

What does deciduous mean?

The word deciduous means “to fall off.” Each Autumn, the leaves and flowers of the trees and flora within a deciduous forest fall to the ground and become part of the forest floor.

Trees use leaves to collect sunlight and turn it into energy (food) through photosynthesis. However, in autumn, deciduous trees shed their leaves as they are no longer needed, and the amount of sun has reduced.

What are the different types of forests?

There are three main types of forests throughout the world: tropical, temperate, and boreal – each with its kinds of animals, trees, and plants.

America has primarily temperate forests, which can be separated into four different types:

• Moist conifer and evergreen forests are known for mild and wet winters and dry summer seasons.
• Dry Conifer forests: Often found at higher elevations with little rainfall and colder temperatures.
• Mediterranean forests: Found around the coast, mostly filled with evergreen trees
• Temperate broad: Lots of rain throughout the whole year, mild winters

Identifying a deciduous forest

Temperate deciduous forests are most notable because they experience four seasons each year: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. They also drop their leaves in the autumn and winter to allow the trees and plants to survive the cold winters.

What are deciduous forest animals?

A significant of the animals on Earth live in various types of forests. Some of the most common are:

• Small Mammals: Rabbits, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, badgers, chipmunks, skunks
• Large Mammals: Bears, Deer, Moose, Bobcats
• Insects: Ladybugs, beetles, praying mantis, bees, spiders
• Reptiles and Amphibians: Frogs, turtles, salamanders, snakes
• Birds: Woodpeckers, hummingbirds, bluebirds, cardinals

Which animals live in deciduous forests?

Deciduous forest animals usually fall into small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. However, a few large mammals call deciduous forests their home.

• Large mammals: Predators such as wolves, bears, and mountain lions can sometimes be seen roaming in deciduous forests.
• Small mammals: Several herbivorous mammals, such as deer and moose, use the forest as it is full of shrubs and plants.
• Birds The tree trunks and seeds on the floor make a perfect home for many bird species, such as jays, woodpeckers, and robins.
• Reptiles: Grass snakes and box turtles like to use the forest floor to stay hidden and safe.
• Amphibians: Toads, frogs, and salamanders enjoy the warm, wet climate of the forest to thrive.
• Insects: The vast amount of leaves and water provide amble food for countless insect species, such as termites, bees, caterpillars, and butterflies.

How do deciduous forest animals thrive?

Deciduous forest animals use the seasons to help themselves thrive in the forest. For example, large animals such as bears will hunt for herbivorous animals through the spring and summer but make a nest and hibernate through the cold winter months when there is little activity in the forest.

Amphibians such as frogs and salamanders will use spring’s warm, wet weather to lay their eggs in small ponds and collections of water. These ponds make it easy for many plants to grow nearby, attracting insects and providing newborn frogs and salamanders with food.

What other types of biomes exist?

Forests make up a large part of the land area on earth, but they are certainly not the only biome we have. We can categorize different regions of the planet into six different biomes. Each has different weather, patterns and animal and plant species.

• Rainforest: Hot and wet all year round, they are home to half the world’s animals and plants!
• Desert: Hot and dry all year round. Small animals survive here and use the cooler evenings to find food.
• Savannah: Full of grasses and shrubs and home to various animals, from gazelles to nonessentials to lions.
• Woodland: Many animals survive in woodlands, mostly made of trees and moss.
• Grasslands: Temperate climate with lots of open space. Large mammals make their home here.
• Tundra: Freezing temperatures for most of the year. A few animals can manage to survive here.

Describe and define: What is an adverb for kids?

An adverb is a word that describes how an action is carried out. Adverbs can change or add detail to a verb, adjective, or whole clause. When discussing the adverb form there are several adverb forms. For example, adverb forms that add -ly, -ble, -bly, -ley, -sly. It is often hard to tell at first if the word is an adjective or an adverb. The general rule is to look at the other words which it occurs with. If it appears before a noun, it is probably an adjective.

How do you identify an adverb?

There are a few tips, tricks, and details that you can teach your students to recognize that will help them identify an adverb in their sentences. First, it is often recognized by the suffix -ly at the end of it. Adjectives usually describe an action in terms of how, when, where, and to what extent it occurred.

What are five examples of adverbs?

1. James clapped loudly.
2. The child ran happily towards their mother.
3. She quickly agreed to re-type the letter.
4. He asked me to leave the house quietly.
5. He plays the flute beautifully.

What is the adverb form with examples?

The adverb form is the addition of ‘-ly’ to an adjective ending. See some easy examples that you can share with your students below.

• quick (adjective) = quickly (adverb)
• careful (adjective) = carefully (adverb)
• beautiful (adjective) = beautifully (adverb)

However, there are more than one ways to form adverbs. So, what are the three forms of adverbs? First, as discussed, most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective.

The second adverb form uses a different format. Some examples of adverbs with the same form as adjectives and similar meanings include words such as ‘hard,’ ‘wrong,’ and ‘fast.’ In these examples, no additions are needed to create an adverb form.

There are also adverb forms that are not derived from an adjective or any other word. For example, ‘as,’ ‘even,’ ‘how,’ and ‘never.’

Below, we’ll look at some adverbs and their meanings, including a mix of regular and irregular adverbs:

Adverb	Example in a sentence
Beautifully	Tom painted his picture beautifully.
Quickly	Annie quickly brushed her hair.
Silently	Amjid read his books silently.
Bravely	Neena swam bravely without armbands.
Happily	Ben rode his bike to school happily.
Excitedly	Jess waved her arms around excitedly.
Truthfully	Lila explained what had happened very truthfully.
Firmly	The teacher told him off very firmly.

Look at the sentences. Look at the words ending in ‘-ly.’ These are all adverbs of manner. Many adverbs end in ‘-ly. The adverbs describe how the sentence’s action was performed in these sentences.

What does the Adverb form do?

So, what does an adverb do? The primary function of an adverb is to modify verbs or verb phrases. In other words, they add extra descriptive detail to the verb to help describe how that verb was carried out.

Adverbs are sometimes used to describe manner or time. In other words, they detail when, how, where, or why something is being done.

In English, adverbs are often found after the verb but can also precede the verb they are modifying.

Why are Adverbs and adverb forms essential?

Adverbs are essential because they are the part of the sentence that adds more detail and information. They give additional detail about how things happen, and they are arguably what makes a string of words unique and exciting in a sentence.

What are the different types of Adverbs forms?

There are lots of different types of adverbs. However, these are some of the most common adverbs and their meanings:

Temporal adverbs – These are adverbs that are related to time. For example, ‘already,’ ‘yesterday,’ and ‘weekly.’

Adverbs of degree – These adverbs measure the degree to which something happened. For example, ‘fully,’ ‘partially,’ and ‘almost.’

Spatial adverbs – These are adverbs that are related to the space and position of where something happens. For example, ‘below,’ ‘inside,’ and ‘over there.”

Adverbs of manner – Adverbs give information about how something happened. For example, ‘quickly,’ ‘slowly,’ or ‘excitedly.’

Adverbs of frequency – They refer to how frequently an action occurs. For example, ‘occasionally’ or ‘daily.’

Did you know? ‘Why’ is an adverb. So, for example, in questions like ‘why is she here?’ or ‘why did I do that?’, the ‘why’ in the sentence is modifying the verb that follows it, making it an adverb.

Adverb Form Position: Where do we place the adverb form?

Adverbs occupy different positions in a sentence: at the start, middle, or end. Read on to see examples of where we can place adverbs and various adverb forms in a sentence.

1) Starting:

• Fortunately, we caught the train before it left.
• Hopefully, it will not rain on our walk.
• Silently, she snuck into the kitchen for a midnight snack.

2) Middle:

• Sally accidentally knocked her mother’s fresh flowers over.
• Knowing he was late, he nervously waited for the bus.
• Their parents soften and attend cooking classes.

3) End:

• We had to run quickly.
• He walked up and down the stairs repeatedly.

What are irregular adverb forms?

Most adverbs are formed by adding ‘ly’ to the adjective (quick → quickly), but this isn’t the case for all of them. In addition, some irregular adverbs don’t fall into this pattern, which can be tricky for children learning about adverbs for the first time.

Here are some examples of irregular adverbs:

Adjective	Adverb
good	well
fast	fast
hard	hard
late	late
early	early

Correct:

• The presentation went well.
• She drove very fast.
• They worked hard to win the tournament.
• He arrived late.
• The plane landed early.

Incorrect:

• The presentation went goodly.
• She drove very fastly.
• They worked hardly to win the tournament.
• He arrived lately.
• The plane landed early.

Wrong vs. Wrongly

The adjective ‘wrong’ can become the adverb ‘wrongly,’ but we can also use ‘wrong’ as an irregular adverb. So they’re both correct, in different circumstances.

The only rule is that when ‘wrong’ is used as an adverb, it has to be placed after the verb that it modifies. For example:

• He guessed wrong.
• I answered the question wrong.

‘Wrongly,’ however, can be placed before or after the verb.

• They were wrongly accused.
• It was judged incorrectly.

Good vs. Well

The adjective ‘good’ and the adverb ‘well’ are often confused and misused when speaking.

Correct:

• I did well on the exam.
• She can draw very well.

Incorrect:

• I did good on the exam.
• She can draw very good.

Regular Adverb forms

Some adverbs don’t follow the pattern of simply adding ‘y’ to the adjective, but they still follow their pattern, which means they’re regular. For words ending in ‘y’, we place the ‘y’ with ‘ily’ rather than adding ‘ly’ to the end.

Adjective	Adverb
happy	happily
merry	merrily
angry	angrily
noisy	noisily
nosy	nosily
lazy	lazily
hasty	hastily
handy	handily
messy	messily
moody	moodily

For adjectives ending in ‘ic,’ we add ‘ally’ to the end rather than just ‘ly.’ The only exception to this rule is ‘public,’ which becomes ‘publicly.’

Adjective	Adverb
enthusiastic	enthusiastically
drastic	drastically
electric	electrically
athletic	athletically
clinic	clinically
classic	classically
exotic	exotically
basic	basically
aerobic	aerobically

When adjectives end in ‘le’ or ‘ue,’ we remove the ‘e’ and replace it with ‘ly.’ There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as ‘unique,’ which keeps the ‘e’ becoming ‘uniquely.’

Adjective	Adverb
terrible	terribly
horrible	horribly
responsible	responsibly
incredibly	incredibly
flexible	flexibly
true	truly
due	duly

What kind of Adverb form is ‘probably’?

‘Probably’ is an adverb of probability. Like other adverbs of likelihood, it tells us how likely the action described in the verb is to happen. Other adverbs of probability include ‘perhaps,’ ‘definitely,’ ‘obviously,’ ‘certainly,’ ‘truly,’ and ‘exactly.’ Here’s how they’d be used in a sentence:

• I’m probably going to be late tonight.
• She’s going to win tomorrow.
• He’ll come along.
• They’ll undoubtedly need luck on their side.
• I genuinely hope that we can go tomorrow.
• She can hold her breath for precisely two minutes.

‘Probably’ itself means that something is most likely to be true. These adverbs are generally used to describe an action that will happen in the future because they define how likely something will happen.

Some can be used in the present tense, though.

• I  believe you.
• I’m coming along.
• I certainly hope not.

Whether used in the present or future tense, an adverb of probability helps us define how certain it is that something will happen. They’re most often used in spoken English (or written dialogue, such as in a story) rather than written English.

Examples of adverb forms placed after an auxiliary verb:

• It’s usually cold during the winter.
• He is happily working on his project.
• She is silently doing her homework.

Examples of adverb forms placed before a verb:

• Grandma often comes to our house on Sundays.
• He sometimes plays tennis on the weekends.
• They rarely miss a deadline.

You can place some adverbs in writing at different points in the sentence, and it’ll still make sense, but this isn’t the case for all adverbs. Adverbs that end in ‘ly’ are generally the most flexible:

• Finally, the pupil understood where to place the adverb.
• The pupil understood where to place the adverb, finally.
• The pupil finally understood where to place the adverb.

Some adverbs must be placed within a sentence, not at the start or end. These are: always, never, ever, rarely, and seldom.

They should be placed in the middle of the sentence, either before or after the verb.

• Her mum always helps her with her homework.
• I have never traveled to New Zealand before.
• If I ever do that, it’ll be years from now.
• He rarely visits nowadays.
• In the morning, birds are seldom quiet.

The narrative voice is the voice (or voices) with which a story is told. The narrative voice comes from the perspective of the person (or people) telling the story.

The narrative voice is an essential tool and component in stories for an author. Offering different narrative voices and perspectives in a story will change how readers view and perceive the overall story.

Some authors present an unreliable narrator with an inconsistent narrative voice to add more depth to a story. Unfortunately, unreliable narrators in texts force readers to question whether they are telling the truth or fabricating parts of the stories that they’re recounting.

A story can be told from the first, second, or third-person perspective.

What are the Different Types of Narrative Voice?

Below are the different types of narrative voices you will come across, with examples.

First-person

The first-person perspective is created when someone within the story, such as the protagonist, tells the narrative.

The pronouns ‘I,’ ‘my,’ and ‘we’ are standard features of the first-person narrative voice.

‘I kicked the football with all my might, aiming at the goal. I felt anxious as I watched it arc toward the net. Then, I felt my heart stop as the goalie dived and missed! The crowd erupted in applause.’

Second-person

Stories written in the second-person perspective use the pronouns ‘you’ and ‘your.’ However, authors do not commonly use it in storytelling.

‘You kick the football with all your might, aiming at the goal. You feel anxious as you watch it arc toward the net. Then, you feel your heart stop as the goalie dives and misses! The crowd erupts in applause.’

Third-person

The third-person perspective relies on the narrative told by someone outside of the story being told.

They tell the story as an observer.

Pronouns include ‘he,’ ‘she,’ and ‘they.’

‘Max kicked the football with all his might, aiming at the goal. He felt anxious as he watched it arc toward the net. Then, Max felt his heart stop as the goalie dived and missed! The crowd erupted in applause.’

Third-person omniscient

An omniscient (all-seeing and all-knowing) narrator is aware of things that the characters in the story are not.

In these narratives, facts can be provided about other characters and events outside the story to help develop a broader picture.

‘Max kicked the football with all his might, aiming at the goal. He felt anxious as he watched it arc toward the net. Years later, the man who stood behind the goal would describe it to his grandchildren as one of the best kicks he had ever witnessed.’

Inverted Commas

Help your children understand inverted commas and how to use them properly in their sentences. Find out whether punctuation should go inside or outside of quotes. Please look through our resources which can help your lessons in the classroom or at home.

Inverted commas show where direct speech or a quotation starts and ends in a sentence.

There are single and double quotation marks printed as‘ ’ or “.”

Sometimes, inverted commas are reused to define the play, song, or book being spoken about.

Inverted commas are opened with a“(66) before the first word is spoken and are closed with a” (99).

Imagine that inverted commas are like a pair of hands; they hold only the words being spoken.

Speech should end with a comma, question mark, or exclamation mark inside the inverted commas.

When finishing the entire sentence, use a full stop after reporting the clause.

For example: “I love apples!” said John.

How do you use inverted commas in a sentence?

Marking the starting and end of direct dialogue:

“Look out! Don’t trip over.” Alice yelled.

“You forgot your packed lunch, Alex.” His mum exclaimed sleepily.

To quote a phrase or word by another person or place or to mark something essential within a sentence for emphasis:

When plants transform sunlight energy into chemical energy, this is called “photosynthesis.”

However, if this occurs between direct speech, typically, we use single inverted commas.

We also use inverted commas to quote within a quote:

The teacher explained, “Shakespeare once said, ‘Better three hours too soon than a minute later, Billy.”

Inverted commas must not be overused in writing and are only used when necessary.

Does punctuation go inside or outside quotation marks?

One of the most common questions about using inverted commas (or quote marks) is whether punctuation goes inside or outside the quotes. Of course, in almost all circumstances, punctuation should go inside quotation marks.

For example:

“I love popcorn!” Ella cried.

“What time is the film?” Mum asked.

“I don’t have any chocolate left,” Simon sulked.

“Don’t fill up on sweets,” his dad said, “We’ll be having our dinner straight after the film.”

There are only a few exceptions to this rule, usually when the punctuation doesn’t relate to the quote or speech itself.

For example:

Did you try the password “jack123”?

The same error was again: “unable to access the file.”

What is the difference between inverted commas and quotation marks?

Inverted commas and quotation marks are the same!

However, we split them into single and double inverted commas/quotation marks, e.g., ‘Do you know,’ the teacher said, ‘what “photosynthesis” is?’

Reporting Clauses

A reporting clause comes after the inverted commas in a sentence.

It gives information about who is speaking and how it was said.

Such as: “Are you upset?”Louis asks sincerely.

In this case, the reporting clause explains that Louis is speaking and using a sincere tone. Therefore, it deviates from the use of ‘said’ in a sentence.

There are many synonyms for reporting clauses; this will enrich writing and improve a child’s vocabulary knowledge.