Teaching Strategies, Tactics, and Methods

Africa is the second largest continent in the world, after Asia. Africa spans both hemispheres, meaning that the top part is in the Northern Hemisphere, and the bottom is in the Southern Hemisphere. The weather in Africa varies a lot because the continent is so large! Each region has a different climate, and the weather changes from country to country. Read on to learn more about the climate differences between African regions.

What is the weather like in North Africa?

North Africa is very hot, with a desert climate and little rain. Although temperatures are generally very high, they can drop below freezing in the mountains and the Sahara desert when nighttime comes. The Sahara desert dominates the climate of North Africa.

What is the weather like in Equatorial / Central Africa?

Equatorial Africa / Central Africa has a monsoon climate with high temperatures and humidity. Heavy seasonal rains are shared here. East Africa has separate dry and rainy seasons. Individual dry and rainy seasons happen in most countries south of the Sahara Desert instead of Europe and the US’s traditional spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

What is the weather like in Southern Africa?

The weather in Southern Africa varies more than its northern neighbors, with the temperature changing considerably throughout the year. This is a vast region, so it has a diverse climate. Winters in South Africa are cold and windy with harsh winds, and summers are warmer but with heavy rains. In addition, the seasons are reversed from what we are used to in the Northern Hemisphere because summer lasts from November to January, and winter runs from June to August.

Weather in different countries in Africa:

Morocco

Located in the north of Africa, Morocco has a seasonal pattern similar to other Northern Hemisphere countries. Summer is hot, with temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. The winters are generally cold and wet.

Uganda

Uganda is in eastern-central Africa and has a tropical, consistently warm climate. The mountains can get extremely cold, though! For example, the top of the volcanic mountain Mount Elgon is usually covered in snow. There is a rainy season from March to May and October to November. Temperatures do generally not exceed 29 degrees Celsius.

Kenya

Kenya is in eastern-central Africa, next to Uganda. The monsoon winds and rainy seasons are the main features of the weather in Kenya, with the warmest temperatures along the coast. There are two rainy seasons: one is from April to June, and the other is from November to December. Summer is the country’s hottest period, from December to March.

Egypt

Egypt is located at the very top of Africa, on the Eastern corner of the continent. Egypt has three types of climate: a Mediterranean climate on the northern coast, a desert climate in the country’s center, and a milder desert climate on the east coast, next to the Red Sea. In the capital, Cairo, the summers are long, hot, and humid, and the winters are mild.

Namibia

A country in the southwest of Africa, Namibia has a hot desert climate. It is dry, warm, and sunny throughout the year, and there is not a lot of rain. When it does rain, it happens in summer, which is from December to March. Winter is more relaxed and occurs from June to August.

Rwanda

Rwanda, a small country south of Uganda, has very little difference between seasons due to its high elevation. This country has a chilly climate with a dry season from June to September and two rainy seasons, from March to May and October to November.

A character is someone in a story – a human, a fantastical or mythical creature. They could even be talking animals. Characters have character traits that define them and influence how they act in the story.

What are the different types of characters?

• Protagonist – The protagonist is the main character in a story and the person that the story is written about. The writer usually develops the plot around the protagonist. So, the story may revolve around something the protagonist wants to achieve or a problem they need to solve.
• Antagonist – This is a person that opposes or fights against another character (usually the protagonist). You might also know them by the term villain.
• Love Interest – A person whose primary role in the story is to fall in love with the protagonist.
• Foil – A character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) to highlight their qualities or progress the plot.
• Supporting Characters – the supporting characters can be anyone who isn’t the protagonist, antagonist, love interest, or foil. These might be the protagonist’s friends, family, or people they meet.

What role do characters play in a story?

Characters create the action, so they hugely impact the story. Without feelings, there would be no story at all! The plot depends on what the characters want to do, how they do it, and how they react to new situations.

The protagonist and antagonist have the most significant influence on the story’s progression. The story’s plot usually revolves around the protagonist. So, the plot will depend on the protagonist’s actions, where they’re going, and their end goal.

The antagonist’s goal is generally to thwart the protagonist’s plans (or vice versa). In this way, they’re linked. The protagonist and antagonist’s actions drive the story forward.

Characters also help us to feel connected to the story. They should be authentic and relatable – someone we believe we could meet in real life. This makes the reader more invested in the story and its outcome, especially if something dramatic happens to the characters.

Well-written characters should make the reader happy when the character is cheerful and sad when the character is sad. Think back to the stories you’ve read. Have you ever rooted for a character?

Character Examples

Let’s take a look at some character examples to understand them further. We’ll use Alice in Wonderland as the story example.

Protagonist – Alice is the protagonist of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. She’s curious and wants to explore the wonderful world she’s just discovered down the rabbit hole.

Antagonist – The Queen of Hearts is the antagonist of the story. A brutal and oppressive tyrant, she rules Wonderland. She believes Alice is guilty of stealing her tarts and demands she be beheaded.

Foil – Alice’s older sister is her foil. Where Alice has her head in the clouds and is always daydreaming, her older sister is shown to be grown-up and realistic.

Supporting Characters – Alice meets many supporting characters during her travels in Wonderland. A few examples include the following:

• the White Rabbit
• the Cheshire Cat
• the Caterpillar
• the Mad Hatter
• the Mock Turtle

How to Write a Character Poem

Character poems, also known as persona poetry, are poems where the poets take on the roles of people other than themselves. They write in the first or third person, sharing the character’s private thoughts.

Learning how to write a character poem is a fun and creative way to think in someone else’s shoes. In addition, it can help you pull together your thoughts and ideas for character description.

The first step to writing any poem is to decide what form your poem will take – are you interested in acrostic, haiku, or rhyme? Manipulating the form of a poem’s structure can help to mirror the character’s circumstances or personality. Commonly, character poems use free verse, as poets can create unique voices free from form.

Once you’ve decided on the form of your poem, you can begin to think about how to write a character poem.

1. Persona

Think of this as an invitation to a fancy dress party. Ask yourself, who are you going to go as? The word ‘persona’ comes from the Greek word for ‘mask.’ So, you might like to think of character poems as wearing a mask and taking on someone else’s identity.

2. Voice

Channel the voice of the character you’ve planned. Think about their voice and how they react to specific experiences. How do they speak, and what kind of language do they use?

3. Significance

Character poems can be compelling, stirring up many emotions in people! To bring your character poem to life, it’s essential to consider the poem’s significance and what message you want to share with your readers.

Through phonics, children will learn that every word can be broken down into its sounds and that these sounds can be represented in writing using symbols. They’ll gradually learn all of the phonic sounds of letters to achieve reading and writing fluency.

But while phonics is a great system, the different phases can be tricky to understand at first. Fortunately, all of the phonics phases will be explained throughout this guide.

Phonics Phases explained:

Having the six phonics phases explained makes it much easier to get an overview of the program. You’ll be able to see when children learn the phonemes and phonic sounds of letters and skills like segment and blend. So, without further ado, let’s look at phonics Phase 1!

Phase 1 Phonics

The first phase of phonics teaching focuses primarily on teaching children how to recognize certain sounds and some simple words. This helps to improve children’s awareness of the sounds around them. It also lays essential foundations for the phonics work that will follow in later phases, which includes learning the phonic sounds of letters, graphemes, and blending.

Phase 1 phonics involves teaching children about:

• Environmental Sounds
• Instrumental Sounds
• Body Percussion
• Rhythm and Rhyme
• Alliteration
• Voice Sounds
• Oral Blending and Segmenting

Phase 2 Phonics

While Phase 1 lays the critical foundation for children’s phonics education, later phases focus more on the sounds that letters symbolize – otherwise known as phonemes. In total, there are 44 different phonemes used in the English language!

Phonemes can be made up of one or two letters, and in Phase 2 of teaching phonics, the focus is placed on the most common single-letter sounds. Learning these phonics sounds is done by breaking them down into smaller groups, so children don’t get overwhelmed with too much information.

In Phase 2, children will learn 23 phonic sounds of letters, arranged into five sets. Each week of teaching focuses on one specific group of sounds. These sounds are:

As they learn phonics sounds, pupils will also learn and spell some simple VC (vowel-consonant) and CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. Alongside this, there is also a group of words that need to be learned by recognition – these are known as tricky words, and they include terms such as ‘no,’ ‘the,’ and ‘go.’

Phase 3 Phonics

Now that we’ve explained the first two phonics phases let’s advance to Phase 3. This phase involves learning about the rest of the phonemes and phonic sounds of letters that weren’t covered in Phase 2 – including two-letter sounds and more complex phonemes such as digraphs and trigraphs. As well as learning phonics sounds, children will come across a new set of twelve tricky words that need to be understood, including ‘my,’ ‘they,’ and ‘me.’

By the end of Phase 3, children should be able to recognize all 26 letters and recall them by name. They should also be able to blend and read CVC words made up of the graphemes they’ve learned and correctly draw the letters when copying from an image.

Phase 4 Phonics

By Phase 4, children should be confident in phoneme recognition. As such, they will no longer be learning phonics sounds. Instead, the main focus at this stage is for children to become more confident using the phonemes they’ve already learned.

In Phase 4, children will learn to recognize sets of adjacent consonants (called consonant clusters). They should also be able to write and say words without sounding out each phoneme individually. But, again, there’s another set of tricky words to learn, too, including terms such as ‘some,’ ‘come,’ and ‘were.’

Phase 5 Phonics

In Phase 5, a new selection of graphemes and phonemes is introduced to your children. This new set of phonemes includes alternate spellings and vowel combinations that create different sounds to what children may expect from their earlier knowledge.

Phase 6 Phonics

Now that we’ve explained the other phonics phases, the last one to look at is Phase 6.

By the beginning of Phase 6, children will have learned the majority of grapheme-phoneme correspondences, allowing them to pronounce and read familiar words. They’ll also be able to sight-read many words and recognize the tricky words they’ve learned. When children come across an unfamiliar word, they’ll be able to try and pronounce it using skills such as sounding out and blending.

In this phase, the focus is placed on becoming more confident in reading and spelling, and activities encouraging these skills are hugely important. From here on, children should feel confident in their early-reading abilities and be able to progress onto more advanced reading schemes when they are ready.

Phonics letters and sounds order by year

Since we’ve seen a breakdown of all six phonics phases, you may wonder how they correspond to the school years and what phonic sounds of letters children will learn each year. This simple year-by-year teaching schedule shows when each phase happens, so you can get an idea of when kids will be learning phonics sounds:

• In Reception, the main focus of early reading and phonics teaching is teaching children the phonic sounds of letters, known as phonemes, and at least one grapheme to represent each of them.
• Throughout year 1, when children have learned the phonic sounds of letters, the focus of teaching shifts towards exploring digraphs and trigraphs (groups of 2 and 3 letters that represent a single phoneme) and that multiple different graphemes can represent a single phoneme.
• In year 2, more importance is placed on learning spelling rules and reading. This includes studying prefixes and suffixes and some more complicated topics such as silent letters and complex word endings.

How do you teach phonics sounds?

Since we know a fair bit about the phonics phases, it’s time to think about how to help pupils who are learning phonics sounds.

Learning phonics sounds, graphemes, spelling rules, and skills such as blending can be tricky for young learners, and phonics might not always seem like the most engaging subject. However, you can do plenty of simple, fun, and practical activities with your learners to teach them the phonics sounds of letters and build up their phonics skills, no matter their stage. Once you’ve read our guide and have seen each of the phonics phases explained, you could give some of these a try:

• The alphabet song: Many children learn letters and the order of the alphabet using an alphabet song. However, these songs can also be essential to teach phonemes (letter sounds) to pronounce and sound out each letter of the alphabet.
• Play I spy: Everyone knows the classic car and travel game ‘I spy with my little eye.’ Now it’s time for you to bring ‘I spy’ out of the car and into the classroom with our phonics skills building ‘I spy’ resources and games. You can choose objects around the room featuring the phonemes and graphemes you are trying to teach. This can help your students to form connections between things and their meanings.
• Use games and keep your lessons fun: Like with most topics, making your lessons fun will keep children engaged and, in turn, make them more likely to remember what they’ve learned!
• Picture matching activities: Some students will learn best with visual prompts, so why not try matching activities where children are given short words and pictures to match up to test their word recognition, spelling, and reading comprehension skills? It’s a great way to improve children’s recognition of common words and build their vocabularies.

Experimental error is the difference between a measured value and its actual value. In other words, inaccuracies stop us from seeing a correct measurement.

Experimental error is prevalent and is, to some degree, inherent in every measurement. However, it is not usually seen as a ‘mistake’ in the traditional sense because a degree of error is perceived as part and parcel of the scientific process.

However, by accepting and understanding how experimental error can impact every scientific procedure, scientists can reduce inaccuracy and acquire results closer to the truth.

Here are why this might occur in an experiment, and these can be divided into subcategories: systematic errors, random errors, and blunders.

Systematic errors

These errors tend to be caused by the process, and their reason can usually be identified. Here are four significant types of systematic errors:

1. Instrumental – When the tool you are measuring provides incorrect results, e.g., the fluid in a thermometer does not correctly represent the water temperature.
2. Observational – When the measurement is consistently misread, e.g., a researcher records the water in a measuring cup from above, and the angle obscures the actual height of the water in the cup.
3. Environmental – When the lab’s surroundings unintentionally influence the test results, e.g., the heat in the laboratory is always too high. It causes water to evaporate from a Petri dish at a higher-than-normal rate.
4. Theoretical – When the model used to calculate data creates inaccurate results, e.g., when a formula for working out gravity’s influence on acceleration is used. Still, the procedure does not factor in the effect of air resistance on acceleration.

These errors are caused by unforeseeable and unknown factors surrounding the experiment. They often result in random fluctuations in data sets but can be identified or estimated through statistical analysis.

1. Observational – When a researcher randomly takes an inaccurate reading, e.g., the researcher notes the volume of liquid to the minor division but occasionally determines the wrong number of milliliters.
2. Environmental – When there are unforeseeable conditions surrounding the experiment, e.g., it’s a very wet day, affecting the humidity in the lab where an investigation with organic materials is being conducted.

Blunders

These mistakes happen so infrequently that they are not considered random errors. However, it will usually be pretty evident in a data set because it will appear as a distinct anomaly.

1. A Blunder – An outright mistake, e.g., a scientist not sealing the lid of a container properly and allowing gas to escape.

Science fiction, also often known as ‘sci-fi,’ is a genre of literature that is imaginative and based on science. It relies heavily on scientific facts, theories, and principles as support for its settings, characters, themes, and plot. Many of the storylines and plots within science fiction are possible or plausible according to science.

Science fiction is usually futuristic and often presents alternative ways of life and living made possible by technological change. Science-fiction novels are similar to fantasy in that they imagine alternative worlds outside the realms of our natural world.

What are the five elements of science-fiction story writing?

Like other forms of fiction writing, science fiction contains the usual novel elements. These include a specific setting, character development, plot (central conflict, complications, pivotal events, resolution), themes, and structure.

1. Setting

The setting is the context in which a story or scene occurs and comprises the time, place, and social environment. Therefore, it’s essential to create a background in your account, so your readers can visualize and experience; for example, science-fiction settings tend to include space travel, new galaxies, or futuristic times.

2. Character

A character is a person in a story – a human, a fantasy character, a mythical character, or even an animal. Science fiction is no exception to this element of fiction writing, and the characters in these stories often include aliens, time travelers, and heroic adventurers.

3. Plot

The plot is the main event or events of a play, novel, film, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as a complementary sequence. The plot of science fiction usually centers around technological discoveries, time travel, and alien invasions.

4. Themes

The theme is the main idea or underlying meaning a writer explores in a story. Science fiction’s most common themes include space travel, time travel, utopias and dystopias, and encounters with alien life forms.

5. Structure

A structure is the important events of a story and how its plot unfolds. Science-fiction stories are usually full of action, adventure, and plot twists that make up the structure.

What are some main components of science-fiction novels?

Here are some of the main features of science-fiction novels:

• time travel;
• teleportation;
• mind control, telepathy, and telekinesis;
• alien life forms, and mutants;
• space travel and exploration;
• parallel universes.

Can you think of any novels you’ve read recently that have any of these features?

Famous Science-Fiction Novels and Writers

Here are some famous science-fiction novels you might have heard of or wanted to check out. These novels have been crucial in defining the question ‘what is science fiction?’.

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of a gifted scientist called Frankenstein who creates a monster. However, the beast is not the perfect specimen that he imagined it to be – it turns out to be a hideous creature that humanity and Frankenstein himself reject.
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games depicts a story of a post-apocalyptic nation called Panem in North America. The Capitol runs it that exercises political control over the rest of the country.
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. This story is set in 2045 and follows Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a worldwide virtual reality game. The discovery of this leads him to inherit the game creator’s fortune.

Where did science fiction originate from?

The exact origins and definitions of science fiction have been widely disputed, but the term ‘science fiction’ was thought to have been invented in the 1920s by one of the first advocates for the genre, Hugo Gernsback.

The World Science-Fiction Society held annual awards for outstanding science fiction beginning in 1953. These were named after Gernsback and celebrate the achievements of the world’s top science-fiction writers, editors, illustrators, and films.

Why is science fiction necessary?

The science-fiction genre is essential, and it’s trendy, too. Science fiction often allows people to turn scientific theories into full stories about what is possible and imaginable. People use scientific facts to do things like:

• suggest what could happen in the future;
• explore what could happen if certain events or circumstances came to be;
• present future consequences of technological and scientific advancements and innovation.

How to Start a Science-Fiction Story

Starting a story in a new genre can be tricky, so how can you learn to create a science-fiction novel with your kids? Twinkl is here to help. Check out a few of our pointers, tips, and tricks to help you start your own science-fiction story:

• Keep it short

For children writing their first stories, keeping them short can be the best way to perfect the key components of storytelling. So why not try a flash fiction story?

• Find your hook

Every great story needs a great opening line to hook your reader. A firm beginning in a science-fiction story will make the readers want to know more.

• Plan only one or two exciting characters

Interesting characters are one of the essential parts of any story. However, too many characters will make the story too complex, and the readers won’t be able to tell them apart.

• Pick a common science-fiction theme or trope

Most science-fiction stories explore themes such as technology, aliens, adventure, and space. Picking a common trope or theme from science fiction can help children focus on their accounts. Try these common themes and tropes from science-fiction stories:

• space exploration/adventure;
• advanced technology that shows a glimpse of the future;
• the fate of the world is in the balance;
• aliens invade Earth.

Hard Science-Fiction Novels vs. Soft Science-Fiction Novels

Science fiction is divided into two broad categories: hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi. These terms are vague and flexible, but they give readers a good idea of what to expect from the novel before reading it. Here is the difference between these two types of sci-fi books:

• Complex sci-fi novels are based on scientific facts. ‘hard’ natural sciences inspire them, like chemistry, physics, and astronomy.
• Soft sci-fi novels can be either inaccurate or inspired by ‘soft’ social sciences like psychology, anthropology, and sociology.

Mini Science-Fiction Quiz Questions

Try these science-fiction quiz questions to see how well you can identify whether a text is science fiction. Each question features a made-up story summary, and you must guess whether it would fit in the science-fiction or another genre. Try and answer all of these questions before scrolling down to find the answers!

1. A story about an alien teenager growing up on Mars while navigating his way through teenage life.
2. A story about a detective who has to follow a series of clues to catch a criminal.
3. A story about a princess who decides she doesn’t want to be a princess anymore, so she gives up her position, joins a regular school, and tries to hide her past.
4. A story about a group of people whose flight takes a wrong turn and sends them to another planet.

Did you manage to answer all the questions? Try rereading this page. You might find the answers you’re looking for.

Here’s the correct answer for each question:

1. This story would be a piece of science fiction.
2. This story is not a piece of science fiction – it falls into the detective and crime fiction genre.
3. This story would be a piece of teen fiction or young adult fiction.
4. This story would be a piece of science fiction.

Science-Fiction Story Topics

If you want your pupils to write their own science-fiction stories, you’ll want to look at some of these topics. These ideas can inspire your pupils to write out-of-this-world stories. Encourage your pupils to use figurative language and ambitious vocabulary while they write!

Science-Fiction Story Topics about Aliens

• A mysterious light appears in your garden at night. You go outside to investigate it, and you find a spaceship. What does it look like? Will you go inside?
• You are an alien flying through space. Suddenly, your spaceship starts to malfunction. You need to make a crash landing! Which planet will you land on? What will you find there?
• You are an astronaut on a mission to explore space. You’ve recently discovered a new planet and species – write a report about what you’ve found.
• Alien life has been discovered, and they want to communicate with the people of planet Earth. Are they friendly, or do they have something sinister up their sleeve?
• One day, an alien ship crashes into your house. The foreign needs help to get back on its feet. What do you do to enable it? How does it adjust to life on Earth?

Science-Fiction Story Topics About Robots

• Robots are now considered equal to humans – they’re even made to go to school! One of your new classmates is a robot. How do you get on?
• You enter a science competition and decide to make a robot. But as things progress, the robot starts to take on a mind of its own.
• Ten thousand years into the future, only robots have survived on Earth. So what does their society look like? How are they different from humans?
• Now that technology has advanced, you can transfer your brain into a robot at the end of your life. Would you choose to do it? Why or why not?
• Robots have now taken up all the positions of power on Earth – it’s thought that their emotions won’t influence their decisions. What is the robot Prime Minister like?

Subordination is connecting two sentences or parts of a sentence to show that one part is more important than the other.

These two parts of a sentence, the main clause and the dependent clause, are merged using a subordinating conjunction.

The main clause can be read as a sentence on its own, while the dependent clause would not make sense without the main clause.

Process of Subordination

Main clause + Subordinating conjunction + Dependent clause

I ate the banana shake, + after + my mom told me I could.

Subordinating conjunction + Main clause + Subordinating Clause

Because + it was raining + I took an umbrella.

What do I need to make a subordinate sentence?

The first part of the sentence can either be the main clause or the subordinating clause, depending on how you want to write your sentence. This example follows using the main clause as the first part of the sentence.

• My bike needs a new coat of paint

The next part will be the subordinating clause. This can be any conjunction that shows an imbalance or contrast, e.g., although, because, unless, after, if, etc.

• because

The last part of the sentence is the dependent clause – this is the part that’s being compared. The bike needs a new coat of paint because it’s ancient.

• It’s ancient.

So, the entire sentence would be:

• My bike needs a new coat of paint because it’s ancient.

We could also swap the main clause and subordinate clause around to write the sentence in this way:

• Because it’s ancient, my bike needs a new coat of paint.

They’re both correct – it’s up to you how you want to write the sentence.

What is the difference between subordination and coordination?

Coordination and subordination are contrasting ways to join a sentence or clause together.

Subordination is when two clauses are combined to compare/contrast/add a condition. One sentence or clause is of more value than the other.

Coordination is when two clauses of the same value are added together using a coordinating conjunction.

Coordinating conjunctions can be remembered by using the anagram FANBOYS.

• F – For
• A – And
• N – Nor
• B – But
• O – Or
• Y – Yet
• S – So

Different types of subordinating clauses

Type	Conjunction Examples	Sentence Example
Concession	although, while, though, whereas, even though	I rode in the passenger seat while my little brother rode in the back.
Condition	if, unless, until	I won’t drink my tea unless it has sugar in it.
Manner	as if, as, though	I wrote a page, though they asked for two.
Place	where, wherever	I bought the bread from the bakery, where they made it from scratch.
Reason	because, since, so that, in order that	I bought the lilies because they are my favorite flower.
Time	after, before, while, once, when	I ate my dessert after my dinner.

How do I remember subordinating conjunctions?

You can use the anagram ‘I SAW A WABUB’ to remember just a few subordinating conjunctions!

• I – If
• S – Since
• A – As
• W – When
• A – Although
• W – While
• A – After
• B – Before
• U – Until
• B – Because

Participle clauses are formed by using either the present participle (verbs using the suffix -ing), past participles (the past tense of a verb), or perfect participles (the perfect form of a verb).

We can use a participle clause when the participle and the verb in the main clause have the same subject. Here’s an example:

• Feeling tired, I had a nap.

The subject of ‘feeling tired’ and ‘I had’ is the same, so we can use a participle clause.

These types of clauses don’t have a specific tense. Instead, the tense is decided by the tense of the verb of the main clause.

When do we use a Participle Clause?

Participle clauses are often used in written texts, such as fiction, rather than our everyday speech. It is because they add more detail and meaning to the sentence, which is helpful for written texts. However, they are also perceived as formal, which is why they aren’t used in spoken language as often as in written texts.

With the above example, we’re much more likely to say, ‘I was feeling tired, so I had a nap’ when speaking out loud. For instance, you can easily see the participle clause example in a story. Despite this, it’s still important to learn how to structure a participle clause and how we can use them in writing.

When writing fiction, using a participle clause can help to add variety to your sentences and make things more exciting for the reader. In addition, they can add emphasis to the sentence.

Examples of Participle Clauses

To help you understand participle clauses even further, here are examples of each type of participle clause in the present, past and perfect tenses.

Each type of participle clause explains something different about the rest of the sentence.

Present Participle Clauses

Present participle clauses have a similar meaning to active verbs.

Gives the reason for an action.

• Realizing she’d forgotten her homework, she quickly ran back home.

Gives the result of an action.

• The runner sprinted across the finish line, leaving his competition in the dust.

Explains an action that happened at the same time as another action.

• Handing back the map, I admitted we were lost.

Adds the information about the subject of the main clause.

• Twinkl makes lots of valuable resources, helping those who teach.

Past Participle Clauses

Past participle clauses usually have a passive meaning.

With a similar meaning to ‘if.’

• Watered the right amount, plants can grow big and tall. (with past participle clause)
• Plants can grow big and tall if you water them with the right amount. (used with ‘if’)

Gives the reason for an action.

• Frightened by the noise, she turned on the light.

Gives information about the subject of the main clause.

• Mentored by her father, she was a chess expert.

Perfect Participle Clauses

Using the perfect tense in a participle clause shows that the action described in the participle clause is finished before the action in the main clause.

• Having settled her nerves, she walked onto the stage.
• Having eaten already, he declined the food.
• Having bought their tickets in advance, they headed straight into the cinema.

After Conjunctions and Prepositions

Participle clauses, especially ‘-ing,’ often come after conjunctions and prepositions. The most common ones we use are:

• before;
• after;
• instead of;
• on;
• since;
• while;
• when;
• despite.

Here are some examples of how to use these conjunctions and prepositions before a participle clause:

• Before exercising, you should do a warm-up.
• After searching for an hour, I found my glasses.
• Instead of washing up by hand, use the dishwasher.
• On arriving at the library, she went to return her books.
• Since reading the novel, he had felt inspired to write for himself.
• While learning a new language, it’s important to practice speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
• It would help if you always remembered to wear suncream when going to the beach.
• Despite hearing his warning, she went ahead with it anyway.

Participle Clauses with a Different Subject

In some exceptional cases, a participle clause can have a different subject from the one in the main clause. It is used when the verb has one of the following verbs plus an object:

• Feel, find, hear, listen to, notice, see, smell, and hear

Here is an example:

• Do you know of anyone learning Spanish at the moment?

‘You’ is the subject of the main clause; however, ‘anyone’ is the subject of the participle clause.

Participle Clauses Replacing a Relative Clause

A present participle clause can replace a relative clause used in the active voice.

• The girl, who was in the library, was doing her homework. → The girl in the library was doing her homework.

A past participle clause can replace a relative clause used in the passive voice.

• We’ve eaten all the cookies that we baked this morning. → We’ve eaten all the cookies we baked this morning.

A petal is a revised leaf that protects and encircles the reproductive parts of a flower.

They are brilliantly colored to attract pollinators, thereby allowing the process of plant reproduction.

Petals are made from organic matter, such as cellulose.

The collective group of petals on a flower is called a corolla – although the number of petals on any particular flower can differ.

What is the Function of a Petal?

Petals form a crucial role in a plant’s reproductive cycle. This is because they allow plants to pollinate.

They do this by using their scent, color, and other evolutionary features to attract the correct type of pollinator.

Different types of pollinators include insects, birds, and, less directly, the wind.

Parts of a Petal

Although petals differ from species to species, all have two main parts allowing them to encourage pollination.

These two parts include:

• The upper, broad part – also called a leaf blade.
• The lower part – is also called a claw.

You’re in the right place if you’re looking for an imperative verb definition. A verb is a ‘doing word,’ and an imperative verb tells someone to do something.

An imperative verb exists in a grammatical phrase without a subject noun or pronoun.

Using an imperative verb will turn a sentence into an order or command. For this reason, imperative verbs are sometimes called command verbs.

They are often found at the start of sentences and are commonly referred to as ‘bossy verbs’ due to their appearance in commands. Therefore, this term is an especially memorable way to teach primary students about this kind of verb.

Why do we use command verbs?

Imperative verbs are a direct way of requesting something from the person we are talking to. They are handy for relaying complex information in a short space of time. Our core point is immediately evident as the action typically comes at the top of the sentence.

These words are prevalent in instructions, guides, directions, and teaching because of this

Examples of imperative verbs

As imperative verbs appear in commands, these are usually concise and snappy sentences that are acted upon immediately. Again, this is because when we read instructions, we want them to be simple and straight to the point.

You might find imperative verbs in recipes, instruction manuals, and SATNAV systems.

Here are some standard command verb examples that children may encounter at school and home:

Home

• “Tidy your room!”
• “Bake at 200 degrees.”
• “Wash the dishes.”

School

• “Throw the ball to another person.”
• “Stop what you are doing.”
• “Colour within the lines!”

These command verb examples demonstrate how command verbs often appear within a sentence. They are used at the start of an instruction to clarify what is being asked of the person being spoken to. Whether it’s written down in an instruction manual or told directly in person, these verbs are a quick and helpful way to convey information.

A handy command verbs list:

Sometimes, the best way to learn about imperative verbs is through examples. Here are some handy command verbs that have been chosen because of the varied situations they represent:

• Try again
• Play nicely
• Don’t worry
• Turn left
• Ask a friend
• Look both ways
• Finish your work
• Speak up
• Eat your dinner
• Say thank you

What is Father’s Day?

Father’s Day is a day of recognition for fathers (and father figures) everywhere in the United States. Originating as an alternative to Mother’s Day (held on the second Sunday in May since 1908), Father’s Day is a time to honor the extraordinary men in your life, be they fathers, uncles, grandpas, or even just an inspirational father figure.

When is Father’s Day 2023?

In the United States, Father’s Day always takes place on the third Sunday in June. However, in 2023, Father’s Day will occur on Sunday, June 19. It differs from many European countries, where Father’s Day has traditionally been celebrated on March 19 in honor of Saint Joseph’s Day.

What is the history of Father’s Day?

Father’s Day was founded in the United States by Sonora Smart Dodd, the daughter of American Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart. While hearing a church sermon celebrating the recently implemented holiday of Mother’s Day, Dodd felt that fathers needed recognition too. In addition, Dodd’s father was a single father of six children – something that Dodd felt was essential to recognize. In response, Dodd suggested a memorable holiday for fathers in Washington. As such, the Spokane YMCA was the site of the first Father’s Day in America, which took place on June 19, 1910.

Initially, Father’s Day struggled to catch on. However, in the 1930s, a revitalized Dodd returned to Washington with the assistance of trade groups that would benefit the most from the holiday existence – such as the manufacturers of pipe tobacco. In 1938, the Father’s Day Council was founded by the New York Associated Men’s Wear Retailers to commercialize the holiday and maximize profits. Initially, Americans were reluctant to accept another commercial holiday, but support soon came.

Despite several attempts to ratify Father’s Day, it wasn’t until 1966 that President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a presidential proclamation announcing the third Sunday in June as a day to honor fathers. President Richard Nixon signed this proclamation into law in 1972, making Father’s Day official.

What happens on Father’s Day?

On Father’s Day, the protocol is similar to Mother’s Day. Typically, children will purchase or make presents, gifts, and keepsakes for their fathers. They are also expected to use the day to honor and celebrate their fathers (or father figures) and make them feel special. It’s estimated that Americans collectively spend $1 billion on Father’s Day gifts every year!

A 2019 survey by OnePoll found that fathers preferred to receive meaningful gifts rather than commercial items – phone calls from their children ranked #1, with peace coming in at #3! Many fathers also noted their desire to watch sports on TV on Father’s Day. In response, the U.S. Open golf tournament is scheduled yearly so it can end on Father’s Day.