The Fundamentals of Grammar and Syntax

Teaching the Fundamentals
of Grammar and Syntax at Home

     Here are some strategies to use with children at home to help improve their use of grammar and syntax.

1)     Use correct grammar and syntax when speaking or responding to your child. Don’t focus on correcting your child. For example, if your child says, “Her hitted me!” you should respond, “Did she hit you?”  Always respond as an adult. Don’t use baby talk.

2)     Play sentence games. Cut pictures of everyday items from

magazines, paste them on cards, and have the child give a

sentence verbally describing the object to the other players for

them to guess the item. (“It has icing you can eat and candles

that tell how old you are.”)

3)  Cut simple scenes from magazines and glue them on cards. Give

the child open-ended prompts, and have the child complete your

prompts verbally or write sentences. (Picture of dog playing catch

with his owner –“What is/was the dog/owner doing?” “The dog is/

was/will…, His owner is/was..., The ball is/was…”-this gives the child

opportunities to use the correct form/forms of the verbs.)

4) Cut out cartoon frames from newspaper comics and glue them to

cards. Add a cartoon speech bubble to the cards and have the child

write what the character(s) is saying, or have him/her tell you verbally. Ask questions about the cartoon that prompt the child to use different forms of the verb. “What do you think he is saying? What was he saying? What do you think he will say? Where are they going? Where have they been? Where are they?”

5)     Write words on note cards – Sentence Scramble. Pick words that make a complete sentence/question and scramble them (include the punctuation mark). Have your child organize the words into a sentence/question that makes sense.

6)   Use cloze sentences like “Mad Libs” for practice using correct word forms. These kinds of activities are great for practice with verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

7) Use everyday objects around the house to teach plurals. “I have a spoon. You have two spoons.”

Even before children learn to read and write, they can learn to use correct grammar and syntax.

Having a grasp of grammar and syntax will help your child with reading comprehension and writing competence!