Formal or Informal? Sorting Structures and Subjunctives

Year 6 EnglishSPaG3 pages

About this worksheet

The Editor-in-Chief has scrambled the phrases for a newspaper style guide, and Year 6 pupils sort them out. Fifteen words and phrases go into Informal, Formal and Subjunctive columns. The bank mixes pairs such as give a hand and assist, look into and investigate, alongside structures like "that it cease". Two review questions ask which item was hardest to place and invite one new entry per column. The three-page sheet includes an answer key for the full sort. It fits England National Curriculum grammar objectives on formal language.

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Formal or Informal? Sorting Structures and Subjunctives: SPaG - page 1
Formal or Informal? Sorting Structures and Subjunctives: SPaG - page 2
Formal or Informal? Sorting Structures and Subjunctives: SPaG - page 3

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Curriculum objectives covered

Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

“Recognising vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms”

Five subjunctive forms, such as "that she arrive" and "if he were", sit next to the formal and informal items.

Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

“Learning the grammar for years 5 and 6 in English Appendix 2”

The subjunctive is Year 6 grammar in Appendix 2, and the sort sets it against everyday speech.

Writing - vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

“Use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately in discussing their writing and reading.”

Question 1 asks pupils to explain a hard choice, which needs terms like subjunctive and formal.

What's inside this worksheet

Word Bank

Fifteen items to sort into three columns, from mate and "you know?" to ascertain and "that he attend".

Style Guide Review

Pupils explain which item was hardest to place and add one word or phrase of their own to each column.

How teachers use it

Card sort

Cut the 15 items into cards and let pairs sort them on the desk before they write anything.

Class discussion

The answer key flags "that it cease" and "If I were" as tricky, so start the talk for question 1 there.

Formal letter link

Before a formal letter, ask pupils to use two Formal items and one Subjunctive item in their draft.

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