Perfecting Word Order: Engaging Exercises for University Students to Enhance English Proficiency

Word Order

  • Put the words in the correct order to make a sentence:    book / read / I / yesterday / a
  • Rearrange the words to make a question:    you / like / do / ice cream?

Put the words in the correct order to make a sentence:

dinner / I / usually / eat / at home -> I usually eat dinner at home

  1. homework / always / I / do / in the evening
  2. favorite / my / color / blue / is
  3. library / the / goes / every / Saturday / to / she
  4. loves / she / to / listen / music / to / classical
  5. study / they / together / often

Put the words in the correct order to make a sentence:

At the beach / likes / to / swim / Sarah. -> Sarah likes to swim at the beach.

  1. to the movies / we / tonight / are / going
  2. happy / always / is / in the morning / she
  3. delicious / dinner / cooked / my mom / last night
  4. his brother / always / plays / guitar / the
  5. never / eats / vegetables / he

Plural Verbs

Single and plural forms of verbs.

  1. Learn –   Learns / Learn
  2. Study –   Studies / Study
  3. Attend –   Attends / Attend
  4. Excel –   Excels / Excel
  5. Participate –   Participates / Participate
  6. Submit –   Submits / Submit
  7. Research –   Researches / Research
  8. Present –   Presents / Present
  9. Discuss –   Discusses / Discuss
  10. Collaborate –   Collaborates / Collaborate
  11. Achieve –   Achieves / Achieve
  12. Graduate –   Graduates / Graduate

Single forms of verbs.

  1. She learns new concepts quickly.
  2. He studies diligently for his exams.
  3. John attends all his classes regularly.
  4. Sarah excels in mathematics.
  5. The student participates in group discussions.
  6. Mary submits her assignments on time.
  7. Tom researches various topics for his project.
  8. The speaker presents an engaging lecture.
  9. Anne discusses the importance of teamwork.
  10. The student collaborates with others in a group.
  11. James achieves great grades in all his subjects.
  12. Emily graduates today.

Plural forms of verbs.

  1. They learn new concepts quickly.
  2. We study diligently for our exams.
  3. The students attend all their classes regularly.
  4. The children excel in mathematics.
  5. The students participate actively in group discussions.
  6. The students submit their assignments on time.
  7. The researchers research various topics for their project.
  8. The speakers present engaging lectures.
  9. We discuss the importance of teamwork.
  10. The students collaborate on group projects.
  11. The students achieve excellent grades in all their subjects.
  12. They will graduate with honors.

Subject Verb Agreement

  • the verb in a sentence agrees with its subject
  • in terms of number (singular or plural)

 

1.The dog barks at the mailman.

  • Singular subject “dog” agrees with the singular verb “barks.”

2.The students study hard for their exams.

  • Plural subject “students” agrees with the plural verb “study.”

3.My friend and I enjoy playing basketball together.

  • Plural subject “friend and I” agrees with the plural verb “enjoy.”

4.The bookshelf in the corner holds many books.

  • Singular subject “bookshelf” agrees with the singular verb “holds.”

5.Every morning, the sun rises in the east.

  • Singular subject “sun” agrees with the singular verb “rises.”

Common Errors

  • wrong: “The group of students were studying for their exams.“
  • correct: “The group of students was studying for its exams.”
  • wrong: The cat, along with the dogs, chase mice in the garden.”
  • correct: “The cat, along with the dogs, chases mice in the garden.”
  • “Someone left their jacket on the chair.”
  • “Someone left his or her jacket on the chair.”

Subject Verb Agreement Exercises

Exercise 1

choose the correct verb form

  1. The cat run / runs
  2. She walk / walks to school every day.
  3. They eat / eats dinner at home.
  4. He play / plays soccer on weekends.
  5. The students do / does their homework.
  6. She read / reads the book.”
  7. We is / are going to the beach.
  8. The birds fly / flies in the sky.
  9. He sing / sings beautifully.
  10. My friend don’t / doesn’t like coffee.

Exercise 2

choose the correct verb form

  1. The dog and the cat play / plays.
  2. They meet / met in the park yesterday.
  3. She write / writes poems.
  4. The flowers smell / smells wonderful.
  5. The students take / takes a test this week.
  6. He sing / sings his favorite song at the concert.
  7. The company has/ have many employees.
  8. The sun shine / shines brightly in the sky.
  9. They study / studies together.
  10. My sister don’t / doesn’t like spicy food.

Adjectives

To add more information to a word, to describe

  • the blue pen
  • John is my best friend
  • The big park was fun

We can add a description of the noun

  • Article + noun (the boy, the ball)
  • Article + adjective + noun (the tall boy, the blue ball)
  • Article + noun (a boy, a ball)
  • Article + adjective + noun (a young boy, an orange ball)
  • Article + noun (an artist, an apple)
  • Article + adjective + noun (a good artist, a tasty apple)

Note: the article is an if followed by an adjective with a vowel sound

  • a tasty apple, an orange ball

Adjectives Order

we can add many adjectives

  •   the young boy kicked the ball
  •   the young, tall boy kicked the ball
  •   the seven-year-old boy kicked the ball
  •   the boy kicked the round ball
  •   the boy kicked the old, blue ball
  •   the boy kicked the old, leather, blue ball

How do we know the order? The big old white house

The big old white house

The big old white brick house

The big old tall white brick house

  • the
  • beautiful
  • big
  • old
  • tall
  • white
  • Thai
  • brick
  • farm

same group

  • A tall, thin man
  • A thin, tall man

called coordinated adjectives

order

Determiner

Opinion

Size

Age

Shape

Color

Origin

Material

purpose

English for Study Skills

Plural Nouns

global student improving her english
plural nouns

Pronouns

global student making notes on a laptop
pronouns

Articles

global student correcting their work on a laptop
articles

Word Order

student studying late on computer
word order

English

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