Most grammar struggles in the early years come down to two things: not knowing what job a word is doing in a sentence, and mixing up tenses that look similar on the page but mean different things. Once both of those click, everything else — comprehension, essay writing, even spoken English — gets noticeably easier.
Here are both topics laid out the way we actually teach them, as a reference you can keep coming back to rather than something to memorise in one sitting.
1. Parts of Speech — the job every word does
Every word in a sentence has a job. Once a child can name that job, sentences stop being a string of memorised words and start making structural sense.
| Part of speech | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing or idea | Riya has a book. |
| Pronoun | Stands in for a noun | She is reading. |
| Verb | Shows an action or a state | Birds fly. |
| Adjective | Describes a noun or pronoun | It is a blue bag. |
| Adverb | Describes a verb, adjective or another adverb | He runs fast. |
| Preposition | Shows place, time or direction | The pen is on the table. |
| Conjunction | Joins words or sentences | Riya and Sita sang. |
| Interjection | Shows sudden feeling | Wow! That is amazing. |
One sentence, several jobs at once — this is the example that usually makes it click:
The smart boy runs very quickly to school.
article · adjective · noun · verb · adverb + adverb · preposition · noun
Where kids usually slip up
- ✓The same word can be different parts of speech. "Play" is a verb in "they play cricket" but a noun in "the play was long." What matters is the job it's doing in that specific sentence, not the word itself.
- ✓Adjective vs. adverb gets confused constantly. An adjective describes a noun ("a quick runner"); an adverb describes the verb ("runs quickly"). If it's describing a person or thing, it's an adjective; if it's describing an action, it's an adverb.
- ✓One sentence can, and usually does, contain several parts of speech together. Children sometimes expect one "type" per sentence — pointing out that a single short sentence uses five or six different parts of speech at once helps it stick.
2. The Present Tense — all four forms, side by side
English has four present-tense forms, and the confusion is almost always about which one to use, not how to build the sentence. Seeing all four side by side, for the same verb, makes the difference obvious.
Simple Present — habits, routines, facts
| Structure | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| V1 / V1 + s/es | She studies English every day. | Habits, routines, facts, and things that are regularly true. |
Present Continuous — happening right now
| Structure | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| am / is / are + V-ing | She is reading a book. | An action that is happening at this exact moment. |
Present Perfect — completed, but connected to now
| Structure | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| has / have + V3 | She has finished her work. | An action completed recently, where the result still matters right now. |
Present Perfect Continuous — started earlier, still going
| Structure | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| has / have been + V-ing | She has been studying for two hours. | An action that started in the past and is still continuing now. |
The one rule that untangles most mistakes
- ✓Use "since" for a starting point — since 5 o'clock, since Monday, since last year.
- ✓Use "for" for a duration — for two hours, for three days, for a long time.
- ✓He / She / It always takes the singular form — studies, is, has — while I / You / We / They take the plain form — study, are, have. This one rule fixes the majority of subject-verb agreement mistakes in present tense.
Quick way to tell them apart: Simple Present = routine or fact. Present Continuous = happening right now. Present Perfect = completed but connected to now. Present Perfect Continuous = started earlier and still continuing.
A daily practice habit that actually works
Grammar sticks through use, not through re-reading a rule. A simple habit: pick one part-of-speech or one present-tense form each day, and ask your child to build three real sentences about their own day using it — not textbook examples, their own. "I have been doing my homework since 4 o'clock" teaches present perfect continuous far better than copying a sentence about someone else's homework ever will.
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