Year 2 English · Key Stage 1 · Writing – vocabulary, grammar and punctuation

Year 2 grammar: noun phrases, tenses and joining words

Year 2 grammar is about making sentences richer and more precise. Children learn to build longer noun phrases such as “the little blue butterfly”, to use the past and present tenses correctly and consistently (including the -ing form), and to join ideas with words such as and, or, but, when, if, that and because. These skills let children write sentences that tell the reader much more than a short, simple statement.

Noun phrases, tenses and joining words, explained

A noun phrase is a noun together with the words that describe or specify it. “Butterfly” is a noun. “The butterfly” is a noun phrase, and “the little blue butterfly” is an expanded noun phrase, because the extra words tell us what the butterfly is like. Expanded noun phrases are taught to describe (“a tiny silver key”) and to specify, which means to make clear which one (“the key on the kitchen table”). Teachers show children that choosing the right words matters more than adding many: two well-chosen adjectives are better than five.

Tense tells us when something happens. Year 2 children use the present tense for what is happening now (“I walk”) and the past tense for what has already happened (“I walked”). Many past tense verbs end in “-ed”, but lots of common ones are irregular: go becomes went, see becomes saw, and run becomes ran. A key aim is consistency: if a recount begins in the past tense, it should stay there. Children find this harder than it sounds, because stories are often told aloud in the present tense.

The progressive form shows an action that is in progress. In the present it is made with am, is or are and a verb ending in “-ing” (“she is reading”). In the past it uses was or were (“she was reading”). The past progressive is often used for something that was going on when something else happened: “I was reading when the phone rang.” The curriculum also calls it the continuous form, so you may hear either name. Children need both parts: a child who writes “I was play” or “she reading” has left out one of them.

Year 2 children also learn two ways of joining ideas. Co-ordination uses the words and, or and but to link two ideas of equal weight: “We could go to the park or we could stay at home.” Subordination uses words such as when, if, that and because to add extra information to a main idea: “We stayed inside because it was raining.” Here, “because it was raining” gives the reason and cannot stand alone as a sentence. “When” adds a time (“I was reading when the phone rang”), “if” adds a condition (“We will go out if it stops raining”) and “that” adds what someone thinks or says (“I hope that it stays sunny”). The word “conjunction” and the idea of a clause are taught in later years, so at this stage the focus is on using the joining words well and seeing what each one does.

Together, these skills turn short sentences such as “The butterfly landed.” into something more informative. Teachers usually build sentences step by step in front of the class: start with a short idea, expand the noun phrase, add a joining word and check the tense. Children are also taught to talk about their writing using the terms noun phrase and tense, which gives them a way to discuss how to improve a sentence.

Words your child will hear

Noun phrase: A noun and the words that go with it, such as “the blue butterfly”.
Adjective: A word that describes a noun, such as blue or tiny.
Present tense: A verb form for what is happening now, such as “she walks”.
Past tense: A verb form for what has already happened, such as “she walked”.
Progressive form: A verb form with -ing that shows an action in progress, such as “is walking” or “was walking”.
Co-ordination: Joining two ideas of equal weight with and, or or but.
Subordination: Adding an extra idea to a main idea with a word such as when, if, that or because.

What the National Curriculum says

In Year 2, pupils should be taught to:

Learn how to use expanded noun phrases to describe and specify
Learn how to use the present and past tenses correctly and consistently, including the progressive form
Learn how to use subordination (using when, if, that, or because) and co-ordination (using or, and, or but)
Learn how to use the grammar for year 2 in English appendix 2

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: building a sentence

Start with the sentence “A butterfly landed.” Make it more interesting, then join it to a second idea.

Look at the noun. “A butterfly” can tell us more. Ask what it looked like and expand the noun phrase: “the small blue butterfly”. Then say where it landed, with a second noun phrase: “The small blue butterfly landed on the yellow daisy.”
Choose the details carefully. “Small” and “blue” each tell us something different about the butterfly, and “on the yellow daisy” tells us where it landed. Two useful words are better than piling on more adjectives that tell us the same thing, such as “small little tiny”.
Join with a co-ordinating word. To add a second idea of equal weight, use and or but: “The small blue butterfly landed on the yellow daisy and it opened its wings.”
Join with a subordinating word. To give a reason, use because: “We kept very still because the small blue butterfly was resting on the daisy.” The part after “because” gives the reason and cannot stand alone.
Check the tense. “Landed” and “kept” are past tense. “Was resting” is the past progressive, because the butterfly was in the middle of resting while we kept still. Check that all the verbs in the sentence fit together.
Try it in the present tense. “We keep very still because the small blue butterfly is resting on the daisy.” The “is resting” goes with present tense, and the whole sentence matches.

The small blue butterfly landed on the yellow daisy and it opened its wings. We kept very still because the small blue butterfly was resting on the daisy.

Common mistakes and how to help

Stacking adjectives: “the big huge enormous giant dog”

Children are told to “use describing words” and think that more is better. The words often all mean the same thing.

What helps: Ask what each word tells the reader that is new. Choose one or two that count, and use the noun phrase to specify, as in “the dog with the muddy paws”.

Adding -ed to irregular verbs: “goed”, “runned”, “catched”

This is a sign that the child has learned the “-ed” rule and applies it everywhere. It is a normal stage in language learning.

What helps: Say the right form back naturally (“Yes, you went to the park”). Practise a few common irregular verbs at a time: went, saw, ran, came, made, ate, took.

Leaving out part of the progressive form: “I was play” or “she reading”

In speech the helper word can be quickly said or dropped, and a verb ending in “-ing” sounds like a whole verb already.

What helps: Teach the pair together: am, is or are for the present, was or were for the past, plus an -ing word. Practise by turning “she plays” into “she is playing”.

Chaining ideas with “and” or leaving a “because” part on its own

“And” is the easiest way to join ideas, so a long string of “and… and then…” appears. A child may also write “I was sad. Because I fell over.”, as they do in speech.

What helps: Offer other joining words and ask what the link is: a reason (because), a time (when), a choice (or) or a contrast (but). Show that “because” needs the main idea in the same sentence.

How to help at home

Upgrade the noun. Pick an ordinary noun such as “dog” and ask your child to make it more interesting: “the muddy brown dog”. Then ask for one that tells you which dog, such as “the dog next door”.
Then and now. Say what you are doing in the present, such as “I am cooking dinner”, and ask your child to say what you did earlier. Then swap. It helps them switch between tenses and notice the irregular forms.
Finish my sentence. Give half a sentence and let your child complete it with different joining words: “I took an umbrella because…”, “I’ll go outside if…”, “I like apples but…”. Talk about how each word changes the meaning.
-ing spotting. As you read, look for words that end in -ing and the helper word before them, such as “was running” or “is jumping”. Ask whether it happened a moment ago or is happening now.
Sentence stretching. Start with a very short sentence and take turns adding to it, one change each, until it is rich and interesting. Say it aloud each time to check that it still sounds right.

Builds on

Year 1: Spaces and joining with ‘and’
Year 1: Capitals for names, days and I

Leads on to

Years 3 and 4: Conjunctions, present perfect, fronted adverbials
Years 3 and 4: Direct speech, commas and apostrophes