Year 2 grammar: sentence functions, noun phrases and joining words

Sentence types, noun phrases and joining, explained

Every sentence has a job, which grammar calls its function. A statement gives information, a question asks for it, a command tells someone to do something and an exclamation shows strong feeling. Year 2 children learn that the way the words are arranged signals the function. If you only look at the end punctuation, you can be fooled: “I wonder where my shoes are” has no question mark, and “Sit down!” ends in an exclamation mark but is a command.

Each type has a typical pattern. A statement usually puts the doer before the verb: “The dog is digging.” A question often swaps the order or begins with a question word such as who, what, where, when, why or how: “Is the dog digging?” or “Why is the dog digging?” A command usually begins with a verb and has no doer written in front of it: “Stop digging.” An exclamation in Year 2 starts with “What” or “How” and still contains a verb: “What a big hole the dog is digging!” Children are not asked to analyse every sentence, but to notice that these shapes exist and to use them in their own writing.

Noun phrases are the second topic. A noun phrase is a noun with the words that go with it, and it can be expanded to describe and to specify. “The blue butterfly” describes, and “plain flour” specifies which kind of flour. “The man in the moon” adds a short phrase after the noun to say which man. A useful test is that a noun phrase works as one unit: it can be replaced by a single word such as “it” or “he”. Teachers use them to help children give the reader a clearer picture and to tell the reader exactly which thing is meant.

The third topic is joining ideas. Co-ordination uses and, or and but to join two ideas of equal importance: and adds, or offers a choice, and but shows a contrast. Subordination uses words such as when, if, that and because to attach extra information to a main idea. “When” gives a time, “if” gives a condition, “because” gives a reason, and “that” links a thought or statement, as in “She said that she was cold.” Children often speak this way without thinking; the learning is in recognising what each word does and choosing it on purpose in writing.

The curriculum expects Year 2 children to recognise and use the terms noun phrase, statement, question, exclamation and command. In class, teachers drop these into everyday talk, asking, “Can you turn that statement into a question?” or “Which noun phrase would help the reader picture it?” The approach is practical, because the vocabulary is a tool for making writing better, and the terms “clause” and “conjunction” come later in the primary years.

Words your child will hear

Statement

A sentence that gives information, such as “The dog is digging.”

Question

A sentence that asks something, such as “Is the dog digging?”

Command

A sentence that tells someone to do something, usually starting with a verb, such as “Stop digging.”

Exclamation

A sentence that shows strong feeling and usually begins with What or How, such as “What a big hole it is!”

Noun phrase

A noun with the words that describe or specify it, such as “the man in the moon”.

Co-ordination

Joining two ideas of equal weight with and, or or but.

Subordination

Adding an extra idea to the main idea with when, if, that or because.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Year 2 says:

• Pupils should be taught subordination (using when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (using or, and, but)
• Pupils should be taught expanded noun phrases for description and specification
• Pupils should be taught how the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command
• Pupils should be taught to recognise and use the grammatical terminology: noun phrase, statement, question, exclamation, command

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

Try it: one idea, four sentence types

Common mistakes and how to help

How to help at home

• Sentence switch. Take a simple statement such as “The cat is on the sofa” and ask your child to turn it into a question, a command and an exclamation. Take turns to give each other the starting sentence.
• Which one is it? Look at signs, recipes and instructions around the house. “Wash your hands” and “Keep off the grass” are commands. Ask your child to find a command, a question and a statement on a page they are reading.
• Describe it so I can find it. Hide a toy among several similar ones and ask your child to describe the one you must find, using a noun phrase such as “the small red car with the broken wheel”. The more precise they are, the easier it is to pick the right one.
• Because, but, or, if. Offer the start of a sentence and a joining word, such as “We could go to the park if…” or “I wanted a biscuit but…”. Ask your child to finish it and say what the joining word is doing.
• Question words. Practise who, what, where, when, why and how by asking each other questions about a story you have read. Then turn an answer back into a statement.

Related topics

Everything in Year 2 English