Grammar foundations: tenses and subject-verb agreement

Two grammar foundations underpin almost everything in primary English: using tenses consistently, and making subjects and verbs agree. Get these solid early and editing, cloze and composition all get easier — because most common errors trace back to one or the other.

Tenses: keep them consistent

The most common tense problem isn't using the wrong one — it's switching mid-story, drifting between past and present. Teach a simple rule: most narratives are told in the past tense, and you stay there throughout. Spotting and fixing tense-slips in their own writing is a powerful, concrete skill.

Subject-verb agreement

The verb must match its subject in number: “the dog runs”, “the dogs run”. Errors creep in when the subject is plural or separated from the verb by other words (“the box of toys is…”, not are — the subject is 'box', not 'toys'). Teaching a child to find the real subject fixes most of these.

Why these two matter most

A large share of marks lost in editing and grammar cloze, and of awkwardness in composition, comes down to these two. They're also learnable rules, not vocabulary to memorise — so time spent here gives a clear, transferable return across the whole paper.

Build them at home

Reading exposes a child to correct grammar constantly, which builds an ear for what sounds right. Add gentle correction (recasting, not scolding: “we went, not we goed”) and the occasional focused look at their own writing for tense-slips and agreement. Little and often embeds the rules without turning English into a chore.