Complete one clause with an explicit subject and a finite verb.
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Practise it now
Lift the extra phrase out of the sentence, then fit the right verb into the gap.
This exercise practises complete a finite clause alongside its own main skill, Subject-Verb Agreement.
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A worked example
One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.
Finding the subject and the tensed verb
Worked example: only one of these word groups has its own subject and a tensed verb.
Every choice completes the sentence smoothly. Only one of them is a clause.
Priya finished the model aeroplane ….
Choices for the gap: without any help at all, before her cousins arrived, holding the wings very carefully, checking the plan at every stage.
Answer: before her cousins arrived
How you get there
"before her cousins arrived" has its own subject, "her cousins", and the tensed verb "arrived", so it is a clause and completes the sentence. "without any help at all" has no verb in it at all; "checking the plan at every stage" is built round "checking", which carries no tense and names nobody doing it; "holding the wings very carefully" is built round "holding", which carries no tense and names nobody doing it, so each of those is only a phrase.
Why the other answers tempt
A joining word at the front proves nothing. "after the referee blew his whistle" is a clause, and "after two days of rain" is only a phrase, even though both start with "after".
If they are stuck, say this
An -ing word is not enough on its own. Ask who or what is doing it, and whether the word would change if the sentence moved into the past.
Lift the extra phrase out of the sentence, then fit the right verb into the gap.
This engine’s own main skill is Subject-Verb Agreement. It practises complete a finite clause alongside it.
The subject of this sentence is "box", not "pencils". "Of coloured pencils" is a prepositional phrase that only describes the box, and a subject never lives inside one. One box is singular, so it takes the singular verb "was". Lift the phrase out and the sentence tells you the answer itself.
What to say if they get stuck
Grab the little handle on "of coloured pencils" and drag the whole phrase upwards.
Read what is left behind: "The box ___ on the art room shelf." What is the sentence actually about?
The subject can never hide inside a phrase beginning with "of". One box, so: "was".
How complete a finite clause differs from the skills beside it
The same exercise practises several skills, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: complete one clause with an explicit subject and a finite verb, and it stops where excludes ordering a whole sentence and selecting only a connector.
Questions parents ask about complete a finite clause
Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.
Complete one clause with an explicit subject and a finite verb. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the grammar strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
A joining word at the front proves nothing. "after the referee blew his whistle" is a clause, and "after two days of rain" is only a phrase, even though both start with "after". The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.
Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. An -ing word is not enough on its own. Ask who or what is doing it, and whether the word would change if the sentence moved into the past.
The skill map draws the line here: Excludes ordering a whole sentence and selecting only a connector. A question past that line is testing a different named English skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
The grammar strand holds 9 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to complete a finite clause are distinguish contraction and possession, distinguish a phrase and clause and maintain consistent tense. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.
Use Sentence Surgery, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to complete a finite clause, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.
Comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation are four different problems
A free diagnostic separates them, so practice goes where the gap actually is rather than on whichever one is easiest to set.
