KS2 grammar and punctuation terms
Pick a term to see what it means, marked examples, how to spot it, and a question to try.
Word classes
| Term | What it is | Taught from |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | Names a person, place, thing or idea | Year 1, named in Year 2 |
| Proper noun | The name of one particular person, place or day | Year 1 |
| Pronoun | Stands in for a noun: he, she, it, they | Year 1, named in Year 4 |
| Possessive pronoun | Shows who owns something: mine, yours, theirs | Year 4 |
| Adjective | Tells you more about a noun | Year 1, named in Year 2 |
| Verb | An action, state or feeling that shows tense | Year 1, named in Year 2 |
| Modal verb | Shows how likely or necessary: might, must | Year 5 |
| Adverb | Tells you more about a verb, adjective or adverb | Year 2 |
| Adverbial | A word, phrase or clause doing an adverb’s job | Year 4 |
| Fronted adverbial | An adverbial moved to the start, with a comma | Year 4 |
| Preposition | Links a noun to the rest: under, after, with | Year 3 |
| Conjunction | A joining word: and, but, because, when | Year 1, named in Year 3 |
| Co-ordinating conjunction | Joins two equal parts: and, but, or | Year 1 |
| Subordinating conjunction | Starts a subordinate clause: because, if, when | Year 2 |
| Determiner | Comes before a noun: the, this, my, some | Year 3, named in Year 4 |
| Article | The, a and an | Year 3 |
Sentences, clauses and text
| Term | What it is | Taught from |
|---|---|---|
| Sentence | Words that belong together and to nothing outside | Year 1 |
| Sentence types | Statement, question, command, exclamation | Year 2 |
| Clause | A group of words built around a verb | Year 1, named in Year 3 |
| Main clause | A clause that is not part of another clause | Year 3 |
| Subordinate clause | A clause that cannot stand alone | Year 2, named in Year 3 |
| Relative clause | Tells you more about a noun: who, which, that | Year 5 |
| Relative pronoun | Starts a relative clause: who, which, whose | Year 5 |
| Phrase | A group of words around one key word | Year 2 |
| Noun phrase | A group of words built around a noun | Year 2 |
| Expanded noun phrase | A noun phrase with extra detail added | Year 2 |
| Active and passive | Who does the action, and who has it done to them | Year 6 |
| Subject and object | Who does the verb, and who it is done to | Year 6 |
| Cohesion | How the parts of a text fit together | Year 4, named in Year 5 |
| Ambiguity | When a sentence can mean two things | Year 5 |
Verb forms and tense
| Term | What it is | Taught from |
|---|---|---|
| Past and present tense | When something happens: I walk, I walked | Year 2 |
| Progressive form | An action in progress: is singing, was running | Year 2 |
| Present perfect | Has or have plus a past participle | Year 3 |
| Subjunctive | A formal verb form: if I were, that he be | Year 6 |
Word meanings and word building
| Term | What it is | Taught from |
|---|---|---|
| Synonym | Words with the same or similar meaning | Year 6 |
| Antonym | Words with opposite meanings | Year 6 |
| Homophone | Sound the same, different meaning: hear, here | Year 2 |
| Prefix | Letters added to the start: un-, dis-, re- | Year 1, named in Year 3 |
| Suffix | Letters added to the end: -ful, -ness, -ly | Year 1, named in Year 2 |
| Word family | Words that share a root: solve, solution | Year 3 |
| Compound word | Two root words joined: football, bookshop | Year 2 |
| Singular and plural | One or more than one: dog, dogs | Year 1 |
| Vowels and consonants | The two kinds of speech sound and letter | Year 3 |
Punctuation
| Term | What it is | Taught from |
|---|---|---|
| Capital letter | Starts a sentence, a name and the word I | Year 1 |
| Full stop | Ends a statement or a calm command | Year 1 |
| Question mark | Ends a direct question | Year 1 |
| Exclamation mark | Shows strong feeling or urgency | Year 1 |
| Apostrophe for contraction | Shows missing letters: I’m, can’t | Year 2 |
| Apostrophe for possession | Shows belonging: the girl’s, the girls’ | Year 2 |
| Inverted commas | Speech marks around the words spoken | Year 3 |
| Parenthesis | Extra information in brackets, dashes or commas | Year 5 |
| Colon | Introduces a list or an explanation | Year 6 |
| Semi-colon | Joins two related main clauses | Year 6 |
| Hyphen | Joins words or parts of words | Year 6 |
| Ellipsis | Leaving words out, and the three dots (…) | Year 6 |
| Comma | Separates parts of a sentence | Year 2 |
| Dash | Links clauses, or a pair marks extra detail | Year 5 |
| Bullet points | List information, punctuated consistently | Year 6 |
How these pages work
Each page gives a one-sentence definition a child aged 9 or 10 can remember, then examples with the term marked, tips for spotting it, the mistake children make most often, the year it is taught, and a KS2-style question with the answer.
Definitions follow the national curriculum glossary for English, and the years come from English Appendix 2, which lists the grammar every primary school in England teaches, year by year.
Questions parents ask
Which grammar terms does my child need to know?
The national curriculum’s English Appendix 2 lists the terms pupils should learn, year by year, from letter and full stop in Year 1 to subject, object, active and passive in Year 6. Every term on that list is covered here except letter, word and punctuation. Most have their own page; a few, such as bracket and direct speech, are covered on the parenthesis and inverted commas pages. There are also pages for terms the curriculum teaches without listing, such as fronted adverbial and subjunctive.
When is grammar tested?
Nationally, at the end of Year 6, in the KS2 English grammar, punctuation and spelling test. There is no national grammar test in Years 3, 4 or 5. Many 11+ English papers also include grammar and punctuation questions.
Why is grammar taught differently from when I was at school?
The 2014 national curriculum names the word classes and sentence parts explicitly, and it uses some labels that older books do not. Connective, for example, is no longer used: because is a conjunction and however is an adverb.
Grammar turns up in 11+ English too
Many 11+ English papers include grammar and punctuation questions alongside comprehension. The free diagnostic checks maths, English and both kinds of reasoning, and shows what to practise next. No card is required.