Getting to grips with grammar: Connectives

Connectives do exactly what they say – they connect. They hold text together, making links within and between sentences. Use the second of the ‘Grammar safari park: Connectives’ activity sheets ‘Grammar definition card: What is a connective?’ to kick start discussions. Can the children explain connectives to a partner? As a way of introducing connectives, invite the children to create simple sentences using the connectives ‘before’ and ‘after’ to create a time sequence of events. You could also focus on the meaning of specific connectives, for example emphasise the difference between ‘whereas’ (signifying difference) and ‘meanwhile’ (highlighting simultaneous activity).

Throughout your focus on connectives, don’t forget to use our fantastic “Interactive resource”, ‘Grammar safari park – connectives’ (members only) that challenges children to drag and drop connectives and create sentences using the illustration as a stimulus. All the accompanying activity sheets mentioned in this article are also available on our website. Activities and resources on the themes of nouns, verbs and adjectives, and prepositions are also available.