Which one of those five words would you never expect to hear from a young person?

Syntax!
Children, not to mention children learning English as a foreign language, have no idea what
syntax is.
Heck, there are plenty of adult native English speakers who have no clue how to define it! It is,
however, an important skill to teach young learners, even if it doesnt actually involve teaching
the rules of grammar.
Syntax refers to sentence structure; its the order of the words in a sentence that makes it
understandable to native English speakers.
There may be multiple ways to write a sentence while maintaining the rules of grammar, but
younger ESL students require a set structure for the simple sentences they learn. These
youngsters certainly dont need to learn how to express the same idea in active and passive voice
until theyre older.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take
anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Why Should Young ESL Students Learn Syntax?

Its important that young ESL students recognize word order and sentence structure. As students
get older and progress with English, it becomes more difficult to correct syntax problems. In
many cases, older students translate their native language directly into English without
considering the word order that changes between languages. A common mistake among Spanish
speakers is to place the noun before the adjective, and that mistake becomes more difficult to
correct with older students. When the structure is reinforced at a younger age, ESL students will
develop a natural inclination to use correct syntax.
Native English speakers learn syntax through repetition before they learn the parts of speech and
rules of grammar. Young ESL students generally have no or little understanding of nouns, verbs,
adjectives, etc. in their native languages, so there isnt a reason to teach them that the adjective
must precede the noun. The students will, however, notice that colors come before objects in a
sentence through recognition of repeated sentence structures. As this concept is reinforced
through classroom exercises, the students will utilize the structure when creating their own
sentences as they continue learning the language.
Many children begin learning English by memorizing words and phrases; its your responsibility
as the teacher to ensure the students understand the meaning and usage. Be sure to include more
vocabulary than whats available in a childs textbook, and instruct students how to alter
sentences to fit different situations. Just because a student knows a word doesnt mean he or she
knows how to use it in a sentence.

Incorporating Syntax in an ESL Lesson

The first step toward reinforcing syntax in a class is to review the vocabulary and phrases from
the curriculum. In many textbooks for young learners, the lessons will have similar phrases and
sentences with substituted vocabulary. The ability to replace one or two words in a sentence
helps reinforce the structure of the sentence through basic memorization. Many students will
focus on the word or two in each sentence that changes, and see the remaining words as a less
important large group.
If the sentence in the textbook is I have a red notebook, the students should already know how
to switch the colors and objects in the sentence (I have a blue notebook and I have
a red pencil, respectively.) Depending on age, the students may also be able to change the
subject of the sentence. If the students have difficulty replacing such words in a sentence, you
should review this process to ensure better comprehension of key vocabulary.
But what happens when the sentences are altered by more than just one or two words?
Writing a sentence with words that are out of order forces students to think about each word in a
sentence rather than only memorizing an entire phrase without understanding the importance of
structure. After repeating each word in a sentence individually, students should recognize where
each belongs. Therefore, when presented with a jumbled sentence, students will know that
something is wrong and attempt to correct it by putting the words in the correct order.
Its a common practice for ESL teachers of all ages and levels to deliberately make mistakes to
see if students will notice. Of course, some ESL teachers will unintentionally make mistakes and
play it off as an exercise for the students when the mistakes are pointed out by eagle-eyed
students. This exercise reinforces that the students are paying attention and learning the material.

Activities That Reinforce Syntax in an ESL Classroom

There are various methods for presenting such a lesson to the students in a class, and the
effectiveness of the activities depends on the size of the class. The easiest method is to write the
sentence with the words out of order on the board and ask the class if its correct. Instead of
writing, I have a red notebook, you can write I red have a notebook. After the class agrees
that it is incorrect, ask one or two students to go up to the board and write it correctly.
This method can be made easier by using laminated flashcards for each word stuck to the board;
this saves on chalk or whiteboard markers, and can be reused for multiple classes. It is still more
effective to have the students write the correct sentence rather than rearrange the cards, but both
acts of correction can be used. After the volunteers rewrite the sentence, ask the class if the
sentence is now correct. If the sentence is still not correct, ask another student go up to the board
and write it again. Be sure to point out the differences in the correct and incorrect sentences.

the syntax activity into an ESL game

For this game, the students can be split into at least two teams (I have had large enough classes to
split it into four teams of five students). The game should take 15 to 20 minutes in classes of
about 20 students.

Choose a student from each team; choose students that are at a similar level to make the
game more fair.

Show the students the incorrect sentence to rewrite.

The first student to correctly write the sentence earns a point for his or her team.

Go through this process until each student has had an opportunity to participate.

If none of the students rewriting the sentence gets it correct, ask one more student from
each team to help out, but tell the original participants to write the correct sentence.

For students at a lower level in the class, choose easier sentences to improve their confidence.
For more advanced students, choose more difficult sentences to offer a challenge.

A second syntax activity for the whole ESL class

If your goal is to better gauge the classs overall comprehension of the material, its better to give
everyone in class the same opportunity to correct the same sentences. This activity should take
about 10 minutes to complete.

Write a few sentences incorrectly (words out of order) on the board.

Have the students rewrite the sentences correctly in their notebooks.

While the students are rewriting the sentences, you can walk around the room and see
how each student does with the activity, while providing some one-on-one instruction
before moving on to the next student.

After all the students complete the exercise, invite volunteers (or appoint students) to
rewrite the sentences on the board.

Review each sentence with the class to ensure that everyone understands the corrections.

ESL sentence scramble activity for small groups

You can turn the scrambled sentences into a group activity, with groups of no more than five
students (three or four in a group usually works best). You will need laminated word cards that
are smaller than what you would use for class lessons. Place the card sets in reusable bags. This
activity should take about 15 minutes.

Split the class into groups of three or four students.

Hand out a bag of cut up sentences to each group.

Have the students rearrange all the words into correct sentences.

Groups raise their hands when they have completed the activity.

Check students progress during the activity, providing hints for groups that are
struggling.

This activity works best with a greater variety of sentences rather than with substitution
exercises; it can work when reviewing multiple units at one time. Ensure one student in each
group will take the lead and keep the rest of the group on task.
As with the previous methods, invite students to write the corrected sentences on the board and
review each with the entire class. You can also go around the room and ask students to read the
sentences aloud.
These activities can be used as a warm-up exercise to review previous lessons, or as an end-ofclass review. It can also be used as a transitional exercise, depending on the length of the class.
These syntax activities will add variety to class while reinforcing sentence structure that will
benefit students as they progress through ESL programs.

Syntax Examples
Declarative Sentences

The cat is running up the tree.

Our universe is expanding.

It is darkest before the dawn.

I really enjoy going to college.

Mixing blue and yellow produces the color green.

Hard work really pays off.

Hurricanes form over warm tropical waters.

The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching. Aristotle

Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known. Oscar Wilde

Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons. - Woody Allen

The environment is everything that isn't me. - Albert Einstein

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. - Phyllis Diller

Imperative Sentences

Please be quiet while I am on the phone.

Watch out!

You must have your room clean by tomorrow!

Drive to the next town and turn at the first traffic light.

Sit down and have something to eat.

Just go for it!

Wash your hands before cooking.

Dont be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

Turn that music down!

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your
attitude. - Maya Angelou

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. - Dr. Seuss

Try to be like the turtle - at ease in your own shell. - Bill Copeland

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you
ask what you can do for your country.-John Kennedy

Open your books to page 394. - Severus Snape in Harry Potter

Exclamatory Sentences

These hailstones are huge!

I cant believe he did that!

I cant take it anymore!

What clever students you are!

She loves you so much!

You must tell me the secret!

He can hardly stand the suspense!

Mary is ecstatic about the news.

I dont want to go to the doctor!

Great, the house is ours!

We are going to Italy next month!

I really did win the lottery!

Today is the last day of school!

I cant live without you!

This mountain is huge!

The amusement park is so much fun!

I write music with an exclamation point! - Richard Wagner

Give me liberty or give me death! - Patrick Henry

Interrogative Sentences

Did you see my keys?

Are you going to finish your dessert?

Why did you put makeup on the dog?

Where are you going this time of night?

What is the distance from the Earth to the sun?

How many electrons are in a helium atom?

May I see the invitation?

Would you like to visit Hawaii?

Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are
only permitted to be obsessed about men? - Barbra Streisand

Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance? - Phyllis Diller

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for
others?' - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/syntax-in-writingexamples.html#FOYh8BmSjBOEwatp.99

Syntax in Declarative Sentences from Literature

A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of
those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in
every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the
hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret
to the heart nearest it! - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for. - To Kill
a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world, except for a nice MLT:
mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and
the tomato is ripe. - The Princess Bride

Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is
to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more of less. - How It Feels to
Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston

It is the easiest thing in the world for a man to look as if he had a great secret
in him. - Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

Syntax in Exclamatory Sentences

"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" - Oliver Hardy in
Sons of the Desert

It's alive! It's alive! - Frankenstein

"I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off!" - Homer Simpson in
The Simpsons

What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love! - Victor
Hugo

How sad is the soul, when it is sad through love! - Les Miserables by Victor
Hugo

Syntax in Imperative Sentences

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here! - The Divine Comedy by Dante

Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me where you'll never,
never have to worry about grown up things again. - Peter Pan

Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. - Dead
Poets Society

Open your books to page 394. - Severus Snape in Harry Potter

Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd. - "Take Me Out to
the Ball Game" by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer

Syntax in Interrogative Sentences

But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then
where should we be? - Animal Farm by George Orwell

Wouldn't it be fun if all the castles in the air which we make could come true
and we could live in them? - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Is it really possible to tell someone else what one feels? - Anna Karenina by
Leo Tolstoy

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but overacuteness of the sense? - The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force
of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the
external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable
what then? - 1984 by George Orwell

Syntax in Literature from the Past

Shakespeare often reversed the order in sentences:

- by putting a verb at the end of the sentence as in Romeo and Juliet: What light
from yonder window breaks?
- as in and all the clouds that lowered upon our house buried in the deep bosom of
the ocean. from Richard III

In the Millers Prologue from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, kan
is used as a main verb:

I kan a noble tale for the nones,

With which I wol now quite the Knyghtes tale.

Geoffrey Chaucer also changed the word endings in The Prologue to The
Canterbury Tales:

And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open ye,

Christopher Marlowes, in his poem Who Ever Loved That Loved Not at First
Sight?, placed negatives after main verbs:

The reason no man knows; let it suffice

What we behold is censured by our eyes.
Where both deliberate, the love is slight:Who ever loved, that loved not at first
sight?

Slang Syntax in Literature

What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right
and it ain't no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same? - The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

"If I must be sold, or all the people on the place, and everything go to rack,
why, let me be sold. I s'pose I can b'ar it as well as any on 'em." - Uncle Tom's
Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

We me an Star are waitin for Boxy his head. Waitin standin in the fone box in
the station of Wolfer Humpton holdin the letter what we have tapped in the
number from. - Boxy an Star by Daren King

"When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not, hmm?" Yoda in Star Wars

C'mon babe, Why don't we paint the town? And all that jazz - Cast of Chicago

Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/syntax-in-literatureexamples.html#Vr1EYxw9peC8HEZ4.99